Ag450 Farm

Got a question?

Tom Paulsen
515-294-0047

Farm Manager
Greg Vogel
515-292-0742

AgEds 450 Fall Class of 2009

The Ag450 Farm allows students to be involved in everyday management decisions and practices of a typical central Iowa farm. The Ag450 Farm is the only completely student managed farm at a land grant university in the United States.

+ + + + +

Soybean Harvest 2009 (yield 57 bu/a)
Corn Harvest 2009, harvesting test plot and teaching new combine operator	Fall 2009 students hanging new curtains on hog finisher building

 

+ + + + +

News & Events Updates

Finance Committee

The finance committee has been diligently working on updating our cash flows and improving our filing system. As we receive departmental statements and billing statements from companies that we do business with, we itemize the bills into the correct account numbers. After the bills are placed into the correct expense accounts, we make a summary to be shown and approved by the class at our weekly business meeting. One management issue we are examining now is the amount of labor needed on the farm year round and the type of employment that is going to benefit the farm operations the most.

Crops Committee

The fall semester is always a busy semester for the Crops Committee. The Crops Committee started off the semester by taking yield estimates on all of the 450 Farm’s fields. These estimates were crucial to the Marketing Committee as they are developing a marketing plan for this fall as well as next year. Once harvest got underway activity really picked up. The Crops Committee has been busy coordinating harvest activities, operating the combine, hauling grain, and managing the grain bin site. In addition to taking out this year’s crop, the Crops Committee has been planning for next year. The committee has met with seed representatives from companies such as; Agrigold, Pioneer, Dekalb, and Stine. The committee is busy ordering seed and making a crop plan for the 2010 crop year.

Machinery

Thus far the semester has presented many challenges and opportunities for the Machinery Committee. We have been faced with unfavorable weather which has slowed the harvest and made harvesting soybeans very difficult. We have made several improvements to the combine such as a complete maintenance run-through and a new front tire. We have also received two brand new John Deere tractors: an 8320R and a 7730. These make for a maintenance free addition to the farm which is very essential for the efficiency of the farm. We also plan on producing an analysis of our harvest hauling efficiency and looking into the possibility of purchasing a tractor-trailer semi. Overall, we have capitalized on many opportunities to improve the operation of the farm and will continue to do so for the reminder of the semester.

Public Relations

So far this semester, the public relations committee has been working on gathering the information needed to update the website. We have taken most of the committee pictures and have the class list ready to be uploaded to the web. Throughout the semester, we have been video recording the majority of the class room lectures and business meetings to provide examples of what happens here on the farm. We also have been working to edit the video footage we have to allow us to upload short clips to the web. We now have our portable HD video camera and have started shooting video of different activities around the farm that will be used to show how the students are using the farm to apply some of the skills learned in the classroom. The public relations committee has also been working with a local business to get t-shirts made that are representative of the Ag Eds 450 Farm. These shirts will be available to the public. Anyone wanting to purchase them should contact Greg Vogel at the 450 Farm at (515) 292-0742.

Marketing

The marketing committee has sold 4 contracts; 2 corn and 2 soybeans. For the bean contracts we used a forward contract for 2000 bu. When that contract was delivered, the class had 198 bushels extra that we decided to sell at the cash price that day. The 2 corn contracts are for 5000 bushels per contract and will be delivered between November 1 and November 15. We have also sold a 5000 bushel contract that has already been delivered. We have also had Jarod Lemper come talk to the class. He talked about marketing strategies such as options, puts, and calls. We have also been watching the markets looking for our next opportunity to sell. The last thing we have accomplished this semester renewing our deal with our DTN server and working to save the farm some money.

Buildings and Grounds

This semester our committee has set many goals for ourselves. We have been working hard to achieve all of the goals that we have set. So far goals we have accomplished include putting a new unload auger in the dryer bin and putting the flooring in the bin. Our committee has also contributed in the building of the transfer auger system to move corn from the dryer to the big storage bin. We fixed the load out chute from the finisher to make loading fat hogs less stressful. Our committee also purchased, delivered, and installed an additional fuel barrel for the farm to triple the on farm fuel storage. Maintenance of the farm house was needed on the windows so we installed new window cranks on the upstairs windows. Our committee has headed up the effort to remove old unhealthy and unsightly trees from the back yard of the farm house. With all of these accomplishments our committee feels like we are on track to achieve most of our goals for the semester.

Customs Committee

The Custom’s committee thus far has performed research on manure handling equipment, and whether or not it is economical to apply our own. The Custom’s committee has looked into either a vacuum tank as well as a top-load style tank. New curtains were ordered and currently are being installed on the 13 year old, 1200 head finishing building. The Custom’s committee plans to evaluate the 450 farm’s custom silage operation, and see how we can become more profitable. Finally, the custom’s committee is in charge of managing the swine herd, which the 450 Farm custom feeds for Swine Graphics. We have also been working with Greg, the farm operator, on other various custom operations the farm does during the year.