Scouting fields, chasing head count and managing fertility are keys to successful wheat

Today’s wheat farmers make big decisions on how to spend their time and money. Input costs are increasingly expensive, marketing decisions are complicated and what works in one field does not always work in another.

John McGillicuddy said producers must develop a marketing plan that is local to each field and that will increase yield. Sound simple? It is if farmers make choices based on an equation and stick to the rules of the formula.

The owner of McGillicuddy Corrigan Agronomics, Iowa City, Iowa, said it is easier to predict an outcome if the problem is dissected.

“If the result is unacceptable, modify the equation,” McGillicuddy said. “If you don’t like what’s happening on one side of the equation, modify something on the other side. This gets interesting when you consider an equation that explains your wheat field.”

Since the smallest unit of wheat production is the kernel, McGillicuddy said to use the basic formula of number of heads per acre multiplied by the number of kernels per head multiplied by kernel weight. This equals yield.

“We look for where we are in these parts of the formula,” he said. “If you don’t know where else to start, begin with heads per acre. Most of the time when we are looking for what changed the outcome in a test, we changed heads per acre. Add all of these things together and you have a target. But, don’t aim at too many targets.”

One of the most important things to develop a marketing plan for high yields is to walk through a wheat field before harvest. McGillicuddy said most data disappears when a farmer drives the combine because the focus changes from the status of the field to the operational needs of harvest management.

He recommends counting how many heads are in a square foot and how many grains are on a head when going through the field. After the wheat is harvested, farmers should sit down at a scale with a bag full of wheat, count 400 to 500 kernels and weigh them. The answer will show how many kernels equal 60 pounds. This visual demonstration will identify whether kernel weight, head count and grains per head are above or below normal. Whichever count is furthest below normal should be the first one the farmer reviews.

Though Mother Nature can’t be controlled, McGillicuddy said good weather in the fall is necessary to ensure soil moisture and germinate the wheat seed. Until the wheat has been sown and has a good stand, producers should refrain from pouring more money into the crop.

“Once the stand is established then I think weather is a little overrated because well-managed fields tend to do better than poorly managed fields in the same weather.”

McGillicuddy said any crop sensitive to producing protein is also sensitive to sulfur. The availability of sulfur is limited many times by soil temperature and wheat spends the majority of its growth in cold soil.

McGillicuddy said fertility is a limiting factor in 50 to 60 percent of today’s wheat fields. For the past two years, drill-applied ammonium sulfate (AMS) with phosphorus has improved early growth and head count and top dressed AMS has increased yields. After a heavy rain and temperature drop below 60 degrees it is impossible to measure how much sulfate has been lost.

“There are a whole lot of sulfur deficiencies in wheat that have nothing to do with how much sulfur is in the ground,” he said. “If you can manage that, you can make a lot of money.”

GROWER PANEL—Kyle Bauer, KFRM radio, discussed wheat production practices with wheat growers from Kansas and Oklahoma during Bayer Profit Maximizer Wheat Summit. Growers were: Brian Flaharty, McCune, Kan.; Van Schuermann, Enid, Okla.; John Blackwell, Larned, Kan.; and John Buehler, Scott City, Kan.