Land
in Tennesse
As a rule of thumb, clearcut
Tennessee land (recently stripped of trees) is selling for less than
$1k per acre, mostly wooded land is selling for around $1k per acre,
farm land without a house and about half cleared of timber is selling
for around $2k per acre, and farm land with a house is selling for $3-4k
per acre depending on the value of the house and the other buildings
on the property.
Nationwide, real estate should
remain depressed well into 2011 according to the latest report from
Bloomberg:
U.S. home foreclosures
climbed to a record in April, a sign that government mortgage relief
efforts have yet to turn the tide of property seizures, according
to a report by RealtyTrac Inc….Unemployment of 9.9 percent and
a rising percentage of homes worth less than the mortgages on them
are combining to thwart a housing recovery, according to RealtyTrac.
About 5 million delinquent loans will probably end up in the foreclosure
process in addition to the 1.2 million homes already taken back by
lenders, Sharga said. Defaults may not peak until 2011 depending on
how lenders process them, Sharga said. "The underlying conditions
-- mostly unemployment and millions of 'underwater' loans -- haven't
improved," he said. --Businessweek
link
This translates into considerably
more housing inventory next year, and house (and land) prices will continue
to drop. Not that it matters in Tennessee when they are already at rock
bottom prices. But more inventory means more choices.
Fruit trees
- Stark
Brothers. Recommended by my brother. Delivered good trees to plant.
Farming
- Farm
Basics: Drain Tile 101. See also: Crop
Drainage. Here are some vendors: Tileplow.com,
FarmDrainagePlows.com.
The drainage pipe (with tiny holes) is buried 3-4 feet deep using
a very powerful tractor (140 hp at least) with tile plow attachment.
- The
Triumph of the Family Farm. Posted July/August, 2012. In 2010,
of all the farms in the United States with at least $1 million in
revenues, 88 percent were family farms, and they accounted for 79
percent of production. Large-scale farmers today are sophisticated
businesspeople who use GPS equipment to guide their combines, biotechnology
to boost their yields, and futures contracts to hedge their risk.
They are also pretty rich...In the U.S. and Canada in 2010 and 2011,
farm incomes have been booming. U.S. net farming incomes rose more
than 20 percent in each of those years. Farmers are flush with cash.
- Cropland
Leasing Considerations. From The University of Tennessee Agricultural
Extension Service.There are two basic type of leases with cropland.
They are the cash lease and the crop-share lease. The most common
landowner-tenant share agreements in Tennessee are the 1/3 - 2/3,
1/4- 3/4 and 1/2 - 1/2 share arrangements. The cash rental arrangement
generally specifies a fixed annual dollar rent, although a flexible
cash rent agreement is sometimes used and has definite advantages.
Tree Farming
- EGW tree planting method. In PDF format. See video: Planting by the Blueprint.
- Tree
farm idea . A tree farm can be easily established in Tennessee.
A tree farm is a 15-20 year investment if you are looking to plant
valuable hardwood trees (black
walnut, black cherry, and white oak) using ideas like Sonic
Bloom. Need a solar powered system to charge
a 12 volt battery. Need to use a charge
controller to not harm the battery.
- Measuring
Logs and Lumber. A useful article on measurements. See here: A
Hardwood Log Grading Handbook for using the "board foot"
method and Estimating
Weight of Logs and Standing Timber for using the "weight"
method. Using the Doyle method for a target diameter of 20 inches,
a 16-foot length yields 256 BF (board feet). Thus, to get 1,000 BF
would require a total of 4 each of 16-foot sections.
- High-grade hardwood
lumber. High grade logs must be long, large in diameter and contain
mostly clear (of defects) wood. Larger logs are also preferred in
log grading because they cost less to process per unit of lumber produced.
- Timber
Owner Market Guide ($150 per year) provides valuable data about
timber prices to timberland owners. Here is a sample March/April
2012 issue of the guide.
- 2012
Indiana Forest Products Price Report and Trend Analysis. Black
walnut lumber prices were moving up in 2011, but have now fallen off
by 16 percent from last summer. Demand is down based on consumer preferences
in the U.S. and overseas. White oak lumber prices remain soft, but
up slightly so far this year. Yellow poplar is making a bit of a comeback,
as the demand for millwork firms up in response to growing increases
in construction. Significant price increases, as always, are unlikely
because of the readily available timber supply and ease of processing
this species.
Black Walnut prices per one thousand board feet (MBF) on July 2012
was $1,815, $905, and $505 for lumber grades of Premium, #1C, and
#2A, respectively. White Oak prices per MBF was $1,015, $555, and
$410 for the same respective lumber grades, and Yellow Poplar prices
per MBF was $700, $445, and $310.
Hay farming
Hay is a five-year crop that is harvested anywhere from 3-5 times
during the summer months. Pricing is dependant on the quality of hay;
pure alfalfa sells the highest, and typically the price decreases
from there depending on the ratio of alfalfa in the bale, and the
"leafiness of the bale". Hay usually takes the first year
to establish itself. Therefore it is likely to only harvest a small
amount (20-30 bales as compared to over 200 bales per acre) in the
first cutting of the first year. Growers will typically rotate to
corn when a stand is spent, usually for two or three years.
On dryland, seed 16 to 18 lbs/acre. On irrigated fields, seed up
to 25 lbs/acre. You will get an extra 1.5 to 2 tons per year from
the heavier seeding rate. It only takes an extra half a ton of hay
to pay for the additional seed, so it's well worth it. For best results,
needed lime should be incorporated six months or more before seeding.
Grass seed and a companion crop of oats are sown with a grain drill
or other effective seeding technique.
Good hay will sell for $130/ton in a regular year. At a typical 4
tons per acre of hay, that's $520 per acre. Another example: “My
alfalfa yields 30 to 40 bales per acre per cutting. If we get five
cuttings and if the hay sells for $4 a bale, one acre might produce
150 to 200 bales worth $600 to $800 an acre."
- Crop
Profile for Alfalfa in Tennessee. In 2004, Tennessee yielded approximately
3.1 tons per acre for the season. Acreage was valued at $117 per ton.
Warm weather and timely rain showers resulted in an average number
of cuttings per field for 2003 of two and a half cuttings per acre
for the season. The majority of alfalfa produced is used for dairy
cattle with the remainder for horses. Annual production costs are
approximately $38.00 after subtracting $165 value of a partial crop
during the establishment year. Total production cost of $278 for a
four year stand.
- Establishing
alfalfa the no-till way.
- Estimated
Costs of Pasture and Hay Production. Breaks down the costs involved
in seed, fertilizer, etc.
Testimony of one: I would not attempt to grow alfalfa unless you
have the time and resources to maintain it. It requires a lot of
maintenance (spraying, mowing, picky about pH and fertilizer) and
is very attractive to pests that can destroy it quickly (learned
about army worms the hard way). It's not like wheat or oats that
you can just seed, fertilize and pretty much forget about until
it goes to seed. After mowing, the cuttings need to be removed so
unless you can cut it for hay or cut it very often the thatch will
kill it. Plus you can't just come back in an existing stand and
overseed again. The growing alfalfa will produce a chemical that
will kill any new alfalfa you try to overseed. It's great food for
deer and turkeys but requires much more work on the part of the
food plotter."
Notes:
Properties for sale that
I looked at in 2010
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