On this episode of the Strip-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we’re talking custom strip-till with Kentland, Ind., strip-tiller Jesse Stoller.
The Stoller family started strip-tilling in 2014 on their 4,000-acre operation, and in 2020, Stoller expanded his custom strip-till operation to about 10,000 acres.
Stoller explains why the custom strip-till route could be a cost-effective option for new strip-tillers. He also breaks down the structure of his custom strip-till operation, including pricing and payback, along with entry-point.
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The Strip-Till Farmer podcast is brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment.
Yetter Farm Equipment has been providing farmers with solutions since 1930. Today, Yetter is your answer for finding the tools and equipment you need to face today’s production agriculture demands. The Yetter lineup includes a wide range of planter attachments for different planting conditions, several equipment options for fertilizer placement, and products that meet harvest-time challenges. Yetter delivers a return on investment and equipment that meets your needs and maximizes inputs. Visit them at yetterco.com.
Full Transcript
Noah Newman:Welcome to another edition of the Strip-Till Farmer Podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment. Great to have you with us. As always, I'm your host Technology Editor, Noah Newman, and we are talking custom strip-till today with Kentland, Indiana strip-tiller Jesse Stoller. This is from his presentation a couple of years ago at the National Strip-Tillage Conference. He explains why the custom strip-till route could be a cost-effective option for new strip-tillers, and Jesse also breaks down the structure of his operation, including pricing and payback and offers several tips for building a better berm. Let's jump in. Here's Jesse.
Jesse Stoller:I think a lot more guys are starting to think about doing some custom work on the side of their farm. Obviously just trying to justify the cost to some of these machines. I'm not situated that way. I have a dedicated machine. This is all I do as far as on the strip-till side, so dedicated tractor, dedicated strip-till rig. So I'm not sharing those costs with any other farming operations, which definitely affects my numbers. Okay. It might be different for some of you who are also farming. So this is the setup that I've got. Nothing too fancy. I get a 9470R tractor set up on row crop type tires so I can stay off the strip. This is a B and D bar there out of Wells, Minnesota. I've been very impressed with that setup. So you can see it's basically a bridge hit style and the Montag can sit right on that cart and the duals help to spread that weight out.
And so 40 footer using the Pluribus, Dawn Pluribus Gen 5 units. So I'm able to run fall, spring and do a good job in both scenarios. That's been a very good thing for me. So as I already talked about, so as I was thinking through what equipment I was going to go with, some of these are very obvious, but first of all, like I've already mentioned, ability to run in fall or spring. I needed to be running in both. I knew the demand was there and then field conditions as a custom operator, as you guys that do custom already know, you're running in all sorts of conditions. You're running behind many different management practices, cover crops, corn on corn, corn or stripping into wheat, all sorts of stuff that you'll get into. Unfortunately, you get into some situations where the spread pattern was horrible or something like that, and you got to kind of coach guys saying, "Hey, you got to get this trash spread," just as an example.
So you're coming into a lot of different environments, so you need that machine to be easily adjusted quickly, very adaptable. Okay. As I already mentioned, ability to run and standing cover, that is becoming more and more of a demand. I'm hearing request for that all the time. I don't care what machine you run, there is going to be a limitation on what you can do with that. And I have mine, but I know my limitations now, so I can tell guys that's possible or it's not, but there's a lot of questions for that. So I'm putting on roughly 10,000 acres a year with my machine. You don't want to cheapen things up. Right. I mean it's not like when you're farming, right, a bearing goes out and it's your own ground. You have a certain amount of acres, but for me, I don't have that insurance policy. Right.
If I'm not running, I'm not making money. Quality components, standardized parts, keep them on hand and as low maintenance as possible, which I don't know if I quite accomplished that one, but so like the Dawn Pluribus for example, they have awesome parts. I've never had a bearing go out except for once and that was not really their fault. So very good parts. But I have 366 greasers on this machine, so it only needs greased about every 2000 acres. So it's not too bad. So you kind of have to give and take on some of this stuff. But I've been extremely impressed with the Dawn components as far as quality and being able to stand up to the test. So obviously you want something you can work on fairly easily.
Fertilizers, so the highest demand I've had is 450 pounds. Just having a meter and capacity that would match the demand for your customers. I personally have a single bin set up and a lot of that was derived from talking to the co-op and because initially I was going to go to a twin bin so I could VRT two products. They basically said we did that once and it's a logistical nightmare when you're all over the place. When you're custom, you're all over the place, you're working with a lot of different co-ops, a lot of different suppliers. Some farmers are buying their own bulk, supplying you. So it just creates a whole nother level of complexity. So after talking with them, talking to some other guys, I decided go to the single bin and I still do VRT as well, but that has made it much easier to manage depth adjustments, berm adjustments, these things again, like we talked about, just being able to adapt quickly and easily. I know the old style of Pluribus units for example, there was you had to actually unbolt the gauge wheels and move them.
So it was not convenient at all. Now it's just simple twist handle, adjust the depth and go. It's much easier. So that has been great. Like I said, you're running in, I'm operating I think in seven different counties and I'm running in all different soil types. So you're just going to have to adjust the machine as it needs. Company support, this is obviously huge. A big part of what I had to consider when deciding what equipment I was going to have. Dawn's been excellent. Now they even have kind of, a little plug for them. They do all virtual and they connect to your machine and watch you run on the go anywhere you are. And their engineers are calling me basically saying, "Hey, I'm noticing that you're down pressure on row number 11 or 12 or something is a little off. I wonder if you have a strain gauge issue." I mean, they can watch you run and watch everything that's going on in that machine from anywhere they are in the country. So that is awesome. Been a huge help.
Quick example of just getting to know your tool. When I first got the tool I spent, well first of all, I started in the spring of 19. Who remembers what the spring of 19 was like? It was a character builder, let's put it that way. Yeah, it was a difficult one to start in on, but it was also an advantage to me because I got to know that machine really well really fast. Okay. It was that first year. I had AJ in the back there from Dawn. He'd be with me in the field taking video of me. Well anyway, there was a slow motion video there too that really helps to understand just the dirt flow through the machine, getting to know how to adjust for heavy residue or wet conditions or et cetera.
So this is an example of running a cover crop. This is actually behind a, this is summertime. They actually had cereal rye that they harvested for seed on this farm and then they planted a cover in that and then I came through and stripped this for them and just an example of, again, multiple different environments that a custom guy has to operate in. So this is just a passion of mine. We'll get to the numbers here shortly. I just wanted to cover some of these things that I'm passionate about.
So something that I see all the time is this situation here. I don't even know how to describe how important this is. So this has been the constant complaint from my clients who used to use the co-op [inaudible 00:07:58] machines. That's the number one thing they keep saying is, man, the berm is not inverted in the spring. I love it. I was always dealing with inverted berms in the spring and this is basically it. Okay. This is not complicated. Okay. When you're making a berm, they say taller the better in the fall. I'm going to say nay to that. So the reason being, first of all, we'll talk about just the containment first.
So that strip, the strip isn't what you see on the surface. The strip is what's going on underneath. So you dig the strip and then you see how that berm is centered on that strip and make sure that that berm is not going past the strip because this is what'll happen. Okay. So you're displacing soil. You never want any soil out of that strip in any way. Okay. So containment is absolutely critical. Now as far as the reason I say it's not all about the berm height in the fall, some guys say well it'll over settle and then it'll be inverted. No. So what makes a tall berm? Air. Right. So this is easy. You get more air pockets, and I've seen this in our area and we're pretty flat. Okay. So this would be a lot worse out in this area or a little East of here where they're really rolling. But that air makes that strip much more erodible because it can saturate quicker in these heavy rains.
And so it'll just draw in more of the moisture and concentrate it in that strip. And I've seen, I've seen many times strips will be eroded out all the way to the bottom of the strip. Okay. So I'm of the opinion based on my experience, I like to pack out. I like to pound out the air out of that strip in the fall when I can. Okay. The best that I can. Now you don't want it fine powder. There's a balance, right? So you still want a little bit chunky, but you want to try to get that air out of that strip. So it's just a little tangent of mine, but it's something I'm passionate about.
Another thing to consider getting into the custom world, RTK guidance is a must in my opinion. One of the reasons I'm in this business is because I'm a perfectionist. I'm very particular about what I do. So to me, RTK, just the ability to control and to repeat going on the same client's strips year after year, keeping that fertilizer placement consistent is a big deal to me. Just RTK network coverage, just think about that. I'm not on this one. And the reason being is the, I haven't needed it.
First of all, we're not really rolling too much. But the biggest reason is because the bridge hitch that I have, that toolbar is set so far forward, close to the hitch that the draft is just very minimal. So I have not needed it. I've thought about it, but so far I have not gotten that feedback. So yeah, RTK network coverage for me, Deere has a great coverage network for me. But just keep that in mind. If you're getting into this, who has the best coverage? Because you're no longer going to be working within a 10-mile radius, you're going to be working within a 30-mile radius. Right.
So getting into some areas where you're not too familiar with. I don't know how big of a deal this is, but it definitely has been some feedback I've gotten. Understand that Deere lines and other people's RTK lines, guidance lines are going to be different. Okay. Deere uses true north. All the other people uses straight line north. Nobody knows it until it's a mile long through and they're like, man, I'm shifting three inches in the middle and I'm coming back to the ends and I'm back on and then I'm shifting. And that's the reason why. So on the family farm, we were all Deere. So something we never had to deal with until I was in the custom business. And then I had all sorts of different GPS systems coming behind me.
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Jesse Stoller:One more consideration as you're getting into the custom world. I mean, obviously this need is on the farm too, but it's not as, everything is amplified when you're 20, 30 miles from home. So just keeping a good parts inventory on the rig is obviously very important. Right. Because you got to be, for me, I'm a one-man show. I don't have a guy to go run and pick me up and take me to get parts. I have to be able to fix anything and everything for the most part in the field. And obviously you're going to need your mobile service and fuel. Another important part. So this is just an example. I'm getting a lot more custom requests going to beans, which is good. That's kind of picking up steam in our area. So going into a lot more corn stalks than I used to, and I get into all sorts. So these are the final goals.
In my business at the end of the year, what do I want to provide for my clients? Obviously the correct fertilizer placement, rate and blend, field layout. This is something that, it's kind of appalling to me. So all of my clients, they're always very impressed that I've been able to lay the field out right. Well, to me that's not a big deal, but I don't think a lot of guys are used to custom guys doing it correctly. Okay. I think that's the biggest fear when guys are hiring a custom operator to do their work, is will they do it as good as what I do it? Will they do it the same way I do it? Anytime that I've done it different than they normally do, they normally come back and say, "Actually I kind of like this."
So, and that comes back to as most people here have been out and planting corn, they understand how to lay a field out. That's where I was. Back on the family farm that was my job. I was in charge of the corn planting operation. So I guess it just kind of comes with experience. So that is a big deal. Accurate guidance, like we talked about earlier, the guest rows, just paying attention, getting out, measuring and correct berm height, containment, consistency. So when it comes to your final job out there in the field, just getting out, using that door on the tractor and digging, digging, and thinking, getting to understand your tool, doing the best job you can. So this is just a text that I received from one of my clients. Just an example of what happens, right, when you can focus and do the job you need to do.
I think the expectation is, unfortunately in the custom world, they're going to be thankful if they can at least be, if it's okay job. They don't expect a very good job when they hire custom guys for whatever reason, so. And it leads to a lot of late nights. Okay. Yeah, it's an insane season. Last fall, I did 8,500 acres with this 40-foot machine and had a baby in that time period too. So yeah, that was interesting. Thankfully, I've got co-ops in my area that are willing to stage trucks for me, so I've got a really good relationship with them. They'll stage trucks for me and I'll run them. I'll drive them around. They're good with it. So that may be pretty abnormal, I don't know. But I did invest in a tender of my own for this coming fall, just mainly for, and it's only for infield storage.
It's actually on a wagon chassis, and I pull it behind my rig from field to field when I need it. So just to get it out there, set it in the field so that the co-op can bring a full truck, dump it and go, so. And then again, another 16 ton of capacity for overnights. But yes, there has been times where I've ran 30 to 40 hours straight. Not stopping. That's rough. But anyway. All right, so numbers. This is pretty small. I don't know if you can read it real well, but this is just an example. Some of this is a little generic. I kind of changed it from mine. The things that may be a little bit unique to me, I try to generalize it a little more. I'm owning this equipment, and this is something for me that it's dedicated to the strip-tillage operation, whereas a lot of the farmers who are doing custom strip-tillage, they're going to have return on that investment in other operations on the farm. Right.
So specific to my operation, but I thought it'd be nice, at least you can like, for parts, fuel, those type of things on a per acre basis, good numbers to have just for some initial number crunching if you're thinking about getting into it. I was charging 25 bucks an acre. I have increased this fall to 28. And the reason for that is basically increased replacement costs for my equipment. I mean, I keep trying to figure in that in three more years I got to buy everything new again and that new cost just keeps going up. So I got to take that into account. 25 if I'm just doing strips without fertilizer and 30 if I'm doing VRT.
So as you can see, my net at the end of the day after paying 30,000 in labor, came out to about six bucks an acre at this level. Now my numbers for this fall obviously are very different when it comes to the equipment side, which is why I had to increase. So this is from the farmer's perspective. So in this case, some people may argue, and it's totally valid, that these are extremely high depreciation rates. Like I said earlier, it's not only about the depreciation of your equipment, it's also the appreciation of your replacement equipment. Okay? So you need to take all that into account. And even though used equipment is appreciating as well, it's still not appreciating as fast as new seems like to me. So taking all that into account, this is what I have found to be fairly accurate for me. Now, this is based on newer equipment, okay? You get older equipment, it's obviously not going to appreciate near as fast. So take that into consideration. But this is just an example just to get us thinking about just equipment costs on our farm. All right?
Now this is dedicated to the strip-tillage. If a guy has, let's say, 3,000 acres of strip-till to do, everybody here is probably going to say, that's a lot. Man, that's a lot of strip-till. 500,000 of total investment. That's actually not all that much anymore, right, between a tractor and an implement. Well, in this case, when you're talking interest on that equipment and your depreciation costs at 3,000 acres, you're going to be at 22 bucks. 22.50. And that's only the equipment costs. That has nothing to do with labor, fuel, nothing, parts. If you've got 3,000 acres, you're willing to invest 500,000, you're still going to be under my cost, okay, of 28. But to me, the average amount that I do per client is 700 acres. That's my average. I've got 20 some clients. You can see that it's never going to be under 30 bucks in these scenarios for them. Right.
So that's where a lot of guys, financially it is cheaper to hire me in those situations. Custom strip-till, I understood the benefits initially somewhat, but as I have been in this business, talking to my clients, understanding their needs, there's things that have really come out just of greater importance than I ever imagined. First of all, the obvious is less stressful. Right. It's a stressful time of year anyway in the fall, one more thing they got to do. I can normally be more timely than the farmer can because they've got to harvest all their crop first before they even think about getting into tillage. Whereas I'm, right when the combines start, I start.
This is the one thing that really came out, is the fact that guys come to me all the time, "Hey, I'm interested in strip-till. I just want to try an 80." Huge. I mean, the custom business is going to accelerate the adoption of strip-till in a big way because guys aren't going to go out and spend 80 grand on a strip-till bar just to try it, right? They may have a neighbor they know and the neighbor, they could try theirs. But in general, a lot of guys will try an 80 and I have yet to come across anyone who tries it that doesn't do it the next season or the next year. Okay. So that's been exciting to see. Another thing is guys will maybe do 500 acres one year and then maybe they got 160 that they had to tile, they're working it, so they're backing that down to 340 or whatever. So they're not thinking in their minds, oh no, I'm not going to do very many acres with my strip-till rig and I've got a couple hundred thousand dollars invest in all this stuff and that's not good.
Now I got this overhead. For them, it's just a line item and it's the same price for them per acre, no matter how much they do. So they can be very flexible with their crop plans, just how they want to approach strip-till and how to apply it. So that's been really good. The one thing I hear about everybody from every one of my clients is labor. They can't find anybody to do the work or somebody they can trust. So that's a common theme anywhere. You see help wanted signs everywhere. 80% of my clients are by far in a position where they could buy their own rigs. I mean, money is not an issue, even just, and it's not that they wouldn't do it, but at the bottom line is it comes down to stress and labor and flexibility for them, so.
Noah Newman:And that'll wrap things up for this edition of the Strip-Till Farmer Podcast. Once again, big thanks to our sponsor, Yetter Farm Equipment for making this series possible. Thank you for tuning in as always. Hope you have a great Christmas, holiday season, New Years, and we'll see you in January for the next episode of the Strip-Till Farmer Podcast. Until then, for all things strip-till, head to striptillfarmer.com. I'm Noah Newman. Have a great day.