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ESTIMATING FARM FUEL REQUIREMENTS FOR CROP PRODUCTION AND LIVESTOCK OPERATIONS
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ISU Extension Pub # Pm-587
Author: Erdal Ozkan, former extension agricultural engineer,
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department, Iowa
State University, Ames, IA.
Date: Revised March 1985
Content reviewed: May 1995 by Jay Harmon
Federal energy experts estimate that 3 to
4 percent of the energy consumed in the United States is required by American agriculture to produce the nation's food and fiber. With the energy supply problems facing our country, every producer should use
farm fuels efficiently and be able to adjust to possible reduced supplies.
If shortages become critical, you may be required to apply for a fuel allotment. While you may have all of your gas tickets
from the past crop season, would you be able to distinguish what fuel had been used for which crop and how much might have gone to provide mechanization for your livestock operations?
How to Estimate Your Farm Fuel Requirements
By using the Iowa fuel use tables and good judgement, you can estimate the gallons of gasoline, diesel fuel, or LP gas you will need to grow your next crop and
maintain your livestock program.
Here's an example of how you can use the Iowa fuel use tables for next year's crop planning.
Consider a 480-acre Corn Belt farm. The operator plans to plant 240 acres of corn, 160 acres of soybeans, and wants to raise 800 market hogs. The field crop operations are performed mostly with his diesel-engine tractors and combines; the livestock chore jobs are done with a gasoline-burning tractor.
From the table, 6.85 gallons of diesel fuel are needed to grow an acre of corn; 6.5 gallons of diesel fuel will produce an acre of soybeans. So,
Corn--6.85 gal/a x 240a planned = 1,644 gallons diesel fuel
Soybeans--6.50 gal/a x 160a planned = 1,040 gallons diesel fuel
_______________________________________________________
Estimated Annual Requirement = 2,684 gallons diesel fuel
The table indicates that 0.4 gallon of gasoline is needed to raise a market pig. It takes 0.4 gallon of gasoline to keep the
liquid manure hauled from the confinement finishing house and field spread.
Growing market pigs--0.4 gal. x 800 head = 320 gallons of gasoline
Cleaning finishing building--0.4 gal. x 800 head = 320 gallons of
gasoline
_______________________________________________________
Estimated Annual Requirement = 640 gallons of gasoline
The amount of LP gas (propane is the most popular dryer
fuel) needed to dry shelled corn can be estimated. The operator in the example planned to dry 20,000 bushels of corn. With good drying weather, 1 gallon of propane will dry 6 bushels of corn.
20,000 bushels
-------------- = 3,333 gallons of LP gas
6 bu.gal.
Now comes the judgement
part of the fuel use estimates. The long-range weather forecast for the operator's area predicts that the planting season will be "above normal" for rainfall and with "near normal" daytime
temperatures.
With those conditions, a farmer needs to anticipate more fuel for planting, so should add 10 percent to the diesel fuel estimate. Adding 268 gallons to 2,684 gives 2,952 gallons of diesel
fuel needed to grow the corn and soybean crops. He would not need to increase the gasoline required to raise 800 market pigs because a pig grown in confinement is not greatly affected by the weather.
If he
used both diesel fuel and gasoline-burning tractors to grow the crops, he must adjust his estimates.
In one example, suppose that about half of each type of fuel was used to produce corn. This means that he grew 120 acres using only gasoline. So:
Corn--6.85 gal/a x 120a planted = 822 gallons of diesel fuel
Corn--9.5 gal/a x 120a planted = 1,140 gallons of gasoline
__________________________
Total 240a planted
The amount of fuel burned between Jan. 1 and Dec 31 to produce an acre of any crop
might vary in different parts of Iowa or the Corn Belt due to many unforeseen conditions beyond the producer's control.
These figures provide estimates of fuel required to do jobs under typical Iowa
conditions. In any given year, fuel consumption on a particular farm may be either larger or less than the values given in the tables.
Estimates of Fuel Burned for Crop and Livestock Production
Under Average Conditions
Crop Production Gallons per acre
________________________________
Diesel
Cropping system Gasoline fuel LP gas
Corn--conventional methods 9.5 6.85 11.4
Corn--plowing with minimum
tillage planting 7.5 5.40 9.0
Corn--no plowing, minimum
tillage planting 6.0 4.30 7.2
Corn harvested and stored
as whole-plant silage
Conventional methods 12.0 8.65 14.4
Plowing with minimum
tillage 10.0 7.20 12.0
No plowing, minimum
tillage 8.5 6.10 10.2
Soybeans--conventional
methods 9.0 6.50 10.8
Small grains--oats, barley
rye, wheat 4.25 3.00 5.1
Small grains--with plowing 6.50 4.70 7.8
Hay--dry cured, 3 cuttings,
baled 12.0 8.65 14.4
Haylage--3 cuttings or dry
chopped 18.0 13.00 21.6
Using combined type cutting
with self-propelled
cut crush, windrow
Hay--3 cuttings 7.2 5.20 8.6
Haylage--3 cuttings 13.2 9.50 15.8
Corn drying--with favorable conditions--1 gal. propane will
dry 7 bu. corn
--with good drying conditions--1 gal. propane will
dry 6 bu. corn
--with unfavorable drying conditions--1 gal propane
will dry 5 bu. corn
Livestock production
(Includes all fuel used to remove feed from storage, process, and
deliver to feeders)
Gallons per animal
or 100 birds
________________________________
Diesel
Animal Feeding period Gasoline fuel LP gas
Swine Raise 1 pig to market
including feeding of
sow and boar. 0.40 0.30 0.50
Dairy Cow milking 9,000 lbs.
milk/year 1.00 0.75 1.20
Cow milking 12,000
lbs. milk/year 1.35 1.00 1.60
Heifer--1 year 0.40 0.30 0.50
Beef Steers--grown from 400
to 1,200 lbs. 1.80 1.30 2.15
Heavy steers--grown from
700 to 1,200 lbs. 1.00 0.75 1.20
Heifers--grown from 400
to 850 lbs. 1.35 1.00 1.60
Yearlings--grown from 650
to 1,200 lbs. 1.75 1.25 2.10
Cows--winter and raise
calf to 400 lbs. 0.90 0.65 1.10
Sheep Lambs--native, from birth
to market 0.60 0.45 0.70
Feeder lambs--50 lbs. to
market 0.125 0.10 0.15
Poultry Raise 100 broilers from
birth to market 0.75 0.55 0.90
Raise 100 pullets from
birth to laying 2.70 1.95 3.25
Layers for one year--
100 birds 7.50 5.40 9.00
Raise 100 turkeys from
birth to market 7.50 5.40 9.00
Manure Removal and Hauling
Gallons of fuel used
per animal produced
_________________________________
Diesel
Gasoline fuel LP
gas
Cleaning beef feedlots with
bedding used in housing--
Per animal marketed 2.25 1.60
2.70
Cleaning beef feedlots, no
bedding used in housing; for
feedlots holding up to 1,000
cattle at one time--
Per animal marketed 1.25 0.90
1.50
Cleaning beef feedlots, without
housing, 1,000 to 4,999 cattle on
feed at one time--
Per animal marketed 0.50 0.35
0.60
Cleaning beef feedlots, without
housing, over 5,000 cattle on
feed at one time--
Per animal marketed 0.40 0.30
0.50
Cleaning dairy lots with bedding
used in housing (includes scraping
lots) per year--
For each milk cow in herd 6.75 4.85
8.10
Cleaning dairy buildings with
liquid manure collection, storage
and hauling--
For each milk cow in herd 9.00 6.50
10.80
Cleaning swine confinement finishing
barns and lots; may be bedded--
Per pig raised to market 0.40 0.30
0.50
Cleaning swine finishing barns and
lots; may be bedded--
Per pig raised to market 0.30 0.22
0.35
Cleaning sow housing, per year
(includes cleaning farrowing
houses) 2.60 1.90
3.10
Basis for Fuel Use Estimates in Crop Production
The system used to develop the fuel use estimates was to, first, list the various field operations required to produce an acre of crop beginning with land
preparation and continuing through planting and harvest into storage; then to determine the horsepower hours required for each operation and, finally, to divide the horsepower hours by the typical number of
horsepower hours per gallon of gasoline to get the estimates on a gallons-per-acre basis.
The fuel consumption estimates for field operations are based on studies by the Iowa State University agricultural
engineering research group. Crop production studies were conducted by James C. Frisby, formerly assistant manager, University Farm Services.
All field operations were time-and-motion studies to determine typical rates of travel with various sizes of field machines, field operating efficiencies, and tractor-implement size relations versus timeliness.
Fuel consumption rates by the various tractors and self-propelled implements are based on a 10-year summary of Nebraska Tractor Test data for tractors operating at 50 to 75 percent of maximum load both on power
take-off and drawbar. An Illinois study disclosed that tractors operate at approximately 55 percent of maximum load while performing field work.
When determining fuel consumption rates for the various
operations, the 50 to 75 percent of maximum load figures were interpolated to match field speed and type of load based on experience with farm operations.
The fuel consumption estimates for the production of
corn, soybeans, small grain, hay, and silage have been checked against actual fuel consumption records by many Iowa farmers at the time field representatives of the Iowa Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Tax
Division, responsible for checking refunding of gasoline taxes, audited their fuel consumption records.
The Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Division reports a close correlation between our research-based figures and actual farm performance.
Fuel Use in Livestock Enterprises
Livestock production--particularly
finishing beef, cow-calf herds, market hogs, and dairy--are important livestock enterprises throughout the Corn Belt. Estimates given are based on amount of fuel needed to grind, mix, haul, and deliver to the
bunk the feed required to grow an animal from birth to market in the case of swine or beef cattle.
Fuel used to feed a dairy cow through 1 year's production, including the dry period, is on an annual basis.
Estimates for poultry are based on amount of fuel used in the production of 100 birds.
Tons of feed required to finish meat animals and poultry and to maintain dairy cows in production were obtained from the
department of animal science at Iowa State University. These figures are based on many years of research in nutrition and production of livestock.
One of the large chore jobs with livestock is the cleaning
and maintenance of buildings and lots and the handling of liquid manure from confinement livestock systems. Waste production volumes used in manure removal and hauling estimates for all farm livestock have
been well established by research people working in environmental quality. Allowances were made for a system where large amounts of bedding are being used.
Limitations
These estimates of fuel used in
field crop and livestock production are based on the most reliable experimental data available and are tempered by practical experience.
The estimates given in this report are typical considering soil, field,
crop, and weather conditions; but the values might be adjusted 10 percent up or down providing good judgement is exercised by the farm operator.
Some of the estimates in this publication are used by
courtesy of the Iowa Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Division, and Farm Journal.
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