Tips on being profitable?

[kevinorf]

I’ve dabbled in FS17 and am playing FS19, both the small farm mode and management mode where you start with $1.25 million. I enjoy both modes. Just want some tips on making a steady profit. I don’t mind a slow burn. Soybeans and suflowers seem to fetch good prices. I’ve been doing okay in management mode but I probably get too much equipment too soon (I lease mainly) or overextend myself with horses or whatever.

Any suggestions for being more profitable on the small farm or equipment for starting the management mode? For management mode, field 6 seems good (US map). Most of the other locations don’t have room to place stuff (other than the default starting farm which has pretty small fields).

I’ll probably hold off on animals for a while. Also, I wanted to try the European map...

[Sigmund]

@Kevinorf

To do Corn-Silage you need either a Forage Harvester, or the Pottinger Mex 5 forage harvester header (which you attach to a tractor).
These will harvest the corn and turn it into Chaff.

(To make silage you do not use the normal harvesters, and the corn head is only if you want to collect Corn. When you are making Silage you collect Chaff (broken Corn pieces).

You will need a Planter (Seeders do not plant corn).

You will need a cultivator.

Fertilizer spreader is optional, but it increases yield by 50% if you fertilize it twice. (so it's somewhat of a must)

Another optional is a plow, which will need to be used every 3 harvests, or will get a -15% penalty on yield. (because your planting Corn which is a "planted" crop and these require periodic plowing).

I assume you also need to Lime every 3 harvests, or you get a -15% (but maybe this only applies to grains, not sure.)

A loading trailer is not necessary BUT it can be used. (for example if you have a large loading trailer no need to buy a trailer)

You want preferrably a high capacity Trailer that handles Silage/Chaff. A lot of them do, so, for example you could use the Krone TX 560 D. Also it's somewhat useful that you use a Trailer that is pulled by a Tractor (which should have some power), because if you will be transporting chaff to the Biogas plant bunkers, it's easier to just unload the chaff on the bunker, and then run it over a bit with your Tractor. In theory you could transport it with a truck, and then have a dedicated Tractor on the Biogas plant just to compact the chaff.

Pure Silage/Chaff trailers are:
Krone TX560 D 56,000 L capacity
Annaburger Fieldliner HTS 31.06 55,000 L capacity
Schuitemaker SIWA 720 48,500 L capacity

You can of course use others, as pretty much anything carries silage, except the american grain trailers (Lode King Distinction, Wilson Trailer Pacesetter) or Auger wagons (also only hold grain)

If you gonna do it with trailers as big as these you should have a Tractor with at least 300 hp (as they need muscle to pull a fully loaded trailer), but it's doable with less.

Then you need conveyor belts to handle large amounts of silage from the Bunker into the Biogas sell point.

If i got your question right you just need to own the Biogas plant land to be able to use it's bunkers.

[kevinorf]

So I'm growing wheat. Can I wrap bales of the straw for silage, or do i actually cut the wheat for chaff instead of harvesting it for grain?

[Sigmund]

The only bales that can be wrapped for silage are grass bales. Silage bales are doable small scale, but on a very large field it is very time consuming, as you need to mow the grass, windrow the grass into less rows, bale the rows of grass into bales, wrap the bales with a wrapper (very fast if few bales, takes huge amount of time if 100+ bales).
The plus side of wrapped grass bales (silage bales) is that they become silage immediately.
But are very time consuming. Good in low quantity, and/or for feeding your animals.
Unless you REALLY like to bale and wrap :)

For larger scale, the way to do is Corn-Silage with Krone Big X 1180, and conveyor belts, doing silage in massive quantity.

While it is possible to make chaff out of many crops, it is much less efficient than doing it with Corn.
The real money maker when it comes to Silage is Corn-Silage.

To get chaff you need a Forage Harvester.

You drive next to the forage harvester with a trailer, and the harvester loads up your trailer with chaff.

Then if you take your Chaff to a bunker, and cover it, after a while it becomes silage, which you can sell.

[kevinorf]

Thanks. I took a grass cutting bale wrapping mission to learn the ropes. I did it in FS17 and remember it taking a lot of time. Can you simply drop the bales in a drop zone? I remember I had to load them in a hopper last time and it was a pain.

[ancienthighway]

The only bales that can be wrapped for silage are grass HAY bales.

[Aesyle]

Cheapest way to get lots of sileage is what i did in FS17:
* mow grass
* collect grass
* haul it to bunker silo
* compact it (extremely tedious if you have full bunker, i had 2.000.000L)
* cover it and let it ferment for 2-3 in-game days
* and voila, loads of sileage with minimal cost

Note: i haven't tested if it also works in FS19. E.g can you use grass to ferment it into sileage.

[MrTomWaffles]

Sell more then you make

[Oceansize]

Originally posted by kevinorf:

So I'm growing wheat. Can I wrap bales of the straw for silage, or do i actually cut the wheat for chaff instead of harvesting it for grain?

Only hay bales can be wrapped into silage, not straw bales.

But yes, wheat can be harvested with a forage harvester instead of a combine, this will turn it into chaff instead of grain, and that chaff can be fermented into silage. It takes longer than wrapping hay bales however.

The reason we all recommend corn for chaff is because you just get so much more chaff from corn than anything else. But chaff from wheat serves the exact same purpose, so you're good.

[Ankua]

Started my carreer by buying field seven..Followed that by renting a seeeder for grass planting and bought a medium tractor...Yes, I am once again using a Case Puma. ..I followed that trial by watching the grass growing while perusing the Krone 450 brocheure...It states it can leave a narrow trail of grass for baling...Went ahead and bouight the baler wrapper..I strapped that to the back of my new Krone 450...Took the Puma to tjhe store to pick up the autoload bale trailer.

Grass grows fast...Time consuming thankless job..Over a huindred bales a day on normal growth.

Time consuming....

[Sigmund]

So... this is especially dedicated to the people saying you need wrapped hay to make silage.


Picked up a mower and a baler/wrapper at the store.
Operation teach some noobs a lesson initiated.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319242


Grass bale being wrapped.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319291

At the barn, just before selling the Wrapped Grass bale/silage.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319399

wrapped grass Bale/silage sold. Money increases 1,861 euros
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319439

Let's check the prices
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319485

Hmm let's see, 465 Per 1000L silage.

Bale had 4000L then... ooga booga me make math 4 x 465 = ..suspense... 1,860 euros.

Damn, that looks so similar to the price i got just by selling my bale!

I wonder what i was selling... could it be.... SILAGE?


So maybe , MAYBE you make silage out of wrapped GRASS?

(Next time before spreading wrong information, check your info, have a nice day.)

[ancienthighway]

@Sigmund: My bad. You are correct. Yet another senior moment for this old man.

[Sigmund]

@ancienthighway
It's no problem, also maybe i was mistaken too, maybe you can do Silage with wrapped hay as well?

Personally i never tried since it would involve an extra step.

[Gruesome Puglet]

sunflower is the key

[lily_lil]

Does anyone know if there is a trailer that would work in combination with Pottinger Mex 5 for both to be attached to the tractor? I tried few trailers, but Mex seems to not want to unload when they are being pulled behind the tractor. It does work perfectly fine if a hired worker is doing the chaff and I drive along with a trailer, also I was looking towards avoiding hiring the worker for it.

[Oceansize]

Originally posted by Sigmund:

So... this is especially dedicated to the people saying you need wrapped hay to make silage.


Picked up a mower and a baler/wrapper at the store.
Operation teach some noobs a lesson initiated.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319242


Grass bale being wrapped.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319291

At the barn, just before selling the Wrapped Grass bale/silage.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319399

wrapped grass Bale/silage sold. Money increases 1,861 euros
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319439

Let's check the prices
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582319485

Hmm let's see, 465 Per 1000L silage.

Bale had 4000L then... ooga booga me make math 4 x 465 = ..suspense... 1,860 euros.

Damn, that looks so similar to the price i got just by selling my bale!

I wonder what i was selling... could it be.... SILAGE?


So maybe , MAYBE you make silage out of wrapped GRASS?

(Next time before spreading wrong information, check your info, have a nice day.)

FWIW, I was one of the posters who said you can make silage from wrapped hay, but I never said or implied that was the only way to make silage. I also never doubled down and insisted it was only hay not grass, and I never challenged your assertion that you can make it from grass.

In other words, you could have easily corrected me with far less time and effort on your part, lol. Hopefully you were having fun making this post. :-)

I haven't done this process yet in FS19, only in FS15 and FS17, so that explains my poor recollection. I will say, as I was typing all that about hay I did have the thought "why doesn't just grass work? If the entire intent is to ferment this stuff, why would you ever dry it out first?"

I should have listened to my instinct. :-)