Stuck farming soybeans

[valenti_scott]

Hello-
I'm sorta stuck in this rut, in which I am farming soybeans, and only soybeans, except for the occasional contract which is different from soybeans. Why soybeans? They always seem to get the best price, so I stick with 'em.

I haven't been farming anything else, which includes animals. So I guess I'm looking for a suggestion about what to try next; a certain crop or a certain animal. Any ideas would be appreciated.
-Scott

[SeaDog]

Are you using Seasons? If not, try that next. Try adding a GEO that will let you do two crops a year. Try Cows. They make tons of money once you get them producing milk.

[Ferrus]

Sunflowers and Oats are a good shout. If you want to do animals, you will need 400k minimum to get cattle set up, but will pay for them selves in the end. Hay and silage bales are the best way to get them fed, 1 silage & 2 hay will get you the TMR you need to feed them. Best to get a couple of grass fields, 1 for each should do it, medium- small is an ok size.

Pigs aren't to bad, 200k should be enough to get you started, buying pig food in bulk helps a lot as they drop it as mess that needs cleaning. Plus they breed like rabbits, so you will always have lots of slurry and manure.

If you're playing with seasons , best to get everything you will need together first before you start with cattle, it will take a nearly a full year before they start producing milk. Pigs you can start at any time, but they are a bit slow going and the prices aren't too great depending on the method you use. They guys who made seasons have a good guide on their website on how to approach animals with seasons.

[Mazrius]

I would suggest Wheat as a crop, and chickens as an animal. The chickens will eat the wheat, albeit slowly, and you can sell off the straw. Gotta make sure you have the thing enabled that shoots out the straw in a line. You'll need a forage wagon/trailer to collect the straw. Save one harvest of wheat for the birds, and just sell the rest until that gets low and then save the next. So on and so forth.

Another thing for the chickens, get the egg crate mod, buy a couple of them. Buy a flat trailer (first one, customize it flat), strap the 2 crates into it and then just park the trailer so that the crates are inside the area where the eggs appear at. Then when they are full, just drive to your sell point of choice and they will unload.

[SeniLiX]

Originally posted by valenti_scott:

They always seem to get the best price, so I stick with 'em.

It's a common misconception, to think the crop with the highest number on the finance screen is the most profitable one.

Everything else being equal, soybeans would be the most profitable, but that is not the case.
You need to factor in several other aspects:
- Yield
- Seed usage
- Fuel usage
- Labour (Time usage)
- Initial cost of machinery
- Market saturation (Price flucturations and great demands)
- Byproducts
- Alternative usage of products (Like animal feed)

All of the above varies, depending on the crop you wanna go with. Soybean is (together with canola) some of the lowest yielding crops in the game, hence the higher price per 1.000 liters.

[Pops_Rogers]

Originally posted by valenti_scott:

Hello-
I'm sorta stuck in this rut, in which I am farming soybeans, and only soybeans, except for the occasional contract which is different from soybeans. Why soybeans? They always seem to get the best price, so I stick with 'em.

I haven't been farming anything else, which includes animals. So I guess I'm looking for a suggestion about what to try next; a certain crop or a certain animal. Any ideas would be appreciated.
-Scott

What I seem to do most now is cattle. 2 cattle pastures (I modded mine to 500 cows), around 100 acres of grass and at least 25 acres of a grain (for straw) this will make you self sufficient with the cows. If you want to go even further into being self sufficient use seasons and give only one pasture straw. This will result in one pasture giving manure only and the other slurry only. Use these to feed into seed and fertilizer plants (Don't worry they're small lol) made by Hot Productions http://www.farmingsimulator19mods.com/hot-produktionen-v1-0-4-1-fs19/ The pack has Fertilizer, liquid fertilizer, herbicide and seed plants. This will take care of your planting expenses.

Seasons also gives you the benefit of getting in 2 crops a year if you're using the right geo. I recommend USA Simplified http://www.farmingsimulator19mods.com/seasons-geo-usa-simplified-v1-2-0-0-fs19/
If you use this you're almost guaranteed to get in 2 crops a a year. One production and one cash and also gives you necessary crop rotation at the same time. This geo never lets the ground get cold enough for you not to be able to plant the 1st of spring so by mid/late summer you can harvest then plant soy and they should be ready just before winter hits.

An extra added cash bonus would be to use the straw harvest mod http://www.farmingsimulator19mods.com/addon-straw-harvest-v1-1-fs19/
and LEASE the Primos to turn the 1/2 the straw into straw pellets and sell them here http://www.farmingsimulator19mods.com/self-marketing-1-1-0-0-fs19/ This mod gives you a stand where you can sell the pellets as well as some interesting milk and potato vending machine/automat/farmers market stands

Anyways I enjoy it....Hope any of this helps. Happy farming and stay safe.

Peace

P.S.: A great map to set this up in is Przemasy Wielkie https://www.farming-simulator.com/mod.php?lang=en&country=gb&mod_id=160730&title=fs2019
Everything on the starting farm can be sold so it gives you a sizeable, empty, FLAT, piece of land to lay everything down on, that has a beautiful bridged entrance.

[valenti_scott]

Thanks everyone, a lot to think about. I think the main point is to experiment with different crops and animals and mods. I'll get going!

[Tankfriend]

I'd recommend grains (wheat, barley, oats), instead. The price might not be as high as with soybeans, BUT the yield is noticeably higher (which tends to offset the lower price) and you can also sell the straw for extra income.

[SeaDog]

Originally posted by Mazrius:

I would suggest Wheat as a crop, and chickens as an animal. The chickens will eat the wheat, albeit slowly, and you can sell off the straw. Gotta make sure you have the thing enabled that shoots out the straw in a line. You'll need a forage wagon/trailer to collect the straw. Save one harvest of wheat for the birds, and just sell the rest until that gets low and then save the next. So on and so forth.

Another thing for the chickens, get the egg crate mod, buy a couple of them. Buy a flat trailer (first one, customize it flat), strap the 2 crates into it and then just park the trailer so that the crates are inside the area where the eggs appear at. Then when they are full, just drive to your sell point of choice and they will unload.

Not to hijack the thread but I have always found chickens to eat much more wheat than they were worth. Never did make a profit on them.

[Usedfireball]

Originally posted by Tankfriend:

I'd recommend grains (wheat, barley, oats), instead. The price might not be as high as with soybeans, BUT the yield is noticeably higher (which tends to offset the lower price) and you can also sell the straw for extra income.

The grains, as well as canola and soybeans, should all come to around the same gross $ amount. Keep in mind the grains give straw which is pointless unless you can bale or turn it into pellets. The straw harvest addon makes it worth even more I believe. (one L of pellets equals 4 of straw, do the math on the price offered and you will find out pellets pay for themselves quickly.) From digging through files the conversion rate of the Premos it kicks out pellets at the rate of 25% for the amount of straw it takes in, but the pellets are usually worth a LOT more than straw. (More than 75%, that is for sure!)

[Blurplegirl]

Originally posted by SeniLiX:

Originally posted by valenti_scott:

They always seem to get the best price, so I stick with 'em.

It's a common misconception, to think the crop with the highest number on the finance screen is the most profitable one.

Everything else being equal, soybeans would be the most profitable, but that is not the case.
You need to factor in several other aspects:
- Yield
- Seed usage
- Fuel usage
- Labour (Time usage)
- Initial cost of machinery
- Market saturation (Price flucturations and great demands)
- Byproducts
- Alternative usage of products (Like animal feed)

All of the above varies, depending on the crop you wanna go with. Soybean is (together with canola) some of the lowest yielding crops in the game, hence the higher price per 1.000 liters.

Wish there was a way to track this in real time accurately

but initial cost of machinery is a little hard to do IMHO as farmers often buy machines to do more than one thing not just that crop or field, etc.

[Mazrius]

Originally posted by Usedfireball:

The grains, as well as canola and soybeans, should all come to around the same gross $ amount. Keep in mind the grains give straw which is pointless unless you can bale or turn it into pellets. The straw harvest addon makes it worth even more I believe. (one L of pellets equals 4 of straw, do the math on the price offered and you will find out pellets pay for themselves quickly.) From digging through files the conversion rate of the Premos it kicks out pellets at the rate of 25% for the amount of straw it takes in, but the pellets are usually worth a LOT more than straw. (More than 75%, that is for sure!)

I bought a hay barn in the silo section. I store my straw there and sell it loose to the barn. I keep hearing about the pellet system, but am not sure how I feel about it since it, or something like it, is not in the base game

[Blurplegirl]

Originally posted by Mazrius:

Originally posted by Usedfireball:

The grains, as well as canola and soybeans, should all come to around the same gross $ amount. Keep in mind the grains give straw which is pointless unless you can bale or turn it into pellets. The straw harvest addon makes it worth even more I believe. (one L of pellets equals 4 of straw, do the math on the price offered and you will find out pellets pay for themselves quickly.) From digging through files the conversion rate of the Premos it kicks out pellets at the rate of 25% for the amount of straw it takes in, but the pellets are usually worth a LOT more than straw. (More than 75%, that is for sure!)

I bought a hay barn in the silo section. I store my straw there and sell it loose to the barn. I keep hearing about the pellet system, but am not sure how I feel about it since it, or something like it, is not in the base game

So you play with NO mods at all?

[bplus410]

Originally posted by Usedfireball:

Originally posted by Tankfriend:

I'd recommend grains (wheat, barley, oats), instead. The price might not be as high as with soybeans, BUT the yield is noticeably higher (which tends to offset the lower price) and you can also sell the straw for extra income.

The grains, as well as canola and soybeans, should all come to around the same gross $ amount. Keep in mind the grains give straw which is pointless unless you can bale or turn it into pellets.

There are a couple extensive guides posted that don't necessarily agree with this.
In general straw crops are more profitable than soy, canola & suns if the straw sale is factored in, less profitable if straw isn't sold.
Seems best to use a loading wagon opposed to baling.

[Tankfriend]

Yes, you can just use a loading wagon to pick up and sell the straw. No baling required for that. And with straw sale, these crops tend to make more money than the low yield-high price crops like canola or soy.

[Blurplegirl]

I also heard that Silage can also be very profitable as well especially if you sell it to the BGA if your map has one.