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| Here are my assumptions.
1. You knew the farm before you purchased it.
2. You don't have a magic way to reduce overhead just for that field.
So, here is the problem. The vast majority of your total cost per acre is going to be there no matter what crop (good, bad, average) you grow. You can either "lose" money for a long time (slow buildup) or correct the problem and start reaching your yield goals (make money).
I haven't got a clue what your soil type is or where you are at. Means we don't know what we are working with or what resources we have to work with. But for fun lets use the numbers and products you have listed. I like simple numbers so a ton of Dap and potash. That in itself could scare people. But our Mr. Wilson likes to put down those rates and has reported no trouble on his high CEC soils. The cost doesn't scare me if I purchased the ground knowing I had to do it. Total cost around 500 bucks. Seems high to all the row crop guys. Specialty crops people will be wondering what all the fuss is about. But again, it should have been figured into the cost of the ground from the beginning. What's lime in your area? Here around 12 spread. So another 50 for a total of 550.00 per acre. Here's the best/worst part. You are going to be "paying" for that regardless if you put the fertilizer down or not. Spring and Fall split is all I would consider.
Now, I wouldn't do it this way here as I have access to other products. I think I would dump 10 ton of chicken litter per acre on it. Add the lime then hit it with a chisel plow. Disc two times in Spring and plant. Total cost 200 bucks.
Coal mine ground gets numbers like we are talking. One project had 125 ton of lime per acre put on and we have been over a ton of P and K a few times. The junk we work with shouldn't even be called dirt. But we have to grow grass on it.
One thing to redo. Take the several soil test. I would split each three ways. Parts going to two commercial labs and one to the land grant college. Let's make sure the numbers are "solid". Whatever that means in soil testing.
Here is a budget from a 60 I picked up last fall. Tile 650.00 Lime 36.00 Litter 150 Clearing 200. Total 1036. I cheated and put the tile in myself but treated the cost the same for budgeting. Cost still there as I could have been tiling for someone else. I knew these cost going in.
The point is Lost yield vs Added cost. That is the equation you should be looking at.
It is more fun to go to the field to see how good it is than how bad it is.
Tim
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Bought a Farm that needs alot of fertizer, what do you think?
