Alfalfa in the Deep South

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2	Table 1. Estimated Cost of Establishment for Alfalfa in Bermudagrass								Southeast US, 2018-2019
3		Item	Description	Unit	Quantity	$/unit	$/acre	$/20 acres	% of Costs
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5	Estimated Variable Costs
6		Soil Test	(1 sample per 20 acres)	acre	0.05	$7.00	$0.35	$7.00	0.10%	20	acres
7		Seed	Alfalfa	lbs.	15.00	$5.15	$77.25	$1,545.00	21.73%	3	Useful life (years)
8		Fertilizer, Animal Manure	Broiler Litter (60N, 60P, 40K)	tons	0.00	$30.00	$0.00	$0.00	0.00%
9			Broiler Litter Application	tons	0.00	$8.00	$0.00	$0.00	0.00%
10		Fertilizer, Commercial	Nitrogen (N)	lbs.	0.00	$0.56	$0.00	$0.00	0.00%
11			Phosphorus (P)	lbs.	60.00	$0.34	$20.40	$408.00	5.74%
12			Potassium (K)	lbs.	200.00	$0.43	$86.00	$1,720.00	24.20%
13			Micronutrient Package	lbs.	4.00	$1.05	$4.20	$84.00	1.18%
14			Fertilizer Procurement	miles	50.00	$0.75	$1.88	$37.50	0.53%
15			Commerical Fertilizer Application	acre	2.00	$8.00	$16.00	$320.00	4.50%
16		Lime	(Prorated over 5 years)	tons	0.40	$32.00	$12.80	$256.00	3.60%
17		Custom Lime Spread	(Prorated over 5 years)	acre	0.20	$8.00	$1.60	$32.00	0.45%
18		Weed Control	Chemicals	acre	1.00	$7.23	$7.23	$144.60	2.03%
19			Custom Weed Control Application	acre	1.00	$5.25	$5.25	$105.00	1.48%
20		Planting Mach. & Equipment	Maint., Fuel, Oil, Lube	acre	1.00	$13.53	$13.53	$270.60	3.81%
21		Hired Labor		hours	0.25	$12.50	$3.13	$62.50	0.88%
22		Forage Tests	(1 sample per 10 acres)	acre	0.10	$7.00	$0.70	$14.00	0.20%
23		Misc. Expenses		acre	1.00	$15.00	$15.00	$300.00	4.22%
24		Interest on ½ of Operating Costs		dollars	$265.31	6.25%	$16.58	$331.64	4.67%
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26	Total Variable Costs						$281.89	$5,637.84	79.31%
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28	Estimated Fixed Costs
29		Planting Mach. & Equipment	Ownership costs	acre	1.00	$11.89	$11.89	$237.80	3.35%
30		General Overhead		dollars	$281.89	7%	$19.73	$394.65	5.55%
31		Management Fee		dollars	$281.89	6%	$16.91	$338.27	4.76%
32		Land Rent		acre	1.00	$25.00	$25.00	$500.00	7.03%
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34	Total Fixed Costs						$73.54	$1,470.72	20.69%
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36	Total Cost of Establishment for Alfalfa in Bermudagrass						$355.43	$7,108.56	100.00%
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38
39	Prorated Share of Alfalfa Establishment Cost (Prorated over 3 years)						$118.48	$2,369.52	33.33%
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41	Univeristy of Florida, IFAS, Range Cattle Research and Education Center							Updated:	5/1/2019
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