Blane Anthony Supervisors Lora L. Damme President Bank of Talmage Dave Arends Accredited Farm Manager United Farm & Ranch Management Janice M. Keen Loan Officer Bank of Talmage BLANE ANTHONY Talmage, Neb. 287.1413 BU/A Pioneer 33R78 Harvest Pop.: 29,500 Harvester: Case IH 2366 An early-season weather scare had Blane Anthony seriously wondering about his prospects for a good showing in this year’s contest. “We had a frost about two weeks after planting that really blitzed the crop,” Anthony relates. “It looked just terrible.” The corn came back big time. A yield of just over 287 bu. per acre marked a best-ever for Anthony, who last stood in the winners circle in this category three years ago. “By the time we were ready to harvest, it looked great,” he says. “I couldn’t wait to get into the field to see what we had for yield.” The contest entry went into the ground on April 7, about a week earlier than he typically plants. “The conditions seemed right,” he says. “The soil was ready.” The entry was planted directly into soybean stubble from the previous year’s crop. Row spacing was 30". Seeding rate was 30,000 seeds per acre. Anthony set the stage for his winning entry the previous fall by knifing in 160 lbs. per acre of anhydrous ammonia. He followed with applications of dry fertilizer at 34-0-0, 11-52-0 and 0-0-60. At planting, he applied 6 gal. of 10-34-0 in the furrow. When the crop was knee-high, he sidedressed with 80 lbs. of 28-0-0 liquid nitrogen. For weed control, he applied Fulltime right after planting to get ahead of grass, then followed up with Callisto after the corn emerged to ward off broadleaves. As the harvest approached, Anthony figured he had the makings of a winner. “The crop looked great,” he says. “We couldn’t wait to get in there to see how it turned out.” Paying attention to detail is one key to achieving high yields, according to Anthony. “It comes down to staying on top of a bunch of little things,” he says. “You have to get your planter in tip-top shape over the winter, watch your planting speed and make some extra trips to the field to make sure everything is going the way you want it to go.” Anthony pegs a desire to do better all the time as a major motivation for participating in the contest. “It gives you a chance to try some new things to see how they might work out,” he says. “The sidedressing and the dry fertilizer are things we don’t normally do. If it works on a few acres, we might want to use it on more acres in the future.”
	Supervisors Everett A. Chamberlain County Extension Agent Rutgers University Robert Mickel County Extension Agent Rutgers University Donna Foulk County Extension Agent Rutgers University CHRIS SANTINI Stewartsville, N.J. 258.3384 BU/A Pioneer 33B51 Harvest Pop.: 30,000 Harvester: JD 9450 High corn yields were a family affair at the Santinis’ this year. Chris’s husband, Sam, won the A Non-Irrigated category. Daughter Stephanie finished right behind mom in this category. “It was a real team effort,” says Chris. “Being in the contest was a lot of fun for the family.” Santini pegs good soil fertility as one key to top yields. The Santinis work with a local crop consultant and have been soil testing all of their fields annually for more than a decade. “You don’t go out and build a contest field in one year,” says Santini. “You have to build it up over time. If our sample shows we’re short on something, we put it on. We don’t try to cut corners.” Attention to detail at planting time is another major component of Santini’s approach. “Planting speed is very important,” she says. “For our contest fields, we slow down to two miles per hour. That way you get uniform spacing and don’t have as many skips or doubles. If you don’t put the seed in the ground right, the rest of the year won’t go right either.”		Supervisors John Stutzman Crop Consultant Bill Tietjen County Extension Agent Rutgers University STEPHANIE SANTINI Stewartsville, N.J. 248.6521 BU/A Hubner H3473RR Harvest Pop.: 30,000 Harvester: JD 9450 Sometimes you have to gamble to come out on top. Going with a hybrid she had never tried before was Stephanie Santini’s big gamble this year. It paid off with a yield of nearly 249 bu. an acre. “If you’re not willing to take a chance and try something new, how do you know whether it will work for you or not?” she reasons. A great weather year overall helped the cause. “We got the rains when we needed them,” says Santini. “We had enough warm weather late in the year, but we didn’t get any of the 100-degree days to stress the corn. It was pretty close to ideal.” One exception: High winds associated with Hurricane Ivan knocked the crop flat in mid-September. “We really thought we were one,” says Stephanie. “We had to buy a special reel for the combine head so we could pull the corn up off the ground. Even then we were leaving a lot of corn in the field. After we picked it, we couldn’t believe how good it was.” Stephanie can hardly wait for next year. “When you compete against the best, it makes you better,” she says.