2017 Black Walut Harvest

[Eugene]

Have a bit over 25 gallons of hulled, cleaned, dried, black walnuts curing on the front porch. Should pick put to about 2 gallons of meats.

[Eugene]

Wife said she wanted to pick up and sell walnuts this year. After selling the nuts, wife was celebrating that we made $12.25 per person, per hour, picking up nuts. I reminded her that she had not deducted the expenses from her $70- check.

Nice article in todays local newspaper on two in county hulling stations. One station that has been in business for many years, purchases 200K to 250K pounds of hulled walnuts every year.

[Eugene]

$215.10 worth of hulled black walnut sold. That is 1434 pounds of hulled black walnuts.

About 20 hulled black walnuts to a pound equals 28680 nuts. Have at least another 1000 hulled nuts curing, for personal use.

With the hull that's about 3000 pounds of walnuts hauled to the hulling station.

Wife and I have at least 18 man/woman hours labor in just picking up nuts for the $215.10. Additional time not included. Expenses not deducted from the $215.10.

https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/misc/walnut/p137_142.pdf

Above pdf file is on black walnut harvesting costs. Dollar figures are out of date, but provide a very good idea on the profitability or lack there of for growing black walnuts for nut harvesting.

[Eugene]

Checked the local black walnut hulling station this morning, 260,000 pounds hulled and sold to the station. Most came from within a 10 to 15 mile radius of Linn, Mo.

That comes to $39,000 worth of nuts sold. Typically kids, young family members, pick up the nuts. Grandpa delivers the nuts to the huller and gives the money to the kids.

[Eugene]

Since my wife was apprehensive about her cataract surgery, no driving, bored, wanted something to do, she suggested we pick up and sell black walnuts. Normally I wouldn't have picked up that many, or spent that much time on the project. Hard on my back. Told wife we would stop when we received enough to pay the property tax on the acreage and enough funds to buy two large nut pecan trees. Acreage is 35.92 acres. Assessor has the acreage listed at 35.81 acres.

$74.06 on acreage AG land. A considerable drop fro $120- last years tax. Assume the difference it's depreciation on the shop building.
$2.75 on 16 foot flat bed, dual axle, trailer.
$8.26 on 2 each something, listed as FM 75 and 76. Valued at $500- each. Assume it's the two skid steers since they are not listed elsewhere.
$5.51 for 154 IH Cub.
$5.51 for WC Allis Chalmers
$2.29 each on 2 utility trailers.
$4.59 each on 2 WD Allis Chalmers tractors. Not sure why the WC Allis is valued at more than the WDs.
$4.59 on the IH Cub, standard Cub.

Have enough money left over after paying taxes to purchase several pecan seedlings, large nuts.

We will get another sheet near the end of December to delete and add vehicles, property, equipment, owned as of 1 Jan 2018.

Previously went to the assessors office and explained that the listed WD45 Allis Chalmers were WDs. Assume them folks are city slickers.

Any way, the difference in assessment is only a $1- or $2-, not worth complaining about or a court case.

[Stanton]

Sounds like your nut venture went as planned or a little better. It was a good production year for MO black walnuts; next year won't be as good.

[Eugene]

Sounds like your nut venture went as planned or a little better. It was a good production year for MO black walnuts; next year won't be as good.

Probably true. Two previous year, essentially no nut production, mostly weather related.

Have some 15 - 20 year old black walnuts comming into production. Should have more than enough walnuts for personal use. Not planning of picking up and sell nuts in the future. Will continue triming up the black walnut trees for future saw logs.

Bad back. Picking up walnuts, would work until I couldn't stand the pain, sit for 10 minutes, pick up more nuts, pain, sit. Currently cracking and picking black walnuts. Installing medicine in wife's eye and driving her around, due to recent cataract surgery keeps me tied down most of the day.

[(CUB HUT)]

Eugene-----------Try one of these http://nutwizard.com/ will save your back ,have one works great. Dave

[Eugene]

Dave:

Have two nut wizards. They do help a lot. Still have chronic pain in the back.

Use to send one to father in Iowa a couple weeks before the nuts fell in Missouri. Father used the nut wizard to clean up fallen nuts, then dump them in the trash.

Daughter called the other day saying son in-law wanted to pick up, hull, process black walnuts from her property. Told daughter to talk son in-law out of it, unless he just wanted to use the nut wizard to clean up the property.

[Urbish]

Check this one out, guys. Make sure you watch until the end:

[Jim Becker]

Looks like 10 buckets would save some work.

[Urbish]

Looks like 10 buckets would save some work.

Yep, some 1 gallon ice cream pails would just about do it. I haven't watched any of the poster's other videos, but I suppose that the ends of the tarp could be gathered up and the haul poured into a larger vessel.

[Eugene]

Check this one out, guys. Make sure you watch until the end:

Interesting video. But, if you look closely the ground is level and bare. All the pecans have been thrown out in one area.

Spent 15 plus years looking for an economical method of harvesting/picking up black walnuts in this part of the Ozarks. Haven't found it yet. I realize that I have thousands of dollars worth of black walnuts on the ground that I can not harvest. Most are not accessable by mechanical or manual means due to the terrain.

I'm slowly getting the black walnut trees lined up in a row to ease manual harvesting.

If you watch California walnut harvesting, level area, trees lined up in a row. Doesn't happen in this part of the Ozarks.

Mechanical harvesters are available. Pay back time - - - never.

In this local, the terain is not level, it's silva pasture. Meaning that there are a lot of dips and ridges under trees. Any mechaincal picker upper would miss a lot of the nuts. Next issue is that black walnuts do not produce ever year. Had no nut production in the previous two years. So, spend $30K for a mechanical nut picker upper and no production for 2 years. --- Doesn't economically work out.

Edit was a spelling correction.

[v w]

Experience around here on that type of nut picker, or at least one picker on the end of a handle, is that it picks up a lot of junk along with the walnuts. I pick up by hand for what few we need. Vern

[Eugene]

Just finished cracking and picking black walnuts. Total 74 Cups, vacuum sealed. Have given away 10 or 12 cups, balance in the freezer.

74 cups equals 19.14 lbs. If baked into cookies, depending on the recipe, some where between 2600 and 5000 cookies.

Wife has been mixing chopped black walnut meats into Jiffy cake mixes and in frosting. Daughter makes oatmeal, raisin, and black walnut cookies.