Ag PHD app

[farmaholic]

Once PLENTIFUL dairies in this area are down to two.
Beef guys don't pay well, or sometimes ever. Fewer of them too, but whose left are running much bigger #'s.
We don't have cattle and have no intention on getting back in.
Phosphate for perennial trifoliates is expensive too.
Field maintenance, mole hill, gopher, badger and fox hole leveling and maybe rolling is required.
I'm not investing in fence or dug-outs for something that could be grazed but taken out of production when the establishment gets "tired" and put back into annual crop production.

[helmsdale]

True if this is the first year that the straw was returned to the soil. But if you have been putting the straw back every year for years or decades, at some point the mineralization of previous straw must cancel out the need to fertilize for the stover growth in the current year. If not, then where do the nutrients go?

If your organic content concentration has stabilized, then yes. But as you said, a certain(likely large) amount disappears to the air and a smaller amount leaches to deeper depths.

The amount of mineralization depends on the O content and whether you're in balance or not... rough number I've gone with is 10lbs available for every 1%OM.

At least in my neighborhood, I figure not alot of the above ground residue returns to the soil as N if the C:N ratio of the residue is high. The long breakdown period of high C:N material means it likely gasses to atmosphere, but it keeps the ground cooler and damper which at least here is a significant reducer of soil N volatization.

In our case if you shot for half that yield, stover would require 32lbs, so if soil OM is less than 3.2% which the majority around here is, you'll have to supply the stover growth above what will mineralize.

[furrowtickler]

Furrow, I like the idea of aerating the soil but not with tillage. Last spring there were a gazillion earthworms when we were checking seeding depth. This fall when we disced a very small patch in the fields we were harvesting to place the tractor and disc on in case of fire, I noticed the lumps and chunks the disc turned up were full of earthworm tunnels. But where did the worms go? Deeper? Get out the track hoe! Lol, oops I forgot

Tillage is not the answer at all in this area either.
Just low areas to help dry out soil and help prevent frost damage at the end of May
Soil aerating needs to be done by good bacteria balance ... let the bugs do the work .
90% of our “tillage” is just the top inch while leaving 60/70% of the stubble in place . Need to help blacken the soil just a bit to help increase soil temp and biology most springs here .
Every area different.

[helmsdale]

Typical OM here is ~2.25% +/- about .75%.

I have some as low as 1.7(started at 1.3 10 years ago), and some as high as 3.4(seems to have stabilized). The stuff that started at 1.3 consistently had the residue removed from the field, eroded consistently in fallow years, and seen ZERO additional nutrients since it was broke 90-100 years ago. Stuff at 3.4 was broke in the late 60s and early 70s, didnt blow in the 80s, no residue has been removed, went min-till in the late 80s, continuous in the early 2000s, and has been supplemented with fertilizer since the mid 90s. The difference in crop potential is stark between the two!