The Fertilizer Files

[ColevilleH2S]

... Canary seed on the canola stubble. An eight acre strip got zero N and zero canary, so I came back with oats. The oats in the strip got no herbicide, no nutrients of any kind. It went about 130...

Trading inputs for time.
130 in two years is 65 bushels per acre per year.

[woodland]

Hi Sheepwheat
Gotta remember Steve Kenyon is buying hay for his bale grazing. Importing nutrients and organic matter of any form to tired old pasture can triple grass production for quite a few years. The moisture retention of the leftover hay and manure helps a lot too.

I think the best way to increase forage production out here is to rotate alfalfa based fields every 5-7 years vs perpetual grass. No till and mixed farming make this “easier“ to do.

One of the side effects of the corn grazing we’re doing is the improvement of our sandiest ground. Most years it would burn up in a grain crop but now grows 7+ foot corn on the hilltops. There’s a huge increase of tilth in the soil and we’re cutting back on fertilizer after 3-4 years. I’m curious to see what another 5+ years of this will result in. We keep pulling soil tests annually from one field so we should be able to make some comparisons which will be interesting.

Many different ways to improve the soil and hopefully the finances too. Always interested in seeing how someone shakes up the neighbourhood. I’m looking forward to updates along the journey.

Good luck🍀

[Old Cowzilla]

We are all just nutrient traders cattle and grain hoping to make a bit on the margins. Seems a lot of other folks want to make more off our margins than us. The dirt smell and earthworms came back when I started seeding into stubble plus canola crops are better than ever. Can someone lend me a mil for state of art seeding tool to make up for previous tillage sins ?

[Guest]

an old morris maxim 2 will direct seed into any stubble including alfalfa , dont need the mil .

[WiltonRanch]

I have an ongoing experiment with a mix of clovers. Had a decent start last season so imagine with snow cover it should start off good this spring. Probably terminate one field and plant canola because of thistle pressure. Other field is cow feed so give it a shot of glyphosate and seed a cereal. Hoping clovers as resistant to glyphosate as they say so it’s set back enough to get cereal well established but come back enough later to make a nice feed. Goofy idea but I’m going to try. Heck if clovers come up thick I could leave it for hay or graze if I desperately needed grazing. All said I sit here and really wondered why I did this in the first place. Bought seed from a seed grower for a reasonable price and for what nitrogen this will fix won’t be a substantial larger value than what I paid. I guess it’ll be the other intangibles like deep roots, nutrient cycling, soil improvement, and extra spring grazing. Nutrient fixing alone a load of urea still more practical and economical.

[WiltonRanch]

an old morris maxim 2 will direct seed into any stubble including alfalfa , dont need the mil .

Tried it with a clapped out 1820 Deere with canola. Worked out fine and it was a dry year. We’ve been catching up on 10+ year old hay stands so need to work them up cause they’re rough. Otherwise I’d direct seed sod all the time. Needs to be sprayed previous year or it’s tough to do a good job.

[Sheepwheat]

Trading inputs for time.
130 in two years is 65 bushels per acre per year.

I don’t follow that theory? The oats was on the canola stubble. I maybe didn’t explain it well enough.

The main thing that the theory holds to, is that multiple species of forages, warm and cool season varieties, boosts the soil micro flora. Then, the root exudates, the michorhizae, the synergy starts. Dead and dying microflora, and the massive carbon sequestration because of a party mix of plants, is where the organic matter comes from.

Yes, Steve imports hay and bale grazes. But only on select pieces. I unroll hay. But only in very small acreages.

Before white man came, there was no added inputs. Where then did the organic matter come from then? The tall grass Prairie was not only one or two species. It wasn’t only rough fescue. It was dozens to a hundred or more plant species. All needing different nutrients, calling for and enhancing different nutrients. Growing symbiotically.

That is the part that fascinates me. Does this work? I will see. I mean no one on here has come forward and said they tried it. The closest thing to it is still one or two species blends.

I think the idea makes a pile of sense. Can’t wait to get out there this spring. I feel like a young lad again. Ha

We shall see.

[seedman]

http://www.back-to-your-roots.com/about/2023-conference.html

Anyone going to this?

I am going... have been trying a few of these things out on our operation last number of years and we are seeing some interesting things for sure. looking forward to the information being presented
.