Still baffled on cover crops

[WiltonRanch]

Covers make sense if you have cows. It’s really a no brainer but for a grain guy in this country it makes absolutely no sense. My clover mix I seeded last spring with a cereal forage crop started out decent this spring which i drilled in some more cereal and fertilizer and took off early milk regrew for some fall graze the cows are enjoying right now. Hope it fixed some nitrogen, drilled deep roots, recycled tied up nutrients down below, and increased the micro flora of the soil. I try this stuff to see if it works with my crappy management and maybe improves this clay solonetzic soil without much effort. Don’t believe half the bs Gabe Brown the most successful motivational speaker er’ farmer spouts but he’s right about changing it up and trying things.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

The research I have read, and I don't remember where I read it, is that a cover crop will use less water than the bare ground would otherwise lose.

That may not be the case in a full no till situation, assuming there is no bare ground.

Personally, in our climate, and soil, I can see the benefit of a cover crop that would start growing later in the growing season under the main crop, and start over again early spring to use up some moisture( I know, this contradicts what I said above, but we are not dealing with bare ground, typically completely covered with straw), to give us a fighting chance to get crops seeded on a wet spring, and have them survive the June monsoons.
Direct seeding into lush sprayed out alfalfa on a wet year has given very good results here, especially side by side with stubble.

Here, I think the ideal cover crop is alfalfa, spray it enough in the spring to set it back but not kill it, let it regrow under the crop, and as a perennial, lasts for years. And if it is too wet too seed in the spring, let it grow and salvage it as feed.

[Old Cowzilla]

Seed guys pushing cover crops ( big Money $ 50/acre ) to make up for lost cattlemen acres. Good way to get rid of #2 or poorer seed at good price. But yes any crop covering dirt instead of bare ground a good thing just get me an alfalfa that grasshoppers DON'T like ! Watching crop come up from sprayed sod from year before is very satisfying .

[Hamloc]

The research I have read, and I don't remember where I read it, is that a cover crop will use less water than the bare ground would otherwise lose.

That may not be the case in a full no till situation, assuming there is no bare ground.

Personally, in our climate, and soil, I can see the benefit of a cover crop that would start growing later in the growing season under the main crop, and start over again early spring to use up some moisture( I know, this contradicts what I said above, but we are not dealing with bare ground, typically completely covered with straw), to give us a fighting chance to get crops seeded on a wet spring, and have them survive the June monsoons.
Direct seeding into lush sprayed out alfalfa on a wet year has given very good results here, especially side by side with stubble.

Here, I think the ideal cover crop is alfalfa, spray it enough in the spring to set it back but not kill it, let it regrow under the crop, and as a perennial, lasts for years. And if it is too wet too seed in the spring, let it grow and salvage it as feed.

You certainly live in a different rain fall area than me AB5. We have sprayed out hay in the spring and attempted to grow a crop in the past. Sometimes we get enough rain that it works. But to simply stunt the alfalfa and let it regrow under the crops canopy, would work here maybe once in the last 20 years. As most have pointed out, our growing season does not lend itself to planting another crop post harvest, either there isn’t the moisture or the time.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

You certainly live in a different rain fall area than me AB5. We have sprayed out hay in the spring and attempted to grow a crop in the past. Sometimes we get enough rain that it works. But to simply stunt the alfalfa and let it regrow under the crops canopy, would work here maybe once in the last 20 years. As most have pointed out, our growing season does not lend itself to planting another crop post harvest, either there isn’t the moisture or the time.

Yes, year in and year out, our area is an exception within the semi arid prairies, we typically get more moisture than we have enough heat units to fully use. This year and 2021 being exceptions, there were areas that suffered from the lack of moisture in both June and August. We also have large areas where the water table is close enough that they never seem to suffer from a moisture deficit, a curse on a wet year.


And in my case, growing long season crops in a very short season, there is no shoulder season on either end. Your area does typically have growing season left over after crops are off.