Roller crimping rye in ND. Goal is to protect the soil from erosion and save money by no pre emerge chemical pass. This was 60lbs of rye flown into corn last September. Soybeans were planted before crimping. Been wanting to do this for a long time.
#soilarmor
Row cropped this piece in 2019. Been doing daily 1 acre moves with lots of rest since 2020. Never seeded any grass or clover, started out as weeds. This year the grass has really taken off. Still have more improvements to make but it’s been fun to see the regeneration.
Dug out some more
#worm
molds today. This one is from a long term no-till field. Lots of activity, and it even shows a crack in the soil. The nobs at the end of the channels are chambers where the worms curled up to survive the dry summer.
#soilhealth
@NDSUsoilhealth
Hard to watch all the RRV soil blowing around today. Soybean stubble is hard to keep enough residue. Stripper header for small grains, cereal rye, and crop rotation have been our best management tools to limit our wind erosion after soybeans.
#dustbowl24
Cows are out enjoying cereal rye that was planted last September after field pea harvest. They will graze for the next 10 days then this field will be
#notill
planted to soybeans
#soilhealth
@NDSUsoilhealth
First time seeding beans into unharvested wheat and barley residue. The rye was flown on last Nov (2019).Seems to be working pretty good. The worms sure love it!
#notill
#rrv
Going into the 4th year of no-till on this field. Structure is improving nicely. Soil is clinging to the rye cc crown roots showing a healthy rhizosphere.
#soilhealth
#notill
#covercrop
Moved the fall cows out to the full season cover crop today. Field is full of life with insects and birds. Brix reading showed 9-10. Have 57 hd on ~1 acre. Plan to do once daily moves through the 50 acres of cc. Should be a nice spot to calve out cows.
Last year’s stripper straw is providing great residue cover out in the soybean fields this year. Won’t have to worry about them blowing at all. The worms love it too!
#doitfortheworms
#soilhealth
Soybean stubble with lots of rye residue from last spring yet keeping the soil covered from the wind the past few days. Notill flax treated with IMOS and seeded with Bio 5 compost and humic acid.
#fortheworms
#notill
#soilhealth
#Covercrops
are starting to bloom in
#pollinator
strips that were planted the same day as sunflowers. The air was buzzing yesterday with
#bees
and other bugs! We will be taking biomass samples of the cover crops and yield/oil content of sunflowers will be taken at harvest
Rye is coming along nicely! Too bad we will be trading the soil shovel for the snow shovel again for a few days. Can’t wait for spring after digging around this afternoon!
#soilhealth
@NDSUsoilhealth
The cows are enjoying the full season cover crop. The goal is to graze 47 hd on 35 acres for 21 days. They are being moved every day. Leaving behind nice residue as well.
#soilhealth
#covercrops
#doitfortheworms
Great way to start the day when
@AgassizSeed
delivers cover crop seed! Hay mixes for field headlands to limit compaction and erosion. Cover crop mixes for full season grazing and calving pasture.
#soilhealth
#covercrops
#grazing
Lots of ground cover in this wheat field. The cows are still out here grazing and cycling nutrients for next year notill soybeans.
#soilarmor
#soilhealth
#wintergrazing
Flood
#3
for the year. 30+ inches of rain since June 1st. Mother Nature has made things a challenge. But the sun is out, and cows are happy on up on high ground. It’s going to be good day!
#harvest19
#rrv
A friend of mine, Jon Walker, brought bees yesterday. Going to be a fun summer learning how to raise them. Got a pollinator cover crop mix seeded along the field edge this morning before the rain.
#bees
#pollinators
#honey
#soilhealth
Maiden voyage of the I&J roller crimper. It’s doing a good job chopping up the sunflower stalks. We will come in now and do a pre plant spray to control some kochia before seeding barley.
Winter rye seeded in early May is still green and growing. Seeding rate was 25 lbs, and no fertilizer was applied. Sprayed once with Husky. Wasn’t mowed or anything. Will be fun to see how it grows next spring.
First time livestock have been on this piece of ground in approximately 70 years. Fun to see everyone spread out across the qtr. Some beetles are working on breaking down the manure too.
#grazing
#rye
#covercrop
#soilhealth
#herefords
Had a blast hunting pheasants at Olsen’s Pheasant Phun lodge this weekend for my bachelor party! Thanks
@PheasantPhun
for the great hunt, and
@D_bbyhlmz
with Leaf Drop Productions for filming!
Not much left of these
#soiledundies
out in a salinity demo site near Jamestown, ND. Lots of microbial activity even in the saline part of the field. There is another set ready to be dug up next week at the NDSU Soil Health Bus Tour, July 25-26th.
#soilhealth
@EdieCrk_Howrey
Two picture taken from the about the same spot in early June. First pic 2022, second pic 2024. Wish I would have taken pictures from the beginning. Used to be a lot more dandelions out there.
@growerofstuff
Ours were the same. Beans just seemed slow all year. Didn’t have much weed pressure though. Fields won’t blow with that residue out there.
@NDSUnic
@NDSUsoilhealth
This rye had a couple feet of water on it for about a week. I’m optimistic it will do just fine. All we need is some sunshine.