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Nilsson Farms -- Experiences with 2-Pass Fertilize - and - Seed SystemsBy Jon Nilsson Nilsson Farms is located in Clearwater, Latah and NezPerce counties of Northern Idaho. We consider ourselves having a midsize direct seed/minimum-tillage farming operation growing: Winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, oats, garbonzo beans, lentils, peas, flax, canola, mustard, blue grass and hay. One of the major obstacles we face on this farm is the distance between field's ranges up to 50 miles. With steep and narrow roads between sites, ease of equipment mobility is crucial to our success. When we consider purchasing new equipment, not only do we consider what advantages it may have in the field, but also how easy it transports. Nilsson Farms started using minimum-tillage methods in the late 80's and began direct-seed operations in the early 90's. Currently, our farm operation utilizes both minimum-tillage and direct-seed methods depending on the particular field, commodity, weather condition, market opportunity, landlord expectation, cost and timeliness. Our mission statement in a sense, is to produce high quality/yielding commodities at the lowest possible cost and time; yet practicing the best possible stewardship for the land and environment. The majority of our operation and home place lies within Clearwater County. This portion of the farm is approximately 16 miles East of Kendrick. The remaining portion of the farm located in the Genesee region, which lies between Moscow and Lewiston. The soil in Clearwater County is a clay loam, with topsoil ranging between 1-1/2 to 2 feet deep. This soil profile tends to readily leach nutrients and does not retain moisture very well. The rainfall for this area averages between 25 and 30 inches and the elevation ranges between 3000-3500 feet. Fall and spring weather can at times become exceptionally wet without much notice and can shorten our planting window. Summer rains are essential. No rain around the 4th of July typically means marginal winter wheat yields and poor spring crop yields. Minimum-tillage and direct-seed methods have definitely improved planting timeliness while improving water retention/drainage by eliminating the old "plow hardpan" while at the same time maintaining a layer of surface residue protecting the soil profile during the hot summer months. The Genesee region soil is a silt loam, with a deep profile and tends to hold moisture and nutrients very well. The rainfall for this area averages between 15 and 25 inches depending on the specific field and the elevation ranges between 1500-2500 feet, again contingent on the field location. For winter wheat in Clearwater County region, we traditionally plant using two systems. In high residue stubble like flax and canola, we use two Great Plains Solid Stand 10 No-Till drills. These drills have a 7 " row spacing with coulters to divide stubble, followed by a standard double disc opener and press wheel. The drills are equipped with dry fertilizer boxes, which place phosphate, and starter nitrogen/sulfur with the seed. Due to nutrient loss in the soil, the majority of fertilizer is applied in the early spring. These drills have worked very well for us over the years. But with a 20' width and being jointly owned with another farmer, acres become limited due to seeding window constraints. Our second method of winter wheat planting consists of a two-pass method. We have utilized McGregor's Straw Boss fertilizer applicator for winter wheat on barley stubble and also Cenex Harvest States and McGregor Ripper applicators for winter wheat on pea, lentil and garbonzo stubble. Once the fertilizer has been placed approximately 4-6" deep, planting is applied with a set of John Deere 455 drills. The John Deere 455 drills have been an excellent choice for our two-pass winter wheat system of planting have been awesome for transportability. Our drills are 35'wide with 10" row spacing. These drills can place a moderate amount of down pressure and utilize packer wheels. Ten-inch row spacing is a very good choice for minimum tillage applications because they allow larger clods and residue to pass between the disc openers without plugging. Plugging can be a nightmare especially if residue is wet. Another option added to our drill is dry fertilizer boxes, which incorporate fertilizer directly with the seed. This option allows us to place starter fertilizer directly with seed for numerous commodities other than wheat such as barley, flax and canola. Planting winter wheat in the Genesee area with the 2-pass seeding system has worked exceptionally well. This region typically produces high yielding pulse crops with lots of residue. Chaff spreaders on combines are an essential step to spread residue before applying fertilizer. The McGregor fertilizer rippers have work well preparing an adequate seed bed yet at the same time leaving as much residue as possible on top of the ground reducing erosion. Because of the deep soil profile in this area which does not lose nutrients, the majority of our fertilizer is applied in the fall. We traditionally top-dress a light amount of dry fertilizer with an airplane application in the early spring. In preparation for spring planting, we traditionally moldboard plowed every acre of wheat stubble. Our last plow job was 1997 and is definitely not missed! Our system now consists of harrowing fall wheat stubble with a heavy harrow, chisel plowing and harrowing again. Our particular harrow is homemade and consists of 16" solid tines and was primarily copied from the McGregor heavy harrow design. Harrowing the chisel plowed ground makes the fall round-up application much smoother but also does a fairly good job preparing the ground for spring. Depending on weather conditions we usually apply an additional Round-up application in the spring prior to any tillage. Our primary tillage tools for spring planting consist of a medium duty flexible harrow and Danish-tine cultivator, however in some cases we have used field cultivators to work through high residue conditions. As previously mentioned, our goal is to make as few tillage applications as possible but the time of year, soil conditions and the levelness required for the particular commodity always dictates the number of tillage passes. For example: there have been times when we have applied fertilizer with a McGregor ripper and immediately seeded using the JD455 drills. We have also had success harrowing, lightly cultivating with the Danish tine and then seeding barley, flax, and garbonzo beans. Other years we have simply lightly cultivated without harrowing and have seeded. To the other extreme, this year we purchased a flex header for a combine so we double cultivated and finish harrowed all lentil ground knowing we would be inexperienced with this new header- definitely a good choice! The beauty of a minimum tillage operation allows us to add or reduce the number of tillage passes depending on the year and the commodity - flexibility is essential. There are several obvious advantages with the direct-seed and minimum-tillage systems we have incorporated. Some advantages include: Reduced soil erosion through higher residue cover, increase water drainage by eliminating the hard pan, increased water retention during the growing season and a reduction of labor and fuel costs during the traditional fall/spring work season. Fewer field operations during the busy planting season allows us to do more work without as much additional labor - making this system much more efficient than traditional methods of farming. Minimum-tillage systems also come with many disadvantages. These disadvantages include: Initial cost of "higher tech" equipment. Equipment works in a harsher environment therefore maintenance cost increases. Residue management is a problem especially during a wet season. Rodents can be a significant problem for winter wheat because high residue provides excellent protection from both weather and predators. Although the busy seasons are less strenuous and require less labor, it seems as though much more time is spent before and after planting either spraying or harrowing. Due to our distance/elevation differences throughout the farm, we usually begin the season as early as March 1, and finish our last field operation by November 10. This does not leave much time between for maintenance and those "nice-to-do" things around the farm. Regardless of any disadvantages, we are confident that minimum-tillage practices really do work and believe the positives far outweigh the negatives. Direct-seed and minimum-tillage practices are here to stay. By using these seeding techniques and also developing a crop rotation plan, we have not only improved overall yields, but have also reduced soil erosion. This can only be a positive step as we begin this conservation wave of the 21 century. These methods have also reduced the traditional spring and fall "busy season" but have unfortunately increased overall labor hours throughout the production period. The greatest advantage of the direct-seed and minimum-tillage practice is that they allow us to add or subtract field operations depending on conditions whenever needed. Our natural progression and goal is to move more to a direct-seed method. But due to the current economics of Agriculture, distance between fields and the transportability of equipment, we feel comfortable with both methods of seeding practice. At least for now. |
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us: Hans Kok, (208)885-5971
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