Combines How many of you no tillIJ

[Rockpicker]

I no-till. Grow small grains in MT. Almost everybody around here with the exception of organic farmers have gone no-till. We only average 12" of precip a year so moisture conservation is important. There really hasn't been much of an increase in yield on my farm but we've had some wet years. In my experience, no-till does better on normal and dry years. Wet years there are almost no difference. last year, I had a no-till field and conventional field side by side last year. During seeding, the conventional field was dry and powdery on top two inches. The no-till field right next to it was still wet and muddy. That kinda sold me. I no-till for other reasons too. last year was the first year our whole farm was in no-till. I have had portions of our farm in no-till for almost 10 years now. The organic matter has gone up in those fields. I have some ground that is down to 1.9% O.M from being conventionally farmed for so long and the stuff I have been no-tilling for 10 years is around 2.6%. I know that doesn't sound like very much for places like Iowa but our topsoil here is only about 10-12" deep. Also, some of our land is hilly and no-till reduces erosion. If no-till was outlawed, I would quit farming those hills tomarrow. Then there is the fuel factor. Before going no-till, I would take me 7 days to summerfallow our ground using over 300 gal of fuel per day and plowing up to 350 acres per day. On a normal year we would have to summerfallow three times a year. With no-till and our sprayer, I can spray 1,000 acres a day on 80 gal of fuel and be finished in three days. Plus I would only have to do this twice a year unless I have a wreck. Also, with the CSP program and "conservation" move, I figure now is as good as time any to go 100% no-till. And yes I did buy expensive sprayer, a JD 4720. love it and glad I did buy it because it replaced a JD 8400 and pull type sprayer. Its almost paid for too. Big self propelled sprayers are starting to pop up around here.

 

[pbutler]

I am 100% no-till corn and beans. Central, Il. The yeild differneces will vary depending on location, soil type, etc. So what is working for the Warm Tennessee sandy guy probably isn't going to fly as well for the guy in North Dakota. For me it means a lot of things...less equipment_depreciateion, less horsepower needed less fuel, less time. As for yeilds-in our area there are years that no-till will outperform conventional due to soil moisture savings-like last year. There are other years-like 2004 where conventional probably has the edge. At least in our area. So if you are looking to have the biggest yeild bragging rights then no-till may not be your bag. On the other hand if you would give up some yeild and still improve your bottom line then you may want to keep investigating. Start by finding someone in your area that has been doing it a while and talk to them. As Rockpicker wrote I am now enrolled in a great CSP Watershed program-getting about $20 an acre. Without no-till it wouldn't be close to that. So at least for me I am money ahead per acre at the end of the year. I don't have enought history to say long term-but I work pretty closely with a couple very experienced no-tillers in my area and their yeilds are tops on some fields they have been doing no-till continuous corn for several years now. You say the only thing you noticed with your neighbors is expensive sprayers. Not sure I could really correlate the two-on corn I make 2 sprayer passes wether no-till or conventional-in beans 1 or 2 passes no matter which tillage method. So if that is all you noticed then you should also notice their costs are much lower without all the tillage_fuel_equipment. If their yeilds are even close then they are probably $ ahead. You should talk to them as they can tell you how it is working in your area much more than any answer you are going to get here. Check out notillfarmer.com for more info as well.

 

[NDl2]

I imagine you burn down with Roundup(generic). Are you seeing any weeds that are becoming resistant to RoundupIJ Also do you see any hardpan areas in your fields as a result of not working the groundIJ I have heard this can result from years of notilling. Don't know if it is true. Are you guys using liquid fertilizer or spreading to get enough downIJ Or do you use a 1895 JD drillIJ. Right now on wheat, I put about 100 lbs. of anhydrous and then about 80 lbs. of 11-52 through the air seeder. If I put that much nitrogen down the tubes it would burn the seed not to mention be filling every 20 acres or less. SW ND is where I farm and I guess it is probably 25% small grain no till and 60% no till row crops. Whithin 20 miles of my yard. Most of the corn in this area is cut for silage.

 

[Red]

we kinda took a hit on notill back in the late 70s early 80s. we had moisture profile where you could drive a 6 ft probe one handed. but we were using an old baffalo planter which i don't think are bad but needed better seed furrow closing equipment. if it got hot and dry like it usually does ni western kansas we would get cracks on 30 inch centers and the milo and corn would fall over one year it cracked so bad that you could stick a shovel handle all the way down to the blade and not hit the bottom. it would have been a different story if we could have got some rain to seal up the seed furrow, or had the planter hand a more aggresive closing apparatus. we do have high clay soils though and that played a factor in the cracking. those buffalo's would plant in a roadbed though i'm goona try to buy on for the pivots but don't know about the dry land. i like no till but not year after year. but more like a rotational no till an old college freind of mine in central ks said some of the old notill around there is going back to native range. well what ever thanks for lisstening Red

 

[pbutler]

I have heard of some marestail in our are becoming resistant to roundup-but haven't hit us yet. I am doing maintenace dry fertilizer every year and fall anhydrous. I think 100% of your N on with the planter would be a bad idea. We use the Nh3 applicator to make the strips and plant into those strips the next spring. I tried AMS a couple years ago to get away from the Anhydrous but had mixed results. 28% is just too much volume for me to handle-would have to stop about every two rounds to refill. Anhydrous seems to be my only current viable solution. We haven't hard hardpan problems-but this is only my 3rd year. I know of a couple fields in our area that are going on 10-15 years and you would not believe how mellow they are.

 

[pbutler]

Wow! I have never seen cracks like that. Yes, the planter is very important in no-till. In our area one of the biggest problems with no-till is the ground doesn't warm up and dry out as fast with all the surface residue. If you don't get the seed right you are doomed from the start. See the link at the bottom for what I am using for the planter. I basically just copied what a couple successful people in our area our doing-the guy who planted for me the last 2 years. I think they are calling it "nu-till"-whatever. Basically you just use the row-cleaners to move only residue-no dirt. Keatons are important to get good seed-soil contact. The reduced diameter closing wheels help explode in the sidewall. Then the spiked closing wheel and drag chain work the ground OVER the seed-eliminating air pockets and smoothing the surface. This setup will allow you to get in a lot sooner than trying to do no-till with regular planter. There are some no-tillers who are adament you don't need all that stuff and are saying they are having good luck with just going in between rows. I think our soils are a little too wet and too cold in spring to do that-but every area is different.

 

[pbutler]

Oops, Forgot the link. Here it is:

 

[pbutler]

Try again: Not wanting to take this-let me put it in text. http:__www.paul-julia.com_Planter.shtm

 

[Combine_Wizard]

I wanted to see for myself, just how well no tilling really works. last year, I tried it for the first time in my gardening. VOIlA! I now vouch for it and even after a deluge of 7.5 inches of rain last may, not a single transplant or sown seed was lost! My huge yard has a 10 degree slope to it. No till was a must and many of my neighbors lost their freshly-planted flowers, tomatoes and even seeds when that much rain fell. I want to thank all the no till farmers for being the source of inspiration to try this for the first time on a far less grandiose scale-the personal garden. My garden was approximately 1_2 acre.

 

[Rockpicker]

Grasses like foxtail are getting hard to kill but they have always been that way. like most farmers around here I did keep our plows. I have been told no-till mellows out the ground. What I do is run as much fertilizer through the drill as I can which is around 40lbs. My air drill is the JD 1820. Then I will top dress another 30 units on in June if we get rain. If we don't then I won't top dress saving fertilizer costs. In the past I would put down NH3 in the fall then fill out my requirements with the drill. With no-till I had to quit doing that. What a lot of farmers do is spread granular fertilizer in the fall and winter then put the rest on with the drill.