Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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I was invited to do a presentation via webinar by the American Society of Agronomy. They sponsored a three series webinar titled “Replacing Fallow with Cover Crops and Annual Forages in the Semi-Arid Central Great Plains”. The other participants presenting during this three series webinar included Dr. Dave Nielsen, research agronomist, ARS in Akron, Colorado, Dr. John Holman, cropping systems agronomist, Kansas State University, Garden City, Kansas, and Dr. Clain Jones, soil fertility extension specialist, Montana State University, Die...
I hope by the time you are reading this article I have combines rolling in the field. Wheat harvest is running a few weeks later than normal this year. I think the harvest is going to be well worth the wait provided we get the wheat in the bin before something bad happens. Reports coming in from the southern Panhandle indicate we may be having a record winter wheat harvest yield this year. I’ve heard numerous reports of 50-70 bushels per acre or higher winter wheat yields in the southern Panhandle. It appears the winter wheat in our area is g...
This article was originally release in November 2009 Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over! Whoever coined this well known phrase sure hit the nail on the head. Water, and the lack of it, has turned to the courts for answers on who has the rights to how much of this valuable resource. There are lawsuits in every watershed it seems now, and states are suing states over water use and availability. Irrigation wells have been shut off in some areas in an attempt to come into compliance with decisions handed down through the legal...
I just got home from a real enjoyable no till field day meeting at Pat and Shane Cullan’s farm south of Chadron. We had a nice turnout and some good conversation throughout the morning on the benefits of continuous no till crop production on dry land acres in their area. I want to thank Shane and Pat for allowing us to use their farm as a starting point for the field day. The Nebraska Environmental Trust supports these field days with grant funding through the Nebraska No till Cadre. If you would like to host a field day at your farm or like to...
We decided this year to go back to drilling our edible bean crop rather than use the 15 inch planter we have used over the past several years. We saw some agronomic advantages to going back to using the drill which plants the beans in 7.5 inch rows. The narrower row spacing should help with weed control in our fields by developing a faster crop canopy which will compete better with weeds than the wider row spacings. Our main concern with weed pressure is the palmer amaranth weed which we first discovered last year in one of our fields. We also...
With all the abundant moisture around the Panhandle this spring we’ve received some severe weather that has caused a change in plans. Many producers have lost some of their fall and spring planted crops to violent hail storms that are often a part of our precipitation pattern. These producers are faced with the prospect of replanting or changing their cropping plans and going to a short season summer crop. These alternative crops include edible beans, proso millet, forage crops, or sunflowers. While it is never easy to change plans in the m...
The Panhandle No-till Partnership will host a series of field days around the region during the last full week of June, 2014. These field days are informal meetings to visit about all aspects of no-till crop production on dry land and irrigated acres. Everyone interested is encouraged to attend and bring along your questions, thoughts, and ideas on how to improve no-till crop production in our area. Producers and landlords who are considering adopting no-till crop production into their operation are encouraged to attend. We will visit about the...
Last week I wrote about the abundant moisture we have received in our area the past fall and so far this spring. I’ve also been tracking field pea and winter wheat yields over the past several years along with annual precipitation. I like to do this to see how our various dry land crops perform regarding the precipitation we receive during the growing season. Moisture is almost always the main limiting factor in crop production yields in our area. I use moisture received from the 1st of October through the end of June the following year to m...
Every once in a while I’m fortunate enough to catch a few fish for dinner. I’ve always felt the best way to cook a good batch of pan fish is to fry them up in some hot oil with a good batter on them. My wife Denise will often comment that the house smells like fish after one of my fried fish dinners. I always tell her that a house that smells like fried fish is a good thing. I’ll also occasionally tromp into the kitchen with mud on my boots. Denise will often point out to me that I could take my boots off outside. I’ll often remind her that mud...
I wish I had all the money I’ve spent over the years trying to control cheat grass on our farm. Cheat grass has been a problematic weed in winter wheat production for as long as anyone can remember. My grandfather and father were battling cheat grass when I was a young boy starting out farming. We were conventionally tilling our ground in a winter wheat/summer fallow cropping rotation. Dad would use a stubble mulch farming practice to maintain more residues on the soil surface. This would usually involve a couple of early season disking of t...
If you have been out and about in the countryside lately you’ve undoubtedly noticed a lot of activity. The boys and girls are back in the field to begin another farming season. Along with the activity come the headaches of battling to get the crops planted in the fields. Planting the crops always seems to be the most difficult part of the growing season. Our farming operation is similar to the Husker football team in that we sometimes fail to execute well thought out plans we’ve developed over the winter. We soon find out equipment was “sh...
There is no doubt in my mind that having living roots growing in the soil for extended periods of time is a key component to improving soil health. This is also the most challenging aspect of improving soil health in our semi-arid environment. As more and more producers move from a conventional winter wheat/summer fallow cropping rotation to a continuous no-till crop production system we are moving towards healthier soil. No-till crop production systems that include continuous diverse crop rotations adopt many of the key principles in...
The past few weeks I’ve been looking at the possibilities of improving the health of the soils we work with here in western Nebraska. The soils we work with have lost organic matter, soil microbial populations and diversity as well as soil structure over the years with our crop production practices. To begin to restore soil health, the remedies seem pretty simple but can be hard to implement. When I’ve listened to presentations by experts on the remedies for restoring soil health, there are common threads throughout each presentation. Some of t...
Last week I talked about the loss of soil health in our traditional winter wheat/summer fallow cropping system that has been the predominant system used by producers over the past several decades. In terms of soil health this is probably the most detrimental crop production system. When I have listened to experts in the field of soil health talk at conferences over the past several years there are a few key components to restoring soil health. The soil needs residues on the soil surface to protect the soil from wind and water erosion. These...
Last week I gave an example of what rancher/farmer Gabe Brown, from Bismarck, N.D. has accomplished on his operation by focusing his efforts on soil health. Over the past 15 years, Gabe has dramatically improved the health of his soil. This improved soil health has lowered his cost of production and improved the profitability of his operation considerably. This path towards soil health has been cleared by people like Gabe and has given us a blue print of how we can begin improving the health and performance of the soils we work with in our area...
I’ve been thinking about what I learned during the past winter months while attending numerous educational events focusing on no-till crop production. While there are many benefits to no-till crop production I think the most important message I heard was the benefits of diversifying crops and cropping systems to benefit soil health. The benefits of diversified continuous cropping are numerous including building organic matter, improved soil microbiology, water infiltration and water holding capacities of the soil. The biggest benefit is the i...
Last week I covered important considerations in getting your field pea crop off to a good start. I discussed using certified seed, planting population and how to calibrate according to the size of the seed to get the desired 350,000-375,000 final plant stand, and planting the seed at a depth of 2 to 2.5 inches deep. There are also a couple of other important considerations to getting your field pea crop off to a good start. It is very important to do everything you can to get a good, healthy stand of field peas. A good stand will increase the...
I want to start off by thanking everyone who made this year’s Panhandle No till Partnership’s winter conference a success. I especially want to thank the members of the PNTP for all their efforts in putting together this conference and congratulate them for a job well done. I also want to thank the 135 individuals who attended the conference to further educate themselves on all aspects of no till crop production. More than 100 producers attended the two day conference to gain more knowledge on improving their soil health, conserving our water r...
I’ve been discussing 10 tips for successful no-till crop production and thus far I have covered choosing a good crop rotation, winter wheat as the most important crop for supplying a consistent amount of residues to make the rest of the crop rotation function, and utilizing a stripper head to manage this amount of residues. I’ve also discussed the value of adding field peas to the crop rotation. Field peas are the ideal legume to add to the rotation in the spring prior to seeding winter wheat in the fall. I have also seen firsthand on our far...
I’ve been discussing 10 tips for successful no-till crop production and thus far I have covered choosing a good crop rotation, winter wheat as the most important crop for supplying a consistent amount of residues to make the rest of the crop rotation function, and utilizing a stripper head to manage this amount of residues. I think another important production tip for our area is to add field peas to the crop rotation prior to the winter wheat. Field peas have proven to be the best crop prior to winter wheat seeding in our diverse cropping r...
Last week I started off my 10 tips to successful no-till crop production with a discussion on crop rotations. I feel this is the most important consideration on your farm. Designing a crop rotation for your farm will affect your bottom line, weed and disease cycles and your farm’s performance well into the future. Take plenty of time each year and assess your rotation and improvements you can make in designing your rotation. As I mentioned last week designing, a good rotation for our farm has been an ongoing challenge. We’ve been utilizing a n...
I mentioned I was speaking at the No-till on the Plains annual winter conference. I am speaking to producers at the conference as part of a 40 Tips in 50 minutes presentation with Paul Jasa, UNL no-till cropping systems specialist and manager of the Roger’s Memorial Research farm near Lincoln, Nebraska and no-till producers Randy Rink and Keith Thompson. Our presentation will consist of short tips on no-till crop production. I thought I would share with you the 10 no-till tips I will talk about at this meeting. These tips are in no real o...
I’m on my way to Salina, Kan. to speak at and attend the annual No-till on the Plains winter conference. I always look forward to visiting with old friends and mentors at this conference. I’ve been going to this conference every year for the past 10 years and I always look forward to another learning experience. I’m part of this year’s program and I’ll work with 3 other producers around this region giving 40 tips on no-till crop production techniques in a 50 minute program. Hopefully our talk will be well received by the audience and will prov...
As the New Year begins so do new opportunities for educational meetings during the next couple of months for agricultural producers in our area. I always make it a point to attend as many of these meetings as I can to further my education in agriculture and no-till crop production. I would encourage everyone involved in production agriculture to attend these meetings. Agriculture is constantly changing and these meetings are a great place to learn about new technologies, marketing opportunities, crop production, and the opportunity to visit...
As most of you are probably aware, I’m pretty excited about the opportunities yellow field peas provide for producers here in western Nebraska and around our region. We have been growing yellow field peas successfully on our farm for several years now and I’m convinced the field peas will prove to be a profitable crop for producers in this area. The best opportunities for field peas are in our dry land cropping systems and limited irrigation crop rotations. There are many agronomic benefits to including a legume in our cropping rotations. Add...
