Plant Cover Crops

Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.

Cover Crops in Wisconsin

More Fall Cover Crop Field Days Coming

This fall there are more cover crop field days to attend in Iowa and Wisconsin.

 

For those in Iowa see http://practicalfarmers.org/blog/2013/fall-2013-cover-crop-field-days-scheduled

In Wisconsin there are two field days:

There will be opportunities to look in soil pits in Northern climates to see just what is going on beneath the surface of the soil.
There will be opportunities to look in soil pits in Northern climates to see just what is going on beneath the surface of the soil.

October 21, 2013 – 10:30am – Cover Crop Plot Tour
Hosted by Legacy Seeds’ Kris Tessar and Ag Ventures Shawano
Located at the farm of Paul McClone on Cty BE in Bonduel, WI
Dave Robison will be speaking – Lunch will follow the tour
RSVP to Ag Ventures at 715-524-8812
October 22, 2013 – 10:30am – Cover Crop Plot Tour
Hosted by Legacy Seeds’ Kris Tessar and ADM
Located at the farm of Ken Huber at 3848 Cty P in Oxford, WI
Dave Robison will be speaking – Lunch will follow the tour
RSVP to ADM (Perry or Sue) at 800-367-4057

I hope to see you there!  Dave

 

Badger Plot Cover Crop Research Site – Producer Day Schedule Announced

Join me with Wisconsin NRCS at the Badger Plot Cover Crop Research Site on October 2, 2013 @ Jeff and Jerry Kreuziger Farms near Clyman, WI.  Sessions will run from 9:30-Noon or 1:00-3:30 CST.  This looks to be a great day to learn more about cover crops and soil health in southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois regions.

 

For more information see Badger Plot Research-Producer Day.

Damon Reabe from Reabe Spraying Services - Waupun, WI plays a big role in applying cover crops in SE WI. Damon provided this photo.
Damon Reabe from Reabe Spraying Services – Waupun, WI plays a big role in applying cover crops in SE WI. Damon provided this photo.

 

Cover Crops Planted After Wheat in a Dry Year

Can you still gain value in a cover crop when it is planted after wheat in a dry year?

During the week of October 15, 2012 I traveled a wide swath of Wisconsin looking at cover crops.  In the eastern half of the state the cover crops looked very good.  In the western half the cover crops looked desperately poor.   The difference?  Moisture.

Northwestern Wisconsin – Terribly Dry

While on farms near Osceola, WI (right along the St. Croix River – the river that forms the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota in that part of the state), I observed a sad sight.  Cover crops that had been in the ground for 6 weeks were either not germinated  or had little growth.  While the early part of the growing season had more than adequate rainfall and corn yields were near 200 bu/acre, the last 7-8 weeks has seen less than 1/2″ and the cover crops look…well, they look horrible.

Central Sands Region – Dry But with Some Promise

Near Hancock, in the Central Sands Region of Wisconsin, there is a mixed bag of results.

Where farmers used irrigation to “water -up” the cover crops, there are nice stands with adequate growth to have a “successful” cover crop to achieve many benefits.  Unfortunately, where there was no irrigation used there was much less “success.”

Again, it was dry for several weeks before and after the cover crops were planted after the wheat crop had been harvested.  A few days before my cover crop field day there was a 4 inch rain.  The farmer and dealer present said that the plot “changed overnight” as it had grown so much since there was some moisture.

The beautiful thing about the cover crops in the central sands is that they established and actually looked amazingly good compared to what I envisioned they would. The winter cereal rye was tillered nicely and the oats were 5-6 inches tall.  The radishes, oats,and rye all drilled through the compaction zone that we found at 3-4 inches deep.

What was not apparently impressive was the crimson clover or Austrian winter peas – at least not for coverage or height. The crimson clover was only about 1 inch tall and the peas were 3-4 inches tall.  However, what was surprising was how many nodules were on the clover and peas and that the roots were 4-5″ deep and through the compaction zone as well!

Northeastern Wisconsin – What a Difference Moisture Makes

The crimson clover was not at all impressive even though the seed was planted 7 weeks previous to this photo being taken. However, with virtually no rainfall it is amazing there was any clover established at all in the Central Sands Region of WI.
Seven or eight weeks of dry weather did not help cover crops in this field near Osceola, WI emerge very quickly in 2012. Will there be any value to this cover crop? Sadly, no.  Note how small the radishes and turnips are.  These cannot be declared valuable to this farmer.  Thankfully the winter Rye should survive the winter.

 

 

 

With less than 1/2″ of rain since planting into dry soil, this cover crop field in western Wisconsin near Osceola never had a chance to achieve the goals the farmer had for it improving the soil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the test plot in the Central Sands Region.  From Right to left; Radishes, Oats, Winter Rye, and various mixes. Are these cover crops valuable? I believe so because they are through the compaction zone and the rye and many of the mixes will have components that survive the winter.

 

 

If you enlarge this photo you will be amazed how many nodules are on this tiny crimson clover plant. The roots were over 5″ deep which was through the compaction zone at the Hancock, WI plot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover Crops and Bears?

Radishes, Crimson Clover, and Bears

Walking in cover crop fields in northern Indiana is easy compared to doing it northern Wisconsin.

In northern Indiana my main issue is tripping over large radish tubers sticking out of the ground.

In northern Wisconsin my main issue was that plus watching out for bears. I’m not talking about the Chicago Bears…but real live black bears!  Although I did not see any while conducting cover crop field days near Coleman, WI on October 18, 2012, hearing the stories about the bears raising havoc while AgVentures Co-op employees were harvesting corn plots made me quite nervous.

The cover crop plot was fabulous. There were 5 different mixes to observe plus straight radishes planted at 8#/acre.  The cooperator plans on taking yield tests over each different cover crop mix in his 2013 corn crop.  If he is able to do that I’ll keep you informed of the results.

This cover crop plot near Coleman, WI had beautiful radishes with large tubers – and thankfully NO bears!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The radishes were from 1″ to 3″ in diameter and quite deeply rooted. There was manure applied after wheat harvest so the radishes were “well fed”.

 

 

 

Cover Crops in Wisconsin – Full Speed Ahead!

This cover crop field was ready for harvest in late September 2012.

I took a new management position in May of 2012 with Wisconsin based Legacy Seeds, Inc.

While my main responsibility lies in working with alfalfa and forages I also was pleased to find out that there were several folks in Wisconsin that were using cover crops!  Well, you would figure that I’d get involved more with cover crops in the Badger state, and I have.

Wisconsin Cover Crop Meetings

In February 2012 I conducted two cover crops meetings in the Fox Lake, WI area with over 75 producers present. The purpose of these meetings were to teach farmers about how cover crops can work in their farming operations.  I was very pleased with the outcome of those meetings as over 10,000 acres were planted on farms that were represented at those meetings.

In July I held three more cover crop meetings in Eau Claire, Waupaca, and Brillion, WI. All combined, there were over 150 farmers present and I’m confident that there were at least 30,000 acres of cover crops planted by those farmers.

While I don’t have figures of how many cover crops were planted in Wisconsin, I think there were as many as 250,000. Many of those acres were after wheat was harvested and a surprising number after corn and soybeans.

Cover Crops for Forage & Manure Management

Feed was one reason so many acres were planted. The severe drought has created a forage shortage.

But many farmers planted their cover crops because they want healthier soils and better production.  Still others planted because they want to hold onto the nutrients from their manure.  Whatever the reason, cover cropping is alive and well in Wisconsin – and growing.

You can click on the pictures below to see a larger image of each.

The Oats, Appin Turnip and Cowpea combination should make excellent haylage for the Wisconsin dairy market.
The nodules on the Austrian Winter Peas were multiple and large. This field will be planted to corn next year and it sure appears that a good amount of nitrogen will be in the soil and available for that corn crop.
This field of Austrian Winter Peas and Radish east of Green Bay, WI was planted after wheat in severe drought conditions. Thankfully some later rains came to get the mixture up and going.