Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
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I recently attended No till On The Plain’s Whirlwind field day at Steve Tucker’s farm near Venango, Nebraska. These are educational field days on all aspects of continuous no till crop production. I was invited to speak on crop rotations on dry land acres in our semi-arid region and I also spoke about water conservation on our irrigated continuous no till production acres. No till crop production has allowed producers in our area to continuous crop with the extra moisture stored in the soil on...
The Panhandle No-till Partnership will host a series of field days from June 23rd-26th, 2015. These field days will focus on continuous no-till crop production practices on dry land and irrigated acres and integrating livestock into a no till cropping and forage production system. The field days will be very educational showing how no-till crop and forage production can improve soil health and conserve groundwater. We will also tour the UNL High Plains Ag Lab (HPAL) to meet and greet Dr. Cody...
This past week I spent a morning with Dr. Bob Harveson, University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center plant pathologist, touring field pea fields in the Alliance area. Dr. Harveson and I were looking for diseases in field peas. Dr. Harveson is concentrating on diseases in field peas this year to see what concerns may develop for field pea producers in our area. So far the only disease that has shown up in field pea production in our area is blight. I have spoken with numerous...
I’ve had several no-till producers around the Panhandle comment on how well their fields have taken in the record setting moisture we received during the month of May. On our farm we recorded 10.3 inches of precipitation during the month of May. I have talked to other producers in our neighborhood who recorded up to 1.5 inches more than we did on our farm. According to my moisture totals we received roughly 13.1 inches of precipitation in April and May. Considering our yearly precipitation a...
We had a flock of pelicans fly over the farm a few days ago. Not surprising considering western Nebraska has turned into the land of a thousand lakes. There is more rain in the short and long range forecasts. We received almost 3.5 inches of rain over Memorial weekend. This brings our total precipitation for the month of May up to 9.5 inches. Included in that total are two separate snow storms totaling 14 inches of snow along with freezing temperatures. We’ve recorded a little over 12 inches of...
I’m sitting here at my desk watching the rain change over to snow on the 19th of May! There calling for 1-3 inches of snow overnight. It has already rained and snowed 5.2 inches of precipitation on our farm in May. The corn we planted 3 weeks ago has barely sprouted and laying in cold wet soil. I have no idea when we are going to get a break to plant the rest of our corn. Looks like it will be later than I’ve ever planted corn before. From what I understand the sugar beet farmers are very concer...
Last week I discussed how we approach fertilizing our winter wheat crop following field peas in our winter wheat, corn, field pea and then back to winter wheat crop rotation on our continuous no-till dry land acres. We have been using this rotation for the past 9 years on our farm and we’re starting to see some long term effects from this rotation. One observation is cheat grass working its way into a few fields within this rotation. Cheat grass has always been a problem in winter wheat p...
We have now planted field peas on all of our dry land fields for a third time in our winter wheat, corn, field pea crop rotation. We have learned quite a bit over this time on growing field peas and what to expect and watch for as this rotation continues over time and I thought I would share some of what we have learned and a few things to watch for in field pea production. I had several calls earlier this year on how we approach fertilizing our winter wheat following our field pea crop. Field...
Last week I took a look at the amount of precipitation we have received to produce a winter wheat crop this year and a projected yield for this year’s crop assuming normal precipitation between now and winter wheat maturation. This week I’d like to take a look at field peas and the potential yield for this year’s crop of field peas. Each time I have written an article looking at the moisture and potential yield for these spring crops, it has rained. This past week another storm system moved...
I sat through two speaker presentations last winter where regional meteorologists gave their predictions for the weather outlook for our area for this growing season. One meteorologist was Brian Bledsoe, who resides in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Brian gave his presentation at the No till On the Plains winter conference in Salina Kansas. The other meteorologist was our own Don Day who lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Don spoke at our Panhandle No till Partnership winter conference in Gering, Ne. Don...
Over the past few weeks I have been visiting with numerous producers around the Panhandle. Generally producers call to discuss field pea production but the conversation almost always turns to the condition of the winter wheat crop planted last fall. I have also read reports in the University of Nebraska’s Cropwatch and listened to a couple of programs on the radio which also discussed the condition of this year’s winter wheat crop in our area. All the reports from producers and researchers sugge...
I want to start off by thanking everyone for their kind prayers and thoughtfulness in helping me and my family as I recover from my surgery. The well wishes and acts of kindness friends and neighbors exhibit during difficult times always impressed me in our rural way of life. These acts of kindness make living in rural Nebraska a very special place to be. I had my right knee replaced, and the surgery and recovery couldn’t have gone any better. I’m still working hard in physical therapy to reg...
There is a developing feed source for the cattle industry here in our region with the introduction of field peas as an alternative feed source for the livestock industry. The production of field peas across our region has come about as producers look for alternative crops to transition back to winter wheat in their crop rotations. The addition of field peas has proven to be a sound agronomic practice in crop rotations which benefits the winter wheat production. As producers we are attempting to...
Over the past 40-plus years many producers have moved from a wheat/fallow production system to an ecofallow system, which includes a summer crop, to a continuous no-till crop production system. Each system adds intensity with wheat/fallow having a wheat crop every other year, to ecofallow, with crops grown two out of three years, to a continuous no-till system where a crop is grown every year. As the intensity of these production systems increases the diversity of the crops produced also... Full story
Back in October when we were getting started combining our dry land corn crop I visited with a neighbor about the value of wheat residues and residue height in dry land corn production. My neighbor thought he should purchase a stripper head for combining his winter wheat crop to leave more standing residue. The year before he had combined his dry land wheat with a conventional head and had baled the straw for his cattle. He then planted his dry land corn into the wheat residue left in the...
Field pea planting is just around the corner so I thought I would share with you my ideas on raising field peas. We’ve been growing field peas on our farm for several years now and I know there are a lot of first time growers or fairly new growers in the area. I might be able to shorten the learning curve for the newer growers by sharing what we have learned over the years we’ve grown field peas. The first step to growing a successful field pea crop is to buy certified seed. The purchase of seed...
The path to soil health has many stops along the way to obtaining a live, vibrant, functioning soil. Each of us will find a resting point along this pathway and may settle into a comfortable spot along the way. I think it is very encouraging that those of us in production agriculture are even thinking and talking about our journey down the path to soil health. Our farm’s journey began many years ago and we didn’t even know it at the time. We switched our operation from a conventionally til...
After listening to various speakers over the past month at the no-till conferences I attended it became pretty obvious that we are working with degraded soils on our farms and ranches. The soils we work with now are not the same quality of soil that was present when farmers and ranchers originally began production agriculture on this land. The soil is lacking carbon, or organic matter as it is often referred to, when compared to the virgin soil our ancestors tilled for the first time when the...
The common thread that ran throughout the no-till winter conferences I attended in the past month is carbon. Adding carbon to the soil is critical to restoring health to the soil by increasing the organic matter content of the soil. Producers in today’s modern agricultural systems are working with soils that contain far less carbon than our soils originally contained prior to the implementation of modern agriculture. All of our soils are now degraded. The good news is we now know how we can r...
The past couple of weeks I attended No till On the Plains winter conference and the Colorado Conservation Tillage Association’s High Plains No-till Conference. I enjoyed both conferences and felt each had a lot to offer. After getting home and taking some time to think about what I learned, it dawned on me that nobody told me anything about how to farm. Not one speaker told me how deep to plant my corn, what herbicides to use, or what crops to plant. I still left both conferences with k...
One of the pleasures of traveling to the various winter conference meetings and summer field days I attend is getting introduced to some real innovative producers and researchers who strive to really make a difference in modern production agriculture. Last week I visited about our tour to Dakota Lakes Research Farm near Pierre, S. D. and the Burleigh County Soil Conservation District, in Bismarck, N.D. Dr. Dwayne Beck, farm manager for Dakota Lakes and Jay Furher, head of the Burleigh County...
I am currently the chairman of the Panhandle No till Partnership. I wanted to share with you more about our partnership, our educational opportunities, and an exciting new project that I think the producers in our region will find very interesting. The Panhandle No till Partnership members include the Upper Niobrara White, South Platte and North Platte Natural Resources Districts, representatives from the local offices of the Natural Resource and Conservation Service, Panhandle Resource... Full story
Have you ever watched one of those scary movies where the bad guy sneaks into a house? The homeowners hear the floorboards squeak. Something goes bump as the intruder runs into furniture? And the homeowners find something ugly in their home. I have snuck into my mom’s house after curfew a few times, but that is another story. Fortunately she didn’t meet me with a ball bat. This weekend the Smith house had an intruder of the sweetest kind. My oldest son, Norman, surprised us with a visit. The... Full story
On the 3rd and 4th of February, 2015 I’ll be attending the 27th Annual High Plains No-till Conference. The conference is hosted by the Colorado Conservation Tillage Association and is held each year at the Community Center in Burlington, Colorado. I’ve spoken at this conference in the past and have attended the conference over the past several years. This year I will get to just sit back, listen, and learn from some excellent speakers lined up to present at this year’s conference. I enjoy this c... Full story
I’m headed to Salina, Kansas again this year for the 19th Annual No Till On the Plains Winter Conference. This year’s conference is scheduled for Jan. 27 and 28, 2015. I’ve attended this conference for the past 10 years or so to attempt to educate myself more about the benefits of continuous no till crop production systems on our farm. I’ve been looking over the agenda for this year’s conference and I’m intrigued by the lineup of speakers for this year’s conference. I will be part of the speake...