Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
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We arrived home safely after a four day trip to North and South Dakota. The trip was sponsored by the Panhandle No-Till Partnership. Our goal on the trip was to learn about soil health and high quality no-till crop production. I think I speak for everyone who went on the tour that this trip was time well spent. I think we all gained a greater appreciation for the importance of taking steps on our farms and ranches to improve the health of the soils we work with. We can take the concepts learned...
After visiting with producers around the Panhandle I would guess that the winter wheat and field pea harvests that have just wrapped up are going to be some of the best crop yields this region has recorded. We were blessed with good fall, spring, and early summer precipitation around our region and the yields reflect the abundant moisture we received. There were some areas that experienced significant hail damage from some of the severe weather in our area. Aside from these pockets of hail damag...
Last Friday I was invited to Alton Lerwick’s farm. Alton works with his sons, Grant, and Dean on their no till crop production farm and ranch. They integrate cattle into their farming operation with the use of forage crops as part of their cropping rotation. Alton and I share a similar educational background having both graduated from the University of Nebraska with degrees in Agronomy. Alton had invited Dr. Gary Peterson to tour his farm. Dr. Peterson taught Alton and I soil science classes a...
I was invited to do a presentation via webinar by the American Society of Agronomy. They sponsored a 3 series webinar titled “Replacing Fallow with Cover Crops and Annual Forages in the Semi-Arid Central Great Plains”. The other participants presenting during this 3 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 speciali...
The Panhandle No till Partnership has extended the deadline to sign up for our tour to South and North Dakota. We currently have about 15 producers joining our tour. Please register as soon as possible so we can finalize travel and hotel accommodations. We will be taking producers from our area on a tour to North and South Dakota to visit with some of the top experts in soil health and no till crop and forage production. The tour will run from August 18, 2014 thru August 21, 2014. This will be a...
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 P...
Cover crops have become a hot topic in many regions of the country and are becoming more widely adopted in many growing regions. Cover crops are grown to promote soil health and possibly improve yields of cash crops following the cover crop. Cover crops are also grown as a means of capturing nutrients and returning them to the soil surface rather than losing the nutrients to leaching. Cover crop adoption in high rainfall areas to the east has been increasing substantially. Cover crop adoption...
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 woul...
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...
By Mark Watson Panhandle No-till Educator 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 i...
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...
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 O...
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...
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 u...
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 t...
Spring has finally taken hold here in western Nebraska and moved old man winter into a distant memory. From early last October when we received our first snow until mid-April it seemed like a longer winter than most. The warmer temperatures also have brought with them the usual rush to get crops planted and the farming season is in full swing. I had my first report of field peas up and growing on the 17th of April. These early peas emerging were surprising given the cold temperatures of the soil...
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...
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 comm...
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...
Last week I gave an example of what rancher/farmer Gabe Brown, from Bismarck, North Dakota 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 he...
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 c...
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...
The Future Farmers of America Pine Bluffs Chapter is in the search for town land to start an educational facility to house animals. FFA Advisor Brian Cox, along with two FFA members, approached the Pine Bluffs Town Council Feb. 18 in search for useable land. Cox said the land would help enhance the educational value of the FFA chapter. “This school farm would be used for students who live in town that don’t have any land outside of town that would like to have an animal project to show lat... Full story
I hope all of you are planning to attend the Panhandle No-till Partnership’s winter conference this coming week. The conference will be held Wednesday and Thursday at the Gering Civic Center in Gering, Neb. Each day, registration begins at 8 a.m. I’ll look forward to seeing you, but please register in advance if at all possible, especially if you are planning to eat lunch with the group. I’ve been discussing 10 tips for successful no-till crop production and thus far I have covered choos...
