Data show there is not a lot of crossover between the top milk-producing states in the U.S. (in dollars) and the top states for no-tilled acres — that’s because many dairy farmers have had long frustrations managing manure and no-tilling. 

Many growers have to haul manure daily, even if fields are too wet to do so, causing fields to become compacted and rutted. 

“When they spread solid manure, the pattern is clumped and bunched. This is why they don’t think they can no-till and they’re right,” says Jake Kaderly, an independent agronomist and no-tiller based in Monticello, Wis. “When a farmer is no-tilling into packed soil with uneven spreading, the crop will…