On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, longtime no-tiller Rick Bieber explains why he’s not a big fan of the word “yield” and shares his unique way for measuring yield on his Trail City, S.D., farm.

Bam Wx meteorologist Bret Walts checks in with his weather outlook for harvest season.

In the Cover Crop Connection, Vincennes, Ind., no-tiller Ray McCormick explains how he’s maximizing efficiency by seeding cover crops with his combine. Plus, Ray’s equipment dealer, Sloan Implement, showcases a limited production John Deere S7 combine with new precision technology.

Later in the episode, no-tillers from across the country respond to our question of the week, “How are you getting the job done with today’s extra-wide 40 to 60-foot combine headers?”

Plus, we go 1-on-1 with Truax owner Jim Truax in the Video of the Week for one of his top lessons learned from a career of no-till innovation.

This episode of Conservation Ag Update is brought to you by Martin-Till.

Our customers believe that Martin-Till®️ products provide an excellent return on their investment. We know this because a large percentage of them are repeat customers since the beginning in 1991. Our planter attachments help make it possible to plant into higher levels of residue and moisture. Higher levels of mulch means less erosion, improved soil tilth and fertility, which can reduce production costs.

Martin-Till’s goal is to increase yields and save you time and money. We hope you find something from our product offerings of row cleaner, UMO’s, closing wheels systems and recently added concaves that will make this year’s planting & harvesting go better for you. After all, you deserve the best!

 


TRANSCRIPT

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Long-Term No-Till Benefits Highlighted at Pre-Harvest Field Day

Harvest season is underway with 9% of corn and 6% of soybeans harvested according to the September 15 USDA Crop Progress Report. But before things really ramp up in states like Wisconsin, it’s the perfect time for a late summer field day.

That’s what we had in Rochester, Wis., last week. The Watershed Protection Committee of Racine County hosted its summer field day, featuring presentations from no-tillers Jim Stute and Rick Bieber. Bieber made the trip out from north central South Dakota, where he’s been no-tilling for over 4 decades. And I thought one of the most interesting parts of his presentation was when he talked about how he measures yield, and why he’s not even a big fan of the world to begin with.

“There’s too many times the word yield is used to scare farmers into purchasing stuff. ‘You’re going to lose yield, or you get greater yield.’ And yield is what pays the bills basically at the bank. You must have so much yield against so many expenses to make it work. I understand all that. But on our farm, and I don’t know what made me start this 30 years ago, we started measuring things by bushels per inch of water that God gives us. We have no irrigation. So, when we started this whole thing back in the 80s, we were at 3.5 bushels of corn for every inch of water that we got. Today with our system functioning the way it is, we’re between 10 and 12 for the last 5 years pretty consistently there. Before that, we were at 8. The numbers keep rising for us. Looks like we’re going to stabilize between 10 and 12 bushels per inch of water that we receive, which means we’ve increased by 300-400% our water use efficiency and if we can give up the nutrients and maintain yield after it comes back 3-5 years later, we’ve actually increased our nutrient use efficiency by thousands of percent.”

Bieber will also be speaking at the first-ever Soul of the Soil Conference, which kicks off September 23 in Sinsinawa, Wis. More information on No-TillFarmer.com

Harvest Weather Outlook: Mild Fall Expected

What kind of weather can we expect in the coming months for harvest season? Let’s find out from Bam Wx meteorologist Bret Walts.

“I think fall is mild overall. Early and late, there could be some cold shots. I do think there are plenty of dry stretches for harvest especially across the southern half of the United States. I think the Ohio Valley is a spot that starts dry and could get wetter with time. We’ll need to watch for drought expansion in the southern and central Plains. In terms of La Nina, we have to watch the orientation. If we set up those colder waters more towards South America, it could allow fall to end on a colder note as a whole.”

That was from a recent No-Till Farmer webinar. Bret also expects December to be the coldest winter month according to his latest models.

Dialing Back Cover Crop Seeding Rate for Higher Efficiency

Vincennes, Ind. No-Till Living Legend Ray McCormick has a unique and efficient way of seeding cover crops with his draper and air seeder. Here’s the Conservation Ag Operator Fellow discussing some of the specs that make his setup so effective.

“This is our draper, a 35-foot wide John Deere Draper Platform, and this is our Gandy Air Seeder. This is one Gandy made to go on heads, so it’s electrically driven so these paddles here spit out the seed electrically so it’s always at the same rate, so it becomes a real rough spot to slow down and then it’ll put on more seed. But also, if it gets — if you start out cutting beans at 2.5 miles an hour and end up at 4 miles an hour you can slow it down or speed it up on the little wheel over there. And then right here is the venturis that picks up the seed. So, this is hydraulically driven by a blower that’s mounted up here. And so the seed runs out of here and it hits right here and splays it out in a perfect umbrella. So on this spacing, you have perfect umbrella seed. So, that’s one of the beauties of putting it on with the head — you get this stand that looks more like grass in your yard than rows of cover crop. So, your stand is always very uniform, which allows you to pull back, pull back and I’m doing it again this year — pulling back the seeding rate because it is so accurate at putting it on that it covers the ground completely.”

Be sure to grab a copy of the upcoming November edition of No-Till Farmer’s Conservation Tillage Guide where you can read lots more about McCormick’s equipment and his planting season as a whole.

Ahead of the Curve: Combine Automation Increases Harvest Efficiency

Ray McCormick’s dealership, formerly known as Alliance Tractor, has a new name. It was acquired by Sloan Implement in July. One of the first things that catches your eye when you pull up to the dealership, is this giant limited production S7 combine that they’ve been demoing for wheat growers this summer. It has 2 large cameras on both sides of the cab to maximize harvest efficiency. Ryan Seger gives us the scoop on the technology.

“The biggest thing customers see on this is the new automation. The combine, instead of being reactive, this is going to be proactive where it’s going to be using satellite imagery, and it also has cameras on here so it’s going to be able to speed up and slow down the combine based on the crop conditions. A lot of this automation we think is going to help the customer be more productive, so even some of our experienced operators will be excited to get this out here and see what type of productivity gains they see with this machine. On some of the bigger machines, we’ve seen a lot better fuel efficiency.”

Seger’s team will continue demoing the combine this fall.

Getting the Job Done with Extra-Wide Combine Headers

Turning now to our No-Till Farmer Email Discussion Group Question of the Week — we asked you, “How are you getting the job done with today’s extra-wide 40 to 60-foot combine headers?” Here are some top answers.

Phil Needham, Calhoun, Ky

“Uniform distribution of residue across the header width is very important, especially in no-till for uniform soil warming and crop emergence. Most new combines struggle spreading residue wider than around 35-40’, and if they are cutting into a strong head wind, or the residue is tough, it’s often 30’ or less.

“With 50-60’ heads now on the market, combine manufacturers need to improve their residue spreading technologies if growers want uniform crop emergence. The other option is growers sticking with header widths no wider than the spread width of the combine, so if the combine spreads 40’, stay with a 40’ head!”

Kelly Lozensky, South Prairie, N.D.

"Went to smaller heads on combines in North Dakota. Running 32’ Shelbourne Reynolds stripper heads now on as much as we can. Still have 40’ flex heads but they are too big to evenly spread straw. Running Lexions with the powered tailboard on chopper. Chaff spreads pretty well but chopper does not at 40’. 30’ heads really work nice and spread very well. But they are getting hard to find as everyone seems to be buying the largest heads made."

Bryan Ryberg, Buffalo Lake, Minn.

"We run 40' and 45’ drapers on John Deere combines with power cast tail boards. If we feel we have excess straw or not spread well, we run a Salford VT with just wavy coulters to size and spread residue ahead of strip-tilling with a Soil Warrior triple coulter rig."

Video of the Week: Tenacity Key for No-Till Innovator Jim Truax

Wrapping things up with our Video of the Week, featuring the owner of Truax Company, Jim Truax. He’ll be presented with the No-Till Innovator of the Year award in the business category at the National No-Tillage Conference in January. Our Mike Lessiter paid Jim a visit and asked him for his biggest takeaway from a career of no-till innovation.

“Probably just what tenacity has gotten me. Whenever things have gotten rough going, you just sit back, try to get a clear head and think through it. Think where you can improve something and further yourself and the business and overcome the challenge. Whether it’s lack of sales, which we don’t have now — we have very good sales — to lack of equipment, either you get people who can overcome it, but you just take one step at a time and don’t get excited.”

Have an interesting photo or video from your farm? Or a story you’d like us to feature on the broadcast? Send me an email at Nnewman@lesspub.com.

And that will wrap things up this edition of Conservation Ag Update. Until next time, for more stories visit no-tillfarmer.com, striptillfarmer.com and covercropstrategies.com. Before we go, let’s send it out to Dave Hula for a preview of his upcoming presentation at the National Strip-Tillage Conference. Thanks for tuning in! Have a great day!