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Any zero till/regenerative ag experts?
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<blockquote data-quote="RDFF" data-source="post: 1652521" data-attributes="member: 39018"><p>I've successfully converted a fair amount of crop ground directly to grazing in the very first year/seeding year the past two seasons. Doing a bunch more again next year. Planted winter rye in the fall immediately after harvesting NT soybeans and corn @ 70 - 80#/a, using a JD750 NT drill. If early enough to let them get a start in the fall, I'll put red clover and hairy vetch in too, but I'll put the rye down even onto frozen ground, regardless of late date, if that's my only option.... but the earlier you get it out there, the better the crop will be the next spring (I could tell a difference on plantings only 12 hours apart last year... seriously! that was on a Nov. 3 to a Nov. 4 seeding... so very late and "just freezing" soil... so an extra 12 hours in "unfrozen but cold" soil could make all the difference... CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH HOW MUCH EARLIER PLANTING HELPS COME SPRING!!!! ). Then in spring, I come back and frost seed everything else when the ground is still frozen with a standard drill (much more dependably even distribution than you can get with a spinner, especially with light seeds...I use a JD 8300), with oats as a carrier. I'll put this down through several inches of snow if I have to, without any concern at all for the job I'm doing... seems to work just fine, regardless. It's actually kind of nice to have a light snow cover, because you can see where you went with the drills and not miss anything! Even better if you can put it down on the soil and then get a snow on top of the seed! I prefer that it be "just frozen", but beggars can't be choosers. If it's like I WANT IT though, my 8300 openers will kind of cut a groove about 1/4" deep... just enough to get that seed in contact with some dirt directly. Don't care at all that it's not getting "covered"... the frost/thaw cycle and the spring rains/snows will take care of "incorporation".</p><p></p><p>Here's what I put down last spring per acre... 1.2 bu. of oats, 2# orchardgrass, 3# Meadow Brome, 2# Timothy, 1# Meadow Fescue, 1# Kale, 2# Grazing Alfalfa, 2# Creeping Alfalfa (spreads from tillering, supposedly helps avoid the autotoxicity issue), 3# Medium Red Clover, 1/2# Hairy Vetch, 2# Alsike Clover. I've heard from guys that have done it in our area that tall fescue is really nice to have for going into winter, so might put some of that in the mix this spring too. I blend it all with a mixer mill (my "Handy Dandy Seed Tender Blender"), and put it all in the main seed box. Works great!</p><p></p><p>The cattle REALLY like that kale... first thing they go after when you give them a new break, and they'll strip every leaf, then come back across for the grasses and the clover, etc.. It develops a terrific deep tap root, and from what I've seen, I think it'll do everything that a Daikon Radish or turnips might and then some for compaction, and it'll do it more dependably. Won't "push up out of the ground" like radishes/turnips will, but will drive that big tap root right down through anything you've got out there, about like a Burdock that way. And it'll do this WHILE feeding the cattle with something they really appreciate. It's an annual though, so it won't overwinter (which means that tap root is going to decompose leaving a really big, deep hole down through the compaction!).... but from what I saw, it'll set alot of seed in the fall, so I'm hoping that I'll get plenty of volunteer coming back again next season. Very fast recovery after grazing, nutritious, and it stays green well after the killing frost. I've STILL got plants that are "trying" to push "some" regrowth, which is amazing this late into the season (December 2 in SE Minnesota). Cattle pretty well have stripped it down to a stump though by this time.</p><p></p><p>I'm very confident that next spring I'll have exceptionally good grazing really early on these "converted cropland first year grazing acres", because I put winter rye (70#)/red clover (2#)/hairy vetch (1#) out with a broadcast fertilizer spreader in very early September (9-4-20) in my bean fields (barely could find anything starting to turn yet), and the fields were already green underneath when I took the beans off. Pretty good "turf" out there now. Broadcast was done with a single spinner spreader... didn't do the best job of distribution, threw it more to one side than the other...and double spinner would probably be better... went back in with the 750 drill and put down another 45# of winter rye on all of it, just to ensure a really good stand next spring, and that got up and growing before it froze hard too. Still planning to frost seed the "spring seeding mix", but that rye is going to be some awesome grazing come early May. </p><p></p><p>We've still got some pretty nice weather here for Dec. 2 ( mid teens at night, 30's during the day forecast for the next week at least, no snow cover although we've already had about 10" of snow for the season), so I'm busy doing as much of the needed fencing as I can get done before it gets nasty! (None of my ground had any fencing on it). I've got all of the perimeter end/line posts in place, just need to pull in the remaining wires, and then it's just interior subdivision fencing, and I have the end posts in place for that already too...... I'm well ahead of the game compared to where I was with the last two years that I've done this... wasn't able to have the fence ready for cattle until mid summer on those! Took a first crop off as bales... that wasn't the end of the world either though! Prefer to take it off with the cattle the "cheap way" though!</p><p></p><p>Frost seeding to convert crop ground to grazing 3-21-2020</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1068[/ATTACH]</p><p>Spring 2019 Frost Seeded Converted Crop Ground on 5-31-2020</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1069[/ATTACH]</p><p>Spring 2019 Converted Crop Ground 5-31-20</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1070[/ATTACH]</p><p>Spreading winter rye, red clover, hairy vetch into soybeans 9-4-2020</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1075[/ATTACH]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RDFF, post: 1652521, member: 39018"] I've successfully converted a fair amount of crop ground directly to grazing in the very first year/seeding year the past two seasons. Doing a bunch more again next year. Planted winter rye in the fall immediately after harvesting NT soybeans and corn @ 70 - 80#/a, using a JD750 NT drill. If early enough to let them get a start in the fall, I'll put red clover and hairy vetch in too, but I'll put the rye down even onto frozen ground, regardless of late date, if that's my only option.... but the earlier you get it out there, the better the crop will be the next spring (I could tell a difference on plantings only 12 hours apart last year... seriously! that was on a Nov. 3 to a Nov. 4 seeding... so very late and "just freezing" soil... so an extra 12 hours in "unfrozen but cold" soil could make all the difference... CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH HOW MUCH EARLIER PLANTING HELPS COME SPRING!!!! ). Then in spring, I come back and frost seed everything else when the ground is still frozen with a standard drill (much more dependably even distribution than you can get with a spinner, especially with light seeds...I use a JD 8300), with oats as a carrier. I'll put this down through several inches of snow if I have to, without any concern at all for the job I'm doing... seems to work just fine, regardless. It's actually kind of nice to have a light snow cover, because you can see where you went with the drills and not miss anything! Even better if you can put it down on the soil and then get a snow on top of the seed! I prefer that it be "just frozen", but beggars can't be choosers. If it's like I WANT IT though, my 8300 openers will kind of cut a groove about 1/4" deep... just enough to get that seed in contact with some dirt directly. Don't care at all that it's not getting "covered"... the frost/thaw cycle and the spring rains/snows will take care of "incorporation". Here's what I put down last spring per acre... 1.2 bu. of oats, 2# orchardgrass, 3# Meadow Brome, 2# Timothy, 1# Meadow Fescue, 1# Kale, 2# Grazing Alfalfa, 2# Creeping Alfalfa (spreads from tillering, supposedly helps avoid the autotoxicity issue), 3# Medium Red Clover, 1/2# Hairy Vetch, 2# Alsike Clover. I've heard from guys that have done it in our area that tall fescue is really nice to have for going into winter, so might put some of that in the mix this spring too. I blend it all with a mixer mill (my "Handy Dandy Seed Tender Blender"), and put it all in the main seed box. Works great! The cattle REALLY like that kale... first thing they go after when you give them a new break, and they'll strip every leaf, then come back across for the grasses and the clover, etc.. It develops a terrific deep tap root, and from what I've seen, I think it'll do everything that a Daikon Radish or turnips might and then some for compaction, and it'll do it more dependably. Won't "push up out of the ground" like radishes/turnips will, but will drive that big tap root right down through anything you've got out there, about like a Burdock that way. And it'll do this WHILE feeding the cattle with something they really appreciate. It's an annual though, so it won't overwinter (which means that tap root is going to decompose leaving a really big, deep hole down through the compaction!).... but from what I saw, it'll set alot of seed in the fall, so I'm hoping that I'll get plenty of volunteer coming back again next season. Very fast recovery after grazing, nutritious, and it stays green well after the killing frost. I've STILL got plants that are "trying" to push "some" regrowth, which is amazing this late into the season (December 2 in SE Minnesota). Cattle pretty well have stripped it down to a stump though by this time. I'm very confident that next spring I'll have exceptionally good grazing really early on these "converted cropland first year grazing acres", because I put winter rye (70#)/red clover (2#)/hairy vetch (1#) out with a broadcast fertilizer spreader in very early September (9-4-20) in my bean fields (barely could find anything starting to turn yet), and the fields were already green underneath when I took the beans off. Pretty good "turf" out there now. Broadcast was done with a single spinner spreader... didn't do the best job of distribution, threw it more to one side than the other...and double spinner would probably be better... went back in with the 750 drill and put down another 45# of winter rye on all of it, just to ensure a really good stand next spring, and that got up and growing before it froze hard too. Still planning to frost seed the "spring seeding mix", but that rye is going to be some awesome grazing come early May. We've still got some pretty nice weather here for Dec. 2 ( mid teens at night, 30's during the day forecast for the next week at least, no snow cover although we've already had about 10" of snow for the season), so I'm busy doing as much of the needed fencing as I can get done before it gets nasty! (None of my ground had any fencing on it). I've got all of the perimeter end/line posts in place, just need to pull in the remaining wires, and then it's just interior subdivision fencing, and I have the end posts in place for that already too...... I'm well ahead of the game compared to where I was with the last two years that I've done this... wasn't able to have the fence ready for cattle until mid summer on those! Took a first crop off as bales... that wasn't the end of the world either though! Prefer to take it off with the cattle the "cheap way" though! Frost seeding to convert crop ground to grazing 3-21-2020 [ATTACH type="full" alt="1606970713681.png"]1068[/ATTACH] Spring 2019 Frost Seeded Converted Crop Ground on 5-31-2020 [ATTACH type="full" alt="1606970959943.png"]1069[/ATTACH] Spring 2019 Converted Crop Ground 5-31-20 [ATTACH type="full" alt="1606971100137.png"]1070[/ATTACH] Spreading winter rye, red clover, hairy vetch into soybeans 9-4-2020 [ATTACH type="full" alt="1607007396009.png"]1075[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]
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