Project Overview
Commodities
- Agronomic: annual ryegrass, buckwheat, clovers, corn, grass (misc. perennial), hay
- Animals: bovine
Practices
- Animal Production: animal protection and health, feed/forage, grazing management
- Crop Production: cover crops
- Education and Training: farmer to farmer, focus group, networking, on-farm/ranch research
- Production Systems: integrated crop and livestock systems
Summary:
I am the owner operator of Rose 23 Cattle Co in Rosendale WI, a small cow calf operation selling beef off the farm. I am also a crop manager at Rickert Brothers LLC in Eldorado, WI, a 1,000 milking cow operation. I have been doing some type of cover cropping for the last 10 years. On the dairy it is rather labor intense, it is working well, but I believe it could be improved. On the dairy I wish to plant corn in 60" rows, planting cover crops around v6. I chop the corn early, mid September, then windrowing and chopping cover crops leaving the residue and anything that will overwinter in the field. Depending on our manure strategy for the year, perhaps run a low disturbance manure applicator through in the spring or fall. For the cow calf operation I would be doing more or less the same thing, pasturing the beef, instead of mechanical harvesting. The fields for the cow calf operation will be left in continual no-till, whether it goes to wheat, hay or soybeans. I wish to build a corn planter on 60" along with no-til equipment and fertilizer and herbicide equipment on the planter itself.
Project objectives:
- Determine if corn at 60" centers with cover crops planted between is beneficial to cropping decisions, financially and agronomically.
- Construct a corn planter that can be used for no-till with a fertilizer and herbicide system on board.
- Determine the best method of sowing/spreading cover crops into standing corn.
- Determine if this method of cropping saved, time or labor.
- Evaluate soil health and nutrients, along with increase or decrease in required nutrient inputs.