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Scribner, NE | Things changed on my farm yesterday morning! Now a new challenge- sort of! Ten years ago I switched all of the ground I farmed to no till. I started with soils that when it rained behaved like pavement. So much hog manure there was very little soil structure. Today I have improved infiltration rates to the point that the water holes never seem to hold water long enough to drown a crop (Most of the time. Sometime back during the Pleistocene we had a nine incher that stood for a while!). However, I did endure the yield drag for a few years.
Yesterday I agreed to purchase the adjoining acres to my old hog farm. The weather was too nice and I soil sampled the new ground. I knew the ground had been worked wet but I have never seen a disk layer that hard. Dry soils don't help. Are there any experienced no tillers with ideas on how to convert this farm? Subsoil first? It is dryland and Nebraska. No moisture would devastate yields. Can the yield drag be avoided? (Increased N rated?)
I am interested in your thoughts! | |
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converting ground to no till
