Cambridge, southwestern Nebraska | Ahhh, now on a subject I can understand and relate to!
We fallow some and have tried different ideas to eliminate fallow for 30 years or more.
I think the number one thing in low rainfall areas is not remove residue or forage unless you are pretty sure you are going to be able to get another crop up and going.
We lose a lot of moisture out here due to evaporation. Bare ground evaporates moisture. Thus the argument that fallow doesn’t do much good. But, I do believe fallow does store some moisture deeper down and on a year like we are having the fallow wheat is still holding on to some extent where the continuous wheat is already toast.
There were studies out of South Dakota… Dakota Lakes?…that learned the time between crops needs to match the rainfall and crop use. We have to have a rotation that allows enough time to replenish enough moisture for the next crop.
I have tried very short season corn. Like 75 day planted early. Came off late August but still wasn’t really worth the effort. Dryland beans are kind of backing off. No residue after harvesting and usually too dry to get wheat established. Oats work fairly well. Not a lot of market for oats, especially light weight oats we get sometimes. Spring wheat kind of works. If it fails I just no till winter wheat into the stubble. If it grows enough straw I can go to corn in the spring.
The key seems to be you can’t follow high water use crop such as corn or beans too quickly with another crop.
Have a neighbor that drills forage sorghum late summer, lets it grow and freeze then grazes it some and goes to corn or milo in the spring. I have considered doing the same on the fallow period, skip the wheat then follow with corn in the spring. There would be several months between the previous fall crop before the forage. Then a few more months to retain moisture before the corn needs water. Forage would give me the residue the corn needs.
Haven’t found the silver bullet yet. I also think you have to stay flexible. Do a few things based on moisture availability.
I know I’m not helping out much for forage. Looks like you had pretty good advice already. Looks like you understand the concept.
I do like having a crop of some kind on there every year.
Some years are wetter than others. If it’s just fallow you miss out on the opportunity.
Edited by swne 5/4/2025 19:12
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Dryland crop rotation fun
