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NW Washington | As mentioned earlier, I don't think haycubes are the answer. Cubes take an expensive machine and lots of power and special conditions. I am guessing that you are in grass seed production in Oregon and you have to get rid of the straw/residue to maintain your seed yields. IMO, I don't think there is a thing you can do to fix the water infiltration situation with tillage. Earthworms need organic material to eat and they hate intensive tillage. Has you soil been analysed latley? Adding a layer of compost to the stubble each year would probably help. Maybe adding limestone or gypsum might help Too. Rotating out of grass and planting some deep tap rooted crops like canola or mustard would help open the soil and add a lot of residue. It would get of some of the bad critters that have built up in your soil too.
Years ago the U of Idaho and WSU Ag Engineers fooled around with a "slot mulching" machine which blew chopped up crop residue/straw into a slot behind a single ripper shank. The economics of that machine were not to good and if the slot is covered with soil it does no good for water infiltration because of the way water moves in soil. So that machine and idea was junked. | |
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Hay Cuber.
