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Thumb of Michigan | Hey Matt- hows it going?
Matt, in your area, what would "normal" be for rain fall? Do you get much snow? I shouldn't assume anything, but I will in this case- would your rain fall and typical rotations be similar to Chart86's? I just (probabley incorrectley) picture your area as being very similar to his. As far as rain fall anyway.
There are areas in Michigan that are always 10 days away from a full blown drought- lucky for me not here. We get wet winters and springs, followed by some potentially long periods of no rain during the growing season. Moisture management is very important here, but too much to too little is the continuing battle. For us on our farm, no-till/zone till methods have worked pretty well to even out the wet and dry periods. Anyway, we can get away with trying to have something growing year around (winter gets in the way of that sometimes) w/o moisture being a real limiting factor.
Hay, I sold a tractor to a gentleman up near the Texas /Oklahoma border a long time ago. He told me that he'd had a lot of farmers from the Corn Belt through his area over they years looking for land. When asked, he told them he could plan on 40" of rain fall every year. They were then shocked to find out that he was struggling to maintain 120 bpa corn yields. He just figured he didn't know how to raise corn like they could other places. But then he also wondered (and always seemed to forget to mention to them) that it only rained 4 times a year at his place. The devils in the details.
Anyway, my only point is that cold and wet is a common topic "here". Probabley not that way in Merkel, Texas. Chart86- Matts website will more than likely lead you to more info than you can digest in a weekend! I'd highly recomend that as a start.
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No till crop rotation... Too much?
