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Thumb of Michigan | We farmed some ground on the edge of the Saginaw Valley that was quite hilly. Kind of odd as far as run off, though. The scariest, steepest hill never got gullies. Just across the section, there was some ground a little less hilly that always had washouts. The land owner had been working for many years trying to correct it. Wasn't 100% there when we took it over. Anyway, the issue in that field (in my mind) wasn't so much degree of slope but the length. The first hill I mentioned was kind of an anomaly, and was quite flat on 3 sides of it. Just dropped off fast on one side. The problem field has slopes that started a long ways off the farm, and this farm was near the bottom of the slope. The speed which water could reach was the culprit. There are a number of berms and blockages, but sometimes the volume of water coupled with the speed was more than even the berms could handle. I'm not much help with this, as we never really got 100% control over the washouts as long as we farmed it. Not uncommon to have to back blade the washouts every year or 2. | |
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no till and water runoff
