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Thumb of Michigan | Holy wah gang, lighten up!!
When I started this particular reply, over 7300 faithful readers had checked this topic out. Why, I don't know.
I think I'd be safe in saying that there are 4 kinds of farmers here.
1. Some are no-till, or at least a similar variation . Some are even happy that they are no-till.
2. Some are not quite no-till, but doing much less tillage than they were say 10 or 20 years ago. Out of those, some are pretty happy and are going to continue to do whatever it is that they're doing.
3. Some are full tillage -or at least pretty close- and they're pretty darned happy about that also.
4. Theres always going to be a group that regardless of what they do now, want to do something different.
More power to all of you. No need to get crappy about your choice, though. And yeah, I'm as guilty as the next guy about touting my particular choice. Not proud enough about it to call names or fight or anything, though.
OK, let me throw this out there for discussion. Cover crops ain't new. My grandpa used them. Bet lots of grandpa's did. And they weren't no-till. I think that each of the afore mentioned groups have some faithful followers checking this post out. All have different reasons, and for the ones who want to just maybe learn a little about whats out there beyond their back yard, my hats off to you. Each of us has a way that works, so thats the right way. I'm not above trying to hone my skills a little bit anyway. I don't even mind relating things I've done that don't work either. Topic for another time, maybe.
As far as the Radish goes- I find it to be a truly amazing cover when used in the right circumstances. It certainly isn't the only cover crop out there, but it's a pretty cool thing to see nontheless. Lots of guys won't want to screw around with it, and thats OK too. Just one of those things that work out well for some operations. For me, I had some compelling reasons to no-till. First of all, I absolutely detest driving a tractor. Although I used to get an erection from diesel smoke, just don't happen for me anymore. There, I've admitted it. And no, I'm not interested in any little blue pills to correct that disorder by the way. Anyway, for me, on my farm, in my little corner of the world, radish has done a pretty good job of fixing some of the problems I used to fix with steel. Its an alternative to what I used to do that generally worked at least short term. Plus, and I think that this concept has been lost in the discussion, OSR CONTROLS SUGAR BEET CYST NEMATODES!! Chemical control is very expensive. OSR control is too, but much less. But heres what excites me (and should many of you folks who don't raise sugar beets)- wonder how long before we have a plant that we can put out there that controls soybean cyst nematodes? Or corn borer? Or pick another pest you have that you wished you didn't? For me, I think I'd rather have a cover crop that addresses my particular problem and also provides some other percieved benefits than I would send a tech fee of some sort to St Louis, Mo. I know, I know, its way off in left field and almost communistic to talk that way about Mother M. But its that type of thing that keeps farming fun for me.
Now heres the last part of todays rant. There are many acres of OSR planted in my area as a cover crop. Many more acres of clover. Quite a few small grain cover acres. How many, I'd hate to guess. Just many. I happen to be the only one of those many acres that no-tills that come to mind. All the rest (the vast majority) are convetional till. Its not just a no-till thing, at least here anyway.
OK, fire away. I know I have it coming.
Edited by pat-michigan 11/11/2007 15:21
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dug up some cover crops
