We have a new farm. The location hasn't changed, but our attitudes, outlook and directions have changed our farming practices dramatically. I have been a good farmer, using what my father and grandfather have taught me. I was competing on par with my peers. Then I got a wake-up call.
In the fall of 1989, Gary noble, our extension agrologist and Reg Mount, our "Save Our Soils" technician approached me at a "Save Our Soils" meeting and requested a plot of land to demonstrate direct seeding equipment. I was terrified and being a half-way farmer, I was very skeptical, but relented when they supplied the inputs. The land was along the #36 highway northwest of Coronach in the heart of dryland farming. Normal rainfall is less than 10 inches.
I had taken off a forty bushel crop of durum the previous year and spread the straw 10 - 12 feet on a 28 foot swath. I sprayed roundup on half the plot before seeding and the rest after seeding because of motor problems.
Well, on May 15, Reg and Gary showed up with five machines with different openers and different ways of placing the fertilizer. They seeded approximately 30 acres each. Some had terrible problems with the straw, especially with two tenths of an inch of rain that morning. Different machines, different openers, same fertilizer, same seed. I remember Reg saying, "Don, you aren't going to be happy, we are making a mess!"
And then there was Don. I had the control strip that I seeded with my 282 Melroe hoe drills. I had to work this strip twice with our heavy duty cultivator, moving the straw around so I could get through. This was done a day or two before I put on the same seed and same fertilizer.
During the summer, Reg and Gary held a field tour of the site and 10 acres of each plot were staked out to be combined, weighed and tested separately. No guessing with these fellows, just facts. Don's conventional yielded 19 bushel/acre. SOS no till yielded 28 to 37.6 bushel/acre.
This demonstration was my wake-up call. $$$ (dollars), not the soil blowing or washing away, although now I can see we did have some deterioration of our soil from that environment.
The following winter, with Reg's help, we formed a Soil Co-operative to demonstrate direct seeding equipment. With twelve members we seeded 4200 acres. We're allowed 80 acres minimum, 300 acres maximum the first time around. (You could seed more after the drills had been through the club). We leased a tractor also.
We continue to meet throughout the year, planning our activities. In the last three years there has been a lot of new crops grown in our area. Direct seeding of these crops has enabled us to spread out seeding dates. Safflower and peas in April, canola and mustard in early May and the cereals mid to late May. It takes planning and some give and take. We try to target between 3000 and 4000 acres per machine. Over 5000 acres and we look at getting a second drill. This past year, the drill we leased worked so well that we purchased it.
Our club has grown to 49 members, with 9 members owning their own machines. We work with the P.F.R.A. and their "Green Plan" in planting trees, grassing waterways, and saline areas. We tender out our fertilizer requirements, have field tours and invite guests to help us with our problem areas. This enables us to benefit from each others mistakes that we try not to duplicate.
For the past 5 years our club has been testing different equipment each year, using different openers, single shoot, double shoot, different placement of fertilizer, rates of seed and fertilizer, different seed dressings, seed enhancements and also leasing different tractors. We test field six plots for different seed comparisons. Also, we lease a DTN machine that is set up in the rural municipal office for anyone to use. That is a summary of our club.
I have been blessed with a very supportive family. Linda, my partner, five children, three boys and two girls, two sons-in-law and one grandson plus two wonderful ladies, our mothers who help us to keep at least one foot on soiled ground. My father passed on in 1984 and he would turn over in his grave if he could see what we have done to his farm.
It has not been easy making the change. At the start, the psychological and peer pressure kept me guessing, "Am I right or wrong?". I did have a couple gents who gave me encouragement. John and Garth Totton are neighbors who have been direct seeding for over 10 years. Yes, I heard the coffee shop talk about them. They are the quiet types who do their thing and never mind what the other fellow thinks. My family is supportive but question my decisions on timing and variety of crops. They have concerns like, "it's going to freeze!, What will we do with the straw?, We don't have enough grain bins!, We can't seed that here!!". Yes, we have had crops that didn't produce. Our safflower froze 3 years ago. Another rule of thumb we use is "Don't seed more than 10% of our acres to a new crop". This helps to cushion a wreck.
Since 1990 my quest for information has brought me in contact with hundreds of fellow Direct Seeders. I keep marveling at the fellows who started 20 - 25 years ago, the problems they met, the persistence they showed, believing that there is a better way. These pioneers have made it very easy to access good equipment and to glean information from many new sources. I have been attending conferences with other members for the past 5 years. We have taken some of this information and are implementing it on our farm.
First, straw management. We hire over half of our acres combined and operators combines must have choppers.
Second, is good germination and vigorous seed.
Third, is moisture. We probe the depth of water infiltration. A rule of thumb we use, if less than 15 inches, look for crops that use less water or maybe chemfallow, we have not had to do this yet. If more than 30 inches, look for additional fertilizer for higher yield.
Fertilizing on our farm is in its infancy, we are really not up to speed. Last summer I bought a hydraulic soil probe at an auction and started a small business probing neighbors' fields. As the results come back in, it is amazing how from field to field and farm to farm, it can change so much. We, as stewards of the soil are going to have to do a better job.
We have had a couple of fertilizing experiences that were not by design. Since switching to direct seeding we seed larger fields. I had about 40 acres left in a field when I ran out of fertilizer. We were targeting for a 35 bushel/acre crop. I could not get our dealer on the phone and wanted to finish so I continued seeding without fertilizer. When the combines came we measured out the field into 3 acre plots of fertilized and not fertilized and weighed each at the elevator. The results were non-fertilized crop 29 bushels/acre and fertilized crop 38 bushels/acre. For every dollar spent on fertilizer we got $3.00 back. Another fluke was when I started seeding wheat after one of our club members had finished mustard. I made two passes before realizing I hadn't shifted the seeding mechanism to large seed. The fertilizer was going on at the right rate but the grain wasn't. I went back over this and left the fertilizer on so it would get a double rate. Again, we measured 3 acres. The result, normal rate of fertilizer 39 bushels/acre, double rate of fertilizer 42 bushels/acre. For every dollar spent above the recommended rate of fertilizer we only realized $0.60 in return. The economics were not there for the increased rates.
I analyze my nutrient needs the same way as looking at two babies. One large baby, one small baby; the large baby needs 4 bottles of milk to grow, the small baby only needs 2 bottles. Giving the small baby 4 bottles will not make a larger child but giving the large baby only 2 bottles could result in a sickly child.
Weeds on our farm have not been a real problem yet. We have been doing a burn down before seeding cereals at 1/3 litre of Roundup with 1 lb. of 21-0-0. At this rate the seedlings have to be small 1 to 2 leaves. On our oilseeds and legumes, we are putting on 10 lbs. of Edge, we don't work it in and are putting it down early in the spring. Maybe it is luck, maybe mother nature is helping with timely rains and cool weather but it is working for us.
I have a neighbor who did everything by the book and had a real wreck. The company has a pail full of things that could have gone wrong. They gave him his chemical refund.
I also had a near wreck. It was in part on a Proven Seed plot that we co-op with Pioneer Grain. In our burn down we try and spray 3 days before seeding. We brought 3 shuttles of Roundup. Well, one shuttle did not work and it happened to be on the plot, the weeds and volunteer grain just kept on growing. We seeded and the rains came and the weeds grew. Proven Seeds had their field tour and our plot was a mess. We sprayed later with Laser and got a pretty fair job. I had taken the shuttles back to town before realizing there was a problem. They were mixed up with others. Monsanto gave me another shuttle. What was in that other shuttle or not in it, no one knows.
We have had problems with volunteer grains in our oilseeds in the past. Seeding canola on barley stubble, we had 22% barley in the canola. We were able to screen this out for feed but this is not performance. But it is experience, the old teacher.
Knowing what the crops needs are is the most important factor in achieving our yield potential. What is the requirement of a crop? Do we have the nutrients to grow a certain crop? Is our PIT level able to support the crop? Will it compete with our weeds? What is the water requirements?
Rotations are what we are keying on. Trying to find crops that will grow and be profitable. Maybe on some land we should look at crops that are not as profitable, but will help us nurse our soil back to profitability.
We have a great potential and opportunity to access information which is the biggest key to success. Five years ago at the invitation of John Totton I attended my first direct seeding meeting in Brandon. I came back home and tired to digest what I had heard. The theme was "sustaining and improving our soil". With this information and the proceedings book guiding me I started incorporating direct seeding and continuous cropping on our farm. We have been using other farmers and researchers information to minimize problems that will arise. This is where management first is a must for success,
We try to seed 1/4 oilseeds, 1/4 legumes and 1/2 cereals. Our varieties and production targets are determined by moisture, weeds, markets, disease, insects and many other factors. As Dwain Beck said, "With this type of rotation you can see how we can stretch out seeding dates and harvest periods. We can spread out work loads and decrease insects, disease and weed pressures."
In conclusion remember that old teacher, experience. In direct seeding there will be a lot of experiences, but if you can take some of this knowledge that is at this conference home to your farm and avoid some pressure, you will come back and say as I say... "I will never go back to the way I was farming five years ago!"
Remember look after the soil, your factory, and it will look after you.