HOW WE DEVELOPED OUR OWN SYSTEM

Cecil Reisner

Limerick, Saskatchewan

To change your farm to direct seeding in the past was not easy. Today's technology and the lower cost of Roundup now makes it feasible for anyone to adopt. With a few slides I will try to show how we direct seed on our farm.

HARVEST

  1. All crops are straight combined leaving 14 inches of stubble where possible.
  2. 30 foot canvas table with floatation tires at each end.
  3. Finger air reel is used which moves all the crop onto the table evenly whether it is lodged or even if there are short thin spots.
  4. Spring steel crop lifters, one and a quarter inch wide, lift crops without dislodging small stones that have been packed into the soil by the crop roller.
  5. Poly skid plates and poly under the knife keep it clear of mud.
  6. Large home made chaff deflectors will spread chaff the full width of cut if the wind is not too strong.
  7. Chopper and spreader: The spreader has been converted to hydraulic drive, the speed can be changed from the cab so that later at night when the combine tends to windrow the straw, you can speed it up and still do a reasonable job of spreading.

AFTER HARVEST

  1. Soil testing - about half of the fields are soil tested using a hydraulic probe going 24 inches deep. Two levels are sampled, 0 to 6" to 6 -24".
  2. Spraying winter annuals - only those fields to be seeded early - use Roundup.
  3. Applying Edge with heavy harrows on fields to be seeded to pulse or oil seed crops. We travel 90 degrees to the seeder ridges; it gives better incorporation.

SEEDING

  1. 6"shovels are used and seed is spread 6" if possible to utilize the 6" wide packers.
  2. Phosphate fertilizer is placed with the seed (with cereals, usually 60 lbs 34-17-0 giving 20 lbs. of N and 10 lbs. of P).
  3. Balance of nitrogen required is broadcast in front of seeder using 46-0-0.
  4. Air tank has three compartments 100 bu, 80 bu, and 160 bu, which can be set for any rate needed.
  5. Variable rate. By pushing a switch in the cab you can increase the N applied by 50% or the seed by 50%.
  6. Compaction problems.

WEED CONTROL IN CROP

  1. Similar to conventional seeding.
  2. Use a 3 ton, 4 X 4 truck with dual booms and tanks, at 9 mph we use 2 gallons per acre, but more when desiccating.
  3. Tram line used to avoid misses and over laps.

CROP ROTATIONS

Rotations are becoming very important on our farm as we see the benefits. We use a standard rotation, Cereal-Pulse-Cereal-Oilseed, with the odd field of Chem fallow.

RESULTS

Yields were not high this year due to drought but were satisfactory. Stored soil moisture in the spring was only 10 - 12" or 2" of water. Rainfall May, June, and July (27 showers) was 5" or a total of 7" available water.

Wheat and Durum yield were 30 bu per acre on pulse and oilseed stubble for a moisture use efficiency of 4 1/4 bu/inch of water.

Wheat and Durum yields were 20 bu/acre on cereal stubble for a moisture use efficiency of 2.8 bu/inch of water.

Field Peas 25 bu/acre.

Polish canola 15 - 25 bu/acre.

Lentil 1000 lbs/acre.

Peas and lentil stubble is a poor snow trap but with early harvest you begin to recharge the fields about August 1.

Direct seeding has the effect of minimizing the difference between your fields. The yield of your best field and your poorest field may be similar. Direct seeding or Zero-till is the only sustainable farming system for the prairies.