There are two kinds of farmers, there are pioneers and there are settlers. We here today are pioneers, looking for new ideas and a better way of doing things. I take my hat off to those pioneers that started with no-till 10 to 20 years ago. They had little or no equipment to work with and chemicals were expensive or didn't exist. However, they had the idea and the persistence to make it work.
My son and I, farm in the Conquest area, which is just west of Outlook and 50 miles south west of Saskatoon. We seed over 3000 acres of crop a year. Our soil is a medium to heavy clay loam and we do have some light sandy soil. We are in the shelterbelt area and most of our land had shelterbelts on it. We do know that these trees are an asset to us. They serve as protection from wind and also collect blowing snow in the winter.
We have been in no-till now for four years. We have always used a disc opener and for the past two years, we have used the Barton No-Till Disc.
When we were making the change to continuous cropping five years ago, we were seeding everything with a press drill and planned to go to an air seeder which meant getting a bigger tractor, air seeder and harrow packer bar.
We then put some thought into no-till. Using our existing cultivator frame (Morris 531), we bought a used Flexi-Coil air tank at an auction sale. We kept our 4430 John Deere tractor and did not need a harrow packer bar.
We went to the Barton single disc opener at 12 inch spacings. The Barton openers enable us to travel at speeds in excess of 8 m.p.h. with excellent seed placement and on-row packing. They are easy pulling, self cleaning with very low soil disturbance. Because of the angle of the single disc, no weight is required for penetration. A double shoot is now available for these units.
We went to 12 inch spacings because most cultivator frames are already set up at this measurement. Fewer units are required for your footage and less horsepower is required. Lentils seeded a foot apart do better because there is more air circulation which reduces disease.
Our crop rotation is wheat, lentils and peas. A crop of wheat after two years of legumes does great. Lentils seeded into standing wheat stubble is perfect, with protection from wind and has good moisture from snow trapped during winter. Peas seeded on lentil stubble also does good. There is usually a good residue which keeps the ground moist which creates an excellent condition to seed peas into.
We are now working chickpeas into our rotation. They do need a longer growing season but they are not finicky like lentils. They also fix more nitrogen than lentils and peas.
The wheat we have been growing the past few years is CPS. It is a quick germinating semi-dwarf variety and is easy to thresh and is very good for straight cutting. When we harvest wheat, we straight cut and leave as much standing stubble as possible.
Some of our weed problems have changed, we have eliminated some, and acquired new ones. In 1994 our biggest problem was kochia. It came in mid season and was found mainly in our lentil and pea crops. We knew we would have to start using Edge again since we would not cultivate to work the chemical in. We started calling the research centres and chemical companies. They all gave us the same information; if the ground has not been worked for three to four years, drop Edge down late in the fall with no incorporation and it will work. So we treated over a thousand acres in the fall and another four hundred in the spring. Being a cold spring it was slow to work but when it warmed up, it worked for us. The second year we had good results with granular zero incorporation. It worked well on broadleaf weeds but was weak on wild oats.
In 1996 two weeds that have appeared are Canada fleabane and narrow-leafed hawksbeard. In our peas this year, we substituted our burnoff with Roundup for Pursuit. The peas were just through the ground when we sprayed Pursuit. Unfortunately, it was our mistake of the year. Never substitute your burnoff for anything....Pursuit did not kill these weeds. Although we are in the brown soil zone, Pursuit hasn't affected our cereals and we do not seed canola.
Canada fleabane and narrow-leafed hawksbeard are winter annuals. Spraying 2,4-D in the fall or with our burnoff in the spring will get them. The spray coupe works well for spraying late in the fall and early spring because we can bring it home and put it inside on the cold nights.
Pre-harvest burnoff at a litre or more of Roundup per acre does wonders. The cost of controlling weeds such as Canada thistle, quackgrass, dandelions, foxtail barley, and winter annuals is money well spent. Especially in the spring, keep your burnoff rate up. Don't cheap out on chemical or try to cut corners.
Keep in contact with your chemical dealers. They are always in touch with accurate information. Also use 800 numbers to get quick access to a chemical representative. They have all the do's and don'ts of the chemicals they sell. There are a lot of new chemicals out and more coming so don't be afraid to ask questions.
Ideas that we find are good to help weed control are low soil disturbance seeding which helps keep weed seeds from germinating, early seeding (providing you get your burnoff), good rotations (for use of different chemicals for less weed resistance), good straw management (which helps for better granular zero-incorporation application), good shallow firm seedbed so your crop is off to a good start. A good crop is always a good competitor.
Field trips are very important, keeping in mind what was done in the past, what is there now, and what you are planning in the future. These field trips help to answer a lot of our questions. A record system is also a good idea.
All in all, what we have learned in the past four years is:
We have only three machines, a seeding outfit, sprayer and combine. We have eliminated everything else. With our seeding outfit and a 125 hp tractor, we seed between two and three hundred acres a day at speeds between seven and eight m.p.h. We seeded between 3200 and 3300 acres last spring.
The sprayer is the most important piece of equipment. We have a Spray Coupe and a pull type.
When combining, we straight cut everything. The neighbours this year experimented with a stripper header in wheat. It looked like hell afterwards, but seriously, it is the way to go. It provides for great snow trapping in winter and with the disc opener, the tall straw should not be a problem. Also the residue from the long straw will be better than being chopped. The combining speed is phenomenal. A 250 bushel grain tank is filled in 7 to 8 minutes.
I like what John Bennett said at a conference a few years ago. "You can not marry the two systems; no-till and conventional". A very true statement. You have to completely change your way of thinking to make it work.
Some advantages we have found is that our alkali spots are disappearing and we have eliminated rock picking. But one thing we do miss is the nice smell of freshly worked earth.