Common Sense Agriculture's Blog

I have written in other posts on my thoughts regarding the Farm Bill. Once again, we have the opportunity to make changes that could turn a program into a true safety net…meaning it would send producers back up, after falling, not catch them and not let go, or worse yet, promote a state of long-term dependence.

Being from California, I suspect I have a slightly different perspective on the issue of crop insurance. However, I also believe that there are others, particularly in Florida and Michigan, to name a few, who have some similar thoughts. I mention this because of our tremendous diversity in crops grown, many of which do not even qualify for support from the current or past Farm Bills. Read more…

I finished discing  the evening before having to leave for a bull sale. The long range forecast was calling for precipitation in five days…three days at the sale would leave me two days to get the wheat drilled before the rain/snow began to fall…if the meteorologist was correct.

Tractor, Roterra, Drill, Cultipacker

Since I was planting wheat, an annual and not alfalfa or pasture, I did not run a box scraper or land plane following discing. Instead, I hooked up a roterra, followed by the drill, followed by the cultipacker.

The roterra is PTO driven and further breaks up the remaining sod clods and then gently packs the soil in front of the drill. The drill then lays the seed in a small furrow, 2″ deep for red wheat in our soil. The cultipacker then follows the drill and packs the soil on top of the seed. Read more…

12' Offset Sod Disc

After letting the field set for about a week, it was time to disc.

The process of discing breaks up the turned soil and sod resulting from plowing. We utilized a 12′ offset sod disc for this field, due to the presence of orchard grass and fescue, with both create heavy sod. Read more…

After two weeks, all the vegetation that was susceptible to glyphosate (Roundup), has turned brown, and it is time to start plowing.

One Week After Spraying

Two Weeks After Spraying & Beginning To Plow

Due to the presence of fescue and orchard grass, it was necessary to use a traditional rollover plow, in order to get below the roots and turn the sod over. Plowing also exposes the roots of all the plants and will cause many, not all, of the plants that are not susceptible to glyphosate to die.

Following the harvest of grains, I am able to use a chisel plow, which breaks up the compacted soil, but does not expose the root zone. I will use the chisel plow when I move from wheat back to grass, to keep more moisture in the ground for the seed bed in June/July.

Plowing exposes the root zone to allow for drying and allows for the sod to be broken up more easily during plowing and also, by penetrating 16″, gets below the compaction area to allow for a new, soft seed bed for the new plants.

Once the field is plowed, I will wait for six days before beginning to disc.

Stay tuned for Phase III.

One of our hay fields is due to be rotated this year. It has been producing alfalfa-grass mix hay since 1998. Thirteen years of production is fairly substantial, especially considering that it was seriously damaged in flood of ’96.

McBride 6 After 2nd Cutting

It finally reached a point this year where the production fell below five ton per acre and it is inundated with undesirables; weeds that we are unable to spray to eliminate without also killing the alfalfa, the fescue or the orchard grass. Read more…