By Kevin Schilthuis • Lovell, Wyoming We are farming irrigated entisols, which are known to have high mineral content but little biological activity. We would much rather be farming the more productive mollisol soils, but since you play the hand that you were dealt, we have developed a “mollisolve cocktail”…
Grasses are king when it comes to growing cover crops for supplemental grazing. In addition to being the highest yielding family of cover crops, they are vital in reaching other cover cropping goals such as reducing erosion, building organic matter, and suppressing weeds. Warm-season C4 plants such as sorghum sudan…
When people think of grazing forages, they often think of fencing the whole field with one location for water and mineral and continuously grazing the whole herd until all the forage is eaten. This type of grazing can be destructive to soil health and productivity as it leads to compaction,…
One of the most widely reaped benefits of cover crops is providing valuable supplemental forage to grazing animals. Well-planned annual cover crop mixes can provide highly nutritious available forage when perennial grass pastures are either unproductive, poor in quality, or in need of rest. The most critical period for perennial…
By Christine Jones, Ph. D Dr. Christine Jones is an internationally renowned and highly respected groundcover and soils ecologist. She has a wealth of experience working with innovative landholders to implement regenerative land management practices that enhance biodiversity, increase biological activity, sequester carbon, activate soil nutrient cycles, restore water balance,…
By Christine Jones, Ph. D In human society, a quorum is the number of members of an organization that must be present in order for decisions to be made and business to be transacted. In the microbial world, the term quorum sensing (QS) refers to density dependent coordinated behavior that…
By Tim Goodnight • Pharo Cattle Company The Program: In early 2018, Tyson Foods approached Cactus Feeders about developing a grassfed beef program due to growing retail demand. Cactus quickly realized that to produce premium grassfed beef they were going to have to select the best genetics available, improve soil…
Spring Green Manure Featuring Burkey Farms • Dorchester, Nebraska Sometimes full season row crops, adverse fall harvest conditions, or lack of manpower limit opportunities for good fall cover crop establishment. All is not lost as some producers are taking a “Plan B” approach and planting a diverse cover crop mixture…
Poly Cropping with Multiple Cash Crops Axten Farms • Minton, Saskatchewan The act of poly cropping is the concept of growing two or more crops at one time to harvest. There are multiple benefits to this technique including: Reduced fertilizer use (when one crop is a legume). Higher combined profit…
By Ray Archuleta • Greensboro, North Carolina Ray Archuleta is one of our all-time favorite “soil guys”. He is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist with the Soil Science Society of America and has over 30 years experience as a Soil Conservationist, Water Quality Specialist, and Conservation Agronomist with the Natural…
