2021 Nebraska Cover Crop and Soil Health Conference - Ken Herz

Deloris Pittman Author

03/29/2021 Added

22 Plays

Description

On-Farm Research of Incorporating Cover Crop into a 3 Crop Dryland Rotation - Ken Herz, Owner/Operator of Herz Land and Cattle

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:00.060][Music].
[00:00:22.370]Our last speaker today is Ken Herz.
[00:00:25.580]Ken is the owner operator of Herz land and cattle company.
[00:00:30.170]Ken's going to present today on some on farm research of incorporating
[00:00:35.030]cover crops into a three crop dry land rotation.
[00:00:39.320]I know a couple of my grad students have spent some time,
[00:00:43.850]working with,
[00:00:45.410]Jenny and Mary and Ken on this project.
[00:00:49.790]so this is, is something that's, wasn't started,
[00:00:54.650]just as a, you know, a project.
[00:00:58.220]This has been a pretty valuable long-standing project and I'm looking forward to
[00:01:03.170]Ken's presentation today, as I hope everyone else says.
[00:01:07.730]and so with that, Ken, when, you're ready. go ahead.
[00:01:12.830]Okay. Thank you, Darren. appreciate it.
[00:01:17.090]I really enjoyed all the afternoon presentations so far really enjoyed
[00:01:22.010]them. this project is, again,
[00:01:26.780]had a lot of help with, from Jenny Reese and Mary Drewnowski
[00:01:32.300]Michael Sindelair has been out there an awful lot as a
[00:01:37.130]Brad chick has also, so, and a lot of grad students.
[00:01:41.330]So we really appreciate all the help that we've, had on this.
[00:01:46.220]See if I can make this move. I don't know.
[00:01:53.150]Hang on. Just
[00:01:58.220]There we go. Okay. Thank you. a little bit of background.
[00:02:02.780]we operate, near Lawrence, Nebraska, South of Hastings here.
[00:02:06.860]We're all dry land area with 50% crop land at about 50% range land.
[00:02:11.930]We, get about, 24 inches of rainfall annually.
[00:02:16.880]Our operation consists of myself and my sons. Erin and Zach.
[00:02:21.620]we have individual operations, but we work cooperatively.
[00:02:26.090]Our operation consists of crops, cow calf,
[00:02:29.420]be finishing in a better barn.
[00:02:31.640]And we always look at a systems approach to everything we
[00:02:36.530]do. we focus on,
[00:02:39.200]developing a sustainable system using cover crops,
[00:02:42.920]then enhanced environment and the soils, and that is profitable.
[00:02:47.690]we approached, Jenny Reese,
[00:02:50.930]extension educator about an on farm, research project,
[00:02:55.910]a number of years ago.
[00:03:00.460]Okay.
[00:03:01.270]And, basically what's,
[00:03:04.150]our system is three crop rotation. we,
[00:03:09.040]and we also have livestock. And so what's in the back of our minds.
[00:03:13.630]Is that on the range land,
[00:03:16.030]as the season goes on into the late summer and early fall,
[00:03:21.340]you have less production at the range land.
[00:03:24.400]is there anything we can do in our crop side,
[00:03:28.300]such as cover crops behind, wheat,
[00:03:33.100]that we could transfer some of our grazing of our livestock from the range land
[00:03:38.050]to, cover crops. And what does that do to the whole system?
[00:03:43.300]Does that make the system more profitable or what does it do? So, anyhow,
[00:03:47.560]the intent of the research is to,
[00:03:50.560]it's a system approach to integrating livestock into a dry land cropping
[00:03:53.890]rotation. And, it,
[00:03:58.210]we want to study the effects of growing a grazing cover crop on system
[00:04:01.930]profitability. And we also want to, study the effects in soil health,
[00:04:07.030]in an integrated livestock cropping system.
[00:04:10.240]This is a three year project is non-irrigated,
[00:04:14.260]no crop rotate, no till, crop rotation.
[00:04:17.800]We have wheat corn soybeans with cover crops planted in the cover crop
[00:04:22.330]treatments, following that wheat only,
[00:04:25.180]ear grazing other cover crops and corn residue in grazing cover crop treatment
[00:04:29.740]only. And we did install one of Mark's, moisture sensors to,
[00:04:34.780]determine, the more soil moisture in soils.
[00:04:39.730]This is a kind of busy slide, but I think, information off on the left is,
[00:04:44.440]is most important. We have three treatments, wheat stubble, grazes cover crop,
[00:04:49.630]and grazes cover crop, and that,
[00:04:52.180]data collected a soil properties value of animal grazing,
[00:04:57.130]the value of a grazing succeeding, a crop.
[00:04:59.650]You have soil moisture cover crop biomass.
[00:05:03.280]there would be four replications of, each treatment.
[00:05:12.030]This started in, we, we have one plot and Nichols County.
[00:05:16.920]We started in, year, 2016 with, we planted,
[00:05:21.720]a cool season cover crop. 17 was planted to corn.
[00:05:25.780]The corn residue is grazesd and, and,
[00:05:28.680]grazes cover crop treatment in 2018. Soybeans were planted.
[00:05:33.060]Wheat was planted in the fall 2019,
[00:05:35.890]and wheat was harvested in the Nuckolls season.
[00:05:38.520]Cover crop was planted in wheat stubble, in,
[00:05:43.260]2020, corn was planted, this year,
[00:05:48.090]sorry, beans would be planted in this fall.
[00:05:51.090]We will be planted into the soybeans.
[00:05:54.450]we did add another site in Webster County in 2018.
[00:05:58.820]We had a warm season cover crop planted in wheat stubble. And,
[00:06:03.920]we had, it was, grazesd.
[00:06:08.210]we had corn resident, corn planted in 2019 and soybeans,
[00:06:13.730]were planted to slash.
[00:06:15.880]Sure.
[00:06:20.890]Year the cover crop in Nuckolls County. It was planted in August 14th.
[00:06:26.170]following wheat harvest this particular year was very,
[00:06:29.800]very dry during the summertime. we had very little moisture,
[00:06:34.960]available after we'd harvest.
[00:06:38.140]we waited until we had a half inch of moisture.
[00:06:40.810]We went out the next day and planted a cover crop. And,
[00:06:45.460]as things happen,
[00:06:48.280]the next 10 days we had about six inches of rain and they were,
[00:06:53.260]small rains, that we didn't have much runoff.
[00:06:57.850]So we ended up, having a really good stand of cover crop,
[00:07:02.500]a lot of growth. biomass measured w
[00:07:07.510]October 19th was 3000 for 400 pounds.
[00:07:11.770]And it consists mainly of, of grasses, the spring,
[00:07:15.670]triticale the oats and turnips. we put some,
[00:07:20.860]cattle out there on November.
[00:07:24.130]we grazesd them for 22 days and, we,
[00:07:28.990]after the grazing, we had, 2100,
[00:07:33.400]pounds of cover ma pounds of biomass still present.
[00:07:38.560]We were worried about overgrazing because we wanted to protect the
[00:07:43.360]soil. In hindsight, we probably could have grazesd it a little bit more.
[00:07:48.370]but anyhow, we had, quite a bit of, of grazing out there.
[00:07:57.280]This, 2019 was totally different gear.
[00:08:01.210]A cover crop was planted on nine three September the third.
[00:08:06.190]it, it was 10 pounds of winter peas, 25 pounds of winter.
[00:08:10.630]Triticale 25 pounds of black oats,
[00:08:13.450]and 1.3 pounds of colors,
[00:08:15.940]and 1.3 pounds of turnips because of the year,
[00:08:20.500]because it was so wet that year we had, the wheat harvest was delayed,
[00:08:25.480]and it was really wet.
[00:08:29.770]the crop was delayed, planted, and,
[00:08:34.450]it was also a very cool what fall.
[00:08:37.900]we did not get very much, growth out of there. And so,
[00:08:42.670]we only had,
[00:08:45.160]8.66 animal unit months grazing, because of that,
[00:08:50.140]as you can see on the picture,
[00:08:52.390]there's not much difference on the left side, is,
[00:08:55.170]was grazes on the right side is what was left on grazes.
[00:09:00.030]that was a cover crop was terminated, in the spring
[00:09:08.170]County cover crop. Okay. If we shift over to the Webster County cover crop,
[00:09:13.150]when we planted this cover crop, we have his planet after a very,
[00:09:17.500]another very dry here. the wheat,
[00:09:20.870]only made about 35 bushel. it was pretty dry, but,
[00:09:25.850]we planted, into that wheat,
[00:09:29.810]as you can see the stubble. There's probably only about four inches high.
[00:09:34.310]We planted into that,
[00:09:35.890]immediately after a harvest and we got good
[00:09:40.550]emergence, pretty quick.
[00:09:44.900]this is what the cover crop ended up looking like in the fall when we were
[00:09:48.560]grazing it, we had an awful lot of growth out there.
[00:09:53.510]this is another picture of, Webster County,
[00:09:58.520]cover crop.
[00:10:01.340]the picture on the left is right before the grazing.
[00:10:04.880]you can see that mountain of material that's out there.
[00:10:07.850]This was a different mix that we planted out there.
[00:10:11.390]this was seven pounds of BMR sorghum
[00:10:13.700]and four pounds that Pearl mmillet and,
[00:10:17.240]two pounds of radishes.
[00:10:20.360]we had 8,400 pounds of biomass out there,
[00:10:25.280]before grazing,
[00:10:28.160]the picture on the right is a picture after the
[00:10:32.600]grazing was completed as,
[00:10:36.230]the livestock that we had out there didn't, didn't have enough time.
[00:10:40.880]We had to bring them home for calving.
[00:10:44.360]there was a lot more grazing that was available out there. so,
[00:10:49.040]and you can see, the lines between,
[00:10:54.380]what was left on grazes and what was grazes.
[00:10:57.890]And you can see that there was quite a bit of material left.
[00:11:01.130]Out there.
[00:11:03.620]the Mercer County,
[00:11:07.100]cover crop field was at 52 acres in it.
[00:11:10.820]We raised 35 head out there for 91 days. And as I said,
[00:11:15.170]there was quite a bit of four-ish remained in the grays area.
[00:11:19.490]we did not, get a pulse grazing biomass.
[00:11:25.310]Okay. Let's talk about yields a little bit.
[00:11:29.000]if we go back to Nuckolls County, if we look at,
[00:11:32.690]2017, that was the first year after the cover crop,
[00:11:37.700]our corn yield, we, had,
[00:11:42.740]two 13,
[00:11:45.320]for the cover crop that was non-graded to 11, bushel,
[00:11:49.520]an acre for the cover crop that was grazesd in two 18,
[00:11:54.670]for the stubble, the wheat stubble,
[00:11:58.570]on 2018, the chart right below it,
[00:12:02.620]it was soybeans. and this is where the surprise came into us.
[00:12:07.900]again,
[00:12:10.090]2018 and across most Nebraska was, very wet,
[00:12:15.280]but we were in a really, really dry spot. And,
[00:12:19.180]we seem like we could not buyer rain. anyhow,
[00:12:23.560]it was really starting to affect the soybeans. And you could see,
[00:12:28.720]the line between,
[00:12:31.030]the cover crop that was grazes and the cover crop that wasn't
[00:12:35.740]grazes. There was a yield difference in there.
[00:12:40.300]the cover crop that was non grazesd, 50 bushel, an acre,
[00:12:44.470]the cover crop that was, grazes was 40 bushel an acre, so that,
[00:12:49.030]there was, that's,
[00:12:51.780]a sizeable amount in 2019,
[00:12:56.680]after the 18, soybeans soon, it was planted to wheat. we,
[00:13:01.360]the wheat yields were, not much difference, 84 bushel,
[00:13:05.380]84 bushel and 83 bushel.
[00:13:08.320]So there wasn't very much difference than there. And then 2020,
[00:13:13.090]this last year, it was a corn again,
[00:13:15.790]the cover crop that was non grazesd at a yield of 215
[00:13:20.860]cover crop that was grazesd as 216 bushel, an acre.
[00:13:24.850]And the wheat stubble that was non grazes was 226 bushel an
[00:13:29.620]acre. Okay.
[00:13:33.520]If we look at the economic analysis of this year,
[00:13:37.370]the Nuckolls County farm,
[00:13:39.730]and we can start on this and we keep adding,
[00:13:44.800]the returns or, every year.
[00:13:48.160]So in the first year when we had, 2000, when we just had the cover crop,
[00:13:53.410]it, the cover crop that no, it was non grazes.
[00:13:56.330]It costs us $46 an acre, for the seed,
[00:14:00.670]basically for the seed and for the drilling costs,
[00:14:05.530]the cover crop, that was great because we got the grazing out of it,
[00:14:10.180]returned about $22 an acre,
[00:14:13.990]the wheat stubble that, was just, chemically fallowed.
[00:14:18.670]We had about $18 in costs in that,
[00:14:22.420]the 2017 corn crop. as you can see,
[00:14:27.550]it was, pretty close to the same returns on,
[00:14:32.080]on every treatment,
[00:14:34.330]the 2018 soybean crop because of that low yield
[00:14:39.160]and the cover crop, that was grazesd,
[00:14:43.210]and actually had a negative return to it.
[00:14:46.420]2019 week yields,
[00:14:49.450]returns were about equal.
[00:14:52.460]And so the three-year total is about 278 for
[00:14:57.350]the cover crop that was non non-graded,
[00:14:59.450]two 72 for the cover crop that was grazes and
[00:15:03.590]$333 an acre for what you'd call the traditional
[00:15:08.030]system. If we get to 2019, again,
[00:15:13.010]we added the cover crop to it.
[00:15:15.380]you can see the costs there again for,
[00:15:19.310]you add in this year's corn yield. And,
[00:15:22.940]it was like $304 an acre for the cover crop that was non
[00:15:27.890]grazesd, 311 for cover crop.
[00:15:30.920]That was grazed on 342 for the traditional system.
[00:15:35.540]So for six years, total,
[00:15:37.700]we ended up with $533 for the cover crop.
[00:15:41.510]That was non-grazed $604 for the cover crop that was grazes and
[00:15:46.100]$658 for the week stubble. That was,
[00:15:51.080]that was non grazed and each, for, determining,
[00:15:55.820]analysis of the economic analysis of this.
[00:15:58.580]We use the UNL budgets each year, so that,
[00:16:02.990]that were, closest to the system.
[00:16:06.290]And the reason we did that is so that, anyone could compare costs,
[00:16:12.740]the costs of the cover crop include seed and cover crop seed.
[00:16:17.290]we added fence labor for gracing and hauling water added to the cover
[00:16:21.830]crop treatment. And,
[00:16:24.620]we put a value on the animal unit months grays to add value
[00:16:29.510]to the cover crop that was grazes cost of $18,
[00:16:34.310]an acre, as you can see in the,
[00:16:36.350]for the 2016 cover crop on the wheat stubble was,
[00:16:41.180]the chemical burned down a wheat, a value of $5.
[00:16:45.110]An acre was added to, the value of the,
[00:16:49.680]grazing in the corn residue. And, and,
[00:16:53.000]the value of the crop at each harvest was based upon
[00:16:57.680]on-farm research studies,
[00:16:59.450]the prices that they use for those particular years,
[00:17:04.900]if we look at the crop Neils and the Webster County,
[00:17:09.280]and corn in 2019, we had a yield of 109 80,
[00:17:14.200]189 bushel, an acre for the cover crop that was non grazing,
[00:17:17.680]191 for the cover crop that was grazesd in 187
[00:17:22.630]for the wheat stubble. That was non grazesd. the soybean,
[00:17:27.730]yields, were,
[00:17:31.720]61 bushel, an acre for the cover crop, non grazesd, 62 bushel,
[00:17:36.250]an acre for the cover crop that was Grayson 60 bushel, for the,
[00:17:41.170]we struggled. That was not great.
[00:17:45.670]So if we look at the economic summary,
[00:17:48.880]I've watched her County for the cover crops. Now you have to remember,
[00:17:52.320]we had an awful lot of bio, additional biomass out there.
[00:17:56.970]And so the cover crop, non grazed for just looking at the year,
[00:18:01.540]the cover crop,
[00:18:03.540]was the negative $41 because of the planting and the seed costs,
[00:18:08.010]the cover crop. that was great.
[00:18:10.740]We had a positive return of $74 and,
[00:18:16.080]for the wheat stubble, again, it was $18 for the,
[00:18:19.710]chemical fallowing of the wheat stubble on,
[00:18:24.060]2019, the corn,
[00:18:28.260]we had a return of $285 an acre for the cover crop.
[00:18:33.210]That was non-graded 298 for the cover crop that was grazes and
[00:18:37.740]278
[00:18:40.110]wheat stubble that was not grazed for the soybeans.
[00:18:43.350]We had a return of $190 an acre for the cover crop.
[00:18:47.890]that was 202 for the cover crop that was grazes
[00:18:52.680]and 183 for the stubble that was non grazesd.
[00:18:56.190]So that would give us a, a two year total for the cover crop,
[00:19:00.600]non grazesd, the $443 an acre for,
[00:19:05.550]the, again, the cover crop that was non grease, 540,
[00:19:08.910]$54 an acre for the cover crop that was grazes and
[00:19:13.410]$443, for the wheat stubble.
[00:19:17.790]So you can see that there was, quite a bit of difference,
[00:19:21.960]the type of a cover crop that was used. And I have to,
[00:19:26.700]explain a little bit about the cover crop that was used in this,
[00:19:30.420]Webster County farm. That particular farm was in the C S a P program.
[00:19:35.670]So that was kind of dictated, the,
[00:19:40.690]the cover crop mix that we had to use. Then it was also dictated,
[00:19:45.450]when we could start raising it. Okay.
[00:19:50.450]Take home points after three years,
[00:19:53.000]grazes cover crop treatments had total microbial and fun Joe biomass and
[00:19:57.890]other treatments. I don't know, we must,
[00:20:02.300]after three years, no difference in soil, physical properties,
[00:20:05.270]amongst treatments,
[00:20:07.670]economic returns for cover crops in a system need to include the seed
[00:20:12.780]and seeding costs, fence labor, hauling, water, animal care,
[00:20:16.640]grazing value in the future. we have to,
[00:20:21.560]get a butter hand on how we understand,
[00:20:26.090]the benefits to the soil,
[00:20:29.030]cover crop biomass dependent upon the planning, timing,
[00:20:32.120]and environmental conditions. Cool season cover crops,
[00:20:35.990]produced less biomass and was more variable over the years in warm
[00:20:40.670]season, cover crop. And again, ungrazesd,
[00:20:43.880]we stumbled as the most economic treatment with the coolest season cover.
[00:20:47.830]When's water had to be hauled for cattle grazing and, and grazes.
[00:20:52.450]A cover crop was the most economic treatment. One warm season cover crop.
[00:20:57.490]When water didn't have to be hauled for the cattle,
[00:21:02.500]I would like to put a plug in for the Nebraska and farm research,
[00:21:06.160]network results, meetings.
[00:21:08.770]And that would be February 25th and 26. you can grab,
[00:21:13.390]get an awful lot of information from, the seminar.
[00:21:18.100]So, with that, I think,
[00:21:22.660]that's the end of what I have.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

2021 Nebraska Cover Crop and Soil Health Conference - Ken Herz

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments