HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Here in central Missouri, we are dry, which has been a good thing for getting harvest completed and most (if not all) field work done. I really wanted to get a picture of the Soil Health Study sign with snow on it for this blog, but that was not happening here in the middle of December.
If you have been following this blog, you know that we have been using the Nutrient Recycling Program, along with crop rotation, Aerway as the only vertical tillage, no-till, and utilizing cover crops. We are lucky to be able to pasture the cover crops, which is a great benefit, also. The pictures which I took last week show the growth of cereal rye and tillage radishes that were planted on October 30th, after the corn was harvested. The heifers have just been out there for a couple of days.
I attended the Crop Management Conference held by the University of Missouri, and one of the presenters was Doug Peterson from the NRCS. Here is his 21st Century Practical Approach to Soil Health:
- Disturb less
- Diversity is critical
- Feed the soil livestock all year long – living roots
- Keep the soil covered
- Integrate livestock
I would like to take his approach one step further – USE THE NUTRIENT RECYCLING PROGRAM which we offer at Soil Service which also feeds the soil livestock, introduces more soil livestock, and helps them perform better.
We are seeing some great changes to the soil in this field! The package of ingredients in the Nutrient Recycling Program really contributes to helping break down not only the residue on the surface, but also helping decompose the root systems of the plants. That’s where your organic matter comes from. Soil tests taken since 2012, show an increase of 1% O.M. in this field (as of March 2017). I will take more soil tests this coming March to see where the O.M. is after the 200 + bushel corn crop on this field.
John Viertel, CCA
You can reach me to discuss this further at jviertel@soilserviceinc.com or info@soilserviceinc.com