They Harvest, Graze And Forage On The Same Acres

They Harvest Graze And Forage On The Same Acres Luke Bergler plants forage-worthy cover crops in between his 60-in corn rows and gets two months of grazing after harvest While neighbors strive for high yields Bergler strives for improved soil health lower input costs and a better bottom line “Last year I had about 20 acres in 60-in rows with a 15-way mix of cover crops interseeded early season ” says Bergler “After harvest I grazed my 50-head cow herd with calves on it for two months That gave me a bonus over corn yields of around $600 per acre in hay and mineral cost savings ” Bergler already averaged from 140 to 150 bushels per acre yield with his low input program While neighboring farmers might harvest more than 200 bushels per acre they also apply at least twice his 113 lbs of nitrogen all laid down at planting Bergler no-till plants his corn into a rye cover crop drilled into the previous year’s soybean fields His other input costs consist of one pass with herbicide to terminate the rye before interseeding Cover crop interseeding runs about $42 per acre Bergler planted his normal 31 000 seeds per acre but at twice the in-row population in the 60-in rows The switch from 30-in rows required no new equipment He simply shut off every other row on his planter Several years earlier Bergler and his neighbor Mike Steinfeldt built their own interseeder for cover crops “We traded a load of cornstalk bales for a six-row rotary hoe and we mounted a Gandy air seeder on it ” says Bergler “The seed meter was ground drive originally We converted to a hydraulic motor and later to electric which is handier It lets us control seeding rates with a rheostat wired on the tractor ” With hoes removed for the corn rows the hydraulic-powered fan delivers seed through hoses to deflectors They drop the seed into lightly disturbed soil behind the hoes This year he will be doing 60-in rows on around 40 acres He expects to double the amount of stockpiled forage for grazing “With corn at $7 or more it’s hard not to go all-in on corn yields ” says Bergler “It’s simple to plant into rye and hairy vetch and harvest more than 200 bushels of corn even with reduced nitrogen However that stockpiled forage will be important especially if we have a short hay crop ” Bergler sees multiple values in his corn/forage system beyond the yearly bottom line It fits his overall soil health improvement goals and improves water infiltration Some benefits are harder to measure “I was walking my 60-in row fields last summer and wished I’d had a video camera with me ” he recalls “There were tens if not hundreds of thousands of dragonflies in the air ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Luke Bergler 37062 Cty Rd 12 Dakota Minn 55925 ph 507-643-6902; mrbergler@hotmail com

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