Planting Cover Crops For Forage And Soil Health
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Schrack Farms builds soil health with cover crops and then harvests them as forage for the family farm’s dairy herd. Combined with no-till, the practice has allowed some fields to stay in continuous corn for nearly 20 years, with some scoring in the 90s on the Cornell Soil Health Test.
“We take corn silage off in the fall and plant cover crops, sometimes on the same day,” says Jim Harbach, Schrack Farms. “We plant fields to either cereal rye or triticale for forage cover crops. They mature at different times, which breaks up the risk factor. We prefer triticale, but the rye gives us a bigger window.”
Harbach feeds his cover crop fields well. Solid manure from the farm’s 1,300 dairy cows runs through a methane digester. The remaining liquids are drag hose applied to fields multiple times each year. Once fields are seeded down, they get dragged with manure. As soon as the Harbachs can get back in the fields in the spring and the over-wintered plants reach about 15 in., they get another dose of liquid manure. Forage harvest depends on the weather. This year, due to continuous rains, it was mid-May.
“We completely remove the forage, plant corn and apply more manure,” says Harbach. “It shortens the planting window some, but the liquid manure runs into the groove left by the planter for in-furrow nutrition. Our best yields are from those fields.”
It’s not just chopped acres that get cover crops. Combined acres get seeded down as well with cereal rye. Planted later, they don’t get harvested for forage in the spring. Instead, they are planted green with the rye terminated after the corn goes in.
“We try to have something green growing in the fields every day of the year,” says Harbach. “If you only plant in May and harvest in October, you harm the soil biology.”
Harbach measures his soil health by more than just yields. “Our organic matter levels just keep rising,” he says. “Our aggregates also keep getting better. It’s really noticeable how the water infiltrates. Tests revealed our lowest infiltration was 8 in. per hour, and our highest was 13 in.”
Harbach remembers when the soils weren’t as good. He began working for his future father-in-law when he was 11, helping pick rocks. He recalls plowing fields in the early 1970s when the clay ridges had only a couple of inches of topsoil before you plowed up clay.
“When we tilled, picking rocks was a full-time job,” says Harbach. “We had to run the harrow over it four or five times. Today, I can dig a hole 3 to 4 in. deep in that soft dirt. That’s the transition I’ve seen over the past 50 years.”
Harbach is looking forward to continued improvement in soil health and forage harvesting. He and his wife, Lisa, are the ninth generation on the farm. They now have some 20 family members from the tenth and eleventh generations farming with them.
“My father-in-law got us into no-till and planting green. That was his legacy,” says Harbach. “We started double cropping with cover crops because we needed the feed. Then we saw the advantages in soil health of having something growing all the time.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Schrack Farms, 860 W. Valley Rd., Loganton, Penn. 17747 (jamesharbach@hotmail.com).
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Planting Cover Crops For Forage And Soil Health Schrack Farms builds soil health with cover crops and then harvests them as forage for the family farm’s dairy herd Combined with no-till the practice has allowed some fields to stay in continuous corn for nearly 20 years with some scoring in the 90s on the Cornell Soil Health Test “We take corn silage off in the fall and plant cover crops sometimes on the same day ” says Jim Harbach Schrack Farms “We plant fields to either cereal rye or triticale for forage cover crops They mature at different times which breaks up the risk factor We prefer triticale but the rye gives us a bigger window ” Harbach feeds his cover crop fields well Solid manure from the farm’s 1 300 dairy cows runs through a methane digester The remaining liquids are drag hose applied to fields multiple times each year Once fields are seeded down they get dragged with manure As soon as the Harbachs can get back in the fields in the spring and the over-wintered plants reach about 15 in they get another dose of liquid manure Forage harvest depends on the weather This year due to continuous rains it was mid-May “We completely remove the forage plant corn and apply more manure ” says Harbach “It shortens the planting window some but the liquid manure runs into the groove left by the planter for in-furrow nutrition Our best yields are from those fields ” It’s not just chopped acres that get cover crops Combined acres get seeded down as well with cereal rye Planted later they don’t get harvested for forage in the spring Instead they are planted green with the rye terminated after the corn goes in “We try to have something green growing in the fields every day of the year ” says Harbach “If you only plant in May and harvest in October you harm the soil biology ” Harbach measures his soil health by more than just yields “Our organic matter levels just keep rising ” he says “Our aggregates also keep getting better It’s really noticeable how the water infiltrates Tests revealed our lowest infiltration was 8 in per hour and our highest was 13 in ” Harbach remembers when the soils weren’t as good He began working for his future father-in-law when he was 11 helping pick rocks He recalls plowing fields in the early 1970s when the clay ridges had only a couple of inches of topsoil before you plowed up clay “When we tilled picking rocks was a full-time job ” says Harbach “We had to run the harrow over it four or five times Today I can dig a hole 3 to 4 in deep in that soft dirt That’s the transition I’ve seen over the past 50 years ” Harbach is looking forward to continued improvement in soil health and forage harvesting He and his wife Lisa are the ninth generation on the farm They now have some 20 family members from the tenth and eleventh generations farming with them “My father-in-law got us into no-till and planting green That was his legacy ” says Harbach “We started double cropping with cover crops because we needed the feed Then we saw the advantages in soil health of having something growing all the time ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Schrack Farms 860 W Valley Rd Loganton Penn 17747 jamesharbach@hotmail com
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