Today I answer some questions you have about fall tillage practices. You also get a glimpse into the struggle of trying to get the chisel plowing done in 2019. Hop right in and let’s go for a ride!
I had the pleasure of farming for my first 18 years before I found an opportunity to escape. I appreciate and like farming as long as I don't have to depend on it for my livelihood.
I'm an old guy from the city out west and know nothing about farming but I really enjoyed your video. You seem to be a good, hard working man who would appear to be a good neighbor. We probably wouldn't agree too much on any political points but hell, that doesn't really matter. I think I will subscribe to your channel and maybe try and learn something about farming. Respect! 😊
bartbutkis I have a theory about politics. I believe both the D party and the R party care far more about keeping us divided against each other than they do about any of the issues they claim to stand for. I don’t know which party you would align yourself with and you don’t know which party I would align myself with. I would bet though that even if it’s not the same party, we would agree on more individual issues than we would disagree on.
Anyone with half a brain cell could get 99% of ur video’s points, just from your intro of questions. Social media has created nothing but stupidity with all these new homesteading / new garden “experts” trying to instill their soil inaccuracies into everyone’s brainless heads. People have different soils, temps, etc. Farming isn’t a one size fits all. It’s a shame more ppl won’t see your video and even less would even understand it anyways. Glad y’all keep doing what you do. Stay blessed and keep on farming”
Again...great video. Informative and the video angles clearly demonstrated what each part of the chisel plow did. I have sat through hour long ag lectures that didn’t explain the principles of fall tillage as well as this video did. Thanks!
Gabe Brown has a presentation here on RU-vid called "Treating the farm as an ecosystem", there might be some methods there you could use in order to save time and money
One of the things that a mazes me about farming in the US is the size of your fields man they are huge compared to what we have here in the UK anyway nice video and thank you for explaining why you till the soil in the Autumn/Fall.
Derek, I am a Brit that lives I Ohio. I visited a friend in Wyoming last summer. You would not believe the size of the ranches in the West. They are tens of thousands of acres.
Thanks for letting us tag along, it was very informative. I used to work at Landoll Corp. in Marysville, KS, where your tilling implement was made, and loved getting to see how their products are being used.
Great video again, thanks for all the info. I have heard a lot about "no til" and other techniques but have bever i=understood anything, really, about either the science or the practical aspects. You are darn good at getting to the heart of the matter without overloading with "textbook" facts. And I loved your answer to Bonden i Värmland ... a little humor makes the time go by ;-)
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 Ha Ha, yes, MOST people get used to it, but there are some who suffer the entire time they're underway. And yes, you get your "sea legs" while at sea where you can stand and function, but when you get on dry land, you feel like everything is moving!
We try to put small food plots on recreational land for deer hunting. Watched this video because it was on the home page. It was very interesting to learn a little bit about a very tough business that hardly ever sees the weather needed for complete success in a growing season. Thank you for taking the time during a grueling work schedule to make this video!
Oh well if a none stressful life is what you are looking for, by all means invest a half million dollars and start dairy farming. There's nothing to it.
Here in My part of TN tillage is highly frowned upon by the NRCS. And I am 75% no till. But I work my way around tearing up a little land every year. I’ve got some videos on my own channel how we do it.
Great education ! Farmers are resourceful, practical, capable, resilient with reasons for doing what they do - Few share there knowledge......not realizing their knowledge is as valuable, and of considerable interest, as the crops they grow......
I’m actually amazed at how many people are interested in the things I do every day. It’s easy to take this life for granted and forget that so few of us actually get to do this.
@@Barrenchats I do, I am a local farmer. Government in some places outlaws collecting rain water, and people haven't killed all those legislators yet, haha.
Thank you for your video. I've lived in central Illinios most all of my life. Have friends and neighbors that farm but never asked them about how and why they do what they do. Just cuts at them in the spring and for for holding up traffic and getting mud all over the roads. Your short video explained some of it. You can tell by your smile and tone in your voice you love this S#$t. I mean your job. Bless you, wish the rest of us were so lucky. Peace Out and God bless you and your family. 😎✌🤘🖖
I moved to NE IA a decade ago from La Crosse. RU-vid suggested this video to me somehow. I've always been curious on how you guys farm differently than where I'm from. Good stuff here. I've always been curious. Great tutorial. You've earned a subscription. Now I have to go back over all your videos and see what else you've done that I've always wondered about. I see you guys even go shopping up in Hazleton too. I'll have to catch that video and see what you're doing up there. Don't give away too many secrets! Wild what you're doing here. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the super informative video! Learnt alot for someone who doesnt come from a farming background and great for providing context for a project we're looking at in agriculture. Kind regards
Great video; your tractor seemed to have a shorter wheelbase and a little less weight than you really needed to get the job done under the weather conditions you were dealing with. But tractors are expensive, and you run what you have available. Thanks for explaining what you were doing, the need for the fall tilling, and the weather problems. The only thing you didn't mention was how do you keep the rig going in a straight line in those huge fields with very few landmarks to guide you, without overlapping what you've already tilled or wandering off course and missing some areas between the passes you make? GIS?
A lot of people have noticed the tilling angle being offset from the rows. This yeilds better results since it doesn't exacerbate compaction. If you're ok with 90% efficiency with 200%+ yields, you could theoretically plant 3 specialized fast yield crops a year (corn, soy, winter wheat for example) The study that tried it expected low overall but was able to harvest, till, chemically fertilize and plant in the same pass and get close to 90% of the yields compared to planting a single crop - so 270% effective yields the first year with slightly less (a few %) each additional year. The seeds were specially coated IIRC - I think because of the chemical fertilizers or maybe to delay germination. It was a pretty cool research paper but it seemed like they wanted different results - the other part (more "eco-friendly") used 2 crops and spread manure, etc... instead of planting the winter wheat.
Could you give me some more details on how this study was set up? I know in my area there’s absolutely no way you’d be able to get 3 crops out of a field in a year
Excellent Job on your video! informative not only with why your Tilling the soil but you also gave very good information on the equipment, soil conditions pre and post harvest why and how (just enough info) you bring nutrients back into the soil and why you were not able to power right on thru the fields IE. Soil compaction, muddy or frozen conditions. Not to mention Farming is never a 9 - 5er type job, dang good job on trying different fields/strategies instead of calling it a day. I would have like to seen just a bit more on cost of supplies, wrenched disk's or other equipment so City Folk can appreciate a bit more of how food gets to the table. Ive never been a "Mud Farmer" just a "Drylander" but over all Excellent job on your video!! Thank you.
When you go at an angle you are more likely get most of the corn roots and you are not adding to compaction which usually follows corn rows. It makes for little rougher job, you noticed how much he was bouncing in his seat?
Go at an angle with tillage because it does a better job doing the job you are out to do plus dad used to tell me he does it for when he plants without auto steer it’s easier to see the marker line. We don’t do much fall tillage here northwest IOWA due to the fact we have cattle running on stalks and want as much stalks as possible for them
You go at an angle for a lot of reasons with a lot of different implements. However you disced a field last year, you’ll want to disc at a 45° or 90° angle from that this year. Also if you root-plow a field with a dozer, it’s a good idea to rake it with root-rake it at offset angles.
The Internet is truly amazing. Never thought I'd get to see the perspective of an American farmer. Bit scared going to the south being middle-eastern. My last experience wasn't good.
A few suggestions for future episodes. 1) all the computer screens on the tractors, 2) a comparison of 1960's diesel power vs present emissions standards on newer tractors, 3) neat little ideas you do to make work easier, 4) Weed sprayers, chemicals, & why, 5) all the equipment you use to make your videos, 6) how you attach you camera so it doesn't fall off during filming, 7) what happened to the wild calf, 8) a day in the life of "Bob the cat", 9) how to successfully get around Hazelton during "Rush Hour". You do a great job explaining what is going on. Enjoy the Videos!
Thanks! You dropped a lot of good ideas here. I will say that one of them is already in the works. You’ll just have to stay tuned to figure out which one it is....
I was trying to tell my old man. That in our Area. Years of Tossing the compost of what was left in the garden out... We should be Tilling it right back into the garden and get that biomass back as Naturally as we could. Instead of Bringing truck loads of compost in here in northren Canada.
You're a great ambassador for the farmers in your area for explaining things! Just curious on a couple of things. How long is that hose for injecting manure? Wondering why there isn't such a mobile manure tank with an injecting system on back. I think I have seen something like that up here where I'm from in Canada. That hose has to wear being dragged over the ground and it would be expensive to repair. Keep the videos coming. I enjoy them, and I'm a crop farmer as well. But don't grow corn or beans so its interesting to watch.
Patrick C good questions! The hoses they had laid out here totaled about a mile and a half. They do have tankers with injector plows on the back but they create a lot of compaction and they also require a lot more labor. To keep pumping constantly you would need at least 4 tanks going and one guy running the pit pump. With the hose system it’s just one guy pumping and one guy driving the applicator
Thanks for sharing your video with me I'm a retired old peanut farmer I love that black dirt you got up there I was just wondering why you was driving a case international lol I've always used the John deer tractors but I was raised on a farm when we had case equipment I love both of them my first tractor I drove was a case 430 with a hand clutch on it I've made a living using big John deer tractors for most of my life thanks again my friend for sharing your video and merry Christmas up your way and a happy new year too
Most of our soil is far to heavy to blown away in wind storms especially since most of our strong winds are accompanied by rain which keeps the soil from blowing. We have put in place a lot of buffer strips, filter strips, terraces, and grass waterways that are amazing tools to keep our soil where it belongs.
not every field in the US is the dust bowl so dont parrot propaganda until you know what you are talking about and what he is doing is not exposing 100% of the soil like they did in the 30s with disc plows. those plows made the dirt very loose so it could blow around easier
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 Where I live, southern Idaho, no-till is becoming the go-to for farmers due to our historically high rates of soil erosion. I was very curious why no-till applications were not in effect in other areas of the country. Thank you for the explanation and I am glad to hear you no-till on soybean-corn rotations. One question regarding the application of the synthetic fertilizer, are you not concerned about a heavy rain or flood causing the fertilizer to be washed away?
Good question! If we get it worked into the ground it is safe. Even if we don’t til it in it only takes a quarter to a half inch of rain to get it into the soil. Then the only loss potential is extreme rainfall events driving it down to the subsoil.
Thanks for sharing these videos, you work for a farmer which is dawn to dusk then work on your own farm, when do you sleep? Farmers are a different bred of people, no slacker allowed!!
The work days are long while we are doing field work, but that’s my favorite part so it doesn’t seem like work. When we aren’t in the field the schedule is more like a regular job. Thanks for watching and stopping by to chat!
Have you tried ploughing with the plough instead with chisel sometimes? In my opinion it should better turn and mix soil and what is left of crops, go few inches deeper. Since you have worked with chisel for long time as I could notice, that means you could pull more fertile soil from deeper layer that formed during all these years on top layer where crop will grow. I think ploughing allows also for better soil structure for it to assimilate water during winter and create reserves for hot summer. In this case where you cannot chisel I believe you can plough. My dad tried to plough some field and it was dry it would just rotate big blocks of ground. But after some frosty days, bit of rain it went like trough butter, nice mixed ground. The only thing that caused trouble was my IMT 560 (an MF 65 licensed version) was stalling 5-6 times since the fuel pump was accumulating air. The only downside of ploughing is creation of thick layer of soil in the bottom of the furrow by heavy plough and heavy machinery. Since it is created on the layer some 25-33 cm (10-13 in) it prevents plant to develop root properly and water doesn’t drain well or underground water can not reach well upper layer. It can be a problem if a plough is used more than 5-10 years without breaking that layer within 1 meter with machine I cannot find name in English. Nice video, nice farm operation you have and very nice way of presenting your work.
Kirk Gibbs I can agree on soil compaction, that is the layer I told the machine and plough can create on bottom of the furrow, yield is smaller since work width is narrower for same chisel machine and fuel consumption is higher. But erosion on flat land is near impossible since land structure during ploughing is made to absorb as much water as possible during fall and winter, and in spring by tilling it you create different structure of soil on surface so it wouldn’t allow any evaporation from it. Erosion could occur only on hill terrain when ploughing is done from top to the bottom. Then water can wash top fertile soil and nutrients to the bottom. To prevent that the hill areas are plowed by following contours of the hill, from the sides.
Hi from Oamaru Waitaki districts New Zealand. We as a nation are known to be the worlds most efficient farmers. I use to grow vegetables into it's not worth it due to returns, increase land prices and costs plus red tape. We grow new season's New (baby) potatoes too but the problem is we cover all costs from growing, cultivation, harvest and wages, freight then all the retailer does is put it on supermarket shelf and sells it for 100% markup without doing anything else. Here in New Zealand farmers use the British Simba or German Lemken company made cultivators as it's suits our heavy damper conditions, there is a few American Sunshine cultivators around in the plains though. Do you fall to sleep whilst doing tractorwork?. I use a Mashio Rotary cultivators which many a time I struggle to stay awake. .. Wishing yous a Merry Christmas and a Happy prosperous and safe 2020.. Carl G
I gotta love the videos. Binge watching has started. One question. When you are loading small square bales I notice you only use the strings, have you used a bale hook? in the mad days of my youth I worked for a local dairy farmer near a small town in New Zealand. many the time I was on the back of the 5 ton Bedford truck grabbing the bales from the bale loader and stacking them on the truck. I found the bale hook made life alot easier when grabbing and carrying the bales to stack both on the truck and again in the hay shed. It paid to be good friends with the truck driver otherwise he could make you work your butt off trying to keep up with the bales coming up the loader.
We tried that before and on the particular fields that we split between VT and chisel plow in the fall we saw no yield drag the next season, but we saw a significant yield loss the second year. You could see the tillage dividing line angle on the yield maps.
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 I was nervous to try vertical tillage here in western Wisconsin but I noticed the time that was saved and compaction went down a fair amount. In 2014 we had a late spring from a long, cold winter and there was ice in some fields and the vertical tillage broke up the ice because the equipment is heavy and the ice disappeared and we were able to get the field ready for planting really quick. I was sold on vertical tillage. Granted, not all equipment is made for every farm. I do wish my fellow farmers the very best.
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 landoll vertical tillage. 7400 vt plus. A neighbor has a Kuhn Krause vertical tillage and another has a McFarland vertical tillage tool. I like the Landoll but the other ones are good too.
Just a suggestion. Once in awhile when you're out in the field doing something, grab a handful of dirt and explain to us what the soil is like that day.
Santina Murphy ummm I don’t think you took enough time to properly get your point across... there’s no difference between phosphorus and potassium? No difference between nitrogen and trace minerals? Lol maybe slow down and try again, what are you trying to say?
Santina Murphy if you are TRYING to say that there is no difference between dry chemical fertilizer and a natural cover crop, you’re just wrong. Without going into to much detail the basic reason why they are different is sustainability. Dry chemical fertilizer kills micro flora that keep soil healthy.
Santina Murphy and “BioChar” is just farmer lingo for charcoal, which is easily obtainable for free, and cover crops costs you the simple cost of the seed. Pretty cheap idk what all this “marketing hype” talk is about
This is an awesome video. I wonder, whats the difference between chisel plow, discs, cultivator, moldboard plow, or rippers? I also found it interesting when you talked about when you would, or wouldnt, till between seasons based on what you are planting next year. Keep up the great videos! Ever thought of doing more livestock vids? Also, I notice you offset your tillage at like a 20 deg angle, wouldnt it make more sense to go perpendicular to the corn crop? I'd think that would make more of a difference no?
Thanks for the great questions Matthew! I saved this for future video ideas. The videos will get quite a bit more livestock related now that the crazy fieldwork season is coming to a close. We will be bringing the cattle home from pasture next week! We are running the chisel plow at a 3-4 degree angle (I know it looks like way more than that) and we go the opposite angle each year. Then we do our spring tillage at a 1-2 degree angle opposite the chisel angle. If we went perpendicular with the chisel it would be extremely rough crossing that in the spring. Great questions!
john a. The fields are tiled and will drain water very effectively but due to the exceptionally wet fall we had the fields held more water than they do on normal years
great video have you got a good place for north Mississippi guy to come and hunt some of those big deer I would love to come up and meet you guys and hunt .
Good question! First it is stored under the barns in concrete pits until it is pumped. When it is applied to the field it is injected into the ground just below the surface to keep the smell down and to lessen the chance that it could go anywhere. The fall chisel plow pass dies the final job of mixing it well with the soil.
With giant fields and an extreme drought what about severe erosion from wind since there are no trees to break the wind in these giant tree-less areas?
In our area it is extremely rare to see wind erosion. The souls are pretty heavy here. I have only seen soil blowing once in the last 10 years and that was a very sandy field that had just been worked up in the late spring.
Great question. Short answer is no. Coulters run straight like a pizza cutter to slice up crop residue. Disk harrows run at an angle to move soil to the left and right.
It takes a while to transition to no till. So saying I till to manage my crop residue is not a complete picture. After years of no till, the soil organisms become so prolific they can very well devour all the residue. There are actually no till farmers who complain the residue disappears too quickly. Yes, if you changed everything the next year, it might cause issues, but that doesn't mean no till isn't viable in the long run.
I definitely understand that. How would you manage a no till operation while fall applying 4000 gallons of liquid manure? It definitely keeps us from getting any cover crops established.
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 I believe some people use specialized equipment to inject it. New developments in technology will presumably make no till easier in the future. A lot of folks can get a cover in after no till corn but, again, not with conventional equipment. I'd recommend watching some of farmer Gabe Brown's videos on RU-vid if you're curious about no till.
Thank you, I miss farming very much and this brought back some sweet memories. Wish I had a lead farmer/manager as kind as you are in this videos! Subscribed.
Well explained. Good video. Subscribed! Hope you'll become more comfortable as time goes by speaking naturally. Still sounds a little singsong as if you're reading from a script. I make a lot of videos for my work that are small training sessions, and I realize that this is HARD. And sometimes has a lot of mistakes that have to be edited out in post. And that takes time. And I'm not a farmer or driving a tractor while I do these. :-) So good luck and keep pushing out great videos like these to grow your channel in the months to come!
Thanks Jim! I used to work at a radio station and I still revert to that radio announcer voice sometime when I’m explaining things in these videos. It makes it sound like I’m reading a weather report 😂 old habits die hard
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 have you tried one of those machines? 🤔 It's actually pretty good at seperating the roots from the soil, leaving the roots at the base of the working depth at ~10 inches. Haven't seen it working on corn roots, though. So just guessing that it should work pretty good there as well.
