HomeMy WebLinkAboutSaluting Huron County's Agricultural Industry, 1987-03-25, Page 27THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1987. PAGE A27.
Crop rotation, manure tools in soil building
Continued from page A26
three years of alfalfa with a year of
corn, followed by two years of
barley. He also makes use of
plow-down crops such as red clover
and rye. The conventional farmer
values these for their green
fertilizer value, he says, but he
feels they also do a lot for the
structure of his soil. The roots of a
rye plant reach down to break up
the soil.
Because he has a sandy-loam
soil, he prefers to leave plowing
down of red clover until the spring
which protects the soil from water
and wind erosion over the winter.
The fact that he is also a dairy
farmer makes it natural to enter
into crop rotation, he says. Going
into sod for pasture or hay crops is
automatic on a dairy farm while it
isn’t as convenient for the farmer
concentrating on cash crops.
The main tillage tool on the
Martin farm is a chisel plow with
wide 14 inch “shovels” or “duck
feet”. He doesn’t feel it is
important to go really deep in
cultivating but likes the advantage
of the lifting and rolling-over effect
of the chisel plow. The advantage is
that it leaves the soil looser but also
leavesthesurface ridged which
prevents much runoff and pro
motes better water infiltration into
,the soil.
The chisel plow can also handle
mulch better. After growing corn
on a field he uses a soil saver or an
offset disk to chop up the corn
stocks and make them easier to
bury before he uses the chisel
plow.
The results, he points out as he
drives across the farm in his
four-wheel-drive pickup, are not as
neat looking as conventional tillage
practices but are better in prevent
ing soil damage. The crop residue
on top of the ground prevents wind
erosion. He can recall a few years
ago when there was a very windy
spring when other farmers were
seeing their soil blow away but the
corn stocks on his fields kept his
soil in place.
While the Martin farm just east
of Ethel does not have steep hills, it
does have a good sloping fall in two
directions and to prevent water
erosion Mr. Martin always culti
vates across the face of the hills. He
is careful now not to overwork
fields, though he admits he has
made that mistake in the past,
making it much easier for wind or
rain to carry the soil away.
The farm is well tiled and he
makes sure the tile outlets into a
drainage ditch on the farm are kept
in good condition with the area
protected with stones. The drain
age ditch is fenced off from the
cattle. You just can’t have cattle
walking up to a soft-banked ditch
and expect it to stay in good
condition, he says.
On his particular farm there is no
need for grassed waterways but he
has areas where he has used stones
andlogstoslowwater down and
prevent gullies forming.
Beans
Near the back of the home farm,
the Martins have a pond into which
some of the tile drains empty. The
pond, Mr. Martin says, acts like a
water level control , keeping the
moisture on his own farm longer
rather than rushing it off to the
river and Lake Huron as many
drains do.
The Martins have planted a
windbreak down the west side of
theirbuildi rigs and Lyle says he
likes to preserve trees. He recalled
a recent conversation when it was
pointed out the government used
to give grants only a few years ago
to remove fencebottoms and en
large fields but now the beneficial
aspectoffencebottoms is being
discovered. The uncultivated
fencerows slow down water and
wind erosion and provide homes
for wildlife.
In the U.S. there are now grants
available for farmers to plant trees
and he thinks there are places on
many farms that would be better
off in trees. Some places where, the
trees have been cleared in recent
years aren’t particularly satisfac
tory for modern farming with
tractors getting stuck in lowlands,
he says.
Although he belongs to the
Ecological Farmers Association
(made up of farmers using organic
practices) he says he likes to
balance the modern convenience of
using herbicides or fertilizers with
the organic end of farming. Proper
tillage and crop rotation practices
can cut the use, and the cost, of
farm chemicals in half, Mr. Martin
says. He combines his tillage
practices with his use of chemicals
to minimize chemical use. He
scuffles his corn once each year and
feels it makes his chemicals much
more effective.
Although he hasn ’t looked close
ly at the costs, Mr. Martin doesn’t
think he is saving money on
chemicals but spending it on
increased fuel to do the scuffling.
In fact, he thinks he may spend less
on fuel in his tillage program
because it takes less power to pull
his chisel plow than to pull a
moldboard plow and because the
good condition of his soil makes it
easier to work than more compact
ed soils.
And while having the cattle
helps his soil-building program by
providing manure and meaning
land can be devoted to hay or
pasture, he feels the healthy soil is
also giving him a healthy herd.
This is a co-relation, he says,
between soil fertility and animal
health and proper nutrition.
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Murray Cardiff, Member of
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The contract to supply the beans
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Canadian International Develop
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This is the fourth contract
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million.
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SALES HOURS:
MON. THURS.: 8-9
FRI.: 8-6. SAT: 8-5
SERVICE HOURS:
MON. THURS.: 8-6
FRI’.: 8-5
HURON COUNTY S
FULL LINE
NISSAN
DEALtH
GODERICH
AUTO
SALES & SERVICE
268
BAYFIELD
ROAD.
PHONE
524-2131
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