Gage County
1115 West Scott St.
Beatrice NE 68310
Phone: (402) 223-1384
FAX: (402) 223-1370

News Column

Paul C Hay, Extension Educator

No-Till Dakota Style

Our no-till farmer trip to South Dakota is in progress as I prepare this news column. So from my mobile Extension Agent desk in Gettysburg, South Dakota here is a bit of perspective on No-Till Dakota Style.

Dave Gillen has been a dedicated no-till farmer near White Lake, South Dakota since 1991. His chief rotation on his dryland, 3300-acre farm is corn - soybeans - corn - soybeans - spring wheat - winter wheat - then back to corn. This puts ½ of his corn crop in a great stored moisture situation.

With no rain in July and August following a rather wet spring, his corn on wheat stubble will likely by 90+ bu/a without rain and over 100 bu/a with some rainfall help. Dave's pre no-till corn yield average was 70 bu/a. His first year no-till fields on newer rental land are now 80 bu/a and his regular no-till fields are averaging 100 bu/a. Water works miracles when rain comes sporadically and averages 20 inches per year.

The visit to Dave's farm was completed with two quotes. "Nearly 800 acres of the land I farm is owned by investors interested in pheasant hunting and wildlife habitat development. Nearly 1/3 of our farm profit including our custom spraying business comes from pheasant leases," Dave explained. When asked about marketing and rural community economy, Dave said, "Our market here, without livestock use, is by unit train. We might as well hook a caboose on every train so the kids can ride out with the grain."

Our visit to the Todd Yackley farm near Onida, South Dakota, showed us clearly the management ability of an operator running 12, 000 acres (9,000 rented) and a purebred beef cow herd of 800 head. His crop rotation of spring wheat, winter wheat, corn, sunflowers, is in it's 15th year of no-till and yields are continuing to climb. He says every good year the highs are records and every bad year the lows are higher than our historical average for the farm. It was a pleasure to see full-section fields of corn and sunflowers in a very well managed no-till system.

Our tour will conclude with a tour of the Dakota Lakes Research Farm near Pierre, South Dakota. I will share some of those ideas and concepts on how you can utilize Environmental Quality Incentives Programs, EQIP funds available through NRCS and FSA connections to achieve your goals to more environmentally friendly and profitable production right here in Gage County.

View other Gage County News Columns & News Letters: http://gage.unl.edu/news/news.htm

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