A case study of Mike Nutcher's 2002 experiences with strip-tilled corn production at Dairy in Stanislaus ounty
January 25, 2003
California dairies require year-round availability of inexpensive, locally-produced forage materials. Common dairy forage production systems consist of winter small grains seeded either individually or in mixes in November and December. These winter forages are then harvested as "green chop" the following March. In conventional production systems, fields may be disked a number of times following the harvest of these winter forages, relisted or bedded and then preirrigated for spring corn planting. Turnaround time between winter small grain forage harvest and spring corn planting routinely takes about two weeks. Spring silage corn is then produced for mid-summer harvest. Occasionally, corn may be double-cropped with the second crop coming off sometime in early fall. Most current production systems, intercrop tillage and seedbed preparation is done ahead of each successive crop. Such production systems, however, lend themselves quite well to a variety of conservation tillage approaches that have been developed in other production regions, and in recent years, a number of California dairy forage producers have begun experimenting with these reduced till forage production alternatives.
Mike Nutcher, the owner and general manager of Hidden Valley Dairy in western Stanislaus County, is one such farmer who began experimenting with strip-till silage corn production in 2002.
Hidden Valley is a medium sized, independent dairy with 1200 cows. Mike, his wife and his crew of ten, manage the entire operation. To provide a steady supply of forage for his cows, Mike farms about 350 acres of forage production land adjacent to his dairy. Prior to the spring of 2002, Hidden Valley Dairy used a pretty standard tillage approach to forage production as outlined above.
In the fall of 2001 though, Mike became interested in reduced till practices through his reading of work done by farmers and researchers in Oregon and by his participation in one of our CT Workgroup's seminars. He then decided to experiment in the spring of 2002 with strip-tilling corn following his winter forage harvest.
Immediately after harvesting his winter forage on April 7, Mike used a 6-row 30" Unverferth Ripper Stripper to till 6 - 8" strips in the flat soil in which he had grown his winter forage. A strip tiller is an implement consisting of residue-cutting coulters ahead of subsoiling shanks that loosen the soil profile from a few to as many as 14 inches. Following the subsoiler, strip tillers are often fitted with "clod busting" roller-type implements that work to smooth surface soil and prepare seedbed conditions prior to planting. He strip tilled 17 acres on April 8, and then had a 6-row John Deere corn planter follow immediately behind. He used a RoundUp Ready silage corn variety.
By using this CT approach, Mike figures he saved about two weeks of time that would have normally been used in a conventional tillage sequence of land preparation operations following winter forage harvest, as well as a preirrigation that may have been required in conjunction with his standard spring tillage approach.
He was able to establish and eventually harvest an adequate crop with this approach. In-season, he relied on over-the-top applications of glyphosate for weed control. He harvested the silage on August 19.
On the whole, this first experience with strip-tilled corn was quite successful for Hidden Valley Dairy. Mike's overall assessment of the effort is best summed up by his own statements:
"I think that our first try at strip-tilling turned out pretty well. We averaged 29.5 tons per acre of corn silage on the strip-till field, while the ranch average was 31.5 tons per acre. I think there are 2 main things that we could have improved on and those are to have had better plant populations (by keeping the corn planter better in line with the strip-tiller and/or having more down pressure on the planter) and to have had more fertilizer available at planting."
Things we learned or observed during this trial are as follows.
Things that we found beneficial:
- Savings in tillage costs using strip-tillage versus conventional tillage
| Strip tillage | |
| A) strip till pass | $15.00 per acre |
| B) planting pass | $15.00 per acre |
| Conventional tillage | |
| A) discing pass | $10.00 per acre |
| B) ripping pass | $18.00 per acre |
| C) discing pass | $10.00 per acre |
| D) pre-irrigation | $8.00 - $15.00 per acre |
| E) finish tool pass | $12.00 per acre |
| F) planting pass | $15.00 per acre |
- Time savings
Because we gained two weeks on our growing season, with our double crop of sudan for silage, we were able to gain 5 tons of silage more per acre than our conventional tillage fields. This being a plus of $60.00 per acre (5 tons @ $12.00 per ton).
Things to work on:
- to have better alignment with the strip-tiller and the corn planter
- the need for a more level field. For us, we had to use cross levies to flood irrigate the corn because the ground wasn't level.
- the need to be able to spread manure prior to planting and have it mixed into the ground before planting
In summary, I think there are great advantages to this system, with the money savings and time savings it offers. It takes some forethought and planning to make sure you have enough moisture in the soil. We irrigated 12 days prior to chopping the winter forage off and had no problems with the moisture level when we were ready to plant the corn with the strip-tiller."
For further information on this evaluation or on Mike's future plans for integrating CT into his dairy forage production system, contact him at MDGOTMILK@msn.com or get in touch with CT Workgroup Chair, Jeff Mitchell at mitchell@uckac.edu or (559) 646-6565.
Other examples and applications of strip tillage are shown here.
Click on the photos to see a larger image.