Cover Crops and Grazing

Dave and Meg Schmidt

Exira, Iowa

27 February 2013

What are cover crops?

Plants that cover the soil in the

fall, winter, and spring

What plants are cover crops?

OVER-WINTERING

• Winter Rye (Cereal

Rye), Triticale,

Wheat, Barley

• Hairy Vetch

• Red Clover

• Alfalfa

• Winter Pea

• Annual Ryegrass (?)

NON-OVERWINTERING

• Oats

• Spring Wheat, Barley,

Rye, Triticale

• Crimson Clover

• Winter Lentil

• Tillage Radish

• Turnips

• Buckwheat

• Annual Ryegrass (?)

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Adapted from

Joel Gruver, WIU

Soil in Iowa is uncovered for at least 6 months/year

Greatest loss of nutrients is outside the cropping

season (Kaspar et al., 2007)

What can they do for our

farms?

• 28% Nitrogen reduction*

• 50% Phosphorus reduction*

• Cuts Soil erosion in half

• Greater H2O infiltration

*State of Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy Science Assessment

Cover Crops and Grazing

• 2012 drilling cost: $15.60/ac

• 30 acres drilled on Sept 20, 2012

• Winter rye (25 lb/ac, $8.20/ac)

• Winter wheat (25 lb/ac, $7.45/ac)

• Hairy vetch (5 lb/ac, $12.50/ac)

• $43.75/ac total cost

Spring Grazing • We expect to graze roughly 01 April to

15 May

• We expect about 800-1,000 lb DM/ac in

mid-April

• We expect about 2,000-3,000 lb DM/ac

in mid-May

• We need about 1170 lb DM/ac for our

herd

• RFV of 90 (rye) to 112 (triticale) at 18-

20% crude protein

Cereal rye + winter wheat

26 February 2013

Spring Grazing Economics

• Assuming $10/ac to drill + $28/ac for

seed = $38/ac

• Cover crop grazing costs approximately

$1/cow/day

• Feeding hay costs approximately

$2.70/cow/day

• Don’t need to rent land

Fall Grazing

• Oats- 1.5 bu/ac @ $9.20/bu = $13.80/ac

• Flown on = $20/ac

• Total = $33.80/ac

• Cheap grazing season extension

Fall Finishing Beef

• On cover crops 01 Nov to 01 Dec

• Corn stalks + high quality mix (oats or

annual ryegrass + oil seed radish)

• Seed + application = $50-70/ac

• Lets us finish steers at about 18-20 mo.

old without grain or silage

Summer Annuals

• Cover crops can be used with a long-

term crop rotation

• High-energy forages such as sorghum-

sudan for grazing

• Plant mid-May through late June

• Drill fall cover crops after grazing or

chopping

Gabe Brown Ranch

Gabe Brown

• 5,400 ac ranch near Bismarck, ND

• No-till crop production for 18 years

• High-diversity cover crop mixes for soil

health and grazing

• 90% reduction in commercial fertilizer

• >75% reduction in herbicides

Making Cover Crops Work

• Planting

• Killing

Crop Harvested Early

(by ~Sept 10)

• Drill Cover Crop Immediately

(good soil to seed contact)

– Winter rye, triticale, wheat or barley: @ ~50lbs/A

– Hairy Vetch, Common Vetch, Winter Lentil, Winter Pea,

Crimson Clover: varies

– Radish, Turnip, Kale or Mustard: @ ~8lbs/A

– Oats: @ 50lbs/A

– Annual Ryegrass: @ 15-20lbs/A

– Mix: crimson clover, radish, turnip, oat and more

Cover Crop Blend

37lbs/A

30% Pea- 21lbs/acre

40% Common Vetch-

6.4lbs/acre

10% Crimson Clover-

1.5lbs/acre

10% Fava Bean-

7lbs/acre

10% Radish- .8lbs/acre

Ex: Planted after oat harvest NW IA

Crop Harvest Late (~after Sept 30)

• Overseed: airplane, helicopter, highboy @

Soybean 1st yellow leaves or Corn black layer

– Winter rye, triticale, wheat or barley: @ ~50-

75lbs/A

– Hairy Vetch, Common Vetch, Winter Lentil, *Winter

Pea, *Crimson Clover: @ varies

– *Radish, *Turnip, *Kale or *Mustard: @ ~8lbs/A

– *Oats: @ 50lbs/A

– *Annual Ryegrass: @ 15-20lbs/A

– *Mix: crimson clover, radish, turnip, oat and more

*Poor results with this seeding method

Winter wheat flown into

standing soybean Sept 2010

Picture taken soybean harvest 2010

Winter Pea over-seeded into Soybean 9/9/12

Photo taken 11/16/12 Carroll, IA

Winter Triticale overseeded into soybean 9/9/12

Photo taken 11/16/12 Carroll, IA

Hairy Vetch overseeded into Corn 9/9/12

Photo taken 11/16/12 Carroll, IA

Spring Termination Options

A)Non-overwintering:

oats, radish, turnip, crimson clover, etc: no spring

management

B)Overwintering:

Herbicide Full rate + Growing Plant + Warm Day = Success

Tillage also an option

Spring Termination Options

Prior to Corn

Make sure any grass cover crop (rye, wheat, ryegrass,

etc) dead 6-10 days prior to planting

Prior to Soybeans

Kill the same day or after planting soybeans into a living

grass cover crop

Cover Crop Resources

• Managing Cover Crops Profitably (book, 2010)

• Midwest Cover Crops Field Guide (book, 2012)

• Cover Crop Calculator (www.greencoverseed.com)

• Cover Crop Decision-Making Tool (mccc.msu.edu/selectorINTRO.htm)

• Sarah Carlson and Practical Farmers of Iowa (www.practicalfarmers.org)

• Joel Gruver (J-Gruver@wiu.edu)

• Gabe Brown (www.brownsranch.us)

Cover Crop Calculator Green Cover Seed Bladen, NE

Cover Crop Decision Making Tool