Soil Health

Soil Health is a new spin on incorporating several agronomic and ecological principles to help ensure sustainable and productive systems.  Soil Health takes a holistic approach to managing natural systems and ensuring that processes and cycles mimic natural occurrences.  This will help ensure minimal inputs, sustainable output, increased resiliency, healthy and productive resources, and improved financial sustainability.

I recently went to a NRCS training on Soil Health.  Our instructor was Ray Archuleta from the NRCS East Technical Center.  He is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about improving soil health.  He has several videos on Ray the Soil Guy which are great viewing. 

He asked us some basic questions, like "Why do we care about soil?"; and "What do we want from our soils?".  The bottom line is we expect a lot from our soils and we quickly came to a unified understanding of just how important healthy and functioning soils are.


A living root adds carbon and exudates which feed the soil microbes
and builds soil structure.



Top 4 management tips:

1. Minimize soil disturbance; i.e. plowing



2. Maximize diversity of crops in rotation

3. Have a living root in the soil as often as possible

4. Keep the soil covered with plants and plant residues

I look forward to applying these management tips not only in the High Tunnel, but also in our pasture setting with an improved rotation.



The soil has good cover, a living root, and diversity in type of crop;
 i.e. cool season grass to a warm season broad leaf.



Other great links:



North Dakota Zero Tillage Association

NRCS Soil Biology



Knocking down a cover crop with a roller crimper and no-till planting directly behind it in one operation.

  

Food Dialogues

USFRA – America’s Farmers and Ranchers – Leading constructive and pragmatic conversations about the future of food and agriculture

Harvest Time

We have had a beautiful fall.  After Labor Day, temperatures dropped back to more seasonal, it was a real relief.  I'm looking forward to the transition of seasons and the opportunity to move forward in the new year.



Common scene.  Neighbors harvesing corn.

Our harvest was not up to par.  This was due to extreme heat, wind and lack of precipitation throughout most of the growing season.  Tomatoes clearly did the best, especially in the high tunnel.  It appeared that several varieties remained green and were extremely slow to mature.  Was this because they were heirloom varieties and not hybrids?  Unfortuntely, our signs which marked the varieties did not hold-up (need to do better job a signage next year), so it was difficult to determine varieties of top performers.

One of our better plants outside the high tunnel.

Weeds were a problem in the garden and with organic options being limited, it was a challenge. 


Flaming weeds.  An organic option that helped, but could not get too close to the plastic.

















In an effort to control weeds and improve soil health next year, we planted a cover crop mid-September.  Cover crops can provide a variety of benefits, including; weed suppression, increased infiltration, decrease evaporation, increase percolation, increase microbial activity, increase carbon retention and storage, increase nutrient availability, improve soil structure, and fracturing of hard pans.  The intent is to graze or leave standing in the spring and basically no-till directly into it.  We worked with Green Cover Seeds who provided a mixture of oats, winter pea, Persian clover, BMR forage sorghum, Graza fodder radish, and turnips (purple top, Winfred hybrid, and Hunter hybrid). 




Cover crop nearly 10" tall and growing in November.  Note tomatoes have winter killed.


The high tunnel definetely extended the growing season.  Tomatoes were harvestable for nearly one month longer than outside tomatoes.  Also, the cover crop outside, which was planted on the same day, was not even comparable. 




Cover Crop outside high tunnel, November.  Despite planting on the same day, it appears to be at least 30 days behind cover inside the high tunnel.  August 1 may be a better plant date?




Calf growing well.

 We sold a yearling Jersey bull and a three year old Jersey heifer which would not breed dispite AI and natural service.  This should help alleviate some pressure on tight forage supplies and limit the purchase of $200/Ton hay.


Other challenges this year revolved around weather, namely wind.  



70 mph gusts proved hard on the cover of the high tunnel.  We need to come up with a better option next year as this was designed to last four years and did not make it a full season.



Preparing for cold winter winds with some added windbreaks for the livestock.



Other natural challenges:

No, that is not snow.  It is salt.  Salinity is an issue in our area.  This is what comes to the surface through capilary action following small precipitation events.  This can be a challenge for some types of vegetation and must be monitored and factored into production decisions. 





Summer Shots

Summer in Southeast Colorado proved to be hot and dry, as seen on the US Drought Monitor.  Our county was designated a disaster area due to high temperatures and far below average precipitation.  The This proved challenging to attain production goals on our limited acreage.  Somehow, we have made it through and are looking forward to fall.

A temporary watering facility

 

Weeds around the high tunnel became a battle, so we moved the temporary fence as close as possible so the cattle could help control them.

 

Tomato plants got off to a late start, but finally started taking off and needed stakes and wire to support their vegetative structure.



Jersey's grazing after a series of mid-July rain events.  None involved large amounts of rain, but each were joyfully welcomed. 



A Jersey-Angus cross bull calf was a welcomed sight in early August as well.  He is growing quickly with all that milk to himself. 



Grazing weeds in the high tunnel.  Actually, this is not a planned practice, but we left him in awhile as there were plenty of weeds to graze (just had to keep him out of the tomatoes on the right). More on our growing season wrap-up in a later post. 



Seasonal High Tunnel

Southeast Colorado is an area noted for extremes.  We get as cold as northern climates in the winter, as hot as more southern climates in the summer, with drought and wind events common in-between.

With the intent to be sustainable, we looked closely at optimizing garden production.  In order to accomplish this, we have the following goals:
     1) Improve early growing season conditions; temperatures and high winds.
     2) Improve water use efficiency of limited water resources
     3) Improve plant health and vigor during extreme summer months
     4) Increase late season growing opportunities by protecting from early killing frost

Our goals lead us to apply for a grant offered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for a Seasonal High Tunnel.  In Mid-May, we found out that we received the grant.  We are very excited as this is expected to really further our operation.

With the growing season underway, timing was of the essence.  Construction began right away! 

We ordered a Clear Span 30' X 48' Economy High Tunnel from Farm Tek.  They were very good to deal with.

Challenges were:
    1) Growing season was under way, so plants had to be transplanted prior to   construction completion.  This proved difficult to work around as construction required a lot of moving around the area with ladders.
    2) High winds required careful consideration
    3) Irrigation differences from High Tunnel vs. outside area
    4) Pests and other animal impacts

A couple good free standing ladders are necessary.  Help is appreciated as there is a lot of overhead work.  Top height is 13'.

Lots of rafter hangers to secure.  A necessary step.



Reinforcing framework added along with anchor post and attached cable to protect against South winds.



Not two weeks after completion, a storm came through with high winds that tore the 6 mil plastic cover off the structure.  This was a major disappointment.  Major structure was fine, but broke minor boards and bent pipe for roll-up sides.  Cover was taped up and other repairs were made to salvage most parts.  Hoping cover will make it through the season.



Inside view of final product.



Outside view of final product.  Note temporary electric fence to keep cows and sheep out.  Also note rope lashings between rafters to better hold plastic down in high winds. 

Not So Wolly

While taking A634- Livestock Production Systems, I learned about the benefits of multi-specie grazing.  This method seemed to fit our operation well for several reasons:
1) Allows for enhanced range management by utilizing all types of vegetation available
2) Improves options for sustainable organic production
3) Provides for smaller frame animal options for our small scale operation

Sheep caught our attention because they are easy to handle and prefer forbs.  We have several forbs that can be utilized by sheep; i.e. kochia. In researching sheep breeds, hair sheep were of interest because they do not produce wool and therefore don't need to be sheared.  This was important because my research showed that the price of wool doesn't cover the cost of shearing; a major issue.  Katahdin is is a breed of hair sheep, which have been breed for meat production, and  seemed fitting to our operation for several reasons:
1) Adapted to a variety of climates
2) Can breed out of season
3) Easy care and handling
4) Resistant to internal parasites

Last summer, we located a  Katahdin breeder in La Junta, CO and purchased a ram and a ewe.  This spring, the ewe had her first lamb; unassisted, so we were very pleased! 

We need to develop better fencing for the sheep.  Currently, we only have two small pens to hold the sheep.  We have purchased a portable electric fencing system to make small temporary pens.  This was a good idea, but the reality has been that it hasn't contained the sheep well.  They slip under the bottom wire without getting shocked. I'm told this could be from a variety of reasons, i.e. too low of joule rating, poor ground, lack of trained animals, etc.???



Step-in posts with poly wire and reel system




Therefore, to get the animals out in a more natural grazing setting, and to utilize their grazing in the management of weeds, we stake them out during the day.  Actually, we only stake the ewe out, and the ram and the lamb stay in a close proximity (for now).  Of course, we will have to find a more permanent solution that will accommodate increased numbers of sheep; possibly a high-tensile or woven wire perimeter fence?

For the Birds

Part of our sustainable organic production plan involve chickens; both laying hens for eggs and broilers for meat production. 

We are not very serious about egg production.  We have six free range hens that produce enough for our family use.  We have an interest in producing more eggs, but we don't have a local market.  I'm sure we could work toward developing some limited local sales, but currently there is nothing established.



Free Ranging hens


The majority of our efforts will lie with the meat birds.  We purchased 50 (they sent 52) Cornish-cross chicks in April.  We decided on the Cornish-cross after going with a more dual-purpose breed in the past (White Rocks) and finding that they just took too long to mature.  The longer maturity time resulted in more feed, more work and more loss to predators.  So this year we are trying the Cornish-cross for the first time.   We have purchased our chicks from Estes Hatchery in the past, and we did again this year.  They are relatively near us (Springfield, MO) and always have a good selection of birds.  This year all our chicks arrived alive and all 52 are still healthy and growing good.

We keep them in a confined area until they are old enough to free range.  This year we are going to try a portable cage to help grow the chickens.  The portable cage will assist with containing them so we can better manage and protect them.  Predators have been a problem in the past.  We also hope to capitalize on the many benefits this rotational pasture method offers: healthy chickens, pest management, pasture improvement and improved marketability.

Keeping watch on the baby chicks

By moving the pen on a daily basis, chickens will experience a clean and fresh environment each day.  This helps ensure a healthy natural product.  Also, the chickens can be moved to specific areas to ensure manure is broken up or near a garden to control insects.  This may prove beneficial this year as experts are saying there will be severe grasshopper infestations.




1.25" PVC used to construct 10x20' portable pen

The pen will be used only during the day as it will not protect against nighttime predators.  We will be using a metal structure for nighttime confinement, as we have used in the past. 

Chicks transitioning to the outdoors and the pen