I've never understood that either.  What keeps those steep hillsides from severe water erosion?

npalen wrote:

I've never understood that either.  What keeps those steep hillsides from severe water erosion?

Low rainfall helps. We get 16” of rain a year. Lots of places get a lot less. That being said, the generations before me lost a heck of a lot of dirt to erosion.  Pretty sad really.  They didn’t do it on purpose, they were farming the best they could with what they had.  No till farming has brought erosion to nearly zero on my place.  

BP. 

 

neil wrote:

Bruce, have you looked into regenerative ag at all? I looked at a couple of articles and youtubes and it seems quite positive for soil health, production, and ultimately income. I'm sure there's a lot of "depends..." in there though

Actually I first read the term just today.  Haven’t looked into it.  What exactly are they hoping to regenerate ?   Could be really neat, could be the latest buzzword.  I’ve played with cover crops some.  They work better in higher rainfall areas than here I think.   Some things you just need rain to make work.  

BP. 
 

Bruce, same here on cover crops. Tried it for several years but not enough rain to sustain them. We get about 18" moisture here annually but some years less than 12. About 2" in the form of snow.
With fertilizer prices tripled and Herbicides about the same or more it puts a severe cramp in no till. Not only that we are getting a lot of herbicide resistant weeds that just won't die.
No till and cover crops are two of the basic methods in the so called regenerative agriculture. Sounds good but difficult to do.

We are seeing more and more cover crops here in NC Kansas but, yes, a little more rain at about 24" average. The unusually heavy downpours we have seen in the last several years have, however, taken a huge toll in erosion even on no till ground. It's just sad to see. Even the country roads have suffered and I doubt they will ever be rebuilt to what they were 50-75 years ago.

For us around here, notilling saves moisture and time, as well as soil.  I’ve also seen about a 5% yield increase. It did cost quite a bit to get a good drill, but my old conventional drills were worn out anyway.  What we save in diesel, we spend in chemicals. Crop rotation is key to prevent chemical resistance.  Yield increase, time savings, and saving soil are the big advantages.  We don’t need terraces any more so we took them out, that saves a pile of time and chemical.  I had a patch that was 98 acres, with terraces it was chopped up into 7 pieces.  It was a mess.  Now it’s one big piece and takes about half the time to work.   We are still playing with cover crops but on a very small scale.  

BP. 

Jake thank you, that is the family I was talking of. Great pictures. I had a cousin that worked harvest for them in 71 or 72 maybe both. If you where there that early he was Nick. Also a uncle on the other side of my family socialized in the same circle.

I have had people talk of the IH was better on the steep hills than a JD 36b. I have no idea of how parts where to get for the IH and the Case. But JD had parts yet in the 70's . I am wondering why they did not run all JD 36 b as they where common here and ended up being only a few hundred dollars in the 70's already. But my family ended up with 4 of the 36b, and only ran one after 1960. So parts generally where not needed from JD. The other thing was if greased daily you just did not have bearing going out. Having serviced Massy Harris 90,& 92, Gleaner MH, MH2, JD 95 H, and JD 6622 , I don't know how much time you saved with less greasing. But then a lot of time was spent keep widows clean and air conditioners going. But in this part of the world if you have glass you need a air conditioner.



As was said about what is old becomes new with machine design farming practices are the same. As farmers we are looking for the most crop with the least work/money spent.. So you try things or at least think about how much different machinery would cost.

One of my problems was I never learned how to grow a summer crop with out a drop of rain no till. With a bit of luck in timing and the old dust mulch/summer fallow I have grown great crops of safflower without one drop of rain on the crop after seeding. Also with luck I only had bad erosion 2 years out of over 40 years. A lot of luck went into that, but I stopped burning stubble off before many. Took a better operator to deal with extra straw and make mass of lumps and piles but you do what you have to, to save soil.

The other irony to me is the population in general wants more natural grown crops , but also wants the benefits of no till for soil saving. But I have never seen no till work in a arid climate without more chemicals than if tillage is used. But still looking and trying to learn even if I have not planted a grain crop in 5 years.

There was a thread on here a few years ago Farming with steel tracks by West Idaho farmer. I believe he was practicing conservation tillage. I don't recall that he was doing no till but had a lot of equipment for dealing with crop residue.

I did a lot of dust mulch farming years back mostly for crops like barley or peas. I would get better crops with no rainfall after planting. Rain would cause crusting and the crop could dry out.