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Local practices included moldboard plowing to reseed perennial hay fields and as part of the plowing procedure, it is common to place drainage furrows with a plow on 30-60-feet centers. We do not yet have a no-till drill, so we use a conventional drill for overseeding pastures or seeding annual cover crops.
The stockpiled feed helps us be more profitable because we are not feeding as much hay, and it also provides more opportunities to keep animals out on the landscape gathering their own feed, instead of us supplying it with a tractor. The longer rest time allows new plants to grow from the seeds in the soil seed bank.
Last year we had something around 700 plantings total, of over 150 crop varieties, and each was handled slightly differently at each stage (seed starting, greenhouse water and heat, planting, cultivation, harvesting, and post-harvest). When you think of farming, likely tractors and planting and weeding pop into your brain.
Black polyethylene “mulch film” gets tucked snugly around crop rows, clear plastic sheeting covers hoop houses, and most farmers use plastic seed trays, irrigation tubes, and fertilizer bags. Rodale has even designed an add-on device for tractors, making the blueprint publicly available.)
These days, farming is a lot more than just plowing the field and planting seeds. Operating loans are used for operating expenses such as labor costs, seed, fertilizer and other supplies needed for crop production. They can also be used for livestock purchases such as cows or pigs.
Their dad and grandpa spent their lives getting rid of all the weeds and they wanted [the land] to be black and plowed because that’s the way successful farming looks and feels,” Cobb said. Landowners Cobb leased from were similarly averse to mixing things up. Some of the challenges can be impossible to plan for.
Diesel-powered tractors replaced horse-powered plows, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers replaced their manure. Department of Agriculture programs encouraged their adoption with financial assistance that enabled big purchases like tractors as well as smaller annual purchases of newly improved hybrid corn seeds.
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