heres my opinion,you never get something for nothing!in my opinion the first thing you better check is what type of soil you have.and another is what type of crop you grow.the reason is pretty simple,say you had a place thats pretty sandy and well drained, with a fairly limited rainfall.which is fairly common on the high plains. and you decide you were going to raise oats on a no till basis.you really would be shooting yourself in the foot in my opinion,simply because you have well drained soil,limited rain,and a crop whose straw holds 6 times its weight in moisture.what limited amount of rain that fell would be held for the most part by the straw,never even reaching the crops roots ,since you were covered by straw and blocking the sun you would be cutting way back on the moisture drawn up from the subsoil and your crop would suffer as a result.do the exact thing on clay however with large rainfall and you would probably get a better crop because you would (theoretically) dry the soil out some.a better choice in the dryland situation with the same crop would be to use a limited till scenario where you left the straw that held so much moisture at root level or just below,so rain could be utilized more effeciently and moisture from the subsoil would be held also. thats sort of a extreme situation but you get the point. to me ,and ive tried to look at it objectivly,there are a whole lot of variables to be considered besides just converting to a not till plan or not.plowing,deep tilling helps kill insect pests such as grashoppers,certain flies etc,that must be sprayed in a no till crop.it kills weeds and things that can be a problem in no till.what you save on fuel costs are somwhat offset by this so the actuall fuel costs are somewhat mitigated. bottom line ,like i say you never get something for nothing,i think largely you trade one set of problems for another.I have two small fields side by side,i am thinking very seriously about trying it also one on one side one on the other,most if not all of my equipment is worn out and needs to be replaced anyway so thats not really a consideration.what is though is the fact that very often a no till operation takes four or five years to really show a difference.im not sure in my case i would live long enough to make a real test LOL!
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Hydraulics - Cylinder Anatomy - by Curtis von Fange. Let’s make one more addition to our series on hydraulics. I’ve noticed a few questions in the comment section that could pertain to hydraulic cylinders so I thought we could take a short look at this real workhorse of the circuit. Cylinders are the reason for the hydraulic circuit. They take the fluid power delivered from the pump and magically change it into mechanical power. There are many types of cylinders that one might run across on a farm scenario. Each one could take a chapter in
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
1964 I-H 140 tractor with cultivators and sidedresser. Starts and runs good. Asking 2650. CALL RON AT 502-319-1952
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
