Bruce I do not think the soybeans will canopy fast enough to help much with weed control.
My neighbor across the road is an organic dairy. His main battles are weeds and growing enough protein for his cattle. You can grow the hay forages pretty simply. The corn is much more of a challenge. Wet years kill him on this. If it is dryer he can usually hold the weeds back with cultivation to get a good enough canopy to hold the majority of the weeds out. In a wet year the weeds will just go back to growing if it rains soon after cultivation. He tries to grow organic soybeans so he can have them roasted for his cow ration. Gets more weeds than soybeans.
His calves are gutty looking as they never get much ground feed. All hay. So too much fiber and not enough energy.
I do know a fellow that raises organic sweet corn. Plus other organic produce. I am talking about maybe 15 acres of sweet corn. He plants fall rye. He plants a variety that does not get very tall. In the spring he notills sweet corn directly into the rye. When the corn is 2 inches tall he takes a flail mower and shreds the rye. He has the shredder tires matching his tractor tires. He sets the height just barely above the growing corn. He makes sure the flails are sharp so he gets a good cut and shred. The rye makes a mat that retards any weeds growth like you would have mulched it. He also claims that how rye will hinder other plants from growing does not effect the corn. He usually does not have weeds. I can not say anything about his yields.
Organic dairy will come the closest to working fully organic. You have an escape plan by being able to chop a crop early to control weeds. The hard part is the protein. You can grow loads of fiber (hay and corn silage) but it is hard to get the protein and fiber balanced.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo filesizes should be less than 300K and Videos, less than 2MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
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 - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
... [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.
