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Residue management starts at the combine
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There’s more than one way to look at the harvest season than just another crop in the bin or getting the bales hauled. Decisions about harvest equipment and methods are also important in order to get ready for next year’s crop. Nowadays, with the adaptations farmers have made to their seeding systems by reducing tillage, deliberate and well-planned action is required before combine, baler, or even cattle go into any field.
Ideally, crop residue should remain in the field to optimize soil quality by rebuilding organic matter (think fresh nutrients), but not all situations allow for this. Regardless of seeding system or tillage practice, dealing with straw and chaff before it hits the ground is the best rule for most crops. Besides, in the spring rush, the best weather days are most likely needed for direct seeding – not for handling crop residue.
Here then are some harvest tips to help farmers specifically prepare for and reap the full benefits of direct seeding by creating residue-friendly fields:
1. The Balancing Act: An Alberta farmer must harvest hundreds of acres of diverse cropland within a very short timeframe! New-model combines now offer increased capacity that brings efficiency factors to play, however stuffing a double-swath into the threshing unit still requires a lot of grinding, shaking and blowing to effectively separate the wheat from the chaff. Even canola pods can be restrictive for direct seeding if dropped without uniform spreading! It takes considerable power (think fuel consumption), engineering (think efficiency), and skill (think experience) to process a profitable crop, let alone the accompanying crop residue (think peace-of-mind). Any direct seeding system can only be as good as the residue management.
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Balance combine front-end load with back-end discharge.
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Wide row-spacing and narrow openers on direct seeding implements provide superior residue clearance in difficult circumstances.
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Correct stubble height and uniform residue distribution to match the seeding implement is critical
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2. The Buck Stops Here: Big acres, big machines, big dollars! Hay and silage operations are no exception. Nothing is cheap anymore, but some things are
less expensive. A good example of cost-cutting measures many direct seeders take is to improve the chop and spread of crop residue with the combine rather than relying on harrowing the stubble afterwards. Even the top-end retrofit or integral straw and chaff handling options are available for the modern combine at about a third of the cost of a good used round-baler or new heavy harrow drawbar! Also, advanced livestock management techniques like swath grazing and field feeding appear to be economically attractive where crop and residue never leave the field except as beef. Valuable nutrients can be retained in a residue-friendly manner without compromise for direct seeding. Soil stays protected and biologically active with residue mulch.
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Improper timing of harrowing can compromise the
pre-seed weed burnoff in early, single-pass direct seeding.
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In case of emergency, plan to rent heavy harrows rather than buy.
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Retained crop residues contribute nutrients to the soil that otherwise need to be replaced with purchased fertilizer.
3. Planning and Preparation Pay: In the absence of tillage, cropping arrangements should be planned for “bumper” yields but “worst-case” harvest scenarios! Over time, growers must strategically consider the impact of each different crop choice on subsequent field operations and soil quality. Scarce labor plus rising fuel, fertilizer, and machinery costs impose new challenges to old ways. Some crop sequences are easily managed while other circumstances demand unique crop rotation and residue management. Resulting harvest modes may vary significantly crop-to-crop and year-to-year due to weather alone. Flexibility is key.
- Perennial forage in rotation reduces annual inputs.
- Livestock operations enhance direct seeding when crop residue is recycled back to the field as composted manure.
- Leave sufficient standing stubble when removing straw and chaff, and rotate fields where annual fodder crops are routinely harvested as silage or green feed.
- Sod seeding methods can replace tillage to terminate unwanted perennial forage fields.
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Poorly managed residue creates problems for direct seeding
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4. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it! Anyone familiar with the game
Jeopardy understands the importance of having the right question to win. Ultimately in a farming system, it’s the
grain in the bin or
pound of gain that pays the bills, but there can be exceptions. To optimize residue management during harvest, direct seeders need to be “thinking” about and seek the right answers to questions like this:
- What is an opener? (think precision seed and fertilizer placement, row spacing, etc.)
- What is the value of crop residue? (think long term vs short term)
- What’s the current soil nutrient supply? (think crop diversity and fertilizer prices)
- How does rotation impact the system? (think seeding date, machinery use, time, etc.)
- What’s the same as last year? (think good or bad, and why?)
- What has changed? (think better or worse, and why?)
Farmers now understand that a top-notch approach to handling residue is required to avoid intensive, costly, and undesirable tillage-based cropping methods while optimizing soil quality. A profitable outcome to harvest is certainly the goal. Moreover, direct seeders must create an overall management strategy that deals with crop residues.
It all starts with uniform distribution of straw and chaff that accommodates low soil disturbance direct seeding to prevent erosion and conserve soil moisture. This system provides economy and efficiency with a positive long-term impact on soil nutrient cycling. Harvest season activities will determine if a field becomes a welcome mat or a battleground, in terms of adequate seedbed preparation for the next crop. Whether by cow or combine, residue management is an essential key to avoid problems!
