Tom Kilcer’s Advanced Ag Systems newsletter (for October/November) arrived in my inbox on Nov. 10. He’s a Certified Crop Advisor whose cropping wisdom I tap into as needed. I’ve known Tom for over a half century, having met him at a CCE conference in 1977. We were both field crop agents – me in my last year in that profession and he is his first.
In the newsletter, Kilcer talks about winter forages – mostly winter triticale – that were planted no later than Sept. 15. With the idea that triticale was planted on time, he points out that this crop has been shown to take up and store over 100 lbs. of nitrogen (N). With that timely planting, he recommended N and sulfur (S) in the starter fertilizer – usually in a 7:1 ratio.
He stressed that if you didn’t plant on time (two weeks before the wheat planting date for your region), you will not get the N uptake. This shortcoming will compromise next spring’s yield boost. This autumn N had to be introduced at planting so winter forage plants can access it upon emergence.
Kilcer does not recommend delaying planting just to spread manure. According to Penn State research, growers lose more yield than what they save on fertilizer by delaying planting for manure application. Kilcer’s New York field research showed that 60 lbs./acre of starter N, with timely planting, maximized N benefits the next spring.
Results of testing for triticale’s N uptake efficiency (prior to the crop entering dormancy) proved very encouraging. If the field had been buried in manure the previous spring and there was a less-than-normal crop removal – like due to drought – much of that N may carry over and meet autumn N needs. Though it’s tempting to spread on top of the emerged triticale, it’s unwise. Leaf blades turn dark green and lush, but it’s a potential disaster for three reasons: first, manure staying on the plant surface can dissipate most of its inherent ammonia – thus its readily available N, which volatilizes quickly. Then you are short on N and have applied relatively excess phosphorus and potassium, which don’t volatilize.
Secondly, winter rain landing on frozen ground readily moves manure solids and the liquid standing on frozen surfaces into nearby waterways. You’re losing nutrients, since even the organic fraction washes away, taking the fertilizer with it. A 2% slope can move a lot of water. You lose fertilizer and money and pollute.
The third (and worst) problem is manure landing on vegetation. Kilcer gave an example where growers spread on emerged triticale in November. He said he followed it all winter; the next spring there was still solid/semi-solid manure imbedded in the vegetation. Manure in the silo results in poor quality forage. One farm that did this created putrid smelling, maggot-laden silage. The farmer’s nutritionist advised against feeding it; ignoring that advice proved to be an error which cost him two cows, dying from hemorrhagic bowel syndrome.
What Kilcer and his cohorts found was that by injecting manure in early winter – when the soil temperature had dropped below 50º and the ground hadn’t frozen yet – they met all of next spring’s N and S needs. Thusly timed, such injections unload a tremendous amount of manure from storage before winter sets in. The turf covering the injected slurry retains the volatile ammonia, which then attaches to soil.
In the colder north, his replicated research found all the N was there in spring, thus a huge positive savings for growers. What they have found in their research is the effectiveness of placing the manure with an angled rolling coulter-injector. This procedure requires very little horsepower, placing the manure three to four inches in the ground, covering it. Covering eliminates ammonia loss, odors and runoff loss. In their work they’ve applied 14,000 gal/acre at 3 p.m.; the next morning at 9 a.m., the slot was dry as it all soaked into silty clay soil.
Injecting doesn’t leave anything to possibly contaminate the silage/baleage during the next spring harvest. One outside observer said if he didn’t know it was a manure spreader, he would have never known they were spreading manure, since there was zero odor. No smell means none of the N in the ammonia got wafted away. All that un-wafted ammonia N will feed the spring-awakening triticale, greatly helping the grower meet their winter forage nutrient requirement.
Depending on the amount of ammonia/1,000 gallons of manure, Kilcer’s crew has applied anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000 gallons of manure/acre to meet the crop’s N needs. Growers can empty a lot of storage at that rate in an environmentally sound manner. The ammonia attaches to the soil complex, remaining there, until the ground warms to 50º come spring. Winter triticale grows at 40º, so as soon as the ammonia becomes available, these awakening small grains metabolize it.
Manure injected when the soil is below 50º but not frozen solid will capture and hold the nutrients until the crop is ready to use them in spring. This practice unloads manure storage in the off-season and saves tremendously on the spring fertilizer bill. Quoting Kilcer, “The closing coulter leaves a smooth field for mowing. I do not suggest knife injectors as they pull up stones, take a lot more horsepower to pull through the field and leave a rough surface for the mower. An added benefit is that you are injecting when nearly all the fieldwork has stopped. This helps you to balance the workload on the farm. The added benefit of the rolling coulters is that after the winter triticale forage is harvested you can inject more manure to meet the needs of the following no-till planted corn crop. I suggest all farms with liquid manure add coulter injection to their spreader. We often paid for coulter injectors in one year of fertilizer savings.”
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