Published Oct 15, 2010

Cover Crops, Manure, No-till and more: youtube and local tour, in Michigan
By Sarah Carlson

Cover Crops, Manure, No-till and more: youtube and local tour, in Michigan

Fall cover crops and manure make an excellent combination. One method to achieve this is called Slurry Seeding: adding cover crop seed directly into the manure tank with a low disturbance tillage tool. Dr. Tim Harrigan, MSU Extension Biosystems & Ag Engineering narrates a 6 minute video that shows you how the seeding method works and what the results can look like. Click here to learn more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3st0qZ_3vH0

To see these plots live, mark your calendar for October 27th, 10 a.m. to noon at 11201 24 Mile Road, Albion, MI. This tour will highlight aspects of cover crops including seeding into no-till, slurry seeding compared to drilled, and plots of radish, turnips and oats in various combinations. Dr. Harrigan will be on hand to discuss the nitrogen retention from slurry seeding in combination with cover crops over the winter.

Practical experience from tour host Ken Blight, hog and beef producer, and Doug Bloom, dairy producer from Coldwater, will provide attendees with their success of using rye cover crop in combination with manure to decrease runoff of manure and capture both the manure liquids and nutrients for reduction in purchased nitrogen the following season. Bloom has also used the rye cover crop as a green chop feed for dairy heifers. Roberta Osborne, MSUE regional dairy educator, will outline the feed value qualities of rye for dairy cows. Natalie Rector, MSUE nutrient management educator will provide how-to basics of manure and cover crops. Dean Baas will also show farmers how they can use a new data base of cover crops to select the one that meets their goals. For more info contact Rector at rector@msu.edu or 269-967-6608 or visit www.animalagteam.msu.edu

There is also another youtube video on rye cover crops, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzvr5miXxZ8

CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Natalie Rector MSU Extension Nutrient Mgt. Educator

Cell: 269-967-6608