Soil Health

January 27, 2021January 27, 2021

Observations of snow, snow-clothes, wildlife, and how God made the world.

If you grew up in a region that had snow, you might remember a few things as I do. Snow is cold, and the air that helps form it is COLD! Brisk wind blowing across my face made my cheeks cold and often numb. I remember feeling vulnerable at times, imagining life without the clothes provided for me, and thankful that they were. If you had as much snow as I remember, I often made tunnels and such in the snow. One thing I remember very well about tunneling in the snow, was just how warm it was in there, and how wonderfully quiet and serine the earth was around me. I loved it! I understood the result as a child, but didn’t understand the science behind it, but I experienced clearly that snow was a good insulator as long as the snow wasn’t touching my skin. The snow only aided in keeping me warm if I had good clothes on.

The earth is similar in this way, in that the earth surface can keep warmer, and become more inhabitable if it has “good clothes” ( Matt 6:28-29 ) on between it and the snow, and the COLD air above it. The better the clothes, the more hospitable the ground is for important soil biology and the wildlife that make their living at ground level (rabbits, quail, etc.)
The snow is nothing to fear when you have good clothes ( Prov 31:20-21 ).

Observe the difference in this picture (1/27/21) and note that where you can see plenty of brown above the snow in the Native Warm Season Grass field, there is a network of void space in and under the canopy of grass bunches. In the food plot which is primarily clover this year (not designed for cover) the snow is in close proximity to the soil surface and not a place for small game and wildlife to find refuge and warmth.

Consider putting some clothes on your open land, some good clothes. Your land and the wildlife that use it will benefit.

This video from 2019 shows when the food plot had a good stand of cold hardy brassicas in it and still provided food in winter, but as it transitioned and clover became the primary food source, so went the deep winter food. BUT, the video showcases the voids under the snow, the winter clothing if you will.

September 25, 2018

Fall is here!

Sometime, usually in early September, the first noticeable “cold” front of the year bringing a slight chill to the air and the beginning of the end of summer. Its hard to describe how it approaches and even harder to predict the exact moment it sneaks up on me, but it always does.

I don’t think its merely a temperature change, but also the combination of associated smells and feelings that pave the way. None the less, thoughts and anticipations of hunting season and all the trimmings sneak their way in. Trimmings? Yes, thoughts of even cooler frosty mornings, quieter evenings in a tree stand, longer views through the woods, chili & cornbread suppers, pumpkin pie and another log on the fire start to sound wonderful at the end of a busy hot summer.

Hopefully you’ve spent a few of the last hot summer days preparing, doing habitat work and planting your fall food plots.

Now is the time to take an easy walk, surveying your work, dreaming of that big buck, and your magic moment.

Join me as I survey habitat, my labor of love on the first day of Autumn.

October 20, 2017

“Resto-mod” part 2, Cover Crops to the Rescue

Its been 6 months since we burned the fescue field.

Several weeks later after the fescue and cool season plants came up nice and tall and green and pretty, we sprayed it with glyphosate to kill it all. Ouch, that kinda hurts for the grass folks. Take a deep breath and know that were moving forward, on to something better.

Since then, we’ve had a record rain event in the spring which prevented plan A (planting a summer cover crop for profit), and then dry weather late in the year. Oh well, I guess we move on and learn as a good farmer does.

On the bright side, it gave us a perfect opportunity to control some of the Johnsongrass that lifted it’s head at times through the summer. I didn’t much like not having an abundance of growing plants on the soil through the summer to keep what soil biology we had active, but sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.

So, here we are on August 18th, without delay, drilling our fall cover crops.

Why do we do this? Let me tell you what we’ve learned:

Cover Crops prevent soil erosion by holding soil in place and providing armor
Cover Crops provide excellent wildlife food
Cover Crops that grow robust canopies provide weed control
Cover Crops particularly the radishes and turnips are a bio-fumigant and limit pests

We’ve also observed a few added benefits over the years that are particularly applicable to this project.

Cover Crops, our winter kill mix provides a good decomposing mulch cover in the spring that is easily planted into with a no-till native grass drill.
Cover Crops, seem to provide a cycle-breaking / actively growing environment in the soil that promotes and kick starts healthy biological processes that had been inhibited by fescue endophyte.

Winter Kill cover crop mix planted in August 2017 in preparation for a Native Warm Season Grass establishment.

February 11, 2017February 11, 2017

Soil Health Matters

Soil Samples being pulled in a native warm season grass hayfield.

Farmers tell the tale

Over the years in my career, I’ve met with a fair number of farmers. And when a farmer with many more years of experience than I do starts to talk about the way things used to be, and the way things are now, I pay close attention to what they say.

Quite often, the perplexity of why there are so many more weed problems than before, and pastures and hayfields becoming more susceptible to drought failure, becomes a discussion point. Their observations tell them that the fields don’t seem to be as alive as they once were. Discussions of the disappearance of dung beetles and other insect life that once helped quickly recycle nutrients, also eventually gets talked about.

What changed

Eventually, I get to ask the question. “What changed over the years. What did you start doing different”. Most answers revolved around a simple statement that nothing really changed, “Ive always had cows in these pastures, and we’ve always cut hay over here in these fields” and so on. But some observant farmers will note the details, that once they used to spread manure on the fields, and now we use commercial chemical fertilizers because its easier. After time to digest the thoughts, some farmers after thinking about our discussion of dung beetles, start to wonder out loud if maybe the frequent use of medical grade de-wormer may have something to do with their disappearance.

Observations

I’m not a soil scientist, but over the years, I’ve learned that sometimes the stuff that goes on in the background or under the surface can be a real big deal. Soil biology, and micro-biology play a significant role in how soil structure and soil chemistry create a healthy environment for plants. I’ve learned that healthy soil significantly increases water holding capacity, and even more so with a diverse native plant community. Healthy Soil makes a host of nutrients available to plants that otherwise would be locked up.

Among other things, important fungi in the soil create the glue that hold soil particles together and worms in the soil keep soil aerated and their casings keep soil pH in balance. Worms and many other beneficial insects eat and recycle soil residue and other organic compounds into quickly available nutrients. Healthy soil is important in agriculture. And if soil health is important in agriculture, then why wouldn’t it be important in managing food plots for wildlife?

Soil Management

I’m convinced soil management supported by a biologically friendly fertility program that considers ALL aspects of what makes soil HEALTHY and PRODUCTIVE (including micro-biology and micro-nutrients) is important in agriculture. After researching, studying and DOING it this way for a while on my native warm season grass hay fields, crops, and food plots, I’m convinced it makes a difference in the long run. I’ve seen beneficial results!

Complete soil tests going out today for a few agriculture and wildlife clients and myself.

Where do I start?

Starting off with a soil test that tells the complete story of what may be lacking or over-abundant is a very good first step.This will help us understand where we are so we can know where we need to be going. We can come out and pull and collect soil samples in a systematic way that accurately represents your field. I map and measure your fields and GPS locate every soil sample location. I mix and combine the samples in each field and label them, package them and send them off to the lab. Soil tests I use will tell us:

Organic matter
Available Phosphorus
Exchangeable Potassium
Magnesium
Calcium and Hydrogen
Soil pH
Buffer Index
Cation Exchange Capacity
% base saturation of Cation Elements
Soluble Salts
Sodium
Excess Lime
Nitrate Nitrogen
Sulfur
Zinc
Manganese
Iron
Copper
Boron

January 23, 2017

Nutrient value of deer manure?

This afternoon I took a walk in the cover-plot to see if I can find another shed or two. The deer have really been eating on the turnip bulbs and there seems to be a manure pile about every couple square feet out there. This isn’t surprising since lately I’ve been seeing around 12 to 15 deer of an evening. Since I will be growing a crop on this site come spring/summer, this got me thinking.

Nutrients from Whitetail Deer ?

I wonder, in addition to the nutrient value and organic matter I will be getting from the plants themselves this spring, how much nutrient value could I be looking at with all this deer manure?
I did a little research, did some inferring, and got out the calculator to do some basic math:
The USDA calculates something called an animal unit (AU) to determine the amount of forage an animal eats in a day. A cow is more or less the standard for the AU measurement assuming a 1000 lb. cow eating 26 lbs. of dry matter a day.
According to this bulletin a cow/AU produces about 59.1 lbs of manure per day which equates to 0.31 pounds of Nitrogen and 0.11 pounds of Phosphorus per day. Well, what does that equate into deer droppings? This is where a little bit of inferring happens.

According to Global Rangelands a whitetail deer has an AU of 0.17, and according to a USDA document from Texas, a whitetail deer AU is 0.13 assuming an average 100 lb. deer including adults and yearlings. The Texas source suggests 7 head of deer per animal unit. Lets use this number from Texas as a conservative approach to calculate numbers for deer in Missouri.

You got your calculator handy? Lets look at a few numbers:

Lets assume 2 animal units, (14) deer in the field at night (very conservative since I know more show up after dark).

Lets use the USDA nutrient numbers (assuming cow and deer values are close) and calculate nutrients for the month of January (31 days).

2 animal units = (0.31 lbs. N) X 2 = (0.62 lbs. N) X 31 days = 19.22 lbs. Nitrogen/ acre/ month

2 animal units = (0.11 lbs. P) X 2 = (0.22 lbs. P) X 31 days = 6.82 lbs. Phosphorus/ acre/ month

The benefit of claiming these kind of nutrients is the ability for manure to build organic matter in the soil, something commercial/chemical fertilizers cant do. Increased organic matter increases water holding capacity, which is a must in these Ozarks soils. This is a food plot now, but I will be growing a crop on this site, so soil health is important to me. Good soil health should be important to all agriculture producers, because its good for the environment and boosts your bottom line. If you’re growing a food plot, thinking soil health will ultimately give your food plots an edge, therefore giving you the edge come deer season.