Thank you Kevin for the explanation. For some of us laymen, this helps to understand the science behind it. I hope we see more of these types of videos.
Nice video! I work for NRCS in Pennsylvania and recommend cover crops / mixes to every farmer I talk to. Benefits include reducing soil erosion, increasing water infiltration and soil water holding capacity, increasing soil organic matter levels, breaking pest cycles, providing forage for livestock, etc. Consider adding a legume (crimson clover, hairy vetch, winter pea, etc) for some N fixation and or brassica (radishes, turnips or rapeseed) for compaction relief. NRCS has funding to help pay for this. Check with your local office if interested. You could also graze them in the spring.
I grew up on a black dirt farm in upstate New York we grew onions and lettuce every fall we would plant rye grass as a cover crop it helped tremendously
In my neighborhood, farmers plant ryegrass and rye in the fall. In early May, they mow the rye for silage. Some leave the ryegrass to cut it later. Some people plant corn. Last year I did an experiment and after the rye mowed in early May, I sowed maize with a mixture of grasses (ryegrass, fescue, timothy, cocksfoot). At the beginning of September I chopped the maize for silage and in October I mowed the grasses. The grasses have remained and I hope that this year I will get haylage from them. I have already planted fertilizers on my grasses.
I use it in the fall between my grape vineyard and garden. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It works well for me. I also mix clover, turnips, and hairy vetch in my cover crop also.
I took a drive yesterday in Southeastern Ohio, Muskingum County and went by a field and wondered why they had rows of grass and I came across your video this morning and you just explained everything. I have learned a lot about farming watching your videos. I am 60 years old and the only farming experience I had was bailing hay and cleaning out horse stalls to make a few bucks when I was young.
Checking for roots..... dig out a large chunk of dirt.... lift it out..and use a water hose and wash the dirt off. The roots go well beyond what you can see where you dug. Tiny hair fibers go much deeper !
Interesting video 👍 , Kevin did a great job explaining the root growing for the rye grass , man that's the most talking by Kevin , I did enjoy , he did his homework ! Thank you ! Bob
I learned how to identify seeds in Ag class. I heard potato crops fixate nitrogen in the soil. I believe it after watching alfalfa grow on the same ground.
Rhonda, Very interesting actually cool to see what a farmer has to know besides driving a tractor. For me it's cool to Kevin doing stuff like this on the channel. Hoping for a bumper crop for you guys..
Those "sticky" roots are making a ton of exudates feeding the soil biology and creating a microbiome around the roots. Nicole Masters refers to these rhizosheaths as rastafarian roots in her book "for the love of soil"
NOT THAT IT MATTERS A BUNCH BUT AS FOR ME I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH KEVIN'S VAST KNOWLEDGE OF THE ART OF FARMING PLUS HE EXPLAINS IT IN A WAY IT`S EASY TO COMPREHEND
Very interesting, we always planted rye in the fall, always had great success with it, that's probably the reason so many seed varieties have ryegrass mixed in, it holds the soil well, plus being a quick starter, your stand looks pretty impressive
I didn’t know it would overwinter this far north but thanks for the video I’ve been using it as a cover crop seeding alfalfa cold snap was a variety are used from lacrosse seed. We had killdeer about three days ago here in the south east part of the state
Its all in the soil. Steer and chicken mixture makes all the things I grow healthy. It amazed me when I started treating 40 year old rose bushes. Leaves were brownish not healthy looking, I thought maybe too old. Feed them steer and chicken manure, now leaves are dark green and new branches appearing.
Rhonda, just to let you know, have absolutely admired your amazing gardening !!!!! You two are just amazing teachers, and on Everything ! You name it, you guys make it a great lesson.
Certainly not a farmer, but as stewards of your land the Rye grass cover crop choice, certainly seems to be a lot more beneficial than just leaving a field furrowed. 🤷🏼
Very interesting!!! When I grew up on the farm in the 60's and 70's, we did not hear or know about cover crops,...unless the alfalfa fields were considered a cover crop. Great information!!! Seeing the video of Kevin in the field,.....I could not pass up the joke about farmers in their fields,.....Kevin was "Outstanding in his field"!!! Get it?!?! Out standing in his field!!! (Ha!Ha!)
Im all for cover crops such as rye ! However my neighbor has been using rye for years. He uses a VT to incorporate the seed. Each year since he VT's it......hes had 4 inch trenches through out his fields. I on the other had spread it and leave it. I have no trenches ! Also......not much gain when you have to add nitrogen to grow corn. I only use it in and near waterways that might wash. It works ...provided you get moister for it to germinate !
Very interesting to see science involved there's so much to understand when planting crops and what works best in different soils Hope you have a great year ahead Will be following you guys all the way
Quite an interesting video. Seems like farming + fields are always "a work in progress", experiments with what works or doesn't etc. Looks like you've had good, solid growth during this past Winter!
I've done the cereal rye as a cover before. Killed half the field off and no tilled into it. Killed late fall works the best on our clay soils. I found sourcing a sprayer was the biggest challenge for me. So now I no till oats after corn silage as a cover. It can eat the manure nutrients as well as add more organic matter. Trying to cut the rye in the spring and plant corn after has had very inconsistent yeilds. I love the idea, just haven't found what works best yet!
I like the fact that you took the moment to notice the killdeer. Also amazed your soil is thawed. In Northeast Vermont, we are at least a month away from thawed ground.
I used to garden in indiana years ago, on clay soil. Never had trouble growing veggies. Here in Florida we are in sand nothing grows well. It drains to fast and the intense sun burns out everything in the summer.
Have grown rye off and on over the years, either would plow it down or bleach it out for straw. Never have bothered to check the root growth though, it is very beneficial to the soil.
Gabe Brown is the "center" of the universe for knowledge of....carbon appreciation, water holding capacity, micro - nutrient/healthy biological microbes.. Many more benefits
Heeey, looks really great, Kevin. I really love your healthy mixes. I enjoyed this video class a great deal, as i remember when you got seeds to create your own mixes, and couldn't wait for this show. I think we are going to see some really happy cows, and actually got hungry, to taste it, for my health, it sounds yummy!!! You might have some good health food there. Can't wait to see, these cows on these delicious sounding mixes !!!!
Hi Ronda! In Kevin's next video can you get him to say "Hi, and welcome back to acre's of clay" Im joking, but that's real interesting to know about soil and stuff.
Kevin you have a lot of moisture in your soil root don't have go very far for a water be proud and you can tell the soil has been well taken care of no compaction looks like it break up well.
Maybe if you plant the seeds upside down where the roots grow up and the grass grows down would help get them 20 inch roots. If the roots grow upward in the air they wouldn’t have to try to penetrate that hard soil and could grow20 or more inches. Just a thought you might want to try.
With that amount o fibrous material in the soil that will surely help reduce horsepower requirements when it comes to tillage operations 🤔 excellent video 👍
I planted soft white wheat sept 20th. It didn’t get any rain to brig it up until November 16th. It doesn’t look as good as yours. I call my clay ground 4 minute ground. From the time you break the crust in spring to the time you get the seed in the ground you have four minutes. Lololo
Different country ,in fact different hemisphere . We routinely seed ryegrass in between existing pasture , the result is 100% more dry matter and also much higher quality
Haven't never done that but very interesting thanks for sharing that information as always enjoy every video do y'all have acres of clay shirts for sale
I know a large farmer in Kansas that usually double crops wheat after soybeans so the ground is constantly in use growing .. I thought maybe you should leave it idle for a bit .. Two years ago he also had 6500 acres of soybeans single cropped .. I actually don't know how many acres he has but he is constantly working .. Thank you for your interesting video ..
@@acresofclayhomestead There's a large wheat farmer in Colorado that leaves his fields fallow for a year .. We were just in time to harvest a 640 acre field . The boss always wanted to harvest a large field so when we were done with the 640 acre field the next was a 330 acre field .. I think those are 2 fields harvested in two days sorta burned him out on extra large fields .. I was thinking the same way as you are the soil constantly raising crops aren't good for them but he was the boss and I didn't have any say so in the matter ..
Pretty interesting Kevin thanks for sharing! This is probably a dumb question but is that considered winter rye? Is there a difference between rye grass and winter rye or is this all the same thing I am asking about? Take care
Thanks, Kevin, I learned a lot. Question for you, since the cereal rye roots are so dense and fibrous, do you think it would be a good crop for the very muddy fields as it might absorb more moisture and help hold the soil together better than corn crops? Just curious, a great video!!!
we have farmers doing it here .depends what township you are in here. my township farmers dont plant anything.cost more to put it in thant what the county will pay us for.
very informative - I was curious because I see it all around where I live... does it hurt the grass to walk on it - or drive on it? I wonder if the farmers would mind if I walked my Dachshund dog on it?
What would be best for my 8 x16 garden with only a little of topsoil and clay underneath. Thinking it is too wet and no drainage.........the roots doesn't seem to grow.........thanks
Planting a cover crop in the Fall, like cereal rye will help tremendously. In the Spring till it under. I helps produce more organic matter, building the soil up. Also a good manure with sawdust or straw mixed in will help greatly too.
I learned a lot from Kevin thank you. God bless you and your family
Yesss. Glad the intro theme is back! Thanks to Kevin for the time and the explanation!
Enjoyed the video. Y'all have a blessed day. 😊
beautiful. all them roots condition that top soil so nicely. and think of the carbon they are putting back into the soil!
Thank you Kevin for the explanation. For some of us laymen, this helps to understand the science behind it. I hope we see more of these types of videos.
Nice video! I work for NRCS in Pennsylvania and recommend cover crops / mixes to every farmer I talk to. Benefits include reducing soil erosion, increasing water infiltration and soil water holding capacity, increasing soil organic matter levels, breaking pest cycles, providing forage for livestock, etc. Consider adding a legume (crimson clover, hairy vetch, winter pea, etc) for some N fixation and or brassica (radishes, turnips or rapeseed) for compaction relief. NRCS has funding to help pay for this. Check with your local office if interested. You could also graze them in the spring.
Kevin I like the information you put out for everybody very good job , It's nice to learn how everything works on a farm .
I grew up on a black dirt farm in upstate New York we grew onions and lettuce every fall we would plant rye grass as a cover crop it helped tremendously
In my neighborhood, farmers plant ryegrass and rye in the fall. In early May, they mow the rye for silage. Some leave the ryegrass to cut it later. Some people plant corn.
Last year I did an experiment and after the rye mowed in early May, I sowed maize with a mixture of grasses (ryegrass, fescue, timothy, cocksfoot). At the beginning of September I chopped the maize for silage and in October I mowed the grasses. The grasses have remained and I hope that this year I will get haylage from them.
I have already planted fertilizers on my grasses.
For a non-farmer this was great to learn. Hope you do more videos like this one.. Audio was perfect too.
Excellent info 👍👍
Thank you for the short lesson on "Crop Science"
Really enjoyed the farming info today. Thanks so much!
Great information thanks for sharing.
I use it in the fall between my grape vineyard and garden. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It works well for me. I also mix clover, turnips, and hairy vetch in my cover crop also.
I took a drive yesterday in Southeastern Ohio, Muskingum County and went by a field and wondered why they had rows of grass and I came across your video this morning and you just explained everything. I have learned a lot about farming watching your videos. I am 60 years old and the only farming experience I had was bailing hay and cleaning out horse stalls to make a few bucks when I was young.
Glad to see more of Farmer Kevin doing some explaining of the deep elements of farming. Love to see Kevin talking in videos -he is the man!
Checking for roots..... dig out a large chunk of dirt.... lift it out..and use a water hose and wash the dirt off. The roots go well beyond what you can see where you dug. Tiny hair fibers go much deeper !
Glad to see the rye's doing good.
Interesting video 👍 , Kevin did a great job explaining the root growing for the rye grass , man that's the most talking by Kevin , I did enjoy , he did his homework ! Thank you ! Bob
Kevin you're really good on camera speaking wise. always a joy watching you and your family
Loved it. Thanks buddy. Stay safe 🙏
I learned how to identify seeds in Ag class. I heard potato crops fixate nitrogen in the soil. I believe it after watching alfalfa grow on the same ground.
Hey Acres Of Clay Family!👋 Thanks for the lesson! Learn something new everyday! Be safe and always blessed! 😆❤👍
Love all your videos. That was very informative.
Rhonda, Very interesting actually cool to see what a farmer has to know besides driving a tractor. For me it's cool to Kevin doing stuff like this on the channel. Hoping for a bumper crop for you guys..
Those "sticky" roots are making a ton of exudates feeding the soil biology and creating a microbiome around the roots.
Nicole Masters refers to these rhizosheaths as rastafarian roots in her book "for the love of soil"
Great job Kevin I have a lot of respect for you and your family
Great Kevin and Ronda
awsome video:)
NOT THAT IT MATTERS A BUNCH BUT AS FOR ME I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH KEVIN'S VAST KNOWLEDGE OF THE ART OF FARMING PLUS HE EXPLAINS IT IN A WAY IT`S EASY TO COMPREHEND
Very interesting, we always planted rye in the fall, always had great success with it, that's probably the reason so many seed varieties have ryegrass mixed in, it holds the soil well, plus being a quick starter, your stand looks pretty impressive
Another great vid!
I didn’t know it would overwinter this far north but thanks for the video I’ve been using it as a cover crop seeding alfalfa cold snap was a variety are used from lacrosse seed. We had killdeer about three days ago here in the south east part of the state
Your doing an awesome job Kevin
Sorry for texting Steve a question Rhonda the seabees got my attention. Kevin now I see why your boys work so well together they have a great teacher.
No problem! I love it when viewers talk to other viewers. 👍😊
Mcb 121 Gulfport Mississippi EO2 Vietnam 67 69
Its all in the soil. Steer and chicken mixture makes all the things I grow healthy. It amazed me when I started treating 40 year old rose bushes. Leaves were brownish not healthy looking, I thought maybe too old. Feed them steer and chicken manure, now leaves are dark green and new branches appearing.
Rhonda, just to let you know, have absolutely admired your amazing gardening !!!!! You two are just amazing teachers, and on Everything ! You name it, you guys make it a great lesson.
Thank you for your kind words!
Good info. Thanks
Very interesting about your crops of rye thank for the great information
Thanks Kevin! That was interesting and informative. We really appreciate it when you can share your farming knowledge and experience.
Great job and thanks for sharing that info and God bless you and your family
I like your channel and your whole family.
Thank you!
God bless you take care guys
Interesting video 👍 thanks for the explanation 🤗Aloha from Hawaii🤙😎🏝
Very good video all
That dead root ball creates topsoil
I'll have to check my cereal rye and see how it compares .my planting date is the same and I'm 3 hours northeast of you. Very good video
Great video. Kevin was very informative. Sure appreciate the farmers and dairies of this great land. God bless in all things . Deut 28:3-6 esv
we love rye grass :)
Certainly not a farmer, but as stewards of your land the Rye grass cover crop choice, certainly seems to be a lot more beneficial than just leaving a field furrowed. 🤷🏼
Yes it was interestingi learned alot from that thanks
Planting rye for cover crop is what I do it's great for the soil
Try it go for it love yaw and moomoos too
Thanks for sharing Miss Rhonda
What battalion were you in and when
That is in honor of my pops. He was in the 621st. WW2.
Very interesting!!! When I grew up on the farm in the 60's and 70's, we did not hear or know about cover crops,...unless the alfalfa fields were considered a cover crop. Great information!!! Seeing the video of Kevin in the field,.....I could not pass up the joke about farmers in their fields,.....Kevin was "Outstanding in his field"!!! Get it?!?! Out standing in his field!!! (Ha!Ha!)
Lol. Yes, I've used that joke many times. 😁
Im all for cover crops such as rye ! However my neighbor has been using rye for years. He uses a VT to incorporate the seed. Each year since he VT's it......hes had 4 inch trenches through out his fields. I on the other had spread it and leave it. I have no trenches ! Also......not much gain when you have to add nitrogen to grow corn. I only use it in and near waterways that might wash. It works ...provided you get moister for it to germinate !
We've grown ryegrass for 20+ yrs for spring silage then notill corn in for silage. Makes a great feed and holds the soil together over winter
Very interesting to see science involved there's so much to understand when planting crops and what works best in different soils
Hope you have a great year ahead
Will be following you guys all the way
Thanks for following!!
Quite an interesting video. Seems like farming + fields are always "a work in progress", experiments with what works or doesn't etc. Looks like you've had good, solid growth during this past Winter!
I've done the cereal rye as a cover before. Killed half the field off and no tilled into it. Killed late fall works the best on our clay soils.
I found sourcing a sprayer was the biggest challenge for me. So now I no till oats after corn silage as a cover. It can eat the manure nutrients as well as add more organic matter.
Trying to cut the rye in the spring and plant corn after has had very inconsistent yeilds.
I love the idea, just haven't found what works best yet!
Good morning, Rhonda.😊😊😊😊😊. Kevin is the best pro ever about the garden. Well done!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉👍👍👍👍👍
We all ways used rye for a cover crop on the garden and the field where ever we could. Dad and my uncle always said...just like Liquid manure.
Yes, we call it green manure. 😁
Very Interesting with determining which is the Better cover crop for a particular area of the country.
I like the fact that you took the moment to notice the killdeer. Also amazed your soil is thawed. In Northeast Vermont, we are at least a month away from thawed ground.
That's so funny you said that! I wasn't going to show him talking about the killdeer, but he wanted me to leave it in the video. 😁😁
@@acresofclayhomestead Small things like that make it real.
I saw my first killdeer of the year on Friday. NC Indiana
I used to garden in indiana years ago, on clay soil. Never had trouble growing veggies. Here in Florida we are in sand nothing grows well. It drains to fast and the intense sun burns out everything in the summer.
Have grown rye off and on over the years, either would plow it down or bleach it out for straw. Never have bothered to check the root growth though, it is very beneficial to the soil.
Hey Kevin your so cool man
Gabe Brown is the "center" of the universe for knowledge of....carbon appreciation, water holding capacity, micro - nutrient/healthy biological microbes.. Many more benefits
Heeey, looks really great, Kevin. I really love your healthy mixes. I enjoyed this video class a great deal, as i remember when you got seeds to create your own mixes, and couldn't wait for this show. I think we are going to see some really happy cows, and actually got hungry, to taste it, for my health, it sounds yummy!!! You might have some good health food there. Can't wait to see, these cows on these delicious sounding mixes !!!!
Hi Ronda!
In Kevin's next video can you get him to say "Hi, and welcome back to acre's of clay"
Im joking, but that's real interesting to know about soil and stuff.
Kevin you have a lot of moisture in your soil root don't have go very far for a water be proud and you can tell the soil has been well taken care of no compaction looks like it break up well.
Kevin is out standing in his field
Double Thumbs Up
Hello Rhonda and Kevin
Maybe if you plant the seeds upside down where the roots grow up and the grass grows down would help get them 20 inch roots. If the roots grow upward in the air they wouldn’t have to try to penetrate that hard soil and could grow20 or more inches. Just a thought you might want to try.
i think this rye vill be fine
Adding Gypsum to your clay ground will help mello it out better , pit run Gypsum not the after market re processed stuff.
With that amount o fibrous material in the soil that will surely help reduce horsepower requirements when it comes to tillage operations 🤔 excellent video 👍
I planted soft white wheat sept 20th. It didn’t get any rain to brig it up until November 16th. It doesn’t look as good as yours. I call my clay ground 4 minute ground. From the time you break the crust in spring to the time you get the seed in the ground you have four minutes. Lololo
Beneficial plant is radish...open the hard pan and increase water storage
The farmers in South Jersey use rye grass as a cover. The soil is sandy here.
Different country ,in fact different hemisphere . We routinely seed ryegrass in between existing pasture , the result is 100% more dry matter and also much higher quality
Thanks for sharing 🤗
And do you ever do PH soil test ? Nice job 👍
Not yearly.
Haven't never done that but very interesting thanks for sharing that information as always enjoy every video do y'all have acres of clay shirts for sale
I do have a couple style shirts.
@@acresofclayhomestead how much are they
I know a large farmer in Kansas that usually double crops wheat after soybeans so the ground is constantly in use growing .. I thought maybe you should leave it idle for a bit .. Two years ago he also had 6500 acres of soybeans single cropped .. I actually don't know how many acres he has but he is constantly working .. Thank you for your interesting video ..
Leaving soil idle isn't healthy.
@@acresofclayhomestead There's a large wheat farmer in Colorado that leaves his fields fallow for a year .. We were just in time to harvest a 640 acre field . The boss always wanted to harvest a large field so when we were done with the 640 acre field the next was a 330 acre field .. I think those are 2 fields harvested in two days sorta burned him out on extra large fields .. I was thinking the same way as you are the soil constantly raising crops aren't good for them but he was the boss and I didn't have any say so in the matter ..
I love your videos about your daily life. What is the name of the intro music
you should be a ffa ag teacher Kevin.
Lol, I read this comment to him and he says... No. 😂🤣
👍👍👍
👍
💯👍
Pretty interesting Kevin thanks for sharing! This is probably a dumb question but is that considered winter rye? Is there a difference between rye grass and winter rye or is this all the same thing I am asking about? Take care
I see you are wearing a dairyland seed cap.
I plant magnum 6 wet.
Thanks, Kevin, I learned a lot. Question for you, since the cereal rye roots are so dense and fibrous, do you think it would be a good crop for the very muddy fields as it might absorb more moisture and help hold the soil together better than corn crops? Just curious, a great video!!!
If it's planted early and gets established really well, both cereal rye and rye grass can handle wet conditions pretty well.
we have farmers doing it here .depends what township you are in here. my township farmers dont plant anything.cost more to put it in thant what the county will pay us for.
very informative - I was curious because I see it all around where I live... does it hurt the grass to walk on it - or drive on it? I wonder if the farmers would mind if I walked my Dachshund dog on it?
No, it doesn't hurt to walk on it, but I probably wouldn't drive on it.
Research multi - culture populations... More than 5 plant varieties planted as a blend
Are you going to make rye straw fish pond filters? I've heard there's money in that
If we let the cover crop grow too tall it will take to much moisture out of the ground so the following crop will have less yield
We've never had an issue with that.
What would be best for my 8 x16 garden with only a little of topsoil and clay underneath. Thinking it is too wet and no drainage.........the roots doesn't seem to grow.........thanks
Planting a cover crop in the Fall, like cereal rye will help tremendously. In the Spring till it under. I helps produce more organic matter, building the soil up. Also a good manure with sawdust or straw mixed in will help greatly too.