Duals always make a tractor look meaner. I enjoy following your farm. I’ve been curious about cover crops but haven’t dipped my toes in yet. Just been watching and learning from others. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching CoBo! If you ever have any questions about cover crops or regenerative agriculture in general, feel free to reach out to me. I'm not sure where you're located or if our growing seasons are similar, but I'm a mentor for the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition, so it's kind of my... job? Well, more like volunteer duty to help farmers learn about cover crops and regenerative practices, and to guide folks who are interested in taking some first steps so that they don't have a terrible experience and get frustrated. No pressure of course. Just keep it in mind.
Dad was a banker for decades in our small town. I’m not sure which is worse; laying on your back in the snow working on an implement, or the long days and nights spent with very serious and fastidious men in suits when it’s Bank Examiner Season. 🥸 I think all those IH’s of that era look beefy. Something about the square fenders, square egg crate grille (like Olivers), and the forward-leaning white & black paint on the sides of the nose that give it a seriously badass attitude. The duals only add to the beef. They’re like bacon wrapped around a filet. And I really like those spoked wheels.
It's amazing how different our weather is. Jan 1st here in central NC it was an unusual 77 degrees. We have cherry trees blooming. Our cover crop was planted late, but the warm weather has it really going good. Cold weather is on the way now though.
Digging those dualls on that 656! I normally plant 80 to 100 lbs of cereal rye in pasture lands and 60 to 80 on crop land. A light drag of some sort would help to cover seed but you have to be careful that it doesn't "ball up" the residue. I think you will be surprised in the spring...
I am looking forward to trying to no-till corn into sorghum sudangrass and radish residue in the spring. 950 Case/IH wide row planter that isn't no-till, but hey, what could go wrong? I did green chop the cover off to feed steers in September, so it may work.
Honestly, it’s our most-used tractor these days. The 4020 got about equal hours until we switched to no-till, since it did all of our heavy tillage work. Now the 686 is more of a “right size” for the majority of our jobs around the farm, and it uses half the fuel. She needs to have the engine freshened up, but other than that it just keeps ticking right along.
We have a 686 & we sure wouldn’t park it in the winter in the middle of a field where you can’t plug in a block heater. Great little tractor with much more HP than advertised but sure is hard starting
I was always doing dairy and cattle chores in the snow and I found myself not liking snow or playing in it so never owned a snowmobile. Farming does not use a clock no matter what time it is. lol Wheat will still if on top or very shallow. Did your dad leave a test of standing stalks?
We did! But everything in that June interseed mix was designed to survive under the corn canopy, and then winter-kill. In this video we’re planting winter rye, so that we’ll have a growing cover crop first thing in the spring. Then we’ll no-till our soybeans into the growing rye, and terminate the cover crop a little later. The only reason we don’t put winter rye in the interseed mix, is that June is a little too early to plant it, it can really rob moisture from the corn, and both of those first two points are kind of moot, because it doesn’t survive well in the shade of the corn canopy anyway.
We’ve been moving more and more in that direction. In 2020 (when this video was filmed) we had no-tilled our corn into rye, but not the soybeans - simply because we didn’t have time to seed rye into our corn stalk acres in the fall of 2019. This past year (2021) we no-tilled all of our corn and beans into standing rye, and then terminated the rye later. Videos about that will be up on the channel really soon!
@@5er593 I completely agree with you. We were able to modify our John Deere 7000 planter enough that it does a really decent job of no-tilling into soybean stubble. This past spring we had a field going into corn after 5 years of alfalfa, and we just couldn't get the planter in the ground. So we ran over it with the disc a couple of times and did a light pass with the field cultivator. I hated to do that, but at least it was only shallow tillage and it's more important to get the crop in the ground. It ended up being our best corn this year. Same goes for no-till beans. Our old Truax drill that you see in this video struggles with soybeans. It's great for everything else, but it just doesn't get the beans in the ground very well. I ended up renting a Great Plains 1006NT from our local soil and water office this past spring, and that did a phenomenal job with the soybeans. I'd love to buy one, but at $30,000+, it's pretty hard to justify it! Mindset is huge. I've been really dedicated to maintaining no-till practices wherever I can, but we still work things up when it seems necessary. I haven't been brave enough to try no-tilling alfalfa, for example. When we have to make those exceptions, I remind myself that we're still only doing a tiny fraction of the tillage we used to, and that we've successfully stayed away from moldboard plowing and chisel plowing for over three years.
LOL! Well, we do have our fair share of crows around here, but that's not the reason for the name. I'm going to be a complete killjoy here and say you'll have to wait to find out. Dad and I are going to do a series of videos that will cover our farm history, family stories, and general lore. We'll address that question early on, so you'll be able to find out pretty quick.
That snowfall predicted the rough winter to come...
Duals always make a tractor look meaner. I enjoy following your farm. I’ve been curious about cover crops but haven’t dipped my toes in yet. Just been watching and learning from others. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching CoBo! If you ever have any questions about cover crops or regenerative agriculture in general, feel free to reach out to me. I'm not sure where you're located or if our growing seasons are similar, but I'm a mentor for the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition, so it's kind of my... job? Well, more like volunteer duty to help farmers learn about cover crops and regenerative practices, and to guide folks who are interested in taking some first steps so that they don't have a terrible experience and get frustrated.
No pressure of course. Just keep it in mind.
@@ravenviewfarm Do you guys have anyone in north central MN? I'm in Blackduck, wanting to take a calculated step into no till and cover crops.
Dad was a banker for decades in our small town. I’m not sure which is worse; laying on your back in the snow working on an implement, or the long days and nights spent with very serious and fastidious men in suits when it’s Bank Examiner Season. 🥸
I think all those IH’s of that era look beefy. Something about the square fenders, square egg crate grille (like Olivers), and the forward-leaning white & black paint on the sides of the nose that give it a seriously badass attitude. The duals only add to the beef. They’re like bacon wrapped around a filet. And I really like those spoked wheels.
Glad you got it done.
It's amazing how different our weather is. Jan 1st here in central NC it was an unusual 77 degrees. We have cherry trees blooming. Our cover crop was planted late, but the warm weather has it really going good. Cold weather is on the way now though.
Trying to learn more about cover crops. About your singing, don't give up your farming.
So what I’m hearing is… more singing. 😆
@@ravenviewfarm Yes! Put out an album! Lol
I’m going to speak for us all….we’re glad that you avoided banking. Seems to me that you’re exactly where you belong Thanks for that!
Digging those dualls on that 656! I normally plant 80 to 100 lbs of cereal rye in pasture lands and 60 to 80 on crop land. A light drag of some sort would help to cover seed but you have to be careful that it doesn't "ball up" the residue. I think you will be surprised in the spring...
That’s actually a 686
all good in the new year 2022
Good stuff
Duals look good on the tractor but not sure what those rims are off of.
I am looking forward to trying to no-till corn into sorghum sudangrass and radish residue in the spring. 950 Case/IH wide row planter that isn't no-till, but hey, what could go wrong? I did green chop the cover off to feed steers in September, so it may work.
686 best kept secret from International steering fast pretty fast on road all around great chore tractor I have one with westendorf taking 26 loader
Honestly, it’s our most-used tractor these days. The 4020 got about equal hours until we switched to no-till, since it did all of our heavy tillage work. Now the 686 is more of a “right size” for the majority of our jobs around the farm, and it uses half the fuel.
She needs to have the engine freshened up, but other than that it just keeps ticking right along.
We have a 686 & we sure wouldn’t park it in the winter in the middle of a field where you can’t plug in a block heater. Great little tractor with much more HP than advertised but sure is hard starting
Now I don't know what it's like there I'm in Maryland but we take a fertilizer spreader and we spin the cover crop on then we chop the stalks
3 weeks behind a desk at a bank and you'd be climbing the walls! No need to take the boy too far off the farm :0)
For those that aren't aware, this is my wife. She knows me better than anyone, and she's ABSOLUTELY right.
I was always doing dairy and cattle chores in the snow and I found myself not liking snow or playing in it so never owned a snowmobile. Farming does not use a clock no matter what time it is. lol Wheat will still if on top or very shallow. Did your dad leave a test of standing stalks?
I couldn't convince him! He just haaaad to chop them all down. Oh well, maybe some other year.
I thought you interseeded this corn?
We did! But everything in that June interseed mix was designed to survive under the corn canopy, and then winter-kill. In this video we’re planting winter rye, so that we’ll have a growing cover crop first thing in the spring.
Then we’ll no-till our soybeans into the growing rye, and terminate the cover crop a little later.
The only reason we don’t put winter rye in the interseed mix, is that June is a little too early to plant it, it can really rob moisture from the corn, and both of those first two points are kind of moot, because it doesn’t survive well in the shade of the corn canopy anyway.
Will you plaant no till corn in to ry ?
We’ve been moving more and more in that direction. In 2020 (when this video was filmed) we had no-tilled our corn into rye, but not the soybeans - simply because we didn’t have time to seed rye into our corn stalk acres in the fall of 2019.
This past year (2021) we no-tilled all of our corn and beans into standing rye, and then terminated the rye later. Videos about that will be up on the channel really soon!
@@ravenviewfarm similar on our farm. Trying to make no till work with covercrops. Bigest problem is mashinery cost and mindset.
@@5er593 I completely agree with you. We were able to modify our John Deere 7000 planter enough that it does a really decent job of no-tilling into soybean stubble. This past spring we had a field going into corn after 5 years of alfalfa, and we just couldn't get the planter in the ground. So we ran over it with the disc a couple of times and did a light pass with the field cultivator. I hated to do that, but at least it was only shallow tillage and it's more important to get the crop in the ground. It ended up being our best corn this year.
Same goes for no-till beans. Our old Truax drill that you see in this video struggles with soybeans. It's great for everything else, but it just doesn't get the beans in the ground very well. I ended up renting a Great Plains 1006NT from our local soil and water office this past spring, and that did a phenomenal job with the soybeans. I'd love to buy one, but at $30,000+, it's pretty hard to justify it!
Mindset is huge. I've been really dedicated to maintaining no-till practices wherever I can, but we still work things up when it seems necessary. I haven't been brave enough to try no-tilling alfalfa, for example. When we have to make those exceptions, I remind myself that we're still only doing a tiny fraction of the tillage we used to, and that we've successfully stayed away from moldboard plowing and chisel plowing for over three years.
OOpps my number checker didn't work. "686" Now that's better...
Oh, I keep meaning to ask about the origin of the Ravenview name. An excess of crows, or an Edgar Allan Poe fan?
LOL! Well, we do have our fair share of crows around here, but that's not the reason for the name.
I'm going to be a complete killjoy here and say you'll have to wait to find out. Dad and I are going to do a series of videos that will cover our farm history, family stories, and general lore. We'll address that question early on, so you'll be able to find out pretty quick.
@@ravenviewfarm I’m looking forward to all that! After that I will wonder… nevermore. 🤓