Nice to see that it is not only large farmers in the USA. And that you make it too. Because it is all much smaller here, there are few of the smaller farmers left. Greetings from the Netherlands.
Back in the 50s and 60s, our drills had drag chains on each seed tube. These chains covered seeds very well. The old horse drawn drills had them also. If you have an Amish community near you, check them out. I think this will solve your coverage problem.
Here in south central Wisconsin, I sowed 11 acres of rye, vetch, and some winter peas after corn chopped off for silage on Oct 19th. Rye that I had sowed back in Sept came right out of the ground within days, but despite some warm weather after sowing in October, I never really saw any out of the ground. This is an experiment, hence the 11 acres. We shall see what happens next spring.
Hey Brian! I've learned a few lessons after three years of messing around with cover crops. Mainly, vetch sowed that late in October will be pretty hit and miss. Depending on the type of winter we have, you may see some in the spring, but to get a good thick stand it really needs to be planted by mid Sept. I've never planted winter peas, so I'm useless on that subject! As for the rye, that will come up in the spring almost guaranteed, even if you don't see any fall growth. I've been amazed to see rye emerging from wet soil in March, three feet away from a snow drift that was still melting. The stuff is really resilient.
Wow 31 in October and getting colder! It doesn't seem fair to you. I planted my cover crops first of November on a day it was 74 degrees. It has since germinated and growing good now. I was lucky we got the warmer weather I wanted to plant it middle October.
Well done with a good explanation of the process 👍🏻🙂. I am trying some icicle winter peas planted late. The older you get, the colder you will get on the open tractor 😳😁!
Hey Ben! If you live nearby, we might be able to arrange that, though it would depend on the quantity. You can always shoot me an email if you want to discuss it further. My address is RavenviewFarm@gmail.com
Our farm is 100 acres. About 64 acres of that is crop land. I’m a carpenter and general contractor, so I can always fall back on that if need be. Our farm is actually quite profitable though. Our equipment is paid for, land is paid for, and using these regenerative practices keeps our inputs lower than most farmers. We’ve cut our fertilizer use by at least 25%, reduced the amount of spray we need, and we market a healthy amount of our crops direct to customers each year, so we’re typically getting a higher than average price for the things we grow. I’m actually planning to step back from construction and farm full time in 2022 and see how it goes.
Hey Aaron. If I recall correctly, we were seeding 45 lbs of rye, and 8 lbs of vetch per acre. Corn was the intended crop for the spring. I guess the nice thing about posting older footage is I already have some hindsight. The rye did very well and came up beautifully in the spring. The vetch was really spotty. We did get some coming up, but I'm convinced that the planting date was just way too late. I've heard a lot of guys having better success with hairy vetch after small grains, and that around here in south-central MN, you want to get it in no later than mid September.
@@ravenviewfarm I recently discovered your channel, am about 3.5 hrs straight west of you in SD and have tried some things with hairy vetch too. On prevented planting one year I found out it can really grow if given enough time but of course that’s the challenge up here when we need to raise a cash row crop. I still have some hv seed in the shed I have ideas for so we’ll see. I’ve only seen a few so far but enjoy your videos. I’m a small acreage farmer too and appreciate the perspective you offer.
It’s a Truax model 812 I believe, built in 1985. Modern no-till drills are far superior, but they’re also extraordinarily expensive. We picked this one up used for $3,500 if I recall correctly.
I’ve mentioned to Dad a couple of times that it would be nice to pick up 10 or 15 more acres in our neighborhood. We could handle that with our current equipment and it would give us a little boost. I’m in no rush though. Joel Salatin has a philosophy that I like, which goes something like, “Before you go looking for more land, take what you have and fill it up.” That’s what we’re focusing on right now. Getting some disused pastures back into shape, setting the stage for some livestock. Next year we’ll do several rounds of pastured broiler chickens. I’d like to add bees in a couple more years, and this coming spring we’ll do enough maple syrup to sell some. The point is, we can easily stack more enterprises on our current acreage without needing to spend a dime on land rent.
Very nice video, covering lots and explaining things to us city kids. 🤓 Good to see and hear your dad in a couple clips. Nice use of the old chains. Did you rig it up differently this year to close the seed better?
You know, I actually omitted the chains this year. The soil conditions were pretty good after harvest, and after both corn and soybeans I managed to plan my planting right before a rain event. Plus, it was early enough in the fall yet that I wasn't worried about the crop getting established. It's a rare thing in farming, but I guess conditions were so ideal that I didn't need them!
Nice to see that it is not only large farmers in the USA. And that you make it too. Because it is all much smaller here, there are few of the smaller farmers left. Greetings from the Netherlands.
Back in the 50s and 60s, our drills had drag chains on each seed tube. These chains covered seeds very well. The old horse drawn drills had them also. If you have an Amish community near you, check them out. I think this will solve your coverage problem.
Great video
Here in south central Wisconsin, I sowed 11 acres of rye, vetch, and some winter peas after corn chopped off for silage on Oct 19th. Rye that I had sowed back in Sept came right out of the ground within days, but despite some warm weather after sowing in October, I never really saw any out of the ground. This is an experiment, hence the 11 acres. We shall see what happens next spring.
Hey Brian! I've learned a few lessons after three years of messing around with cover crops. Mainly, vetch sowed that late in October will be pretty hit and miss. Depending on the type of winter we have, you may see some in the spring, but to get a good thick stand it really needs to be planted by mid Sept. I've never planted winter peas, so I'm useless on that subject!
As for the rye, that will come up in the spring almost guaranteed, even if you don't see any fall growth. I've been amazed to see rye emerging from wet soil in March, three feet away from a snow drift that was still melting. The stuff is really resilient.
Thank you for sharing.
Wow 31 in October and getting colder! It doesn't seem fair to you. I planted my cover crops first of November on a day it was 74 degrees. It has since germinated and growing good now. I was lucky we got the warmer weather I wanted to plant it middle October.
Screw / bolt chain to 2X4 that is length of drill. Attach wires to 2X4 making sure 2X4 is laying on top of chain as you pull it.
Should have waited 30 seconds for you to come to the same conclusion in the video. 😀
Well done with a good explanation of the process 👍🏻🙂. I am trying some icicle winter peas planted late. The older you get, the colder you will get on the open tractor 😳😁!
Use a cement mixer to mix your seed
Harbor freight has cheap electric cement mixer that would work as seed blender
I would love to come up and buy some of that ear corn. Hard to find it around here.
Hey Ben! If you live nearby, we might be able to arrange that, though it would depend on the quantity. You can always shoot me an email if you want to discuss it further. My address is RavenviewFarm@gmail.com
2020 or 2021?
how many acres do yall farm? how do you sustain your homestead if it just breaks even?
Our farm is 100 acres. About 64 acres of that is crop land.
I’m a carpenter and general contractor, so I can always fall back on that if need be. Our farm is actually quite profitable though. Our equipment is paid for, land is paid for, and using these regenerative practices keeps our inputs lower than most farmers. We’ve cut our fertilizer use by at least 25%, reduced the amount of spray we need, and we market a healthy amount of our crops direct to customers each year, so we’re typically getting a higher than average price for the things we grow.
I’m actually planning to step back from construction and farm full time in 2022 and see how it goes.
What were your seeding rates of rye and vetch? Was corn planned for spring?
Hey Aaron. If I recall correctly, we were seeding 45 lbs of rye, and 8 lbs of vetch per acre. Corn was the intended crop for the spring.
I guess the nice thing about posting older footage is I already have some hindsight. The rye did very well and came up beautifully in the spring. The vetch was really spotty. We did get some coming up, but I'm convinced that the planting date was just way too late. I've heard a lot of guys having better success with hairy vetch after small grains, and that around here in south-central MN, you want to get it in no later than mid September.
@@ravenviewfarm I recently discovered your channel, am about 3.5 hrs straight west of you in SD and have tried some things with hairy vetch too. On prevented planting one year I found out it can really grow if given enough time but of course that’s the challenge up here when we need to raise a cash row crop. I still have some hv seed in the shed I have ideas for so we’ll see.
I’ve only seen a few so far but enjoy your videos. I’m a small acreage farmer too and appreciate the perspective you offer.
Year 2020 subject but video released late 2021?
Just curious what brand/model your drill is?
It’s a Truax model 812 I believe, built in 1985. Modern no-till drills are far superior, but they’re also extraordinarily expensive. We picked this one up used for $3,500 if I recall correctly.
@@ravenviewfarm that’s a steal of a deal, even used a 7-8’ is still pushing 10k. I’m currently in the very slow process of building my own 7’ drill
Cultipacker
Do you want to farm more land?
I’ve mentioned to Dad a couple of times that it would be nice to pick up 10 or 15 more acres in our neighborhood. We could handle that with our current equipment and it would give us a little boost.
I’m in no rush though. Joel Salatin has a philosophy that I like, which goes something like, “Before you go looking for more land, take what you have and fill it up.”
That’s what we’re focusing on right now. Getting some disused pastures back into shape, setting the stage for some livestock. Next year we’ll do several rounds of pastured broiler chickens. I’d like to add bees in a couple more years, and this coming spring we’ll do enough maple syrup to sell some. The point is, we can easily stack more enterprises on our current acreage without needing to spend a dime on land rent.
Great Job..
Very nice video, covering lots and explaining things to us city kids. 🤓 Good to see and hear your dad in a couple clips. Nice use of the old chains. Did you rig it up differently this year to close the seed better?
You know, I actually omitted the chains this year. The soil conditions were pretty good after harvest, and after both corn and soybeans I managed to plan my planting right before a rain event. Plus, it was early enough in the fall yet that I wasn't worried about the crop getting established. It's a rare thing in farming, but I guess conditions were so ideal that I didn't need them!