News

Applying manure on cover crop acres a good idea

A soil health expert does not think farmers should wait until AFTER applying manure to seed in a cover crop this fall.

TJ Kartes with Saddle Butte Ag says damaging the newly established cover following the harvest of canning crops or silage is worth it.

“When you have that actively growing green carpet out there that you’re applying into, the green tissue takes up a lot of your sulfur smell.  So we try to help control some of that smell with the actively growing cover crop.”

By using low-disturbance discs, he tells Brownfield a minimal amount of the cover crop will be lost.

Kartes says another benefit of applying manure into a cover is reduced nitrogen volatility.

“We can get it down in the ground and there’s an active root system taking it up and stabilizing (the nitrogen), holding it or next year’s crop.  Plus it’s keeping (N) where it belongs (so) we don’t get it into the water table anywhere.  That is a big issue.  We’ve got to keep this stuff where it belongs.  We don’t want it getting into our water.”

Kartes says most cover crops are very resilient and tend to bounce back, even after manure tankers and draglines beat up on parts of fields.