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4/18/2017

Time to lay out Field experiments!

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​Now that everyone has planted and the cover crop is officially growing, it's time to lay out the experiments!

The plan was to lay out the experiments three weeks after planting, but some of the fields have already been planted for a month or more. Since things tend to green up faster the farther east one goes, we decided to start with the eastern locations and work our way west.

I will be in contact with the producers on the project shortly to let them know when to expect us.

Thanks All!

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4/18/2017

Spring Soil Moisture

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​We've had a great start to this season. I've enjoyed the opportunity to visit everyone’s fields for spring soil moisture sampling, and I'm excited to say that everyone has planted. It was a dry start to the season but luckily, we have had a little moisture move through to help get things started.
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I will be posting updates, plans, and pictures here regularly. In addition, I will be sending out shorter updates via email. Please feel free to share or post comments and updates as well. 

​Now that we have made it through the first round of soil moisture sampling, it is time to lay out the treatments! I would like to say a special thank you to John and Wilma. I always learn so much from the two of you. Thank you for all of your help!

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Lance Feikert

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The first location we visited was Lance Feikert’s at the end of February. John and I fought the bitter wind and watched the top soil from neighboring fields cloud the sky.
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The soil was so dry that the probe seemed to slide effortlessly all the way down to six feet. The 65-acre field was planted on March 20, 2017.

Larry and Doug Manhart

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Wilma and I went to Larry and Doug Manhart’s March 10, 2017. It was cold, but sampling went well. The soil and soil moisture appeared to be highly variable across the 100-acres we sampled. There were spots where it was so dry that getting a sample was easy and others where it was too wet to take a sample. The field slopes and has many terraces. We arranged the blocks in the field to go with the terraces and tried our best to sample between them. The field was planted six days later on March 16, 2017.

Curtis Sayles

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Wilma, Bailey, and I got lucky when we sampled Curtis Sayles's field on March 14, 2017 because he planted earlier that same day. The field is 105.5-acres, runs from east to west, and is very long. The west end of the field is higher than the east, and in the north east corner there is a low spot. The variability in the soil moisture will probably reflect these differences.
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It was a wonderful and warm day to be outside working!
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We ended up getting a late start, so the sun lit up the sky with brilliant color as we drove home and it sank into the horizon. Pheasants littered the roadside in the light, and as soon as the dark settled, an owl swooped in front of our truck just to make sure Wilma was still paying attention to the road.

Todd Farnik

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Our next adventure to Todd Farnik’s field was a bit more challenging. Again, we got lucky, because Todd was planting his field when we pulled up to sample. The field is 43-acres and was planted on March 23, 2017. Our challenge that day was the layer of sand and/or bedrock under the field that varies in depth. We also had problems with the probe and the GPS system, but we got the job done. Thankfully, our longest day of work had the shortest drive home.

Michael Thompson

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We decided to do the last two fields in one trip. Michael Thompson had already planted his field on March 27, 2017. We sampled the 49.6-acre field on April 6, 2017. The field is incredibly similar to the spring planted field Michael planted last year. The soil was wet and there was standing water along some of the terraces. There were several spots that were too wet to sample, so we had to move on top of a terrace where it was dry enough to get the probe down into the profile.
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Adorable! I love my job <3
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Again, there was a big visual difference between the grazed and ungrazed treatments.

Steve Tucker

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The last field we visited was Steve Tucker’s field in Venango, NE. The field is 80-acres and has a low spot that collects water on the North West corner. We sampled on April 7, 2017 and the field was planted one week later on April 14, 2017. Similar to last year, we could not sample down to 6 ft. There is a layer of bedrock under the field that varies in depth. I’m guessing we may have made it down to 3 feet on average and in some places only 2 feet.
You can just barely make out the ungrazed treatment from replication 1 in these photos.

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  • Home
  • Research
    • Dryland Agroecosystems Project
    • Cover Crop Grazing >
      • Spring Planted Cover Crop Grazing
      • Post-Wheat Cover Crop Grazing
      • Research Station Experiments
    • Cropping System Intensification
  • Collaborators
    • Research Team
    • Producers
  • Resources
  • Contact