Market Farming

[Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com>]

Several comments.  We have about 40 acres of pasture and bale about 5000 bales a year from four hay plots.  One purposefully designed and the others random grass lots.  The roller is a new thing to us that we have been watching for the last couple of years and are still waiting on repeat performance in terms of planting and yield (the front end always seems to be very solid and the later season result are often times excluded or have issues with yields.

Some comments on what has been discussed so far:

1) Cardboard for suppression.  Nice on a small scale, especially when the cardboard can be weighted with mulch or rocks...as in a raised bed garden or between row paths.  Johnson grass, giant ragweed, thistle, and sunchokes will grow through cardboard, sometimes even two layers of it with mulch.  I shudder to think of using it on even a 1/2 acre size plot.

2)  Garbage in garbage out.  The more variety of "stuff" you have on the surface the more variety you will have in your crop.  Rolling only works so well from what I have seen and works the best on single crops of grasses in particular (stuff like vetch seems to be a mix bag...maybe not).  Moldboard or chisel plow in the fall, putting your organic matter underneath and exposing the soil to a good freeze thaw cycle that will help break up the soil.  Disk in the spring once weed growth has begun and get even piece of ground then plant a spring grass cover crop or legume.  Buckwheat is an awesome and often overlooked cover crop that is fantastic to work into a cycle with a grass and/or legume, especially in poor quality soils.  Depending on your season you can get two planting OR a first planting then a second planting of something else.  Cut before it goes to seed and you have removed the crop.  It overwinters poorly/not at all (depending on location).  Do NOT mix your cover crop because organic kill methods can vary greatly for each type of crop.   It is most effective when dealing with a single type of crop in a plot.

3) Crimping is an equipment investment you may have the tools to do a till equivalent to get your rotations correct then convert over to a roller design.  Save some money and heart ache and learn then transition fully. 

4) Most importantly, take soil samples before you do any of this and make sure what you want to do is appropriate for the ground.  It'll also help you decide what to plant as a cover crop.

Some food for thought///

Richard Stewart

Carriage House Farm

North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106

http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com

rstewart AT zoomtown.com