Baraboo, WISC .....At their farm just south of Baraboo in Sauk
County, Randy and Diane Puttkamer suffered through 23 inches of rain
in one week. However the suffering was not nearly as bad as it could
have been, had Randy, a long-time no-till corn and soybean grower,
not been farming with a sound conservation system in place.
"During the flooding rains in June, so much water ran across the
fields that I have no doubt that if I had chisel plowed those
fields, it would have eroded completely down to the chisel marks."
said Randy. "My grassed waterways have filled up, but they are
stabilized. Corn stalks built up into piles in the fields over 100’
to the side of the waterways."
Waterways mean faster harvest
While many neighbors have large gullies in their fields, Randy and
Diane’s waterways prevented them from forming. Randy is looking
forward to a much faster harvest than some neighbors.
“Many of these gullies you can’t take a combine through. If we had a
well designed and maintained waterway in permanent vegetation, the
combine might not even need to slow down.” noted Sauk County
Resource Conservationist Mike Stanek.
“When farmers plant and spray though concentrated flow channels,
gullies will form in wet years. You may be able do it without
problems in a dry year, but in that wet year, harvest may be stop
and start as you try not to drop a tire into the gully.”
A small investment in shaping and maintaining a waterway is a lot
cheaper than downtime and a tire repair bill. “We need to put in
some small acreage practices that make a big difference—such as
waterways and buffers” Mike adds.
"I don’t want to pay taxes on the dirt I’m giving to the neighbors,"
Puttkamer laughs, referring to his reliance on no-till for soil
savings. "I can harvest through these corn stalks a lot better than
harvesting through a gully or ravine."
Residue provides multiple benefits
The benefits of his conservation system don’t stop with
combine-swallowing gullies in his fields. Both his corn and soybeans
survived the beating rains and recovered quicker than nearby
conventionally-tilled fields. The crop residue provided at least
some soil cover and seedling protection during the downpours and
helped stabilize the soil during flooding.
Randy sees the benefits as a taxpayer as well. As the town board
member, he is dealing with sites where there was so much erosion
they had to use snow plows and graders to scrape dirt off the road
after the water receded.
"I also enjoy the fuel savings with no-till,” he adds. Every trip
saved means less fuel used.
300 bushel yield with no-till?
Randy is convinced that an integrated conservation system is the key
to profitability. Using 100% no-till since 2002, he has documented
290 bushel corn and 70+ bushel soybean yields, and is ontrack with
an AgVentures program to produce 300 bushel corn using no-till.
"It's not that I'm buying less fertilizer, but rather no-till is a
more efficient and effective way to treat the whole farm the same."
Photo - Randy
Puttkamer's no-till corn survived June rains and flooding.
