Limousin365_October | Page 60

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very smart move on my part at this point . There ’ s a lot of things that have to cash flow to make this operation sustainable ,” Todd says . “ So , we ’ ll start slow . As we see things working , we ’ ll continue to grow .”
Todd bought a no-till drill this spring . He had to travel to Iowa to find one and plans to make it available for neighbors to rent .
“ We ’ re excited about switching and doing things differently ,” he says . “ This investment was a big investment . This put me in the forefront of ‘ We ’ re going to do this .’”
NRCS district conservationist Ed Musielewicz says farmers like the Andresens are the key to making practices such as cover crops and notill widely accepted .
“ Finding that one person [ who ] is willing to take some sort of a jump in doing it really helps locally in getting practices implemented across the landscape ,” Musielewicz says .
Across the farm as a whole , the Andresens ’ biggest challenge has been excessive spring moisture , which delays planting .
“ That ’ s why tillage has been such a big part of our operation , because it dries out our soil and helps us get out there in the spring ,” Todd says . “ My goal is to have cover crops growing to help dry the soil out in the spring and get in there in a timely fashion .”
The farm ’ s big-picture goals involve growing soil health , eliminating erosion and controlling water .
“ If we really look back at rotational cropping systems and livestock systems that were here 60 years ago when every mile had a farm on it , that ’ s what they were naturally doing is growing cover crops and grazing . I want to get back a little bit more to having healthier soil ,” Todd says . “ We could maybe have better water infiltration systems that would help these soils and try to grow soils , instead of taking away from them all the time .”
Delayed Corn Harvest Produces New Mindset
When a terribly wet harvest season made it impossible for Todd and Michelle Andresen to finish combining 200 acres of their 600-acre corn crop in 2019 , it forced another fundamental shift in thinking .
“ We always get our corn combined in the fall , and we always get our ground worked ,” Todd said in late March . “ At whatever cost .”
That meant harvest continued , no matter the labor cost , fuel cost or drying cost .
“ We just didn ’ t get it done this year ,” he said . “ That ’ s very stressful .
You feel like almost a failure .” This season , he finished combining in late March . “ It went wonderful ,” Todd said . The corn was drier , which saved drying costs . The test weight was better . This spring , the Andresens were considering no-till planting into the corn stalks .
“ That ’ s a huge lesson ,” he said . “ We can do this different . We ’ ll have to deal with stalks , but we ’ ve already saved so much money .”
Even if the yield dropped from 40 to 35 bushels per acre , he estimated they would come out ahead because of savings in propane , time in the tractor and wear-and-tear on equipment . Fall harvest remains a goal . But the Andresens ’ outlook has changed . “ That ’ s a major lesson . It doesn ’ t have to be at all costs ,”
Todd said .”
58 • OCTOBER 2020