Ryan Gibbs is making a conscious effort to cut input costs, boost his soil’s health and diversify the family businesses of GibbsField Farms and a farm supply retail outlet. His latest project involves building a 6-row interseeder to establish cover crops between his 30-inch corn rows.

A 7-year no-tiller, Gibbs and his wife, Kristy, farm 500 acres of corn, soybeans and small grains near Hopkinton, Iowa, about 40 miles southwest of Dubuque and the Mississippi River. 

The couple also runs a 2,400-head hog operation and a cow/calf/finishing herd, as well as Gibbsfield Ag, which includes custom drilling and aerial seeding services as well as inputs of micronutrients and soil amendments.

“I have three goals for the interseeder project,” Gibbs explains. “I want to increase the amount of forage I have for my cattle, I want to eliminate one herbicide pass on my corn in the spring, and I want to build the soil health of my crop ground.”

‘Twin Row’ Covers

The “new” interseeder he refabricated over the winter is based on a Hiniker 5700 Rotary Hoe which came with a Valmar seeder box.

“The rotary hoe units mix up the dirt and bring weed seeds to the top, so I’m replacing them completely with sets of long and short Great Plains drill row units spaced…