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 at 7.5 inches,” he says. “My intent is to plant twin rows of cover crop mixes of both warm and cool season species between rows of V2 and V3 corn.

Gibbs knows he’ll have to do a good job on the first application of burndown herbicides in his corn fields but hopes the early-planted covers will step in as the season progresses to continue to suppress weeds. He uses no pre-emerge products, which could have residuals harmful to in-season cover crops.

“That second pass would cost me $25 an acre, so I need to verify I can economically spend $30 per acre for a cover crop,” he explains. “The extra expense would be worth it because it would allow me to start growing forage early in the season for fall grazing, and after it’s dormant in cold weather it would be good, stockpiled forage for my cow herd.” 

And by rotating cover crops through his corn and soybean rotations, along with moving livestock over the farm each year using rotation grazing, Gibbs says he’s producing a forage that will help to feed my corn crop nitrogen and other nutrients.”

A 2023 Iowa Farm Bureau Young Farmer Leadership Award winner, Gibbs says one cow makes more per acre than does corn at GibbsField Farms, so anything he can do to improve forage quality and quantity — while at the same time protecting the soil through the winter — moves him closer to his goals.

The Gibbs’ are moving more of their operation into pasture to grow their beef production, using rotational grazing to make the most of their forages and improve the diversity and quality of their pastures over time. 

Gibbs says he has about $5,000 in the used rotary hoe and seeder and another $1,000 in the drill units and other parts. 

“If it works like I think it will, we’ll see a fairly quick return on investment,” he explains. “And, if the experiment is a success, I ultimately plan to take the machine to 12-rows because the double-disc opener drill units will help me stay closer to my no-till commitment. 

“While I’m a firm believer in no-till, I do strip-till my corn-on-corn acres to handle the residue. This year, that will account for about a quarter of my corn.” 

He’s already purchased the additional row units a 12-row machine would require and says the expansion would cost nearly nothing beyond that. “All I need to do is add wings to it and bolt on the row units.”

If the system doesn’t prove itself, Gibbs says the Valmar seeder will either be moved to a vertical till unit or an Aerway to apply cover crop seed with minimal tillage for Gibbsfield Ag’s customers.