Some farmers dive headlong into changing their tillage practices. John Macauley, who farms 1,200 acres with his father, Jim, in Groveland, N.Y., is proof that transitioning to no-till can be done in steps.
The Macauley farm had been conventionally tilled since the 1930s. Around 2005, the Macauleys decided to start moving away from full-width tillage, despite seeing neighbors run into slug and poor-emergence issues with no-till.
To start, they bought an Unverferth Zone-Builder with strip-till baskets and a 15-foot John Deere 750 no-till drill. They ran side-by-side comparison tests with soybeans and wheat to see how no-tilling and strip-tilling strategies would affect yields and cost savings.
“We started slow, because we knew there would be added costs to switching strategies. We found out right away there was no difference in yield between our previous conventional tillage, strip-till and no-till,” Macauley says. “We pushed forward with no-till, because as a two-man operation, we needed to save time and, in the future, inputs and resources.”
With those promising results, Macauley started no-tilling corn and hay in 2011. It wasn’t long before he sold off all his tillage equipment and transitioned 100% over to no-till — although he kept the Zone-Builder, too.
“Across the board, our yields were staying about the same, so we figured with nothing to lose — but a lot to save on tillage passes, fuel and wearable parts — it just made perfect sense for us to switch to no-till,” Macauley says.
Setting Up for No-Till
Their crop split varies slightly from year to year, but usually Macauley farms about 200 acres of corn, 450 acres of soybeans, 180 acres of wheat and 160 acres of hay. The remaining 200 acres is reserved mostly as pastureland for 140 beef cattle.
Macauley says his farm regularly averages 52 bushels of soybeans, 65 bushels of wheat and around 170 bushels of corn per acre. Since these didn’t suffer under no-tilling, it was really the cost and time savings that convinced him to switch.
“In the past we’d plow, disc two or three times and then even culti-mulch once or twice, depending on the circumstances,” Macauley says.
“Since it was just Dad and I, we’d have to hire someone to help when it got busy,” he says. “That’s a lot of trips across the field to cut out. Plus, not having to pay for part-time help and all that fuel saved made a huge difference.”
For seeding wheat and cover crops, Macauley uses a John Deere 1590 no-till drill with Martin Industries’ 20-point closing wheels and Bonilla seed tabs.
GREEN EXPERIMENT. In recent years, John Macauley has taken to planting green — planting into actively growing cover crops before killing them. Experimenting with several different types of cover crops on his 1,200-acre farm, his favored multispecies mix is radishes, Austrian winter peas, buckwheat, crimson clover, purple top turnips and oats.
To plant corn, Macauley uses a 12-row John Deere 1770 with Keeton seed firmers and Yetter row cleaners. He had some difficulty with selecting appropriate closing wheels though. Initially purchasing Dawn Equipment’s Curvetines, they didn’t close his seed trenches to his satisfaction.
“I talked to the people over at Dawn and they said I needed two closing wheels per row unit, so I tried that, but it still didn’t seem to do the trick,” says Macauley. “Then they said to change washers out to make the spacing narrower, but that still didn’t work.
“What I ended up getting were Martin 15-inch spiked closing wheels and those have seemed to work the best for me so far.”
In the short time since the switch to no-till, Macauley has seen soil structure improve from decades of damage done by conventional tillage.
“We’ve been putting some tile in lately. As we were digging we saw that cover crop roots had penetrated well past the hardpan,” he says. “The earthworm activity at all levels of the soils has increased to more than we’ve ever seen before.”
Cost-Effective Mix
Macauley says cover cropping and no-tilling enabled him to continue spreading manure without having to incorporate it, reduce fertilizer rates and even get more mileage out of his current herbicide applications.
Originally introducing cover crops to his operation in 2012, Macauley admits he was learning on the job.
“I planted 20 pounds of oats, 20 pounds of Austrian winter peas and 5 pounds of radishes to the acre,” he says. “I found out later that was too much radish. That was an expensive mix, about $35 per acre.”
Adapting and experimenting with different mixes, Macauley says he now favors a 6-way mix of radishes, Austrian winter peas, buckwheat, crimson clover, purple-top turnips and oats. By occasionally growing his own oats for seed he’s able to keep the price of this mix around $20 per acre.
“I’ve decreased the amount of radish seed down to about half a pound. They’ve been great for helping to reduce compaction and scavenging for nutrients,” he says.
He uses the peas, buckwheat and crimson clover to fix nitrogen (N) and pull up nutrients from deep in the soil.
“The purple-top turnips usually survive through the winter where we live, and like the radishes they can scavenge nutrients from down deep,” says Macauley. “They actually seem to hold on to the nutrients better and don’t die out until later when we kill them. Also, it’s nice there’s no odor associated with them.”
Over the last 3 years, Macauley has taken to planting green — planting cash crops into actively growing cover crops rather than killing them first. He trusts that it’s the superior strategy, but planting challenges and volatile weather sometimes cause issues.
“In 2016 there was a drought, so what little moisture stored in the soil was seemingly sucked up by the cover crops, even after we killed them. In 2017, we had record rainfall and the covers soaked it up and helped us retain it. There are advantages and disadvantages to planting green” he says.
“I used to figure we had a 1:1 ratio with 1 bushel of corn being equal to 1 pound of N, but after using cover crops for a few years, I’ve decreased that to 0.9 pounds of N while getting the same results..."
To fix hairpinning problems they experienced early on, Macauley took the unit-mounted, no-till counters off the planter so he was able to penetrate the ground with less down force.
Perhaps one of the biggest future advantages Macauley sees cover crops providing is combating herbicide resistant weeds.
Roundup-resistant marestail started showing up in his fields several years ago. As expected, herbicides were ineffective, John says. But his cover crops seem to be out-competing and shading the weeds.
He hasn’t determined which of his cover crops in the mix stress the marestail the most, but his variety seems to be effective against it.
“The weeds have been a real problem, but the cover crops are definitely smothering them out in areas,” says Macauley. “Marestail doesn’t like the competition.”
Lighter on Manure
Hesitant at first when switching to no-till, Macauley was concerned that livestock manure would wind up in a nearby stream if he didn’t incorporate it. Also, without incorporating it after spreading, he worried some fields might remain too wet to be planted — and that he wouldn’t be getting nutrient credits for it during the growing season.
On bare ground, this may have been the case. But Macauley found evenly spreading a lighter layer of manure over the top of actively growing cover crops addressed both concerns.
Heavier applications of manure would complicate planting, he found. Adding a top beater to his 400-bushel New Holland 195 manure spreader helps him apply the ideal amount.
“The row cleaners wouldn’t flick the larger clumps of manure out of the way because they were in the float position. They would just ride up over the top,” he says. “The corn wasn’t coming up evenly, but since we’ve added the top beater we’ve seen more even emergence.”
CLOSING WHEEL CONUNDRUM. John Macauley has outfitted his 12-row John Deere 1770 planter with Keeton seed firmers, Yetter row cleaners and Martin 15-inch spiked closing wheels.
Going lighter also seems to speed up the microbial breakdown of the manure, he says.
“With lighter coverage, our underground livestock takes care of breaking all that manure down quickly,” says Macauley. “The cover crops hold it in place while it decomposes. We’ve been in our fields during several heavy rainstorms to see if the manure was washing off and it just wasn’t happening.”
Macauley recalls a specific rain event that dumped about 4 inches of water onto a field known for having significant runoff and erosion. He was pleasantly surprised to see the water running off clearer because of the thick mat of cover crops. This wasn’t the case in past years, even when the manure had been tilled into the soil.
Manure application time varies on certain fields, but Macauley emphasizes that something should be growing while he’s spreading the manure.
“If I didn’t have a chance to get a field cover cropped, I’ll seed winter wheat on it in the fall and spread manure,” he says. “This gives the seed a chance to germinate and also protects it from the winter elements in case we don’t get sufficient snow coverage.
“If I did get the field cover cropped I’ll spread some manure on in the winter or spring. We put on a light coat, not too heavy in order to avoid killing off any early emergence of those crops.”
Macauley suspects the combination of increased soil biological activity inherent with no-till and N-fixing capabilities with cover crops helps him get more nutrient mileage out of his manure.
“I used to figure we had a 1:1 ratio with 1 bushel of corn being equal to 1 pound of N, but after using cover crops for a few years I’ve decreased that to 0.9 pounds of N, while getting the same results,” he says. “We’re still trying to increase our yields, so we haven’t worked out the happy medium yet. But we’re getting more for our money.”
Regenerative Pivot
Regenerative agriculture, eschewing chemical solutions for natural ones, seems to be a natural next step for his farm, Macauley says.
LIGHT, EVEN MANURE. At first, John Macauley was concerned about spreading manure in a no-till system without tilling it in, but his fears of washout or overly wet planting conditions never materialized. By installing an extra top beater to his New Holland 195 manure spreader he got a lighter, more even distribution on his fields.
By locking down the most advantageous mix of cover crops and keeping his fields greener longer, Macauley hopes to begin reducing fertilizer inputs and phasing out herbicide use.
“In talking to my chemical rep just recently, he’s suggesting an herbicide program that will cost me $42 per acre to deal with my weed pressure,” he says.
Macauley favors growing cover crops and rolling them down ahead of planting to suppress weeds. “I haven’t started dialing back herbicide rates yet, but when I look at my fields I’m already getting more for my money and killing weeds that might have otherwise been resistant,” he says.
For soybeans, Macauley applies 12 gallons of 11-28-0-5s in a 2-by-2-inch application with his planter and broadcasts 150 pounds of potash per acre. For corn, he applies 25 gallons of 13-29-0-2.7s with boron and zinc in a 2-by-2-inch application with his planter and broadcasts 200 pounds of 11-0-45, subsequently sidedressing 95 pounds of 27-0-0-3.9s per acre.
He hasn’t started reducing fertilizer rates yet either, but with the nitrogen (N)-fixing capabilities in his cover-crop mix he may be able to. Already in limited tests he’s achieved the same corn yields — an average of 170 bushels per acre — with less N.
“By moving away from heavy fertilizers and herbicides and using the natural solutions cover crops and no-tilling provide to support microbial activity in the soil,” he says, “we can increase soil health and farm with nature rather than against it.”
