WORKING WITH HEAVY

By Roger Madson, Grandin, North Dakota

Farming on the bottom of a glacial lake known as Lake Agassiz can be very regarding and also very challenging. This area, also known as the Red River Valley, is an extremely flat and open country. There is very little wasteland with almost every acre farmed. There are very few rocks to contend with, so often times the problem fields are hand picked.

The types of soils we farm are called Fargo-Enlo silty clays and Fargo-Hegne silty clay. This very heavy soil is quite fertile and has good moisture retention. Located some 25 miles north of Fargo, North Dakota near Grandin is where my brother-in-law Wayne Gadberry and I farm.

Due to the flatness of the land, drainage I almost always a problem. Some sections of land have as little as two feet of drop per mile so you can see that pounding of rainwater can be a problem. Wind erosion can also occur if proper cover is not left on the fields.

Crops that we raise include barley, spring wheat, sugarbeets, soybeans, and sunflowers. Other crops grown in our area consist of dry edible beans, potatoes, corn, buckwheat, canola, and commercial carrots; so we can be quite diversified.

We practice minimum or moderate tillage on our farm. Almost all wheat and barley ground is stubble mulched using a chisel plow. The first pass consists of either a 4" twisted shovel or a 12" sweep. On the second pass we use a 2" spike, at which time anhydrous ammonia is app1ied as if well as phosphates if soil tests show it is required.

Sugarbeet and soybean ground is normally tilled using a chisel plow equipped with 2" spikes. We also fertilize this time when possible.

We mostly raise confection sunflowers which have heavier stalks than oils. We like to chop these up using a tandem disk followed by a chisel plow with spikes applying NH.

Providing that all of my fall fertilizer has been applied, we use a single pass planting operation for small grains. A Concord Air Drill system with 10" shank spacing and 12" sweeps accomplishes this task. Care must be taken in the spring that no tillage begins when the soil is too wet. Soil compaction can be a problem as well as cloddy, lumpy soil if conditions are not right.

In my crop rotation, sugarbeets are planted on the previous years' wheat or barley ground. If properly tilled and fertilized in the fall, one pass using a Triple K or Melroe multiweeder is usually all that is needed. Planting follows immediately.

Sunflowers and soybeans are also planted on last year's stubble ground. An application of Sonalan is incorporated with either a multiweeder and/or a Triple K.

When preparing our seedbed for row crops, particularly for sugarbeets, we try to leave a fair amount of trash on top to inhibit any wind erosion. Sugarbeets are extremely sensitive to wind. From cotyledon stage to 4 leaf stage, the stems can be cut off by blowing dirt or just by twisting back and forth in the wind.

I hope this gives you some idea of our farming practice in the valley. As in any type of farming, one must be flexible. You must be able to change with the weather and field conditions as well as with new technology and science. As stated before farming in the valley can be both rewarding and challenging.