Wider corn row spacing plus cover crop blends proves profitable for Alberta rancher

With tight margins and a push for improved soil health being the status quo in most cattle operations, producers are working with researchers to find new and innovative ways to improve economical profitability while also improving soil for the next generation of farmers.
While corn stalk grazing is becoming more commonplace in the Prairies, producers such as Byron Long, of Long Family Farm, in Barrhead County are looking for other ways to reduce inputs and promote healthy soil, all while feeding their cattle in as profitable a fashion as possible.
This year, Long is trialing a number of things on his farm. A couple of those are extending the space between corn rows and filling the space left between the rows with a diverse cover crop mix.
Some of the species in Long's cover crop mix are forages such as radishes, sunflowers, forage peas, clovers, sorghum, vetch, Italian rye grass, alfalfa, kale, cereals and more. The cover crop, along with the corn, will provide feed throughout the winter as his cow/calf pairs strip graze through the crop on a three-day rotation.
In his second year of trying this, Long is looking forward to another profitable winter with plans to do more feed testing as well as soil sampling in the future.
For anyone looking to experiment with some of these ideas, Long recommends getting on the phone or checking out the university of CZcams, it's a bit of a rabbit hole, he says, but there are a lot of people doing this and there is a reason why.
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[@tf7274]

We graze our cattle till 2 weeks before calving March 1st on our corn field. The one thing this does that no one talks about is pushing the frost down after a Manitoba winter. It breaks down soil compaction in our sandy soil and usually is the first field planted because the spring rains dissappear faster than fall tillage. Benefits for the cows are obvious. Fit cows walking miles in winter before calving. Another is baling corn stover with frost on it or a light dusting of snow. These bales get super hot and the cows love them in January and February.

[@abitoutofsorts]

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[@MmmmKjhg-y2b]

Please, sister, I follow you on CZcams and Instagram. Please help me find a job contract on a cow farm. May God bless you. 🙏🇲🇦🇺🇸🇲🇦🙏