From Peninsula Pride Farms
Door-Kewaunee County Demonstration Farms Network and Peninsula Pride Farms’ member Bryan Haberli, 3H Family Farms, hosted a Conservation Conversation in mid-July. Attendees learned about the benefits of interseeding into corn and got to see an interseeded corn field firsthand.
3H Family Farms plant cover crops to increase their crop diversity and feed their cattle using non-conventional methods. The Haberli’s built their own air-seeder and made adjustments to their tractor to accommodate corn application. They added saddle tanks for liquid fertilizer and dropped hoses to apply nitrogen on the soil surface closest to the plant for more efficient absorption of nutrients.
3H Family Farms interseed their corn fields with a mix of clover, rye and cow peas. After the corn is harvested, the cover crop will be grazed by their beef herd.
“We are striving for species that are shade tolerant, and we tried to interseed the corn between V3 and V5,” Barry Bubolz of NRCS said.
After the field has been grazed the cover crop residue will help reduce erosion over the winter and serve as weed control next spring.
Duane Ducat, co-owner of Deer Run Dairy and PPF board president, also talked about the benefits of being a PPF member.
“We are a group of farmers who learn from each other and try different things, like interseeding,” Ducat said.
PPF members have the opportunity to try conservation practices through cost-share incentive programs and measure their groups impact on water quality and soil health through the member conservation practice survey. Visit the PPF website to learn more: peninsulapridefarmsinc.org/cost-share-program/.
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