Technology will help Pheasants and more

UGUIDE

UGUIDE

Active member
Just got this article sent to me this morning.

Great article by Dennis Anderson on beginning to bring production AG and conservation together.

New software guides farmers to good decisions for their land ? and bottom lines

I spent 2 hours at Pheasant Fest getting a personal demo of this software. Having spent 20 years in the software development business I can tell you its the real deal.
 
Last edited:
Yes, this is the kind of proactive and economics based endeavors that need to be promoted.

I imagine there will be a cost to participate, conservation groups might do well to considered helping with the funding.
 
I was going to comment but my comment would have been negative and pessimistic.

I hope this or any combination of other programs/ideas helps the problem.
 
I don't want to be negative either, but the article got me wondering how well the huge new computerized equipment handles smaller odd shaped fields. It seems like one of the trends has been to remove obstacles from fields so that machinery can be bigger and more efficient. Hopefully I am wrong.

Jerry
 
I was in southern ND last week and looked at some of the new contracts. Smaller parcels were accepted and habitat was put aside that probably should not be farmed. You would have to see the presentation and and the practice for full appreciation. On a side note, I saw some white and green signs that had farming going on behind them and was told they were just long term leases that were up and going back into farm ground. I wondered WTF where did all my DU money go to if the land was not put aside for ducks. I was under the impression WPA's were permanent, That was the complaint long ago in SD that the land was removed form the tax rolls in rural areas when enrolled in WPA.
 
On some of the federal ground the managers have determined that the best way to re-establish better cover is to set back the old growth with a year or 2 of farming and then replant. this is a good approach although weird to see a tractor plowing up Gov ground.

This also proves a point that permanent cover is not always good cover.
 
UGUIDE said:
On some of the federal ground the managers have determined that the best way to re-establish better cover is to set back the old growth with a year or 2 of farming and then replant. this is a good approach although weird to see a tractor plowing up Gov ground.

This also proves a point that permanent cover is not always good cover.
Click to expand...

I would rather see them put a lot of cattle on it for a short period of time. It would be cheaper and it reinvigorates the soil biology.
 
haymaker said:
I would rather see them put a lot of cattle on it for a short period of time. It would be cheaper and it reinvigorates the soil biology.
Click to expand...

They do that too and did that on federal ground across road from mine for 2 years. It looks pretty good right now.

I would guess any reasonable disturbance practice like mob grazing, disking, cropping, spraying, burning are tools the managers will employ to improve the functioning of the stand.
 
haymaker said:
I would rather see them put a lot of cattle on it for a short period of time. It would be cheaper and it reinvigorates the soil biology.
Click to expand...

I've told our local DNR something similar. I grazed DNR ground years ago and wanted them to spread some forb seed prior to a short intensive grazing period. I felt the cows would do a good job of incorporating the seed. About 50 pairs on 5 acres for two days in July.

No joy. We did see warm season grasses increase their presence.
 
It is just that when you burn or till you take carbon that could be in the ground and put it in the air. When you do high impact grazing you take carbon out of the air and put in the ground plus add a biological boost.
 
haymaker said:
It is just that when you burn or till you take carbon that could be in the ground and put it in the air. When you do high impact grazing you take carbon out of the air and put in the ground plus add a biological boost.
Click to expand...

Other than the methane. But maybe you are discussing soil carbon and not greenhouse gases. And of course soil microbes also produce some methane so the grazing produced methane isn't a total gain.


Different solutions for different situations.
 
I am talking about what is good for habitat and soil. Carbon and organic matter are the same thing so if you can put carbon in the soil you increase the organic matter. If you increase the organic matter you increase the amount of water that the soil can hold so now we are talking about water quality. Tillage and burning have the opposite effect. They may have their applications. I am not sure what to do with methane but microbes have been doing their thing for a long time. Maybe we need to capture it and use it for an energy source.
 
haymaker said:
Maybe we need to capture it and use it for an energy source.
Click to expand...

We're half way there.

4deb1b2101292eeeb33cae951da55cfb_zpsn0wnpyl8.jpg


Hope she doesn't catch a spark from the fencer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top