Rough LandThe future wildlife area, in this case pheasant and quail, once cleared yields stumps large and small as well as rocks. The rocks more than any has been why this part of the farm was in pasture and not row crop.
And, the truth is if this clearing project would yield good crop ground we would be planting alfalfa to gain more acreage for the hay we make that has earned the highest prices in memory and expected to continue to do so.
All total this year in the pictures viewed to this point amount to 7 acres (later expanded to 12) to be planted in the Quail Unlimited nesting/brood cover, 1 and 1/2 acres total of soybean and milo in 6 -12 foot strips bringing this year's planting effort to 8 1/2 acres and near term land clearing about the same. For the overall 30 acres in this project in general terms it will take three years of efforts to clear, prepare and plant all of it. The perennial planting should last 5 years plus, the annuals will continue to be milo and beans with the lespedeza (good self reseeding capability) strips replanted as required assuming at a rate of more than two years and somewhere around five.
Much to say about the simple looking picture above. The grass appears brown do to chemical spray down. The green weeds show that not all plants die at the same rate or at all from one chemical mixture or spray down. The green tuff in the center is a tree stump growing back the grass/weed spray did not affect it and it requires a second chemical mixture and spray down with the sprayer's wand attachment rather than broadcast boom spraying. Two issues relative to spray down, cost and time. The cost issue for the 7 that grew into 12 acres in this portion of the project was $738 in chemical concentrate costs. Water to make the hundreds of gallons of spray was subsumed in the household budget, but a cost nonetheless that was paid for by landowner dollars. Add to that the tractor fuel costs that we simply did not keep track of. And, of course, our work hours were at our cost away from activities that earn income. Tractor fuel costs are significantly different than that for the car most drive to work. Two points illustrate well the costs of tractors operation where time is measured by hour meters that tractor owners/farmers frequently call dollar meters. Tractor economy is measured in gallons of fuel per hour, not miles per gallon. The re-supply tank in the back of the pick up is 100 gallons. Fill that a time or two for planting effort that does not yield a return income and questions of purpose develop. The next illustration of tractor costs is the engine requires 21 quarts of oil that is changed every 100 hours of operation. At 12 hour work days with 6-8 engine hours per day it takes only around 2 weeks until the next oil change requiring more than 5 gallons of oil and a filter more than twice the size and cost of any car filter. The value of this cost discussion is for those hunters that believe land access for a land resource should be at no cost other than a knock on the door and a friendly conversation. The picture of a cut tree stump growing up in a field should have a new meaning at this point. How To Get Better LandFor those that truly want to develop habitat on farm land owned by others is to recognize the motivation that works for farmers, that is money compared to costs. Make the habitat development acreage pay more than crops. All the good feeling benefits to helping wildlife and improving water quality are just extras. It all comes down to dollars and how to make that motivation become reality the trick. An approach is described below. A quote from the book: What I've Learned From No-Tilling, Cropping Secrets From 58 Highly Successful No-Tillers, by Ron Ross, Lessiter Publications, 2007, page 82: "One of the very first and most valuable things GPS showed us when we got our Greenstar monitor is that we were losing 50 plus bushels per acre of corn around the edges of the fields along creek and hedge rows. That economic reality encouraged us to put in 40-foot buffer strips to control runoff and grassy strips for quail and other wildlife."
The shade difference in green color of this winter wheat is not a trick of light it is an illustration of the poorer soil quality along the field edge of the wood lot to the left of the picture. That poor soil edge ran for a number of drainages on this 320 acre farm that would easily add up to more than a mile of filter strip plantings. Conservation groups may use their habitat monies to pay the landowner's share cost for federal conservation programs and offer to do all the work of coordination with the USDA/FSA/NRCS to secure the conservation programs, land clearing, planting and yearly maintenance leaving the landowner free just to watch and collect the federal conservation payments. The conservation group can make the motivation more intense by offer their service to do all the work in exchange for allowing access for bird dog pre-season training or during upland bird hunting season access with agreement the landowner could lease out his land during deer and or turkey seasons to others for greater income. Further, an effective conservation group would secure matching federal and private funds to further their reach and landowner motivation. The end result would be for what most join a conservation group and that is not purely conservation without payback. Most join for the potential recreational hunting land access aspect as well or foremost. This is one method by which to combine both along a path that will motivate access to the hardest to find resource of all and that is better wildlife habitat acreage for upland bird hunting. The concept here is that such a habitat development, hunting land access and landowner relationship only works if all gain a benefit. Another quote from the same reference as above on page 102 states: "We barrow my uncle's extensive knowledge to make sense of government programs..."
The author was telling how a family farm operation had to divide responsibilities as there were too many work requirements for the limited number of family members to have all family member do all the required work. The one uncle referenced in the quote ran all the family's farm government programs while others individual and primarily handled planting, spraying or harvest. At the same time all family members served as a worker pool at various times of the year. The point being that farmers typically have all their time and available energy consumed by routine farm work making government or conservation additions one project too many to handle. The point of highlighting this quote is for those conservation groups such as QU, QF, DU and PF with more money than places to spend it to make one of their own members a government habitat/conservation and farm program expert to act as liaison for the farmer too busy to seek out better money making choices and do all the necessary work to secure the funding for wildlife habitat improvement. The value of this approach is to give something to the landowner before expecting to receive anything. An alternative would be for the same conservation groups to team up with a local crop or faming private consultant into a trilogy of the consultant using conservation group money and labor teamed up with government payments along with an expert based communication with the farmer/landowner to incorporate low productive farm land into wildlife habitat. An example how three groups with different objectives team up in a coalition where each gains a benefit for different reasons on the same piece of land. More Cost vice BenefitThe pictures of the tractor in this series is not the, 8,000 pound, 105 horse power, 21 quart engine oil, gallons of diesel per hour tractor that does the heavy farm work. It is a 3,100 pound, 4,000 pound with loader, compact tractor that goes much further on a tank of diesel and the oil change only costs 7 quarts and a car similar cost filter. That 4,000 pounds of tractor and loader, in four wheel drive, pulls efficiently and safely the Great Plains no-till drill on rolling terrain. The key point is safety. The drill is a 9 opener/row, six foot wide end wheel pull or towed model requiring one set of remote hydraulics. The end wheel rather than trailing wheel no-till drill argument has many supporters to either setup. The end wheel while allowing the tire wheels to follow the same contours as the double disk planting wheels does incur the consequence that on the next pass the inside end wheel rolls over the previously planted ground and compact seed and soil. The trail wheel model allows furrow to furrow planting without compacting the previously planted furrows. The trail wheels if of the right width and placement behind the planter disks will follow between the planted furrow not compacting any seed or furrow. Just as that one small point about trail or end wheel no-till planters is a topic to consider so is the differences that exists between a grass seed dedicated no-till drill and that of a grain planter and that of a machine that attempts to do it all. The Great Plains no-till drill featured in this article was advertised as a do-it-all grain, grass and small seed planter. It does plant all, but does not plant all types of seed equally well. The Great Plains no-till drill made its reputation and does well at grain seed planting, not grass or small seed. Hindsight being what kicks us the most in our back side shows we would have gained better results with two drills (more cost), one for grain and one for grass. There is a grass drill maker out there that made its reputation planting grass seeds and does it superior to any other drill currently manufactured. They are also honest and recognize the Great Plains no-till drill is superior to their grass no-till planter at planting grain seed. What makes the difference between an effective not-till drill for one seed over another is that between the double opener planting disks there is little room for even a single seed tube. Having the seed tube within the double disk opener metering seed at user specified rate (distance between one seed and the next as only so many plants can occupy any one sized space) immediately low and behind where the seed furrow is being open gives the most accurate seed placement first within the furrow and at the optimized germination depth. The short answer is the most seed placed where it grows the best. Any other seed boxes and seed tubes on that same drill will be placing seed on the ground outside of the double disk planter wheels and there by leaving it to as much chance as planning of getting that seed in the furrow itself that is about 1/2 wide. The answer here is as it always is with all things. Decide what it is you want and get that, not something else.
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