Year ending thoughts

Sorry for the long delay in updates. We were busy with a house remodel project that was running behind schedule, and at the same time adding to the grain storage facility. Fortunately the beans all were sold and went to town. The construction of a new grain leg and another grain bin was just finished by November 1st. We started putting in corn the next day. So harvest lasted a month longer than normal. Than after cleaning up all the construction mess and normal year end stuff it was Christmas already.
Average yields on the corn and bean crops were the best of my farming career. The corn yield on the field that was land leveled and seeded with annual rye grass cover was 205 bushels per acre. The other field that was showing strip till with the annual rye grass yielded 195 bushels per acre. The field that was showing the strips with cereal rye for cover yielded 181 bushel per acre. For this to make sense you may want to go back and read my previous posts.
Was this profitable when you factor in the extra costs for ARG seed and burn down cost. I will use the field that yielded 195 BPA.
Gross revenue using $3.85 for corn at 195 = $750.75
The machinery charges on this field were $75.00 per acre. This includes charges for lime application and and 3 passes for variable rate fertilizer application. One of these were used to spin on the ARG. Along with the normal planting, spraying, side dress N, and harvest operations.
The input costs seed, fertilizer, chemicals, ARG seed were $384.00 dollars. Leaving $292.00 dollars before land charges.
The one variable that can't be directly assessed is what the effects of long term cover crops do for the soil health. The increased organic matter could lead to using less fertilizer. It could also lead to better and deeper roots on the corn plant itself thus making it better able to withstand dry periods. This could be a key point. If its not higher yields maybe it could be more consistent yields from year to year during weather extremes.
My challenge to anyone thinking about using cover crops would be to pick a field and than commit to putting some type of cover crop on it for four years straight. In a corn and beans rotation this is easy. If wheat is in the rotation the volunteer wheat could be tricky to handle. For those who are going from full width conventional tillage, I would use strip till as an intermediate process for the years that go to corn and no-till the beans. At the end of four years I think you will be amazed at the soil tilth.
I am starting to think in terms of using different blends of cover crops. It seems that the ARG is a little inconsistent with regards to stand establishment and winter hardiness. So maybe putting some cereal rye along with ARG would be better. Or after wheat when you can seed earlier in the summer using a mix of oil seed radishes with ARG. Or using clover frost seeded into wheat in the spring and than add to that some ARG or cereal rye in the summer could achieve a nice mix.
I will start the 2010 season with some pictures of the fields that were seeded to cover crops the previous season. I have 3 fields that ARG was flown on. I have the two manured fields with ARG and oil seed radishes. I have a field of medium red clover and alsike clover following wheat that was strip tilled last fall and will plant corn into those strips.