Erosion

With all this rain I have erosion again in my best notill field behind the house. I keep it covered all the time and grade it each year but it still wants to wash. The soil is trapped in the sod waterway below it so I am not polluting the river but I hate to see my precious topsoil move.

My friend Chris in New Zealand can keep his soil on his farm with notill. He farms near some slopes but they graze slopes like mine in their country. Their soil will erode even worse than mine.

If anyone thinks that notill doesn't erode, even on a one percent slope, I don't believe they have ever studied the situation. Believe me, it does.

I have a pretty good stand of wheat in it and it still washed some. We never ran the drill up both sides of it like a real waterway and that might have helped but I know it is not a cure.

If I had a big tile below it I think it would help. I don't want to put a water way there because it would split the field in half again and it is already split right up the middle.

This is very good soil but it washes easily. Mine is always greener than the neighbors but mine has more slope, just enough to really make it wash in a big rain. It has never laid in soybean stubble all winter since I lived here. 200 bu notill cornstalks holds it pretty well.

The settlers of this farm used this soil to make the bricks for the house. It is not good for bricks. It is good for farming but not good for bricks.

I see the rivers are still brown around here so there is too much erosion. I wonder if they will always be brown?

Ed Winkle