Rotationally Raised

The first season of Rotationally Raised has come to a close. We hope you learned a lot about production, and that you’ve decided that small grains could work on your farm. That said, in this episode, we shift the focus a bit to include the bigger picture. Members of Practical Farmers of Iowa want to grow small grains again because they’re good for the farm, good for rural communities and good for our food system as a whole. In this final episode of the first season of Rotationally Raised, we explore how diversified crop rotation could play a big role in making the agricultural supply chain – that provides us all with food, feed, fuel and fiber – more sustainable. Nathan Anderson, who direct markets beef from his family’s farm near Aurelia in northwest Iowa, says that the best way for consumers to understand why to support farmers is to visit a farm. “I think there’s a number of farmers that are very open to sharing about their operation,” he says, “I know I really appreciate those opportunities.” Jon Bakeh

For farmers that grow small grains, the harvest is just the beginning. After harvesting the crop in July, the possibilities for cover crops to plant on that ground are endless. “The world is your oyster,” says Jon Bakehouse of Hastings. Because you can seed cover crops as early as July 1, there’s plenty of time for those plants to soak up the long, hot days. Cover crops like radishes and turnips – which, in most years, would not provide much benefit planted in late fall between corn and soybeans – have time to develop large tubers and bust up compaction layers. There’s also time for legumes to fix plenty of nitrogen and forages to put on plenty of biomass. This gives livestock farmers the option to rest perennial pastures in order to graze them later in the fall or stockpile for winter, cutting back on hay costs. In this week’s episode, we talk with farmers who plant multi-species cover crop mixes in the summer for their cattle to graze. Grazing Summer-seeded Cover Crops Paul Ackley of Bedford says that h

Time was when oats were included in the diet of nearly every single farm animal (aside from maybe the dogs and cats) raised in the state of Iowa. Cattle, dairy cows, horses, chickens, pigs and sheep all ate oats (and other small grains) at various stages of their lives. That time has now past, of course, on most farms. But for many farmers, small grains still make up an important component of the livestock feed ration. On this episode, we hear from several members around the state about how they include small grains in their livestock feed. Feeding Small Grains Oats are probably still the most common small grain to be fed to livestock on Iowa farms. PFI members Vic Madsen of Audubon and Ron Rosmann of Harlan both include oats in their hog and cattle rations. For more information on feeding small grains to hogs, check out this Iowa State University extension publication on the topic. And while many farmers do include oats in their feed ration, over the past few years, they have also been growing “succotash.

Marketing can be challenging for any crop, especially when commodity prices are low. But for small grains, the number of elevators that will even have bids out for most small grains is limited. Because Iowa farmers recognize the benefits of adding a third crop to their farm, they are finding both traditional markets and on-farm uses for the crops. On this episode, PFI farmers talk about those challenges and opportunities marketing small grains. Small Grains Markets Just a few decades ago, nearly every farm in Iowa used oats and you’d never struggle selling a crop, whether you were near a food grade market like Quaker Oats or General Mills or you simply sold it to a local feed mill. You might not have always liked the prices, but, at the end of the day, someone would buy it. Today is a different story. For the past couple years, we’ve started compiling a list of businesses – the Small Grains Business Directory – that buy small grains around the region. For farmers close to those markets, selling to one of

Because the markets for small grains require that farmers produce good yields, but also good grain quality, storage is particularly important. Fortunately, most farmers that raise corn and soybeans usually have the equipment and facilities on their farm to keep small grains in good condition after harvest. In this episode, PFI members share some of their experiences with small grains handling, cleaning and storage. Small Grains Storage One thing that makes oats different from other crops is the “sweat” stage post-harvest. “Oats will naturally go through what’s called a sweat, they get hot,” says Ron Rosmann of Harlan, after the crops are harvested. Ensuring they can somehow breathe during that time period helps ensure that those oats don’t spoil. One way that was accomplished historically was by storing them in wooden bins. Today, if they are being stored in metal bins, proper aeration is critical. “I will absolutely put air on them every time,” says Wade Dooley of Albion, “because I don’t want to have ho

When it comes to small grains, Iowa farmers have many different opinions on the best time and method to harvest the crops. Unlike with corn and soybeans, there’s a choice to be made: should you swath/windrow or directly combine the small grains standing? Depending on the year, weather conditions and the equipment available on-farm, this may be a choice, or only one of the two options may be available. In this episode of Rotationally Raised, PFI members weigh in on this, as well as harvest timing and how to fine-tune your combine to more efficiently harvest small grains. Small Grains Harvest Wade Dooley of Albion says that he started looking at swathing because he wanted to improve not only the quality of the grain, but the quality of the straw. “The straw quality is usually a little higher,” he says, “because you’ve cut it when there was a little bit of life left in it, so it dries down closer to hay.” He says it just holds together better going through the combine, and then makes nice bales that end up ma

Pretty much all farmers that grow corn and soybeans can tell you what each of those crops looks like at V6. But do you know the growth stages of small grains? Just as with corn and soybeans, understanding the growth and development of oats, wheat, barley, rye or triticale is just as important when it comes to raising a successful crop. Knowing where a plant is along the growth curve will allow you to better able to manage fertility, disease, and ultimately know when it’s time to harvest. In this week’s episode of Rotationally Raised, Iowa State University graduate researcher David Weisberger walks us through the growth stages of the oat plant, and several PFI farmers talk about how they manage fertility and disease in their crops. Crop Protection As with most crops, small grains suffer from many diseases, from crown rust in oats, to fusarium head blight in wheat, to ergot in rye. Those are a few of the big ones, but there are many others, and it can take a little research to understand the diseases that ca

With corn planters, uniformity in depth and spacing both within and between rows is a precise science. With small grains (at least in Iowa), equipment with that precision isn’t really available or affordable (we’re not talking about singulation in oats, for example). Most Iowa farmers are either using conventional or no-till drills, or broadcasting seed and then incorporating it. This week, we zero in on when to plant, how to deep to plant, and why having a firm seedbed is so important with small grains. Seed to Soil In this episode, “Planting II: Seed to Soil,” PFI members from around the state share their perspectives on planting date, seed bed preparation and planting depth. In general, everyone agrees that it’s important to get spring small grains planted as soon as possible. Depending on soil moisture conditions, that could be anywhere from early to mid-March in southern Iowa, to late March and early April in the northern half of the state. “If the frost is out of the ground, and the topsoil is dry,

Once you decide where small grains fit best into your rotation and choose a variety, it’s time to plant. Planting population is one of the most important things for farmers new to small grains to think about. In Iowa, most farmers talk about small grains seeding rates in terms of “pounds per acre” or “bushels per acre.” However, the number of seeds in a given pound of grain can vary significantly in small grains, meaning that one bushel of oats may have quite a few more or less seeds than another. Calibrate to Populate In this episode, “Planting I: Calibrate to Populate,” David Weisberger, a student in Iowa State University’s Graduate Program for Sustainable Agriculture, shares his on-farm research with PFI members focused on oat planting population and explains why it’s important to calibrate your grain drill. He’s interviewed dozens of small grains growers, and says that knowing exactly how many seeds you plant means that you can make management decisions with more accuracy when comparing yields over mul

Once you decide to grow small grains on your farm, you have a few decisions to make: what species will I grow?  Oats, wheat, barley, rye, triticale? And how should they fit into your rotation? Should they follow corn or soybeans? And once I choose a small grain, what variety should I grow? In this week’s episode of Rotationally Raised, “What to Plant: Where and Why” we hear from PFI members around the state on how small grains fit into their crop rotation and how to choose a variety that works for your farm. Variety Selection Resources When it comes to choosing an oat variety, Practical Farmers has been working with Iowa State University for the last couple years to test oat varieties in northern Iowa. You can see those results in this research report and also, check out a blog from Sarah Carlson discussing those results. When it comes to other small grains, you’ll need to go out of the state to find variety trials, and we’ve compiled those results from nearby states as well. Practical Farmers has been workin

Science can do more than develop new technology to improve crop productivity. It can also teach us lessons that can enable us to save money. By adding additional crops — and in some cases livestock — to their farming operations, many farmers across the state have been able to reduce the amount of purchased inputs they rely on. With decreased reliance on purchased inputs comes independence. For many PFI members, that ability to independently make decisions about their farms and lives is a big reason why they’re farmers. Episode 2 of Rotationally Raised, “Freedom from Inputs,” goes to the roots of Practical Farmers of Iowa – conducting on-farm research to reduce input costs and take better care of our land and communities. Side-by-side comparisons were what got PFI started in the first place, back in the farm crisis of the 1980s. That tradition of strips trials, started by PFI co-founder Dick Thompson, has been carried on by Matt Liebman in his work at Iowa State University’s Marsden Farm over the past 15 years

Over the past few years, more and more farmers have been growing small grains again, and even more want to find ways to grow them on their farm. At Practical Farmers of Iowa, we’ve been trying to help with that process. Starting with the first episode “Small Grains: A Revival” – you can learn more about small grains, from the benefits of adding diversity to your crop rotations to growing, harvesting and marketing the crops. Like everything else we do, this series is farmer-led. The podcast is a result of extensive interviews with PFI farmers – young and old, organic and conventional, and from every corner of the state. We also talked with a couple scientists at Iowa State who are avid PFI supporters and focus their careers on diversified rotations and small grains research. At the same time, we know that there are two big barriers to adding a third crop like small grains to corn and soybean rotations: markets and knowledge about growing the crops. Our members have hosted field days, led workshops and conf