Cover Crops

Cattle grazing rye cover crop

Nebraska Extension Provides New Cover Crop Grazing Conference Nov. 16

October 25, 2021
A new expo by Nebraska Extension will help first-time or experienced farmers looking to fine-tune their cover crop grazing management utilizing cover crops as an alternative forage source.

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baled corn

Pasture and Forage Minute: Overgraze Pastures Now to Prep for Interseeding Legumes Next Spring

September 22, 2021
This week, Extension Educator Ben Beckman explains how to produce nitrogen in a pasture by interseeding legumes — plus, a review on testing hay for its quality and baling corn stalks for forage.

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Sunflower and turnip field

Plants for Fallow Summer Periods

September 1, 2021
Many warm-season cover crop species are available and can be used for different purposes in fallow fields, such as improving soil health, breaking up soil compaction, providing forage and supporting beneficial insects.

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Rye cover crop in corn
Rye in continuous corn April 19, 2018 at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Education Center near Mead. (CropWatch file photo)

Cover Crop Field Day Scheduled for Sept. 7 in Nemaha County

August 24, 2021
Nebraska Extension, NRCS and SARE are sponsoring an in-person Cover Crop Field Day on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021 at the Daryl Obermeyer Farm in Nemaha County.

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Corn silage
Photo by Jerry Volesky

Pasture and Forage Minute: Corn Silage Strategies

August 19, 2021
With corn silage harvest nearing, extension educators review the highlights of harvest timing and storage, and why an early harvest provides a great opportunity to plant cover crops.

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Farmland
Carly Whitmore, Indiana NRCS (Flickr/Public Domain)

A Historical Look at Cropping Practices for Carbon Sequestration

August 19, 2021
If passed, the Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 would pave the way toward better assistance for farmers interested in participating in a voluntary environmental credit market, including land or soil carbon sequestration.

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cover crops

Using Cover Crops to Reduce Nitrate Leaching in the Waverly Wellhead Protection Area

August 3, 2021
Nebraska Extension research on growing cover crops to reduce nitrate leaching and improving soil resilience in Nebraska communities where groundwater nitrate concentration in municipal wells is rising.

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Homemade interseeder
Figure 1. In 2019 in York County (left), the grower built his own interseeder and tested a nitrogen mix (4 lb/ac crimson clover, 3 lb/ac red clover, 2 lb/ac yellow sweet clover, 4 lb/ac Winterhawk annual ryegrass, 1.5 lb/ac impact forage collards, 1.5 lb/ac Trophy rapeseed) vs. diversity mix (2 lb/ac red clover, 2.5 lb/ac Hubam white seed clover, 4 lb/ac Winterhawk annual ryegrass, 1 lb/ac purple top turnip, 3 lb/ac golden flax, 0.5 lb/ac phacelia Angelia, 0.5 lb/ac chicory) interseeded at V5-V6 corn vs. check treatment. Seward County (right), a Hagie was used to broadcast interseed 10 lb/ac red clover and 5 lb/ac buckwheat into V6 corn vs. check treatment.

Results from Interseeding Cover Crops into Corn or Soybean

May 12, 2021
A summary of the studies conducted via Nebraska On-Farm Research and Soybean Management Field Days on interseeding cover crops into living corn and soybean.

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