Winter moisture, conservation tillage keys to successful Sorghum

By Jennifer M. Latzke

Jerry Hill's Sorghum fields are covered in snow, and lots of it. There's a layer of ice covered by 3 to 5 inches of snow, and it's all staying put on his fields.

For a strip-tiller in the heart of drought country, this is a most welcome sight.

After seven years of increasing drought, farmers in the Hoxie, Kan., area are calling the winter of 2006 to 2007 a drought-buster. Since December 2006, the northwestern corner of the state has received large amounts of rain, snow, ice and all manner of winter precipitation.

"After Christmas, we had about 2 to 3 inches of rain, then a major ice storm and then two more big snowstorms," Hill said. "No one quite remembers a winter like this. Most folks in the area haven't seen something like this since 1957 or 1948." It's snowed so much in six weeks that the fields in the Hoxie area were still covered with several inches of snow and ice as of Feb. 22. A day or so later another major winter storm blew through the area, dropping several more inches of snow and ice on fields that have yet to melt.

"It's trying to melt quickly, but the ground has become saturated and it's starting to run off in the ditches," Hill said.

After three years of a hard drought, Hill won't complain too much. However, it still poses some challenges to a Sorghum producer, like Hill and his brother Larry Hill.

Sorghum works well in rotation

More often than not the Hill brothers have to manage their 12 irrigated circles and 4,000 to 5,000 acres of dryland to conserve what precious little precipitation has fallen in their area. Grain Sorghum has always fit well in the Hill crop rotation, especially since it's highly tolerant of low moisture conditions, but will perform well under irrigation.

"We usually plant Sorghum on circles that have less water because it seems that it lasts better through the stress periods than corn," Hill said. A rotation of Sorghum and sunflowers has been particularly productive for the family.

The Hills have been farming in the Hoxie area for more than 30 years, both returning back to the family farm in the 1970s. The brothers farmed with their father until he died in 1996. Like most northwestern Kansas farmers, the Hills raise corn, soybeans, and sunflowers in addition to grain sorghum.

But, the Hills have a special affinity for grain sorghum.

"Dad always liked milo," Hill said. "It's a crop that's always surprising you. Last summer we had a hail storm that took out a lot of crop land, but we had one field of Sorghum that was up about 5 inches when the hail came through." Hill said that same field ended up recovering and eventually turned out to be a prize-winning field in the National Sorghum Producers Yield and Management Contest in 2006.

Prize-winning crop

The NSP contest scores contestants' yields against the National Agricultural Statistics Services five-year county average for their area. Hill Farms, Inc., received the national first place in the reduced till, irrigated category. Their crop of Pioneer 84G62 yielded a whopping 166 bushels, compared to the Sheridan County average of 82 bushels.

"We had no idea that we could win the contest," Hill said. "We were just out to give it a try. It was a total surprise, especially since it was our first year entering."

The winning Sorghum field was always really productive, he added. "We planted that circle of irrigated Sorghum onto flower stalks," Hill said. "The field was pre-watered and had very good wells, so we went ahead and planted at a high seeding rate." The plot was planted at 83,300 seeds per acre.

The Hills actually planted the Pioneer variety along with two other brands to see which produced the best in a small test. Ironically, Hill is a sales representative for Sorghum Partners hybrids, a competing brand.

"They're great hybrids and we expect it to beat Pioneer half of the time," Hill said. He added that next year he hopes to prove the merits of his Sorghum Partners hybrids in another test plot.

Choosing a hybrid is just as important as the management techniques used on the field. Hill looks for high-yielding Sorghum varieties with good head exertion and a maturity range that won't extend into the winter months. "I like a pretty milo, too," he added. The Hills raise only bronze varieties of sorghum, preferring them to white and cream varieties.

Conservation and technology

Even with such overwhelming winter precipitation, the Hills know that water conservation will always be important to their area. In the long term, they know that Sorghum will help them conserve ground water for the future.

"We've been a little short lately on water," Hill said. "We're to a point where we'd just about given up on dryland. We're thinking about planting more wheat-summer fallow rotations now. But, with this winter moisture, we might just change our minds." Winter snows or not, Hill knows that the best long term management for his fields is to conserve as much moisture as possible. That's why the brothers practice strip tillage and use RTK precision technology for greater field accuracy.

"We drive precisely where we need to be in the field with RTK guidance," Hill said. "We tried precision ag technology once before a long time ago without much luck, but the new technology out now makes it work much better and easier for us." The Hills use an Orthman 1tRIPr, a pre-plant tillage tool that can clear a 2-inch strip of stubble, place nutrients and prepare a seedbed in one pass.

Using RTK technology, the Hills can then follow the 1tRIPr with their planter and plant the seeds in the cleaned off strip. While it is possible to attach the planter to the 1tRIPr and complete everything in one pass, Hill explained that their soil conditions make it difficult to haul that much equipment through the field. Hill also uses the strip-till unit for fertilizing in the fall, with the field all prepared for planting in the spring. Because of their crop rotations, the Hills have some areas of high trash conditions, but with a little experimentation they've made strip tillage work for them.

These conservation efforts have paid off when you look at a strip-tilled field that's holding the snow cover. However, it might prove complicated in the spring after the snows melt and it's time to prepare for planting.

"We had a lot of snow come in and we might have some problems in the spring," Hill said. The snow, as it has sat on the fields, has compressed the trash on the surface. It might prove to be a challenge to planting equipment in the spring to break through the layer of compressed trash, but Hill and his brother think their equipment can manage.

All they're waiting on is for spring to thaw out their fields so they can get in and plant crops. Like their neighbors they're biding their time with office work. But, for now the brothers are content to sit back and marvel at the much needed moisture--even if it causes a few muddy hassles.

"No one is complaining too much about the moisture," Hill said with a grin.

Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com.

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3/19/07

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Date: 3/16/07

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