Let it Begin
Like the beginning of a car or foot race, or the start of a long trip - the preparations are nearly complete. Farmers have serviced and repaired their windrowers, combines, and field trucks. They’ve worked to empty out their barns, prepared their cleaning facilities, and are now only working on the final touches before they “drop the crop.” Temporary labor has been hired, some last minute field inspections and weed removal will still take place, but for the most part, they are lining up waiting for the sound of the starter’s pistol. Pulses rise. Excitement is in the air. “GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES!” It’s harvest time in the Willamette Valley! - let it begin!
New Tetrapliod Perennial Ryegrass
We will have a new tetraploid perennial ryegrass available this year. Payday has been bred for improved rust resistance and medium-late maturity. These two characteristics make Payday a variety you will want to consider as part of your forage offerings. As you may know, rust not only reduces forage yield and quality, it also is a big turn-off to grazing animals. It frankly tastes nasty! Improved rust resistances means longer-stand life, higher yields, and better gains for grazing animals, including those consuming harvested feed in forms of hay and silage. Better rust resistance equals a better Payday!
Additionally, Payday’s maturity is not so late that it becomes difficult or costly to produce as a seed crop for Oregon growers. This means you should be able to count on having Payday available year-after-year. Yet, it is also not too early, meaning it has a greater ability to be used in combination with other species. Book your Payday now and look for more information soon at www.SmithSeed.com
Many Reasons to NitroCoat Cover Crops
Its time for many of you to start promoting and booking cover crops. If you are like most, you expect this year to be as good, if not better than last year. As more folks get involved in this valuable soil and crop practice, more are looking at not just “doing cover crops” but doing them right.
With legumes, one significant objective is fixating as much nitrogen as possible in the shortest window of time. In order to do that, legumes must have the correct Rhizobium and lots of it!Planting non-inoculated legumes at minimum is limiting these legumes potential, and maybe simply throwing money away. Inoculating with the wrong or outdated Rhizobium is a common error. Uncoated, pre-inoculated seed is better than not inoculating, but is subject to many Rhizobium losses related to storage, handling and knock-off through the drill.
The best option to ensure the highest number of the correct live Rhizobium is to use Nitro-Coated® seed. The Nitro-Coat® process is unlike any other coated seed process, providing consistent, high live-count Rhizobium on every seed in a protected environment that is also very convenient to both you and the farmer. If you are selling cover crops, and want to deliver the best potential for success, make sure they are coated and inoculated with Nitro-Coat®.
Nitro-Coat® is available on all our legumes as well as offered as a custom service for those distributors having or acquiring their own legumes. We are confident that both you and your customers will be impressed. Contact us or visit NitroCoat.com to learn more.
