Deep Ripping & Seeding Alfalfa

[@thetasigma590]

Hiring from within is great for moral too! Loyal employees = successful business.

[@stakman78]

Yes a business is only as good as it's employee's. Its normally the name on the door that gets dragged through the mud tho.

[@spideybrent]

Hello from Saskatchewan, Canada great videos thanks for sharing

[@stakman78]

Hey Trevor, great vid. Awesome showing things for people. You are very good with your staff, too patient at times. In my 25 years teaching employees, ive always said, one thing you cannot teach is experience. And theres no sustitute. That 6 metre would be perfect and remember mate that with modern equipment you have section control. Come on dad. Get GPS. So that H2a visa is on my way or what?

[@thr8061]

Brillion WI is about 40 miles from us. My BIL has an old grain drill with large steel wheels with wooden spokes and a long hitch pole which probably was used to hook up horses. It is over 100 y/o but it still works great for drilling oats & seeding alfalfa.

[@dbruzer]

It would be nice on one of these videos to show a close up of the seedbed and how the seed actually gets covered

[@davidmicalizio824]

Glad you're checking the seed this time.

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

Lol. Between the 3 managers, you’d expect one of us to. Right??

[@rushhookhornadventures20]

Those brillion drill are stout machines dude!!

[@christopherdrayer1426]

Great videos Trevor! Love watching your videos and how different things are from the north to the south! Keep up the great work!

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

Thank you!!

[@hvy1ton]

I know several guys in SE Idaho moving bales with a backhoe. If you find one with a coupler on the front, it can be backup machine when it's not doing backhoe things.

[@dtstarlingfarms1245]

Those Brillion drills are great little machines👍🏻🤙🏻

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

They sure are.

[@ollie-lk5dx]

I think that was good advice, I'm sure they will do a good job.

[@noelobst284]

Gooday from Victoria Australia. You should have a musical note for each of your squeeze levers. It would play an interesting tune. Stay safe.

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

That’s funny. I like it!!

[@jimconnor8274]

Thanks for sharing. back east. the Hourigan Family Dairy uses spring tooth attachment with tubes on the back of the teeth behind the manure spreader tanks. They inject the manure into the ground.Then chisel disk. Check Farming Fixing and Fabricating. Andy has a nice channel.

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

That set up sounds pretty cool! I’ll head over!

[@colemartin9077]

I think the drill is badass 😎 had one just like it worked awesome.

[@peanutsmith1462]

I’m a firm believer in taking care of your employees and they will take care of you

[@SPwaterwells]

What slope do you level your fields??? How long are the runs? And what width between the borders?

[@agroGiann]

Good afternoon from Greece. May i ask you how you preparing the field step by step and what was the previous crop before alfalfa? We are sowing alfalfa most of the time after 3-4 year of corn. We are ploughing the field, lacer leveling if its uneven, deep ripping for deep loosening, power harrowing for good seedbed and after that we are sowing. From the vid if i am not mistaken land is pretty solid. Do you press rolling the field before planting? Thank you

[@dgill2516]

Great videos man love to see farming is done in other parts of the world we seed alfalfa after irrigating land for moisture how do you people do for germination it seems very dry

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

Germination is great. Very high %. We’ll flood irrigate that fiend the next day. Then get water on it again before the ground dries up.

[@ronhuvenaars8035]

Question for you Trevor. I am wonder why your borders are so large. With the water not likely to go higher than say 3 inches. would not a 6 inch border be more than high enough? We used to flood, pivots now, never had a lazer level. really impressed by the way you have the land sloped and leveled .

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

Hey, great question. Because the ground is so flat. And when the hay gets established, and the water is displaced, the water rises. Add gophers to the mix, and time. It’s best to build them big now, rather than smaller and constantly fixing them.

[@farly1428]

Hey can you make a video of making borders? Thanks for sharing!

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

I think there is on somewhere. I got good drone footage of it. I need to do shorter, more specific videos.

[@brians9633]

Schmeiser put of Tulare ca has a 5 and 7 shake ripper with optional clod buster they are 3 point so the 7 shank you better bring your big boy tractor for that

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

Oh I bet!!

[@thr8061]

Just wondering if you lose traction for deep ripping when you disc the surface? Here in WI, we spread or inject our manure, then deep rip, and disc after to smooth things out. I am only wondering and not complaining/judging {other YT watchers - not you Trevor}.

[@Man_Of_My_Word]

most of the time tractors out here that are doing DEEP(30"-36")(48") or HEAVY Stubble disc tillage are Maxed out on weight. 120-130lbs per horsepower. dried dairy or feedlot pen pack is what is the most commonly manure used in Arizona. I only know of a liquid manure being used in limited amounts. any further questions don't hesitate to ask.

[@adamwagner1987]

Funny that I just got off our backhoe and your talking about backhoes 🤔

[@timspicer3270]

😊

[@kentwisco2113]

Trevor- Why do you have such tall borders? You have said you only put 2-3 inches on water in each field and the borders are much higher. Does that cost you more to get them higher?

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

It has more to do with the longevity of the border. And once plant is established, the water rises in the border.

[@TheGsellers]

Sweet planter! can I borrow it?

[@julianbullert559]

If you have a horsch dealer near you should try the horsch Tiger. It would be perfect for you need.

[@BGG178]

👎

[@jamesheaslip7465]

Do you guys have a fairly intensive soil fertility plan with the amount of forage crops you grow?

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

Yes. Our PCA keeps up with that. Testing the soil yearly.

[@churlburt8485]

Could you pull a ring roller behind your current ripper?

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

I want to!

[@AbesNbacon]

Hey Trever. Oh wow hold on a squirrel ran by. Get back to you later.

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

I’m terrible. My attention is all over the place. But the. Again, there is always a lot going on…

[@nosk1984]

Can't you put some good size boulders infront of your irrigation pipes so the water doesn't washout all your dirt along with some heavy duty plastic. Just asking

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

We would have to pour concrete at the opening. If we just put boulders, the water would still make a big hole, but with big boulders in it.

[@youngfarmersa7153]

There's a backhoe implement that you can attach to a tractor...

[@Spiked2005]

Why don’t you have a catchment box on the end of the culvert to stop the erosion of soils

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

@@Spiked2005 great question. It will erode on the other side of the box. It’s a volume issue. With that amount of volume, it’s going to erode.

[@Spiked2005]

That can be dealt with using aggregate to protect the soils, just a thought. Thank you for the prompt reply

[@andrewl7467]

Do you pre water? With cold runoff water from the mountains in the spring, odds are it would effect germ. Being from the Midwest, flood irrigation amazes me. Work for a company that raises dry beans in Idaho and that first trip out there was interesting to see how you guys do it.

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

We do not. We don’t have cold run off. It’s warm by the time we pump it.

[@caryntemplar6801]

If you take over office duties does that mean less or no videos? 😢

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

Better videos. I won’t be stuck in a squeeze all the time.

[@FuelMan]

Take the seed that is contaminated with rocks and spread it with A slinger spreaderLike you would fertilizer

[@frankbuoni1804]

Do you plant Roundup ready well it’s $12.00 a pound so that may be why you used it.

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

We do not. We make our own seed.

[@frankbuoni1804]

@@BalesHayFarmandRanch really? We haven’t planted conventional seed In over 20 years.

[@jamesheaslip7465]

@@frankbuoni1804 I sell seed at work and we basically only grow conventional alfalfa, mind you were not a huge hay area but it’s really hard to get guys to grow the fancy traited stuff for $12/lb when common is half the price and just takes a little more management

[@juliochavez3976]

What variety of alfalfa do you plant?

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

It’s unknown. We’ve been growing our own seed for 20 plus years. We wanted something that handles heat and salt. So with every generation of new plants, we’re hoping they adapt that much better.

[@tannerotto8158]

Hi

[@SlipShodBob]

I was going to tease and say something like it couldn't be older than you as wheels hadn't been invented then I remembered I'm either a little older or about the same age 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@dallashandcfarms7017]

I had gotten me a backhoe to save me money.

[@billykimball1614]

👍👍👍👍👍👊✌🚜😋

[@nebbarlamine54]

Why deep ripping 😮

[@taurus4205]

Better than the bs mnmillenial has had to deal with.

[@mbailey12341]

Why on earth are you ripping so deep?? I would think that would be destroying so much soil biology, especially your fungal networks 😢

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

It does the opposite. It supples o2, allows water to penetrate easier, after 4 to 5 years of compaction, it’s desperately needed. Every year we drive over a field 10+ cuttings. That’s a swather, rake, baler, and bale wagon 10 times a year! Not to mention the sprayer several times. Some places don’t have the compaction problem that we have.

[@mbailey12341]

@@BalesHayFarmandRanch what type of soil profile do you have? I thought it looked sandy but what you’re describing sounds like heavy clay. If you took a soil compaction probe when we bought this place, there were 2 hard pan layers that showed up. Now my wife can go out there and shove a 4 foot probe all the way in (the ground 😜) with virtually no effort. Wheat made 112 bushels per acre this year. I didn’t spray 2-4D or fungicide. Only put 30# calcium nitrate and some high calcium lime down for the wheat. Neighbors put 100# actual N , sprayed 2-4D and fungicide and theirs made 80. I love seeing all the earthworms and mycorrhizal fungi in our soil now. Sometimes you got to work with nature and not against her 👍. If your soil is heavy, ever tried pattern tiling? Costs a lot up front but helps take excess moisture out and also helps with aeration. Anerobic soil conditions are a killer👎

[@donaldtayloe4406]

Don't undercut yourself planting needs some editing but definitely not bad content

[@dbruzer]

It would be nice on one of these videos to show a close up of the seedbed and how the seed actually gets covered

[@BalesHayFarmandRanch]

This August!!