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With roots in Brookings, South Dakota, Millborn Seeds helps bring to life healthy vegetation across the midwestern landscape. |
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Duxbury Update
We continued developing forage plans with Dale this past winter. 2010 projects are well under way and include the following items: Spring Triticale was direct seeded into the brassica residue left over from last fall's seeding. The plan with this field is to bale the forage off in early July and then reseed to a diverse cover crop/grazing mixture to meet late fall and early winter feed needs. The summer-seeded mixture is being incentivized by the NRCS as part of the EQIP Cover Crop Program, which we encouraged Dale to sign up for. Dale seeded a mixture of Spring Triticale and Forage Peas into the brome field that we seeded the cover crop mixture into last summer. This is a particularly challenging field with very gravely soil types. His plan is to bale high tonnage forage off of this piece while continuing to burn through more brome residue, and also fixing Nitrogen in the soil to enhance our planned seeding of a perennial warm season pasture mixture next spring. Depending on weather conditions and other factors, we may or may not seed millet into the field following spring forage harvest. "By doing what the team at Millborn Seeds suggested I absolutely increased my grazing season last year," Dale says. "I look forward to increasing my forage production even more this year." If you are interested in learning more about how you can increase your grazing season and forage production, contact our forage specialist, Justin Fruechte, 1-888-498-7333 or e-mail justinf@millbornseeds.com . To read the article which introduced Dale Duxbury and the cover crop project, visit our Web site, click on newsletters, and read the August 2009 issue. We will continue to follow Dale Duxbury's project this growing season. You don't have to wait for the monthly newsletter to find out what we've been up to. Follow your specialists throughout the month on Twitter or on our blog. |
TLC for Calving Pastures
You have options. If you're looking to renovate your calving pasture AND increase available forage this summer, Millborn Seeds offers valuable options. If the primary goal is to renovate your calving pasture, consider Millborn Calving Pasture Mix. Selected and bred to withstand overgrazing and hoof traffic, the mixture of sod forming grass species which make up our Millborn Calving Pasture Mix will completely renovate the calving pasture. Work the soil and plant this month if there is adequate moisture. Please contact me with any questions you may have on renovating your calving pasture and increasing forages this grazing season, 1-888-498-7333 or e-mail justinf@millbornseeds.com. |
The Science of Planting Steve Bierle, understands this well. As the owner of Professional Habitat Development, he spends hundreds of hours installing habitat for his customers. "Planting native grass and other native species of seed is much different than planting corn, soybeans or wheat," says Bierle, from the seat of his tractor. As we visit he's drilling grass seed into wheat stubble. "Corn, soybean and wheat seeds are clean, hard seeds that are very easy to plant because of their weight and mass. Grass seed requires specifically calibrated equipment because of the large variety in seed sizes and weights." "We use specialized equipment that can handle a variety of weights and sizes. Some native grass seeds are really tiny - about the size of a pin head - which makes them difficult to control," says Bierle, who adds that small seeds require a shallow planting depth of a 1/2-inch or less.
Bierle says a firm seed bed is best when needing to achieve the shallow planting depth. "The firmer the seed bed the better - I plant in a lot of no-till beans or corn stubble," says Bierle, who compensates for visibility issues by using GPS and auto-steer technology. Even with specialized equipment, calibrating the drill to accurately plant native seed species requires experience and skill. "Many guys don't spend much time planting grass seed. There is a big learning curve to calibrate it just right so the right amount of seeds are applied per acre," he says. The fact that many native seed species come with chaff attached presents another challenge to planter calibration. This is why Bierle purchases all his clients' seed from us. "The fluff attached to many native seeds makes them difficult to clean. We only work with Millborn Seeds because they spend the extra time to clean the seed and remove all the fluff attached," Bierle says. "This allows us to be very, very accurate with our seed calibration." Note to our Customers: Because Millborn Seeds spends the time ensuring our quality seed is conditioned thoroughly, landowners can plant our seed using a traditional no-till grain drill. If you need help calibrating your planter, please contact me - I spend many hours each summer helping landowners like you calibrate their planters. Any other questions on planting your native grass seed, please contact me, 1-888-498-7333 or e-mail jasont@millbornseeds.com. |
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The heavy hoof traffic and overgrazing that often occurs during calving season can leave your calving pasture in need of repair.
MILLBORN SEEDS | 1335 Western Avenue | Brookings, SD 57006 | P: 605-697-6306 | TF: 888-498-7333 | F: 888-471-1706 |