# Illinois Farmers Increase Tillage in 2017.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Conventional back on the rise....AgWeb.

Regards, Mike

https://www.agweb.com/article/illinois-farmers-tilled-more-acres-this-year-naa-sonja-begemann/


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Here I expect to see an increase in tillage next year. We had a dreary rainy ,, record lack of sunshine for 40 days end of April and most of May . Guys who had it plowed could harrow it dry and plant . Lack of sun made SLUGS a major problem . Conventional Tillage looked the best and will yield the best , in many places here, this year . . But that is just 1 year in 10. Where I farm and for that matter probably 60% of our state , any ground tilled will ALWAYS result in massive soil loss ...... Soil loss here Never pays the top soil is just too precious and shallow to wash it away . Slugs are becoming more of a problem in NOTILL I would admit .


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

We had a pretty dry summer, our no-till looks better than most anything save the stuff under pivot. Of course there are pockets where it looks mediocre but all in all no-till has been a money maker for me. I don't have enough spare time for tillage.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I think what the article showed was one size does not fit for all. Some areas, some seasons, no-till is best or conventional tillage is best. You cannot blanket statement agriculture and everyone get the same results.

Regards, Mike


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Going to try some verticale tillage


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

endrow said:


> Going to try some verticale tillage


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

stack em up said:


> We had a pretty dry summer, our no-till looks better than most anything save the stuff under pivot. Of course there are pockets where it looks me
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

No till is not something you jump in and out of. The longer you do it, the better it gets and cover crops make it that much better. Just read an article on an Illinois farmer that has been using ryegrass cover crop and no till for 20'years. He has went from 20 bpa below county average to 30 above on corn.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Vol said:


> I think what the article showed was one size does not fit for all. Some areas, some seasons, no-till is best or conventional tillage is best. You cannot blanket statement agriculture and everyone get the same results.
> 
> Regards, Mike


This is very true. And I've become tired of no till this and that is the only way to go. It really depends on what you are doing/growing and your area. I guess a couple of our grass hay fields are no till. They've been grass for over 40 years. Yay I'm a no tiller! But uh oh. I'm tilling up one grass field that has been grass for 18 years and hasn't been deep tilled for 22 years Why? Because that field sucks and I've become tired of flood irrigating it every 1.5 weeks in the summer and not getting much production out of it past first cutting. So I've disked it twice. Gonna rip it deep to break the hard pan that is underneath that caused a newly alfalfa field 20 years ago to die out early. I'm going to plant alfalfa in that field and am hoping to flood irrigate once a cutting. Am I worried about soil loss? Nope not here. What about cover crops? From what I read I would have to sacrifice a whole season here to use that method. We just harvest to late in the fall to get anything to grow after corn harvest, hay harvest. After wheat would work for cover crops though. And then next spring I'm going to drill orchard/brome into a thinning alfalfa field and hope for the best. It's under pivot. I ripped it 5 years ago. So I guess I be a no tiller for that field for quite some time. So I figure after next spring I hope to not till anything for the next 6-7 years and only then maybe alfalfa to rotate out for a year. I guess corn and row crops is different then hay also. Since if you are tilling you are tilling every single year. If you are going no till with row crops you better jump in for the long haul like haybaler101 says. Not one year till and one year not.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I rip my bean ground on some farms.And other farms I don't touch it.Different soils!!


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Vertical


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## woodland (May 23, 2016)

endrow said:


> Vertical


How do you like it and what else besides corn ground do you use it on? Only a couple of those in my area and they'd probably be more common if not so pricey.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

woodland said:


> How do you like it and what else besides corn ground do you use it on? Only a couple of those in my area and they'd probably be more common if not so pricey.


Yep this is a rental $50k is pricy . Only ran what you see in the picture . Want to get it behind combine in 200++ bpa corn


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