Growing anything is a cycle, circular in nature, so we have to pick an arbitrary point to start. Generally, we run a two-year rotation, with corn one year, soybeans the next, then corn again. We'll start with spring in the corn year.
We start in the spring as soon as the ground is dry enough to work without excessive clodding. We will usually be starting with soybean stubble, that is, the residue of soybean plants, that has not been tilled following harvest. Sometimes we plant corn after corn or corn after alfafa.
First, we disk any areas that were plowed or that have corn or alfalfa stubble. The soybean stubble we leave alone.
Second, we apply nitrogen fertilizer in the form of liquid anhydrous ammonia. This product is 82% nitrogen, and we apply enough to get about 140 pounds of nitrogen in the soil. The exact amount depends on the ground, with the highest-yielding ground getting more nitrogen. It also depends on the prior year crop. If the prior year crop was corn, more nitrogen is used; if it was alfalfa, less is used.
Third, we use a field cultivator to get a smooth, even seedbed.
In some areas we may spray a preplant grass control herbicide. Whether or not this is done depends on the seriousness of weed problems in a particular field and whether or not we plan to cultivate. If we do apply a preplant herbicide, we incorporate it with another field cultivator pass. Weeds tend to be worst around the edges of the fields, so sometimes we just spray the outside of the field and leave the center without spray.
Then we plant. The planter places seeds about every 8" in the ground, a little more than 1" deep. We adjust the spacing depending on the corn hybrid and quality of the ground. The planter can also apply starter fertilizer and chemicals, if needed. We apply a 9-15-30 starter fertilizer at 100 pounds per acre in areas that are lower in phosphorus and potash according to the soil tests.
We try to get in the field to cultivate when the plants are around 6" tall. This is primarily for weed control. At this point weeds have begun to germinate but have not emerged from the soil.
Sometimes we can't cultivate because of rainy weather. We may have to delay cultivation until after spraying in some cases.
We are hiring out our spraying this year. Our equipment is older and not as precise as the equipment available today. It also lacks the safety features of newer equipment. Precision is important in chemical application, because weeds grow in any areas missed and in some cases overlapping spray patterns can injure the corn.
This spray pass is primarily for control of broadleaf weeds. A product is used that will kill any broadleaf weeds that have emerged, and will also provide residual weed control for another couple weeks. By that time the corn will be large enough to have a closed canopy, meaning that there will be enough leaves on it that sunlight won't get to the ground. Once the canopy has closed, weeds can't compete with the corn and don't pose an economic threat.
Now we just watch for three months and hope for good weather.
Some of the corn is chopped for silage. This is done with a forage chopper, which chops the entire corn plant into pieces no more than 1/2" long. The chopped corn is put in a silo where it will be stored until we are ready to feed it to the cows during the winter.
The rest of our corn is harvested with a combine, which shells the corn as it goes through the field. The grain is hauled to town in trucks, and sold.
Our ground is flat and not susceptible to erosion, so we plow with a moldboard plow as soon as we are done harvesting.
The next spring this ground will be planted in soybeans. Soybeans require warm soil, so we wait until we are done planting the cornfields before we start on soybeans.
First, any corn stubble that didn't get plowed last fall for whatever reason gets disked so that the cornstalks won't clog the cultivator.
Then the plowed ground is smoothed with a field cultivator. We pick up any rocks that we see, time permitting. Rocks are readily picked up by the combine when harvesting beans, and can do thousands of dollars of damage.
Two passes are used on bumpy areas, since any bumps will complicate harvest.
This year we are planting non-GMO beans and have decided to use a preplant herbicide as our sole form of weed control. The herbicide is sprayed on the bare ground by the elevator, and a shallow pass with the field cultivator incorporates it into the top couple inches of soil.
Beans are planted using a planter. We use the same planter we use for corn, although it is set differently and plants a bean seed about every two inches. Many farmers have switched to special bean drills that plant narrower rows. We did for a while but are unsure that there is any lasting benefit.
Time and weather permitting, we make a cultivator pass when the beans are small.
Beans are ready for harvest in late September. All our beans are harvested using a combine. The grain is hauled to the elevator and sold.
The bean stubble is left in place over the winter. The following spring the cycle starts over and we plant corn.
In some cases oats and alfalfa are part of the rotation, as well. The oats and alfalfa are planted together using a grain drill. Ordinarily, no chemicals or fertilizer is used. Oats are the first thing we plant in the spring.
The oats are ready in late summer. The oats are cut and swathed, and allowed to dry a couple days before being combined. The grain is hauled to town and sold, and the straw is baled. Some years the straw is sold from the field and hauled to another farm. Other years we stack it in our barn for our own use.
The oats grow rapidly and have prevented any weeds from becoming established. By now, the alfafa is growing vigorously enough that it can compete with weeds by itself.
Usually we can get one cutting of alfafa hay the year the alfalfa is planted. It is cut and swathed, and allowed to dry for two or three days before being baled.
Small, square bales (actually rectangular in shape) are used when the hay will be handled by hand. Large, round bales are used when the hay will be moved by a tractor and fed outside.
An alfala stand will produce for three years or more before we plow it down and plant corn.