From Harvest to Spring: How We Prepare Our Fields

By: Kellie Kennedy

Depending on the weather at our southeast Nebraska farm operation, once harvest is complete, we perform vertical tillage and in-line ripping on our soil. Vertical tillage is the practice of working the top four inches of soil with vertical tillage equipment pulled by a tractor. This method works the soil vertically rather than horizontally. Working the soil vertically helps break up horizontal layers that may have formed from equipment compaction. This practice can accelerate the decomposition of plant residue, add natural nutrients back into the soil, and establish a smooth seedbed for spring planting.

Some of our corn stalk fields have been aerially seeded with cover crops. These fields are not vertically tilled immediately after harvest, as we use them for grazing cattle. Utilizing the additional forage established by the cover crops is one of three reasons we plant cover crops. The other two reasons are weed suppression and improved soil health.

In both seeded cover crop fields and non-seeded fields, our operation uses an in-line ripper implement pulled by a tractor to narrowly slice open areas of the field and loosen horizontal layers that may have formed due to heavy equipment use during harvest. For example, compaction can occur where the combine, auger wagon, and trucks remain in the field for extended periods of time.