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DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT ZONES
ZONE Getting in the
Developing management zones focuses nutrients in appropriate areas
By Martha Blum AgriNews Publications
The goal for Jay Riddell is to equalize the cost per bushel for growing corn or soybeans across an entire field.
“Our goal is not to maximize yield or reduce inputs because in areas that we know we can raise 300-bushel corn, I expect to spend more per acre on that area of the field,” said Riddell who grows corn and soybeans on about 2,500 acres.
“I want my cost per bushel through all areas of the field to be the same,” he said during presentation at the Better Beans event hosted by the Illinois Soybean Association in Sycamore. “That’s what I consider to be a success.”
Riddell farms near Sparland and his family has raised Hereford cattle since 1916.
“We are three miles off the Illinois River and we have a lot of Class A soils all the way to timber soils,” he said. “I also farm near Putnam and that farm has good black sand all the way to blow sand and there is irrigation.”
All of Riddell’s acres are strip-tilled and he also develops management zones for his fields.
“We try to strip-till in the fall and we do run a little bit in the spring,” said Riddell, who also does custom strip-tilling. “We try to get the strip-till rig over 6,000 acres per year and this fall it did 5,000 acres.”
To start the process of developing management zones, Riddell gives each field a yield goal.
“We’ve had yield monitors for a long time, so we have 15 to 20 years of yield history,” he said. “We use soil types and variables like where there is pattern tile or irrigation.”
Each management zone within a field is assigned a percentage.
“If the field goal is 250 bushels and another area is 80% of that, then the yield goal for that area is 200 bushels,” Riddell said.
“I work with Progressive Ag Services for our consulting and they help me with prescriptions, setting up management zones and data processing,” he said.
“We hire our soil testing, tissue testing, aerial application and planting of cover crops. We try to handle the rest of the jobs including spraying and we apply the dry fertilizer through the strip-till rig.”
This machine has two 6-ton compartments.
“The potash is in one compartment and the DAP and elemental sulfur is a blend in the other compartment,” Riddell said. “We blend the products from the two compartments as we go across the field.”
Riddell works with seed dealers of several different brands.
“We talk about the hybrids they think will respond well to our management system,” he said. “I kick the numbers to Progressive and they make me a prescription for every variety for every field.”
Checks are run in most of Riddell’s fields with a standard population.
“Then we can see if we’re doing a good job of setting up the management zones and if the seed guys did a good job on the population,” Riddell said.
“When we started this, we were at 34,500 population,” he said. “One thing I didn’t expect was when we lowered that to 28,000 or 29,000 in the poorer areas, the corn yield picked up.”
Riddell typically plants all his soybeans before corn.
“We tend to push the early side and last year we started planting beans on April 5,” he said. “I think that’s why we’ve raised some pretty good beans.”
Cover crops are drilled in right behind the combine.
“I want the cover crops to get up and then I strip through them,” Riddell said.
Each farmer should have a reason for planting cover crops, the farmer said.
“Our reason is mainly to build organic matter and with strip-till and rolling ground, we can have some erosion down our strip,” Riddell said. “When it’s warm, thawing and we get a 1-inch rain, our hope for the rye is to protect the strips. Our goal was never to increase yield or reduce chemicals.”
“After planting, my dad is right behind me spraying,” he said. “We’re putting down 35 units of nitrogen with the sprayer, hopefully before the corn emerges. That didn’t happen last year because the ground was pretty cold when we were planting corn so we ended up side-dressing the nitrogen.”
Riddell side-dresses the cornfields with anhydrous.
“I like the availability of nitrogen later in the season,” he said. “It also gives us a chance to see what the growing year is, what the stand is and then Progressive Ag will make the prescription about 48 hours before we sidedress.”
Soil testing can be difficult when fertilizer is applied in bands, Riddell said.
“We run the strip-till bar nine inches deep, so we’re dropping all our dry fertilizer seven inches down,” he said. “Our soil tests are getting ugly, so we are doing a lot more tissue testing and letting the plant tell us what it needs.”
The tissue tests guide Riddell for fertilizer application for the following year.
“We are trying to feed next year’s crop,” he said.
Tissue tests are pulled from the same spot in the field three times per year for corn and once each year for soybeans.
“We think it is the best indicator for the fertility we’re putting out in the fields,” Riddell said.
Martha Blum can be reached at 815-410-2254, or mblum@ shawmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Blum. Jay Riddell (shown above) uses management zones to keep the cost per bushel the same throughout his fields.
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