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Can Producers in five Montana Counties successfully use no-till methods for renovation of irrigated and dryland pastures?
No-till practices have been incorporated into small grain production for many years the group was interested to see if these same practices could be implemented into hay and pasture rotations. The producers wanted to see if they could do a no-till program on their pasture and hay renovations with their existing equipment or equipment readily available locally.
The project coordinator and technical advisors believe Implementing knowledge gleaned from replicated research is a key component to successful farm and ranch operations. However, when that research is implemented at the individual farm/ranch level producers need to be able to make adjustments to fit their constraints. The project demonstrated stand termination by herbicides, forage crops for rotation, and no-till establishment of both annual and perennial forages in the system. The cooperator producers and County agents were interested in seeing how a no-till system could work with their current equipment constraints.
Producers found they could incorporate no-till principals into their current operations. Results from the implementation were varied based on environmental factors, machinery compliments, outside influences and labor constraints.
