Agricultural News
Oklahoma Conservation Commissions Trey Lam on How Soil Managment Can Help with Drought
Thu, 24 Mar 2022 11:44:26 CDT
Ag Take Took place today at the Capital, which featured numerous Oklahoma groups showcasing Made in Oklahoma Products. The Beef Council, Wheat Council, Farm Bureau, Veterans Affairs, AFR, and The Conservation commission were all on hand to take this opportunity to visit with legislative members and staff.
Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, Trey Lam, was on hand, and Farm Director KC Sheperd had a chance to visit with him about conservation practices. Lam said soil health is at the top of everyone's list, "Really what we're talking about is a whole system of management. It's not is no til, not just cover crops, not just prescribed burn, But you take all of those components, implement them all your operation, and then get the total package of benefits."
Lam said in the past, when producers have added a little fertilizer, they know they would get a boost in yield, or a little more genetics would give a boost. Still, he says if you get biology in the soil working, you get so much more, "That's going to feed the organisms which are going to feed the roots which in turn is going to make a healthy plant, which is going to produce more and requires less input. So if you only do a little bit of it, you don't really get any result. But if you put the whole package together, that's when you see the results that benefit everyone."
Lam said this benefits the farmer, but it also helps reduce flooding, gives you better water quality, less runoff, less fertilizer, "It's a total benefit and a win-win."
Even with the nice rainfall that we saw across the state earlier in the week, most of the state is still in some form of drought. Lam said soil conservation is critical, especially when we look toward the summer months and see high winds and high temperatures, "If you've got residue from the previous crop, straw, grass, whatever covering the ground, or you've got a growing cover crop, it's always more moist under a green growing crop than it is on dry ground. So we've got to preserve what little bit of moisture we get. We may not get much this year, but what we do get, we've got to use every bit of it."
Previously wheat stubble or leftover residue has been plowed or tilled over. Still, Lam said it's essential to keep that ground cover, especially as we get into warmer weather and windy conditions, "Anytime the temperature gets above 100 degrees of soil temperature, you're basically doing sterilization. That's how we sterilize instruments and other things in the medical field. So once you sterilize it, it will take a while to come back. And so you need to keep it covered, but you also need to preserve all the moisture that's there for what you're going to grow next year."
Lam said, as we start to see plants and grasses come out for spring, you don't want to take too much of it off too early, " In a dry year, we're not going to get the massive growth in spring that we do. We don't have those reserves in the soil in many places, so we need to really manage. Leave a lot of forage out there, rotate our pastures, keep it fresh and keep it going."
Lam also encourages producers to get their cattle numbers right..Not necessarily to sell, but to make sure you've got the correct numbers for the kind of moisture conditions, grass conditions, and what to expect that summer.
Trey reminds everyone of conservation day at the Capital on April 7th.
To hear KC's complete conversation with Trey Lam, click or tap below.
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