A3o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 16,1980 NEWARK, Del. - In less than a month harvest of early com will begin. It may seem like pushing the season a bit, but it’s tune to think about cover crops and how they’ll fit into your tillage plans for next year. Will you use covers in all your fields, or just following early harvested com? Will you plant a legume cover to capture some low cost nitrogen during the fall and SHERWOOD, Md. - The Honorable Peter J. Nixon, Minister of Primary In dustries! Australia, was a guest of Langdon Farms, Sherwood, Maryland during his recent visit to the United States Accompanied by his wife, Sally, the Nixons toured the Simmental breeding farm and departed admittedly enthusiastic about the Simmental, breed and the accomplishments of the foundation cows and their offspring which comprise the Langdon herd. Discussions have begun regarding the Nixon’s purchase of a Langdon Farm two-year-old bull. A knowledgeable cat- Tu u . , _ . , ... tleman, Nixon maintains 1 Honorable Peter J. Nixon, Minister of Primary Industries of Australia (left) both dairy and beef breeding visits with William Miller, owner of Langdon Farms. herds in his native Australia. f if We Now Stock The BOLSTER HOISTS Heavy Duty - 6 Ton Capacity Lift 7 Ft. From Bolster To Wagon Box a Mounting Brackets Included S » M |C DD 6” Hydraulic Cylinder Use with Tractor Hydraulic ~ i See The New TRAIL MATE SHOCK ABSORBING HITCH For Your Pickup Only *46** KIRf S WHIIM rou Ik FIND US B It’s time to plan cover spring months? These are just a few of the questions farmers should be asking themselves now. savs University of Delaware ex tension agronomist Bill Mitchell. Diesel fuel will cost more next year, so no-tillage may be in your future as you try to conserve energy, he notes. “If you’re thinking no bllage, my experience would Australian minister visits Md. Simmental farm PATENTED ENERGY LINKAGE FOR YOUR FARM WAGON ' k/'c uiMinviui (OiMF IMC tioei suggest that you can’t im prove on hauy vetch as a cover crop.’’ He bases his opinion on the excellent results some Delaware farmers have achieved with this program. Stands and weed control have been outstanding where com was planted into a heavy crop of hairy vetch last spring. The leaf color on plants testifies too that the fact thev WITH -o FARMERSVILLE RD 4, Ephrata, PA. 717-354-4271 HOURS: Mon., lues.. Wed. & Fri. 7:30 AM to 5 PM; Thurs. to 9 PM; Sat. till 3 PM See On COMPLETE Display At AG PROGRESS DAYS have an abundant supply of slow release nitrogen working for them in this cover. "I wish there was a fool proof method of obtaining a stand of hairy vetch,” says Mitchell. Sometimes it appears as easy as throwing seed at the ground. Many have had good results with aerial seedmgs, with and without disking the "■«V crops stalk ground following harvest. But occasionally these methods don’t work so well. The best stands he’s seen have resulted from use of a gram drill at seeding rates of 20 to 23 pounds per acre. However you plant vetch, most of its growth will be made next spring. To allow maximum time for spring growth, though, this cover needs to be planted following the first harvested com in the fall on ground that will be last planted to corn in the spring. The optimum time for planting no-tillage com in a vetch cover is May 1 to 10. Vetch seed is currently priced at about 65 cents a pound. This has encouraged We Will CLEAN & TREAT Your SEED WHEAT Right On Your Farm • Operating in 7 Southeast Pennsylvania Counties • More Convenient • Cheaper ROST SEED COMPANY Mt. Joy, PA Ph: 717-653-4121 EQUIPMENT INC. Mitchell to look into the possibility of producing seed locally. He has grown small fields of the legume at Georgetown and Newark with yields of up to 500 pounds per acre, cleaned seed. At Newark the vetch was wmdrowed when dew was on plants to avoid shattering. When direct harvest was made at Georgetown without taking this precaution, shattering losses were high. If Paraquat is used to kill it, vetch harvest can be started about July 1 and the area double cropped with soybeans. This could be an attractive cropping system for someone interested in the local production of vetch seed, notes the agronomist. Model HBH-6A