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2008 WHIRLWIND
No-till EXPO
 July
30th, 2008
Plainview,
Nebraska
Kelly Ickler farm
5 miles west of Plainview, NE
on Hwy 20 to 531 Avenue, then 1 mile south
Catered lunch & afternoon program: Black Horse Inn, 408 Rice Street,
Creighton
The Expo will feature soil pits
on-site and in-the-field demonstrations. This will be an excellent opportunity
to see the rainfall simulator in action and witness the impact that continuous
No-till practices have on soil.
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Featured Farmer |
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Kelly Ickler
worked in the fertilizer industry for 12 years prior to farming. He has
farmed 1,400 acres for 12 years, has been practicing 100% no-till for six
years, and implements a corn/soybean rotation. Kelly runs a small herd of
stock cows. Kelly’s wife Nancy is secretary/treasurer for Ickler Farms
Inc. and also does medical transcription from home. Kelly’s son Brian is in
the banking business and helps during harvest, and he and his wife Selena
have three children. Kelly’s son Joe works for the farm full time, and he
and his wife Danielle have a daughter and a new baby son.
Kelly Ickler has implemented
no-till for six years on his Plainview Nebraska farm. He receives 24” of
annual rainfall. His crop rotations include corn/soybeans, and he utilizes
the seeding rate of 31763. His most recent planting date was 4-23-08.
Herbicide and fertilizer were applied pre-emerge with Floater 2.5 Qt
Keystone and 1/3 Pt. 24D LV. His fertility and herbicide programs include
200 # Starter 9-20-5-5-.25zn, 65-0-0-10 applied with herbicide, 65# N 32%
spoon-fed through the pivot, soybean stubble provides balance of N. Kelly
chose no-till to benefit the environment. He believes that every farmer
should try to save as much groundwater as possible. Also, the savings of
fuel, extra time not spent in the field doing tillage, less wheel traffic,
plus the conservation of water are all big benefits.
The benefits experienced
under no-till include yields which have improved every year under no-till.
He has been saving about 4 rounds of irrigation each year. His weed control
has improved since he has started the no-till program. Keeping weed seed on
the ground surface and not incorporating it with tillage has led to cleaner
fields. Kelly’s plans for the future are to stay with continuous
no-till and start planting cover crops. Kelly’s greatest
challenge in continuing under no-till over the next 3-5 years is trying to
get organic matter higher.
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Pictures from Kelly
Ickler's Farms.
Come see No-till Live and In Action............ |
Kelly
Ickler’s son Joe is pictured. Congratulations to Joe and his wife Danielle
who welcomed a new son, Lenyn Joseph, last week! |
Kelly
and his wife Nancy are pictured in front of their home |
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Featured Speakers |
Schedule |
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 Ray
Ward is president and co-owner of Ward
Laboratories, Inc. since 1983. He holds numerous memberships
in scientific and honorary academic societies and organizations. His
goals for agriculture and agronomy are to help production agriculture use
its resources as efficiently as possible, to provide information and data
for developing the best use of soil and water resources while maintaining
environmental quality, to be involved in “value-added” agriculture, and to
provide accurate laboratory data for managing production enterprises.
 Paul
J. Jasa serves
as an Extension Engineer, University of Nebraska. Paul develops
and conduct educational programs related to No-till equipment and
system management. He has been
working with planting equipment and tillage system evaluation at the
University since 1978. With the experiences gained from research and
Extension activities, he has become a good source of information in the
Midwest on No-till planting equipment and system management. If there is a
mistake to be made with No-till, he has either made it himself or has seen
it done. More importantly, he has learned from those mistakes and
wants to share that information in presentations that stress the systems
approach and the long-term benefits of No-till.
 Mark
Watson
Mark farms 3,500 acres
with his brother Bruce 10 miles north of Alliance, Nebraska. His farm has
been in the family for approximately 115 years so Mark considers himself
definitely born and bred to farm. They have been completely continuous
No-till since 1994. Their farm is dryland and irrigated, raising wheat,
corn, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, proso millet. Mark is married to
Denise and has a son Jacob and daughter Hannah. Bruce and Mark have been
selected as Master Conservationists for the state of Nebraska and will be
receiving the award in September 2007. Mark Watson also serves as the
No-till education coordinator for Western Nebraska.
 Dan Gillespie
(Rainfall Simulator)
Dan serves as the Nebraska NRCS No-till
Specialist in the Battle Creek Field Office. Dan has been thirty-three years in
irrigated and dryland cash grain corn/soybean operation with cash wheat grain
crop for the first time in 2007. He first tried No-till corn into soybeans in
1987, and evolved to a Continuous No-till System on all acres in 1991. Dan’s
cropland is predominantly Nora Crofton silty clay loam soils on 4 to 16%
slopes. Long term CNT has increased biological activity in soils to the
point where he felt that the residue produced by corn/soybeans alone
was not sufficient to protect soils from the severe 4 to 6 inch
rainfall events. Any erosion is too much erosion! In 2005
Dan incorporated cover crops following the soybean crop to increase
erosion control and build soil organic matter. Cereal rye has
shown to be the best biomass producer but winter wheat provides him
with the option of a cover or cash crop. In fall 2006 he tried
aerially seeded rye for the first time.
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8:00
a.m. Registration
8:45
a.m. Welcome
9:00
a.m. In The Field Learning
Rainfall Simulator /
Soil Quality
Dan Gillespie,
NRCS Nebraska
No-Till Specialist
Paul Jasa, Extension Engineer, UNL Extensio
Board busses
to travel to soil pits.
Concurrent
Sessions (everyone
will attend both sessions)
Site 1 No-till Soil pit
Dr. Ray Ward, Owner, Ward Laboratories
Kelly Ickler, no-till farmer, Plainview
Site 2 Conventional-till Soil pit
Paul
Jasa, Extension Engineer, UNL Extension
Patrick Cowsert,
NRCS
12:00 p.m. Lunch /
afternoon program at Black Horse Inn -
408 Rice Street,
Creighton,
NE
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Water
Usage/Irrigation
Steve Melvin,
UNL Extension
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Cropping Systems
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Mark Watson, Panhandle No-till Educator
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Importance of
Stand Establishment/No-till Equipment –
Paul Jasa
Sponsored in part by:
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Past Whirlwind
Tours
Click on any picture for a
larger view! |
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Three soil pits were available for viewing, and
producers were able to actually get down in the pit and examine the
soil along with expert speakers NRCS National Agronomist Mike Hubbs,
Canadian soil scientist Jill Clapperton, Dr. Ray Ward of Ward Labs,
and Paul Jasa of the University of Nebraska/Lincoln.
Fullerton, NE 2006 |
Fullerton, NE 2006 |
Almost
300 producers attended this day-long event.
Fullerton, NE 2006 |
Fullerton, NE 2006 |
"The Whirlwind
Expo was a great opportunity for growers to interact in a casual
atmosphere with people who have no till experience and know-how, and
to learn in a hands-on way how no tillage improves soil structure,
water and air infiltration, and creates that great habitat for both
the crop plants and the soil critters."
Dr. Jill Clapperton
Fullerton, NE 2006 |
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Marion, KS 2006 |
Marion, KS 2006 |
Marion, KS 2006 |
Marion, KS 2006 |
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Ray Ward shows Keith and Brian Berns the benefits of No-till soil
structure. Bladen, NE 2007 |
Dryland corn No-tilled into wheat stubble
Bladen, NE 2007 |
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Dryland corn No-tilled into sod
Bladen, NE 2007 |
Double crop soybeans (planted 6/27) into irrigated wheat stubble.
Wheat made 90 bu and beans made 45 bu......
Bladen, NE 2007 |
Pender, NE 2007 |
Pender, NE 2007 |
Pender, NE 2007 |
Pender, NE 2007 |
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No-till
on the Plains, Inc. would like to thank Kelly Ickler for providing
his
farm as the official site for the Whirlwind Expo.
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