Diving into soil health

SARTELL, Minn. — Meadowbrook Dairy Inc has been experimenting with and learning about regenerative agriculture practices for the past eight years, and now they have hosted their own workshop to highlight what they have learned.

Meadowbrook Dairy hosted Cultivating Conservation Field Day July 15 with the Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. 

Meadowbrook Dairy is run by John and Mary Lou Udermann and their sons, Jake and Alex, and Alex’s wife, Kirsten. Together they milk 80 cows in a tiestall barn, raise replacements and feeder steers, and grow 1,000 acres of crops near Sartell.

Alex Udermann shared on their farm’s transition from conventional practices to regenerative practices.

“We were conventional tillage, working the soil a lot and tired of seeing the soil blow away,” Alex said. “I started going to meetings and conferences trying to learn as much as I could about regenerative practices.”

From 2016 to 2020 the Udermanns experimented with no-till and cover crops. They upgraded their equipment and saw the same yields as conventional farming so they continued to incorporate more regenerative practices.

“We got rid of our four-wheel drive tractors and tillage equipment,” Alex said. “We could see that our soil was changing, it was getting darker in color and had more worms in it. Our lives on the farm got easier too because there was less stress and less financial burden.”

The Udermanns have been using 100% no-till farming practices for three years. They mainly use rye as a cover crop as well as oats and radishes and would like to add a multi-species legume mix to replenish nitrogen.

“If you can create a system of healthy soils where the soil provides everything that crops need to grow without the use of additional fertilizers that is the goal,” Alex said. “That is going to be cleaner air, cleaner water, healthier feed which gets fed to your cows and then creates healthier cows who produce better milk.”

Alex said there is no universal plan for all farmers to follow. Instead, farmers will need to find what works for them and their operation.

“The biggest thing is if you want to build up soil health you need to understand what the soil principles are,” Alex said.

Alex mentioned five principles. Farmers can reduce soil disturbance by reducing tillage or doing no-till; maintain a living roof by planting cover crops or inter-seeding; keep the soil covered by leaving the previous year’s residue on top of the soil; integrate animals with grazing or manure spreading; and bring diversity by planting a varied rotation of crops.

Not only were the Udermanns able to get rid of their tillage equipment, but they also stopped using potassium and phosphorus fertilizers. Meadowbrook Dairy worked with their local SWCD and NRCS and became certified with the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program. They became the first farm in Minnesota to achieve all five endorsements through the MAWQCP.

Stephanie McLain, a soil health specialist with the NRCS, presented on soil health as part of the day.

“Plants play a really important role in soil health,” McLain said. “One of the most important things that they do is put their roots in the soil. That holds the soil together and puts liquid carbon into the soil to feed the microbes.”

She said cover crops are critical for soil health as they help provide these benefits year-round for the soil. Plants constantly pump carbon into the soil.

“If the soil only has plants growing on it for four months out of the year, the soil suffers,” McLain said. “Even in the winter, the microbes are hard at work just at a much slower rate. Would you be willing to put duct tape over your mouth from November to April and not eat anything? That’s what happens to the soil when there are no plants growing.”

According to McLain, one teaspoon of healthy soil can have up to a billion beneficial bacteria and fungi. The top two inches of soil will have the highest number of bacteria and fungi. She said this is especially helpful in decomposing organic matter such as residue from last year’s crops.

“Soil is alive,” McLain said. “If the residue gets pushed six or eight inches into the soil it will never decompose. Decomposition is much faster at the top of the soil; all the biological activity is in the top 2-4 inches. I hesitate on even incorporating the residue because once we disrupt the soil, we destroy the fungi that live in the top of the soil.”

John Udermann also shared the Meadowbrook Dairy’s experience with residue and no-till.

“We were skeptical at first but there is very little residue left,” John said. “We can hardly see any residue when we plant beans in standing corn. We don’t have a chopping corn head. We plant right into the standing corn after it has been combined. There is very little to no residue left come time to harvest the beans.”

Another indicator of high-functioning soil is to have 50% pore space and 50% soil. Pore space is created from the roots of plants and worms.

“We want those pore spaces to be preserved,” McLain said. “On years like this year with so much rain, the soils can soak up all that moisture because it has so much pore space. It is better for the plants too because it is easier for them to grow deeper into the soil where they build up better resistance to extreme weather conditions.”

McLain said everyone can have high-functioning soils. These results cannot be achieved overnight, but are the result of year after year building back the soil.

“Everyone’s operation is a little bit different and everyone’s soil is a little bit different,” McLain said.

Alex agreed.

“You can do whatever you want for your farm,” he said. “You want to reduce your tillage, or cut back on your fertilizer, that’s great. It doesn’t matter your age, farm size, or if you have livestock, there is something on any size operation to add regenerative practices that cost zero dollars to implement.”