As promised, the Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil-Healthy Water, will host their first field tour of three local farms using cover crops, on Wednesday, October 18th, 2017. The tour will visit three sites around Dodge County. Buses for the tour will leave from the Dodge County Fairgrounds, located on Highway 33 east of Beaver Dam, WI.
The Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil-Healthy Water have a mission of improving our communities’ soil & water through conservation practices & education. Under the guidance of UW-Extension, this group of farmers have started on-farm trials, evaluating the best way to plant cover crops into current crop rotations. Come listen and learn from these local producers who will share their soil health philosophy and rationale for planting cover crops. Tour stops will show frost-seeded red clover into winter wheat, interseeding a cover crop mix into corn, cover crop mix demonstration plots, plus two stops on the tour will have soil pits.
Dr. Jamie Patton, UW-Extension Ag Agent, from Shawano County will illustrate the story of soil health as told through the soil beneath your feet and in the pit. Dr. Loretta Ortiz-Ribbing, UW-Extension Area Agent for Dodge and Fond du Lac Counties, will discuss some preliminary results of on-farm cover crop trials started with local farmers to answer local production questions.
You will not want to miss this opportunity. Buses for the field tour will leave the fairgrounds at 9:00 a.m. sharp (rain or shine). Sign-in/registration will be from 8:30 to 8:45 a.m. Please park at the ‘Midway’ and load the bus at the fairground’s grandstand.
The field day is free and open to everyone, but pre-registration is required for a tour seat. Seating is limited to the first 100 participants. Please pre-register by the October 12th, 2017 deadline.
To pre-register, please call the Dodge County UW-Extension office at 920-386-3790. For more meeting information call the office or visit the Dodge County UW-Extension Ag calendar at: http://dodge.uwex.edu/agriculture-calendar/
