Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our Rural Blog

WOW!  What a long day -  nearly 400 miles round-trip.

My first of two stops was in NW Iowa to pick-up an old 14′ Minneapolis Moline grain drill.  Although the drill was in less than ideal condition, I felt for the money, it was still a good deal.  I believe I can use an old drill that is in our grove for parts… so, I’m hoping for a few $$$ I can have a grain drill to use on the farm for planting oats, wheat and pasture/hay ground.

My 2nd stop was SW Minnesota near the town of Ruthton.  A gentleman had contacted me on one of my ads for a small acreage crop sprayer.   After meeting him, he explained to me the history of the sprayer and how his family used it.  We got it loaded on the trailer behind the drill.  After tying it down, he also gave me a bucket of filters, screens and sprayer tips.  Again, this piece of equipment is not in ‘like-new’ condition.  It needs hoses, brackets and over-all TLC, but for $150, we both agreed it was a win-win business deal for each of us.  Best of all, this small sprayer can easily be pulled by a Farmall H.

I plan to use the sprayer for spraying a milk-water solution on some of the fields and pastures/paddocks of the farm.  Studies have shown that spraying this type of solution on fields, with low fertility, does wonders for grass type plants (i.e. oats, wheat, pasture, etc…).  One of a few articles can be found on Facebook’s ‘Small Farm & Sustainability Group.’  The study was conducted by Nebraska extension agent Terry Gompert and dairyman David Wetzel and is referred to as the The Raw Milk Strategy.  So what’s going on?  Gompert and Wetzel are both convinced what they have here is microbial action. “When raw milk is applied to land that has been abused, it feeds what is left of the microbes, plus it introduces microbes to the soil,” Wetzel explained.  It repels some insects

We plan on using a solution of 3 gal raw milk to 17 gal water per acre.  According to Gompert and Wetzel, there no difference between using 3, 5 10 or 20 gals of milk per acre.  At this time, milk is cheap and even if paying a neighbor twice the market price of fresh milk, it is way less expensive than conventional chemical fertilizers.  Since our farm is in transition to becoming Certified Organic this raw milk strategy is a perfect fit us.

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