Kelly Kettner
No-Tiller
Muleshoe, Texas
Increasing Organic Matter Through Covers, Crop Rotation in a Dryland Environment
Kelly Kettner, Muleshoe, Texas, will be sharing his experiences using cover crops to increase organic matter on his 5,000 acre operation.
Kettner has been no-tilling since 2005 and plans his crop rotations carefully, including corn, cotton, barley, rye, wheat, soybeans, pumpkins and sorghum, in addition to cover crops. Crop rotation allows Kettner to use different herbicide options to control residual weeds, such as pigweed. In the dry Texas Panhandle, storing soil moisture is critical, and since switching to no-till and building up organic matter, corn yields are 260-270 bushels per acre.