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SE Minnesota farmer: Triticale cover crop “looks better than my lawn”
A farmer in southeast Minnesota is thrilled with the growth of his cover crops this fall.
Ed McNamara, a corn and soybean grower from Goodhue County, says a highboy was used to seed triticale into standing soybeans around the end of August.
“The beans, you know it dried out so fast the leaves dropped (and) covered it up. That looks great (now). The cover crop looks better than my lawn looks.”
He tells Brownfield there were a couple reasons he went with triticale instead of rye.
“It has a little bit better feed value (and) doesn’t get as tall. If we do get a wet period (next) May, it doesn’t get away from you (like rye could). And my past experience is you can feed that to cattle and they can actually gain weight on it.”
In addition to farming, McNamara also serves as supervisor on the Goodhue County Soil and Water Conservation Board.