The wind can whip at 60 miles per hour across the Klein family farm near Pavillion, Wyo., and their sandy loam soil goes with it. Because of this, Garrett Klein, and his dad, Richard, and their respective families, decided to minimum till their malt barley and sugar beet fields, and began experimenting with no-till and a multi-species forage rotation.

TACKLING CONSERVATION: Garrett Klein of Pavillion, Wyo. stands in his family’s field of multi-species forage that will be grazed by sheep and the residue used to increase soil organic matter.

Richard purchased the first section of their farm in 1979, and has produced alfalfa, malt barley and sugar beets on a rotating schedule of four years of beets then barley, and then four years of alfalfa. “After so many years, this started depleting our soil and organic matter,” says Garrett Klein. “We had a lot of problems with sand blowing on the farm, and so we've been trying to increase our organic matter to control erosion.

“We tried leaving barley stubble on top, but it just doesn't stay. After harvest you can't find any of the stubble, it's all decomposed. We're predominately sandy loam and if stuff isn't left on the surface when winter comes and the wind starts to blow, [the soil] dries up and leaves.”

The Kleins worked with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to transition from flood irrigation to center pivots and side rolls making it possible to consider no-till. “If you're still farming with flood irrigation,” Klein says, “the residue on top [from no-till] prevents the water from running down the corrugates. So you're pretty much required to roll the soil over. With a sprinkler, there's no reason to keep burying the residue.”

Multiple species for organic matter

CAPTURING SOIL: The multi-species forage, shown here at two-week germination, contains over 15 different plant species including tillage radishes, legumes, sunflowers and corn.

The NRCS introduced the Kleins to a multi-species forage mix that adds large biomass to the soil. The Kleins initially planted one acre and found the multi-crop, with over 15 plant species, successfully added organic matter to the soil and proved to be good livestock forage for winter grazing. They have gradually bumped up the acreage and this year planted 80 acres with it in a rotation with sugar beets.

“The multi-species adds big biomass and we're leaving it all on the surface, and the roots intact by not plowing,” Klein explains. “It's got tillage radishes in it, legumes that do a lot of nitrogen fixing, grasses, corn, sunflowers and all that. The plant diversity puts down big roots underneath providing organic matter within the soil and on top.

“We can afford to grow multi-species, because we lease it for sheep grazing in the winter. The sheep won’t eat the sunflowers, corn and other plants with bigger stalks. These are left behind to help stop erosion.”

The 1,500 lambs come from three producers, and graze the Klein’s fields of multi-species forage, alfalfa stubble and beet tops from September to January before being shipped to feedlots in Greeley, Colorado with the Mountain States Lamb Cooperative. The multi-species forage grows over five feet tall, but the sheep have no problem grazing it.

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“Last year they all proceeded to disappear into 30 acres of it,” Klein recalls, “and we were like ‘Alright, hope they're alive!’ I drove through it with a four-wheeler to make sure they were OK out there, and we didn't have any death loss. But there was some faith there, we had no idea what was going on with the sheep.”

The lambs arrive on the Klein farm averaging a 95-pound weight and generally leave with a 30-pound weight gain. “The sheep are plum happy out here,” Klein says with a laugh. “One of the owners came out and he was pretty excited when he saw all the sheep were, as he put it, ‘Fat as ticks’!”

Managing for crop residue

Last year, the Klein’s first year with a large field of multi-species, they seeded beets straight into the multi-specie stubble with no tillage after the sheep grazed. “We had a really nice yield, but I think we also got a little lucky last year because we had enough rain to help bring the beets up through the residue,” Klein explains.

The Kleins were unable to do no-till this year, as, even after the sheep, there was so much crop residue. “It’s great for our soil, but we just couldn't figure out how to seed into it,” Klein says disappointedly. “I wound up having to do some minimum till in order to plant.”

Minimum tillage for the Kleins is to use a tillage implement with short cultivator shanks to break up compaction and small discs to slice up the residue that does not roll the soil over. This tillage action leaves the organic matter on the surface to protect the soil and doesn’t disturb deep root biomass.

The no-till and minimum till practices do require more weed management. The Kleins grow Roundup Ready beets, and find application of Roundup herbicide knocks down most undesirable plants. Weed control for the multi-species crop is not necessary as it grows quickly to full ground coverage. “The first year we tried it a dense stand of Lamb’s Quarters, Kochia, and a couple others came in,” Klein recalls. “We looked at it and thought, ‘Well, that’s a loss.’ But we kept watering it, and the multi-species eventually crowded out the weeds.”

The Klein family’s allotment with the Wyoming Sugar Company in Worland, Wyoming allows them to grow 150 acres of beets. They intend to increase the multi-species crop to their full 150-acre allotment as it helps control soil erosion.

 “We harvest the beets and there's nothing left on the surface,” Klein explains. “By rotating with the multi-species, we can increase the organic matter left with the beets from the previous crop. We are also planning to add malt barley into the rotation mix.

“We want to eventually start multi-cropping the beets for more erosion control by inter-seeding something between the rows. We've thought about trying soybeans, alfalfa or grasses, which may or may not be a good idea. It will probably be a legume that is nitrogen-fixing, something that would help the beets and make a nice stalk for livestock forage so we could still graze during the winter. The ultimate goal of it all is to look out when the wind is screaming and see no soil moving!”

Looking to go no-till?

“Brendon Rockey of Center, Colo. is increasing his organic matter with no-till and multi-cropping, and he’s kind of the model we’re using,” Garrett Klein says. “If he can do it with potatoes, we think we can make it work with sugar beets as they have similarities.” Rockey provides a wealth of resources on his website soilguys.com.

“Gabe Brown [of Bismark, N.D.] is kind of the guru for no-tilling,” Klein continues. “He's had tremendous success on his farm, and his videos are incredibly worth listening to.” Brown’s main website is www.brownsranch.us and searching for “Gabe Brown soil health” on YouTube will bring up his informative videos.