With a silage harvest right around the corner for some guys and under way for others, now is a good time to start planning for a fall cover crop.

There are several options out there that can provide a whole host of benefits.

Mixtures of radishes, peas or clover, and some small grain is a good way to make and scavenge several key nutrients into and through the winter reducing fertilizer costs the following spring.

Planting covers following wheat or oats provides you with the opportunity to add some warm season species like millet, sunflower and brassica; all of which suppress weeds and do an excellent job of scavenging and holding micronutrients.

Research is finding as you build organic matter nitrate, nitrogen is released as the microherd feeds. This coupled with fertilizer losses can leach through the soil without a cover present to hold it.

By planting a cover crop you not only capture the nitrogen left from fertilizer or manure application, but you also capture nitrogen released from the organic matter.

You can also manipulate the amount of residue you have on the soil surface by the types of cover crops you plant. A happy balance for most bacteria is a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 24:1.

If you have fields with heavy crop residue, which can make the following year’s planting difficult, it’s likely an indication of an out of balance C:N ratio.

By planting a cover that is high in nitrogen and low in carbon you can burn through the crop residue, and after a few years with a more balanced C:N ratio in the field, the annual buildup of residue will quickly disappear.

Mycorrhizal fungi is a symbiotic fungi that lives in the organic matter, which essentially provides the nutrients and water to crops through their fungal system.

Tillage can quickly destroy this underground network. However, under a continuous no-till system with lots of organic matter this fungi can thrive blocking parasitic fungus and providing a nutrient network that allows primarily phosphorus and potassium, both very immobile in the soil, which is an avenue to reach plant roots.

This article could go on listing all the benefits of cover crops but the best way to learn about them is to try them on your own farm and see what works best in your operation.

For those who have never tried cover crops before or would like to take their covers to the next level, NRCS provides incentives to try different cover crops those interested in learning more about the program should contact our office for more details.

Andy Gaver is a conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Butler County.