calmer's stalk rolls

Does anyone use the calmers stalk rolls. They seem impressive. Just looking for some first hand experience with them before I bite the bullet. I'm trying to be successful with notill and cover crops. I have covers on all the acres this fall. hope they look good in the spring. I just seem to be struggling with them here in Zta MN.

A neighbor/friend who does a lot of custom work has just switched to 20" rows, and acquired a couple of used JD 12 row x 20" headers. One row was apparently messed up by a prior owner. They just installed Calmer rolls in that one row, and are pleased. Did I understand correctly that one set spoiled most of $1000 ?!

The only successful no till here in typically wet central NY is soybeans. I've tried cover crops, but they caused as much grief as good. The best thing I ever did with my soil is chisel plow it before spring. Best of luck.

I've no tilled corn into soybean stubble for many years with good results and it's easier after cover crop rye or wheat to plant green. Always have no tilled soybeans into cornstalks ,mostly without cover crop. For corn on corn I usually use one pass with a vertical till {Plains Turbo Till). Use a 30 year old IH head which cuts up stalks if roll knives are set tight ,but have also wondered if Calmers would cut them so only cover would be needed before planting. He says they would ,but I would have to get a newer head to use his rolls. I've simply quit planting corn on corn.

I'm curious as to why you want to incorporate chopping rolls with no-till. The farmers by me including myself try to leave as much of the corn stalk standing upright as possible so there is less residue to deal with for the planting units next season when no tilling. Some have gone back to the original rolls that were used decades ago on the John Deere heads. My neighbor combined with S670 and old style rolls and even left the husk on the stalk. Looked at his fields today and it has far less trash/residue between the rows to deal with next spring. We say the more of the old crop standing the better then we smash it down after planting with a roller/packer.

That's a good question. I'm just trying to make it work. Hopefully I'll be planting green into standing stalks in the spring. I have a haybuster drill set on 15" rows that I have used for 15years. Then I roll them like you. I guess I don't see much stalk left when I combine in the fall and I was satisfied with the yield. My biggest struggle is getting the covers established. We used a Hagie with drops on Sept 1 this year ,we seem to have a great catch. Biggest problem is the operator couldn't stay off the row and drove down a tremendous amount of corn. We bulk spread the bean ground with fertilizer and rye and then rotary hoed it. You can see a little coming but it has been cold, some snow, some nice days, will have to see what we get in the spring. Just seems like an up hill battle. Planted all the corn this year green, nice stand, looked great, Yield not so much. Straight corn/ soybean rotation. How do you plant your covers.

Here's what I'm seeing. I farm in the hills of western Iowa and have been no-til corn into bean stubble and soybeans into untouched cornstalks for 15 years now. I had been using a JD 643 corn head with the tapered fluted rolls seemed like I had to cut thru alot of residue in the spring, wasn't seeing alot of dirt. Always have gotten a good stand, I plant with a black machine planter that has kinze units, it's very heavy. This fall I up graded to a slightly newer Deere corn hard that has knife rolls, I'm seeing more dirt now than in the spring with the 643. The knife rolls seemed to chew the stalks better. I'll know more in the spring when I plant beans

I like the idea of cover crops but I've never been successful in getting them seeded down after harvesting due to the late date (around Nov 1) and the cold weather moving in. I am, however, trying another approach. Dandelions!. A natural cover crop if ever there was one. Before you write this off as some sort of eccentric, oddball idea, there was a study done by a University, and I have it somewhere in my files, that evaluated using dandelions as a cover crop, and their conclusion was if you can get them to grow by all means do it because they have good cover crop characteristics. A deep tap root, broad leaves that cover the ground well and are very hardy and yet can easily be killed. And, they are free! The first two pics show a nice crop just coming up in the spring and by planting time will be going into their seed fluff, at which time they're designed to fly away. I try to smash them down as much as I can with a cultipacker after planting to try to keep them where they are. I've been moderately successful and will keep trying. As far as the knife rolls, I'm quite impressed with the Calmer units but they are pricey and if you're going to send your head to him you might as well go the full route. that could cost more than $1000 per row. They have a menu for what you want done to your head. I'm currently using a Geringhoff Rotadisc head which slices the stalk material in 6" lengths. By planting time I will not have a problem no-tilling beans into that residue mat that you see but I have my choice of a Great Plains no-til drill or a John deere conservation planter. No hairpinning, ever.