The question keeps surfacing: Is rolling my fields sensible? And, if so, when do I roll?
Seth Naeve, University of Minnesota soybean specialist, told farmers at the University’s early February Soybean Symposium that he and his co-workers continue to do trials on this subject.
“At this stage we don’t recommend rolling after emergence or later because you run the risk of some damage to those early cotyledons (seedling sprouts) which may or may not have broken above the soil surface,” he said.
The young soybean will handle the rolling process pretty well but realistically Naeve advised planting a higher seeding rate to counteract any stand loss that you are likely to experience.
“I like rolling before planting to be beneficial but most farmers hesitate to roll this early because they don’t get the visual effect. Blowing topsoils and residue material after rolling is sometimes an issue,” he said. That’s why he thinks the biggest potential is in high-residue situations with lots of corn stalks; root balls are better handled and you have less risk of wind erosion at this stage.
“My gut feeling,” Naeve said, “is the more residue you have, the more benefit from rolling. And if rocks are the issue, then rolling after planting is more logical. If you’ve got rock pickers, that eliminates the need for rolling.”
In the field
Renville County corn-soybean farmer Paul Simonson is into his fourth year of rolling. He tried it on just half his cropland that first year, but now all of his soybean fields get rolled each year right after planting. He’s into a corn-soybean rotation and moldboard plows his stalks.
“With newer hybrids root systems seem more massive, also stalks decompose slower so you’ve got that big root mass to contend with. That’s mostly why I moldboard plow,” Simonson said. “Last year I rolled one field before planting but my planter still turned up some of those root lumps. I got a couple of those lumps into my combine last fall. That’s not good for your equipment.”
But does it pay to roll your fields? Maybe that’s not the issue. “No, it probably doesn’t pay but ‘operator comfort’ when running your combine certainly has value,” he said. “It simply makes combining easier, less stressful. Run just one rock into your combine and you’ll make up for the out-of-pocket costs of rolling your fields in a hurry.”
Simonson hires a neighboring farmer with roller equipment, reasoning that he doesn’t farm enough acres to justify ownership. A new 40-foot roller costs about $35,000. He paid $7 per acre to custom roll his fields, $4 per acre when he used his own tractor.
Most farmers roll their fields right after planting. Getting every bean pod by dropping that bean head right down to the soil surface without risk of either rocks or root balls is the real payoff.
