Delhotal Farms
Sustainability Through Conservation
Our goal is to be good stewards of the land and leave the fertile Illinois soil in better shape than what we found it in. This goal is reflected in all of our farming practices. Every decision we make is geared towards growing the best crops we can with as little impact on the soil and environment. Soil health is our #1 concern, we believe that if you take care of the soil it will take care of you. Over the last 10 years we have experimented with no-till and strip-till and have found with a little tweaking it works great right the right machinery. We have increased soil health drastically due to these farming practices. This is how we see the future of farming and we do not plan on changing our practices any time soon.an easy to read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.
Seeding soybeans between the old rows of corn stalks using RTK guidance
All of the tillage we do is with our Soil Warrior made by ETS. This is called "Zone-Tillage" where only a small "zone" of the soil is prepared to next years crop. During this process fertilizer is also placed in the zone instead of on top of the ground to reduce runoff and increase the efficiency of the fertilizer. This machine is capable of making shallow zones of 3"-5" inches deep in the spring as well as 13" deep zones in the fall if needed. In most places shallow zones work well but we have found in some ground it is beneficial to make deeper zones in the fall. The fertilizer is even metered precision to ensure every row has the same amount of fertilizer. This takes out allot of the guess work that comes alone with broadcasted fertilizer. This machine has it's own separate auto steering system that actually works independent from the tractor to ensure all of the zones are evenly spaced. A Trimble FmX display controls the steering on the tractor as well as the Warrior and also controls the fertilizer application. We use cellular RTK from the DigiFarm VBN network to ensure we can come back and plant right into the zones.
As you can see this machine makes a consistant, smooth, fertile, zone for the corn to thrive in. Both moisture and fertilizer are kept constant across the field.
We use a couple different forms of N including UAN (32%), Urea, ESN, and AMS. The urea and AMS is put on in the zone with the Soil Warrior where as the 32% is put on by our 24 row FAST 8116 toolbar. This machine carries 1600 gallons of nitrogen, is 60' wide, and can cover up to 70 acres in one hour at speeds of 14 miles per hour! Automatic rate and swath control ensure the nitrogen is applied only where it is needed and not wasted. Something else we added which is uncommon on these machines is dual disk sealers to reduce evaporation. We use this tool in both pre-plant and post-plant applications.
This machine is also controlled by RTK guidance so we can place the nitrogen right in the center of the row. You will also notice the wide-spaced tires on the tractor that match our tramlines for our controlled traffic system, this also reduces crop damage.
In season crop care is very important to us. Because of this, we own and operate all of our own spraying equipment and facilities. All of our spraying is done with a Hagie STS 14 with 120' booms. This machine is equiped with all wheel steer, RTK guidance, and section control. In addition, we also have our own trailer to mix chemicals on the spot and tank facility for storage of chemicals, nitrogen, and water. Having this equipment allows us to control every aspect of our farming system.
With this machine we are able to apply nitrogen and fungicides at practically every crop stage with little to no damage. Contact us if you are interested in learning more about these services.
