Its all a hell of a conundrum really…..I mean cause it’s the $$$ that’s paying for someone like Dr Grant to deliver a “message” in the first place even if it is slightly tainted…..Its the $$$ that makes the world go round so to speak. If he were to come on there and tell the complete truth in that most of the stuff they’re selling isn’t needed….then he would cut his own legs out of from underneath him and the very platform that’s allowing him to say such…..So what do you do??? It doesn’t do a whole lot of good to tell the complete truth if no one ever hears it.

This reminds me of a joke I heard a long time ago, looked up how it actually goes. You really have to do the Indian's portion in quotes using your best Native American accent, which is maybe not compliant with the code of conduct:

A cowboy and an Indian are riding horseback.
The Indian stops his horse, jumps off and puts his ear to the ground.
He looks up at the cowboy and says, "Buffalo come".
The cowboy looks around and then back at the Indian. "How the hell do you know that?"
The Indian replied, "Ear sticky".

Since you brought the buffalo back up……..just to add a little more to that idea

The buffalo were merely a means of resetting succession. They did it in a way though which promoted more fertile and diverse conditions instead of causing them to deteriorate. The buffalo weren't getting all fancy with it…..they weren’t using any kind of special beans or peas with special equipment…..they were using hooves, buffalo chit, and native vegetation. Your method doesn’t have to be all fancy either even though you can certainly make it as fancy as you want to…Whether it be with native summer vegetation or a special seed mix that you plant.....your method needs to recycle the vegetation in a manner that builds soil fertility and diversity instead of destroying it like our past methods have.......... In the process we mix in our winter cereal grains and clovers and incorporate them into the cycle as well.

Hell I've been drilling beans into standing cereal grains for 16 years but no youtube back then so I missed out on my eagle seed and trophy rock endorsements dang it. Seriously I like Grant and think hes about as good as it gets when it comes to getting good information out about how he does things and his results on his rock farm AKA the proving grounds. I don't blame him for pushing products hes got to make a living and at least hes pushing and good one with Brad's beans. Brad (owner of eagle seed) is also a great guy and has personally helped me out years ago when I was a dealer for him and ill never forget it. All that being said I believe that its impossible to get unbiased opinions on these shows when the products they are pushing pay the bills and yeah he's kinda left the small budget land owner and hunting club guy in the dust. As for the roller crimper I don't have a clue cause I've never used one but ive have great success drilling into standing grain. I have a 10ft john deere 1590 it is completely different then other no till drills in a lot of ways but on this subject the depth control wheels on each row lay the grain down when planting. It almost looks like it has been roll crimped and really does a unbelievable job but its over kill for most normal common sense peaple. I'm a dang fool for even buying it to plant crap for deer. Anyhow all I do is spray the standing grain with gly in and plant sometimes the next day or next week but pretty much always before its completely dead. I will say laying that grain, grass or whatever down right is a game changer cause it really helps the soil a lot more then cutting it and weeds comp is down tremendously.

I've drilled into sprayed vegetation but it wasn't laying down. All the vegetation had been sprayed approx 5 days and it was vertical but it was "dead man walking", so to speak. The drill worked beautifully. But I don't expect a drill to penetrate a layer of dead vegetation that's been sprayed for a month or two.

Grant Wood's system and methods work. But he LIVES there so he can do what he needs to do exactly when he needs to to it. No waiting for a weekend.

Grant's not a salesman however, there is nothing wrong with making money on what you love to do.

Not to highjack the thread but looking to try this. Last year we mowed short and no till drilled. It didn’t do very well as I expected but it was out of my control. This year I would like to spray and then drill in to leave that thatch layer for moisture the other added benefits. Some plots have very tall weeds and grass, probably even chest high dog finnels and such. Would you mow this high say leaving 12 inches of grass then wait a week for regrowth, then hit the field with roundup, wait 1-2 weeks for it to die and finally drill in the seeds and spread fertilizer? I also worry about just spreading the fertilizer on top since we are not working the soil

If you have a drill I'd probably drill into it with the vegetation standing. Either that or you're gonna need to kill it way ahead of time so that its broken down and brittle......Natural planting times for us is likely gonna put you at t time when the veg would be tough to drill through in a mat across the soil surface. Its in that in between stage between being good n green and good n brown....the biomass is tough at that point. Some other folks on here who have more experience using drills can comment further on what they've had success with. Broadcasting the fert over the top is no issue.....when it rains it'll seep down into the thatch and soil.

i was thinking more about this response....I was hoping others who have used drills more than I have would give opinions but it doesn't look like they're going to. One issue that you may have trying to drill into your field....veg standing or laying down..... is if you have a lot of really large dog fennel.....It can be like a small tree. I'm not sure how well a drill would handle running over something like that. If its really small in diameter then you may not have any issues.....If its really large then you may want to consider terminating it really early so that it has time to get brittle.

I drill over 200 acres a year for livestock. But i know whatever I could tell you would be wrong according CNC.... He will answer some more of his own questions later on in this thread I’m sure.

My drill would cut through dog fennel with ease. It’s just a damn weed

I guess my main question or concern is should I mow it down a little before spraying? Or just spray, give it a few weeks to die and then plant? Since these plots are so thick and overgrown I didn’t want to have too much dead debris for the new seeds to have to grow through.

My field is 7-8 ft tall with vegetation and I don't have any issues. I've been just running over it with the tractor though and not pressing it neatly to the ground.......I'd think that if you drilled it with the veg standing that a drill would cut slits that would allow your seedlings room to emerge if you just waited and planted then sprayed on the same day. Take this with a grain of salt.....

Has anyone else run into this dilemma and had good success? I’m just worried I would have too much thatch laying dead over the seeds

Good luck.......Everyone has just about been run off......That and the folks who are doing it won't speak up due to not wanting to deal with the horse crap.....

4Him146 - I found some good videos few weeks back in qdma and no till I believe - described what to do and what it should look like-one even showed qdma similar - No till food plots should bring stuff up too

You do not want to bush hog stuff that’s too tall and create a matted up layer that the drill can’t cut through. The taller it is the better it’ll plant

Makes sense. I’ve researched a lot but you hear both sides. I’d much rather Not have to bush hog. Thanks for all the input folks and I’ll check the qdma info

Keep us updated on how it turns out....