Protect Your Soil Between Growing Seasons
Cover crops are planted between cash crop seasons primarily for the benefit of the soil rather than the crop yield. Cover crops are proven to prevent erosion, improve soil structure, increase organic matter, suppress weeds, increase moisture and nutrients in the soil, and more. MKC has formulated both fall and summer mixes that provide numerous management options. Contact one of our strategic account managers or your nearest MKC location to learn more!
Cover Crop Seed To Meet Your Needs
Planting a cover crop is a farming practice that can provide multiple benefits to your farm. MKC's mixes are formulated to equip growers with a variety of management options. Whether you are looking to reduce your herbicide passes, graze cattle or simply protect the soil, MKC has a cover crop mix to meet your needs.
MKC has formulated three summer cover crop mixes using a variety of warm season grasses and legumes to provide ground cover, break compaction and serve as an additional feed source. The fall cover crop mixes have rates of radishes and turnips in addition to the key cereal grains. These mixes are formulated to break compaction, scavenge nutrients and offer additional grazing.
MKC Summer Mix Options
MKC Summer Mix
Drought tolerant and rapid tillering warm season grasses provide quick ground cover and quality forage for feed. Fibrous roots produce a lot of below-ground root biomass that can break compaction layers.
MKC Summer Mix (BMR Sudan)
All the same benefits of the MKC Summer Mix, but with added palatability and feed quality. The BMR trait allows it to keep its quality longer into the season by reducing lignin content.
MKC Legume Mix
This mix has legumes for nitrogen production and sunflowers and brassicas to break compaction. It could be planted to make nitrogen between wheat crops or for next year's corn crop.
MKC Fall Mix Options
Cover Crop After Corn
The major component of this mix is rye, which will provide good canopy and weed suppression with manageable residue. While the rye will have some fall growth, most growth will take place in the spring.
Fall or Spring Grazing Mix
This mix is 50% rye and 50% triticale. Rye will green up first in the spring, followed by triticale a couple weeks later. This will help offer a longer grazing season in the spring.
Winter Kill Mix
Oats are the key ingredient in this mix. Combined with turnips and radishes, this mix can break compaction, scavenge nutrients and offer additional grazing. All components will winter kill.
State-of-the-art Cover Crop Machine
Completed in September 2018, the three-bin facility with blending capabilities has all base ingredients for cover crop needs for producers. Located in Groveland, the cover crop plant has capabilities to custom mix to create a combination to fit an individual producers’ needs. Cover crop mixes are blended into bulk bags or tender trucks.
The cover crop market has been growing and is an area MKC wants to meet the needs of our farmers and help educate them about the value of cover crops. The MKC cover crop facility is an opportunity to provide cover crop seed and blends to customers across our entire footprint. We source in different seed, make the blend and source directly to the grower.
Additional Resources
Cover Crops Help Stabilize the Future of Farmland
Cover crops continue to gain popularity as a way to improve farm ground. The regenerative agriculture movement is quickly showing an impact on the way they can improve soil structure and keep nutrients in place. This article highlights the considerations when choosing a cover crop mix and the benefits each mix brings to the field.
Some Cover Crops Are Better Choices Than Others
Cover crops can increase soil nutrients, reduce soil erosion, and suppress weeds. For cattle producers, cover crops also provide an additional source of feed. MKC Strategic Account Manager Chris Thompson talks cover crop management practices in this Hillsboro Star Journal article.
Covering Their Bases
"It was different than anything we’ve done before. We were planting into green stuff this tall,” Justin Regehr says, raising his hand level to his brow as he sat upright in his chair. Originally published in our Connections newsletter, this article tells the story of Inman farmers Justin and Royce Regehr's success with cover crops on their operation.