Farmers Cautioned About Applying Fertilizer Too Early

Oct 05, 2020

With harvest wrapping up earlier this year, some farmers have started with fall fertilizer.

Manitoba Agriculture Soil Fertility Specialist John Heard says farmers are taking a risk if they apply fertilizer too early.

"The risk is that when we put nitrogen down into warm soil it can convert to the nitrate form, which is fine, as long as it doesn't get wet. But if it should get wet like we were wet last year or wet in the spring, that's when that nitrate form tends to be lost."

He notes some farmers are trying to get a jump on fall field work and fertilizer to avoid what happened last year with the poor field conditions.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.