At Belle’s Implements, we offer a variety of soil management solutions for your property. We are primarily based around No-Till or Minimal Till practices where possible while incorporating complementary cover crop rotations used in both cash crops and pastures.
We believe in the proven “Haney Testing” for soil, as it looks at the soil samples from a living perspective. Results focus on Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Aluminum, Iron, Calcium, and the soil’s Microbial Respiration, while using water as the extractant. Those results are weighed against your growth zone, time of year, and complement cover crop recommendations that will propagate in your soils to achieve balance without or minimalizing chemicals. This is a contrast from the standard Mehlich-3 soil and basic soil tests provided by most government agencies and seed/fertilizer companies in our region. While the Mehlich-3 offers some nutrient level results, they are achieved using acids. Ask yourself: at what point does it rain acid concentrates onto our fields?
Armed with a comprehensive soil profile we evaluate your personal goals for soil health, crops to retrieve nutrition from deeper layers, compaction reduction, and erosion prevention by—in most cases—having thriving year-round cover crops on every inch of soil possible. What our current customers have found is that when their neighbors’ pastures and crops are turning brown from heat/dry weather we experience in this region from July-October, their lands have retained more water per acre and keep soil temperatures cooler by remaining shaded with green covers. Those cooler soil temperatures in peak heat months allow the microbes to not burn up or become exhausted from exposed soils. The same logic applies through our winter season with application of cool season and winter cover crops. Believe it or not, there are an abundance of cover crops that will remain green and grow through our winter season. Results are reduction of feeding of hay, grain, and minerals when an intense rotational grazing plan is utilized with livestock producers—saving you time and money.
We offer these tests plus helping you achieve the right seed blends recommended from the testing results. We commonly sow the seeds for you with the precision equipment we already sell and support from APV. We only source seed from companies dealing in LIVE seed weight. There are zero savings when you buy a cheap product full of fillers and seed that doesn’t germinate. We also offer mechanical termination services, if needed, to allow next season crops to emerge while keeping weed pressure off, or very low, utilizing our Riteway CrushRite Crimper Rollers. Parts of these services are open to cost share through various agencies like NRCS, The Nature Conservancy, and FSA.
Supplemental soil nutrition with the "In-Row" solution of Vulcan Zonemaster Strip TIllers coupled with APV Pneumatic delivery of OrganiLock Soil Food featuring "NoTrate Technology." OrganiLock Soil Food (click to learn more) is a certified organic nutrient package delivered with these precision means reducing the rate by at least 75% compared to broadcasting. This product is locally sourced here in Kentucky supporting another local family and their employees. This soil food contains preserved dry microbes that become live/active after water is added and incorporates animal degradation back into the soil health process which is completely natural. If we simply feed the soil, with a little water the rest falls into place. We also offer a more traditional granular fertilizer package with the Zonemaster coupled to the patented Montag Mfg delivery systems. This also reduces the amount of those fertilizers needed to achieve the yield farmers need to survive in today's market.
The bottom line—we are here to help, and we look forward to being a part of your journey to healthier soil, water, and more nutritious crops for us all. We are all what we eat, and if we can make a positive impact—no matter how small—it will be worthwhile. Evaluation costs are minimal and are waived should you choose to enroll in a managed plan. We desire to make it simple to understand why our Motto is “Sowing Seeds for Future Growth.”
