Since 2015, the Horse Creek Watershed Council has worked in conjunction with partners to design, maintain, and collect data at their Horse Creek Test Plot.
This plot includes 5 trials, each replicated 3 times over 15 plots:
Trial 1. No-till without cover crop
Trial 2. No-till with a multispecies cover crop
Trial 3. No-till with cereal rye cover crop
Trial 4. Conventional till with cereal rye cover crop
Trial 5. Conventional till without cover crop
Location
The Test Plots are located north and west of Cedar Lake off of 10th avenue in Alden township, just east of 220th Street. There is a parking area adjacent to the plots for viewing.
These plots are maintained through generous partnership of the Horse Creek Farmer-Led Council. They are owned by one of our founding members, Timm Johnson, and managed by another, Scott Carlson with substantial assistance from the Polk County Land & Water Resources Department.
What We Monitor
Every harvest, yield of each plot is measured precisely using a weigh wagon at which time test weight and moisture for each plot are measured. During the season, residue cover, plant population, and plot observations are also tracked to monitor in-season differences.
Reports & More Information
A phosphorous stratification study was completed on the site to study the different levels of phosphorous in soils 0-2″ deep and 2-6″ deep. The report is available here.
See Dane Christenson’s presentation slides on the test plot, here. In the fall of 2021, Dennis Busch of UW Platteville did an infiltration study on the plots. See his presentation on findings from Horse Creek and around the midwest here.
A draft analysis of 10 Years of harvest data was provided by Chris Bandura, Conservation Cropping Outreach Specialist with UW Extension. Chris broke it down to corn years and soybean years.
Farmer-Led Watershed Councils of the St. Croix and Red Cedar Rivers 