1.
Don’t wait
around for right
answers, you
can start
today.

2.
Tile drainage
field day
Natalie Rector
Michigan State University
Extension-retired
rector@msu.edu

3.
Opportunity knocked
 Right place at the right time
 Golden opportunity
 Is the farmer nuts? Opening a can of
worms, location in state.
 I really want to retire rather than do this

4.
Combination of
 Tile drainage installation
 Fun stuff- kickin tires
 5 vendors, on site
 Mains
 Laterals
 GPS
 Design and installations
Managing manure
liquids on drained
lands.
Preventative and
remediation:
 Look at systems/goals
 Cover crops
 Slurry seeding
 Rate/calibration
 Tillage
 Water control devices
 Sub-irrigation
 Bio-reactor
 General Management
 Multiple applications
 Etc.
 OPTIONS

5.
Joint partnership
 Land Improvement Contractors
Organization
 Farmer’s Field
 Extension-Educational component
 Local and state support from agri-business

6.
Logistics
 Picked a wheat field, planned tour after
harvest, August 2012
 Goal: end of two days, 80 acres would
be drained.

7.
Prevention

8.
Calibration and
rates, especially liquids on
drainage
Photo by MSU ANR
Communications

9.
Slurry Seeding: adding cover crop
seed directly into the manure tank
and seeding while spreading manure
with a low disturbance tillage tool.

10.
Slurry seeding

11.
Tillage
 Varying degrees of tillage
 Salford, John Deere, Landoll and Kuhn-
Kraus
 Soil type interaction
 Goal of tillage
 Liquid manure?
 Residue management?
 Break macro pores

12.
Water Control Device

13.
Photo by MSU ANR
Communications
Constructed Bio-Reactor

14.
Total Contained system:
sub irrigate and capture
back from tiles
West Sub-irrigation
East subirrigation
Waste storage (Manure)
Waste Storage (leachate runoff)
3 chambered wetland

15.
General management
 Farmer Panel
 Larry Geohring, Cornell
 Larry Brown, Ohio State University
 Richard Cooke, University of Illinois
 Tim Harrigan, Michigan State Universiy

16.
Can you think of a more
dynamic system than the
interaction of soil types, soil
moistures and weather?
Begin today for
 Awareness
 Use common sense
 Adjust as necessary to meet the daily
needs