“We farm about 3,000 acres for ourselves. I do a little custom seeding, spraying, swathing and combining, too,” Greg says. A switch to direct seeding in 1990 led to other significant changes for the better on the Stephen farm. (At the time, Greg was still farming with his father, Roy Stephen, and they had about 2,500 acres.)

“I don’t see any downside to it yet,” Greg says, a dozen years later. “We’re putting in about the same amount of inputs, but we’re producing more bushels per acre now than ever before.”

They spend less time and money on fieldwork now; but on the other hand, they spend and spray a little more to control the weeds. He notes, “The soil is getting a little softer. Probably, the most beneficial result of direct seeding is that we’re having far more even yields over the whole farm. Our average has come up. Before, we could have differences of 10 to 15 bushels; now every field seems to be within 5 to 7 bushels.

“We farm over a distance of quite a few miles today. We find that with direct seeding, we’re getting far more even yields across the whole farm. I’m actually extremely happy with the way we farm now,” he says.

Along with a change to direct seeding came a gradual change in fertilizer application. They had been putting on granular fertilizer with a 3-inch spoon opener. They went down to a 2-inch spoon. Now, they only apply anhydrous ammonia with a -inch knife opener and mid-row banding.

“We had a choice: to either get a heavy harrow bar or get a combine with a sufficient straw chopper to do the job. We got the combine we needed,” he says.

“I wanted a combine that would take the place of a heavy harrow bar, so I don’t have to go out there and make another operation in the fall,” Greg explains. The straw is chopped up and spread evenly over the width of the header. Today, he says, “I don’t touch the ground in the fall. If I do anything, all I do is spray it. I don’t even own a heavy harrow bar.”

Greg’s father had purchased one of the first New Holland rotary combines in the region in 1977. In 1996, Greg purchased a New Holland TR™96 with a pickup header and the straw chopper he needed. For the 2001 crop, he used a new TR™99.

“We’ve had good success with rotary combines,” Greg says. “In comparison with others we’ve had, in tough conditions, it always works better. We used to grow canaryseed, and we grew a lot of oats. We’ve found that the New Holland TR combines are very, very good in tougher conditions. One of the main reasons I went to New Holland is because they have an excellent straw chopper for direct seeding.”

Bison herd

Not all of his straw, however, is left on the field. Some goes to the bison herd the Stephens manage. In 1997, Greg and Tracy introduced bison and custom feeding to diversify their farm business. The herd, now at 160 bulls, cows and calves, needs straw for winter feeding and bedding. About 50 of the bison belong to Greg and Tracy.

“Before I had the bison, I wasn’t baling. I was trying to chop it all and use it as ground covering. This year, I’ve got 700 acres of oats and I’ll bale all the straw. We try to get on it fairly quickly after we combine it. Lots of times we bale it at night, in the dew. If it gets a little wet, it actually makes a nice bale,” he says.