The continued drought conditions of November created an unusual need to irrigate winter cover crops. The rain predicted following the planting of South Pivot and West Field resulted in only 0.4 inches of rainfall. On November 3rd an application of 0.5 inches of irrigation was applied to South Pivot to ensure seed germination for the winter grazing mix planted at the end of October. The following day an irrigation application of 0.75 inches was made on North Pivot to settle the deep tilled soil for planting of the grazing mix. On the morning of November 8th, the DATA Farm received 0.5 inches of rain, which also helped settle the soil. Front Field and North Pivot were planted by an ABAC student on November 13th using the same John Deere 450 grain drill used previously. The drill was set at the same rate of 98 pounds per acre for the winter grazing mix.  

Due to the continued dry conditions with warmer temperatures (3°F above average) after planting North Pivot on November 13th, an irrigation application of 0.5 inches was made on this field. The following day, another application was made to South Pivot to provide moisture for the actively growing seedlings. As dry conditions persisted, a third irrigation application of 0.5 inches was made on both North Pivot and South Pivot on November 18th and 19th, respectively. The application in North Pivot was to reduce crusting as the seedlings were emerging from the soil, and the application to South Pivot was to facilitate the actively growing crop. The growth advantage provided by irrigation can be seen visually by comparing UAV images of South Pivot (Fig 1A) and West Field (Fig 1B) that were planted a day apart.