Cover Crops

Kauffman Seeds has been one of the main wholesale & retail suppliers of Cover Crop Seeds in the region starting 12 years ago. We work with each customer on an individual basis to meet each customer’s individual goals based on past and future crops and soil improvement goals. Through the years Cover Crops have become an increasingly important part of our business. We feel it is a vital tool to improve soil health for our customers. We can pre-inoculate mixes, or sell the inoculant and let that get done when it is going into the drill later by the customer. We try to stay up to date on any new species that might be out there to fill any niches that we experience. Make sure about the termination date for your area to maintain compliance with your insurance.

High diversity mixes have been proven to be very resilient in high stress environments and very productive and benficial to soil biology, and the above ground biology as well. I have seen on our own farm the improved stress tolerance that even a 3-4 species mix can provide over a single species. They tolerate the high heat and drought much better together than they do separately. This has been observed over the last three years, so have had plenty of stressful conditions to compare them in.

COOL SEASON
BROADLEAF

COOL SEASON
LEGUME

COOL SEASON
GRASS

PERENNIAL

WARM SEASON
BROADLEAF

WARM SEASON LEGUME

WARM SEASON GRASS

Product	Category	Type	Details
Oil Seed Radish	Cool Season Broadleaf, Cover Crops	Fall	Upright and spreading plant	High water use and poor salinity tolerance	Very good nitrogen scavenger	Can aid in reducing compaction	Does not form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Turnips	Cool Season Broadleaf, Cover Crops	Fall	Upright and spreading plant	High water use and poor salinity tolerance	Good at scavenging nitrogen	Good forage production	Does not form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Dwarf Essex Rape	Cool Season Broadleaf, Cover Crops	Fall	Belongs to the cabbage family	High protein and high energy level feed	Very cold, heat and drought tolerant	Valuable feed source when other crops are in a summer slump	Good nutrient scavenger
Hybrid Forage Brassicas	Cool Season Broadleaf, Cover Crops	Fall	High protein and high energy level feed	Usually very cold, heat, and drought tolerant	Bred specifically for forage production and grazing	Very good regrowth after grazing	Very good RFV
Ethiopian Cabbage	Cool Season Broadleaf, Cover Crops	Fall	Very good biofumigant	Very fast growing	Generally flowers in 60 days	Effective taproot	Up to 5,000 lb. DM/acre
Austrian Winter Peas	Cool Season Legume, Cover Crops	Winter	Upright plant	Low water use	Poor salinity tolerance	Flowers attract pollinators	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Common Vetch	Cool Season Legume, Cover Crops	Winter	Annual or biennial	Prostrate plant	Low to medium water use and poor salinity tolerance	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Flowers attract pollinators
Hairy Vetch	Cool Season Legume, Cover Crops	Winter	Annual or biennial	Prostrate plant	Low to medium water use and poor salinity tolerance	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Flowers attract pollinators
Lupins	Cool Season Legume, Cover Crops	Winter	Upright plant	Low water use	Prefers acid soils	Flowers attract pollinators	Does not form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Winter Barley	Cool Season Grass, Cover Crops	Barley, Winter	Upright plant	Low water use and good salinity tolerance	Benefits from arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Very good forage production	Very good nitrogen scavenger
Winter Triticale	Cool Season Grass, Cover Crops	Triticale, Winter	Upright plant	High water use and good salinity tolerance	Excellent regrowth	Very good forage quality and quantity	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Winter Oats	Cool Season Grass, Cover Crops	Oats, Winter	Walken oats have enough cold tolerance to survive our winters for the last 6 years	Very good early and late forage production	Medium water use and fair salinity tolerance	Very good nitrogen scavenger	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Cereal Rye	Cool Season Grass, Cover Crops	Rye, Winter	Upright plant	High water use and good salinity tolerance	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Very good nitrogen scavenger	Very good residue builder
Canola	Cool Season Broadleaf, Cover Crops	Winter	Annual and biennial	Upright and spreading plant	Medium water use and good salinity tolerance	Very good at scavenging nitrogen and other nutrients from the soil	Flowers attract pollinators, and it does not form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Red Clover	Cover Crops, Perennial	Clover, Legume, Perennial	Biennial or short lived perennial	Upright plant	Medium water use and poor salinity tolerance	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Flowers attract pollinators
Crimson Clover	Cover Crops, Perennial	Clover, Legume, Perennial	Annual or biennial	Upright plant	Thrives well on both well-drained sandy soils and clay type soils	Does not do well in extreme cold or heat	Good quick producer of nitrogen
White Clover	Cover Crops, Perennial	Clover, Legume, Perennial	Upright plant	Medium water use and poor salinity tolerance	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Flowers attract pollinators
Yellow Sweet Clover	Cover Crops, Perennial	Clover, Legume, Perennial	Annual/biennial	Upright plant	Moderate water use and fair salinity tolerance	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Flowers attract pollinators
Chicory	Cover Crops, Perennial, Warm Season Broadleaf	Broadleaf, Perennial	Warm season broadleaf	Perennial	Upright and spreading plant (vine)	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Attracts Pollinators it does not form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Spring Barley	Cool Season Grass, Cover Crops	Barley, Spring	Upright plant	Low water use and good salinity tolerance	Benefits from arbuscular mycorrhizal association	Very good forage production	Very good nitrogen scavenger
Black Oats	Cool Season Grass, Cover Crops	Oats, Spring	Winter cereal for Zone 8 and warmer	Very fibrous root mass and tillers well	Very good biomass production	Works as a spring planted crop in colder climates	Very durable residue when it reaches maturity
Spring Oats	Cool Season Grass, Cover Crops	Oats, Spring	Upright plant	Medium water use and fair salinity tolerance	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Very good nitrogen scavenger	Very good forage quality
Safflower	Cover Crops, Warm Season Broadleaf	Spring	Upright plant	High water use and good salinity tolerance	Deep rooting plant that can aid in reducing soil compaction	Effective at reclaiming mobile nutrients deep in the soil profile	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations and flowers attract pollinators
Lentils	Cool Season Legume, Cover Crops	Spring	Upright and spreading plant	Low water use	Poor salinity tolerance	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Self pollinated, but flowers may attract pollinators
Yellow Field Peas	Cool Season Legume, Cover Crops	Spring	Upright plant	Low water use	Poor salinity tolerance	Flowers attract pollinators	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Spring Forage Peas	Cool Season Legume, Cover Crops	Spring	Upright plant	Low water use	Poor salinity tolerance	Flowers attract pollinators	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
AC Greenfix (chickling vetch)	Cool Season Legume, Cover Crops	Spring	Very good nitrogen producer	Good forage production	Very efficient with moisture	Short season plant, can produce up to 134# at 72 days of growth
Sunn Hemp	Cover Crops, Warm Season Legume	Summer	Upright plant	Tolerates poor, sandy, droughty soils and requires good drainage	Has a strong taproot with many well-developed lateral roots	Very good nitrogen producer	Can produce 6-7 tons dry matter per acre
Laredo Soybeans	Cover Crops, Warm Season Legume	Summer	Upright and spreading plant	Medium water use	Black seeded, pure forage soybean	Self pollinated, but flowers may attract pollinators	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Cowpeas	Cover Crops, Warm Season Legume	Summer	Upright and spreading plant (vine)	Low water use	Poor salinity tolerance	Flowers attract pollinators	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Sunflowers	Cover Crops, Warm Season Broadleaf	Summer	Upright plant	High water use and fair salinity tolerance	Deep rooting plant that can aid in reducing soil compaction	Effective at reclaiming mobile nutrients deep in the soil profile	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations and flowers attract pollinators
Sorghum Sudangrass	Cover Crops, Warm Season Grass	Summer	Upright plant	Medium water use	Fair salinity tolerance	Benefits from arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Self pollinated by the wind
Pearl Millet	Cover Crops, Warm Season Grass	Summer	Upright plant	Low water use	Good protein content	Self pollinated by the wind	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Guar	Cover Crops, Warm Season Legume	Summer	Very good heat tolerance and drought tolerance	90-120 day maturity	Good salinity tolerance	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
German “R” Millet	Cover Crops, Warm Season Grass	Summer	Annual	Upright plant type	Low water use	Poor salinity tolerance	Forms arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
Subterranean Clover	Cover Crops, Warm Season Legume	Clover, Fall	Reseeding cool season annual	Excellent weed and erosion suppressor	Prostrate very dense plant growth	Forms seed pods at, or below ground level
Annual Ryegrass	Cool Season Grass, Cover Crops	Fall, Rye	Annual or perennial types	Medium water use	Fair salinity tolerance	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Very good nitrogen scavenger
Phacelia	Cool Season Broadleaf, Cover Crops	Fall	Upright plant	Low water use and low salinity tolerance	Very fibrous roots and good nitrogen catch crop	Will form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Attracts beneficial insects
Buckwheat	Cool Season Broadleaf, Cover Crops	Fall	Upright plant	Medium water use and poor salinity tolerance	Enhances soil P availability	Does not form arbuscular mycorrhizal associations	Attracts pollinators very well
	Perennial	Alfalfa, Perennial
	Warm Season Legume
	Cool Season Grass, Cover Crops	Spring, Triticale