The Northeast, and North central U.S. and Canada are still in the center of much below normal temperatures and now, considerable rainfall. Farms who in the past several years had seedings and corn in the ground, are just getting started – and the cold keeps returning.
Click here for full newsletter May 2014 harvest
Watch your corn varieties.
Before you take delivery, you may want to rotate out of your longest season corn and into shorter season varieties to bring the average maturity of your corn down this season.
With increasing number of farms incorporating winter triticale in their rotations, there is a need for a highly digestible summer energy source that can fit in the slightly narrower season between spring harvest and fall planting of the superior quality winter forage.
Farmers are reluctant to seed down (and hence – rotate) due to the work; high risk of less than ideal stands that will haunt them for the next three years; and the low yield on the seeding year. There is now an option that can produce 8 – 15 tons/acre of silage (2.8 – 5+ tons of dry matter/acre) seeding year with minimal work, and no economic weed pressure.
The biggest criticism with red clover, it’s perceived difficulty getting it dry enough to put in storage; was dealt with in the November 2013 newsletter available at https://advancedagsys.com/november-2013-red-clover-old-forage-for-modern-dairy/. NY Farm Viability Institute funded research clearly showed, under very adverse drying conditions; that we could get red clover to >35% dry matter the day it was mowed. As with any crop, there are no silver bullets. The crop and cropping system has to fit into the farm operating system. Red clover has that ability and brings with it a number of economic, environmental, and sustainable benefits.
There are millions of acres from Maine to Minnesota, Canada to Virginia that, because of compromised drainage, will not support alfalfa and give erratic silage yields past the first year of corn. These soils can support clear grass but increasing nitrogen cost made the nutrients in that forage cost prohibitive.
The fall has been a range of weather conditions on the farms of our readers. Some have had nice warm and dry weather while others struggled with rain. In about all the areas, there was a delay in corn harvest due to the cool weather this summer, late planting, or replanting due to rain or a combination of both. Many farms are still working on corn silage harvest.
For those south of my Albany, NY location, you can still plant spring oats now at 3 – 5 bu/a of grain type oats for a harvest by early October. If you are planting on program acres that do not allow a harvest until November 1, then a forage type oat that matures later is better. A grain type oat is preferred for dairy farms as it will get to heading sooner and so drop the moisture level closer to what you need for ensiling.
Fields Not Planted or Underwater?
Most of the areas encompassing this newsletter continue to have excessive rainfall. Some fields are still not planted; others have drowned. This was predicted earlier in the season due to the cool Pacific and warm Atlantic cycles coupled with volcanoes pouring ash into the Arctic Circle. This follow-up to the June letter is to give you a wider range of potential choices to fit the resources in the location of your farm.
Late May and most of June has had a tremendous amount of water through the soil. What about the nitrogen? (see March 2013 newsletter) For first year corn on sod (rotation pays again!) and heavily manured fields (daily spread), the slow steady release from organic matter throughout the season reduces the nitrogen losses.