The squeeze on dairy profitability has been getting tighter and the length of this downturn is exhausting both the financial and emotional state of many farms. “What can I do?” is a common question. A key I have seen in my 40+ years in the industry is that basics are the foundation of the farm profit. In spite of the technological advances in computers, GMO’s. drones, etc, the basics mattered yesterday and they still do today. Highly digestible alfalfa is not a help if you have not soil tested all the fields you work, nor applied any lime in several years.
Tom
December 2017 Corn Varieties
It is that time of year again where we peruse corn seed catalogs, attempting to pick out the best varieties for your farm. They all look perfect; but are they.
As we are growing dairy forage, quality not just yield, needs to be considered. The fiber portion makes up half of the dry matter so a slight change in digestibility can have a significant impact on potential milk production. The other factor to consider is the percentage of the total yield that is starch. You need to be cautious with the starch number because a very hard starch will look good on paper but not milk as well even with processing and long fermentation times. A softer kernel will process easier and give more energy to the cow and not to the birds picking at the manure. With milk price down, farmers are grumbling about high seed cost, but in the big picture it usually is a small part of the whole corn silage yield component.
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October 2017 Optimize forage production
At this time of year there is a step you can take to optimize the forage production system for your farm. It is a step livestock farmers, especially dairy, can really benefit. We are talking of analysis of what you have to work with. Dairy farmers wouldn’t think of feeding a forage without knowing the nutrients it contains. Yet many forget; don’t have time; don’t get around; to test their soil to see what it contains. An ancient example is that of a wooden rain barrel. You can only fill it as full as the shortest stave. In spite of computer analysis, drone scouting, instant communication, the rain barrel example still holds true – and is ignored. We will pay over $200 for a bag of seed that barely covers 2 acres, but not take a $15 soil test that optimizes the growth of that $200/bag of seed. Traditional or organic, there are basic physical and chemical limitations to yield from your fields. Suboptimal protein or energy will limit milk production. Suboptimal fertilizer nutrients will limit yield. Conversely, one at a high or excess level will limit profitability if you put on more than is needed. It can even create shortages of other nutrients.
September 2017 Wet Forage Harvest
Three Critical Concerns This Fall Harvest
1, What You Drive In The Field:
The first concern is the wetter than normal soils across much of the northeast, and upper Midwest. That is BEFORE any hurricanes make it this way to dump on us. The naturally occurring Atlantic Multidecadal oscillation has switched to warm which will generate more powerful hurricanes until it goes cool again. Thus, the chances are greater one will wander over us to dump even more water. WET SOILS HAVE A VERY HIGH POTENTIAL FOR PERMANENT YIELD-LIMITING COMPACTION.
August 2017 End of Season Management
Our weather is continuing average – last year was hot with no rain, this year it is cool with record rainfall. The messed up growing season is finally coming to an end, but it is not over yet. The hurricane season is still cranking and the east coast water is warm which supports them coming up the coast. That could really make a mess. The second issue is successfully harvesting the crops we have out in what are still wet soils (September is forecasted to be cool and wetter than normal – not what we need!)
The corn crop is problematic on two fronts. First, because of the high soil moisture during the vegetative stage, the digestibility of the fiber will be lower than normal. Secondly, many fields are like the photo at right, with extreme variability of maturity and yields as you go across the field. Harvest decisions will be a mix of the science of farming and the art of farming as you make a judgement decision of when to start chopping particular fields.
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July 2017 Late Forage
Another season and another year of extremes. It started raining in early May and has not let up much. As you go from New England to western New York, and continue on into Michigan, Wisconsin and the edge of Minnesota, it just gets wetter and wetter. Well drained soils have faired ok, but anything less than that has more ducks than crops in it. Corn is still waiting to be planted and not all the haycrop has been harvested (mostly firewood digestibility now). The cold nights of May continued into June. I didn’t start planting my sorghum trials until after June 12. (For the climate change crowd, summertime maximum temperatures have been declining in from Minnesota to Maine for the past 80 years). When temperatures drop below 50, even corn will reduce growth for the next couple of days, based on research at the University of Guelph.
For unplanted ground we will cover multiple options. Are these perfect crops? NO! Don’t expect 100% yields from 50% of the season. These crops are not magic. They can give you highly digestible forage in the much abbreviated growing season.
June 2017 Wet Condition Management
Cooler and wetter than normal is forecasted for the eastern half of the US for the next 14 days. For much of the north central and north-east US, soil moisture is 60 – 120% above normal. Anything but gravel or sand is barely trafficable much less harvestable. Significant corn is not planted and for most farms, haylage is only partially completed or not started yet. Fortunately, we are not completely dead in the water so to speak. First, the forecast on the other side of those two weeks is shaping up to be a flip—to warmer than normal and slightly below normal moisture for the rest of the summer (September is looking questionable).
May 2017 Delayed Cropping
Over the last 15 years of my research, it has been consistent that winter forage is ready (stage 9 – flag leaf stage) a day or so before straight grass fields are at optimum. We mow the triticale and continue mowing the cool season grasses. Then we move to the grass alfalfa mixes and finally finish with the straight alfalfa. All high quality at harvest. That is the theory, now the weather.
Last year our eastern New York triticale was at stage 9 on May 13. As of May 1, we were running 13% ahead of last year in growing degree days and so the harvest was targeted to come slightly earlier. Then a major mass of cool to cold weather with tremendous down-pours rolled across the upper half of US from Minne-sota all the way to New England dumping considerable moisture along the way.
April 2017 Wet Spring
What a difference a year makes. Last year we were eating dust, this year we are chasing ducks off the field. So the last two years together are average! The forecast is for May to be cooler and wetter than normal. What was best last year may not work for this year.
March 2017 Nitrogen Management
Winter forage is one of the most rapidly expanding crop acres across the Midwest and Northeast today. The incredibly high quality forage and profitable economic returns from application of the most basic management practices has made this the crop to grow on both dairy/livestock farms, and farms selling forages. With the critical help from New York Farm Viability Institute, Dr. Ketterings at Cornell, and NY farmers, we have found that the nutrient management of this fall planted, spring harvested, crop is very different from normal spring planted forages and even fall planted grain crops. To that end we have been testing planting dates and fall/spring nitrogen rates to determine the optimum combination for both yield and protection of the environment