The Rural Voice, 2002-02, Page 10CITIZENS FOR
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6 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Something new in forage management
1 must have sat in on numerous
farm forage seminars over the last 30
years trying to pick up new or better
production ideas that I could report in
the farm media. There is no shortage
of speakers,
experts from afar.
or local farmers
who have
outstanding
results from their
own operations.
So it was with
pleasure that I
listened to a
panel of farmers
at a recent farm
forage seminar
where one dairy
farmer broke
from the accepted
presentation and
talked about his spreadsheet, not his
spreader.
Wayne Wikkerink of Wedgewood
Holsteins in Cobble Hill, B.C.
stressed the point that we often think
that we know what is best or what is
not working well for us, but until you
put some figures on paper you don't
really have the knowledge to make
good sound management decisions.
In this case yayne wanted to
know his costs by tonne of available
dry matter by the field, some of
which were rented and some owned.
Where the farm is located, much
of the pasture and forage land is in
small fields and can be a good
dist?nce from the home farm.
The computer spreadsheet was
self -designed, not very fancy, and
listed, by field, costs and time on one
side against production on the other.
Government programs and
workbooks supply some of this type
of results, but this was farm and
project specific.
'The figures showed him:
• It's cash -expensive to produce
forage on rented land;
• Rented land with poor stands of
grass is very expensive;
• Distance from farm is a significant
contributor to costs per tonne;
• New seeding significantly lowers
the cost/tonne over the long term;
• Irrigatjon is expensive;
• Irrigating poor stands is more
expensive than new stands;
• Our poorest quality forage is often
the most expensive to produce;
• Hay is significantly more expensive
to produce than silage;
• A good crop of corn will produce as
much dry matter as grass in a year.
Although Wayne did not give
actual cost and income farm figures
for his conclusions he did say that he
did not include the investment cost of
the owned land. He said that his
average yield of corn produced 6.48
tonnes of available dry matter to the
acre.
The other different presentation
included a discussion on soil
nutrients and soil testing. The area
that caught my attention dealt with an
on-farm visual and spade type of test
for biological soil activity. It's
nothing fancy and has no standards
other than to give you a benchmark
from which to track soil health and
vitality over the years.
By using a measured area such as
a one foot circle, the test looks at
biodiversity, number of earthworms
and earthworm holes, tests the smell
of the soil, the aggregation, water
filtration and soil compaction.
The website gives all the details of
what is needed, the timing and an
assessment sheet. The site is part of
the Appropriate Technology Transfer
for Rural Areas with funds from the
USDA. For more information go to
www.attra.org/attra/attra-pub/
pastsoil/bioactivity.html 0
Robert Mercer was editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter and a farm
commentator in Ontario for 25 years.
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