The Rural Voice, 2006-01, Page 21Everett Thomas talks to a producer attending Forage Focus 2005.
cent bloom and succeeding harvests
at a six to seven week interval. With
modern higher -producing herds,
today's recommended management
sees the first cut at the late bud stage
with succeeding harvests at 30-35
days. This doesn't result in higher
yields of tonnage of forage, even if it
results in a fourth cut, he said. It may
even result in a shorter life for the
alfalfa stand.
"However, the goal of alfalfa
production on dairy farms is milk per
acre, not tons of alfalfa per acre,"
Thomas said. "The goal of alfalfa
management at Miner Institute is to
never have our alfalfa come into
bloom, from seeding to plow -down."
Jf you don't need the feed, don't
take a fall harvest, Thomas
recommended. You'll have a
bigger yield the next spring.
Thomas emphasized the
importance of windrow management
in producing top quality hay. Forage
crops start to lose sugars as soon as
you mow them, he said. The
objective is to get the crop into
storage as quickly as you can after
cutting to save the most sugars.
"From stem to silo in a day is not
an unreasonable objective," he said.
But if you put the hay into a tight
windrow you'll end up with the top
of the windrow being too dry and the
bottom too wet, Thomas said. The
fastest way to remove moisture from
just -mowed hay is through the
somata of the plant. Wide windrows
are exposed to more sun which keeps
the stomata open longer, allowing
quicker loss of moisture.
Tests conducted on wide versus
narrow windrows showed it took 7.4
hours to dry a wide windrow, but
14.9 hours for a narrow windrow.
In a trial to see the value of wide
versus narrow windrows in milk
production, Thomas said that the
wide windrows resulted in an extra
295 pounds of milk from a ton of
forage. That meant $33,000 on 275
acres, he said.
"If there's one change you're
going to make this year that will put
more dollars in the bank it's to
spread out the windrow," he said.
Thomas gave a second session on
corn silage at Forage Focus. He noted
that with only 9-10 per cent of corn
in the U.S. being chopped for silage,
not nearly as much seed company
money goes into research for silage
corn hybrids as for grain corn.
There are a few silage -only
hybrids sold and generally the
companies provide information on
fibre digestibility, with an increasing
number including NDF digestibility
ratings for their hybrids, Thomas
said, and while this is useful in
choosing one company's best hybrid,
but there's little data comparing one
company's seed against another's.
However, corn silage trials at some
universities are beginning to provide
a more comprehensive evaluation of
the influence of hybrid selection on
corn silage quality, Thomas said.
Leafy corn hybrids are usually
intended for silage, though a few are
advertised as dual-purpose for either
UNDP
Grant
Robertson
SEND OTTAWA
AN MP THEY
CAN'T IGNORE!
Grant understands
farm issues because
he and his family live
them every day.
" 1 want to make sure that
our children not only
have a chance to farm
but that they can make a
good living doing it.
Farmers standing
together is important."
4NDP
Join Grant's Campaign
57 Albert St., Clinton, ON
NOM 1L0
(519) 482-8600
1-866-768-3637 toll free
www.grantrobertson.ca
Authorized by the official agent tor Grant Robertson
JANUARY 2006 17