The Rural Voice, 1999-02, Page 38forage feeding is planned except late
in the season when additional dry
matter is needed or when pasturing
third -cut alfalfa which is too juicy.
This past year he fed 10 bales of hay
in summer and 10 of haylage in
October.
He uses Targe pastures divided
with polywire fences to create six to
20 -acre paddocks. Each paddock has
permanent water. Cattle are moved
twice daily, after morning and
evening milking. The pasturing is
intended as permanent pasture but
some renovation has had to be done
because of winter -kill problems.
Ballough feeds about 150 cattle at
a time on 88 acres divided into 10
permanent paddocks which may bc
subdivided into as many as 10
sections, depending on the time of
year, by polywire. The fields are
shaped in triangles to allow lanes for
cattle to go to the barn for water.
Pastures are made up of four
different grass mixes.
It's important to train cattle to
electric fences, Ballough says. "The
one thing you don't want to see is
150 head of cattle going down the
road."
He also trains cattle with a bucket
of feed when they first go on pasture,
to get them to come when called.
"It's far easier to pull cattle than it is
to push them."
Ballough advises getting out and
walking the fields to see what's
going on.
The Ebys use a central watering
system on all of their farms with
electric fences dividing the fields and
laneways leading to the barn where
the cattle can get water. They use
fence -type feeders to be able to take
supplementary feed to the cattle on
pasture. If pasture is getting ahcad of
the needs of the cattle they like to
take off hay rather than further
subdivide the fields. Base of most of
the pasture is native bluegrass with
frost seeding of legumes into it.
They check cattle daily at the
beginning of the season, every other
day later on. A health program before
the cattle go out on pasture and
throughout the season is an important
part of their management.
For Lyons, pasture maintenance is
important. He applies 150 pounds per
34 THE RURAL VOICE
News
acre of 22-14-20 fertilizer in July.
For pastures that will bc used into
October he applies 100 pounds of
nitrogen. Pastures are clipped once a
year after the second rotation. Every
three years pastures arc replenished
by frost seeding or oversceding. You
need a good mix of diffcrcnt plants,
he says to dcal with the different
conditions that will hit from
wintcrkill to summer drought.0
Forage Master
shares his secrets
John Beer learned his lesson and
at Grey -Bruce Farmers' Week,
January 6, he tried to share what he
has learned with othcr forage
growers.
For years, confessed Bccr, he had
looked at the good stands of alfalfa
grown by other farmers and
wondered how it was done. By 1998,
Beer had succeeded so well in
learning that he was chosen Ontario
Forage Master at the Royal Winter
Fair in Toronto.
Beer, who raises purebred
Holstein heifers on a 240 -acre farm
between Draytoii and Arthur (he sold
his dairy quota and cows last spring),
said nothing will turn his head more
quickly when he's driving down a
country road than a good field of
alfalfa, "the queen of forages".
The three secrets of growing good
alfalfa on his farm were "tile drain,
tile drain and tile drain". His farm
was made up of clay loam that
retained excess water that had to bc
gotten rid of.
The farm suffered from hard -pan
which caused the roots of alfalfa to
grow at a right angle a few inches
down. By tile draining and by using
alfalfa in the crop rotation at least
every three years, leaving it don
three to six years, he was able to rid
the soil of that problem.
"It all starts with the soil," Bccr
said. The soil must have nutrients
that are availableto the plant
whenever it needs them.
If you pull up an alfalfa plant you
want to see nice pink nodules on the
roots, Beer said. "If you see pink
nodules that means the root is very,
very healthy and those nodules arc
taking in nitrogen from the air. You
do not have to supply nitrogen to that
forage crop if those nodules are there
and working properly."
In establishing a new field of
alfalfa he treats the field the year
before with a litre and a half of
Roundup to kill off as many weeds as
possible.
He plants using 12 pounds of
alfalfa and three pounds of timothy in
an 80/20 mix that gives about 165
plants per square foot. Sometimes
seed is sown with the combination
drill using a companion barley crop
sown at a reduced rate of 60-70
pounds. He uses a packer to get good
soil/seed contact.
"We always choose certified seed
and plant a multi -leaf variety that has
winter -hardiness and disease
resistance. We don't find it
economical at all to purchase cheap,
non -pedigreed seed. Buy the best and
you are likely to get the best in the
crop as well."
Beer and his wife Sharon begin
harvesting haylagc in the early -bud to
Enid -bud stage and they work as long
as they can to make top product. "We
go.to the wall to save that crop in top
shape. We strive for a protein content
of 20 per cent, an ADF of 30 per cent
and an NDF of 40 per cent and will
end up with an relative feed value of
170-200. At that range cattle are
getting optimum value of that feed —
thc best TDN value that you can get,
therefore the best milk production, at
the most efficient cost.",
For hay, they have to cut later in
order to get the hay to dry properly.
After harvest he spreads
recommended rates of fertilizer,
commonly using 0-11-45 to keep
forage going through the winter.
After a nurse crop, he likes to leave a
stubble of six inches to act as an air
mattress to serve as a breathing,
respiratory system allowing the
plants to breathe through the snow
and ice of the first hard winter.
"Forages positively impact our
livestock feeding operation three
differcnt ways: nutritionally,
economically and environmentally,"
Bccr said.
"When you feed forages you have
a fairly complete ration right there.
My nutritionist tells me it's a very,