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Silage and forage
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Native grasses are reaching new heights of importance through potential use in the biofuels industry and in restoration of reclaimed or disturbed lands. Producers in the native seed industry have responded to increased commercial demand, but current harvesting techniques for many grass species have not been up to the task. With funding from the USDA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, a project team in Montana has developed new equipment to efficiently harvest more types...
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Why is Silage Leachate a Problem? Silage leachate (SL) is the term used to describe liquid runoff from silage piles in upright structures, bags or bunkers. Leachate is an organic liquid that is the result of pressure in the silo or the presence of excess water. Properly ensiled silage results in little or no leachate. SL seeping from silage piles presents a serious environmental problem. On average, leachate is 40 times stronger than...
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Redox status as a promising new way to explore live yeast metabolism in the rumen
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Baled silage, commonly referred to as “balage,” originated in northern Europe, where drying conditions are not conducive to the production of high-quality hay. This dilemma is common in Arkansas as well as most of the southeast United States. In this region, high-quality cool-season grasses are difficult to harvest as hay in the spring because drying conditions are often poor. Producers typically wait for good drying weather, which occurs later in the spring or summer, but forage...
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Lives have been lost and hay crops destroyed because of fires caused by spontaneous combustion. This year has been particularly bad for hay heating due to the hot humid weather. If the hay crop is put into the mow above 20-25% moisture content, spontaneous combustion may occur. A hay crop that is placed too wet into a mow will heat rapidly. If the mow is so large that heat loss is restricted, the internal temperature will rise. As the temperature rises above 130°F (55°C), a chemical...
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Grass that may help tackle global warming by cutting the level of methane given off by cows is being developed by scientists, reports the latest issue of the Society of Chemical Industry’s (SCI) magazine Chemistry & Industry. Scientists at Gramina, a joint biotech venture by Australia’s Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre and New Zealand rural services group PGG Wrightson Genomics, are developing a grass that will not only cut the amount of methane cows burp up when...
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A new bahiagrass may provide forage growers with a better shot at beating back weeds before they gain a stranglehold on forage pastures. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Tifton, Ga., have developed a cultivar called "TifQuik" that would do just that. Geneticist Bill Anderson and colleagues in the ARS Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit in Tifton developed TifQuik, a bahiagrass with great potential as a forage grass in the Southeast. ARS is the U.S. Department of...
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Silage inoculants prevent the growth of undesirable microorganisms and therefore the nutrient losses caused by them, and ensure silage feed quality. In consequence, animal performance will be at a top...
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After more than a half century of research, the rhizoma perennial peanut is now considered by many growers to be the best perennial warm-weather legume for southeastern states—the "alfalfa of the South." Developed cooperatively by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and other state and federal agencies, the perennial peanut, Arachis glabrata , is well adapted to the lower South, where its nutritional quality, persistence and broad use are making it a staple pasturage and hay...
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Redox status as a promising new way to explore live yeast metabolism in the rumen
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Mowers, conditioners, windrowers, forage harvesters, wagons and blowers, tractors and trucks may all be part of the silage harvesting process. They are all dangerous and have the potential for causing serious accidents. The first silage harvesting hazard is the hurried attitude of the operators. The maturity of the crop, the desired moisture level for storage or threatening weather may cause the operator to become more hurried, less cautious and prone to having an accident. Additionally,...
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Livestock producers need a high-protein summer forage. Forage soybeans fit well in a production system following small grains or early planted corn. Soybeans have a long history as a nutritious hay and silage crop. Prior to World War II, the principal use of soybeans was as forage. By the early 1940s, soybeans were harvested at various stages of growth, cured and fed as high protein hay, which was considered to be similar in nutritional value to alfalfa. When oil seed values...
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With a few calculations and tips from recent research, a systematic approach to the harvesting process could make forage production more efficient. Purdue University agricultural and biological engineering professor Dennis Buckmaster has advice for selecting forage machinery, calculating machine capacity and determining harvest transport needs. Matching equipment sizes and needs to the number of acres harvested can have a direct impact on the economics of making hay and silage,...
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As many farmers start harvest, it's critical they check the condition of harvest equipment and grain bins before bringing in the crop, a University of Nebraska agricultural engineering specialist said. David Shelton, extension agricultural engineer at the Haskell Agricultural Laboratory near Concord, said keeping equipment and bins clean and in good working order is a critical first step in the harvest process. "Your grain crop is a major investment that needs to be...
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Producing high-quality forages is one of the best ways to improve animal performance, whether the goal is a higher rate of gain, more pounds of milk or wool production or an enhanced conception rate. "The ultimate test of forage quality is better animal performance," said Garry Lacefield, Extension forage specialist with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. "Forages provide most of the nutrients for beef and dairy cattle, sheep and goats, horses and...
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A pasture improvement research program by Dr. Dariusz Malinowski has him looking at summer-dormant tall fescue grasses as an alternative to winter wheat pastures. But these aren’t the typical tall fescue grasses grown in many parts of the nation, said Malinowski, a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station forage agronomist in Vernon. They are from the Mediterranean Basin of southern Europe and northern Africa. “Our climate is changing here,” he said. “It’s been...
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Redox status as a promising new way to explore live yeast metabolism in the rumen
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After this year's stress on perennial forage pastures, forage stands need to be evaluated, says a Purdue University expert. The April freeze, coupled with the dry summer, left some Indiana pastures in poor condition. However, this creates an opportunity for growers to make improvements, according to Keith Johnson, Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service forage expert. Johnson recommends: * Having a soil test done, if one hasn't been done recently * Walking the...
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Forage quality changes with maturity and storage. A forage test can supply useful information about the nutritive value of hay or pasture. This information can be used to adjust the amount of supplement fed. If forage quality is high, the producer can feed less supplement, resulting in savings. Conversely, if the forage quality is low, diet supplementation can improve animal performance, and increase profits. This article discusses how to take a forage sample and how to interpret the laboratory...
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Like playing chess, outwitting annual ryegrass, a major weed in Western Australia which can develop resistance to more than one herbicide at a time, requires constant vigilance and a strategic approach. Farmers now have a greater understanding of the value of pasture phases for controlling herbicide-resistant annual ryegrass in low to medium rainfall areas, thanks to Graeme Doole from the School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Institute of Agriculture, at the University of...
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It may not be entirely surprising that the release of a glyphosate tolerant alfalfa crop has been received as highly controversial. Roundup Ready® alfalfa is different from other GE crops in that its pollen is easily dispersed by honey bees over distances that can exceed three kilometers. Transgenic pollen is likely to fertilize flowers of untransformed alfalfa plants that grow on an estimated 20 million acres throughout the United States. The resulting contamination of seed with...
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Sowing cover crops between rounds of cash crops can protect fields and enrich Midwest soils. So Jeremy W. Singer, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agronomist, wanted to find out how many farmers in the Corn Belt actually use cover crops. Singer works at the National Soil Tilth Laboratory, Ames, Iowa. Collaborators at Iowa State University sent a survey about cover crop use to a random sample of 3,500 crop farmers in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota. They ended up with more...
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Grass silage forms the basal forage for the vast majority of dairy and beef cattle in Ireland and the United Kingdom. During the ensiling process major changes occur in the chemical composition of herbage. Two major changes are firstly, the conversion of water soluble carbohydrate primarily to lactic and volatile fatty acids and secondly, an increase in the rapidly soluble component of crude protein due to proteolysis and deamination processes. Traditionally, it has been...
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