The author is a forage consultant in Bay City, Wis. Several years into my forage career I encountered a high-producing, well-managed herd struggling with managing forage piles. It wasn’t
Adequately processed kernels separated from the stover and leaves using the float test. The title might fool you into thinking we’re discussing NFL stats, but the focus is actually a topic with
Forage is an indispensable part of dairy cow diets. However, due to its bulkiness and the inherently low levels of fiber digestibility, cows are limited in how much forage they can consume
In my many years spent as a county extension agronomist in one of the largest dairy counties in Wisconsin, I heard a lot of reasons to grow brown midrib (BMR) corn and a lot of reasons not to
A number of years ago one of my kids came home with their report card and presented it to me. Embedded alongside the list of class names and numbers were a few B’s and a couple of C’s
Visual characteristics of BMR hybrids include a darker stalk and leaf mid-rib. The brown mid-rib (BMR) corn silage market is still nowhere close to that of conventional silage corn, but hyb
From the standpoint of a dairy ration, there are a lot of players with skin in the game. There's the dairy farmer, who probably has the most at stake from an economic standpoint. But there's also th
The New York state agricultural plastics recycling program is one of the best in the nation. Even so, there’s still plenty of room for more involvement by farmers and agencies. Billions of pou
Jason Felling wasn’t expecting the letter he received in the mail stating their farm, Felling Dairy LLC, was a finalist in World Forage Analysis Superbowl held at this year’s World Dairy Exp
Ferraretto is a research associate at the Miner Institute; Shaver is a dairy nutritionist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The main purpose of ensiling forages is to maintain the n
The author is director of nutritional research and innovation with Rock River Lab Inc., and adjunct assistant professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Dairy Science Department
Weather conditions in 2015 across many regions of the U.S. ranged from early monsoons to late summer dryness. That, of course, excludes Southern California where the ongoing drought continues to
By all accounts, winter rye is in a renaissance. Cover crop craze aside, the rebirth of winter rye appears to be driven more by its utility as a forage crop, especially in the corn silage growing areas
"Feeding silage is much different than feeding hay," notes Dennis Hancock, extension forage specialist for the University of Georgia. "Because it's wetter, deterioration becomes a factor whe
Covering silage in a pile or bunker silo is a no-brainer decision. When to cover and what with are also important considerations. Researchers at Cal Poly and Kansas State compared silage pile sealing
With most hay and corn silage now tucked away for the winter, it’s probably a good time to remind all of those who work around bunker and pile silos that feedout faces are always subject to collapse
Recent research results undertaken by the University of Wisconsin Discovery Farms has documented that runoff occurs from feed storage areas during 60 percent of precipitation events. This compar
For those who have been stomping around cornfields long enough, you’ll remember when corn silage processors first entered the scene. There was a flurry of discussion whether this new technology was
Corn silage harvest presents a relatively narrow window to optimize feed quality.Pull the trigger too early and you have a wet mess that is sour and seeps. Pull it too late and molds can develop and digestibility
