Posted on February 22nd, 2013 in Forage Foundations
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John Brantsen , a Vita Plus dairy nutritionist, remembers the 2011 harvest season well. In his area of northwest Iowa, the late summer and fall brought high temperatures and a lot of wind. He said harvesters in the area were racing the weather, trying to get corn silage harvested before it got too dry.
“Harvest went way too quickly and guys put up snaplage way too dry,” Brantsen said.
It’s bound to happen…corn silage harvest is in full swing, harvesters are rolling, trucks are busy hauling and the pack tractors are moving back and forth when the nutritionist pulls in the driveway. They get out of the truck, walk up to the bunker, take a look at the freshly chopped forage and pronounce that the processor needs to be tightened and the cut lengthened.
Posted on February 22nd, 2013 in Forage Foundations
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Custom harvesters know that a high corn silage processing score (CSPS) is a top goal for dairy producers as they’re looking to get the most energy value out of today’s expensive feeds. The catch is that estimating CSPS in the field is not an easy or consistent task.
Dr. Brian Marsh, a farm advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension , recently conducted research on this variation. He took silage samples cut...
Posted on February 22nd, 2013 in Forage Foundations
Photo: (left to right) Bruce Dankers, Dankers Enterprises, Inc., Chuck Fahey, Prairieland Dairy, LLC, and Aaron Kutz, Kutz Dairy, LLC
Harvesting corn as Shredlage™ is so new that there hasn’t been time for a lot of research to be conducted. Dr. Randy Shaver, with the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has done a few trials, but said, “We’re going to learn a lot more from the school of hard knocks.”
Posted on February 21st, 2013 in Forage Foundations
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Roger Olson of Shredlage, LLC has extensive experience in nutrition consulting with dairy herds. According to Olson, anytime something was going wrong with a farm’s nutrition program, he observed “cigarette butts” in the manure. That is, he noticed the round, blunt chunks associated with conventional corn silage.
A few years ago, he visited with a Missouri dairyman who was taking a different approach to harvesting corn silage. This dairyman was ripping or shredding...
Posted on February 21st, 2013 in Forage Foundations
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Dairy producers have expressed interest in feeding corn as Shredlage™ . At the University of Wisconsin – Madison , Dr. Randy Shaver has been conducting feeding trials to see what makes it tick inside the cow. He shared his results with those looking to put up feed for dairies at the Vita Plus Custom Harvester Meeting.
Corn fed as silage contributes both starch and NDF to the dairy cow’s diet. The digestibility of...
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
Forage cannot be made better from the point it leaves the field, therefore our goal as an industry is to start with the best quality forage possible and preserve it with excellent silage management, said Dr. Limin Kung, University of Delaware .
Harvesters and producers should have two goals in making fermented feeds. At the front end of silage production, you want fermentation to occur right away when it is most active. At the backend, you want to make sure the...
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
One simple principle makes Lactobacillus buchneri 40788 stand out against other bacterial forage inoculants. According to Bob Charley with Lallemand Animal Nutrition , that simple principle is a commitment to quality.
Buchneri 40788 is the only FDA-approved, research-patented bacteria known to improve aerobic stability of high moisture corn and forages. When used with proper crop management, Buchneri 40788 improves feedout and bunklife.
During his presentation at the Vita Plus Custom Harvester Meeting 2011, Charley pointed out that...
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
Ecosyl is as committed to producing high quality inoculants as today’s custom harvesters are committed to putting up top-notch forages. That’s according to Dr. Andrew Beardsmore of Ecosyl Products Limited .
Vita Plus Crop-N-Rich is a unique forage inoculant based on the scientifically proven Lactobacillus plantarum bacterial strain MTD/1. This inoculant has been shown to provide the following benefits:
Provides more rapid and efficient fermentation that reduces dry matter loss and preserves palatability and digestibility Is highly stable and performs...
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
Just as tractors aren’t what they used to be, the custom harvester business has grown more complex. The four gears on the old tractor kept in the corner of the machine shed aren’t enough to meet the needs of your business today.
Gary Sipiorski with Vita Plus helps shift the gears through your custom harvesting operation with today’s modern syncromesh system:
Be in this business because you like it. Be mechanically minded. Relying on repair shops can be costly. Know...
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
There are four types of dry matter loss – fermentation loss, loss from leaching, surface spoilage loss and feedout loss. Dr. Ken Griswold, Penn State Cooperative Extension , conducted a study to measure losses from fermentation and leaching, with an objective to refine the relationship between density and loss.
Griswold worked with four relatively small bunker silos (180 by 42 by 8 feet) and two upright silos. He buried poly-weave nylon bags filled with fresh-chopped whole plant corn in each scenario....
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
Dr. Matthew Digman with the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center and Jason Schiebout with Scherer Corrugating & Machine, Inc. led an open discussion on chopper adjustments and particle size in harvesting corn silage.
“There is a lot of debate about proper length of cut and roll gap and how the two interact,” Digman said.
The goal of kernel processing is to achieve starch degradability. Corn is energy to the cow and energy translates to milk. By breaking up...
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
A group of custom harvesters came together to discuss the latest applicator technology at the Vita Plus Custom Harvester Meeting 2011. Led by Jon Urness, Vita Plus national forage specialist, the discussion featured two new-to-the-market inoculant applicators.
Gordon Marley, from Ecosyl Products Limited , first outlined the development and advantages of ULV (ultra low volume) applicators. In the past, forage harvesters had to carry enough water in tanks to apply upwards of a quart - or even a gallon - of solution...
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
With all of the factors that influence forage quality, Chris Wacek-Driver said “it’s pretty amazing we produce as many high quality forages as we do.” Wacek-Driver, Vita Plus forage program manager, congratulated harvesters for doing such a good job during her breakout session presentation at the Vita Plus Custom Harvester Meeting 2011.
Wacek-Driver said, “It’s really a war out there” as “bad bugs” compete with good bacteria for nutrients. This is especially evident in clostridial forages. She reminded that, in order...
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
The Orr family has been farming since 1946 in Apple Creek, Ohio, but the origins of silage in production agriculture dates back another 80 years to 1860. James and Jonathan Orr, the father-son team that makes up Orrson Custom Farming Ltd. related the history of silage farming, intertwining the past with their own stories of “back when.”
In a presentation that would have earned high marks from any history teacher, Jon began in France in 1860 when problems with climate would...
Posted on December 4th, 2012 in Forage Foundations
Plenty of activists groups and journalists are putting their emotionally charged and often scientifically inaccurate messages into mainstream media. Marjorie Stieve, marketing services manager with Vita Plus, said it’s the responsibility of everyone involved in agriculture to balance the discussion.
Stieve offered the following tips for Vita Plus Custom Harvester 2011 attendees to use when talking about agriculture:
Stop and listen.
More often than not, consumers have simply heard misleading information about production agriculture. Find...
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