By Dr. Michelle Der Bedrosian, Vita Plus forage products and dairy technical specialist The decision of which inoculant to use is an important one. With so many challenges this growing season, this is not the year to skimp on inoculants, but you also need to decide what inoculant is best for your situation.
By Pat Hoffman, Vita Plus dairy technical specialist, and Dr. Michelle Der Bedrosian, Vita Plus forage products and dairy technical specialist This spring's excessive rainfall could complicate harvest of small grain silages. Here are some key points to keep in mind if you're putting up wet small grain silages.
By Randall Greenfield, Vita Plus dairy specialist Producers often ask for help assigning fair prices to buy or sell forages. Corn silage is one of the easier forage values to calculate. Use these tips and considerations if you are trying to price your corn silage.
By Jon Erickson, Mycogen ® Seeds Once the seed is in the ground, how can you decide a reasonable outlook for the crop in the fall? Uniform plant emergence can tell you a lot.
By Dr. Michelle Windle, Vita Plus forage products and dairy technical specialist Moving and re-ensiling silage is never ideal because it exposes the silage to oxygen and predisposes the feed to spoilage. However, you can minimize the impact of this practice with a few preventative steps.
By Jon Urness, Vita Plus national forage specialist For the past 40 years, Midwest corn growers have increased plant populations in an effort to find that happy place where optimum yield and quality meet. At the Wisconsin Custom Operators and Midwest Forage Association Symposium, Dr. Joe Lauer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, spoke about research conducted to find that 'sweet spot.'
Posted on January 25th, 2018 in Forage Foundations
By Pat Hoffman, Vita Plus dairy technical specialist Anyone who has worked with lactating dairy cows has likely made a comment about loose manure and passage rates, but what do we really know about forage passage rates and how can that help us formulate better diets for our lactating dairy cows?
Posted on January 25th, 2018 in Forage Foundations
By Dr. Luiz Ferraretto, University of Florida assistant professor While ensiling has been a well-established tool to store forages without compromising nutrient availability, recent research trials have reported some alterations in the nutritive value of silage occur with extended storage length.
Posted on November 20th, 2017 in Forage Foundations
By Pat Hoffman, Vita Plus dairy technical specialist While the weather allowed most corn silage and crops to be harvested before a killing frost set in, the planting of winter cereal forages were delayed or not accomplished. If you are questioning if it is too late to plant your cereal crops or if they will make it, this article seeks to provide some tips on winter cereal crop evaluation.
By Dr. Michelle Windle, Vita Plus forage products and dairy technical services specialist Many factors may influence a producer’s decision to grow grass silage, such as a need for somewhere to put manure, a land topography that requires a cover crop, or a limited forage inventory that could use some quality feed to stretch it. Grass silage can offer many advantages to both the animal and the producer.
Posted on February 22nd, 2013 in Forage Foundations
Investing in microbial inoculants can pay off through improved fermentation and aerobic stability. However, properly managing those inoculants is key to getting the biggest value back from that investment.
That’s according to Michelle Windle, a graduate student working with Dr. Limin Kung in the Dairy Nutrition and Silage Fermentation Lab at the University of Delaware . Windle cited several steps harvesters and producers can take to get the most value from their inoculants.
Posted on February 22nd, 2013 in Forage Foundations
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Over the past five years, U.S. harvesters have put up 109.9 million tons of corn silage, according to Dr. Keith Bolsen, professor emeritus with Kansas State University and private forage consultant.
That means that corn silage is a $7 billion industry today. Compare that to the $2 billion industry of the 1970s and it’s easy to see that putting up high quality forages has never been so important.
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.
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...
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