Forage Foundations

By Randall Greenfield, Vita Plus dairy specialist
Low milk prices are here. Again. And they’re expected to stick around for the rest of the year.

Justin Brown is an agronomist with Ag Partners Coop based in Goodhue, Minnesota.  He works with producers throughout southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

By Jon Urness, Vita Plus national forage specialist, and Dr. Michelle Windle, Vita Plus forage products and dairy technical service specialist
Last November, we received a call from a Vita Plus consultant in southwest Wisconsin asking about some yeast and mold counts.  He was helping a producer determine the effects of mixing a TMR and feeding it only once every three days to his prefresh group.  He took samples on each of the three days and submitted them for analysis.  He repeated this twice (Mix 1 and 2 from Farm A).  We sampled another mix for comparison in a similar way (Farm B).

Regional reports from Iowa to Michigan on the outlook of winterkill.

By Dr. Michelle Windle, Vita Plus forage products and dairy technical service specialist
Dr. Tom Chamberlain is a veterinarian, nutritionist and member of the Silostop^® technical team.  A silage expert, he consults with dairy farms, veterinarians, milk buyers and government bodies throughout England and Wales, and is the senior author of the standard textbook on dairy cow nutrition in the UK.  He recently shared his insight and interesting data on an increasingly popular feedstuff in the Midwest – baleage.

By Jon Urness, Vita Plus national forage specialist
A kernel processing score between 60 and 70 has been widely considered as “ideal.” However, that might not necessarily be true depending on harvest moisture. Wetter corn silage has the potential for greater starch digestibility while drier silage may have far less starch digestion potential given the same processing score.

By Randall Greenfield, Vita Plus dairy specialist

Question:  What makes the most financial sense?  Building a bunker or drive-over pile to store my forages?

Answer:  This question inevitably comes up when considering storage options for ensiled forages and grains. The answer, of course, is always “it depends.” For any specific situation, the ultimate solution could be different than the next. For the purpose of this article, however, I’ll make some generic comparisons.

By Jon Urness, Vita Plus national forage specialist
We all know things get slick in the winter time, but that’s especially true around forage bunkers, piles and bags where moisture and loose plastic add to the challenge.  Here are five reminders to help keep you safe as you work through the cold months...