Forage contests are beauty contests. They make you appreciate high-test forages but don’t tell the whole story: for example, whether the crop yielded well, the farmer had lodging problems, or whether it produced a lot of milk.
But forage contests do focus on something important: forage quality analysis. We need to know how to harvest forages for profitability and quality beforewe see what happens in the milk tank. Fortunately, forage contests use a good dose of science....More
Neither twin rows nor high plant populations did much to improve corn silage profitability in a study on three northeastern Wisconsin farms last year. But Kevin Jarek, Outagamie County Extension agent, thinks 2011’s wet growing season may have skewed his twin-row findings...More
“We’ve had a lot of questions from dairy cattle feeders and some custom operators about whether this (snaplage) is a good fit,” says Randy Shaver, University of Wisconsin Extension dairy nutritionist....More
Even though corn silage is no longer cheap – as with most other forage and grain options – it is still a very economical forage under many, if not most, production scenarios....More
Ron, Allan and Aaron Kutz replaced their chopper’s crop processor with one that shreds the silage, all on the advice of their nutritionist, Roger Olson, Baldwin, WI. He’s one of the developers of the newly patented processor replacement and its trademarked method, called “Shredlage.”...More
High grain prices have forced dairy producers to make rather substantial changes in what and how much they feed their animals, observes Randy Shaver, University of Wisconsin dairy scientist...More
