Fermentation is a biochemical reaction accomplished by bacteria as they consume the plant sugars and oxygen. They then convert those nutrients into acids, and once an anaerobic environment has been achieved
Amidst the rolling hills of Lancaster County, Pa., you will find everything from state-of-the-art dairies to picturesque, modest-sized Amish and Mennonite farms
Silage production is a competition. While the crop stands, its native microorganisms, or epiphytes, live in a low-growth, maintenance-only state of starvation
There are different paths to optimal forage quality and animal performance for hay and haylage crops versus corn silage. With hay and haylage crops, cutting the crop at the correct plant maturity is a
When I moved to Wisconsin in 1988, one of the things I noticed in short order was that baling hay of any size, shape, or type was a minimal, if not nonexistent summer activity on most dairy farms. Thi
Fermentation is a wonderful process, and fermented feeds can be successfully stored for years. For example, following a drought and lesser forage inventories within the Midwest several years ago
Labor Day is in the rearview mirror. It’s no longer possible to change the hybrid, plant density, pest management, fertilizer strategies, or the summer weather
The death of a Wisconsin dairy farmer this past week is a grim reminder that farms provide for a dangerous work environment. Sometimes one with unsuspecting hazards.The young dairy farmer was ov
As we rocket past the middle of July and become entrenched in the dog days of summer, let’s not forget that the second forage seeding season will soon commence. Some planning is in order. Alt
“Mike, you need to come down here. I’d like to talk to you,” related the voice over my office phone in late April. I would soon learn that voice belonged to Willie Foster, a man who
With lower milk and beef prices coupled with increasing corn seed prices, there is good reason to contemplate the optimum planting rate for silage corn. Recently, researchers in both Virginia and Wisconsin
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
