When is spring pasture too good?
How can any feed be too good, anyway? With the cost of feed the largest expense on many operations (especially dairy farms), spring green-up is (mostly) a time for celebration – things are warming up, days get longer, we get ourselves and the cows back outside, and with that, we can get ahead on…
From the University of Georgia: Fescue Toxicosis Alert
A note from the University of Georgia extension team about the dangers of Fescue Toxicosis, especially this year. This highlights the importance of renovating old pastures that may still contain K-31 Fescue, and replacing it with an endophyte-free or novel endophyte fescue, such as our BarOptima Plus E34. This issue has been particularly prevalent in…
A High-Forage Diet for Tough Times
With a sagging dairy economy, a high-forage diet can provide the quickest route to improving your bottom line. High grain diets become less efficient with higher grain prices, but producing high-quality forages on the farm and feeding them as a majority of the ration can increase profitability and lower the break-even price for milk…
When is Corn Alternative Forage?
“Corn” “Diversity” and even “innovative cropping systems” usually don’t go together in the same sentence, but when grazing corn varieties are stockpiled into a winter grazing system, it turns out they occasionally can. Grazing standing corn is certainly not a new practice, but many farmers may not be sure of its fit within their operation.…
Hairy Vetch – AU-Merit
PLANTING INFORMATION
- WHEN: 3-6 weeks prior to the average first killing frost
- DEPTH: 1/2-1 ½”
- METHOD: Drill, broadcast with light disking
- SEEDING RATE
- DRILLED::15-20 lbs/A, 10-15 lbs./A
- BROADCAST: 25-40 lbs/A , 15-20 lbs./A
- TERMINATION: Roll kill, selective or non-selective herbicide allows for no-till seeding into terminated stand.
From a customer: Success with Badger Oats
From Giles Dumm, Nicktown, PA – Grew Badger oats for grain, 2014-2016 “I recently combined my Badger Oats, and was very impressed. This is the third year I’ve sown it, and I like the way it works and I like the way it grows. In addition to the 90 bu/A grain yield, I got 50 bales of…
Badger Oats
Key Characteristics:
- High yielding oat with high test weight. Our earliest maturing oat.
Uses
- Grain: Excellent
- Forage: Fair
- Cover crop: Good
- Best uses: Grain, Forage, and Cover Crops
Establishment:
- Seeding Dates: Late winter to early spring. Late summer for fall forage and a winter kill cover crop.
- Seeding Rate: 95-130lbs/Acre (3-4Bu/ Acre)
- Large Seed Box Required
- Seeding Depth: 3/4” to 1 1/2”
- Speed: Establishes quickly
Gainer 154
At A Glance:
- Early Maturity
- Strong Fall Seeding Vigor
- Excellent Yield and Quality
- Medium Plant Height
- Awned (Bearded)
Best Uses:
- Haylage, Baleage, Managed Grazing
Establishment:
- Planting Dates: Barley to Mid Wheat Dates
- Seeding Rate: Forage: 125-150lbs/Acre
- Cover Crop: 50-75lbs/Acre (increase with later plantings)
- Seeding Depth: 3/4”- 1 1/2”
- Use the large seed box
Freedom! MR clover
Key Features
- Low pubescence and reduced dustiness
- Faster drying with impressive yields
- High quality—palatable and nutritious
- Improved winter hardiness and persistence
- Fixes nitrogen—reduces fertilizer costs
- Available in Yellow Jacket® enhanced seed coating or Organic Coating
- Pre-inoculated with Rhizobium bacteria to enhance nodulation for nitrogen fixation
Establishment
- Seeding rate: Pure stand: 15-20 lbs/a
- With grass: 8-10 lbs/a
- Frost-seed into grass: 10-12 lbs/a
- Depth: Surface to 1/4”
- Seeds per lb: 270,000
A firm seedbed recommended
Surge Triticale
At A Glance:
- Medium Maturity
- Can be Fall or Spring planted
- Fast, leafy, erect growing triticale with high silage quality
- A tall showy variety
- Awnless
Best Use:
- Haylage, Baleage, and Managed Grazing
Establishment:
- Seeding rate: 125-150 lbs/A
- Seeding Depth: 3/4” – 1”, Large box
- Planting Dates:
- For mid spring harvest it is recommended to seed in in earlier wheat dates.
- For late spring harvest it is recommended to seed as the soil is fit in late winter to early spring.
- For Nurse Crop: 35-60lbs/ acre
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