What to plant this spring and summer to transition a field back into production?
Q: What should I plant this spring to reclaim goldenrod land, and what crop should I follow it with? The soil is acidic and low in nitrogen. I have also spread some wood ash. I hope to harvest the crop as haylage, and I am organic. – Customer, Central VT A: We recommend the Spring…
Tips for Management of Perennial Pastures in Summer
By Josh Baker Overgrazing of perennial grasses allows weeds such as low growing dutch white clover to takeover pastures In the transition zone, the hot, dry summer months are a critical time to ensure that appropriate perennial pasture management is utilized. Although it seems to happen too fast, in a short while many areas will…
Planting Green in a Cover Crop
Planting Green in a Cover Crop Last fall we prepared a field for our 2015 corn plots by planting a cover crop mix: We used King’s Vetch and Oats seeded @ 88lbs./acre and Crimson Clover seeded @ 22 lbs./acre. We no-till drilled these into the field after a second cutting of summer annual teff was harvested.…
Effect of Starch Type on Optimizing Amino Acids in Diets of Dairy Cows
Chuck Schwab, et. al. Department of Animal Sciences Cornell University, NY “Starch makes milk” is an often heard statement from field nutritionists. This makes sense because starch (and sugar) feeding increases propionate production, propionate is the primary glucogenic volatile fatty acid, glucose is used by the mammary gland to produce lactose, and lactose is the…
Summer Cover Crops, Even When it’s Dry
Ray’s Crazy Mix, a diverse summer annual cover crop mix What if it’s a dry summer? Will cover crops tie up the soil moisture for your cash crop? In most cover cropping scenarios, you will find the opposite. Unless you are using the cover crop in a manner that would normally be considered competitive…
Cool Season Forages: Extend the grazing season and diversify homegrown feed
Cool season forages diversify the cropping system and the ration and maximize fields’ productivity by adding several additional tons of dry matter yield to each acre’s yearly total. They also keep fields covered year-round, providing many of the soil benefits of a cover crop. You’ll get the most production out of these forages in the…
Fall Harvest Management Considerations
Rod Porter, Northern Region Coordinator, Trumansburg, NY As fall approaches, here are some points to consider as you make your final harvests for the year. Hay: Try to time your final cutting to be 3 weeks before the killing frost or wait until after killing frost has come. To maintain a strong stand be sure to…
KingFisher Premium Alfalfas
KingFisher Alfalfa with Organic Partner Grass Mix KingFisher alfalfas continue to stand out as the premier alfalfa varieties on the market. With consistent, high performance at the World Dairy Expo, this lineup of alfalfas is second to none. KF Enhancer II– Workhorse High yielder with excellent feed quality. Very eye catching variety with an excellent…
Seeding Rate and Planting Date – Winter Annual Forages
Seeding rate and seeding date are mutually influential. For example, a later seeding date with a grass crop might mean less tillering in the fall, demanding a higher seeding rate to achieve the same ground cover. Planting dates that stretch later into the fall produce far less cover crop biomass, heights, and ground cover. The…
Cover Crop Mixes: What are the limits to diversity?
The original Ray’s Crazy Mix. Seed size diversity makes planting a challenge, and usually means that a prepared seedbed and careful depth adjustment is critical. As we start adding more species to a mix, we are likely to see less expression of every species, especially with more variation in seed size. Diversity is always a…
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