Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Agronomic: millet, rye, grass (misc. perennial), hay
- Animals: bovine, poultry
- Animal Products: dairy
Practices
- Animal Production: grazing - continuous, manure management, pasture fertility, pasture renovation, feed/forage
- Crop Production: cover crops, nutrient cycling
- Education and Training: demonstration, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research, participatory research, workshop
- Farm Business Management: whole farm planning, new enterprise development, budgets/cost and returns, value added
- Natural Resources/Environment: soil stabilization
- Production Systems: agroecosystems, holistic management, integrated crop and livestock systems
- Soil Management: soil analysis, soil quality/health
- Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures
Proposal abstract:
In the Southern Piedmont, beef cattle/poultry grassland systems prevail, in which tall fescue/bermudagrass pastures fertilized with poultry litter are used for continuous grazing of cattle. Many farm fields in this region are considered to have a high nutrient status because soil test phosphorus (STP) levels are above those which may result in increased risk of phosphorus (P) contamination to surface water bodies. This high nutrient status is the result of an unbalanced pattern of nutrient management in which imports are greater than exports. Part of the reason for this imbalance is that P is imported into the region with the corn used for poultry rations, but little is exported out in the beef produced on these farms. Thus, there is a need for regional source of poultry feed and integration of forage/cropping systems that can utilize excessive nutrients in animal based systems while increasing the earning capacity of small farms. Haying systems have been shown to export larger amounts of nutrients than grazing systems, and a need for “horse quality” hay has been identified in the region. Furthermore, pearl millet has been shown to be as good or better than corn for poultry feeds and can be successfully grown in the Southern Piedmont, decreasing the import of nutrients into the region. The objectives of the proposed work are to 1) evaluate crop/forage rotations which will serve the southeastern US market for beef production, “horse quality forage”, and poultry feed in agronomic and economic terms; 2) determine nutrient concentration in runoff and in stream water upstream and downstream of farm-fields with and without crop/forage rotations; 3) share results with agronomic and animal production farmer groups in Georgia and North Carolina, and develop information exchange tours between those groups. By identifying and evaluating systems that remove excess nutrients from farm fields and help recycle nutrients within the region, this work would contribute to the sustainability of agricultural systems in the Southern Piedmont.
Project objectives from proposal:
The objectives of the proposed work are to 1) evaluate crop/forage rotations which will serve the southeastern US market for beef production, “horse quality forage”, and poultry feed in agronomic and economic terms; 2) determine nutrient concentration in runoff and in stream water upstream and downstream of farm-fields with and without crop/forage rotations; 3) share results with agronomic and animal production farmer groups in Georgia and North Carolina, and develop information exchange tours between those groups.