Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Agronomic: general hay and forage crops, grass (misc. perennial), hay
Practices
- Animal Production: grazing management, pasture fertility, range improvement, stocking rate, winter forage, feed/forage
- Crop Production: nutrient cycling, organic fertilizers, tissue analysis
- Education and Training: demonstration, extension, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research, participatory research
- Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns, agricultural finance
- Production Systems: organic agriculture
- Soil Management: organic matter, soil analysis, nutrient mineralization, soil chemistry, soil quality/health
- Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures
Proposal abstract:
Organic milk production continues to be one of the strongest sectors of the organic food industry. However, in the U.S., organic dairy production has been concentrated in the upper Midwest and the Northeast. While there is increasing interest in the Southeast in organic dairy production as a way to increase the viability of family farms, there is limited research and extension information from this region to help conventional dairy farmers transition to organic or to help beginning dairy farmers establish their operations. This is especially true in the area of forage management for organic farms, an important issue considering that the USDA National Organic Program specifies that 30% of a dairy cow’s dry matter intake must be supplied through grazing, and that dairy cattle must graze throughout the length of the grazing season. This project seeks to increase environmental, economic, and social sustainability of organic dairy production in the Southern region by developing practical organic forage systems for this region. Through this on-farm study and associated outreach activities, the performance of three organic forage systems (an annual mixture, a cool-season perennial and warm-season annual mixture, and a perennial mixture) will be examined and results disseminated to producers and other professionals via a producer field day, extension programming, conferences, and scientific journal publications in order to increase sustainability of dairy production in the Southern region.
Project objectives from proposal:
The objectives of this study are to (1) examine the performance (yield, forage quality, soil quality, grazing days, botanical composition, and economics) of three organic forage systems for the Southern region (an annual mixture, a cool-season perennial and warm-season annual mixture, and a perennial mixture) and (2) disseminate results to producers and other professionals via a producer field day, extension programming, conferences, and scientific journal publications.