Alternative continuous cover forages II

Cooperating ACCF Pilot farms; Cooperator profiles and results:

The following eight farm profiles highlight the ACCF2 process of several participants. These examples illustrate achievement of the performance targets outlined in the ACCF 2 project proposal.

Fermata Farms: Gerald Ruestow

Fermata Farms is a mixed livestock and forage enterprise. Beef cattle and dairy replacement heifers (about 40 head) are raised on rotationally grazed pasture. Forage crops are sold locally. From 1995 to July 2006, the farm included a 60 cow dairy herd owned by Tom Reynolds who rented the barn and land. Gerry managed the crops, including the pasture system and feeding program during their participation with SARE ACCF 2. Tom sold the cows due to personal health issues in July of 2006.

Gerry has a history of achieving yields above the county average for his mechanically harvested crops. The land resource consists of various classes of silt loam soils, primarily very stony and highly erodible with “C” slopes of 8-15% Prior to SARE ACCF 2 participation Gerry was dissatisfied with his pastures .The issues were twofold. The pasture acreage of native grasses provided a limited yield as it was comprised mostly of bluegrass which has limited growth and a non-productive summer dormancy period. The improved pasture acreage had been seeded to Tall Fescue in the 1980s and proved to be somewhat unpalatable to the cows, particularly past the cool weather of early spring.

Fermata Farm’s ACCF2 Goals:
1)Provide a summer annual grazing crop high in nutrient quality and moderate-to-high in yield to substitute for current pasture in mid-summer.
2)Provide grazing forage earlier in the spring than mid-May to extend the grazing season
3)Establish a labor efficient and cost effective method to replace existing native grasses and Tall Fescue with a sustainable and palatable sward.

Goal Achievement:
1)Five acres of native bluegrass pasture was plowed and planted with BMR Sorghum sudangrass in 2005, providing over 3 weeks of grazing.This was followed with an August planting of winter rye.

2)Rye was grazed 3 times, April 11th through early June 2006. Afterwards, Will Ladino clover and orchardgrass were interseeded with BMR Sorghum-sudangrass in August.

3)An improved perennial pasture was successfully established. The crop sequence as described above provided several weeks each year of high quality forage at critical times during the season. Evaluation of the 5 acre pasture in 2008 indicates about 59% clover in the stand.

ACCF2 was also applied in 2006 on four acres of newly acquired pasture ground that had been severely over-grazed. A fall seeding of winter rye provided grazing forage for the cattle over a month long period in 2007. Afterwards, a sward of grass with some native clover grew up through the rye stubble on its own. This is deemed to have plant density and feed quality consistent with the herd’s quality and quantity needs. As an anecdotal observation, the heavy weed population prior to the rye was greatly reduced through rye growth competition and cattle grazing.

Through ACCF2 Fermata Farms has adopted a new approach to managing the pasture land resource that meets the farm’s goals while protecting soil and water resources. Gerry plans to renovate about 5 acres of Tall Fescue pasture per year with the application of year-round forage crop cover that has worked so well on two of his key pasture areas.

Reta Youngs and Kevin Dibble

Reta and Kevin have a 40 cow (primarily Jersey) dairy herd and replacement animals. They grow all the forage and practice management intensive grazing. Corn acreage varies from year-to-year, averaging about 50. Hay is grown on 100 to 120 acres, with about 38 acres close by to the barn. A management focus is flexible, dual use of this ground for pasture and /or harvested hay crop. Much of the home farm is a variably drained soil type. Land used for harvest of stored forages has moderately deep soils that vary from better drained silt loams with slopes of 5-8% to moderately to poorly drained silty clay loams with only 3-5% slopes. Corn silage and high moisture corn are important forages to this farm as they are committed to keeping purchased feed costs low while maintaining high production and cow health.

Youngs and Dibble Farm’s ACCF2 Goals:

1)Improve yield and quality of dual-use hay/grazing fields on the home farm

2)Manage labor resource and crop loss risk by increasing the harvest time window through production of diverse forage crops

3)Maintain or improve soil health while achieving goals 1 and 2

4)Gain experience with grazing and harvesting BMR sorghum-sudan, winter rye and share information with others via outreach participation.

Goal Achievement:

1)Three dual use fields that were low productivity native sods (17 acres) had the ACCF concept applied to them. Increased yields and forage quality were accomplished.

They were:

a)2 year sequence BMR SS/winter rye, 1 year corn silage, festulolium and clover seeding in year 4. Economic analysis is included in this report: $ 531 per acre advantage over 3 years of corn silage using 2007 figures.

b) BMR SS/clover/grass interseeding with successful seeding establishment.

c)1 year BMR SS solely for grazing, winter rye/clover interseeding and resultant moderate stand of clover.

2,3) The crops grown provided forage when pastures were not yet ready or were in summer dormancy. Milk production was either maintained or increased at up to 3 lbs per cow per day, along with a decrease in baleage/haylage consumption. Labor resources were spread out by having diverse planting, machine harvest and grazing times. There were no labor conflicts with corn planting or harvest. The ACCF rotations significantly increased home farm productivity at a good economic return while protecting the soil resource.

5)Both data and producer experiences were shared through presentations, articles and producer meetings from 2003 through 2008 and Reta is informally a neighborhood mentor to other farms.

Reta and Kevin have implemented the ACCF concept on other acreage. It is an important management strategy for them. Rather than following set rotations, the growing conditions dictate whether and when each crop is planted, with anticipated harvest timing part of the crop choice planning to avoid labor allocation conflicts.

Blue Meadows Farm: Charles Cerosaletti

Blue Meadows Farm was a 100 cow pasture based dairy owned and operated by the late Charles Cerosaletti. This farm is a valley floor farm, situated at a 1200’ elevation with mostly gravelly silt loams on 0 – 5% slopes. The soil can be droughty at times. The farm was split into two milking herds located on nearby farms, both with intensive rotational grazing systems. The main farm, which housed about 60 milking cows, did not have adequate pasture acres, approximately 0.5 acres per cow, making pasture productivity a critical need. In addition to pasture, the farm consisted of haycrop land, owned and rented. Some recently rented river flat land, largely productive soil, was in need of reseeding to more productive species. Since 2002, no corn was grown on this farm, and haycrop was harvested as haylage and round bale silage.

Cerosaletti Farm ACCF2 goals:

1. Introduce some annual species to extend the grazing season (at beginning and mid summer) in the home farm pasture season.

2. Reseed the home farm pastures to more productive grazing type species (improved orchardgrass and white clover)

3. Use a non corn annual crop (winter rye) to quickly rotate recently rented river flat back to a more productive perennial species (red clover and orchardgrass/tall fescue), while protecting soil from erosion during seasonal flooding.

Goal Achievement:

1. BMR sorghum sudangrass was grown on 5 acres of pasture, providing two weeks of grazing during August summer grass slump. Cows increased milk production 2 lbs per cow per day while grazing BMR SS.

2. Winter rye was planted after BMR SS and harvested mechanically the following spring providing as round bale silage 0.80 tons per acre of dry matter yield. This silage was fed out later during the summer when pasture production started to slow. Oats were then seeded with perennial seeding of orchardgrass, festulolium and ladino clover. Oats were grazed in late July and new seeding was successfully established.

3. River flat was plowed and seeded to winter rye in August of 2005. Winter rye was harvested in May 28 2006, yielding 2.1 tons of dry matter per acre of rye round bale silage that was used for heifer forage. In June of 2006 this field was severely flooded by 500 year flood, with 6+ feet of running water over the winter rye stubble. No visible erosion occurred in the winter rye stubble. A summer seeding to red clover and orchardgrass/tall fescue was successfully established in August of 2006.

Rollercoaster Farm, Douglas Hitchcock

Doug has a 60 cow dairy herd operation plus replacement heifers. Farm labor consists primarily of Doug, with part-time milking and occasional summer help during crop harvest. The dairy cows get the majority of their forage from semi-intensive rotationally grazed pasture during the growing season. Forage is harvested for winter feed and summer supplementation from 98 acres of hay and about 40 acres of corn. The hay acreage is around 30% less than is typical of farms of similar herd size in the area. The land resource consists of moderately productive, acidic silt loams dominated by slopes of 8-15%, classified as highly erodible. Over half of the cropland is at an elevation of 2000’. Labor constraints are a driving force to find efficient and cost effective methods to enhance forage yields while protecting the soil resource. Doug maintains a strong commitment to feeding a diet of over 60% forage to the cows.

Rollercoaster Farm’s ACCF2 Goals:

1. Add diversity by exploring new crops and access technical support throughout this process.

2. Address erosion concerns on corn ground and need for forage volume through double cropping of corn and winter rye.

3. Implement late summer versus springtime seedings of perennial hay. Reasons: spring labor crunch and erosion risk (seedling loss) from intense spring rainstorms.

Goal Achievement:

1. BMR SS was planted on two 2.5 acre strips of tilled sod in July 2008. Winter rye planting will follow BMR SS harvest. Soybeans were planted on four 2.5 acre strips to initiate a rotation of 1 year each of corn-soybeans-small grain, followed by several years of perennial forage.

2. September 19, 2006 seeding of winter rye on 3.5 acres that had a failed crop of corn silage. In 2007, the rye was harvested as baleage, yielding 5.6 dry matter tons of dairy quality forage. In mid-October,’07 fourteen acres of corn ground was planted to winter rye after corn harvest via no-till. Rye was harvested in June 2008 to supply heifer forage.

3. Rye and red clover were inter-seeded on 2.5 acres of open corn ground in mid-October 2007, 4-8 weeks past the recommended timeframe. Unusually mild weather caused November germination of the clover, jeopardizing winter survival. Visual assessment in July 2008 indicates a 20% clover stand. Doug will try this again when he can readily plant at an earlier date. On July 22, 2008 he interseeded BMR SS with alfalfa as another strategy to achieve this goal.

Through ACCF2 Doug received the technical support to experiment with crops and rotations that were new to him. This upholds a primary business objective of sustaining his operation with a variety of homegrown forages that keep purchased feed and fertilizer inputs low while protecting the soil resource.

Herondale Holsteins, Ron Palmer

Herondale Holstein farm is a 40 cow herd of registered Holsteins, expanded from 30 cows over the past 2 years . The forage system was all grass hay, harvested solely as baleage. In 2007 Ron began to grow corn by hiring custom planting and harvesting. His soil resource includes 30 acres of fairly level, deep silt loams. The remainder is acidic, stony, shallow silt loams with slopes from 5-30%. To feed his high producing herd a high forage diet of the quality that sustains production and cow health, Ron is committed to producing energy feed in the form of annual crops. He had viewed Doug’s rye in the spring of 2007 and was impressed by the height and density of the crop. After learning the feed quality achieved he decided to try it on his farm. Recognizing the soil limitation and environmental concerns, he initiated the ACCF2 rotation of BMR SS followed by winter rye both via no-till planting in 2008. This is part of a planned crop rotation to utilize the steeper ground for energy-rich forage while protecting soil and water resources.

Haney Hill Farm, Steve Haney

Steve operates a 50 cow dairy plus replacement heifers with part-time milking help and assistance from his father during crop season. The soil resource is moderately productive, acidic stony silt loams on slopes that vary from 5-15%. Additional rented ground is a level, deep loam river flat, 4 miles from the farmstead. This land is essential to the crop program as the home farm acreage is limited by seasonal wetness and difficult accessibility. Steve had been growing corn silage on the deep loams by the creek and managing the home farm as permanent hay land. In 2006 a disastrous flood occurred on June 26th and 27th due to rainfall of over 13” in a 48 hour period. Steve lost 25 acres of corn in that flood. He contacted Cooperative Extension for help following this disaster. ACCF experience and data were utilized to help Steve formulate a strategy to compensate for the corn crop loss. In August, when the creek lands drained enough to bear equipment, Steve planted oats on 8 acres. Although finding a good harvest window in the fall was a challenge, a month’s worth of feed was produced in the form of baleage (“oatlage”). This forage source was critical, as it stretched the supply through to next spring’s harvest.

This emergency measure coincided with a sustainable strategy to improve forage production at the home farm. Six acres of low-productivity native grass hay were plowed and planted to winter rye on August 24th, 2006. The rye was harvested as baleage on May 22, 2007 yielding 1.2 tons to the acre. This comprised about 60% of the dairy herd’s forage for over 3 weeks.

The rye field was planted to silage corn in early June. After 2 years of corn it will be re-seeded for inclusion in the rotational grazing system that Steve set up in May of 2008. Winter rye will be planted on fields along the creek on the river flat to renovate flood damaged sod and provide high quality forage next spring. Steve’s experience with annual grains as forage through ACCF2 gave him the confidence to implement this system as a routine part of his crop plans.

Moo Juice Farm, Ronan Robinson

Ronan has a 40 cow dairy. His wife Susan helps in the barn and he barters labor with friends to achieve timely harvest of corn silage and hay as needed. The home farm consists of about 45 acres of hay land and 10 acres of pasture. Another 15 acres of rented hay ground are also close to home. These are moderately productive, stony, shallow acidic silt loams with slopes ranging from 5-15%. Additional land is crucial to provide adequate forage supply to feed this herd a high forage diet without the burden of purchasing in hay. Deep, well-drained river flats 2 miles away are rented for production of 26 acres of hay and 20 acres of no-till corn silage. Prior to 2007 Ronan did not grow corn and had only 33 acres of hay land on the home farm. He worked additional hillside land about 4 miles from home. Ronan lost 46 acres of hay crop in the flood of 2006. Labor and fuel cost made traveling 4 miles away unsustainable. He decided to renovate about 12 acres of brush land at home to gain productive acreage. Winter rye was planted on October 2nd 2007, providing both forage and straw in 2008. The experience with this crop convinced Ronan to plant winter rye for cover on his corn ground for both winter cover and spring forage. He also no-till planted Brown Midrib Sorghum-sudangrass on 10 acres of flood damaged sod.

Through ACCF 2 resources and information, this limited labor operation has found a cost-effective and sustainable way to produce the needed forage supply while protecting soil resources.

Johnson Farm

This 100 cow dairy plus replacement heifers and vegetable farm is a contrast to our other participants. It is a multiple generation operation with ample labor. The soil resource consists of very deep level loams with some gravelly loams. Both corn silage and alfalfa hay are grown as rotated crops. In 2005 the farm acquired some additional acreage that had low organic matter and fertility status. Winter rye was planted there to condition the soil’s surface structure and add needed organic matter. The goal to utilize the rye was to provide straw bedding for the dairy herd. Although most of the established crop land has a highly productive soil, the excessive rainfall and flooding of 2006 impeded timely harvest, reducing. the forage supply. Local ACCF experience with rye forage encouraged the Johnsons to shift to earlier harvest, yielding 1.3 DMton/acre of forage as silage (ryelage). This provided feed for 50 dairy heifers for several weeks.

This experience led the Johnson Farm to adopt the practice of winter rye as a cover on their corn ground. The environmental impact is significant, as much of their cropland is along a tributary to the Susquehanna River. The rye cover prevents loss of topsoil nutrients from the field into water resources. Forage and straw obtained from the rye reduce crop acreage needs, saving fuel and machinery use as well as the labor consumed in road travel.

Results and Discussion/Milestones: Cooperator Farm Soil and Crop Data Summary

Forage Quality

Winter Rye
Forage quality data collected over four years (going back one year before the start of the present ACCF project) for both grazing harvest and mechanical harvest of winter rye is summarized in Tables 1 and 2. Table 3 presents the progression of forage quality of winter rye through the month of May 2006 in one ACCF cooperator field. In general, forage quality of grazed winter rye forage was better than that of the mechanically harvest rye, due to an earlier average harvest date. Mechanically harvested rye NDF content average of 58% of DM, is consistent with guidelines for high quality grass for lactating dairy cattle rations. Crude protein levels of mechanically harvested rye (13% of DM on average) were generally less than expected, but can vary highly depending on the amount of nitrogen applied to the rye crop before harvest. When the quality of the rye forage is compared to the average quality of grass, mixed mostly grass and small grain silages analyzed through the DairyOne forage laboratory (http://www.dairyone.com/Forage/FeedComp/MainLibrary.asp) for the period May 2000 – April 2008 (Table 4), the ACCF winter rye was lower in crude protein, (13% CP vs 14.8, 15.5, and 13.4 respectively), similar in NDF content (58% NDF vs 58, 57 and 57% respectively), higher in 24 hour NDF digestibility (59% vs 49, 47,and 51% respectively), and in predicted net energy of lactation content (0.63 Mcal/lb vs 0.55, 0.55 and 0.56 Mcal/lb respectively). This suggests that the ACCF winter rye forage was of similar, if not better quality than average forages harvested mechanically in the northeast US (the primary coverage area of the DairyOne lab).

Brown Mid Rib Sorghum Sudangrass (BMR SS):

Selected forage quality measures for the BMR SS crops grown in the project appear in Table 5. As with the winter small grains, it is appropriate to compare the forage quality of the BMR SS to standards for perennial grasses for lactating dairy cattle. Although BMR SS is a warm season grass, it is harvested at a vegetative state and therefore would not be appropriate to compare it to standards for corn silage, another warm season grass which is harvested when grain formation is nearly complete. For grazed BMR SS, the perennial cool season grazed grass NDF standard for lactating cows (38-46% of DM) is not an appropriate benchmark due to the high digestibility of the fiber. For BMR SS, whether grazed or mechanically harvested, 50 - 60% NDF content is an acceptable benchmark. On average the BMR SS harvested in this project was at the high end of acceptable NDF levels. Thirty percent of all samples did exceed the 60% of DM NDF level. Most were in the 55-60% range (data not shown). Mechanically harvested BMR SS was much taller at harvest than grazed BMR SS, but had only slightly higher NDF levels. One field in one year did get grazed when the BMR SS was taller (72-84 inches) than the desired 48 inches, but the cows refused the bottom 24-30 inches of stalk, which resulted in improved forage quality of the portions they did consume.

NDF digestibility was similar to the winter small grains and as expected exceeds the averages reported by the DairyOne lab (Table 4) for several forage categories. Crude protein levels varied widely and may again be attributable to nitrogen availability and stage of maturity at harvest. Sugar levels were lower than those in the winter small grains.

As was expected from previous experience and research, dry matter content of BMR SS in this project was low. From a practical standpoint this posed a challenge in getting adequate water removal in a timely manner for proper fermentation under mechanical harvest systems. Of the five project farms that grew this crop for mechanical harvest three had complications in getting the crop as dried, two had compromised fermentation, and one had feed that was unusable because it had taken too long to dry and was too poorly fermented. While one project farm has repeatedly mechanically harvested and fermented BMR SS successfully over several years, grazing proved the most consistently successful harvest method because weather was not an issue and crop drying was not required.

Milk Production.

Table 6 presents predicted milk production from diets simulated with the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System model v. 6.1, where diets containing ACCF forages (winter rye or BMR SS silage) were compared to the same diet with high quality grass silage. This simulation shows that ACCF forages were able to sustain similar or higher levels of protein allowable milk (first limiting) as compared to high quality grass forage (67, 68, and 72 lbs per day grass, BMR SS and winter rye), despite having lower crude protein levels than the grass (13 and 14 vs 18% CP for winter rye, BMR SS and grass silage respectively). This corresponds with ACCF cooperator experiences that cattle typically responded with 1-3 lbs more milk per cow per day while being fed ACCF forages.

Soil Quality

Table 7 includes key soil characteristics of three ACCF2 project fields selected from 3 different farms. The data is a good indicator of ACCF rotation effect on soil health characteristics as sampling was done prior to initiation of the ACCF crop sequence and again after re-seededing to perennial species. Soil health ratings retained “very high” status during the ACCF rotations, with organic matter and aggregate stability showing minimal decreases, or even slight increases during the ACCF rotation. New York nitrogen leaching index measurements for these fields indicate that the ACCF rotations presented only intermediate risk of nitrogen leaching, an indication of the environmental soundness of the rotations.

Results and Discussion/Milestones: Education and Outreach:

Milestones

• 100 farmers in the target audience will be reached at winter Extension meetings with presentations that illustrate and explain ACCF.

• 40 of the target audience will learn to evaluate soil health in hands-on field exercises. They will understand the impact of soil health on crop yields and production costs.

• 40 of the target audience will grasp the feed and soil fertility/health value of the non-traditional forage crops, winter rye and ladino clover.

• 40 of the target audience will learn how to produce good yields and quality of BMR SS primarily with manure and native soil fertility rather than inorganic nitrogen

All of the above milestones have been achieved or exceeded. As of June 2008, approximately 327 producers and agribusiness professionals have attended educational workshops (5) and field days (4) that included the ACCF concepts. Of that total, 72 were reached though hands on exercises in field meetings. A circulation of approximately 200 farmers and agribusiness professionals have received five (5) articles or fact sheets regarding ACCF concepts, and a circulation of approximately 17,000 northeast US dairy farmers and agribusiness professionals received the article written for Northeast Dairy Business magazine by project staff regarding ACCF crops (see Appendices). Twenty (25) farms, primarily in Delaware County, that we have been able to verify have adopted one or more of ACCF crops for their forage value and soil health properties, and/or implemented soil health/fertility concepts espoused in ACCF. This represents over 70% of the performance target originally set forth for the project. There may well be more farms that are adopting these concepts that we do not have documentation for. Through the Delaware County no-till initiative, more farms are learning about soil health and quality and managing for soil health, even if they do not necessarily implement one of the ACCF crops.

One unexpected event that provided a unique outreach opportunity for the project was the devastating flood experienced in upstate NY (including Delaware and surrounding counties) in June 2006. This flood destroyed many acres of crops, especially corn planted for silage. Having grower experience and recommendations though the ACCF projects, we were able to put together fact sheets on emergency crop options using ACCF crops for farmers to consider.

The fact sheets were mailed out to all farmers and agribusinesses as well as distributed through agency flood response personnel. Several farms in Delaware County adopted the ACCF emergency crops options outlined in the fact sheets.

Through the winter rye cover crop initiative, we were able to provide rye seed (2 bu per acre) for up to 15 acres for 10 farms in fall of 2007, with six of these producers for the first time.