Alternative continuous cover forage crop systems for the Northeast

Alternative continuous cover forage crop systems for the Northeast

Summary

Alternative Continuous Cover Forage Crop Systems for the Northeast is a project designed to explore two forage production systems that produce dairy quality forage and provide for a continuous vegetative soil cover using Brown Mid Rib Sorghum Sudangrass (BMR SS) and winter cereal grains (rye and triticale).

These forage crop systems are being studied and demonstrated as alternatives to conventionally grown corn (for silage) that reduce soil erosion and retain soil and manure nutrients on a wide range of soil types, in areas with shorter growing seasons, and on farms that may not have corn silage production equipment and/or need forages that are compatible with round bale silage (baleage) equipment and grazing.

The three forage production systems examined in this project include:

1) BMR SS, harvested either as baleage or grazed, followed by winter grains (rye and triticale) including no till or minimum till methods and harvested the following spring either as baleage or grazed. This production system includes a second year of BMR SS with red clover/perennial grass seeded as an interseeding with the BMR SS, or seeded into the BMR SS first harvest stubble.

2) BMR SS planted after sod or into corn stubble and interseeded with perennial forage species (clover and grasses) for a one year return to a permanent sod.

3) Winter grain (primarily rye) used as a rotation crop to break up old sods for establishment of improved perennial forage crops. Winter rye will be planted in late summer into conventionally tilled sod, harvested as baleage or grazed the next spring followed by conventional tillage and a summer seeding to perennial forage.

The project was originally designed to include the 2003 and 2004 growing seasons, with a close out of December 31, 2004. However, in order to include another winter grain crop, the grant close out has been extended to August 31, 2005.

Objectives/Performance Targets

• Develop forage crop systems using BMR SS and winter cereal grains that provide a year round vegetative cover minimizing soil and nutrient losses to the environment and utilizing manure nutrients as the primary fertility source.

  Assess the flexibility of these systems in allowing for alterations of the crop sequence, planting dates, and/or harvest methods.

  Produce BMR SS and winter grains to meet forage quality and quantity needs of lactating dairy cattle. This includes producing forage with a neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content less than 58% of forage dry matter (DM), NDF digestibility greater than conventional corn, total forage dry matter yield per acre comparable or greater than corn silage estimates for soil type)

  Produce BMR SS and winter grains on a range of soil types.

  Refine methods and demonstrate harvest of BMR SS and winter grains as baleage and grazing.

  Develop methods and demonstrate establishing perennial forages using BMR SS as a companion crop.

  Develop and refine methods for using winter grains as an annual rotation crop to prepare ground for perennial forage seeding.

  Develop methods of drilling winter grains into BMR SS stubble in August/early September in a no till/minimum till manner using conventional equipment to establish a vigorous cover crop by fall.

  Increase farmer, agribusiness, and extension awareness of the potential of BMR SS and winter grains as an alternative annual forage production system through meetings and written media.

  Provide training for farmers, agribusiness and extension on methods to successfully grow BMR SS and winter grains as part of a dairy forage production system through meetings and written media.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The 2004 growing season began with the enlistment of two additional cooperating farms in Delaware County, in an effort to add diverse soil types, farmer experience and goals to the project. Both of the additional participating farms were also participating in Delaware County?s Precision Feed Management project, which allowed for an in kind leverage of additional grant dollars to cover seed costs and forage analysis.

Forage systems plans for 2004 were are follows:

Delaware Upland Site 1: Winter grain harvest; reseed with perennial forages in summer late spring seeding.

Delaware County grazing site: Harvest winter grains by grazing; plant year 2 of BMR SS and graze; till and plant winter grains.

Delaware County Lowland Site 1: Harvest winter grains; till and plant late spring seeding.

Delaware County Lowland Site 2: Plant BMR SS into corn stubble; harvest as silage; plant winter grain.

Delaware County Upland Site 2: Plant BMR SS with interseeding of red clover and Reed Canarygrass into corn stubble; harvest as baleage.

Schoharie County Grazing Site: Graze winter grains; till and plant BMR SS, follow with second year of winter grain.

Schoharie County Interseeding Site: Summer interseeding of BMR SS with ladino clover and orchardgrass into former corn ground; harvest as haylage.

Schoharie County Winter Rye only Site: Monitor alfalfa seeding vigor (established previous year) and determine forage yield.

Forage System outcomes for 2004 were are follows:

Seasonal note: At all sites from mid May on, precipitation was frequent and well above average for the area. Over 9 inches of rain fell in July alone, approximately 4 inches over average for that month. This often delayed planting and in some cases, harvest dates.

Delaware Upland Site 1: Despite what appeared to be reasonable germination the fall prior, the winter rye forage in spring 2004 was sparse and overrun with weed growth. This was likely due to the attempt to no till seed the rye in the BMR SS stubble in fall 2003 using a conventional grain drill, one of the project objectives. Weeds that biennial weeds that had germinated in the 2003 growing season were not disturbed enough with the no till seeding to set them back and seeding rate and germination was not great enough to overcome weed pressure. Additionally, winter grains at this site were seeded somewhat late ( September 18, 2003), and as a result did not achieve vigorous fall growth, which may have improved competition with the weeds. This site was tilled under (no winter grain harvest) in late spring 2004 and seeded back to perennial forage using oats as a companion crop.

Delaware County grazing site: Early spring manure applied. Spring growth of winter grains was slow. An attempt to graze the winter grain was made, but was ceased as cows refused too much forage (likely due to early spring manure application). Mechanical harvest on 5/19/2004 as baleage yielded 1.3 tons DM per acre. NDF targets were met, but crude protein was only12% of DM, which may have been due to inadequate nitrogen fertilization (mineralization of manure N) in the spring. The site was tilled and planted to BMR SS in late June. BMR SS was grazed in early August yielding 1.4 tons DM per acre and meeting forage quality (NDF and CP) targets. Cows increased milk production 5 lbs per cow per day while grazing BMR SS, similar to 2003. In all, forage yields at this site were below expectations. Sparse seedings may have been due to eitheror both seed bed preparation or drill malfunction Soil pH may be limiting this site as it has tested 5.9 & 6.1 in two tests. Winter grains were planted at this site in mid-late September for spring 2005 harvest.

Delaware County Lowland Site 1: Winter grain growth was phenomenal at this site, as was BMR SS growth in 2003. Although harvest did not occur at the proper growth stage, field samples for yield came back at 3.7 tons DM per acre, with quality slightly below target for NDF and CP on May 20. This site was accessible in mid May but flooded several times during the growing season. This site was reseeded to perennial forage with an oat companion crop in late spring.

Delaware County Lowland Site 2: This site was a long term continuous corn field. It was seeded in early June, but required a herbicide application to knock down weed (primarily perennial grasses) growth that had a vigorous head start. The participating farmer chose not to plow the residue under (disking instead) and a heavy thatch was still present after seed bed preparation. This impeded BMR SS growth, as did several wet spots in the field. BMR SS was harvested in early August at proper stage, but yields were only 1.5 tons DM per acre, despite adequate fertilization. Re-growth was sparse. It was observed that soil quality conditions at this site in addition to excessive precipitation contributed to the poor crop performance.

Delaware County Upland Site 2: BMR SS was planted in mid June with a red clover/Reed canary grass interseeding. Germination was sparse (approx. one third of expected) and growth was slow at this high elevation site, probably due to cold soil temperatures. The seeding contained numerous broadleaf weeds.. The BMR SS was harvested for baleage in early August at the proper stage, yielding 1.4 tons DM per acre (less than expected), but meeting NDF and CP quality targets. The goal of reseeding the field was met with a vigorous stand by visual assessment.

Schoharie County Grazing Site: Winter grains were grazed successfully, with cows producing 3-5 lbs more milk per cow per day while grazing rye. Forage quality targets were exceeded. Rye headed out early, ending regrazing sooner than was hoped. BMR SS was planted and grazed successfully, but later than target plant maturity, reducing forage quality.The producer planted winter rye for 2005 grazing, adding several acres of this crop to the grazing system.

Schoharie County Interseeding Site: BMR SS was planted in mid June and harvest at the target height in early August. Harvest management and unexpecting rains delayed chopping of BMR SS and resulting silage was low in sugars and fermented poorly. Interseeding of ladino clover was very successful, as determined by visual assessment.

Schoharie County Winter Rye only Site: Visual assessments indicated a successful overwintering of 2003 summer seeded alfalfa (seeded following winter rye). 2004 yields of 4.5 tons DM per acre for this site exceeded expectations and were approximately 3 times greater than the previous permanent forage stand on this field was yielding. This producer has firmly adopted this cropping strategy.

Forage Quality note: Analysis of winter grain forage at all sites included 24 hour NDF digestibility this year, in an effort to better assess forage fiber (NDF) quality of winter rye and triticale. Data from 2004 winter grain in this project (not shown) indicated that NDF digestibility is excellent; on a par with the BMR SS. Comparison of these data with NDF digestibility data (not shown) from the DairyOne forage analysis laboratory for grass and legume forages from New York State analyzed through their lab for the period 2000 - 2004 indicates that winter grain forage fiber quality is substantially better than the average forage harvested by New York State dairy farms. These data suggest great potential for winter grains as lactating dairy cattle forage.

Educational outreach has continued for the project. Farmer outreach has been through four winter meetings and one summer field day, reaching approximately 220 farmers and agribusiness personnel. In spring 2004, presentations were made to approximately 70 dairy and crop students at the State University of New York Agriculture and Technical College at Cobleskill. In fall 2004 presentations were made on the project at the Northeast Certified Crop Advisor training (second year in a row) reaching approximately 60 agribusiness personnel.

A better understanding of the importance of fiber digestibility to nutritional feed value needs to continue as part of future educational efforts.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Outreach efforts of the project are now taking more a cropping systems and soil quality approach, as opposed to focus on one specific crop. We are trying to build a better understanding of soil health and forage quality as we present data and experiences from the project. The annual crops used in this project to demonstrate these aims (winter grains and BMR SS) may have a mixed future in terms of adoption by farmers.

In regard to BMR SS, while farmers in New York State have received more information on BMR SS in resent years due to the research underway statewide, and seed sales of BMR SS have increased greatly over the last 5 years, we continue to see mixed results in growing the crop. 2004 was not a good crop year for BMR SS, and it performed poorly compared to corn for silage. We feel that there are a limited number of farms who are going to replace corn for silage with BMR SS and be successful enough to continue reducing corn acres. Grazing farms seem to be the most successful and the most satisfied with BMR SS. There are likely several reasons for this: 1) Grazing BMR SS eliminates the harvest management challenges this wet crop poses, as no wilting is involved, and it can be grazed in the rain, allowing the crop to be harvested at the proper stage for optimal yield and quality; 2)When grown for grazing it is likely not replacing corn silage acreage, therefore there may be less of an expectation that the crop needs to out yield corn for silage; 3)In many grazing situations BMR SS has been replacing run down (over grazed) pastures, where it has out yielded the previous pasture crop; 4)The BMR SS is available at a time when permanent pastures are either semi-dormant or excessively wet, thus it provides a needed alternative feed source; 5)Dairy cattle at all levels of productivity have consistently produced more milk (usually 3-5 lbs more per cow per day) when grazing BMR SS.

Winter grains have promising potential, as they have demonstrated excellent forage quality. There is a challenge in planting and harvest timing where winter grains will follow and precede (in rotation with) corn for silage. Typically farms in this region are not getting finished with corn silage harvest early enough to get the winter grains seeded and get vigorous fall growth. Also, a mid May winter grain harvest may conflict with early corn planting desirable in many sites for successful corn production. Winter grains may be the most compatible where they are grazed (early harvest), tilled under for green manure, or used as a sole rotation crop in place of corn. This project did not examine winter grains grown in rotation with corn silage. Tightening Federal Standards for soil erosion will increase the adoption of winter grains.

We feel that an honest assessment and reporting of the experiences in this project is critical, so that farmers understand that this crop system is not fool proof. Our expectations of impact should evolve to place more emphasis on 1) Understanding and appreciating soil quality and health 2) Understanding and appreciating the importance of fiber quality (digestibility) and 3) Getting farmers to think outside the box in regards to forage cropping options (species, cropping sequence).