P2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 21,1984
Cornstalks sub for expensive bay
NEW HOLLAND - The drought
of 1983 and low cattle prices have
given cattlemen a double punch.
The high hay prices resulting from
the drought are a special handicap
in view of the low beef prices, says
Dick Salisbury of Sperry New
Holland.
But cattlemen can substitute
com stalks and other lower quality
forage for some of the hay their
herds would orginarily eat. There
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This roll-floor chain-type round baler moved into the
cornstalks without any adjustments from hay. The stalks
were cut with a disc type mower and were relatively coarse.
Fine chopped stalks may be a problem if the materials is
excessively dry.
Mushroom industry
wastes useful
os Livestock feed
UINVERSITY PARK - Two
mushroom industry wastes, spent
mushroom compost and
mushroom stumps, have been
found effective as feed for beef
cattle and sheep.
Spent mushroom compost should
be valuable primarily in main
taining mature animals with lower
nutrient demands than younger,
growing animals, stated Lowell L.
Wilson, animal scientist with the
College of Agriculture at The
Pennsylvania State University.
“Diets containing mushroom
stumps and possibly a minimum
amount of mushroom compost,
less than 15 percent, should do well
for young animals with high
nutritional needs, ” Wilson added.
In Penn State experiments, the
most efficient way to use
mushroom wastes was to ensile
them in combination with con
ventional feeds. Silages of ac
ceptable quality were made from
mushroom wastes and chopped
hay. Corn grain was added to
provide increased carbohydrates
for good silage fermentation.
Weight gains of sheep fed
mushrooms in silage were lower
than weight, gains of sheep
receiving a standard hay-grain
diet. However, mushroom wastes
used at one-fourth to one-third of
the diet were found adequate.
Experiments using mushroom
wastes as feed supplements are the
latest among several studies of
waste recycling at Penn State.
Other research has tested feeding
of poultry litter, forestry
byproducts, apple and tomato
wastes, cocoa hulls, and sweet
are a number of ways to work the
trick.
Salsibury, who is product
manager for round balers at New
Holland points out, treating baled
stalks with anhydrous ammonia in
the stack, under a plastic seal,
boosts protein and aids
digestibility. Vitamin and mineral
needs must be met, too, but the
processed stalks can then provide
most of the winter nutrition for a
beef cow herd.
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corn and pea wastes. Such
byproduct feeds reduce costs for
cattlemen while solving some
waste disposal problems, Wilson
said.
Spent compost was 46 percent
dry matter and stumps were 14
percent dry matter, as received
from mushroom growers. Crude
fiber of compost, 47 percent, was
similar to poor quality hay or
straw. Crude fiber content of the
mushroom stumps, averaging 21
percent, was similar to high
quality hays and sialges.
Wilson and associates found that
Blue ribbon Hereford
Show March 31
ITHACA, N.Y. Polled Hereford and Hereford breeders throughout
the Northeast are invited to nominate consignments to the Blue Ribbon
Show and Sale March 31 at the Livestock Pavilion on the Cornell
University campus.
Nominations for the Show and Sale which are jointly sponsored by the
New York Hereford Association and the New York Polled Hereford
Association are due Jan. 26, according to chairman Donald Dean of
Naples.
Dean said he anticipates at least five select bulls all top-notch herd
sire prospects will be offered in the March 31 sale. He also expects to
catalog 45 females including open and bred heifers, open and bred cows
and cows with calves at side.
Dean said the Blue Ribbon Show at 10 a.m. and the Sale which will
begin at 12:30 p.m. will feature the top bloodlines and quality per
formance that will meet the event’s goal of “herd improvement.”
Dean said all of the cattle nominated will be screened on the farm by his
sale committee. Working with Dean on the committee are Robert
Generaux of Canandaigua, Ted Knese of Cato, and Jim Conway of Little
Falls - all of New York.
Nominations accompanied by a $2O fee per head and registrations are
to be mailed to Donald Dean, P.O. Box 417, Naples, N.Y. 14512 by Jan. 26.
Grinding lower quality roughage
also improves its usefulness.
Grinding doesn’t really improve
the quality much but it does in
crease the amount the cow can
process through her digestive
system. This help her get by on
poorer quality roughage. Grinding
has the further advantage of easy
blending with small amounts of
high quality hay for optimum
utilization.
The first step in feeding stalks is
to get them into the bale after
combining. Baling cornstalks isn’t
quite as easy as baling hay. But it’s
not a problem if stalks are
prepared carefully.
For optimum performance in
com stover, the material should be
as long as possible, and not over
conditioned. For good bale core
formation, the material should
have a tendency to cling or have
sufficient length to help hold itself
together.
Many farmers will want to use a
flail cutter or chopper to mow the
stalks for baling. A disc mower can
be used. If this practice is followed,
it is very important the operator
rakes two or three windrows
together.
During core formation, reduce
the PTO speed to approximately
300 RPM, maintaining the same
ground speed or slightly higher if
tractor and ground conditions
permit. Once the core formation is
completed, the RPM can be in
creased back up to 540 RPM. This
will normally allow complete bale
formation to be made with very
respectable bale density.
The stalks should be dry enough
to store well without mold. Then,
they can be a cost-saving asset in
maintaining a cow herd that’s hard
to justify if the alternative is to buy
expensive hay.
LIVESTOCK
LATEST
silages containing spent
mushroom compost must also
contain about 25 percent corn grain
to ensile properly. If mushroom
stumps replace at least one-half of
the mushroom compost in the
silage, then the amount of com
grain can be reduced.
The amount of digestible energy
consumed was greatest on the
standard hay-grain diet. For
example, lambs on mushroom
waste rations in three trials had
average energy intakes of 80, 73,
Limousin champions name
gi .ainpioi. .
National Limousin Show and Sale, sold for $20,500 to Wulf
and Sons, Morris, Minn. The Sept. 2, 1982 747 son was
consigned by Winn Limousin, Indiahoma, Okla.
Ox and W. Limousin, Huran, S.D., consigned the grand
champion female of the 1984 Limousin sale show at the
National Western Stock Show in Denver, Jan. 12 OXNW Belle
773 P, a Feb. 19, 1982 Canadian Pacific daughter, was
purchased by Glenmore Farms, Keswick, Va., for $27,000.
The overall average for the sale was $11,250, a new breed
record.
and 85 percent of the energy,
consumed by lambs on standard
diets.
“Lower daily gains of lambs fed
silages containing mushroom
wastes was due largely to the
lesser amounts of digestible
energy consumed,” Dr. Wilson
affirmed.
Megacalories of digestible
energy consumer per pound of
gain, a measure of feed efficiency,
were also greatest for the standard
hay-grain diet.
Cooperating on the study were
Dr. Harold W. Harpster and
Mildred L. Turner, both with the
Department of Dairy and Animal
Science at Penn State.
Ash contest, averaging 56 per
cent of compost and 30 percent
for mushroom stumps, was ex
tremely high compared to stan
dard feeds. This resulted in a
relatively low level of digestible
Fin
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energy in the wastes.
Wilson said the calcium-to
phosphorus ratio was also ex
tremely high for both waste
materials. Additional phosphorus
should be fed with these wastes, he
suggested, to produce a ratio
closer to the desired levels of two
parts calcium to one part
phosphrous.
Crude protein averaged 11
percent for compost and 20 percent
for the mushroom stumps. This
should meet the needs of most
types and ages of beef cattle, it was
pointed out.
However, acid detergent fiber
bound protein general!;
unavailable even for rumiant
animals averaged four percent
for compost and four percent for
stumps. This resulted in available
protein levels of seven percent for
compost and 16 percent for
mushroom stumps.
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