Page 22—Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 24, 1998 JUD HEINRICHS Penns State Dairy and Animal Science FORAGE MANAGEMENT TIPS This spring and summer, as you are making haylage and hay, keep in mind some basic management prin ciples of good forage making. First of all, proper maturity counts. In fact, it is likely the most important part of a good forage pro gram. Second, check dry matter. If it is GETTYSBURG (Adams Co.) There have been several questions re garding replanting alfalfa stands. Be cause of last year’s drought, some al falfa stands that were established last spring did not grow well and are rather thin. Here are four points to consider if you are thinking about no-tilling some alfalfa seed into es tablished stands. 1. Established al falfa produces a toxin that will reduce ger mination and slow seedling growth of new alfalfa plants. This is known as auto toxicity. 2. Using a no-till drill to replant will cause damage to the established plants in the crown region, making them more susceptible to disease. 3. If the new seed lings geiminate and emerge, they will be shaded out by the pld er, established plains. The older plants will treat the new seed lings as weeds. 4. Research has shown that replanting into an established stand is not economi cally beneficial. So what should you do with a first-year stand that is thin? You may consider broad casting some grass seed and allowing the stand to develop into a mixed or mostly grass stand. The other op tion would be to plant com once the first cut ting ha. l been re moved. ** 4*'* * > Here Are Guidelines To Alfalfa Complete hay control starts at the pickup. Hay is gathered and precompressed before reaching the bale chamber... for more solid-bales. Gear- and shaft-driven knotters adjust to different twines and crops. Easy to service, too. eParm Plan' A Service of FPC Financial iSfaP r-» Aft haylage, we know that there are specific moisture ranges that encourage good packing and fermen tation. If we go too wet, which is less than 30 percent dry matter, or too dry, greater than 60 percent dry matter, we drastically increase the likelihood of a poor fermentation. High quality silage requires a proper fermentation to promote good intakes and high levels of milk production. The only way to know the dry matter of haylage is to mea- Replanting For new seedings, planting depth is .25-.5 inches deep and and should be planted before April 30. Seedling rate is recommended at 12- to 15-pounds per acre. You may want to increase the rate on cool, damp soils to 18 pounds. If using a companion crop, such as oats, they should be seeded at 1.5 bushels per acre. with 42 Ejector In Stock LEFT OVER SPECIAL Call Today NOBODY DOES HAY BETTER sure it. Use a microwave, oven or koster tester - but you must measure the first load and check it periodically. If you are good at squeezing a handful to monitor moisture, then calibrate your handful with a few measured analyses in the microwave as very few people can retain their hand squeezing calibration over the win ter or from cutting to cutting. Recalibrate yourself often. A next point for haylage is to check particle size as you chop it. Nothing you do to haylage after har vest increases the particle size - everything reduces particle size post harvest. Silo filling, silo unloading, TMR mixers, and feed delivery sys tems all reduce particle size of for age. some systems are minimal in their effects and some are great. If moisture ranges are monitored for haylage, it is strongly suggested to try to achieve the shortest particle length possible that will fit with er rri v ..«4ni ffca* ■ TRUCKLOAD QUANTITY PURCHASE ad lex sota9u5 ota 9u Cutter -- SHABP PERFORMERS ► Choose between seven cutters from 4 to 7 feet: 13 Series Economy line for light cutting chores; 16 Series medium-duty cutters; 09 Series for heavy-duty jobs; 717 General Purpose Cutter sift your storage and feeding systems. For upright silos, you are more lim ited than with bunker silos in terms of acceptable length. Bunker silos still have to have proper moisture in order to pack longer material. Never compromise a good fermentation with too long a particle size. The problems of poor packing and moldy, poorly fermented haylage will far outweigh any increases that you may gain from longer haylage parti cle size. If maturity and moisture of the crops are in the proper ranges, then getting your cow’s physical effective fiber from grass or legume forages in the form of haycrop silage, balage, and hay will usually beat the physi cal fiber achieved from com silage. There are often more problem with fermentation and fiber digestibility from long chopped corn silage sup plying physically effective fiber for your cows, than if that long fiber comes from a haycrop source. a n *~r\ *he We Make A ing Special *1 0,900 ► These Unibody™ cutters feature full frame, continuous seam design for extra strength Clean-deck design keeps water out; trash buildup on the deck to a minimum DEERE i ■* took.
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