Page 18—Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 17, 1999
TRIALS
YOU GOTTA HAVE SOME!
Jonathan Rupert
Product Development Manager
Ampac Seed
Yes, another spring has quickly
come upon us. It will be full of trials
and tribulations, this much is prom
ised. And this year, not unlike many
years gone by, you walk through the
pastures quietly asking yourself ques
tions, such as:
“Is there something I can plant that
will do a better job than what I’ve
got?”
“Can I get a variety that will really!
‘up’ my milk production?”
“Maybe I should plant some of
those new clovers. I wonder if they
will survive here?”
“Will the cows eat that festulolium
stuff, or whatever it’s called?”
“I wonder if those new endophyte
free tall fescues are more palatable?
Would they help in the summers?”
“Are tetraploid ryegrasses better
than diploid?”
“Nothing seems to grow on the hill
top am I fertililzing too heavy? Too
little?”
Staring down at your toes you no
tice that your pasture is a mix of grass
es, weeds, clovers, and other miscel
laneous plants. Some of it you planted,
some of it was already there, and some
of it must come in that hay you
bought from Maryland last summer—
'cause no one around has seen any
thing like that stuff. Too bad the cows
won’t eat it, since it sure grows good!
Up at the University, they’ve been
trialing some interesting varieties, but
they don’t have the same kind of soil
as you do. Besides, those arc hay trials
anyway; and you’re a grazer. Then all
those seed companies arc promoting
new varieties; some not even having
local trial information. Some say seed
is better from Holland, others better
from New Zealand, others say it
doesn’t matter. What’s a person to be
lieve?
The questions you ponder are good
questions, the type of questions fann
ers have asked hundreds of times be
fore. My guess is if you’re reading this
article, you must have finally stopped
staring at your boots and come inside.
I wonder, what did you decide?
Did you come in excited or dismay
ed? How will you answer these ques
tions?
Well, first of all, let me assure you,
your questions deserve answers. Fur
thermore, many of the answers are at
your fingertips.
How, you ask?
The answer is simple. Conduct your
own trials! Now, don’t get me wrong,
I am not encouraging you to doubt
everything you hear and throw away
all faith in others. Rather, I am sug
gesting that your own trials are just
one way of helping you make wiser
and more accurate decisions regarding
the seeds you plant.
Think about how you make some
other decisions. Have you ever bought
a tractor without first test-driving it?
Without seeing how it pulls some im
plements? What about a horse? Do
you buy such things sight-w/i-seen?
Probably not. Fortunately, most of
what we buy is clearly visible and
functional ready to look at, judge,
and evaluate, before we open our wal-
a b c
lets.
Not so with seeds. They are mor
phological like a caterpillar and a
butterfly. What you plant becomes
something else other than a seed
that is, grass, legume, or grain. Buying
seed is better compared to acquiring
something invisible, like advice.
Much of the advice we get is free, and
some we pay for, like a lawyer. But for
my illustration, simply consider the
similarities between seed and advice:
• Both are of little value if not used.
• Some seed and some advice are
not altogether bad, but don’t neces
sarily fit a particular situation.
• Bad advice, like bad seed, will
produce a bad crop.
• But good advice, like good seed,
will be unfruitful if improperly man
aged.
• It’s rather foolish to keeping going
back and getting advice that isn’t help
ful. So too with seed.
• Advice, albeit good, may seem ra
ther strange and untried. Like seed, it
should be applied cautiously and un
der a watchfbl eye.
• A wise person is one who is will
ing to receive advice, yet be able to
only apply that which is deemed good.
Likewise, a good farmer will consider
new and different seeds, and by appli
cation leam what works best for his
farm.
My desire is for you to really know
what woiks and what doesn’t work on
your farm. I’m not talking about plow
ing the farm up every time a new
variety hits the streets, nor am I pro
moting skepticism. Rather, let’s con
sider some real, practical, inexpensive
ways to become our own evaluators.
We will do this by considering three
operations.
Join me for a little walk into three
unique and very different pastures.
We will be visiting a large dairy, a
hobby dairy goat ranch, and a
medium-size sheep grazing operation.
Vanßeek Dairy
Martin Vanßeek fs a second
generation dairyman in Belfountain,
Ore. His family’s confinement opera
tion milks about 900+ head a day. In
the 300 surrounding acres, Martin has
been raising com silage and cover
cropping with annual ryegrass screen
ings he obtained free from a neighbor
ing grass seed fanner. He has been do
ing this for years. Until this last fall,
that is.
After a bit of number crunching.
Diagram 1 - Vanßeek Dairy
Test Plots
MTiob^W
a - Tonga Tetraploid Per. Rye
b - Festorina Ta I Fescue
c - Tekapo Orchardgrass
d - 1/3 each
discussions with his animal nutrition
ist, and talking to his local seed sales
man, Martin believes he has found a
better use for his 300 acres. He doesn’t
want to graze, but thinks that some of
the new improved forages will give
him better silage for his money and ef
fort, rather than annually working his
ground. It can be quite wet in some
springs, and he is always fighting the
weather.
Martin is also facing some water
quality issues from the Department of
Environmental Quality. He is under
pressure to minimize effluent runoff.
A permanent stand of grass may be the
solution.
Martin elected to plant a simple |
three-component mix; 'A each tetra
ploid perennial ryegrass, grazing or
chardgrass, and endophyte-free tall|
fescue. In addition, Martin chose two
“plot areas” in which he seeded each
of the varieties separately. Martin can
get quite a bit of standing water in
some of the lowlands, so one area is in
the wettest spot. The other area is in a
place that represents the majority of
his land. Martin then seeded each of
the plot areas with one replication of
the individual varieties and seeded the
remainder of the 300 acres with the
full mixture (see Diagram 1).
In a very short time, Martin will be
able to judge the performance of the
mixture, and identify the following:
• What variety does best in the wet
area?
• What variety does best in the dry
area?
• Which one performs best for each
cutting?
• How do these varieties compare in
■maturity?
His plots are also big enough (about
Vi acre each) for him to easily judge
relative tonnage, sample for feed val
ue, and much more. Since information
gathered about the mix as a whole can
be compared to the individual varie
ties at any given time to determine an
array of information. More than like
ly, many other facts will also come to
light. Then Martin can take his in
formation and act upon it.
Say, for instance, he finds his wet
area is just too much for the orchard
grass, but the ryegrass is holding up
great. Well, Martin can overseed some
more ryegrass into the whole wet area.
(Turn to Pago 20)
SEE YOUR NEAREST
&
(NEW HOLLAIVD
DEALER FOR DEPENDABLE
EQUIPMENT & SERVICE
Messick
Equipment
RD 1, Box 255 A
717-259-6617
Annville. PA
BHM Farm
Equipment,
Inc.
RD 1, Rte. 934
717-867-2211
Carlisle. PA
R&W Bros.
Equipment Co.
35 East Willow Street 610 987 6257
717-243-2686
Elizabethtown, pa Schreffler
Messick Farm
Equipment, Inc. 717-648-1120
Rt. 283 - Rheem’s
Exit
717-367-1319
Tamaqua. PA
Charles S.
"Greencastie, pa' Snyder, InC
Meyers r.d. 3
Implements, Inc. 717 ‘ 386 ' 5945
400 North Antrim Way
717-597-2176
Halifax. PA
Sweigard Bros.
R.D. 3, Box 13
717-896-3414
Frederick. MD
Ceresville Ford New Holland, Inc
Rt. 26 East 301-662-4197
Outside MD, 800-331-9122
Hagerstown. MD
Antietam Ford Tractor, Inc
2027 Leitersburg Pike
800-553-6731
301-791-1200
Ag Industrial Equipment
Route 1,50 N. Greenmont Rd.
1-800-442-5043
Bridgeton. NJ Washington. NJ
Leslie G. Fogg, Smith Tractor &
Inc. Equip., Inc.
Canton & Stow Creek 15 Hillcrest Ave.
Landing Rd. 908-689-7900
609-451-2727
609-935-5145
ICWHOLLAU
jgfeREWHOLLAN>
Credit Company
,'«3K
Grove,
Norman D. Clark
& Son, Inc.
Honey Grove, PA
717-734-3682
Loysville, PA
717-789-3117
New Holland. PA
A.B.C. Groff, Inc.
110 South Railroad
717-354-4191
Olev. PA
C.J. Wonsidler
iquipment
it Grovi
S.G.Lewis &
Son, Inc.
352 N. Jennersville Rd,
610-869-2214
1-800-869-9029
Woodstown,
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609-769-0308