Page 26—Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 12, 2000
Maryland Grazing Research Benefits Livestock Producers
KAREN BUTLER
Maryland Correspondent
KEEDYSVILLE, Md. Re
search under way here at the West
ern Maryland Research and
Education Center will benefit gra
ziers and other forage-based agri
cultural producers in the Mid-
Atlantic region.
A cooperative endeavor be
tween two Maryland Cooperative
Extension agents, the research
project examines the performance
of annual and perennial grasses
under management-intensive graz
ing systems.
Don Schwartz, ag agent in
Washington County, Maryland, and
Stanley Fultz, dairy agent in Freder
ick County, have pooled their ex
pertise and areas of interest to work
together on the grass trials. They are
trying to find a grass or a combina
tion of grasses not just limited to
an annual and a perennial, but
maybe a combination of both, that is
more nutritious, durable, and
maybe higher yielding to fit into
a system in this part of the country.
Many of the grass varieties are
coming out of New Zealand and
Europe, and they haven’t been
tested here under grazing condi
tions. So far most of the research on
how the grasses perform has come
from New Zealand and Oregon, ac
cording to Fultz, but what research
ers know about how different grass
varieties perform here has been lim
ited.
Schwartz and Fultz are
pioneering this kind of research here
in the Mid-Atlantic region.
“All the forage work and grass
variety work has been under a
haying system, where they cut them
four times a year,” said Fultz.
“Nobody on the East Coast is doing
this kind of research.”
The project at the research
farm began in 1997 with annual rye
grass and has now been expanded to
include four replications of each of
38 perennial and 18 annual varie
ties. The research will focus on three
main areas: grass species perform
ance, animal performance under a
\
Stanley Fultz, far left, and Don Schwartz, standing next to him, con
ducted a field day this fall at the Western Maryland Research and
Education Center in Keedysville, Md., to share the progress of their
research with producers.
management-intensive grazing
system, and the performance of the
system as a whole, explained
Schwartz.
To estimate the yields, pad
docks are measured with a pasture
gauge equipped with a small com
puter. The model the researchers
are using is called an Alistair
George Pasture Gauge. The tip of
the instrument that touches the
ground has a small metal probe that
sends out an electrical signal that
measures the density and height of
that stand of grass. This informa
tion is then plugged into an equation
that calculates the available dry
matter per acre of the stand. Gauges
are available that range from very
sophisticated computerized versions
to lower cost manual systems, said
Fultz.
Animals from the Central
Maryland Research and Education
Center in Clarksville, Md., are
trailered in for grazing trials to
monitor their growth and perform
ance. Although dairy heifers are
used, both agents say they work
with a variety of livestock producers
who are grazing their animals and
can benefit from the research.
The bred Holstein heifers come
in at an average weight of 1,112
pounds. They are monitored for
weight and body condition score.
There is a five-acre piece to be
mechanically harvested and a five
acre piece to be grazed. The perime
ter fence used is a Natural Resource
and Conservation Service-designed,
5-strand, high-tensile wire system.
The grazed acres are divided into 5
one-acre paddocks and then further
cross-fenced with one strand of po
lywire into half-acre paddocks to get
better grass utilization. Stocking
rates are 20 animals per half-acre
per day.
The mechanical harvest of the
forage is done in such a way that it
mimics ideal grazing conditions.
Each variety is harvested individu
ally when it reaches a height of 6-8
inches and mowed to a 2-mch stub
ble height.
A well-attended pasture walk
Stanley Fultz, dairy agent in Frederick County, Maryland, talks with
some producers about the field day at the Western Maryland
Research Farm. Photo by Karen Butler
V -* ■>'&******' '
Some of the grass plots at the research farm.
conducted at the research farm last
fall gave farmers the opportunity to
see firsthand how the research is
structured. No data will be released
for several years because the re
searchers want to look at what the
grasses will do from year to year,
Feeding Cattle Hay
trampled. However, excessive pasture
destruction and muddy conditions in
the feeding area could occur. If choos
ing one area, feeding on concrete or
large gravel provides a solid founda
tion. Geotextile fabric and Flue Gas
Desulfiirization (FGD) coal-buming
byproduct are new low-cost alterna
tives for creating solid hay-feeding
areas, Boyles said.
“Which feeding system is best var
ies with the operation,” he said. “But
if large amounts of hay are being
wasted, some sort of controlling ac
cess might have to be considered.”
For more information about hay
Using MUN To Monitor Dairy Nutrition
Larry Muller and
Fernando Bargo
Penn State
Well-managed pastures are high in
total and rumen degradable protein.
Total protein is often above 20 percent
and sometimes over 30 percent in the
spring and fall. Rumen degradable
protein can be greater than 75 percent
of the total protein.
Excess dietary protein that is not
utilized efficiently in the rumen must
be converted to urea for excretion.
(Continued from Page 25)
under a variety ,o£ conditions, mjm
effort to benefit the producers.^'
In the meantime, "producers
can keep up todSte on the project
through pasture walks conducted by
the extension service, and also
through a fact sheet to be published.
feeding systems and wastage, interest
ed people can contact their county of
fice of Ohio State University Exten
sion or Boyles directly at (614)
292-7669. Extension publications on
the topic that could be helpful include
Fact Sheet AEX-304-97: Using Geo
textile Fabric in Livestock Operations
and the section on hay feeding in
Bulletin 872: Maximizing Fall and
Winter Grazing of Beef Cows and
Stocker Cattle. These publications are
available on the Ohio State University
College of Food, Agricultural, and
Environmental Sciences’ website
(http://ohioline.ag.ohio-state.edu).
This process requires energy and di
verts energy from the production of
milk. The nitrogen excreted in the
urine becomes a concern from the en
vironmental standpoint. In addition,
excess or poorly utilized dietary pro
tein is not good for rumen health and
may decrease reproductive perform
ance.
Most dairy producers feed supple
mental grains with pasture; the rumen
fermentable carbohydrate in the grain
(Turn to Pag* 27)