November 4, 2010

Contact: Cornell Cooperative Extension: Lewis County: Joe Lawrence, 315-376-5270; Franklin and St. Lawrence Counties: Stephen Canner, 315-379-9192; Jefferson County: Mike Hunter, 315-788-8450; Clinton and Essex Counties: Anita Deming, 518-962-4810

NNY Forage Quality Cup Winners Share Production, Storage & Feeding Tips

Lowville, NY – The winners of the 2010 Northern NY Forage Quality Cup competition have shared their tips for producing, storing and feeding high quality forage.

The top five producers competing in the corn silage category saw Milk/Ton rates between 3434 and 3743 lbs of milk per ton of forage. Those competing in the haylage category produced Relative Forage Quality (RFQ) scores between 162 and 202 RFQ.

Contest organizer Joe Lawrence, a Field Crops Educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County, says, “This contest was intended to be a friendly competition promoting the importance of forage quality. The ratings help farms assess where their forages rank compared to other farms in the region.

“It is important, however, to consider the results with a critical eye. Though RFQ and Milk per Ton are recognized ways to measure forage quality, they do not necessarily encompass all the factors that may be important to the management of forages. It is important to look at how forages fit into an overall feed ration on each farm,” Lawrence adds.

Lawrence surveyed the 2010 Northern NY Forage Quality Cup winners about the key points to which they attribute their success in growing, storing and feeding high quality forage.

“First, we wanted to know how the farms define forage quality,” Lawrence says. “The definitions included the amount of protein in the forage, digestibility, yield and resulting milk production.”

Jay and Karen Rizza of LaVack Farms in Antwerp responded with “Quality forage is highly digestible, palatable feed that makes milk. We want the cows to want to eat it, and be able to get as much out of it as they can so we can reduce purchased grain inputs. The higher quality the forage, the more profitable the farm is going to be.”

Lawrence says the road to forage quality starts with which crop and variety the farmer chooses to plant and it is managed in the field. Dale and Steve Farney of Silvery Falls Farm in Lowville say they plant three or four different conventional hybrids of corn seed on 15-inch rows. They select 70-86 day corn to accommodate the growing season length in the North Country, while David and Silas Vincent select 90-95 day corn varieties based on high digestibility and they try for three or four cutting of haylage from alfalfa grass mix, reed canarygrass, fescue, clover and orchardgrass crops.

Harvest timing and strategies included running dry matter (DM) testing while loads are coming into the feed bunk. Dennis Forrester of Forrester Farms in Henderson lets the whole corn plant moisture determine the timing of the harvest and targets a DM percentage of 33 percent.

Gary and Carla Campany at Campany Homestead in Croghan say “Harvesting our haylage in a day allows us to fit harvest between weather patterns and to put up baleage at 65 to 70 percent moisture which works well with our TMR (total mixed ration).”

Dan, Don and Dale Tetreault of Hidden View Farm in Champlain harvest their haylage by height, cutting when their alfalfa/grass mixes reach 24 inches.

Most of the farms doing well in the NNY Forage Quality Cup use inoculants when storing their haylage. They store in bunks and silos. The packing tractors work constantly and at one farm continue packing one hour after the last load comes into the bunk.

As far as feeding their quality forages out, the Tetreaults place emphasis on having a good feeder who uses a loader to keep the face of the bunk well managed. Silvery Falls Farm uses a defacer to take six to eight inches off the bunk face each day.

Most of the farms are watching for an opportunity to increase the percentage of forage in their ration.

For complete forage quality tips survey results, visit the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at http://www.nnyagdev.org/_fieldcrops.htm#Forage_Quality.

The 2010 Northern NY Forage Quality Cup was organized by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations of Northern New York in collaboration with Dairy One and with sponsorship from Dairy One, Miller Spraying; Blue Seal Richer Dairy Nutrition; Farm Credit East, ACA, Burrville and Potsdam; Feed Commodities International, Inc.; Cargill Animal Nutrition; and Renaissance Nutrition, Inc.

The 2010 NNY Forage Quality Cup Haylage category regional winner is the Finney Family Farm: Jim & Dan Finney, Adams; runner-up is Hidden View Farm: Dan, Don & Dale Tetreault, Champlain.

The 2010 NNY Forage Quality Cup Corn Silage category regional winner is Silvery Falls Farm: Dale & Steve Farney, Lowville; runner-up is Forrester Farm: Dennis Forrester, Henderson.

The 2010 NNY Forage Quality Cup Haylage category winners by county are:
• Clinton County: Hidden View Farm: Dan, Don & Dale Tetreault, Champlain
• Franklin County: Vincent Farms: David & Silas Vincent, Malone
• Jefferson County: Finney Family Farm: Jim & Dan Finney, Adams
• Lewis County: Campany Homestead: Gary & Carla Campany, Croghan
• St. Lawrence County: Lavack Farm: Jay & Karen Rizza, Antwerp

The 2010 NNY Forage Quality Cup Corn Silage category winners by county are:
• Clinton County: Hidden View Farm: Dan, Don & Dale Tetreault, Champlain
• Franklin County: Vincent Farms: David & Silas Vincent, Malone
• Jefferson County: Forrester Farm: Dennis Forrester, Henderson, NY
• Lewis County: Silvery Falls Farm: Dale & Steve Farney, Lowville
• St. Lawrence County: Lavack Farm: Jay & Karen Rizza, Antwerp