FARM REPORT · affects NDFD24 of haylage (HCS), BMR corn silage (BMR CS) and straw. We also looked at how the starch from corn kernels in corn silage might affect the NDFD analysis

Corn silage is a major forage on most northeastern dairy farms, and with the strange growing season we’ve had, many farmers are wondering how the 2011 corn silage crop will feed. What will literally “come out of the bag?” I’ll focus on silage digestibility because of its association with energy content, feed intake potential, and milk production.

Let’s start with the basics. Corn is a grass with grain attached. So, whole-plant digestibility refl ects digestibility of the stover (i.e. NDF) and the grain (i.e. starch). The stover-to-grain ratio determines the feeding value and refl ects the growing environment, hybrid genetics, and harvesting method (such as high chopping). Unlike other forages, corn’s whole-plant NDF content may actually decrease as the plant matures due to grain fi ll that offsets NDF accumulation in the stover, but Wisconsin data

confi rm that NDF digestibility predictably decreases by ~10 units as the plant moves from ½ milk line to black layer and beyond.

When assessing forage quality, we often focus on NDF and its digestibility, but starch actually comprises the majority of the energy value of corn silage. For typical corn silage hybrids, Dr. Dave Mertens (recently retired from the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, WI) reported that 65% of the digested nutrients come from starch and other nonfi ber constituents with a range of between 58 and 72%. In northern climates, Dr. Pete Van Soest has suggested lowering total dry matter digestibility by 0.4 units for each percentage of grain less than 40%. Grain or starch content is a function of maturity at

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK:A MIXED BAG OF CORN SILAGE

The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute September 2011

In This Issue:

What's Happening on the Farm 2Effect of Starch on NDF Digestibility Analysis

2011 Corn Harvest:What's the Bottom Line?

Haste Makes Waste; Global Biotech Crops

The Fall of MyPyramid, The Rise of MyPlate

Harvesting Drought-Affected Corn for Silage

3

4

5

6

7Vacillate Before you Macerate! Historical Tidbit: An Academic Anomaly

Can MUN be used to Monitor Ammonia?

8

9

10Corn Silage Maturity Stages 11

FARM REPORT

See SILAGE, Page 7

This fi eld of corn was badly fl ooded by more than 6” of rain that fell Sunday, Aug. 28. Silt accumulation may be a problem in situations like this one, and farmers need to take some precautions.

Photo: Heather Dann

Please see the Irene & Your Corn Crop article on page 5.

A corn fi eld fl attened by winds during Tropical Storm Irene.

Photo: Amy Bedard

The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute Farm Report September 2011 ─ 2

Labor Day weekend is already upon us — the offi cial end of summer and one last weekend for vacation or an outdoor BBQ before fall schedules start up. Here at the farm it is going to be a “labor day” in a different sense – we have 15 cows due to calve that weekend. For larger farms that’s a normal day, but on a 300-cow dairy it will be a busy weekend. Actually, 3 of the 15 have calved early, each with a set of bull twins! Apparently the end of November was a fertile period!

As summer draws to a close, we are seeing a little more lameness in our herd. It’s not surprising because of the increased time the cows spent standing this summer. The fl ies have been especially bad this year and the cows have been bunching in the alleyways and standing agitated

in the stalls. We are working to stay on top of trimming, blocking, and wrapping hooves.

Dairy farmers across the country know that summer is a frustrating time for getting cows pregnant. Our cows are no different – reproduction takes a hit in the summer even up here in Northern NY. The early part of the summer was OK, but the cows bred in July (that we recently preg-checked in August) suffered from the heat and many came up open at vet check.

One of the things we think has helped repro this summer is a change in our Presynch/Ovsynch protocol for the fi rst breeding. Back in May we moved from a 14-day interval to a 12-day interval

between the end of Presynch and the beginning of Ovsynch. To get to a 12-day interval we changed the day we start Presynch so that our timed AI day remained the same. It was a simple switch; two separate shot lists print out from Dairy Comp and for us there is little to no increase in labor by giving shots two days rather than one. We were hoping to see an increase in fi rst service conception rate and have been pleased with the results in both 1st lactation and 2nd + lactation animals. Of course, this wasn’t a controlled study — just a management change and observation of the results. — Anna Pape

[email protected]— Steve Couture

[email protected]

WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE FARM

SURFING (& TWEETING) IN THE COUNTRY

A new USDA report, Farm Computer Usage and Ownership, shows more U.S. farms than ever before are relying on the Internet to conduct business. In 2011 62% of farms have Internet access, which is up from 43% in 2001 and 59% in 2009. The most popular way to access the Internet is through DSL (38%) and wireless (20%) providers. Interestingly, crop farms (64%) use the Internet more than dairy farms (61%). However, the usage increases to 79% and 83% for crop and dairy farms, respectively, when farms sales and government payments exceed $250,000. Farms are using the Internet to purchase agricultural inputs (14%), conduct agricultural marketing activities (12%), and conduct business with non-agricultural websites (35%).

I was surprised the report did not mention Internet use to access social media. It seems that I am constantly

being told that if I am not on or involved in social media then I should plan on getting left behind. A 2011 American Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Survey indicated that ~98% of farmers and ranchers between the ages of 18 and 35 have access to the Internet and use Facebook (~76%). An AGWEB.com survey indicated that young farmers are not the only ones using social media on-farm. Almost 70% of AGWEB.com readers of which 93% were over the age of 35 use social media, such as Facebook (52%) and YouTube (35%). In a U.K., 87% of farmer surveys described social media as an effective business tool and use it to fl ag-up farming related issues (41%), communicate with customers (28%) and policy makers (8%), and tackle rural isolation (14%).

— Heather [email protected]

FULL MOONS AND FALL FROSTSIs there a relationship between the phases of the moon and fall frost? This idea is viewed with considerable skepticism by scientists, and we know of no studies that support the relationship. However, the theory is accepted as fact by many gardeners and farmers. This seems to be based on the theory that the light of a full moon can evaporate moisture in the upper atmosphere and therefore increase radiational cooling. However, it’s questionable that the moon produces enough energy to do this. We do have some data to rely on, but it’s not encouraging for those believing in a relationship. Data for 100 years from four locations in the Northeastern U.S. were reviewed by climatologists, and there was NO relationship between full moon and fall frost. In fact, frost was just as likely to occur when there was no moon at all as when there was a full moon.

— E.T.


EFFECT OF STARCH ON NDF DIGESTIBILITY ANALYSIS

A frequently asked question is whether testing a TMR sample for NDF digestibility (NDFD) is as accurate as testing the individual feeds and forages for NDFD and then calculating a digestibility value for the TMR. Accurate analysis of TMRs has a number of issues including obtaining a representative sample as well as the day-to-day variation at the mixer compared to the ration on paper. Then there’s the debate regarding the accuracy and repeatability of NDFD analyses within and between labs. Setting these concerns aside, a core question is whether NDF digestibility in the lab analysis is affected by the presence of other highly digestible carbohydrates in the sample. For instance, does the presence of starch affect digestibility of NDF in the lab assay? We use the Ankom Daisy system for NDFD analysis. Samples are incubated in porous fi lter bags in a buffered rumen fl uid solution. We know that a microenvironment is created inside the Ankom fi lter bag containing the sample, as noted by the picture of a gas-fi lled Ankom bag. A fi lm of rumen fl uid debris, protein and carbohydrates can form on the fi lter bag, effectively “sealing” the bag. Fermentation gases are clearly being held in the bag, inhibiting free exchange of fl uids and microbes as well as possibly trapping acids produced during fermentation. This microenvironment could possibly inhibit the fi ber digestion we intend to measure as NDFD. We thought it best to run some simple experiments to test this concept.

Our objective was to determine how the addition of starch as cornmeal (CM) affects NDFD24 of haylage (HCS), BMR corn silage (BMR CS) and straw. We also looked at how the starch from corn kernels in corn silage might affect the NDFD analysis of corn silage. The individual forages were analyzed in triplicate, both alone and blended 50:50 dry weight basis with cornmeal. For instance, in Digestion Jar 1 were 3 replicates of HCS run in

triplicate (9 HCS sample bags) along with 3 replicates of HCS & CM 50:50 in triplicate (9 bags). That only left room for a single replicate of the CM in triplicate (3 bags). The analyzed NDF and NDFD values were averaged for the replicated HCS and HCS & CM 50:50. The expected or calculated NDF and NDFD values for the 50:50 mixes were calculated using the NDF and NDFD values of the CM in that run and the average values for the individual forage. This design was used for the other forages: BMR CS & CM 50:50, and Straw & CM 50:50. The corn silage was run intact and after picking out a large portion of the kernel fragments to create the CS No kernels and Kernels only.

The calculated values of NDF and NDFD for the cornmeal blended samples were weighted for the amount of NDF contributed to the 50:50 blends from the forage and cornmeal, not by simply averaging the analyzed values of each. If CM had no effect on NDF or NDFD analyses, we expect the calculated values to be similar to the analyzed values, or at least within ±1 standard deviation (std). Granted, we do not have enough data for proper statistical analysis; this is more a probing inquiry to determine merit of further pursuit of the concept of how the presence of rapidly degradable carbohydrate might affect NDFD

analysis. That said, the NDF values were nearly similar between the analyzed and calculated for the blended samples, though not within 1 std. The analyzed NDFD values were all less than the expected value except for the BMR CS & CM sample. Certainly not conclusive, but these data may indicate that starch mixed with the forage sample can inhibit fi ber digestion in an in vitro NDFD lab analysis. It is intriguing that the analyzed NDFD value of the intact CS sample was 5 percentage units lower than expected based on the calculated value. If the presence of starch does in fact decrease NDFD, what does this mean for analysis of samples blended with starch such as a TMR or where starch is inherent in the sample such as corn silage? Or, as this is how the feed occurs in the diet and rumen, fi ber blended with starch, is it more representative of what happens in the rumen?

Maybe some things are better left alone? — Kurt Cotanch

[email protected]

Analyzed Expected/Calculated NDF% NDFD24

% NDF% NDFD

24% avg std avg std Jar 1 HCS 45.0 0.29 63.4 1.00 HCS & CM 50:50 26.4 0.06 58.2 0.73 26.7 62.6 CM 8.3 X 58.5 X Jar 2 BMR CS 40.7 0.51 48.9 1.45 BMR CS & CM 50:50 25.2 0.31 52.5 2.32 24.6 49.0 CM 8.50 X 49.6 X Jar 3 Straw 82.3 0.21 16.8 0.55 Straw & CM 50:50 46.1 0.35 18.6 1.08 45.5 20.3 CM 8.7 X 53.3 X Jar 4 CS No Kernels 49.5 0.26 33.9 4.11 CS Intact 37.2 0.58 35.4 2.43 35.1 40.0 Kernels only 20.7 1.90 54.5 11.52

Table 1. Analyzed NDF and NDFD24 values and calculated NDF and NDFD values of samples blended with cornmeal.


2011 CORN HARVEST: WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?

Late July and August brought badly needed rainfall to eastern northern NY and helped a lot of stressed corn. Chazy had received about 4 inches of rain in August prior to Irene, which seemed almost normal….but thanks to Irene we’ll now be ~2.3-times above the 30 yr. average rainfall for August (3.86 inches). One thing to be thankful for is that corn harvest is still a ways off.

The mix of wet planting conditions, delayed planting, a dry June/July, and now the saturated fi elds will add signifi cantly to the “normal” fi eld variation we typically see in yield and quality at harvest. While many fi elds did a reasonable job at “catching up”, expect yields in much of NY to be signifi cantly lower than the past couple of years. Bill Cox at Cornell recently indicated that yields in their May-planted silage plots (Aurora) could be reduced by 40% (5% stover loss, 35% grain loss). Bill is estimating a 25% loss on grain yield for June-planted corn and a 30% reduction in stover yield (largely form the short stature) for a whopping 55% loss on silage. He suggests harvesting June-planted corn for grain if you need it. However, many dairies in the Northeast will need all the good quality corn silage they can harvest this year.

This year it’s more important than ever to monitor crop maturity and whole plant dry matter at harvest to make the most of the corn crop. Some farms were planting into late June and there will likely be corn that won’t make good silage much less grain. A warm, frost-free September would certainly help many fi elds along. Data from Bill Cox indicate a 95-day corn planted in June requires about 1,000 growing degree days (gdd) to go from silk to black layer. Corn planted in May typically requires another 50 gdd because later–planted corn matures faster. He predicts that for sites west of I-81, 95-100 day hybrids that had silk by August 1 will reach black layer. For sites east of I-81, 85-90 day hybrids should make it (assuming a frost-free September) but predictions are less optimistic for longer season hybrids. If you planted a 95-day corn in Clinton County and it had silked by August 1, a warm September is still needed. At Miner Institute we have accumulated about 486 gdd from August 1 to August 25. Last year we gained another 440 gdd from 8/26 to 9/30 (and September 2010 was 2.4 degrees warmer than the 30-yr mean) which would give about 924 gdd – this is why we need average to above average heat during September.

The bottom line is that you need to monitor your fi elds for maturity and test whole plant dry matter to maximize your tons of high quality silage. For bunkers and piles aim for 32 to 36% dry matter. You should start checking whole plant moisture in the fi eld once denting has occurred. The more samples the better. Don’t sample just a few plants that are close to the truck- there’s a lot of moisture variability in standing corn. You should plan to sample at least 8-10 plants from different parts of one fi eld (or as many as you can convince your consultant to do). If you have a lot of acreage, group fi elds by hybrid, location and planting date to reduce the number of individual fi elds you test. While we are used to assuming a half or so point per day for dry down, keep in mind that weather strongly affects this, and that corn can ‘rehydrate’ after a rain event. Kernel milk line is not a reliable indicator of whole plant moisture, particularly with brown mid-rib (buy a Koster tester already…). If your silage crop gets frosted, harvest ASAP. If you’re on the fence about silage inoculants, this is probably a good year to try one.

— Eric Young, [email protected]

THIS MAY BE THE YEAR FOR A FALL SMALL GRAIN CROPFarmers on the Vermont side of the lake have planted a lot more rye into corn silage stubble than have their N.Y. neighbors. This is primarily to reduce erosion and sequester leftover nitrogen, but a fall small grain crop can also provide needed forage next May. Rye is the most common fall small grain and is almost bullet-proof, tolerating acid soils and tough winters — but not migrating Canada geese, unfortunately. (We did say

“almost”.) However, winter triticale is higher yielding than rye and can provide very high quality forage if harvested at the right stage. The best time to plant triticale is RIGHT NOW. After mid-September, switching from triticale to rye will reduce winter risks.

Plant 100-125 lbs/acre, 1 to 1 ½ inches deep. If you plant in mid-September

aim for the 1 ½” depth to improve winter survival chances. Next spring you’ll have several options: Pasture (least recommended because of high moisture content in the crop and trampling waste), greenchop (high moisture content still a problem), harvest for wilted silage at the fl ag leaf stage, or wait until it heads out and harvest as pre-cut straw.


HASTE MAKES WASTEI travelled across Northern NY several times in August and saw a lot of corn that will need a frost-free September to make quality silage. (The full moons this fall are on September 12 and October 11, if you believe that there’s a relationship between lunar phase and frost.) Holding off on harvest is often a gamble: Wait until the crop matures as much as possible and risk fall rains turning corn fi elds into mud, or get it while the getting’s good even if it’s immature. Many dairy farmers really need a good corn crop because fi rst cut forage quality was terrible. This may make it worth taking some added fall weather risk. Until a frost completely kills the plant, every day corn sits in the fi eld it’s putting on more grain, and with grain prices as high as they are — and will almost certainly remain so for the indefi nite future — high quality corn silage will be more valuable than ever.

Two points to consider: First, you should be able to wait longer on tiled or well-drained fi elds than on fi elds that turn into muddy messes with the fi rst big fall rain. Of course, fi elds with so-so drainage were probably planted last and therefore need more time to mature! Second, waiting for a killing frost before beginning harvest is a bad idea if it takes several weeks to harvest your corn. Once the plant is fully dead it doesn’t take long — often only a week — before ear molds begin to develop. Therefore I wouldn’t recommend intentionally letting any more corn get frosted than you can harvest in a week or less.

Some farmers let late planted, immature corn get hit by a frost or two in an effort to dry the crop and thereby reduce silage effl uent. However, the leaves of a corn plant die fi rst, and leaves are only 10-12% of the total dry matter content of the plant. Most of the yield is in the ear and the bottom half of the stalk, both much less susceptible to a moderate frost. We often see frosted corn going into the silo at much higher moisture contents than the farmer expected. This goes for drought-affected corn, too. (See related article.) Do dry matter tests on these fi elds before beginning harvest so you know the situation instead of just guessing. Knowledge is power.

Finally, there’s the relatively small amount of corn that got planted in May and survived all the wet weather that came afterward. We’ve had a very warm summer, and this corn may be at or nearing the ideal stage of maturity for silage harvest. Don’t assume that anything will be normal this year! If you haven’t done so recently, get into these fi elds and check stage of maturity. Farmers who usually wait until late September to begin harvest might be chopping some corn that’s way over-mature. Not a huge problem for farmers with silage processors perhaps, but not ideal.

— Ev Thomas, [email protected]

IRENE & YOUR CORN CROP

FLOODED HAY CROPSIf your hay crops were nearing harvest stage and then fl ooded, I would not recommend harvesting them. The silt and mud clinging to the leaves will make proper ensiling very diffi cult and will signifi cantly increase the wear on mower and chopper knives. Mowing, raking, tedding and baling the forage will not shake the silt and mud off—don’t kid yourself. Neither do I like the idea of mowing and chopping the forage back

onto the ground in hopes of a fall harvest, for two reasons: First, fi elds will be very wet (duh) and you’ll probably rut them up. Second, it’s getting too late to expect much of a fall harvest anyway. Leaving a good crop standing over winter will not smother the crop; most of the forage will simply “lay down and go away,” and will have very little impact on your 2012 fi rst cut. — E.T.

Irene dumped enough rain on Northeastern NY and New England to cause serious fl ooding, including corn fi elds. If your corn will be harvested for grain your main challenge will be hoping that these fi elds dry enough to permit harvest without making a muddy mess. In all but extreme cases the fl ood waters stayed below the ear, so there shouldn’t be a foreign material (mud, silt) problem. However, for corn silage the situation is somewhat more serious. If the fl ood water was more than a foot or so deep, then some silt accumulation is almost certain to have occurred in the whorls of the corn plant. Rain might wash some of the mud and silt from the stalks and leaves, but probably not from the whorls. If the water level was two feet or less, high chopping just the fl ooded portions of the fi eld would be one way to avoid harvesting silt and other foreign material with your corn. That would be the simplest and easiest solution. Some harvest equipment won’t cut two feet high, but chop as close as possible to what was the maximum water level. The deeper the fl ood waters, the worse the potential problem. This will certainly be the year to inoculate corn silage, not only because of what the torrents of rain may have done to the natural populations of homofermentative bacteria (those are the good guys) in the fi eld, but because of the nasty heterofermentative bacteria that the fl ood waters may have brought in. If you have access to a silage bagger it would be a great idea to chop corn that was fl ooded more than a foot or so and ensile it in a separate bag. This will involve chopping portions of some fi elds and yes, this may be inconvenient, but convenience is secondary to herd health. Test this silage before feeding, paying particular attention to ash concentration. It would also be worth the modest added investment to get a fermentation analysis on this silage. Mother said there would be days like this; Sunday, August 28th certainly was one.

— Ev Thomas


The Heart's Delight Farm Heritage Exhibit is now open for the 2011 season!

The exhibit is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visit www.whminer.org to learn more.

Earlier this summer the USDA switched food guidelines from MyPyramid to MyPlate. The original Food Guide Pyramid started in 1992 with the pyramid divided to represent each food group in relation to portion recommendations. In 2005 the USDA switched to the MyPyramid Food Guidance System due to a switch in dietary guidelines. The food groups included: grains (orange), meat and bean (purple), vegetable (green), fruit (red) and milk (blue). The new pyramid kept with the pyramid visualization but changed its message to variety, proportionality, moderation, and physical activity. The pyramid was color coded for each group to represent the variety of food groups that were supposed to be represented in your diet. Instead of having the food groups stacked on top of each other, they were side by side to stress that each food group is important for a balanced diet.

MyPlate was introduced in June 2011 to replace MyPyramid. MyPlate has the same recommendations on what and how much we should be eating for each food group; the layout just changed to reflect a plate instead of a pyramid. This was for ease of viewing and comparing your plate to MyPlate. A few other changes that were made reflected changes that the 2010 Dietary Guidelines had made. MyPlate offers “10 tips to a great plate”

1. Balance calories- Know what your caloric intake needs to be. Find a balance between food and your physical

activity to provide for this caloric intake and increase physical activity in your everyday life. For example, take a 10-minute walk instead of a coffee break (I know on some mornings this is hard)

2. Enjoy your food, but eat less. Enjoy food as you eat but don’t eat when your attention is elsewhere, this could result in over-eating.

3. Avoid oversize portions. Use smaller plates and eat the smaller portion of meals instead of the large portion when you are eating out.

4. Foods to eat more often: Vegetables, fruits, whole grains and milk.

5. Make half of your plate fruit and vegetables. Vary your veggies choosing red, orange or dark green vegetables (my motto is the more color the better). When eating fruits choose whole or cut fruits instead of juice as your fruit serving. Also try to select fruits that are high in potassium, for example bananas. 6. Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk. Include milk as your beverage at

every meal.

7. Make half your grains whole; for example, switch from white bread to whole wheat.

8. Foods to eat less often- Cut back on foods like cake, cookies and pizza. Try to avoid foods high in added sugars or solid fats.

9. Compare sodium content in foods. Choose low sodium versions of foods when you can (mainly in processed meals).

10. Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Other tips the website offers are to go lean with meat and keep food safe by properly storing and preparing foods.

MyPlate is still under development in some ways; there will be new interactive tools up on their website this fall. If you would like more information on MyPlate go to choosemyplate.gov.

— Roxanne Clark [email protected]

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW: THE FALL OF MYPYRAMID, THE RISE OF MYPLATE


SILAGE, Continued From Page 1chopping, genetics, and cutting height. Starch digestibility is affected by maturity, moisture content when ensiled, degree of kernel processing, and time in the silo prior to feed-out (optimally 3 to 4 months).

So far we’ve discussed one factor that affects corn silage feeding value – proportion of grain. The second major factor is the growing environment. Corn silage grown under warmer, wetter conditions will be more highly lignifi ed and less digestible. A cooler or drier growing season will often result in greater silage digestibility. Michigan State research showed that the same corn hybrids grown in the same plots over two years differed in NDF digestibility by 6.5 percentage units (the drier year having higher NDF digestibility). Cooler temperatures, especially at night, inhibit secondary cell wall development and

improve digestibility. Work by Mertens found that growing conditions prior to silking affected plant height, yield, and NDF digestibility whereas growing conditions after silking had a greater effect on grain yield and total DM digestibility. After silking, accumulated growing degree days (i.e. temperature) may be most important in determining corn silage digestibility because of enhanced grain yield.

With cool and wet weather, lignifi cation increases which indicates that the negative effect of excess water overrides the positive effect of cooler temperatures. In fact, Cornell research found that over 80% of variation in digestibility is explained by rainfall (actually soil moisture) and GDD (temperature) with rainfall being more important than temperature.

This year has been a mixed bag weather-wise…Generally, wetter conditions during stalk development depress fi ber digestibility and drier conditions enhance digestibility. So can we expect lower NDF digestibility with less grain (starch) content due to dry weather after silking? Some immature, frosted, and wet corn silage as well due to late planting? Time will tell – this year more than ever, forage analyses will be critical to properly feeding your corn silage crop. There appears to be lots of variation by region – so consider your particular growing conditions with a focus on the moisture and temperature that your crop experienced; then you may not be so surprised by what the forage analyses tell you in a few months!

— Rick Grant, [email protected]

HARVESTING DROUGHT-AFFECTED CORN FOR SILAGE

Corn with yield reduced by drought will be lower in energy and often higher in protein, but it also may be higher in nitrates. “The book” says that if you ensile high-nitrate corn you’ll reduce nitrate concentration by about one-third, suggesting that it could still be a problem. Perhaps, but I’ve been in this business for 45 years and when I fi nd a sample of fully fermented corn silage with a high nitrate concentration it will be my fi rst. Same with problems in feeding high nitrate silage, but this is perhaps because most dairy farmers feed several forages in their rations, thus diluting the rare high nitrate silage. Heavily manured corn fi elds affected by drought would pose the best chance for high nitrates.

In tower silos “silo gas” can be a serious health problem for the fi rst month or so after ensiling. Stay out of these silos for at least one month,

and even after that run the blower for a few minutes before entering the silo. If you level and tarp your upright silos with plastic sheeting after they’re full, do so immediately — not a few days later. After leveling and tarping there should be no reason to enter the silo for at least a month. Having been involved some years ago in the

investigation of a fatality due to silo gas in an upright silo, I take this issue very seriously. The person climbed down into the silo of corn silage and succumbed before anyone even knew there was a problem.

Some agronomists recommend leaving at least a foot of stalk in the fi eld since nitrates concentrate in the bottom of the stalk. However, many farmers already leave almost a foot of stalk in the fi eld and want to harvest as much as possible of what is already a low-yielding crop. Regardless of chop height, be sure to follow the silo safety precautions stated in the previous paragraph. Between late planting and drought, high-chopping some of the corn I’ve seen might result in the head passing completely over the nubbin ear, resulting in a silage that I’ve somewhat infamously referred to as “tasselage.” — E.T.


VACILLATE BEFORE YOU MACERATE!From the late start and rainy weather, to tropical storm Irene, this has been a challenging year for forages in the North Country. Harvest techniques can have an important infl uence on nutritive values and animal performance. But in areas with short growing seasons or minute-by-minute changes in weather (sound familiar?), methods of harvesting also play an important role in how quickly a crop dries and may be removed from the fi eld.

Through use of a roll or fl ail conditioner, conventional conditioning confers a crimping effect on the crop, allowing it to dry at an accelerated rate. Mechanical maceration is more intensive than conventional conditioning, processing the forage through a series of corrugated steel rolls rotating at different speeds. It was fi rst developed in the Midwest as a strategy for producers in humid climates to combat the dry matter losses associated with prolonged fi eld wilting and rain. Maceration results in a shredding of the crop, breaking open the stem and allowing a more rapid release of intracellular water. The severity of maceration varies widely depending on the macerator design, number and alignment of rolls, and roll speed ratios. The advantages of maceration may include

accelerated drying over conventional conditioning, increased nutritive value and dry matter yield, and improved fermentation. Various studies have reported that maceration decreases fi eld drying times over conventional conditioning by 30 to 160% for forages harvested as hay. The variation in these studies comes from differences in weather conditions, type of forage, and severity of conditioning. The faster the forage is dried, the more of its soluble sugars are preserved since they are not utilized for plant respiration. The drier conditions also reduce the activity of plant proteases (enzymes that degrade plant proteins into amino acids). This means that under dry conditions, maceration minimizes the loss of carbohydrates and protein from your forage, and can increase the total dry matter yield. Studies have also reported an accelerated decline in pH and improved lactic fermentation when macerated forages are conserved as silage. It is believed that the additional processing and higher nutritive value provide a more hospitable environment for microbial activity, aiding in fermentation.

However, because macerated forages are shredded in the fi eld, their water soluble carbohydrates are more exposed to the environment. In the event of dew or rain, these forages are even more susceptible to nutrient losses than conventionally

conditioned crops. Additionally, plant respiration and protease activity may also be stimulated by moisture from humidity, dew, or rain. Following light rain, dry matter losses of macerated forages have been 5 to 10 times greater than those observed in conventionally conditioned crops. Therefore, depending on climatic conditions, maceration has the potential to increase or decrease both feed quality and yield.

It’s important to note that maceration of legumes is not recommended, because the shredding action results in the loss of protein-rich leaves. And, because commercially available macerators do not have a cut bar, unlike the mower-conditioners, they do not combine cutting and macerating processes into a single operation. With all of these considerations in mind, be sure to evaluate your potential for fi eld losses on account of wet weather and forage type. In other words, vacillate before you macerate!

— Carolyn [email protected]

*References: Savoie, P. 2001. Intensive mechanical conditioning of forages: A review. Canadian 623 Biosystems Engineering 43:2.1-2.12.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW…Last year many farmers had a bumper crop of corn silage, enough so that there will be a signifi cant amount left in your silo (silos) when you start fi lling this fall. We’ve learned enough about how much corn silage changes with time—mainly increased starch digestibility but other changes as well—that if you have to put new on top of or in front of old, try to mark the separation of old from new. And of course this year’s corn silage may be much different in quality than last year’s crop since so many strange things happened in 2011

including unremitting rains followed by weeks of no rain at all.

One option would be to use some strips of brightly colored forestry tape, which won’t deteriorate very quickly, shouldn’t hurt your cows if consumed (this too shall pass). Don’t put the tape right on top of the old silage, because then you’ll be feeding it before you have a chance to contact your dairy nutrition consultant and get it sampled for forage analysis. What you should do is to start fi lling, then after you’ve ensiled a about a

week’s forage, lay the tape or other form of identifi cation on top of the new stuff so that it will be an early warning sign that you’re about to hit last year’s silage. Your nutrition consultant can then decide what happens next—hopefully this will NOT include poking around at the face of bunker and stack silos since this is one of the most dangerous places on a dairy farm. Silo “avalanches” have killed more than one dairy farm worker, and usually happen with no warning. — E.T.


AN ACADEMIC ANOMALY:A ONE-YEAR COLLEGE WITH RESEARCH &

EDUCATION SEPARATE & UNEQUALThe Trustees of the Miner Institute had consulted for years with national experts on the leadership and program for its genetic research center in the early 1950s. They took no such care when searching for the leader or creating the curriculum for “the College.” The Board Chair and his assistant, with no educational experience, performed that task. Apparently, the Board believed the persisting myth that goals and methods of research are complex and challenging, while those for education are clear and commonplace. As result, the Institute Trustees created an educational anomaly, a one-year college that could not grant degrees, in a state fi lled with private and public two and four-year campuses. They also launched a college where education and research remained separate and unequal.

The Board’s choice of the title for head of the College revealed their academic innocence. To ensure that its head remained subordinate to the Director of the Genetic Research Institute, they chose the title, Dean of the School of Agriculture, based on belief that the title of Director, as in business, would clearly outrank a dean in a college. The head of the Miner College with four faculty and two dozen students had the same title as the Dean of Agriculture at Cornell, but remained outranked by the Director of Research at the Miner Institute.

The buildings of the Institute, dedicated in 1957, demonstrated the dominance of research over education. The main structure held nine laboratories and just three classrooms, following the original design for a genetic research Institute, developed in the early 1950s by George Beadle, who received the Nobel Prize in 1958. The professional staffi ng also refl ected the priority of research. The

Genetic Research Institute had a Director and three researchers, all with PhDs, and two lab technicians, while the teaching staff, when the College opened, had just four positions, all with only master’s degrees, and no librarian. (The lone PhD had quit before the term began.) The Dean of the Agricultural College at Miner had a PhD and a research record, but no teaching or administrative experience. Recruiting and retaining faculty presented a problem, since working at a one-year, non-degree, college represented a questionable career move in hierarchical academia.

In contrast, the Miner practice of paying for everything (free tuition, room, board, and books) made recruiting students relatively easy. Enrollment ranged from a low of 26 in fi rst year to a high of 50 in 1966, with about half of the students coming from nearby Clinton, Essex, and Franklin Counties. The Dean found many of the students wanting in Mathematics and English, but the original curriculum he adopted resembled that of a baccalaureate degree in agriculture at Cornell University. The college revised its curriculum several times to make it more realistic and relevant for transfer to two or four-year campuses. The plan to create Clinton County Community college and the cost and diffi culty of retaining faculty led to the closing of the Miner College, after its last graduating class in 1966.

Despite the diffi culties of the College, a survey in 1986 of its graduates on the value of their one-year experience and its effect on their motivation to attain a degree showed overwhelming support for the college. The survey results, with a 51% response rate, revealed that 64% continued their education and 78% said they valued their education at the Miner Institute. The one student, who denied

the value of the year at Miner, probably came from down state.

Though the Dean often blamed problems on the students, the real diffi culty of the Miner Institute lay in its design—the anomaly of a one-year, non-degree, college and the separation of education and research. The college had too few teaching faulty for the size of the student body and course requirements. Meanwhile professors with the best educational credentials pursued their pure research as though they were on the moon, in splendid isolation from the students and faculty at the college.

A solution existed and the Director of the regional accrediting body after a visit proposed it. He raved about the beauty of the Heart’s Delight Farm, the wonderful facilities, and the generous support from the Foundation Trustees. Then he offered a simple solution; merge the administration, faculty, and facilities of the teaching College and the Genetic Institute. Follow the practice at the best colleges and universities of having all professors engaged in both teaching and research. He insisted that teaching improves research and research enriches teaching.

The outsider saw what the insiders missed. When separated, teaching, all too often, becomes rote and routine, and research arcane and arrogant. Yet even obvious reforms in academia take time. One of Burke’s Laws states that the interest of academics in reform is in direct proportion to its distance from their department and their campus. We are better at reforming others than ourselves. The Miner Institute did combine fully education and research, but it took three decades.

— Joseph C. BurkeBoard Chair, Miner Institute

[email protected]


CAN MUN BE USED TO MONITOR AMMONIA EMISSIONS ON DAIRY FARMS?

The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is reviewing data from the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study on air emissions from animal feeding operations (AFO). The EPA is developing and plans to release by June 2012 “Emissions Estimating Methodologies (EEM)”, which are tools for estimating AFO emissions. Why should you care? The EEM will be the standard method for dairy producers to estimate their regulated emissions including ammonia.

Dairy cows excrete urea nitrogen in their urine, which is a source of ammonia emissions. The urea nitrogen is hydrolyzed to ammonium by urease enzymes found in feces and soil. The ammonium can be lost to the atmosphere as ammonia under the appropriate environmental conditions (temperature, air velocity, etc.).

Milk urea nitrogen (MUN) is used on dairy farms to monitor cows and adjust diets to optimize feed nitrogen use effi ciency and minimize urine

nitrogen excretion. Although there are data from the U.S. and Europe validating the relationship of MUN, dietary crude protein, and urinary urea N, the relationship of MUN with ammonia emissions had not been assessed until recently. Data collected from dairy farms from Wisconsin, California, and the Netherlands with either stanchions or freestalls showed ammonia emission reductions of 10 to 34% when MUN declined from 14 mg/dL (industry average benchmark) to 10 mg/dL. The reduction in ammonia emissions was associated directly with a reduction in urinary urea nitrogen and MUN. This is good news!

The use of MUN may offer a practical, straightforward approach to monitor ammonia emissions. In addition, it may serve as the basis of incentive programs to reduce ammonia emissions through improved feeding practices. Recently, the Wisconsin Advisory Group for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources recommended that a 10% ammonia emission reduction

credit be given to farms for having monthly average bulk-tank MUN concentrations of 10 to 12 mg/dL and a 20% reduction credit be given to farms with a MUN concentration less than 10 mg/dL. We will have to wait and see if the EPA uses the simplistic approach of MUN as one of its EEM. In the meantime, reducing MUN on-farm can be a relatively simple way for the dairy industry to move forward in mitigating ammonia emissions and affect the environment positively.

— Heather [email protected]

* References:Powell, J. M., M. A. Wattiaux, and G. A. Broderick. 2011. Short communication: evaluation of milk urea nitrogen as a management tool to reduce ammonia emissions from dairy farms. J. Dairy Sci. 94:4690-4694.w w w . e p a . g o v / a i r q u a l i t y /agmonitoring/index.htmlhttp://dnr.wi.gov/air/agWasteBMPs.html

RESEARCH SUMMARYResearchers at the University of Delaware planted BMR, conventional and a mix of these corn hybrids, then harvested them as whole plant silage at approximately 40% DM and ensiled them in vacuum bags for 200 and 400 days. As expected, NDF digestibility was highest for the BMR hybrid, intermediate for the mix and lowest for the conventional hybrid. NDF-d didn’t change with time of storage. Starch digestibility was 3% lower for BMR than for the other silages at day 0 and day 200, but there was no difference after 400 days of storage. Starch digestibility increased by 6%

for all three silages from day 0 to 200, while the starch digestibility of both BMR and mixed silages continued to increase to day 400, by 20% and 6% respectively. Therefore, this research confi rmed previous studies fi nding that storage time improves the nutritive quality of corn silage (as measured by starch digestibility).

It’s interesting that the starch digestibility of BMR silage continued to increase over a year after ensiling, while conventional (dual-purpose) silage did not. Take-home points: Corn silage quality is different in

late summer than it was the previous winter, and BMR corn silage may continue to increase in starch digestibility long after other hybrids have stabilized. Regular forage analysis including starch digestibility is needed to accurately balance corn silage-based rations.

* Reference: Lim, J. M., M. C. Santos, J. P. Riguera, M. C. Der Bedrosian, K. E. Nestor, and L. Kung, Jr. The nutritive value of mature corn silage from BMR, non-BMR and a 50:50 mix ensiled for varying lengths of time. J. Dairy Sci. 94(E-Suppl. 1):233. (Abstr.)


CORN SILAGE MATURITY STAGESIdeally in referring to corn silage maturity we should use percentage of dry matter. But other terms—milk, dough, dent — still hang around and will probably be in common use for a long time. Therefore, here’s a brief description of these terms:

Blister — The cob is close to or full-size while the kernels are white on the outside and fi lled with clear to slightly milky fl uid.

Milk — Kernels are full-size, yellow on the outside with a milky white fl uid on the inside. Essentially the same stage as what we prefer in sweet corn. Not much starch there to provide energy for milk cows.

Soft dough — Starch accumulation has been occurring for several weeks and the milky fl uid has thickened to a pasty con-

sistency. Kernels have accumulated about half the dry weight they would if allowed to mature for grain harvest. Some denting noticeable on the butt end of the ear.Early dent — Denting visible on about 95% of the kernels. Whole plant dry mat-ter less than 30%, yield only about 75% of what it would be at the proper stage for silage harvest. About two more weeks to go!

Full dent — All kernels dented, can be easily cut with your fi ngernail. Many farmers think this is the ideal time to har-vest for silage, but that’s still a week to 10 days away.

Half milk line — The milk line is the in-terface between the hard starch above and the moist, still-developing material below.

Many hybrids will be about 35% DM at half milk line, and we once recommended 1/3 to ½ milk line as ideal for silage har-vest. However, hybrids differ widely at the whole plant dry matter content at the vari-ous milk line stages, so it’s recommended that milk line be used only as a general guide, to be backed up by a dry matter test.

Black layer — All milk has disappeared from kernels, and the hard starch has pro-gressed all the way to the tip of the kernel where a brown or black abscission layer has formed. Black layer starts with the top kernels and proceeds down to the butt kernels. This is NOT the ideal whole plant silage stage, much too late for proper en-siling. — E.T.

DROUGHTY CORN ISN’T ALWAYS DRY CORNI might have written about this before, but it’s timely. Situation: A West Virginia dairy farmer called who had recently harvested some drought-stricken corn that wasn’t going to mature. He “guesstimated” that the dry matter content was about right for ensiling, but did he check DM before starting? Noooo, of course not. The fun began soon after he chopped the corn and put it into a silage bag, starting the bag at the bottom of a gentle slope and running it uphill as he fi lled. When I asked why he put the bag on a hill he replied that hills were all he had. He soon discovered that the silage, consisting of stover but few ears, was much higher in moisture than he had guessed and produced a whole lot of effl uent. Filling a silage bag with very immature corn can be a messy process

but somehow he did it. Fluids run downhill, and since there was no way for the effl uent to escape it began to collect in the bottom end of the silage bag. As the effl uent continued to accumulate, the end of the bag expanded and started to turn a disconcerting greyish color as the plastic fi lm got thinner and thinner.

That’s when he called me, asking what he should do. I didn’t have any experience with this particular problem but that never stopped me before so I told him to puncture the downhill end of the bag with a knife—and get out of the way. I also asked that he let me know how it all turned out since I’m always entertained by hearing of interesting “train wrecks.” He did call back, and said that after he punctured the bag it ran for days. He let the

silage ferment and when he started feeding it, his cows actually went up in milk! Hearing this I wondered what quality of forage he must have been feeding before he started on this bag of silage… However, it probably wasn’t all that bad, especially for cows at moderate levels of production—which I surmised was the best-case situation on that farm. Immature corn silage is low in starch but has decent fi ber digestibility, droughty corn often is high in protein, and by losing all that effl uent he wound up with a silage dry matter level that probably wasn’t all that far from normal. So his experience turned out to be somewhat positive — but I suggested that he not adopt it as a normal procedure! — E.T.

Visit us online at www.whminer.orgLet us know what you think about the Farm Report; email [email protected]


www.whminer.org518.846.7121 Offi ce518.846.8445 Fax

Closing CommentTo be sure of hitting the target, shoot fi rst and call whatever you hit the target.

YOUR SEPTEMBERFARM REPORT

IS HERE

ENJOY!

Miner Institute is seeking former staff, students, or faculty members who might be interested in discussing their impressions of Miner Institute. If interested, please contact Joe Burke at [email protected].

Documents

FARM REPORT · affects NDFD24 of haylage (HCS), BMR corn silage (BMR CS) and straw. We also looked at how the starch from corn kernels in corn silage might affect the NDFD analysis