This DFA will make you money! Previously, we talked about increasing yield by using polycultures. This month, we are going to talk about evaluating the yield of any forage crop and a new way of looking at the results. Of course, when a new metric is introduced, you also have a new acronym! We naturally choose one unique to the dairy business so as not to have anyone confused. Our Continue Reading
Mixing It Up – The Power of Polycultures
In some circles, it is always a struggle between yield and quality when it comes to forage production. Well, which one is more important? Here at Forage Innovations (FI), we have a difficult time choosing ourselves! Obviously, you cannot be effective with a high-forage diet (and this is always our goal) if the quality (read---digestibility) is lacking. And at the same time, you cannot feed a Continue Reading
Oh no! Not another budget to worry about?
Well, this saga gained substance at the 2023 World Dairy Expo (WDE) while looking at the prize winners at the Forage Analysis Superbowl (FASB). Since Forage Innovations clients make up a fair percentage of the finalists, it is a yearly ritual to look over “ours” and “theirs!” The samples are judged in two ways. First and most obvious, is the feed sample report. Dr. Dan Undersander, UW-Madison Continue Reading
Better than BMR and the Watrin Family
Autumn is here and it is time to begin analyzing last year’s hybrids and begin planning which ones to plant next year. This, of course, is the most important decision of the year. Mundane topics such as who to vote for and whether to root for the Packers or someone else (people actually root for teams other than the Packers!?!?), pale in comparison. It is also a good time to revisit the Better Continue Reading
Nitrogen – Not to be Wasted!
The Chesapeake watershed, including most of Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, plus even parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and the real swamp, Washington DC, through the James, York, Rappahannock, Potomac, Paturxent, Patapsco, Susquehanna, Pocomoke, Wicomico, Nanticoke, Choptank, and Chester (that was a mouthful!) rivers, has long been carefully watched and managed. Likewise, with Continue Reading
Hey, Finally Something Good About Alfalfa!
If you have been reading our newsletter and listening to Daniel’s Facebook site you may not expect this from us, but here goes. For the last twenty years or so, Daniel and some others at Byron Seed, LLC (where most of the seed used by Forage Innovations clients get the seed) have been working on an idea that has finally earned its due. I guess it already had believers from our side and with the Continue Reading
Photoperiod Sensitive – What’s the Scoop?
Photoperiod Sensitive (PPS) Sorghum Sudan (SxS) crosses are a useful forage for dry cows and heifers. PPS is a Non-GMO trait of the sorghum family. The trait prevents the plant from going reproductive (heading out) until the daylight gets shorter than 12 hours and 20 minutes. This occurs each year about mid-September (depending on your latitude). If we want the highest dairy-quality forage, SxS Continue Reading
uNDF240, the New Lignin
One of the biggest advancements in feed analysis from our forage testing labs has been the addition of uNDF240 as a measure of indigestibility. While NDFD30 is an estimate of the amount of fiber digested in 30 hours of contact with rumen fluid, uNDF240 is the amount that is undigested in 240 hrs. The concept is that after 10 days in rumen fluid the remaining fiber will not digest further. This Continue Reading
Little by Little
Little by little, the dairy industry is being compelled to move in other directions due to many market forces. With inflation and its effects on the cost of everything, plus the comparatively small ramp up in milk prices, the squeeze is on. Forage Innovations has been an outside-the-box thinker and leader on almost all aspects of surviving in this brave new world of animal Continue Reading