This article is probably not exactly what you may think but read on! Dr. Matt Akins Research Scientist and Asst. Professor at the UW-Marshfield, heard about a paper from just slightly after the turn of the century(!) which promoted some of the benefits of modern European genetic cool season grasses and in this case Italian Ryegrass. It was not forthcoming so we (at this time, Dr. Akins involved Continue Reading
Foraging Ahead Articles
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
Where have all the alfalfas gone? We may soon be wondering!
By Larry Hawkins, PAS I guess maybe it is just being old, (and my fractured syntax), but the reference is from a song by Peter, Paul and Mary (in 1962 – seems like yesterday!) Where have all the flowers gone? Yes, especially in the Upper Midwest and NE, we may soon or perhaps already are wondering, what happened to our alfalfa? The combinations of little snow in some areas, dry conditions and Continue Reading
My Forage Looks the Same but is Not Feeding Like Last Year!
From time-to-time, questions come up which inspire a newsletter article. The question from this title has been around longer than feed testing! (Feed-testing labs began to come on the scene in the 70s and yes, I was there!). This is just to say this problem is an age-old occurrence. Obviously, there are many reasons milk production on a modern dairy can go down but let us assume all the other Continue Reading
Sorting through All the Noise — Is Alfalfa Necessary During High Protein Prices?
Since my last article, How to Make Alfalfa Better, appeared, several seemingly compelling articles appeared in the “popular dairy press” about the necessity or at least the value of alfalfa to supply protein for relief of the high protein (soybean) prices. I want to break down these ideas on the basis of what we are doing at Forage Innovations. Let’s first look at what we think should be some Continue Reading
How to Make Alfalfa Better
Some of you might consider that this topic would not be addressed by Daniel and me. At Forage Innovations, we are not the biggest promotors of alfalfa, but when we do use more permanent rotations on farms, alfalfa becomes, many times the most viable option. As a matter of fact, to prove we know what we are talking about, in the 2021 World Dairy Expo Forage Analysis Superbowl, the Grand Continue Reading