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Photo Highlights Of The 10th Kentucky Grazing Conference, Kentucky Grazing Conference

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Forage Spokesman Information, Tom Flowers, Vince Rawe, Caldwell Willig

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Animal Welfare--Animal Rights: Role Of Grazing, Roy Burris

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The care and handling of farm animals has drawn a lot of media attention lately. Some well-publicized events have given our industry the proverbial black-eye and led to a chain of events that has left livestock producers feeling very vulnerable to negative attacks. Although these events have been very isolated, they have had some very farreaching effects. Could they have been prevented? How? What do we do now?

Extended Grazing And Reduced Stored Feed, Edward N. Ballard

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Feed costs represent the major cost in most livestock production systems. A recently completed analysis of 225 Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) Beef Cow Records on herds in Illinois and Iowa showed that feed cost was the overriding factor determining profitability, explaining over 57 percent of the herd-to-herd variation. Typically the cost of supplying nutrients to ruminant livestock is much greater using harvested feedstuffs as opposed to grazing pastures or crop residues. The primary function of a grassland farm is to convert solar energy to marketable livestock products in the most efficient manner. The fewer steps between the animal product and …

Stored Feed Needs: How Much? What Quality?, Jeff Lehmkuhler

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Feed resources are the largest variable expense in beef production systems outside the initial investment in the livestock. When we look at Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) information from Texas and Minnesota, states that are at the extreme from an environment stance, the projected costs for maintaining a beef cow are strikingly similar. It is important to note that these costs include all expenses and opportunity costs. Getting back to the SPA information, in 2007 the annual cost to maintain a cow in Texas was determined to be roughly $590 while the Minnesota value was near $610 or only about $20/cow …

Tall Fescue Grazing Research, Glen Aiken

Kentucky Grazing Conference

‘Kentucky-31’ tall fescue, like it or hate it, covers 5 million acres of Kentucky and if you do not have it on your farm, it is likely that one of your bordering neighbors does! Tall fescue owes its persistence and productivity in large part to a fungal endophyte that infects most plants. This endophyte produces an array of alkaloids that benefit the plant in tolerating heat, drought, and grazing. Unfortunately, the endophyte also produces ergot alkaloids that can cause “fescue toxicosis” in cattle. Cattle inflicted with toxicosis have reduced dry matter intake, elevated body temperature, and often retain their winter …

Weed Control Options For Pastures, Jon Doran

Kentucky Grazing Conference

What is a weed? A pasture or hayfield “weed” is any plant that you deem as being out of place and/or a plant that is decreasing your desired forage production. Weeds may be classified in several ways including broadleaf weeds, woody plants, and undesirable grasses. Besides decreasing forage, weeds can also interfere with forage utilization, grazing distribution, etc. There are several methods available to control weeds and increase production of and access to desirable forages. The three main methods are cultural, mechanical, and chemical. The cultural method is quite simple-a thriving grass stand is an excellent form of weed control …

Our Experiences With Eastern Gamagrass, Tommy R. Yankey

Kentucky Grazing Conference

As livestock producers try to reduce their cost of production, many look at ways to reduce their feed costs. Feed costs have been identified as the largest single cost of livestock production, making up 50 to 70% of the total cost of production. Grazing is the cheapest way to feed cattle on a cost per pound of nutrient basis.

New Developments In Grazing Species And Varieties, S. Ray Smith

Kentucky Grazing Conference

During the last 10 years there have been several new forage species that have emerged as useful in grazing systems and many new varieties have been released of traditional species. Plant breeders continue to make improvement in our traditional pasture species like tall fescue, orchardgrass, and red and white clover. In the following paragraphs, I will focus more on some of the forage species that you may not be as familiar with and highlight the advancements occurring in developing new varieties for grazing. There are many sources of information on this subject. I especially encourage you to read the new …

Why Should I Improve My Grazing Program?, Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Grazing represents the cheapest way to feed ruminants on a cost per pound of nutrient basis. Stored feed is usually the single largest item in livestock budgets and cost or amount of stored feed is usually the best prediction of potential profitability in most beef cattle operations.

Foreword And Kfgc Award Winners [2009], Garry D. Lacefield, Christi L. Forsythe

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Heat And Smoke Effects On Red Brome Soil Seed Banks, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Management of exotic plants that are annuals entails understanding and managing their soil seed banks. We completed a study of the influences of heat and liquid smoke on red brome (Bromus rubens) soil seed banks collected from Red Rock Canyon in southern Nevada as part of a collaborative fire effects monitoring effort with Bureau of Land Management - Las Vegas. We collected the samples from the 2005 Loop Fire, where we observed in a monitoring field study that exotic grasses such as red brome were relatively sparse in the first 2-3 years (which were during a dry period) following the …

An Integrated Crop- And Soil-Based Strategy For Variable-Rate Nitrogen Management In Corn, Darrin F. Roberts

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nitrogen (N) management in cereal crops has been the subject of considerable research and debate for several decades. Historic N management practices have contributed to low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Low NUE can be caused by such things as poor synchronization between soil N supply and crop demand, uniform application rates of fertilizer N to spatially variable landscapes, and failure to account for temporally variable influences on soil N supply and crop N need. Active canopy reflectance sensors and management zones (MZ) have been studied separately as possible plant- and soil-based N management tools to increase NUE. Recently, some have …

White Lupin Leads To Increased Maize Yield Through A Soil Fertility-Independent Mechanism: A New Candidate For Fighting Striga Hermonthica Infestation?, Laure Weisskopf, Pollycarp Akello, Roxane Milleret, Zeyaur R. Khan, Fritz Schulthess, Jean Michel Gobat, Renée Claire Le Bayon

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Nitrogen (N)-deficiency and lack of phosphorus (P) availability are major constraints to maize yields in Western Kenya. In a two-season field study in the lake Victoria basin, we tested the capacity of white lupin (Lupinus albus (L.), cv. Ultra), as a nitrogen-fixing crop with a highly efficient P-acquisition capacity, to increase maize yields when used as a companion or cover crop, or as a source of organic matter. Each experiment was performed on three different fields (Vertisols) differing in N/P availability, previous cropping history and in levels of infestation by the parasitic weed Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth. Our results show …

Crop Updates - 2009 Katanning, Murray Scholz, Peter Newman, Glenn Adam, Trevor Bell, Michael Whitehead, W. K. Anderson, Chris Gazey, J. Andrew, R. Pearce, Bill Bowden, Wayne Pluske, Jeremy Lemon, D. C. Edmeades, J. J. Russell, Blakely H. Paynter, David Ferris, Abul Hashen, Catherine Borger, Stephen B. Powels, Qin Yu, Mechelle Owen, Roberto Busi, Sudheesh Manalil, Sally Peltzer, David Minkey, Raj Malik

Crop Updates

This session covers seventeen papers from different authors

1. GM canola – How will it affect the way I farm? Murray Scholz, 2008 Nuffield scholar, Southern NSW

2. Eight years of IWM smashes tyegrass seed banks by 98% over 31 focus paddocks, Peter Newman, Glenn Adam & Trevor Bell, Department of Agriculture and Food

3. The global economic climate and impacts on agriculture, profile on Michael Whitehead Rabobank New York

4. Lessons from five years of cropping systems research, W.K. Anderson, Department of Agriculture and Food

5. Case study of a 17year old agricultural lime trial, C. Gazey, Department of Agriculture …

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Multimeric Hemicellulases Facilitate Biomass Conversion, Zhanmin Fan, Kurt Wagschal, Wei Chen, Michael D. Montross, Charles C. Lee, Ling Yuan

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Two highly active trifunctional hemicellulases were constructed by linking the catalytic portion of a xylanase with an arabinofuranosidase and a xylosidase, using either flexible peptide linkers or linkers containing a cellulose-binding domain. The multifunctional enzymes retain the parental enzyme properties and exhibit synergistic effects in hydrolysis of natural xylans and corn stover.

Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2008, Nathan A. Slaton

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Rapid technological changes in crop management and production require that the research efforts also be presented in an expeditious manner. The contributions of soil fertility and fertilizers are major production factors in all Arkansas crops. The studies described within will allow producers to compare their practices with the university’s research efforts.

Crop Updates 2009 - Farming Systems, Derk Bakker, Grey Poulish, Steve Lacy, Svetlana Micic, Peter Mangano, Tony Dore, Alan Lord, Vivien Vanstone, Helen Hunter, Sean Kelly, W. K. Anderson, Gary Lang, David Mccarthy, Ruhi Ferdowsian, Ian Rose, Andrew Van Burgel, David Ferris, Rob Grima, Natalie Hogg, John Davis, Jarrad Martin, Pippa Michael, Robert Belford, Kawsar P. Salam, Roy Murray-Prior, David Bowran, Moin U. Salam, Tim Scanlon, Len Wade, Megan Ryan, Megan Abrahams, Chad Reynolds, Caroline Peek, Dennis Van Gool, Kari-Lee Falconer, Daniel Gardiner, Geoff Anderson, Siva Sivapalan, Tim Mcclelland, James Hunt, Zvi Hochman, Bill Long, Dean Holzworth, Anthony Whitbread, Stephen Van Rees, Peter Devoil, Yvette Oliver, Michael Robertson, Peter Stone

Crop Updates

This session covers nineteen papers from different authors:

Decision support technology

1. The use of high resolution imagery in broad acre cropping, Derk Bakker and Grey Poulish, Department of Agriculture and Food

2. Spraywise decisions – online spray applicatiors planning tool, Steve Lacy, Nufarm Australia Ltd

3. Testing for redlegged earthmite resistance in Western Australia, Svetlana Micic, Peter Mangano, Tony Dore and Alan Lord, Department of Agriculture and Food

4. Screening cereal, canola and pasture cultivars for Root Lesion Nematode (Pratylenchus neglectus), Vivien Vanstone, Helen Hunter and Sean Kelly,Department of Agriculture and Food

Farming Systems Research

5. …

Crop Updates 2009 - Genetically Modified Crops, Nutrition, Soils, & Others, Wallace Cowling, Art Diggle, Caroline Peek, Frank D'Emden, Fiona Evans, Bob French, Rob Grima, Sam Harburg, Abul Hashem, John Holmes, Jeromy Lemon, Peter Newman, Janet Paterson, Steve Penny, Peter Portman, Mark Slatter, Angus Maclennan, Andrew Wells, Bill Bowden, Wayne Pluske, Wen Chen, Geoff Anderson, Ross Brennan, Richard Bell, Hannah Rigby, Deborah Pritchard, David Collins, Katrina Walton, David Allen, Nancy Penney, Michael Robertson, Roger Lawes, Stephen Davies, Chris Gazey, Breanne Best, David Gartner, Quenten Knight, Joel Andrew, Ryan Pearce, F. C. Hoyle, A. Bennett, Rick Llewellyn, Ken Flower, Julian Krieg, Owen Catto, Cindy Parsons

Crop Updates

This session covers fifteen papers from different authors:

1. Performance of Canola Breeders Roundup Ready^® canola hybrid CHYB-166 in 2008, Wallace Cowling, Canola Breeders Western Australia Pty Ltd

2. The implications of GM glyphosate resistant lupin, Art Diggle, Caroline Peek, Frank D’Emden, Fiona Evans, Bob French, Rob Grima, Sam Harburg, Abul Hashem,, John Holmes, Jeremy Lemon, Peter Newman, Janet Paterson, Steve Penny,Department of Agriculture and Food, Peter Portmann, Agriconnect

3. Nufarm Roundup Ready® Canola Systems Trials— 2008 Mark Slatter, Research and Development …

How I Produce And Market Alfalfa Hay, Clayton Geralds

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

No abstract provided.

Cost And Return Of Alfalfa Hay Production, Kenneth H. Burdine

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

The last few years have been nothing short of a roller coaster ride for Kentucky agriculture. Kentucky is coming off back-to-back drought years, which have challenged both livestock and crop producers. At the same time, farmers are dealing with decreasing output prices and rising input prices. This is a recipe for pure frustration and alfalfa producers have not been isolated from these challenges.

Roundup Ready Alfalfa And Future Gmos In Alfalfa, Dennis Gehler

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

No abstract provided.

Keys To Success With Alfalfa Balage, Dennis W. Hancock

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Baled silage (or Balage) has many advantages over conventional hay production. Losses during the curing, baling, storage, and feeding phases are each dramatically lower when the forage is conserved as Balage rather than hay. Of course, this comes at an expense. The cost of the wrapper (generally $14,000 – 21,000), plastic wrap (usually $4-6 per ton of DM), and added labor can make this system quite costly. Furthermore, there is an environmental cost for disposal of the plastic. However, Balage enables the alfalfa producer to quickly harvest a crop with more independence from unfavorable weather and to create a more …

Alfalfa As A Grazing Crop, Bill Payne

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Planning a “Forage Sequence” implies that a stockman provides nutritious and palatable forage crops for grazing for as many days of the year possible. Cool season perennial grasses and legumes give Kentucky forage growers an competitive advantage over those in many other states. That advantage declines during the heat of our summers, however. Providing a solution to our “Summer Slump” is a challenge to stockmen throughout the South. This “Summer Slump” is the result of low yield of cool season forages during the heat and drier conditions of July, August and September. Another factor hindering livestock gains is the fescue …

Alfalfa Hay For Horses: Myths Vs. Reality, Laurie Lawrence

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

How Much Hay Does A Horse Need?

A horse owner once described their Quarter Horse gelding as “a hole in the stall that I throw hay into”! This description is certainly accurate… a 1200 lb gelding used for light recreational riding will consume about 700 lbs of hay per month during the winter in Kentucky. If the horse is kept in a place with minimal pasture, yearly hay consumption will be about 4 tons. Restricting hay intake can lead to digestive disturbances and behavior problems, so it is recommended that most horses be allowed access to 1.5 – 2.0 lbs …

Alfalfa Seed Price And Seeding Rate: Impact Of Production Cost, S. Ray Smith

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

I am often asked the question about what is the ideal alfalfa seeding rate, especially with the price of seed for most improved varieties over $4.00 per pound. Before giving the ideal seeding rate or recommended range of seeding rates, let me overview alfalfa seed size, seedling survival, and plant survival. Alfalfa has about 200,000 seeds/lb. If one pound was evenly spread over one acre (43,560 ft²), there would be about five seeds per square foot. Therefore if you take the seeding rate you are using and multiply by five, you will come pretty close to knowing how …

Rfv Vs. Rfq -- Which Is Better?, Tom Keene, Peter Jeranyama, Alvaro D. Garcia

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Determining the value of hay is often times a trying adventure but the rewards can be significant. It begs the question though, what do those numbers really tell me? Do they provide me pertinent information? There are so many numbers…which ones do I need to be concerned with? All of the numbers and information on the results sheets are important. However, certain numbers have greater bearing on some classes of livestock than others. As research continues to give us new parameters regarding, herd health, pounds of gain, pounds of milk, maintenance, etc. the importance of these will also likely change …

Art And Science Of Haymaking, Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

In 2007, Kentucky was chosen as one of three states to participate in the making of a movie on Quality Haymaking. Case IH Agriculture in an effort to better serve their customer base and the forage industry invested resources to produce, edit and distribute a DVD on Quality Haymaking. A national project coordinator was hired who in turn contracted with a film company. When we were contacted and learned it was not going to be a commercial for any one brand or product, we agreed to participate.

Foreword And Recipients Of Kentucky Alfalfa Awards [2009], Garry D. Lacefield, Christi L. Forsythe

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

No abstract provided.

Soil Ph In Northern And Southern Areas Of The Wa Wheatbelt, Chris Gazey, Joel Andrew

Bulletins 4000 -

More than 80% of the topsoils sampled fall below the critical surface pHCaCl2 of 5.5 in the northern and southern wheatbelt study areas, with more in the south than the north. These results confirm soil acidity is a serious concern throughout the WA wheatbelt when considered in conjunction with the more intensive analysis of current soil pH throughout the Avon River Basin (2005–2008).

With low topsoil pH, it is likely that subsurface acidity is also a problem. For soil acidity to be managed, subsurface pH also needs to be known. In the Avon River Basin study, about half of the …