Soil Science Commons^™

Storing Alfalfa As Round Bale Silage, David C. Ditsch

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Hay is the most popular method for storing alfalfa because it stores well for long periods and is better suited to cash sale and transportation than silage. However, silage may be a suitable option when and/or where hay curing is difficult. Due to numerous improvements in baling and wrapping equipment, it is possible to make high quality round bale silage using long (unchopped) alfalfa crops.

Alfalfa As A Grazing Crop, Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Over the past decade we have had several people address “Alfalfa as a Grazing Crop” including Warren Thompson, Jim Moutray, Gary Bates, Ken Johnson, Jason Sandefur, Byron Sleugh, and myself. Each has done an excellent job discussing the merits of this remarkable crop and the opportunities it offers for grazing. At the end of the Conference last year, I (as I always do) asked for your suggestions concerning topics for this years’ conference. As it has been for the past decade, “Grazing” was the most requested topic. In today’s presentation, let’s go back and revisit the question, “Is Grazing Alfalfa …

Fertilizing Alfalfa For Profit, Greg Schwab

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Alfalfa is a high quality, valuable forage crop that can be successfully produced on most well drained soils in Kentucky. Fertilizing alfalfa can be uniquely challenging because it is a perennial crop. In addition, high yielding alfalfa removes a tremendous amount of soil nutrients when compared to other crops grown in Kentucky. A thorough understanding of alfalfa’s growth habits, nutrient requirements, and the soil nutrient supply mechanisms for alfalfa is necessary to effectively manage fertilizer inputs and maximize profitability.

Principles And Practices Of Successful Alfalfa Establishment, Gary Bates

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Alfalfa is the most widely known forage crop, due to its high quality and the versatility of use. There are few forages that are as widely distributed as alfalfa, and none that can produce the high yields and high quality. Even with all of the positives of alfalfa, growing this crop profitably is often difficult. An evaluation of alfalfa budgets shows that a key factor in the success with alfalfa is the stand life. Because of the establishment expense, an extra year or two of production can increase the lucrativeness of the stand. The start of having a long life …

Advances In Alfalfa Seed Coating, Bill Talley

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Seed coating for alfalfa has been available since the mid to late 70’s. Over the last 30 years, advances in the industry have made it the choice of many producers. The purpose of the coatings at that time was mainly to add weight to increase the ballistic properties and to be a carrier for the rhizobia. Through research and new technology, coatings have evolved and shown great agronomic benefits. Seed coating can provide an opportunity to supply effective quantities of needed materials to each seed, which can influence both the physical property, and the microenvironment of the seed. Coatings can …

New Alfalfa Varieties, S. Ray Smith

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Commercial alfalfa breeding companies have continued to make great strides in the development of new varieties with unique traits. New traits include Roundup Ready®, potato leafhopper resistance, hybrids, lodging resistance, rapid regrowth, higher quality, resistance to new diseases, and more… I will address some of these new developments in the following pages. In addition, producers often ask the question: “Are improved varieties really worth the higher seed cost?” Dr. Jimmy Henning recently summarized 24 location years of Kentucky alfalfa yield data and found that the best 5 varieties in each test yielded 0.9 tons/A higher than the checks. Over a …

Foreword And Recipients Of Kentucky Alfalfa Awards [2006], Garry D. Lacefield, Christi L. Forsythe

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

No abstract provided.

Crop Updates 2006 - Farming Systems, Wayne Pluske, Bill Bowden, Craig Scanlan, Stephen Davies, Chris Gazey, Peter Tozer, Derk Bakker, Louise Barton, David Gatter, Renee Buck, Daniel Murphy, Christoph Hinz, Bill Porter, Meredith Fairbanks, Nicolyn Short, Ian Foster, James Fisher, Doug Abrecht, Mario D'Antuono, Tracey M. Gianatti, Paul Carmody, Frank D'Amden, Rick Llewellyn, Michael Burton, Caroline Peek, Nadine Eva, Chris Carter, Megan Abrahams, Andrew Blake, Paul Blackwell, Sylvian Pottier, Michael Robertson, Greg Lyle, Lisa Brennan, Tony J. Vyn, Simon Teakle, Peter Norris, Jeff Russell, James Fisher, Roy Murray-Prior, Deb Pritchard, Mike Collins, Greg Hamilton, Rob Hetherington, Andrew Van Burgel, Cliff Spann

Crop Updates

This session covers nineteen papers from different authors:

SOIL AND NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

1. Inve$tigating fertili$er inve$tment, Wayne Pluske, Nutrient Management Systems

2. KASM, the potassium in Agricultural System Model,Bill Bowden and Craig Scanlan, DAWA Northam and UWA, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences

3. Long term productivity and economic benefits of subsurface acidity management from surface and subsurface liming, Stephen Davies, Chris Gazey and Peter Tozer, Department of Agriculture

4. Furrow and ridges to prevent waterlogging, Dr Derk Bakker, Department of Agriculture

5. Nitrous oxide emissions from a cropped soil in Western Australia, Louise Barton^{1 …}

Crop Updates 2006 - Oilseeds, Graham Walton, Fiona Martin, Anne Wilkins, Nathan Hancock, Matthew Nelson, Marieclaire Castello, Linda Thompson, Anouska Cousin, Guijun Yan, Wallace Cowling, Moin Salam, Bill Mcloud, Ravjit Khangura, Jean Galloway, Art Diggle, R. F. Brennan, M. D. A. Bolland, P. M. Damon, Z. Rengel, Terry Rose, Qifu Ma, Dave Eksteen

Crop Updates

This session covers thirteen papers from different authors:

1. INTRODUCTION, Graham Walton, CONVENOR, Department of Agriculture

2. The performance of new TT canola varieties in National Variety Testing (NVT) WA, Fiona Martin, Research Agronomist, Agritech Crop Research

3. Comparison of TT Canola Varieties in Oilseeds WA Trials – 2005, Collated by G.H. Walton, Department of Agriculture, WA, from a collaboration between Oilseeds WA, Seed Companies, Agronomists and Growers

4. An overview of the potential for a Biofuels Industry in Western Australia, Anne Wilkins and Nathan Hancock, Department of Agriculture

5. Retrieval of fertile progeny from interspecific …

Analysis Of Compost Treatments To Establish Shrubs And Improve Water Quality, Brent G. Hallock, Anne Power, Steve Rein, Michael Curto, Misty Scharff

Earth and Soil Sciences

Utilization of compost as an erosion control tool is gaining momentum for many reasons. Compost offers excellent surface protection for reducing topsoil loss while providing a favorable substrate for hydroseed mixes. Soil moisture is retained and nutrients for vegetation are provided, meanwhile inhibiting undesirable plant species. However, there is wide variation in available compost sources and cost. Possible interactions between compost composition, soil type and vegetation production may occur. Hence, an experiment aimed to determine whether there is a noticeable difference in erosion control and seedling germination performance between several common types of compost applied at varying rates and methods …

Perennial Warm Season Grasses In Grazing Programs, Mark Kennedy

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Many warm season perennial grasses were once an important part of the plant community in much of the Midwest. Conversion to cropping systems, overgrazing, lack of regular fire and increased competition from cool-season grasses and legumes have caused many of these grasses to disappear from much of the region. However, warm season grasses can compliment cool-season pastures if managed properly. Midwest stockmen are rediscovering the usefulness of warm season grasses in their overall forage program. Adding these grasses to forage systems has resulted in increased gains and improved livestock performance during the summer months when cool-season grasses are at their …

Non-Traditional Forages For Grazing: Turnips And Other Brassicas, Dave Robison

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Over the past few years there have been a number of production livestock producers that have realized the benefits of grazing turnips and other brassicas. Turnips and other brassicas have traditionally been utilized for late season grazing to help extend the grazing season. But other ways are being found to utilize these highly productive, high quality forage crops. My purpose in this presentation is to introduce the different types of turnips and brassicas and explain how they can be utilized for various systems and different uses.

Corn And Other Annuals, Jeff Mccutcheon

Kentucky Grazing Conference

There are many factors to consider when planting alternative crops. One of the most important factors is deciding if you need additional forage. In our area the basis of any grazing system should be perennial cool-season grasses and legumes. Have you done all that you can to improve that forage production through managed grazing and fertility management? If you have, then you may be ready to consider annual forages in your grazing system.

How I Use My Pastures, Doug Gehner, Russell C. Hackley, Gil Myers

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Developing Fencing For Grazing Systems, Ken Johnson

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Expectation is founded on faith, and in faith lays opportunities. I suppose as we look at most farming operations most changes occur from force not by choice. What I propose today and hope to convince most of you; is that here is an opportunity to make more profit, if you’re willing to change and have faith that it will work.

Tall Fescue From 1931-2006, Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Tall fescue is the most important coolseason grass grown in the “Heart of America”. It is a versatile plant used for animal feed, lawns and turf, and conservation purposes.

Mineral Supplements And Feed Additives--Can They Eliminate Fescue Toxicity?, John Thomas Johns

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Fescue is the predominate cool season grass in much of the United States due to its wide adaptation and hardiness. Many of these acres however, contain an endophytic fungus resulting in production of toxins with negative effects on grazing cattle. The two primary responses in beef cattle are an increase in core body temperature and a decrease in dry matter intake. As a result, decreases in reproductive rates, milk production, weaning weights and ADG are seen (Tables 1 and 2). Many approaches to pasture management have been advocated to overcome or minimize the problem such as incorporation of legumes, rotational …

Developing Watering Systems For Efficient Grazing, Kevin Laurent

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Whether you call it rotational grazing, intensive grazing or management intensive grazing, the economic benefits of controlling how and where your cattle graze are well documented. Increased forage utilization, greater stocking rates, greater legume persistence, reduced hay feeding and more uniform nutrient recycling are just some of the many benefits producers can take advantage of when practicing some form of controlled grazing. However, one of the greatest challenges to implementing a controlled grazing system is the delivery of stock water to the grazing animal.

Grazing Programs: Environmentally Friendly, Economically Sound And Agronomically Feasible, Sid Brantly

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The environmental soundness of our farms is the greatest, long term asset that farmers have. The topsoil, the trees, the cattle, the grass and crops on your farm are like unto a great financial account...and you are the banker. You make the decisions to: A) Use it all up now, B) Lock it away for someone in the future to make the decisions, or C) Utilize wisely in such a way that it is managed for financial success today, and still builds momentum for your future as well as your descendents.

Animal Behavior: Impacts On Grazing, Mark Kennedy

Kentucky Grazing Conference

I am not an expert on this subject and give all credit for my limited understanding of this subject to Dr. Fred Provenza, Utah State University; Katy Voth, Livestock for Landscapes, LLC; Jim Gerrish and others. I have tried to put into practice, both personally and with other producers, many of these principles to aid in improved grazing management. This presentation will address only 2 aspects of animal behavior; 1) How animal behavior impacts grazing distribution and forage utilization over the landscape, and 2) How animal behavior affects diet selection.

Growing Forage Crops For Wildlife, Don Ball

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Numerous forage crops adapted in the Southeast offer benefits in production of various domestic animals including beef and dairy cattle, horses, and sheep (Ball, et al., 2002). Many of the same attributes these plants offer when grown in connection with livestock enterprises are also valuable in wildlife settings. Furthermore, the attitudes of many wildlife managers are changing, and their desire for knowledge of forage crops is on the rise. Consequently, forage crops are becoming more important and more greatly appreciated by wildlife enthusiasts within our region.

Maximizing Production Of Beef Cattle On Pastures, Justin Sexten

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Standardized performance analysis (SPA) of beef cattle operations continues to demonstrate the importance of reducing feed related costs. As producers look for alternative methods to reduce feed costs the benefits of improved forage management become increasingly important due to the opportunity to reduce feed costs while improving animal performance. One note of caution related to maximizing beef production from pasture, maximizing anything must be done carefully, the difference between maximum success and a total disaster is a fine line.

Grazing Program For Goats, Greg Brann

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Goats are often referred to as four legged bush hogs and actually they perform best when consuming browse. Goats eat from the top down so fields have a mown appearance even when forage is three feet tall. The typical browse height for goats is up to four foot however, they will rise up on their hind legs and sometimes prop on others backs to reach higher. Goats have an affinity for high quality forage. Much of the vegetation we have considered weeds as beef producers is excellent forage for goats. Goats select the high quality leaves and tender growing tips …

From Traditional Confinement Dairying To Grazing Replacement Heifers, Bill Payne

Kentucky Grazing Conference

I would like to share an account of a transition from a conventional dairy operation to our current Management Intensive Grazing (MIG) enterprise. In 1974, I joined my father who at that time had been dairying on a 265 acre farm in Lincoln County, Kentucky for twenty five years. We fed our registered Holsteins corn silage and alfalfa haylage and purchased a manufactured feed. Our herd of 70 Holsteins spent most of their time on concrete. We did make an effort to allow access to an exercise lot when weather permitted. However, during the greater part of the 1990’s we …

Pastures For Horses: Challenges And Opportunities, Robert Coleman

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Horses were born to eat grass and how they evolved has allowed them to be efficient users of a high forage diet. In fact, for many of today’s horses, they will survive and thrive on an all forage diet.

Can We Graze Year-Around In The Heart Of America, 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 …

Foreword And Conference Information [2006], Garry D. Lacefield, Christi L. Forsythe

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

On-Farm Field Research: Replicating Your Valid Comparison, John H. Grove

Soil Science News and Views

On-farm research is motivated by a desire to learn more about a product/practice/system on land you manage. You may now have the tools (yield monitor, weighing grain cart, etc.) to accomplish on-farm research that generates information you can use in management decision-making. Your on-farm research should start with the design of a ''valid comparison", according to your research objective (Soil Science News & Views 26:01).

Sorption-Desorption Of Imidacloprid And Its Metabolites In Soil And Vadose Zone Materials, Sharon V. Papiernik, William C. Koskinen, Lucia Cox, Pamela J. Rice, Sharon A. Clay, Nancy R. Werdin-Pfisterer, Kristen A. Norberg

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Sorption-desorption is one of the most important processes affecting the leaching of pesticides through soil because it controls the amount of pesticide available for transport. Subsurface soil properties can significantly affect pesticide transport and the potential for groundwater contamination. This research characterized the sorption-desorption of imidacloprid (1-[(6-chloro-3-pyridinyl)-methyl]-Nnitro-2-imidazolidinimine) and three of its metabolites, 1-[(6-chloro-3-pyridinyl)methyl]-2-imidazolidinone (imidacloprid-urea), 1-[(6-chloro-3-pyridinyl)methyl]-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-amine (imidaclopridguanidine), and 1-[(6-chloro-3-pyridinyl)methyl]-1H-imidazol-2-amine (imidacloprid-guanidine-olefin), as a function of changing soil properties with depth in two profiles extending from the surface to a depth of 1.8 or 8 m. Sorption of each compound was highly variable and hysteretic in all cases. Normalizing the sorption coefficients (Kf) …

Theoretical Derivation Of Stable And Nonisotopic Approaches For Assessing Soil Organic Carbon Turnover, D. E. Clay, C. G. Carlson, S. A. Clay, C. Reese, Z. Liu, J. Chang, M. M. Ellsbury

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Techniques for measuring soil organic C (SOC) turnover in production fields are needed. The objectives of this study were to propose and test nonisotopic and 13 C stable isotopic techniques for assessing SOC turnover. Based on SOC equilibrium and mass balance relationships, an equation was derived: NHC/SOC initial=[1/(SOC× k NHC)](dSOC/dt)+ k SOC/k NHC, where dSOC/dt is the annual change in SOC, NHC is nonharvested C returned to soil, k SOC is the annual mineralization rate of SOC, and k NHC is the annual mineralization rate of NHC. This equation was used to calculate maintenance rates. An isotopic approach based on …