Forage Clippings Mike
Rankin Brown Root Rot of Alfalfa Brown root rot of alfalfa was first detected in Wisconsin this year, although it possibly has been present in the state for many years. The disease is unique because the responsible pathogen can grow at temperatures below freezing. This means that plants can become infected during the dead of winter when there is virtually no competition from other disease organisms. The Brown root rot organism was isolated from a number of plants that had been winterkilled or injured this past spring in northern and central Wisconsin. Currently there is an effort to determine where the disease organism is present across the Midwest. Recently, the disease was also identified in New York. The disease is difficult to control. It’s thought that any practice that lowers the risk of winterkill will also lower the risk and severity of Brown root rot. Included would be late fall cuttings. Also, crop rotation for 2 or 3 years out of a susceptible legume is beneficial. At this time it is not known which, if any, current varieties have resistance. Hay Price and Marketing Information A couple of new Wisconsin web sites that offer hay pricing and marketing information are now available for your viewing and use. The first is a summary of hay prices being reported around the Midwest. The average prices come from a variety of sources and are broken down by forage hay grades. The URL is: www.uwex.edu/ces/forage/pubs/hay_market_report.htm The second web site is the newly revamped Upper Midwest Hay List. This site is a cooperative effort of the Extension Services and Forage Councils of Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. The Hay List is a self-service tool that enables buyers and sellers of hay and straw in the U.S. and Canada to announce and search available or needed hay lots and to view hay lot summary data. There is no charge to list hay or to search hay listings, and lots are not required to be located within the sponsoring states. You do not need to register with the system for searches but are required to register to enter buyer or seller lots. Registration provides a hay list ID that allows you to easily revise, add or remove your lots. Buyer and seller lots can be searched by a number of parameters including hay type, bale type, geographic proximity and state or province. Hay lots remain in the system for 60 days. The URL for the Upper Midwest Hay List is: The Penalty for Late Planted Corn for Silage On-going studies have been conducted at the Arlington Ag Research Center to assess the yield and quality penalty for late-planted corn harvested as silage. In corn silage, a key quality component is the ratio of grain to stover in the forage. Less grain yield usually lowers silage quality. Corn forage yield decreases with later planting date (Figure 1). Forage yield of corn planted on June 1st is lower than earlier planting dates in May and April. By the end of June, yield levels are about 50% of the maximum yields observed around May 1.
Figure 1.
Relationship between corn forage yield and planting Later planting dates do not affect corn stover yield as much as grain yield, so the grain:stover ratio decreases with later planting date primarily due to lower grain yield. Lower grain:stover ratio results in less Milk per Ton for June planting dates than earlier April and May planting dates. Milk per Ton, a measure of forage quality, ranged from 3200 to 3600 lb milk / T for most planting dates in most years, however, the last planting dates in 1997 and 2001 had significantly lower Milk per Ton values. Multiplying forage yield by Milk per Ton results in Milk per Acre. By May 20 in these studies, Milk per Acre yields were significantly reduced compared to earlier planting dates. Planting dates the third week in June produce Milk per Acre yields at 50% of the maximum levels seen for April and early May planting dates. Finally, when faced with late planting dates, choose appropriate short season hybrids to increase the probability that the crop will reach harvest maturity before the first fall frost.
|
For
more information contact 
