AG LINK - August/September 2006

Update on FSA Programs

The Marathon County FSA office is all caught up with MILC payments. That means they have paid December through June wherever possible. Producers who have not received any payments through the Kansas City Finance Office probably did not apply, or they have eligibility issues. These issues are not usually serious but they cannot be ignored. Here is what April through July will pay or have paid:

• April$0.8398
• May $0.9248
• June $0.9996
• July $0.7990

Producers who have not received the advanced DCP payment may have one or more of the following problems:

• A DCP contract was not signed for enrollment
• Landowner signatures have not been submitted
• Conservation compliance issues have not been addressed
• The contract is signed but no advanced payment was requested
• A 2006 crop report has not been filed
• Final DCP payments go out in October

By next week, producers who have a base for barley on their farm(s) will receive another payment under their DCP contract. This will be the counter cyclical payment in the amount of $0.13 per bushel.

FSA is fairly certain that LDP’s will pay this fall. There is already an LDP rate for barley. For barley that has been harvested, check out an opportunity to “strike” a price. Barley taken as forage is eligible. When you call the FSA office, you must know your bushels harvested. This includes the grain portion (as total bushels) of the barley forage. Taking the “county average” is not an option.

Annual CRP payments are normally issued in October.

FSA will continue to monitor Marathon County drought conditions and make an application at the appropriate time, but do not look for a program until after January.

Important: applications for ginseng insurance through NAP must be in the FSA office and paid for before September 1, 2006.

Seed Your Grasses as Early as Possible

Late-summer/fall establishment of grass is often desired in the Midwest. Most farmers do not realize how much fall seeding date affects the yield of the grasses the next year. Extension Agronomist Dan Undersander and his colleagues seeded six forage grasses at several late summer dates at three sites in Wisconsin over three years. Seeding dates were spaced approximately every 2 to 3 weeks from about August 1 to November 1. Species included orchard grass, smooth bromegrass, timothy, reed canarygrass, perennial ryegrass, and tall fescue.

All of the grasses seeded by mid- to late-September produced stands with visible plants by killing frost most years, that usually survived the winter. Later seedings did not produce visible plants until spring, if at all. Slow-establishing species, particularly reed canarygrass, produced better stands when seeded by early September. Timothy tended to be the most variable with regard to seeding date and next year yield. In only one trial out of nine did a November seeding, where the seed lay dormant over winter, produce a stand the next spring.

The most important finding is that earlier seeding dates (early through mid August) usually had more tillers per square foot, more tillers per plant, and higher dry matter yield the following season. As shown, in the figure, average first cutting yields of grasses the spring after late summer seeding, when harvested at the boot stage, ranged from 1.5 t/a for some grasses down to less than 0.5 t/a on first cutting, depending on when they were sown the previous fall. By later cuttings, the stands had recovered and all yielded well. However, delaying late summer seeding from mid August to mid September generally resulted in 1 ton/acre less yield the next year.

This study clearly shows that delaying grass seeding in the late summer or early fall not only increases the risk of establishment failure but reduces yield of the stand the next year. Undersander recommends seeding grasses as early as possible during the month of August.

Got Milk?....But Need Money? Get Milk Money!

Wisconsin dairy producers continue to benefit from participation in Milk Money, the popular team-based milk quality improvement program offered through UW-Extension in cooperation with the UW-Madison Dairy Science Department, and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

Recent analysis of 113 herds completing the Milk Money program reveals an average $1,033 per month increase per farm in quality incentive income from the time herds begin Milk Money until they complete the program. The 113 Wisconsin dairy herds completing Milk Money averaged 265 cows, totaling 29,835 cows. At $1,033/herd/month, Milk Money is returning a total average of $116,727 per month to the participants. Assuming the improvements hold for a year, an average Milk Money herd of 265 cows sees another $12,396 in income related to milk quality incentives. Pooled together, the 113 herds can reel in an additional $13,190,151 over the year.

At the start of the program, 113 herds were getting an average of seven cents per hundredweight (CWT) in quality premium incentives. By the end of the program the herds had increased to an average of 27 cents per CWT. Most of the standard measurements of milk quality improved during the program. Overall, bulk milk somatic cell counts, an indicator of quality, were reduced by 20.2 percent. Individual cow indices of clinical and sub-clinical mastitis were significantly improved. Cull rates decreased by the end of the program.

Please call Marathon County UW-Extension (Maria Bendixen or Mike Wildeck) at 261.1230 for more details about the Milk Money program.

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