AgrotechThe National Animal Nutrition Program's Feed Value Loss Risk Assessment Tool uses a random forest model to rate how harvesting, storage, mixing and feeding practices threaten feed quantity and quality, starting with silage.
LivestockGrass yields were 16% down by mid-August, and consultant James Daniel expects a 10-15% end-of-year shortfall; he advises a forage budget now and buffer feeding rather than late grazing.
LivestockSouthern hay growers have good supplies but freight costs are rising, cottonseed is short and dear, and some Darling Downs grain growers are turning dry crops into silage for feedlots.
CropsA Penn State study of short-stature hybrids in no-till, manure-fed silage systems found dense stands in 15-inch rows suppressed burcucumber, cocklebur and Palmer amaranth without hurting forage quality.
Maizetech's Robert Duncan says a significant acreage of forage maize will be cut in Northern Ireland in the last days of September, fully mature, and explains the cob and kernel checks that show when a crop has passed 30 per cent dry matter.
With fodder and cash flow tight on Irish dairy farms after the drought, a new Teagasc guide sets out the energy, crude protein and fibre of forages and concentrates, from grazed grass and red clover silage to fodder beet, brewers grains, beet pulp and palm kernel.
