Week Starting | Fields sampled | Minimum | Maximum | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (no.) | (pounds of DM per day) | |||
| April 6 | 4 | 18 | 109 | 53 |
| April 13 | 3 | 18 | 118 | 59 |
| April 20 | 5 | 26 | 138 | 73 |
| April 27 | 19 | 20 | 197 | 72 |
| May 4 | 29 | 28 | 211 | 114 |
| May 11 | 30 | 12 | 220 | 92 |
| May 18 | 12 | 15 | 200 | 88 |
| May 25 | 24 | 14 | 172 | 71 |
| June 1 | 19 | 7 | 138 | 45 |
| June 8 | 11 | 9 | 75 | 46 |
| June 15 | 30 | 1 | 239 | 40 |
| June 22 | 28 | 4 | 157 | 37 |
| June 29 | 28 | 2 | 131 | 46 |
| July 6 | 25 | 1 | 119 | 49 |
| July 13 | 21 | 10 | 171 | 59 |
| July 20 | 27 | 1 | 187 | 43 |
| July 27 | 21 | 3 | 143 | 37 |
| August 3 | 21 | 0 | 77 | 17 |
| August 10 | 16 | 0 | 103 | 31 |
| August 17 | 11 | 2 | 34 | 15 |
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Pasture Growth by August 24
The following table shows the growth from pastures participating in the project. For information about the project see the original post. The information is reported in pounds of dry matter grown per acre per day. It contains the reported results as of the posting date. Some reports may be delayed for various reasons. Previous week’s information is updated when it is received. The current table will reflect the total information available.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Dry Forage Samples With a Hair Dryer
Ag Engineer Dennis Buckmaster has developed plans for building a simple homemade tool to determine moisture content of forage samples.
Buckmaster designed the dryer out of a standard home hair dryer and materials available at hardware stores. The homemade dryer is called a "Vortex Dryer", so named because a CPVC pipe is attached to a funnel- or vortex-shaped container made from two round duct reducers.
The Vortex Dryer is easy to use, requires less supervision when drying samples than the microwave oven method, and requires less time to dry samples than a Koster tester.
The Vortex Dryer also gives very accurate results. The error error was -0.1%. Moisture estimates were within 1% of the actual value 95% of the time. There was no statistical difference between the vortex dryer results and those obtained when using the standard drying oven method.
For more information on the Vortex Dryer, including how to build and use one, see the Penn State Extension Fact Sheet entitled "A Vortex Forage and Biomass Sample Dryer", available online at http://www.abe.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/i/I101.pdf.
The Vortex Dryer would be useful for checking forage moisture levels at harvest or feeding time. Earlier this week Bill Weiss alerted Ohio corn silage growers to check their corn for dry matter content, as it is likely to be ready for chopping. The Vortex Dryer would be very useful in determining the dry matter content of corn silage in each field.
Buckmaster designed the dryer out of a standard home hair dryer and materials available at hardware stores. The homemade dryer is called a "Vortex Dryer", so named because a CPVC pipe is attached to a funnel- or vortex-shaped container made from two round duct reducers.
The Vortex Dryer is easy to use, requires less supervision when drying samples than the microwave oven method, and requires less time to dry samples than a Koster tester.
The Vortex Dryer also gives very accurate results. The error error was -0.1%. Moisture estimates were within 1% of the actual value 95% of the time. There was no statistical difference between the vortex dryer results and those obtained when using the standard drying oven method.
For more information on the Vortex Dryer, including how to build and use one, see the Penn State Extension Fact Sheet entitled "A Vortex Forage and Biomass Sample Dryer", available online at http://www.abe.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/i/I101.pdf.
The Vortex Dryer would be useful for checking forage moisture levels at harvest or feeding time. Earlier this week Bill Weiss alerted Ohio corn silage growers to check their corn for dry matter content, as it is likely to be ready for chopping. The Vortex Dryer would be very useful in determining the dry matter content of corn silage in each field.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
How to Determine Corn Silage Moisture
Corn silage chopping should begin soon in Ohio. As described in the recent post authored by Bill Weiss, for good fermentation corn should be chopped when whole plant dry matter is 30 to 35% for bunker silos and 32 to 38% for bags and upright silos.
To check the whole plant dry matter content in your fields, use the following procedure, collect 5 to 10 representative plants from the field. The plants should be uniformly chopped - a chipper shredder or silage chopper provides better chopping than chopping by hand with a meat cleaver or machete. After chopping, mix thoroughly to obtain a representative sample for drying.
Avoid sampling plants from border rows and areas not representative of the majority of the field. Be careful during mixing and subsampling to avoid non-representative grain to stover ratios in the sample to be dried.
Some people prefer sampling only 2 or 3 plants to reduce the chances of a non-representative grain to stover ratio. In this case, it is even more critical that plants be selected carefully to represent the average field conditions. It is best to create two subsamples for % DM determinations, and average the two values.
Dry the sample in a microwave oven or a Koster Tester. Each method requires a good scale that can measure in grams. More information on the microwave oven method is available at http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0004.html. For the Koster Tester, refer to the manufacturer's instructions, many of which have posted instructions online.
To check the whole plant dry matter content in your fields, use the following procedure, collect 5 to 10 representative plants from the field. The plants should be uniformly chopped - a chipper shredder or silage chopper provides better chopping than chopping by hand with a meat cleaver or machete. After chopping, mix thoroughly to obtain a representative sample for drying.
Avoid sampling plants from border rows and areas not representative of the majority of the field. Be careful during mixing and subsampling to avoid non-representative grain to stover ratios in the sample to be dried.
Some people prefer sampling only 2 or 3 plants to reduce the chances of a non-representative grain to stover ratio. In this case, it is even more critical that plants be selected carefully to represent the average field conditions. It is best to create two subsamples for % DM determinations, and average the two values.
Dry the sample in a microwave oven or a Koster Tester. Each method requires a good scale that can measure in grams. More information on the microwave oven method is available at http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0004.html. For the Koster Tester, refer to the manufacturer's instructions, many of which have posted instructions online.
Corn Silage Ready for Harvest in Ohio
By Bill Weiss
OSU & OARDC, Dept. of Animal Sciences
In many areas of Ohio it has been dry and corn plants are approaching silage stage sooner than normal. To maximize yields of digestible energy and allow for good fermentation, corn for silage should be chopped at 30 to 35% dry matter (for bunker silos) and 32 to 38% dry matter for bags and upright silos.
In many areas of south and central Ohio corn plants contain 30-33% dry matter currently and chopping should be considered. Corn hybrid and local weather have a large effect on dry matter concentrations, so growers should start sampling fields and measuring dry matter now and when target dry matters are achieved they should start chopping. See related posting for information on how to sample and measure corn silage moisture.
With the expected high prices for corn grain, it is extremely important that livestock producers get the maximum nutrient value from their silage. Chopping too early (too wet) or too late (too dry) has substantial negative effects on the nutritive value of corn silage and affects how much grain supplementation is needed. Corn silage made at the incorrect dry matter concentration will reduce milk production (or growth) and/or will require more grain ($$$) to obtain the same milk and growth responses.
OSU & OARDC, Dept. of Animal Sciences
In many areas of Ohio it has been dry and corn plants are approaching silage stage sooner than normal. To maximize yields of digestible energy and allow for good fermentation, corn for silage should be chopped at 30 to 35% dry matter (for bunker silos) and 32 to 38% dry matter for bags and upright silos.
In many areas of south and central Ohio corn plants contain 30-33% dry matter currently and chopping should be considered. Corn hybrid and local weather have a large effect on dry matter concentrations, so growers should start sampling fields and measuring dry matter now and when target dry matters are achieved they should start chopping. See related posting for information on how to sample and measure corn silage moisture.
With the expected high prices for corn grain, it is extremely important that livestock producers get the maximum nutrient value from their silage. Chopping too early (too wet) or too late (too dry) has substantial negative effects on the nutritive value of corn silage and affects how much grain supplementation is needed. Corn silage made at the incorrect dry matter concentration will reduce milk production (or growth) and/or will require more grain ($$$) to obtain the same milk and growth responses.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Pasture Growth by August 3
The following table shows the growth from pastures participating in the project. For information about the project see the original post. The information is reported in pounds of dry matter grown per acre per day. It contains the reported results as of the posting date. Some reports may be delayed for various reasons. Previous week’s information is updated when it is received. The current table will reflect the total information available.
Week Starting | Fields sampled | Minimum | Maximum | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (no.) | (pounds of DM per day) | |||
| April 6 | 4 | 18 | 109 | 53 |
| April 13 | 3 | 18 | 118 | 59 |
| April 20 | 5 | 26 | 138 | 73 |
| April 27 | 19 | 20 | 197 | 72 |
| May 4 | 29 | 28 | 211 | 114 |
| May 11 | 30 | 12 | 220 | 92 |
| May 18 | 12 | 15 | 200 | 88 |
| May 25 | 24 | 14 | 172 | 71 |
| June 1 | 19 | 7 | 138 | 45 |
| June 8 | 11 | 9 | 75 | 46 |
| June 15 | 30 | 1 | 239 | 40 |
| June 22 | 28 | 4 | 157 | 37 |
| June 29 | 28 | 2 | 131 | 46 |
| July 6 | 25 | 1 | 119 | 49 |
| July 13 | 21 | 10 | 171 | 59 |
| July 20 | 27 | 1 | 187 | 43 |
| July 27 | 20 | 3 | 122 | 32 |
Monday, August 4, 2008
Clark County Pasture Walk to be held Thursday, August 21
The fourth in a series of five western Ohio pasture walks will be held on Thursday, August 21 from 6:30 to 9:00 in the evening. This walk will be held at the farm of retired Extension Agriculture Agent Mike Haubner, located at 8651 Troy Rd. New Carlisle, Ohio.
Bob Hendershot, NRCS grazing specialist will be on hand to discuss pasture fertility management, plant species identification and selection, rotational grazing, and much more. The Haubner farm is currently raising replacement dairy heifers but the information that will be presented will benefit graziers of all species of livestock.
There is no registration requirement, but for more information contact Jonah Johnson at the Clark County Extension Office.
Bob Hendershot, NRCS grazing specialist will be on hand to discuss pasture fertility management, plant species identification and selection, rotational grazing, and much more. The Haubner farm is currently raising replacement dairy heifers but the information that will be presented will benefit graziers of all species of livestock.
There is no registration requirement, but for more information contact Jonah Johnson at the Clark County Extension Office.
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