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tractor that gives you the latest electronic conveniences and push
button simplicity, the new T6000 Series tractors from New Holland are
built for you. T6000 tractors are a natural choice for haying operations
and heavy loader work. To learn more, see your local New Holland dealer
or call 1-888-290-7377. www.newholland.com/na
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Switchgrass-Fueled Ethanol Plant Proposed For
Tennessee
The University of Tennessee and DuPont Danisco
Cellulosic Ethanol, LLC (DDCE), announced last week that they have
formed a partnership to build an innovative pilot-scale biorefinery and
state-of-the-art research and development facility for cellulosic
ethanol in Vonore, TN. Construction on the plant, which will use
switchgrass and other biomass feedstocks to produce cellulosic ethanol,
is expected to begin this fall. Ethanol should be available from the
pilot plant by the end of 2009.
A small group of farmers operating within a 50-mile radius of Vonore
will initially supply switchgrass to the biorefinery. The farmers
planted their first switchgrass plots in April of this year in a project
funded and managed by the University of Tennessee’s Biofuel
Initiative.
“Our technology is ready to pilot and we are eager to get the steel in
the ground," says DDCE spokesman John Pierce. "The high cellulosic
content of switchgrass makes it an optimal feedstock for ethanol
production. Its yields today make it more than competitive with other
biomass sources, and it has the potential to produce over 1,000 gallons
of ethanol per acre in the future.”
Cellulosic ethanol is an alternative fuel made from a wide variety of
plant materials or non-food based feedstocks, including agricultural
wastes, forest wastes and energy crops, such as switchgrass. According
to U.S. Department of Energy research, ethanol produced from cellulosic
materials requires as much as 90% less fossil energy to produce as
conventional gasoline.
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Californian Talks Back To Alfalfa Critics
Aaron Kiess, executive director of the California
Alfalfa and Forage Association (CAFA), is just plain fed up with people
who characterize alfalfa as a water-wasting, low-value crop. In a recent
newspaper column published in Western Farm Press, Kiess took
exception to remarks from the president of the Pacific Institute (PI),
an Oakland, CA-based think tank. The PI chief had called on state
policymakers to examine water requirements per acre and encourage a
shift away from crops like alfalfa, rice and cotton to fruit and nut
production.
Kiess’ response is that, when it comes to water use, alfalfa stacks up
well with other crops like corn, wheat, sugar beets, rice, dry beans and
almonds. “Alfalfa gets high marks when measured by economic yields and
food production,” he writes. “It’s one of the more efficient users
of water due to its production of harvestable dry matter per unit of
applied water.
“With a value of at least $1 billion annually, we don’t believe that
alfalfa growers need to apologize to anyone,” Kiess adds. “Unless
inflation has passed us by, $1 billion is real money.” Bottom line, he
says, alfalfa’s critics should take the time to read “Alfalfa,
Wildlife and the Environment,” a 24-page booklet developed by CAFA
to tout “alfalfa’s true value.” For a copy of the booklet, visit
the CAFA Web site at www.calhay.org.
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Judge Issues Final Ruling In CRP Haying/Grazing
Suit
The legal tangling between a major wildlife group and
USDA over the ag department’s Critical Feed Use (CFU) program ended
last Thursday in a Seattle courtroom. U.S. District Court Judge John C.
Coughenour ruled producers who had signed up for CFU by July 8 will be
allowed to hay or graze Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands.
Producers who can prove they had spent $4,500 or more with the
expectation they would be allowed to participate in the program were
also given a green light under the judge’s ruling.
The judge also ruled the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the federal agency
charged with administering CFU, can continue processing applications
received before July 8. The judge did not impose a cap on the number of
CRP acres that can be hayed or grazed nationally in the program. Most
observers believe it will be far less than the 24 million acres USDA
originally said would be eligible when it announced CFU in late May.
The two-week-long court battle began when the National Wildlife
Federation and six state affiliates sued to block implementation of CFU,
claiming that USDA had not conducted an environmental impact assessment
required under federal law.
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Online Discussion Site Grows Membership
Haytalk.com, an
online discussion forum for hay and forage growers on a variety of
topics, is steaming ahead with efforts to boost member enrollment. Last
week, HayTalk.com founder and Indiana hay grower Jim Brown sent an email
announcing the Web site had just passed the 100-member mark. The site,
launched earlier this summer, devotes sections to Alfalfa/Hay/Silage,
Pasture/Grazing, Livestock, Machinery, Hay and Forage Testing, Farm
Safety, Custom Harvesting and Insects and Disease.
To visit the site, go to www.haytalk.com.
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Harvest more profit from your alfalfa hay sales
Get top dollar for quality alfalfa hay with less hassle. If you are
within 250 miles of either Lincoln, NE or Rapid City, SD, we haul with
our trucks. Prices based on farm pickup. Go to www.seranch.com for all the details
and contact us. We are buying now and will pickup in the field.
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Partial Alfalfa Field Harvest Increases PLH
Risks
Alfalfa growers need to step up scouting efforts for
potato leafhoppers (PLH) when rainy weather interrupts harvest
schedules, says Keith Waldron of New York State’s Integrated Pest
Management program. In partially harvested fields, Waldron explains,
adult PLH in the standing alfalfa can easily relocate to the recently
harvested areas and attack vulnerable regrowth. “The shorter alfalfa
has a lower threshold for PLH than taller alfalfa so is at much higher
risk for injury,” he says.
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Kentucky
Hay buyers have been getting their orders in early this
year at Flynn Farms of Kentucky. “Most of our hay is already
contracted out for the season,” says Mark Flynn, who partners with his
father, Ron, in this haymaking business just outside of Louisville.
While they market hay throughout the Southeast, local horse owners are
the target market for fescue, orchardgrass, timothy and
orchardgrass-alfalfa hay the Flynns harvest on 400 acres. In a typical
year, they put up 15,000 small square bales weighing 55 lbs and 1,000
round bales weighing 900 lbs.
A slowdown in the general economy has brought changes to the way the
Flynns do business. “In the past, we worked mostly on a
cash-on-delivery basis,” notes Flynn. “But in the last year or so,
we’ve started offering monthly payment plans to some customers. A lot
of them are on small acreages with one to five horses. If they’re
buying 1,000 bales, it can be tough to come up with $5,000 out of
pocket. We try to work with them. It’s good from our standpoint, too,
because we’re limited in the amount of storage space we have on the
farm.”
The Flynns are selective in offering payment terms. “We try to limit
it to local customers who have been buying from us for several years,”
says Flynn. “And we won’t do payment plans for more than 12 months
out. If you get too much beyond that, people are paying for last
year’s hay, and that’s where you start getting some slippage.”
High demand this year has pushed up prices. Flynn says good mixed-grass
hay in the area is selling for $4-5/bale at the barn door. Premium hay
– straight orchardgrass, straight timothy or the orchardgrass-alfalfa
mix – is fetching $5-6/bale. Those prices are $1.50-2.50 higher than
they were a year ago. “Our input costs have gone up and we’ve had to
adjust accordingly,” says Flynn.
For more information, visit the Flynns’ Web site at www.flynnfarmsofkentucky.com
or call Mark Flynn at 502-664-6032.
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New York
Hay growers in the Northeast are taking a wait-and-see
attitude toward setting prices this year, says Nick Fitzpatrick, CEO of
Aden Brook Farms, a hay and straw distributorship in Pine Bush, NY.
According to Fitzpatrick, wet, cool weather in the first part of the
growing season led to high yields throughout much of the region. “On
the earlier cut hay, the quality was pretty high,” he says. “But as
things went along, the harvest was delayed and the quality dropped off
pretty sharply in some areas.”
Hay prices have been holding steady. “Right now it looks like there
will be plenty of hay, and growers aren’t in a mood to jump prices
much,” says Fitzpatrick. “We’ll have a lot better feel for where
prices are headed two or three months from now when the harvest is
completed.”
Improved weather in the Southeast this year may also be holding a lid on
prices. “With the severe drought last year, we were moving a lot of
hay into that part of the country,” says Fitzpatrick. “This year,
things are better there and that movement has dropped off. On the other
hand, we have seen more hay moving from east to west. That’s something
we don’t ordinarily see, and it bears watching.”
Crimped demand in some customer segments could also be coming into play,
says Fitzpatrick. “We have also seen high hay and grain prices over
the last 12 months start to put financial pressure on parts of the
equine industry,” he says.
Aden Brook buys hay in 22 states and ships into 34 states. For more
information, visit www.adenbrookfarms.com. To contact Fitzpatrick, send
an email to nick.fitzpatrick@adenbrook.com.
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Ohio Grazing Expo Registration Deadline
Nears
Tuesday, Aug. 12, is the registration deadline for
attending the Ohio Grazing Expo at Shamrock Vale Farms in Kensington.
Presentation topics at the event, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
Aug. 19, include extending the grazing season, new forage species and
varieties, the future of grazing and fine-tuning grazing systems.
Registration fee, including lunch and handouts, is $10. To download a
printable registration form, go to beef.osu.edu/Flyers/GrazExpo.pdf.
For more information, call the Carroll County extension office at
330-223-4310.
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Calendar
July 31 -- Calumet County (WI) Forage Council Summer
Field Day, Chilton. Call 920-849-1450.
Aug. 5 -- Manitowoc County (WI) Forage Council Hay Field Day,
Reedsville. Contact Scott Gunderson, UW-Extension, at 715-683-4168.
Aug. 12 -- Cornell Bioenergy Feedstock Project Field Day, Tom
Lee farm, Madrid, NY. Phone Hilary Mayton or Patricia McGlynn at
607-255-5043.
Aug. 19 -- Central Minnesota Forage Council Field Day, John Traut
Farm, Sartell. Contact Dan Martens at 800-964-4929.
Aug. 19-20 -- Wisconsin Grazing School, Richland Center. Call
715-425-3345.
Aug. 19-21 -- Pennsylvania Ag Progress Days, Russell E. Larson
Agricultural Research Center, Rock Springs. Visit apd.psu.edu/.
Aug. 20-21 -- University of Georgia Extension Grazing School,
Bulloch County Center for Agriculture, Statesboro. Visit www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/fieldcrops/forages/GAGrazingSchool.html.
Aug. 21 -- Beef and Forage Day, Grand Rapids, MN. Contact Ryan
Walker at 888-241-0719.
Aug. 28 -- Hay & Farm Field Day, WW Ranch, Jacksonville, FL.
Phone 386-362-6447.
Aug. 29 -- Corn Silage Plot Tour, Dan Dryer Farm, Ottertail City,
MN. Phone Doug Holen at 888-241-0843.
Sept. 3 -- Southeast Pennsylvania Crops Conferences’ Hay
Baling/Handling Meeting, Heidel Hollow Farm, Germansville. Visit montgomery.extension.psu.edu/Agriculture/HayBalingHandlingmeeting.pdf.
Sept. 4 -- Kentucky Forage & Grassland Council Field Day,
Christian County. Learn more at www.uky.edu/Ag/Forage/.
Sept. 10 -- Institute For Ag Professionals Forage Day, UMore
Park, Rosemount, MN. Contact Dave Nicolai at 612-625-2778.
Sept. 17-20 -- National Hay Association Convention, Oak Brook
Hills Marriott, Oak Brook, IL. Contact Don Kieffer at 800-707-0014, or
visit www.nationalhay.org.
Sept. 30-Oct. 4 -- World Dairy Expo, Alliant Energy Center,
Madison, WI. Visit www.worlddairyexpo.com.
Oct. 14-16 -- Southeastern Hay Contest, Sunbelt Agriculture
Exposition, Moultrie, GA. Guidelines and entry forms are available at
www.aces.edu/animalforage/documents/08SoutheasternHayContest.pdf.
Oct. 23 -- Kentucky Grazing Conference, Fayette County extension
office, Lexington. Learn more at www.uky.edu/Ag/Forage/.
Oct. 31-Nov. 2 -- Virginia Equine Extravaganza, Richmond Raceway,
Richmond. Learn more at www.equineextravaganza.com.
Nov. 6-7 -- 2008 BEEF Quality Summit, sponsored by
BEEF magazine, Antlers Hilton Hotel, Colorado Springs, CO. Visit
beefconference.com/.
Nov. 13-16 -- Massachusetts Equine Affaire, Eastern States
Exposition Center, West Springfield. Visit www.equineaffaire.com.
Dec. 2-4 -- California Alfalfa & Forage Symposium, Town & Country
Resort and Hotel, San Diego. Learn more at alfalfa.ucdavis.edu/2008AlfalfaConference/.
Dec. 5-6 -- 2008 Missouri Livestock Symposium, Kirksville.
Programs for horse, beef cattle, sheep, meat goat and forage producers,
and trade show. Details at missourilivestock.com, or call Bruce Lane at
660-665-9866 or Garry Mathes at 660-341-6625.
Jan. 15-16, 2009 -- Southwest Hay And Forage Conference, Ruidoso,
NM. Contact Gina Sterrett at 575-626-5677 or Justin Boswell at
575-840-9908.
Jan. 21-22, 2009 -- Heart of America Grazing Conference,
Columbus, IN. Contact Jason Tower at 812-678-4427 or towerj@purdue.edu.
June 21-23, 2009 -- American Forage & Grassland Council Annual
Conference, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, MI. Call
800-944-2342 or email info@afgc.org.Calendar.
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Send Questions & Comments
To...
Rick Mooney, Editor,
eHay Weekly,
hfg@hayandforage.com
For information on Hay & Forage Grower, contact:
Neil Tietz, Editor, ntietz@hayandforage.com
or
Fae Holin, Managing Editor, fholin@hayandforage.com
For specific information from past issues of eHay Weekly and
Hay & Forage Grower, click on hayandforage.com, and use the search
function in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage.
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