|
|
Hay & Forage Grower
USDA
Hay Prices
Weather
Send Questions & Comments To...
Rick Mooney, Editor, eHay Weekly, at
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.
|
|
|
By Rick Mooney
Editor, eHay Weekly
Don’t try to tell Kentucky hay grower Clayton Geralds that building an
advertising/marketing program around word of mouth is an outdated
concept. He knows better.
In recent years, Geralds, of Munfordville, has sold around 75,000 small
square bales of alfalfa, alfalfa-grass and timothy hay annually to horse
owners in Kentucky, Atlanta and Ocala, FL. He doesn’t have a Web site,
utilize Facebook and Twitter or even run many traditional print ads in
magazines and newspapers. Last year, sales were so good he had to buy
3,500 bales from other growers to fill orders.
Click
here to read the entire story.
|
 Know where to find the best alfalfa seed?
Isn’t it obvious? Syngenta alfalfa varieties offer top yield, high
forage quality and exceptional persistence. Plus all the varieties you
need, available through your Garst seed advisor, Golden Harvest dealer
or NK retailer. Contact them today to place your order.
The Syngenta logo is a trademark of a Syngenta Group
Company.
|
Late summer and early fall can be ideal times for planting alfalfa
in Kansas, especially in a year like this when there’s been plenty of
rainfall throughout the summer, says Jim Shroyer, crop production
specialist with Kansas State University Extension.
Shroyer says growers in the northwestern part of the state can plant as
early as Aug. 10-15, while those in southeastern Kansas can wait until
mid- to late September. “(You) just need to plant early enough to
have three to five trifoliate leaves before the first frost,” he
says.
Shroyer’s other tips for getting the most from a late summer/early
fall planting:
- Soil test before planting. Alfalfa grows best in firm, moist
soil that is well-drained and has a pH of 6.5-7.5. Lime, phosphorus or
potassium should be added before planting.
- Till the seedbed and plant after a rain. Using a press wheel with a
drill to firm soil over planted seed will increase seed-to-soil contact.
- Check for herbicide carryover. That’s especially important when
planting alfalfa no-till into corn or grain sorghum stubble.
- Plant certified, inoculated seed. The goal is to help help alfalfa
seedlings fix available soil nitrogen for optimum production. The
variety should be pest resistant. “Resistance to phytophthora root
rot, bacterial wilt, fusarium wilt, verticillium wilt, anthracnose, pea
aphid and spotted alfalfa aphid is essential,” he says.
- Use the right seeding rate. Shroyer advises planting 8-12 lbs of
seed/acre on western Kansas dryland, 12-15 lbs/acre on dryland in
central and eastern Kansas,12-15 lbs/acre on irrigated, medium- to
fine-textured soils and 15-20 lbs/acre on irrigated sandy soils.
- Plant at the right depth. He recommends planting 1/4-1/2” deep on
medium- and fine-textured soils and ¾” deep on sandy soils. Do not
plant deeper than 10 times the seed diameter.
|
Cattle manure can be a great nutrient source, but be careful when
applying it to alfalfa in summer, advises University of Nebraska
Extension forage specialist Bruce Anderson.
He points out that liquid manure can burn leaves due to salt injury,
while dry manure can smother plants if it’s applied too heavily or in
large chunks. Manure can spread weed seeds, and the nitrogen in manure
can stimulate grasses already in the alfalfa to become more competitive.
Also, manure application equipment can damage alfalfa crowns and compact
soil.
Anderson’s bottom line: If other land is available for the manure,
spread it there. If you have no other choice, follow these suggestions:
1) Apply less than 3,000 gallons of liquid manure or 10 tons of
solid manure/acre to minimize salt burn or smothering. If manure is dry,
adjust the spreader to break up large chunks that can smother growth.
2) Spread manure immediately after removing a cutting to minimize direct
contact with foliage.
3) Only spread manure when fields are dry and firm to limit soil
compaction and avoid wheel traffic damaging plant crowns.
4) Apply manure to fields with lots of grass if you wish to stimulate
grass yield. Conversely, if you want to minimize grass competition,
select fields with little grass.
|
- Growers planning to enter corn silage in this year’s
World Forage Analysis Superbowl have until Friday, Aug. 13, to submit
their entries. The deadline for all other entries is Sept. 2. Get
contest rules and an entry form.
- University of Georgia (UGA) Extension forage specialists have
joined the ranks of Facebook users. Learn more by going to the UGA Extension forage Web site and
clicking the Facebook icon. While you’re at the site, you can also
sign up to receive forage email alerts for the Southeastern U.S.
- Lots of rain, coupled with high humidity, has made harvesting hay a
difficult undertaking in many parts of the country this summer. Purdue
University Extension forage specialist Keith Johnson says that means
it’s especially important to monitor hay after harvest and store it
properly. Read
“Monitor
Hay To Ensure Safe Storage.”
- Government agencies in Missouri are teaming up with the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) on a program geared toward helping small
livestock farms in the state reduce energy usage. The program offers
energy audits, loans and rebates for retrofitting equipment and
improving operations. Funding comes from a $5 million DOE block grant.
Learn
more.
|
Montana
Wet weather early in the growing season has resulted in a shortfall of
top-end hay in parts of the state, reports Joel Flynn of Flynn Hay and
Grain near Townsend.
“There’s definitely going to be a premium for high-quality,
first-cutting hay,” he says. “On the other hand, I don’t know how
you begin to sell the lower-quality stuff. There’s just so much of
it.”
Coming out of the winter, Flynn was concerned about lack of moisture.
“We had one of the driest winters in memory,” he says. “But it
started raining May 18 and kept raining for a month. A lot of hay was
put up, but the quality left a lot to be desired.”
Currently, he notes, high-quality export hay is bringing $105-110/ton at
the stack, down $5-10/ton from year-ago levels. Timothy and high-quality
alfalfa sold to Eastern horse markets have been fetching $150/ton at the
stack. “That’s very comparable to what it was a year ago,” says
Flynn.
The real drag has been for feeder hay prices. “Right now, you can’t
get much interest in it at $70/ton. I think there will eventually be a
market, but, for now, everyone is just waiting to see how everything
settles out.”
Flynn produces alfalfa, alfalfa-grass and timothy hay on 750 irrigated
acres. His target markets are horse owners in Kentucky and other Eastern
states, hay export firms in Washington state and local dairies and
cattle ranches. He puts up both large and small square bales.
Second cutting is just getting under way in his part of Montana, about a
week later than normal. “We had a stretch of nice, hot weather in late
June and July that has us just about caught back up,” he says. “For
the most part, the hay looks pretty good. The only reservation I have is
that a lot of our first cutting laid out in the field for two weeks
because of the rainy weather. So there’s a lot of variation in height.
Some of it has bloomed out, while some of it hasn’t reached the bud
stage yet.”
To contact Flynn, phone 406-266-3578 or email joelflynn@mt.net.
Oklahoma
Taloga hay buyer Brandon Drinnon looks for alfalfa hay prices to remain
relatively flat for the rest of 2010.
“Prices could push up a little higher, but not that much,” says
Drinnon, who buys from growers in western Oklahoma, Kansas and western
Nebraska. He sells to feedlots and dairies in Texas and New Mexico.
“There’s a lot of hay on the market. I’ve been advising my
suppliers to sell quickly rather than wait for prices to go up.”
He reports that high-quality dairy hay (RFV of 170 or better) is
currently selling for $125/ton. That’s about the same as prices a year
ago. “Demand has been pretty good,” he says. “We’re shipping
about 30 loads a week. The dairies are starting to make a little money
now, but they were so far in the hole. They’re still playing
catch-up.”
Hay going into beef feedlots is bringing $80-85/ton. “That’s just a
touch weaker than it was a year ago,” Drinnon says.
To contact Drinnon, phone 580-328-5635 or email drinnonhay@hotmail.com.
|
Get in it, and WIN it! Enter the World Forage Superbowl and WIN
Cash Prizes.
The World Forage Analysis Superbowl is seeking entries for the 2010
contest. This year entrants will walk away with over $20,000 in cash
prizes. Corn Silage entries must be received by August 13, 2010.
All other contest entries MUST BE RECEIVED by Thursday, September 2,
2010. Participants may enter as often and in as many categories as
desired. This year World Dairy Expo is September 28 - October 2.
Follow
Download an entry form here.
|
With rainfall messing up alfalfa harvest schedules in many areas,
watching field edges and partially harvested areas of fields for potato
leafhoppers (PLH) takes on added importance, says Keith Waldron of New
York’s Integrated Pest Management Program.
Waldron notes that adult PLH in the standing portion of a partially
harvested field can easily relocate to the shorter portion of the field
and attack vulnerable regrowth. Shorter alfalfa has a lower threshold
for PLH than taller alfalfa so it’s at much higher risk for injury.
He advises harvesting remaining portions of fields as soon as it’s
practical to minimize PLH population buildup.
|
Silage specialist Keith Bolsen will be the featured speaker at a
University of Idaho (UI) Extension forage harvest management field day,
scheduled for Thursday (Aug. 12) at the UI Research & Extension Center
near Kimberly.
The event will also feature presentations on UI research studies and a
corn chopping demonstration. Representatives of major equipment
manufacturers will be present to answer questions.
For more information, phone 208-736-3600.
|
Cornell University Extension will be conducting a field
demonstration of hay conditioning equipment at David Stephen’s farm
near Batavia, NY, on Aug. 20.
Equipment company representatives will be on hand to answer questions.
There will also be a presentation on financial considerations for using
conditioning equipment.
For more information, contact Extension field crop specialist James
Kingston at 584-746-1670. Kingston has been conducting trials with two
conditioners this summer. Learn
more about the trials.
|
Aug. 12 -- University Of Idaho Forage Field Day, UI Research
and Extension Center, Kimberly. Phone 208-734-9590.
Aug. 14 -- 2010 Southern Plains Beef Symposium, Ardmore
Convention Center, Ardmore, OK. For details, contact Tracy Cumbie at
580-224-6411 or tlcumbie@noble.org or Shan Ingram
at 580-224-6412 or shingram@noble.org.
Aug. 17 -- Central Minnesota Forage Council Summer Tour, 10
a.m.-noon, forage; 1-3 p.m., dairy; Stearns County. Watch for details.
For a complete list of upcoming events, click here.
|
|
|
To unsubscribe from this newsletter go to: Unsubscribe
To subscribe to this newsletter, go to: Subscribe
You are subscribed to this newsletter as #email#
To get this newsletter in a different format (Text or HTML),
or to change your e-mail address, please visit your profile
page to change your delivery preferences.
For questions concerning delivery of this newsletter, please contact our
Customer Service Department at:
Hay and Forage Grower
A Penton Media publication
US Toll Free: 866-505-7173
International: 847-763-9504
Email:hayandforage@pbinews.com
Penton Media | 249 W. 17th Street | New York, NY 10011
Copyright 2010, Penton Media. All rights reserved. This article is
protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property
laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, re-disseminated,
transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly,
in any medium without the prior written permission of Penton Media.
|
|
