Forage Value of Cover Crops. Jim Paulson Nutritionist and Forage Specialist Fieldstone Consulting

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1 Forage Value of Cover Crops Jim Paulson Nutritionist and Forage Specialist Fieldstone Consulting

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6 Cover Crops - Defined A non-cash crop grown between two cash crops.? A feed crop grown between two cash crops that provides added soil benefits? Feeding livestock above or below the ground

7 Small grains to consider - Winter Rye or - Winter Triticale - Winter Wheat - Winter Barley - Spring oats or Fall Oats

8 Stategies to use small grains - Corn Silage Winter Rye or Winter Triticale - Alfalfa (3 rd yr: 3 rd Crop) Fall Oats, Winter Rye/Triticale - Alfalfa (3 rd yr: 1 st Crop) Corn Silage - Winter Rye/Triticale Sorghum Sudan - 3/2 systems or triple cropping

9 Spring grains planted in the fall > August 15- Fall Oats - Planted August 15 + or - - Grows Backwards in Decreasing Day Length - Low Lignin Static NDF - Can Have Very High Sugar Levels - Late Cold Weather Silage Harvest - Versatile with High TDN Potential

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11 What is NDF? NDF is a measure of cell wall components Pectin Hemicellulose Cellulose Lignin Cellulose is made of glucose units Starch is made of glucose units

12 Cell Wall Developing cell wall Mature cell wall

13 What is NDF?

14 Fast and slow NDF exists in all forage types (Allen, 2005, unpublished) Alfalfa Corn silage Orchardgrass In Vitro NDF Digestibility Fast Slow A1 A2 A3 A4 A Time, h CS1 CS2 CS Time, h OG1 OG2 OG Time, h Slide courtesy of Dr. Mike Allen

15 Older studies on small grain silage Paulson et al Marx et al Diets were 50:50 F:C Composition of forage Milk Production Item Forage Item Forage Alfalfa Oat Triticale alfalfa oat Triticale DM NDF ADF FCM % Fat % CP CP

16 Heifer and dry cow diets High forage diets Moderate energy Watch mineral levels especially K and Ca Composition of forage Milk Production Item Forage Item Forage Alfalfa Oat Triticale alfalfa oat Triticale DM NDF ADF FCM % Fat % CP CP

17 Heifer and dry cow diets High forage diets Moderate energy Watch mineral levels especially K and Ca Composition of forage Composition of forage Item Forage Trit 2 % of DM Alfalfa Oat Triticale Trit 2 DM NDF ADF CP CA.37 P.42 K 3.70 sugar 9.35 starch 4.18

18 Recent Studies Using Small Grain Silage Inclusion of wheat and triticale silage in the diet of lactating dairy cows M.T. Harper, J. Oh, F. Giallongo, G.W. Roth, A.N. Hristov Journal of Dairy Science Volume 100, Issue 8, Pages (August 2017) DOI: /jds Using brown midrib 6 dwarf forage sorghum silage and fall-grown oat silage in lactating dairy cow rations M. T. Harper,* J. Oh,* F. Giallongo,* J. C. Lopes,* G. W. Roth, and A. N. Hristov*1 *Department of Animal Science, and Department of Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802

19 Trial Design 3 X 3 Latin square 12 cows fed each diet rotated every 28 days. Corn silage at 44 or 34 % of DM Alfalfa haylage at 8% of DM Other forages at 10% of DM

20 Forage Composition Composition of forage Item Forage SEM SEM P-value< CS1 CS 2 Triticale Wheat Oat Sorghum DM <0.01 NDF 40.2c 41.0b 51.1a 51.0a 54.7b <0.001 Lignin 3.70b 2.82c 3.47b 3.83a 2.86b 4.89a <0.01 CP 6.83c 6.4c 17.3a 14.6b 11.7a 9.50b <0.001 Starch 34.7a 34.5a.3b 1.0b.27b.80b <0.001

21 Production Intake and Production Item Forage SEM CS1 CS 2 Triticale Wheat Oat Sorghum DMI, kg Milk, kg 42.7a b 41.4b Fat, % CP, % ECM, kg 40.9a b b 0.96

22 NDF Digestion of Forages

23 Rate and Extent of NDF Digestion

24 Triticale mature Calculations TTNDFD, %NDF Dynamic NDF Kd %/hr 5.10%/h Milk 2006 Energy calculated using 30h Trad NDFD TDN 1X NEL 3x, Mcal/lb NEG, Mcal/lb NEM, Mcal/lb Milk/Ton, lb 1987

25 Description (%DM unless specified) Triticale Small grains forage Dry Matter Basis 60 day Avg. 4 yr Avg Crude Protein Soluble Protein, %CP ADF andf

26 Building a Forage Chain Every day we can graze is a day we don t have to feed!

27 Small Grain Feeding Guidelines Harvest in the boot stage for dairy quality. Have the forage tested Test, don t guess. 10 to 90 % forage diets can work, depending on what you are feeding. Watch moisture levels and chop length for good packing and fermentation.

28 Cover Crop Guidelines

29 Cover Crop Guidelines Diversity is a goal Root depth, type Plant type (grasses, legumes, annuals, broadleaves, pollinators Be specific for your farm and fields Time of year for growth How much diversity? 3 or 5 or 10 or 20? Plant populations? Carbon : Nitrogen

30 Roots of Cover Crops Variation in root depth Keeping plants doing something in the soil life, organisms we are measuring Build organic matter and soil carbon through plant and root growth

31 Questions?