Improving Forage Quality: Dreams vs. Reality - Penn State University

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BMR vs. non-BMR non BMR corn silage 105 100 95 90 Average of 18 field and lactation trials Yield ADF NDF Milk/Ton Milk/Acre BMR Non-BMR Corn hybrid selection: Summary Don’t Don t assume that the newest hybrids have better NDF digestibility. Rely on university corn silage trials. Leafies are a good option if they have superior digestibility. Some do, some, don’t. don t. BMR: Not for all farms, not for all cows on a farm. Should be stored in a separate silo. Requires a strong stomach and a pioneering spirit. (As opposed to a Pioneer-ing Pioneer ing spirit.) Penn State chop height research Chop height 6” 18” 18 Centre County, 2004 Tons/A @ 35%DM 26.4 24.6 48 hr NDF-D NDF 54.9 58.0 Milk/ton 3129 3406 29,169 29,473 19 21 Milk/acre 23 120 115 110 105 100 95 90 85 80 New BMR hybrid = improved performance? Two Cornell University silage trials, 2005 Yield Milk/t Milk/A Yield Milk/T Milk/A BMR Trial Ave. Corn silage chop height height “Normal Normal” chop height is generally considered to be 6-8”. . In recent years there’s there s been interest (and a lot of research) on chopping at 12” 12 to 18”, 18 , with some research at 30” 30 chop height . High chop corn is a trade-off trade off between reduced yield and increased silage quality. Yield reduced ~300# lbs. per inch above 6-8”. 6 . 3-4% 4% higher milk production per ton, but lower fat%. Chop height realities Many farmers already chop higher than 6-8” 6 because of uneven fields and wide chopper heads. 10” 10 not unusual. Custom harvest operators often chop 10”+, 10 +, especially on farms where stones are a problem and where the farmer hasn’t hasn t done a good job of stone picking. Chop height: “Just Just above the height of the biggest stone in the field.” field. 20 22 24 4
Processed corn silage Chop height: 17” (continued) Alfalfa mowing height: How low should we go? Yield of alfalfa-grass alfalfa grass hand harvested at 2” 2 and 4” 4 cutting heights First Second Third Total Tons DM/A 2” 2.0 0.8 1.4 4.2 Tons DM/A 4” 1.7 0.7 1.3 3.7 P 0.001
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Improving Forage Quality: Dreams vs. Reality - Penn State University

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