Ideal Timing for Haylage Harvest

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has declared 2014 the
International Year of Family Farming.
Main Office: 5242 Curtis Road, Warsaw NY 14569
Randolph Office: 91 Jamestown Street, Randolph NY 14772
May 21, 2014
Ideal Timing for Haylage Harvest
What a difference a year makes! At the writing of this newsletter last year, we were warning that native orchard grass
was heading and hay harvest wasn’t far behind. This year we have not had dry enough weather to get corn in the ground.
But, there is a season for everything, and hay harvest will come in due time. Harvest timing is of the utmost importance for
quality, and varies depending on the make-up of your stand. We use the physiological stage of grass to decide when to mow
pure stands for dairy quality feed. The boot stage –just before the head emerges from the sheath - is considered the ideal
time to mow for quantity and quality. Native orchardgrass usually matures 5-7 days before newer orchardgrass varieties that
are bred for later maturity. Canarygrass generally matures 5-7 days after newer orchardgrasses.
Mixed alfalfa/grass stands should be evaluated based upon the table below from Dr. Jerry Cherney of Cornell. Use this
table by evaluating the height of the tallest alfalfa in different areas of the field and the percentage of grass in the stand.
Table – Estimated NDF of a mixed alfalfagrass stand based on alfalfa height and the
percent grass in the stand. Target NDF for each
mixture is highlighted. Using the table to the
right , a field with 40% grass and 60% alfalfa
will be ready to mow when the tallest alfalfa stems
in the field are 26” tall.
Even though the weather has delayed entry into the fields this year, it is important that you keep track of hay
development. A sudden break in the weather with warm temperatures could hasten crop development. If your hay reaches
the defined stage for harvest and there is a window of good weather, plan on harvesting, even if it means putting the final
corn planting on hold. You can’t afford to lose the quality of forage by waiting beyond ideal maturity.
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WNYCMA
SIGNS AVAILABLE THROUGH WNY CROP MANAGEMENT
WNY Crop Management has an expanded inventory of available warning signs due to farm
interest and demand. Many farms are reviewing areas on the farm requiring signs for periodic
review of farm safety and in preparation for possible OSHA inspections scheduled for the summer of
2014.
Now is a good time to inspect the farm to assess areas where signs were damaged or destroyed
during the winter or to determine additional areas where signs are needed. Waste Storage Facilities
should at a minimum, have warning signs posted at entrance / access points, agitation points and at
least one per side, as close to eye level as possible. Large Waste Storage Facilities should consider
additional signs along sides. Manuals, product literature and as-built construction drawings may also
have Warning Sign recommendations.
Confined Spaces also require Warning Signs and include waste hoppers and reception pits,
storage tanks, & bins.
Large signs: 10” x 14” Small signs: 7” x 10”
All signs are hole punched in each corner for attachment. They are not adhesive, however
you can likely purchase double-sided adhesive tape or magnetic strips.
Signs come in Plastic or Aluminum
For further information on sign requirements and additional OSHA regulations:
Websites:
OSHA standards and materials: https://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/index.html
NY Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health

Key Focus: Enhancing agricultural and rural health by preventing and treating
occupational injury and illness.

Website: www.NYCAMH.com

Offers free services including: on-farm safety program

Other services: PTO Retrofit Program, NYS ROPS Rebate Program
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WNYCMA
And the Weather Forecast is… Rain!?! Time to Change Plans?
Here we are again, well into May with a great deal of spring fieldwork yet to be done. With another wet spring
reminiscent of 2011, we are wondering what really is an “average” year. Since things rarely seem to go as planned in
farming, here are a few pointers to consider as you dodge raindrops to get the crops in.
Dos and Don’ts to coping with this year’s weather:
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Don’t be inflexible. Your cropping plans for the year are just that: plans. Plans can always be changed based on
new information. Here’s some new information: rain seems to keep coming and the date on the calendar keeps
getting later and later.
Do consider delaying seeding fields until the summer or next year. With an estimated 50% of the seedings planted,
some of which have been washed away or are sitting under water, this is a very viable option to consider. If you
have not already fall-killed or rutted up the hay fields you planned on putting to corn, you may want to leave them in
hay and not seed any fields. The other option is to summer seed fields. Fall-killed wet, heavy ground is also a
candidate for seeding instead of corn. The advantage to taking this strategy is that you just decreased your spring
fieldwork by a significant amount of time and probably kept the same hay yield potential on your farm, for this year at
least. The disadvantage? It sets your rotations back another year.
Don’t put in your haylage too wet. Since this is not the first wet spring in the northeast, we can learn from the past. A
similar year in the mid-90’s, the grass grew like you would expect in a wet year, but when it came time to harvest, it
was still wet and overcast. Because of the soil moisture and overcast weather that year, the cut hay just didn’t dry.
To feel it, it seemed dry, but the koster tester didn’t lie; it was still wet. Those who ignored the koster tester put up a lot
of wet, butyric haylage that year. Coupled with the low sugars due to lack of sunshine, and the high lignin due to the
cold, wet weather, not much milk was made on that haylage. You are better off having high NDF forage that cows
will eat than a bunk of unpalatable slop.
The recent return to wide swath practices will help enhance the dry down speed when your window for harvesting in
limited. Also, being willing to ted the hay will further your potential for putting up haylage at the proper dry-matter.
Don’t mud in your corn. The harm caused by plow layer and sidewall compaction is irreparable. You are better off
putting in corn 10 days late, than mudding it in.
Do try to trade in your long season corn for shorter season corn. Now is probably the time to consider switching to
shorter season hybrids for grain; silage or high moisture corn can probably wait until the end of May. If the seed is not
already in the ground when you receive this newsletter, grain growers should probably back off by 5 days in hybrid
maturity, and another five if planting is delayed until early June, or consider switching corn acres to soybean acres. If
your silage or high moisture corn planting is delayed until early June, consider reducing the maturity by five days. As
last year’s data shows, there was really no yield hit to staying with long-season hybrids right up until June, but either
harvest has to be delayed by 2-3 weeks, or grain moisture will be much higher.
But again, anything can happen. In 2011, we had an exceedingly wet May allowing only for 24% of the corn to be
planted in NY by 5/22 and 43% by 5/29. But then conditions turned exceedingly dry from mid-June through July before the
drought was relieved in August. That year, the long-season corn planted in late May or early June yielded by far the best
because it didn’t silk until the first week of August when the drought was relieved. As none of us will ever control the weather,
we have to do the best with the hand we are dealt.
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WNYCMA
Corn Response to Sidedress vs.
Y Drop Applications
By Dennis Holland, CCA, Dupont Pioneer
reprinted with permission from Crops & Soils magazine,
March-April 2014
The growing season of 2013 was another
interesting year for Midwestern producers—most
notably record-breaking spring rainfall after the
major drought of 2012. The excessively dry weather
in 2012 reduced corn yields substantially, leading to
more residual nitrogen left in the soil after harvest.
While the heavy rains in the spring of 2013 were
beneficial to replenish soil moisture, excess rainfall
leached residual nitrogen out of the soil through tile
outlets and into surface waters, which put nitrate
pollution back in the news headlines. We are also
entering a time when commodity prices are trending
lower and producers are looking for ways to manage
their inputs more precisely to increase profits.
Improving nitrogen management is an excellent
opportunity for producers to reduce nitrate pollution
and increase profits. In the May–June 2013 issue of
Crops & Soils magazine, I wrote an article
summarizing a nitrogen study I conducted in the
Treatment summary–2012 study
• Untreated check—Base nitrogen program
only: 2 reps/location
• SuperU—50 units broadcast at V8 growth
stage: 2 reps/location
Sidedress UAN—50 units injected with a
coulter at V4: 3 reps/location
 Y Drop UAN—50 units dribbled at the base of
the plant at V12: 3 reps/location
summer of 2012 where I compared different inseason nitrogen management strategies.
Following are the treatment summary and yield
results (Table 1) to review, and here’s the link
where
you
can
find
the
original
article:
www.agronomy.org/publications/cns/
articles/46/3/11.
Y Drop attachments on a John Deere sprayer.
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WNYCMA
What struck me most after summarizing the
results from this study was the difference between
adjacent to the treatment split for the entire 2,200ft row length.
the sidedress and the Y Drop treatments. These
two treatments were both the same rate of UAN
The results from 2013 (Table 2) indicate again
that yields can be improved by managing the same
solution but with different application timing and
amount of nitrogen differently. These results show
placement. So in 2013, I decided to set up a few
more comparisons between sidedress application
that options exist to increase production using the
same amount of inputs. In this particular study, we
and Y Drop application to see if I could find a
similar response.
see that applying the same amount of nitrogen at a
different time and placing it closer to the base of
Five fields were selected to compare sidedress
the plant can result in increased yields.
and Y Drop timing. Two fields were corn followed
There are many ways Midwest corn growers
by soybean, and three fields were continuous corn.
can alter their nitrogen management plans to
The continuous corn fields had a pre-plant nitrogen
rate of 106 units applied in bands with a sidedress
bar 4 inches deep. The corn followed by soybean
reduce nitrates in the waterways and improve
yields and profits. I encourage everyone to take a
closer look at how making a small change to
fields had a pre-plant nitrogen rate of 76 units, also
applied in bands with a sidedress bar 4 inches
deep. All fields had 30 units of UAN solution
nitrogen management could help reach our goals.
Have a safe and productive season, and see
you in the fields!
broadcast with herbicide, and then incorporated
with one pass of vertical tillage before planting.
Each of the five fields had treatment strips
approximately 2,200 ft long. Twenty-four rows
were treated with sidedress nitrogen beside 24
rows treated with the Y Drops. The sidedress
nitrogen was applied in early June when corn
growth stage was approximately V6. It was applied
with a 60-ft sidedress bar with 30-inch coulter
spacing set at four inches deep. The Y Drop
nitrogen was applied in early July when corn
growth stage was approximately V14. The Y Drop
applicator is attached to a high-clearance sprayer
boom and dribbles a stream of nitrogen at the base
of the corn plants on both sides of the row. Both
treatments were the same nitrogen rate of 70 units
of UAN solution.
The grain from each field was harvested with
a John Deere S680 combine with a 12-row head,
and data were collected with a calibrated John
Deere GS3 yield monitor. The yield for each
treatment at each field is reported for the 12 rows
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WNYCMA
By Nick Youngers
Western New York Crop Management plans to utilize the Adapt-N program on several fields throughout
our membership area. Adapt-N is a computer model that depicts rainfall events and plots data to
determine what nitrogen losses have occurred. As we found out in 2013, these losses vary greatly
based on soil types, rainfall amounts and frequency of rains. This will help us understand the trends of
nitrogen losses due to rainfall events and refine our nitrogen sidedressing recommendations. In order
to utilize the model, we will need to have complete, accurate records. Items needed for each field
include variety day length; planting date; harvest population; nitrogen fertilizer date, depth, and type;
previous crop; burndown date; percent legume; manure application dates and methods; tillage date and
type; and, finally, percent residue. If we have incomplete or inaccurate information to enter into the
program, we will get inaccurate information back.
Although the Adapt-N system was developed, and continues to be fine-tuned, by Cornell University
staff, it is no longer administered by Cornell. Now controlled by a private vendor, the use of the Adapt-N
system is no longer free of charge. Western New York Crop Management Association has contracted a
$1 per acre rate for the 2014 crop season. The board decided that the association will cover the cost of
running 5% of the corn acres for any member enrolled in a crop program. If additional acres are desired,
the farm will be charged $1/acre on the subsequent land. (One requirement of the vendor to note: the
minimum field size for utilizing the program is 10 acres.) If you are interested in running specific fields,
please contact your consultant.
WNYCMA Board of Directors
President
Donn Branton
John Reynolds
WNYCMA STAFF
CROP CONSULTANTS
David DeGolyer, CCA, CCP
Dan Steward, CCA, CCP
Chad Stoeckl, CCA, CCP
David Shearing, CCA
Eric Nixon, CCA
Tom Frederes, CCA , CCP
Nick Youngers, CCA
Henry Kelsey, CCA
Nate Herendeen, CCA, CCP
JR. CROP CONSULTANTS
Jason Post, CCA
Josh Harvey, CCA
Vice President
Kevin Nedrow
Don Telaak
CROP TECHS
Mike Youngers
Andy Marusarz
Ben Welch
Bob Scott
Dave Wiggers, CCA
Don Mitzel
Joseph Keller
Lorie Ames
Travis Praller
FARMSTEAD DEPT.
Jim Booth, CCA, CCP
Rhonda Lindquist
Greg Tessmann
Jim Seiler
Secretary/Treasurer
Ben Atwater
Shawn Cotter
Russ Klein
Jared Norton
Lori Whittington
Colleen Makar
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Deirdre DeGolyer
COMPUTER/ IT MANAGER
Avery DeGolyer
OFFICE SUPPORT
Jenn Elliott
Christine Rase