Better Farming – September 2016

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46 Farm News First > Better Farming September 2016
CROPS:THELYNCHFILE
when you want to remove the stand.
The other option is to use the mould
board plough as our fathers did.
Another exciting change is a
movement to pure grass stands. In
cases where there is an abundance of
liquid manure, having a stand of pure
grasses makes sense. Some farmers
are planting rye grass after wheat
harvest, taking a cut in the fall and
another cut in the spring before
planting beans.
And there are some exciting things
happening with grasses with some hy-
brid species. There is a new grass
called festulolium, a hybrid forage
grass developed by crossing meadow
fescue with Italian ryegrass or tall
fescue with perennial ryegrass.
Festulolium hybrids combine the best
properties of the two types of grass.
Another exciting thing is the 2013
DLF Trifolium Group A/S purchase
of Pickseed Canada and Pickseed
USA. DLF is the world’s largest
producer and marketer of grass and
clover species. The company joins its
25 research stations with Pickseed
research stations to come up with a
network of 32 research stations
around the world. It is the only
company in Canada that does yield
and quality research at a significant
number of research stations. This
small plot research is the same calibre
of research that you would expect
from government-run institutions.
This privately-run research is one of
the biggest things happening in
forage production research in
Ontario. Other companies, such as
DuPont Pioneer and Quality Seeds,
are increasing the number of on-farm
plot demonstrations as well. The
private research effort comes at a
great time as governments have cut
publicly funded research.
Using fungicides
Fungicide use has finally come to
forage production. If you take a close
look at alfalfa when you cut it you
will notice a lot of dead leaves on the
bottom of plants. This is protein. If
those leaves were as big as cow flaps
you might take a bigger notice of
them. Priaxor from BASF Corpora-
tion is registered for use on forages. It
controls a number of diseases
including the most common – com-
mon leaf spot. The research trials I
have seen show an increase in protein
per acre at harvest. Not surprising
since you are retaining more leaves.
This development will allow
breeders to focus on breeding for
yield, as opposed to disease ratings, as
growers can now use fungicides as
part of a disease management
strategy.
Changing approaches to harvest
Another thing that is changing is how
we harvest forages. Gone are the days
of the six-feet sickle mowers that I
used as a kid. The debate carries on
as to whether it is better to crimp/
crush forages to allow quicker drying
or to lay them out flat and use a
merger for best harvesting. Some
believe conditioners actually slow
down drying. When hay is condi-
tioned the stems are smashed. Some
research suggests moisture leaves
stems through the cut ends, and
smashing these stems slows down
drying. These folks believe cutting
forages, laying them out in a swath
and then using a merger to form a
windrow is the way to go.
The size of this equipment and
speed of operation has greatly
changed. When I was a kid we could
cut two to three acres an hour.
Today’s equipment can cut 25 acres
an hour. There is less maintenance.
When I was a kid we had to grease the
mower every hour. So that took
another 15 minutes out of each hour.
We would not cut after dark. Today’s
equipment can run more hours a day.
There is no doubt that if you can
make “hay in a day” you will get high
yields and higher quality. Getting
forage off quicker allows for manure
application after cutting. It is nice to
get liquid manure on 24 to 48 hours
after cutting. If regrowth starts and
you apply liquid manure you will
cause a yield drop.
Wouldn’t it be nice to see a
demonstration of the newest and
latest in forage harvesting equipment?
Well you can. This year, forage
mower-conditioners and disc binds
that are self-propelled and tractor
driven will be demonstrated at this
month’s Canada’s Outdoor Farm
Show in Woodstock. Different
companies will tell you the benefits of
their equipment. Whether those
benefits be acres per day or lower
maintenance power requirements,
you’ll be able to judge for yourself
through side-by-side comparisons at
the show. BF
Consulting agronomist Pat Lynch, CCA (ON),
formerly worked with the Ontario agriculture
ministry and with Cargill.
“When I was a kid we could cut
two to three acres an hour.
Today’s equipment can cut
25 acres an hour. There is less
maintenance. When I was a kid
we had to grease the mower
every hour.”