April 2015 Newsletter
In This Issue

Read the latest posting: 

Spring Meeting Review
The introductory price of $25.00/sample will now be the formal price of the new NIR Pro package featuring the aNDFom and uNDFom analyses.

What have we seen for aNDF and aNDFom? 

 

Since the release of the aNDFom analysis and our Forage NIR Pro package, we have analyzed more than 2,600 samples of corn silage, legume haylage, and grass haylage. The aNDFom analysis was added for the correction of ash content in samples. Over the years, we have seen the ash content and variation of legume and grass silages increase, which can lead to overestimation of NDF and fiber content of diets.

Similar to ash analysis comparisons between 2000 to 2001 and 2013 to 2014, corn silage was lower in ash and deviation than the legume or grass silages (Table 1 and Table 2). Ash values are lower in corn silage because elevated ash levels in corn silage are related to late-season flooded corn or corn that has lodged or fallen down prior to chopping.

 

The ash content of the legume and the grass silage was higher than in the corn silage, but the difference in the aNDF and aNDFom was similar to the corn silage (Table 2). The higher ash values in legume and grass silages is related harvest techniques. Lower cutting heights (less than 4 inches), amount of raking after cutting, merging practices, larger equipment, and dry or very dry soil conditions all contribute to the ash content of the forage.

The difference between the aNDF and aNDFom for most of the corn silage samples was less than 3. The narrowest distribution of the difference between aNDF and aNDFom was in the legume haylage, with the majority of the sample differences below 2. Grass haylage had the most spread out distribution, but still the majority of the sample differences were less than 2.

 

It will be interesting to monitor this data set as the samples continue to come in. In the next newsletter, we will look at uNDFom and the uses. 

Introducing the Dairy One Summer 2015

Measurement to Management Farm Tour!


Plan now to visit a site near you and see how Dairy One services make a difference for members.

 

What does it mean to "Measure it so you can manage it" ? We will show you how the following areas of our business do just that on real farms and get real results.

 

* DHIA Records Services

* Forage Laboratory

* Agro One Soils Laboratory

* Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory

* Agricultural Management Resources

* Agricultural Consulting Services

 

Dairy One staff are excited to be working with 6 member farms this summer and will be available at each site. We will spend the morning touring the farm facility and addressing just how we measure it so you can manage it. This is a new event for Dairy One and we look forward to seeing you there!

 

Tour Dates and Locations:

Tuesday, June 9th - Lauden Farms - Halifax, PA. The farm is currently milking about 580 cows.

 

Thursday, June 11th - Knoxland Farm - Hilsboro, NH and Bradford, VT. The farm is using alternative manure application methods.

 

Tuesday, June 16th - Green Acres Farm - Lewes, DE. Has a great ice cream business at the farm and milks 500 cows.

 

Thursday, June 18th - Post Dairy Farm - Oakfield, NY. The farm is currently milking about 380 cows.

 

Tuesday, July 21st - Bergen Farms - Odessa, NY. The farm is currently milking about 2600 cows.

 

Thursday, July 23rd - Hidden View Farm - Champlain, NY. The farm is moving into new dry cow and calving facilities this summer.

 

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged so we can anticipate the number of visitors for each site.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Kayla Turcsik at Dairy One by phone 800-344-2697, or e-mail kayla.turcsik@dairyone.com. Include the site and number of people attending.

Like us on Facebook

Dairy One - Forage Laboratory
730 Warren Road ~ Ithaca, NY ~ 14850
Phone:  1-800-344-2697 Ext. 2172