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Text Box: Things are starting to get very busy. Silaging and haying will be starting right away. When silaging here are a few key points to keep in mind. Harvest the crop at the right stage. Alfalfa should be harvested at first flower and annual forages (cereals) early– mid dough stage. Target for an optimum dry matter content 30% - 40% ( 60%- 70% moisture). If the silage is too dry, fermentation will be inhibited. Hand method for estimating the Moisture Content of Forage and Silage Water easily squeezed out and material holds shape………More than 80% moisture Water can just be squeezed out and material holds shape……….75– 80% moisture Little or no water can be squeezed out, but material holds shape…...70-75% moisture No water can be squeezed out and material falls apart slowly…..60-70% moisture No water can be squeezed out and material falls apart rapidly………….less than 60% moisture Text Box: C) Don’t let the cut crop sit in the field too long. Silage quality can be reduced if the crop sits too long in the swath. D) Pack it and keep oxygen out. It is recommended silage be packed to a minimal density of 225kg of dry matter per meter cubed. This works out to 2 minutes of packing time per tonne of silage. E) Make sure to cover the pit. This is one of the most important things you can do in order to make good quality silage. F) Minimize exposure to oxygen at feed out. Design silage pits to match feed demand rate such that at least 4-6 inches of silage is removed from the face on a daily basis. Text Box: Tracy’s Info Corner Text Box: A Word from Agnes Whiting Text Box: Center, Green Prairie International hay plant and the One-Four research facility. I encourage you all to attend our tour. There will be a cost, but it will definitely be a holiday that you all may need. Please contact me before July 10th to register for the tour . Really, who could pass up a little agricultural fun! I have also inquired into the BSE Recovery Program Assistance application. It can be found under the ropin’ the web site at www.agric.gov.ab.ca or you can call for the application forms at 780-422-9167. Hope everyone is having a productive season .If you have any questions about anything, give me a call and I will try to answer your questions or I will direct you to someone who can. Tracy Allen @ the E.C.A.F.A office 753-6227. Cell: 753-1045 or Tracy’s Cell evenings and weekends @ 403-308-5964 Text Box: We are into a new growing season and everything is looking very good. It is a big change from last year, instead of everything being brown in color it is vibrant green and the rain seems to show up at the right time. We have our demonstration plots seeded and everything seems to be doing good. We will be starting our cow supplementation project shortly and hope to take it through till fall again. We will take a little different angle with the Cow Supplementation project. We will be measuring the amount of grass saved on pasture by supplementing these cattle. As we did last year there will be a control group to measure the consumption differences of grass consumed on pasture and weight gain between the two groups. The tour is planned and we are ready to go. We have worked hard planning this tour to make it interesting for everyone. We will tour Brooks Research Center, Lethbridge Research Text Box: Volume 2,Issue 2 Text Box: Page # Text Box: Inside This Issue:

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President’s Message

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ECAFA Value Added Tour

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Ag– Fieldman’s Message

 

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Variety Demo Plot

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Watering Systems

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A word from Agnes

 

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Adding value to Forages

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Risk Management

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ECAFA

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