Grasses for Dairy-Quality Forage?
For many years, alfalfa and corn silage have been the staples of dairy diets throughout the Great Lakes Region & the North-East. Cool-season grasses (such as orchardgrass, timothy & tall fescue) which traditionally have been early-maturing, stemmy, hard-to-manage and just not very productive were considered old-fashioned impediments to high-quality dairy forage.
In the late 1990’s through early 2000’s, a ‘Grass Revolution’ hit United States forage production. Grass species and improved varieties developed for high quality forage production from around the world began to find their way on to farms throughout the US.
These grasses transformed the economics of many small and mid-sized dairies, especially grass-based and organic operations; however, in many cases large dairies have not successfully availed themselves of the benefits of improved cool-season grasses.
Exceptional Digestibility – BARENBRUG NUTRI-FIBER Grasses
The world’s largest grass seed company, BARENBRUG, has been a leader in development of cool-season grasses with exceptional digestible energy and rumen-effective fiber. They have identified a group of their products with these characteristics as NUTRI-FIBER products. Following are two examples of how NUTRI-FIBER grasses can positively impact your bottom-line.
Testing Demonstrates MILKWAY Supports Both High Production & Components
Barenbrug MILKWAY is a proprietary blend of 60% meadow fescue and 40% soft-leafed tall fescue selected for exceptional yield, digestibility and agronomic performance. Testing at the University of Wisconsin using these varieties demonstrated that MILKWAY in combination with alfalfa and corn silage is better able to support both 90 plus pound per head per day production AND 3.5% butter fat over a 12 week period than diets of either alfalfa and corn silage alone or alfalfa, corn silage and wheat straw (production dropped below 80 pounds and 3.0 butter fat with both diets without the grass component).
MILKWAY is far more tolerant of heavy wheel traffic, manure application, disease pressure and later maturing than orchardgrass. Yields of 6 to 7 tons of dry matter are common with 10 ton of dry matter per acre achieved in University of Minnesota testing. A longer harvest window allows a greater portion of the crop to be harvested as high quality haylage. Although the establishment cost is higher, the cost per ton of grass haylage produced is 13% less and the return on investment is 72% ($665.64/acre) greater than straight orchardgrass.
Barenbrug GREEN SPIRIT is an aggressive high quality Italian ryegrass blend that can be no-till drilled into aging alfalfa stands with tremendous benefit. Dry matter yields of 8.5 to 9 tons per acre, especially when irrigated with liquid manure, are very reachable in 5 to 6 cuttings when harvested on a 30-35 day schedule.
90:1 Return on GreenSpirit Seed Investment
The following data from a University of Wisconsin feed quality study show that GREEN SPIRIT provides protein, digestible energy AND rumen-effective fiber for high producing dairy cow diets: 22.4% Crude Protein; 47.4% NDF (73.7% dNDF); RFQ = 186; milk/ton = 3410 (158# more milk / ton than alfalfa alone). In addition to harvesting nearly 3 times the tonnage of high-quality forage, GREEN SPIRIT has been shown to benefit corn silage yield the following year by 7% more than alfalfa all for less than $25 / acre seed cost investment. The increased value of forage harvested represents over a $90 dollar return for every dollar invested in seed, other costs being equal.
For more information about NUTRI-FIBER products click on the provided links. For an individual consultation about how to make these products work on your farm, email support@dairy4profit.com, call (888) 249-SEED or visit the DEALER page on our website www.fowlerseed.com/dealers to contact a dealer in your area.
