With higher land costs, increasing our yields is becoming key to reducing our costs of producing forage, and remaining competitive with corn and soybeans for acreage. Three factors limiting our forage yields are old stands, poor establishment and low soil fertility. Good soil fertility is essential to both yield and persistence of forage crops. Phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertility…
Coordinated by: Ian McDonald and Greg Stewart, OMAFRA Background Annually the OMAFRA field crops team surveys a range of corn fields to determine what impact the weather has on the level of residual soil nitrate. In 2012 weather conditions have been almost polar opposite to last year when April was cool and May was wet. What impact has the warm…
Christine Brown May 24, 2012 7430 Comments Off on Johne’s Disease: Should Manure Be Applied To Forages?Application of manure from animals infected with pathogens is a potential method for spreading infection. This becomes a higher risk when the manure is applied to crops used for animal consumption. Johne’s (yo-nees) Disease is a persistent and debilitating bacterial disease that affects the intestines of ruminant animals, including cattle, goats and sheep. The disease is especially problematic in dairy…
A livestock farmer appreciates the value that manure has to their cropping system. In the past, cash crop producers, who did not have access to such a beneficial organic soil amendment were envious. Now there are options to source and apply various different organic amendments, but with many non-agricultural sourced materials on the market, it is important to know which…
The handling of manure is a cost associated with the livestock portion of the farm. Handling manure has many costs connected with it, including equipment purchase and maintenance, the opportunity cost of the time it takes to apply manure to fields, and the liability if something goes wrong and there is a spill. Additional costs may be incurred where the…
There has been a great deal of debate about the need for boron on spring canola. It is well documented that boron plays a critical role in proper canola pollination and seed set. This has created quite a bit of interest from growers who have been experimenting with foliar boron applications at early-flowering. Also driving this interest, were the results…
Fields that usually get nitrogen applied prior to planting and incorporated may have been planted this year without any nitrogen in order to speed up the process. Post planting N application of UAN (28%) is a good option in these situations but there are a few things to consider. Nitrogen application using UAN will cause some corn leaf burn but…
