I took three cutting off this hay field, and it’s ready to be cut or grazed again at the end of September.  I’ll wait until after a hard frost, but before the snow gets deep, to graze this field with cattle.

If I grazed this field now, the alfalfa may use most of its root reserves to initiate regrowth.  If a hard frost shuts down the alfalfa at this point, it may have a difficult time surviving the winter because its root reserves are too low.  Grazing or cutting after the plant has gone dormant has little effect.  The time I avoid cutting or grazing is from about September 15th to October 15th, for this climate.

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Justin, formerly of  Midwestern Bio-Ag, took two forage samples, one from first cutting, and one from second cutting.  The samples were taken from square bales, stored in the barn.  First cutting was baled June 1st.  Second cutting was baled July 8th.  The alfalfa was full-bloom both times.

I don’t understand forage testing very well.  If you want an in-depth explanation, check out this excellent article from the University of Kentucky.

These were the first forage tests I’ve ever taken on my farm.  I’ll share some of what I learned.

Even though both cuttings were taken when the alfalfa was full-bloom, 2nd cutting was considerably higher in quality than 1st cutting.  The cattle’s preference confirms this.  2nd cutting was higher in protein, (17.28 to 16.58), lower in ADF fiber, (31.96 to 37.23), higher in TDN total digestible nutrients, (57.06% to 51.13%), and higher in RFQ relative feed quality, (143.91 to 108.68).

I’ll summarize what these numbers mean to me.  Cattle can maintain their weight eating the first cutting hay, and gain some weight eating the second cutting hay.

Some other interesting findings, calcium was low, lending credence to the importance of added calcium, which I have not done.  Manganese was fine, which is strange because my soil tests show low manganese.  Potassium was high, which is also strange because I didn’t add any potassium in the spring, eliminating the theory of luxury consumption, and the soil tests show medium potassium.

If you have any thoughts about this, please share.

I enjoyed attending a Midwestern Bio-Ag field day.  Fertilizer is their main business, but they also deal in feed and seed.  Pictured is a large truck which is used to spread fertilizer, and a red buggy which a farmer can pull behind a tractor to spread fertilizer.

Gary Zimmer is the founder of Midwestern Bio-Ag.  I picked up a copy of his new book, “Advancing Biological Farming.”  He sold me in his introduction, when he wrote:

“So please, when you read this book don’t be too quick to judge.  Don’t read between the lines.  I’m sure you can find some details you won’t or can’t agree with, but remember, these are my thoughts, observations, ideas, and experiences up to this point in time.  Show me a better way and I’m ready to make changes and take on new ideas after they have been tested and their success demonstrated on the farm.  I want to know when it works, how it works, why it works or doesn’t work.  If a new idea makes sense, improves quality and/or yield, and is profitable, then let’s go with it.”

I always listen to a person who admits he doesn’t know everything.

I have a difficult time knowing if a fertilizer is real, or “foo-foo dust”.  There are so many variables in farming, it’s nearly impossible to know if a little something we spread on the fields has an effect.  Unless I correct a visible deficiency, fertilizer is almost faith-based.

That being said, I’m thinking about working with Midwestern Bio-Ag for my fertilizer wants and needs.  I plan to figure ways to test the effectiveness of their products.

Below is a picture of the Round Baler, unloading a finished bale.  Hay is picked up underneath the baler.  The belts keep tension on the hay as an ever-increasing amount is rolled up, resulting in a tightly-packed round- bale of hay.

Photo  by Melissa.

Each bale weighs about 1500 lbs. and feeds at least 50 cows a day in winter.  We feed the cows by unrolling the hay on the frozen ground so all the cows can eat at once.  They eat their daily allotment in a few hours.

The picture below is of our wheel rake.  Each arm of wheels moves up and down hydraulically.  When the wheels are down, they turn along the ground moving the hay into the center.

Photo by Melissa.

This was my worst field of down corn, Monday, after the severe storm.  We received close to three inches of rain in less than an hour.  Wind speeds of 70 mph were reported.

I was shocked when I looked out and saw the fields.  I examined it right away and figured it was a total loss, but held out hope because I only found one stalk snapped off.  Sometimes corn can pull itself back up if it’s early enough in the growing season.

And thankfully, that’s what our corn did.  The picture below is of the same field  on Friday.  The mud on the leaves shows how down it was.

Before me, Citygirlfriend had never known someone who actually talked about the weather.  I think she’s starting to see why we do.

This is a traditional 4th of July picture in my family.  Shepherd snapped the photo this year.  Links to the last two years are here and here.

Ten acre field of mowed hay.  We mow around the outside edge of the field and work our way in, leaving concentric swaths of cut hay.

This is the front view of the haybine which cuts the hay.  Its power comes from a tractor which is ahead and to the left of the haybine.

This is the rear view of the haybine where the hay is thrown out in a swath.  We can control the width of the swath by moving a sheet of metal up or down.

The sickle goes back and forth quickly, while the tines on the reel pull the hay towards the sickle.  The sickle is made of individual blades which can be changed if they are damaged.  The large metal points in front of the blades are called rock guards.  They can be changed if damaged as well.

This haybine is called a mower/conditioner.  The conditioning is performed by these two rolls.  The hay is crushed as it passes through the rolls, allowing the stems to lose moisture faster.  This helps with alfalfa, but isn’t necessary for grass.

This is our oat drill with roller behind. It has two compartments for seeds, shown below.  The smaller one holds alfalfa and timothy.  The larger one holds oats and perennial ryegrass.

The oats and perennial ryegrass is dropped into the small furrow made by the disc blade.  The alfalfa and timothy is dribbled onto the ground behind the planter via tubes, not shown.

The roller breaks up more soil clods, and ensures a firm seed bed and good soil to seed contact.

Below is the planted seedbed.  This is also the picture I’m using for the May 7th square-foot saturday.

I planted this field, M6, on May 3rd.  That’s the latest I’ve ever planted oats, and exactly one month later than I finished planting oats last year.  I planned on showing a square-foot in this field, so I’m sticking with the plan, even though I’m not happy with the planting date.  Oats grow well in cool weather.

It was a late spring, but the truth is we missed a small planting window in April because we were in the middle of building a new barb-wire fence and didn’t want to stop.  We thought we would be able to plant a few days later, but a couple weeks of wet weather ruined that plan.

Farming is about windows.  You want to do the right job at the right time.  Work the soil and plant too wet, and you face compaction and yield reduction.  Plant late, and you miss valuable heat units and yield is reduced.

Check back every weekend and we’ll see how this field progresses.

We tested the soil in a few of our fields last week.  Pictured is the probe, laying on its side, which is pushed into the soil vertically, and then pulled back up, removing a small core of soil which you can see in the bottom part of the probe. It takes five samples to fill a testing bag.  We sent our samples to AgSource Soil & Forage Laboratory, located in Bonduel, WI.

This is also the first picture in a series showing how this field changes throughout the year.  We call this field M6.  It was planted to corn last year.  It will be planted to oats this year.

We last tested this field in 2006.  It looks like our management has improved the soil profile in five years.  I’ll go through the soil test without much explanation.  If you have anything to add, please do.

Organic matter increased from 2.1% to 2.9%.  pH stayed constant at 7.4.  Cation exchange capacity increased from 10 to 11.

The next observations are all in parts per million.  Phosphorous increased from 38 to 41.  Potassium decreased from 109 to 97.  Calcium increased from 1285 to 1600.  Magnesium increased from 395 to 500.  Boron increased from .5 to .9.  Manganese increased from 4 to 6.  Zinc increased from 3.2 to 10.4.

Our soils are different types, based mainly on our management.  The soil close to my parents’ farm, next to the buildings, has had a lot of hog manure spread on it over the past thirty-plus years.  The soil on my farm has received a lot of hog manure since we built the three hoop buildings in 1996-1997.  The cowherd is usually fed hay in the winter on some of this land as well.  As a result, the soil is high in phosphorous, and optimum in potassium.

The soil on the east hills receives no manure except for when the cows graze the fields.  This soil tests low in both phosphorous and potassium.

The other farm soil receives some manure, so it’s optimum in phosphorous and low in potassium.

Our chosen fertilizer is manure.  The problem with manure is it is not perfectly balanced.  Our management of the manure and crop removal has caused  phosphorous to increase relative to potassium.  We are doing a few things to combat this.  1. Managing the spreading of manure better.  2. Feeding phytase, an enzyme which helps pigs digest phosphorous better, resulting in less phosphorous in the manure.  3. Fertilize with potash, 60% potassium, in the fall, when our budget allows.  We spread 200 lbs of potash on all the crop acres last fall.

Our plan for this spring. 1. Hog manure will be spread and tilled in to all 2nd-year corn fields.  Oat and hay fields on my farm and my parents’ farm close to the buildings will receive nothing.  2. Other farm and fields farther from my parents’ buildings received 200 lbs of potash to increase potassium.  3. East hills received 100 lbs of potash and 100 lbs of MAP, 52% phosphorous, to increase potassium and phosphorous.

Urea 46-0-0-0 $462/ton

Ammonium sulfate 21-0-0-24 $343/ton

Monoammonium phosphate (MAP) 11-52-0-0 $673/ton

Potassium chloride (Potash) 0-0-60-0 $537/ton

Which source of nitrogen, Urea or Ammonium sulfate, is a better deal.  We need to calculate the nitrogen cost per pound.

What is 46% of a ton?  Multiply .46 times 2000 equals 920 lbs. nitrogen per ton of Urea.  Divide $462 by 920 lbs. equals $.50 per lb. of nitrogen.

Ammonium sulfate is 21% nitrogen.  .21 times 2000 equals 420 lbs. nitrogen per ton.  Divide $343 by 420 lbs. equals $.82 per lb. of nitrogen.

The Ammonium sulfate is higher priced per lb. of nitrogen.  Ammonium sulfate also contains sulfur, which is needed by plants, and it is more stable, releasing its nitrogen more slowly than Urea.  Urea will volatilize, turn into a gas, in hot, dry, conditions.  Urea is best spread before a rain, or when the ground is cool and moist.  So someone may want to use Ammonium sulfate even though it is more expensive.

I realized when I started writing, this is part of a much larger post about the philosophy of fertilizer.  For our farm, animal manure is our preferred fertilizer.  We just purchased a new manure spreader which I’m excited to use, and will show in a post soon.