36 www.WisconsinAgriculturist.com - March 2009
Forage Management
FARM Team presents workshops
on managing your profit margin
U
NIVERSITY of Wisconsin
Extension’s Farm and Risk
Management Team is offering five
workshops in March on managing
profit margin. The FARM Team’s mission is to help Wisconsin farmers
improve business profitability and
lifestyle through informed decisionmaking.
The daylong program will be held
in Rice Lake, Marshfield, Green Bay,
Juneau and Melrose. The workshop,
Deal or No Deal — Managing the
Margin, will have an interactive presentation on price volatility using a
marketing game compiled by Kevin
Bernhardt, farm and risk management
specialist for UW Extension/Center
for Dairy Profitability. In this day and
age, managing your profit margin is
much more than simply paying attention to milk prices. Good milk prices
no longer automatically translate into
good profits because of the volatility
in inputs.
Presentations on determining cost
of production for different commodities also will be presented. Cost of
production is determined by the costs
associated with production divided by
the number of units. Learn how to calculate your cost of production through
a hands-on exercise and use the information for your decision-making.
Workshops will be held from 10
a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the following days
at the location listed:
March 4: Turtleback Golf and
Conference Center in Rice Lake
Contact: Tim Jergenson, Barron
County Extension Office, 715-5376250
March 9: Belvedere Supper Club in
Marshfield
Contact: Maria Bendixen, Clark
County Extension Office, 715-7435121
March 10: Shawano
Contact: Scott Reuss, Marinette
County Extension Office, 715-7327510, or toll-free at 877-884-4408
March 11: Juneau
Contact: Matt Hanson, Dodge
County Extension Office, 920-3863790
March 12: Legion Hall in Melrose
Contact: Trisha Wagner, Jackson
County Extension, 715-284-4257, ext.
504
Registration is $15 per site and $25
at the door. Visit the FARM Team Web
site, www.uwex.edu/ces/farmteam, to
download a brochure, or contact your
local Extension office.
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Limit ash content
in hay and silage
By DAN UNDERSANDER
FARMERS have become
more concerned about
ash content of hay and
haylage. Ash provides
no calories, so each 1%
of ash is 1% less total digestible nutrients. Thus,
while we need a small amount of the
minerals ash puts in forage, total ash
content above the minerals needed results in reduced TDN of hay.
Ash comes from two sources:
■ internal sources (e.g. minerals
such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus)
■ external sources (e.g. dirt, sand,
bedding)
It is important to note that the sum
of minerals on most forage reports is
not total ash content because mineral
analysis usually does not include silica,
which is the largest proportion of ash.
So look for an “ash” value on the report.
The dirt on dirt
The internal mineral content of most forages is about 6%. The table below gives
the average ash content of several thousand samples analyzed at the University
of Wisconsin Forage Testing Laboratory.
You can see that average ash content is
10% to 11%, indicating 4% to 5% soil contamination of the forage. Note that at
least one sample for both hay and haylage was about 18% ash. These farmers
were feeding almost 1 pound of dirt for
each 4 pounds of hay or haylage!
While it’s not possible to eliminate
all dirt from hay, more growers should
be able to make hay or haylage with 2%
to 3% dirt contamination. What causes
high ash in forage, and what can be
done to lower it?
Lodged alfalfa will have higher ash
content because the stems are lying
on the ground. If stems are left in the
field, ash content will be less, but tonnage loss will be greater. Some alfalfa
varieties stand better than others, and
these should be considered if lodging
is a problem. The main prevention is
to harvest early before lodging occurs,
which can be done most years.
The mower can impact ash in forage.
Disk mowers come with either flat knives
or angled knives. The angled knives pick
up downed hay better but also pick up
more dirt when the soil is dry. In addi-
Focus on Forages
tion, cutting height can affect ash content. Lower cutting will generally give
higher yields but will result in more ash
content. We generally recommend cutting at 3 to 3.5 inches as a reasonable
compromise between tonnage and ash
content.
Putting hay or haylage in a wide swath
immediately after cutting can reduce
ash because the swath stays on top of
the stubble while a windrow sinks to the
ground and picks up some soil. Further,
when raking a swath on top of stubble,
the tines need not touch the ground so
less dirt is added.
Raking can increase ash content if
tines touch the ground. This means a
rotary rake is better (though more expensive) than a wheel rake, which is
driven by tines touching the ground. If
using a wheel rake, adjust the float so
that tines touch the ground with the
minimum necessary to turn. Also when
raking, move hay horizontally across
the ground as little as possible — it is
better to move two swaths to the middle
rather than to one side. Also, use of a
merger will reduce ash content because
hay or haylage is picked up and moved
across on a conveyer to the windrow.
These are more expensive and may not
be cost-effective in many operations but
can be another benefit of using a contract harvester.
Lastly, care in storage and feedout
will reduce ash content. Bales left on the
ground will pick up soil. Placing them on
concrete, pavement, or a layer of hay or
other material will reduce soil picked up
during storage. One of the most common
reasons for high ash content of haylage
is when farmers feed from silage tubes
in the spring and rains turn the storage
area into a mud patch. One can easily
add 10% to 15% dirt on feedout under
such circumstances.
In summary, ash provides some
needed minerals but will reduce TDN
content of the hay as levels rise. As
one nutritionist said, “While there have
been few research trials in this area, it is
highly likely that cows do not milk well
when fed dirt.”
Undersander is a UW Extension and
research forage agronomist.
Ash Content of Forage Samples,
2005-2008, UW Marshfield Lab
Type
Haylage
Hay
1-866-467-7207
www.wheatheart.com
Statistic
Average
Maximum
Minimum
Average
Maximum
Minimum
% Ash
10.9
18.0
5.7
10.3
17.6
2.9