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. forage crops and cereal grains._

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Page 10-B . The Guardian - The Evening Patriot

GOAL SHOULD BE HIGHER

Major factors of low yield) quality in growing forage

Ni.

By L.B. MacLEOD |

Experimental Farm, Charlottetown SS

While a selected few of our Maritime farmers are doing a reasonably good job of forage | production, the majority are mot and herein, along with in- adequate grain production, lies the greatest dilemma of re- gearch, extension and farming fm the Maritime provinces. Over. 80 per cent of our farm cash in- eome comes from our forage- livestock economy and almost 70 per cent of our improved land area is involved in-.it. If our _bootstrap operation of self im- provement is to. feature increas- _ed production of meat and milk to the point where we can at) least feed ourselves, then it all has: to start with more efficiént and much higher production of

Can we produce as much for- age per acre as economically as they can in Ontario, or in Maine, | with whom we tend to compare | ourselves? We certainly can’t and don’t at the. present time. Whether we can in the future re- mains to be seen but if we do I doubt if we ean do it as econom- ically. I say this not: to be pessi- mistie but to try and be factual. We have some basie limiting factors that they do not have and we may as well accept them and start from there to over- come them. However, our -po- tential yield is. at least twice

DR. MacLEOD ' izes moisture more efficiently, gives higher yields and allows a good-second cut to be removed in late August.

If-there is a golden rule for forage management I -think it would go as follows. Fertilize in early spring, cut in late June, fertilize and cut in late August

| season; greater ’\foot trefoil where adapted and

' 4\according to its physiology are “\e.amples of overcoming the li- /|mitations this factor may have

ductive species used in the, wrong environments are a limit- | ing factor : | Greater use of bromegrass or light textured soils having limited moisture. reserves: selection of a range of maturity for timothy for ex- ample to lengthen the harvest use of. birds-

management of each species

on. potential yield.

Let me mention briefly some social and financial factors which limit forage yield and qua- lity. Under social we could in-

clude : SOCIAL FACTORS————|__ 1, Tradition - -- for example re-| _

luctance to change from “the one late cut poor quality hay

alfalfa and |

dl

of Lewis Brothers,

sent time.

July than in June. —

9. Reluctance to acknowledge that forage is a valuable crop and must be treated as a separate crop and requires lime, fertili- zer and machinery investment. Research, extension and farm- ing people are all guilty of this to varying derees. ;

3. We are not getting across com- |

and help the plent prepare for the long cold winter ahead. Early cutting is the key to for- age quality.

Winter killing of legumes puts an element of chance in our for-

the present provincial average yields for most forage crops and | probably as much as % to one- |

' farmers are getting now. The

age program and boosts produc- tion :costs considerably. Loss “of

vest up to $20.per acre in nitro-

third greater than. our rhe! ve legume means we must. in-

1961-62 average ‘tame hay’’)

* yields according to the cnseus |

—=age-yield-weuld--he.-.3.5.. to.

"~~ provincial jurisdiction 1 feel the age seeding a boost before win: 5F $67.00~

.

~ gon is it at all acceptable

are 1.76 tons per acre for P-E.1+)

gen fertilizer and that we will have to reseed sooner than anti- cipated. Both of these are ex-

iPletely enough the importance lof quality. Digestible dry mat-. \ter rather than dry matter must ‘be our measuring stick and our ievery day terminology.

system” since-it is easy to make | and-the-weather is better in |

itation R.-one of the best known sires 0 His get have won top __ place at the Royal Winter Fair and

York, is a

|

é =—— | in Ontario

- at several other major livestock ~ shows. He is owned now in Mexico. -Lewis Brothers purchased this cow

ispersal sale of Holstein cows

DAUGHTER OF FAMOUS SIRE

This Holstéin.cow in the stable

last v

‘is-at-the-halter.

| tilizer that will produce say $150 | | worth of. hay. For légume and legume-grass hays the fertiliza- tion costs would be cut im half since they supply their own nit- | rogen. ‘ mg

High yields are simply not at- tainable without: sizeable invest- |

| ments in fertilizer. We need to | jestablish economic -levels but

this cannot be cut and dried, without being’ ited in with the | whole operation. Dr.-- Poulton | says good hay in Maine is worth | $35 to $40 per ton. That is for'|

4. Age of farmer, father - son |$5.00 milk. What is it worth. for |

relationship and attractiv- ness of farming as a profession for educated young men all af-

$3.50 milk on P.E.1L? { Fertility is another factor we | carn control. 1

|feet production levels. Only far-

DISEASES, INSECTS. '

lmer education to .provide peo- |’ The most significant state- ple receptive to extension ef! ment-I can- say here is that we |that is winterkijled by careless

‘forts, . printed or televised. re-

|don’t really know how much of a

1.92 for New Brunswick and 2.12/ pensive alternatives. We cannot |commendations and who _under- | limiting factor it is. Finally we

_for Nova Scotia. Our goals rely on pure legume stands and | stand that it fakes money no | do have research

lands and an acceptable aver-,

tons per acre. Increasing our! forage vields means in effect ‘evercoming the limitations that |

are presently preventing prodiue- -between-

tion from becoming maximum.

- What factors limit yield and 2.

and some pure legume

four.;...Some_of our pitfalls” in. pre-_ venting winterkilling are:

1. Careless fall management — a man.who grazes his alfalfa October is asking for trouble. Inadequate _fertilization

The low temperature charac- -teristic_of May and early June in the Maritimes” is “afr -unfav- _ourable part of our heritage and which causes numerous dis-

: redvantages” “The importance _of

| soil ,temperature has been over- \looked and not at all well under-

quality? In my opinion there are | which will. always result in a | stood. When soil temperature is -three groups, each of which is starvation diet in the fall just | pelow’55 degrees F. there is only very important. In the first |when the plant should be well | timited microbial activity, little group are agronomi factors; in | fed. If we can’t. increase spring {oe no nitrification and little or

the second financial

and in the third are social fac- | then let's promote September 1st //

factors; |and summer fertilization enough | yo release of nitrogen .and phos-

ous from. organic matter

tors— including educational and fertilization with potassium and ‘breakdown. At 55 degrees F and

traditional aspects. These three or with a low nitrogen high po- helow it has been shown

that

groups are all interrelated. I will |tassium fertilizer. The be’stg |roots do not function nearly as discuss each of the major ones. place-for nitrogen. in the spring | wejj as at temperatures above is in the plant ready to/produce |sg degrees F. In short we need |~ “Everything gets back to mo-.

briefly.

SsO'L ACIDITY Phe most familiar-of these ag-

ronomic-factors are undoubtedly

soil acidity and low native fer-

tility. These shouldn’t be—limit-

_|growth.Then_cold_soil’ tempera-

ture won’t prevent its uptake.

3. Wise selection“of winter hardy species and reeding and selection to this’end.

ing ouryields-now—since-liming 4, Attention to drainage and—

and them and we all know this or “have been told. often enough. Liming is one topic on which we have conducted a lot of re- search. -We have shown that mixing it in is better than sur- face application, but that’ both

fertilization will correct |

or levelling of the land used-for jlegume pfoduction—both _ur- | face drainage and tile drainage |where necessary.

HARVESTING SYSTEMA

Next to time of cutting weath- |er conditions and speed of har- | vesting have the greatest influ-

are effective. We know that soils: ne on forage quality. We can

of 6.2 to 6.5. and

search has ! um and soluble aluminum is our problem, not hydrogenions. This

’ explains why a pH of 5.5 is such

a magic figure. Simply because above this the aluminum is pre- ecipitated out and is inactive. So- luble aluminum is toxie to le- gumes and cereals such as bar- ley. It inhthits root development eausing a shallow and -restrict- ed root system that cannot get moisture as miitcients as effec- tively as normal root develop- ment. If a farmer wants to lime to pH 7.0 for,seeding down alfal- fa that is fine by me, but not at the expense of the rest of his farm. Lime is most efficiently used to bring the pH above 5.5 if the soil is very acid or if the farm is at pH 5-0 thenproceed to raise it to 6.0.

of_lime wil! in- crease the pH of 20 acres to 5 5.8, 12 acres to 6.0- 6.2 and from three to five acres at pH 7.0 de- pending on texture and of course on the initial pH. Capital invest- ment per year calculated on a 10-year basis and including a .40 per acre annual maintenance

charge would be $1.10, $2.00, $3.- |

25 and $5.00 forthe 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 pH values respectively. (Table 1). All are profitable in- vestments but which could you sell to the farmer. I’d try to sell the $2.00 one myself as a start- er. The increased yields due to this initial investment in lime will pay for all future applica- tions. Even if you calculate lime costs af $5.00 per ton spread by truck the investment is. still very profitable at $1.80, $3.60, $5.90 and $9.60 per acre per

year, Pea Fertilizer is most efficient and profitable on soils that have

_been limed up to the lime re- quirement of a patticular crop. (Fig. 4). By lime requirement 1 don't mean pH -7.0 as suggest- ed by soil test report sheets.

Why do we continue to confuse crop and by fertilizing high ni-

farmers by reporting a pH of 6:5 and a lime reauirement of two tons per acre for example? While this is a matter under

present lime requirement figure should be stricken fromthe re- pert and only the rate of lime until we shake this tradition or path of least resistance Orly seeded to extend the haying sea- An early first cut as silege or hay insures auality fonage inthe first cut and allows for a@ potentially

| produce high yields of good qual J ity forage but if it cannot be preserved to hold this quality than we have lost a lot in our in- | vestment. = Unfortunately there has been more.,complaining. about. forage preservation than there has been research to overcome it.

provincially and it appears. that it will be reinforced federally but we still haven’t any reason to sit back and be proud. In fact the best thing I can do with this topic is to acknowledge its im- portance and to move on know- ing that harvesting and preser- vation will figure prominently in the discussion. . Nothing will ever compensate for a poorly established and | weak forage stand. We suffer more--from-—this shortcoming in the Maritimes than we realize jand then attach the blame to | winterkilling, inadequate ferti- jlity, ete. We have to face this |limiting factor squarely and in- vest in lime, fertilizer, machi-

5./ Rery and good seed before we

shed forages.

This should be classed with factors that we can and must improve. The cost of reseed- jing can range from $25 to $35 per acre. Just think. this is more than what I wanted for annual fertilization costs to maintain,a |5-ton yield of legume or mixed | hay. Besides. these additional |seeding costs, the seeding year 'yield will be much smaller and ;you will lose two ways. | We can choose whether weeds |or cereal crops will _ compete with forage seedling. To kill | weeds costs money and the divi- dends must. come from hetter forage establishment. A cereal companion crop will provide an energy feed on the seeding year, but will it make up for the loss of yield in subsequent forage crops? - I -am:-not—goine- ,to support one or the other but ‘will assume we will have both |to. contend with.

How can we improve each” By supplying adeauate.fertility for beth the grain and forage

trogen, potassium if a grass, ‘and high potassium if a legume or a mixture. after removal of the grain crop to give the for-

ter. .Our fertilizer-recommen- dations are inadequate in tNis regard and so are our forage management

For straight forage seeding seed early and fertilize adeaua- tely and spray to, make the seedine vear a harvest vear as well. Usehizh phosphorus fer- tilizers regardless of which svs-

Good work has beer initiated_

recommendatrons.->-

‘soil temperatures above 58 de- | grees for active growth. ;

|< What can we do about it? We lean fertilize all hay crops (grasses and legumes both)

with_a_fertilizer containing nitro- machinery for harvesting —and-}

gen.and phosphorus to compen- ‘sate for what is not yet availab- He from the soil. This practice {will give forages an earlier.

and a higher yield in the first cut--We can’t control the soil temperature but we can try to

ler__Adequate nitrogen and_pp.- ‘assium in the plants going into the winter is also an obvious ad- ‘vantage... SOIL MOISTURE

Moisture may be limiting down to depths of at least 18’ to 94” in July and August in three out of five years: We: could: irri- gate but the economics, of this through proper management and ‘we can use deep species to go down after this water. A | knowledge of soil moisture in re-

‘may explain slow recovery of shallow- rooted grasses and le- | gumes in comparison to the more rapid recovery of alfalfa and bromegrass which are deeper. -rooted.Proper selection of species for specific soil types and fields would help to ver- come moisture limitations.

CUTTING MANAGEMENT

Hay cut in.mid to late July is, next to inadequate fertilization, the factor most responsible for low yield and is the greatest contributor toward poor quality hay. It is .the greatest curse characteristic of marginal to average farmers. We will never reach. our potential yield levels needed for barley, or for timo- thy or for an alfalfa- brome mixture be shown.

Soil acidity should not limit forage yield and probably isn’t as serious now with our better farmers.

SOIL FERTILITY Fertilization of the majority lof our forage crops is almost

low enough to be soil robbery |

rather than forage fetilization. I submit that our recommenda- tions are geared to a level slight- ly above the present average vields of just over two tons per acre. If our goal is five tons of hay per acre than we may as

people work- jing on this ‘aspect and I think it is about time. We now know that Sclerotinia and other root rots have made red clover a biennial

killing is due to root rots, nema- todes or fungi such as Furorium. Any disease or insect which cuts down the photosynthetic effic- fency of the plant (i.e. leaf. drop, leaf yellows, rusts, etc.) reduces the potential yield and makes the -fertilizer and Izbor invest- ment less economical. The inter- relationship of pathology, nutri- tion, management, physiology; etc. is a wide open field and is one we have to get down to business on right away.

FINANCIAL FACTORS

. The-U. §

instead of a perennial. We do |

Million $ cheese. market available

Agriculture Minister J J. Greene recently urged the cheese industry to take full advant- age of the new million dollar market opportunities in the Unil- ted States quota for cheddar theese from Canada has been raised by 200,000 pounds for the period ending June be raised in 1966-67 from the cur-

30 and will!

fall management :

In brief ‘‘Fertilize; cut in June fertilize, cut help it to prepare for the long cold winter ahead.”

|Mey sooner or later and finan- ces can put a damper on enthu- | siasm for forage production. - A: jconsiderable. investment is re- jQuired for seed, lime, fertilizer

‘machinery for curing and feed- jing. Without this investment | there is no hope of high yields jot quality forage. ~

While I don’t plan to. get in- {volved in economics I do be

|tions to farmers to fertilize, buy | conditioners, barn driers, etc. iwhile we fee] they are correct, have caused the greatest quan-

dary in the farmer’s mind -that | It is a major |

he faces today. decision and one in which we | must have competent counsel- jling and advice. Many farmers | who have--borrowed for capital jinvestment are making a suc- cess of it and expanding their |operation. |courage it even more. This is

and out of my bailiwick.

| I fell that research objectives in themselves cannot be limit- led to economics but that econo- 'mics must be applied to re- ae findings

| I am well aware of the finan- ;cial burden put on the farmers jand am most sympathetic with their dilemma. Sympathy. un- | fortunately, will not ‘increase ; their yields. Guidance, good radvice, fertilizer, implementa- ‘tion of our knowledge and re- search findings will result in ‘higher vields of good quality forage. .

The. following are 10 guideli- ‘nes to productive forage in the | Maritimes: : i1. Use versatility in selection of ispecies including corn or supple- ;mentary pastures. |2. Use simple mixtures of spe- cies that grow well together. | Fertility and management are important in the seeding year for good seeding establish- ‘ment. Know each species and manage it accordingly. |4. Apply lime as required and invest generously in fertilizer 5. Promote early cutting of the first crop followed by fertiliza- tion 6. Cut the second crop before September 1. to allow regrowth

well accept the fact that forage, and storage of fpod reserves for

is a valuable crop (from $125 to $175 per acre depending on the value attached to it) and fertil- ‘ize it; accordingly. 5 _In round figures'a five ton hay crop will remove 300 pounds of N, 30 pounds of P and at least 900 pounds of K. This -is eauivalent to 900 pounds of am- monium nitrate, 350 pounds of superphosphate and 400 pounds of muriate of potash. At present prices of N at 15 cents lb. P at 34-cents lb. and K at six cents lh. this represents the removal worth

engage in some loose figuring, let’s assume that the soil, fertil- wed only on the preceding cash or grain crop, could ‘‘eke’’ out a 15 ton hay crop. Consider that this is approximately the contri- hution of the soil— a.sort of a soil mortage— and substract the

$17.00 worth of fertility from the-,

produce say $150 worth of hay

high yield of second cut. It util. tem you choose Normally pre- This leaves $50 vey acre for fer-

s., ¢

the development of cold hardi- ness and winter survival.

7. Cut early for high’ digestibi- lity. and quality (June and late August are recommended cutt- ing times.) ‘ 8 Use nitrogen liberally (up ‘to 100° Ib. per cut) but avoid lodging and accumulation of non-protein nitrogen in the for- age. Keep pace with potassium as nitrogen fertilization is in- creased

9 Make the most efficient use of the available soil moisture by

~of fertilizer _To—seeding_some —deep-rooted-_spe-]

cies and by taking the first cut off early (June)».

10. Keep plants in a good state ‘of fertility and properly mana- ged after September 1st to give them every possible chance to survive. the winter. Remem- ber it is cheaper to fertilize anv provide alternate . grazing fer one month than it is to plough and reseed a new forage stand

toi | compensate for it. with fettiliz- | eve that all our. recommenda. |

We will have to en- |

| q lation to- cutting management ithe field of an economist and

faster.

satisfactory to you.

so can you.

August and then |

_....FROM.THE MODERN DAIR : FARMS of Prince Edward Island

—_Come—

Quality Sunshine Dairy

_ PERCY GAY, PROP. Longworth Ave.

Tent 600,000 to 3,000,000 pounds |This could mean raising the dol- ‘lar value of cheese exports to

|the U. S. from $280,000 in 1965 jf.

to $1.2 million. ~ ; Mr. Greene said the announ- cement from the U. S. was a re-

cent visit by members of the Ca- |

inadian Cabinet. to Washington. The U. S. Agriculture Secre- itary Orville Freeman had pro- imised to raise the quota as soon

'as possible and Mr. Greene shid |

he—was most pleased that Mr. Freeman had acted so quickly. The Minister added: “I be- i\Heve that we can easily fill any new quota assigned us for ched-

, mae anes sry ese

PRODUCTS SUNSHINE ISLAND DAIRY

Dial 4-4251

You Can't Get Gypped_ ‘on SURGE SERVICE

‘WHEN your Surge Service Dealer lands at your farm to make his annual Surge Service call he is there to help you milk your cows better and

eee eeeclal aie. tee new special qu for | 1.2 million pounds of aged ched- | dar.” $

SPECIAL QUOTA |

The new U. S. quotas for 19- | 66-67, commencing July 1, will | permit Canada to export 1.8 mil- | lion potinds of cheddar and to | share in the new special quota | of 1.2 million pounds of aged cheddar. industry represenatives believe there are.ample stocks of cheese

aar cneess,

on-hand-at-various-stages-of. lyears, and since 1953, exports PO pat rere of -Ma--/t5-the U.S; were” limited-to-

turity and they are -confident they can fill any new orders.

Mr. Greene said {lion pounds exported:

export three mulbon pounds vf A Ceblury agO Canada usea cheddar in the new U. §. quota|to import large quantities of year beginning July 1. He point- cheese from the United States. ed out that the maximum ex- By 1904 Canada was export- ported to the U. S. recent ing to the United Kingdom more years was 1.5 million ‘pounds in’\than 200 -million pounds annual- 1952, just before the quota was ly. During*the emergence of cut back sharply. low-cost ee the Bri- In 1965 U. K. toox $11 million tish market - n New Zea- worth of Canadian ‘cheddar - 29|!and'- Canadian exports began 3 million pounds out of 31.6 mil- f° fall. They went noe 150 mil. ya Palen ets

‘ 9, | abou *

UX, took 29.3: and int ae war needs boosted cheese ex- ts to the U. K. to 120 million ounds annually but . postwar shortage’ of dollar tain found the trade reduced to.

million pounds. During

‘proximately 600,000. pounds

Also; because of Canada’s |gpmapy INCREASE a’ trickle of 5 million pounds by

world-wide reputation for aged! Canadian production and con- 1954.

cheddar a produce of unpasteur- 7 ized milk from grass-fed cows ee oe pave. been

Chief value of the increased Recent U. S. quota is to provide first a

this country would be in a pre- joutput figures (consumption in broader outlet for present pro-

ferred position to take most, if | pr, ) ; ih of the now wns toe hig (Reeae ait aes

not a type.

Mr. Greene said the new quo-

_ 1143.6 million pounds (112.5\ mil-/tion under the

tas indicated that Canada can pounds (107.8 million) in 1963. |dairy policy.

| Mt

You can tell him to go ahead and do whatever he thinks is necessary with absolute assurance that - you can’t get hurt ... because... the cost of keep- ing Money Mak‘ng Milking in your barn must be

He sold you a good milking

machine in the first place and he is there to make it keep right on being a good milking machine.

When he has done his work, pay him what he says you owe. If you are not entirely satisfied that his price is right and fair, all you have to do is send your bill to Chicago and we'll send you our cheque for every cent he charged you for labor. We have entire confidence in our Surge Service Dealer ..

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