Forage Types

Triticale is a cross between wheat and rye, combining the quality and productivity of the former with the vigor and hardiness of the latter. It’s also a very green means of removing potentially water-polluting phosphorus right from the soil.

Forages have been and always will be an important source of nutrients for ruminants. For dairy producers, forages are the base of the feed pyramid, the foundation on which the remainder of the diet is structured. Feeding high-quality corn increases dairy efficiency and helps reduce feed costs associated with purchased ingredients, especially protein.

Feeding adequate quantities of high-quality forages is the basis of profitable milk and livestock production. Forage production, harvest, storage and feed practices have changed greatly over the past 50 years, and silage has become a staple forage.

Forages are crops used as hay, silage, haylage, green chop or pasture for feeding animals. The forages or other feed ingredients are given to cows to be digested first in the rumen and second in the small intestine. When we feed cows, the feed is used by bacteria in the rumen. After the feeds are utilized by the bacteria and other microorganisms then byproducts of bacterial fermentation and other ruminal digesta flow down to the small intestine where they are digested and absorbed. The digesta in the small intestine is broken down and absorbed into the cow’s body to be used as energy to maintain the cow and make milk.

When attempting to price corn silage there are several methods that have been used to arrive at silage values. Many issues need to be addressed in a pricing system, including:

Plant density and yield of any stand of alfalfa will eventually decline, but rate of decline will be influenced by multiple factors including harvest or grazing management, irrigation practices, precipitation, soil fertility, soil type, weeds, insects, diseases and, in some instances, variety of alfalfa.