A bi-monthly news publication of The Ohio State University Extension, Editors: Clif Little and Mark Sulc
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Contents:

• Ohio General Assembly's Proposal on Livestock Care Standards Board
• Oats, planted late, continue to be our most dependable forage?!?!
• The Grazing Contingency Plan
• No Matter How You Slice It, It’s P to K, 1 to 4, 13 to 50!

[top] Ohio General Assembly's Proposal on Livestock Care Standards Board - Peggy Hall, Director, Agricultural & Resource Law Program, The Ohio State University

Both the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate passed resolutions this week to place the ballot issue on livestock care before Ohio voters in November. The resolutions propose amending the Ohio Constitution to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board. The Board would have authority to establish standards governing the care and well-being of livestock and poultry in Ohio.

The two resolutions vary slightly. The Senate version includes language aimed at thwarting future attempts to change the law, by granting the Board “exclusive” authority for livestock care standards and stating that no other constitutional provision shall “impair” the powers granted to the Board.

Here’s a quick summary of the Ohio Senate version of the proposed constitutional amendment:

• Creates a thirteen member Livestock Care Standards Board consisting of the Director of the Department of Agriculture, ten members appointed by the Governor, a family farmer appointed by the Speaker of the House and a family farmer appointed by the President of the Senate.
• Grants the Livestock Care Standards Board the authority to establish and implement standards governing the care and well-being of livestock and poultry.
• Directs the Board to “endeavor to maintain food safety, encourage locally grown and raised food, and protect Ohio farms and families” and to consider factors such as agricultural best management practices for care and well-being, biosecurity, disease prevention, animal morbidity and mortality data, food safety practices, and the protection of local, affordable food supplies for consumers.
• Grants the Ohio Department of Agriculture authority for overseeing and enforcing the standards established by the Board.

The General Assembly is expected to resolve the differences in the two resolutions the first week in July. Upon agreement of the final language, the resolution will go to Ohio voters on the November 3, 2009 ballot.

View the House resolution here and the Senate resolution here. Ballotpedia is a website useful for tracking ballot proposals, including background information, newspaper articles, fiscal studies, and statements by proponents and opponents. A page on Ballotpedia for the Ohio proposal is here.

[top]Oats, planted late, continue to be our most dependable forage?!?!-Curt Stivison, Fairfield SWCD Engineering Technician & Stan Smith, Program Assistant, OSU Extension Fairfield County

Most know that for the past seven years, we’ve spent much time in Fairfield County investigating the virtues of oats as an annual forage when they are planted during mid to late summer, or even into early fall. While we’ve harvested from 2 to 5 tons, and consistently realized average yields of 3+ tons of dry matter from oats planted in July and August after a harvested wheat crop, it’s also apparent that yield and quality can vary greatly as planting date, nitrogen fertilization, and perhaps even oat varieties differ from each field planted.

For those looking to grow a cost-effective alternative forage crop yet this summer, and who have wheat stubble available, we offer these observations and recommendations based on experiences since 2002:

• Optimum planting date for oats from the perspective of yield is the first week of August. Early August plantings also result in the highest total amount of TDN produced per acre. Later plantings will be slightly higher in quality, but not enough to offset the yield advantage of early August planting. While being more conducive to a mechanical harvest in early fall, planting in early July reduces both yield and quality. The earlier oat plantings also exhibit more susceptibility to rust.


• Regardless the planting date, or variety, no-tilled seeding rates of from 80 to 100 pounds of oats have consistently resulted in optimum forage yields.


• Optimum nitrogen application rate is 40 to 50 pounds per acre. This application not only produces the highest yields, but at current values of nitrogen, it’s also the most cost effective rate. Higher rates of nitrogen actually appear to depress yields based on our 2008 plot results.


• Bin run oats originating in Canada out perform, but possess similar quality at harvest as certified Armor oats.


• The optimum combination of productivity and quality of August planted oats arrives 60 to 75 days after planting. Oats planted in July mature more quickly and thus, rapidly decline in quality beginning 50 to 60 days after planting.


• Oats harvested 50-60 days after planting and while still in the boot stage of maturity will offer re-growth that may be grazed or sometimes even mechanically harvested a second time.


• A weed control application of glyphosate is a necessary and cost effective practice prior to oat planting.

An additional advantage observed when using oats for an annual forage crop is the opportunity to capture the total tonnage produced with a single harvest cutting if grazing is not an option. It’s also important to note that the 3+ ton yields resulting from oats planted in early August after wheat and straw harvest, which have been experienced consistently in Fairfield County, exceed the average yields of the perennial hay crops produced in Fairfield County and also Ohio, on average, over the same time period.

If you've yet to attend any of our field days to see for yourself the results of summer seeded oats, this web link has photos and data of several of the past years' efforts at the alternatives described above: http://beef.osu.edu/beef/graze/wntrgraz.htm.

[top]The Grazing Contingency Plan-Clif Little, Extension Educator, Guernsey County

When grass is green and abundant, our world as it relates to pasture management is serene. Perfect all of the time, wouldn’t it be nice if life could always be that way? Unfortunately, we will experience drought, excessive mud, severe winters, excessive forage growth, summer slumps, livestock sickness and livestock death. The truly successful grazers have a contingency plan for all of these periods. Let us look at each of these periods and discuss some management options. Farms will have different management options based on resources and not all options are appropriate for every grazer.

Drought Contingency Plan: Each summer brings slowed forage growth. Temperature, rainfall, grazing management and forage species all influence the extent of forage growth during the summer. One should strive to maintain proper grazing heights throughout the season, especially during dry periods. The Natural Resource Conservation Service recommends the following minimum grazing heights for forage & legumes.

Source: NRCS Grazing Management Plan

The following notes accompany the chart above:

1. Grass and legume mixtures should be grazed in a manner that favors the dominant or desired species.
2. Height is average height when leaves are lifted in vertical position.
3. At end of growing season, minimum re-growth is the critical factor that determines end of grazing except on pastures grazed only in fall and winter. When a grazing period ends, there should be photosynthetic residual remaining adequate to support vigorous re-growth. Less re-growth may be beneficial if frost seeding or inter-seeding will be completed prior to the next grazing season.
4. The last harvest of alfalfa, for pasture or hay land, should be made 35-45 days prior to the time when the first freeze normally occurs.
5. In a rotational grazing system, spring grazing can be initiated when cool season forages have approximately 75% of their height as shown above. Livestock will need to be moved more rapidly until they are in a paddock where forage has grown to the desired height.
6. If forages are exceeding the “Begin Grazing” heights consideration should be given to making hay or mowing these paddocks.

Grazing height is of utmost importance in terms of reducing plant stress, maintaining forage species diversity/productivity and maximizing livestock dry matter consumption.

Another option to reduce forage needs during a drought is to cull unproductive animals. Reducing the livestock inventory prior to forage shortages helps to extend pasture mass and reduce forage and feed requirements.

Some grazers utilize warm season perennials or summer annuals as a means to provide forage during dry periods. There are many options to choose from here and one must consider which livestock species will be grazed, cost and whether the forage is to be hayed or utilized for silage.

Feeding hay and supplementing with feed concentrates can stretch pasture reserves. Feeding hay in a sacrifice paddock or on a heavy-use pad will allow for an extended pasture recovery period while preserving forage mass. When supplementing forage with grain concentrates, remember grain can increase total dry matter consumption and digestibility of poor quality forage. Carefully consider energy source fiber content and forage quality when selecting concentrates and supplementation strategy.

Mud Contingency Plan: When livestock remain on pasture after excessive rainfall, severe damage can occur. To minimize damage, rotate livestock daily and remove animals to a sacrifice area or heavy-use pad as a last resort.

Winter Contingency Plan: Once all freestanding forage is gone, one must have a plan and an area to feed livestock. The winter-feeding area should have a freeze-proof water source, which is well drained, is away from environmentally sensitive areas, and provides protection from inclement weather. Heavy-use pads make excellent winter-feeding areas.

Excessive Forage Growth Contingency Plan: Excessive spring forage growth can be managed by moving livestock quickly through paddocks topping pasture growth and harvesting excess forage as hay or silage. Another option is to add livestock to the grazing system.

New Arrival Contingency Plan: Sick and newly purchased livestock should not be immediately introduced to breeding animals. It may be wise to have a pasture or location dedicated to the care and monitoring of new arrivals and the sick. Ideally, this area would be isolated with no direct contact to other farm animals. It may be necessary to isolate animals for 30-90 days depending on your veterinarians’ recommendations.

Mortality Contingency Plan: To reduce the potential spread of disease, all livestock producers need an approved plan to deal with normal mortality losses. The three most common means of dealing with livestock mortality are composting, burial and licensed renderer. Grazers utilizing composting must have attended an OSU Extension composting certification program.

Master grazers make difficult times seem manageable by following a plan. The plan is a system that addresses all of the variables that can and will occur when raising livestock. To start your plan, contact Clif Little at the Guernsey County Extension office at 744-489-5300 or a member of the Forage Team.

How does your pasture score?

Knowing what is needed next, depends on knowing what you have now and why. That is why an evaluation of a pasture is a valuable tool. Dennis Cosgrove, Dan Undersander and James Cropper have developed such a tool known as the, “Guide to Pasture Condition Scoring.” The scorecard can help grazers identify and prioritized management practices that may improve pasture productivity. A well-managed pasture is both productive and sustainable. Scoring a pasture at the start of the grazing season, at peak forage growth, during forage shortages, during periods of forage stress and at the end of the grazing season can be useful for determining corrective actions.

Pasture scoring uses ten visual evaluation indicators and each is ranked numerically from poor to excellent. The indicators can then be combined into an overall score. Indicators receiving the lowest scores are flagged for corrective management. Pasture condition varies throughout the year in response to management and climate. Scoring pastures yearly and during the same periods each year can help in identifying trends.

Prioritize the lowest scoring indicators and decide whether to correct the causes for the rating. A description of pasture condition scoring is available at ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/GLTI/technical/publications/pasture-score-guide.pdf . The score sheet is available at ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/WI/grazing/pasture-score-sheet.pdf.

[top]No Matter How You Slice It, It’s P to K, 1 to 4, 13 to 50!-Stan Smith, Fairfield County Program Assistant, OSU Extension

Through the series of drought, escalating price, managing dynamic change, and every other type of ‘stress’ meeting we’ve hosted in Ohio the past three years, it’s apparent that the message regarding fertility is getting out there. While not a new story, simply put, fertilizer is expensive yet we all know you can’t starve a profit into a cow, and likewise, you can’t starve production or profit into a forage field either.

The past year I’ve seen significantly more interest in soil testing, as well as receiving questions about interpreting soil tests and developing efficient fertilizer recommendations. It’s also apparent some of those who make fertilizer recommendations have not attended our meetings, or do not subscribe the concepts contained in the Tri-State Fertilizer Recommendations, OSU Extension bulletin E-2567 found on the web at http://ohioline.osu.edu/e2567/index.html

Hence, let’s review:

1. Soil Test, always soil test! Fertilizer is too expensive to apply if it’s not a yield limiting factor. If you don’t know what you presently have, you can’t possibly know what you might need! Here’s a link to a list of soil testing labs: http://fairfield.osu.edu/agriculture-and-natural-resources/links-you-need


2. Read the soil test or get help reading it. I’d discourage anyone from blindly accepting the fertilizer recommendations that sometimes come back with a soil test. I’m not even certain I’d believe their little graphs that I sometimes find on the soil test results which indicate a sample might be high, medium or low in a certain nutrient. What I was recently told by one of the labs when I asked how their recommendations are generated is that after they establish the nutrient levels in the soil through their laboratory procedures, the recommendations are often generated simply based on the opinions of the company who might have submitted the sample for the land owner. This means, unless you send in the sample yourself, you may get back a recommendation based on data other than what Ohio State’s (or other midwest universities’) research might suggest as published in OSU Extension Bulletin E-2567. Ask your local Agriculture Extension Educator for help in developing a recommendation if you have questions.
   
3. If one insists on fertilizing without the benefit of knowing the present fertility levels, or if you know your present fertility levels meet or slightly exceed critical minimum levels, then it’s prudent to base your fertilizer application rates on expected crop removal. If you are harvesting hay from the field, Bulletin E2567 tells us every ton removed (regardless of quality) takes with it 13 pounds of P2O5 and 50 pounds of K2O. No matter how you slice it, that’s a ratio of 1 to 4, phosphorus to potash. Without benefit of a soil test to tell us otherwise, fertility needs to be replaced in that ratio when harvesting hay.

To put that into a little different perspective, consider that the average hay yield in Ohio is and has been for decades about 3 tons per acre per year. At a ratio of 1 to 4 that’s 13 and 50 pounds P and K respectively multiplied times 3, or 39 pounds of P2O5 and 150 pounds of K2O per acre. As an FYI, since corn grain only removes about 0.27 pounds of K2O per bushel harvested, it would take a yield of over 555 bushels of corn to remove the same amount of potash that an average annual Ohio hay yield removes!

To recap . . . you can’t starve a profit into a crop or critter, and one ton of hay removes P and K in a ratio of 1 to 4, or 13 pounds P2O5 to 50 pounds of K2O. To maintain current fertility levels in your soils, it must be replaced with either fertilizer, manure nutrients, or some other form of fertility . . . 1 to 4, 13 and 50 pounds, per ton of hay removed!