My sister, who lives in central Ohio, very recently told me that her vicinity, from June 1 – Aug. 31, received approximately 5 inches of rain, nearly 8 inches below normal for this time of year. As part of that problem, Midwestern farmers face the harsh reality of when too much sun combines with not enough rain. The result is soybean plants without beans. She said the corn is hurting too; the ears are shorter with fewer kernels. As a result, two dozen counties in Ohio now qualify for national crop disaster insurance, according to USDA.
Although most of the Northeast has thus far, in 2024, dodged the drought bullet, unusual amounts of warmth in late May and June accelerated maturity on perennial forages. This resulted in some pretty decent per acre yields, but the quality was down, according to laboratory analyses.
I tried to compare forage test results of the most common perennial forages in our region, namely grass haylage and mixed mostly grass (MMG) haylage, using very recent data from the Dairy One Forage Lab in Ithaca, NY. To keep things simple, I singled out MMG haylage or baleage, comparing crop years 2023 to 2024. The forage report terms I used were crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and estimated net energy lactation (ENEL in mcal/#).
In 2023, 606 samples were tested in that MMG haylage class. (Note: When the ENEL went up, so did the CP, but NDF dropped.) The average values ran as follows: 14.8% CP, 54.1% NDF and 0.64 mcal/# ENEL. In 2024, there were 982 MMG haylage samples whose average values were 13.8% CP, 59.7% NDF and 0.58 mcal/# ENEL.
Let’s just single out the ENELs and compare 2023 to 2024. By dividing 0.64 by 0.58, we get 1.103. This means that the 2023 MMG haylages supported 10.3% more milk production than the 2024 haylages. That’s a significant difference. So what caused it?
Last year, most of the early growing season in the northern tier of states, not just the Northeast, was blanketed to varying degrees with smoke from Canadian wildfires. I remember driving through this haze in early June 2023. With the truck windows closed, the air smelled like diluted wood smoke; with the windows open, what I breathed was more like chimney creosote. Health advisories said that older people should stay home with their windows closed. As a proud member of that grouping, I stayed in my truck with the A/C on and windows closed.
Meteorologically and climate-wise, here’s what the smoke blanket did to hay crops in 2023: It deflected a lot of solar radiation as well as the sun’s warmth. Lacking radiation – measured in Langleys and warmth – in growing degree days (GDDs), perennial crop maturity slowed down a lot, resulting in better quality than expected for a given harvest date. But this year, absent wildfire smoke, the Northeast got an extra dose of Langleys and GDDs, which accelerated maturity – lowering ENEL and CP in MMG forages and most likely roughages with lots of legumes.
Last year the same lack of Langleys and GDDs also retarded maturity of corn crops. On Nov. 2, 2023, USDA crop reports indicated the following: Pennsylvania’s percent of completed corn harvest was 14% below its five-year average of 54% and Ohio’s corn harvest at that time was 20% below its five-year average of 49%. At the same time, corn grain harvest farther south of the Great Lakes was on schedule, or even ahead of schedule, compared to five-year norms. Canadian wildfire smoke apparently ran out of steam after drifting that far downwind.
Getting away from mechanically harvested fields, let’s examine weather’s impact on mouth-harvested forages. In terms of grazing considerations, it may be necessary to feed some of the hay allocated for winter. It will likely be necessary to increase paddock resting intervals. A rule here: The shorter the grazed stubble, the longer the recovery period. Serious graziers get annoyed when they see other peoples’ herds burning down continuously grazed pastures through summer. Managing pastures in this fashion is poor strategy in the best of times; in a drought year (for graziers experiencing such) with less roughage to graze, such traumatized paddocks are particularly slow to recover.
In support of these ideas, let me revisit the wisdom of Greg Braun, a renowned livestock/cropping guru who farms in Tennessee. Quoting Braun: “Maintaining adequate live plant residual is critical in keeping plants growing and thriving. A bale fed in early spring – and waiting till the grass is ready – will be worth four bales of summer grass production later – not to mention the fertility transfer back to the soil.” I figure that’s a 300% return on investment.
He asks graziers not to allow livestock to chomp down legumes to less than 10 inches height during early spring – nor let them graze grasses shorter than 6 inches. Braun and I both believe that this principle also applies to autumn grazing. Feeding livestock a bale on a “sacrifice” paddock this autumn – for the greater good of paddocks in recovery – should yield the same ROI next grazing season.
Confronted with the likelihood of moisture extremes becoming more and more the rule rather than the exception, let’s recall that the nutrient “responsible” for managing moisture metabolism in plants is potassium (K). K also regulates fluid metabolism in animals (potassium carbonate is a key electrolyte in Gatorade). K deficiencies are commonly responsible for corn plants lodging, premature leaf loss, reduced resistance to mold and moisture metabolism regulation. The natural K-supplying ability is reduced on larger soil particles, like sands and larger silts. Much tinier clays – due to their higher surface area-to-mass ratios – tend to supply more K to plants than do silts and sands.
Soils also build up organic matter much more easily with clays than they do with silts and sands. (There went another subtle plug for soil testing.)
Leave A Comment