Month: October 2005

“Why throw your oats from a perfectly good airplane” . . . another update

– Stan Smith, OSU Extension PA, Fairfield County

Many continue to ask, “what do your oats look like?” The photo below shows the result from 100 pounds oats flown onto standing corn on August 23, 2005. Katrina delivered about 3 inches of rain 7 days after the seeding, and corn silage was harvested 4 days later. These oats are ~23 inches tall today (see photo), have not been offered any supplemental fertilizer, and on the day of the photo would have yielded about 5000 pounds of dry matter at a total cost of $23 per acre. Continue reading “Why throw your oats from a perfectly good airplane” . . . another update →

“Fog Fever” a Fall Pasture Problem

– Clif Little OSU Extension, Guernsey County

Fog Fever is a rapidly developing, respiratory disease of cattle. Fog Fever is also called Acute Bovine Pulmonary Edema and Emphysema (ABPEE). Conditions and growth in our fall pastures has been perfect for this disorder to show itself. The onset of this disease occurs very quickly when hungry, adult cattle have been on dry feed or scarce summer pasture and are moved to green pasture or hay fields that are rapidly growing and lush. This rapidly growing pasture can be fescue, grass-clover mixture, alfalfa, or other annual forages. The key factors are mature cattle that have been in a scarce dry summer pasture for some time and moved to rapidly growing, lush green grazing area. Continue reading “Fog Fever” a Fall Pasture Problem →

Should Tall Alfalfa Be Cut Before Winter?

– Mark Sulc, OSU Extension Forage Specialist

In the September 6, 2005 issue of the CORN newsletter I wrote about the risks of fall cutting alfalfa, and how to minimize that risk. With the temperatures and good moisture this fall, alfalfa has grown exceptionally well. I have received many questions as to whether this amount of growth going into the winter can harm the stand. The fear is that the alfalfa will smother itself out this winter.

The excessive alfalfa growth will NOT harm the stand. I have let stands of alfalfa go into the winter with as much growth as we see this fall, and I have never experienced a problem or seen the crop “smother out”.

Think about this: 75-80% of the alfalfa crop this time of year is water. In other words, the dry matter content is around 20-25%. So divide what you see out there by 4, and that will be how much residue remains after a couple of hard frosts. There will be much less residue left than it appears right now. Continue reading Should Tall Alfalfa Be Cut Before Winter? →

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