04/15/24 - 66 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/msuwtctm
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Spotlight - Penn State: Drought Conditions Complicate Nitrogen Management On Farms
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Livestock farms use nutrient management plans to match nutrient application on fields to crop removal of nutrients. This planning effort is an important part of maintaining productivity and environmental quality for these producers.
When a plan is written a number of factors are considered including nutrient content of manure, soil tests, and an important factor is expected crop yields. Under normal growing conditions this works well. But during a period of drought crop yields are reduced and this creates several problems for the farmer.
The most obvious and very serious problem for the livestock producer is a reduction in feed available for the animals with the drought induced yield reduction. An environmental problem is also caused by the lower yields. A smaller crop uses less nitrogen than what is calculated in the nutrient management plan.
Both of these problems can be addressed with an emergency planting of a forage crop. Typically the corn is harvested early as a silage crop to salvage as much feed value as possible from the stressed fields. To supplement forage supply in these situations, a late-summer cover crop designed for supplemental forage production can be considered.
In addition to supplying additional forage, the cover crop will scavenge nitrogen that went unused by the drought-struck corn and add organic matter to the soil, improving soil and environmental quality.
Extension Associate Charlie White suggests oats is one of the best options in this situation. An early August planting of oats can be expected to produce between 2 and 5 tons of dry matter depending on the climate region within the state. Forty to 50 lbs of nitrogen is usually recommended for oats planted after a small grain harvest, but when planting after drought struck corn there is likely enough residual nitrogen in the soil so that little to no additional nitrogen for the oats will be necessary. For the optimum balance between quality and yield, the oats are harvested 60 to 75 days after planting.
There is also significant interest in planting mixtures of cover crop species. Some seed dealers offer pre-blended mixtures or farmers can mix their own. One popular mixture for forage production is a mix of oats, crimson clover, and annual ryegrass. The oats can germinate in relatively dry soil and will produce significant dry matter in the fall. Ryegrass and crimson clover may not germinate until soil moisture increases in the early fall, but will overwinter and provide high quality forage the next spring.
Last year the Penn State Extension Crop Management Team investigated several cover crop mixtures for forage production after silage corn harvest. The mixture with oats yielded the most at the fall harvest. The Crimson Clover plus Annual Ryegrass yielded 1,294 lbs per acre of Dry Matter (DM), the Oats plus Cereal Rye mixture produced 2303 (DM), and Tillage Radish plus Cereal Rye yielded 2041. Another challenge for farmers suffering from drought in 2011 is the possibility of limited seed availability at this time in the summer.
Seed dealers may have exhausted their 2010 stock of the most popular cover crop varieties, and seed grown for the 2011 cover crop season is just beginning to make its way into dealer inventories. However bin run oats harvested on local farms are becoming available this time of the year and can be a low-cost alternative to certified seed.
For more information, download the Emergency Forage Crops fact sheet.
Note: The Penn State Extension Service may have to close some offices to meet state budget cuts. NewsClip: Penn State Extension Offices May Face Layoffs
(Written By: Leon Ressler, Extension Director, Lancaster County Extension, and reprinted from Penn State Extension Watershed Winds Newsletter)
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8/15/2011 |
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