High-quality forage boosts animal performance

By GARY TILGHMAN
For the Daily Times

GLASGOW May 17, 2007 12:32 pm

— The ultimate test of forage quality is animal performance. Producing high quality forages is vital to improved animal performance, whether your goal is more pounds of milk, a higher rate of gain, or an improved conception rate.
Forages provide a major percentage of the nutrients for beef and dairy cattle, sheep and goats, horses and ruminant wildlife. If the quality isn’t right, you can’t feed animals enough forage to achieve production goals.
Forage quality is defined as “the extent to which a forage, whether pasture, hay or silage, has the ability to produce the desired animal response.”
While many factors affect forage quality, the stage of maturity at harvest is the single most important consideration. It also is the one over which producers can make the most progress. Protein content, digestibility and acceptability to livestock drops as legumes and grasses move from the vegetative, or leafy, stage to the reproductive, or seed, stage. For instance, grasses may contain more than 30 percent protein at the immature, leafy stage, but drop to less than eight percent protein when they mature.
Because we have considerable variation in quality among the various forage species, choosing plant species is another important factor in producing high-quality forages. Generally, legumes are higher quality than grasses. Cool season grasses usually are more digestible than warm-season grasses. Plant breeders continue to improve forage quality within species, so variation also exists within species among varieties.
In addition to forage quality, producers need to consider animals’ nutritional needs and match the quality to these needs. For example, a high-producing dairy cow needs a higher quality feed than a dry, pregnant beef cow. Palatability, intake, digestibility and nutrient content are among these considerations.
Palatability is a measure of acceptability by animals when offered free choice. In general, high-quality forages are more palatable. Forages must be palatable for animals to consume enough to meet their daily needs. Research has shown that animals tend to eat more of the better quality forages.
Digestibility also improves with forage quality. Animals may digest 80 to 90 percent of immature, leafy grasses but only 50 percent or less of mature material with lots of stems. High quality forages have significant amounts of protein, energy, vitamins and minerals, but are low in undesirable contents such as fiber and lignin.

– Maple Petiole Borers and Leaf Drop
If it isn’t enough that our trees are trying to produce another set of leaves for 2007 but now we see problems associated with petiole borers attacking sugar maple trees. Petiole boring by a small wasp larvae may cause sudden drop of many sugar maple leaves in your neighborhood. We are already seeing evidence of that. Infesting leaf stems usually break at a darkened area near the leaf blade. Usually, infestations are limited to sugar maples and only about 25% or 30% of the leaves fall to the ground.
While spectacular, the leaf drop has little effect on tree health. Buildups of scales or aphids, or drought stress can cause leaf loss but these typically occur later in the year. Leaf drop, due to borers, is seen earlier in the season and the leaf blades may still be green. Leaves from trees stressed by sucking insects or drought usually have turned yellow before they drop.
Splitting the petiole carefully near the leaf blade should reveal the larva or the tunnel.There is one generation each year. Infestations begin as the adults, small wasps about 1/6” long, appear in May and lay their eggs in petioles near the leaf blades. Legless, white grubs with distinct light brown heads hatch from the eggs and tunnel inside the leaf stem for 20 to 30 days. The weakened stem breaks and the leaf floats to the ground.
The borer larvae generally remain in the portion of the stem left on the tree. About 10 days after leaf drop, the rest of the stem falls to the ground. The mature larva, about 1/3” long, leaves the stem through a hole in the side and burrows into the soil. It will change to the pupal stage and remain in the soil until the following spring.
Maple petiole borer infestations are infrequent and unpredictable. Also, they do not appear to harm tree health so insecticidal control IS NOT recommended. It may be possible to reduce future infestations by picking up and destroying infested stems, the short sections without leaves, about 7 to 10 days after the first leaves fall. This sanitation program needs to be continued throughout the leaf drop period and must include all infested trees in the vicinity to be most successful. (I know, this is easier said than done, but will help.)
Raking and disposing of the leaves will not reduce the population because the insects are not in that portion that gets “cut” off first.

– To Do List – Suggestions
- Get a Breeding Soundness Examination on your bulls from your veterinarian before turning them out to the breeding pasture. Use extreme caution while around and handling livestock.
- Remember, in order to get early March calves, turn bulls out around May 20.
- UK still recommends producers to test your wheat for nitrate levels that was cut for forage, before feeding it.The early April freeze damage has left questions about potential nitrate problems. The only way to lessen the risk of concern is to have a nitrate test on the forage, especially after it has “cured.” Don’t take any chances!
- Get that cool-season grass hay cut soon (hopefully already). Seed heads are appearing, the plant has reached its peak for quality. Remember, over-mature hay makes manure, immature hay produces better nutrition.

– Private Pesticide Applicator Certification
A Private Pesticide Applicator Certification program will be offered at the Barren County Extension Office on Wednesday afternoon, May 30, beginning at 1 p.m. Remember, the Barren County Extension Office is located at 1463 West Main Street in Glasgow. Anyone who wants to receive the training and apply for certification as a Private Pesticide Applicator needs to attend this final training opportunity for the spring.
In order to participate, please be at the training site and ready to go before 1 p.m. We cannot tolerate late arrivals. Allow over two hours to complete the program. A test will be given at the conclusion of the training and each individual must do their own work. After passing the test, certification will be applied for and those that qualify will become certified as Private Pesticide Applicators.
Don’t put this off, as this is our final certification program planned for the growing season.
For more information on any of the above issues, contact the Barren County Cooperative Extension Service, 1463 West Main Street in Glasgow.

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