WILLSBORO — A proof-of-concept project funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has begun developing a data-based system that reflects how each farm’s specific environment impacts production.
This includes forage crops’ performance and the value of the crops as vital feed ingredients in dairy cow diets, ultimately impact milk production. The initial field-and-farm trials in northern New York show the concept created by Cornell PRO-DAIRY Dairy Forage Systems Management Specialist Joe Lawrence to be viable.
“The ultimate purpose is to help dairies understand the impact of the growing season on forage nutritional value and how this affects the home-grown feeds’ role in their individual farm’s dairy cow diets,” Lawrence said. “This then helps optimal milk production and farm sustainability.”
The complete Field Crop Performance Network project report is posted under About: Projects by Year 2024 at www.nnyagdev.org.
Lawrence’s concept for a field crop performance network system that collecting crop performance from a small number of varieties of a crop at multiple locations could be as good or better and less costly in terms of time, labor, and expense than field trials of a larger number of varieties of that crop at fewer locations.
For this pilot project, field trials of two varieties each of corn, soybean, and alfalfa were established at two farms in Lewis County and one site in Essex County.
Each location’s forages were used to develop site-specific balanced diets for lactating cows. The rations were 64.6 % and 52.8 % forage content for two Lowville locations and for location at Willsboro, respectively.
The corresponding milk production was 97 pounds per cow for the western northern New York locations compared to 88.4 % per cow for the eastern side.
Lower nutritional value of the forages grown at the eastern location influenced a higher total feed cost with lower milk production, in contrast to the western trial that achieved higher milk production at a lower total feed cost.
Income Over Feed Cost combines feed cost and milk production into one value and is an important metric to measure farm performance. The diet modeled for the western trial resulted in an additional $1.06 in IOFC compared to the eastern trial.
Lawrence notes, “This is a substantial difference highlighting that even with the same crop genetics and best practices for growing the crop, the growing environment has a significant impact on the feed value of the crop.”
Lawrence now has an initial framework for developing a new way to enhance farmers’ ability to use farm-grown forage efficiently and to better understand when forage crop value to the dairy cow diet is constrained by the farm’s growing environment and conditions or by forage management practices.
The development of this field crop performance network continues with renewed funding from the NNYADP for trials in northern New York and from the New York Corn and Soybean Growers Association to expand the trials statewide. The University of Vermont is also a project collaborator.