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About Us
County Impact Statements - Logan County
Extension Programs Improve Forage Quality and Cut Annual Cow
Expenses
The beauty of good hay, 12.5% CP and 64% TDN, is that you can feed it to cows
with calves or steers and heifers and that’s all they need, except for minerals.
No more expensive supplemental feeds. I recently compared our county hay show
result from 2001 and 1996. In five short years, we’ve increased protein by 2.4%
(13.6) and TDN by 9.8% (61.6). Farmer participation has increased from 20
entries to 54. Many cattlemen sell quality surplus hay to horse producers for
$75 a ton. That’s a $15 premium per ton, worth $324,752 in added hay sales.
Soil testing is still one of our best management practices. On average $22 an
acre is saved in fertilizer cost when compared to the traditional application of
300 pounds of 19.19.19. That’s a savings of $184,968 a year for producers.
Better fertilizer management increases yields which also cuts hay cost by
$11.10 a ton. That’s a savings of $367,842 annually for the 16,569 forage acres
currently under soil test.
The five key components of the ABIP Forage Emphases program are: improving
hay quality, balancing rations, using winter annuals, stockpiled forages, and
rotational grazing. Extension beef and forage specialists provided assistance to
county Agents and producers to help them lower annual cow cost in these five
areas.
High quality Bermuda grass hay is the basis for Komp Farms’
cattle operation.
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Impacts
- Hay quality cuts total feed cost by $59 per cow.
- Quality Bermuda grass hay brings a $15 premium per ton.
- Forage testing cuts supplemental feed cost by 50%.
- GPS grid sampling reveals Potash deficiency on 50% of the Bermuda grass
on the Phosphorus mining demonstration.
- Accurate weed ID and early treatment cut weed control cost from $21 to
under $7 an acre. That’s a savings of $231,966 annually.
- Cell grazing improves forage utilization equivalent to hay meadows.
- Limited fertilization of sacrifice pastures cuts fertilizer cost by $25
per acre.
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