2006 Annual Report Beef Section | Dickinson
Research Extension Center 1089 State Avenue Dickinson, ND 58601 |
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FOUR-STATE RUMINANT CONSORTIUM
Integrating Crop and Livestock
Production with Annual Forages
Coordinating PI and contact
Information:
Woodrow W. “Chip” Poland
North Dakota State University
Dickinson Research Extension Center
1133 State Avenue
Dickinson, ND 58601
Phone: 701-483-2078
Email: Chip Poland@ndsu.edu
Co-PI:
Dennis Cash (Montana State University)
Roger Gates (South Dakota State University)
James Krall (University of Wyoming)
Collaborative
Investigators:
Patrick Carr (North Dakota State University)
Eric Eriksmoen (North Dakota State University)
Bret Hess (University of Wyoming)
Roger Hybner (University of Wyoming; currently USDA-NRCS,
Miles City, MT)
David Koch (University of Wyoming)
Michael Tess (Montana State University)|
David Wichman (Montana State University)
Introduction/Rationale
Agricultural (arable and
grazable) land dominates the landscape in the targeted region of southeastern
Montana, southwestern North Dakota, northwestern South Dakota and northeastern
Wyoming. Appropriate integration of crop and livestock systems within this
landscape can be a valuable tool in increasing rural economic development.
Inclusion of feed and forage production in cropping rotations would provide
flexibility in developing cropping systems to help enhance the general
sustainability of the underlying ecosystem. Coupling this feed and forage
production with resident and value-added ruminant livestock production offers a
tremendous spring board for capturing the real value of agricultural production
and stimulating additional economic development in the region in an
environmentally friendly fashion. This project has eight separate efforts
designed to address 4 separate objectives. The combination of traditional
agronomic research coupled with nontraditional animal interfaces should provide
the information necessary to successfully develop and implement truly integrate
crop/livestock systems that are adaptable to the target region.
Research
Objectives/Approach/Interim Results
Evaluate
various annual systems of forage production (e.g. winter annuals, cool-season
and warm-season). Basic
experimental design is a randomized complete block. A split-plot arrangement of
treatments was superimposed upon this basic design to accommodate a sampling
date treatment in the winter and warm-season annual studies. Winter annual
forage evaluations were not successful in either ND or WY in 2004. In MT,
seeding legumes with either winter wheat or winter triticale did not improve
forage yield over a sole cereal crop. The cool- and warm-season annual forage
evaluations fared somewhat better. Cool-season trials were established in three
locations (MT, ND and WY) with usable data being generated at the first two
sites. Preliminary data from ND supports previous work in ND where oat tends to
produce slightly more forage and have a lower crude protein concentration
compared to barley. Nitrate concentration was also elevated in oat compared to
barley forage. Preliminary cool-season data from MT suggests barley produces
more forage than oat at that location. This supports previous work in MT, but
contradicts ND results. Warm-season trials were established in two locations
(ND and WY) with usable data being generated at the former site. Preliminary data
suggests substantial differences in warm-season annual forage production.
Granting the dry conditions, millet and safflower tended to be relatively
productive particularly at a later sampling date.
Evaluate
various nontraditional mechanisms of using this forage production in beef
cow/calf operations. Two basic
experiments are proposed. The first is to evaluate the effect of time after
swathing on dry matter yield and forage quality of a swathed annual forage. The
second was to evaluate swathed or baled annual forage (e.g. oat) and
unharvested corn for maintaining beef cows during fall and winter. The swathed
annual forage evaluations were not successful at either location (ND or WY).
The swath and corn grazing evaluation was conducted in ND and, despite reduced
forage production, cattle were successfully managed on either swathed oat,
standing corn or in drylot for approximately 8 weeks (mid October to mid
December) in southwestern ND.
Characterize
the economics of these systems/mechanisms. This research evaluates the economic impact
of utilizing annual forages within a beef production system to extend the
grazing season to January 1. Enterprise types evaluated were a livestock
enterprise (LS) that converted perennial forage to annuals and a livestock
enterprise with a separate crop enterprise (LC) that converted cropland to
annual forage for livestock use. Four
options were applied to each enterprise type, (1) the base system – i.e., no
use of annual forages, (2) spring annuals for fall swath grazing, (3) standing
corn for fall grazing, and (4) spring annuals for mechanically harvested
forage. A dynamic, bio-economic computer
model of range cow-calf production systems was used to simulate production
systems (e.g., management, cattle performance, profitability) under average
conditions. The range-based cow-calf
enterprises were modeled to represent systems located in the generalized area
of southwestern Montana, eastern North and South Dakota, and northeastern Wyoming
characterized by historical cattle management data. Grazing management for both
enterprise types incorporated crested wheatgrass pasture in spring, a
rotational grazing strategy on native range in summer, and altai wildrye
pasture in fall. In systems using annual
forages, these forages were grazed or fed after fall grazing. Budgets were developed to track costs of
implementing and maintaining the use of annual forages for each option in each
enterprise type. Economic inputs were
developed from 2004 prices. Currently,
the collection of cattle and forage (quantity and quality) data from several
projects is ongoing and will be completed after the 2005 growing season. Once the data is incorporated into the
budgets, the different options will be analyzed.
Provide a
platform from which to extend current and new knowledge regarding the effective
use of annual forages produced in the region directly to producers and allied
industries. Two producer
demonstrations were conducted in ND both focusing on using swathed corn for
late season grazing with beef cows. No forage field days were scheduled in
2004. The year was not the best for annual forage production and this probably
related to a reduced interest in forage production-related field days.
Measurable Impacts and Potential Future
Impacts The first year of the project was not very forgiving from an
environmental standpoint. Widespread droughty conditions over most of the
region made forage production tenuous at best at most locations. A lack of soil
moisture, poor stand establishment and/or reduced forage production was
ubiquitous across the region and was listed as the primary cause(s) of
individual evaluation failure. Nonetheless, all participants are (eternally)
optimistic that these problems will be avoided and a full complement of evaluations
will be conducted in 2005.
Interest in annual forages appears to be increasing across the region and results from these studies are intended to help both livestock and crop producers observe and appreciate the potential for annual forages to provide the basis for increasing the economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture across the region.
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