wide swath haylage to save time & nutrients

Produced by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County

Wide Swath Haylage to Save Time & Nutrients

Tom KilcerCornell Cooperative Extension in

Rensselaer County, New York

B. Ramaker

New Stamp

http://ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=36553000


24 – 48 Hours


¾ inchJones and Harris 1980


Traditional Drying - Narrow Swath

20253035404550

Fresh mowed end day 1

begin day 2

begin day 3

begin day 4

DM


80%

20%

Initial Phase

Intermediate Phase

Final Phase

20% Time

Moi

stur

e

Biology of Drying Forages


80%

20%20%Time

Moi

stur

e

65-70%

Stomatal openingsAxial moisture movement


Stomate = Lungs of the Plant


Plant Physiology, Salisbury and Ross, 1985 p60.


Plant Physiology, Third Edition Wirtten by: Salisbury and Ross 1985 pg. 59&60


AIR

moisture

moisture

Conditioning Breaks Capillary Flow

35% of alfalfa stem moisture exits through the leaf (Harris & Tulberg, 1980)Legumes 10X more stomata than GrassStomata Sunlight - open Shade - closed


80%

20%

ConditioningRadial moisture movement

20% Time

Moi

stur

e

10 X slower d

rying

than Axial (Bargnall et.

al.,

1970)


Physics of Moisture Lossor

What Helps or Hurts Drying

-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Soil MoistureSwath DensityRelative HumidityWind VelocityCrop moistureVapor deficitAir TempSwath TempSwath Sun

Rotz et.al 1987


-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Swath Sunlight

3 X more sunlight


-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

2nd Cut Grass Swath Core Temp

65

75

85

95

105

Dat

e/T

ime

11:3

5 A

M

12:3

5 PM

1:35

PM

2:35

PM

3:35

PM

4:35

PM

5:35

PM

6:35

PM

7:35

PM

8:35

PM

9:35

PM

10:3

5 PM

NarrowWide

Swath Air & Swath Temp


-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Swath Density

Density had greater impact on drying than Conditoning, Mixing or Turning Swath Wright et al. 1997


Swath density decreases moisture removal

5.5X More Dense Wright, et.as 1997 Grass and Forage Sci. 52:86-98


No Sun

Stomata Closed

Drying Reduced

10 – 100XHarris & Tullberg 1980


Swath Core Relative Humidity

2030405060708090

100

10:00 AM 1:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM

Narrow Wide -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

RelativeHumidity


Wide swath

Field Results?


12 ft mower opened to wide swath = 8 ft. 66% of cutterbar width


Width Matters More Than Conditioning –Alfalfa- Swath Not Moved

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

NHC40%

NHC59%

NHC73%

NHC83%

SB 94%

% M

oist

ure

Los

t 2 hour


Width Matters More than Conditioning –Grass – Swath Not Moved

22.00%

24.00%

26.00%

28.00%

30.00%

NH 40%

NH 59%

Diskmow 65%NH 73%

NH 83%

Sidebar 94%

% D

ry M

atte

r

1 hour


1st Cut AlfalfaPoor Drying Conditions/ Swath Not Moved

0.55

0.6

0.65

0.7

0.75

0.8

0.85

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Hours From Cutting

% M

oist

ure

7.8 Hours


Moisture Removal Rate/Hour

0.00%

0.50%

1.00%

1.50%

2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

% Moisture removed/hr

TraditionalNarrow

Wide Swath Wide/H&Smerged

14.9 hrs. 7.4 hrs. 4.9 hrs.


1st Cut Harvest Window

16 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930 31 1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

May

June

Light rain Heavy rain No rain


What Quality Reaches the Cow’s Mouth

• Wide Swath Makes a Difference!!


Sunshine Produced Dry Matter

+50

Respiration lost Dry Matter

- 20

+ 30 Net Gain


Sunshine Produced Dry Matter

Respiration lost Dry Matter

- 20

-20 Net Loss

Shade or Nighttime


Relationship between overnight DM loss and minimum night temps

56789

1011121314

0 4 8 12 16

Min temp, degrees C

DM

loss

, %

Knapp et.al. 1973


Starch 2000 to 220,000 sugar units. Moser 1995

Respiration loss

Sugar-11%

-24%

Knapp et.al 1973


Starch lost- Traditional Narrow Swath

00.5

11.5

22.5

Fresh mowed end day 1 begin day 2 begin day 3

STARCH

92% Starch lost

By 3rd Day


Sugar lost- Narrow Swath

5.25

6.25

7.25

Fresh mowed end day 1 begin day 2 begin day 3

SUGAR

19% Sugar lost

By 3rd Day


Sugar 7.72

Starch 3.5

Sugar 6.417.7% loss

Starch 2.917.1% loss

Narrow Swath Milk loss From Respiration in just 24 hours

16% - 30% of Dry Matter loss by Respiration


Sugar 8.10

Starch 3.075

Sugar 7.685% loss

Starch 3.24% gain!

Wide swath


LACTIC/ACETICRATIO

alfalfa narrow 1.520

wide 3.105

Grass narrow 6.67

wide 9.738

2nd Cut Alfalfa narrow 3.888

wide 5.940

BMR narrow 0.890

wide 1.143

More Sugar

& Starch =

Better

Fermentation


0.45

0.55

0.65

Nel

1st cut alfalfa 2nd cut grass 2nd cut alfalfa

Narrow Fresh Wide Fresh Narrow Wilt Wide Wilt


Protein (made of amino acid units) NPNAmino

acid

Soluble Protein


0

2.56.5

26.5

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Fora

ge N

PN

Wilt Time Hours

0 2.5 6.5 26.5

Impact of Drying Time on Forage NPN

Table from Brady, 1960


Impact on Potential Milk/Ton1st Cut Alfalfa 2nd Cut Grass

Narrow Fresh 2652 a 3513 a

Wide Fresh 2731 a 3606 aNarrow Ferment 2279 b 3400 bWide Ferment 2574 a 3705 albs potential Milk/ton 294.9 304.5$/ton DM $44.24 $45.68

275 Acres x 3 T DM/A x $40/T = $33,000


Wide Swath Plus Multiple Windrows

• Reduces time & cost

• Fits quality harvest window

• Gives you more milk/ton


counties.cce.cornell.edu\rensselaer\agriculture

Produced by

Tom Kilcer

Regional Field Crop & Dairy Educator

Cornell Cooperative Extension in Rensselaer County, New York

This research was made possible by a grant from H&S manufacturing;

New York Farm Viability Institute

and assistance from New Holland Equipment

wide swath haylage to save time & nutrients

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