From Joe Lawrence, Dairy Forage Systems Specialist, Pro-Dairy

Latest strategies on dealing with dry conditions:
Drought and Forages 6.2021update

It is only the middle of June and conditions vary widely across the state but the combination of low forage inventories stemming from the 2020 season and areas that remain quite dry to date this year do have some people worried and the questions have been coming in.

The drought monitor shows much of the state above the Thru-way (as well as the western edge) remaining in a D0 (abnormally dry) rating, with an area of the North Country in D1.

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?NY

An issue I am hearing about once again is how hay fields with late harvest first cutting are really suffering.  This is the 3^rd year in the last 5 (2018, 2020, 2021) where this has been evident. Fields where a timely first cutting occurred still had enough moisture for a productive second cutting. However, fields where first cutting was late were left with little moisture (and hotter temps) that severally diminish the productivity of second cutting.

So I realize it is early to sound the alarm and this is only relevant to some areas of the state but since this is the 2^nd year in a row of these challenges for some areas, it does seem the concerns are being raised earlier in the season than they might be in other years and I figured I would remind you of the some of the resources that are out there and may be useful if these conditions persist.

I just reviewed the attached article and updated some of the links, etc.

I also can’t help but reinforce that some of the basics that are always important, like good silage management, can be even more important in preserving what forage you do have available.

There are surely other resources out there but we tried to summarize some of the common resources available, the list is also below.

Resources

 Northwest NY Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops Team

http://nwnyteam.cce.cornell.edu/submission.php?id=589&crumb=forages|2

• Forage Management and Addressing Forage Shortages

PRO-DAIRY

https://cals.cornell.edu/pro-dairy/our-expertise/forage-systems

• Forage Management Resources

North Country Regional Agriculture Team

• Managing Forages in Drought Videos

• Part 1: Managing Pastures in Drought https://vod.video.cornell.edu/media/1_19bj2cuc
• Part 2: Stored Forages: Winter Feed Supply https://vod.video.cornell.edu/media/1_ql576klx

Nutrient Management Spear Program Agronomy Fact sheets

http://nmsp.cals.cornell.edu/guidelines/factsheets.html

• #70: Drought and Risk of Nitrate Toxicity in Forages
• #114: Emergency and Alternative Summer Annual Forages

Cornell Beef Cattle Management Drought Resources

https://blogs.cornell.edu/beefcattle/producer-resources/

Penn State University

• Managing Drought Stressed Corn

https://extension.psu.edu/managing-drought-stressed-corn

• Pricing Standing Corn Silage Spreadsheet

https://extension.psu.edu/spreadsheet-to-price-standing-corn-for-silage

University of Wisconsin

https://fyi.uwex.edu/forage/harvest/

• Storage Capacity Calculators: Bunks, Bags, Upright Silos

Miner Institute Feeder Tools

https://www.whminer.org/dairy/

• Inventory Calculator
• Inventory Management

Thanks
Joe

 

Joe Lawrence, MS, CCA

Dairy Forage Systems Specialist

PRO-DAIRY

272 Morrison Hall

 

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Cornell University

Ph. 315-778-4814

jrl65@cornell.edu  |  cals.cornell.edu

http://prodairy.cals.cornell.edu/

One of our NYS Livestock Reporters emailed that JBS was not buying at Maplehurst Livestock Sales due to cyber attack.

Full story.

 

 

From the Ohio Beef Cattle Letter, http://u.osu.edu/beef/.

The History of the Development of the Large Round Bale

Routine and emergency losses of poultry and livestock are significant environmental, bio-security, and waste management concerns. In addition, disposal of offal and butcher waste is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive as renderers close down. Mortality composting is cost effective, environmentally sound, compassionate, easy to do, and can be done at any time of the year. This presentation will cover what composting is and how to compost livestock on farm including the regulations in New York State.

The program will be held from 6:30-8:00 pm on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. Our presenter, Jean Bonhotal, Waste Management Specialist and Director of the Cornell Waste Management Institute in Soil and Crop Sciences has spent over 25 years in education of composting food, manure, animal carcasses, and compost quality/use.

There is no fee however pre-registration is required. Registration link:
https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0vcO6urjIsGNG1PkWliDueOlMjWr8e5yjP.
This program is sponsored by the CCE Livestock Program Work Team.

Composting Livestock Mortality and On-Farm Butcher Waste is one of many programs offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany County (CCE-Allegany). The association is part of the national cooperative extension system, an educational partnership between County, State, and Federal governments. As New York’s land grant university Cornell administers the system in this state. For more information, call 525-268-7644 or visit our website at www.cce.cornell.edu/allegany. Cornell University Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities.

May 10, 2021

Building a resilient local food system requires sufficient meat processing capacity. The COVID pandemic revealed that NYS did not have the ability to absorb shocks, including increased consumer meat demand, leaving farmers and consumers frustrated and meat processors overwhelmed.

In Fall 2020, a team of Cornell Cooperative Extension educators, Cornell Animal Science Dept faculty, and Cornell Small Farms program staff embarked on an effort to interview all 300 meat processing facilities that provide services to farmers in NYS. The team sought to gain an understanding of these businesses’ interest in expanding or upgrading to a higher level of inspection, barriers to sustainability and growth, and what types of support they needed.

The results and conclusions of these interviews are now available to read and download HERE. A longer version with complete literature review and more in-depth statistical analysis will be available at the same link by May 31, 2021.

The team concluded that there is no single, easy solution to the meat processing bottleneck, but there are several areas where investment is needed and would ease the situation for farmers and processors. Availability of grant funding for capacity expansion of all 3 types of meat processing facilities would help. While some new facilities are needed, investing first in expansion of existing facilities will accomplish more with fewer resources. Additionally, funding for full-time staff positions to provide technical support and succession planning to meat processors, as well as meat cutting training and food safety assistance, would provide some relief. There is enormous need for leadership and expertise in this area but currently almost no staff is funded to provide this support.

Additional areas of need are outlined in the white paper.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced a virtual listening session for beginning farmers and ranchers to learn how COVID-19 impacted their farming operations and to get their feedback on USDA assistance. The listening session will take place on May 6, 2021, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Eastern time.

Montaño Greene and Mae Wu, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, will be joined by Zach Ducheneaux, USDA’s Farm Service Agency Administrator, and Sarah Campbell, USDA’s National Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coordinator.

This feedback will inform USDA preparations for outreach strategies, programmatic needs, technical assistance and accessible program delivery for beginning farmers and ranchers through Pandemic Assistance for Producers.

More Information
To register and attend, see farmers.gov/newfarmers. Registrants have the optional opportunity to provide written feedback.

Those involved with animal agriculture know well the misinformation and fearmongering alternative meat activists successfully use. Even some from within U.S. agriculture are promoting plant-based proteins with increased effort.

How should the animal agriculture industry and other advocates communicate around such hot topics as alternative meats and plant-based proteins when fear, uncertainty and doubt are tactics of those shaming consumers into a meatless lifestyle?

I encourage you to read the entire article that appeared in Western Farm Press.

 

Summary: Cornell University is developing a hyperlocal weather forecasting system as part of the National Science Foundation-funded CIVIC Innovation Challenge Competition. Hyper-local weather forecasting has the potential to improve highway safety, increase farming productivity and reduce infrastructure damage by providing actionable real-time weather information to these critical sectors. As the CIVIC Competition emphasizes the community-driven process, the research team is conducting a survey to solicit ideas from farmers, community organizations, state and local governmental agencies. The link to the survey is https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWGpdhiQ380h4nI. Your timely response is greatly appreciated.

 

More information about the CIVIC Competition can be found from the following media reports: 

Cornell Chronicle Article: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/02/nsf-challenges-cornell-tame-winter-natural-disasters

Spectrum News: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/weather/2021/03/14/applying-science-to-new-york-weather

WBNG News: https://wbng.com/2021/03/02/cornell-professor-researching-how-to-enhance-winter-storm-response-in-rural-communities/