DEC Open Burning Regulations

Under the new regulations, you are allowed to burn the following items on your property;

• On-site burning of agricultural wastes as part of a valid agricultural operation on contiguous agricultural lands larger than five acres actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use, provided such waste is actually grown or generated on those lands and such waste is capable of being fully burned within a 24-hour period. This includes the use of liquid petroleum fueled smudge pots to prevent frost damage to crops.

• DEC defines "Agricultural Land" as the land and on-farm buildings, equipment, manure processing and handling facilities, and practices that contribute to the production, preparation and marketing of crops, livestock and livestock products as a commercial enterprise, including a 'commercial horse boarding operation' and 'timber processing'. Such farm operation may consist of one or more parcels of owned or rented land, which parcels may be contiguous or noncontiguous to each other.

• DEC defines “Agricultural Waste” as any waste from naturally grown products such as vines, trees and branches from orchards, leaves and stubble. In addition, any fully organic waste either grown or generated on the premises, including but not limited to paper feed bags, wood shavings used for livestock bedding, bailing twine, and other non-plastic materials. Agricultural waste does not include pesticide containers, fertilizer bags, large plastic storage bags (including bags commonly known as "Ag bags"), offal, tires, plastic feed bags, and other plastic or synthetic materials.

• Individual open fires as approved by the Director of the Division of Air Resources as may be required in response to an outbreak of a plant or animal disease upon request by the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Markets, or for the destruction of invasive plant and insect species.

• Downed limbs and branches (including branches with attached leaves or needles) less than six inches in diameter and eight feet in length between May 15th and the following March 15th (Meaning no burning of these items between March 15 and May 15).

• Barbecue grills, maple sugar arches and similar outdoor cooking devices can be used only for cooking or processing food.

• Small fires used for cooking and camp fires provided that only charcoal or untreated wood is used as fuel and the fire is not left unattended until extinguished.

• Ceremonial or celebratory bonfires provided that only untreated wood or other agricultural products are used as fuel and the fire is not left unattended until extinguished.

• Small fires that are used to dispose of a flag or religious item, and small fires or other smoke producing process where not otherwise prohibited by law that are used in connection with a religious ceremony.

• Fire training, including firefighting, fire rescue, and fire/arson investigation training, performed under applicable rules and guidelines of the New York State Department of State's Office of Fire Prevention and Control. For fire training performed on acquired structures, the structures must be emptied and stripped of any material that is toxic, hazardous or likely to emit toxic smoke (such as asbestos, asphalt shingles and vinyl siding or other vinyl products) prior to burning and must be at least 300 feet from other occupied structures. No more than one structure per lot or within a 300 foot radius (whichever is bigger) may be burned in a training exercises.

If you have questions follow this link.

www.nysaes.cornell.edu/recommends/RAPPPSummary-CornellGuidelines2008Oct27.pdf.

Ensiling Wet Corn Silage

The discussions on corn silage maturity have centered on monitoring dry matter content to time harvest thus far. The golden rule is to assess whole plant moisture content and harvest at the 65-70% range.

However, what should be done if corn silage is harvested too wet? ( some farmers are worried about a wet fall and will harvest silage wetter than they would like).

Wet corn silage is more likely to undergo extensive fermentation and have high levels of acetic acid (which can reduce intake).

Two recommendations stand out:

• Increasing length of cut for wet silage to maintain effective fiber (especially important in higher corn silage diets)
• Inoculate with homolactic lactic acid bacteria (LAB)

In general immature corn does not need inoculation to ferment, but the idea is to populate the silage with lactic acid producing bacteria to encourage more lactic (vs acetic) acid production. Also, should corn get frosted hard, natural populations of lactic acid bacteria will be reduced, and need to be supplemented.

A couple articles on this:

Michigan state
Kansas State (Bolson)

Corn Manturing Slowly

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Dale Dewing 9/1/2009

Corn is manturing slowly this year. I was out looking over fields in the Delhi area today. Even the earliest planted corn was still only in the milk stage, the kernals would still squirt when you pressed them with a fingernail. The hill top corn was only at the blister stage (picture at right). Let's all pray for more heat.

Tom Kilcer of Advanced Ag Systems (click for more info) included this chart in his August 2009 Crop and Soil Newsletter.

If your corn is currently at:

Full Dent Stage: 1 week – 10 days away from ¼ milk line

Early Dent Stage: 2 weeks to ¼ milk line

Late Milk Stage: 2 ½ weeks to ¼ milk line (doesn’t squirt, but does not have much dent.)

Early Milk Stage: 3 weeks to ¼ milk line (squirts when the kernel is pressed.)

Blister Stage: 25 days to ¼ milk line

Just tasseled: 40 days minimum to ¼ milk line Wait for a frost to dry it somewhat before chopping.

Posted by Dale Dewing at 3:56 PM

Yellow Corn Now Wet Silage

The recent trade publications are reminding us what a poor growing season we have had for corn. Dr. Bill Cox is is quoted in American Agriculturist that by the end of July the northern New York growing- degree were down 16%. We might well be dealing with a lot of immature corn this year. Cornell studies suggest that maximum milk is achieved if corn is harvested at 32%-35% dry mater.
Some tips to increase dry matter in corn this year: Chop high, Chop in the afternoon after the dew is off.
Other ideas for dealing with imature corn or frosted corn can be found on the Vermont University website.

Click here to see the Vermont article

More Articles:
Iowa State Article
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture
Michigan State Article

Feeding Strategies, Part 4 - What to watch for

The first major challenge to implementing “densified” grain mixes is to realize that cost per ton of grain mix will be higher. However, if the feeding rate per cow is less, the cost per cow per day can be lower than before. (Don’t assume – do the math to determine this.)

Also, sometimes animal performance can be better on these denser grain mixes, so accounting for increased milk production by calculating milk income over purchased feed costs should be done.

When feeding less purchased grain in total to the cow, it is important to realize that a cow will likely attempt to still maintain her daily dry matter intake. It is important to ensure that there is forage available for her to eat to maintain this intake, and preferably, good forage. Offering additional forage will give the best chance for additional milk response an will ensure that no body condition is lost due to reduced total energy intake once grain intakes are lowered.

Another challenge in feeding nutrient denser grain mixes is providing enough minerals. If you choose to put all of the minerals in one of two feeds, low feeding rates can make it a challenge to get enough minerals in the cow each day. While minerals can be “densified,” as well, there is a point at which you can run into palatability problems with the grain mix. Palatability enhancers, like molasses, can be used to overcome this problem. Some farmers choose to put minerals into both mixes, or choose a grain that is fed in greater quantities (usually the energy mix or corn meal). Minerals that can be of particular concern are salt and calcium, both of which are required in large quantity. Cows should be offered at least ¼-pound of salt each day and shorting cows of salt can really cut production. Salt can easily be top dressed loose or offered free choice if it can’t be delivered in the grain mix. One salt block to more than 10 cows does not constitute free choice.

Lastly, feeding a concentrated mix in component fed herds, if not done carefully, can lead to challenges in managing protein levels in the diet. A small change in the amount of grain fed can make a big change in the amount of protein consumed and can lead rot excess protein fed (which is expensive and detrimental to the cow, especially body condition and reproduction). This can be a challenge, especially when forage quality is changing often. Using MUN (milk urea nitrogen) analysis is an invaluable tool for monitoring dietary protein inadequacy. Whole herd average MUN should run between 10 and 14 mg/dl. It is not uncommon to see well-managed diets running 8 to 11. Lower than 8 may signify too little protein in the diet. Individual cow MUN levels should not be running about 18 mg/dl. If you see many cows over 18, there is probably too much protein or too little rumen fermentable carbohydrate in the diet. Most creameries now offer MUN analysis, and it can be obtained through DHI.

Does it work?
Using this strategy in 2007, one PFM farm lowered its grain purchases as percent of milk receipts 10 percentage points n one year, while milk production per cow continues to increase.

Feeding Strategies, Part 3 - How to implement it

A densified grain mix strategy is often implemented in component fed herds using a “two feed” system; i.e. a protein mix and an energy mix. Most dairy farmers find this approach lets them manage protein intakes differently based on stage flactation, and can be especially useful when cows are on well managed pasture. While a two feed system is the most flexible, it is possible to employ the nutrient densification strategy with a one feed system.

Feeding Strategies, Part 2 - What are we after?

The main nutrients being delivered to cattle in most purchased grain rations are protein, energy and minerals. In most cases, the primary energy sources are starches (usually delivered in the form of corn meal). Fiber, on most farms around here, is supplied in forages.

The strategy of increasing nutrient density leads us to look for ways to use highly concentrated nutrient sources. Minerals, in most cases, are quite concentrated to begin with. Protein sources are generally considered concentrated when Crude Protein levels are over 40 percent of feed dry matter. This includes most soy products, as well as some others, like meat, bone and blood meal and some commercial plant protein products. Density on the energy side comes from sources that provide a lot of starch, such as corn grain, barley and wheat, as well as products that make starch more available in the rumen (such as true steam-flaked corn).

In making rations denser, what we generally try to avoid is mid-range protein sources such as wheat, distillers’ grains and corn gluten feed. Inclusion of a high level (more than 2 pounds per cow per day) of these products requires that we feed more grain to get the same level of nutrients delivered.

There are some circumstances (such as where a lot of extremely high quality forages like lush pasture or extremely low quality forages coupled with low forage feeding rates) when the feeds that are low in protein and high in digestible fiber, (e.g. soy hulls, citrus pulp) are a good fit in the ration.

Feeding Strategies, Part 1 - Making every pound count

One feeding strategy that some farmers have employed to manage feed costs is to increase the nutrient density of the purchased grain mixes and feed less total pounds of grain (while still delivering the same total amount of nutrients per cow per day).