Poor forage causes concern
By | TY HIGGINS OHIO FARM BUREAU POSTED FEBRUARY 13, 2020
for livestock farmers
THE IMPACT of an unusually wet spring last year “Even though we had an abundance of first cutting, is still being felt by Ohio’s livestock producers. the calendar did not allow us to harvest as many Rains that kept many farmers from planting corn times as we normally would.” and soybeans in a timely manner, or in some cases not planting at all, also caused headaches for The delayed start to harvest also affected the forage producers. quality of forages. The first cutting yields the “We couldn’t get started with the first cutting highest tonnage but the lowest quality. Throughout of forages until July so we gave up a significant the growing season, the crop gets better with each amount of annual tonnage right off the bat,” said cutting. In 2019, about 75% of the total forage Allen Gahler, an Ohio State Extension educator production came with the first cutting, putting the for ag and natural resources in Sandusky County. later, high quality product at a premium.
16 | SPRING 2020
