17 minute read
Where’s the alfalfa sweet spot?
IN DAIRY RATIONS?
by Mike Rankin
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OVER the past 30 years, alfalfa has lost market share to corn silage in dairy cow diet formulations. Multiple reasons have been cited for this shift, including lower alfalfa yields, winterkill risk, feed variability, and high production expenses.
At the same time the rapid move to corn silage has been occurring, growers and nutritionists still recognize that alfalfa has many positive agronomic, environmental, and feeding attributes.
A perfect pair
“From a nutritional perspective, it would be hard for us to find two forages that are more complementary with each other than alfalfa and corn silage,” said Rick Grant while speaking at the Midwest Forage Association’s Symposium 2022 in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. The president of the Miner Research Institute in Chazy, N.Y., noted that the starch and its degradability in corn silage matches “so well” with the amount of protein and the solubility of that protein in alfalfa.
In continuing to contrast alfalfa and corn silage, Grant noted that the “Queen of Forages” has less neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and higher undigestible NDF (uNDF), but the rate of digestion is much faster than corn silage. Alfalfa’s fiber is more “fragile,” and it breaks apart into cuboidal particles that are easy to swallow and pass through the rumen. As a result, alfalfa proves to be less filling than grasses such as corn silage, allowing for higher dry matter (DM) intakes.
“Alfalfa has great buffering attributes for the rumen,” Grant said. “It contains more sodium and potassium, has a higher dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD), and overall, we think that alfalfa may help to stabilize rumen pH and boost milkfat in higher corn silage rations.”
Alfalfa is also a much better source of lysine, an essential amino acid, than corn silage.
The dairy nutritionist noted that alfalfa’s value as a protein source is certainly greater in these times of high soybean meal prices, but Grant also thinks there is the ongoing potential to optimize the interaction between the rumen degradable protein of alfalfa and the starch from corn silage to enhance microbial protein synthesis. However, he warned that other ration ingredients need to be formulated in such a way to capitalize on this synergy.
Is more alfalfa warranted?
Grant and his research team decided there was a need to re-evaluate alfalfa inclusion in modern, high-producing dairy cow ration formulations that often have high concentrations of forage fiber. They wanted to determine if more alfalfa can successfully be fed in dairy rations and if there was a benefit in doing so.
The feeding trial was completed in 2021 using 105 Holstein cows. Each treatment diet was formulated for 62% forage and the same predicted metabolizable protein, although in the end the higher alfalfa diets provided a little more metabolizable protein. Inclusion
of alfalfa and corn silage were varied as follows: 1. 90% alfalfa, 10% corn silage 2. 70% alfalfa, 30% corn silage 3. 50% alfalfa, 50% corn silage 4. 30% alfalfa, 70% corn silage 5. 10% alfalfa, 90% corn silage
The high-quality alfalfa was fed in a total mixed ration (TMR) as chopped large square bales. “We used hay instead of haylage because we could maintain a consistent diet more easily,” Grant explained. “From previous research, we know that the form of alfalfa doesn’t influence dry matter intake or fat-corrected milk, if the quality is the same.”
For the higher alfalfa diets, some water was added to keep DM under 60% and to mitigate the fine particles from sorting out. The forage quality analysis of the alfalfa and corn silage is documented in Table 1 and the diet composition is presented in Table 2.
A middle optimum
In evaluating the results, Grant said his first take-home message is that we can feed alfalfa over a large range of the forage fed and still get good DM intake, milk production, and production efficiency (Table 3).
Drilling down a bit deeper, Grant said they didn’t measure any difference for milkfat, even though they expected to find one (Table 4). They did obtain differences for pounds of protein produced per day. “These weren’t big differences, but they were significant and would make a difference in the milk check,” Grant said. “It was the 30:70 and 50:50 diets (alfalfa to corn silage) that resulted in the most true protein output.”
Grant also pointed out that it appeared rumen efficiency from a fiber fermentation standpoint was best for the 30% to 50% alfalfa diets based on their greater de novo fatty acid milkfat concentrations. Rumination time in minutes per day were all in acceptable ranges except for the 90% alfalfa diet, which was the only treatment below 400 minutes.
“As with some past studies, this trial reinforced the idea that it’s probably best to stay away from the extremes for either corn silage or alfalfa and be somewhere in the middle,” Grant asserted. “From a nutritional standpoint, this makes sense.”
Concluding, Grant said it’s apparent that high-producing cows can be fed high-quality alfalfa as 10% to 90% of the forage component and still maintain milk production and efficiency. He noted that the “sweet spot” seems to be 30% to 50% alfalfa if milk components and rumen function are to be optimized.
“Alfalfa and perennial grasses have significant agronomic benefits,” Grant said. “As we look to a sustainable future for dairy-forage systems, we can’t ignore these benefits. It might be time to start including higher levels of alfalfa in our rations, especially for those currently feeding extreme amounts of corn silage.” •
Table 1. Alfalfa hay and corn silage nutrient concentrations
Alfalfa hay
Dry matter Crude protein
aNDFom 89.3
21.7
34.1
30-h NDF digestibility, % of NDF
ADL 39.7
6.3
Starch
7-h starch digestibility, % of starch Sugar (ESC) 3.4
8
Corn silage
31.6
9.0
37.4
52.0
3.0
35.8
61.3
0.7
Table 2. Ration nutrient concentrations at different alfalfa-to-corn silage ratios
Alfalfa-to-corn silage ratio (DM basis)
10:90 30:70 50:50 70:30 90:10
DM, % 45.0
Crude protein 15.7
aNDF 30.6
Starch 26.5
Sugar (ESC) Fat (EE) 5.6
5.1 50.0
15.6
29.3
27.9
5.3
4.6 52.5
16.4
28.3
26.3
5.6
4.6 59.4
17.1
26.7
26.2
5.6
4.9 60.4
17.6
25.5
26.0
5.6
4.6
Table 3. Dry matter intake and lactation performance of cows fed different ratios of alfalfa and corn silage
Alfalfa-to-corn silage ratio (DM basis)
10:90 30:70 50:50 70:30 90:10
Dry matter intake, lbs./day 57.9 58.6 58.9 59.0 58.2 DMI, % of BW 3.82 3.85 3.86 3.91 3.91 Milk yield, lbs./day 97.9 99.0 99.0 96.1 96.8 ECM yield, lbs./day 105.6 107.4 106.3 103.6 106.5 ECM/DMI, lbs./lbs. 1.82 1.83 1.81 1.76 1.83
Table 4. Milk components of cows fed different ratios of alfalfa and corn silage
Alfalfa-to-corn silage ratio (DM basis)
10:90 30:70 50:50 70:30 90:10
Fat, %
Fat, lbs./day 4.08 4.06 4.02 4.01 4.22
3.9 4.0 4.0 3.9 4.0
True protein, % True protein, lbs./daya
MUN, mg/dLb
De novo FA, g/100 g FAb 3.01 3.07 3.01 3.02 3.05
2.93 3.02 3.00 2.90 2.92
9.8 8.5 10.4 11.0 12.0
24.76 25.86 25.82 25.22 25.58
aSignificant cubic effect (P < 0.05). bSignificant quadratic effect (P < 0.05).
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Miles and Caleb von Stein chose a path not often taken by young farmers — developing a successful small square bale business. The brothers currently bale hay from 155 acres and also bale 750 acres of wheat straw each year.
WAGONS AND A HAY BUSINESS BUILT TO LAST
by Mike Rankin
THE farm on Township Road 34 was originally bought and given to the great grandparents of Miles and Caleb von Stein as a wedding gift. Fortunately for the two brothers, toasters weren’t in vogue for such occasions back in the day. Miles and Caleb now comprise the fourth generation to farm this northwestern Ohio land that is tucked between the two small farming communities of Rawson and Jenera.
Since the original wedding vows were taken, the farm has undergone several enterprise transformations. Miles and Caleb’s parents, Dennis and Monica, row cropped corn, soybeans, and winter wheat, raised hogs in partnership with a brother, had some sheep and cattle, grew a few acres of hay, and started a retail greenhouse operation in 1999. The least of these enterprises — baling hay and straw — is what intrigued Miles and Caleb the most.
“We couldn’t take income and acres away from our parents, so in 2010 we bought some windrowed wheat straw from neighbors and started baling,” Miles said. “We gradually added more straw acres while also attending college at night for agricultural mechanics.”
These days, the brothers operate the farm with help from their parents, Miles’ wife, Melissa, and Caleb’s wife, Carlie. It consists of about 800 owned and rented acres.
Miles and Caleb bale 155 acres of hay and 750 acres of straw each year. They also raise corn, soybeans, and winter wheat on the home farm and do some custom baling work. Some of their farm’s row crop acres are being converted to organic production, seeding down hay on those acres during the transition years. Poultry litter is used to maintain fertility.
Although the future goal is to be on the farm full time, both Miles and Caleb still have off-farm income. The slightly older Miles has a seed business and drives a school bus while Caleb works four days on and four days off at a factory in nearby Findlay.
Keep it simple
Over the past 10 years, Miles and Caleb have had to look for ways to make, store, and market small square bales efficiently and with mostly family labor. The brothers have strategically added equipment and infrastructure to streamline their system.
Hay is cut with a Massey Ferguson 13-foot pull-type mower conditioner with steel conditioning rolls and an older 12-foot Case IH pull-type with a B&D roller conditioner. “Dry down
is crucial for us with only short windows to get hay dry,” Caleb said.
Miles added, “If the ground is wet, we’ll cut it into a narrow windrow, let the ground dry out, and then spread it out with a 10-basket Krone tedder the next day. Everything gets tedded at least once and most of it twice.” The brothers also use two rotary rakes to get the crop back into windrows.
Baling is done with two Case IH small square balers. The bales come off the baler into a Norden (formerly Kuhns) Manufacturing 18-bale accumulator. The accumulated bales are then picked up with a skid steer and grapple and loaded onto specially built, 24-foot flatbed hay wagons that hold either 216 bales of hay or 252 bales of straw. They also have two smaller flatbed wagons.
The wagons separate the von Steins from most other haymaking operations. They are built on used, heavy-duty silage box running gears. The wagon floors are made from 2.5-inch oak boards cut from trees in the farm’s woodlot. The wagons, along with a 30-foot gooseneck trailer and a 48-foot semitrailer, allow the brothers to get nearly 2,000 bales “on wheels,” which lets them keep baling without unloading. Bales are unloaded with a telehandler and grapple, then stored in several different flat barns, although some hay is sold directly from the field if the customer is located reasonably close by.
Fine for the equine
Horse owners and businesses comprise most of the von Steins’ clientele. They also sell to a few dairy and beef operations. Straw is marketed to both horse owners for bedding and construction companies in need of mulch.
Most customers are located within two hours of the farm and the brothers will deliver using a gooseneck trailer. For any out-of-state orders, truckers are hired. Recently, the von Steins built a loading dock to easily fill semitrailer vans.
Most of the brothers’ customers are repeat orders from yearto-year. Some of their top-quality hay is also taken to the Mt. Hope hay auction that’s located a little over two hours from the farm. “It’s a good venue to meet and connect with people and gain new customers,” Miles said. “We also get top dollar for our hay there.”
Most of the von Steins’ hay is sold by the bale. “That’s just what a majority of our customers are used to,” Miles said. “They don’t easily comprehend a per ton price. We shoot for 50-pound hay bales and 40-pound straw bales.” The brothers monitor a Facebook marketplace page to gauge hay market price movement up or down.
The von Steins don’t test their hay for quality, as is often the case for haymakers who serve the horse market. “We bale for color and leaf retention because that’s what our customers look at,” Miles explained.
Caleb added, “We feel like we’ve slowly grown at a manageable pace, not promising any more than we know we can deliver. Most of our marketing is by word of mouth, and almost every year we run out of hay and straw.”
Unique establishment approach
The farm’s soils range from sand to clay, but alfalfa is only seeded on well-drained fields.
“We prefer to seed in the spring using oats as a companion crop,” Miles said. “All of our seedings are comprised of an alfalfa-orchardgrass mix that consists of 30 pounds of oats, 20 pounds of coated alfalfa seed, and 8 pounds of a late-maturing orchardgrass variety.”
The brothers have their own unique approach to seeding that entails four trips across a field. First, they use their grain drill to seed the oats. Then they use the drill to seed half of the alfalfa and orchardgrass seed; this is because the drill only has one box, and the oats must be seeded deeper than the alfalfa and orchardgrass. The next trip across the field is with an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) broadcast seeder, spinning on the other half of the alfalfa and orchardgrass mix. Finally, the entire field is rolled with a cultipacker to achieve good seed-to-soil contact and a uniform stand.
“We’ve had times where the drilled seed came up the best and other times when the broadcasted seed had better emergence,” Caleb said. “We know our rate is on the high side, but we can’t afford a stand failure or thin stand. We try to keep our stands for about five or six years, including the seeding year,” he added.
The brothers cut and round bale the oats. If possible, they’re put up as dry hay, but they also have a bale wrapper that makes oatlage an option if there’s insufficient drying time available.
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Caleb (left) and Miles (right) von Stein have steadily grown their hay business over the past 10 years. Horse owners and businesses comprise the majority of their clientele.
The von Steins use specially built flatbed wagons to load bales on in the field. The wagon floors are comprised of 2.5-inch oak boards cut from trees in the farm’s woodlot.
Miles von Stein loads straw bales in the field using a skid steer and grapple. Each wagon holds 252 bales of straw.
After the oats are harvested, the brothers get one or two more cuttings of alfalfa. For established stands, four cuttings of alfalfa are harvested with the last one around mid-September.
Like many commercial haymakers, von Steins also have some beef cattle that can be used as an outlet to feed the oat hay or other low-quality hay that is less marketable. In addition, the von Steins frost seed red clover into winter wheat in the spring. They are sometimes able to cut and make baleage from the clover later in the year. The brothers may wrap anywhere from 200 to 800 bales, depending on the year.
Moving forward
When given the choice between row cropping and making hay into small square bales, most of the younger generation would choose the former. Such was not the case for the von Stein brothers. For Miles and Caleb, making hay is a passion. This is likely why the brothers were winners of the 2021 American Forage and Grassland Council’s Forage Spokesperson’s Contest as representatives of Ohio.
“We’re not planning to get bigger in the immediate future,” Miles said. “Haymaking is a good way to start farming, especially with small square bales and the premium price they bring. Also, equipment is relatively cheap, and you can utilize small barns. We’re in a good place right now,” he concluded.
The von Stein brothers will no doubt be making hay for many years to come. Their oak-board flatbed wagons may be around for generations. •
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