Meeting March 11 Focuses on Increasing Forage for Dairy Cows

One way to improve cow health and lower production costs is by increasing the forage dairy cows consume.

This is the primary topic of a March 11 New York Certified Organic meeting in Geneva.

Tom Kilcer of Advanced Ag Systems will help farmers review their planting, harvesting and feeding systems to achieve better forage and more profitable dairy production.

Kilcer will make his presentation in person at 10 a.m. at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station Jordan Hall auditorium in Geneva, and the program will be simulcast to the Cornell Cooperative Extension offices in Oswego, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison and St. Lawrence counties.

Kilcer will share the latest research on using wide swath haylage harvesting to capture plant nutrients to support dairy cow nutrition. The end goal of using the harvesting technique to produce high quality forage cover crops is to enhance milk production.

Kilcer received two New York Farm Viability Institute grants to evaluate the use of wide swath harvesting to help New York dairies and to reduce weather-related forage crop losses.

Kilcer, with 34 years of experience as a Cornell Cooperative Extension field crops and soils educator, will also share information on rapid dry-down methods for harvesting red clover for dairy cows in his March 11 presentation.

New York Certified Organic, a group of grain and dairy farmers that has been meeting since 1994, is celebrating its 20th anniversary of sharing practical knowledge and expertise with the organic production of crops and milk.

There is no cost to attend NYCO meetings. Participants are asked to bring a dish to pass at the potluck lunch.

For more information, contact NYCO facilitator A. Fay Benson with Cornell Cooperative Extension Cortland County, (607) 753-5213, afb3@cornell.edu.

For more information on the simulcast locations, contact CCE Allegany/Cattaraugus, Tom Parmenter: 585-268-7644, Jefferson/Lewis, Ron Kuck: 788-8450, Madison, Karen Baase: 684-3001, Oswego, JJ Schell: 963-7286, St. Lawrence, Kimberley Morrill: 379-9192.

NYCO has received support funding from the New York Farm Viability Institute.