News Update
March 25, 2013
Alliance Holds Schools to Detoxify Missouri’s K-31 Fescue Pastures
Kentucky 31 (KY-31) tall fescue covers the ground well and resists insects, drought and overgrazing. However, this most widely used pasture grass in Missouri has a flaw.
“Common fescue is toxic to livestock,” said Craig Roberts, University of Missouri (MU) Extension forage specialist.
At the MU Forage Systems Research Center, Roberts was the first speaker in a daylong school on how to detoxify endophyte-infested tall fescue pastures. An earlier school was at MU’s Southwest Center, Mount Vernon.
An endophyte fungus between plant cells in KY-31 creates an alkaloid toxin, which can reduce rates of gain, milk production and reproduction when ingested. The toxin affects horses, sheep and goats, as well as cattle.
Of less impact, but more visible, are loss of hooves, tails and ear tips resulting from vasoconstriction. The toxin prevents calves from shedding hair coats in summer, which can add to heat stress.
The Alliance for Grassland Renewal aims to remove the state’s most devastating livestock problem. The Alliance was formed by MU and federal agencies in cooperation with seed companies that grow patented fescue varieties that don’t have toxic endophyte.
“Everyone who has a part of the solution is part of this Alliance,” Roberts said. “That includes seed companies, but also farmers who switched varieties and helped production.”
Dairy farmers are typically first to see a need for change, he noted. “Endophyte grass cuts milk output at least 20% per day.”
Darrell Franson, a farmer from Mount Vernon, Mo., changed his pastures, one by one, throughout 10 years. Average weaning weight of his calves increased from 504 pounds (lb.) to 622 lb., “with no more creep feeding,” he said.
Since 1995, conception rates on Franson’s cows went from 81% to 95%. The motto for his beef farm: “It’s the grass.”
“Before I switched to novel endophyte, a third of my cows lost their tails,” he added.
Roberts said the fescue toxin is a vasoconstrictor. It restricts blood flow. In winter, frostbite hits the extremities. In summer, core body temperatures rise. Lack of blood flow affects heating and cooling.
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Workshop Offers Producers Tips to Expand Sales Using ‘Maps and Apps’
Is your food business on the map?
The mobile map, that is.
Ohio food producers wanting to increase their markets, grow their customer base, improve profitability and increase visibility can learn strategies on how to leverage mobile media marketing during a workshop offered by Ohio State University (OSU) Extension.
The “Maps and Apps” workshop April 24 will teach participants how to make the most of mobile media marketing as a way their businesses can benefit from free listings on Internet maps, GPS systems and mobile apps, said Julie Fox, direct marketing specialist with the Ohio State University South Centers, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and OSU Extension.
Statistics show that 91% of U.S. citizens have their mobile device within their reach 24 hours a day, seven days a week, said Fox, who will lead the hands-on workshop. Research shows that consumers do more than 3 billion local searches each month for products and services nearby, she said.
“Ohio food businesses need to have a mobile presence to compete in today’s multiscreen world,” Fox said. “The Direct Marketing team accessed resources from the North Central Risk Management Education Center to bring this program to Ohio farmers and other food entrepreneurs.”
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Corn Stover Collection Can Have Environmental Impacts
Removing corn stover from agricultural fields to produce cellulosic ethanol requires careful management to avoid adding greenhouse gas emissions and soil erosion to the environment, say Purdue University researchers.
Environmental impacts from stover removal can be reduced by switching to no-till corn or adding winter cover crops, but these practices likely would increase production costs, researchers reported in a study.
“Some crop rotation and tillage combinations are more environmentally benign than others,” said Ben Gramig, a Purdue agricultural economist and the study's lead researcher. “But there are water quality and greenhouse gas tradeoffs when collecting stover.”
Stover is the parts of a corn plant that remain after grain harvest. Greenhouse gases from crop fields are released into the atmosphere when carbon escapes disturbed soils during stover removal. Emissions also occur when nitrogen fertilizer is applied to the land or crop residues decompose. Plowing fields loosens soil and, when combined with removing stover, causes increased soil erosion.
Federal law requires 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol be produced each year as part of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). One RFS goal is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases are believed to contribute to climate change.
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