Silage Production And Use On Selected Dairy Farms

Author : Eric Ranck
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (15 download)

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Download or read book ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF DOUBLE CROPPING WINTER ANNUAL SILAGE AND CORN ON DAIRY FARMS IN NORTHERN AND WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. written by Eric Ranck and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dairy farmers are increasingly being challenged by environmental regulations, volatile milk and feed prices, and lower profit margins. In response to these challenges, farms are intensifying the number of cows/unit of land to remain profitable. This intensification creates a nutrient challenge, because there is less land to spread manure on, as well as an economic challenge, because farmers are forced to either increase crop yields or purchase more feed. Double cropping winter annuals and corn silage has been suggested as a way to help deal with both problems. Double cropping increases forage yields/ha, which provides more forage for the farm, while in some cases also removes more nutrients/ha, compared to only growing a crop of corn silage. However, the drawbacks of double cropping are a potential reduction in the yield of the corn crop following winter annual crop, as well as added farm expenses to raise the winter annual crop, which may not be offset by the increased forage yields. This thesis will discuss two studies that investigated the environmental and economic impacts of four dairy farms that were currently double cropping winter annuals and corn in northern and western Pennsylvania, where the growing season is short.The first study was a case study analysis on four dairy farms to determine the cost of production (COP) of each crop raised and per hundredweight (cwt) of milk produced for each farm. Farm visits were made quarterly, and production and financial data were collected. Herd size averaged 292 cows and farm sized averaged 319 ha during 2016 and 2017. Hectares double cropped averaged 14.1% of total acres farmed. Milk yieldiiiivaveraged 33.9 kg/cow per day. Yields of winter annual silages averaged 3.5 t/ha across both years. The average COP of winter annual silage across farms was $253/t, compared to the average purchase price of winter annual silage of $210/t. This means that some of the farms produced winter annual forage at a cost that was greater than the purchase price, assuming the silage would have been available to purchase. Double cropping provided extra forage for the farms, but the average COP of winter annual silage was greater than the purchased price, negating any economic benefit of double cropping to these farms.The second study used the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) to monitor the environmental and economic impact of each of the four farms over 20 years. The IFSM was developed to simulate all major farm processes including: cropping, dairy, nutrient cycling, and economic analysis. Farm files in the IFSM were selected to best match each farm. Seed and chemical costs, land rent, and milk prices were entered as collected from each farm. The IFSM default prices were used, except in the case of purchased feed and crops sold, where a ten year average of feed prices for Pennsylvania were used. Six farm scenarios were modeled including: current operation, 0, 50, and 100% corn ha double cropped, and a 30% feed price increase with current number of ha double cropped or no ha double cropped. Double cropping increased total DM/ha for the farm by 19%. Net nitrogen (N)/ha per year increased by 11.6% as corn ha double cropped increased from 0 to 100%. Average N leached/ha per year decreased by 9.0% across farms as corn ha double cropped increased from 0 to 100%. However, two of the four farms had a positive quantity of N leached/ha. Increasing corn ha double cropped reduced net phosphorus (P) and P loss and increased percent of P removed of applied, by an average of 2.65 and 0.13vkg/ha and 10.7% per year, for 0 to 100% ha corn ha double cropped, respectively. Erosion loss was reduced by an average of 153%. Net return over feed costs and net return to management increased by 2.2 and 9.0%, respectively, as double cropped corn ha increased from 0 to 100%. When purchased feed prices were increased by 30%, double cropping increased the net return over feed cost and net return for farm management to farms by an average of 2.15 and 3.52%, respectively, compared to without double cropped. For the four dairy farms modeled, the environmental benefit to farms was mixed for N but beneficial for P and reduced erosion, and the farms saw a small but positive economic impact from double cropping.