Wednesday November 27 Ag News

 REDUCING HAY FEEDING LOSSES
- Ben Beckman, NE Extension Educator

Hay is expensive and many long hours go into harvesting, storing, and feeding it.  Don’t waste up to a third of it by using poor feeding practices.

Believe it or not, cattle can trample, over consume, manure on, and use for bedding up to 25 to 45 percent of your hay when it is fed with no restrictions.  Extra control in feeding can pay off big time with that expensive hay.

For starters, don’t provide more than one day’s supply at a time.  Research has shown that when cows are fed a four-day supply, they will overeat and waste 20 to 30 percent more hay than when they are fed one day at a time.  This adds up to $50 to $75 more per cow over a four-month feeding period.  Best of all is to feed only what the livestock will clean up in one meal, so nothing is left over to be wasted.  Be sure to provide sufficient space, though, for all animals to eat at once so boss cows don’t stop timid cows from getting their fair share.

Another thing you can do is restrict access to hay.  Use bale racks or rings to keep animals off the hay.  Especially useful are racks with barriers around the bottom that prevent livestock from pulling hay loose with their feet and dragging it out to be stepped on. If you unroll bales or grind and feed on the ground, position an electric fence alongside or above the hay to keep cows from trampling or bedding down on the hay.

As always, feed a balanced ration that provides sufficient energy and protein, but not too much.  Animals that eat more protein than they need will simply excrete it as extra nitrogen in their urine.  This is just as wasteful as directly trampling it into the ground.



Health and performance of dairy beef to be featured at Feedlot Forum 2025

Dairy-beef crossbreds are gaining in popularity, yet some producers are unsure how that might work in their herds. Garland Dahlke, research scientist with the Iowa Beef Center, will present research he conducted the past 18 months examining the nutrition, health, and performance of dairy crossbred calves. His presentation is one of five at Feedlot Forum 2025 on January 14 in Sioux Center.

Beth Doran, Iowa State University extension beef specialist for northwest Iowa, said Dahlke was a member of an IBC team studying dairy crossbred calves from the wet calf stage through the finishing phase. The team monitored feed intake, body weight, sickness, and carcass quality. The project was funded by state Check-Off funds from the Iowa Beef Industry Council.

“To reduce the upfront cost for feeder cattle, feedlot producers are purchasing dairy or dairy crossbred cattle," Doran said. "However, dairy crossbreds are not without challenges. These calves are more fragile and may require  management differing from that used with calves of beef breeds.”

Dahlke is no stranger to dairy cattle, having grown up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. He's been instrumental in developing software to formulate beef and dairy cattle diets, and is known nationally for his Feedlot Monitoring Program, Beef Ration and Nutrition Decisions (BRANDS), and the Estrus Synch software programs.

Registration for Feedlot Forum 2025 is available online at the conference website https://www.extension.iastate.edu/sioux/feedlot-forum. Cost is $25 per adult and $10 per student. Registrations close January 6.

For more information, contact Doran at 712-737-4230 or doranb@iastate.edu.



Everman Named New Assistant Professor and Extension Weed Specialist

After a nearly 30-year absence, Wesley Everman is finally back home in Iowa and is excited to help farmers tackle the many weed management challenges they face.

Everman started on Nov. 1, coming to Iowa State University by way of North Carolina State University where he spent the last 13 years as professor and extension weed specialist. There he conducted research and extension activities, finding economical solutions to the growing problem of herbicide resistance in weeds.

In addition to his extension appointment, Everman will conduct research and teach an upper level, weed management course in the fall of 2025. He will be housed on campus but anticipates an initially heavy travel schedule, planning a “get-to-know-me” state tour that hits all corners of the state.

“I’ll be arranging small-grower roundtable discussions and will do the same for industry folks, too, so I can better evaluate the most pressing needs across the state,” said Everman. “Getting my face out there and letting folks know who I am, that I'm here, that I'm willing to come to them and get to know their challenges is the goal. I'm hoping this gives me a clearer directive on how to structure my research and which projects are going to be top priorities.

“I really want to be accessible, and I want to directly address challenges across the state,” Everman continued. “Helping growers implement tools that I know work here, or find how best to adapt those tools, so that farmers in Iowa don't have to make drastic changes. Moving that needle a bit on integrated management practices and control measures that keep resistance at bay. The challenge is to come in and hopefully get those things adopted: it's a big ask, and it's a big task.”

Everman stated that he has a direct, applied approach to managing weeds with extension and research going hand in hand. Precision weed mapping and spraying, weed biology and cultural weed management practices including cover crops are just some of the tools Everman intends to deploy to tackle herbicide resistant weeds.

“It's a big thing for me to return and have an opportunity to make an impact in my home state – herbicide resistance is here and it's a major concern. I have a lot of experience with herbicide resistant weeds, trying to manage them, and identify tactics and tools that growers can adopt,” Everman said.



Clean Fuels Thanks Representatives for Urging IRS to Complete Timely §45Z Registrations
 
uesday, Clean Fuels Alliance America thanks Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) and Mike Carey (R-OH) for writing to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel and urging the agency “to ensure that taxpayers’ registrations under §45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit are completed before January 1, 2025.” Under the law, registered fuel producers can only claim the credit for fuels produced after the date on their registration letter from the IRS. Many producers have not received these letters.

Treasury issued guidance in May 2024 encouraging fuel producers to register by July 15 to give the IRS sufficient time to process applications and issue the registration letters by January 1, when the credit becomes available.

“These delays are creating confusion in the marketplace and stand to have a significant negative economic impact on clean fuel producers, transportation fleets, fuel marketers, farmers and other economic sectors,” the Representatives write. “We urge IRS to complete these registrations as soon as possible, and to ensure that U.S. producers who have initiated the registration process in a timely manner are found to be eligible to generate the credit beginning on January 1, 2025.”



Sustainability Alliance Meeting Highlights Innovations Driving Industry Progress

The 2024 Fall Meeting of the Dairy Sustainability Alliance® emphasized the industry's collective efforts to meet sustainability targets through the adoption of new technologies, best practices and measurement tools. The meeting brought together more than 350 representatives from the dairy value chain, including nearly 40 dairy farmers, to collaborate on advancing sustainability across the industry.

The Alliance is a multi-stakeholder member initiative led by the checkoff-founded Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy®. With more than 200 companies and organizations, including farmers, the Alliance provides a platform for sharing ideas, tackling common challenges and accelerating progress on sustainability goals.

Sarah Hanson, executive lead for the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, underscored the importance of collaboration to advance solutions for a more sustainable world and a thriving U.S. dairy community.

“That mission is founded on the premise that we are stronger together,” Hanson said. “And it comes to life through the leadership of our board, our committees and importantly through this Dairy Sustainability Alliance, where we come to learn, share and work together to advance U.S. dairy sustainability and the positive impact we know our products and industry have in people’s lives.”

Meeting presentations showcased innovative tools and resources that are shaping the future of sustainability in dairy, including:

·         Shopper Attitudes around Sustainability and Health and Wellness: New consumer insights to help inform how companies can communicate with audiences whose preferences and perceptions continue to shift.

·         FARM Environmental Stewardship Program: The updated program, powered by a new scientific model, allows farmers to run robust scenarios to assess sustainability and economic goals, measure progress with sound data outputs, and work together with cooperatives and processors to engage supply chain customers.

·         Dairy Conservation Navigator: An online platform for farm advisors that consolidates practical information about science-based practices and technologies that can help reduce a farm's environmental footprint.

·         Financial Models for Climate Mitigation: A report developed with the Environmental Defense Fund, detailing eight financial models for working with agricultural lenders to support climate mitigation strategies.

·         U.S. Dairy Materiality Assessment: An effort that is underway with robust stakeholder input to provide insights into the social responsibility topics that are crucial for the industry, helping identify areas for action and collective engagement.

These efforts complement other significant ongoing sustainability commitments across the U.S. dairy industry. Many organizations are developing partnerships and making investments in new, efficient infrastructure, measurement capabilities, on-farm solutions and innovations and marketplace opportunities that advance U.S. dairy sustainability in an economically viable and beneficial way.

“U.S. dairy truly is walking the walk with significant progress to celebrate and, importantly, continue learning as we know there is more work to do,” Hanson said. “With your ongoing engagement through the Alliance, we will continue to build our collective knowledge, navigate challenges and activate solutions that help us build a thriving industry and a more sustainable world with our delicious, nutritious dairy products.”



Ethanol Continues to Make It More Affordable for Families to Get Together for Thanksgiving
Scott Richman, Chief Economist, Renewable Fuels Association    

The classic song “Home for the Holidays” captures the joy of being with family at this time of year, but it does contain the lament that “from Atlantic to Pacific…the traffic is terrific.” That has never been more true than this year, given that “AAA projects a record 71.7 million people will travel by car over Thanksgiving.” Even so, there’s good news as Americans hit the road: Ethanol is making holiday travel more affordable.

An analysis by the Renewable Fuels Association indicates that the use of ethanol in the nation’s gasoline is expected to save travelers $217 million over Thanksgiving. E10, a 10% ethanol blend, is the predominant form of gasoline sold in the U.S., and the most recent monthly data shows that it costs $0.28 per gallon less at wholesale than gasoline that does not contain ethanol.

The discount averaged $0.31 per gallon from November 2023 to October 2024. For the 12-month period, that translates to a $42 billion reduction in Americans’ fuel bills, equivalent to $319 per household.

The savings are even greater for E15, a 15% ethanol blend that is approved for more than 95% of the cars and trucks on the road today. According to E15prices.com, the national average retail price of E15 has been $0.26 per gallon less than E10 over the last 12 months. If E15 had been adopted nationwide, it would have reduced household spending on gasoline by an additional $30 billion.

At a time when the prices of many basic necessities remain elevated, the U.S. ethanol industry is proud to help hold down the cost of gasoline as families travel to be together for Thanksgiving.