Dairy Focus Newsletter
Dairy Focus is a monthly publication of the Capital Region Dairy Team.
To subscribe to receive this newsletter electronically, e-mail dairyfocus@psu.edu.
Current Articles
- Quotable Quotes
- Dairy Focus Newsletter Quotable Quotes
- Milk Market Watch
- Current Milk Prices and Survey Prices for Cheese and Butter for the past 12 months.
- Getting to Know Your Dairy Team
- The Capital Region Dairy Team includes PSU Extension educators with dairy responsibilities in counties in the south central Pennsylvania area. These educators work together to plan educational programs and activities. Using their different educational experiences, they work with dairy producers to help improve production and profitability. Each month we will recognize a member of the Capital Region Dairy Team. Our goal is to have you, our clientele, get to know us so we can serve you better.
- Keys to Silage Harvest Success
- Probably the most critical condition for proper silage harvest is the whole plant moisture level. Silage feeding trials show the best performances when silages are harvested from 65% to 68% moisture. Unfortunately at higher moistures, seepage and poor fermentation can cause additional feeding challenges.
- Crops to Keep the Soil Covered
- Remember that in the native setting, our soils had living roots present all year, every year. Living roots help build soil structure which will support significant weight before "collapsing into compaction".
- Making Quality Baleage
- Starting with a high quality crop and following the management tips listed here will help assure that when you cut the plastic on a bale, you will have an excellent feed for your cows.
- Bunker Silo Density and Management for Improvement in South Central PA
- Many bunk managers have been incorporating sidewall plastic to protect areas along walls. This practice has proven very beneficial to reducing silage losses along walls. Whether you store your silage in an ag bag, an upright silo or a bunker or a pile reducing forage losses is critical to lower feed costs.
- Forage Evaluation Tools - Know Your PSU Resources
- A summary of various online publication and forage evaluation tools.
- Organic Matter, Soil Carbon Sequestration, No-till and Global Warming
- his is a small but very important portion of the soil, even small increases in OM will have a large impact in our crop production. This is because organic matter is the most important component in maintaining a healthy productive soil.
