Wide Swath Haylage to Save Time & Nutrients

Produced by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County

Wide Swath Haylage to Save Time & Nutrients

Tom KilcerCornell Cooperative Extension in

Rensselaer County, New York

Produced by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County

24 – 48 Hours

Produced by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County

¾ inchJones and Harris 1980

Produced by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County

Traditional Drying - Narrow Swath

20253035404550

Fresh mowed end day 1

begin day 2

begin day 3

begin day 4

DM

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80%

20%

Initial Phase

Intermediate Phase

Final Phase

20% Time

Moi

stur

e

Biology of Drying Forages

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80%

20%20%Time

Moi

stur

e

65-70%

Stomatal openingsAxial moisture movement

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Stomate = Lungs of the Plant

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Plant Physiology, Salisbury and Ross, 1985 p60.

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Plant Physiology, Third Edition Wirtten by: Salisbury and Ross 1985 pg. 59&60

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AIR

moisture

moisture

Conditioning Breaks Capillary Flow

35% of alfalfa stem moisture exits through the leaf (Harris & Tulberg, 1980)Legumes 10X more stomata than GrassStomata Sunlight - open Shade - closed

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80%

20%

ConditioningRadial moisture movement

20% Time

Moi

stur

e

10 X slower d

rying

than Axial (Bargnall et.

al.,

1970)

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Physics of Moisture Lossor

What Helps or Hurts Drying

-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Soil MoistureSwath DensityRelative HumidityWind VelocityCrop moistureVapor deficitAir TempSwath TempSwath Sun

Rotz et.al 1987

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-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Swath Sunlight

3 X more sunlight

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-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

2nd Cut Grass Swath Core Temp

65

75

85

95

105

Dat

e/T

ime

11:3

5 A

M

12:3

5 PM

1:35

PM

2:35

PM

3:35

PM

4:35

PM

5:35

PM

6:35

PM

7:35

PM

8:35

PM

9:35

PM

10:3

5 PM

NarrowWide

Swath Air & Swath Temp

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-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Swath Density

Density had greater impact on drying than Conditoning, Mixing or Turning Swath Wright et al. 1997

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Swath density decreases moisture removal

5.5X More Dense Wright, et.as 1997 Grass and Forage Sci. 52:86-98

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No Sun

Stomata Closed

Drying Reduced

10 – 100XHarris & Tullberg 1980

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Swath Core Relative Humidity

2030405060708090

100

10:00 AM 1:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM

Narrow Wide -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

RelativeHumidity

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Wide swath

Field Results?

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12 ft mower opened to wide swath = 8 ft. 66% of cutterbar width

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Width Matters More Than Conditioning –Alfalfa- Swath Not Moved

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

NHC40%

NHC59%

NHC73%

NHC83%

SB 94%

% M

oist

ure

Los

t 2 hour

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Width Matters More than Conditioning –Grass – Swath Not Moved

22.00%

24.00%

26.00%

28.00%

30.00%

NH 40%

NH 59%

Diskmow 65%NH 73%

NH 83%

Sidebar 94%

% D

ry M

atte

r

1 hour

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1st Cut AlfalfaPoor Drying Conditions/ Swath Not Moved

0.55

0.6

0.65

0.7

0.75

0.8

0.85

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Hours From Cutting

% M

oist

ure

7.8 Hours

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Moisture Removal Rate/Hour

0.00%

0.50%

1.00%

1.50%

2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

% Moisture removed/hr

TraditionalNarrow

Wide Swath Wide/H&Smerged

14.9 hrs. 7.4 hrs. 4.9 hrs.

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1st Cut Harvest Window

16 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930 31 1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

May

June

Light rain Heavy rain No rain

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What Quality Reaches the Cow’s Mouth

• Wide Swath Makes a Difference!!

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Sunshine Produced Dry Matter

+50

Respiration lost Dry Matter

- 20

+ 30 Net Gain

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Sunshine Produced Dry Matter

Respiration lost Dry Matter

- 20

-20 Net Loss

Shade or Nighttime

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Relationship between overnight DM loss and minimum night temps

56789

1011121314

0 4 8 12 16

Min temp, degrees C

DM

loss

, %

Knapp et.al. 1973

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Starch 2000 to 220,000 sugar units. Moser 1995

Respiration loss

Sugar-11%

-24%

Knapp et.al 1973

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Starch lost- Traditional Narrow Swath

00.5

11.5

22.5

Fresh mowed end day 1 begin day 2 begin day 3

STARCH

92% Starch lost

By 3rd Day

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Sugar lost- Narrow Swath

5.25

6.25

7.25

Fresh mowed end day 1 begin day 2 begin day 3

SUGAR

19% Sugar lost

By 3rd Day

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Sugar 7.72

Starch 3.5

Sugar 6.417.7% loss

Starch 2.917.1% loss

Narrow Swath Milk loss From Respiration in just 24 hours

16% - 30% of Dry Matter loss by Respiration

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Sugar 8.10

Starch 3.075

Sugar 7.685% loss

Starch 3.24% gain!

Wide swath

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LACTIC/ACETICRATIO

alfalfa narrow 1.520

wide 3.105

Grass narrow 6.67

wide 9.738

2nd Cut Alfalfa narrow 3.888

wide 5.940

BMR narrow 0.890

wide 1.143

More Sugar

& Starch =

Better

Fermentation

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0.45

0.55

0.65

Nel

1st cut alfalfa 2nd cut grass 2nd cut alfalfa

Narrow Fresh Wide Fresh Narrow Wilt Wide Wilt

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Protein (made of amino acid units) NPNAmino

acid

Soluble Protein

Produced by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County

0

2.56.5

26.5

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Fora

ge N

PN

Wilt Time Hours

0 2.5 6.5 26.5

Impact of Drying Time on Forage NPN

Table from Brady, 1960

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Impact on Potential Milk/Ton1st Cut Alfalfa 2nd Cut Grass

Narrow Fresh 2652 a 3513 a

Wide Fresh 2731 a 3606 aNarrow Ferment 2279 b 3400 bWide Ferment 2574 a 3705 albs potential Milk/ton 294.9 304.5$/ton DM $44.24 $45.68

275 Acres x 3 T DM/A x $40/T = $33,000

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Wide Swath Plus Multiple Windrows

• Reduces time & cost

• Fits quality harvest window

• Gives you more milk/ton

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counties.cce.cornell.edu\rensselaer\agriculture

Produced by

Tom Kilcer

Regional Field Crop & Dairy Educator

Cornell Cooperative Extension in Rensselaer County, New York

This research was made possible by a grant from H&S manufacturing;

New York Farm Viability Institute

and assistance from New Holland Equipment