Managing for Profit

Missouri could have supported more cows

Certain areas of the Midwest fought with delays in getting hay put up.  Grass is more lush than in most years, but the same heavy rain that resulted in high, green grass made it impossible to put up hay in some areas.  It’s evident in Missouri, where the primary farm enterprise, hosting cows and baby calves, depends on a lot of good quality forage.  Rob Kallenbach is the man to turn to at the University of Missouri for information about hay and forage.  He says the rain resulted in prolific growth of forage, if one could cut it and bale it.  If producers would have been able to make hay back in May when they wanted to, Kallenbach tells Brownfield that bales would have had protein content in the teens and total digestible nutrients somewhere above 60 percent.  And if forage growth could have been anticipated, Missouri would have been in a position to support many more cows than were in the state.

AUDIO: Rob Kallenbach (3 min. MP3)