Hailstorms caused damage this summer, and heat will require producers to weigh benefits of quantity versus quality
Hay and forage quantity and quality is in far better shape this year than last but hail has taken a bite out of some crops while the heat has a potential to see increases in risks of disease in irrigated crops.
A hailstorm that swept through central Alberta in late July wiped out numerous crops and delivered a record-breaking hail stone.
Khalil Ahmed, Battle River Research Group researcher, said his organization was able to put together an in-the-field workshop for producers shortly after that storm to run through some of the need-to-know aspects of converting damaged crops to forage.
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After contacting the insurer, Ahmed said finding a nearby cattle producer is key because transporting damaged feed isn’t usually economical, particularly in the case of peas with shattered pods.
“When it comes to cereals, you have to wait for anywhere from 10 days to two weeks” before attempting to utilize the crop for feed, said Ahmed.
Often damaged crops will need to be mixed with other feed to get any benefit, he added.
After a crop is hit by hail, producers need to know the extent of the damage and how much is covered by insurance before making any decisions, said Ahmed.
The extent of the damage in green crops might not be obvious until the affected areas turn brown, he said.
Barry Yaremcio, owner of Yaremcio Ag Consulting, took part in the workshop but also said producers should be aware of issues with heat on forage crops.
For example, producers must carefully weigh whether quantity is better than quality of feed.
“When you have a year that is hot and dry, typically, the overall height of the crop is shorter than if you have lots of moisture. That way, the plant has a higher leaf-to-stem ratio and the quality of the leaves is higher than what you find in the stems,” he said. “Protein levels in a dry year tend to go up but unfortunately, the crop matures much faster than it would in a normal year.”
In such a case, cutting based on a calendar date might get more weight but less quality per pound.
Research done in the 1990s in Alberta on 11 different types of grasses showed dry years can advance the best date to cut by up to three weeks compared to normal moisture years.
When it comes to irrigated forage crops, it’s a different story.
Yaremcio said one issue to consider is that microbial rates double when irrigated crops are combined with high temperatures.
“If you go from 20 to 30 C, reproduction rates of microbes or spores or viruses or whatever else is out there, doubles in speed,” said Yaremcio. “The hot temperatures that we’ve been having could increase the rate of these pathogens.”
Overall, Yaremcio said feed volumes are up on the Prairies, although parts of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta have dealt with low moisture levels for a couple of years with yields not yet having fully recovered.
