Hybrid Considerations to Maximize Feed Value for Your Animal
Jim Robinson, Chief Technology Officer
Corn is not a one-size-fits-all product. The corn grown across the United States is used for a wide variety of purposes: food grade products, ethanol production, feed and more. It’s important that farmers have options to optimize the hybrids they are growing to achieve the best ROI for their operations. What does hybrid optimization look like for growers looking to achieve the best results from their dairy and beef cattle?
Differences in Priorities
In traditional grain corn production, the emphasis lies in high yields, and high test weight, drydown, and harvestability. The more grain sent to the elevator, the more the grower stands to profit for the season. The type of grain produced matters too. In grain corn, the harder and denser the grain is, the more that can fit into a container – with less risk of damage to the grain.
In nutrition-focused forage, tonnage does matter, but it isn’t always the primary focus. It is vital for the silage produced to be optimized for digestibility, with great nutritional characteristics. The hard, dense grain favored by grain producers is less ideal for ease of digestion in dairy and beef cattle. In dairy and beef, the yield growers are looking to maximize is the amount of milk and beef produced, not tonnage.
Using a hybrid intended for large grain yields may require more feed to result in the same amount of milk or beef produced – removing the benefit of additional yield in the first place.
Population vs. Yield
Since the early 1970’s, the industry has been pushing population little by little, year over year. A field that may once have been considered “high population” at 18,000 plants per acre now could host more than 40,000 plants per acre.
For animal nutrition – what is the sweet spot of maximizing yield by having more plants, without the risk of losing nutrition like fiber and starch? Masters Choice performed a population study and found that increasing population and yield in tonnage doesn’t always increase yield when it comes to nutrition.
Notes on Study:
Population ranged from 18K to 48K
The study was conducted with one flex and one semi-flex variety
As the population goes up, all fiber factors are negatively affected, as represented by the graph
The Testing Process
The forage hybrids Rob-See-Co brings to market today take years to develop, trial and advance to commercialization. Time, energy and talent are invested into choosing and developing the forage lines we offer.
Testing is a key part of the process. It’s important for our product experts to get eyes on product in the field, to chop and measure nutritional quality. We perform this trialing in multiple parts of the country. Silage can perform much differently in eastern Pennsylvania than in central Wisconsin.
No matter the product – grain or forage – plants still need to yield and handle agronomic pressures. It doesn’t matter how amazing a product feeds if it doesn’t yield enough to adequately feed livestock. Forage products selected by Rob-See-Co and Masters Choice are selected for fantastic digestibility, tolerance to stress and disease, and most importantly, maximizing milk and beef per acre.
Providing Options for All Growers
Rob-See-Co recognizes the importance in providing the growers with flexibility to choose the hybrids best suited for their operations. We offer three lines, Real Silage Dairy, Real Silage Beef and Masters Choice Specialty Silage, to meet the yield and nutritional demands of growers across the US.
