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Stillwater County

Stillwater County Forage Testing

Published: 2020
By Lee Schmelzer
Between drought and grasshoppers, this fall has seen a shortage of good quality pasture here in Stillwater County. Much of the Stillwater County MSU Extension Ag Program revolves around providing services to assist producers, including in-house testing for nitrates and for sulfates in water, water quality testing, insect and weed identification, plant disease diagnostics, forage crop variety information, ration balancing, feed analysis, and range monitoring. Small grains, sudan grass, sorghum, corn, and several common weed species can accumulate toxic levels of nitrate while growing under stressful conditions such as drought. When livestock consume forages containing elevated levels of nitrate, severe health problems can occur; including decreased weight gain, decreased milk yield, abortion, and death. As a result of educating producers about the importance of testing their small grain forages for nitrate, producers brought 47 feed samples to MSU Extension to be tested. Twenty producers using Extension's free, effective, accurate nitrate testing received peace of mind to feed or sell their hay, while six producers were prevented from feeding high nitrate feed which could have resulted in abortions or death of cattle and sheep. Educating producers about nitrate and testing forage has prevented livestock losses. Twenty-six producers representing 3,600 acres of hay saved $650 in testing and shipping expenses. All producers know what, if any, actions are needed to protect his or her herd from abortions from nitrate poisoning or death. Cover crop cocktail mixes are increasing in acreage for grazing, haying, or planting as annual forages. Those contemplating cover crops should know that plants that work well as cover crops may not be suitable for forage or grazing. In fact, some species can be toxic or fatal to livestock. Stillwater County MSU Extension evaluated 10 sorghum sudan grass fields for prussic acid. Four of the fields had potentially-fatal levels of prussic acid, requiring producers to adjust grazing plans to prevent livestock sickness or loss. Nineteen producers used our available core sampler to core and submit 24 samples for forage analysis, resulting in increased production efficiency, reducing costs by eliminating excess nutrients, and ensuring animal health by accounting for antagonists effects.
Sampling for Prussic Acid & Nitrates were a large part of Stillwater County MSU Extension's forage testing program.