----- Original Message -----
From: "Clay & Sue McQuiddy" <mcquiddy@getgoin.net>
> For example, here a 38 ton yield of corn silage would be complete pie
> in the sky. 10-12 tons is a realistic goal and in a dry year that would
> be overly optimistic.
-----------You haven't been paying attention, Clay. Yes, 10-12 tons is what
you can expect from growing a yellow dent grain corn variety for silage.
Yes, you can milk a beef cow but you'll do far better milking a dairy breed.
I'll talking about yields from corn silage specific varieties.
They are all seasonal, and none
> of them feed corn silage. That said, I have several friends West of
> here where corn grows better that do feed corn silage.
-----------Clay, I never said you should grow CS. And if your climate
requires dealing with warm season grasses or whatever, do it. I'm glad I'm
in cool season grass country.
> My point is that its a big world and what works in one region may not
> work somewhere else.
----------Which is what I posted on the TF, etc. discussion.
The biology of cows does not change with location,
> but the economics of feeding them does.
>
> Clay
Bingo, you need to get energy in that rumen to more effectively utilize that
pasture intake protein. That's pretty much universal.
I just returned from a mission to Dominican Republic. Cows there are
crosses designed to survive in heat and on some tropical grasses, (very poor
quality grasses compared to our cool season grasses but that's what grows in
the tropics.) Yes, they rotational graze, the rate of gain isn't good at
all but it's what they have. Not a place to start up dairying.
Dave G.
