Learn About Controlling Silage Leachate at Ag Expo
7/13/09
Contact: Beth Stuever
517-432-1555, ext. 105
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Controlling silage leachate will increase your feed value, animal performance and, ultimately, your profitability and the environment.
This is just one of several topics to be discussed during Profitable Environmental Options for Livestock Producers July 21, the first day of Ag Expo at Michigan State University (MSU). Dick Stroud, MSU Extension director in Missaukee County, will show producers how controlling silage leachate can increase a farm's overall profitability.
"Many of the recommended practices for harvesting and storing the highest quality silage go hand in hand with minimizing silage leachate," said Natalie Rector, MSU Extension manure nutrient management specialist. "Practicing better feed management also tends to decrease runoff."
Leachate can cause environmental problems when it flows into surface waters. Silage leachate has an extremely high biochemical oxygen demand. In other words, if it hits ponds, streams, rivers or lakes, it has the potential to kill fish and other aquatic creatures by sucking up all the oxygen.
Profitable Environmental Options for Livestock Producers will feature demonstrations at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. July 21 at the Beef Cattle Research and Teaching Center, at 3200 Bennett Road, Lansing, less than a mile from the main Ag Expo site. Transportation to the center will be available from Ag Expo, parking is also available at the center. Other presentations include Improving Pasture and Hayground, Manure Slurry-enriched Seeding, The Basics of Low-stress Cattle Handling, Grazing Management for Riparian Areas, Watering Systems for Grazing, Managing Beef Winter Feeding Sites to Protect the Environment and Save Fertilizer Dollars, and Hay Feeder Design.
Ag Expo features commercial farm equipment from throughout the Midwest and several Canadian provinces on the 35-acre main exhibition site and the 40-acre field demonstration area, as well as educational exhibits from several MSU colleges and departments. For more information about Ag Expo, call 800-366-7055 or visit www.agexpo.msu.edu.
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