Dairy managers and corn growers share the same concern: a wet and late spring delayed planting, a lack of heat (degree day) slowed growth, and a record wet October with cold weather has a huge corn crop at risk with mold development. Moldy corn reduces bushel weight, corn quality, nutrient content, and increase the risk of mycotoxin formation. Mycotoxins are toxi c substances produced by fungi (molds) growing on grain or feed in the field or in storage. Mycotoxins associated with cool and wet conditions are deoxynivalenol (also called DON or vomitoxin), zearalenone, T-2 toxin, and fumonisin. Aflatoxin is another toxen, but is associated with hot weather and/or drought stress conditions.

Signs of mycotoxin in dairy cattle include immune suppression (cattle do not respond to disease challenges), rumen disorders and reduced microbial digestion, loose fecal discharges, reduced dry matter intake, decline in fertility, and hormonal-like changes (udder development and fertility).

Mycotoxin risk levels for dairy cattle are listed below (expressed on a total ration dry matter basis). Dilution with clean feed can reduce, but contaminated feed can vary greatly in concentration (note some toxins are listed as parts per billion; others are parts per million).

If you are concerned that mold risks could be a problem, the following guidelines may be helpful.

1. Testing for mycotoxins can provide an estimation of risk. Tests can be expensive and sampling and feed variation can reduce the usefulness of the results.
2. Adding a mycotoxin binder can reduce the impact of toxins be reducing their impact in the digestive tract and/or not absorbed (binders include yeast cell wall extracts or MOS products and clay binders).
3. Drying wet corn below 15 percent moisture stops further toxin development.
4. High moisture corn could increase the risk of addition mold grow until the pH of the fermented corn drops.
5. Adding a grain inoculant to speed up fermentation and stabilize the wet corn is recommended.
6. Young animals and pregnant cattle are at higher risk while steers can tolerate higher levels.
7. Removing fines, damaged seeds, and cracked corn kernels can reduce toxin risk.
8. If you purchase corn screenings, higher levels of mycotoxin risk can be present.
9. Distillers grain produced from ethanol production can concentrate the level of toxins in the original corn used; know your sources of distillers grain.
10. Corn silage made late in the season with mold damage could have toxins, but the low pH will stop additional toxin production.
11. Adding propionic acid at the time of ensiling can reduce mold development in wet corn.

Plan to attend the Nov 18th webinar on "Wet Corn" at http://events.idtg.uiuc.edu/wet_corn

Weather forecast for this coming weekend calls for our first run of frosty conditions with temperatures predicted in the mid to low 30's throughout Illinois. Along with that report comes the questions from many livestock farmers on "what affects will the frost create for livestock feeds" says Dave Fischer, University of Illinois Extension Dairy Educator. Following frost, livestock producers should be cautious when grazing cattle on crops in the sorghum family. Grazing other grasses and legumes will not be a problem.

• Grazing sudangrass, sorghum-sundangrass hybrids, grain/forage sorghum. These crops are members of the sorghum family and will produce a glucoside called dhurrin that breaks down to release a toxin called prussic acid. A crop stress, such as frost, causes the prussic acid to be released at a rapid rate and the intake of high levels may be lethal to cattle. Clinical signs of prussic acid poisoning include rapid pulse, labored breathing and eventual suffocation. Livestock producers should move cattle away from grazing these forages for several days following a frost. If the crop was safe to graze prior to frost it will again be safe to graze 3 to 5 days following the frost. Remember, sudangrass should be greater than 18 inches tall or sorghum-sudangrass greater than 24 inches before it is safe to graze under any conditions.

• Baling or ensiling sudangrass, sorghum-sundangrass hybrids, and grain sorghum immediately following or shortly after a frost is safe because the prussic acid will breakdown and dissipate during the harvesting process. Therefore, waiting 7 - 10 days after harvesting those crops made into hay or silage will be safe to feed. However, allowing the feed to cure or ferment in the silo or bale for 2-3 weeks before feeding will give you an added safety factor. Certainly do not feed the material as green chop.

• Grazing alfalfa, clover, and other perennial forages are not a concern following a frost because they do not produce toxins and can be grazed or baled and fed to livestock even after a frost. The only caution will perhaps be a slight chance for ruminants to bloat if grazing pure legume pastures and should be offered other feedstuffs to avoid over-eating the succulent pasture.

• Harvesting alfalfa after a killing frost is acceptable only when the plant is going into dormancy. This killing/dormant frost occurs when temperatures reach 28 degrees Fahrenheit, or lower, over night (4 hours or more). If the plants are harvested pre-dormancy and regrowth occurs 1-2 weeks before going dormant, significant plant damage can occur during over wintering due to reduced food reserves in the plant to survive the cold temperatures. If the forage is not needed, it is advisable to leave the crop uncut for the winter.

• Immature soybeans that are caught by the frost due to late plantings can be harvested for forage if the crop is free from applied pesticides. The soybean forage should be cut, wilted, and harvested at similar moisture levels as would be used for alfalfa or other legumes. It is best to begin harvest no later than the than when the bottom leaves turn yellow and begin to drop off. Since late fall drying conditions are very marginal, chopping as silage is preferred over baling.
  

Illinois has experienced a challenging growing season with late planting of corn and soybeans due to excessive rain, delayed harvest of first cutting legume and grass, and a cool summer (slows plant growth). Several opportunities/challenges may occur this fall which are summarized below. Hopefully, livestock producers will not need these answers.

Question: If the corn crop does not mature, what alternatives are possible?

Answer: For livestock producers, corn silage is an excellent alternative for immature corn due to delaying spring plant due to rain and cool summer temperatures. Allow the corn crop to grow and mature until a killing frost has occurred. Depending on ear fill, the quality and quantity of the corn silage will vary. A key point is to harvest at 30 to 35 percent (bunker or bag storage) or 33 to 37 percent (tower silos) dry matter to achieve optimal fermentation and minimize seepage. If the corn plant is too wet to harvest, wait for a killing frost to allow the plant moisture content to drop to 65 to 70 percent water (may require 3 to 7 days). Adding an inoculant can improve forage quality, dry matter recovery, and fermentation profile. If the livestock producer is purchasing the immature corn as silage, be sure to adjust for moisture content (do not buy water) and quality (based on the level of starch and neutral detergent fiber or NDF content). Nitrate levels may increase in the frost damaged plants, but ensiling and fermenting the corn silage will reduce nitrate levels 50 percent or more (below 4500 parts per million or ppm). If nitrate content is a concern, test the silage after ensiling. Do not pasture immature corn after a killing frost as animals may consume new regrowth high in nitrate risk. Green chopping frosted corn can increase nitrate toxicity risks.

High moisture corn grain is another alternative if the corn grain is too wet and expensive to dry.

• Harvest high moisture shelled corn can be harvested at 26 to 30 percent dry matter.
• High moisture ear corn can harvested at 28 to 34 percent moisture.
• Snaplage (ear, husk, and some plant material) can be harvested at 35 to 40 percent moisture.

Adding an inoculant is recommended when storing high moisture grain. If wet corn storage is in upright storage units, select the lower moisture level; bunkers or bags should be near the higher moisture range.

Question: Can immature soybeans be fed as forage?

Answer: Immature soybean plants will be similar in feed quality as alfalfa forage in protein, energy, and mineral content. The optimal stage of harvest is at pod formation and before leaves begins to drop to get an optimal quality and quantity (if the plant can reach this point). Cut and wilt the soybean plant to the same moisture level as haylage. Yields of dry matter will vary depending on plant density and maturity (typically 1 to 1.5 tons of dry matter per acre). Purchase the immature soybean forage based on similar alfalfa forage prices. If seeds are beginning to develop, the forage quality will be declining, but the green seed has added fat and feed value (avoid losing the seed when cutting and crimping). If a killing frost is predicted, cut the soybean to avoid leaf loss. If you are purchasing immature soybeans, base the price on tons of dry matter harvested and forage quality (run a forage test). Making hay will be difficult due to the high moisture content of the plant and poor drying conditions. Again, add a forage inoculants to enhance fermentation.

Question: Can I harvest legume/grass forage in November?

With June Dairy Month arriving, dairy managers are recording huge financial losses; 2009 will not be a "kind" year for dairy farmers. Milk prices dropped nearly 40 percent starting in January reaching less than $12 per one hundred pounds (cwt) from $18 in December, 2008. To cover all production costs (feed, non-feed, and labor), Illinois dairy managers need $16 to $18 per cwt depending on herd size, debt load, labor efficiency, and feed costs. From February to June, 2009, the average Illinois dairy farm with 105 cows is losing over $10,000 a month (larger southwestern U.S. dairy farms lost over $300,000 a month).

Reasons for these huge losses include a decline in foreign exports (11 percent of U.S. dairy products were exported in 2008), stronger U.S. dollar (reduces export while raising costs), decline in the U.S. and world economy, and less dairy products being consumed with reduced incomes and job losses).

Illinois dairy managers have few alternatives to reduce daily losses on the farm. Feed costs represent 60 percent of the cost to produce milk. With a new forage crop year started, any and all ways to increase forage quality and quantity in dairy rations will be a plus. By-products feeds such as corn gluten feed, wet brewers grain, and distillers grain are "good" buys replacing soybean meal and corn as nutrient sources in rations while reducing feed costs. Illinois feeding guidelines include less than $6.50 per cwt of milk, target feed cost below nine cents per pound of dry matter, and raise feed efficiency over 1.6 (pounds of milk per pound of dry matter consumed). Carefully review feed additives included in ration; silage inoculants, monensin, buffers, yeast products, and organic trace minerals are excellent investments. Do not pull nutrients from the ration reducing milk yield, decreasing health and immunity, and/or lower fertility.

Several opinions are available for Illinois dairy farmers to reduce losses.

• MILC (Milk income loss contract) is a government sponsored program that provides some relief for smaller dairy farms (less than 150 cows). If the dairy manager has enrolled in the program, she/he received $1.51 per one hundred pounds in February, $2.04 in March, and $1.49 in April.
• Future milk prices (based on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange) are increasing in the summer with $15.00+ per cwt listed for October, November, and December (better, but below break even milk prices).
• Cooperative Working Together (CWT) has launched another herd buy-out programs reducing cow numbers by paying some dairy farms to leave the dairy industry. This project is funded by dairy farmers using check off funds in an attempt to reduce cow numbers and milk supply (there is an excess of 300,000 dairy cows currently in the U.S. leading to surplus milk).
• In some stores, the price of milk has dropped 50 cents a gallon while other dairy products remain constant. As consumers respond with more milk and dairy purchases due to lower prices, this helps to reduce surplus levels.

Other "wide card" factors will be the growing conditions in the summer dictating forage amounts and quality, price of corn and soybean meal in the fall related to ethanol production and yields, heat stress on dairy cattle which could reduce milk yield, world demand for dairy products and feed grains, and water restrictions in the western states (nearly 50 percent of the U.S. milk is produced in this region).

The 2008 report card for the Illinois dairy industry compared to 2007 is concerning as the average Illinois dairy cow produced 18,569 pound of milk annually (down 0.2 percent) while the U.S. average is 20,396 pounds per cow (up 1 percent). Illinois produced 1.89 billion pounds of milk (dropped 1.2 percent) while the U.S. dairy industry produced 289.9 billion pounds (up 2.3 percent). Illinois has 984 dairy farms (down 5.3 percent) compared to the total of 57,127 (down 3.4 percent). Illinois ranks 20^th in total milk yield, 21st in cow numbers, and 25th in milk yield per cow. Illinois dairy farms produces less than 30 percent of the milk and dry products consumed by Illinois consumers and continues to loss jobs and market share while having an abundance of feed and a huge consumer market base.

Take-home messages for Illinois dairy managers are to minimize equity losses, review feeding programs using economical feed ingredients, produce high quality milk leading to quality premiums, maintain high milk yields, and do not make "wrong" decisions in this summer (not getting cow pregnant or slow heifer growth for example) that results in long term negative impact in 2010. Dairy farming is a business; make smart business decisions and hang on as the dairy future looks favorable.

June Dairy Month is here and consumers have good news! The cost of dairy products has dropped in many markets as the price paid dairy farmers has dropped 40 percent at the farm gate (50 cents a gallon). While dairy managers are facing huge losses ($10,000 a month with a herd of 100 cows), consumers can buy milk in the Midwest below $2.50 a gallon and butter below $2.50 a pound. June Dairy Month focuses on dairy products, new dairy product recipes, and exciting displays in the dairy case.

Dairy products remain popular as they contain high quality protein with all essential amino acids and whey proteins important in weight control and loss. Milk contains high levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorous. A calcium deficiency called osteoporosis (bone deterioration) continues to be challenge to older U.S. consumers; 73 percent of calcium in a balanced diet can be provided by milk and milk products. Daily U.S. dietary guidelines include two serving of dairy products for children from 1 to 8 years of age and three dairy servings for children over 9 years of age and adults.

If you were the average U.S. consumers in 2007 (last year of available data), you consumed 81.5 pounds of reduced or low fat milk, 54.8 pounds of whole milk, 37.8 fat-free milk, and 17.9 pounds of flavored milk (total of 20.7 gallons a year). You also ate 31.9 pounds of cheese, 21.2 pounds of ice cream, and 4.4 pounds of butter. Dairy product "winners" in 2007 included a 4.8 percent increase in yogurt, 3.9 percent increase in source cream and dips, and 2.6 percent increase in cheese. Dairy product "losers" included a decrease of 7.4 percent in eggnog consumption and 4.8 percent decline in whole milk. These trends indicate changes in dairy products reflect consumers wanting lower caloric products such as yogurt, but sour cream and dips reflect flavor and snack choices. The advantage of a wide variety of dairy products allows consumers to pick their favorite dairy product based on fat content, caloric intake, flavor, taste, cost, and food recipe alternatives.

Consumer dairy choices, controversy, and prices enter in the shopping cart selection process. Another choice is the method of milk production on the farm. The first quarter of 2009 national American Farm Bureau Association supermarket price summary reported organic milk cost $3.71 a half a gallon, rBST labeled milk (from cows not inject with bovine somatotropin) at $3.19 per half gallon, and conventional/"green" milk at $2.16 per half gallon. "Green" milk is produced by dairy farmers using all approved technology to produce milk leading to a lower carbon footprint and more efficiency (more milk per cow at a lower cost to produce the milk).

Currently dairy farmers receive $11 to $14 per one hundred pounds while the cost to product this milk will range from $15 to $18 per one hundred pounds depending on region in the U.S., feed costs, herd size, and investments needed to house and management cows.

Supermarkets continue to be the primary source of purchasing milk (72% of all milk sold) while drug stores sell 3 percent of all milk sales. Federal school programs utilize 5.6 percent of all U.S. sales. Italian cheese is the most popular type of cheese at 14 pounds (total 31.9 pounds). No dairy products were purchased in 2007 by the government milk price support program. Mexico was our largest foreign customer to import dairy products. The U.S. exported nearly 11 percent of all 2008 dairy production with record exports improving the U.S. balance of payment.

The 2008 U.S. dairy industry had 57,127 dairy farm operations (a decline of 4.4 percent compared to 2007) with 9.32 million cows (up 1.4 percent compared to 2007) producing 189.9 billion pounds of milk (up 2.3 percent compared to 2007) averaging 20,396 of milk per cow annually. In comparison, the European Union of 27 countries has 24.3 million dairy cows producing 12,015 pounds of milk per cow. The continued improvements in efficiency in the U.S. dairy industry reflect higher milk yield per cow resulting in lower priced milk and dairy products for U.S. consumers.

This presentation is in conjunction with the PEAQ project.

This presentation is in conjunction with the PEAQ project.

The dairy industry is closely monitoring the H1N1 flu virus and potential implications for the U.S. livestock community. Both the U.S. government and World Health Organization (WHO) have stopped using the term "swine flu" to avoid confusion over the link to pigs. The influenza subtype involved in the outbreak is unique and not previously recognized in either pigs or people. The H1N1 virus is not transmissible to cattle, and cattle are not reservoirs of the virus, as swine and birds can be.

The dairy industry has responded to inquiries about the impact of H1N1 on the dairy supply chain. Below are talking points to help you address any inquiries from industry contacts and dairy producers.

1. The dairy industry is closely monitoring the H1N1 flu outbreak.
   • The dairy industry is working closely with our partners in government and agriculture to identify potential implications for the U.S. livestock community.
   • The dairy industry is posting H1N1 situation updates at www.dairyresponse.com – a resource for dairy farmers on animal health/animal disease outbreaks.
   • To date, no government recommendations have been directed toward dairy producers.
2. The dairy supply chain is safe.
   • There is absolutely no link to cattle, either in Mexico or the United States.
   • The virus is NOT transmissible to cattle, and cattle are not reservoirs of the virus, as swine and birds can be.
   • Raw milk is stored and transferred in closed systems, and pasteurization would kill the virus if it ever came in contact with milk.
   • Once pasteurized, milk is immediately packaged and is not subject to contamination.
3. The food supply remains safe.
   • H1N1 flu is not transmitted via food, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization. This includes the meat from pigs or chickens, or dairy products from cows.
   • This is not an animal health or food safety issue according to U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This presentation is in conjunction with the PEAQ project.