About Ev
Phone: 518-570-7408 email ethomas@oakpointny.com
Ev Thomas has worked as an agronomist in Northern NY state for 42 years, first with Cornell University Cooperative Extension, then with the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY, including managing its 680-acre crop operation. He’s now semi-retired but still works part-time for Miner Institute, including writing/editing its Farm Report newsletter. He has a long-running column in Farming magazine and has had over 100 articles published in Hoard’s Dairyman. Ev’s speaking and consulting activities, still on-going, have taken him to Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and throughout North America.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Website was first that came to mind cause I have none… But I do check out the guns there. Thanks fo rthe help Ev. I am still confused though. If Mahana says shoot for 38% dry matter does that mean chop at 38 and have 33 to feed? or does he want us to chop at 40 and have 38% to feed?
IS there a correlation between how these valuse change between scouts and field and fermented over fresh? I think farm fresh dry matter are higher than we “see” fro driving over volatiles. Gets very confusing to dum farm CT farm boy.
Steve Stevecrosby2@hotmail.com
July 20th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Website was first that came to mind cause I have none… But I do check out the guns there. Thanks fo rthe help Ev. I am still confused though. If Mahana says shoot for 38% dry matter does that mean chop at 38 and have 33 to feed? or does he want us to chop at 40 and have 38% to feed?IS there a correlation between how these valuse change between scouts and field and fermented over fresh? I think farm fresh dry matter are higher than we “see” fro driving over volatiles. Gets very confusing to dum farm CT farm boy.
+1
August 4th, 2010 at 11:38 am
I seriously doubt that if you chop at 38% DM it would be 33% at feeding. More likely, 37% or so since silages usually lose about 1% via the heating during fermentation. I don’t think you’d drive off many volatiles at normal drying temps. Several years ago we tried samples at two temps, one quite high, and there was no difference in measured DM. I think Mahanna is a bit out on the fringe in recommending 38% DM, especially since it’s tough to hit exactly the DM you desire. I prefer shooting for 33-35% (for processed corn silage).