2022 Silvopasture Showcase Tour
Event Details
Date
September 15 - September 16, 2022
Time
8:00am - 3:30pm
Location
Held in the Finger Lakes Region of New York
3600 State Route 419
Watkins Glen, NY 14891
Host
SCNY AG Team
cceschuyler.org/events/2022/07/19/2022-silv
Brett Chedzoy
email Brett Chedzoy
2022 Silvopasture Showcase Tour - September 15 & 16, 2022
To help us plan for this unique tour, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of the early registration discount ($69) by August 8, 2022. After that the registration price is $89.
Host Farms and schedule ( subject to changes)
Thursday, September 15th (bus tour only due to limited parking space at farms - no exceptions)
8:00am - Board buses at Seneca Lodge (3600 State Route 419; Watkins Glen)
9:00am - Burns Family Farm
12:00pm - Kurtz Family Farm and lunch (provided)
2:30pm - Fieldstone Acres
5:30pm - Return to Seneca Lodge and Angus Glen Farms.Dinner on your own, suggested options below.
Friday, September 16th (drive personal vehicles to the farm )
8:30am - Angus Glen Farms
11:30am - lunch on your own in nearby Watkins Glen, or bring a bag lunch
1:00pm - optional technical session at Angus Glen Farms: "silvopasture silviculture"
3:30pm - optional tour of Good Life Farm and Finger Lakes Cider House.Brick-over pizza and live music following tour for those not in a hurry to depart!
Host Farms
Burns Family Farm is a multi-species grazing farm operated by John Burns and family for over 25 years.After initial successes with some small-scale silvopasture projects, John worked with consulting forester Jim Shuler and Zooks Logging in the spring of 2020 to develop an additional 70 acres of the farm's mature woods into silvopasture.Highlights include: the pros and cons of multi-species grazing in silvopastures; the economics of creating silvopasture in mature farm woodlands; and the early results of liming and seeding experiments after three growing seasons.
Kurtz Family Farm is a multi-species grazing farm operated by Emanuel Kurtz and family.Emanuel has used his forestry knowledge and logging skills to gradually develop productive silvopastures in the farm's mature woodlot. Highlights include: the pros and cons of "do it yourself" silvopasture creation; the impacts of site quality on forage production; and coping with unexpected tree pest and disease issues. Lunch will be provided at the farm by the Addison Amish Community.
Fieldstone Acres has developed extensive portions of the farm's wooded acreage into silvopastures to support their large certified grass-fed herd.Highlights include: the "learning curve" of a 150-acre silvopasture harvest in 2018; adaptive grazing management of livestock in silvopastures for constantly changing conditions; and the layout of a new silvopasture harvest that may be in progress by September.
Angus Glen Farms, LLC utilizes extensive silvopastures to support their large cow-calf herd.Highlights include: 30+ year old plantation silvopastures and "living barns"; progress to date in a 2015 silvopasture harvest in mature portions of the farm's woods; and on-going experiments to use bale grazing and other innovative strategies to grow better forages in silvopasture settings.An optional post-lunch session will be offered at no additional cost to talk through the technical details of "planting silvopastures from scratch" and creating quality silvopastures where the trees (and usually lots of understory brush) already exist.
Good Life Farm and Finger Lakes Cider House (www.fingerlakesciderhouse.com) is an organic, multi-faceted farm and farm cidery that has experimented for years with integrated livestock, crop and tree systems.For those looking to extend the learning experience, the farm team will lead a special tour of past, present and in the planning stages examples of mostly orchard-based silvopastures.Following the tour, brick-over pizza, cider and other refreshing apple-based beverages like "switchel" are available for purchase.Live music starts at 6:30.
Lodging, Dining and Other Details
Rooms are available for the "Cornell Silvopasture Tour" at the historic Seneca Lodge in Watkins Glen ( senecalodge.com) Reservations are best made by calling: 607-535-2014.Rooms are about $110/night, depending on room type.Seneca Lodge has excellent on-site dining and a unique bar featuring their own craft beers.An informal social will take place there on Thursday evening following the first day of the tour. Room reservations by August 15 th are appreciated and the "sooner the better", especially if looking to stay beyond Friday to take in some of world-famous Watkins Glen while in town ( www.explorewatkinsglen.com)
For those on a tight budget and not afraid of something a bit more rustic, camping is available at the adjacent Watkins Glen State Park campground or at other nearby campgrounds including KOA.
Lastly, thanks for the generous support of the partners listed below, we have been able to keep registration costs at a very modest level.Nonetheless, we want the tour to be financially accessible to all.Therefore, we have budgeted to offer a limited number of discounted registrations "while supplies last".To request a discount, please send an email with the following information to Brett Chedzoy at: bjc226@cornell.edu
- Name & location
- A short paragraph on your interest is attending the tour
- Requested discount on registration fee
Requests will be considered on a first-come, first-serve basis until allocated funds are exhausted.
This event is organized by the Cornell Cooperative Extension SCNY Ag Team, with generous support from the following partners:
- National Grazing Lands Coalition
- Society of American Foresters Kurt Gottschalk Science Fund
- National Agroforestry Center
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture
- Edwards Mother Earth Foundation
- Propagate Ventures
Register
https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/Silvopasturetour_244
Dairy
Livestock
Grazing
Forages
Grains
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Announcements
Farm Participants Needed for Bale Grazing Grant!
Information on the Project:- Approximately 10 acres total needed to bale graze two different bale densities
- "Core" farms will graze two winters, "Demo" farms will graze one winter.
- Payments for both "Core" farms and "Demo" farms
- Baseline soil sampling by bale grazing team
- Forage measurements in early season by bale grazing team
- Late season clipping if residual not trampled down by farm
Cornell Cow Convos - New Podcast
On-going podcast, New episodes released on the last Thursday of the month.Guest speakers, CCE Dairy Specialists.
Housed on Soundcloud Channel is CCE Dairy Educators
- Preventative healthcare for cows
- The trend of beef on dairy
- What to look forward to in the new year for dairy
- Socially grouping or pair-housing calves
Dairy Acceleration Program Funds Available
- organization of financial records/benchmarking up to $1,000
- continued business planning (for farms awarded in a previous year) up to $2,500
- business planning up to $5,000
2018 Drug Residue Prevention Manual
For more than 30 years, the U.S. dairy industry has focused educational efforts on the judicious use of antibiotics through the annual publication of a Best Practices Manual. The 2018 edition of the National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management? Milk and Dairy Beef Drug Residue Prevention Manual is the primary educational tool for dairy farm managers throughout the country on the judicious and responsible use of antibiotics, including avoidance of drug residues in milk and meat.The manual is a quick resource to review those antibiotics approved for dairy animals and can also be used as an educational tool and resource for farm managers as they develop on-farm best management practices necessary to avoid milk and meat residues. Visit the Manual and Form Library to download copies of this important tool!
Follow us on Facebook
The team updates our facebook page frequently - follow us to be updated on our events, see some fun videos and get local area updates!facebook.com/SCNYDairyandFieldCropsTeam
ProDairy Forage Management
Are you prepared to change your routine this spring?While spring tasks vary by farm, there are many "rites of spring," and they are often completed in a fairly rigid sequence. Depending on the farm, these often include fixing fence, spreading manure, planting new seedings, planting corn and harvesting first cutting, and are often performed in this order.
We are optimistic that the upcoming turn in weather will allow these task to be accomplished in a timely manner, but at this point it is time to ask yourself: Are you willing to change your spring routine?
In addition to adverse weather it is no secret that everyone is facing extremely tight economic times, and dealing with forage inventories of poor digestibility forages from 2017. This combination of factors makes it more critical than ever to be ready to tackle the task that will have the most impact on your business at the proper time.
Recent reference articles on dealing with tough times:
• Key Opportunities to Optimize 2018 Crop Production Efficiency
• Resources for Dealing with Spring Weather Delays
First Cutting
The number one focus should be on timely harvest of first cutting.
• Park the corn planter when a field of first cutting is ready for harvest.
o Monitoring 1st cut harvest timing
• Approach harvest by the acre, not by the field. Be ready to skip over a field that has passed its optimum harvest stage.
o Dynamic Harvest Schedules
• Strategically plan feed storage to best utilize forage inventories for the right group of animals.
o Strategic Forage Storage Planning
o When More is Better
Corn Planting
The window for planting for silage is generally wider than for grain, which is why first cutting can and should take priority over corn planting. However, in the event of extreme delays in planting corn, performance will diminish with late plantings. If corn planting progresses into late May or early June, begin to consider alternative options for those acres. Previous research from Cornell and Penn State suggest a 0.5 to 1 ton/acre per week decline in silage yield for planting after mid to late May.
Multi-Tasking
First and foremost during a time of year that can be very busy and stressful, taking every precaution to keep your team safe is critical.
The idea of fitting all of this work into a condensed time period, and still getting key tasks completed before critical deadlines can seem impossible, but year after year many find unique ways to get it all done. Consider working with neighbors, custom operators or renting equipment to accomplish these key tasks on time.
If you currently utilize custom operators, now is a good time to set up a time to meet with them and make sure you are on the same page to get tasks accomplished in the time-frame needed. Make sure that your expectations and goals are clearly defined. They will also be under stress to fit their work into a condensed period and meet their customers' expectations, so defining expectations and pre-planning how to most efficiently get the work accomplished when the custom operator arrives can go a long way to increase the chances for success.
NYSERDA Agriculture Energy Audit Program
NYSERDA offers energy audits to help eligible farms and on-farm producers identify ways to save energy and money on utility bills. Reports include recommendations for energy efficiency measures.For more information and the NYSERDA Agriculture Energy Audit Program Application click here