Field Day Recap
From the Fraser Valley to the North Okanagan, dairy farmers and researchers in the BC Living Labare working together. They’re testing how on-farm practices that can help store carbon andreduce emissions – like relay and cover cropping, low-emissions manure spreading, andrefined nutrient budgeting – can also work for the farm. At a sunny field day in Abbotsford,farmers and industry experts showed off a thriving summer-seeded relay crop in silage corn –showing its potential as a spring forage crop that can have benefits for cows and the climate.
Not Just a Head Start
When thinking about spring forage and soil management, project partners encouraged farmers to consider how a relay crop aligns with their goals. Seeding Italian ryegrass into silage corn when it’s at the 6-leaf stage gives the ryegrass a head start compared to a cover crop or cereal forage planted after harvest. With strong establishment before winter, Italian ryegrass has the potential to yield a spring forage crop (up to 2 tons/acre) to ensile.
Industry expert on the project, Mike Witt, shared other benefits to consider:
- Italian ryegrass can support herd performance: As one ofthe most digestible forages, ryegrass can have an advantagecompared to fall cereals. Diets built around digestible fiberinstead of starch can also increase milk’s butterfat content.
- Less cultivation work, bigger climate impact: Relaycropping in summer saves farmers from putting in a cropafter corn harvest. The reduced soil disturbance alsosupports soil health and climate goals.
- Improved nutrient uptake and retention: An establishedryegrass crop can better absorb nutrients from fall manurethan a fall-seeded crop can. By holding nitrate over winter,less can enter and impact nearby water and ecosystems.
In-Field Insights
At the farm toured on the field day, growers got a chance to see how well the Italian ryegrass canpersist in the shade of the corn followed by its quick growth in areas the corn had been harvested.Management of the system in this operation integrated the following approaches:
Growing Pains, Getting Established
- Timing of seeding can be a challenge —variable weather can impact seeding datesand crop establishment, and there can besmall margins of error for consistent cropperformance.
- Equipment may not be available — aspecialized inter-seeder or seed drill modifiedto fit between the corn rows are used to plantrelay crops, but aren’t yet widespread in dairy.
- Perceptions of risks vs. rewards — a lot ofdairy farms can’t afford the risks of the trialand error that can be needed to make relaycrop performance consistent on their farm.
What’s Up Next?
The BC Living Lab’s collaborative approach emphasizes the value of trialing, observing, and adaptingpractices to fit each farm’s goals and conditions. While trialing on active farms, researchers andgrowers continue to assess what conditions make relay cropping work vs. work at their best. Datacollection on the performance of relay cropping, low-emissions manure spreading, and refinednutrient budgets for carbon storage and reduced emissions is ongoing. Equally important — theproject is evaluating the economic and productivity costs of putting them into practice.