June 25, 2019 – David Farrell

June 25, 2019June 26, 2019

Day on the farm.

Tuesday the 25th of July I completed my first farm visit to a southeastern organic dairy farm in Tennessee. The objectives of the day were
1- Gather flies from the udder/under belly and backs of cows
2- Measure, and evaluate different forages.
All flies and grass collected were placed in plastic bags and placed in freezers once back at the laboratory.

Grass measuring using a rising plate meter. Moving across the field in an W or X shape I took 10-15 hits. I then subtracted my start figure from my final figure and divided that by a doubling the number of hits I took.
Forages was mostly composed of white/red clover and tall fescue grass

June 25, 2019July 2, 2019

Background to research

The objective of my research is to evaluate forages and cattle mineral status on organic dairy farms in the southeast of America. Five research farms have been allocated, one in Tennessee and the remaining four in Kentucky.
Each pasture will be composed of
1- Cool season (CS) forages only (alfalfa, tall fescue, red clover)
2- Warm season (WS) species of crab grass & annual lespedeza mixed with cool season annual ryegrass and red clover (WRC)
3-WS species sorghum-X-sudan grass hybrid (sudex) and cowpea mixed with CS od annual ryegrass and crimsom clover (WCC)
4-WS species sudex and cowpea mixed with CS species oats and annual ryegrass and brassicas turnip and rape (WTR)

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