A UVM blog Out Croppings: Important crop news from the field!

Course Content

UVM Research Specialists Amber Machia and Sara Ziegler have developed a new online course designed for technical assistance providers. The goal of this course is to provide education and resources for new technical service providers with foundational information around grazing planning and providing grazing-related technical assistance to production livestock farmers in Vermont.

This course provides knowledge and best practices to become a great technical assistance provider. This short course can be completed at any time and at your own pace. It consists of five modules that contain video presentations, supplementary modules, and additional resources. The supplementary modules are presented by Extension specialists, Amber Reed and Carly Bass, and industry professionals, Cheryl Cesario from American Farmland Trust and Phillip Wilson from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets.

If you are a technical service provider, this course can teach you hard skills, like identifying pasture plant types and filling out the Vermont grazing plan, and soft skills, like how to communicate with a farmer about strategies to meet their goals.

Accessing the Course

This course is hosted on the Extension Foundation website. Making an account on the Extension Foundation site is easy and free. Simply, click this link and choose “Login” in the top right corner. Click “Create new account” and fill in your credentials. Once you have an account, search “Grazing for TA Providers”. Complete the course on your own time. All the resources and modules are free to use.

Have questions about this course or any of its materials? Contact Amber Machia at (802) 656-7615 or amber.machia@uvm.edu. This work is supported by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, award no. 2025-01-27-502515.

Summer annual grasses, such as sudangrass and millet, can be good emergency forage crops if your feed inventory is low or you want to supplement pastures during the hot summer months. These grasses love heat and only need a few months to yield 3 to 5 tons of highly digestible dry matter per acre. There is still time to get some of these heat-loving crops in the ground, but before you do, consider species and variety selection and make sure you’re seeding at an appropriate rate.

What species and variety do I use?

We have been evaluating an array of summer annual forage species and varieties over the last decade to identify those that perform best in our climate. The most common species for grazing or multi-cut forage include sorghum, sudangrass, sorghum x sudangrass hybrids, and pearl millets. Over the years, we’ve generally seen that the sudangrasses yield the most, followed by forage sorghums, sorghum x sudangrass hybrids, and pearl millets. In addition to yield, the species differ in forage quality, with the sorghum x sudangrasses and pearl millets often having higher fiber digestibility than the sorghums and sudangrasses. However, varieties of each of these species can have pretty different characteristics and perform differently from one another. Some of these grasses look like corn, producing thick juicy stalks and long, wide leaves, while others have thinner stems and leaves, making them easier to cut and dry for stored forage. Check out our 2024 variety trial results here to get the latest trial information.

What seeding rate do I use?

In the northeast, most farmers use a multi-cut or multi-graze system for harvesting summer annuals. If seeding in early to mid-June, you can typically get two to three harvests from these crops. Seeding rates aligned with a multi-harvest system should be implemented to achieve the best yield and quality.

In addition, seed size and, therefore, seeds per pound can be highly variable between species and varieties.  Hence, summer annual seeding rates should be based on plants per acre rather than just pounds of seed per acre. For a multi-cut system, King’s Agriseed recommends seeding for a target of 600,000-650,000 plants per acre for sorghum sudangrass and 650,000 to 700,000 plants per acre for sudangrass. Based on the seeds per pound, Table 1 shows the seeding rates in pounds per acre that would be needed to attain the target population.

You can see that this ranges from 20-60 pounds! Image 1 shows two varieties of sudangrass that demonstrate the large differences in size that can occur between varieties of the same species. In this case, the variety on the left had 17,650 seeds per pound while the variety on the right had 28,892 seeds per pound. This means that more seed would be needed of the variety on the left to attain the same population as the variety on the right. If they were both seeded at 40 pounds per acre instead, the variety on the left would be planted at 706,000 seeds per acre, while the variety on the right would be planted at 1,155,680 plants per acre!

Making these adjustments can save you money by making sure you aren’t overplanting costly seed, and that you aren’t shorting your stand, which could result in decreased yields or increased weed pressure. In a trial conducted in 2023, we found no difference in yield or quality when seeding rates of sudangrass and sorghum x sudangrass were increased beyond 450,000 plants ac^-1_, even up to 800,000 plants ac^-1.

This also held true regardless of whether the varieties were BMR or not. This means that seeding around 20-35 lbs. ac^-1, depending on the seed size of the variety, produced ample yield and quality. However, these results may have been different if the conditions were hotter and drier, or may vary with other summer annual species or varieties. Find the full report here for more details.

For more information on summer annuals please visit the UVM Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Program’s website for our Research Results webpage, Livestock Forages webpage, the Guide to Using Annual Forages in the Northeast, and more!

Reference: https://kingsagriseeds.com/selecting-the-correct-seeding-rate-for-sorghum-based-on-its-seeds-per-pound/

By Bryony Sands

Spring has finally arrived! Cows are being turned out to pasture, and farmers are busy out in the field. This season is full of new life, but a familiar parasitic arachnid is once again putting a damper on things. Tick populations are becoming more active, and they are on the rise in the Northeast. Farmers are becoming more wary of ticks and the diseases that they carry, including bacteria, parasites, and viruses, which can affect livestock as well as themselves.

Tick-borne diseases have become a significant health concern for humans and livestock alike, and pastured cattle are at a high risk of exposure to ticks, increasing the risk to farmers as they work with them. Ticks have four lifecycle stages: egg, larvae, nymph, and adult. Each stage is active at a different time of the year, depending on the species. Many tick species live long lives and can survive for more than a year without feeding. They can also survive freezing temperatures and long, cold winters, becoming active whenever temperatures exceed around 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

In Vermont, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis) are common in pastures. These ticks take two years to complete their lifecycle. Adults become active in early spring as they quest for larger hosts such as livestock or humans. After they have taken a blood meal, the females drop off and lay up to 4000 eggs each, which hatch into larvae. Larvae seek out small hosts over the summer, such as rodents, or even reptiles and birds, and develop into nymphs between fall and the following spring. Nymphs quest for larger mammal hosts like raccoons or pet dogs and cats in the spring as they develop into adults. In the fall and following spring, adult ticks become active and quest for even larger hosts such as livestock, deer, or humans, resulting in the two main peaks in tick activity seen in spring and fall. Ticks must feed on blood at every stage of life to survive.

Vectors of Disease

The blacklegged tick transmits Lyme disease, which is the most common tick-borne disease in humans, and is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorfei. Vermont has the highest reported rate of Lyme disease in the US. Cases have increased by 70% in the past 5 years. This increase in tick-borne illnesses can be attributed to multiple factors, but the main cause is climate change. Changing temperatures are delaying frost dates and expediting spring thaws, which is giving ticks more time to quest for hosts and hatch in ideal conditions. Tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease are not just a threat in the spring and summer anymore because tick bites can happen all year round. 

While Lyme disease can be devastating to human health, and prevention of bites from the blacklegged tick is a priority for farmers working in the field, it is not a disease that causes concern for livestock. For cattle, the black-legged tick is the most common vector of anaplasmosis, a bacteria in the genus Anaplasmosis that causes disease by entering red blood cells resulting in death and rupture of these infected cells. Calves typically do not show symptoms, but older cattle are more likely to succumb to the infection. Symptoms include anemia, jaundice, and weakness.

The American dog tick can transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever to humans, which is an illness caused by infection with the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii. Unlike Lyme disease, it can be spread from a female tick into her eggs, so the larval and nymphal stages are also capable of transmitting the disease. This tick is also a vector of Tularemia in humans (rabbit fever or deerfly fever), which is caused by infection with the bacterium Francisella tularensis, however this is rare. While the American dog tick is not a major cause of disease in our livestock, it can carry the pathogens that cause anaplasmosis and babesiosis. Bovine babesiosis, also known as tick fever or redwater in cattle, is a parasitic disease in cattle caused by protozoa in the genus Babesia.

A New Tick in Town

In our neighboring New York State, a new tick in town has been raising the stakes even further. The Asian Longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) is an invasive pest native to East Asia. It has been present in the US since 2017, when it was found in New Jersey. Since then, it has been found in 21 states including Massachusetts and New York, but has not yet been found in Vermont. Asian Longhorned ticks pose a serious threat to cattle in the United States. Unlike other tick species, it is parthenogenetic, which means that a female can lay eggs by cloning herself to create the next generation without needing to find and mate with a male. Through this strategy, large populations can develop very quickly, and large infestations can occur on one animal. Although it has a wide range of hosts throughout its lifecycle, including mammals, birds, and reptiles, it preferentially infests cattle and can spread diseases that impact both animals and humans alike. The Asian Longhorned tick transmits the protozoan parasite Theileria orientalis to cattle, which is a pathogen that causes theileriosis. Symptoms are similar to anaplasmosis, including anemia, jaundice, and weakness. UVM Research to Evaluate Tick Risk in Cattle Pastures

Researchers with the University of Vermont Extension are conducting a study this summer to evaluate tick risk to farmers and livestock on grazed dairy and beef pastures across Vermont and New York. Extension assistant professor Bryony Sands is leading the project. She will visit farms every 2 weeks throughout the tick season to survey ticks and speak with farmers about tick presence. Sampling involves a dragging technique where a white flannel sheet is dragged over the vegetation along a transect, and ticks attach to the sheet because it mimics a passing animal. The ticks are then collected and brought back to the lab for identification. Farmers are collecting ticks directly from cattle, themselves, and workers on the farm for the project. All ticks will be sent for molecular analysis to identify which diseases they are carrying. The project aims to provide valuable information to farmers about the risk to themselves and their livestock from ticks, and will collect data on how vegetation structure, pasture management, and grazing strategies might influence tick transmission. Ultimately the data will help to identify strategies to minimize the risk from ticks and tick-borne diseases on our farms. 

The research is in collaboration with NYS IPM at Cornell University, with Kenneth Wise (Associate Director of Agricultural IPM) and Joellen Lampman (IPM and tick specialist) working on the project in New York State. Twenty farms are participating in the study, and tick surveying is well under way. So far, the blacklegged tick and American dog tick have been found in abundance on Vermont farms. In addition to these two species, the Asian Longhorned tick has also been found at two farm sites in New York State. 

This work is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Crop Protection and Pest Management, Applied Research and Development Program support (award number 2024-03411)

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.

Written by Heather Darby

Given the delayed planting of corn due to wet and in many cases saturated soil conditions, farmers are asking, “What relative maturity of corn will be harvested before the first killing frost?” Well, as always, the answer is, “It depends.”

As we head into the last week of May, there are competing priorities: harvesting first cut grass and getting crops in the ground. Grass harvest should come first, so you can try to salvage optimal quality. This means corn will most likely be planted in early June. The good news is that most of the growing degree days (GDDs) occur between June and August, so the best part of the growing season is yet to come. The challenge is making sure you select a corn variety that will mature and be ready to harvest before the first killing frost (28°F).

Generally, once we get to May 25, farms should be shifting away from long-season and over to shorter maturity corn. However, long-season corn is relative to your location in VT. If you normally plant 100-day or even later-maturing corn, it is time to reduce the maturity by between 4 and 7 days. Once we are in early to mid-June, consider another reduction in maturity.

Again, location is important. The goal is to get the corn in the ground, have it emerge as quickly as possible, soak up 1,800 to 2,500 heat units, and be ready to chop by late September to early October. The length of the growing season of various hybrids is directly related to their GDD requirements: Long-season hybrids require more GDD to reach maturity than shorter-season hybrids. Several studies in the Midwest documented an increase of 22 GDDs per day for every day increase in relative maturity (RM). If you reduce the RM by 7 days, that hybrid requires an estimated 154 fewer GDDs to grow. That is about equal to the number of GDDs accumulated in 2 to 3 weeks in the fall.

Most companies rate their hybrids by RM, not GDDs. The relationship between RM ratings and GDD ratings within any given company’s hybrids is close but not exact because each rating system relies on a different methodology (relative vs. thermal time) and different “end points” to the growing season (silage maturity vs. black layer). If two hybrids require the same number of GDDs to reach physiological maturity (silage maturity) but their rates of post-maturity field dry down differ, they may be assigned the same GDD rating but different RM ratings. Neither method is exact because of the influences of climatic conditions and plant stress on crop development rates and dry down in the field.

Therefore, the difference in corn company hybrid GDD “ratings” between two otherwise similar genetics could be about 120 GDDs equal to the heat units typically required for corn to emerge after planting. So, at the end of day, consult with your corn dealer. The RM comparisons within a seed company’s hybrid lineup are more reliable than RM comparison between hybrids of different seed companies. If the corn dealer can provide GDDs required to silage maturity, you can estimate whether the corn variety will be harvested prior to a killing frost.

If that data is not available, the tables below provide information on estimated GDDs required for hybrids of different RMs, as well as the GDDs accumulated in various locations in Vermont from June 1 to the average date for the first killing frost. These are estimates, and clearly we do not know what type of weather the remainder of the season will bring. However, hopefully these estimates can help you gauge what corn RM will be best suited for planting in June.

Written by Jeff Sanders

Corn is a Survivor

There are two kinds of crops: crops that struggle to survive and crops that fight to survive. A cotton farmer in Texas once told me that all cotton wants to do is die as soon as it comes out of the ground. Corn is not that way at all; it is a survivor. 

Corn can survive as long as it has two things. It must be properly placed in the soil, and it must have a firm seedbed. Acquiring a proper seedbed is easier said than done. To ensure success for your corn crops, you must first consider the conditions you are planting in and understand what the planter is doing.

Using a Planter in No-Till Fields

The planter is the most important piece of equipment that hardly ever gets used on your farm. In tilled fields, a planter mainly acts as a seed dropper. Even if the seeding system is out of spec, it will still perform well because the seed is being planted into near-ideal conditions.  Unfortunately, this is not true in no-till fields. The planter must do what it was designed to do: plant. It must open a 2-2.5-inch deep slot, place an evenly spaced row of seed, firm it, and cover it at very high rates of consistency over widely varying conditions. The accuracy that this requires means that maintenance must be done on your planter annually to ensure it is in good working condition.  You can find our annual maintenance checklist at the button below.

Avoid Mudding In

Second and equally important, you CANNOT mud the seed in. No-till fields differ from tilled fields in that they do not have loose soil. No-till fields can appear ready for planting when they’re not. Planters behave differently in no-till conditions, and the usual rule—stop when soil sticks to the gauge wheels—doesn’t always apply. To combat this, I use the knee test.  If you place your knee on the ground surface for 20 seconds, stand up, and your pants are dry, you can plant. If your pants are wet when you stand up, do not plant yet.

You can run a similar test on clay soils by observing the trenches. Watch for the trench getting squeezed back together, but not crumbling the soil. If you see this, do not plant yet. Often, this indicates that the soil is wet, and the trench will open back up when the soil dries, leaving the seed exposed to the air and predators. Once you have determined that the field is dry and warm enough, you are ready to move on to the next step.

Fertilizing Corn in a No-Till Environment

Lastly, there are things we can do to help the seed establish in a no-till environment. First, adequate fertilization is key.  In Vermont, we rely heavily on cow manure for our crops’ fertility.  In most cases with manure application rates of 8,000-10,000 gallons per acre, we are getting adequate phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients to grow a decent crop. 

You must consider the timing of manure application and incorporation (fall vs. spring). This plays a big role in the availability of nutrients, in particular nitrogen. In cold, wet soils, the addition of some phosphorus (10-20 lbs.) in-furrow can be beneficial.  We have found that replacing phosphorus with additional nitrogen at planting (30- 50 lbs. of actual Nitrogen) is a game changer.  In tillage systems, the tilling of the soils results in a flush of nitrogen that is not there when planting no-till.  The use of additional N compensates for that and helps the crop get a good start.  This additional N will also help with carbon to nitrogen ratios if there is a big cover crop that needs to be broken down by microbiology in the soil.

Use These Tips to Help You Succeed

Planting no-till is being practiced on suitable soils all over Vermont.  It works if it is implemented properly.  To ensure the success of your no-till field conduct annual maintenance on your equipment, create a system that produces a consistent seed depth and properly covers the seed trench, avoid planting if the soil is too moist, use proper fertilization, and instead of trying no-till on your worst fields, try it on some of your best, and you will not be disappointed. 

For more guidance on no-till practices, click the button below.

It’s a winning story for farmers, producers, retailers, and ultimately customers.

At the UVM Extension Northwest Crops and Soils (NWCS) program, most of our research happens in the field while planting, growing, and harvesting crops to understand how they perform under different conditions and management practices. However, the NWCS research doesn’t stop when the crop is harvested. To gain a deeper understanding of the ultimate quality of a crop, we use staff in our group who have been trained in descriptive sensory analysis (DSA) to objectively measure its sensory quality, as well as products made with it. This is where Roy Desrochers steps in. He is our resident sensory expert and has over 42 years of experience providing sensory support to large and small food and beverage companies and their suppliers.

Roy’s work involves using the human senses such as taste, smell, and feel, to objectively evaluate the sensory quality of ingredients and products. It isn’t about subjectively determining whether something is “good” or “bad”, but rather rating products in an objective way to improve the product’s performance in the market. Roy leads panels of NWCS trained tasters to evaluate various products such as grass-fed milk and beef, artisan cheese, hops and beer, grains, and artisan bread.

On our most recent sensory panel, the team evaluated bread made from two different varieties of rye that were a part of a rye harvest date trial conducted in 2024. Within this trial, rye varieties ‘Danko’ and ‘Hazlet’ were harvested at weekly intervals over four weeks, with various field and harvest metrics collected over this period. Additionally, standard lab analyses for cereal quality were conducted in the E.E. Cummings Crop Testing Laboratory including grain starch, crude protein, and falling number. Each of these analyses are typical indicators of grain quality for both growers and bakers.

 Where professional bakers assess the baking quality of the grains and often utilize lab analyses to discern differences and adjust recipes, the trained taste panel is a human instrument that objectively measures the aroma, flavor, and texture of the final products. The objective data generated by the trained taste panel can be interpreted using consumer overall liking information to predict the potential success of each variety of rye for use in different commercial products. Consumer satisfaction, or meeting customer needs for flavor quality, is critical to sustained success in the market. A minor change in practices at the farm, such as the date the rye is harvested, can affect the sensory quality of the final product. 

Sensory is a unique and important part of our research. By combining on-farm research with producer experience and sensory knowledge, we can get a holistic understanding of crops from planting to consumption. It’s a winning story for farmers, producers, retailers, and ultimately customers.

You can learn more about ongoing and previous sensory projects on our website www.uvm.edu/extension/nwcrops/sensory-practice.

For additional information about our crop testing lab and various services please visit https://www.uvm.edu/extension/nwcrops/e-e-cummings-crop-testing-laboratory.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number LNE22-437.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“If you can manage your soil well, that’s like wealth.”

“If you can manage your soil well, that’s like wealth,” Deborah Neher, Soil Ecologist and Associate Director of SHREC, said when explaining the significance of the new Soil Health Research and Extension Center (SHREC) at the University of Vermont. The SHREC is a cross-disciplinary research and extension hub focused on integrative soil health, offering comprehensive testing services to address stakeholder and researcher needs.

SHREC is set to open on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2025. It was organized as a direct response to farmers in Vermont wanting a more local and state-specific soil testing facility rather than sending soil samples out of state. This reflects SHREC’s farmer-first approach, which is at the center of its work: to prioritize the needs of the agricultural community in Vermont.

With extreme weather patterns becoming more frequent and two consecutive years of devastating floods, farmers are seeking better ways to understand the land they rely on and whether it can withstand the changing climate. To help with these challenges, the SHREC will offer soil testing services such as permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), autoclaved citrate extractable (ACE) protein, wet aggregate stability, and total carbon and total nitrogen, with more testing capabilities coming soon.

The SHREC Lab is not the first or the only soil testing lab at UVM. UVM’s Agricultural and Environmental Testing Lab (AEFL) continues to offer home and commercial soil testing. The SHREC Lab differs because it offers different tests than the AEFL. If you’re unsure which lab to send your sample to, email AgTesting@uvm.edu.

The Soil Health Research and Extension Center will begin testing soil samples on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025. Among the first samples tested in the lab will be preliminary soil samples collected ahead of this year’s growing season at the Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, Vermont, where the Northwest Crops and Soils program team conducts many of their research trials. The SHREC will work closely with NWCS to connect farmers with the newly available resources.  The SHREC team plans to hold workshops, field demonstrations, and focus groups to spread awareness, connect with communities, and improve overall soil conditions in the Green Mountain State.

You can learn more about the SHREC on its website.

SHREC is funded by the UVM’s Food Systems Research Center (FSRC).

On March 11, 2025 our friends Patricia Bishop and Josh Oulton drove with their daughter Lily from Nova Scotia to the Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, Vermont to hand deliver a new hemp fiber hackler to the UVM extension NWCS team. They somehow managed to fit it into the back of a sprinter van, and our farmhand, Travis Driver, also somehow managed to lift it out in one piece.

The hackler represents the third step in a three-part scutching line that Bishop and Oulton have developed over the years to process long fibers like hemp and flax at a cottage industry scale. The role of the hackler is to take the long fibers, which have already been broken or decorticated, and comb them rigorously to open up the fiber and separate the fiber bundles which are ostensibly glued together by naturally occurring lignin and pectin.

The machine is the first of its kind in the United States. Prior to our purchase, there was only one hackler like it in all of the western hemisphere; that being the one belonging to Bishop and Oulton at their processing facility in the Maritime Provinces known as Taproot Fiberlab.

                It is a dream to see our hemp processing capabilities expand as we add mechanized elements to the intensive ongoing hand-processing that is necessary to extract fiber from biomass. We hope that this historical moment will mark just the beginning of our bast fiber processing capabilities in Northeast. Much more infrastructure will be necessary in order to see the industry grow here, but we are in it for the long haul. Many thanks to the USDA Sungrant cycle for sponsoring this project, and you can follow along with this ongoing project by searching award number AWD00001779.

Glad tidings of the season to all of our farmers, millers, bakers, brewers, researchers and other partners. This is our annual reminder that the E. E. Cummings Crop Testing Lab is closed at the end of December. The UVM campus is closed and there is no mail service from 12/23/2024 through 1/2/2025. If you have any samples that you need processed before the new year, please mail them soon and make sure they will arrive by 12/17.

We’re happy to have been your lab of choice for 2024 and look forward to partnering with you to look at grain quality again in 2025. Please contact us if you have any questions about testing or if there are any tests you’d like on your crops or other grains that you don’t see available on our website. Many of the testing options that we have added over the years have come from your requests.