A UVM blog Outcroppings: Important crop news from the field!

Written by Amber Machia

The Vermont growing season offers a short window to produce, harvest, and store nutrients in the form of forages for dairy cattle, including hay crop silage and corn silage. This process can be challenging, but the result is rewarding for you, your livestock, and your operation. The goal is to harvest crops at the correct stage of maturity and store them so that oxygen is rapidly excluded and they begin to ferment. During the fermentation process, there is a quick drop in pH levels, which preserves the nutrients and dry matter of the feed by creating an undesirable environment for the growth of harmful yeast and molds. Good management during the bunk filling and packing process is key to fermentation and preservation success. 

Bunk Density 

Bunk density is expressed in pounds of dry matter per cubic foot (lbs DM/ft³).  To measure bunk density, we use the Dairy One Forage Probe to drill into the bunk face and collect a core sample.  The core is then measured, and the sample is processed to determine dry matter.  Using the Dairy One Density Calculator, we collect values that determine the density of the feed stored at the sample location.  Density is not necessarily consistent across the bunk face or pile; therefore, we often take multiple core samples when evaluating bunk density. 

The minimum goal for the density of feed stored in bunks or piles is 15lbs DM/ft³. Optimal density is 18lbs DM/ft³ or greater.  This level of bunk density indicates that oxygen has been effectively excluded, promoting good fermentation and preservation of nutrients. Feed stored at less than 15lbs DM/ft³ likely has greater exposure to oxygen, which promotes nutrient degradation and the growth of potentially harmful yeasts and molds. 

The UVM Extension NWCS Team has been measuring bunk density on farms across Franklin County over the past two years.  Figure 1 shows the range of densities observed from 96 core samples of hay crop silage stored in cement bunks, piles on cement pads, and in ag bags.  Samples were taken from multiple locations on the open bunk face.  Approximately 60% of the samples fell below the minimum density of 15lbs DM/ft³, indicating less than ideal potential oxygen exposure, which resulted in deterioration of feed quality. 

Educating the Community 

To address this problem and help farmers improve overall feed quality,  
Amber Machia, UVM Extension NWCS Research Specialist, and Kurt Cotanch, an independent dairy nutrition consultant, threw a Preservation Party at the 2025 UVM Extension Annual Crops & Soils Field Day. They presented their research findings to a group of farmers and technical assistance providers. This included a sensory experience where guests smelled and touched various forage samples and guessed which one was the highest quality feed. They also taught their audience about management factors that affect density, so they can increase the overall quality of feed.  

Management factors that affect density include: 

• Packing weight – recommended minimum of 800lbs packing weight per ton of forage delivered per hour 

• Delivery rate – fill rate should be based on total available packing weight (the pushing tractor is only packing ~60% of the time) 

• Dry matter & chop length of harvested feed – dry forage that is cut long is harder to pack tightly 

• Layer thickness – should not exceed 6” 

• Slope of ramp – if too steep, tractor tires may spin and disrupt packed forage below 

• Feed storage infrastructure – adequate space is needed to safely access the pile or bunk.  Layered feeds make it difficult to consistently attain optimal packing density. 

Interested in assistance with weighing your bunk packing equipment and determining the optimal fill rate and management for your scenario?  Interested in having core samples taken of your existing stored feed to determine the density that you are achieving?  Contact Amber Machia (802)656-7615 or amber.machia@uvm.edu. 

An armyworm outbreak has been reported in Fairfax and Waterbury areas. The armyworms have been primarily feeding on grass fields. Armyworm moths generally blow up from the south in storms. Please don’t panic, but do go out and scout your corn and grass fields for armyworms. When full grown, the caterpillars can be almost 1.5 inches long. The caterpillars are usually greenish or brownish, but can be almost black. The sides and back of the caterpillar have light colored stripes running along the body. The caterpillars normally feed at night and much damage can occur before they mature. The preferred foods are grasses including corn, grains, and forage grasses. They will feed on other plants if grasses are unavailable. Feeding will start on the lower leaves and move upwards. A large population can strip an entire field in just a few days. When the field is eaten they “march’ to adjacent fields. Corn fields that are minimum or no-tilled into grass sod or fields infested with grass weeds are most susceptible.  For more information on scouting and control options please contact Dr. Heather Darby at the University of Vermont Extension at (802) 782-6054 or heather.darby@uvm.edu.

Written by Lindsey Ruhl

UVM Extension NWCS Research Specialist Lindsey Ruhl and 4-H educator Wendy Sorrell, attended the 110^th National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference in Billings, Montana, June 29 – July 2, 2025.

There were over 1,200 attendees from 45 states. Presentations ranged from 4-H programming to research updates, new outreach opportunities, and integrating AI into Extension work.

UVM Extension Professor Inducted into NACAA Hall of Fame

Extension Professor Emeritus Glenn Rogers was inducted into the NACAA Hall of Fame during the association’s annual conference in Billings, Montana. Glenn’s long Extension career started in N.H., moving back to Vermont in 1982, and retiring in 2010. He had many responsibilities including water quality agent, county ag agent, regional dairy specialist, regional farm business management specialist, and a special assignment in 1990 working on the Farm Bill with U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. He served on various community boards and committees, and served our country as a member of the Vermont Air National Guard from 1971 to 1992. Please join us in congratulating Glenn! 

AgConnect Featured in Teaching and Educational Technologies Session

On Monday, June 30, Lindsey hosted a session on AgConnect, a free online tool that walks students through the scientific method, which she helped develop.

AgConnect can be used in the classroom to guide students through lab and field-based experimental design and the scientific method. This program also introduces young students to new ways of interacting with and studying agriculture. Students can exercise freedom in choosing the topic of their experiments, fostering creativity and love for learning. AgConnect is made to be flexible so that teachers can use it to enhance any agriculturally focused curriculum.

If you are an educator and want to know more about this educational resource and other agricultural learning activities, visit https://www.uvm.edu/extension/nwcrops/resources-educators.

AgConnect Tech to House Vermont’s On-Farm Research Network

Exciting news! The UVM NWCS team is utilizing the technology behind AgConnect to create a new platform for Vermont’s On-Farm Research Network to simplify on-farm research for farmers and facilitators. On this new platform, farmers will be able to join actively recruiting research projects, share their ideas, suggest new experiments, and see local results.

We are taking a farmer-focused approach to developing this platform and are currently testing materials with farmer groups.

Want to learn more about this new initiative? Contact Shannon MacDonald at Shannon.macdonald@uvm.edu.

When we harvest hay crop silages, naturally occurring bacteria present on the forage are responsible for completing the fermentation process we rely on to preserve the silage. During fermentation, bacteria take sugars in the forage and convert it into organic acids that acidify the material and preserve nutrients.

Depending on how many and which bacteria are present, this process could yield very different results. Using an inoculant can ensure sufficient population and type of bacteria are present to adequately reduce silage pH or stabilize the silage during feed out.

There are two main types of bacteria used in silage inoculants: homofermenters and heterofermenters. Homofermenters are those that convert the sugars in the forage to lactic acid. Common homofermenters used in silage inoculant produces include Lactobacillus plantarum, Pediococcus spp., and Enterococcus faecium. Because lactic acid is a strong acid that can reduce the pH significantly and quickly but does not inhibit yeast and mold growth very well, products containing homofermenters are typically used where preserving the forage as quickly as possible and reducing dry matter losses are the goals.

In contrast, heterofermenters can make several different products during fermentation; they may make lactic acid, acetic acid, or other products. Because acetic acid is a weak acid but a better inhibitor of spoilage organism growth, heterofermenters are used when silage aerobic stability is the priority. Lactobacillus buchnerii is a common heterofermenter added into inoculant products to support silage stability during feed out.

Products can contain one or both of these types of bacteria. They come in dry granular or water-soluble formulations with specific applicators that mount to the bailer or chopper. There are also several products approved for use in organic systems. More information on silage inoculants can be found at the resources below.

University of Vermont Extension Silage Inoculants Factsheet

University of Wisconsin Extension Silage Inoculants Factsheet

Despite the availability of organically approved products, using silage inoculants on organic farms is not very common. To gain more information on the use of organic inoculants, we are initiating several research trials this season.

Trial 1- Evaluating the efficacy of organically approved silage inoculants

The first trial will compare the efficacy of five different organically approved silage inoculants and a no inoculant control in grass silage. The silage inoculants being used are listed in table 1.

We mowed an existing stand of orchardgrass and applied each inoculant product per their labels to different sections of the windrows using a small sprayer just before chopping. Material was then chopped into a forage wagon where material from each section was segregated and collected. Approximately 250-275 grams of material were then placed into vacuum seal bags and sealed to simulate bunk packing. Samples were kept in black plastic totes at ambient temperatures until removal to obtain the ensiling durations outlined in Table 2 at which point they were frozen to stop fermentation or other biological activity. Samples will be analyzed for pH and fermentation profiles as per Table 2.

Trial 2: Silage inoculant efficacy under varying dry matter conditions

Another trial will be conducted this year using the same existing stand of orchard grass that will be mowed and this time wilted to three different dry matter contents, representing forage that is too wet, ideal, and too dry. We will then apply one of the inoculant products at three different rates representing the rate according to the label, 2x the rate on the label, and 3x the rate on the label. Inoculant application, sample vacuum sealing, and sample storage and retention time will be the same as described for Trial 1. Stay tuned for results!

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.