Author: Brian Jeffiers
Planning Unit: Johnson County CES
Major Program: Forages
Plan of Work: Sustainable Farming
Outcome: Long-Term Outcome
With many acres of strip-mined land dedicated to hay production, Johnson County farmers requested education on the special requirements of this cropping system. Members of the Johnson Co. Agricultural Advancement Council worked with the Highlands Beef Cattle Association to develop the Mountain Master Forager program, held in 2019, with an evening dedicated to the topic. One farmer who attended recently reported that he had implemented the program's fertilizer recommendations and increased his hay yield by 78%. The farmer and his partner also rent two other hay fields, one of which was fertilized per the recommendations and the other was not (the difference due to the cost of the rental arrangement). When the owner of the fields saw the increased yield on the treated area in 2019, he renegotiated the rental arrangement so that the farmers could implement the same fertility program on the second field in 2020, leading to similar yield gains to the strip-mined field.
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