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Crops - The Lynch File   Some tips for cash-crop forage growers Not all forage markets are the same. Knowing what your buyer wants and delivering it is the name of the game by PAT LYNCH Forage buyers are more particular than IP soy buyers, but they are also more loyal. Once you are established as a forage producer, you will be hard to displace. Knowing this will help you establish and maintain a good forage business. There are two major markets, horse and cow. Each of these groups has two major sub-markets. The horse market is divided not between hobby and race but between traditional buyers and knowledgeable buyers. Traditional buyers want timothy in the mix. The cow market is divided between high protein forage and grass forage -- probably low potassium grasses. The first step is to establish whom you are going to grow forages for. It is not a case of “if I grow it, they will buy it” If you are going for the traditional horse market, these buyers want to see grass in the mix. That means that you have to plant a grass mixture that will have grass in each cut. Planting a 90-10 mix of alfalfa timothy does not guarantee this mix in the bale. The percentage of grass in the bale has more to do with variety and species of grass and how you manage the stand. Timothy seldom comes back in a second or third cut. Thus, if you have a customer who wants grass in every bale, timothy is not an appropriate grass.      Orchard grass and brome grass are more apt to be in the second and third cut. Maturity of grasses makes a difference. The highest timothy varieties tend to mature late. But if you plant an early maturing timothy, it will probably stay in the stand longer. And if timothy heads are a sign of how your forage will be judged, plant an early maturing variety. Also, plant orchard grass in the mix so there will be grass leaves in every bale. Orchard grass does not produce a head in the second or third cut. Orchard grass yields well and lasts. There are some management things you can do to affect the percentage grass in a stand. Fertilizing with nitrogen -- either liquid manure or dry fertilizer -- tends to help put more grass in a bale. It is not wise to spread dry manure on hay for sale since it is apt to show up in the bale. Growing forage for the dairy market follows somewhat the same type of rules. Know what your buyer wants and then strive to produce it. You must be able to separate your different cuts and types of forages. You may believe you can make a great first cut every time, but it will not happen even if your baler is equipped to apply acid. There is a high probability that you will harvest different qualities of forage from the same field. To be able to separate and sell uniform forage in every load is important. You may be able to find buyers whose current forage supplier is ignoring this practice. Know what your buyer wants, and deliver that. When you produce lower quality forage, find a different home for it. Do not try to slip some into each load. One specialty dairy market is low potassium grass, which is required in some dairy rations. You need soils testing low in potassium to produce low potassium grasses. Many dairy farms are unable to produce this grass since they apply manure to their land. Dairy manure is very high in potassium. And if you are growing forages for cash, there is another lucrative market tied to this crop -- fishworms. It is a specialty market, but very lucrative on the right soil and in the right area. It is possible to earn in excess of $200 an acre for the right to pick fishworms. Do not worry about deplenishing the fishworm population. Once their numbers drop, the pickers will not come.BF Pat Lynch, CCA (ON), is head agronomist for Cargill in Ontario.