Western Ohio Forage Day is Aug. 21

SOUTH CHARLESTON, Ohio – Alfalfa management and native grasses for forage and biofuel are just some of the topics farmers and producers can get updates on during a Western Ohio Forage Day Aug. 21, offered by experts with Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. 

The field day will offer information on issues that producers and growers can benefit now from, such as forage preservation, as well as offer field demonstrations on new techniques, such as manure slurry seeding, said Amanda Douridas, an Ohio State University Extension agriculture and natural resources educator.

Developed at Michigan State University, slurry seeding is a relatively new, no-till compatible manure application and cover crop establishment method that uses aeration tillage and liquid manure to apply seeds, said Douridas, who will perform the demonstration.

“We recently acquired an AerWay toolbar that we can put on the manure tank to mix the seed with liquid manure to research how a variety of seeds work with the systems,” she said. “We will demonstrate our research trials using a variety of seed trials to see which works best.”

The event is from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) Western Agricultural Research Station, 7721 South Charleston Pike, in South Charleston.

OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of the college. 

The event begins with a wagon tour of the Agronomic Crops Trials at the site from 9 a.m. to noon, during which OSU Extension and OARDC researchers will talk about the latest innovations in forages. The field demonstrations will be held in the afternoon.

Topics for discussion during the morning session include: 

• Grass interseeded into alfalfa
• Leafhopper resistant alfalfa trials
• Warm season annuals after wheat, conventional, no‐till and slurry seeded
• Nutritional aspects of warm season annuals and corn silage
• Alfalfa management inputs for high yield
• Red and white clover variety trials
• Native grasses for forage and biofuel

Registration for the program is $20. Payments can be sent to Douridas at 18000 State Route 4, Suite E, Marysville, Ohio 43040. The deadline to register is Aug. 14.