18 COW candy “The reason that you grow


orchardgrass is that it is commonly referred to as cow candy. It is one of the most palatable, highest-protein grasses that you can grow. And because of that, the animals sniff it out; they will go after this stuff before they go after anything else,” explains Dunse. Popular for horses, timothy


is a great energy source while being a good filler forage. “It doesn’t add much to


your feed quality but because it’s a smaller plant, a thinner plant, and it’s a small seed, it’s an excellent filler. So it makes for excellent companion grass with alfalfa, bromes, some of the fescues,” Dunse says. Timothy’s small size also


makes it ideal for making compressed bales for the Chinese and Japanese markets. “The biggest trend right


Dairy farmer Henry Bremer and DLF Pickseed rep Kevin Dunse look for grass beneath a lush canopy of alfalfa in the test plots seeded at Sunninghill Holsteins. JACKIE PEARASE PHOTO


now with timothy is the export market,” states Dunse.


COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • OCTOBER 2019 nfrom pg 17


“If anybody’s looking to diversify their operation and they want to try exporting timothy, this would be an excellent choice for a two-cut system.”


Queen of forages Dunse also walked


producers through five plots of alfalfa, known as the queen of forages. “It is the most productive


forage that you can buy. It has the best rooting system; it’s a perennial rye grass so that helps with the rooting system. It has the highest protein. Depending on conditions and your fertility, your protein can be anywhere from 23% to 28%; some more, some less. In terms of a forage, that’s pretty decent.”


He suggests using more alfalfa in hay fields for increased productivity and adding it to pasture fields to improve feed quality. Alfalfa’s perennial root


system produces strong plants with less winter kill and better persistence that can grow well for six to eight years. “If you do it right, you should be able to stretch that quite a bit farther. But most guys, you know, six to eight years and then they decide they might want to do it again.”


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Dunse highlighted the salt tolerance of the Assault ST variety, 3006’s creeping roots, the dual rooting zones of Able, the multiple blend that makes Weststar a best-seller, and the benefits of a multifoliate like Instinct. “A higher leaf-to-stem ratio [in the multifoliate] gives you much better palatability, much better productivity, higher digestibility and higher feed quality,” he explains. “Not only is it more productive but the feed quality on a variety like [Instinct] is far superior to some of the other trifoliate, older varieties.”


Demonstrations of


mowers, balers and bale carriers captured the interest of farmers, but the plot walk was still the main event. Cliffview Dairy Ltd. owner


Henry Bremer was intrigued to see how the different forages responded to this season’s varied weather. “They all looked good so I


was really impressed because it was a really tough year to get it started,” Bremer says. “It’s fascinating to see and to learn something new so you can take something back to the farm.”


He hopes the event turns into an annual affair. “It would be really great to see what it does next year when the grass has a chance to get going, to see how it turns out a year later,” he says.


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