Supplement Spray Application Question

[Stocker Steve]

There are alot of folks out there selling calcium and biologicals and secret dust for spray application based on a forage test. I have a neighbor who believes in doing this - - but he is also selling organic beef for $1.50/lb live weight. He does not have a test strip so I am not sure how to make a good comparison.

Have you measured an economical benefit with forage spray supplements?

 

[Jogeephus]

My neighbor is a salesman for a magic liquid fertilizer for grass. He has been trying to sell it to me - relentlessly. (I hate to see him coming) Don't know the details of the product you are talking about but what concerns me with his is the number of applications you have to make with his. This to me is a cost that he doesn't consider but I do.

 

[dcara]

Not meaning to hijake this thread subject, but I'm curious about the organic part. Does he feed them organinc grains, or just grass fed for the $1.50/lb. If grain fed does he grow his own? Is he over the $5000/yr revenue limit after which monitoring is required? Just trying to get a feel for regional and management style related cost/price spreads for organic beef.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Not meaning to hijake this thread subject, but I'm curious about the organic part. Does he feed them organinc grains, or just grass fed for the $1.50/lb.

Both grassfed and organic guys up here focus on forage - - including annuals like grazing corn and Italian rye grass. The good organic guys seed cover crops for green manure and improved tilth which requires a lot of tillage.
A forage key is to have feed with high enough energy or sugar to fatten beef animals. So, these spray on supplements are supposed to increase the Brix number / sugar content of forage.
The only common usage around here for organic grain is supplementing dairy cows in Wisconsin. Some of the Amish there specialize in organic grain production.