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| United Cooperative provides farm owners with quality feed nutrition resources backed by expert animal science know-how, and state-of-the-art feed manufacturing. United Cooperative’s feed team understands that every animal and every herd is different. That’s why we provide custom blend options for your farm so you can increase production and profitability. Your local United Cooperative features convenient, complete feed service, including pick-up and delivery on your farm. |
| In 2016 United Cooperative brought two state-of-the-art mills at Shawano and Wilton online to increase production efficiency and output to supply producers’ growing nutrition needs. For custom feed blends offered in bagged and bulk deliveries, rely on United Cooperative for custom nutrition programs. All total, your cooperative has 7 feed mills. One value of new milling technology integrated by United Cooperative, is the introduction of a new calf feeding program Designed with the calf and producer in mind, early adopters of United Cooperative’s calf feed program give two thumbs up based on early trials. Use the location map below to connect with a United Cooperative feed and nutrition specialists about your animal nutrition needs. |
Expert View: Where do you stand on your nutrient management plan?
By Lizzy French, Feed Sales Specialist
Nutrient management plans are part of an ever-going effort in sustainability practices by farmers. Balancing the nutrients fed to cattle, monitoring the nutrients in manure, and considering changes in soil composition and nutrient levels over time are all involved in this plan. It is important for key team members involved in the animal nutrition and agronomy needs of your farm to meet with you and plan accordingly to additional nutrient requirements the soil might have and what effects different crop rotation will have on nutrient levels.
From an animal nutrition standpoint, balancing nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and potassium going into diets is part of controlling excess levels leaving the animal as manure. Analyzing feeds by wet chemistry is the best way to accurately determine levels in each feed. Ration-balancing software utilized to formulate animal diets to match levels fed with requirements and proper delivery practices will avoid excess in manure. Another nutrient to consider is copper, both dietary copper and copper being used elsewhere on the farm, such as footbaths.
While formulating programs are useful tools, measuring the nutrient levels in your manure is the next step to knowing what will be applied to your fields. Nutrient concentrations in manure and soil, and quantity of manure for application are the next step in determining what volume will be applied to fields. Calibration of manure spreaders will contribute to greater accuracy of application.
Multiple analyses on different soil sites will reflect differences across the field and better prepare producers to apply manure to meet crop requirements based on the results. In addition, knowing the impact of bedding systems on soil composition will be key in future years. Recently, the topic of added sand to fields and the impact of changing silt, clay, and sand ratios has been raised. Consider proactive changes to agronomy practices to reflect soil changes.
Annual monitoring and planning is critical to crop health and environmental balance. Although more research needs to be performed on areas including nutrient interactions, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, continued efforts in nutrient management plans will allow balance between crop productivity, soil health, and environmental protection. While this might seem overwhelming in times of low margins, this is where your United Cooperative team can help guide you in the right directions and support the needs of your operation.
For more information on nutrient management planning, contact your United Cooperative agronomist or feed specialist.
