Dodge County Forage Council Meeting

February 8, 2008

Dodge County Administration Building

·         Call to order   3:45 pm by Jason Sterr

·         Secretary’s Report – Matt Hanson provided a report from Feb 7, 2007 DCFC winter meeting.  Motion by Jason Beck and second by Ron Wiskerchen to approve the minutes.  Motion passed.

·         Treasurer’s Report – Paul Roemer provided the report

o               Two CD’s have been renewed with expiration dates 6 months apart for greater flexibility with the accounts.

o               Motion to John Mersch second by Dave Buss to put treasurers report on file.

·         Old Business:

Jason Sterr provided an overview of the 2007 Forage Council activities.  A full report was distributed in the proceedings packet

·         New Business:

Awards

Mark Holl was recognized for his years of service on the DCFC committee and the on-farm research studies that he conducted.

Gloria Hafemeister was recognized for her involvement and promotion of the Dodge County Forage Council.

Summer Twilight Meeting

Will be held on June 18^th, 2008 at the Dale Christian farm near Lomira.  Case IH will speak about harvesting efficiencies.  Presentations will also include how to set up the equipment to function at optimum efficiency.

Farm Tech Days – Demonstration plots

Dave Buss provided a quick overview of the FTD program.  The demonstration plots will be limited to 5 acres in size total.

Tent city will be seeded this spring.  The DCFC has the opportunity to help decide where and what we want to showcase related to forages within Tent City.

Discussion topics included:

o       Creating man-made ice layers over alfalfa using boards as boarders to to demonstrate winter kill from ice layers during the winter.

o       Manure applications – timing/rates

o       Low lignin alfalfa (USDA forage research lab??)

o       www.noble.org   c-comp alfalfa

o       Try to find very low lignin alfalfa as a comparison.

o       Keep the plot simple – like the heritage corn plot was.

o       Idea, recorded messages at each site to listen to at FTD

o       Field demo meeting Next Wednesday Feb 13^th

Discussion about the Dodge and Fond du Lac Forage Councils Tested Hay Auction

o       Our NIR machine has not functioned this year.  Rock River Labs has provided the analysis but we have had to pay a high price for their service.

o       Hay sales have been down this year due to poor weather and surplus supplies.

o       We used to receive 2 percent (1% for our association) of the proceeds from hay sales. Over the past recent years, we only receive the flat testing fee.

o       Some discussion that perhaps hay auctions are a thing of the past since many large producers are hiring brokers today. 

o       There is still a demand for tested hay prices to help guide the market.

June 22^nd – Breakfast of the Farm Date (near Oconomowoc)

Elections

o       Paul Roemer was nominated to be reelected to represent Agribusiness.  Jason Beck motion, Dave Buss second.  Motion passed

o       John Mersch and Ron Wiskerchen were nominated to represent producers – Dave Buss motion, Karl Navis second and unanimous approval.

o       Matt Hanson will continue to serve as DCFC Secretary.

Motion to Adjourn at 4:40 pm Karl Navis and Dave Buss