Forage Profile: Jeremy Holst

Describe your farm and facilities. I farm with my wife, Jessi, and our kids, Adalida and Lane, who are 7 and 4 years old, respectively. My mom, Maren, does books yet and my uncle, Lynn Holst, helps with tractor work and is my main chopper guy. Retired dairy farmer neighbors help get the feed made, and I’m very grateful for their help. We still rely on pasture for feed on all age groups and strive for a great-looking hayfield that lasts 5-8 years. My dad was always proud of his hay. I also sell horse hay on the side.

What forages/crops do you harvest? Dry hay, haylage, oatlage, corn silage and grain corn.

How many acres of crops do you raise? 200 acres tillable. We plant 110 acres of hay, 15 acres of oats and 75 acres of corn.

Describe the rations for your livestock. Our ration is a 50/50 haylage and corn silage based diet with pasture, dry corn, protein and a mineral pack.

What quality and quantity do you harvest of each crop? We strive for four crops off the fields we use for chopping hay for milk cows, and 3-4 crops on dry hay fields. My goal for relative feed quality is 160-plus, but weather can put a damper on those goals. Making quality dry hay was something I learned from Dad. Getting a field of beautiful dry hay made makes you feel pretty good. The anguish and late nights are worth it and I think it would make Dad proud.

Describe your harvesting techniques for alfalfa and corn silage. We chop and bag a majority of our hay acres, sometimes doing hay in a day if help and weather allow. Dry hay is usually tedded to speed up dry down.

What techniques do you use to store, manage and feed your forages. We use 9-foot bags, and we chop and bag all milk cow hay. We dry bale calf, heifer and dry cow hay. We use a shed and an old hay barn for the big squares and small squares.

How does quality forages play in the production goals for your herd? We try for quality feed if weather allows. Cows perform better with more digestible feed, whether it’s silage or pasture.

What are management or harvesting techniques you have changed that has made a notable difference in forage quality? Meadow fescue added at seeding for alfalfa seems to help the quality and quantity of haylage. We use longer days and more digestible corn silage. We use 108–112-day corn. Rotary rakes help keep hay cleaner and drier for baling. Tedding dry hay has been a game-changer. It speeds up dry down and creates a consistent bale.

Describe a challenge you overcame in reaching your forage quality goals. Weather is always the trump card. We can strive for great forages, but Mother Nature can wreak havoc on the crops and the mind. A second challenge is that older, slower, smaller equipment is used, but it is nice to still see it in the field. In 2013, it was a year of winter kill. Only 10 acres survived. Devastation. Finally, keeping pests off bags is also an issue at times.