Forage Focus

The 2023 Forage Focus Webinar Series is now over. A huge Thank You goes out to our speakers, sponsors, and attendees for another incredible event! The theme for 2023 was “The Value of Forages.” You can get more information about the speakers and topics below.

Be sure to check out the presentations now on our YouTube channel.

We look forward to seeing everyone again for the 2024 webinar series.

2023 Agenda and speakers

Tuesday, December 5th:

Fueling the Rumen with Matt Groen

Ruminants are the ultimate upcyclers – converting fibre/forages that are undigestible to humans into meat and dairy products that are extremely digestible. Feeding the rumen is like fueling an engine, learn about what can be done from a forage management perspective to make high-octane “rumen fuel” to maximize production from forage and optimize feed costs on the dairy.

Wednesday, December 6th:

Recipe for Better Soil Heath: Add Forages! with Christine Brown

The healthiest soils are often found on livestock farms with perennial forages. Presentation will explore the benefits, from a soils perspective, of forages with and without regular manure considering management and species selection (including pastures and grazing). Other benefits such as weed and pest species control will be covered.

Thursday, December 7th:

The Value of Forage in Crop Rotations with Pat Lynch

This talk will emphasize the value of forages in rotations for both livestock and cash croppers. The benefits of growing forage crops include nitrogen credit, weed suppression, erosion control, compaction reduction. Some agronomy tips will be covered to ensure yield potential remains high throughout the life of the stand. Hear Pat’s hot take on why we need more forages on more acres.

Speakers

Matt Groen

Matt Groen has been with Cargill Animal Nutrition for 11+ years after graduating with his MSc in Dairy Nutrition from the University of Guelph in 2012 and currently works in Dairy Technical Services. He supports their dairy farm consultant sales team in Ontario, the Maritimes, and the Western Provinces with training, ration balancing, dairy records management, and troubleshooting. He is involved in new product and technology development for Cargill and he also works directly with producers, servicing key dairy farm accounts. He is involved in coaching the University of Guelph Dairy Challenge Team and also serves on the Board of the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge Competition.

Christine Brown

Christine is the Sustainability Specialist for the Field Crops Unit of OMAFRA. Christine works with Ontario producers to address issues related to manure nutrient management, organic amendment use, and maintaining /improving soil organic matter with the use of cover crops and organic amendments. She is the editor of Publication 811, Agronomy Guide for Field Crops and is a member of the OMAFRA soil team. Christine is a Certified Crop Advisor with a 4R Nutrient Management Specialty. She lives on a small farm near London, Ontario.

Pat Lynch

Pat Lynch holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and a Master of Science in corn breeding from the University of Guelph. A former OMAFRA Soils and Crops Specialist, Pat started a crop consulting venture and with Cargill grew it to encompass farmers and agronomists in Ontario, western Canada and 2 states in the US. Along with CCA-ON Jonathan Zettler, Pat writes a weekly crop production newsletter. He also writes a regular column in Better Farming and speaks at various crop production functions, sales meetings and farmer meetings. Pat works intensively with a small group of farmers and small independent seed companies as their agronomist. He is the winner of various awards, including the T R Hilliard Distinguished Agricultural Extension Person, OAC Outstanding Service Award, Perth County Agriculture Hall of Fame, and a place in the Ontario Agriculture Hall of Fame.