Since I quit the cows I’ve been selling the hay I produce. This last year it was by far the most profitable crop I had. Recent sales have been in the $200/ton with yields of 3-4 tons/acre. Costs are maybe $200/acre
So I made arrangements to put in a few more acres for next year. Now, most farmers aren’t going to be very excited about the work hay making involves, and the marketing is a little more difficult.
But anyway, in this little corner of paradise there will be a few more acres of hay and fewer acres of soybeans.
How widespread shifts like this will be, who knows.
mcfarmer,
What plants do you use in the hay that you grow?
Alfalfa, orchardgrass and canary grass.
Most use around here is for beef herds, straight alfalfa isn’t needed and the grass in the mix aids in drying and yield.
Since you mentioned having your best year every by far last year, I just thought of checking out how the increase in CO2 benefits these particular plants.
You can go to the link below to look up hundreds of plants with many thousands of studies. I believe this particular site has more of them listed than any other link in the world.
http://www.co2science.org/data/plant_growth/dry/dry_subject.php
Alfalfa below. 89 studies with an average increase in biomass of 37.3% when the CO2 was elevated by 300 ppm.
http://www.co2science.org/data/plant_growth/dry/m/medicagos.php
Medicago sativa L. [Alfalfa]
Statistics
| 300 ppm | 600 ppm | 900 ppm | |
| Number of Results | 89 | | 2 |
| Arithmetic Mean | 37.3% | | 64% |
| Standard Error | 3.6% | | 0% |
Orchard grass below:
http://www.co2science.org/data/plant_growth/dry/d/dactylisg.php
Dactylis glomerata L. [Orchardgrass]
Statistics
| 300 ppm | 600 ppm | 900 ppm | |
| Number of Results | 15 | | |
| Arithmetic Mean | 18.3% | | |
| Standard Error | 4.3% |
Canary Grass below:
http://www.co2science.org/data/plant_growth/dry/p/phalarisar.php
Phalaris arundinacea L. [Canary Grass]
Statistics
| 300 ppm | 600 ppm | 900 ppm | |
| Number of Results | 8 | | |
| Arithmetic Mean | 34.3% | | |
| Standard Error | 12.1% | | |
These numbers above are not as impressive as many plants actually............which benefit even more with the enriched CO2 environment.
Soybeans for example were a whopping +48.3% :
Glycine max (L.) Merr. [Soybean]
Statistics
| 300 ppm | 600 ppm | 900 ppm | |
| Number of Results | 238 | 25 | 3 |
| Arithmetic Mean | 48.3% | 71.2% | 61% |
| Standard Error | 2.4% | 7.9 | 11.3% |
I was thinking that the reason for that might be that canary grass, orchard grass and alfalfa use the C-4 pathway, which does not benefit as much from increasing CO2 as do plants using the C-3 pathway, like soybeans.
However, it looks like they are all C-3 plants. There is quite a range from plant to plant in the benefits from increasing CO2, so it's not surprising.
Mike,
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply last year was my best ever, just that the hay crop was my best crop last year.
Those grasses are non-native cool season grasses, which are all generally C3. Native, warm season grasses are C4.
Our son is doing reasearch on native grasses. I mentioned before his lab uses a growth chamber in which they are trying to predict which species of native grass will respond best at higher CO2 levels.
So if we accept higher CO2 levels increase growth, given all other factors are adequate, how will the climate change influence rainfall ? In addition to amount of rainfall, the timing and distribution are also important.
Thanks.