Wheat Protein Boost

[crusher]

Coffee shop talk lately is about a late season application of nitrogen foliar in wheat to get a boost on the grain protein. I've also heard of a preharvest cocktail with an early application of glyphosate and nitrogen. Does anyone have any experience with this?

[kato]

That's what I'm wondering too. We could send a list of numbers and birthdates along with the cattle, but would the buyer care?

[farmers_son]

Would it help your price to get the CCIA tag numbers if you sell your calves as feeders? No.

Regarding keeping your calves out to finish… Remember that CAIS will backstop much of the risk of holding those cattle past July 27. As for what is going to happen tomorrow, it could be better or it could be worse. Assuming you have CAIS margin, you will not loose your shirt if you decide to keep your feeders and you may do quite well on them. My opinion only.

[grassfarmer]

Kato, I would imagine the way it will evolve will be that in future cattle will all be sold with their birth information. You will not be paid a premium for this but you will be price penalised if you do not provide the information. It ends up being another chore that the producer does and doesn't get paid for but I believe it is inevitable, and perhaps even fair, that the breeder of a calf must provide background information on an animal that is afterall destined for the human foodchain at some point.

[seedsman]

Adding N to wheat crops for protien is a common practice with pivot sprinklers. Many farmers will apply 15-30 lb N/ac at boot to early heading stage. The general feeling is that it should not be applied for the 2 weeks after heading, when the wheat is flowering. Applying later than that may not give the plant enough time to take the N in and convert it to protien before the kernel is formed. The last few weeks of growth adds mostly starch as the kernel fills. My 2 cents.

[seedsman]

My guess is that an early application of glyphosate will increase protien because it will kill the plant prematurely, resulting in kernels not quite filled with starch. This would increase protien, but may seriously reduce yield and bushel weight. I would try this on a couple of acres, not a couple of fields.