Last year’s drought conditions had severe effects on the majority of the county’s hay and corn crops, resulting in shortages of livestock feed that led to record high prices for hay and grain, and also forced some producers to sell or greatly reduce their herds because they couldn’t afford to feed them.
And, while this year started out on a better note with plentiful spring rains, many areas of the county have again been hit with dry conditions that are affecting this year’s crops.
In an effort to produce more feed in light of the dry conditions, at least two Adair County farmers are experimenting this year with varieties of grass and corn that can be grown in more drought-like conditions than those crops traditionally grown here.
Danny Wilkinson, a livestock producer in the Mt. Carmel area of the county, is growing an annual grass that is native to Africa for harvest as a hay crop, while Bruce Held, a dairy farmer with a large operation just south of Columbia, is growing a variety of corn commonly referred to as “California corn” to chop as silage for his dairy herd.
Wilkinson’s Teff grass
In an attempt to produce some harvestable forage in the summer months, Danny Wilkinson planted a five-acre plot of Teff, a warm-season annual grass native to Ethiopia, this spring.
“This is the second year of drought for our area, and during the hot summer, the only thing that would be growing is crabgrass and Johnson grass,” Wilkinson noted. “I’m trying to get something to produce forage in hot, dry conditions.”
According to County Extension Agent for Agriculture Nick Roy, while Teff is a new crop to Adair County, it has been grown in Kentucky for the past couple of years, and following last year’s drought, it was marketed more this spring.
“While Teff does seem to grow well in dry conditions, it has proven difficult to get started,” Roy said. “There have been very few places where farmers have been able to successfully establish the crop.
“While most grasses can be planted no-till, to plant Teff the ground must be very well prepared due to the very small size of the  seeds,” he continued, noting that it takes over a million Teff seeds to weigh a pound.
For his test plot of Teff, Wilkinson said he utilized a five-acre piece of ground which he had in tobacco last year, and he really worked the ground prior to planting.
“You have to sow it just like alfalfa,” he noted. “And, like alfalfa, it is high-risk in getting a good stand.”
With a lot of effort, Wilkinson was able to get a good stand of Teff, and despite the dry conditions, Wilkinson said he is pleased with the results so far.
“”I’ve already made two cuttings, and averaged one-and-a-half tons per acre  per cutting,” he said. “I’ll be able to get four harvests off if it, but I might choose to graze it on the last harvest instead of cutting it.”
“Tests on the first harvest, which was cut when the Teff was in full bloom, showed that its nutritional value was comparable to orchard grass,” Roy explained. “We’re awaiting the analysis on the second cutting, but we expect it to be higher in nutritional value as it was cut earlier.”
Another advantage of Teff, Roy said, is it’s low nitrate level.
“One thing about Teff compared to other warm-season grasses is you don’t have to worry about high nitrate levels, which can be toxic to all livestock,” he explained.
Roy said that Teff could be a “viable option” for Adair County farmers looking for a warm-season forage crop, but further study is needed.
“Going by how it has done so far, it could be a crop other local farmers might want to consider,” he said. “But, you definitely don’t want to run out and plant your whole farm in it.
“After the final cuttings are made and we get back all of our data, we’ll know a lot more about how well it yields, and how good a quality hay it makes,” he continued.
Wilkinson said has been “well pleased” with the results from his Teff plot to date, but will wait for the final analysis before deciding what to do in future years.
“I’m very pleased with Teff so far, considering how dry it has been,” he said. “If we’d had more moisture, I think it would have done phenomenal.”
Held’s California corn
To provide enough quality feed to run a large dairy operation such as Bruce Held's has requires a considerable acreage of corn to be grown for silage.
And, like other farmers across the county and region, Held’s corn silage production last year was significantly reduced by the drought conditions.
So, this year, Held said that he would vary the types of corn he grew, and decided to plant 30 of his 150 acres of corn with Myocegen 917, a variety commonly known as “California” corn, as it very popular in California and is adapted to the more drought-line growing conditions of the Southwest.
The corn is a high-tonnage corn, producing a lot of tonnage per acre because of how high it grows.
“It was an experiment on my part to see if we had another dry year, could I grow enough silage to feed my cows,” Held explained.
And, as another dry year ensued, Held said that he is glad that he decided to try the “California” corn.
“All you have to do is look at my other corn, then see the California corn to tell the difference,” he said.
While the varieties normally grown in this area that Held planted definitely show the effects of the dry weather by the smaller size, the California corn is much larger, with the stalks reaching heights of 10-12 feet or more.
Extension Agent Roy said that while the California corn is definitely producing in quantity, its quality may not be as good as some other varieties.
“We don’t know for sure, but it might not be as high as quality as the other corn,” he said. “Bruce may be sacrificing a little quality for quantity, but we won’t know for sure until we get the forage analyses.”
But, even if the quality of the California corn turns out to be a little bit lower, Held should be able to equalize this thanks  to another variety he also planted this year.
“I also planted 30 acres of brown midrib corn,” he said. “It is an extremely high-quality, but lower tonnage.”
As for the California corn, both Extension Agent Roy and Held say that initial results appear to be very good.
“In my opinion, the California corn performs as good as a regular hybrid corn does in a good year,” Roy said. “It makes you wonder how big it would get in a good year.”
“I’m real pleased with how it has performed,  especially considering how the other corn came up so short,” Held noted. “I think my other corn will still be good quality corn, but it won’t produce the tonnage you’d get in a good year.
“I’m anxious to see how the quality tests on the California corn turn out,” he concluded.