1. Evaluate It Calgary, AB November 14, 2018
CFGA 2018
Evaluate It
Calgary, AB
November 14, 2018

2. Most Importantly What is IT?
Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock.[1] Historically, the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage.[2] 
While the term forage has a broad definition, the term forage crop is used to define crops, annual or biennial, which are grown to be utilized by grazing or harvesting as a whole crop.[4]
Wikipedia November 5,

3. Forage Challenges Competitive Industry for Land
Forage is an amortized cropping situation
Forage is part of a systems approach
Your primary customer is a “least cost” opportunist

4. What is IT?
What to Measure?

5. Inputs – what we put in Soil Testing Fertility Seed Costs
This is a problem with forages
We see/remember annual costs (eg: seeding cost) but don’t amortize it over the life of the stand

6. Production – What we take off
Pounds
Quality
AUGD
N, P, K, S
Soil Nutrients removed when harvesting forages in kgs/Tonne (lbs/ton) of DM harvested
Nutrient
Alfalfa (18%CP)
Grass (14% CP)
Nitrogen (N)
29 (58)
22 (44)
Phosphorous (P2O5)
7 (14)
5 (10)
Potassium (K2O)
30 (60)
21 (42)
Sulphur (S)
3 (6)
2 (4)
Adapted from Table 26 pg 168 of Alberta Forage Manual

7. What We Leave Behind One of the strengths of forage production Carbon
Soil Biology

8. What We Add? Carbon Nitrogen - Legumes Litter Soil Health Biodiversity
Disease Break – Canola/Wheat/Canola/Winter/Canola

9. Profitability Profitability determines acreage
LL Canola
RR Canola
Spring Wheat
Alfalfa Hay
Grass Alfalfa
Hay
Grain
Silage
Gross
466.76/622.81
430.01/564.69
282.55/404.91
112.85
159.36/255.68
372.26/602.96
Gross Margin
143.69/323.33
134.25/299.99
79.58/192.65
40.28
83.34/178.77
129.08/339.06
ROE
71.23/276.04
68.42/228.86
21.79/135.15
-3.86
40.87/138.48
92.16/306.98
Yield
41.14/55.23
37.73/50.65
42.05/57.54
0.69
1.63/2.53
6.43/10.05
AgriProfit$ Provincial Cost and Return Benchmarks for Crops and Forages: Dryland
Profitability determines acreage
Are there enough cows to eat more productivity?

10. Benchmarking Productivity – per acre Profitability – per acre 3 tier $
Social
Environmental
Trend

11. Application of Technology
This is not necessarily a new machine
Technologies that impact profitability
Electric fence
Varieties
Foliars
Nutrient Management
Google Earth
Pasture Software
Innovation trumps Technology
agriculture/sainfoin-a-new-light-is-shone-on-an-old-forage- plant/?id=
Application of Technology

12. Forage Industry Opportunities
Personal
Productivity
Profitability
Industry
What can we do to add Value to our Customer?
R& D
Education
Demonstration

13. Systems Approach Financials are annual Crops are mostly annual
Forage is annual and not…
With Forage it is complex so we need to measure more than just production/profit

14. Measure the Manager Uncomfortable but Important
The Manager is the pivot point that joins fresh air and sunshine with resources on the ground
They control inputs/outputs, profit, and sustainability of the forage industry

15. The Opportunity Lies in the thing we most often fail to measure
Management
Education
Experimentation
Deployment/Scaling up
IT is the Manager

16. Thank You
Questions?