Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

At 1:00 pm on 7 June, the joint meeting of the NC-1020 and NC-1021 committees was called to order by Bruce Anderson and Eric Vanzant, chairs of the respective committees. Following introduction of all participants, Gary Cromwell, CSREES representative, provided the group with an overview of CSREES programs, personnel, and contact information. John Baker, NC-1020 Administrative Advisor, and Dan Schaefer, NC-1021 Administrative Advisor, made several remarks concerning the process of determining the future of each project. They indicated that the two committees appeared to be making a good effort in exploring the question before them - should they combine? They stated that the two committees are not being forced to combine and that the committees could propose to maintain separate identities if strong justification was presented to NC administrators. The committees were informed that should they choose to remain separate, they may have the option to apply for a two-year extension; otherwise, they need to submit a new project proposal by 1 December 2006. Discussion followed and concluded with general agreement that a final decision would not be made until the second day of the meeting after the state report presentations. Beginning at 2:00 pm, station reports were presented for both projects by state. This report session continued until 6:25 pm when participants from all states had presented their reports. The meeting was adjourned at this time with the understanding that a joint business meeting would begin at 8:00 am on June 8. The business meeting was called to order by the committee chairs on June 8, and following a brief review of the purpose of the meeting, the committees convened separately to conduct their business meetings. The NC-1021 meeting initially focused on the pros and cons of combining the two committees. All members of NC-1021 agreed that the projects should maintain separate identities. Arguments for keeping two separate projects included: (1) the objectives of the two projects are different with a minimal amount of overlap and (2) a combined project would significantly lessen the involvement of many members of NC-1021 committee because they are not interested in the focus of the NC-1020 project on livestock and forage production. Members agreed that a two-year extension of the current project should be requested to provide the time and support needed to achieve project objectives. The importance of leveraging funds from other sources (e.g., NRI and SARE) to support the research described in the NC-1021 project was discussed in detail. Members of the committee will write a grant proposal based on the project objectives to be submitted to the Managed Ecosystems Program NRI, to SARE, and/or to EPA. A draft of the proposal will be completed by NC-1021's annual meeting in 2007 (September) and a portion of the annual meeting will be committed to reviewing and revising the proposal. The goal is to submit it to a granting agency by late fall 2007. Randy Jackson will take the lead in writing the proposal and all members are encouraged to participate. The grant proposal is a top priority for the committee, and Dan Schaefer fully supports the effort because it is exactly what administration wants. The relatively low number of state representatives attending the annual meeting was a concern. To accommodate the joint meetings with NC-1020, the traditional meeting time of September has been moved to June for the last two years; this appears to create conflicts for many members. Attempts must be made to contact members not attending and to encourage them to remain active. We also identified several people, including soil scientists, who should be asked to join the committee because of their expertise. Schaefer said that the number of states involved in a multi-state project is important, but of equal importance is the proportion of participants that come to the annual meetings and the productivity of the committee. Walter Schacht was elected as incoming Chair and Joel Caton as secretary. The 2007 annual meeting will be on September 12 and 13 at the Airport Embassy Suites in Kansas City, MO. Following a short break, the NC-1020 and NC-1021 committees reconvened as a single group beginning at 10:25 am. The NC-1020 committee also had concluded that the two committees should maintain separate identities and continue to work towards achieving their individual project objectives. The committees agreed that a key to their success was conversion/extension of their three-year projects to five-year projects, primarily because the project proposals had been written as five-year plans and that five years were required to achieve their objectives. The two committees decided to write a single, joint letter justifying separate committees and conversion to five-year projects. Bruce Anderson and Randy Jackson will write the draft, seeking input from committee members and administrative advisors, before forwarding the letter in its final form to our administrative advisors for submission to CSREES. The meeting was adjourned at 11:05 am.

Objective 1: Quantify N efficiency of forage-based ecosystems and determine the fate of excreta N. At Kentucky, data collection has been completed for three years of a multi-year study to determine relationships between stocking rates and animal gains, N-use efficiency, and forage production on intensive-early grazed, endophyte-infected fescue. Average daily gain generally decreased .231 kg/d per 1000 kg live weight/ha increase in stocking rate. Gain per ha and N removal in live animal product (expressed as a percentage of fertilizer inputs) generally increased with increasing stocking rate. A three-year study at Nebraska is nearing completion in which N-use efficiency and economic returns are being compared among five different smooth bromegrass-birdsfoot trefoil mixtures. Although dry matter and N yields are greater on fertilized monocultures of smooth bromegrass, N-use efficiency and economic returns appear to be greater for the grass-legume mixtures. Objective 2: Quantify the effect of dietary and animal factors on utilization and excretion of forage N by beef and dairy cattle. Arkansas researchers are concerned about high blood urea N levels in cattle grazing lush cool-season forages causing reproductive problems in cows and heifers. They have focused on determining the impact of providing rumen degradable carbohydrates at different intervals prior to breeding on blood urea N concentrations, conception rates, and growth rates. After one year of the study, strategic timing of supplementation can alter serum urea N and possibly affect conception rates. Complementary research is being conducted on wheat pasture to determine the impact of different energy supplements on rumen ammonia patterns. The excessive rumen degradable protein in wheat can lead to high rumen ammonia and elevated urea N content. First year results indicate that supplementation type and timing can be used to reduce rumen ammonia concentrations in calves grazing wheat pasture in the spring. At Kentucky, scientists have begun research on determining quantitative relationships between luminal carbohydrate energy supply and whole body urea-N entry rate and fractional rates of urea-N use for anabolic and catabolic processes. The urea kinetic data coming from this experiment have not yet been analyzed. Animal performance and N-use efficiency of yearling beef cattle on fertilized and non-fertilized smooth bromegrass pasture are being determined at Nebraska. In the first year of this long-term study, ADG of yearlings was greatest on non-fertilized pasture supplemented with dry distillers grains (DDG) and comparable for yearlings on fertilized or non-fertilized pasture without DDG supplement. Cost of gain was greatest for cattle on the fertilized pasture and N offtake was greatest for the DDG-supplemented cattle on non-fertilized pasture. Objective 3: Determine the influence of plant/soil manipulations on efficiency of N use by forages. Wisconsin research focused on comparing fluxes of N from grass-legume mixtures grazed by cattle to the atmosphere and to the ground/surface water under four management regimes: management-intensive rotational grazing (MIRG), continuous grazing (CONT), clipping for hay (HARV), and no defoliation (NONE). On-farm results from 2005 indicated N2O emissions to the atmosphere were greatest for CONT and HARV. Wisconsin researchers have also developed a N balance calculator to estimate the N efficiency of the grassland systems studied. Research at Iowa has been initiated to evaluate the relationship between N partitioning in cool- and warm-season grasses and developmental morphology. Four grass species fertilized at three different N rates have been established at the ISU Agronomy Research Farm. Sample tillers will be collected biweekly throughout the growing season, staged, and analyzed for protein fractions. Effect of sward characteristics of smooth bromegrass monocultures on N content of diets of grazing cattle is being studied at Nebraska. In the first year of the study, 2005, dietary N content of grazing cattle was closely related to N content, leaf:stem ratio, and stage of development of smooth bromegrass standing crop. Data analyses are nearly complete.

Refereed Publications Haugen, H.L., M.J. Lamothe, T.J. Klopfenstein, D.C. Adams, and MD. Ullerich. 2006. Estimation of undegradable intake protein in forage using neutral detergen insoluble nitrogen at a single in situ incubation time point. J. Anim. Sci. 84:651-659. Haugen, H.L., S.K. Ivan, J.C. MacDonald, and T.J. Klopfenstein. 2006. Determination of undegradable intake protein digestibility in forages using the mobile nylon bag technique. J. Anim. Sci 84:886-893. Ogden, R.K., W.K. Coblentz, K.P. Coffey, J.E. Turner, D.A. Scarbrough, J.A. Jennings, and M.D. Richardson. 2006. Ruminal in situ disappearance kinetics of nitrogen and neutral detergen insoluble nitrogen from common crabgrass forages sampled on seven dates in northern Arkansas. J. Anim. Sci. 669-677. Scarbrough, D.A., W.K. Coblentz, R.K. Ogden, J.E. Turner, J.B. Humphry, K.P. Coffey, T.C. Daniel, T.J. Sauer, J.A. Jennings, and D.W. Kellogg. 2006. Nitrogen partitioning and estimates of degradable intake protein in wilting orchardgrass and bermudagrass hays damaged by simulated rainfall. Agron. J. 98:85-93. Smart, A.J., W.H. Schacht, J.D. Volesky, and L.E. Moser. 2006. Seasonal changes in dry matter partitioning, yield, and crude protein of intermediate wheatgrass and smooth bromegrass. Agron. J. In press. Experiment Station/Field Day Reports Benton, J.R., J.C. MacDonald, G.E. Erickson, T.J. Klopfenstein and D.C. Adams. 2006. Digestibility of undegradable intake protein of feedstuffs. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP 84:23-26. Coblentz, W.K., J.E. Turner, R.K. Ogden, K.P. Coffey., F.W. Pohlman, A.H. Brown, Jr., M.B. Daniels, J.L. Gunsaulis, M.L. Thomas, C.A. Wells, and R.E. Morrow. 2005. Estimating degradable intake protein warm- and cool-season pastures on producer farms in northern Arkansas. Arkansas Animal Science Department Report. Arkansas Agri. Exper. Sta. Research Series 535:88-91. Coffey, K.P., R.K. Ogden, M.J. Alman, W.K. Coblentz, J.K. Reynolds, and C.V. Maxwell. 2005. Mineral concentrations of tall fescue fertilized with different swine manure treatments and harvested on four dates. Arkansas Animal Science Department Report. Arkansas Agri. Exper. Sta. Research Series 535:69-71. Gunsaulis, J.L., W.K. Coblentz, R.K. Ogden, R.K. Bacon, K.P. Coffey, D.S. Hubbell, III, J.V. Skinner, Jr., R.W. Cox, and K.S. Lusby. 2005. Fall-growth potential of cereal-grain forages. Arkansas Animal Science Department Report. Arkansas Agri. Exper. Sta. Research Series 535:83-87. Ogden, R.K., M.J. Alman, K.P. Coffey, W.K. Coblentz, J.K. Reynolds, and C.V. Maxwell. 2005. Solubility of macrominerals from tall fescue fertilized with different swine manure treatments and harvested on four dates. Arkansas Animal Science Department Report. Arkansas Agri. Exper. Sta. Research Series 535:72-76. Scarbrough, D.A., W.K. Coblentz, J.B. Humphry, K.P. Coffey, T.C. Daniels, T.J. Sauer, J.A. Jennings, J.E. Turner, and D.W. Kellogg. 2005. Evaluation of dry matter loss, nutritive value, and in situ dry matter disappearance for wilting bermudagrass forages damaged by rainfall. Arkansas Animal Science Department Report. Arkansas Agri. Exper. Sta. Research Series 535:92-95. Abstracts Davis, T.E., E.B. Kegley, K.P. Coffey, W.K. Coblentz, R.K. Ogden, M.D. Ratcliff, and J.A. Hornsby. 2006. Effects of grain by-products in supplements for stocker cattle grazing bermudagrass. Southern Section Meeting of ASAS. February 4-8, 2006. Orlando, FL. Greenquist, M.A., K.J. Vander Pol, T.J. Klopfenstein, G.E. Erickson, L. Baleseng, and W.H. Schacht. 2006. Dried distillers grains substitute for forage and nitrogen on pasture. ASAS Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN. July 9-13, 2006. Kreider, D., K. Coffey, T. Montgomery, K. Ferrell, W. Coblentz, W. Whitworth, J. Caldwell, R. McNew, and R. Ogden. 2006. Effect of supplement timing on blood measurements and reproductive performance of beef heifers grazing annual ryegrass in the spring. Southern Section Meeting of ASAS. February 4-8, 2006. Orlando, FL.