Cover Crop Field Day – La Porte City
Tuesday, June 4 | La Porte City, Iowa | 4 – 7 p.m.
Hosted by: Terry Ward
Starting Location: 14233 Kline Road, La Porte City, IA
Directions to starting location:
- From La Porte City: Take E Tama Rd west for 2.4 miles
- Turn left (south) on Kline Road.
- Travel 0.2 miles and the farm will be on the left.
Second Location: La Porte City Community Center, 300 1st St., La Porte City, IA
Directions from starting location (field) to second location (La Porte City Community Center)
- From Fields: Travel north on Kline Road for 0.2 miles
- Turn right (east) on E Tama Road, travel for 2.4 miles
- Turn right onto W Main St, travel for 0.2 miles
- Turn right onto Commercial Street
- Turn left onto 1st street. La Porte City Community Center is on the left.
Event Description:
Terry plants diverse crop rotations that include cereal rye, which he harvests to use in several ways. He’ll share his experience making ryelage, rye hay and rye straw. We’ll hear from Terry’s dairy farming neighbors, Josh and Dick Blough, who feed this ryelage to their dairy cattle. We’ll start in the field to view some cover crops before moving indoors for further discussion and a meal.
Topics:
- Harvesting ryelage
- Making rye hay for feeding dairy heifers
- Rye for bedding
- Diverse crop rotations
Other Speakers:
- Josh and Dick Blough – neighbors of Terry who feed Terry’s ryelage to their dairy cattle
Meal Information:
Terry Ward and his wife Rachel have been farming since 1982 outside of La Porte City. They milked cows until 1993, then Terry started auto and truck repair work. Terry farms part time – custom combining and custom dairy heifer feeding.