Let’s get beyond the discussion whether storing hay in a barn versus outside on the ground is a paying proposition. It is.Instead, let’s focus on building the right hay barn for your needs
Experiencing the National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance’s (NAFA) Alfalfa Intensive Training Seminar (AITS) is like “drinking out of a fire hose; there is a lot of information in a short period
Fertilizer is and has always been a significant production expense whether you are growing corn, alfalfa, or pasture forage. Like humans, plants need nutrients for maintenance and growth, and there’
It’s January. Are you feeding hay or are the cows still out on stockpiled pastures? Perhaps both resources are being utilized.Making hay has become a dirty word in many grazing circles, yet the
Low-lignin forages are a hot topic in agriculture. With high digestibility and improved milk yield, it’s easy to understand why BMR (brown midrib) corn hybrids and reduced-lignin alfalfa varieties
Throughout the United States, a lot of alfalfa is grown with grass. This is sometimes done by design, but other times it occurs unintentionally. In some areas, grass is very well adapted
Sitting comfortably reclined in my living room and watching the Weather Channel on the evening of October 11, I couldn’t believe the devastation. Hurricane Michael had made landfall on the Florida
We have all seen the effects that weathering causes when hay is stored outside. Most of the deterioration is on the outer layer of the bale and particularly where it rests on the soil
Summer and winter alfalfa are different in structure. The change occurs during the process of hardening in the fall to allow the alfalfa plant to survive colder temperatures
As alfalfa producers look to new varieties with the promise of improved fiber digestibility, don’t forget about some of the basics that will allow for full economic returns.That’s the advice
Many years ago, during my extension agent days, I got a phone call from a large dairy producer. The conversation went something like this:DP: “Mike, these seed salesmen are beating me up and I don�
Grass — any grass — is somewhat peculiar in that a specific species or variety likely will perform differently depending on what region or state it is grown in. That was just one of the take-home
Alfalfa has not been a “go to” forage in the South for a long time, but for many forage producers that line of thinking is starting to change. A combination of recent research and extension
As the autumn days grind by, most of the alfalfa decision making is in the rear-view mirror. However, there are two considerations that might still be on the proverbial table for some fields.One of th
Even if you’re just a casual reader of forage-related information, hopefully you’ve been able to grasp the concept that forage fiber digestibility is now a big deal. To be sure, the total
With the impending Labor Day weekend nearly upon us, it’s a sure sign that alfalfa’s physiological game plan is about to change in central portions of the United States and points north
Without question, one of the most agriculturally intensive regions in the United States is that of the Central Valley in California. What sets it apart from other such areas is its sheer vastness, about
There is growing interest in alfalfa-grass mixtures across the northern United States. Grass tends to be considerably higher in neutral detergent fiber digestibility (NDFD) than alfalfa
