Seeded with alfalfa, grasses offer nutritional benefits and the opportunity to extend stand life.From contacting colleagues in other U.S. regions, Dennis Cherney estimates that alfalfa-grass mixtures

Triple mowers enable forage to be cut in a wide swath, allowing for more rapid drying and fewer harvest losses.I have been a forage agronomist for 30 years here at the University of Wisconsin during

Over the years, many nutritionists and forage experts have advocated for the testing of feeds by a commercial laboratory and the use of that data as a basis for ration balancing to meet the nutr

We are now in the epicenter of the seed-buying season, which seems to move earlier with each passing year. I’ve always found it interesting the reasons why farmers buy the seeds they do

The southeastern United States offers the biggest opportunity for expanding alfalfa acreage nationally, whether as a pure crop or as a companion in bermudagrass pastures and hayfields

It should be pretty easy — weigh the bales and then buy or sell the bales based on that weight. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, large rounds are often sold by the bale based on the buyer

In last week’s edition of eHay Weekly, I discussed the dual opinions invoked by reed canarygrass. This week, let’s take a look at another grass that garners mixed opinions: johnsongrass

I have known Dave Combs, a dairy nutritionist with the University of Wisconsin, for many years

“As alfalfa producers, we’re really harvesting leaves and not tonnage,” began Dan Undersander, as he addressed attendees from the Forage Seminar stage at World Dairy Expo last week. The

“We are very different than most other places in the United States.”That was the assessment of Jerry Cherney, a forage specialist and researcher with Cornell University, as he addressed hay

Farmers and ranchers have a reputation of always talking and complaining about current weather conditions in the same way that police officers get hung with the notoriety of consuming donuts like they

Orchardgrass is grown widely across the United States where adequate moisture and moderate temperatures exist. Though not the most winter hardy, orchardgrass has for years been a staple pasture and ha

“If it’s marketed as reduced lignin, that means there must be something good about less lignin ... right?” asked Mark Sulc, as he addressed attendees at Michigan State’s Ag Innovation

A growing trend of obesity and associated metabolic disorders are raising the horse industry’s need for alternative forage sources

According to USDA’s 2014 Census of Agriculture, 97 percent of the 2.1 million farms in the United States are family owned and operated. Unfortunately, the trend for the last few years ha

It seems that 2017 has brought more discussion about whether a beef cattle operation should buy or bale hay than what I recall seeing in the past. The beauty of such a discussion is that there is no c

The push to improve alfalfa forage quality through lowering lignin content and, more importantly, improving fiber digestibility is in full-throttle mode. You’d have to be living under a rock to thin

One of the constants in the forage world seems to be the love-hate relationship that practicing agriculturalists have with haymaking

In many parts of the United States, alfalfa is cut three to five times per year for three to five years; then the stand begins to lose productivity and it is rotated to another crop.Research has shown

The rake, generally speaking, is the piece of forage-making equipment that probably suffers from the biggest inferiority complex