Summer annual forages supplement permanent pastures by providing high-quality forage and complementing summer perennial grasses. “Due to the higher input cost of establishing summer annual fo

Why is it that corn yields keep climbing to record levels year after year and perennial forage yields improve at a tortoise-like pace? Quite frankly, perhaps the biggest reason is simply

Cutting height is important. That said, not one size fits all. This is because the carbohydrate reserves for regrowth are located in different plant parts, depending on the species in question

In a recent study, where we sampled alfalfa that was standing, after mowing, after raking, and in the chopper wagon or bale, 71 percent of the change in forage quality was related to leaf content

Applying manure immediately after alfalfa harvest opens up windows of time for manure application not available with most annual crops, and it expands the acreage base for nutrient management pl

The author is an agricultural extension educator in Jackson County, Fla. As a county agent for the past 20 years, one of the things I have noticed is that there are two general categor

Legumes such as hairy vetch can improve the quality of winter annual grasses. Cover crops are planted to enhance health and fertility of soils and to benefit the surrounding environment

At the base of healthy ryegrass, a mass of white adventitious roots and cobweb-like fungal mycelia develop just as it enters its most rapid phase of growth

Double goosenecks and truss-rod hose clamps used to decrease the drop spacing and increase the number of drops. Irrigated agriculture is under greater pressure to produce forage and other c

Upon reading the title, your thoughts probably first moved to something along the lines of “You’re not kidding; it always rains right about the time I get the chopper (or baler) grease

“Sometimes the method with the least expense ends up costing you the most,” says Brian Beer, an extension area livestock specialist for Clemson University. Beer proves his point in a recent

A dearth of public dollars to support alfalfa research was the emphasis behind the National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance (NAFA) instituting a new alfalfa checkoff program

Do you know what actually goes into TDN (total digestible nutrients), RFV (relative feed value) or milk per ton values used to buy or sell hay or silage?

The author is a freelance writer from Bozeman, Mont., and has her own communications business, Cowpunch Creative. When it comes to grazing better, Tim Steffens says what he absolutely

Once temperatures warm and alfalfa growth begins in the spring, the ritual of assessment is initiated

The use of red clover in the U.S., as measured by seed production, is only about 10 percent of what it was at its peak around 1950

Kathy Vander Kinter grew up on a 60-cow dairy farm in Fond du Lac County, Wis. After technical college, she married her husband, Luke, and moved to the Green Bay, Wis., area where she became an employ

Documentation that the Clean Air Act of 1970 and its subsequent amendments are working continues to mount. For agriculture, the reduction of sulfur dioxide emissions into the atmosph

The author is an assistant professor in the department of biology at Utah State University. Alfalfa stem nematodes are not new pests to alfalfa but the problems associated with their presen

The author is a partner in Orrson Custom Farming Ltd., Apple Creek, Ohio. He is past president of the U.S. Custom Harvesters Inc. I want to take a swing at a kernel processing article