Let’s be honest: Alfalfa has taken somewhat of a hit over the past 20 years. It’s enough to break an alfalfa guy or girl’s heart. Since 2005, there has been about a 30% drop off in harveste

As we learned too often during the pandemic, artificial life support is sometimes needed to see people through a tough time and get them to better times

Fall is always a good time to focus on leaves

If you grow or harvest forage, develop forage products, sell stuff to people who grow forage, educate people who grow forage, do research for people who grow forage, or just buy forage, then consider

Although Labor Day doesn’t mark the official beginning of fall, it’s difficult to classify September as a summer month

One of biggest advantages of large round bales is that they can be stored outside with minimal dry matter losses. One of the biggest disadvantages is that they can be stored outside

The list of components in a dairy cow’s ration includes forages, nonfiber carbohydrate feeds (grains and by-products), rumen degradable and by-pass proteins, fat, minerals, vitamins, and other feed

During nutrition workshops with students and industry professionals, I generally break nutrition analysis training down into sections corresponding to nutrients or nutrient digestion measures

No dairy farm looks the same. The same can be said for their perennial forage fields, most notably those with alfalfa

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down world economies for extended periods and continues to have a long tail. Ramping back up hasn’t been easy as evidenced by production challenges of goods and services

Below are examples of alfalfa and grass prices being paid FOB barn/stack (except for those noted as delivered, which are indicated by a "d" in the table below) for selected states at the end of the

Many hay balers are also straw balers. Wheat straw makes for a no-brainer second enterprise using all of the same equipment needed for hay, only without the anxiety caused by maturity concerns, rain events,

There are several situations when the ability to seed alfalfa after a killed alfalfa crop might be the desired play. It certainly would be a “go-to” practice for many commercial alfalfa growers

As many readers know by now, I spent most of my adult life as an extension agronomist in a dairy-dominated Wisconsin county

Everybody has a nemesis, something that seems to screw up the plan of action more often than not. For the haymaker, that curse-worthy adversary is often cited as rainfall

Plant maturity is often cited as the primary driver of forage quality. Make no mistake — it is

The amount of hay in the U.S. haymow continues to shrink and is down another 7% from a year ago. Compared to May 1, 2020, the inventory is down 18% or 3.7 million tons

Have you started thinking about next winter’s hay supply?The question seems ludicrous given that we just recently passed the finish pole of this winter. But is it?Kenny Burdine doesn’t think

I just returned from south central Missouri where repeated heavy rains have left hayfields and pastures in a bog-like condition

We talk a lot about various forages and their utility on livestock farms and ranches. I’ll admit it: I’ve always favored and been intrigued by alfalfa with all of its benefits and warts. That