March 1, 2009
Hay Market Update
Hay, Prices Show Little Movement
Prices for high-quality alfalfa hay are holding mostly steady at levels well below last year's peaks. Sales have slowed in recent weeks due to depleted...
Features
Alfalfa: Losing Ground
Improved traits developed through genetic engineering hold the best promise of reversing alfalfa's acreage decline in the Midwest, believes a University...
Roundup Ready EIS Due Late Spring
The anxiously awaited draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on Roundup Ready alfalfa will be published in late spring or early summer, reports Andrea...
Doggone Good Straw Bale Niche
When Bob Walton first thought about selling to a niche market, he considered packaging small bales of hay in boxes for horse owners. Instead, he ended...
Book Chronicles Horse-Hay Production
Many horse owners who buy hay for their animals know little about how it's made. They think high-quality hay can be harvested year-round, says Susie Walton....
Publication Tells How To Extend Grazing Season
The current economic situation is one more good reason livestock producers should turn to grazing or extend their grazing seasons, says Don Ball, Auburn...
Hay Grower Shows Marketing Moxie
Andy Stock's hay customers get more than just invoices in the mail from the 29-year-old Murdock, NE, grower. He expresses his gratitude for their business...
Grazing Corn: Cattlemen Like Automatic Feeding
For Jay Jensen and his family, feeding cattle every day through an Idaho winter has become a distant memory instead of a chore. This is the third winter...
Forage Soybeans: ‘They’re Awesome’
Two new forage soybean varieties have the potential to produce more than 9 tons of dry matter per acre with up to 28% protein, university research has...
Meadow Fescue: Great For Intensive Grazing
An old grass is offering a new option for farmers who intensively graze their pastures. Meadow fescue, a bunch-type grass native to northern Europe and...
New Bahiagrasses Give Southeasterners Options
Not one, not two, but three bahiagrass varieties have recently been introduced for Southern graziers and hay growers. All offer improved yields, two are...
Fuel From Forages: Cellulosic Ethanol Is Close To Reality
Hay growers are used to hearing that cellulosic ethanol biofuel made from grass, wood or other non-edible plant material is just five years away, says...
Will Growers Profit From Cellulosic Ethanol?
It looks to be good for the environment, but will cellulosic ethanol be good for growers' pocketbooks? A University of Nebraska study growing switchgrass...
Secrets To Growing Switchgrass For Biofuel
Mulling over prospects for growing switchgrass as a feedstock for biofuel or biopower? In many respects, it's not all that much different from growing...
Industry Invests In Cellulosic Ethanol
Private companies are making investments in cellulosic ethanol from building pilot facilities and/or commercial biorefineries to developing enzymes and...
Want To Plant Switchgrass? Choose Varieties Carefully
If you've found a market for switchgrass and decided to start growing it, Michael Casler suggests you ask a few detailed questions before buying. My colleagues...
Biomass Switchgrass Bale Budgeting
The cost of harvesting and storing switchgrass in round vs. large square bales is being studied by University of Tennessee scientists as cellulosic facilities...
Why Cellulosic Ethanol Isn't Reality
Although billions of dollars are being spent on biofuels research, one piece of the puzzle a cost-efficient, effective way to convert biomass into cellulosic...
Magnificent Miscanthus: Possible Biofuel Crop
Although slow to propagate,this crop offers high yields. Giant miscanthus is an impressive, 11'-tall grass that produces 10-16 dry tons/acre from stands...
Testing Biofuel Potential Of Other Perennial Grasses
Geneticist William Anderson is looking into how well bermudagrass, napiergrass and bahiagrass would work as biomass crops in Georgia and other Southeastern...
Program May Help Growers Establish Energy Crops
Growers may get government financial help in establishing eligible bioenergy crops as part of a program authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill. The Biomass...
High-Biomass Sorghum Fits Crop Rotations
Sorghum, an annual grass that can grow 12' tall, is seriously being looked at for its biomass potential. Sorghum produces high yields, is naturally drought-tolerant...
Alfalfa: Queen Of Biomass, Too?
With the prices growers can get for alfalfa, you'd think it wouldn't be considered as a potential biomass crop. Yet university and USDA researchers see...
From Sugar Cane To Energy Cane As Biomass Crop
Sugar cane grows on less than a million acres in Louisiana, Florida and Texas. But if Edward Richard's research pans out, the crop will be growing on...
What Does Cellulosic Have Over Corn Ethanol
Part of corn ethanol's claim to fame has been that, when burned, it decreases greenhouse emissions by 10-20% as compared to gasoline, according to the...
Government Supports Biofuels, But Will Investors Respond?
Expect strong federal support for developing the cellulosic ethanol industry to continue under the Obama administration, says Cole Gustafson, biofuels...
Dedicated Energy Crop Seed Released
A dedicated energy crop seed company is taking seed orders for two new switchgrass varieties and two new high-biomass sorghum hybrids under its Blade...
Cellulosic Is Healthiest Ethanol
A University of Minnesota study has found that cellulosic ethanol will produce fewer greenhouse emissions than do gasoline or corn ethanol. What makes...
Fend Off Fescue Toxicity In Cattle Pastures
If your pastures are in the fescue zone the central U.S. from southern Iowa down through Arkansas, and from the mid-Atlantic states west to Kansas your...
Plant The Right Ryegrass For Great Feed
Ryegrass can make great feed, but there are several types and growers need to know the differences, says Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska extension...
Product Preview
Product Preview: Retro Tractor, Disc Mower Caddy, Big Tractors
Retro Tractor New Holland's Boomer 8N compact tractor is an updated version of the 8N first sold in 1948. It can load mulch, mow lawn, clear pasture or...
Most Popular Articles
advertisement
Research in Brief
The following items report on forage-related research recently presented by University experts at meetings across the country.
