Midwestern alfalfa growers can grow some of their own fertilizer by using cover crops, says Tom Burlingham, a Palmyra, WI, grower, in the recent Midwest Forage Association’s Clippings newsletter. In the Upper Midwest, the best time to add cover crops is after wheat or corn silage. Burlingham urges growers to use USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Web site – www.sare.org/coreinfo/crops.htm – to learn more about the practice. The book Managing Cover Crops Profitably can be downloaded from the site. “A very good chart on page 68 (of the book) ranks cover crops on their strengths and weaknesses,” he explains.