Poor animal performance and elevated feed costs can be the result of a misleading forage test. This article will focus on hay specifically, but the concepts discussed apply to all types of forage, including
Once you’ve done the groundwork of listing what you own in your asset inventory and what you owe in your liability list, you have the raw materials for one of the most powerful tools in farm management:
Whether you have naturally low inherent organic matter such as in the southeastern United States or high inherent organic matter like prairie soils in the Upper Midwest, how you manage your farmland has
As is often the case when I sit in the office on a windy, cold winter day, I work on my to-do list. I have several such lists that I’ve crafted over the winter, and I don’t think I have ever
Although I write this looking out the window at a white, frozen landscape, it will soon be spring and time to plant crops, including alfalfa. Alfalfa can be challenging to establish due to its small seeds
Farmers must have hope that the tiny seeds they sow will develop into productive plants; hope that new practices will have positive impacts on their land, livestock, and bottom lines; and hope for future
March 3, 2026• Kim Ricardo is the new forage field specialist with South Dakota State University Extension. In this role, Ricardo will help farmers enhance the productivity and sustainability
As snow turns to rain, and as previously frozen ground reverts to mud, we shed our long underwear and other arctic attire while watching the landscape transform from brown to a lush green. We do
Winter cereals are grown for a variety of agronomic and nutritional reasons. Moreover, cereal silage is utilized as feed for just about every large ruminant animal type and class, but no group demands
There are a lot of farmers who probably wish their ancestors had kept the Conestoga wagon moving before dropping anchor on a plot of land that would challenge family farm generations to come. There ar
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
Alfalfa is an important source of high-protein forage for cattle producers. James Coover, a soil scientist with K-State Research and Extension, wanted to better understand whether secondary and micronutrients
For readers like me with kids in school, spring break season is here. Plans for the week off may have been months in the making, which could include picking out a vacation destination, arranging
I have been involved in grass-fed farming systems for much of my life — from early childhood years in New Zealand to helping on the family farm in northern Vermont from the late 1970s to present.
IN 1996, Dolly the sheep was cloned, Google was launched, and Cargill Seeds introduced its first brown midrib (BMR) corn hybrids for silage. At that time, BMR corn for silage was an outlier, a genetic
Hay buyers are like snowflakes — no two customers are alike. Their preferences revolve around the type of livestock they are feeding, the stage of production those animals are in, and their capacity
It’s hard to have grazing success without a good forage base. But what forage species constitute a productive pasture?Jason Cavadini often finds himself trying to answer the question “What
Harvesting winter cover crops — including triticale — can add a considerable cushion to forage inventories. Many dairies rely on cover crop silage for heifer and dry cow feed, but according
