After working and agonizing to keep alfalfa stands productive for multiple years, producers know the time will come when all fields must be terminated in a Rambo-like manner. The term “p
If corn is king, then alfalfa is the queen of forages. Corn silage and alfalfa complement one another well in forage cropping systems for dairy/livestock systems
Along with reduced irrigation water supplies, soil salinity is a major problem facing irrigated agriculture in the western United States, particularly as we confront a warming climate
If you drive through any agriculture-based town and stop into the local coffee shop, I can almost guarantee that there will be at least four or five conversations about the weather
While champion bovines are being named on the colored wood shavings at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., each October, the best of the best in forages are also competing for a title of
From my travels around the U.S., it has become obvious that orchardgrass is a foundational perennial forage in many livestock systems where adequate moisture (rain or irrigation) and moderate temperat
August 6, 2019 • The current U.S. Drought Monitor shows only 3.5 percent of the continental U.S. under some level of drought. This compares to 34 percent from one year ago. No area is c
Driving down a county road recently, I noticed a farmer meticulously placing his newly made round bales side-to-side in a neat row under a tree line. A little farther down the trail, on a differe
Below are examples of alfalfa and grass prices being paid FOB barn/stack (except for those noted as delivered, which is indicated by a "d" in the table below) for selected states at the end of the d
Much gets written and discussed about making high-quality alfalfa. In fact, there could be an entire volume of Encyclopedia Britannica dedicated to the topic. If we were to list the factors involved
July 2, 2019 • Hay acres in the U.S. are projected to be down only slightly in 2019 compared to last year, according to USDA’s Acreage report that was released last week. The decline
If you grow alfalfa, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Aphanomyces root rot. It’s a disease that has dogged me my entire working career and it can take out a new seeding field in
June 4, 2019 • Alfalfa will be included in the next round of government facilitation payments being used to somewhat offset losses incurred by trade war tariffs. At this time, it’s unknown
The record rainfall that has impacted a wide swath of the U.S. this spring and early summer has resulted in a large number of prevented planted acres. Many grain farmers, and no doubt some dairy and b
If ever there was a year that prompted the strong desire to disregard alfalfa autotoxicity and write it off as a bad dream, this is it. The problem: It’s not a bad dream. This spring has provided
It was nearly 10 years ago when I attended an agronomy field day in Arlington, Wis., and heard John Grabber speak about some initial research he was doing that entailed establishing alfalfa under sila
Remember dust? That’s the stuff that develops when soils are dry. It has been missing in action this spring across a good chunk of the U.S. Last week, I had the chance to travel across several
A week ago, I emailed the manager at our company’s Hoard’s Dairyman Farm and asked him if they had contemplated cutting alfalfa yet.His response: “We’re going to cut some today,
Alfalfa is an important livestock feed, especially for dairy production and horses. Genetically-modified (GMO) resistance to glyphosate herbicide became available to farmers in 2011
