Without question, one of the most agriculturally intensive regions in the United States is that of the Central Valley in California. What sets it apart from other such areas is its sheer vastness, about 18,000 square miles.I recently spent a few days in the valley, traversing from Sacramento to south of Tulare. I’ve been in the region previously but never in the summer.While there, I made these observations that won’t be news to those who live and farm in the Central...

There is growing interest in alfalfa-grass mixtures across the northern United States. Grass tends to be considerably higher in neutral detergent fiber digestibility (NDFD) than alfalfa...

Aside from alfalfa, perhaps no forage species is more widely utilized across the U.S. than ryegrass. It’s grazed extensively from north to south and also is harvested as hay, baleage, and silage...

Sometimes it’s good to stop looking at the vegetation in the road ditch and adjoining fields and direct your eyes toward the larger landscape...

The end of July always marks a crucial time for forage producers, especially those with livestock mouths to feed and less than desirable forage inventories. But then again, even if forage inventories...

The threat of a 25 percent tariff on U.S. alfalfa hay exported to China has put a cloud over the hay export industry in the western U.S...

One of the many things that David Letterman gets remembered for is his Top 10 lists. These lists included such things as the Top 10 Signs Your Kid Had a Bad First Day at School, the Top 10...

Every farmer has done “it.” That “it” is to walk a new forage seeding field that just never developed. There is nothing more disheartening than a newly seeded hayfield or pasture that for one...

Rain is both a blessing and a curse to the haymaker...

Consumer sales and profits generally spike dramatically during the last two months of the year as the Christmas season is accompanied by a flurry of gift buying and giving — for better or worse. Acco...