Dry cows on a dairy farm remind me of Larry. They have no real obligations in life except to eat, drink, and take a nap. They are on a vacation from their normal vocation

I hear people talk about overgrazing in a lot of different settings

Making dry hay isn’t easy, especially in the humid regions. For many who choose this line of work, selling hay can be equally as challenging.Whenever I visit a hay farm — and there’s

Sometimes an opportunity presents itself that is too good to pass up

When margins are tight and time is money, ranchers look for ways to cut costs and boost their bottom line

Producers in the Upper Midwest are looking at the tail-end of the growth period for summer annuals, prompting some final harvest decisions

World Dairy Expo is known as the meeting place for the global dairy industry. It’s also an event for haymakers from across the country to come together and learn about the latest equipment, test

How does your brain work? Are you of the analytical ilk or are you more of a creative thinker? Do you articulate your thoughts in words or would you rather work with numbers? Temple Grandin, for

For much of the U.S., frost is within a page turn of the calendar. That means the prussic acid poisoning alarm for sorghum-related species will promptly be sounded. In the near future, however, there

To cut, or not to cut. That is the question Hamlet would ask if only he were a forage producer and not a Shakespeare character. More specifically, the question would be to give alfalfa a longer rest a

What comes to mind when you think about the fall of 2021? Is it the incredibly high fertilizer prices that more than doubled year-over-year? Or maybe it’s extremely sluggish supply chains for parts

We hear a lot about “value-added” these days. When margins are tight, farmers figure out ways to get more money from the same raw product. Often, that involves skipping the middle man and realizin

Producers play many roles during the hay season, and meteorologist is often one of them

Net wrap and baler twine configured out of plastic as thin as five-thousandths of an inch thick can hold the shape and support the weight of bales well over 1,000 pounds

When it’s time to harvest alfalfa for silage or hay, we are usually concerned about getting the crop cut at the right time, hitting weather windows for good drying conditions, and removing the crop

Alfalfa has been termed the “Queen of Forages.” Unfortunately, her highness is a fickle ruler

Although the USDA has Hay Quality Designation Guidelines (see tables) based on nutrition tests for alfalfa, that alone does not cover all of the terms and grades we use to describe hay. Many of the terms

Growing concern has been that many farmers lose too many leaves during the harvesting process

Technology is evolving faster than ever before, and farming technology is no exception

Weighing the costs and benefits of an opportunity can be the first step in the decision-making process. Farmers know both sides of this scale hang heavy when that decision pertains to agricultur