Alfalfa is the third highest revenue crop in the U.S., behind corn and soybeans, but ahead of wheat, rice, and cotton...

Growing up on a row crop farm in Mississippi, the only experience I had with hay or forages was pitching small square bales onto a trailer. We baled a couple dozen acres of grass hay for the goat herd...

Winter, spring, summer or fallAll you have to do is callAnd I'll be there, yes, I will.You've got a friendThese lyrics from a 1971 song by Carole King remind us that we all need a friend. The same i...

The alfalfa seed industry has gone through a massive makeover in the past 20 years. There are significantly fewer seed marketers, breeding programs, and the number of university testing trials is down...

Large round bale storage. Much has been written and spoken about the virtues and inadequacies of various storage options. Most often, the debate comes down to building a hay barn or not.Although a lot...

The problem is easy to identify, and so are the plant symptoms. The answers are often less apparent.There’s no need for a magnifying glass to see that large equipment, driving across alfalfa fields...

The window for planting annual and perennial grasses in the fall is a wide one, depending on latitude and what is being seeded. Even so, the basic components of establishing a productive stand remain the same. “Planting is what we call a critical control point,” says Matt Poore, a professor and ruminant nutrition extension specialist at North Carolina State University. “If you do a really good job at that point, it helps with a good outcome far down the road. If...

The Midwest dairy farmer’s lament was to the point: “If I didn’t have to worry about winterkill, I’d definitely grow more alfalfa.”This farmer, like many others sitting at the meeting table...

August 4, 2020• The Sunbelt Ag Expo is pulling the plug on a live event this fall, but the Southeastern Hay Contest will still be held in some alternative format. Forage samples must be submitted by...

Editor’s note: This is the second of three columns by the authors who will attempt to address the many issues associated with putting a value on alfalfa hay and haylage.In the first article of this...