Here we go — the start of another growing season. In some areas of the U.S., the initial cutting of alfalfa is underway; for others, it is near, while some are just starting to watch the first signs of growing plants.The initial spring cutting of alfalfa can make or break a harvest season. It’s a fascinating study of how forage quality can change ever so quickly, or how it may change at a tortoise-like pace.Why?No cutting of alfalfa grows under the environmental...

It’s that time of year when some hay, livestock, and dairy producers will seek available hayfields to bolster their own forage supplies.When you sit in an extension office as I did for 27 years, the...

In the two previous issues of Hay & Forage Grower, we discussed the breeding and development of alfalfa cultivars along with seed field production...

When ordering pizza, I’m partial to mushrooms ... and only mushrooms.Don’t try to complicate the issue with the likes of pepperoni, sausage, pineapple, peppers, onions, or any other item on the ne...

There was a day when spring-seeded alfalfa and an oat (or other small grain) companion crop went hand in hand. Though maybe not to the extent of the rotary phone, companion crops are now much le...

There’s good weather and there’s bad weather. Then there’s also strange weather — events far outside of the normal but without clear human understanding of future ramifications.I’m not exact...

Feed thrives on consistency — from the feed and forage testing lab, to the silo, to the mixer, to the feedbunk, and into the barn or parlor...

Grasses contain more potentially digestible fiber than legumes, but they need to be harvested early to capture the benefit in milk production...

In the Northern Plains region where salts are naturally occurring even under dryland conditions, farmers are trying multiple strategies to deal with the issue...

Landing in Milwaukee last Friday after a week in California at the World Ag Expo, I had the usual February expectation of frigid air and perhaps blowing snow. That’s the Upper Midwest norm.Instead...