Concerns are continuing to grow in the South about the possibility that toxicity associated with forage grasses is creating health issues in livestock and endangered wildlife. With the hope of determi...

After being brought to the forefront by studies done at the Noble Research Institute (Ardmore, Okla.), crabgrass began gaining favor as a high-quality forage alternative. Many farmers are now consider...

The traditional ways of getting hay to dry haven’t changed in a decade, but the weather patterns are changing more each year . . . and frankly, not for the better. With conditions being wetter than...

This spring has not been a kind one to farmers; it’s wet, and the forecast continues to call for more rain. Fields are being left unplanted, and hay is losing nutrition with each passing day.If current weather patterns continue, this sets up a scenario where hay harvest moisture is pushed to the limit or cut hay gets rained on.Do you bale wet hay with the risk of it heating and producing mold, or do you continue to let the nutritional value of the crop drop?For those...

With winter resulting in substantial winterkill and a wet spring delaying harvests, a lot of high-quality forage has been turned into, at best, heifer feed. There is justified concern about forage inv...

Transitioning some of your grazing acres to native, warm-season perennials can pose a utilization challenge. Pat Keyser, director of the Center of Native Grasslands Management at the University of Tennessee, recommends a goal of seeding about 30 percent of pastures into natives for a typical Fescue Belt beef cattle operation. He does not suggest seeding this acreage all at once, but rather to use an incremental approach, seeding only a few acres at a time...

Warm-season perennial grasses are the most used forages in the South but require nitrogen fertilization to maintain productivity and nutritive value. For this reason, warm-season forage legumes are be...

With the rising cost of raising and feeding dairy heifers in confinement, there has been more interest in putting young stock out to pasture. Rotational grazing can lower expenses, minimize labor for...

Damaged forage stands from a harsh winter, deteriorating stands from a wet spring, and the approaching warm summer weather have left farmers questioning what options they have for growing forage this...

With late planting of corn now a given and more than the usual amount of alfalfa winterkill, this might be a year to think about planting summer annuals such as sorghum and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids...