Investing in fertilizer to enhance the growth of native grass pastures and hayfields has long been theorized as a questionable practice. Eddie Funderburg, senior soils and crops consultant for the Nob...

Aside from crude protein, perhaps no forage analysis metric defines its quality more so than neutral detergent fiber (NDF). A compelling argument could be made that NDF is even more important than cru...

Not to be mistaken with rotational grazing or ultra-high stock density (UHSD) grazing, high stock density (HSD) grazing is the practice of intentionally grazing livestock at higher concentrations than...

For spring calving herds, getting cows bred in the late spring and early to midsummer on toxic tall fescue pastures can be a challenge.“I personally prefer fall calving, but I also believe that we c...

Picking corn hybrids, especially for silage, isn’t quite as easy as it used to be in terms of the sheer volume of candidates now available. However, what has changed from when Dad or Grandpa tackled...

After a rather challenging growing season last year, the possibility for mycotoxin production in feedstuffs, such as corn silage, was much higher. In many cases, that possibility became a reality.Whil...

Based on data from USDA’s Illinois Production Cost Report, farmers will be paying more for fertilizer in 2019 compared to a year ago.“All sources of nitrogen are higher with anhydrous ammonia up 1...

The challenging growing conditions of 2018 have left many dairy farms short on forage supplies. So, going into the 2019 growing season, what are some options to bolster forage inventories? Mark S...

In many parts of the Midwest, this winter has been one for the record books and likely one that most livestock and alfalfa growers would like to forget.That, however, won’t be possible just yet as i...

It’s not a foreign concept; saving harvested seed for replanting has been a long-standing practice on many farms. There is also the practice of “brown bagging,” which is setting aside the seed...