In his book Sisyphus in the Hayfield: Views of a Berkshire Farmer, author and dairy farmer Walter Howard wrote: “Hay and I start the season as friends

While in high school, I got a job on a dairy farm near our home in northeast Ohio. It was common for farms in that area to have large woodlots, which provided supplemental income

There are lots of reasons for doing things the way we do them — time savings, research proven, effectiveness, preference, cost, and yes, even tradition

During my high school years, finding new boundaries was just a part of the maturation process

One of the most memorable visions documented in the Bible is experienced by the prophet Ezekiel. Often referred to as the Valley of Dry Bones, the story has inspired many Sunday school lessons

Similar to that 30-year-old tattoo of an ex-girlfriend’s name that seemed like a good idea at the time, some things just hang around beyond their useful life

As a young lad growing up in northeast Ohio, a family friend bought me a chess set for my birthday. Whenever he would come over to our house for a visit, we would play a game

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

Okay, it’s not exactly of the magnitude of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, but the argument to cut hay exclusively in the late afternoon versus another time of day has always intrigued me

I’m not Depression Era old, but I’ve been around for a while — call it aged, Medicare eligible, experienced, or whatever you like

At a very early age, most children master the question of “Why?” “Why did Barney (the dog) die?”“Because he was old, and his parts wore out.”

Alfalfa winterkill. Copious amounts of rain. Extended periods of drought. These all impacted hay production in one region of the U.S. or another during 2019

Most people, organizations, and other entities like to make progress, a happy and positive word. Progress is also a battleground

A favorite movie of mine is the 1991 flick “City Slickers,” which starred the likes of Billy Crystal (Mitch) and Jack Palance (Curly)

Many years ago, I was told, “Any idiot can make good corn silage.” Perhaps that’s the case or perhaps not; however, it’s most certainly not true if you have your sights set on something

If you’re in the business of producing forage, there’s a high likelihood that you manage the land that grows your crops. Many of you also manage livestock

Sometimes hay gets cut later than we’d like; sometimes hay data gets reported later than we’d like. The latter occurred this year because of an extended wall discussion in our nation’s

People often ask me, “What’s new in the forage world?” My answer begins with forage digestibility, or to be more specific, fiber digestibility

I was wrapping up a day of farm visits in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina when my host asked, “Where are you staying tonight?” “Sylva,” I responded

If you’re like me, there’s still a good part of each day that is spent thinking. Just the other day, I was thinking about how many great ideas humanity has lost because, rather than thinking,