You’ve read before in this space about my opinions regarding the current USDA market hay grades and why using them is the equivalent of calling your neighbor on a party line rotary-dial phone.There�
It’s often said that drastic times are cause for drastic measures. So what do you do when hay prices reach levels not seen in many years and you’re in the business of selling hay? That was
We’ve again reached that time of year when a visit from the local co-op agronomist usually has nothing to do with checking the growing crop. Rather, he or she comes calling bearing gifts of new seed
It’s Election Day — so what better time to address a forage topic that is wrought with opinion, controversy, and conflict.Through my years as an extension agent and now as the managing editor
Alfalfa is frequently described as a crop that is not tolerant of wet soils. In the early 1900s, researchers described root rots of alfalfa that were attributed to wet soils or a high water table
I wonder what Ed Nolt is thinking these days. Many people argue that the small square bale is all but a history lesson . . . but is it?Nolt, a Pennsylvania Dutchman, invented the prototype for t
Heard about reduced lignin alfalfa? Wondered if it can play a role on your farm? Redesigned to increase digestibility by 12-15 percent, HarvXtra™ alfalfa with Roundup Ready® Technology allows
Alfalfa enhanced with the transgenic, reduced-lignin trait being marketed as HarvXtra was made available in limited supplies for spring 2016 planting. In 2017, at least 10 seed marketers will offer Ha
The thought of alfalfa being traded on the futures market is a concept that probably scares a lot of hay growers and marketers. After all, supply, demand, quality, and good old-fashioned one-on-one ne
Cutting alfalfa after temperatures have reached the point that regrowth will no longer occur makes for a different discussion than cutting during the period of four to six weeks before first frost. In
With the opening weekend of the college football season now behind us, alfalfa breaks out a new game plan of its own — one of conservative offense and a tough defense.As temperatures cool, alf
In virtually all walks of life, we’ve become a society that wants information and wants it now. Waiting is often an option only if there are no other alternatives. Farmers are no different.Last fall
That was the response I got not too long ago as I called to confirm a morning farm visit.The hay grower had cut early to capture the quality premiums that go along with Supreme quality hay in today’
“When the last bale comes off the field, the fertilizer truck is loaded and ready to roll,” said Clayton Geralds, a Munfordville, Ky., farmer who bales nearly 150,000 small square bales per
Perhaps nothing in the forage production cycle is more aggravating, disheartening, disappointing, or sometimes frightening than a new forage seeding that just never develops. At worst, it means an ent
In a recent study, where we sampled alfalfa that was standing, after mowing, after raking, and in the chopper wagon or bale, 71 percent of the change in forage quality was related to leaf content
Applying manure immediately after alfalfa harvest opens up windows of time for manure application not available with most annual crops, and it expands the acreage base for nutrient management pl
Upon reading the title, your thoughts probably first moved to something along the lines of “You’re not kidding; it always rains right about the time I get the chopper (or baler) grease
A dearth of public dollars to support alfalfa research was the emphasis behind the National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance (NAFA) instituting a new alfalfa checkoff program
