Feb. 1, 2023
Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over. This is far from an original statement, but no truer mantra has ever been spoken.The western U.S. is in all-out battle over water, and it’s being...

Jan. 31, 2023
Alan Franzluebbers has been on a mission to better quantify the need for nitrogen in pasture systems. “If you have no nitrogen, then you have no yield,” said the USDA-ARS research scientist, “Bu...

Jan. 31, 2023
The foundations of plant growth should always be top of mind when striving to get the most livestock production out of your pastures. These foundations include water and sunlight. Plants combine...

Jan. 24, 2023
Rodents are a major pest of alfalfa and other forage crops. Their control has never been easy given their belowground nature of existence. In alfalfa, rodents such as pocket gophers, meadow voles, and...

Jan. 24, 2023
Photo: Emma Cotton/VTDiggerScott and Amber Hoyt operate an organic dairy farm in Vermont. Their recent experience provides a warning for others.In reading the January 25 issue of Hoard’s Dairy...

Jan. 17, 2023
The annual release of hay and forage data by USDA that defines the previous year’s hay production and year-ending inventories arrived in email inboxes last Thursday. The Crop Production and Crop Pro...

Jan. 17, 2023
It’s difficult to deny that our climate is changing. For the remainder of this century, climate experts expect most of us to experience a warmer environment with more intense weather events.How will...

Jan. 10, 2023
Before expanding my agricultural canvas as a national magazine editor, I really had little idea how the rest of the nation operated beyond my home Midwest region. Here, we plant, it rains, crops grow...

Jan. 10, 2023
The severe, late December frigid weather that plunged thermometer mercury levels far below freezing — even into the Deep South — has left winter annual forages in a compromised state.Lisa Ba...

Jan. 3, 2023
The holidays, which offer a brief but welcomed distraction to winter feeding chores, have come and gone. For many during the past two weeks, we’ve experienced seasonal weather, followed by snow and...