March 15, 2022
When horse power, not horsepower, ruled our farm fields, we were a nation of oat growers. Those days have long passed, but the utility of oats still remains as a forage crop, and not just to fee...

March 10, 2022
Everyone can define their youth by a decade, and mine was the 1960s. For perspective, movies set within those 10 years span “The Sandlot” to “Easy Rider” to “Good Morning, Vietnam.”...

March 8, 2022
Companion: noun; one that accompanies, is closely connected, or serves another. Though often associated with a person, in the alfalfa world, companion is typically associated with a cereal grass crops...

March 8, 2022
Making a livestock diet change is never easy, but perhaps no change is as drastic as moving from dry hay to lush, green forage in the early spring...

March 1, 2022
If it’s true that fiber digestibility has a greater impact on milk production than the digestibility of any other feed component, then the road to greater feed efficiency and higher milk production must include improvements in forage digestibility...

March 1, 2022
As a county extension agronomist, I worked in a region where the native soil pH hovered around 7...

Feb. 22, 2022
Sorghum and its many variations now appear in fields across the U.S. with virtually no latitude or longitude limitations when hybrids are properly selected. Their ability to tolerate drought, generate...

Feb. 22, 2022
Snow cover on alfalfa has always been considered a desired situation. It insulates the plants and soil to keep temperatures from hitting the high and low extremes of air temperatures during winter...

Feb. 15, 2022
Although logistic challenges were plentiful in 2021, hay exports in 2021 totaled 4.26 million metric tons (MT), eclipsing the previous record of 4.19 million MT set in 2017. For the third consec...

Feb. 15, 2022
Making hay on your own farm or purchasing hay from a trusted neighbor generally means that you can be pretty sure of what you’re getting. When hay inventories are stressed in a region such as the No...