Jan. 3 2017 With the holidays in the rearview mirror, the last vestige of a distraction to the routine of feeding cows during winter has come and gone. Now it’s snow, ice, sleet, rain, mud, cold, and wind ......
Dec. 26 2016 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�
Dec. 20 2016 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
Dec. 13 2016 “Our failure rate was just too high,” said Dan Funke to those in attendance at the California Alfalfa & Forage Symposium.The veteran Larchwood, Iowa, haymaker was referring to his abilit
Dec. 6 2016 This has been a tough year for hay growers in the West.The basic economic principles of high carryover supplies coupled with more alfalfa acres, higher production, and lower domestic demand from dairi
Nov. 29 2016 How does a person who is long on desire, will, and motivation but short on capital enter the dairy business?Often it is by working on an established farm, but without a clear path to someday own
Nov. 22 2016 About this time each year, winter annuals rise from shadows of perennial forages and assume center stage in grazing systems across the South.“Winter grazing by virtue of winter annuals is our
Nov. 15 2016 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
Nov. 9 2016 Who doesn’t like a good debate?Perhaps one of the greatest learning and decision-making tools a person can employ is to take an opposite view, whether you believe it or not, and engage in debate
Nov. 8 2016 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...
Nov. 6 2016 Amidst the rolling hills of Lancaster County, Pa., you will find everything from state-of-the-art dairies to picturesque, modest-sized Amish and Mennonite farms
Nov. 1 2016 When I moved to Wisconsin in 1988, one of the things I noticed in short order was that baling hay of any size, shape, or type was a minimal, if not nonexistent summer activity on most dairy farms. Thi
Nov. 1 2016 tithe \tith\ n : a tenth part paid or given It’s usually about this time of year when churches across the U.S. begin their pledge campaigns to meet the ensuing year’s budget
Oct. 25 2016 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
Oct. 18 2016 Margins are precariously thin for cow-calf and stocker operations. As the time has come to hunker down for winter feeding and grazing, harvested forage quality may very well be the determining factor
Oct. 11 2016 Forage quality is a significant player in our high-producing dairy herds.This was one of the conclusions made after 14 high-producing Wisconsin dairy operators were surveyed regarding their feeding pr
Oct. 4 2016 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
Sept. 27 2016 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
Sept. 20 2016 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
Sept. 20 2016 Perhaps nowhere in the U.S. is the production of timothy hay given greater reverence than the Pacific Northwest, specifically the Columbia River Basin. The region also happens to provide ideal growing
