The age-old battle of determining the optimum corn silage hybrid maturity has always been a bit like playing Russian roulette. The higher yields promised by pushing the maturity higher for a give...

A chill is in the air, and the choppers are tucked away for winter maintenance. Out of the silos comes the fruits of the summer’s labors in the form of (hopefully) high-quality silage and haylage...

Arial seeding of cover crops into late season corn or soybean fields is nothing new. However, irregularly shaped, small fields and those characterized by rough terrain may not be suitable for ae...

Let’s face it — cutting and baling hay is an enjoyable undertaking for most people in the hay business. The same is true for seeing a new stand of alfalfa...

Many Montana livestock producers winter-graze mid- to late gestation cattle on dormant alfalfa fields to make use of the protein- and energy-rich forage...

This is the time of year when farmers like to put their perennial pastures out to pasture . . . so to speak . . . and let their cattle consume cornstalks, although the stalks are generally not what get devoured. It might seem that grazing corn residue is pretty straightforward, but the reality is that a high level of management is needed to maintain cattle performance and be good stewards of the land. In a University of Nebraska (UN) beef cattle extension webinar last...

There are plenty of exceptional haymakers across the U.S.; however, for commercial hay growers or those who simply have extra inventory to sell, haymaking is only half of the equation. There’s also hay marketing to deal with.Most companies have a marketing department or hire a marketing firm. Farmers generally don’t have that luxury. Marketing is just one more hat that needs to be worn and, for many, it’s not a hat that often fits very well.Depending on the year...

If they don’t bale hay in heaven, then Stan Steffen isn’t interested in making the trip...

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...

I was fresh of out college in the late 1970s and found myself working on a large dairy and grain crop operation in southern Illinois...