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...

“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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 of a...

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...