Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
Amber Friedrichsen

The author is the managing editor for Hay & Forage Grower. Amber Friedrichsen joined the Hay & Forage Grower staff as an associate editor in May 2023. As of July 2024, she has assumed the role of managing editor. Friedrichsen also served as the editorial intern in 2021 and 2022. She graduated from Iowa State University in May 2023 with a double major in agricultural communication and agronomy. Friedrichsen grew up and worked on her family’s diversified crop and livestock farm in eastern Iowa near Clinton.

Sorghum silage in the spotlight
Silage

May 13, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
Sorghum has long resided in the shadow of corn grown for silage. Even though the former species is often touted for its drought tolerance and water-use efficiency, sorghum silage has rarely been a dai...
What’s the best hay for horses?
Forage Flash

May 13, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
Horse hay has its own set of standards that are exclusive to equine. Many of these standards fall under the physical attributes of the bale, followed by the nutritive qualities of the forage, but clea...
Don’t miss these quality marks
Alfalfa

May 6, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
To optimize something is to make the best or most effective use of it. Rather than maximizing one aspect of a resource or minimizing its worst part at the expense of all others, optimization finds the...
There’s something in the water
Forage Flash

May 6, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
Natural water sources in pastures are only as valuable to a grazing system as the quality of water they contain. In other words, the health and performance of livestock will suffer if animals are subj...
The golden grass of the West
Farm Visits

May 5, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
Twenty minutes from everywhere. That’s what Carol Johnson said it felt like living in the-middle-of-nowhere Rush Valley, Utah...
Cows can still thrive without BMR corn
Corn Silage

April 29, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
Despite the advantages brown midrib (BMR) corn silage brings to the feedbunk, many farmers have shifted their preference back to conventional hybrids in recent years. The changing market dynamics may...
Study confirms bale grazing benefits
Forage Flash

April 29, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
Like any grazing practice, the merits of bale grazing will vary with each individual farm. These merits can be in the form of more grazing days, lower feed costs, and less equipment use, which can tra...
Seed these in case of emergency
Grasses

April 22, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
The U.S. Drought Monitor is starting to light up again as several states show signs of struggling with inadequate soil moisture. As drought conditions develop across the northern tier of the U.S. and...
The toxic origin story of tall fescue
Forage Flash

April 22, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
“Three findings highlight fescue’s history” detailed the early events that contributed to tall fescue’s infamous reputation as a toxic forage. Although these events paved the path for future research, the historic findings are still relevant to tall fescue pastures today...
Tread lightly in burned pastures
Forage Flash

April 15, 2025
BY Amber Friedrichsen, Managing Editor
Wildfires throw a wrench into grazing plans in regions prone to such disasters. Even though pasture and rangeland fires delay forage regrowth and set back grazing schedules, perennial grasses typicall...
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