Writer Amber Friedrichsen | Hay and Forage Magazine

Amber Friedrichsen

The author is the past managing editor for Hay & Forage Grower. Amber Friedrichsen joined the Hay & Forage Grower staff as an associate editor in May 2023. 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.

The hidden costs of making hay

Hay

Jan. 6 2026 Carson Roberts is determined to convince beef producers to stop making hay. In a recent episode of the I-29 Moo University forage webinar series, the state forage specialist with the University of Mis

Is it too late to graze cornstalks?

Forage Flash

Jan. 6 2026 Despite the volume of corn residue leftover after grain harvest and the potential quality of that forage, cornstalk grazing is not as widely practiced as it ought to be. Those who do utilize cornstalk

Forage Flash

Dec. 30 2025 Another year in the books marks our annual wrap-up of weekly hay and forage coverage. We’ve compiled the top 10 most-clicked eHay Weekly articles from the past 12 months in the order of when they...

Temporary fence is your friend

Forage Flash

Dec. 30 2025 There are essentially as many solutions to rotational grazing as there are pastures to graze in. These solutions can vary by forage species, stocking rate, pasture topography, and time of year. The co

How close are we to full autonomy?

Hay

Dec. 29 2025 We are surrounded by autonomous machines, with drones hovering overhead, self-driving cars hitting the road, and even street-smart robots that can deliver your groceries cropping up in major cities

Bale films

First Cut

Dec. 29 2025 The other day, I received a question about using bale films to protect stored forage. Before responding, I decided to cross-reference my knowledge on the subject with whatever trusted sources I could find...

Football, forages, and grass-fed beef

Farm Visits

Dec. 29 2025 This Iowa couple would have never guessed they’d be raising and selling grass-fed, grass-finished beef across the country when they first met as summer interns for a National Football League team

That’s some expensive slop

Hay

Dec. 23 2025 “Slop” is the 2025 Word of the Year, according to Merriam-Webster. The mainstream media’s definition of slop probably isn’t what comes to farmers’ minds when they hear the...

Hang onto forage-efficient heifers

Forage Flash

Dec. 23 2025 Heifers aren’t usually analyzed for feed efficiency on forage, but a study at Oklahoma State University (OSU) shows high forage efficiency early in life could foreshadow long-term production potenti

Forage pest invades the US

Grazing

Dec. 16 2025 The pasture mealybug — a small, fuzzy, white, invasive pest that feeds on multiple grass species — has been reported and confirmed for the first time on North American soil. Known for causin

Curb high fertilizer prices with clover

Forage Flash

Dec. 16 2025 Farmers remember the sting of high fertilizer prices in 2022 and the bite that expense took out of their budgets. Fortunately, fertilizer prices have dropped drastically since that steep peak — but

Don’t fail your hay test

Forage Flash

Dec. 16 2025 Now that farmers have shifted from harvesting forage and grazing pastures to selling and feeding hay, forage analysis should be critical to marketing and purchasing decisions. But not all sellers and

Yes, cows will graze through snow

Grazing

Dec. 9 2025 Photo: Garland Dahlke, Iowa State UniversityGrazing cattle on snow-covered windrows may seem a bit obscure, but windrow grazing has shown to be an effective way to lower winter feeding costs. The p

Three killers of alfalfa

Forage Flash

Dec. 9 2025 Alfalfa’s perennial nature is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it provides high-quality forage cutting after cutting, and its establishment costs can be spread over several years of a produ

Find the particle size sweet spot

Forage Flash

Dec. 2 2025 The ability of ruminant animals to turn forage fiber into milk and meat is the cornerstone process of livestock production, and it has a direct effect on the sustainability of human food systems. The

Avoid cold stress with high-quality hay

Forage Flash

Dec. 2 2025 While writing this last weekend, the wind was whipping outside my window, and I was surprised it didn’t take some of the siding off the house. To make matters worse, the 30 mph winds — and...

Virtual fencing has real potential

Grazing

Nov. 25 2025 Virtual fencing is not a new concept, but its adoption by livestock producers is constantly growing and changing. There are essentially as many strategies for virtual fencing as there are farmers usin

Hay waste will cost you

Forage Flash

Nov. 25 2025 If you’re like me, your kitchen has a cupboard designated for leftover containers, which may or may not all have the correct lids. Those containers get some extra use this time of year to prevent...

Milk forage for all it’s worth

Corn Silage

Nov. 18 2025 In a recent Hoard’s Dairyman webinar titled “A feed and forage outlook for the year ahead,” Mike Hutjens with the University of Illinois summarized the highs and lows of corn silage and...

Tweak your bale grazing game plan

Forage Flash

Nov. 18 2025 Bale grazing saves time and labor during the coldest months of the year. Moreover, putting bales out on a pasture in a grid pattern, and using temporary fence to strip graze cattle through the rows, f

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