Mike Rankin, Senior Editor
Mike Rankin

The author joined Hay & Forage Grower as the managing editor in April 2015. Since July of 2024, he has transitioned to senior editor. He had previously served 27 years as the Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin crops and soils agent with the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension Service. He also worked eight years on a large dairy and grain farm in southern Illinois.
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Alfalfa entry tops Southeastern Hay Contest
Forage Flash
Oct. 14 2025 The Southeastern Hay Contest celebrated its 21st year with record-high participation at the Sunbelt Ag Expo being held this week in Moultrie, Ga. A total of 540 entries comprised the competition’s...
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Cereal forage has gone mainstream
Forage Flash
Oct. 7 2025 For many years, it seemed winter annual cereal forages fell almost exclusively into the “emergency forage” category, but times have changed. These days, nobody finds the practice of seeding...
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Parking the mower is often the best bet
Forage Flash
Sept. 30 2025 First frosts and freezes suggest the need for heavier Carhartt attire and mark the cessation of plant growth, if not life. Alfalfa will often slow or cease growing before a frost or hard freeze, and i
BeefOnDairy_web
Advice for grazing beef-on-dairy calves
Forage Flash
Sept. 23 2025 With the country’s beef cow herd at its lowest level since the 1960s, the number of calves also continues to shrink. This puts a tight clamp on the availability of stocker cattle.Currently, CattleFa
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Put pastures back in the win column
Forage Flash
Sept. 16 2025 It seems society has become fixated on winners and losers. For better or worse, compromise has become a strategy to be avoided. For pastures, compromise takes on a different meaning. To compromis
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NovaGraz offers white clover tolerance
Forage Flash
Sept. 9 2025 Containing a typical mix of both grasses and legumes, pasture weed control has always been an exercise in tradeoffs. Most herbicides either control grasses or broadleaves without regard to desired spe
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Canada thistle is a major pasture pain
Forage Flash
Sept. 2 2025 When people talk about plant diversity, I’m not sure too many include Canada thistle into their list of cherished species. Without control, this perennial can turn a mixed pasture into a seemingly...
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Pick the right hay sampling tool
Forage Flash
Aug. 26 2025 Most inaccuracies of hay test results can be attributed to the fact that the sample taken was not representative of the hay lot. “Grab samples only represent the quality of about 1 square foot
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Everyone needs a good hoodie or five
Hay
Aug. 19 2025 I’ve never been a fashion leader or even a follower. I just know what I like and dress accordingly. Carhartt and Wrangler are my “go to” brands for most occasions. The one piece of clothing...
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Bermudagrass stockpiles, too
Forage Flash
Aug. 19 2025 This time of year, we hear a lot about stockpiling forages to extend the grazing season, especially with tall fescue. But there are other forage species that can also be successfully stockpiled. One o
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My greatest forage disappointment
Hay Quality
Aug. 5 2025 The advent of forage testing, especially since near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) came on the scene, has moved the needle by leaps and bounds from a harvest timing and animal performance standpoint. It
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Here’s how these haymakers try to beat the weather
Hay Quality
July 29 2025 Wilting a cut hay crop to baling moisture is rarely easy, but if you do it where rainfall and humidity are as common as mosquitoes during the summer, it can take a mental toll on the body
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Oats offer a valuable fall forage alternative
Forage Flash
July 29 2025 In 1930, there were nearly 40 million acres of oats harvested for grain in the United States. By contrast, USDA pegged harvested oat acres at about 900,000 in 2024; it’s become the rotary phone of...
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Has the alfalfa seeding window changed?
Forage Flash
July 29 2025 In a few days, we’ll be flipping the calendar to August. That will mark the beginning of the traditional late-summer alfalfa seeding window. But when does that window close?Recently, I got a phone...
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Summer grass hay cuttings are different
Forage Flash
July 22 2025 Pure stands of cool-season grasses offer unique challenges and rewards. Assuming stands have already been cut once, most grasses close the book on heading for the season and focus on providing leaf-ri
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Winter hay feeding provides soil nutrients
Forage Flash
July 15 2025 It’s not unusual to feed supplemental hay on pastures during the winter or when forage is short during the growing season. In doing so, nutrients in the hay are imported to the pasture and spread...
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Hop to potato leafhopper control
Forage Flash
July 15 2025 They are small, green, and the bane of alfalfa — potato leafhoppers. Sans an intentional effort to monitor their presence, usually with the use of a sweep net, they often lurk undetected. However,...
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Got pasture weeds? UAVs may be the answer
Forage Flash
July 1 2025 The thought of using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) for pest control was all but a Jetsons-like dream not that many years ago. These days, that dream is more than reality; it’s becoming...
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Give broomsedge a clean sweep
Grazing
June 24 2025 For the most part, I like things looking good but not necessarily perfect. This mantra applies to my vehicle, my yard, my garage, my desk, and most other publicly viewed assets. Having driven by and w
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A Wisconsin alfalfa program like no other
Forage Flash
June 24 2025 Each fall, millions of acres of corn and soybeans are tallied for yield. For many years, weigh wagons were used to accomplish this task, but now, on-board field monitors do most of the heavy lifting
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