February 2016 Hay Pellets

• USDA estimates the number of farms in the U.S. for 2015 at 2.07 million, down 18,000 farms from 2014. Virtually the entire decline in farm numbers was accounted for by operations with less than $10,000 in agricultural product sales. Total land in farms, at 912 million acres, decreased 1 million acres from 2014.

• W.D. Hoard said it 100 years ago: “If the farmers of the United States were as wise on the question of maintaining (soil) fertility as they are in the adoption of machinery, what a country this would be.”

• Mark your calendar for the 2016 Southeast Hay Convention that is scheduled for March 8 and 9 at the Sunbelt Ag Expo grounds in Moultrie, Ga. Details on the event can be found here.

• Montana-based Northern Seed has purchased Syngenta's triticale breeding program and associated facility in Vernon, Texas. The company’s website says research trials will focus on increasing the nutrition and yields of (triticale) forages from New York through California.

• In reference to the above, triticale is a cross between wheat and rye. The name — triticale — is also derived by combining portions of the scientific names from wheat (Triticum) and rye (Secale).

• The Alliance for Grassland Renewal will offer four one-day workshops in Missouri (3) and Oklahoma (1) focusing on replacing toxic endophyte-infected tall fescue with novel endophyte varieties. Details and locations for the late-March workshops can be found here.

• W.D. Hoard said it 100 years ago: “There is no known combination of forage that can equal alfalfa hay and corn silage. There is a harmony of working between these two feeds that is surprising.”

• A revised edition of the Alfalfa Management Guide is now available for purchase from the American Society of Agronomy or the University of Wisconsin-Extension. The practical guide covers all aspects of alfalfa management and is authored by forage specialists from throughout the U.S.

• It was mostly more good news in the California snowpack department; however, a high-pressure ridge is bringing warmer temperatures and drier weather to the region this week.

• The Midwest Forage Association has funds to support forage research in member states and is currently soliciting proposal requests for 2016. Contact the MFA office at 651-484-3888 or mfa@midwestforage.org.

• World Ag Expo kicks-off today in Tulare, Calif., and runs through Thursday. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by the Hoard's Dairyman and Hay & Forage Grower booth at the west end of the Farm Credit Dairy Center.

• Though not widely grown until some years later, it’s thought that both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew a few acres of alfalfa.

• In last Friday's USDA Cattle report, there were 92 million head of cattle and calves on U.S. farms as of January 1. This was an increase of 3 percent from a year ago and is the highest cattle inventory since 2011. The 30.3 million beef cow tally was up 4 percent from January 2015. View the complete report here.