The end of the line for alfalfa growth is usually when plants experience a hard freeze. This weather event can be defined by temperatures dropping below 25ºF for more than four hours, and some region
Rye is a staple forage in Southern pastures. Well, ryegrass, that is — not cereal rye. More specifically, annual ryegrass is the crop in question, not the perennial kind. And just to be clear, we
After a short hiatus as the alfalfa marketing world went through an engine overhaul, the Alfalfa Checkoff Program is set to resume on October 1. This is great news for the future of alfalfa.The checko
Corn smut is like an old tattoo; it looks worse than it really is. Nevertheless, it still baffles the typical mind that something that looks so bad can actually cause inconsequential harm when fed to
December 1 is the deadline to sign up for pasture, rangeland, and forage (PRF) insurance for the 2025 calendar year. This subsidized program can help mitigate forage production losses due to low
Pasture managers have a different-looking toolbox than most farmers. Somewhere deep in the corner of those toolboxes, buried under the grasses and legumes, are the brassicas. Although they are n
This spring, I seeded some container varieties of lettuce in planter boxes near a shaded area of my makeshift home garden. My harvest was far from fruitful and only afforded enough leaves to put on a
Forage harvesters have a plethora of moving parts and possible adjustments. In part, this is so the machines can be fine-tuned to the many different types of crops that may be chopped in a given
The next few weeks will be a busy time for farmers and forage choppers who are harvesting corn for silage and taking final cuttings of alfalfa. Targeting moisture and maturity levels for these feed cr
I’m not a Facebook social butterfly; in fact, I don’t have any friends on the social media behemoth. That’s by choice, and thankfully, I have plenty of good friends in real life.Even
Nutritive value and forage quality are often used interchangeably, but they are not synonymous. If the terms were Russian nesting dolls, the former would fit inside the latter, representing one piece
Olympic athletes train and compete in the events for which they were built for. That’s why a long-distance runner likely wouldn’t medal in the 100-meter dash, and a sprinter probably couldn’t
Few people get it exactly right the first time, but designing a fencing and watering system plays a large role in the efficiency and productivity of the overall grazing system. According to University
Some of the same farmers who felt the death grip of a historic drought last year have faced torrential rainfall and excessive flooding this summer. Saturated soils and prolonged standing water have am
August marks a significant demarcation date for forage producers. With only a month of what we typically consider summer left, the start of the cooler fall season becomes reality with a one-page flip
A Logan, Kansas, farmer was charged with wire fraud after scamming Montana and Wyoming cattle ranchers out of online hay sales. Jory Parks pleaded guilty to the arraignment and faces a maximum of 20 y
A phone call to my dad went straight to voicemail the other day, only to be followed up a few hours later with a text that said, “Sorry I missed your call. The agronomist was here digging up corn