Dealing with annual weeds in pastures and hayfields is grueling enough before prickly plant parts are added to the mix. Stiff hairs, thorns, and spines on stems and leaves not only deter livestock fro
Hay producers, cover your eyes and plug your ears — the following includes 10 reasons to stop making hay.To be sure, the list comes from Carson Roberts, the state forage specialist with Univer
Stockpiling forage is a practical strategy farmers can use to extend their grazing season. The accumulation of late summer growth can provide livestock with high-quality forage into the fall and throu
You can’t always have it all, especially when it comes to forage quality and yield. This trade-off is often debated to determine harvest timing, but it exists in terms of cutting height, too.At the
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
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
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
As the summer progresses, so does forage maturity, insect pressure, and the heat index. Thus, the combination of irritating grass seedheads, higher fly populations, and heat-stressed cattle is a recip
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
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,
Hay fires become cause for concern when forage is baled too wet. Whether hay gets rained on or just doesn’t have enough time to dry down to proper baling moisture, wet bales can make a good harvest
Alfalfa typically hits its peak two or three years after it is established before annual forage yields start to decline. One way to give an aging stand a boost and extend its productive life is to add
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
Although hay harvest schedules vary by regions, many farmers in the Midwest are likely in the midst of second cutting, if they haven’t completed it already. Timing this next cutting — and every
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
As of this writing, a large portion of the United States is trapped under a heat dome. Several days of dangerously high temperatures are forecasted for what the National Weather Service is declaring t
We know about toxins in Kentucky 31 tall fescue. We also know that mycotoxins can be an issue in corn silage. Now, University of Florida researchers are finding that some warm-season pastures and hayf
Planting and grazing cover crops after wheat harvest can be a viable way to gain some extra forage for late summer and fall grazing. However, growing conditions, moisture availability, stocking rate
Pricing hay to accurately reflect forage quality is an ongoing challenge, especially because there are no hard and fast standards to justify a going rate. Even more challenging is pricing haylage.Hayl
Sorghum species are prominent in providing extra summer forage for grazing or mechanically harvesting. Typically, we hear about farmers planting either forage sorghum or sorghum-sudangrass. Sudangrass
