Fertilizing

It’s about time to get serious about the use of sulfur in forage fertilizer programs. That’s because government efforts at reducing air pollution have resulted in removing much of this essential nutrient from precipitation. That’s good for air quality but not for the sulfur status of cropland.

A generation ago there was so much sulfur in precipitation that acid rain was big news and some Adirondack and New England lakes were reported to be “dying.” We don’t hear much about acid rain now because the amount of sulfur in precipitation is a fraction of what it used to be.

If you want to increase your pasture’s productivity next year, you need to prepare your pasture for the winter this fall. Follow these three steps to maximize your pasture’s nutritional value for next spring:

If you want to increase your pasture’s productivity next year, you need to prepare your pasture for the winter this fall. Follow these three steps to maximize your pasture’s nutritional value for next spring:

If you want to increase your pasture’s productivity next year, you need to prepare your pasture for the winter this fall. Follow these three steps to maximize your pasture’s nutritional value for next spring:

It’s apparent Mother Nature dealt farmers throughout much of the U.S. a rough, dry hand this summer (Figure 1). As winter approaches, it’s the best time to determine if crops hit by the 2012 drought left any residual nitrogen (N) or other nutrients in your soil profile.

Farmers across the country are always looking for ways to minimize crop input costs whether they grow corn, soybeans, small grains, alfalfa, clover or specialty crops due to the high costs of fertilizer, seed, fuel and land rental rates.