MANAGEMENT

Most forage testing laboratories attempt to provide accurate and repeatable results to their clients. In the long term, their reputation and success depends on accurately predicting the feeding value of the forage.

Almost all farmers farm some rented ground. This may be a long-term relationship with a relative, a new opportunity or a one-year handshake deal. Implementing conservation practices on that ground requires an agreement between renter and owner, and starting that conversation can be the hardest part.

Working in a commercial agricultural-testing laboratory, I see all different types of feed and forage samples submitted in all kinds of ways. A silage sample might be sent to us in a large vet glove, while a corn grain might come in a coffee can, even when most labs provide sample bags for submission. Which brings me to the first of four common mistakes made when submitting forage samples to a commercial laboratory for testing.

Anyone who owns, operates or invests in farmland knows there are many factors that can drive farmland values.

Economics for the new decade – what can we expect? Which way is the wind blowing?

Dr. David Kohl, professor emeritus with agricultural and applied economics at Virginia Tech, presented a PDPW webinar and said we’ll see more change in the next decade ahead than we’ve seen in the last 70 years.

All you need to know about the 2019 forage crop is in the silage pile. Under the plastic on many dairy farms, the current forage supplies may be the outcome of last year’s havoc-filled spring and fall.