Forage Production

 While our winter weather is behind us, equipment that wasn’t started (and even those that were) may begin to exhibit the battery drain of the past season.

It’s a killer on equipment tires. A juvenile delinquent with a hunting knife probably couldn’t do as much damage as cornstalks can. The outer stalk surface really wears on pickup teeth, rake tines, cams, bearings and slip clutches. Yet, although cornstalk baling is extremely hard on equipment, more and more producers are turning toward the practice.

If you are not familiar with binomial nomenclature (the international language for naming plants), let’s clarify the differences between species, variety and cultivar, which are all terms you will encounter during seed selection.

This project received 2017 funding from the U.S. Alfalfa Farmer Research Initiative (aka Alfalfa Checkoff). Brandon Schlautman is the lead researcher from The Land Institute on this project. Email Brandon Schlautman. 

As we enter winter and begin to think about spring, it may be the time of year when many of you check fence conditions to keep livestock in or out of neighboring fields.

Each bale of hay contains mineral nutrients that come from soil reserves or from applied fertilizer. When fed to livestock, most of these nutrients will pass through the animals and can by recycled for future forage growth.