Planting

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.

Cover crops should be more than just a placeholder between cash crop seasons. They should improve soil health, provide nutrients to cattle and be adaptable to the producer’s needs.

In recent years, budgets for public breeding in forage grasses and legumes have been decreasing. Public universities and government agencies with already limited activity in grass and legume breeding are moving those resources to other crop breeding and trial activities.

The year 2019 is here. Although it is the middle of winter and very little forage is growing, producers still need to be thinking about their forage production and pastures.

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend a talk on the “Forage Toolbox” by Dennis Hancock. It reminded me there is no one right way to have a forage program, but we should continually assess all the available tools in our toolbox and use them as and when necessary to achieve our production goals.