Alfalfa

Spontaneous combustion of hay bales is just about the worst-case scenario for any livestock producer putting up hay. That’s not the only bad outcome when it comes to hay storage.

As a consultant at a commercial testing laboratory, this is one of the most common questions I receive from producers looking at their forage report.

Healthy roots, stems and leaves lead to higher alfalfa yield potential. Aboveground, stems and leaves produce and transport plant energy to make valuable forage.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence in sustainable farming practices and related research, driven mostly by increased interest in improving soil health, nutrient recycling and carbon sequestration.

The most common crop sequences in the Corn Belt region of the U.S. are continuous corn and corn-soybean. In the last two to three decades, forage-based, more diverse crop rotations have transitioned to less diverse annual crop-based rotations.

Fertilizer prices have gone up tremendously recently. Anhydrous nitrogen is $1,250 to $1,400 per ton as of Dec. 1, 2021, and many dealers are not taking orders for spring, expecting the price to increase even further.