Forage Types

Pastures must be well-established to be highly productive. Before establishing new pastures or renovating existing pastures, producers must evaluate the farm’s forage needs.

“If you’re paying for the ground year-round, you might as well try to use it year-round,” says Cliff Schuette, a grain and beef producer in western Illinois. This is the theory that thousands of farmers fail to put into practice.

With good fall conditions winter annual weeds like pennycress, mustards, henbit, and downy brome are getting a dense, robust start that could lead to heavy weed growth next spring.

Fall is a good time to consider evaluating existing alfalfa stands to estimate what stand conditions might be present next spring. Assessing stands in the fall helps to identify potentially weakened stands that will become more prone to winter injury.

Recently, a producer posted a question on the Dairy-L listserv regarding partially frosted corn for silage. Progressive Forage Grower asked Bill Mahanna at Pioneer, who responded to the producer, to provide more information on the subject.

Late fall cuttings
Poor fall harvest timing can negatively affect stored root food reserves, which can lead to poor winter survival. Given the cooler temperatures that are typical during the fall, it generally takes about six weeks for alfalfa to regrow and store adequate root reserves for winter survival.