Forage Types

In a wide array of agricultural publications, I’ve been reading about something called “Brix.” As in: We need “high Brix levels in our forages” to support good cattle growth.

The winter of 2018-19 in Virginia was the muddiest, sloppiest, wettest one anyone could remember. Heading into spring, many livestock producers were looking for a forage they could broadcast into their damaged pastures, travel lanes and feeding areas to provide some cover and compete with summer annual weeds.

Genetically modified, reduced-lignin alfalfa is a significant game changer for alfalfa growers. It allows either higher-quality alfalfa to be harvested or delayed harvest with equal quality but higher yield.

Farmers in western Colorado are showing more interest in including cover crops in their cropping systems for soil benefits. Cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) is well known as a winter-hardy cover crop suitable for various climate and soil conditions.

This article discusses spring checkup recommendations for introduced and native pastures.

In 2019, there were an estimated 19.5 million alfalfa acres in production distributed from coast to coast.