Planning for Spring Annual Forages
Planning for Spring Annual Forages | UNL Beef
K-State beef expert lauds cool-season grasses, cover crops for grazing
K-State beef systems specialist Jaymelynn Farney said there are economic benefits to allowing cattle to graze on cover crops; it's also beneficial to soil. (File photo) Cover crops allow cattle producers to put weight on cattle, add organic matter to soil By Shelby Varner, K-State Research and Extension news service MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State University beef systems specialist Jaymelynn Farney knows that every cattle producer has different herds and goals, but cool…
Cover crop conference goes virtual
Source: Charles Ellis, 636-528-4613 COLUMBIA, Mo. – “Finding Common Ground in Cover Crops” is the theme of the 2021 Midwest Cover Crops Council Conference. The virtual conference, Feb. 23-25, kicks off with updates from cover crop specialists in the council’s 12 Midwestern states and Ontario, Canada, says Charles Ellis, University of Missouri Extension agricultural engineering specialist and a member of the council’s board. Attendees will learn how cover crops improve cash flow and…
The Goal: Feed Less, Graze More
Winter; time to catch up on reading and sharpening the pencil and mind. I often talk about upcoming grazing conferences this time of year. Right now, meetings in person are scarce and perhaps rightly so. I still encourage you to continue learning whether it’s from watching YouTube videos, reading books or articles, or attending a virtual meeting or conference. It is also the time of year when I start thinking more about finding…
Short-Season Forages for Late Summer Planting
Mark Sulc, Extension Forage Agronomist and Bill Weiss, Extension Dairy Nutritionist Early November growth of Italian ryegrass (left) and oat+winter rye (right) after mid-September planting in Ohio Short-season forages planted in late summer can be sources of highly digestible fiber in ruminant livestock rations. There are several excellent forage options that can be considered for no-till or conventional tillage plantings in the late summer or early fall planting window. These forages can be a…
Replacing “Junk” Forage with “Quality” Forage
Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension (originally published in the Ohio Cattleman summer issue) Do these comments sound familiar to you? “I really need to do something with that junk pasture this year.”“The bales off that hay field are junk. I’m going to reseed it.” If stand decline is limiting production, perhaps it’s time to reseed. Issues with “junk forage” can include low yields, weed encroachment, and low-quality feed value.…
11 Forage Cultivars That Grow Well on the Great Plains
By Malay Saha, Ph.D., Professorand Mike Trammell, Senior Plant Breeder A cultivar, also known as a crop variety, is a collection of plants with specific desirable characteristics that are maintained throughout generations. The goal of any breeding program is to develop improved cultivars for the growers. Noble Research Institute has been involved in developing superior cultivars of different forage species for grazing in the Great Plains. Noble established its forage breeding program in the early…
Oats as a late summer forage crop
Jason Hartschuh and Al Gahler, OSU Extension AgNR Educators (originallypublished in The Ohio Farmer) Fungicide application significantly reduced the presence of rust. Oats is traditionally planted as the first crop in early April as a grain crop or an early season forage. One of the beauties of oats is its versatility in planting date. Oats can also be planted in the summer as an early fall forage for harvest or grazing. Summer oats…
Cover Crop Considerations After Wheat
Jason Hartschuh, OSU Extension AgNR Educator, Crawford County (originally published in The Ohio Farmer) Wheat provides many additional opportunities for your operation. These options include drainage improvements, weed-control timing, double-crop soybeans, double-crop forages, compaction mitigation, and soil building through cover crops. From the time wheat is harvested, there is about nine months for weeds to grow and soil to erode. If double-crop soybeans are not planted, the use of cover crops will protect…
Precision Technology Systems in Alfalfa
Jason Hartschuh, OSU Extension Crawford County, AgNR Educator (previously published in Progressive Forage on-line) I was recently talking to one of my local farmers who uses precision agriculture to manage his corn and soybean crops. His combine, sprayer and planter are all connected to the cloud, and he uses the data from the last 10 years to manage next year’s crop. We were discussing ways to use the data he collects to better…