Below are a few topics that seem to come up regularly when speaking with dairy farmers who are not only making hay but are also incorporating grazing into their practice.
Read MoreFrost Seeding - How To & Benefits
Frost seeding is an easy and effective way to add clover to a pasture or overwintering cereal grain crop. Frost seeding is broadcasting seed on bare ground in late winter and relies on natural processes of soil freezing and thawing to “plant” the seed.
Read More
Helping Livestock Producers Overcome High Fertility Costs
Dr. Chris Teutsch of UK Research and Education Center recently released a short YouTube video with John Grove - “Ten Tips to Help Livestock Producers Weather High Fertilizer Prices.” Chris had ten really good points on the topic. I’ll provide a quick synopsis of those bullets and a few of my own thoughts. Ironically, I had already been thinking about concerns with increased fertilizer prices before I saw the video and, after watching it, decided to not to completely reinvent the wheel but just run with it.
Read MoreBuckwheat as Nurse Crop for Clover
If I were to make a list of underutilized crops in American agriculture, buckwheat would be near the top. Buckwheat is a short-season broadleaf grain crop that is very easy to grow and can thrive in hot and dry conditions. As a cover crop, it is renowned for its ability to mineralize phosphorus from the soil as well as provide late-season pollinator habitat.
Read More
Fall Pasture Management
Forages going dormant is significant. USDA-NRCS defines stockpiling as 'allowing standing forage to accumulate for grazing at a later period, often for fall and winter grazing after dormancy.' The key word here is dormancy.
Once dormant, they can be grazed with less harm to energy reserves. Forage plants are sensitive to grazing in the fall. That is why I usually promote the use of annuals or crop residue, or ideally the combination of the two in the early fall. It allows the pastures to recuperate and build reserves.
Read More