Latest News From Alfalfa

Tightening profit margins behoove growers to pay careful forage options, micronutrients, plant health and productivity. Partnering with agronomists, nutritionists and dairy advisors is an important piece of the puzzle.

With alfalfa being one of the most important forage crops on the farm and feed prices on the rise, it’s critical to ensure your stand is harvested in a timely manner to maximize quality while preserving quantity

It’s an old agronomic adage that “March is the month when alfalfa lives or dies.” How did it fare this year?

With fall just around the corner, now is the time to think about applying fertilizer to perennial forages.

It is important to know that the success of the entire production will be based on determining a proper date to cut for the highest yield and quality.

Lower hay supplies and to potential for lower acres and lower production this year could increase hay prices significantly.

Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the United States, and a primary livestock feed source.

Herrington Farms, Inc. of Troy, NY was named the overall winner of the 2021 World Forage Analysis Superbowl at the 2021 World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis.

With much of the country experiencing a forage shortage, there is still a good opportunity to build forage inventories by double cropping this year.

Whether your sampling square bales, round bales or baleage, it’s important to keep these eight tips in mind in order to get accurate quality predictions.

Do not bet the farm on speculative options to lower feed cost. In 2021, double-down on forage quality.

The benefits of diverse plant species are well documented — yet sometimes diverse mixes can be difficult to manage due to differences in palatability and maturity dates.

“We just celebrated 10 years as a company,” says CEO Jim Blome. “And we showed that in 15 months we pioneered a regulatory path, launched a product, and took it all the way from the grower to the food company.”

The most important number to review on a forage analysis is the ADF or NDF content of a forage on a dry matter basis, not crude protein.

One of the “normal” elements of this highly abnormal time is the fact that hay-making season soon will commence throughout most of the country.

Looking to 2020, regional supply and demand will continue to be the driving force behind the swing in hay acres and prices.

This week USDA issued clarification on the alfalfa issues farmers are experiencing related to MFP.

A convenient and in-depth virtual course on forage management is being offered by Cornell University.

With winter right around the corner, it’s not too late to be thinking about 2020 alfalfa crops.

“The reality is, bale density, or the hardness of the bale, has a heck of a lot to do with your return on investment.”

Producers Worry About Lack Of Feed and Bedding Come Fall AgDay National Reporter Betsy Jibben talks with John Metzger, a dairy farmer from Kimmell, Indiana and Marcelo Oberto, an independent dairy consultant.

High prices rationed hay disappearance between December 1 to May 1 to the lowest level since 2013/14 at 64 million tons.

Harvesting alfalfa to achieve the right balance of quality and yield depends on cutting the plant at the right stage.

Get closer to making the type of alfalfa you need in various rations by keeping these factors in mind.

So you want to plant alfalfa into your Bermudagrass this fall. Make sure to check our list before getting started!

Typically arriving during planting season while tractors race to the fields, it is easy to put scouting for weevil damage on the back burner.

Typically arriving during planting season while tractors race to the fields, it is easy to put scouting for weevil damage on the back burner.

Declining hay acres and fewer dairy cattle might have an impact on what direction hay prices go.

Harvested tons of all hay trended higher during most of the 20th Century, but lower during the 21st Century.

In order to successfully produce alfalfa, there are several things that are important.

A simple stem counting technique can give you a good idea about your alfalfa stand’s yield potential.

Case IH unveils latest updates to model year 2019 disc mower conditioners.

More than 80% of North Dakota is drought-free this year, a welcome change from 2017.

Windrow disease presents special challenges.

Defoliation caused by blister beetle adults is usually minor. However, the main concern with these insects is that the adults contain a chemical known as cantharidin that is capable of producing painful blisters.

Alfalfa seeded this spring is ready, or soon will be ready, to cut.  Use the following harvest guidelines to get the most from your first-year alfalfa. 

If we want to save the energy of the starch and sugars for our cattle, we need to dry off the first 15-20% moisture as quickly as possible.

First cutting is the most important and critical of the alfalfa growing season. A late start of this growing season will determine multiple things during this year’s production.

Although pea aphid populations can vary quite a bit from field to field it is important to monitor their populations to ensure that loss due to their feeding doesn’t occur.

One of the challenges when pricing standing hay is the lack of an established market like corn or soybeans.

Jay Hill is a farmer in Texas is saving more than 1,000,000 gallons of water a day.

First cutting alfalfa has historically been the highest-yielding cutting of the year

A guide for Michigan alfalfa producers on tips for managing their crop.

As we move forward to a late spring, temperatures are warming up and alfalfa producers are having questions on how to access their alfalfa fields for winter injury.

Here is a bit of information for those producers that are considering planting alfalfa this year.

The hay harvest is projected to see a minor drop from last year, but is still higher than the 2016 hay crop, the smallest harvest since 1906.

To accelerate alfalfa research and cultivar development, scientists at the Noble Research Institute developed the Alfalfa Breeder’s Toolbox, a web-based portal to allow alfalfa breeders and researchers share data.