Buffy Sacia has joined Rock River Laboratory Inc. (RRL) as marketing and communications director.In her new role, Sacia will lead the agriculture analyses company’s marketing strategy, messaging and communications initiatives.In addition to brand leadership, she will build relationships as an analytical consultant for the laboratory’s partner groups.

Warmer spring weather soon will green up your alfalfa. Before that happens, though, maybe you should do a little weed control.

Weeds like pennycress, downy brome, mustards, cheatgrass, dandelion and shepherd's purse are common in first-cut alfalfa. They lower alfalfa yields, reduce quality, lessen palatability and slow hay drydown. Walk over your fields during the next few weeks once snow is gone, especially in areas where these weeds grew last year. They probably will be there again this spring. You should be able to see their small, green, over-wintering growth.

Corn silage is commonly priced per ton standing in the field at seven to eight times the market price per bushel of corn. Kristen Schulte, Iowa State University extension farm management field specialist, says selling the corn based on its grain value and exchanging the non-grain bio-mass for dairy manure produced on the buyer’s farm can be mutually beneficial to the buyer and the seller.

Four-hundred livestock producers from four states attended the 30th annual Southwest Missouri Spring Forage Conference, held Feb. 25. Farmers and ranchers traveled from Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma to Springfield, Missouri, to learn more about management strategies for forages and livestock.

Leroy and Barbara Shatto of Osborn, Missouri, were the talk of the town recently after their family business, Shatto Milk Co., was featured on the Hallmark Channel. Barb spoke with Progressive Dairyman about the experience.

After a brutal Midwestern winter, it’s time to start thinking spring. Mark Zinke, Zinke Dairy Farms LLC, Brownsville, Wisconsin, is changing gears to prepare for the warmer weather that is sure to come. To keep his 550-cow milking herd cool, he cleans fans and checks belt tension and bearings.