Drought is a recurring fact of life whether it occurs once every five years or five consecutive years. While little can be done during drought conditions to increase forage pasture growth in the short run, careful management could minimize long-term stand loss and help maintain forage yields until precipitation may become sufficient to increase forage production.

As a party who supplies hay, grain or other feed or production inputs to a farm, ranch or dairy, you can be in the position of providing credit. When banks extend credit lines for feed, equipment or livestock, those are secured by collateral in the item purchased or other property.

August is the start of my busiest season as a dairy nutritionist with Mycogen Seeds. My job is not just marketing a bag of corn silage seed; I educate dairy producers on how to get the most from silage corn hybrids to improve the profitability of their operations.

From mid-August to March, I’m on dairy farms and in corn silage fields almost every day. I spend nearly 200 days on the road, driving 45,000 miles each year.

Someone close to the late Elvis Presley commented on peanut butter and banana sandwiches. He said you could feed them to the guy (Elvis) all day. I finally tried one some time back. Not bad, but I would not like them as a major part of my diet.

Self-propelled windrowers offer speed and high-capacity cutting on a wide range of crops. Like all equipment, adjusting the machine to field conditions and regular maintenance are the keys to best performance.