There’s a fine line between mastering a skill and being lucky enough to pull an action off successfully. A skill is defined as the ability to do something well, but simple tasks can be done well with a certain amount of luck and a lot less effort.

Alfalfa continues to be a world-class leader for feed value for North American production agriculture. This is especially true for the areas in the Intermountain West. While acre numbers are not at historical highs, they are still high enough to be the largest cropping acres in most Western states.

Analytics have become a critical part in all facets of our lives, even if we don’t know it. Whether it is sports, business, weather or even politics, analytics play a vital role in our decision-making.

When making a several-hundred-thousand-dollar investment with a piece of machinery, we typically do our homework. You can probably share stories of test-driving self-propelled forage harvesters or tractors, prior to investing hundreds of thousands in the machine.

Inside every storage structure is an invisible battle between “good” and “bad” microorganisms. If the good guys win, the prize is tons of nutrient-rich silage. If the bad guys win, there may be significant dry matter (DM) and nutrient losses, excessive spoilage, feed refusals, low animal performance or even poor animal health and reproduction. We really need the good guys to win.