For years, my colleagues and I have been preaching the benefits of cutting our area’s cool-season grass lawns at 4 inches to improve lawn health and control weeds. On the farm, the same logic holds. Leaving more stubble in our hay fields can have similar results.

All four tires on my old beater trailer were mostly worn out, somewhere between another couple hundred miles and barely hanging on. The manager of the tire shop wasn’t surprised to see me, nor was he surprised at the sorry state of my tires. He was pretty familiar with my routine.

New landowners sometimes face a daunting challenge: how to make the most of newly acquired pastureland that has been overgrazed for years. The soil may lay bare, incapable of the forage production necessary to support a substantial number of animals.

The World Forage Analysis Superbowl will once again provide further educational opportunities to World Dairy Expo attendees with its Dairy Forage Seminars. These seminars, led by professors, researchers, producers and industry experts, will address various topics related to forage production, harvest, storage and feeding Wednesday, Oct. 2, through Saturday, Oct. 5.

Dairy farmers are rapidly exiting the business. More than 2,700 dairy farms shuttered operations in 2018, a 6.8% decline, according to the USDA. It’s not a surprise given the industry has suffered five years of below break-even production, and supplies have outstripped demand, which has put downward pressure on prices.