Farm labor wages have increased over the past year, according to the recent USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service in a report released May 30, 2019. 

Over the past decade, the use of reproductive and genetic technologies has increased in dairy herds across Canada. The evolution of electronic activity monitoring and timed artificial insemination (A.I.) protocols has impacted the overall reproductive performance of the Canadian dairy herd.

Hoping to head off a “rapidly emerging forage crisis for livestock farmers across the Midwest,” a multistate coalition of agricultural organizations submitted a written request to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, June 6, seeking approval for emergency provisions allowing the planting and harvesting of forages on prevented plant acres without date restrictions.

The most fundamental hay and forage fact is that quality losses begin at cutting. It’s impossible to preserve all the quality found in a standing crop. Once mown, the impact of metabolic and weathering losses can significantly impact crop quality.

Joy Hendrix has returned to Progressive Publishing full time to serve as an editor for Progressive Forage.

The National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance (NAFA) recently held a conference call with Class III hay associations, during which members moved that NAFA request alfalfa be included in the USDA aid package as a result of tariff issues. (They asked to be included in the first aid package and were not.) A key element was the need to easily identify alfalfa farmers – NAFA indicated the use of Farm Service Agency (FSA) records would be satisfactory.

From coast to coast, the Canadian climate sees large variations in levels of heat and humidity, but even a few days of elevated temperatures and moisture in the air can cause a dairy cow to experience heat stress and the negative impacts on production, reproduction and health that follow.