We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
The question during winter months is not “Will you go to an ag trade show or association meeting,” but “How many ag trade shows or meetings will you go to?” Holy moly, there are more trade shows than tines on a wheel rake. It doesn’t take very many shows before trade show vendors feel a little tumbled with “leaf loss” themselves.
It’s the time of year when hay equipment is parked in machinery sheds across most of the country and owners are planning for the upcoming season. For the newer equipment that is still under a manufacturer’s warranty, it’s an excellent time to evaluate mechanical problems.
Most people are familiar with the four rations on the farm – the one formulated by the nutritionist, the one mixed, the one delivered to the bunk and the one the cows ate. But did you also know that same type of variation lurks within your forages?
With the turn of the new year, most dairy and beef producers are feeding last fall’s harvest of high-moisture corn, corn silage and other cereal grains. But let’s think back to when these high-starch forages and grains were planted and harvested to understand if you really captured every bushel of corn in your corn silage or high-moisture corn.
When the topic of understanding and using agricultural financial reports surfaces in any discussion among production agriculture business managers or owners, you can be assured the discussion will be rather lengthy and that what financial reports they prefer depends on the current objective of the manager or owner.
Due to the increased interest in winter forages, BMR sorghums and minimum or no-till of legumes into winter-forage stubble, many farmers are starting to realize they are planting modern crops with antique management and equipment. For most, it has been two to three generations since anyone seriously grew winter grains, and very few have grown sorghum.
As Steve Fransen, forage specialist and pasture guru from Washington State University, states, “That lower several inches does not belong to the livestock or a hay producer; it belongs to the grass plant.”
Net farm income of most Kansas farms has been very strong since 2002. This includes those farms allocating a significant acreage to forage crops. In this analysis, a forage-based farm is a crop farm where a third of the crop acres are used to produce silage, alfalfa and hay.
RSS
