Recently I asked a South Dakota alfalfa grower what he enjoyed most about growing alfalfa. His response was simple, “The best part of growing alfalfa is when I’ve finished harvesting and know I captured a high-quality crop of alfalfa.”

Most dairy producers figure that since alfalfa and other legumes can capture nitrogen from the air, they shouldn’t apply manure.

Areas across the continent are beginning to see a new change in traditional hay production. While parts of the country have been utilizing baleage for years, it hasn’t been seen coast-to-coast, so to speak, until recently.

Weed management is a continual challenge for alfalfa producers. More money is typically spent on weed control than on insect or disease management in most years.

The raking step is sometimes taken for granted in the production of quality hay, but how a rake handles the hay can materially impact raking speed, forage quality and profitability.

“We have an excellent working relationship with our customer – that’s crucial to our business,” says Brett Braxton, owner of a custom-forage harvest business in south Georgia.

In a perfect world, wouldn’t it be great to have one machine to handle heavy bucketloads like a wheel loader, stack hay bales taller than a front-end loader, maneuver through tight spaces like a skid-steer loader and tow a trailer at good road speeds up to 25 mph to quickly move from one location to another?