Cover crops are “hot topics” in crop systems. Beef producers have used cover crops for fall, winter and spring pasture sources. Dairy producers need to consider adding this system on their dairy farms.

Utilizing small grains in the crop rotation has gained in popularity in recent years. This strategy has benefited the environment, animal performance and the profitability of dairy operations. However, any practice has pros and cons. Double cropping that produces feed, versus a cover crop, does come with challenges.

Dairy cattle nutrition can be viewed from a variety of different approaches. Remember back in the day when cows scattered pastures and grazed primarily on grass? These cows loved roaming the land and eating lush green forages.

The first edition of the International Silage Conference (ISC) in 1972 – called “Silage Seminar” – was held in Edinburgh and was open exclusively to British researchers. The conference has since evolved and is now held every three years and hosted by various countries throughout the world.

The 2018 corn harvest is fast approaching in the U.S., but like the growing season itself, it’s at the mercy of Mother Nature. Even in America’s heartland, the effects of hurricanes and flooding can take their toll, producing heavy rains that could delay harvest and force farmers to keep their silage corn in the field for a longer period of time.

As a dairy producer, ensuring your calves have the best start to life begins before the calf is born. The care and nutrition you provide the cow while its calf is in utero can set that calf up for life.

• Corn silage should be harvested at 35 percent dry matter (65 percent moisture) and one-half to three-fourths milk line. When results from numerous studies were combined and analyzed, harvesting corn silage at 40 percent dry matter or higher resulted in decreased milk yields of 4.4 pounds of milk per cow per day.

Give whole milk a boost to give calves the balanced nutrition they need. Milk: It’s “nature’s most perfect food,” or at least that’s what we’ve been told as long as humans have been feeding domesticated dairy calves.

The ideal pre-fresh period is 21 days. Too much corn silage makes heifers fat. Excess dietary salt causes udder edema. The younger the age at first calving, the better. These are just a few things we’ve been told about pre-fresh heifers, but are they facts or fallacies?