Rex Herring works in a county that was among the hardest hit by Arkansas 2011's drought. He’s grateful for the early start this year. “We’re 30 days ahead of the norm,” he said on the last day of April, by which time Herring had already helped put up dozens of bales of hay on his father’s Polk County farm. “I’m going to have 200 to 300 rolls in this first cutting.”

We have seen a lot of poor spring green-up in bermudagrass in the Southeast. Almost the exact same scenario is showing up all over Georgia, Alabama and North and South Carolina -- that I know of, and I'm sure it is happening elsewhere, too. There are several issues that are at play here.

Ever wonder where alfalfa came from? No, it didn’t originate from your seed dealer. The “queen of forages” actually has ancient roots dating back thousands of years.

The southeast portion of Wisconsin is entering that time period when third and fourth instar alfalfa weevil larvae can be found. An increase in the amount of defoliation may be seen.  Fortunately, the cooler weather has given the alfalfa a chance to get caught up and cutting, an excellent form of cultural control, has started in some areas.  Revisit fields with elevated first crop defoliation within four to five days of cutting.

In checking spring growth of alfalfa fields this spring, it was noted that there were many established stands with extreme weed pressure. Upon further examination, the alfalfa plant itself was observed to have black spots on the stems and lower leaves. Alfalfa samples were taken to Michigan State University Diagnostic Services and were determined to be infected with spring black stem, a disease caused by a fungal pathogen, Phoma medicaginis var. medicaginis.

Korey McHenry of Grand Island, Nebraska, is the new owner of a 2012 Case IH Scout utility vehicle. McHenry was the winner of the 2011 Case IH Fall Farm Show promotion sponsored by Case IH and CNH Capital. The Scout was displayed at the 2011 Farm Progress Show, Husker Harvest Days, Big Iron Farm Show, Ohio Farm Science Review, Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, Agri-Trade and Sunbelt Ag Expo.

AgSource Laboratories now has feed and forage sample drop boxes throughout south and central Idaho. Locations can be found online or by calling (208) 324-7411.

The weekly Haywatch Report examines the performance of hay samples cut from selected fields.

A tiny Asian fly that feeds on pasture grasses showed up in Georgia two years ago, the first time the species was documented in the Western Hemisphere. It's now moved to Florida and possibly other Southern states. In some north Florida counties, as much as 20 percent of the late-summer hay harvest has been damaged, said Tim Wilson, a University of Florida Extension agent in Bradford County.

Atherigona reversura calls Japan, Indonesia, India and even Hawaii home. It was confirmed for the first time on the U.S. mainland in a bermudagrass pasture in Pierce County, Georgia, near Savannah in the fall of 2010, said Will Hudson, an entomologist with the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, at the 5th annual Southeast Hay Convention.

University of Missouri (MU) Extension agronomy specialists have been closely monitoring true armyworm activity in various crops in Missouri this year. This comes after reports of significant damage to forages and crops in northern Arkansas. Click here to read about armyworm activity in Arkansas.

To date there have been evidence in sections of southwest Missouri of armyworm activity on fescue, bermudagrass, wheat and corn. Some high numbers of moth counts have been observed in southern Missouri monitoring traps in the last month.     

Tim Schnakenberg, an agronomy specialist with MU Extension based in Galena, Missouri, has received reports of true armyworms from Barry, Cedar, Dade, Stone and Christian counties in the last few days.