The next 12 months should be profitable for Western alfalfa and timothy producers, but uncertainty regarding trade looms. In addition to the potential impact of trade, producer profitability will largely depend on the balance of high- and low-quality hay.

Reacting to higher hay prices – fueled by diminishing stocks and strong export demand – U.S. hay growers intend to harvest dry hay from more acreage in 2018, according to the USDA’s Acreage report, released June 29.

Dairy Forage Seminars, held in conjunction with the World Forage Analysis Superbowl, will once again provide further educational opportunities to World Dairy Expo attendees Wednesday, Oct. 3, through Saturday, Oct. 6.

Joy Hendrix has joined the Progressive Publishing team for the summer and will be working with the Progressive Forage and Progressive Cattleman teams as an editorial intern.

U.S. average alfalfa hay prices pushed to their highest levels in three years. Interest rates and fuel costs are on the rise, too. Harvest in some major hay areas was just getting underway due to weather-related delays. Here’s a look at the hay market with summer just around the corner.

Harvest management can have a huge effect on both the yield and quality of harvested forage. Leaves have a relative forage quality of about 550, while stems have a relative forage quality of 70 to 80.

Early season weather forecasts suggest the 2018 summer could be a repeat of 2016, when many alfalfa producers discovered excessively high alfalfa hay nitrates. The question frequently asked is, “How do I prevent this from happening again?”

Alfalfa researchers were the beneficiaries of the National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance's (NAFA) second round of research funding through the U.S. Alfalfa Farmer Research Initiative (USAFRI), a farmer-funded investment in alfalfa-related research better known as the Alfalfa Checkoff.

Over the last three years, the top 10 types of agribusiness claims have accounted for more than 50,000 claims received by Nationwide. To help educate agribusiness professionals about costly trends in the industry, Nationwide has released its most common commercial agribusiness insurance claims. Below are the top 10 commercial agribusiness claims received by Nationwide in 2017: