I know just enough about social media to be dangerous. I don’t spend a lot of time online, but I do belong to some forage groups, and I enjoy following some of the questions and debates. Recently, a fertilizer discussion caught my eye.

As you begin to think about seed selection for the next growing season, it’s essential to consider not only an optimal variety for your area but also legal protections limiting your use of saved seeds.

In the same way that stores take inventory to assess their performance, plan for the future and detect any unaccounted-for loss of product, on-farm forage inventories can reap similar benefits for farms. During his webinar, “Tools for Helping to Determine On-Farm Forage Inventories,” presented by the University of Wisconsin – Madison Extension as part of their Growing & Feeding Alternative Forages webinar series in April, Kevin Jarek shared helpful tips on how to assess forage inventories and how they can be useful.

It’s not uncommon for purchased feed costs to equal 50% of a dairy farm’s budget. Nearly 20 years ago, Jon Bansen of Double J Jerseys near Monmouth, Oregon, was in the same boat.