Pasture improvement would be simplified if we just had a silver bullet to increase forage growth, improve nutritive value, control pasture weeds and graze longer throughout the year.

Cover crops, soil health, extended grazing and 13-way mixes are all buzzwords in the agronomic world today.

A few years ago, I visited the beautiful area around Lexington, Kentucky, and spent time looking at, well, horses. And pastures. I saw fields of early spring grass with lots of horses playing and galloping.

Growing winter forages, a great way to increase available inventory, maximizes the productivity of your land base. Fully one-third of sunlight received in temperate zones comes during the winter season.

Failure to control the feed bill can erode ranch profits very quickly, even to the point of bankruptcy. The most economical feed is normally forage standing in the pasture.