Summer is about over and you’re wondering how the breeding season has gone.

Sometimes, I wonder if reacting to Mother Nature or man-made errors in judgment are not the most stressful part of choosing a career in farming. While waiting for the rain to stop is fretful enough when the hay is ready, the worry over what to do when it stops raining is even more so. One of those worries is the effect of heat stress on grazing systems.

Every spring, usually around April, we get the itch to walk the fence and appraise pasture conditions for the long-anticipated turnout. Depending on your operation and location, that might mean a herd of freshening cows or cows with calves alongside.

As an agronomist, I have advised producers on seed selection for grain corn, silage corn, small grains and hay species for two decades now.

When the growing season has come and gone, livestock managers across the country look at what’s available to extend the grazing season. Whether it’s corn stubble, sorghum-sudan grass, stockpiled fescue, forage soybeans or small grain companion crops, those heading out to graze alternative forages should review the history of manure applications on the crop.

According to the Iowa Beef Center’s Beef Cattle Handbook, “acidosis is the most important nutritional disorder in feedlots today.” Acidosis occurs in ruminants and other animals when they binge eat too much sugar, such as apples or starch (grains).

Forage botulism in high-moisture baleage

For many forage producers in the Northeast, the weather has finally given a window to mow late-planted peas and oats for baleage. In fact, a lot of hay has been made into baleage this year all over the country, and some of that was put up just a bit too wet.