As a forage crop agronomist, clover has always been the holy grail. Clover in pastures improves soil condition, supplies nitrogen to companion grasses when recycled back to pasture as manure and urine, increases yield, increases intake of both protein and energy and can eliminate the need for supplemental fertilizer nitrogen (N) when high-yielding legumes like red clover are present in grass pastures.

The ability to harvest moist forage as haylage gives forage producers in the humid regions of the U.S. many advantages, including timely harvest, higher nutritive quality and less weathering loss compared to hay systems.

Interpreting forage analysis reports is a two-part process. You must first understand the basic terminology and meaning of the important components of the report. Then you must evaluate each forage’s ability to produce a desired level of animal performance when it is consume.

Forages are the foundation for building diets for the dairy herd. The quality of these forages greatly impacts profitability and performance, especially of the milking herd. Because of limited land base, labor or personal preference, farmers may decide to purchase part or all of their herd’s forage needs. This article deals with considerations when purchasing hay, especially alfalfa or alfalfa/grass hay, for the milking herd.