Establishing Alfalfa During Late Summer by Mike Rankin, Crops and Soils Agent, Fond du Lac County Introduction Seeding perennial forage species such as alfalfa during the late summer in Wisconsin can result in vigorous and productive stands when proper establishment practices are followed. Late summer alfalfa seeding does not replace traditional spring-seeding recommendations, but rather provides […]
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Determining the Optimum Alfalfa Seeding Rate by Mike Rankin Introduction Virtually everyone who has applied their trade as an alfalfa researcher has done a seeding rate study at some point in their career. The scientific literature is full of such studies and most come to the same conclusion: very little of what we dump in the […]
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Milk2016 (ALFALFA-GRASS): Index Combining Yield and Quality by Dan Undersander2,3, D. Combs1,2, and J. R. Shaver1,3 Department of Dairy Science1 and Agronomy2 University of Wisconsin-Madison University of Wisconsin-Extension3 Introduction Undersander et al. (1993) developed a method for estimating milk per ton of forage dry matter (DM) as an index of forage quality of alfalfa and grasses. […]
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Alternative Forage Crops by Dr. Dan Undersander, Forage Agronomist Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin First, we should put things into perspective by stating that alfalfa is still the best choice, in most cases, for long term production of high quality, high tonnage harvested forage. We also expect to see increased use of corn silage, where […]
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Tall Fescue and Kura Clover for Dairy and Beef Stockers Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems University of Wisconsin – Madison Do orchardgrass, fescue or legume/grass combinations produce more meat on growing, pastured beef animals? Do beef steers, beef […]
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Experiences with Kura Clover in Agricultural Systems in Wisconsin by Ken Albrecht Introduction Long term-experiments in Wisconsin and Minnesota have demonstrated that kura clover will persist for 20 years (and counting) and can be a truly permanent component of a pasture or hayfield. It has survived winters that damaged adjacent alfalfa and red clover fields. It […]
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Intercropping Corn and Kura Clover, Results Demonstration Manitowoc County Forage Council by Scott Hendrickson1 Introduction Recent research (Albrecht et al., 1998, 1999) has developed a promising new system for situations where erosion is a problem under alfalfa-corn rotations. Although soil losses during years of established alfalfa are minimal, losses can exceed allowable limits during the year of […]
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Using Soybean as Forage by Ron Wiederholt and Ken Albrecht Introduction Soybean is presently grown almost exclusively as a protein and oil-seed crop in the USA, but it was previously a popular summer annual forage legume. Soybean may still be considered a viable alternative forage when alfalfa or clover are in short supply due to winter-killing […]
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Factors to Consider When Marketing Hay by Dan Undersander Introduction Many hay growers simply sell hay. They are selling a commodity to low bidders rather than developing a market for a product. Bringing factors other than price into the market such as forage quality, consideration of customer needs, prompt delivery, steady supply, and appreciation of business […]
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Making a Feed Inventory by Brian Holmes What is a feed inventory? Doing a feed inventory establishes your current stock of various feed ingredients. Generally, the process involves determining the volume of each feed stored and then multiplying by the stored density to yield a weight of feed. For example, silage in a bunker silo has […]
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