Dominoni - Direct Cut Line for Forage Harvesters

According to Wikipedia, a world-renowned authority (insert sarcasm here) on everything, the Goldilocks principle is named based on an analogy to the childrens story The Three Bears. The tale documents a young girl named Goldilocks who tastes three different bowls of porridge and finds that one is too hot, and another is too cold. Moving on to the third bowl, she encounters porridge that is at the optimum temperature to her liking. The concept of being just right, or at least within acceptable l

The author is an associate professor and a beef systems extension specialist with Kansas State University. Cover crops are a conservation management tool in grain production that are used to enhance soil properties, reduce erosion, control weeds, and play a role in water management. However, there are costs associated with establishment and termination of cover crops, and oftentimes the economic returns are slowly recaptured, if measurable at all. One way to quickly recoup the cost of cover cr

This piece comes to us from the ARS’s Dennis O’Brien and the AgResearch magazine. Wisconsin dairy producers are increasingly adopting a practice that makes economic and environmental sense: raising oats in the fall as forage for their cattle. Dairy producers plant the oats in early to mid-August and either allow them to be grazed through late November or harvested as silage in early November for later use. The strategy allows production of an additional forage crop before winter.

I caught up with Jeff Rasawehr of Center Seeds the other day to learn about why he likes to add “nurse crops” when he’s seeding in a new pasture or hay field. A nurse crop for forage plantings is an annual that gives forage plants an extra boost as they’re getting started. The nurse crop holds soil in place, cuts down on weed pressure, and provides a little shade for the young forage seedlings that might be harmed by excessive sunlight.  Nurse crops can also power up yie