Feed & Nutrition

Forage should be sampled to determine moisture and forage quality. Knowing forage quality allows allocation of forage to the proper class of livestock and indicates nutrients needed or in excess of requirements.

Successful ranchers, whether they realize it or not, grow forage as their primary business and use cattle to harvest the crop.

The summer of 2012 often brought “high pressure domes” that cause 100-plus degree days and no rain. The resulting heat stress can cause nitrate accumulation in summer annual forage crops. Producers are very cautious about cutting or grazing the drought-stressed forages and for good reason.

Soybeans that won't make a seed crop offer potential high-quality forage for beef and dairy producers. But the decision to cut beans for hay won't be easy, say University of Missouri Extension specialists.

Editor’s note: The first of a two-part series. Click here to read the second part.

When you think about August, the first thing that comes to mind is the three letter word “hot.”

While it is hot and dry in most regions right now, if you were to ask a true optimist what August means he would respond, with a sparkle in his eye, something along the lines of the following:

As I put this article together in mid-June, much of the central and eastern Corn Belt is in need of precipitation.