As a little boy on our farm in Morgan County, I could identify orchardgrass, bromegrass, alfalfa and clover, but never heard of fescue. Then fescue moved in.
I’m sure it was a combination of things. It was probably the spreading of fescue from reclamation projects and the fertility of the farm going down when it transitioned […]

What kind of grades would you get for managing your grazing system if there were report cards for graziers?
Would you be satisfied with “D’s”?
At a recent Athens Area grazing council meeting, host Curt Cline talked about a grazier’s report card. According to Curt, D’s are what graziers should strive for in grading their grazing […]

Now that summer is under way, many producers are finishing first cutting hay and preparing to make second cutting. As rotational graziers, however, we should already be thinking about preparations for the fall and winter and how we will feed our livestock after forage growth has stopped.

Stockpiling

While it may be a little early to […]

I have written in the past about dealing with forage quality when it is raining every day and when we have been short on rain for extended periods of time. It seems like this year many of us are falling in the “raining every day since hay season started” end of the spectrum.

Quality vs. […]

How can farmers deal with making hay and getting it dry between rains? This is a challenge at times, but there are some proven techniques to speed drying that can help shorten the window between cutting and storing the forage.

We are at a stage now where we can affect grazing for the season.
Right now, our fields are finishing up their “reproductive” stage of growth as our grasses are setting seed heads and our legumes are blooming. After they set seed, perennial plants transition from the reproductive stage to the vegetative stage.
Up to […]

>I had an opportunity to travel with the Ohio State University Extension sheep team to Australia March 24 –April 9. Our group of 17 consisted of sheep farmers, extension educators, and extension specialists.
Australia visit. We had the opportunity to visit a number of sheep farms, a few dairy farms, a couple of vineyards […]

The ground has firmed tremendously in our area the last two weeks and warm temperatures have launched grass growth again in most fields so that pasture rotations may be started.
As daylight lengthens, weather warms and pastures grow, farm managers should be aware of the term hypomagnesemia or “grass tetany.”
Turning cows or sheep out into new […]

Local pastures have been repeatedly stressed over the past few years. The forage plants have struggled to survive the extremely dry weather a couple of summers ago, to extremely wet seasons, including flooding in some areas, to below normal temperatures for an extended period of time this past winter.

Let us also not forget the livestock […]

The time to plant may be now. With weather like we are having, you may think this is a crazy statement, but it is time to sow seed in our pasture and hay fields.

Frost seeding
There is a method called “frost seeding” where you apply seed to the ground and the freezing and thawing of […]