Month: April 2024

Yellow Flowers of Concern

Christine Gelley, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Noble County

Fields along the floodplain have been turning yellow over the past couple weeks as cressleaf groundsel is bolting and flowering. From a distance, a haze of yellow floats above the field. Upon closer inspection, you will find collections of daisy-like flowers on slender stems waving their sunny faces in the breeze. While it sounds sort of dreamy and whimsical, this plant (also known as butterweed) can cause livestock poisonings in harvested or grazed forages. All parts of the plant are considered toxic in both fresh and dried states.

Cressleaf groundsel is a member of the aster family and displays yellow daisy-like blooms in the springtime on upright hollow stems that have a purple hue. These plants are Continue reading Yellow Flowers of Concern →

Forage and Pasture Planting Calendar

Ed Brown, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Athens County

Throughout the years, I have received many calls as to when the best time is to plant pasture grasses and forages. Farmers and ranchers also wanted to know the recommended seeding rates for either a pure stand or as a forage mix. I would always refer them to the Ohio Agronomy Guide and give them the bit of information they needed. I knew that there had to a more efficient way to get out this information.

At first, I developed a spreadsheet with all the forages and which months they should be planted. This worked to answer questions quickly but wasn’t really a resource that producers could quickly access. This led to the development of the Forage & Pasture Planting Calendar.

(Forage and pasture planting recommendations for April. To view the full calendar, be sure to visit the link provided below.)

I’ve taken the information from the Agronomy guide and put it into an easy to reference calendar that could be hung on the wall or on the side the fridge. The top of the calendar includes information and tips from the Ohio Agronomy Guide. The remainder of the calendar is organized by month with appropriate planting times and seeding rates.

The link to the calendar is https://athens.osu.edu/sites/athens/files/imce/Ag_Docs/Final%20Calendar_1.pdf

If you would like to print the calendar, it’s best done on 11 x 17 tabloid paper.

Use a Grazing Stick to Measure Forages

Christine Gelley, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Noble County
(Previously published on Farm Progress – Ohio Farmer: April 17, 2024)

Sticks help determine an estimate of available forage dry matter per grazing paddock.

Measuring the amount of forage available for livestock to graze is a helpful task for designing and adjusting pasture rotations for grazing livestock.

There are many potential methods for measuring the amount of forage mass growing in a pasture. All of them require time spent in the pasture and repetitious measurements to develop estimations of whole pasture forage availability.

One of the simplest methods for estimating forage availability is using a grazing stick.

What does the grazing stick do?
A grazing stick combines information about forage height, forage density, species of forages growing in the pasture and residual grazing heights into a tool that looks like a yardstick. Continue reading Use a Grazing Stick to Measure Forages →

Spring Forage Establishment

Jason Hartschuh, Dairy Management and Precision Livestock, Field Specialist

As soil temperatures rise and the chances of a morning frost decline, the window to spring-establish forages is open. In the spring, the combination of weather and plenty to do make planting opportunities scarce. To take advantage of those short planting windows, the following are items to consider to improve chances for a successful forage establishment this spring. Continue reading Spring Forage Establishment →

New Study Shows Effectiveness of American Lamb Checkoff Program

American Lamb Board

According to a recent study, lamb consumption increased by $1.17 billion to $1.31 billion.

The American Lamb Checkoff Program has substantially increased the annual value of American Lamb despite the modest funding available for promotion, according to the Texas A&M University 2024 report “Return on Investment in the American Lamb Checkoff Program” conducted by agricultural economists Dr. Gary Williams and Dr. Oral Capps, Jr.

According to the study, lamb consumption increased by $1.17 billion to $1.31 billion. Researchers attributed the increase to ALB’s promotional efforts, which increased both lamb consumption rates and retail lamb prices. This “lift” resulted in an average annual growth of between $58.7 million and $62.4 million.

“The purpose of the Lamb Checkoff has been to Continue reading New Study Shows Effectiveness of American Lamb Checkoff Program →

Forage Weeds: Fall Forgotten and Spring Startups

Alyssa Essman, OSU Extension State Specialist, Weed Science
Christine Gelley, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Noble County
Kyle Verhoff, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Defiance County

Spring means rapid forage growth, but it also means rapid weed growth. Due to the variability of spring weather, there are often only a few opportunities to control emerging summer annual weeds, winter annuals missed in the fall, and biennials that are small enough to effectively control. To manage weeds before they become a problem in forages, it is important to scout and plan accordingly. Forage is a broad category, and the spring weed control plan can look very different between species and operations. The problem weeds and whether control is necessary are going to be different between permanent pasture systems and alfalfa fields, and highly dependent on the consequences of specific weeds.

In established alfalfa, the decision for weed control of some winter annuals like Continue reading Forage Weeds: Fall Forgotten and Spring Startups →