Allison Lund, Indiana Prairie Farmer, Senior Editor
(Previously published online with FarmProgress Indiana Prairie Farmer: June 14, 2024)
Get into 
the routine of sampling after every cutting. Here are tips for how to access a probe and how to take proper samples.
“I know my hay” is a common reason folks give for why they do not sample their hay. However, environmental factors can alter nutrient levels and create a scenario where what you think you have and what you do have for hay do not match.
A solid habit to form is sampling hay after each cutting, according to Nick Minton, beef systems specialist at Purdue. He echoes the sentiment that nobody can know the nutrient levels of their hay without testing.
“The most-skilled producer will look at a hayfield and say, Continue reading How to Take Hay Samples
nature has been at it again, hardly giving us enough days to make silage or balelage let alone dry hay. There is a risk of pop-up showers every afternoon it seems like. The ground is also wet so the forage laying against the ground does not dry very well. These conditions are very dangerous for hay harvest since wet hay does not just rot it may also burn. Hay fires are caused when bacteria in wet hay create so much heat that the hay spontaneously combusts in the presence of oxygen. At over 20% moisture, mesophilic bacteria release heat, causing temperature to rise between 130 F to 140 F with temperature staying high for up to 40 days. As temperatures rise thermophilic bacteria can take off in your hay and raise the temperature into the fire danger zone of over 175 F.
weather this spring especially over the last couple of weeks has rapidly progressed forage maturity. Harvesting forages at the proper time for the livestock you are feeding is critical to farm profitability. Poor quality forages must be supplemented to maintain livestock. In the southern part of the state, many forage grasses are in head while in the northern part of the state, some varieties of Orchard grass and barnyard grass are in head but most are still in the vegetative stage but will be in head within a week.
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.
help determine an estimate of available forage dry matter per grazing paddock.
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. 
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.
the number of straight-line wind and tornado events seems to be increasing so does the number of times that parts of nearby buildings end up spread out across our pastures and hay fields. This debris can cause significant health risks to grazing livestock, as well as animals fed harvested forages from these fields. Debris that is blown into pastures and hayfields quickly becomes hard to see as forages take off and grows in the spring. In pastures or stored hay, livestock often eat foreign materials that are present in the field either mixed in with the forage or just from curiosity. There is also a risk of livestock being injured from foreign materials entering the animal’s hooves or being tangled in the debris in a pasture. Each type of debris can cause slightly different challenges.