Alfalfa

Who knew that false indigo and alfalfa had a common enemy? Not me, that is until recently when I had an encounter with Epicauta fabricii, more commonly known as the ash-gray blister beetle.

The Southwest continues to endure a “megadrought,” a term used to describe drought conditions lasting at least two decades.

A pasture is a high-quality crop — not a place — for graziers utilizing managed intensive grazing systems.

One question that Ryan Reeverts might be asked is how he prepared for the Illinois Farm Bureau Discussion Meet, which he won at the IFB’s annual meeting in Chicago earlier this month. A better question is — how did he find the time? “I definitely try to stay busy,” Reeverts said.

Rain has been falling as it was needed for most of the growing season without any severe events at the Mitchell farm until the beginning of August.

Justin Rahn has grazed his cattle herd on cover crop fields for several years.Justin and Ellen Rahn manage a cow herd on their 1,200-acre Carroll County farm where they grow corn, soybeans, alfalfa and rye.

Harvesting 240 acres of high-quality haylage for the Mitchell Holstein herd is two-day activity. “We are looking for a relative feed value in the 170 to 200 range,” said John Mitchell who together with his brother, Aaron, are partners in Mitchell Dairy and Grain LLC.

Hello from Graze-N-Grow. Whew, our annual holiday lamb slaughter just ended for our ethnic customers, and even though we had fewer ram lambs to offer because of last year’s flock reduction it was still kind of hectic.

Summer interns for Phibro Animal Health prepared for their summer work during an on-farm training day at the Mitchell dairy farm. The Phibro Animal Health interns traveled to northern Illinois from across the United States.

Well, the grass and forage has really taken off. Last Monday, May 9, I clipped forage samples from the current lot and the field I would be going into. Everyone talks about the “spring flush” and its washy grass.

Rotational grazing and quality hay are important for conception rates in cattle. “It is important for the cows to have a good body condition score for good conception rates and that goes back to rotational grazing and good quality hay,” said Terry Bachtold.

It’s a beautiful spring day at 65 degrees today, quite a change from the weather we have been getting every Thursday for the last four weeks. I even missed several grazing meetings because of the snow and ice and you know it’s bad when that happens.

Alfalfa can be a high quality source of protein for dairy cow rations. “Perhaps it makes more sense to grow alfalfa this year than buy soybean meal,” said John Goeser, animal nutrition director at Rock River Lab and adjunct professor in the animal and dairy science department at the University of Wisconsin.

Lynette Schaeffer was elected to serve as chairman of the National Grange Executive Committee at the 155th annual National Grange convention at Wichita, Kansas.

Steve Leesman’s move into organic crop production began several years ago as an answer to consumer demand and he has continued this diverse farming operation in Logan County, Illinois.