Latest News From ROW CROPS

Winter wheat pasture availability is helping to keep demand high for select stocker cattle weights.

Does feeding whole soybeans to growing or finishing cattle make economic sense?

Does feeding whole soybeans to growing or finishing cattle make economic sense?

Soybeans can be used as a protein supplement for beef cattle, as long as the beans are a small part of the cattle’s diet.

For some producers, a number of factors came together to create the perfect storm that led to significantly lowered forage quality.

After a year of drought and weather challenges, some cattle farmers are putting in extra cover crops this fall to ease the forage burden. Here’s the top six cover crops cattle farmers are using to stretch fall grazing.

There appears to be considerable interest and excitement about winter wheat grazing this year.

Who slashes farmland acreage by three-quarters, jettisons a machinery fleet, and upends field practices, yet watches profits rise by 70 percent? Meet Del Ficke and a less-is-more farming approach.

Who slashes farmland acreage by three-quarters, jettisons a machinery fleet, and upends field practices, yet watches profits rise by 70 percent? Meet Del Ficke and a less-is-more farming approach.

Drought conditions in Canada are pushing ranchers to reduce their herds as feed costs soar.

Warmer than normal temperatures dominated the Midwest last week, and despite some thunderstorm in the High Plains, drought conditions have intensified. Cattlemen are culling herds and dipping into hay supplies.

Several options exist for producers to make up for forage lost to severe spring weather.

With the limited opportunities and short windows many have had to make hay so far this year, some hay may have been made at higher moisture levels than we would like

When the weather is right and hay fields are mowed there will be many farmers looking over the fence at pastures as an opportunity to make more bales.

The recently-released hay and pasture conditions report doesn’t look particularly good for producers across most of the country.

Forage maturity is the biggest driver of nutritional quality.

Drought, prolonged cold weather, and the resulting lengthen winter grazing season, all contributed to a slow green-up in the Midwest this year. University of Missouri's Craig Roberts says focus on the second hay cutting.

A checkoff war has farmers and livestock producers caught in the crossfire, and the ramifications could significantly impact the foundation of the beef and soybean checkoff system.

The amount of moisture received across the US southern high plains since October has been ridiculously low. Forecasters warn of intensifying drought and wheat crop losses.

On his west-central Missouri farm, Kyle Grumke and his father Ross employ cover crops on every one of their 550 owned acres

AgriTalk Host Chip Flory gets an update on exports with experts Joe Schuele from the US Meat Export Federation and Tom Sleight with the US Grains Council.

USDA-APHIS is considering non-regulated status for a particular type of ultra-low gossypol cottonseed (ULGCS) containing technology that could expand the feed and food markets for cottonseed.

USDA anticipates net farm income to decrease nearly 7 percent from 2017 to $59.5 billion, the lowest number since 2006. Net cash farm income forecast to decrease down about 5 percent to $91.9 billion.

Beans were down for the week, off new highs but closing lower than a week ago which gave us some technical signals. That’s important says Jerry Gulke, president of the Gulke Group, here's why. 

While the short-term effects of grazing crop residue appear minimal or even beneficial, questions remain regarding longer-term effects of grazing on soil compaction.

As the availability of nutrients in corn residue declines, producers should adjust feeding management or institute rotational grazing.

Grazing harvested corn fields offers a win-win strategy, but requires planning and management.

Temperatures seen 15 to 25 degrees below normal, NWS says.

On Mikey Taylor’s farmland, cover crops and livestock are the vehicle to building high-potential soils.

As the cow continues through late gestation, be mindful of her increasing nutrient needs and manage your hay supplies accordingly. There are two take home messages here, Radunz says.

Wayne Springer is tired of paying $300 for a bag of traited corn seed. Unafraid to change horses in midstream, the 60-year-old producer is transitioning from a row crop farm to a ranching operation.

Texas lost more than $200 million in crop and livestock losses, according to economists with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

What should have been good news for the grain and oilseed markets ended up having the opposite effect as we ended the week down, sharply down some cases says Jerry Gulke, president of the Gulke Group. 

Farmers in the Northern Plains have been struggling with drought, making it difficult and expensive to scrounge up enough feed for their livestock to last through the winter.

Minnesota company, Plains farm aid group set up hay convoy

North Dakota's largest livestock group and its biggest corn organizations have launched efforts to help ranchers devastated by a summer of drought.

Whether it’s loaded and driven, or rolls out by rail, U.S. grains are pouring out of our country and heading for end users in Mexico.  “We use raw material [such as] corn, sorghum, wheat and fiber-like cotton seed hulls to make feed for livestock,” said Ricardo Elizondo, owner of Forrajera Elizondo, a family-run feed mill in Monterrey, Mexico. This family-run feed mill said the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) helped make that grain, and in turn their feed competitive. Today, they’re bagging or selling roughly 50 million metric tons of corn and sorghum every year. They’d like to buy more.   

What can a farmer drop in the planter when prices are poor? Aaron Base’s planter has room for wine, wheat, weddings, Airbnb, grass fed beef and a 1928 schoolhouse. Revenue beyond the rows can be crucial to an operation, particularly in lean commodity years, and Base is bucking convention by tapping the vein of side-stream income.

Loss and risk are an assumption in farming; devastation is not. Crops in the Dakotas and Montana are baking on an anvil of severe drought and extreme heat, as growers and ranchers make difficult decisions regarding cattle, corn and wheat.

Farmers in the northern Plains are well aware of the dry conditions, and now they have to resort to drastic measures in order to deal with eroding conditions that are destroying crops and pastures.

Already short on hay and forage after a hard winter, ranchers in North and South Dakota are continuing to reduce herds in response to severe drought conditions.

Due to dry conditions, livestock producers should expect to see a reduction in grazeable forage. Drought management plans will be vital if the drought continues into the growing season.

Silvopasture – the practice of combining forestry with forage and livestock production – is rare in North America, but the practice could bring both economic and environmental benefits on marginal lands where traditional row cropping hasn’t worked.

Get your day started with a brief rundown of key news.

Ranchers in Kansas and Oklahoma learned more about how grasslands recover after wildfire in a joint educational seminar hosted by Extension personnel from Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University, at Snake Creek Ranch, on the state border. According to Extension sources, plentiful precipitation will be the greatest help in getting grass regrowing.

Wild weather in the Corn Belt in the beginning of the month flooded freshly planted fields and dumped inches of snow on Kansas wheat. Farmers were expecting to see a bump in prices, but failed to see any reaction in the markets. 

Deep snow is melting into western mountain streams, but some farmers and ranchers on the high plains are struggling amid a lengthy dry spell and the aftermath of destructive wildfires.

Farmers from the mid-South to the Great Plains are counting their losses and making plans to replant after a tumultuous storm brought deadly flooding to double-digit snowfall.

Emergency crews on Tuesday struggled to contain deadly wildfires that have scorched hundreds of square miles of land in four states and forced thousands of people to flee their homes ahead of the wind-whipped flames.