Hay and pasture crops are critical to Kentucky Agriculture and to that of the entire temperate region of the US. The sale of cattle, calves and dairy products provide 29% of Kentucky's farm income compared with 23% for tobacco. Beef cowcalf enterprises comprise the majority of cattle numbers in the state, however, dairy production is also significant. A substantial horse industry also exists in...

Feeding management deals with the provision of feed and forage that meet the nutrient requirements of the animals based on their stage of growth and physiological needs as well as the way in which they are fed. These two practices determine the success of an operation. The same is true when pastures are a primary source of nutrients. In this case, the producer’s skill in grazing management may ...

cattle—as concentrated feeds, harvested forages, or a complementary grazing program— accounts for a significant portion of annual production costs in a cattle operation. To optimize productivity of today’s cattle operations, some supplemental nutrients will be required at critical periods during the annual production cycle. However, producers need to avoid unnecessarily compounding this cost by...

Drought is a frequent challenge to beef producers, and many operations would benefit from developing a better drought management plan. Producers should be constantly aware of their pasture conditions, stored forage supplies, animal feed demand, and long-term weather forecasts. The recent widespread drought across the Southern U.S. has led to large harvested forage shortages, depressed local cat...

Wild geese foraging on farmland cause increasing conflicts with agricultural interests, calling for a strategic approach to mitigation. In central Norway, conflicts between farmers and spring-staging pink-footed geese feeding on pastures have escalated. To alleviate the conflict, a scheme by which farmers are subsidized to allow geese to forage undisturbed was introduced. To guide allocation of...

An Excel (v 7.0) spreadsheet was created to simplify balancing winter diets (energy and protein), estimating feed needs and evaluating the impact of winter feeding programs on annual cow cost and calf break-even price by using inputs readily found on the farm (e.g., forage test results, accounting and production records). The spreadsheet operates on the substitution method and requires the foll...

Sheep, cattle and goat are domestic ruminants of significant economic interest in the Mediterranean region. Although sharing the same pasture ranges, they ingest different plants and plant parts and, consequently different levels of tannins. This suggests an ability to detect and adapt ingestion according to animal physiological limits of tolerance for plant secondary metabolites. This review w...

Livestock fodder needs in nearly all developing countries now exceed the sustainable yield of rangelands and other forage resources. In Africa, overgrazing has reduced range productivity virtually everywhere. It is important to provide animals with adequate nutrition to ensure the high productive and reproductive performance. Meanwhile, it is necessary to avoid the deterioration of the pasturel...