Hay

As a high school student, Richard Siedenburg did not plan to join his dad farming, but that changed after spending time in other countries in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves.

Examples of typical and not-so-common cover crops used in corn and soybean rotations were featured in a recent plot tour on the Farm Progress Show grounds.

We are in that tough phase between decent residue grazing and great stockpile grazing. It is the hardest time of the year for grazing management.

The Beef Quality Assurance training and certification program will be offered at 11 sites in Indiana.

We hosted a farm and mill tour as part of our county’s Farm Stroll. The local University of Illinois Extension office coordinates the day with small farms and more in Boone County participating.

Between harvest and preparing for the state corn-husking competition, From the Fields contributor Clay Geyer has a busy October ahead of him.

Corn harvest started on the Rahn farm at the middle of September, which is typical for them.

Beef production spans generations in the Hanson and Kuipers family in Iroquois County where they operate a forage-based program utilizing a paddock grazing system along with growing corn, soybeans and wheat.

After waiting, not so patiently, for the corn to mature, we finally had a field last week get mature enough to start chopping. Now we will race to stay ahead of the corn getting too mature.

It certainly has dried up in a hurry and pastures are showing the ill effects of that. We have had some hot days, but for the most part temperatures have been moderate, so it could have been worse.

As harvest season approaches in northern Indiana, farmers like Clay Geyer are preparing their equipment and fields for the crucial months ahead.

Wheat is strategically planted on the Rahn farm to provide opportunities for manure applications and tiling projects.

Raices Latinas, a nonprofit coalition dedicated to promoting the agricultural contributions of Latino and Latine community in McHenry County, will host its second farm tour on Aug. 27.

I hope you readers saw the recent AgriNews article on sheep grazing under solar farms. Land stays in production while generating electricity for the grid and cash for shepherds while saving on mowing and spraying costs.

I’ve been busy with the granddaughters’ fair schedule of showing. The oldest one can now drive, so that helps a lot, but grandpa still drives the truck and trailer to the shows.

Sometimes, you just need to let the rest of the world go and enjoy those moments that bring you joy.

Livestock managers and owners are invited to join University of Illinois Extension for the Storing Forages: Balancing Cost and Performance workshop on Thursday, Sept. 19.

Summer is in full swing on Clay Geyer’s home fields, where he’s on the lookout for — and has already found — some plant diseases and weeds.

Wet and hot conditions in northern Illinois are impacting crop growth, as well as providing an opportunity for increased disease pressure this year.

Does your corn have stunted, yellowing plants along the edges of the field? If so, you’re not alone. It’s a common occurrence that agronomists call edge effect.

Maybe it’s time to put some eggs in a different basket — that is, livestock. And since cattle prices are formidable for newcomers, I suggest a more reasonable approach to diversification: sheep.

Clay Geyer, former From the Fields columnist, is back this year to share updates from his farm in northern Indiana.

Summer is finally here in northern Illinois. Temperatures are going to be hot this weekend. We call it Georgia weather, teasing our daughter who lives in Georgia. Luckily, we have had more rain than they have had.

The clothes we wore, like the crops we worked, marked the seasons on the dairy farm of my youth. Coveralls, for example, suggested winter while, ahem, “cover little” meant the hot, steamy southern Illinois summer.

During the first two weeks of June, the Rahn family is going in many different directions, including making hay and spraying a second pass of herbicides to control weeds in their crop fields.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency announced the availability of low-interest physical loss loans for producers affected by the Feb. 8 and Feb. 27 tornadoes in Illinois.

Exceptional projects of FFA members from across the state will be highlighted during the 96th annual Illinois FFA State Convention, set for June 11-13.

Increasing profitability of sheep operations starts at conception.

April was an extremely busy time, mostly because we welcomed a new granddaughter. Her name is Brynlee and she is doing well. We were lucky to spend more time in Georgia in April than Illinois.

The race to keep up with grass growth is about to start here. The sheep and cattle are now content with the rye and volunteer wheat, saving on the hay supply.

I’m glad to be done feeding hay and am now grazing cereal rye and red clover. Some of the rye is in the flag leaf stage already. I have rye that is 10 inches tall right next to 30-inch tall rye, so I need to get it grazed.

The Noble Research Institute is focused on land stewardship for improved soil health for grazing animal production with lasting profitability.

Champions of organic farming have long portrayed it as friendlier to humans and the earth. But a new study in a California county found a surprising effect as their acreage grew.

Recently, I was asked to describe myself without saying I was a wife or mother and that hit me a bit differently. After all, as parents, it is hard for us to see beyond that.

The Rahn family operates a centennial farm in northern Illinois that includes row crops, hay production, cattle feeding and a cow-calf herd.

A group raised the roof in rural Will County in northeastern Illinois, but it wasn’t from celebrating the winning goal or rambunctious behavior. A team from FBi Buildings was raising the roof of a 60-by-200-foot barn for Everett Hauert.

From a window atop my grandfather’s old barn, you can see my family’s whole farm, from the hayfields to the chicken houses to the pasture where the mama cows are grazing.

Hello from Graze-N-Grow. Well, it seems Elton and I missed our deadline last month. I don’t know his excuse, but mine was forgetfulness. I wasn’t really idle, though.

I was just having so much fun with the minus-15 temperatures and 20 mph winds last month that I just forgot to write an article. Well, the last part is true. Things have been mundane around here — unroll hay, break ice and fill water tanks.

Three superior members of the Illinois Agri-Women were honored with awards during the group’s annual meeting.

The CattleFax Outlook Seminar, held as part of the 2024 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in Orlando, shared expert market and weather analysis.

AgriNews and Beck’s are proud to announce the 2024 Indiana Farm Family of the Year — the Muegge family of M5 Family Farms in Hancock County.

AI is all the buzz these days. But artificial insemination is not the AI getting all the attention these days. The AI most are talking about and experimenting with is artificial intelligence.

We couldn’t have asked for much better weather this past month, considering the time of year it is. The majority of days starts out in the mid-20s and get into the mid-40s. No extremes either way.

The program “Pasture Management: Recovering from 2023,” hosted by University of Illinois Extension, will focus on recovering from the drought and short forage supply in three evening sessions.

Maybe you can’t tell the difference between 15 and 32 degrees after spending a few minutes outside, but your cattle can.

Wool season is here in northern Illinois. Those wool socks, wool blankets, sweaters, gloves and mittens are so comfortable. Wool is a remarkable natural fiber. The website www.americanwool.org has a lot of resources to help with wool promotion.

It’s been great so far this December to do chores without having to break the ice on the energy-free waterers we use here. Pretty much all fieldwork has been done by now around here.

‘Tis the season to give, so I gave the rams to the ewes. Now everybody’s happy. I should start lambing about mid-May. Hopefully we will have a lot of green vegetation to graze.

Looking back through past columns, I came across one that hits home 10 years after it was penned. I began: “You can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle four things: a rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights.”