Author: Christopher Teutsch
Major Program: Forages
Responding to Escalating Fertilizer Prices Chris Teutsch, Jimmy Henning, Ray Smith, and John Grove, University of Kentucky In 2020, fertilizer prices more than doubled, negatively impacting the profitability of forage-livestock operations in the Commonwealth. We responded to escalating fertilizer prices be publishing a series of articles and designing and implementing extension programs at the county and state level on weathering high fertilizer prices. These educatio
Expanding the Impact of the UK Forage Extension!Chris Teutsch, Jimmy Henning, and Ray Smith, University of Kentucky In 2017, we established the KYForages YouTube Channel. The impact of this endeavor continues to grow. Our subscribers have almost tripled in the past four years to over 3,900. In this reporting period, content from this channel has been viewed more 160,000 times with an average watch time of just under 13 minutes resulting in a total watch time that exceeds 2
Author: Matthew Adams
During the summer of 2021, Hardin County held their first Hay Contest in conjunction with the local Cattlemen's Association, as an incentive to get more producers to test their forages. Both ag agents were involved in developing and conducting this program. 31 samples were received and entered in the contest. Local ag supply dealers provided prizes to the winners. Dr. Jimmy Henning was involved in setting up the program and actually judging the test results. He
Author: Carol Hinton
Forage Improvement is a Must to survive in the cattle businessThe problem was diagnosed about 18 months prior to seeing the results on this farm. When you stepped on to this farm, you could smell the problem with the hay crop. Sweet Vernal Grass had continued to take over fields for the past 2-3 years. Sweet vernal grass was a grass that was used in the early days to sweeten up the hay to make it sell better and to make hay more appealing to livestock. However, Sweet Vern
Author: Samuel Smith
The UK Forage Group has recently completed a major update of the national publication Alfalfa for Beef Cows. This effort was in cooperation with the National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance. Alfalfa for Beef Cows provides producers in KY and around the country with a comprehensive guide to utilizing alfalfa in beef cattle pasture, hay and silage systems. It includes recent history of the crop, growth and agronomic management, forage quality, nutrition balancing, management tips to reduce bloat, and
University of Kentucky forage specialists have been distributing a monthly forage newsletter called Forage News for almost 50 years. This publication highlights applied research findings from the UK forage group and the USDA-ARS forage animal production research unit located on UK's campus. The focus of the publication is to provide useful information that can be applied "on-farm" by Kentucky farmers. It is distributed to over 1800 people each month through a combination of emails
University of Kentucky Forage Specialists and Associates worked with the national Alliance for Grassland Renewal to host a virtual Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue Renovation workshop on March 8, 2022. This workshop included speakers from across the country. Participants included cattle, small ruminant and horse owners from many states as well as extension agents and NRCS conservationists. After the workshop, attendees had a much better understanding of managing existing toxic tall fescue stand
The 12th Annual Pastures Please equine program was held February 21, 2022 at the Fayette County extension office. The event was attended by over 150 in spite of the fact that Covid was limiting attendance to many similar events during this time period. Topics included Evaluating Pasture Health, Controlling Foxtail and Buttercup, and Plants That Shouldn’t Be In Your Pastures. The speaker's presentations were also recorded and to date an additional 215, 240 and 335 people have viewed eac
Author: Jimmy Henning
Specialists involved: Jimmy Henning, Ray Smith, Chris TeutschSheep and goats comprise a small but growing and profitable enterprise in Kentucky. The Kentucky Sheep and Goat Association and the UKY forages group cooperated to produce an online course for small ruminant producers to be a part of the Master Small Ruminant Producer series. New videos and publications were developed to comprise a comprehensive forage course for small ruminant producers. Over 29 original videos were produced for this
Specialists involved: Jimmy Henning, Ray Smith, Chris TeutschProducer leadership of the Kentucky Forage and Grassland Council identified high priority educational needs in grazing and in alfalfa and stored feed production for Kentucky. UKY forage specialists used these priorities to create and implement educational programs in the fall and winter of 2021-2022 to meet producer needs. These programs featured a diverse group of speakers from the public, private and producer sector. These programs w
Specialists and Agents Involved: Jimmy Henning, Jeff Lehmkuhler, Brandon Sears, Don Sorrell, Corinne Belton, Levi Berg, April WilhoitRound bale silage (baleage) is high moisture forage that is baled and wrapping in plastic so that it undergoes anaerobic fermentation. This practice is very beneficial to forage-livestock producers because it allows forage to be cut at more optimum stages of maturity and avoid rain damage because of shorter times needed for curing. This practice has been increasing
Specialists involved: Chris Teutsch, Jimmy Henning, Ray Smith, John GroveUKY Plant Science specialists and the Adair County KY agent for agriculture and natural resources drew a standing-room-only crowd when they addressed the timely topic of ‘Weathering High Fertilizer Prices’ at the 2022 Kentucky Cattleman’s Association annual meeting. Topics presented included hay feeding strategies to build fertility in grazing systems (Nick Roy), legumes as part of profitable ruminant live
Specialists Involved: Jimmy Henning, Ray Smith and Krista LeaA central Kentucky thoroughbred horse farm experienced a high incidence of fescue toxicosis symptoms in pregnant and foaling mares during early 2017. The UK Plant and Soil Science Forage Group was contacted by the farm at the advice of the consulting veterinarian. After a farm visit, the farm agreed to a program of pasture evaluation. Fields were samples for species composition, endophyte infection level, and ergovaline content. After
Specialists Involved: Jimmy Henning, Chris Teutsch, Jeff Lehmkulher, Bob Coleman and Ken Andries (Kentucky State University).The Eastern Kentucky Hay Contest (EKHC) is a cooperative effort between the county agents in Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky and local cattlemen’s associations and the University of Kentucky faculty specialists in animal science, plant and soil science and also specialists from Kentucky State University. The contest began 27 years ago and involved three counties an
Author: Philip Konopka
Lewis County has a strong forage and livestock production and this is a big part of the counties farm income. According to the last Census of Agriculture (2017) Lewis County has 13,853 acres in hay production, 9,255 head of Cattle and Calves, 390 goats, and over 350 head of Horses and Ponies. Lewis County has in sales $1,365,000 in hay, $3,664,000 in cattle and calves, $83,000 in goats, and $40,000 in equine. The Lewis County ANR agent has been working with these producers to have a better
Author: Timothy Stombaugh
A unique strain of red sorghum was discovered at UK that has the ability to produce desirable complex botanical compounds called phytoalexins. Recovery of these compounds requires harvest and processing of only the leaf material from the crop. Biosystems and Agricultural Engineers worked with the crop development team to identify and develop mechanical harvest techniques and equipment to allow them to efficiently recover just the leaf material from the field.
Author: Timothy Estes
The Tri County Hay and Straw auction originally started with Monroe, Barren, and Metcalfe counties being the primary ones involved. However, in 2022 Hart County became another one to enter into the lineup with producers willing to access another avenue to connect with potential buyers.Hart county is one of the leading hay producing counties in the state with much of the hay going to the horse industry. However, there is always room for improvement for producers in increasing their ma
Author: Kendal Bowman
Owen County ranks in the top 10 in the state of Kentucky for hay with approximately 38,134 acres produced. In an effort to inform livestock producers of possible supplement needs based on the forage analysis, the Owen County Extension ANR (Agriculture & Natural Resource) agent Kendal Bowman, Owen County Fair Board, and KDA (Kentucky Department of Agriculture) partnered to coordinate a Hay Contest in conjunction with the 2022 Owen County 4-H Fair and Horse Show. This was our 6th annual hay sh
