In 2021, livestock farmer’s budgets were broken with a dramatic rise in fertilizer prices.  Farmers were left wondering how they could meet the fertility needs of their forage crops in 2021.  Demonstration work conducted by the Adair County Cooperative Extension Service in previous years surfaced quickly as one strategy livestock producers could employ to deal with high fertilizer prices.   

Since 2016, the Adair County Cooperative Extension Service has worked with local beef farmer Fred Thomas in making observations on the impact on soil fertility by using bale grazing for winter feeding.  Observations revealed a significant increase in both phosphorus and potassium levels in the soil resulting in no needing of synthetic fertilizer applications.

Results of the demonstration and best practices learned during the demonstrations where shared during the winter of 2021-22 through various educational programs including a county workshop, the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Convention Forage Conference, and the Adair County Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting.  A recording of the presentation was also via KY Forages Youtube page.  To date, these efforts have reached over 1900  livestock producers.