Virtual Cool-Season Forage Tour with Ann Blount

Virtual Cool-Season Forage Tour with Ann Blount

On Friday, March13, 2020 the University of Florida cancelled or postponed all in-person training activities to slow the spread of the Conronavirus.  One of the events this effected was the Twilight Cool-Season Forage Tour that had been scheduled for March 17th, at the...
Fall Cover Crop Mixes – A Working Piece of Art

Fall Cover Crop Mixes – A Working Piece of Art

Throughout the Southeast, anyone driving in the countryside will come across beautiful green fields planted with cover crops in cash crop fields or in pastures used for livestock grazing.  Often, a single species is planted, but some growers uses mixes in their...
Cover Crops: A Low Cost Alternative to Irrigation

Cover Crops: A Low Cost Alternative to Irrigation

Irrigation is expensive. And there are a lot of non-irrigated or “dryland” acres across the Panhandle. 2019 was characterized by persistent drought stress for much of the season (see below). So in a dry year like 2019, what are you supposed to do to manage...
New Cool-Season Forage Cultivars Released by UF/IFAS

New Cool-Season Forage Cultivars Released by UF/IFAS

Rye Dairymen in the southern Coastal Plain utilize cereal rye as a dairy silage crop. Beef cattlemen also depend on cereal rye for cold tolerant winter forage, and often use it in blends with other winter forages, particularly with ryegrass. The digestibility when...
Preparing for Cool-season Cover Crops

Preparing for Cool-season Cover Crops

Cheryl Mackowiak, UF/IFAS (Soil fertility/water quality) & Ann Blount, UF/IFAS (Forage breeding/genetics) Now is the time to purchase your cool-season cover crop seed! Cover crops are used to protect bare soil over the winter months and for grazing in planted...