News Stories - Page 2

Hay bales outline a field in Butts County, Georgia. CAES News
To Overseed or Not?
While drivers spend extra time in the car in search of fuel during the recent gasoline shortage, farmers are dealing with a more long-term shortage — a low supply of hay for their livestock.
All stages of fall armyworms, from tiny larvae to large caterpillars, live in a growth chamber on the University of Georgia campus in Griffin, Georgia. The worms are used to conduct research on how best to control the pest. CAES News
Worm Army
Georgia farmers are never surprised to see fall armyworms munching on their precious corn, sorghum and forage hay crops. They just hope for a low number of armyworms. This year’s population of the tiny destroyers, described as an “Armageddon-type outbreak” by University of Georgia entomologist David Buntin, is far from low.
To determine the quality of hay, Georgia farmers trust forage tests from the University of Georgia Agricultural and Environmental Services Laboratories in Athens, Georgia. The lab provides an estimate of Relative Forage Quality (RFQ). This value is a single, easy-to-interpret number that improves a producer's understanding of forage quality and helps to establish a fair market value for the product. CAES News
High Quality Hay
Hay and baleage producers in the Southeast have a chance at winning cash and major equipment prizes in the 2016 Southeastern Hay Contest presented by Massey Ferguson. The Southeastern Hay Contest is held in conjunction with the Sunbelt Ag Expo, the South’s premier outdoor farm show.
Although there is no one-size-fits-all rule to rotational grazing management, to provide forage rest and recovery and improve grazing efficiency, the first step is to get cattle moving. CAES News
Grazing School
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension forage specialist Dennis Hancock has organized the annual Georgia Grazing School set for Sept. 20 – 21 at the National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory (NESPAL)building on the UGA campus in Tifton, Georgia.
Rows of forage sorghum regrowth after the first cutting. CAES News
Forage Sorghum
With water use and rising expenses a concern, forage sorghum is a cheaper, more effective alternative for Georgia cattlemen feeding dairy cows, according to University of Georgia animal and dairy scientist John Bernard.
Professor Nick Hill harvests corn from his test plots at the J. Phil Campbell Research and Education Center in Watkinsville, Georgia. CAES News
Corn Boil
The University of Georgia faculty and staff at the J. Phil Campbell Sr. Research and Education Center in Watkinsville will host the center’s annual corn boil and open house on June 28 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
While some parts of Georgia saw 3 to 4 inches less rain than normal during October, the northeastern part of the state recorded rainfall totals more than 8 inches above normal. CAES News
October Rainfall
While our neighbor to the northeast, South Carolina, was left reeling from October’s floods, parts of Georgia were left with less rain than normal.
Two steers graze on sorghum/sudangrass hybrid forage at the UGA Eatonton Beef Research Unit as part of a 2014 study on grass-finished beef forages. CAES News
Farmgate Value Report
Led by increases in forestry and livestock values, Georgia’s agricultural output increased by $484 million in 2014, making agriculture, once again, the largest industry in the state with a value of $14.1 billion. According to the most recent University of Georgia Farmgate Value Report, published earlier this month, the value of Georgia’s livestock and aquaculture industries increased by almost 36 percent from 2013.
To determine the quality of hay, Georgia farmers trust forage tests from the University of Georgia Agricultural and Environmental Services Laboratories in Athens, Georgia. The lab provides an estimate of Relative Forage Quality (RFQ). This value is a single, easy-to-interpret number that improves a producer's understanding of forage quality and helps to establish a fair market value for the product. CAES News
Hay Testing
Hay can’t be evaluated by touch, smell, color or any other on-the-spot technique. To get a true measure of forage quality, hay has to be tested.
Hay bales outline a field in Butts County, Georgia. CAES News
Hay Contest
This year, farmers from 13 Southeastern states competed to show off their farm’s best hay or baleage in the 2015 Southeastern Hay Contest.