How to grow great alfalfa and other forages. Growing a healthy stand, promoting vigorous forage growth through soil life, weed control and balanced soil fertility. Describing when forages should be cut (pre-bloom, first bloom or mid-bloom). This book shows how to measure forage quality.

The Alfalfa Management Guide is designed especially for busy growers, with to-the-point recommendations, useful images of diseased plants and pests, and quick-reference tables and charts. Revised in 2011, this edition of Alfalfa Management Guide covers the latest strategies for alfalfa establishment, production, and harvest-soil testing, fertilizing, integrated pest management, rotation, and more.

Now you can tap the source of many of agriculture¿s most popular progressive farming tools. Ideas now commonplace in the industry, such as ¿crop and soil weatherproofing,¿ the ¿row support system,¿ and the ¿tillage commandments,¿ exemplify the practicality of the soil/root maintenance program that serves as the foundation for Schriefer¿s highly-successful ¿systems approach¿ farming. A veteran teacher, lecturer and writer, Schriefer¿s ideas are clear, straightforward and practical.

Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.

This comprehensive guide for western alfalfa growers brings together the most current information and recommendations in nearly all areas of alfalfa management, including stand establishment, fertilization, irrigation, pest management, and harvesting

Annotation In All Flesh Is Grass: The Pleasures and Promises of Pasture Farming, Gene Logsdon explains that well-managed pastures are nutritious and palatable - virtual salads for livestock. Leafy pastures also hold the soil, increase biodiversity, and create lovely landscapes. Grass farming may be the solution for a stressed agricultural system based on an industrial model and propped up by federal subsidies. The pasture farming that Gene Logsdon practices can also produce grains, fruits, herbs, mushrooms, and salad greens for human consumption. The book explains historically effective practices and new techniques that have blossomed in recent years for the care and sustenance of horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and poultry on pasture. Logsdon's warm profiles of successful grass farmers offer inspiration and ideas. His narrative is enriched by his experience as a "contrary farmer" on his own artisan-scale farm. The culmination of a lifetime's experience, this book is vital for owners of small acreages, home food producers, horse enthusiasts, and sustainable commercial farmers.

[A publication designed to provide detailed, scientifically-based comprehensive information about the growth, production, management, and utilization of alfalfa grown under irrigation].

This completely revised and updated edition includes 40 new color photographs plus new information on perennials, ornamental grasses, geraniums, and more.

Provides information about how to use straw bales as planting containers for vegetable gardening.