Short on hay this spring?
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A number of livestock producers are reporting short hay inventories coming into the spring and, while the warmth of the sun has us optimistic that winter will soon be behind us, the 2021 crop season is still a ways off. Strategies to deal with potential forage shortages started last fall with farms reducing animal numbers, extending grazing as long into the fall as possible, and planting winter cereal grains for spring forage. But what about additional strategies for this spring? Few to no options are likely to shift forage harvest earlier this spring. Many options exist to increase forage yields this year to recover from low inventories resulting from poor forage yields in 2020. Consideration of these options should be balanced with farm priorities, opportunities to reseed or rotate fields, animal nutritional requirements and animal health.