Virginia’s cool-season grass pastures are highly productive in the spring and fall, but high temperatures and short-term drought stress often limit their growth during summer months. Incorporating warm-season grasses can be a beneficial strategy for meeting feed resources during this period of forage deficit.

Harvesting and storing forage at the proper moisture concentration is essential to producing a high-quality product. Ideally, hay forage should have a moisture concentration between 15 percent and 18 percent during baling. Hay baled at higher moisture levels is subject to heat damage, dry-matter loss, mold spoilage, and hay fires. Protein and total digestible nutrient losses are increased for hay baled at lower moisture levels. Baling at the proper moisture level is critical to making quality hay, especially for larger bales (round and square) since moisture and heat dissipate more slowly in comparison to smaller bales.

Hay production and feeding is one of the most expensive components of forage-livestock systems. Specific management practices are necessary to maintain hay quality and minimize hay loss during harvest, transportation and storage of large round bales.

This Extension publication covers the safety aspects of equipment used in large round bale packages such as: balers, front-end loaders, bale handling and transport devices. The key to safe and efficient systems for handling large round bales is an operator who knows the hazards involved and who follows safety practices that can prevent accidents. Operators must be constantly alert for situations that may cause injuries to themselves or others. Besides pain and suffering, accidents contribute to higher costs in terms of unnecessary downtime or costly machine repairs. Alertness and safety consciousness can result in more efficient and profitable baling and handling.

Silvopastures intentionally integrate trees with forage and livestock production in a rotational grazing system. These systems have the potential to improve animal comfort, increase farm resource use efficiency, boost income, and mitigate environmental costs.

Silvopastures — integrated tree-forage-livestock production systems — have the potential to boost farm resource use and income. These systems take advantage of the beneficial interactions among system components, add biodiversity, and increase animal comfort. The intentional and careful combining of trees and livestock in time and space can yield both short-and long-term returns and have positive environmental outcomes.

Fescue is the predominant forage in Virginia because of it is productive, high-quality forage across most of the state. However, the plant's positive agronomic traits are offset by toxins in the plant that cause significant reduction in animal performance and welfare. This article discusses fescue, the sources of toxins and their impacts, and provides some management strategies for addressing toxicosis.

Endophyte-infected tall fescue is the dominant forages in Virginia. As such, it is imperative to manage this important forage resource wisely. Ergot alkaloids produced by fescue’s fungal endophyte create challenges to accomplishing this. Tests for endophyte presence and alkaloid levels are important management tools that producers can use to minimize alkaloid consumption and the negative impacts of on animal performance. Consistent testing methods are important for adequately assessing alkaloid levels and for making comparisons among pastures over time. These results then can be used to develop a custom grazing strategy to avoid severe incidences of fescue toxicosis. Repeated testing during a grazing season can help determine possible benefits to pasture renovation or addition of legumes. Similar to testing forages for nutrient concentrations and devising a winter feeding and supplement plan, testing fescue-based pastures for endophyte infection level and for ergot alkaloid concentrations at various times during the year can facilitate management to reduce alkaloid consumption and also help determine if further mitigation is needed.

Planting trees in pastures may seem counter-cultural to many forage-livestock producers, but it’s receiving interest as a means to achieve several outcomes. In this video, we illustrate two methods that have been shown to successfully protect growing trees from livestock.

This guide provides key information for selecting trees suitable for silvopasture operations in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. – states include Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. This guide includes species native to North America with an emphasis on those native to Mid-Atlantic states. Only woody plants over 25 feet tall at maturity that are primarily single stemmed were considered. Both deciduous and evergreens are included.

Native warm season grasses may provide valuable forage resources for farmers in the summer months, while also providing habitat for wildlife, among other conservation benefits. This report provides the results of a three-year forage yield variety trial of 20 different cultivars and ecotypes of native warm season grasses at five different locations in Virginia.

No-till seeding has become accepted practice for establishing forage grasses and legumes for a number of reasons. Foremost among these is that no-till management helps keep soils in place. Tilling soils to create a seedbed for new forage stands greatly increases the risk of soil erosion during the establishment period.