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Avoid financial heartbreak after drought
POTOSI, Mo. – Missouri is coming off consecutive years of severe droughts and depleted cool-season pastures. As drought lingers, so do old practices that worsen its impact, says Rachel Hopkins, University of Missouri Extension agricultural business specialist. She likens it to an oft-quoted definition of insanity – “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” – to the mindset of some long-term fescue growers.
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MU Extension offers vegetable production series
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Extension will offer a seven-part webinar series in January and February on how to manage vegetable crops for maximum yield. The series runs 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Jan. 6-Feb. 25, 2025.
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Proper outside large round bale storage reduces hay losses
STOCKTON, Mo. – “As hay season continues, I see a lot of large round hay bales being stored outside,” says University of Missouri Extension livestock field specialist Patrick Davis. If hay is not stored properly outside, farmers can see significant dry matter and quality losses. Factors that contribute to these losses include:
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July 23 farm tour to showcase warm-season grasses
MOUNT VERNON, Mo. – University of Missouri Extension will hold a free farm tour on July 23 to highlight two successful Lawrence County farm operations that use native warm-season grasses in their forage programs.
Pastures, goats benefit from grazing an invasive species
GRAVOIS MILLS, Mo. – Cattle don’t like eating sericea lespedeza, an invasive species in Missouri pastures. But goats do, according to research at the University of Missouri’s Land of the Osages Research Farm in central Missouri.MU Extension forage specialist Harley Naumann found that goats are also getting a health benefit from sericea lespedeza.