ISU Dairy Team

• Variety Trials
• Management
• Research
• Forage Identification and Characteristics
• Forage Sampling. Testing, Marketing, Storage
• Soil Fertility
• Pest Management

 

Variety Trials

• Iowa State University Extension
  • Web site
  • Variety Trial Publications
    • Alfalfa and other forages (pdf)
    • Winter Wheat and Winter Triticale (pdf)
    • Oats and Barley (pdf)
  • Other University Web Sites
    • Corn silage variety trials are available at the Wisconsin and Minnesota web sites.

Management

• Corn silage
  • UW-Extension information resources
  • Corn Silage Production, Management and Feeding (NCR574) 42 pgs, color, $5.00, order through UW-Extension
  • Keys to higher yields
• Alfalfa
  • Alfalfa Management Guide
  • Alfalfa Stand Assessment (pdf)
  • Cutting height
  • Wheel traffic
  • Diagnose and manage winter injury
  • Winterkilled alfalfa: What to consider?
  • Frost damaged alfalfa
  • Italian ryegrass as a cover crop
  • Hay preservatives
  • Large bale preservative, wrapping tips
  • Equipment tips to speed hay drying
  • Machinery designs to minimize field losses
  • Setting the mower-conditioner
  • Using a super conditioner
• Other legumes
  • Birdsfoot trefoil for grazing and harvested forage (pdf)
  • Birdsfoot trefoil (pdf)
  • Experiences with Kura Clover
  • Red clover (pdf)
  • Red clover in the 21st century
  • White clover (pdf)
• Grasses
  • Kentucky bluegrass (pdf)
  • Prairie grass (pdf)
  • Orchardgrass (pdf)
  • Reed canarygrass (pdf)
  • Reed canarygrass
  • Ryegrass (pdf)
  • Ryegrass types for pasture and hay
  • Overseeding ryegrass on pasture
  • Smooth bromegrass (pdf)
  • Summer annual grasses (pdf)
  • Tall fescue (pdf)
  • Timothy (pdf)
• Small grains
  • Winter small grain production for Iowa (pdf)
  • Spring small grain production for Iowa (pdf)
  • A national small grains home page with many links on production
  • Pea and small grain mixtures
• Native forages
  • Warm-season grasses for hay and pasture (pdf)
  • Establishment and management of switchgrass
  • Grasses of Iowa
  • Landowners guide to prairie management (pdf)
• Alternative forages
  • Emergency planting forages
  • Alternate forage crops
  • Alternative field crops manual
  • Use of brassica crops in grazing systems
  • Use of brassicas to extend grazing (pdf)
  • Chicory (pdf)
  • Extending the grazing season (pdf)
  • Sorghum and sudangrass hybrids for forage
• Economics
  • Pricing forage in the field (pdf)
  • Estimated costs of crop production (pdf)
  • Estimated costs of pasture and hay production (pdf)
  • Estimating field capacity of farm machinery (pdf)
  • Fuel required for field operations (pdf)
  • Estimating farm machinery costs (pdf)
  • Iowa farm custom rate survey (pdf)
  • Natural resources custom rate survey
  • Estimating cash rental rates for farmland (pdf)
  • Survey of cash rental rates for farmland (pdf)
  • Survey of Iowa farmland value (pdf)

Research

• Corn silage
  • UW corn silage breeding program
• Alfalfa
  • Breeding
• Small grains
  • Feeding small grains to swine (pdf)
  • Small grain cover crops for corn and soybean (pdf)
  • Triticale research
• Alternative forages
• Bioenergy

Forage Identification and Characteristics

• Identifying forage grasses (pdf)
• Identifying forage legumes (pdf)
• Selecting forage species (pdf)
• How plants grow (pdf)
• Alfalfa seedling development and growth (pdf)

Forage Sampling. Testing, Marketing, Storage

• Sampling
  • Forage Sampling and Sampling Equipment (pdf)
• Testing
  • Forage Testing Laboratories (pdf)
  • Understanding forage quality
  • Does forage quality pay?
  • Forage quality testing and markets: Where are we going? (pdf)
• Marketing
  • Iowa Hay and Straw Directory
  • Upper Midwest hay list
  • Internet Hay Exchange
  • Fort Atkinson hay auctions
  • Dyersville hay auctions
  • Rock Valley hay auctions
  • Buying horse hay (pdf)
• Hay storage
  • Minimize losses in hay storage and feeding (pdf)
  • Preserving stored hay

Soil Fertility

• Take a Good Soil Test (pdf)
• Soil sample information sheet (pdf)
• Crop Nutrient and Limestone Recommendations (pdf)
• Iowa Department of Agriculture Feed and Fertilizer Bureau
  • Certified Soil Testing Laboratories
  • Ag Limestone Quarry Certification Report
• Applying manure to alfalfa (pdf)
• Nutrient Deficiencies in Field Crops (pdf)
• Sulfur status of Wisconsin alfalfa
• Potassium in forages
• Foliar fertilizer on alfalfa

Pest Management

• Insects
  • Insect identification request form (pdf)
  • Potato leafhopper management (article)
  • Potato leafhopper review
  • Alfalfa weevil management (article)
  • Cowpea aphid management (article)
  • Blister beetle management (article)
  • Biological control of alfalfa weevil in Iowa (pdf)
• Disease
  • Plant disease identification form (pdf)
  • Crown and Root Diseases of Alfalfa (pdf)
  • Aphanomyces Race II
  • Alfalfa leaf diseases (article)
  • Hail damage to alfalfa and red clover
  • Yellow Dwarf of Oats (pdf)
  • Ergot in small grains (pdf)
• Weeds
  • Weed ID, Weed control guides, and Herbicide product labels
  • Legume living mulches in corn and soybean (pdf)
  • Roundup Ready Alfalfa Technology (pdf)