Alfalfa & Forage News

This year's Alfalfa and Forage Field Day held on September 19, 2018 at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, CA, was another success. The presentations and handouts from that day are now available on the University of CA Alfalfa and Forages website.

The CA Alfalfa Symposium is scheduled for late November and offers an excellent opportunity to earn continuing education (CE) hours for DPR licenses and certificates. Visit https://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu/# for details about this event.

Several new University of California forage oat varieties have been developed by Dr. Cal Qualset, Small Grains program, UC Davis recently. These are generally grown together in hay mixtures (e.g. a mix of oats, barley, and wheat), or as a sole-crop.

Sorghum is grown in California as a high yielding, drought resistant, low input forage and grain crop. However, it's been bugged lately. Last month, a sorghum field in Yolo County and fields throughout the Central Valley were infested with sugarcane aphid.

As comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to say: I don't get no respect! Forgive the double negative, but farmers and supporters of our lowly alfalfa and grass crops seem like they have the same complaint.