Justin Korver harvests corn in southeast Lancaster County in November 2023. Total farm receipts in Nebraska are projected to increase $731 million, to $33.37 billion, in 2025. (Courtesy photo.)
The center pivot irrigation system at the Oklahoma State University McCaull Research and Demonstration Farm will be one of the topics discussed at this year’s Panhandle Crops & Forages Field Day in Eva. The Aug. 31 event kicks off the fall field day events with topics like sorghum varieties, nitrogen management, soil moisture monitoring and managing spider mites in corn. (Photo by Todd Johnson, OSU Agriculture.)
Baling hay in Faulkner County on May 16, 2025. Hay growers are trying to work between the raindrops, but are struggling this spring. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Kevin Lawson.)

Rain, cool weather delaying hay

  • By Mary Hightower │ U of A System Division of Agriculture
Hay bale in a field (Photo courtesy MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.)
Yields look promising as baling is starting on the first crop of hay across Central and East Texas. (Michael Miller/Texas A&M AgriLife)

Hay, forage conditions improve with rainfall

(Courtesy of South Dakota Mesonet)
Hay is one of the largest expenses in a cow-calf operation, according to K-State beef cattle nutritionist Phillip Lancaster. (K-State Research and Extension news service)

Cutting costs on the ranch

  • By Lisa Moser │ K-State Research and Extension news service
Irrigated soybeans in Keith County, Nebraska are watered by the Ogallala Aquifer. The vast underground reservoir reaches as far south as Texas, where it has declined as much as 36% since the 1950s. In Nebraska, the Ogallala has decreased by just 0.34% on average, according to analysis of U.S. Geological Survey reports, although the state’s southwest counties are showing a much greater decline. (Photo courtesy of Bill Spiegel.)