Healthiest Haylands and Pastures for the Appalachian Region

Jun 20, 2025

The West Virginia Plant Materials Center will wrap-up a five-year study in spring 2025 to help producers in the Appalachian region better manage pasture and haylands. In this study, the effects of different nutrient applications and grazing approaches for four types of commonly planted forages: endophyte-infected tall fescue (KY-31), novel endophyte tall fescue (BarOptima Plus), orchardgrass (Olathe) and a mixture of KY-31 tall fescue and white clover (Alice), were evaluated.

To assess the impact of nutrient additions, commercial fertilizer was applied according to annual soil test results to half of the plants and no fertilizer was applied to the other half of the plants. To assess the impacts of different grazing regimes, a recommended grazing regime was simulated by letting grass grow to at least 12 inches then cutting it back to four inches and an overgrazing regime was simulated by letting grass grow to at least four inches then cutting it back one inch.

Source : usda.gov

Video: Farm Health Guardian | Digital Biosecurity in Real Time

Disease risk, biosecurity, and real-time monitoring continue to be major topics across the pork industry. In this episode of Swine Web Industry Perspectives, presented by Farm Health Guardian, we discuss how digital biosecurity and real-time data are changing the way producers think about herd protection, people movement, and operational decision-making.

The conversation explores:

disease risk in modern pork production,

the impact of people movement on biosecurity,

the importance of real-time monitoring,

digital biosecurity technology,

and how Farm Health Guardian developed tools designed to support modern swine operations.

As the industry continues focusing on prevention, preparedness, and operational efficiency, connected technologies and actionable data are becoming increasingly important parts of modern herd health management.