When it comes to farming and ranching, “it depends…” is about the only answer that applies to every situation.
There are a lot of factors of hay production no one can control. Chief on the list is moisture, even for the irrigated folks. Follow that with weevils, aphids, gophers and winter kill, and it starts to seem a little high-maintenance. But when you’ve been in the business long enough, you learn to control what you can, and fix what you can’t control, and to adapt when necessary.
George Packard, the owner and manager of Packard Ranch Company near Arthur, Nebraska, grows mostly irrigated alfalfa-grass mix, added to a calf backgrounding, cow-calf and custom farming operation.