Hey, gang! It’s the Hay & Forage Expo!
The Nation’s Largest Hay and Forage Event™ returns to Southeast Minnesota for its 29th annual show.
The Hay & Forage Expo™ is slated to bring the latest hay and forage tools, technology and suppliers at its 2015 event location near Cannon Falls, Minn., June 24 and 25 on the Hernke’s, Inc. farm.
Minnesota is one of the nation’s top five alfalfa producing states along with California, South Dakota, Idaho and Iowa. “This is a great location for the Hay & Forage Expo,” says Matt Jungmann, Penton Farm Progress national events manager. “The show site is located with direct access off U.S. Hwy 52 and farmers will find it very easy travel to and attend the event.”
I don’t know why I get these notices. I’m sure these are useful and important events for people in that business, but I’m not, and I get these kinds of things all the time.
Even though it’s on the other side of the state, I’m tempted to show up (free admission!) and tweet breathlessly about the new developments in Hay and Forage technology, and summarize a couple of the big discussions a blog post or two. I bet there are interesting things going on that I’m just currently ignorant about.
I could have the world’s first Hay and Forage blog! I wonder if I could persuade members of the Hay and Forage community to find common cause with atheists if I went. Maybe get a speaking gig. Or a table to share literature.
Yes you should go PZ. Since hay bales are standard seating at Renaissance Faires all over the country, I’d like to hear if they have made any advances on the (lack of) softness issue.
Inquiring minds want to know!
Gnu Haytheists?
Hay and forage are specifically about feeding livestock. Any side issues or “implications” are just a distraction.
Pick me up a “I like hay and I vote!” bumper sticker.
Just another attempt on the part of Big Hay to further exploit the farmer.
@randomfactor:
Oh, please! People who take that position don’t know shit.
Some years back, I remember getting spam from Chinese companies who could fabricate custom machine parts. I can only assume they’re now targeting their market more carefully.
It also brings back memories of WKRP in Cincinatti–specifically Les Nessman’s farm reports. Do they really (still?) have that kind of thing in the midwest?
They do, but they still don’t match the Farm Film Report.
If you do decide to attend, come see us at the Digi-Star Booth.
@PaulBC
And di they ever deal with the tragedy of the vanishing American rutabaga?
You should go. There’s crop sciences (it’s specialized botany, that’s at least close to your wheelhouse), lots of specialized machinery where you can actually see some of the working parts out in the open, probably some soil stuff. Also the blog posts you allude to sound interesting.
If you do blog about it, I anticipate a lot of strawman arguments.
Not without the capacity to time travel!
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/Alfalfa/
Alfalfa. Al…Fal… Fa… There’s something about that word that just makes me laugh.
Or maybe it’s this.
Oh, I completely forgot about that skit (“blowed it up real good” has got to be a useful meme for something or other).
Hay and forage are uninteresting? You’ve got a lot of nerve there, Zebrafish McGee.
Hey this atheist farmer would love to hear your thoughts on the hay and forage symposium
Just think PZ. Thousands (if not more) of hay field dwelling life forms are under severe evolutionary pressure due to the use of these Hay and Forage tools. You could study the response of evolution to human-imposed threats!
Hay is a big market. Lots of hay goes overseas. I see truckloads of hay grown with scarce Colorado River water on the way to the ship and than China. I guess we get some of the water back in the meat they ship back.
Southeast Minnesota has a festival glorifying the hay lifestyle? O.O
I bet there are interesting things going on that I’m just currently ignorant about.
Probably, but that’s because pretty much any part of the universe of any size is interesting if you look at it the right way. Can be very distracting.
When I was in grad school at a land grant college in the middle of an agricultural area, the State Fair and the Ag Show were right down the road, so I went for a couple of summers. Fun trip. You learn about what people are doing and interested in that you might never meet otherwise. Realizing that a big combine harvester can cost a cool quarter-million dollars completely revolutionized my understanding of modern farming. Learning that goats have horizontally slitted eyes was just a bonus. :^) (Yes, I didn’t know much about ag before going there.)
I bet they would like to talk about GMO’s at least.
Have you heard about the eco-friendly car that runs on forage?
It’s called an Alfalfa Romeo …
I’ll get my coat
“one of the nation’s top five alfalfa producing states”!
Now you’ve hit the big time!
Seriously … you should go!
Without hay and forage, you would have far less milk and meat.
And farming is amazingly high-tech, even in the genetics field. Low-lignin alfalfa, pest-resistant corn for silage … cool stuff.
And the food is great!
May be not the first, PZ: HayTalk—Your Hay, Forage, and Silage Community. The internet is a marvelous thing to behold.
Vanishing American rutabaga? Are all the rutabagas I see in the market imported? (I thought I’d seen some at the local farmers’ market, and I don’t think anyone is driving down from Canada to sell there.)
Rather disturbing what I found at the site you linked to. Hundreds of thousands of chickens killed on 16 farms in the last two weeks in South Carolina by someone sabotaging ventilation and temperature alarms. There is no proof that it was animal rights activists targeting the associated company Pilgrim’s Pride, the largest poultry producer in the country. The birds died of heat exhaustion and suffered for hours.
Woooooo…Paaaar-Tay!
Julio Iglesias loves hey.
It’s not so specific as to be about hay and forage, but it’s something even better: a skeptical farming blog! http://www.thefarmersdaughterusa.com/
What, no silage? These some kinda plastic haten’ hippie farmers?
By coincidence tomorrow is our little town’s tobacco, timber and hops festival. Far more potential for merriment and mayhem than hay and forage I think. Mind you, since the tobacco farmers took a government buyout to stop growing the stuff it’s just been call The Festival.
Alfalfa is a neverending word…alfalfalfalfalfalfalfa…….
as is the name George (gerogerorgeorgeorge……)
Hat tip to the late George Carlin.
Dammit – can’t spellcheck for crap.
moarscienceplz @1
While you’re not wrong about the seating being kind of hard (not to mention the water retention issue when it rains) unless the folks putting on the faire* are wasting a lot of money, those things you’re sitting on are straw bales which have little to no use as feedstock. The expo you’re looking for is the bedding, erosion control and mulch expo.
*or probably more likely festival, since one of the promoters trademarked “faire” years ago
Perhaps the trophy wife is signing you up as a subtle message that you aren’t getting enough roughage in your diet. Half a kilo of hay every day will keep you regular, and the time it takes to chew it fine enough to swallow will cut into the time remaining for higher calorie foods. Hay also tends to be very filling. Just make sure you drink lots of water so you don’t get colic. Hydration, silage, fresh grass, and vigorous brushing after every ride, helps keep you frisky.