Forage Seed Planning, Availability & Establishment Guarantees (BrettYoung)

In episode 115 of the What The Futures Podcast, Ryan is joined by Mark and Kent from BrettYoung to discuss forage crops, including seed availability, planning timelines, and BrettYoung’s forage establishment guarantee, which offers 100% seed replacement for orders placed before April 1 in the event of natural disasters. They cover common establishment risks such as frost, wind erosion, and increasing gopher damage, and stress the importance of early planning, proper seeding depth, moisture, seed-to-soil contact, and scouting. The conversation also includes cover crop guidance (notably oats and low cereal seeding rates), fertility timing for different nutrients, and herbicide options for early weed control. They highlight BrettYoung’s forage guide and online selector tools, discuss custom versus stock blends, and note that forage seed supply varies annually by weather and production regions.

00:00 Show kickoff and agenda

00:38 Market recap and geopolitics

01:35 Farm talk and episode setup

03:01 Forage guarantee deadline

05:27 Meet Kent and Mark

06:52 Seed availability and planning

10:42 Choosing varieties and blends

13:16 Establishment and agronomy tips

19:48 Forage Guide and favorites

24:08 Plots and seed supply realities

26:50 Forages as rotation crop

29:04 Wrap up and marketing outlook