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