MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Early spring is the perfect time to examine the performance and needs of cool-season forages at a Mississippi State University tour on April 30.

The Cool-Season Forage Tour will be from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the forage unit on the Henry H. Leveck Animal Research Farm, otherwise known as South Farm, in Starkville.

The tour will cover ongoing cool-season forage research, demonstrations and variety testing. Participants can examine alfalfa variety testing and management systems, annual and perennial clovers, tall fescue varieties and nutrient management and wildrye and orchardgrass trials.

It is offered through the Oktibbeha County office of the MSU Extension Service and will highlight work being done by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

The event is free and open to area forage and livestock producers. A meal is provided, so registration is requested. For more information or to register, contact Oktibbeha County Extension Service director Julie White at (662) 325-5916 or juliew@ext.msstate.edu, or Rocky Lemus, MSU Extension forage specialist, at (662) 325-7718 or rlemus@ext.msstate.edu.