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Category Archives: Mid Atlantic

Keith Tuck increases profitability with managed grazing

Posted in Mid Atlantic

CM-MR-2-Keith Tuck 1by Karl H. Kazaks
MONETA, VA — The forecast was predicting winter weather — a mix of rain, freezing rain, and snow.

Just a few years previously, Keith Tuck would have been girding himself to brave the weather, to go out and spend two hours feeding hay — each and every day until the weather passed, and then continuing each and every day until April, when the grass started to grow again.

This time, Tuck planned to move the temporary electric fence that allows him to strip-graze stockpiled forage (mostly fescue with some clover).

“I can move the fence in 30 minutes by myself,” Tuck said. His plan was to move the fence before the weather hit. Continue reading→

Carl Shaffer and the Borlaug hypothesis

Posted in Eastern Edition, Mid Atlantic, Western Edition

CM-MR-1-Carl Shaffer 1by Steve Wagner
When Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President Carl Shaffer stepped to the podium for his annual press conference at the PFB annual meeting, he did not look like the proverbial happy camper. “One of the hottest items is our state funding of transportation,” he said. “I can’t tell you how disappointed we are with our legislators today. There’s no excuse for this. They’re sent there to do a job and one of them is to provide services for the public. We have 5,600 bridges in the state of Pennsylvania that are in need of repair. Of those, 250 are closed completely. Continue reading→

Pless family maintains a long tradition of farming

Posted in Mid Atlantic

CM-MR-2-Pless family 2by Karl H. Kazaks
ROCKWELL, NC — The Plesses have been farming in what is today north central Cabarrus County for a long, long time — since 1760. That’s when their ancestor Christopher Pless received a land grant from King George IV. The land his descendents farm today — part of the original grant as well as adjoining land Christopher subsequently purchased — has been continuously owned by the Pless family. Continue reading→