BARRE, VT — The 2016 4-H State Day brought more than 150 of Vermont’s most talented 4-H’ers to Barre to enlighten and entertain the public about their 4-H club work through their action exhibits, stage presentations, illustrated talks, tabletop exhibits and more.

University of Vermont Extension 4-H sponsored the event, which was held May 21 at the Barre Civic Center. While all participants were winners at the regional level, those chosen as state winners are invited to repeat their presentations and performances or display their photos, posters and tabletop exhibits at Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA, in September. [Read more…]

by Lori Wright, NH Agricultural Experiment Station

Using new molecular techniques, a team of scientists, including a University of New Hampshire researcher, has shown how a largely eradicated livestock disease has been transmitted among cattle, bison and elk in the greater Yellowstone area. The research may have important implications in the management of disease outbreaks between livestock and wildlife. [Read more…]

by Laura Rodley

Short, shaggy, caramel colored cattle with long horns and wary eyes dotted the green countryside. It might have been a pasture in the hills of Scotland but in fact was Worthington, MA. The herd of 25 Scottish Highlanders grazing the pastures of Kinne Brook Farm are owned by Eliza Lake and her husband Bart Niswonger.

On May 20, 2016 their season’s first calf was born; a bull named Grayson. They are eagerly awaiting eight more calves. [Read more…]

by Kristen M. Castrataro

“It’s a great day at the State House. It’s not every day they’re giving away food,” Governor Gina Raimondo joked in her speech at Rhode Island’s 15th annual Ag Day at the State House on May 10. It is a fact that the food at Ag Day is always a highlight: 45 vendors take the opportunity to showcase the best of Rhode Island agriculture. But Ag Day is more than that. It has become a time to celebrate one of the true growth industries in the Ocean State: Local agriculture. [Read more…]

BURLINGTON, VT — A Grand Isle 4-H’er has earned national recognition for her essay on bees.

Madeline Chairvolotti, a member of the Champlain Shamrocks 4-H Club, took third place in the National 4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest, sponsored by the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc. Participants were asked to research and write 750 to 1,000 words on the topic, “Bees and Pollination: How Important is it?” [Read more…]

by Kristen M. Castrataro

In 1981, when Austin Tanner and his wife Debbi first saw the dairy farm that would become Creamery Brook Bison in Brooklyn, CT, the first thing he noticed was the mulberry tree. He had grown up on a farm that had a tree just like it.

The Tanners milked cows for nearly a decade. In 1990, they acquired three bison cows and two calves at an auction because Austin had developed a fascination for the large, shaggy creatures. The following year they bought a bull and four additional cows. Now they have nearly 100 head of cows and young and two breeding bulls. [Read more…]

by Joseph Parzych

The Lord blessed this year’s annual Plow Day with sunshine and balmy weather. The sun shone bright and a gentle breeze wafted across the 150-acre cornfield on Bill LLewellen’s Five Point Farm in Northfield, MA. The event was organized by Tony Amato and Paul Morehouse, members of the International Harvester Collector’s Club, New England Chapter 18. The Franklin County 4-H Club ran a food concession stand. Sixty-two tractors, 20 horses and their enthusiastic owners took part plowing, showing and socializing with the large friendly crowd that turned out. [Read more…]