Since Jan. 1, seven Wyoming County 4-H Youth have competed in a contest to win a registered dairy calf of their choice. The 4-H Win-A-Calf Project is a nine-month project where youth keep monthly expense records, research dairy topics, and do an interview all in the hopes to win a registered dairy calf. (more…)
by Courtney Llewellyn
Big news was announced in the dairy world earlier this month, with Nestlé offering its support – in the form of $10 million over a five-year period – for the Net Zero Initiative, a new industry-wide effort that will help U.S. dairy farms of all sizes implement new technologies and adopt economically viable practices. The initiative ties into the dairy industry’s environmental stewardship goals of achieving carbon neutrality, optimized water usage and improved water quality by 2050. (more…)
by Tamara Scully
Entrances to livestock barns can get quite messy. Depending on how often and how many animals are utilizing it, plus any heavy equipment accessing the entryway, the area can become dangerous and dirty. As with other heavy use areas, proper planning, construction and maintenance can go a long way in mitigating cow comfort and safety issues. (more…)
by Sally Colby
It’s a fact: Consumers are several generations removed from the farm and don’t understand agricultural production. While farmers have worked hard to garner consumer trust, there’s still a gap between what happens on the farm and what consumers believe. Despite education campaigns and increased farm transparency, many consumer distrust issues are centered on animal welfare and antibiotic use. (more…)
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
While most farmers seek to keep animals away from their crops, Nathan and Sarah Anderson work at ways to integrate wildlife into natural habitats on Bobolink Prairie Farms, their Aurelia, Iowa, farm, to increase overall profitability. Practical Farmers of Iowa offered “Using Conservation to Improve Farm Profitability” as a recent webinar in which Nathan Anderson spoke about their edge-of-field conservation on marginal lands to provide water quality and wildlife benefits while improving return on investment on farmed acres. (more…)
by Tamara Scully
Confusing and misleading claims on conventional poultry products and overall industry “greenwashing” has left consumers perplexed. (more…)
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
If you want to finish your beef cattle on grass, Jamie Hostetler of Rolling Meadows Farm in Bellevue, Iowa, offered some expert insights during “The Art of Grass Finishing Cattle,” a recent shared learning call hosted by Practical Farmers of Iowa. Hostetler profits $500 per acre from selling his beef cattle. (more…)
by Sally Colby
Between thinking about crop yields, weather and commodity prices, farmers sometimes ponder the unthinkable: the possibility of a foreign disease reaching the U.S.
One such disease is foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which was in the news in the early 2000s when it hit Great Britain. Throughout that outbreak and to this day, the USDA works tirelessly to ensure that FMD and other disastrous diseases don’t enter America. (more…)
by Courtney Llewellyn
POMPEY, NY – Palladino & Carley Farms LLC have created a successful livestock/crop growing partnership in Central New York over the years. Now, Palladino Farms is excited to announce another promising partnership – hosting Empire Farm Days again, after a 34-year hiatus. (more…)
by Sonja Heyck-Merlin
In a September webinar titled “Fall Pasture Management,” Susan Truehart Garey discussed a basic method that can be used to monitor and assess pastures in autumn. Garey is an animal science agent with University of Delaware Cooperative Extension. The tool, called the Equine Pasture Evaluation Disc (EPED), was developed by the University of Pennsylvania. While the acronym refers to equine species, the method can be applied to any pasture. (more…)
ARLINGTON, VA – One year ago, Dairy Defined debuted with a simple piece of myth-busting, noting that, for all the vegan-activist-inspired dreams of the “death of dairy,” dairy products are growing only more popular, with U.S. per-capita consumption at a 56-year high. This information is now out of date. (more…)
by Troy Bishopp
ALBANY, NY – New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos reported that DEC “is experiencing record-breaking sales of hunting and trapping licenses for the upcoming season.” That’s good news for local communities and renewed opportunities for farmers and landowners via hunting leases. If you’re wildlife, you may be providing sustenance to a family sooner rather than later. (more…)
