by Rebecca Long Chaney
KANSAS CITY, MO — The “Show Me” state welcomed 660 junior Hereford exhibitors from 40 states with 1,100 head of cattle to the Junior National Hereford Expo (JNHE). The annual event is held every year in a different state to showcase the nation’s top Hereford cattle and junior members compete in 23 skill-based contests.
According to Amy Cowan, Director of Hereford Youth Activities and the Hereford Youth Foundation of America (HYFA), the JNHE is the premier event each year that Hereford families look forward too. “Scholarship and education is the mission statement of the Foundation,” she said. “We have two components — we offer $50,000 in scholarships and we hope to grow the foundation. The short-term goal is raising one million to continue offering scholarships. The long-term goal is raising five million so we can use the interest for scholarships and other junior Hereford activities.”
East Coast youth made an impression at the national show. There were three junior exhibitors from Connecticut, one from Maine, 10 from Maryland, three from New Hampshire, eight from New Jersey, five from New York, 15 from Pennsylvania and four from Virginia. They exhibited nearly 100 Herefords, several winning top honors.
Doug Howe of Wagontown, PA, was happy there was a great delegation of Hereford youth representing the East and Northeast. Howe’s family operates Deanajak Farm and Howe is the chairman of the 2014 Junior National Hereford Expo to be held July 5-12 at the Farm Show Building in Harrisburg, PA. Continue reading
Scouting to manage pests
by Tamara Scully
Pest management means scouting for pests. If you don’t know what is out there, or if they are out there en masse or just at a tolerable level, any control program is going to be more costly and less effective than a targeted approach. Whether a young farmer, just learning the ropes, or an experienced grower needing to intensify pest management strategies, scouting more effectively, and learning how to use the results, is good practice.
Doug O’Brien, an agricultural consultant and adjunct professor at Cabrillo College, in California, teaching organic farming, and Helen Attowe, a farmer, organic farm consultant and former horticultural extension agent, recently addressed a web-based audience, providing scouting information, tips, tools and procedures.
“It all sounds really easy, but it isn’t,” O’Brien said. Continue reading
The memories of the Saratoga County Fair
by Richard Smith, Saratoga County Extension Agent
Summers bring out the best in farm youth. Many of them besides doing their normal chores around the farm spend time preparing their animals for exhibition at the county fair. The 172nd Saratoga County Fair just finished and the 4-H’ers of Saratoga County took home numerous ribbons and trophies. Perhaps the realization of the overall wonderful experiences have not settled within their youthful and energetic minds just yet but they will for sure become part of their fond memories in time.
Whether it was the youngest of the eligible showman entering the ring with modest self-confidence for the first time, they all experienced the thrill of arriving at a moment in time that they’ve worked and waited for a very long time. When those proud youngsters proceed into the ring with heads held high and smiles that are endless little do they know their moment of pride is mild compared to the warmth and love within each parent or relative on the outside looking and tensely observing from the rings’ edge. Some parents coach by trying to catch their youngster’s eye, giving nonverbal instructions, while others look on with a silent prayer that their youth hasn’t forgotten all they’ve practiced for days on end prior to show day.
Now every youngster doesn’t end up the top showman of the day but all end up far ahead of those youngsters who grow up never realizing the skill, talent, determination, and confidence of character that each and every 4-H’er gains once they enter that ring. In the future they will be the doers and the individuals who will tackle the challenges presented to them and know that they can lead. Continue reading
What’s driving agriculture in the year ahead?
by Stephen Wagner
Mike Pearson is familiar to viewers of Weekly Journal of Rural America. Speaking on the topic titled above at the 135th Penn-Ag annual meeting, he acknowledges that one of his guiding principles is ‘Trust, But Verify!’
Before you know where you are going in the next marketing year, you have to know where you’ve been, Pearson says. “Obviously, the big issue, the driving force in all ag media in 2012 was the drought. It is still an issue this year. It’s one of those things that carries forward. Thanks to the drought last year we saw tremendous spikes in commodity prices. The drought was a compelling story for non-commercial folks to get into commodities.” Pearson cited the lack of a Farm Bill passing. Instead an extension was signed which means this conversation will be re-visited. Last year, interest rates hit new all-time lows, but farmland values climbed to record or near-record highs. Continue reading
