by Sally Colby
Generational dairy farms make changes over the years, but Ron Holter has made changes that took the family farm in a new direction.
Holterholm Farms was established in 1889, and until recently, Holter operated the Jefferson, MD, farm like many other dairies – raising crops, milking Holstein cows and producing milk year-round. That changed in 1995 when Holter switched to rotational grazing. (more…)
by Evelyn Leubner
June is Dairy Month. You may have heard of this campaign. Every summer when June rolls around, I get very excited. Not because school is out, or there is finally nice weather in central New York. Well, I do get excited about that, but not as excited as I do about June Dairy Month. (more…)
by Katie Navarra
Respiratory disease in replacement heifers is costly. However, farms don’t often realize the full cost of bovine respiratory disease (BRD). During a Dairy Calf & Heifer Association webinar, Kevin Dhuyvetter, Ph.D., a cattle technical consultant for Elanco, detailed both the short-term costs of BRD and the longer-term effects on growth and milk production. (more…)
by Courtney Llewellyn (more…)
by Kara Lynn Dunn
GLENFIELD, NY – Early planning prior to purchasing their first farm in 2015 proved providential for Andrew and Blake Place when the coronavirus pandemic shut down dairy demand this spring. (more…)
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
Want healthy soil? Plan for it is Sarah Hirsh’s advice. As an Extension agent with University of Maryland, she presented “Growing Healthy Soil” as a webinar through MidAtlantic Women in Agriculture. (more…)
by Katie Navarra
Social distancing and a virtual meeting platform didn’t keep Capital Region farmers from attending the annual Spring Turnout Grazier Meeting in late May. The two-hour meeting offered tips for strategizing about spending money, considerations for feeding minerals to livestock and calculating costs for fencing and forage. The annual event is organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension’s (CCE) Capital Area Agriculture and Horticulture Program. (more…)
by Catie Joyce-Bulay
A continued search for value-added and the pull of heritage was what led beekeeper Todd Hardie of Thornhill Farm from bees to rye. Hardie, who went to ag school and apprenticed at apiaries in New York, spent most of his career in commercial beekeeping in New York and later Vermont, producing raw honey. It was one of his value-added projects – mead and honey wine – that led him down a path to distilled spirits, ending in growing grain for whiskey. (more…)
by Sally Colby
A quick look at market prices for various livestock species will show the most consistent prices for two species: sheep and goats. (more…)
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
Your smartphone is with you all the time, but you likely ignore one of its functions that could really benefit your farm: recording videos. That’s why MidAtlantic Women In Agriculture presented “Smart Phone Movies,” led by Michele Walfred, communications specialist with University of Delaware. (more…)
by Edith Tucker
MILAN, NH – Rick Flint, whose grandfather Lloyd Flint started farming in the Androscoggin River Valley, is pleased (but surprised) that his sons – Josh, Caleb and Daniel – would like to stay on the Flint Farm in Coos County. His daughters, Kathleen and Hannah, remain involved with the farm but at the moment neither sees it a career path. (more…)
by Tamara Scully
Changing cow diets changes the amount of fatty acids in their milk. Fatty acids found in cow milk, which are thought to play an important role in human health, include linoleic and alpha-linoleic (ALA) – or omega 6 and omega 3 – as well as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). All cow milk, no matter what the animals are fed, contains these and many other fatty acids. But the amounts and proportions of these fatty acids can differ based on cow diet. (more…)
