While colostrum quality is important, quantity is also a factor when it comes to providing adequate colostrum for newborn calves. This can be problematic because cows typically produce a lower volume of colostrum in autumn and early winter. “The quality might be fine but cows aren’t producing four o...

Just as humans can enjoy the benefits of “ super foods ,” so too can farms enjoy “super crops.” Just look at alfalfa, a perennial forage legume which normally lives four to eight years, but can live more than 20 years, depending on variety and climate. It’s an oldie but a goodie when it comes to liv...

Four years ago, Mason Gahler saw a video in his ag class at school. The video was about the risks grain silos present to farmers and how easily they can become trapped. Mason grew up in farm country, and his grandparents have a farm in Mankato, MN. He decided that he would try to come up with a way ...

Effectively managing tough weeds in corn crops relies upon more than just applying glyphosate. That’s what Bryan Young, weed scientist with Purdue University, shared with attendees of the 2024 Corn Congress hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Northwest NY Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops Program...

The “Farm Show for Farmers” opened the new year with a bang for the Northeastern ag industry. With a balance of mainstay industry players and over 50 new exhibitors, this year’s event once again demonstrated the draw and the clout of the Keystone Farm Show brand. For any individual with vested inter...

Overusing antibiotics in human health contributes to resistant strains of bacteria. The same is true for farmers. “Antibiotics, Antibiotic Resistance and Stewardship on the Farm,” a panel presented recently by FACT , shared the dangers of routine use of antibiotics among animals that do not need the...

Rodent control on the farm is an essential aspect of both biosecurity and property damage. Ron Forquer, eastern business manager for Motomco , addressed the topic recently at the Penn State Dairy Nutrition Conference. Rodents carry 45 diseases, 35 of which can be directly or indirectly transmitted t...

Battling weeds in corn crops can be a never-ending fight as new weeds encroach in the Northeast and an increasing number of weed species become resistant to the most commonly used herbicides. Vipan Kumar, Ph.D., weed scientist and professor for Cornell University in the Soil & Crop Sciences Section,...

Long-term research has provided information regarding the importance of colostrum for newborn calves, and science continues to uncover more subtleties. “Despite decades of research and advances in colostrum management, there’s still a lot to learn,” said veterinarian Dr. Sandra Godden, Department of...

Properly pricing proteins is of paramount importance. According to Brian F. Moyer, an education program associate at Penn State Extension, knowing precisely what the numbers are will make all the difference in plotting out successful meat sales. Moyer specializes in assisting meat producers with dir...

In a Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center presentation, Mark Harmon discussed fire prevention for businesses. Harmon is a compliance assistance specialist with the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The information in his presentation was based o...

Farmer Mac (the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, which serves as a secondary market in ag loans such as mortgages for agricultural real estate and rural housing) puts together an ag lender survey each year to see where those entities stand vis-à-vis their ability to help farmers. A team re...

News flash: Farmers are not beach lifeguards. To begin with, there is a clear complexion comparison (the term “farmer’s tan” didn’t just appear in our lexicon out of nowhere). Another key difference is that once the busy season has passed and winter has arrived, farmers can’t take an “out of sight, ...

Psychology professor and gratitude researcher Robert Emmons from UC-Davis says practicing gratitude “affirms the good things we’ve received while acknowledging the role other people play in providing our lives with goodness.” The sentiment is apropos in the relationship business of putting conservat...

According to Lisa Chase, even though agritourism has been important to many states for decades, it didn’t receive much attention at the federal level until recently. Chase is the director of the Vermont Tourism Research Center and the chair of the Global Agritourism Network (GAN). Various stakeholde...