Horse Tales by Judy Van Put With winter comes a whole host of extra care that is needed to keep horses safe, healthy and comfortable. Their hooves tend to grow more slowly during this time of year and are less able to adapt to the cold and wet weather and icy, hard ground. It’s the horse owner’s res...

Organic farming traditionally involves some degree of tillage, primarily for weed management. Because tillage interferes with the accumulation of organic matter that’s vital for soil building and successful crops, researchers are working to find an alternative. Dr. Andrew Smith, chief scientist at R...

We all know what setting or places horses like best: fields of grass and room to roam with tree-lined borders for shade and protection from flies. To train and handle horses safely, we must take them from their natural habitat and teach them what they need to know to be calm and trustworthy servants...

Experts at the recent Grow-NY Summit agree that addressing climate change issues starts at the farm. Benjamin Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean at Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Renee Vassilos, director of agriculture innovation at the Nature Conservancy, spoke on t...

Wendell Berry wrote, “The earth is what we all have in common.” This commonality brought together farmers, contractors, conservation professionals and policymakers for a holiday pause of appreciation and reflection of accomplishment toward applying conservation practices on the land. For the 11th ye...

Nearly everyone who grows a crop outdoors has encountered problems with deer damage. When populations of large natural predators (wolves and big cats) were high, deer populations were kept in check. With the loss of such predators and less natural habitat, deer have become bold as they seek habitat ...

Farmers who grow cash crops begin each season with a combination of experience, careful planning and optimism. Nathan Crooke, who owns and operates Windybush Hay Farms in Bucks County, PA, with his mother Gail, is one such farmer. Crooke grows soybeans, mulch hay for mushroom growers and hay for liv...

It’s about a 20-minute southbound trip to get from Keeseville to Plattsburgh, NY – or drive five minutes east from Keeseville to arrive on the shores of Lake Champlain. Situated in the heart of the Adirondack Park, in the Champlain Valley, the hamlet of Keeseville lies in both Essex and Clinton coun...

The benefits of extending the grazing season don’t stop with the immediate monetary and labor-saving benefits of not having to harvest, purchase and feed stored forages to the livestock herd. There are also animal health and soil health benefits. For those wishing to extend their small ruminant graz...

When the weather turns cold and humans add more layers of clothing to stay warm, consider what it takes to keep young calves warm. Like humans, calves have a thermoneutral zone – the range of temperatures in which the calf can regulate its body temperature to remain comfortable in the environment wi...

Carbon credits and markets in Pennsylvania are often misunderstood. If the bulk of your knowledge about carbon comes from “Star Trek” and their search for carbon-based life forms, the following should be a refreshing primer. Dr. Siobhan Fathel, professor of Agricultural & Biological Engineering at P...

It’s looking like Shelby Benjamin is going to be the last New York State Dairy Princess. Come February 2022, the competition to name a new state dairy princess will not take place. Instead, a NYS Dairy Ambassador will be named for the 2022-23 year. The board of the American Dairy Association North E...

Although statistics regarding dairy consumption are collected nationally, the results are relevant to small producers. As she explained the concept of how small-scale dairy processors can use such statistics, Sarah Cornelisse, Penn State senior Extension associate in agricultural entrepreneurship an...

“It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags – of grass seed, that is,” said the Grinch who stole moisture from the seed-producing areas of the Pacific Northwest. This was the warning from Everett Thomas, retired agronomist from the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute ...

UNADILLA FORKS, NY – Many people automatically think Motocross when they hear the name Unadilla, but located 11 miles north of that notorious racetrack is the hamlet of Unadilla Forks (also situated on the Unadilla River). It’s in this noticeably less noisy space that Chad and Cindy Hazekamp raise t...