Compost enriches soil, helps retain moisture and reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers. It also supports the growth of beneficial fungi and bacteria that break down organic matter. On-farm composting can provide a ready-to-use source of organic matter to enrich soil and feed crops. Chryseis Mod...

Raising bison may sound like an easy way to raise meat animals, as bison don’t require shelter, even in northern climates; however, Martha McFarland, in a recent Practical Farmers of Iowa presentation, said that anyone interested in raising bison needs to fully understand the animals first. She said...

A farmer’s work is never done. She wears many hats, and can be called upon to act as breeder, mechanic, meteorologist, veterinarian or any combination thereof, and almost always at a moment’s notice. Within that gaggle of grindstones, Jenna Hamilton exemplifies showman and photographer. She recently...

When the children of John and Bonnie Hess wanted to remain on the family’s JoBo Holstein Farm in Gettysburg, PA, part of the plan included the addition of a new 500-cow freestall barn. Today, several generations of the Hess family are working on the farm, milking more than 900 cows, raising crops an...

Scott Weikert on Penn State Extension began his webinar during Pennsylvania’s Ag Progress Days by introducing his panel: Sarah Wurzbacher, forestry Extension educator; Allyson Muth, Department of Ecosystems and Management at Penn State University Park; Art Gover, Extension specialist based at Univer...

Nearly 2,000 busy farmers across the U.S. took the time to answer survey questions about cover cropping trends, such as “planting green” into living cover crops, using cover crops for weed control and the impact of cover crops on cash crop planting dates during the very wet spring of 2019. American ...

Interested in growing oats for human consumption? Practical Farmers of Iowa offered “Growing High-Quality, Food-Grade Oats” as a recent webinar with A.J. and Kellie Blair presenting. The couple operates Blair Farm LLC, a fourth-generation farm near Dayton, Iowa, raising cover crops and small grains ...

Summer might be winding down, but there’s still plenty of hot weather ahead. Alycia Drwencke, Southwest New York Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops program, said that for four months of the year, the average temperature in New York State is 70º or higher, and that spells heat stress for dairy cattle. ...

Respiratory disease is a significant issue cattle producers must deal with on a daily basis. It’s been estimated it has cost the industry nearly $900 million with death and production losses, with the result of survival of a BRD, according to Christopher Schneider, technical services with Merck Anim...