Do you remember crop insurance of yesteryear? In the early days, the concept had to be a hard sell, and then re-sold the following year. Farmers annually had to be talked into buying crop insurance, and found themselves trying to come up with reasons to buy it, playing the odds of natural disasters ...

Sheep don’t only have to graze perennial pastures. Adding some annuals into the mix, whether to fully renovate pastures or to add forages during the summer slump, is one way to maximize forage production without adding acreage to an operation. Adding sheep grazing into a row crop rotation with cover...

One of the wonderful things about being a kid with a pony is the moment they feel brave enough to take that pony out and see what it can do. The ability to ride at speed underlines the time it has taken to learn to do things the right way to be safe as well as the ability, courage and trust in their...

“The last three years have really emphasized that organic dairy is a commodity,” Ed Maltby, executive director of the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, said. Commodity farmers don’t set prices, they take them. And just as with any commodity, organic dairy farmers have found that as the dem...

Through his work as an ag engineer at Penn State, Dan McFarland visits numerous dairy farms. On most farms, the owner knows how many cows are in a given group or area, but not in relation to the number of stalls or feeding space. McFarland said most studies on stocking density are calculated on a co...

Veterinarian Dr. Adrian Barragan, Penn State Extension, wants dairy farmers to understand that spending money on special cows is worth the investment. But which cows are special, and how should they be housed? Barragan said every cow in the barn is special, but specific groups may perform better if ...

Like many farms, Gro-Lan Farms had a simple start, but the Grove family continually sought improvements that would increase efficiency and cow comfort. “It was a homestead started by my grandfather in 1918,” said Jay Grove, who has been farming in Shippensburg, PA, for many years with his brother Je...

ROXBORO, NC – Johnny Rogers walked through a field of warm-season annual forages, checking on a group of his registered Red Angus cattle. To inspect the cowpeas and daikon radish and brassica growing at ground level – the field was planted with Ray’s Crazy Summer Mix – Rogers pushed aside long stalk...

“Waste not, want not.” It’s a well-known proverb. Although the origins of this expression date back to the late 18th century, it became far more popular and saw more everyday use after being a featured line in the hit 1930s film “Topper Takes a Trip.” It means the less we waste, the less we lack in ...