RICHFIELD, NC — “We’ve had a season unknown to most of us around today,” Ronnie Burleson said. “A wetter spring and summer than we can remember.” So it has been — as in much of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast — in Stanly County, headquarters of Thurman Burleson & Sons Farm — a family partnership betw...

When Richard and Donna Larson’s children headed off to college, the couple sold the horses that had been part of the farm and chose a species that both could manage easily. “I’m a farm boy, she’s a city girl,” said Richard, who grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. “The compromise was to get somethi...

While the unseasonably cool weather took center stage at this year’s Ag Progress Days Wednesday Aug. 14, the Government and Industry Day luncheon was warm and friendly where approximately 300 members of Pennsylvania’s Ag community gathered at midday for an update on the latest in agriculture. Barbar...

Recently Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and First Lady Susan Corbett hosted a breakfast for officers and advisors of the FFA and 4-H at the Governor’s Mansion. Though overcast outside, a homey yet sumptuous meal was served indoors at a long table on highly polished hardwood floors and lit in chan...

Even though fescue has earned such a bad name throughout the Shenandoah Valley over the years, producers are accepting that it is here to stay and are trying to learn how to best manage it in a way that minimizes the negative side effects of endophyte infection. Recently a group of around 50 gathere...

BOONES MILL, VA — In early June, many parts of Virginia and the mid-Atlantic experienced days and days of continuous rain. Even when it wasn’t raining, it was mostly overcast, with little direct sun. At Bow-Knott dairy, Dale Boitnott’s dairy in Franklin County, the wet spring has impacted his farm i...

KANSAS CITY, MO — The “Show Me” state welcomed 660 junior Hereford exhibitors from 40 states with 1,100 head of cattle to the Junior National Hereford Expo (JNHE). The annual event is held every year in a different state to showcase the nation’s top Hereford cattle and junior members compete in 23 s...

Mike Pearson is familiar to viewers of Weekly Journal of Rural America . Speaking on the topic titled above at the 135th Penn-Ag annual meeting, he acknowledges that one of his guiding principles is ‘Trust, But Verify!’ Before you know where you are going in the next marketing year, you have to know...

Mary Kraft is the owner, CFO and human resource director for a large western dairy farm, but what she knows about maintaining an effective work force applies to operations of all sizes. Kraft was raised on a 500-cow dairy, and now manages 5,000 cows with her husband Chris. “You have to come up with ...