HARRISONBURG, VA — Like in years past, the 2013 Virginia Beef Expo recently drew producers, exhibitors, lenders, industry officials, salesmen, and others who make up the beef cattle industry together for an eventful weekend at the Rockingham Fairgrounds. From cattle sales, shows, contests, education...

Half the battle of putting on a successful trade show often depends upon where it is held. For the 2013 Dairy Calf and Heifer Conference, the Lancaster Convention Center in Lancaster, PA proved to be ideal. In recent years has the former Watt & Shand department store been transformed into a center t...

YANCEYVILLE, NC — Earlier this year, Bobby Aldridge was inducted into the North Carolina Angus Association Hall of Fame. The honor is reserved for individuals who have made significant contributions to the breed and to the association. Aldridge describes being part of the Hall of Fame as “the bigges...

Some messages bear repeating, and often. As messages go, ‘try to drive safely on rural roads’ is one of them. It is a common sense notion, but as notions go, it doesn’t always factor in daydreaming at the wheel, impatience, or a driving ambition to be ahead of a larger and/or slower vehicle. These a...

BLACKSBURG, VA — Travis Burns discovered his calling at a young age. While visiting a family-owned riding stable in the Great Smoky Mountains, he watched his uncle use both blacksmithing and knowledge of equine anatomy to shoe the farm’s horses. That early fascination turned into a career for Burns ...

If farmers could adopt new, beneficial practices without oversight by the government, would they? Dr. Sjoerd Duiker, Penn State agronomist, believes they will. The ‘Without Carrot or Stick’ project was designed to evaluate and promote the use of cover crops after corn silage with an emphasis on smal...

MEBANE, NC — In the past 25 years, North Carolina’s dairy community has undergone a transformation which mirrors that of the industry nationwide: larger herd sizes on fewer total farms. In the Old North State, the number of dairies has dropped from over 1100 to about 300. Even with bigger herds and ...

Joy Widerman is busy. She’s a wife, a mother and a herdsman for JoBo Holsteins, her family’s 1,000 head dairy farm in Gettysburg, PA. So when Owen Weikert, Region 3 organizational director for Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, encouraged Widerman to apply for the Young Farmer and Rancher (YF&R) Achievement ...

ROANOKE, VA — The 67th Annual Virginia State Feed Association and Nutritional Management “Cow” College recently drew around 120 people from up and down the east coast and as far west as Saint Louis to the Hotel Roanoke for three days of informative discussions and presentations. The Virginia State F...