Part 1: Using drugs effectively The parasite resistance issue in small ruminants isn’t new, but it’s still a struggle for many producers. Dr. Dahlia O’Brien, Virginia State University, promotes a multi-pronged approach to managing Haemonchus contortus (barber pole worm), the most economically signif...

Shedding and spring – two words that go together in the Northeast. Although different horses shed at different rates and times, generally, by March most horses are well into the act of shedding. Why do horses shed their coats and what causes this to happen during spring? As the hours of daylight inc...

I have monitored colony collapse disorder (CCD) since it was first identified by entomologists over a quarter-century ago. CCD occurs when vast majorities of bees in any given colony – generally worker bees – die unexpectedly. Because queen bees need the nectar these workers provide to nurse new bee...

Oscar Garrison, senior vice president of food safety and regulatory affairs for United Egg Producers (UEP), addressed the issue of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) recently at the USDA Ag Outlook Forum. What he expressed about the status of the current outbreak of was sobering. “This has bee...

While “manureshed” may sound like a place to store manure prior to land application, Dr. Robb Meinen, Penn State Extension, described the term as a nutrient management concept. “A manureshed is the area where there are surplus manure nutrients because of the density of animals,” said Meinen, who spo...

According to plant geneticists, male sterility means that crops in question will not translocate nutrients for grain or seed production. Almost all of the nutrients remain in the leaves and vegetative plant tissue, producing high-quality forage. With male-sterile sorghums, no grain is produced unles...

BRUSH VALLEY, PA – The term “regenerative farming” has attracted a lot of attention lately. Consumers appreciate the idea of producers utilizing a holistic approach to stewarding their land. Farmers have long known that the practice of restoring agricultural land to a more productive state is not ju...

The phrase “You can’t raise cattle if you shoot the bull” is a double entendre with both metaphorical and very literal meanings. The first means that nothing gets done if you just stand around yapping. The second costs the beef industry millions of dollars annually. “Foreign material in cattle – why...

Every type of farming has opportunities available. Some will work out and others won’t. “There’s never the right time, only the right risk,” said Jessica Pralle-Trimner of Miltrim Farms Inc ., as she began her presentation “Right People, Right Place, Right Tech” at the recent Operations Manager Conf...