My first contact with Tom Kilcer was toward the end of my Cooperative Extension career. My last year as an agronomy professional educator was 1977-78, which was also Kilcer’s first. Our contact over the following years was hit-or-miss. Fast forward to 2012, when I interviewed a prominent Midwest see...

BRODNAX, VA – Ten years ago, Terry and Andrea Grech bought an old dairy farm in Brunswick County and embarked on an encore career of raising cattle. For the first five years they kept commercial cattle. For the past five years they have been raising registered Black Angus. As smaller and newer produ...

Mandatory traceability has been a sore subject among cattle producers for a long time. Some believe the electronic identification device (EID) is too invasive and subject to data theft, but Sigrid Johannes, NCBA senior director, government affairs, assures producers the new rule requiring EIDs will ...

Despite training farmers and first responders about the risks of going into grain bins, serious incidents occur regularly. William Field, Extension safety leader with Purdue Cooperative Extension, believes changing the focus of safety training is part of the answer. “We aren’t addressing the core is...

It’s no question that silvopasture systems can be beneficial to the land, farmers and animals. But what do farmers need to know about building a silvopasture system? The Rodale Institute, a nonprofit organization that focuses on agricultural research and education, hosted a webinar to discuss the be...

Developed by researchers at the University of Missouri (UM), PaddockTrac is an ATV-mounted sensor that measures forage height. When it’s paired with the MU Grazing Wedge it estimates paddock biomass, pasture growth rates and average pasture cover. The sensor takes 50 readings of forage density per s...

Growing up on her family beef farm, Lindsey Jacobs knew she was destined to work in the ag industry. Church View Farm, a six-generation family farm in Millersville, MD, stretches over 300 acres and is the home to 150 polled Hereford cattle (60 cows, 25 heifers, 60 calves and five bulls). The Jacobse...

Dr. Richard Blatchford, associate poultry specialist, Center for Animal Welfare, UC-Davis, believes it’s important for those who raise chickens to understand why birds do what they do. Blatchford studies chicken behavior and shares what he learns to help those who raise poultry. Chickens were domest...

Providing the best quality milk to customers is the dairy farmer’s goal. However, there’s a constant battle with bacteria, and it isn’t easy to win. Dr. Nicole Martin, assistant research professor in Dairy Foods Microbiology and associate director of the Milk Quality Improvement Program at Cornell U...