It’s very common in family farms with multiple children to have one or more of the children become involved with the operation while other children choose to move away and work off farm. The farming children may jointly own machinery with their parents, have discounted purchase options through the p...

Audry Thompson, staff attorney with the Penn State Center for Agricultural & Shale Law , recently reviewed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), enacted in 1938, which sets minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping and child labor standards. Thompson explained that FLSA requires an employment relationshi...

In an excellent article in the current winter edition of Farming Magazine, writer Alan Guebert explains his thoughts on the ongoing federal carbon dioxide greenhouse gas abatement program. In his typical in-your-face style, Guebert titled his story “ Don’t bury just CO2 pipelines; bury the very idea...

While colostrum quality is important, quantity is also a factor when it comes to providing adequate colostrum for newborn calves. This can be problematic because cows typically produce a lower volume of colostrum in autumn and early winter. “The quality might be fine but cows aren’t producing four o...

Just as humans can enjoy the benefits of “ super foods ,” so too can farms enjoy “super crops.” Just look at alfalfa, a perennial forage legume which normally lives four to eight years, but can live more than 20 years, depending on variety and climate. It’s an oldie but a goodie when it comes to liv...

Four years ago, Mason Gahler saw a video in his ag class at school. The video was about the risks grain silos present to farmers and how easily they can become trapped. Mason grew up in farm country, and his grandparents have a farm in Mankato, MN. He decided that he would try to come up with a way ...

It’s snowing on this second Sunday afternoon of the new year, which – at least to me – makes it advisable to think pasture management thoughts. Old-timer farmers always said it was a good idea to still have half of your initial hay inventory in the barn on the first of February. If grazing livestock...

The “Farm Show for Farmers” opened the new year with a bang for the Northeastern ag industry. With a balance of mainstay industry players and over 50 new exhibitors, this year’s event once again demonstrated the draw and the clout of the Keystone Farm Show brand. For any individual with vested inter...

When Steve Wenger left dairy farming about 27 years ago, he didn’t leave cattle completely. “We raised calves and finished some,” he said. “In 2008 we got out of it because grain prices were through the roof. That was the first we saw $8 corn, so we decided we were better off marketing our crops as ...