By the time this appears in Country Folks , the numbers will have changed. Stories about New World screwworm (NWS) are hitting nearly every news outlet. Once endemic in the U.S., efforts to push the NWS southward began in the 1950s and resulted in eradication in the U.S. by 1966. Now it’s back, and ...

According to a 2025 state agriculture overview, New York State is home to 30,000 farm operations, 650,000 milking cows, 500 concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) with 300 or more mature cows and is number five in the nation for milk production. Extensive acreage in hay, haylage, corn grain,...

When the price of lamb dropped in the 1990s, Janet McNally had to make changes in the way she raised sheep. McNally spoke recently at the Pennsylvania Forage Conference in Lancaster, PA. She decided to focus on grazing when she found her income was less than desirable after deducting feed, vet suppl...

I make it a point to celebrate dairy in every way I know how. I visit my local grocery stores and buy milk by the gallon, sour cream, cheese and my personal favorites, ice cream and Chobani yogurt. The tradition of celebrating June as Dairy Month began in 1937 as a way to encourage consumers to purc...

The gold standard of research is long-term findings. These demonstrate lasting trends and a greater likelihood of predicting future outcomes. Michael Cavigelli, retired lead scientist with USDA-ARS’s Farming Systems Project (FSP), presented “Findings from the Beltsville Long-Term Cropping Systems Pr...

“Most corn is in the ground. Fields that were weather-caused fallow can still produce a very high-quality forage from sorghum. Sorghum is planted after corn because the soil has to be warmer than for corn for rapid germination. Thus, planting after early winter triticale and haylage harvest gets tho...

It’s June Dairy Month once again. Hopefully, that never changes. It’s been an annual reminder of one of the blessings America should be grateful for but find all too easy to take for granted because dairy is always there. Walk into any grocery store and you’ll find an abundance of safe, top quality,...

Maple Wind Farm is inoculating their winter-laying houses with Lactobacillus, a beneficial bacterium, to improve animal health. It’s an on-farm trial in collaboration between the farm and the Land Care Cooperative, a farmer-led group focused on building healthy, water-retaining soils, reducing flood...

On most small farms, the difference between a peaceful night and a pasture full of panic can come down to one thing: a guardian animal you trust with your flock. Predator pressure is a reality for nearly every sheep or goat farmer today, whether the threat is coyotes slipping through fences, neighbo...