Country Folks
Posted on May 6, 2026
Part 2: Preventing cyberthreats The internet was first hailed as a tool for open information and operability. No one suspected the potential for nefarious activity. Now everything is accessible, which allows bad actors to infiltrate farms and other businesses. Too often, dairy farms are cybercrime t...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
Posted on May 6, 2026
Crop diseases reduce yield, but with the right planning, farmers can lessen their effect and realize the full potential of their crops. Jordan Bassler, agronomy leader at Seed Consultants in Washington Courthouse, Ohio, presented at the recent A.N. Martin Open House. “Red crown rot is big in soybean...
Country Folks, Farmers First
Posted on May 6, 2026
Hello, farm family! After a tumultuous winter, spring is finally here, even though the weather seems to be having a hard time getting the message. Farmers are not fooled by unseasonable chills, however. If you’re anything like the farmers I know, you’re already moving full speed ahead: filling up gr...
Country Folks, Crop Comments
Crop Comments A10 
Posted on May 6, 2026
As I’m writing this column in late April’s pre-dawn, it appears that spring has not quite grabbed the climate reins from winter. Autmn-planted winter annuals are looking pretty good – crops like wheat, rye, triticale, barley and speltz. But perennial crops are taking their sweet time breaking dorman...
Country Folks
by Kelsi Devolve 
Posted on April 29, 2026
Taika von Königslöw, assistant Professor at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, spoke at the 2026 New Hampshire Dairy Management Conference, explaining the complexities of calf health and management. Calves are extremely vulnerable within their first few days of life, but it’s essen...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
Posted on April 29, 2026
A motivational speaker may not seem a typical choice for a speaker at a farm conference, but the Northeast Dairy Management Conference, presented by PRO-DAIRY and the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, welcomed Matt Booth of Mattitude from Dubuque, Iowa, to speak about one’s outlook effecting po...
Country Folks, Crop Comments
Crop
Posted on April 29, 2026
The U.S. plants significantly less acreage of this summer annual than it did a century ago. Buckwheat was once a much more widespread crop before the late Industrial Revolution introduced new technologies. The center-point of such technologies were fertilizers based on chemical ingredients which inc...
Country Folks
by Sonja Heyck-Merlin 
Posted on April 22, 2026
According to Alyssa Dietrich Warner, it’s commonly recommended to feed a newborn calf a minimum of four liters of colostrum at the first feeding. Some dairy farmers choose to feed more than this. This is a way to achieve excellent transfer of passive immunity (TPI), regardless of colostrum quality. ...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
Posted on April 22, 2026
As a matter of economy, Francisco Leal Yepes, DVM, Ph.D., and assistant professor of ambulatory and production medicine in Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, believes more farmers need to raise their own replacements and pay more attention to their herd’s health. “Heifer supplies are at their...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
August 12, 2026
A 4-H’er since he was a boy, Travis Clark, 14, from Rushville, won Grand Champion 4-H Market Animal with his Simmental steer at the recent Ontario Cou...
Country Folks
by Joseph Armstrong 
August 12, 2026
We joke about the weather in New York always changing, but when you have a farm to run it’s not always a laughing matter. Sometimes our weather patter...
Country Folks
by Sally Colby 
August 12, 2026
Rob Goodling, business consultant for Farm Credit East, recently provided information on what the dairy industry can expect as producers passed the ha...
Country Folks
by Edith Tucker 
August 12, 2026
Jaime Garzon, Ph.D., an assistant Extension professor and dairy forage educator, University of Maine at Orono, recently led a pasture walk on an organ...