“We want to identify what are the top management practices that explain the best milk quality in organic dairy farms,” said Carlos Nino de Guzman, a doctoral student at the University of Florida. This is Nino de Guzman’s goal as a researcher with a multi-university grant funded by the National Insti...

Commercial dairy herds are increasing both in profitable milk components and in overall yields. Does this mean cows should be challenged with more nutrient-rich diets to determine their productivity per unit of energy? Mike Van Amburgh with the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University expl...

Mary, Javier and Lorrie handle moving cows and milking at Cool Beans Dairy. Mary attaches milking units immediately after wiping udders dry while Javier waits a few extra minutes. Lorrie whistles to move cows but Javier uses a rattle paddle. Although the herd has outstanding genetics and performance...

Among Pennsylvania farmland, Shady Lane Curtains has built a business around a surprisingly simple idea: healthier livestock starts with better light, stronger ventilation and sturdier shelter. From its headquarters in Bird-in-Hand, the company has spent more than 15 years crafting custom agricultur...

According to John Idowu, Ph.D., plant science Extension agronomist at New Mexico State University, soil compaction can greatly challenge cropland performance and reduce yields, depending on the type of crop grown. However, there are many strategies that producers can use to minimize soil compaction ...

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 ...

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...

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...