News
Posted on June 18, 2025
At a Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship virtual roundtable, Dan Gard, district sales manager at S&W Seed Co., recounted a heartbreaking childhood story related to prussic acid poisoning. Prussic acid is also called hydrocyanic acid or cyanide. Gard was 9, and it was his first year participating in 4-H. Th...
News
Sally Colby 
Posted on June 18, 2025
Clare Alderink is the operations manager of a 3,000-cow dairy in Michigan, but his experience is relatable to any dairy of any size. Alderink recently discussed some of the technology used on the farm and explained what has worked – or not. He said the key to a farm’s success is the people who work ...
News
Courtney Llewellyn 
Posted on June 18, 2025
Can your bull be too fat to make babies? That was one topic talked about at this year’s CattleCon . Discussing bull reproductive health were Saulo Menegatti Zoca, DVM, Extension beef cattle specialist in reproductive management with University of Tennessee’s Institute of Agriculture, and Pedro L.P. ...
News
Sally Colby 
Posted on June 18, 2025
Alpha-gal symptoms & the mammalian connection Sharon Forsyth, founder of Alpha-gal Alliance, wants people dealing with alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), also known as the “red meat allergy,” to have all the information they need to help manage symptoms. AGS is an allergy to mammal meat and mammal products r...
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jkarkwren 
Posted on June 18, 2025
According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune ( nola.com ), “A large Saharan dust plume will soon blanket Gulf Coast.” That was the headline on June 6. The brown haze over the central and western Caribbean is a Saharan dust outbreak that left the African coast on May 21 and was forecast to reach the G...
News
Enrico Villamaino 
Posted on June 11, 2025
Dairy industry leaders were offered a deep dive into dairy dynamics, market maneuvers, milk metrics and the intricate interplay of supply and demand at the “Mid-Year Dairy Market Review,” presented by Mike McCully of McCully Consulting during the 2025 International Dairy, Deli & Bakery Association (...
News
Sonja Heyck-Merlin 
Posted on June 11, 2025
According to Gustavo Schuenemann, the success of a dairy farm’s replacement program comes down to calves’ first 60 days of life. Schuenemann is a dairy cattle Extension specialist and veterinarian at Ohio State. If the quantitative goal is to at least double the calves’ body weight in 60 days, which...
News
Greg Hitchcock 
Posted on June 11, 2025
For more than a century, Riveredge Farm in Castorland, NY, has remained in the Lehman family. These days, the farm is run by 30-year-old Curtis Lehman, who took over operations in 2020 from his parents. “Our family has owned the farm for 102 years,” Lehman said, reflecting on its deep-rooted legacy....
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jkarkwren 
Posted on June 11, 2025
We just hit the two-year anniversary of the runaway Canadian wildfire smoke epidemic, the one engulfing America’s northern states in early June 2023. At that time, ABC Online news headlined “Canadian wildfire smoke live updates: Air quality alerts issued for 13 states.” Canadian officials said firef...
Country Folks
by Sally Colby 
December 9, 2025
Benjamin Barnett’s grandfather started a dairy farm in Pennsylvania in 1952 with $1,200 and 14 cows. Today the farm is 700 acres and 200 cows. “It sti...
Country Folks
by Enrico Villamaino 
December 9, 2025
In a forward-focused webinar presented by the International Dairy, Deli & Bakery Association (IDDBA), Dr. Armin Pearn delivered a resonant message abo...
Country Folks
by Holly Devon 
December 9, 2025
Pest management is one of the most pernicious problems faced by farmers, thanks to the fact that we are not alone in what we consider to be delicious ...
Country Folks, Crop Comments
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Crop Comments B3 
December 9, 2025
As I’m writing this column on the first day of December, it’s about three weeks until days start lengthening in the northern hemisphere. Recently, mos...