Country Folks
Posted on March 18, 2026
The 2025 Irrigation Show & Education Week brought together growers, consultants and tech tinkerers hungry for tools that can stretch every drop. In the middle of the bustle, Dr. Stacia L. Davis Conger, state irrigation specialist and associate professor of irrigation engineering at LSU’s AgCenter, d...
Country Folks
by Sally Colby 
Posted on March 18, 2026
In the past, income from the sale of wool from annual sheep shearing was sufficient to pay for the flock’s feed for the year. Today, that’s no longer the case for most who raise sheep. But Diana Dougherty and Gabriella Nanci bucked the trend and found ways to make a profit with wool. Dougherty raise...
Country Folks
by Deborah J. Sergeant 
Posted on March 18, 2026
Farmers rely on weather forecasts to know when to plant, spray and harvest. Forecasting can also help predict poor health in the herd. Jackson A. Seminara, Ph.D., presented “Forecasting Performance: How Clues from Blood, Milk & Sensors Can Predict Unfortunate Outcomes in Multiparous Cows” as part of...
Country Folks, Crop Comments
Crop Comments
Posted on March 18, 2026
In 1972, then-President Richard Nixon expressed great worry that most of America’s supply of imported oil could become quite vulnerable to a strangle-hold focused on the Strait of Hormuz. Such a constriction could be enacted by our adversaries in the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz is approximatel...
Country Folks
by Erin Judd 
Posted on March 17, 2026
The Blue Ribbon Calf Sale, which takes place in West Springfield, MA, has always had a special place in my heart. Since 2018, when I started showing dairy cattle, I have attended every sale and clinic night. In 2022, I began volunteering at the sale, helping with preparations for sale day and going ...
Country Folks
by Sally Colby 
Posted on March 11, 2026
University of Wisconsin Biological Systems Engineer Dr. Joseph Sanford recently discussed the types and benefits of manure separation during the university’s Separator Week. Manure separation efficiency can be improved with storage, added treatments such as sand and/or solid removal, digestion and o...
Country Folks
by Laura Rodley 
Posted on March 11, 2026
February’s Winter Storm Hernando dumped two feet of snow in Western Massachusetts, on top of existing snow cover. Dealing with that much snow makes it difficult for sugar producers to tap their maple trees. “It’s a little later than we have been tapping,” said Hunter Sessions, owner of Winston’s Sug...
Country Folks
Posted on March 11, 2026
Are you ready for the 2026 grazing season to be a game changer? Are you getting all you can from your pastures and meeting your goals? Do you want to add more grazing days, profit and pleasure from your management? Curious about using a grazing chart and hearing from grazing practitioners? If you an...
Country Folks
by Sally Colby 
Posted on March 11, 2026
With all eyes still on avian influenza, it’s easy to forget about another disease that’s inching closer to the U.S. Nearly everyone who raises pigs should be familiar with the possibility of African swine fever (ASF) eventually arriving in the U.S. With approved biosecurity measures in place, produc...
Country Folks
by Sally Colby 
April 8, 2026
Manure safety might seem like a boring, overdone topic, but that isn’t the case when farmers continue to die in manure-related accidents. In many case...
Country Folks
by Edith Tucker 
April 8, 2026
Steam billowed from the open windows of the cupola of maple sugarmaker Cory Krieg’s sugarhouse on March 27, within sight of his home on Christian Hill...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
April 8, 2026
Are white mold and other soilborne diseases affecting your soybeans? Camilo Parada-Rojas, Ph.D., field crop pathologist with Cornell University, prese...
Country Folks
Courtney Llewellyn 
April 8, 2026
At a meeting of the Northeast Cover Crops Council, John Tooker, a Penn State entomologist, showed a photograph of a hay mower in southern Pennsylvania...