Ag-Visors

From the time a little jingle gets a child’s attention until we depart this wonderful planet, money and finances, by association, are important to...

One morning you receive a phone call from your veterinarian telling you that he has finished treating some of your animals that you dropped off at his clinic last week but if you want to pick them up, you will have to pay his bill in full.  When you dropped-off the animals at the veterinary clinic, you signed a form authorizing their treatment. Your veterinarian tells you the reason why he will not release your animals to you is because while you have eventually paid your bills in the past, you had been taking a long time to do so and he was tired of waiting to get paid. The question immediately jumps into your mind: Can my veterinarian keep my animals until I pay my bill? The answer in many states, including Missouri and Arkansas is: “Yes.”

For the past few years, a regular discussion topic in the agricultural community has been the hurdles facing the next generation of farmers. The...

Drought Strategies
Last summer and fall, it looked as if the following IRS Code Sections would be very relevant in preparing 2012 farm taxes. However, many farmers experienced significant increases in expenditures (grain, hay and fuel) to the extent the delaying or deferring of income was not an issue. However, producers should have at least considered the options provided by the following:

In a lengthy decision, the Tax Court recently underscored the difficulties taxpayers have in convincing the IRS that family-run farms are engaged in for profit. The case, Smith v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2007-368, ruled on two families’ limited partnerships, involving a cow and dairy farm, a cutting horse operation and dog breeding. The court held that the cow and dairy farm was engaged in for profit under the IRS hobby loss rules, but not the other activities. The taxpayers had taken significant tax deductions against their income from the activities, thus prompting an IRS audit, which they lost and then appealed to the Tax Court.

Do I have a legal claim against my veterinarian?
You notice some of your cattle have been ill for the pass few days; a few with diarrhea and some standing apart from the herd. You phone your veterinarian to come out. The next morning, your veterinarian arrives, examines part of your herd and he detects that a few have a moderate fever but no other signs. He takes a few blood samples and then tells you that he does not believe that there is anything to worry about, though he wants the results of the blood specimens before he can say for sure, one-way-or-the-other. The next morning, you find three dead, a cow that had aborted and before your veterinarian returns, another dies.  Your veterinarian now suspects acute pasteurellosis. A disease that he heard about in veterinary school but has never encountered in his years of practice.

Working with large animals does get to be a chore.  It can be very dangerous.  I have been bit, kicked, pawed, butted, run over and even backed over. I have even had a horse kick me into the side of the barn. After that one I had bruises on my back set on sixteen inch centers from the studs. What I am getting at is that it is dangerous, but with proper facilities it doesn’t have to be as dangerous.

As an agricultural lender for more than 25 years, rarely do I receive a farm history/operation description with an application. Not only would it...

When it comes to the sun, there are two potential problems: too little and too much.

Ectoparasites are upon us and what are we going to do? These are those pesky fleas, ticks and flies. Let alone the mosquitoes, wasps, spiders and ants.