Ag-Visors

In all efforts of continuing my last article, there are a few more things to help our cattle here in the fall.

With the season changing we need to focus on what we need to do for our animals. With fall here, winter is just around the corner. All of us need to be prepared. I have also heard that they have found a spoon in the persimmon this year. Normally, I have heard that means we will be scooping snow in the winter. I have also heard that for every foggy morning in July we will get a snow for each. So, we may be in for it this winter.

Proper decision-making and advance planning are crucial elements in operating a profitable livestock venture. Ever since the inception of income tax, all areas of farming have enjoyed generous tax benefits.

One of my favorite songs is “The Farmer and the Cowman” from “Oklahoma.” Agriculture is one of the most diverse industries we have, and some of us have very strong opinions on which part of agriculture is the best. That’s why I love this song – it lightheartedly speaks the truth. While we all have an opinion on our different parts in agriculture, one thing we can agree on is they all have their place in the industry. And more and more, we are finding ourselves being involved personally in different aspects of agriculture as we diversify our operations.

One of my favorite songs is “The Farmer and the Cowman” from “Oklahoma.” Agriculture is one of the most diverse industries we have, and some of us have very strong opinions on which part of agriculture is the best. That’s why I love this song – it lightheartedly speaks the truth. While we all have an opinion on our different parts in agriculture, one thing we can agree on is they all have their place in the industry. And more and more, we are finding ourselves being involved personally in different aspects of agriculture as we diversify our operations.

Awhile ago I wrote several articles about PI-BVD. This is persistently infected animals with BVD or bovine viral diarrhea. By being persistently infected means that they were infected while in uteri. The street virus attacks the cow while she is between 45 days and 120 days of gestation. This virus is so small that it will cross the placental barrier and infect the calf. Now at this stage of gestation the calf still has a lot of development to do. We have not even started the development of the calf’s immune system. Because of this non-development of the immune system, the virus is there when the immune system starts to develop. And since that is suppose to be a sterile environment, the BVD virus is recognized as part of the calf.

Peter and Carolyn Bronson, California residents, lost their Tax Court case on the issue of whether their horse breeding activity was a business rather than a hobby, and their related expense deductions were disallowed.

There is always something to do on the farm – brush hogging this field, spraying thistle in that one, working the cattle, fixing the tractor or hauling the crop. Record keeping gets pushed to the back burner. It can be time consuming, using a precious commodity none of us desire to waste. However, it is becoming an ever more necessary part of our operations.

There is always something to do on the farm – brush hogging this field, spraying thistle in that one, working the cattle, fixing the tractor or hauling the crop. Record keeping gets pushed to the back burner. It can be time consuming, using a precious commodity none of us desire to waste. However, it is becoming an ever more necessary part of our operations.

Well Mother Nature has started another drought this summer. With this time of the year comes Johnsongrass. I have already had a few calls about turning cattle in to fields with Johnsongrass. The standard answer about turning cattle into a new field is to fill them up with hay and make sure they are full before turning them into the new field. This gives us a dilution factor and will slow them down eating the new forage. If it might be toxic, the dilution factor may save them.