Farm Help

The following is a true story about Farm Credit customers. Unfortunately, it’s a story that we see play out all too often among customers who don’t include life insurance as a part of their overall financial plan.

The market for farm land in recent times in northwest Arkansas has been influenced by several factors.

Farmers in general are continually searching for new tools to put in their “farming toolbox.” The farmer's toolbox is comprised not only of wrenches and hammers, but of ideas. Poultry litter is in the news on what seems to be a daily basis. Litter, working litter, and the amendments used to keep litter functional are a large cost center for poultry farmers. Shavings have gone up, by some accounts, 30 percent in the past few years. There are also areas of the country where finding a plentiful amount of shavings suitable for poultry is a challenge. In house litter composting, also referred to as windrowing, is rapidly becoming one reliable tool.

America’s newest conservation organization is based in Buffalo, Mo. The Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation, Inc. (QUWF) is one of at least two major groups to have formed in late 2009, as a result of the financial implosion of Quail Unlimited, once the nation’s largest non-profit conservation group.

Although familiar infectious cattle venereal diseases like leptospirosis and vibriosis remain a thorn in the side of producers, another disease has been getting a lot of recent attention.

In our direct market meat business, it is not uncommon to field questions from customers who are confused regarding dressing percentage and/or the cutting yield of whatever livestock species they are purchasing for meat. Unfortunately, their uncertainty usually stems from inexperience in the process of converting an animal into a carcass and further fabrication into cuts of meat. Many simply do not understand that a rather large amount of the weight of a live animal does not correspondingly end up in a meat case or freezer.

Ranchers around the country are adopting a rotational system developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a way to minimize scours outbreaks in newborn calves.

When it comes to Missouri soils, Dr. Will McClain said, “We’re stuck with the soil texture we’ve been given.” The texture of a soil is determined by its mineral matter. Texture is based on the amounts of sand, silt and clay in the soil. An Agronomy Specialist with the University of Missouri Extension, he believes Missouri has some of the most variable soils around.

General opinion in the Ozarks seems to be that a farmer cannot sell a gallon of raw milk – "it’s illegal." In most cases that seems to be true, but not because of regulations by the State Milk Board. The fact is that not all, but most dairy farmers selling to a cooperative have an agreement to sell all the milk produced on the farm, not used for his or her home consumption, to the cooperative.

With all the rain, snow and sleet we’ve experienced over the last several months, it’s no wonder producers are having trouble getting into their fields and pastures without tearing up the ground and causing compaction problems.