Farm Help

Profit is not a common word in the vocabulary of many producers. So many factors beyond their control: weather, the price of corn and diesel and of course what happened at the sale barn.

Robert Seay, Benton County extension agent, said, "Today's Bermuda grass hay has nothing on the results grandpa produced. Talk from the coffee houses to the show rings further broadens the region's reputation as a source of quality Bermuda grass that makes nutritious hay for winter when livestock owners demand it most. That nutritional value is the main point sellers emphasize when producers market their product to hobby horse owners, or where drought conditions boost demand. One hundred percent of the hay is edible and has a better balance of proteins and minerals than other varieties because it has more leaf than stem.

Management is what is going to save you the most money,” Ann Wells, DVM, out of Prairie Grove, Ark., said to a group at the Northwest Arkansas Meat Goat Conference Nov. 1. Conference attendees were tuned in to the state of their pastures, the health of their herds, the lack of marketing options in Arkansas for meat goats, and talks of forming a seller’s block to solve that problem.

Results of water quality monitoring of Moore’s Creek and Beatty Branch tributaries of Lincoln Lake have been released. The report is part of the Lincoln Lake Watershed Project. The Lincoln Lake project is a part of two decades of water quality work in the watershed. 

Although we all know it, for whatever reason, when push comes to shove and cuts have to come somewhere, our mineral supplementation is always the first to go.

Buying a new tractor is sort of like picking a wife:  You need to find one you can stay with for the long haul. Understanding this, it's important to make direct comparisons among all the brands of tractors, getting as close to "apples to apples" and "oranges to oranges" as possible. We visited with several major dealers in our area to make some of these direct comparisons to get you started on what could be a daunting task of choosing a new tractor.

With the winter months fast approaching, one of farmers' concerns could be the effect lice has on their cattle. Typically, farmers in the Ozarks are seeing fewer occurrences of lice in their cattle due to a few factors; one being the insecticides used and also de-worming protocol. Despite the few numbers of infected herds in the Ozarks, lice can potentially be a problem for farmers not wishing to utilize insecticides or those who are opting for a more organic growth of their herd. With an infestation of lice, however, organic methods can be forced to take a back seat, if control and eradication is the goal.

Profit is not a common word in the vocabulary of many producers. So many factors beyond their control: weather, the price of corn and diesel and of course what happened at the sale barn.

Alarmed about reported cases of Potomac Fever you’ve read about in horses in the St. Louis area?

MFA Incorporated boasts its Health Track is "the nation's leading Source, Age, and Wean VAC 45 process verification program that identifies and properly conditions calves so they meet the demands of today's beef industry." In the program's seven-year history, nearly 300,000 calves have been tagged and managed in the HT database; Health Track's Daniel Schafer said those calves have, on average, brought a $35/head premium over similar calves sold immediately after weaning.