Farm Help

Disposing of deceased farm animals presents many options to the farmer. Composting the deceased animal is likely the best choice for increased animal, environmental and farm fiscal health, and is considered a best management practice (BMP).

It has been stated that: “If you grew as fast as a chicken, you’d weigh 349 pounds at age two.”  While this statement may have been originally intended to be a humorous way of emphasizing the rapid growth of commercial broiler chicken strains, it is highly misleading and has been misused.

About 100 farmers and landowners got a firsthand look at warm-season grasses (WSGs) at the Christian County Warm-season Grass Field Day July 2 at Bohmont Ranch near Bruner, Mo. Here's some of the highlights.

Disposing of deceased farm animals presents many options to the farmer. Composting the deceased animal is likely the best choice for increased animal, environmental and farm fiscal health, and is considered a best management practice (BMP).

In Arkansas when an animal is brought to the fair you can rest assured it has been to the vet and had its health records brought up to date, it has had all the bloodwork done and it will be disease-free by every measurable standard.

With the arrival of the summer months the idea of maximizing forage potential is on the minds of livestock producers. Utilizing a Management Intensive Grazing system (or MIG) is the most effective way to use pasture. Often called “rotational grazing” the system is designed to divide existing pastures into smaller paddocks and frequently rotate the animals between them. This method allows forage in each paddock enough time to re-grow before it’s grazed again.

During these long summer days one of the dilemmas facing area farmers is heat stressed cattle. Robert Seay, Agriculture Extension Agent with the University of Arkansas, offered a few suggestions for farmers whose cattle are exposed to problems caused by heat stress. Seay said, "Heat stress can affect the milk cattle produce and the function of their bodies. If  the herd is heat stressed their consumption drops and there is no way to maintain a good body gauge."

Wild birds can be a nagging problem on any poultry farm. Wild birds can create a mess with their droppings, consume feed, contaminate feed and damage insulation.  Wild birds have also been shown to carry Newcastle disease, coccidiosis, Salmonella, fowl pox, West Nile Virus, fowl cholera, Mycoplasma galisepticum (MG), round worms, tape worms, Northern Fowl Mites and several other maladies affecting poultry.  Clearly, wild birds are  undesirable in or around poultry houses.  However, before beginning any effort to control wild birds, it is important to understand effective approaches and the legal limits.

"In today's world, several areas of potential danger need specific attention."

Hay harvest has been challenging for hay producers this year due to the abundance of sporadic rain events and cloudy weather.