Farm Help

There is a lot of speculation as to what the market will be doing come May, August or November, 2008. Scott McKennon, Regional Vice President at Farm Credit Services in Russellville, Ark., gave his input on the options producers can find with booking and hedging sale prices for the months to come.

Housing market crunch. Recession. Economic downturn. These are some scary words often heard while watching the news these days. In times like these, people are often reminded to re-evaluate their own financial situation and examine their financial institution’s stability during an economic downturn. 

As the time to start planning spring plantings, farmers must consider what types of fertilizers to use.  Many farmers have an abundance of animal waste at their fingertips, and considering the prices of commercial fertilizers, they would be wise to weigh those alternative options.

No doubt, every farming operation manages their production with the idea of returns being greater than the costs. But to manage this effectively, and to truly know what your bottom dollar will be, it’s essential to establish and maintain an accurate budget sheet for your farm.

For most farmers and horse owners, deciding whether or not to feed their horses alfalfa is a tough row to hoe. Although alfalfa is a high quality horse feed, so many myths surround it that horse owners either underutilize or misuse it.

1.Dairy cows will eat 8 to 10 meals a day. Average feeding time will be about 20 minutes when fed a TMR.

With high fertilizer prices this year many producers are considering incorporating legumes into their fescue pastures this spring.  But just how much benefit do forage producers really receive from adding legumes?  After all, legume seed isn’t cheap.  There are four basic benefits to adding legumes: forage yield, forage quality, nitrogen fixation, and closing the summer gap in forage production.  Let’s take a look at each of these. 

At the 84th Annual Lawrence County Soils and Crops conference Jan.10, in Mt. Vernon, Karla Deaver told her startling story of a hay scam, where she and her husband were the victims.

Weeds are a problem for many of us. Whether they’re in your garden, your row crop fields or your pastures, they’re unwanted plants that can sometimes be next to impossible to eradicate. The main reason for controlling weeds is the fact that they can reduce the quantity and quality of the desired forage species in your pasture. In the state of Missouri, there are several classifications for weeds. The weeds are classified depending on the difficulty to rid the land of the weed, or other various factors. One such classification is of noxious weeds.

A question and answer session with University of Arkansas (UA) Extension Economist Dr. Terry Griffin and UA Animal Science Professor Dr. Tom Troxel