Ozarks Farm & Neighbor Newspaper – written for, by & about farmers

The original 153 acres, where Sam Massey runs part of his cattle, once belonged to his grandfather. That farm in the Campbell community was homesteaded in 1875 and stayed in the Massey family. That’s where Sam grew up, and farmed, as far back as he remembers. “Back then,” he said, “all we had was horse-drawn equipment and we raised most everything we ate. We had apple and peach trees, part of that was a cash crop. Dad raised sweet potatoes, another cash crop. We had chickens and eggs, and milk cows. Until I got big enough to go to the field, I’d help Mother in the garden. She dried fruit and canned fruit and garden vegetables for winter.”

It is all about teamwork for Dennis Schwerin’s family.  Whether it is doing chores, rounding up cattle on horseback or showing in the ring, the family relies on each other to be successful as a whole.

Preventing disease is a main concern for many dairy farmers. Because mastitis is among the most common infections in the dairy industry, producers should be aware of the danger it poses to the health of their animals and the safety of their milk.
Mastitis, an inflammation in the mammary gland, is caused when pathogenic bacteria enters a cow’s udder through the teat orifice, moves into the teat canal and causes an infection. 

Cattle producers across the Ozarks can usually guarantee rain will be in the forecast through these spring months.  This is a good thing most of the time, but there are a few downfalls to all that rainfall.  Foot rot is one of them.

When you realize your dream of home or farm ownership, the prospect of foreclosure is the furthest thing from your mind. Still, thousands of people in northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri are faced with the prospect of losing their farm or home due to increased or unexpected expenses, or because of an unforeseen hardship such as illness, unemployment or divorce.

In this article, I thought I would add a few more species in and cover a broader range.  I am only going to cover one disease or family of bacterial agents, though.  Let’s talk about the Clostridia family of bacteria.  A species of this family of bacteria can affect any and all species of mammals.  One of the most common species I see in my practice is Clostridium Perfringens type B, C or D. In regular language that we can all understand, let’s call it Overeaters or Gut Form Blackleg.