Trend this summer is for wet, cool weather
Eager to plow through the planting season, farmers and ranchers in the Plains and Rocky Mountain states are anxiously eyeing the newly-released summer climate outlook issued by the Climate Prediction Center on May 16. El...
Ashley Doolittle’slegacy
The statistics are gut-wrenching: • One in three U.S. teens ages 14-20 have been victims of dating violence. Young women in this age group are at a three-times greater risk than are any other demographic....
Kansas cowboy is NCTA Aggie of the Year
CURTIS, Neb. – To ranchers and agricultural college students, the 2019 Aggie of the Year in Curtis, Neb., would be considered a “top hand.” Damian Wellman of Prairie View, Kan., was named the Aggie of...
Vilsack: USDA should establish pilot farms focused on sustainability
Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, said today that the Agriculture Department should help establish “pilot farms” that would bring together all the technologies that have been developed to address...
House 2020 Ag bill would stop Trump ERS, NIFA moves
The House Appropriations Committee today released the text of the fiscal year 2020 Agriculture and related agencies appropriations bill. The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to hold a markup session on the bill at...
FCA Chairman Tonsager dies
Farm Credit Administration Chairman Dallas Tonsager died Tuesday afternoon, his family said in an email. A funeral service will be held in his home state of South Dakota, with a memorial service to be held...
Top 6 strategies to avoid activist disruptions at livestock shows
In Arizona, as with most other states, we participate in a fair or livestock show nearly every month of the year. Plus, we are host to a double (often quadruple) dose of county fairs in...
Nebraska ag producers pay nearly 50 percent more than the national average in property taxes
Nobody likes taxes, but Nebraska farmers and ranchers have even more to dislike than many others around the country. According to a study by J. David Aiken, Nebraska agriculture property taxes are among the highest...
Hydrologists cautiously optimistic about Colorado River Basin flows after a wetter than normal El Nino season
Cautiously optimistic about the Colorado River Basin which is now trending in the right direction after this wetter than normal El Niño winter/early spring, hydrologists, however, say there’s still considerable ground to make up after...
Pitts: Rest in pieces
If the obituary of our country is ever written, this is how it might read: United States of America, July 4, 1776 – Nov. 4, 2046, 270 years of age. The last of the great...
Catahoula Leopard Dog: Not your average stock dog
“A Catta whatta?” That’s the most common response that owners of Catahoula Leopards get after answering the question, “What kind of dog is that?” The largest breed of stock dog, a Catahoula, typically weighs between...
Nebraska – a hotbed for new plant diseases
Though plant pathology was not officially recognized as distinct from botany until 1920, the study of plant diseases had been practiced in Nebraska since 1884 with the arrival of the eminent botanist Charles Bessey. Since...
AMS issues complaint against Quinter Livestock Market LLC and Clint Kvasnicka of Kan.
WASHINGTON – As part of its commitment to ensuring fair and competitive markets for the livestock, meat and poultry industries, on May 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service issued an administrative...
James Arness on Anzio Beach in WWII
Four months shy of his 21st birthday, James King Aurness of Minneapolis, Minn., was waiting anxiously with fellow soldiers, standing on one of the U.S. Army’s WWII landing barges of the U.S. 3rd Army Infantry...
Facebook enforces ban on selling animals, sending ripples through the ag community
Social media, specifically Facebook, has changed the way livestock producers promote events, sales and sell private treaty livestock. Though enacted in November, Facebook has begun to enforce their ban on selling animals, potentially changing how...
Organic sales up, but OTA seeks regulatory revisions
Sales of organic products in 2018 hit a record $52.5 billion, up 6.3 percent from the previous year, but the Organic Trade Association is seeking to maintain and improve organic integrity with changes in regulation,...
Ropin’ Rascals brings special needs kids to the ranch
Tonya Huwa, of Keenesburg, Colo., said she and her family thought it would be fun to bring special needs students to their ranch to learn about horses, rodeo and agriculture in an event designed just...
Hall designated acting CEO of Farm Credit Administration
Jeffery Hall, a member of the Farm Credit Administration board, has been designated the FCA acting chief executive officer due to the illness of FCA Chairman Dallas Tonsager. “Under normal circumstances, FCA’s board chairman serves...
2019 grasshopper populations and risk of infestation and damage in Colorado
According to the 2018 USDA APHIS adult grasshopper counts, www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/grasshopper/…/hazard.pdf, there were low populations of grasshoppers in Colorado last year with the exception of some areas of a low to moderate risk of rangeland infestations...
John Wayne in Monument Valley
“Monument Valley is the place where God put the West.” – John Wayne Billboard posters in Kayenta, Ariz., 22 miles to the south of Monument Valley, advertise it as “the 8th Wonder of the World.”...
