Focusing on What’s Important at North Country Creamery
By: Kat McCarthy & Dan Welch Ashlee Kleinhammer became involved with Clover Mead Farm in 2012, when she approached its then owner, Sam Hendren, about buying the business. In 2013, a third-party foundation purchased the farm from Sam and established a 5-year lease-purchase agreement for Kleinhammer, who recently closed on the property. In reflection, Ashlee … Read More
Six Key Principles for a Successful Silvopasture
By Steve Gabriel Within the practice of agroforestry, or mixing trees with agricultural production, the concept of silvopasture has some of the broadest appeal. Many farms already work with livestock, and making good use of forested land for multiple yields is highly beneficial to the farmer. Whether you choose to graze sheep in a Christmas tree … Read More
Quality of Winter Forage for Grass-fed Sheep
By Ulf Kintzel Feeding hay in the winter is in many parts a reality in the Northeast. You will hear often these days that the best way to deal with hay in a grass-fed operation is to rid yourself of hay feeding and graze stockpiled forage instead. In my view it is true that extending the grazing season is … Read More
Chainsaw Safety, Part 4: Reducing the Risk of Chainsaw Kickback (Just say No to Kickback!)
By Rich Taber, CCE Chenango Chainsaw Safety, Part One Chainsaw Safety, Part Two Chainsaw Safety, Part Three In the first three articles of this series on chainsaw safety we focused on having the right types of safety equipment when using chainsaws. It is imperative to have all of the right OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) approved safety … Read More
Managing Small Woodlot Parcels
By Peter Smallidge In New York and most of the Eastern states, the greatest proportion of woodland owners have relatively small parcels. A “small” parcel size is not defined, but often considered to be less than 10 acres, or less than 50 acres. The USDA National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) offers a feature to make tables and charts about … Read More
Learning from the Best
By Kat McCarthy What do Wegmans, a regional grocery store chain, and Salesforce, a software company, have in common? These two organizations both have held places on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® list, and have stories to share that can help you on your farm. Does your farm resemble either of these enterprises? Perhaps you are already focused on learning from others who excel at what they … Read More
Rest is Not a 4-Letter Word
Timing for Pasture Recovery– Part 1 The biggest mistake people make in grazing management is providing too short a recovery period for plants after grazing. Of course too much rest isn’t good either. In drier environments excluding animals from a pasture long after it has recovered will lead to reduced productivity, dead grass and bare … Read More
Why a decrease in participation in farmers markets? Survey aims to find out.
Across much of the United States, farmers markets have reported a decrease in consumer participation over the last couple of years, resulting in a decrease in farm sales and income. In an attempt to understand and reverse this slump, a multi-state study is being undertaken by Farmers Market Federation of NY and Cornell Cooperative Extension … Read More
Webinar to Assist with Sustainable Ag. Research and Education (SARE) Preproposals
The Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) application system is now open to preproposals for three large grant programs: Research & Education, Professional Development, and Research for Novel Approaches. Preproposals are brief preliminary concept documents due by 11:59 p.m. ET on July 10, 2018. Acceptable budgets range from $30k to upwards of $200k. View this webinar recording to learn more about these grant programs, the … Read More
Brand New Videos to Train New Dairy Workers
The New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH) is promoting a series of on-boarding safety training videos for new dairy workers. These free videos were created by the High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health & Safety (HICAHS) and are a valuable resource for dairy farmers looking to train new workers quickly and … Read More