Livestock & Dairy
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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…
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Methods to improve old unproductive pastures and hayfields that are both effective and economical are a common challenge for farmers, and especially so for new and beginning farmers. The time and cost for re-seeding includes multiple passes of tractors and tillage machinery including plowing, disk harrowing, spring tooth harrowing, rock picking, planting, and packing to establish a new planting, far more work and cost than…
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The growing divide between farmer and citizen intersects at the topic of animal welfare. I received a call today from a concerned citizen who was worried about some cattle that had been left out for the winter. I was happy that they called me first instead of the authorities, and we had a calm and intelligent…
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For small-scale farms, the need for marketing skills has increased as the local food marketplace has become crowded with more competition. Perhaps 15 years ago the supply of local meat was smaller than the demand, allowing farms to simply “show up and sell out” in their markets. However, here in the Northeast we have seen…
Read MoreI will continue in this part 2 of the article on individual supplies and tools you will need to get started with Sheep. See the Summer 2017 issue of the Small Farm Quarterly for Part 1. I leave it up to you to research where you get the best price or what combination of items…
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List of Items for a Beginning Sheep Farmer, Part One: Tips and Resources for Beginning Sheep Farmers “What do I need when I start?” It is a question that is posed to me often. The almost inevitable follow-up question almost always is “Where do I get it”? I figured I should compile a list of items…
Read Moreby Kina Viola New York livestock farmers, whether experienced or just getting started, will benefit from the release of a new pricing tool from Cornell Cooperative Extension. The “Livestock Price & Yield Calculator” exists as part of MeatSuite.com, an online directory of over 160 New York State farms selling meat in bulk. The calculator has…
Read MoreAffordable biofilters can keep your farmyard odor in check. by Jason P. Oliver The importance of good neighbor relations and the issue of odor Foul odors can lead to criticism of a livestock farm and impede the good neighbor relations that are essential to a sustainable production. Due to changes in farm practice and manure…
Read Moreby Elaine J. Kennedy “I won’t! I won’t! I won’t clean out another chicken pen,” I promised myself. Desiring life on a small farm bored into our hearts and souls. As we considered retiring from life and work in Asia and knew that we would inherit a small farm of 50-acres, we researched small farms…
Read Moreby R.J. Anderson Raising 20 to 30 pigs and four beef cattle a year, Jefferson County’s Mike Hubbard has become a trusted beef and pork source for his hyperlocal clientele. Looking to one day grow his operation and possibly add a meat-cutting component, this spring Hubbard traveled to Cobleskill, New York to attend the Beef Cutting Seminar co-hosted by SUNY…
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