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What You Don’t Say When Working with Contractors
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When you’re hiring contractors for a farm infrastructure project, what you don’t say is just as important, if not more so, as what you do say. It‘s inevitable, at some point in time you‘re going to have to hire a contractor to carry out a project or simply to complete a portion of it. Remember,…
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COVID-19 Update for Livestock Farms
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Interim Guidance for Animal Care Operations from NYS Ag & Markets The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets released the following Interim Guidance for Animal Care Operations on March 22, 2020. This guidance is provided for animal agriculture workers to include those employed in veterinary health; manufacturing and distribution of animal medical materials and supplies,…
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Track Sheep Bloodlines During Breeding Season
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How to effectively use breeding harnesses and spray paint for sheep. A customer of mine asked me: “Do you use a breeding harness for your ram?” She did and had problems keeping it on the ram. Her question prompted me to write this article, explaining how I make certain that I know which ram breeds…
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Five Simple Steps to Improve Biosecurity Around Livestock
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Now that we’re on the verge of summer, some farms may start to see an increase in foot traffic. Dairy farms receive regular visits from feed dealers, nutritionists, veterinarians, and other agricultural service providers, not to mention the milk truck. Livestock producers may open their doors to the public for farm tours and other…
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“Defend the Flock” USDA Campaign Aims to Protect Poultry Health
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has launched a new outreach campaign focused on preventing the spread of infectious poultry diseases in both commercial and backyard poultry. Considering the devastating impact of the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in 2014-2015, as well as the recent outbreak of virulent Newcastle…
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Workshops on Anaerobic Digesters for Small Farms Offered this Winter
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It is generally accepted that anaerobic digesters (AD) are efficient technologies for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock operations. In addition, AD technology has a number of other potential benefits including: energy production for use on the farm and for sale, separation of manure solids for ease of use or export off farm, pathogen…
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Add Diversity to Your Pastures with Multispecies Grazing
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Much has been written on diversity of crops, forages, and soil biology but the diversity of grazing species is just as important. “The presence of multiple species of large herbivores is the typical condition of grassland and savanna ecosystems,” says John Walker, a range ecologist who wrote on the subject more than two decades ago…
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Briquetting a Better, Burnable Cow Patty: Farmer Turns Livestock Waste into Fuel Source
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A farmer recently completed a USDA Northeast SARE funded project to demonstrate a hydraulic press used to make fuel briquettes from manure and bedding. The machine, dubbed the “Biomass Beast” by its creator, Rose Marie Belforti, was built for $5,766 and produced briquettes at a rate of 90 dry pounds per hour for 3 cents…
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New Report Focuses on the Future of the NY Livestock Industry
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Although most livestock in New York is raised on small farms, this industry contributes $893 million in sales to the rural New York economy. Demand far outstrips supply for NY meat and livestock, so there is room for growth, but there are a number of hurdles to livestock farmers’ success. In March 2017, the Cornell…
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