Animal Scientist Funston gets regional Extension award



 Nebraska Extension beef cattle reproduction specialist Rick Funston has been honored for his beef and heifer management work. Funston won the 2014 Regional Excellence in Extension award for the North Central Region from Cooperative Extension and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.  Funston, also a professor in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Animal Science, […]

Apparent settlement reached in National Beef case



An apparent settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit against National Beef brought by workers at its Liberal, Kansas, meatpacking plant, according to a court filing Nov. 21. A joint motion seeks court approval of the proposed deal affecting some 480 production employees who joined the litigation. Workers at the southwest Kansas plant are seeking unpaid wages and […]

Consumer group calls for ban on child labor in U.S. tobacco farming



The nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, the National Consumers League, is calling for a ban on the use of child labor in American tobacco fields. According to a Human Rights Watch report published earlier this year, children as young as 12 years old are being permitted to work in the fields in tobacco-producing states including North Carolina, Kentucky, […]

Corn Belt farm wage average $13.07/hour



There were 25,000 workers hired directly by farms in the Corn Belt 2 Region (Iowa and Missouri) during the reference week of October 12-18, 2014, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service — Farm Labor Report. Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage rate of $13.07 per hour, the second highest October rate on record, trailing only […]

Farm Credit Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame inductees named



The Colorado FFA Foundation announced four inductees into the Farm Credit Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame. Dr. Temple Grandin of Fort Collins, James “Jim” Odle of Brush, Don Rutledge of Yuma, and Robert Tuttle of Eckert will all be formally inducted into the Farm Credit Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame in February at the annual Hall of Fame Banquet. “The […]

Food Trend Fodder



“It’s not meat and potatoes anymore.” That’s how John Lundeen, NCBA senior executive of market research, explains the forecast for what consumers are looking for from food in the future. Lundeen is a frequent speaker at beef industry events. He shared remarks this fall at the Hereford Genetic Conference held in Missouri, and was a featured speaker at the South […]

Getting replacement heifers started right



Now that most of the calves are weaned or will be weaned shortly, it may be a good time to start thinking about getting replacement heifers started right. Everybody probably has their own opinion about the right way to get heifers going. Of course, good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. Albeit, what […]

Livestock 840 Tags Mandatory in 2015



Livestock producers have until March 11, 2015 to use up their supplies of Radio Frequency Identification tags with the 900 prefix. In early 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published a final rule establishing general regulations for improving the traceability of U.S. livestock moving interstate. The rule became effective in March of 2013. Starting March 11, 2015, tags that start […]

NDSU Offers Farm/Ranch Succession Planning Education

NDSU Extension Service is piloting the program at six sites this winter.

Have you thought about what your family farm or ranch business will look like when you retire or after you are gone? More than 80 percent of farm and ranch families hope to pass the family farm or ranch on to the next generation, but research shows only 30 percent of family farms and ranches survive to the second generation, […]

National Drought Summary



An unsettled, somewhat milder weather pattern developed over the nation, with locally heavy rain in parts of the south affording some drought relief. Farther east, showers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast mostly prevented expansion of abnormal dryness, though rain largely bypassed southern Pennsylvania during the period. Locally heavy downpours eased drought in the southeastern Plains. In contrast, the West’s core […]