Back in pre-hysteria days, when we could freely watch a high school basketball game unhindered by the fetters of a crafty little virus, I made a short trip from my place to the hamlet of Murtaugh, Idaho, to scout a game involving a couple teams, one of which would be the opponent of my hometown Oakley Hornets in the next round of the conference tournament.

The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) submitted written comments to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on Jan. 19 in response to the agency’s request for comments on agency programs and Western water quantity.

If you’re a forage numbers geek, your Christmas arrived on Jan. 12, 2021. That’s the day the USDA released a number of reports covering forages from seed to shed.

From supply and demand, weather and shipping challenges to distribution of government assistance payments and pandemic vaccines, there was no shortage of issues affecting hay markets and marketers – directly or indirectly – as the new year got underway.

Wetter conditions in recent years have led to more questions about polymer-coated urea. Polymer-coated urea is a urea granule that is coated with a polymer that slows the release of urea into the soil. The most widely available polymer-coated urea product on the market for production agriculture is ESN. The most important thing to understand about polymer-coated urea is that it is not an inhibitor like nitrapyrin or DCD.

For the first blog of the year, I thought I should include a few jokes – you know, for kits and gaggles. It’s been a tough year, and I think we could all use a few “calfs” (I warned you – watch those puns). I’ve been hearing a lot of jokes about sheep I thought I could share. I started telling them to my dog to test them out, but she’s “herd” them all. I tried telling them to the cows next, but they were just “laughing stock.”