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While enjoying the mild Canadian winter, the last thing on a producer’s mind is the threat of mycotoxins on their farms.But an early and unseasonal increase in temperature gives mould growth and its subsequent mycotoxin formations an ideal environment in storage facilities.
There are many different qualities of forage seed available on the market, so it is important to buy good-quality forage seed to make forage-based farming successful from the beginning.Using cheap seed is not a bargain and will end up costing more due to reseeding resulting from low germination rate and high foreign materials in the seed.
An Ontario “forage master,” Evert Veldhuizen, creates his high-quality forage on Veldale Farms along with his brother and nephew.Evert’s mother and father started the farm back in 1966 and had farming in their blood.
There have been big changes at Holmdale Farms in the last several years, as fifth-generation farmer Todd Holm has gradually assumed day-to-day management, then ownership of the Bruce County, Ontario, dairy operation.
At first, Todd worked with his dad, George, then in 2000 he took over management, and purchased the operation in 2007.
Timely calving – to have first-calf heifers enter the milking string at 22 to 24 months old – is not a stand-alone decision.
It’s not like producers wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll breed my heifers once they hit 12 months old.” This decision needs to take a number of factors into account to capitalize on production efficiencies to have replacement heifers “breeding rod ready” at 12 months old.
Since we’ve started asking questions to dairy consumers and printing their responses in the magazine, I’ve noticed an interesting trend develop around one of our standard questions. Consumers who are distanced from agriculture, and I mean those whose relatives aren’t involved in farming or livestock, respond to this one question nearly the same way every time:
One year into the Civil War, the Union cause was not going as well as the early swagger had promised.
Gen. McClellan failed to take Richmond and gave up an opportunity at Antietam to inflict a heavy blow on the Confederacy. Lincoln had finally given up on his top general and canned him in March of 1862.
Meanwhile, General Lee was still a desk general advising Jefferson Davis in Richmond. But on May 15, 1862, while rebel forces at Drewery’s Bluff successfully stopped the Union navy from attacking Richmond via the James River, Abraham Lincoln signed a statute creating the Department of Agriculture.
A study overseen by Oklahoma State University (OSU) found that cows at one of the dairy farms in that state produced 6 percent more milk when LED lights were used compared with cows under fluorescent lights.
LED technology, which stands for light-emitting diode, uses semiconductor chips to convert electricity. LEDs are more energy efficient than either incandescent bulbs or fluorescent lights.
The discovery was not the main focus of the OSU study.
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