The last couple of days we’ve gotten some very nice rains. It was starting to get a little dry, so the rains came at just the right time. The corn is just emerging and the pastures are lush and green. I have cattle on pasture at home and also on a small pasture that I [...]
This past week, we had an interesting discussion with a college student who is a physics major at a small, expensive college. We were talking about the cost of gasoline. I pointed out that a large percentage of the US grain crop is fed to ruminant livestock – livestock that do not need grain. My [...]
Contrary to what a neighbor thinks, I am still around and actively working with our livestock. One of our nearest neighbors told a friend from church that I was never around and that my wife was doing all of the chores. He hinted that there might be problems in the family – which is entirely [...]
In one of Joel Salatin’s books, he says that the weather is never “normalâ€. This idea has been driven home to me this summer. Spring was fairly dry and then beginning in June we had virtually no rain for weeks. Pastures stopped growing and hay crops were small. Corn yields will be lower than normal [...]
When raising livestock and crops, it seems like there is always something new to figure out. In the last few days I talked with a neighbor, who is a semi-retired dairy farmer, about the continuous learning that farming seems to involve. He complained that, since getting rid of some of his haying equipment, he has [...]
In the last post, Tom said that he is praying for a revival in the countryside. This past Sunday, we read the account of Cain and Abel in church, and while reading this account, it occurred to me that we need Christian people involved in agriculture and that we do need a revival among those [...]
In the last year or so I have been reading about the range of trace minerals in sea salt and have read accounts of farmers fertilizing their land with sea salt. Doing this is purported to add trace minerals and increase the palatability of pastures. One sea salt distributor is recommending that 250 pounds of [...]
I am having trouble keeping up with all of the work that needs to be done this time of year. All of the contributors to this blog are having the same problem. And with it staying light until around 9:30 pm, it is easy to keeping working right up until it is time to go [...]
This past week WorldNetDaily had a very interesting article on the problems that have been seen with food imported from China. The article is here. The article title is “Is China Trying to Poison Americans and Their Pets?†According to the article the FDA has found shipments of food from China where the food is [...]
This past Wednesday and Thursday we were blessed with around 2 inches of rain. The rain was much needed and I am very grateful God graciously sent this rain. The rain started out as some heavy thunderstorms and then progressed to a steady light rain that continued through Wednesday night. Even before the rain started [...]