Extension Webinar: Tax and Financial Risks Due to Drought and Disaster December 7

Date: Friday, December 7, 2012
Time: 12:00 Eastern/11:00 Central/10:00 Mountain/9:00 Pacific

Presentations and presenters include:

  Weather Related Sales of Livestock -

     J.C. Hobbs (Oklahoma State University)

  DROUGHT: Tax and Cash Flow Consequences -

     Danny Klinefelter (Texas A&M University)

  Changing Tax Law: What Agriculture Might Expect -

     Roger McEowen (Iowa State University) 

Livestock Biosecurity: What Is It and Why Should I care?

Last Updated: October 29, 2012

Biosecurity refers to strategies and management practices that lessen biological risk. On a farm, attention to biosecurity is the most important measure to reduce and prevent the introduction of diseases or pests of animals and plants. Biosecurity practices also minimize the spread of diseases or pests within a farm system. Many aspects of biosecurity are common sense, but if these strategies and practices are not enforced consistently, there is a greater risk of introducing animal or plant diseases and facing their accompanying economic costs.

Biosecurity practices on livestock farms and ranches include sanitation, animal management, feed management, facility maintenance, manure handling, and disposal of dead animals. The following is a list of best practices.

Understanding Whole-Farm Insurance for Specialized, Diversified and Organic Farms Nov 29

Understanding Whole-Farm Insurance

for Specialized, Diversified and Organic Farms

November 29 webinar will discuss AGR-Lite and other options

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) will offer a webinar on Thursday, November 29, to explain Adjusted Gross Revenue Lite (AGR-Lite) — a unique type of federally subsided crop insurance that holds great promise to serve the needs of smaller, diverse, specialty crop, organic, and direct-market farmers.

What's Important in Ranching?

by Chad Cheyney

I give a short talk at the Lost Rivers Grazing Academy about paradigms. (No...not "pair of dimes".) The human brain is lazy, and paradigms are a trick the mind uses to make dealing with the world easier....at least for the brain. Paradigms also keep us from seeing (and understanding) the world and our businesses and professions in new or different ways....because..."that's the way we have always done it."

Cow Camp Chatter: Forage-Based Heifer Development Programs Require Slow But Steady Gain

Ron Torell, Long-Standing Educator and Advocate of Agriculture

            Many higher precipitation regions of the United States produce an abundance of quality forage year-round requiring little if any supplemental feed to properly develop heifers for breeding. For the rangelands of the arid and semi-arid American West it’s a different story. These rangelands produce fall weaned 450 - 500 pound spring born heifer calves of which 15 – 20% are often retained as replacements by ranchers.  In an effort to obtain a 700 lb-plus spring target breeding weight, winter development rations generally consist of quality homegrown native hay along with a few pounds/head/day of a grain-based supplement for added energy and protein.  This winter feed ration generally yields a 1.25 - 1.75 lb/day gain which is more than sufficient to reach spring target breeding weight.  Due to the severity of the 2012 drought and the effect it has had on the price of grain and grain by-products, the grain-based method for reaching target breeding weight may now have to be re-evaluated.