The concentrated animal feed operation (CAFO) section in Day County’s zoning ordinances was put to the test last week when a beginning York Township farmer sought a conditional use permit to feed up to 480 cattle.
It’s the first of May and there has been very little, if any, field work done in Clark County.
South Dakota State University Extension cow/calf field specialist Warren Rusche stated in an online article that he is worried about losses to this year’s calf crop due to the weather.
Farmers across the country face a dilemma as herbicides that once killed off the weeds that compete with their crops lose effectiveness in the face of herbicide-resistant weeds.
The success of antibiotics has dramatically changed the way we think about illness and recovery since their development in the 1940s. Unfortunately, antibiotics are not as potent as they used to be. Our thinking may need to change again—both in how we treat illness, and, some experts argue, in how we raise livestock.
It’s time to think about getting in the fields. Hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate.
The LaMoure County Commissioners opened bids at the March 5 meeting for the rental of 150 acres of county-owned land. After the bidding was done, they had rented out that 150 acres for $11,500.
“I don’t know if it was the dry weather last year or what, but in talking to other breeders at the farm show this year, we’ve all noticed a lot more single births this year with our herds. We usually have about 50 percent of our births being twins, but this year only about one third of them are twin births,” stated Wayne Fuller of Clark.
Day County is no stranger to the epidemic sweeping through the Midwest, known as Rural Flight. The county has consistently lost population for the past 90 years. But according to a 2011 estimate, the area is looking at its first increase in population since 1920. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 population estimates Webster and Day County have increased half a percent since the 2010 national census.
Does your school have a school garden? Does your food service use locally grown specialty crops like fresh vegetables and fruits for school lunches? We want to know.