More in Sustainability

While a lack of rain from the drought plaguing much of the country might not be good for farmers, it could help consumers with their grocery bills....More

The Humane Society of the U.S. wins not by scoring touchdowns on every play, but by making first downs. They accomplish that by making their opponents play their game on their field and with their rules. Are cattlemen playing their game in the words we use with consumers?...More

New research presented at the 2012 American Society of Animal Science meeting provided insight into the consequences if U.S. farmers and ranchers no longer used productivity-enhancing technologies to raise beef cattle. If technologies were withdrawn, 17 million more acres of land and 138 billion more gals. of water would be required to produce the same total amount of beef. At the same time, 18 million extra metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2) would be released in the U.S. alone and 16.9 million acres of forests would be destroyed in other countries....More

University of Illinois Extension announced that the Illinois Drought Resources website has just gone live. The site has been created to ensure that information related to the current dry weather in Illinois is organized, easily found, and available   The site can be accessed at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/drought/.   It contains the most recent information about the impact of the drought on crops, livestock, and home gardens, as well as discussions of financial considerations....More

A beef feedlot near Broken Bow, NE, has agreed to pay a $145,000 penalty to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violating the Clean Water Act....More

A good crossbreeding program takes some background in genetics, a big enough herd and land base, good bull suppliers and time to figure all that out. Producers looking for a simpler route to heterosis often opt to use a composite bull....More

We buried my grandfather last spring. He had died in his sleep in his own bed at 95, so, as funerals go, it wasn’t a grim occasion. But it was a historic one for our small rural community. My great-grandparents were early settlers, arriving in 1913 and farming the land throughout their lives. My grandfather continued that tradition, and now rests next to them on a hillside overlooking the family homestead....More