Farm Help

Currently, the USDA youth loan is for kids ages 10-20 years old with a cap of $5,000. “The youth loan program is project based and isn’t meant to be used as a regular operating loan,” said Janet Bollinger, Missouri USDA Farm Loan Specialist. “It’s typically used for youth involved in an FFA or 4-H project.”

Producers facing flooding and tornado damage need to be on guard for symptoms that cattle have ingested metal storm debris, or for the development of the bacterial infection blackleg.

In the world today, technology has grown by leaps and bounds. This is true in all aspects of daily life for almost everyone. Yes, even the cattle producers are learning to use the benefits of this technology.

A small-scale poultry operator could be alarmed by a barrage of feathers in the coop or around the hen lot. But, as Dr. Dustan Clark, University of Arkansas Extension poultry science vet noted, more often than not, feather loss is all just part of the natural process for chickens.

Once the floodwaters recede, Arkansas growers will have to navigate a checklist of issues to assess the scope of replanting, the need for nitrogen and how to cope with one of their toughest enemies:  germinating pigweed.

Wrestling your project around on the ground is rarely practical and trying to hold something large like a door or a sheet of plywood while sawing is dangerous. Makeshift platforms are often flimsy or uneven. A cheap and simple solution to this problem is a good set of sawhorses.

With ever increasing volatility in forage prices (and winter weather), many producers are investigating different ways to insure their supply of quality forage at affordable prices. One avenue many cattlemen are looking at is bagged forage.

Many of Missouri’s early farmers and ranchers planted tree breaks to shield soil, cattle and homesteads from the wind, harvested black walnuts and wood to supplement their income and planted rows of corn in available land between trees. One hundred years ago this was known as making the most of what you had, and being as productive as possible. Today, it’s known as Agroforestry – the science and practice of intensive land use management combining trees and plantings with crops and livestock.

If you have ever heard a cheerful “Bobwhite” call coming from a field or fencerow, chances are you would like to hear it again. There are a variety of ways to invite Bobwhite to your farm. 

The 2012 Farm Bill has not yet been written, according to Lorna Tlowman, Missouri USDA Farm Loans Department, but there is a tremendous amount of speculation that it will include an expanded youth loan program geared to help new farmers and young farmers get started in the agriculture business.