2 years ago
Cattle branding began long before cowboys integrated it on ranches. According to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, branding began with the Egyptians, who branded oxen and other livestock around 2700 B.C. Today, it’s a tradition on ranches across America that helps in livestock management. For the Elpers family, the practice of branding their cattle has ...

2 years ago
Western Kansas is hopping this summer as the number of grasshoppers spikes. Kansas State University Research and Extension entomologist Anthony Zukoff said wet weather patterns this spring are supporting the presence of large grasshopper populations across western and central portions of the state. Zukoff said hot, dry summers increase the likelihood of young grasshoppers, or nymphs, surviving ...

2 years ago
The award-winning Garden City Community College Meat Judging Team will host a meat judging camp, scheduled for August 2-3. The camp will take place from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day in the GCCC Meat Lab, located in the John Collins Vocational Technical Building. According to the school, this two-day camp offers a comprehensive learning ...

2 years ago
An irrigation system on wheels that can operate in irregularly shaped farm fields will be featured during a demonstration day planned Aug. 1 at the Flickner Innovation Farm near Moundridge. The farm’s owner and operator, Ray Flickner, said the 360 RAIN irrigation system is the newest technology in place at the farm. The system is unique ...

2 years ago
According to the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and safety, 33 serious injuries involving children occur on a farm or ranch in the United States every day. To prevent these incidents, only youth with proper training and experience should be allowed to drive large equipment (the leading cause of injury and death for ...

2 years ago
The bird flu outbreak in Colorado is spreading. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is now reporting a total of five human cases of avian influenza in workers responding to the avian flu outbreak at a commercial egg layer operation. CDC has confirmed four of the cases, and one additional case is presumptive positive ...

2 years ago
Kansas farmers seem to be positioned for a bounce-back in net farm income as 2024 rolls along, according to a report from Kansas State University farm management economist Gregg Ibendahl. And while, technically, that is good news, it is tempered by the fact that Kansas farmers are coming off one of the toughest years in about ...

2 years ago
An in-person workshop, “Intro to Organic: How Organic Grain Works in Kansas – Agronomy and Marketing,” will be hosted July 30 at Kansas Wesleyan University by the KWU’s Community Resilience Hub (CRH) and the Organic Agronomy Training Service (OATS). As interest in organic grains grows, farmers often seek guidance from their ag advisors. This workshop will ...

2 years ago
Kansas wheat harvest is down to the final few days. Rain delays continue to stretch out the season, but producers welcome the moisture as they turn their attention to planting fall crops and managing the weeds coming up rapidly in wheat stubble. Moisture over the weekend continues to prevent harvest from wrapping up in northwest Kansas, ...

2 years ago
Drought notoriously impacts many facets of wheat production. Growers deal with reduced yields and shortened plant heights while facing other issues that cloud a crop's success. Little moisture also influences the result of a post-wheat harvest herbicide application, said Kansas State University weed specialist Sarah Lancaster. “After-harvest weeds can be particularly challenging in dry growing seasons because ...

2 years ago
The Kansas State University Helwig Farms Quarter-Scale Tractor Team took second place out of 21 teams at the 27th annual American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers' International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition. The event — held May 30-June 2 at the Expo Gardens Fairgrounds in Peoria, Illinois — challenges teams to design and build a quarter-scale tractor capable of ...