Country Folks
Posted on May 6, 2026
The Granite State Association of FFA recently hosted its 96th annual State Convention. A total of 200 FFA members from nine New Hampshire schools traveled to the Mount Washington Hotel to celebrate their passion for agriculture. FFA is a program largely offered vocational schools in New Hampshire. S...
Country Folks, Farmers First
Posted on May 6, 2026
Hello, farm family! After a tumultuous winter, spring is finally here, even though the weather seems to be having a hard time getting the message. Farmers are not fooled by unseasonable chills, however. If you’re anything like the farmers I know, you’re already moving full speed ahead: filling up gr...
Country Folks, Crop Comments
Crop Comments A10 
Posted on May 6, 2026
As I’m writing this column in late April’s pre-dawn, it appears that spring has not quite grabbed the climate reins from winter. Autmn-planted winter annuals are looking pretty good – crops like wheat, rye, triticale, barley and speltz. But perennial crops are taking their sweet time breaking dorman...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
Posted on April 29, 2026
Getting a jump on pests can help improve your chances warding off a major infestation. Chloe Yi-Luo Cho, Ph.D. candidate in entomology at Cornell, presented “Early-Season Pest Damage Across New York: Risk Under Different Management Practices in Light of the Neonicotinoid Ban” at the recent Soybean &...
Country Folks
by Kelsi Devolve 
Posted on April 29, 2026
Taika von Königslöw, assistant Professor at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, spoke at the 2026 New Hampshire Dairy Management Conference, explaining the complexities of calf health and management. Calves are extremely vulnerable within their first few days of life, but it’s essen...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
Posted on April 29, 2026
A motivational speaker may not seem a typical choice for a speaker at a farm conference, but the Northeast Dairy Management Conference, presented by PRO-DAIRY and the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, welcomed Matt Booth of Mattitude from Dubuque, Iowa, to speak about one’s outlook effecting po...
Country Folks, Crop Comments
Crop
Posted on April 29, 2026
The U.S. plants significantly less acreage of this summer annual than it did a century ago. Buckwheat was once a much more widespread crop before the late Industrial Revolution introduced new technologies. The center-point of such technologies were fertilizers based on chemical ingredients which inc...
Country Folks
by Sonja Heyck-Merlin 
Posted on April 22, 2026
According to Alyssa Dietrich Warner, it’s commonly recommended to feed a newborn calf a minimum of four liters of colostrum at the first feeding. Some dairy farmers choose to feed more than this. This is a way to achieve excellent transfer of passive immunity (TPI), regardless of colostrum quality. ...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
Posted on April 22, 2026
As a matter of economy, Francisco Leal Yepes, DVM, Ph.D., and assistant professor of ambulatory and production medicine in Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, believes more farmers need to raise their own replacements and pay more attention to their herd’s health. “Heifer supplies are at their...
Country Folks
by Laura Rodley ilac Ridge Farm in Brattleboro offers Vermont?s 
June 3, 2026
Lilac Ridge Farm in Brattleboro offers Vermont’s first organic certified creemee, certified by the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA-VT). Th...
Country Folks
by Lee Mielke 
June 3, 2026
It’s June Dairy Month once again. Hopefully, that never changes. It’s been an annual reminder of one of the blessings America should be grateful for b...
Country Folks
by Sonja Heyck-Merlin 
June 3, 2026
Maple Wind Farm is inoculating their winter-laying houses with Lactobacillus, a beneficial bacterium, to improve animal health. It’s an on-farm trial ...
Country Folks
by Joseph Armstrong 
June 3, 2026
On most small farms, the difference between a peaceful night and a pasture full of panic can come down to one thing: a guardian animal you trust with ...