Author: Nanette Neal

Soil Health Series 2026 – Save the Dates

| Nanette Neal

Join the 2026 OSU Extension Soil Health Webinar Series and empower your farm with science-backed, practical strategies! Each monthly webinar delivers expert-led insights—from real-world cover crop management and soil testing to boosting yield, resilience, and profitability in Ohio’s fields. Aimed squarely at farmers, these sessions feature Extension educators, researchers, and producers sharing proven approaches you can start using immediately. Plus, Certified Crop Advisors can earn continuing education credits by tuning in live, and past recordings are conveniently accessible anytime. It’s your direct connection to the latest research and on-farm experience—designed to help your soil and bottom line thrive.

The webinars will be held from 8:00 to 9:00 AM on:

  • January 15, 2026
  • February 12, 2026
  • March 19, 2026
  • April 9, 2026

Speaker details and specific topics will be announced in December, so stay tuned!

We encourage you to share this with your network and post the attached flyer on your county website to help spread the word.

Please feel free to contact Manbir Rakkar (rakkar.4@osu.edu) or Asmita Murumkar (murumkar.1@osu.edu)  if you have any questions.

Don’t miss the chance to join these informative sessions and enhance your soil health knowledge!

No-Cost Swine RFID Tags for Sows and Exhibition Swine

| Nanette Neal

 

Contact: aphispress@usda.gov

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 21, 2025—The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announces a new initiative to provide no-cost RFID (radio frequency identification) eartags for swine beginning fall 2025. These tags will be available for sow and exhibition swine producers. Once available, producers and State animal health officials will be able to order tags on the Merck Animal Health website at www.840swinetags.com.

In July 2025, APHIS awarded a contract to Merck Animal Health to supply up to $20 million in tags to sow and exhibition swine industry segments over the next 5 years. Modeled after the no-cost RFID cattle tag program, this effort will supply no-cost RFID tags to swine producers to boost national swine disease traceability, which is vital to supporting the safety and marketability of the U.S. swine herd. Although animal disease traceability does not prevent disease, an efficient and accurate traceability system reduces the response time involved in a disease investigation, limiting the number of farms and animals affected. This, in turn, reduces the economic impact on owners and affected communities.

Unique to this program is a direct-from-manufacturer to swine premises distribution model. Merck will receive, process, and ship orders directly to producers and State animal health officials, removing APHIS as intermediaries and expediting getting tags into producers’ hands and pigs’ ears. To order these tags, producers must have a valid premises identification number, provide shipping and contact information, and provide the number of sows onsite (for commercial sow farms) or the number of show pigs on the premises (for exhibition swine). State animal health officials will also be able to order no-cost RFID tags based on the number of sows in their State.

These RFID tags will need to be applied with a compatible tag applicator, which is not supplied through this program.

For more information about this program, including the ordering process, requirements, and number of tags that can be ordered based on sow/exhibition swine numbers, check out the web page at www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/swine/swine-identification.

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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

aphis.usda.gov

A Day in the Woods – Tree Identification

| Nanette Neal

“Tree Identification” offered by A DAY in the WOODS to woodland owners and enthusiasts in SE Ohio at Ohio State University South Centers on Friday, October 31st

Where do the logs go after harvest? A look at the current hardwood marketplace

| Nanette Neal

Have you ever harvested trees or seen logs piled and wondered about where they go from there? Ohio has lots of fine hardwood trees that end up in many different places. Join the US Forest Service’s Matt Bumgardner to follow where they go once they leave the woods.  Follow their journey with us from tree to market – you may be surprised where Ohio’s logs go.

Registration is available here.

Small Farm College 2025 – Piketon, OH

| Nanette Neal

Join us for the Small Farm College at the OSU South Endeavor Center (1862 Shyville Rd, Piketon, OH) beginning Wednesday, October 15! 

What is Small Farm College?
This 10-hour small farm management college is designed to help landowners examine potential ways to increase profits from their small-acreage properties. The program is open to all new or aspiring farmers, new rural landowners, small farmers, and farm families looking for new ideas. During this course, participants will be challenged to develop realistic expectations for their new farm business. Participants will receive information about getting started, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their property, and developing a farm business plan. This college occurs over the course of 5 weeks. Each week will focus on a different topic, and at the end, participants will get to experience a simulation with the chance to apply the content from the previous 4 weeks.

Register at:  go.osu.edu/southernohiosfc

Session Dates & Information: 

  • Session I: Getting started on Your New Farm Business
    • Date: Wednesday, October 15 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Developing real-life expectations for your farm.
      • Assessing your property and resources.
      • Developing your family and farm mission, goals, and objectives.
      • Managing farm and family income and expenses.
      • What is a farm business plan, and why do you need one?
  • Session II: You Can’t Measure What You Don’t Track (Farm Recordkeeping, Budgets, and Taxes) 
    • Date: Wednesday, October 22 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Recordkeeping for farm businesses
      • Using enterprise budgets to project farm income and cost of production
      • Introduction to farm taxes
  • Session III: The Legal Side of Small Farm Management 
    • Date: Wednesday, October 29 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Legal structures for farms
      • Farm Leases and Contracts
      • Licenses and permits for selling farm food products
      • Liability concerns for farms
  • Session IV: Money, money, money! The Financial Side of Small Farm Management
    • Date: Wednesday, November 5 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Developing farm and family balance sheets
      • Developing financial statements for your farm
      • Farm financing options
      • Developing your farm business plan
  • Session V: Small Farm Reality Simulation 
    • Date: Wednesday, November 12 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Experience farm management in a small farm setting with industry professionals

Cost:

  • $80 for the first family member. Each additional family member is $40 per person.
  • Each family receives only one binder of resources. Participants are expected to attend every session.

To learn more, contact Amanda Perkins at 740-289-4837.

All About Goats Webinars

| Nanette Neal

Are you interested in learning more about goat production? Join the Ohio State University Extension Small Ruminant Team for the 2025 All About Goats! Webinar. This webinar series is going to answer producers’ burning questions concerning their own herd and help new producers become knowledgeable herdsman. Whether you raise goats for dairy, fiber, or meat production or as pets, this webinar is for you! All youth livestock exhibitors are encouraged to attend.

The topics and dates for this series are as follows:
September 22- Goat Health and Care
October 6- Farm Business and Management
October 20- Goat Processing
November 3- Livestock Marketing
November 17- Hay and Grain Production
December 1- Coyote Management
December 15- Open Forum: Ask Me Anything

The webinar is hosted via Zoom from 7-8 p.m. EST.

Registration is required and can be completed by visiting go.osu.edu/allaboutgoats25

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Pressley at 419-447-9722 or buurma.20@osu.edu

A Day in the Woods – Shrub Identification

| Nanette Neal

Shrub Identification workshop offered by A DAY in the WOODS program to woodland owners and enthusiasts in SE Ohio at Bishop Educational Gardens of Hocking County on Friday, October 10th

Ohio Fruit News – August 2026

| Nanette Neal

The August issue of OFN is now posted.  https://u.osu.edu/fruitpathology/fruit-news-2/

This issue features:

  • The Spotted Lanternfly in Ohio: Spread and Crop Risks, By Ashley Leach
  • Ohio Private Pesticide Applicator License Requirements For Fruit and Vegetable Crops, By Melanie Lewis Ivey
  • Lessons from Boll Weevil Eradication: IPM Strategies for Ohio Fruit and Vegetable Growers, By Guil Signorini and Frank Becker
  • Apple (Marssonina) Leaf Blotch on Apples and Crabapples, By Francesca Rotondo and Melanie Lewis Ivey

Ag Lenders Seminars 2025

| Nanette Neal

Registration is now OPEN for the 2025 Ag Lender Seminars by OSU Extension.

A great lineup of speakers, professional development, and networking.  Please check out the 2025 Featured Speakers, Agendas, and Registration pages for more details.  Time of day for Seminars is 9 am to 3 pm. Dates and location addresses are listed on each site-specific agenda and provided here:

October 14 – Ottawa, OH -Putnam County Educational Service Center, 124 Putnam Pkwy, Ottawa, OH  45875

October 16 – Urbana, OH -Champaign Co Community Center Auditorium, 1512 U.S. Hwy 68, Urbana, OH 43078

October 16 – Washington CH, OH -Fayette County Extension Office, 1415 US Hwy. 22 SW, Washington Court House, OH 43160

October 21 – Wooster, OH – OSU CFAES Fisher Auditorium, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH  44691

More details at: https://u.osu.edu/aglenderseminars/