Wayne Dellinger, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Union County

(Image Source: weather.gov/safety)

With snow covering much of the landscape for over a week now, we will now get arctic cold temperatures and windchills with daily high temperatures that will be the coldest in roughly ten years. It is interesting to note that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) documents that there are more deaths in the United States due to cold weather exposure (hypothermia) than hot weather exposure (hyperthermia) each year. The CDC has also tracked an average of 1,300 deaths per year in the US due to excessive cold or hypothermia.

Many jobs are affected little with the change in temperature outside, but others do not have that luxury. Occupations such as agriculture (and others) work outside a great deal no matter what the conditions. Helpful reminders are often beneficial to keep safe while accomplishing these tasks.

Everyone responds to Continue reading Working in Cold Temperatures →

Ohio Farm Bureau Federation

Listed are links to the latest news and ways members can access assistance.

Ohio Farm Bureau has been keeping close tabs on conditions across the state through the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor. The monitor works with a scale where D1 is a “moderate drought”, D2 is a “severe drought”, D3 is an “extreme drought” and D4 is an “exceptional drought”. As the summer has progressed, 2024 became the first year that D4 conditions we recognized in Ohio and the coverage area for D3 is the largest since the inception of the drought monitor in 2000.

In the latest update, over 77% of the Buckeye State is experiencing drought conditions. Ohioans are seeing “extreme drought” in about a 25% of the state and 18 counties in Ohio are now seeing D4, or “exceptional drought” conditions.

If you have been impacted by the drought, please contact your local Farm Service Agency.

Farm Bureau is working closely with state and federal agencies, as well as The Ohio State University to collect all of the available resources for those stricken by the drought conditions and is sharing those resources with members through various channels. Listed are links to the latest news and ways members can access assistance should they need it, including a new Ohio Hay Directory created by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

USDA/FSA/ODA Links Continue reading New Ohio Hay Directory and Additional Drought Resources →

OSU Production Business Management Team

The Ohio Farm Custom Rates Survey data collection has launched once again. The online survey for 2024 is available at:  www.go.osu.edu/customratesurvey

A large number of Ohio farmers hire machinery operations and other farm related work to be completed by others. This is often due to lack of proper equipment, lack of time or lack of expertise for a particular operation.  Many farm business owners do not own equipment for every possible job that they may encounter in the course of operating a farm and may, instead of purchasing the equipment needed, seek out someone with the proper tools necessary to complete the job. This farm work completed by others is often referred to as “custom farm work” or more simply “custom work”. A “custom rate” is the amount agreed upon by both parties to be paid by the custom work customer to the custom work provider.

Custom farming providers and customers often negotiate an agreeable custom farming machinery rate by utilizing Extension surveys results as a starting point. Ohio State University Extension collects surveys and publishes survey results from the Ohio Farm Custom Survey every other year. This survey will result in a new Ohio Farm Custom Rate Survey Summary for 2024.

Custom work providers or customers are asked to Continue reading Ohio Farm Custom Rate Survey Launched for 2024: Responses Requested →

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)
(Previously published online with SARE: Resources and Learning, 2014)

Sheep and goat enterprises offer diversification opportunities for small and limited-resource farmers. This Small Ruminant Toolbox was developed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) in order to provide a collection of information for small ruminant producers and educators. The Small Ruminant Toolbox includes many publications, presentations and other resources that will be helpful to small ruminant producers.

All Toolbox materials can be downloaded from this page.

Continue reading

Haley Campbell, Lecturer, The Ohio State University ATI

During the week that I wrote this, I was able to create and give a presentation to a local Rotary Club on preparing landscape beds and selecting flowers for the garden. Not even close to being a dairy topic, but it gave me joy. From the content shared to the photos used to the people listening, I had so much fun with this program. In the state of agriculture today, with input prices skyrocketing and uncertainty for the future, it can be incredibly hard to find the joy in what we do. However, finding the joy and clinging to that joy is what will bring you through hard times.

In fact, finding the joy has some health benefits, too (UC Berkeley). As if we don’t need another thing to worry about with a wet and cold spring and the price of soybean meal, our health and wellness need to come first. Without a farmer, there is no farm.

One way that happiness can physically affect our well-being is through heart health. Happy people tend to have lower heart rates and blood pressure. Additionally, happy people may have better immune systems. Studies have shown that when individuals are exposed to the cold virus, those that reported happy emotions leading up to exposure were more likely to

Continue reading Finding Your Joy – Reasons To Be Thankful →

American Lamb Board
(Previously published in the American Lamb Board Newsletter, December 16, 2021)

The American Lamb Board (ALB) aims to connect American Lamb producers with consumers and chefs who are seeking local sources of American Lamb.

“ALB receives emails and calls daily requesting information about where to buy American Lamb,” says Gwen Kitzan, ALB chair. “We want to know the online stores, farmers markets, and butcher shops that carry local American Lamb across the country to help consumers and chefs who only have access to imported lamb or no lamb at all in their grocery stores.”

ALB has a survey for American Lamb producers to submit information about their direct marketing efforts.

Furthermore, LambResourceCenter.com has many useful tools for direct marketers such as a pricing calculator called the Direct Marketing Lamb Business Management Tool and Continue reading American Lamb Board Connects Consumers and Chefs with American Lamb Sources →

American Lamb Board
(Previously published in the American Lamb Board Newsletter, August 8, 2019)

Helping each sheep producer find ways to be more efficient plus take more control of flock productivity, both of which protect against price volatility, is the bottom line reason for the Best Practices to Increase Your Lamb Crop fact sheets. The series is a joint effort of the American Lamb Board (ALB) and the American Sheep Industry Association’s Let’s Grow program. These fact sheets were developed by a group of industry experts and are designed to help producers increase their productivity and profitability. Continue reading Best Practices Aim to Increase Productivity for Lamb Producers →