Ohio Farm Custom Rate Survey Launched for 2024: Responses Requested

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

The Small Ruminant Toolbox

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.

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Finding Your Joy – Reasons To Be Thankful

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

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2023 eBarns Report Now Available

eBarns – Connecting Science to Farmers

2023 eBarns Report

eBarns is a program at The Ohio State University dedicated to advancing production agriculture through the use of field-scale and applied research. The 2023 eBarns Report is a combination of the research conducted on partner farms and Ohio State agricultural research stations throughout Ohio. Current research is focused on enhancing animal production, growing high-quality forages, precisions nutrient management and to develop analytical tools for digital agriculture.

In this second addition of eBarns we have included research studies not only from the past year, but studies from previous years that have yet to be summarized in a producer friendly manner. It is our goal to continue to share result from applied livestock, forage, and manure nutrient management in this publication for years to come.

2023 Research Recap:
25 Total Studies 

  • 4 Forages
  • 4 Dairy
  • 3 Beef
  • 6 Small Ruminant 
  • 5 Manure Nutrients
  • 2 Equine
  • 1 Poultry

American Lamb Board Connects Consumers and Chefs with American Lamb Sources

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

Best Practices Aim to Increase Productivity for Lamb Producers

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

Small Ruminant Abortion Panels

Dr. Jeff Hayes, DVM, MS, ADDL Pathology Section Head
(Previously published on the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory Newsletter, March 2019)

Abortions in sheep and goats are common submissions to the Animal Disease Diagnostic laboratory (ADDL), particularly in late winter and spring. The ADDL has assembled a multi-discipline diagnostic panel approach to guide practitioners on samples needed, tests offered to address most typical abortion-causing pathogens, and the cost of the workup. The goals are to present a thorough diagnostic plan that is expedient to collect, provide a working differential diagnosis, and that is done at an affordable price. Fresh samples that are most useful – required – include Continue reading

Connecting with Ewe

Brady Campbell, Program Coordinator, OSU Sheep Team

Since its re-launch in August of 2017, the OSU Sheep Team has generated interested from shepherds all over the state of Ohio as well as around the world. Our team strives to provide both timely and timeless small ruminant production information to producers that can be easily be applied on-farm.

On a weekly basis, our team works on generating and providing quality information that we feel is important for shepherds to know. However, we would like to try something different and turn a part of this process over to you as a viewer. For those that follow our updates on a weekly basis, we are interested in hearing from you! Continue reading

Preparation and Considerations for the 2018 Show Season

Tim Barnes, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Marion County

As the winter lambing season comes to an end, many purebred and club lamb producers are opening their barns and offering their latest lamb crop up for sale to compete in the 2018 show season. As many begin to flip through sale ads and Facebook postings, there are somethings that exhibitors need to take into consideration before making their big purchase.

So you want to show a market lamb, but don’t know where to begin?

The experts say selection and show preparation are a science that will aid in predicting the final product of your sheep.  A well-planned feed and Continue reading

2017 Buckeye Shepherd’s Symposium Presentations

Brady Campbell, Program Coordinator, OSU Sheep Team

As requested by popular demand, below is a listing of the presentations from the 2017 Buckeye Shepherd’s Symposium. Presentations from the two day event can be viewed in PDF format by simply clicking on the title of the presentation. For those that have further questions on the presentations themselves, feel free to email me at: campbell.1279@osu.edu and I will help address your questions. Continue reading