Author: staff

Image by HannieVerhoeven, Shutterstock Holstein Association USA has recently updated Official Holstein Pedigrees to include designation for animals carrying the Slick gene, when genetic test results are on file in the Holstein herdbook database. On a pedigree, it will be displayed in the row above an animal’s name. “We are excited to make this enhancement to our Official Holstein Pedigrees,” said Lindsey Worden, Chief Operating Officer. “Breeders interested in these genetics have been asking for this for some time now.” Slick cattle have a natural genetic mutation of the prolactin receptor gene which results in a shorter hair coat. The…

By Brittney Goodrich Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Rainfall Index Insurance (PRF-RI) is an underutilized insurance product by livestock and forage producers in the Midwest (see Farmdoc Daily article from Oct. 9, 2024). One aspect of PRF-RI that sets it apart from traditional crop insurance is that producers choose the months they want to insure against low rainfall. This allows for flexibility in insuring different types of forage production systems that may benefit from rainfall at different times during the year. Enrolling in different months throughout the year affects the total premium paid by the producer, the amount and frequency of…

March corn is up 2¢ this morning. January soybeans are up 1¼¢. March wheat contracts are mixed. CBOT wheat is down 2¼¢. KC wheat is down less than a penny. Minneapolis wheat is up 1¼¢. This morning, USDA announced new soybean export sales. Unknown destinations are buying 198,000 metric tons of soybeans for the 2024/2025 marketing year. Speaking of exports, this morning Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at StoneX, discussed the future of commodity trade under President Elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration: “There’s been a great deal of speculation about the potential impact of President Trump’s promised tariffs. The assumption…

SERAFINA, N.M. — You saw the Super Bowl commercial, right? The one with Stone Cold Steve Austin, his dog, and even a bald eagle rocking a mullet as an all-new Kawasaki UTV ripped past them. It was the kind of commercial that gets people talking. But, what was the point of their “business in the front, part in the back” promotion?  Kawasaki introduced the RIDGE earlier this year to an eager audience, wondering what the Japanese OEM had up its sleeve. Patent filings complete with prototype sketches were analyzed by the media, speculating that this might be a new…

Let’s take a break from the typical Interesting Iron column and do something a bit lighter this week. Today, I want to present the Interesting Iron-approved list of gifts for the tractor nerd in your life. Here are some toys, tools, and other cool stuff that everybody who works on “stuff” needs in their life! For the most part, these are all things that I either use every day, or enjoy using/collecting/reading. A couple of them are still on my personal list, and one of them is being delivered tomorrow. If you’re stumped as far as what to buy for…

One fourth of the $99 billion in disaster aid requested by President Biden would be funneled through the USDA, with the bulk of the $24 billion devoted to offsetting lost crop production and reduced quality of crops. Agriculture deputy secretary Xochitl Torres Small was to testify in support of the request before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. Passage of disaster assistance was a top priority for Congress following Hurricanes Helene and Milton this summer. The White House asked for $99 billion on Monday for a wide range of departments and agencies. “From rebuilding homes and reopening critical infrastructure, such…

By Joshua Haiar An Iowa company proposing a carbon dioxide pipeline said it resubmitted its permit application to South Dakota regulators Tuesday with what the company described as “major reroutes.” A new route map was not immediately available from the company or state officials. The move comes more than a year after the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission rejected Summit Carbon Solutions’ initial application. At that time, the commission cited the route’s non-compliance with county laws mandating minimum distances between pipelines and existing features. Summit’s latest South Dakota route includes 700 miles with connections to 14 ethanol plants in the…

What once felt like a futuristic science fiction novel is here: Fully autonomous functions are coming to the farm. Skilled labor to operate heavy machinery can be hard to come by, and weather events are creating tighter windows for planting and harvest. Autonomy may be a solution to alleviate these pain points, with the possibility of running machinery 24 hours a day until work is complete.  Fuel savings are another possible outcome from autonomy. During AGCO’s autonomous tillage testing, the company found upwards of 7% to 8% in fuel efficiency savings by taking engine load from 100% to around 85%. …

“One in five farmers could be pushed out of business by the sharp drop in farm income this year,” said Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith at a Senate hearing on disaster aid, and Arkansas Sen. John Boozman asked how rural America could survive the combination of high production costs and lower commodity prices without “significant help” from the government. “It’s really dire in farm country right now,” said Boozman, with crop producers suffering in particular, although livestock prices have been stronger than expected. Federal intervention is needed because bankers are becoming reluctant to loan money to growers for 2025 crops, said…

It’s commonly known in the cattle industry that bovine respiratory disease is the most costly illness affecting cattle in North America. Despite extensive research and treatment efforts over the years, it continues to lead to high rates of sickness and death among livestock, according to Samantha Howe, a post-doctoral fellow for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station in the animal science department. The experiment station is the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Howe said bovine respiratory disease is estimated to be responsible for about 70 to 80 percent of feedlot illnesses, and between 40 and…