Author: staff

For much of the north central region of the United States, the winter months were colder than normal. Despite those temperatures, precipitation was also below normal, resulting in widespread drought conditions across the region. Snow Deficit Impacts Minnesota and Other States Matthew Sittel, the assistant state climatologist for Kansas, said there’s been a snow deficit of anywhere from 20 to 40 inches below normal for Minnesota, the Dakotas, and parts of Iowa this winter.  In Pennington County, Minnesota, only an average of 0.01 inches of rain fell throughout the month of February, Sittel said. Red Lake County, Minnesota, also saw…

It was standing room only in the Sales Pavilion in NRG Arena for the 2025 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Junior Market Steer Auction on Saturday. The Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion Jr. Market Steers sold for more than $600,000. 2025 Jr. Market Steer Champions: Grand Champion: Jacob Schickedanz, Ochiltree County 4-H, $675,000 Reserve Grand Champion: Jett Hale, Miami FFA, $690,000 Jacob Schickedanz, a 16-year-old sophomore from Perryton, Texas, exhibited the Grand Champion black crossbred steer. His steer was purchased with support from Sally Flores, Belinda Flores Young, and Chay Flores Taylor, who donated in memory of Rigo Flores,…

The Nebraska Corn Board (NCB) and Nebraska Soybean Board (NSB) are partnering to improve grain bin safety by donating two grain rescue tubes and two training sessions to fire and rescue departments in Nebraska. In collaboration with Nationwide and the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS), the initiative aims to equip rural fire and rescue teams with the knowledge and tools to respond to grain bin entrapments effectively. Grain bin accidents are still common, with suffocation from engulfment being the leading cause of death in grain bins. Between 2007 and 2023, there were 573 documented grain entrapments, and nearly…

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has announced that the implementation of the final rule under the Horse Protection Act will be further delayed until February 1, 2026. Originally set to take effect on February 1, 2025, and later postponed until April 2, 2025, the rule has been delayed again in response to a legal challenge and the need for APHIS to reassess its implementation strategy. A federal court ruling found that portions of the 2024 Horse Protection final rule exceeded APHIS’s authority and failed to provide due process, vacating specific provisions related to the use of action…

The writer Arthur Brooks recently penned a column about a dinner party he and his wife attended with several other long-married couples. After some requisite social niceties, the hostess posed a question that sparked an evening of fascinating discussion: have you ever had a major crisis in your marriage? Were you to ask that question of my wife and me, our answer would be, “Are you kidding? Take your pick!” The first crisis arrived forty-four years ago, on the night of our wedding. To set the stage, the connubial couple were decked out in some of the finest duds they…

Choosing a pair of everyday work boots is a highly individual decision. And that somewhat complicates writing a review of Wolverine’s Rancher Pro boot. These new offers are pull-on Wellington-style work boots that spent the past couple of weeks on my feet during various chores around my rural property. While I regularly find boots that I like, it’s not often that I fully adopt something different than what I normally wear. For instance, in terms of my lace-up work boots, I am currently on my fourth pair of the exact same boot over the past 18 years, and I have…

Ahead of 9 a.m. CT, May corn was down less than a penny at $4.63½ per bushel. May soybeans were down 3¾¢ at $10.06 per bushel. May wheat contracts were also lower. CBOT wheat was down 9½¢ at $5.48¾ per bushel. KC wheat was down 10¾¢ at $5.78. Minneapolis wheat was down 6¾¢ at $5.98¼. June live cattle were up 13¢ at $202.90 per hundredweight (cwt) ahead of 9 a.m. CT. May feeder cattle were down 43¢ at $284.68 per cwt. June lean hogs were down $1.23 at $96.25 per cwt. May crude oil was up 23¢ at $68.51 per…

Dennis Bulani has a passion for agriculture. He’s a fourth-generation Saskatchewan farmer and founder/CEO of The Rack, an ag retail chain selling fertilizer, fuel, and crop protection products. His new book, ‘What A Farmer Wants You To Know About Food,” aims to educate consumers and provide farmers with a tool to share the truth about agriculture and food. Listen to the Podcast Subscribe to 15 Minutes With a Farmer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please rate and review us! Meet Dennis Bulani Bulani grew up on a Saskatchewan cattle and wheat farm near Biggar, earned…

Bushel, a farm management software company, has announced an expanded platform with enhanced financial tools for farmers and agribusinesses.  Starting this spring, Bushel Farm will include a digital wallet, providing an all-in-one platform to manage farm operations and finances. This integration offers the opportunity to simplify both financial and operational management for farmers.  Jake Joraanstad, CEO of Bushel, explained the benefit, comparing it to Venmo or PayPal. “We felt that the industry needed something similar for the farm and the facilities that they work with,” he explained. “Farmers care a lot about making sure that their capital i’s in a…

By Cami Koons A case of highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected in a commercial pullet flock in Buena Vista County Friday, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. This is the sixth detection of the H5N1 bird flu in Iowa this year, and the second 2025 detection in Buena Vista County. The previous detection in the county occurred in a commercial turkey flock and impacted more than 26,000 birds.  The current HPAI outbreak has been an ongoing problem for wild and domestic birds since 2022, though it has also spread to dairy cattle and more than 70 humans who…