Webinar — Using Cover Crop Mixtures to Achieve Multiple Goals on the Farm During this webinar, a team of researchers at Penn State University will discuss the use of cover crop “cocktails” or mixtures to achieve weed suppression, nitrogen scavenging, nitrogen provisioning, and attracting beneficial insects and pollinators. Results from a study of winter cover crops […]
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Antibiotic Resistance By Donald E. Hoenig, VMD Since I began the Made In Maine: Thoughts on Food, Animals, and Agriculture blog a few months ago, I knew that one of these days I had to tackle the complicated topic of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic use in food animals. I haven’t been looking forward to it […]
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2014 Cornell Sheep & Goat Symposium Electronic registration and payment via credit card for the 2014 Cornell Sheep & Goat Symposium is now available. You may register up to 2 people online from the same farm and pay with a credit card. If you wish to register more people, please register by mail and send […]
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Only YOU Can Prevent … By Donald E. Hoenig, VMD On one of my recent flights out of Portland, it was a clear, cloudless morning and the plane flew right over the eastern end of Long Island, New York. As I admired the scene out the window at 33,000 feet, I noticed that I had […]
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Microscope Workshop for Farmers Common internal parasites of sheep, goats, and camelids can be detected using fecal flotation methods. Equip yourself with microscopy skills that improve your ability to make sound management decisions. Where: J. Franklin Witter Center, 160 University Farm Road, Old Town, Maine When: Saturday August 9th, 2014. 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Workshop fee: […]
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This Little Piggy By Donald E. Hoenig, VMD One snowy December a number of years ago, I witnessed three large (400-500 pound) sows fall through the floor into the manure pit of an old dairy barn in Turner, Maine, while they were eating stale donuts. It was about a 10-foot fall, but fortunately none of […]
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Is Endophyte a Concern for Maine Livestock Producers? This spring a few beef producers contacted UMaine Extension concerned that Endophyte infected fescue or perennial ryegrass may be adversely affecting their pregnant cattle. In other states Endophyte (fungus) infected pastures can cause abortions and/or poor weight gains in cattle and other livestock that graze these grasses. […]
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Family Farms By Donald E. Hoenig, VMD I’ve been on a one-man crusade lately to abolish the term “industrial” or “factory” farm from the lexicon. I have a sinking feeling that it’ll be an exercise in futility, but I will persevere. Families own the vast majority of farms in Maine (and in America) and they […]
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Don’t Forget to Vaccinate Your Horse (and Protect Yourself) By Donald E. Hoenig, VMD Over Labor Day weekend in 2009, we had a horse head, on ice, in a garbage can in our garage for four days. As you might imagine, my lovely wife, Lynn, was not too thrilled but over the 36 years that […]
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Farm & Homestead Day – June 14 Farm & Homestead Day, a free event, offers hands-on and interactive sessions on farming and homesteading skills. It will be held on Saturday, June 14, 2014 at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association’s Common Ground Education Center on Crosby Brook Road in Unity. More information can be […]
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