News

AP Photo/The Vicksburg Post, Sam Andrews Photo

Vicksburg fighting war with feral hogs

A pack of unwelcome swine are going wild at the site of one of the pivotal battles of the Civil War, after seeking higher ground from the flooded Mississippi River last year. Park officials say a pack of wild hogs are rooting up the landscape at ...

STAR program helps ranchers rebuild after fires

Special to The PostBASTROP -- As Texas ranchers struggle to restore approximately 6,200 miles of fences lost to historic wildfires, Texas Agriculture Com-missioner Todd Staples led an effort in Bastrop County to help a local rancher rebuild Jan. 12. ...

AP Photo/Glenwood Springs Post Independent, John Colson Photo

'Ranch sorting' gaining popularity as a sport

NEW CASTLE, Colo. -- Doing chores on a working ranch can be dangerous, and many a cowboy has a missing finger or toe, a mashed hand or a crooked elbow to prove it. But the job of sorting cattle already collected in pens always has been open to youn ...

Robert Fears Photo

Let us spray: Proper use of herbicides will save money

By ROBERT FEARS Special to The Post If you sit around agricultural chemical retail outlets during herbicide buying season, you will hear a lot of griping about the prices. As with other input costs, herbicide prices continue to increase. If use ...

Texas AgriLife Research photo by Monte Roquette Photo

Heavier calves can bring greater feedlot prices

By ROBERT BURNS Texas AgriLife Extension OVERTON -- "Rain or shine, wet or dry, do you want to make more money from your cows next year?" asks a Texas AgriLife Research forage scientist. "It's possible primarily as today's high-priced corn has chang ...

Growers plant more winter wheat

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A government report shows the nation's growers planted more of their land into winter wheat for harvest this year amid high prices and easing drought conditions in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.The National Agricultural Statistics ...

Christopher Quock, San Francisco State University Photo

Fly parasite may hinder fire ant control efforts

By STEVE BYRNS Texas AgriLife Extension Service HOUSTON -- A deadly fly parasite reported for the first time recently in honeybees in California and South Dakota has Texas AgriLife Extension Service entomologists concerned. The discovery might hampe ...

49th annual Soil Survey set Feb. 2-3 at A&M

By KAY LEDBETTERTexas AgriLife CommunicationsCOLLEGE STATION -- The 49th annual Soil Survey and Land Resource Workshop is set for Feb. 2-3 at the Rudder Conference Center on the Texas A&M University campus.This informal, interactive conference co ...

Head 'em up, move 'em out: Vigorous culling decisions necessary for profit

By ROBERT FEARSSpecial to The EagleRegardless of whether a cow is raised or purchased, she is a capital investment for production of a salable item: a weaned calf. If the cow does not produce a calf every year, return on investment is not good. Estim ...

Nighttime is right time to feed expectant cows

By DONALD STOTTSOklahoma State UniversitySTILLWATER, Okla. -- It is generally accepted that adequate supervision at calving has a significant positive effect on reducing calf mortality, which has been of in-creasing importance with the use of larger ...

Learn what's normal for your horse

By DONALD STOTTSOklahoma State UniversitySTILLWATER, Okla. -- Horse owners have a better chance of detecting disease and stress in a horse if they are familiar with the normal behavior and physiological parameters of the animal.Familiarity with what ...

Learning how fire ants thrive

By STEVE BYRNSTexas AgriLife Extension Service COLLEGE STATION -- Like Old West cattle barons in a B-western, red imported fire ants are expanding their range and increasing their herds while laying wholesale waste to the range, according to an exper ...

Labor Department proposes rules for child farm workers

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The U.S. Labor Department is proposing new rules for child farm workers that would keep many from driving tractors, using big equipment and working with livestock.Labor officials say the rules are needed because farming is one of ...

Free soil testing program offered in South Texas

By ROD SANTA ANATexas AgriLife Extension ServiceWESLACO -- Farmers in Hidalgo, Cameron and Willa-cy counties are encouraged to take part in a free soil testing program to help the environment and their bottom lines, according to officials with the ...

Farming appealing to more young people

MILWAUKEE -- A Wiscon-sin factory worker worried about layoffs became a dairy farmer. An employee at a Minnesota nonprofit found an escape from her cubicle by buying a vegetable farm. A nuclear engineer tired of office bureaucracy decided to get into ...