Pick up any slow cooker cookbook, and you’ll be amazed at the versatility of this simple appliance. With a slow cooker, you can combine the ingredients for anything from stew to oatmeal to cobbler within minutes, then just walk away until it’s time to serve and eat. Are there other advantages to slow cooking? Are there any hidden disadvantages? And is slow cooking safe? Let’s … Continue reading Pros and Cons of Slow Cookers
If you have been searching for the right beef cattle breed for your new farm, you undoubtedly have come across plenty of promotional literature published by breed organizations. This material usually includes long lists of the benefits of the breed in question, such as calving ease, rapid weight gain, or meat tenderness. One characteristic commonly touted is a cow’s milk production. This may give you … Continue reading Milk Production in Beef Cattle
Now that we know what brix is and how to measure it, we’re ready to find ways to apply this knowledge. So what is an ideal brix level? Most plants show markedly improved vitality and pest resistance when their brix levels hit 12 degrees on a refractometer, although with care many can go far higher than that. Increasing Brix in Produce and Pasture Proponents … Continue reading Brix: How Do We Use It?
Now we have a definition of brix: the weight of dissolved sugar expressed as a percentage of the weight of the entire solution. The next question is how we measure brix. The Refractometer As its name suggests, a refractometer operates on the principle of refraction. When a beam of light passes through a liquid solution, it bends, or refracts. The more solids (e.g., sugars) … Continue reading Brix: How Do We Measure It?
Brix is one of those topics that come up fairly frequently in sustainable agriculture. Simply put, brix is a measure of the sugar content of a plant or other substance. To be more specific, Brix expresses the weight of dissolved sugar as a percentage of the weight of the entire solution. Pure water has a brix of 0%. A solution of 5 grams of sugar … Continue reading Brix: What is It?
Even when the afternoons are too hot for outdoor work, you can still make the most of the time with research and planning. Spend some time studying business, marketing, nutrition, animal health, and more. Consider new ways to direct market your beef. Find out how reproduction and animal health are related. Discover 96 horse breeds of North America. Build a sustainable business. Learn what kobe … Continue reading Get Ready for August 2016
Blossom end rot may look like some type of dreaded bacterial disease, but it is actually a symptom of nutritional deficiency. Affected plants include: Tomatoes. Peppers. Eggplants. Squash. Watermelons. When blossom end rot strikes, your plants are signalling that they are deficient in calcium. Calcium is an important part of the cell walls of fruits and vegetables. When calcium is deficient, the cell walls break … Continue reading Blossom End Rot
Summer can be very busy, but don’t forget to learn and brainstorm. Spend some time enjoying nature, researching animals, and growing healthy plants. Brush up on your birdwatching vocabulary. Discover how wood type affects the sound of your guitar. Explore the 11 physiographic regions of Kansas. Learn about rare and popular breeds of livestock. Consider growing beans as a field crop in Kansas. Find out … Continue reading Get Ready for July 2016
We have updated our vitamin guide to include country pets, those special cats and dogs that share our lives and help us out around the farm. In addition to information on vitamins in livestock nutrition, you will now find details applicable specifically to pets: Natural sources of vitamins tailored to carnivores. Causes of vitamin deficiency unique to cats and dogs. Symptoms that pets are unlikely … Continue reading Our Vitamin Guide—Updated!
When people began turning to raw diets to improve their health, perhaps it was only natural that they started to wonder if raw foods might benefit their pets, as well. Today, raw diets for dogs and cats have a dedicated following. Success stories abound. So are these diets all they are cracked up to be, or are they overhyped? Let’s examine both sides of the … Continue reading Pros and Cons of Feeding Pets Raw Diets
