The onset of winter gives most of us plenty of time to work in our shops, which sometimes are nicer than the house. Now is the time to go over our equipment from head to toe to make sure it is r

Now that the new year is underway, we can look back and see what happened in the previous year. One farm item that saw an uptick in value was farm equipment

Don’t look now, but harvest season is wrapping up and this year, like most in recent memory, has brought its fair share of unpredictability. As always, some areas fared better than others

Travis Erickson values his employees by implementing flexible schedules and split shifts. Ryan Shaw (left) is one of Erickson’s long-term employees

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “There are only two things certain in life: death and taxes.” This statement still rings true today, but on most farms I think we could also add two more items

Knowing real-time forage moisture is critical for choosing if and how much preservative to use, how much steam to add to very dry hay, and in predicting effects on forage quality

The busy season is upon many of us. Hay mowers all across the country are firing up and heading to the field. In some regions, the mower is then followed by one or more passes with a tedder

Site-specific and variable rate technologies are widely known and applied today in row crops, in many instances being driven by and evaluated by yield monitors

It’s once again time to take a tour around the country to see what’s going on in the world of farm custom rate surveys. As I’ve mentioned previously, these documents were invaluable during

Down here in the Southern states it is already “go time” for most dairies and those putting up winter annuals

Cabin fever has set in for most anyone in the agriculture community by this time of the year. For most of us, we have at least a month until the wheels can again be put into motion

Now that winter is in full effect, most grain farmers are either ice fishing or taking a vacation at the beach, but not us hay guys

When center pivots were first introduced, they used high-pressure impact sprinklers on top of the pipe. These sprinklers needed 40 to 60 pounds per square inch (psi) to operate properly, were sp

In the fast-paced world of farming, it can be a real challenge to keep up with current technology and all of the new and improved equipment in the marketplace

Hay season is winding down for most of us, and all of this year’s crop, or lack thereof in some cases, is in the barn. It was usually about this time of year when my dad and I would start to look

If you ask most dairymen what their biggest fear was when they made the switch to a custom harvester, the answer is usually if the cutter will show up on time. After a few years of getting to kn

There is a fair amount of interest in owning a custom harvesting business, but do you have what it takes to sell yourself to potential clients?

In my former extension life, it was not unusual to receive a call from somebody wanting to know the “going rate” for (fill in the blank)

Jon Sykes owns M&L Farms Inc., located in Quitman, Ga. The farm has been custom harvesting since 2000 and custom farming since 2008. They currently grow corn, sorghum, and ryegrass for a local d

The author is a partner in Orrson Custom Farming Ltd., Apple Creek, Ohio. He currently serves as president of the U.S. Custom Harvesters Inc