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Spring is a busy season on the farm, bringing longer days, warmer weather, and the promise of a productive year ahead. To ensure success, now is the time to prepare your fields, care for your livestock, and maintain your equipment. Here are some essential tips to help you get your farm ready for spring. 1. Preparing Your Fields Healthy soil is the foundation of a successful growing season. Start by testing your soil to determine nutrient levels and pH balance. Based on the results, apply the necessary fertilizers or amendments to promote optimal crop growth. When selecting crops, consider rotating...

Egg binding is a commonly cited problem on online forums, but what is this condition and how can you treat it? More importantly, how can you prevent it? Egg binding occurs when a hen has been straining to lay an egg for several hours. A stuck egg prevents fecal matter and other eggs from passing out of the body, and the hen will eventually die from shock or infection. Causes There are a number of factors that may cause egg binding. Eggs form with the pointy end facing the vent opening, but they are laid blunt end first, which means...

The golden crumble your new baby chicks are devouring these days was carefully formulated for their unique needs. Chick Starter. What’s in it? You won’t be surprised to hear that a large component of chick starter is grains. Poultry have a unique digestive system that you can learn more about here. Their digestive system is suited well for taking advantage of the nutrients found in these grains. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common grains found in poultry feed. These ingredients are carefully selected in order to support a baby chick’s nutritional needs: Energy to support daily...

Water is the most important nutrient that we provide for horses on a year around basis. Horses need 2 to 3 times more water than other feedstuffs. An 1100 lb horse on a dry forage diet at an average temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit will need a minimum of 6-7 gallons of water per day or 48-56 lbs of water, and many horses will drink more water than the minimum. We all appreciate that the water requirement may double at high temperatures, but may not realize that at -4 degrees Fahrenheit; the quantity required is about 10-12 gallons per day,...

People and chickens operate on different schedules that sometimes conflict. As days shorten and the temperature drops people turn on furnaces and electric lights and sleep about as many hours as they do in summer. Not chickens. Their daily schedule is set by daylight. Lacking artificial light they settle into a long night’s sleep as soon as dusk arrives and don’t wake until tomorrow’s dawn. In high latitudes they often sleep 15 or 16 hours a night. For chickens, winter is a time for rest, not reproduction. Cold temperatures don’t reduce laying, but as fall advances, decreasing daylight causes egg...