We were hundreds of miles from home, riding in the car and heading west when I had nothing better to do than inspect my wedding ring for cleanliness and flaws. I was sure my husband would prefer that to my examining him for the same things. And I was glad he was driving so he couldn’t do ...
A reader recently emailed me, saying that they were distressed about how modern dairies operate. I replied with some insights gleaned from my six decades’ worth of dairy experience. The majority of America’s dairy cows live in confinement facilities. The cows remain indoors from time they ...
If you grew up on a farm, you know that milk cows show up to be milked, horses return to the barn to be fed and, like clockwork, chickens return to roost every night. In fact, chickens are so certain to return each evening that we’ve recast this commendable habit into a common admonition: ...
I bought ice cream while on vacation and got a quarter back in change because they had stopped using pennies. That is inflation. The Supreme Courts ruling that IEEPA tariffs are illegal will have more ramifications than the administration suggests. That is why President Donald Trump was so ...
NEWS *The price discovery period for crop insurance has ended. The base average price for corn is $4.62 per bushel, down from $4.70 last year. Soybeans are at $11.09 per bushel, up from $10.54 per bushel in 2025. Spring wheat is at $6.19 per bushel, down from $6.55 per bushel a year ago. The ...
The Winter Olympics have come and gone, that quadrennial phenomenon that should be called the “It’s Cold Enough Out There to Freeze the Whiskers Off a Polar Bear!” I have nothing against people who enjoy winter sporting events. But I’ve had my fill of cold, having grown up in a drafty ...
NEWS *A Texas grand jury has indicted five employees and executives of Agridime LLC for wire fraud and money laundering. This group promised clients returns of 15 to 32 percent if they invested in their cattle purchase scheme. A total of $220 million was invested in this case of fraud from ...
House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson must not be a superstitious man. If he were, he would not have introduced the biggest bill of his congressional career, the “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026,” on Friday, Feb. 13. But there he was Feb. 13 taking the lid off his ...
There is no question as to who calls the tune in every sector or subject today domestically and geopolitically. A Truth Social comment from President Trump gets immediate attention. What he says may not make broad sense, but it makes sense to him and commands attention. Markets respond. His ...
It occurs to me that I love the way guys interact with each other. Most of the time there’s no fanfare, no sharing of recipes, sometimes there’s spit, and sometimes there’s even no seriousness in (or baseline reason for) a visit or conversation. The only exception to my admiration of ...