Stories and Perspectives from the Farm
Nat'l Ag Month, Govt Cattle Electronic ID, Chick-Fil-A, Homemade Herbicide?
Farm Updates
What’s New?
This past week I spent time in Hayward, Wisconsin watching grandkids. While there, my website was hacked. You kind of go into panic mode when that happens. Thankfully, I got it back. Also, at the same time, my website went through a refresh. Just trying some new ideas going forward.
If you would like to take a look, here is my new refreshed website!
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Winter Still Here
Winter made its appearance during the past few days. We didn’t get much snow, but it reintroduced us to icy roads and cold temps try to impress us. Schools and businesses closed. Any other year, in my opinion, they would not have closed. It would have been a typical Minnesota winter day.
How Do We Promote National Ag Month?
Spent time during March to celebrate National Ag Month through involvement in our local Farm Bureau board. One thing we did this month was giveaway reusable grocery bags at our county grocery stores. Customers loved them!
It’s Holy week. We will celebrate with our Easter tradition: church and family. And, yes, we will have ham. Happy Easter!
Truths Exposed:
Chick Fil-A:
Chick-Fil-A announced they will no longer serve chicken with no antibiotics ever. People are freaking out. This does not mean they will be serving chicken with antibiotics. As a livestock farmer, it is our responsibility to take care of our animals. If they are sick, we need to treat them. We wait until the antibiotic have left their system before we send them to market.
From a scientist:
An inconvenient truth: ‘Homemade herbicide’ of salt, vinegar and soap is more expensive and toxic than glyphosate in Roundup.
For more information and context, check out this post by Professor Andrew Kniss (@WyoWeeds):
https://plantoutofplace.com/.../salt-vinegar-and-glyphosate/
Cattle Electronic ID:
With the recent bill passed by our government to keep it solvent, as always, there is a lot of other “junk” in it. One that is very disturbing is $15 million set aside for electronic IDs for cattle.
Whenever the government is involved, it never works out the way they say. It really is scary the government will be able to monitor the cattle in this country.
If you speak to John Kerry, environment czar, he will tell you agriculture is a big contributor to the climate crisis. And cattle are near the top of the list. If you speak to other scientists, they will tell you different.
I am very disturbed by this.
One last thing:
Are natural pesticides less toxic than synthetic pesticides?
This general statement is a common misconception. Several naturally occurring pesticides are highly toxic, even carcinogenic. Copper sulfate is highly toxic and shown to cause liver disease. Rotenone is a plant extract found in some species within the pea family. It has received significant attention because of studies indicating a potential link to Parkinson’s disease. All pesticides, natural or synthetic, are reviewed and regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Happy Easter! Until next week!