Agriculture

Following its Commissioner of Agriculture “Measure the Candidates” forum held on Oct. 12, Kentucky Farm Bureau is now providing voters with online accessibility to additional campaign information from Republican James Comer and Democrat Bob Farmer. Each candidate was asked to complete a questionnaire by Oct. 24, answering questions that addressed a variety of agricultural issues currently facing the state. Responses are being placed on KFB’s website for voter consideration as Election Day approaches.

Ballots for the 2011 FSA county committee elections will be mailed to eligible voters Nov. 4. The deadline for eligible voters to return ballots to their local FSA offices is Dec. 5, 2011.
The FSA county committee allows producers to make decisions concerning the local administration of federal farm programs.

The USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service is encouraging landowners, farmers and producers to visit their local NRCS office now to receive more information and apply for conservation technical assistance and possible financial funding opportunities.  
The application process for 2008 Farm Bill conservation programs is continuous, but funding selections are made at specific times throughout the year. The Kentucky NRCS application ranking cutoff date for consideration for 2012 funds in this sign up period is Nov. 15.

Grazing represents the cheapest way to feed ruminants on a cost per pound of nutrient basis. Stored feed is usually the single largest item in livestock budgets, and cost or amount of stored feed is usually the best prediction of potential profitability in most beef operations.
Controlled grazing, intensive grazing, management intensive grazing, rotational grazing and intensive rotational grazing are only a few of the terms to describe intensive grazing.