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Aug. 30 2023
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. My nearly one year old son just began walking. To be fair, he is just taking a few steps and falling on his bottom, but I’m counting it! Watching...
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Aug. 29 2023
It’s the last week of summer here in the Pacific Northwest, or so the calendar says. That’s because our kids will return to school after Labor Day
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Aug. 28 2023
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a consumer buzzword that most of us have heard since the release of ChatGPT4. Now, Google, Facebook, and others are trying to catch up with OpenAI and believe it will...
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Aug. 25 2023
Apart from visiting a farm, there’s nothing quite like attending a fair for the general public to witness agriculture up close. There are plenty of animals to see, youth and exhibitors to talk with,...
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Aug. 24 2023
I recently had one of those moments of frustration that turned to humility. As farmers, running 24/7/365 is the life. We have a very high stress job because so many different entities depend on us each...
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Aug. 23 2023
Do you ever have to remind yourself that you chose this life? I knew exactly what I was getting into, and I still chose this
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Aug. 22 2023
Working in the dairy industry, I have witnessed some moments I will cherish forever. From being able to watch a calf’s first breath to helping a cow recover from illness, there are many things I...
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Aug. 21 2023
Summer is coming to an end, and it’s time to go back to school. However, I won’t be going home empty-handed
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Aug. 18 2023
As we were moving some cows and heifers to our calving pen today, it hit me that the cattle we were moving all have due dates further out than my own
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Aug. 17 2023
In years past, while milking in the parlor, labeling an animal as a cull cow was pretty straightforward
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Aug. 15 2023
Are you and your farm ready for a natural disaster or emergency? There is no way you can prepare your farm for every emergency in every way, but a little preparation can go a long way
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Aug. 14 2023
While I was searching for information sources to use for a different writing assignment, I came across a Penn State Extension article that discussed managing weeds
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Aug. 11 2023
It is Corn Silage Harvest 2023 here at Hillcrest Farms. This year we have been blessed with rain and a good corn crop
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Aug. 10 2023
Even on the worst day, a baby calf can make you smile. They only really want one thing, and that’s food. Unlike the cows, our youngest calves can’t graze, nor do they quite understand that...
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Aug. 9 2023
Have you ever met one of those people who never seem to have anything going wrong?
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Aug. 8 2023
There are many articles and studies about “impostor syndrome” and its impact on women
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Aug. 7 2023
Last week, Wisconsin experienced some pretty high temperatures that seem to be sticking around. I heard the phrase, “You should be used to the heat since you’re from the south,” multiple...
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Aug. 4 2023
One of the annual summer staples around here — best served up lathered in butter and a good sprinkling of salt, in my opinion — is homegrown sweet corn
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Aug. 3 2023
We are just about halfway through the 500 babies that will be born during this calving season on the farm in New Zealand where I am interning this summer
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Aug. 1 2023
Recently I saw a picture of a 4-H sign that read, “We don’t have kids to help raise our livestock. We have livestock to help raise our kids.”