To show dairy cattle it takes patience, practice, and hard work. It starts by finding or breeding the most ideal show cow or heifer, based off a nationally used scorecard. For milk cows, the breakdown is: Frame 15%, Dairy Strength 25%, Rear Feet and Legs 20%, Udder 40%. The judge places the class of cows […]
Strathmore’s Ag Department has growing Floral and Ornamental Horticulture (OH) departments. We are currently in the process of building three 40 x 60-foot greenhouses, an aquaponics unit, and our 40-foot long CropBox. We are hoping to have all of the buildings up and running in the next few months on the 12 acres of land, […]
As an FFA SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience project) Lemoore FFA students receive 8-10 week old Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers or Lab/Golden crosses, raise and socialize them for 14-16 months. The pups are bred and whelped at the Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc. campus in San Rafael, California. Pups are brought to the FFA members […]
Over the past couple years at Monache (High School), we are proud of the growth and expansion of our school farm. The farm has come to support a swine breeding enterprise, vegetable plot, and a poultry egg layer enterprise, additions to the swine facility, as well a new sheep building to house market lambs for […]
There will be a lot of cows kissed, and Western-themed clothes worn around the South Valley during FFA Week, February 20-25. Together, Tulare and Kings Counties have 23 FFA chapters. The Valley Voice reached out to the advisors of all chapters for their input as to their FFA chapter and what they would be doing […]
The newest class of the Tulare County Farm Bureau’s Youth Leadership Program was seated in September, and has 25 young adults from throughout the county. The TCFB’s Youth Leadership Program began in 1983 as a unique opportunity for high school students to develop their leadership skills. Since its inception, the program has trained 605 students. […]
Cotton has long been an important crop for Kings County, and this year it may regain its second top crop spot again. In 2015, it was pushed to third, with cattle earning second, according to the county’s 2015 Agricultural Crop Report. This year, the county saw a rise in cotton planting, which is most likely […]
After a record year in 2014, ag prices in Kings County took a beating last year, decreasing in value by more than 18%. “A lot of that has to do with commodity prices,” explained Kings County Ag Commissioner Tim Niswander, who presented the 2015 Agricultural Crop Report to the county board of supervisors at its […]
The small Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) remains of big concern to local citrus growers, as well as the California citrus industry. First detected in California in the fall of 2008, the first psyllid was found in Southern California, believed to have hitchhiked its way up from Mexico. Areas south of the San Joaquin Valley have […]
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors is seeking a Tulare County resident to serve on the Delta Vector Control District Board of Trustees as an at-large member. The Delta Vector Control District is the authority for vector control and vector-borne disease prevention in the northern portion of Tulare County. The board consists of seven members, […]