April, 2000 Table of Contents
News & Views Archive Issues

Economics
Cattle Situation & Analysis by Fred Schmedt
The United States Department of Agriculture's annual inventory report, Cattle, released January 28, indicated that cattle herd liquidation continued during 1999. All-cattle and -calves inventory declined to 98.048 million head, 1.1 percent below that of a year ago, marking the fourth year in a row that cattle producers reduced the size of the U.S. herd.

Forage
Sutstainable Agriculture by Charles Griffith
Sustainable agriculture is defined as maintaining the present without compromising the future. It got its real definition from Congress in the 1990 Farm Bill.

Horticulture
To Water or Not to Water? by Steve Upson
Home & market gardeners can schedule irrigation several ways. Two methods we use at the Noble Foundation include the soil ball squeeze test & tensiometers.

Livestock
The Year 2000 by Shan Ingram
Cow numbers peaked or were near their peak in 1975. Since that time, they have had an average annual decline of about 1 percent and a total decline of about 26 percent, but beef production (pounds on the market) has remained about the same. How has this happened?

Plant of the Month
White Clover by Russell Stevens

Soils
Some Thoughts on Soil Aeration of Pastureland by Jeff Ball
Soil fertility specialists at the Noble Foundation are frequently asked about the soil aeration of pastureland. I felt that Dr. Carl S. Hoveland summarized how we feel about this subject. This article is reprinted with his permission.

Wildlife
A Picture Is Worth A ? by Ken Gee
For several years, advances in technology and creative thinking have led some deer researchers and managers to explore using infrared-triggered cameras over bait to monitor or estimate deer populations. It is imperfect, but it does hold a lot of promise.