ranching

Missy Bonds is banking on a wet fall and spring for her family’s ranch near Saginaw. Business depends on it.

Farmers and ranchers across the Midwest say regulation is the only path forward to fixing their own equipment. But there’s been strong opposition to right to repair legislation, as manufacturers argue they’ve provided pathways for quick repairs.

Ranchers across the Midwest are battling black vultures, a federally protected bird that has a reputation for killing newborn livestock. While the birds play a major ecological role, their expanding population is becoming a big nuisance for producers.

It’s been one year since drought-fueled wildfires tore across western and central Kansas. For the ranchers who lost so much, the rebuilding process is far from over.

The burrowing rodents can improve the nutritional quality of nearby grasses.

The weather event that killed thousands of cattle in southwest Kansas last month was a rare combination of extreme factors. But it highlights the ongoing risk that heat stress poses for cattle, especially as climate change pushes temperatures higher.

2011 was the driest year on record for Texas, causing an estimated cost of $7.62 billion in crop and livestock losses. A dry and hot start to summer has many sounding alarm bells about 2022.

As the number of coyotes in Kansas grows, hunting contests have sprung up as a way to remove potential threats to livestock. But the resilient canine keeps finding ways to survive, no matter what humans throw at it.

Extreme winds and drought fueled widespread grass fires across western and central Kansas earlier this month. Now, the ranchers, farmers and communities who lost so much begin to pick up the pieces.

Ranchers in Nebraska are rebelling against the “Big Four” meat companies by planning their own beef processing plant. They’re seeking a transformation for themselves, the industry and western Nebraska.