Country Living / Rural Lifestyle
If you enjoy the benefits of a rural lifestyle, Southern States offers quality products and trained professionals to meet your needs. Our wide selection of products is sure to meet all of your country living needs from lawn and garden activities to pet care. Visit our web site regularly for valuable educational information and inspiration to help you fully enjoy the country lifestyle.
Happy Independence Day!
We hope yours is outstanding! To help make it that way, we've got some great tips for grilling your holiday favorites, great recipes, plus tips for safe handling of sparklers and other fireworks.
2009 Foals For Love Photo Contest Results
They’re back! Enjoy the heart-winning pictures in our 2009 Foals For Love Contest! Once again, we loved your photographs so much that we decided to share some of the notable entries along with the winners.
Southern States - Your One Stop Goat Shop!
Today the demand in the U.S. for goat meat, also known as chevon or cabrito, is so high that producers cannot keep up. Much of this demand comes from ethnic groups that have immigrated from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Most of these groups are willing to pay higher prices for higher quality meat. Southern States is here to help you with all your meat goat as well as pet goat needs.
Feature Article: Alternatives to Using Pesticides
With the growth of the organic market, people are taking much more of an interest in what farmers use to control pests and the possible affects that the application of pesticides may have on the health of food consumers and to the environment in general. There are alternatives to using pesticides. These are generally known as sustainable agriculture or alternative agriculture.
Feature Article: Crop Irrigation Overview
Taken as a percentage of all harvested cropland in the U.S. (approximately 3.65 million acres) for 2007, 16.6 percent was irrigated. Yet water is increasingly a valuable resource and has even been referred to as the, “new oil.” For the farmer, a field without adequate water is next to useless to grow crops. Where rainfall is inadequate or too infrequent during the growing season to meet the demands of a crop, the solution is irrigation.
Featured Video: Talstar Insecticide
Problems with bugs? Tis the season. Take control with Talstar Insecticide for long lasting control over a wide variety of pests.
Featured Series: Organic Farming
The aim of organic farming is usually to generate products that can be, “certified organic,” under the regulations of the governing bodies of the country where the product is produced. There is a growing market for certified organic foods and products and the potential return for both the farmer and the food process producer is usually much higher than for non-organic products.
Webinar Download Available: Equine Deworming / Fly Control
Join Dr. Jody Wade from Fort Dodge Animal Health and Rick Hickenbottom from Southern States on as they discuss many of the topics pertinent to horse owners during spring months. Dr. Wade discusses issues regarding Deworming Horses and Mr. Hickenbottom with discuss Fly Control for your Horses and Barn. There is a 20-minute interactive Q&A session at the end of the 40-minute presentation.
Photo Slideshow: Club Master Winners
Southern States is happy to present a collage of our Club Master participants. Club Master is a program in which Southern States rewards its youth customers who do well showing their livestock in local, regional, state and national competitions. A lot of hard work and dedication goes into raising livestock and it gives the owners and handlers a sense of accomplishment when their efforts are rewarded.
Featured Series: Barn Safety
In the hubbub of farm activity, barn safety can slip. Equipment is not put away properly. Light bulbs aren’t replaced. Hardware works it way loose. With some forethought and effort, though, livestock, employees and visitors can be kept safe.
Featured Series: Farm Fencing
Don’t underestimate the value of farm fencing. An easily overlooked asset, a farm fence serves many purposes. It delineates property lines, contains livestock and enhances security. A fence may increase the farm’s aesthetic appearance, too.
Featured Articles: Troublesome Ticks
April to October is the prime time for tick activity as well as the peak time for people to be venturing into the countryside for work and recreation. Ticks are most likely to be found on and around animals and birds but regularly feed on humans if the opportunity arises. Tick bites can often pass unnoticed.
- Troublesome Ticks
- Know your ticks: Brown Dog Tick, Deer Tick, and Dog Tick
Feature Article: Sweet Corn in the Backyard Garden
Most backyard gardeners don’t plant sweet corn alongside their tomatoes and zucchinis, but with proper care, space and growing conditions, sweet corn can thrive in a backyard garden. Fresh corn on the cob is a summer delight that’s sweetest when it’s just picked, a perfect reward for the effort!
Feature Article: Basic Pasture Management
There are simple, relatively inexpensive pasture management practices that you can apply to your pasture that will enable you get better performance from it. This will cut back or even eliminate the need for supplemental feeding, thus keeping your livestock healthy, well fed, and also possibly saving you money. On the opposite side of the coin, pastures that are poorly managed will produce low yields of poor quality forage and particularly worn pastures may even harbor parasites that could infest your livestock.
Feature Article: How Many Animals Will Your Pasture Support?
Pasture, like any asset must be managed to achieve optimum performance. However, before you can manage a pasture you will need to know just how many animals your pasture might support.
