Capital Investment Analysis

By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Nov. 29, 2023

Several years ago, a farmer I knew fairly well gave me a call. He was considering an investment in some new haying equipment and wanted to pick my brain, a task that usually doesn’t take very long. This is a good farmer. He grows high-yielding, high-quality crops and cattle.

Beef Enterprise Budgets

By Greg Halich | Associate Extension Professor, Kenny Burdine | Extension Professor, and Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Nov. 1, 2023

This publication contains budgets for production of selected livestock enterprises in Kentucky. The purpose of these budgets is to serve as a management and decision-making guide for current and prospective producers of these enterprises. 

2023 Farmland Values

By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Sep. 8, 2023

Each August the USDA releases the results of their survey of farmland values. The survey includes data from approximately 9,000 tracts of land of about one square mile each across the continental United States.

An INFORMATION System

By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Jul. 28, 2023

Recordkeeping. Root canals. Airline seats. Kidney stones. Boring relatives. Wet dogs None of them are pleasant. Some should be avoided. Some of them are pretty important though. Keeping records for the farm business, for instance. Not pleasant (usually) but certainly important.

The PRIMER Method

By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on May. 30, 2023

The calls or emails start with, “I’m thinking about trying….” and end sometime later with, “What do you think?” For three decades I’ve fielded many of these inquiries. Extension agents get them with incredible frequency.

Opportunity or Obligation

By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Nov. 23, 2021

Baby Boomers are in the process of transitioning trillions of dollars of assets to Millennials and Gen Zers. This includes farming Baby Boomers. USDA’s Farmland Ownership and Tenure survey indicates that about ten percent of farm assets transition to new owners every five years.

Family Living Expenses on Kentucky Farms

By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Oct. 28, 2021

 

2021 Land Values

By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Aug. 16, 2021

Average Kentucky farm real estate values were $4,000/acre as reported in the annual Land Values Summary released by USDA on August 6. This was 2.0% higher than 2020 and the first-time average values have reached $4,000.

People Skills: Appropriate Feedback

By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Jun. 29, 2021

Farmers manage crops and cattle, machinery and marketing, land and labor. That last one may be the most difficult. People are the most important resource in a farm business. Nothing productive happens unless people are doing something with the crops, cattle, machinery, marketing, and land.

Communication in Stressful Times

By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Nov. 25, 2020

2020 has been a stressful year. That sentence is a serious contender for Understatement of the Year. Pandemics, politics, and paradigm shifts have provided no shortage of stressful situations. Lives, families, jobs, schools, commerce, and social lives have all been disrupted.