Dairy Farm

Author to sign book at Centre bookstore Calvin G. “Jerry” Lyons, author of “If These Stones Could Talk,” will be at the Centre College Bookstore at 10 a.m. Saturday to sign copies of his book. He will be at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington at 2 p.m. Saturday. Lyons, a retired Army colonel, was moved to write the book after visiting the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France. While there, he saw a World War II veteran emerging from the chapel in tears, probably remembering friends who had died on the beaches or in the hedgerows of Normandy.

Lincoln County farmer Bill Payne will give a talk titled, "Making forages work down on the farm" Thursday afternoon at the Kentucky Farm Bureau annual conference Dec. 5-8 at The Galt House in Louisville. Mr. Payne's presentation will come on Thursday, Dec. 6, which is the day of the conference "not to miss," said David Campbell, a Lincoln County Farm Bureau officer. Thursday is the commodity conference day with breakout sessions for forages, tobacco, horticulture, feed grains, wheat and soybeans, natural resources, forestry, dairy and farm labor.

By Michael Broihier It took the National Weather Service two days to confirm what residents of Eubank, Waynesburg and Broughtontown have known since 3:30 p.m. Friday; a tornado swept through the area leaving a broad swath of destruction in its wake. Bluegrass 911 got its first report from a trained weather observer in Waynesburg who reported a funnel cloud forming and heading east from the Eubank area. Another Eubank man videotaped the formation of the funnel cloud and spoke with 911, assuring them that the twister was headed away from his home and across U.S. 27. The tornado began inflicting serious damage shortly after it crossed the highway near Clear Fork Rd. and moved generally northeast towards Brought0ntown.

LOUISVILLE - The Monroe Zimmerman family of Casey County earned the 2012 Kentucky Dairy Quality Award and the Lee Robey family of Logan County won the Kentucky Dairy Production Award. The Robey and Zimmerman farms were among those honored during the annual Dairy Recognition Dinner Aug. 17 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. “These honors are the result of hard work and commitment to excellence,” Agriculture Commissioner James Comer said. “These farms represent the best of Kentucky's dairy farm families that produce the milk and other dairy products that we serve to our families.

LIBERTY - Casey County farmers will have an opportunity to sign up for funds in 10 agriculture programs to be administered under a new set of rules. The county Agricultural Development Council agreed Tuesday night to use a menu approach for those wishing to receive a portion of Phase I tobacco settlement funds. The council also agreed to allow Casey County Farm Bureau $350,000 to administer the 10 programs. This leaves $18,000 in the budget. The programs include: agriculture diversification; cattle genetics for beef and dairy; farm livestock fencing; hay, straw and commodity storage; on-farm water enhancement; timber production; cattle handling facilities; dairy diversification; goat and sheep diversification; swine diversification; and technology.

This is a love story - not about a relationship between two people, but a lifelong affection for a house. The once proud brick structure now stands battered, bruised and neglected at the end of Erskine Avenue off Hustonville Road in Danville. The house was featured in The Log, Danville High School's newspaper, last Halloween as one of our local haunted houses. I grew up in that house and to my knowledge, if it was haunted, it was only by happy spirits. What I do remember of its history is that the house was built on the farm called Waveland in 1800 by Willis Green.

LIBERTY - Casey County's newest financial institution set up temporary headquarters April 26 in a mobile unit on Wallace Wilkinson Boulevard, and eight months later it moved into a new modern banking facility. The branch is the 10th that Monticello Banking Co. in southcentral Kentucky has opened since 1988 when it bought First Farmers in Somerset and began its expansion program, said Kevin Mullins, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Monticello Banking. He also is executive manager for the Casey branch.

STANFORD - Lincoln County Clerk George O. Spoonamore III died today at his home. He was 70. Well known for serving as county clerk since 1994, he also had a reputation for farming that preceded him. Dan Grigson, Lincoln County extension agent for agriculture, said Spoonamore was not only known locally but throughout the state. "He was a very prominent farmer and was very involved in our extension programs. He had judged dairy shows all across Kentucky and the South," Grigson said.

The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, approved the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) for $3.3 million from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund to continue supporting the Kentucky Proud Program. This grant will enable KDA to provide continued services to its more than 1,300 Kentucky Proud members through cost-sharing advertising, point-of-purchase opportunities, at-cost promotional items, tradeshow assistance and other technical services. The grant will also provide funds to incentivize restaurants to purchase Kentucky-produced products through the department's Restaurant Rewards Program.

Farmers looking for a viable alternative to tobacco production might want to take the lead from hundreds of others in the state who are trying their hand at a fast-growing industry: raising dairy heifers. Raising dairy heifers is an important component of the dairy industry, which annually brings in about $300 million in Kentucky. The heifers are needed to replace the 30 to 40 percent of cows that leave dairy farms each year because of reproductive and other problems. In the past, most dairy farmers raised their own replacement heifers.