Moira K. McGhee was born an animal lover and a writer at heart, and enjoys combining her two passions into stories that feature four-legged friends of all sizes. View her online and print features on Horse Illustrated's website.

Even small tractors are a big investment, so it’s important to get the right size tractor for the work you need to get done. Horsepower is what puts the giddyup in a compact tractor, but don’t get too tied up in horsepower hype. You also need to consider size, weight and overall capabilities when selecting a tractor for horse property. Factor in your future needs when selecting a compact tractor for your horse property and use these tips to select the perfect one.

Saddling up and going for a ride typically means riding across open fields or along designated horse trails. Nowadays, it's much less common to see horses and their riders on a leisurely ride along a busy highway. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still occur, and it’s not illegal to do so. It’s essential to know the laws in your area and the general etiquette to safely share the road with motorized vehicles.

Abnormally hot, dry weather conditions can cause droughts that pose unique challenges for horse owners. Even short-term drought can create a harsh environment that stresses both horses and their pastures. Horses grazing in sparse, drought-stricken pastures can face disastrous results. It’s crucial to be extra attentive to your pastures and your horses during drought conditions. Use these tips to care for your pasture and manage your horses during seasons of drought.

Rabies doesn’t always come in the form of a drooling, snarling, biting dog. Sometimes, especially in horses, this deadly disease presents itself quietly and mimics other conditions. Although equine rabies is relatively rare, it’s a silent killer. Not only can it fatally harm your horse, it can infect you and others around the barn. Thankfully, rabies is easy to prevent.

Horse owners often find it challenging to keep up with the latest vaccination recommendations and some may not fully realize the importance of vaccines in keeping their equine partners healthy and strong. Your horse needs “core” vaccines and may need “non-core” vaccines based on its usual activities, geographic location and other considerations. Although you might be hesitant to poke your horse, it’s for their protection and vaccines are generally safe. They have been well-tested and many have been used for numerous years. Vaccines should be a routine part of your horse’s life, so make a point of knowing current recommendations, potential side effects and the overall importance of vaccines. Originally appeared in the March 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated

Facebook groups and other online platforms have become common places to seek advice on all types of subjects, even veterinary advice for horses. Unfortunately, giving and receiving equine advice of a medical nature can be harmful to your horse, and giving advice may be illegal, even if the person providing the advice is an equine veterinarian. Read on to learn potential ramifications.

Instead of the pitter-patter of little paws, your adoption aspirations may involve the clip-clop of large hooves. Adopting a horse from an adoption organization is a great way to provide a stable home for a horse in need while freeing up space for them to house another. But before you adopt one of these large, lovable animals, there are a few things you need to know. Print Version Originally Appeared in Horse Illustrated April 2021 Issue

A little red hen struts around the pen, clucking away, when suddenly it lets out a weird, warbly cock-a-doodle-doo. Did that chicken just crow? Probably, and it’s not as uncommon as you might think. You may hear a crow from the coop, even without a rooster, if one of your hens undergoes chicken sex reversal and starts to develop male traits. It happens, learn more about it here.

Some chicken behavior can be downright wacky, which is definitely the appeal of backyard poultry for many. Check out some weird things your birds may do.

Some chickens might be crazy, but most of their strange behaviors are normal . . . for a chicken. Discover some wacky chicken behavior in this article.

Even if you don’t have a rooster, you might hear a crow coming from your coop. Learn why and how in this article.

Chickens are relatively inexpensive, easy to care for and small compared to other livestock. This makes them perfect for backyard and urban chicken-keepers. Whether you get your birds through the mail or hatch them on site, it’s an exciting day when your new chicks arrive. Despite their small size and potential fragility, chicks tend to be hardy when provided with the right environment. However, sometimes a chick arrives weak and/or experiencing health concerns. Though this doesn’t mean you’re going to lose it, some loss is to be expected. Use the common tips on the following pages to help revive those weak chicks. This article originally appeared in the March/April 2022 issue of Chickens magazine.

Even though a chick hatches from an egg instead of being born from its mother’s womb, it still has a “belly button.” However, the navel on a chick is more difficult to find, especially on a healthy newborn. A poorly closed navel is a clear sign there’s something wrong with the chick. And it may indicate a problem in your incubator or incubation techniques. A chick’s navel is one of the most vulnerable places for bacterial and fungal infections. So it’s important to understand what a chick’s belly button tells you. Originally appeared in the November/December 2021 issue of Chickens

When you walk into your local feed mill or farm-supply store during the spring, you’ll likely hear the cheep, cheep, cheep of baby chicks. Those little balls of fluff are adorable! But it’s important to resist the cute factor and focus on health to ensure your new flock or additional flock mates survive. Picking healthy chicks isn’t difficult when you know what to look for—from their peepers to their feet. This article originally appeared in the March/April 2021 issue of Chickens magazine.

You don’t have to live on a rural route to own chickens ... City dwellers often have all sorts of interesting neighbors. But one that goes cluck-cluck and scratches around in the dirt probably isn’t the norm. While urban chicken farming has had its highs and lows, lots of people are still interested in raising fowl that are big on personality. The most common reason for raising city chickens is access to fresher eggs. But some are surprised that they also make great pets. It’s typically easy to care for chickens, but before you start your flock, learn more about what’s involved. This story originally appeared in the March/April 2020 issue of Chickens magazine.

Moira K. McGhee is a regular contributor to Hobby Farms magazine / Member since Jan. 2017

Prepper pantries help many feel more prepared for the unknown. Stock your own prepper pantry with these items for a well-stocked food supply. Whether you’re concerned about a zombie apocalypse or another unprecedented pandemic disrupting the supply chain, prepper pantries help prepare you for unforeseen events that can cause a very real concern over food shortages at local grocery stores. This article appeared in Living Off the Grid, a 2021 specialty publication produced by the editors and writers of Hobby Farms magazine.

Probiotics are good bacteria that are good for people. And probiotic farming can pump up plant health, which is also good for people. Healthy crops start with healthy soil. Probiotic farming not only makes your soil healthier, but it also offers a wealth of other benefits for farmers who want better crops while improving the growing area and the environment as a whole. Probiotic farmers utilize live microbes that are beneficial bacteria, just like the beneficial bacteria people ingest in probiotic foods or dietary supplements. In this sense, probiotics in farming act as supplements for the soil and ultimately the plants. This article originally appeared in the May/June 2020 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

Pests can wreak havoc in a greenhouse. Literally thousands of insect species feed directly on the tissues of living plants. The warm, humid conditions and abundant food supply inside a greenhouse provide an ideal environment for pest development on a year-round basis. Natural enemies that keep these pests under control outdoors aren’t always present in a greenhouse. Pest situations can develop rapidly and become chronic without early detection and immediate eradication. Year-round greenhouse pest management can be challenging for small-scale hobby farmers. Here's what to look for and how to keep pests outside. This story originally appeared in the November/December 2019 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

Looking for some added profits from your land? Turn your edible crop farm into a sod and turf farm for an alternative way to make some green. Grass can be a real cash crop. Grass is also known as sod, and sodding a barren patch of land is the quickest, easiest way to achieve a lush, green lawn. So growing sod can be a lucrative agriculture commodity in areas with a steady local market, especially during a housing boom. Sod farming, also called turf farming, can be tough to get into, especially if you start from scratch, but it might provide an unexpected alternative crop in the right location. This story originally appeared in the November/December 2018 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

A husband-and-wife team create a new revenue source by finding the niche market of artisan vinegar. In farming, it often helps to have a niche. Some farmers go into business knowing what they’d like that niche to be, while others stumble upon it. Craig Clark and his wife, Cari Bourquin-Clark, ought to know, because a bunch of berries ended up putting their small organic farm on the map. The Clarks own Chaparral Gardens Artisan Vinegars in Atascadero, California. It began with a few bottles for friends and family and went to a line of gourmet balsamic and fruit vinegars known throughout the Central Coast and steadily gaining national recognition. This story originally appeared in the January/February 2018 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

Lavender is an easy-to-grow, high-value crop that offers an excellent return on investment. Here are basics on lavender and how to grow it for profit. Incredibly aromatic, lavender flowers have a soothing scent featured in a variety of merchandise, which provides a range of profitable outlets for small-scale producers. Unlike many other seasonal crops, producers can dry lavender for ornamental flower arrangements, wands, sachets or potpourri, or transform the dried flowers into value-added products such as essential oils, tinctures, soaps or lotions. It’s also useful in baking and makes a tasty honey. Your plans for your harvested lavender will determine which of the many species you should grow, but all the common varieties have fairly simple propagation needs. This story originally appeared in the September/October 2017 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

In perennially dry or drought-stricken areas, homeowners and businesses often turn to drought-resistant landscaping called xeriscaping. Xeriscaping is a style of landscaping specifically developed for drought-afflicted areas. The fundamental purpose of xeriscape designs is to conserve water, so they require little or no irrigation. These designs also require less maintenance, decrease pollution by reducing the use of gas-powered lawn equipment, reduce or eliminate fertilizers and pesticides, and provide habitats for wildlife. Here are xeriscaping plants you can grow and sell. This story originally appeared in the May/June 2017 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

Doing rain dances won’t help your farm when it's suffering the effects of a drought, but planting crops that require less water will. Water plays an essential role in farming. Without adequate water, your crop yields might be low, plants may wither and dry up, and in worst-case scenarios, the entire crop can die. Plants need water throughout their life cycle, so lack of rainfall—especially in drought conditions—poses a serious threat to a farmer’s livelihood. This has many farmers, who just want to keep farming, turning to less-thirsty crops to help ensure their farms stay productive and profitable. This story originally appeared in the May/June 2017 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

Go vertical to maximize your gardening space and harvest potential. Vertical gardening—an excellent way to take advantage of limited garden space—is often more identified with urban locales where residents have no choice but to grow up, not out. However, small-scale commercial farmers can also benefit from learning how to use garden space more adequately: Saving space is never a bad thing. In the past few years, hobby farmers began investigating vertical farming on a commercial scale. Going vertical is easier than you might think: It produces more product in less space, and it also has a slew of other advantages, which we’ll take a look at. This article originally appeared in the March/April 2017 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

Building a great trellis may mean looking no farther than the nearest junk pile. While you could buy a pre-made trellis at almost any garden center or big-box store, building your own often has many advantages. Because you can build a trellis out of almost anything, a quick trip to your local junk yard often provides a treasure trove of potential construction materials. You might even find some interesting choices lying around your own property, especially if you possess hoarding tendencies due to a love of reusing and recycling. Best of all, when you use “found” items, they’re frequently free, so you’re saving major money. Here are a few I found noteworthy. Web Exclusive HF.com

These tiny plants pack in nutrition, flavor and—maybe most importantly—profits. As one of nature’s premier superfoods, microgreens are easy to propagate and have an extremely short turnaround time. In fact, they’re second only to sprouts as the fastest growing food crop: Some varieties are ready for harvest in as little as seven to 12 days. Unlike most crops, you can also grow microgreens almost anywhere, even in colder climates. Because they take up so little space, it’s profitable to grow them indoors when weather conditions aren’t conducive to outdoor growing. Thus, small-scale commercial growers can profit from 20-plus harvests of microgreens in year-round operations. This article originally ran in the March/April 2017 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

Watching flowers grow could be big business. If you love being in the garden and cultivating a variety of beautiful blossoms, becoming a flower farmer might be a great way to supplement your income. Flowers are becoming an ideal seasonal cash crop. Whether you’ve grown them for years or just started recently, you could transform your flower-growing hobby into a profitable venture. Growing specialty cut flowers that transcend the standard floral fare basically involves figuring out what to grow and learning how to successfully market your product. This article originally appeared in the January/February issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

Let these color schemes inform what cut flowers you'll grow for market in 2017. As a flower farmer, you aren’t just a farmer, you’re a florist. As a florist, you must listen to what consumers want to stay competitive. Like most retail endeavors, current consumer trends often determine what types of flowers you should plant. The predicted trends for 2017 will see a huge shift, says Jeff Lanman, executive director of the International Floral Distributors and Project Manager of the Flower Trends Forecast, which has been published annually since 2009. Web Exclusive HF.com

Post by Moira K. McGhee for Ozarks Farm & Neighbor - The Ozarks' most read farm newspaper. Reaching livestock producers in its Missouri Neighbors and Arkansas/Oklahoma Neighbors editions.

AFTON, OKLA. – Quetta Woodall doesn’t come from an agricultural background, but agriculture has become an important part of her life because of the FFA. // Quetta is the 2021-2022 Oklahoma FFA Northeast Area Vice President and a recent graduate of Afton High School. She’s an agricultural education major at Oklahoma State. Her goal is to become an agricultural educator to high school students in hopes of giving them opportunities in the agricultural industry along with FFA. Although Quetta grew up in a rural community, she didn’t have an agricultural background. However, she had many friends who raised livestock and lived on farms, so she was constantly around agriculture. Her school required agricultural education for eighth graders, but she said she’s been passionate about livestock and agriculture since elementary school and got involved in FFA because her older siblings were involved. Originally appeared in the Ozarks Farm & Neighbor Newspaper