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    • Farm Insurance

    2010 - 07.16

    Tags: Category Introduction | No Comments »

    Insuring a farm is similar to insuring a business because the equipment and multiple buildings will need to be covered in addition to the residence. There are many misconceptions about what is included in this type of coverage and what the insured is protected against. The following is a basic overview of the truth about farm insurance and all that it includes.

    Insurance for a farm or ranch includes coverage for the home and personal property like appliances, furniture, electronics, and clothes. It also covers farm structures and buildings as well as farm personal property. The insured can designate specific farm personal property to insure or the coverage can encompass the personal property used in the farming operations.

    This coverage also provides payment for specific types of loss when the home is either damaged or uninhabitable due to a covered reason. Coverage for farm machinery, structures, and buildings may be expanded to include additional losses due to accidents such as building collapse. The liability coverage include in the policy protects the farm owner against bodily injury or property damage liability due to a covered incident.

    The specific dangers covered by this policy include theft, vandalism, fire, lightening, windstorms, hail, smoke, and explosions. Livestock are covered if they are attacked by wild animals or dogs, shot, electrocuted, or if they drown. Medical payments are covered for individuals who are accidentally injured on the premises. This does not include the insured, his or her family members, or any employees of the working farm.

    The truth about farm insurance is that it covers not only the main residence, but other structures. It also provides protection for personal property, farm machinery, livestock, and visitors to the premises. This insurance is both broad and flexible, due to the optional additional coverage that the farm owner may purchase.

    Approach Agricultural Investment For the Private Investors

    2010 - 07.15

    Tags: Category Introduction | No Comments »

    The current climate can be defined by three key characteristics; lack of visibility, low interest rate, and the very real threat of inflation caused by quantitative easing and austerity measures. Essentially investors are nervous about stocks and shares because such limited economic visibility it is impossible to value companies and predict growth or depreciation in the value of shares, also we have lost the risk free income that we would normally accrue from cash deposits because interest rates are so low, and inflation will eat into our cash, effectively reducing our wealth.

    So how does agricultural investment solve our problem? Let’s take this opportunity to look at the simplest and most transparent form of investing in agriculture; farmland investment. Firstly farmland shares a positive correlation with inflation; having proven to grow in value quicker than the rate of inflation rises, therefore this type of farmland investment allows investors to grow their capital even in an inflationary environment. Also this mode of agricultural investment enables investors to capture income by renting their farmland to a commercial farmer who will work the land, this effectively replace the lost risk free income that cash would normally provide. Thirdly, investing in good quality farmland has an infallible track record of being low-risk, with a lack of supply and increasing demand for food pushing up values consistently. It is easy for a person of logic to see that demand for food will continue to rise in line with population growth, and there are fundamental limits to bringing any more farmland into production.

    So agriculture investment in this form certainly fits the bill when weighed against the current economic climate, and provides investors with all of the ticks for their boxes. So how does one approach agricultural investment in the form of investing in farmland? The answer to this question is long and complex and many factors must be taken into consideration to ensure your agricultural investment turns out to be a profitable one.

    Firstly one must consider location, UK, Europe, The America or Australia all present opportunities, but my advice will always be to invest locally, or at least within a structure that allows any future dispute to be handled locally.

    Secondly consider the business model, do you want to buy the land and rent it out, or do you want to share in crop yields? I would always prefer to shoulder the commercial farming risk with the tenant farmer and simply enjoy a stable rental income as any default is easily handled by evicting the farmer.

    So agricultural investment, does provide income, growth and capital preservation, especially it times such as these, but anyone considering an agriculture investment should at least take on the services of an expert consultancy who will have the investors need at security as their priority. Whenever considering a farmland investment for my clients, it is paramount to properly qualify the requirements of each investor, only then is it possible to recommend a suitable type of agricultural investment.

    Battleground

    2010 - 07.14

    Tags: Category Introduction | No Comments »

    Warsong Gulch

    Warsong Gulch, commonly referred to as WSG, is a ten on ten capture the flag battleground. It is a two base environment with the Horde base to the north and the Alliance base to the south.

    Zerg

    This is my personal favorite strategy. This strategy is a big offensive plan. It involves either sending all or most of you players to the enemy flag. Your team will all rush the flag and try to kill the enemy flag carrier on your way back to turn in the flag. You can leave two members to defend your flag just to slow the enemy flag carrier for for massive offensive group to get back and kill him. This strategy seems to be highly effective and is recommended.

    Balanced

    This strategy is as it sounds, your team sends five players on offense and leaves five for defense. This is highly effective teams who zerg. This can often lead to long drawn out battles. This strategy is recommended if you notice the opposing team is zerging against you.

    Arathi Basin

    Arathi Basin, know as AB, is a capture point battleground. For every control point your team has, you gain resources. The first team to 1600 resources wins. The five points are; Blacksmith, Farm, Stables, Gold Mine and Lumber Mill. This battleground is a 15 v 15 battleground.

    There is only one main strategy here and that is to split your 15 players up into well balanced groups. Each group should have a healer and a mix of range/melee with different crowd control abilities. In this split you should decide which groups are going to which points. Ideally you team can hold on to three of the five points and win. I recommend only holding three of the five if you are with a random team. Holding the tree points with balance teams is almost a sure shot win. With this plan you should see much success in Arathi Basin.

    Eye of the Storm

    Eye of the Storm, or EotS, is a mixture of Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin. It consists of 4 capture points and a neutral capturable flag. The four points are; Mage Tower, Draenei Ruins, Fel Reaver Ruins and the Blood Elf Tower. In EotS you obtain points by holding points and capturing the flag. The more control points you have the more points you get for capturing flags. There are a few different strategies to win this battleground.

    Zerg

    This strategy works best with a heavily geared team. Your team should split up into four groups. The main plan of this strategy is to control all four points as fast as possible. With extremely geared groups you can achieve victory within 5 minutes. Once your faction caps the first two points closest to the original point spawn, 2 players from the groups in charge of those points should stay to defend them. The rest of those groups should push the towers to the direct north or south and help cap them. With this power you should be able to take to last two points and win quickly.

    Wild Animals, Crops, and Farm Animals

    2010 - 07.13

    Tags: Category Farming, Introduction | No Comments »

    In FrontierVille, there are three different categories of things you should focus a lot on. These categories are: wild animals, farm animals, and crops. There are currently four different wild animals in FrontierVille but you can surely expect more as the game progresses. So far, FrontierVille has included the Grizzly bear, the fox, the groundhog, and the grass snake. These animals appear when you do a certain action. The Grizzly bear normally appears when you start chopping down an oak or pine tree. The fox appears randomly. The groundhog appears when you harvest or plant trees and crops while the grass snake appears when you clear rocks and skeleton remains. These wild animals are annoying to deal with, especially in the beginning. They take up one to five energy points to clobber or to get rid of. This is annoying in the beginning because you have very little energy points to start off with. However, if you have a few energy points to spare then clobber them away. These wild animals get you a lot of experience points, gold coins, and food. You can also collect items which are based on wild animals collections. For example, if you complete the grizzly bear items collection then you can gain 50 experience points (this may change at a later date as FrontierVille is still adjusting a few features here and there).

    The next important aspect of FrontierVille is the crop. Like FarmVille, there are many different types of crops you can grow and harvest. Each crop has different costs, bonuses, and profit margins. For example, the clover is the cheapest you can grow and it only takes five minutes before you can start harvesting them. Unfortunately, they do not give you much in return. As your game progresses, you want to target crops like peanuts in high yield. You can gain a lot of profit at the end which is useful because there are some missions which require you to earn 100,000 to 200,000 coins. In the beginning, trees are pretty good to start off with. You just need to plant them once and then you can continue to harvest them as much as you want. Like the wild animals, you can also collect collection items and get bonus experience points.

    Finally, farm animals are just as important as crops. You have to feed them a few times before they reach their full potential. You can continue to feed and receive bonus from farm animals. At the moment, there horses, oxes, chickens, geese, and cows.

    Live Baits

    2010 - 07.12

    Tags: Category Techniques | No Comments »

    All of the live baits being outlined in this article are for the freshwater angler who likes to catch species of fish such as trout, bass, walleye, crappie, and the like. If you are a saltwater angler, these live baits will be of little use to you. These live baits are effective when fishing for freshwater fish such as the ones listed above.

    The following baits are being listed in no particular order and are all effective when attempting to catch fish in various fishing situations.

     

    1. Minnows - Live minnows are an extremely effective bait to use when fishing. The biggest problem with live minnows is keeping them alive and lively. There are various types and styles of bait buckets available for holding/carrying live minnows, with some being more effective than others. Any type of bait bucket that enables you to place your minnows directly into the water that you are fishing seems to work quite well. Keeping your minnows well aerated is the key to keeping them alive and fresh water is the key to keeping your minnows aerated. The bottom line is that live minnows are one of the best baits to use when fishing.
    2. Worms - Anyone who has ever heard of the term “fishing” knows that fish enjoy eating live worms. This is absolutely true, yet many anglers don’t realize that live worms are even more effective when they are rigged in a truly effective manner. The best way to rig live worms for fishing is a set of gang hooks. Rigging live worms (or half of a live worm in the case of night crawlers) outstretched on a set of gang hooks makes live worms one of the best live baits that can be used when fishing. This is especially true when fishing in flowing water scenarios, such as in rivers and streams.
    3. Crayfish - Live crayfish are a very effective fishing bait, especially when it comes to fishing for bass (both large and small mouth) and large trout. The problem with live crayfish is that they aren’t readily available. As a matter of fact in most cases you need to catch them yourself. Live crayfish can be kept alive and carried in a minnow bucket, just like live minnows and they are one of the best live baits that can be used when fishing, especially when fishing for large fish.
    4. Crickets - Live crickets are pretty easy to find and make an excellent fishing bait, especially when you are fishing for pan fish. Some trout fishermen swear by live crickets when it comes to live bait fishing for trout. The bottom line is that live crickets need to be mentioned among the best live baits to use when fishing because some fish find live crickets hard to resist.

     

    Remember, these baits aren’t the only baits that can be used when fishing; they are just some of the best. If you like to fish with bait, any of these bait choices are a great place to start.

    Fishing in Indiana

    2010 - 07.11

    Tags: Category Tips | No Comments »

    Water is usually clear, and lots of times your fighting weeds and hang-ups.

    First: Take a sneaky approach. Wear clothing that match’s your surroundings, walk softly, and keep your body profile low.

    Two: Downsize your lures, and use the lightest line you can get by with.

    Farm pond basic’s:
    A farm pond is just like any big reservoir. Look for structure such as points, drop-offs, weed beds and weed lines. Outside weed lines around points are a definite plus. Don’t forget any submergered structure like downed tree’s. Fish will relate to these type structures.

    Spring: Use 1/4 oz. jigs and small crappie size spinnerbaits. Fish slow around deep water near shallow water. Bass and other types of fish will stage in these areas until they are ready to spawn. Fly fishing can be fantast tic especially for panfish.

    Summer: Fish deep water along outside weed lines around points. Fish at night using floating rapala’s. If weeds get real bad use a floating worm with a 1/32 oz sinker pegged rigged Texas style. Let it drop in the holes or any unusual type structure.

    Fall: One of the best times of year to catch a trophy bass, or other type big fish. Fish have fed all summer and are going on the fall feeding beinges to fatten up for winter. Fish will move into shallow water on bright sunny days where water temperatures rise. Use slightly bigger baits as most bait fish are bigger during this time period. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and jigs will work well.

    Winter: Ice fishing can be extremely good on these Indiana farm ponds. Bluegill fishing is can be good using spikes, mousiee’s, and bee moth. Crappie will be hitting on minnows and jigs. If you find the crappie the bass won’t be far away. Crappie tend to follow the baitfish, and the bass are not far behind.

    Hope these tips will improve your next trip to a farm pond!!

    Tractors Are Like Mother

    2010 - 07.10

    Tags: Category Introduction | No Comments »

    When tractors were introduced, farmers quickly found that engine driven tractors were more economical to use, as compared to keeping animals for tillage, and tractors began selling widely. In many cases agricultural machinery dealers received cattle for the barter for tractors and they and in turn sold the cattle in the meat market. The Farmall is one of early tractors and the most familiar and famous names in tractor history. Tractors were made to be work horses, so niceties were minimal. This included foregoing a fuel gauge.

    Tractors are most useful for cultivation purposes, so a tractor or tractors have been a must for farm owners, but tractors are also used in excavation, in manufacturing and industry, or on construction sites. Farm size, availability of labor and custom services, crop selection, and cultural practices, such as choice of tillage system, all affect the selection of an optimum equipment set and, ultimately, the number of tractors necessary to farm. Although demand for tractor power generally increases with farm size, many commercial farms operate efficiently with a single tractor.

    Tractors are designed to operate at different travel speeds, but the final drives are not designed for all possible torques theoretically available. The engine may range from about 12 to 120 horsepower or more and tractors over the years have been typically offered in the range of 20 to 400 horsepower. Engine power is transmitted to a gearbox typically having 4 to10 speeds (these transmissions are manually switched via a control lever to determine how fast the tractor can go) and through the differential gear to the two large rear-drive wheels. Some farm tractors can reach speeds up to 25 miles per hour, but slow speeds are necessary to give the farmer more control while doing field work.

    Farm tractors are designed to be operated with additional weight or ballast when pulling heavy loads to reduce wheel slip. Insufficient ballast can cause excessive wheel slip and increased fuel consumption. Tractors need large tires to avoid compressing the earth, and to avoid digging in. Thus only the rear tires really need to be large and the front tires can be small and smooth unless the tractor has four wheel drive. Tractors used on ground of irregular contours have tracks so mounted that their left and right front ends rise and fall independently of each other. However, soil undulations induce tractor and machine vibrations, reducing driver’s comfort and their capability of controlling the linked machinery.

    Tractors are usually used to pull, or in some cases, push objects and are designed to pull either large loads at slow speeds or lighter loads at higher speeds. Field speeds up to 10 mph are typical, but rangeland applications usually vary from 2 to 5 mph. Tractors can be generally classified as two-wheel drive, two-wheel drive with front wheel assist, four-wheel drive (often with articulated steering), or track tractors (with either two or four powered rubber tracks).

    Tractors are equipped with a hitching point below the rear axles to prevent roll over. Unfortunately, some people will attach to a point above the rear axle in a foolish attempt to get more weight/traction on the drive wheels and this can lead to disaster. Also, if a tractor is used to free and tow a stuck vehicle, the operator should hitch the vehicles front-to-front and drive the towing tractor in reverse, which minimizes the risk for rollover, by transmitting all the engine power of the towing tractor through the chain to the other vehicle.

    Farm Tractors

    2010 - 07.10

    Tags: Category Tips | No Comments »

    Some may just think that a tractor can only transfer materials from one place to another but this idea is wrong. Different attachments can be placed to farm tractors which make it even more efficient in an agricultural field. There are a lot of ways where a farmer can make use of the tractor that he must have knowledge of so that there is no need to purchase other machines which a tractor can perform the work by itself.

    First of all, you can use it to till your own land. By attaching a plow on your agricultural tractors, you can just drive them through your land and cultivate it without too much effort. It can break down large lumps of earth and with the help of this machine you can prepare your land for planting and farming.

    Once you have cultivated your land and prepared it for farming, then you can now use a different attachment to your farm tractor. Tractors manufacturers have built an application like the drill or planter so that you can conveniently sow your seeds with the help of this machine. You can just drive through your vast land area and distribute the seeds on where you want them to be. After you have started planting, you can easily pull a sprayer to keep the insects away from your plants.

    Furthermore, you can use it as your own vehicle to bring and transfer materials from one place to another. If you have loads of things for your animals for instance, then you can just haul everything in your tractor and drive it to where you want the materials to be.

    These are just few of the many uses of a tractor. It is very easy to maneuver and has a lot of uses if you know how to do with it. It can perform multiple tasks with the different applications that you can attach. When you know everything about this, you will surely admit that you have invested your money on very efficient equipment. Moreover, it has also saved your time from manually doing other tasks which farm tractors can do efficiently.

    With a very efficient machine like this, all you need to do is make sure that you have followed all the safety precautions on putting different kinds of attachments and you must know what you are doing. You must be able to find out more about its different uses and what you can do to utilize everything that an agricultural tractor can do with your farm.

    Growing Lavender Plants

    2010 - 07.01

    Category Farming, Techniques, Tips | No Comments »

    The Lavender plants are one of the most fragrant plants one can have in the garden. This is one such plant that can bring about a beautiful aura to your garden. The lavender plant is essentially a woody plant and the fragrance of the lavender plant, which has a magical effect, is also considered to be an aphrodisiac. The lavender plant is available in many different species and many green thumbs have tried to grow lavender plants successfully for their sheer beauty and fragrance.

    Growing Lavender Plants: Tips and Tricks
    Growing lavender plants from its seeds can be a difficult task therefore it may be a better idea to use the cuttings or purchase a healthy plant from a nursery. Once you have the lavender plant, remove it from its container. The space that you have allotted to your garden for the lavender plant should be spacious enough to accommodate all the roots.

    The soil plays an important part for any plants growth. Growing lavender plants at home would require you to consider a few things regarding the soil. You must note that the soil should be well drained and you need to work the components well to have a rich soil for the lavender plants. A lean soil helps to have a higher concentration of oils in the soil. Having an alkaline soil helps in the growth of the lavender plants and also helps to enhance the fragrance as well.

    Lavender plants can also be grown in the containers or pots if you do not have space for an indoor garden. In case you are planning to grow lavender plants in pots, always remember to keep it in the sun. The pot for the lavender plants should be enough to accommodate the main root although this plant has an enormous root system. This is because the lavender plant should be grown in tight containers to avoid an excess of dampness in the soil, as excess dampness is not beneficial for the roots.

    Lavender plants also need to be pruned regularly to keep them well shaped. The pruning also depends upon the variety of the lavender plant. In case of tall lavender plants, cut them to one-third their height. Where as for the small varieties, you need to only cut a few inches.

    The mulch is also very much important for the lavender plants. You can use sand or even pea gravel to make a good mixture of mulch. Sand helps to maintain the temperature of the soil. This also helps to reflect heat and light onto the plant, which helps in creating fragrant blooms.

    The right proportion of sunlight and water are very important for the lavender plants. When it comes to growing lavender plants, these need full sunlight for their proper growth. Therefore, the location of the plant is very important. Lavender plants need at least 8 hours of proper sunlight. The first one-year of your lavender plant is very important as it needs to be watered well. Otherwise, there is no frequent requirement to water the plants as they mature.

    If you are planning to plant plenty of lavender plants then make sure they are evenly spaced out from each other. They should have enough circulation of air so that these plants can grow well and subsequently flower well. Once the lavender plants start growing, ensure that their branches do not touch each other.

    When the lavender plant blossoms, it would also be the most rewarding part of your efforts. The flowers of the lavender plants are used for a variety of reasons. In case you wish to pick the flowers, pick them only when half of the flowers have opened up. These fragrant flowers are bound to uplift your mood!

    Thus we see that growing lavender plants can be quite an enjoyable and rewarding hobby. Here’s hoping you have blossoming and flowering lavender plants in your home!

    Smoke Tree

    2010 - 07.01

    Category Farming, Techniques, Tips | No Comments »

    Description of Smoke Tree

    Smoke tree is a small tree that is approximately 15 feet in height as well as width and the flowering period of this tree is from late spring to early summer. They are of two varieties, which are Smoke Tree and Smoke Bush. It is given such a name since when the tree begins to flower that is from June to August, it starts appearing like a red smoke. This appearance can be attributed to the panicles, which are branched cluster of flowers. Due to the appearance of the flower it is generally classified as an “Ornamental Tree”. Smoke tree has small and smooth leaves, which are round in shape, and their color would vary from blue-green to purple in various species. The leaves have red veins and the edges of the leaves are bordered with red. When the leaves of Smoke tree are crushed they smell like crushed orange peel. The fruit of the Smoke tree is irregular in shape, brown in color and approximately half of an inch in size.

    Growth Requirements of Smoke Tree

    It is very easy to grow a Smoke tree since it adds to the beauty of a place and has minimum growth requirements. This tree also remains free of pests and insects thus proving it to be a potential option for gardens and parks. Smoke tree grows well if it gets enough sunlight. In regards to the type of soil it requires, it can do well in all kinds of soil if it is well drained. This tree does not require much moisture; in fact it can also resist drought conditions as well as wet soil and climate. In fact it is observed that Smoke trees grow well in unproductive soils, thus facilitating the use of barren soils to get something fruitful. Moreover these trees when planted in fertile soils grow up to become huge with unhealthy foliage due to the fungal disease (Verticullum). As a matter of fact when this particular fungus attacks these plants they die early, due to which flowers fail to grow. The growth rate of the tree is medium. It can be found in the states of Tennessee, Alabama and Texas in the United States.

    What are the Uses of Smoke Tree?

    The tree can be used for decorative purposes as they have the pink, red or purple inflorescence, which would enhance the beauty of your patio or garden. You can also use the coppice of the plant as a fence for your garden or property. As stated earlier if you have a patch of barren land, plant these trees and add some vegetation to that part of land than keeping it empty and prone to erosion. During fall this tree makes a colorful picture since the leaves and the flowers both show such bright colors that it adds a character to the place where it has grown.

    Smoke Tree comes in many varieties like Daydream, Grace, Nordine, Velvet Cloak, Royal Purple. Most of these types show similar characteristics with a few variations related to colors of the foliage and inflorescence.

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