Farm Management and Ag Policy

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

For many farm families, bringing children, or even grandchildren into the operation, is the ultimate goal.

Nebraska extension agoconomist Jessica Groskoff talks about one strategy that might make sense when it comes to turning over an operation to family members.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
So this is a really interesting strategy, but the most important thing is that you have to have an entity structure that allows for the transfer of shares or changes in the percentage of ownership.

So we're looking at farms and ranches that are set up as partnerships, LLCs or corporations.

And this is really a cool tool because you can use basically that entity as a gift to the lower generation.

So as an older generation, which we're going to call the donor, I can gift that to my heirs, which we call the donor.

So it's a really interesting plan.

If I have the right entity structure in place.

And honestly, it is actually fairly easy, but I do need to emphasize this is not something you just decide to do.

You do need a team of professionals behind you, and at the top of that list is a very talented attorney and a very knowledgeable tax professional who can help you know and understand what you need to be able to to implement this strategy.

So this is a really interesting strategy because to some extent it provides not just ownership, but potentially management decisions and income to that younger generation, in a, in a gradual ways, and giving them that opportunity to learn the ropes while I'm still alive.

It also creates that shift of income between the owner and the heir as well, right?

So, as that owner gets a little bit older, maybe they have some other assets that they can tap into and really allows that younger generation to grow, that farmer, that ranch business gradually over time.

So 1st of all, if you're going to tackle or think about this type of transfer, you need to work with your financial team.

You need to determine the liabilities associated with that business, the asset basis and then the value of those shares or that percentage of the business.

We can use 2 exclusions as we work through this.

That's the annual gift tax exclusion and the lifetime gifting exclusion to make this transfer.

So as we think about, Both sides.

Um, during life, there's there's a few things we need to consider.

First is the management of that business.

So how much of that management is being transferred with those shares, and that comes down to that decision making.

If that donor, that older generation still wants control or more control, we need to make sure that this isn't a large transfer all at once, because that might also be transferring that decision making power.

So we need to think about, really, is this a small progressive gift?

We're gifting a little bit each year, maybe a percent, or half a percent every year, or is it that large shift?

And that depends on the farm of the ranch business.

Along with that is the consideration of the transfer of income.

So as that ownership, Percent, and its changes or that that ownership of shares change, that's going to ripple through the business.

So we really need to make sure that both, The owners and the heirs maintain a viable standard of living.

It's very, very important as we work through the transition process that both parties still have that viable standard of living.

And so, We have to think about, is that transfer of shares or ownership also transferring that income, and where is that comfortable mix?

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program was a portion taken from a recent Farmcast podcast offered by UNL Center for Ag Profitability.

To hear the entire interview, go to cap.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts.

For Nebraska extension almanac, I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans.

Go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Ag producers face a very challenging decision making environment full of risk and uncertainty.

Complex solutions take time and research to keep the operation successful.

Extension specialist, Jay Parsons, talks about a decision tree or decision flow process designed to help operators make good decisions using this valuable tool.

[Jay Parsons, Nebraska Extension Specialist]
I mean, it gets its name, obviously, because it looks like a tree where you have different nodes of decisions or uncertainties and then outcomes from each of those.

So it branches out and gets get fairly complex, fairly fast, depending upon how many different types of outcomes there are from the uncertainties and how many different choices you're considering.

Um, the way it differs from a lot of the other ways that we do or look at decision making in an ag is it forces you to think of the sequence of events, of how things happen, um, and how information is revealed.

So, in that regard, it's a really useful tool.

So rather than just sitting there at a point in time and thinking of all of the things.

You kind of think of the sequence in which they happen and just kind of big buckets and directions things can go.

I looked at a corn producer's marketing decision, and, you know, to begin with, I mapped out that, you know, prior to that, there's planting decisions, planting conditions that would contribute to that, and so on.

But the example I gave was really kind of disappointed time, you know, Midsummer, you're looking at marketing decisions, you still don't know exactly how your crop is going to turn out.

You don't know how markets are going to turn out in the fall.

So I just mapped it out as kind of a simple thing where you're trying to decide whether to forward price half your crop or not, and you know what the current contract price is that's being offered by the local elevator for the fall.

And you still need to determine what your actual yields are going to be and you need to determine what how prices are going to turn out.

So I just did a simple thing where yields could go up or down 10%, so 3 different outcomes here or turn out normal.

And then same thing on the prices that they could go up or down 10% or turn out normal.

So you map all that out and you get like 9 different outcomes for each decision, whether you leave it cash open or for price half of it, given the current price that's offered to you.

From there, you just got a bunch of numbers that you can calculate, expected values and do different things that look at different outcomes that could possibly turn out.

Well, the challenges are definitely the complexity, because even the example I put in there, even though it's very simple, and not nowhere near capturing everything that could possibly happen for a producer, because reality is you got a spectrum of yields.

You got a spectrum of prices.

So the complexity is there.

Uh, you know, no matter what decision it is, it gets complex really fast.

So that's a challenge, but the thing that's a real advantage is it forces you to think through, just, like I said, kind of big buckets, you know, going up, going down.

You know that there's probably a spectrum in between there.

And once you have that template built of the things that can happen, you can reuse it.

So, you know, the, the, uh, decision I describe would be like you're in the midsummer, but another 2 months from now, you know, a little bit more about the market conditions that could happen in the fall, you know, a little bit more about your production conditions, which your yields might be, and you have that template there.

If you're making another marketing decision at that point, let's just say you're looking at maybe forward pricing a quarter of your crop at that point.

You can just, you know, repopulate that same tree with the new numbers and take another look at the decision that you're considering.

Expected value, you know, mathematically is just a weighted average of what could happen to you.

And it's not so much that, you know, you're going to make a big deal about, say, a $100 difference or something like that.

It's it's what you're looking for, there are some bigger differences where you definitely prefer one or the other.

And then sometimes when the expected values are close.

You might look at the distribution of the possibility, say the best case, worst case scenario and kind of how those are distributed.

And in that regard, pick one of the choices as being much preferred to the other choice.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program was a portion taken from a recent farmcast podcast offered by UNL Center for Ag Profitability.

There are many more key details from this interview, which can be heard in its entirety by going to cap.unl.edu or downloading from Apple Podcasts.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

The University of Nebraska Center for Ag Profitabilities, offering education, and practical applications to help landowners and land seekers protect the future of their operations, as well as helping aspiring farmers, find ways to start their ad careers.

Extension educator emeritus, Alan Vyhnalek says, current landowners can protect their legacy by using this valuable tool.

[Allan Vyhnalek, Nebraska Extension Educator Emeritus]
And so, you know, we're really we're really taking care of a couple of problems.

One problem is there's some land seekers that don't have access to land.

The other problem is, in many cases, many of your cases as landowners, you have land and you have nowhere to give to get to land you because if you have children, your children are no longer interested.

The point is, before you put your land on the land link makes me make sure if you have children, that you check with them one last time.

Is there any chance that you're interested in coming back to the farm?

We'd love to have you or ranch?

We love to have you.

If there's not, then fine. Lets just go on.

So you can apply for the land link and here's some tips so you can do that application very efficiently and well.

So before applying, just know that you're going to be asked a bunch of personal questions, but you're also going to be asked, how many acres do you have?

What's the breakdown of those acres by crop?

Once you break down to the acres by pasture and crop ground.

How what livestock do you have?

What's the breakdown in your livestock?

Your machinery inventory, that's going to take a little time.

You're just entering the tractors and the cultivators and the planters and the combines and trucks and that's going to take a bunch of time to get that entered in because that'll all need to be entered.

And then they're also going to want to know about what buildings you have, what your building inventory looks like and what can be done with it in terms of future use for this other operator that might be coming to your operation.

And the other question you'd be thinking about before you apply is, would you be willing to rent out a smaller number of acres separately for some other scale of production, especially if you live closer to one of the major towns in Nebraska, you may want to consider renting out 5, 10, 15, 30, 80 up to 80 acres for a small operator to do like a truck vegetable operation for farm to market thing.

Don't expect quick results.

I don't know what the processing time will be yet, but it's going to take me some time to sort through applications as they start coming in and interviewing people, setting up interviews, interviewing people as you'd be coming in.

We'll do a preliminary interview based on the application received.

You can't flunt the interview, that won't happen.

I'm trying to get a field for the landowners.

I want to know what you're most proud of.

I would like I would like to know if you really want to keep this operation in business or not, if you want just want the operation to go away.

I would like to know how you'd like to transition operation in the future.

What do you have for children if you have children and what's your obligation to those children?

Do you have any obligation to children?

What do your children expect?

What are you willing to give?

I mean, those kind of things have to be kind of thought about as you enter into this thing.

And what is your commitment to the land seeker?

Do you really want to keep this operation going?

So let's let's think about that and have that conversation before you even think about applying.

Let's think about that, have that conversation when I interview you too.

I'll be doing we'll be doing both.

Just kind of be thinking a little bit about what is your future use of the ground going to be, what do you want to have happen to that operation?

Um, I expect that you're going to have 20 to 30 land seekers apply for every landowner to you will get.

Like I said, in a previous slide, you're going to have some period of time between the listing date and the date you receive potential land seekers.

Your information from your land is only coming to my office and me only.

I'm not sharing now with the land seekers.

But I will be sharing their applications with you as the landowner, and I expect 2345.

I don't know.

I have to see how many qualify, how many people get applications done to me that are complete.

And I'll be interviewing them too, so I want to know what did they think?

I want to try and set up a good match as I can, especially after I maybe want to try and interview you first.

And also know that we'll be having land seekers that are looking for land in specific corners of the state or specific parts of the state.

And if your land is not there, then you may not have seekers right away, although I'm, I'm anticipating it, a lot of, a lot of land seekers say, hey, we'll go anywhere.

So then I can use them to look at your operation and that sort of thing.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program was a portion taken from the Farmcast podcast offered by UNL Center for Ag Profitability.

To hear the entire program, go to cap.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

A growing source of income for landowners in Nebraska's hunting rights.

Extension ag economist Jim Jansen talks about how ag landowners can enhance their profitability by leasing exclusive rights for hunters and certain types of game on their land.

[Jim Jansen, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
So each year, the University of Nebraska is part of the annual farm real estate survey takes a look at what we call a newer emerging issue present in the farm real estate industry, farming and ranching real estate industry.

In prior years, we've looked at things like the type of leases, so provisions related to crop shares, provisions related to flexible cash leases.

And given that some of the farm and ranches are a little bit tighter financially this year, we thought we would take maybe a look at what are some alternative ways to generate revenue or funds from our property.

And this can go for absentee landowners as well.

Well, one of the things that we can do in our state, which we obviously have a very rural-based state that has a lot of wildlife present, is renting out the hunting rights associated with a parcel of ground.

So, you might own the land, you might farm it, you might rent it to someone else, that farms, that ranches it.

The key thing is, though, you reserve the right, and you are renting that right to a 3rd party to hunt different types of wild game.

So we might be talking about things like antelope or deer, waterfowl, some of the other things included pheasants, turkey, and then we group the rest as other game.

Overall, based on the survey responses that were sent in, the majority of people that reported on the survey found about almost 50% are renting out some type of rights related to either antelope or deer hunting.

The 2nd one that followed that was waterfowl, and that quite 20%, and then the 3rd one was deer.

Now, within each of the different regions of the state that we call agricultural statistic districts, we did see some variation.

For example, the highest rate of interest for wider fowl hunting, so things like duck or de geese, things like that.

We've seen that even in the northwest.

And also some of the parts of the East Platte Valley.

So I think like the east and central district.

Some of the hot spots that we've seen for hunting were deer were primarily in the north to northeast.

And some of the geographical features or factors or forces are what why we see the type of wildlife we do and why people are willing to pay.

So what are the features or forces or contributing value to hunting, wasting out hunting wildlife.

Some of the leading factors we've seen were including the vegetative cover and proximity to water.

So that accounted for over half of the reasons on why people would want to.

Why do I want to release your ground while it's next to the Platte River, or it has certain factors or features, maybe the presence brush or trees, hillside?

Think of what features or forces would make a site to be ideal.

Well, those sites or features are conducive to siting up into your blind, for example.

So we took a look at what, can someone charge someone else?

What can you lease out the hunting rights for our property?

And the detail that we looked at, we just looked at, we grouped responses by a financial range.

We found that about not quite two thirds of the responses.

We had people reporting a value between 0 to not quite $2,500.

And then a little less than 30% of responses, we had a range somewhere between, say, 2500 to not about 5000.

What this means is we typically see someone charge a sum of money, you gain access to the use of that property, a lot of the responses were indicating it was usually for the season.

You weren't renting out policing the hunting rights just, say, for, you know, hunting deer on the 1st day of the deer season.

It's hunting deer for the duration of the season for deer or whatever wild game someone might be hunting.

But this was part of the special feature survey that the University of Nebraska conducts in tandem with the Nebraska Farm Real Estate survey.

If you'd like to find some additional information, you can always take a look at the farm real estate report that was issued in late June of 2025.

The website is capped, type UNL.edu slash real estate.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills, Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media, and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Current extreme drought conditions in Western Nebraska, and recent wildfires can force some producers to make immediate livestock decisions.

Those decisions are obviously based on years of experience, the present weather condition, and current market situations, and they do carry tax issues as well.

On today's program, Tina Barrett from Nebraska Farm Business Inc. Discusses some tax issues.

Ranchers should consider when making important decisions based off of weather related crisis situations.

[Tina Barrett, Farm Business Inc. Director]

So starting with the livestock deferral rules.

We have 2 different rules.

So the 1st one comes from code section 451.

So that's our, that gives us a one year deferral of livestock, and then the other one comes from the involuntary conversion rules in in 1033.

Let's start with the one-year deferral.

This one allows us to take the excess income from the sale of livestock due to weather conditions and we can defer that to the next year.

So this can be any kind of lifestock.

Doesn't matter what, what, and kind of animal that was, if we sold more than we normally would have due to a, uh, weather condition.

Then we can use this as long as we qualify.

This one has a few more rules for qualification than the 2 year rule.

This one you have to be a cash basis taxpayer, which makes sense because as an accrual basis taxpayer, you would have an inventory adjustment for it and you wouldn't need to defer it.

Your principal business has to be farming.

So in the definition of this one, it means like 50% of your income needs to come from farming.

So it's a little different definition than being a qualified farmer.

And then the area has to be eligible for federal assistance.

And so presidential disaster declaration.

Uh, that comes through FEMA is a slam duck, no question.

You know, federal assistance, I think, can be a little bit broader than that too, if we're getting assistance through FSA, due to drought conditions or those kinds of things.

I think we can we can qualify for this deferral in that case too.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Tina explains what normal business practice is and what would be considered excessive sales that was needed during these weather events.

[Tina Barrett, Nebraska Farm Biz Director]

As we talk about those requirements.

It's got to be the sales, again, that exceed your normal business practice.

So, typically we think about that as a three-year average of the number of head.

So I've got an example here, we'll walk through, but so we look at the number of head that you sold for the past 3 years, and then compare that to the number of head you sold this year.

And the excess that we would have would be what we could defer.

So it's not quite like we can just say, I had a calf crop.

I normally sell my calf crop in January, and this year I sold them in October, so I have 2 calf checks and I'm going to take the October check and defer it to next year.

Can't do it that way.

We have to look at the numbers.

And so, uh, but again, we'll look at some examples here and make that hopefully make a little bit more sense.

Um, again, only the the income from those excess sales is deferred.

So we can't, you know, kind of pick and choose what kind of number we want to have there.

And again, it's only deferred to next year.

And so not, we can't go, you know, 2 years out on this one.

It's just the next tax year.

When we have breeding livestock that is purchased, it makes it a little bit more complicated because we do need to take into account. You know, some of the other, uh, the basis issues.

But for the most part, here we'd be able to get on the one year deferral, just defer that, excess income to the next year, and then calculate that gain as we move on.

I mentioned a couple things that we could look at proof of weather conditions.

Again, like I said, that presidential disaster declaration is going to be a guarantee all the time.

Now that doesn't have to come before the sale.

So if sometime in 26, uh, we would get a disaster declaration in your county, or in your area, then then that way we could still use that as proof for why we deferred that on the tax return.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Stay tuned for future programs where Tina explains much more details about forced livestock sales due to unfortunate weather conditions and the tax implications that come with it.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

New federal regulations are giving farmers an opportunity to add farmland to program payments by recalculating their base acres.

Part one of this discussion, extension educator Anastasia Meyer talked about why these changes are a great opportunity for farmers who might qualify for the recalculation.

On today's program, she begins by explaining what producers need to do, if they don't have any existing base acres on their operation, which might rely on a county average.

[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Educator]

Well, it depends, right?

That's a big question.

Are you an average producer?

That is probably about the same as a county yield.

Are you an amazing producer?

Because then that's going to hurt you if the county averages is actually lower than yours.

Or if you are a subpar, you know, it's great.

But really, let's let's remember that the yield is only going to be important, if you were enrolled in price loss coverage and PLC.

And then this whole yield thing is a little bit interesting, right?

Because I mentioned the fact that in 2014, we had the chance to reallocate our base acres.

So if you reallocated, and if you are base right now, it's currently what you plant.

You're just probably going to see that yield swept into that new base acre.

So if you plant a corn and soybean rotation and that's what your base acres are, there's probably not any concern for you.

But let's again, talking to my area, we saw a lot of producers here keep their grain sorghum and wheat base acres, because at that time, remember, we were signing up for a 5 year farm bill.

And at that time they, those were paying pretty good.

So they decided to keep it.

Now, if you're adding new base based off of what you've been planting the last 5 years.

You're probably going to be seeing corn and soybean base acres added on to your farm that you already have wheat and grain sorghum.

So what yields do you use if you don't have any of that already associated to that farm number?

These are when you're going to see those county average yield.

So I don't know if it's going to truly affect a lot of people.

Um, but I do know that they're, that it is going to affect some that maybe chose to keep their old base and not reallocate to the new base.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Anastasia explains that old base numbers aren't in play here.

She talks about how the new provisions are for new base acres only.

[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Wizard]

Yeah, so remember, this is only adding new base.

We cannot touch any of our old base.

We cannot reallocate it to what we currently plant.

We cannot increase our yield.

Um, we can't do any of that.

And remember, this is what they are basing the Art County and the price loss coverage payments on, right?

What's your bases enrolled on, not what you're currently planting?

So, again, yield is only going to matter for those price loss coverage base acres that are enrolled in it.

And it's only our county is going to be using the county average yield.

And so the really yield's not going to affect that at all.

It's just kind of what's on paper at FSA.

Um, so I wouldn't get too concerned about it.

Um, I've kind of been telling people there isn't anything to it, but to do it, right?

I don't see why you would opt out of it, especially when we don't know what future legistration is going to base any farm payments on, right?

Right, now we've been seeing a lot of these ad hoc, um, payments, so the e-cap, and a lot of payments that are based off of what you truly plant, not what your base acres are in.

So if we go more towards that in the future, this means nothing.

But if we stick with this whole method of giving payment based off of what your base acres are, this is when we really want to increase them while we can, because we might have the chance to reallocate again in the future or update yields again in the future.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Today's program was based on an article and the Farmcast podcast produced by UNL Center for Ag Profitability.

To read the article, or to listen to the entire interview, go to CAP.UNL.edu, or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I am Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Federal commodity payment programs are based on what's known as base acres.

That base acre number for farmers has not changed in years, or even decades, but new federal farm regulations have given farmers a chance to add new base acres, extension educator, Anastasia Meyer explains, what's changed, and who might qualify.

[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Educator]

The fact that we have not been able to add any base acres on ground that is farmed since the 1980s, right?

So we have been stuck with the same amount of base acres as what was happening back then.

Um, And the simple fact of it comes down to a lot of these barn program payments are based off of what you have base acres in, not what you're planting, but what how many base acres you have and what it is enrolled in.

So this is what's exciting about this one big beautiful Bill Act. And landowners are starting to see these postcards come in the mail from the farm service agency saying, hey, you can now review it starting June one.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Anastasia discusses how base acres are established and the difference between that and actual crop acres.

[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Educator]

Base acres were established in the 1985 farm build.

So if the producer who was farming it signed up for the 1985 farm bill, congratulations, you got base acres.

So if you're farming a piece of ground that maybe was not enrolled in or it was pasture and now you actually farm it, you don't have any base acres on that field because it was not signed up for in the 1985 farm bill.

And in the 1985 farm bill.

What you planted is what those base acres were established in.

And then in 2014, we had the chance to do some reallocation of bake acres, which means that we were able to say that in my area that we farm in.

We had a lot of base acres in corn, and sorry, in wheat in Milo, grain sorghum, and not in corn and soybeans, because that's what they planted back in 1985.

So you were able to reallocate if you wanted to or not.

We were able to update yields.

Most people did update yields.

And then in 2018, we had a chance to update yields again.

Not a lot of people could, though.

So this is why this change is so exciting for people who are now farming a lot more acres and what they currently have base acres in.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

The new legislation comes with a few math problems that farmers will need to figure out in order to qualify for more base acres.

Anastasia says it's a pretty simple process to calculate.

[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Educator]

So the really great thing about this is there's not a lot of calculations are really anything to do for producers or landowners to look at.

Essentially, what they're going to look at is that what you planted or what your producer planted from 2019 to 2023.

And they're going to compare it to your 2024 base acres.

If you have more acres planted or prevent plant certified at the FSA, then what you currently have base acres in, you're gonna be able to increase them.

Um, it's a simple form.

A lot of the postcards that are getting sent out at is just an, for your information, right?

You can opt out of adding base anchors.

But I don't know why any landowner or producer truly would.

So yes, it's going to look at 2019 to 23.

They're going to see.

Are you eligible or not?

Um, and then we get into a little bit more of the, nitty gritty details, right?

There is a cap.

So we're not going to see a one to one addition most likely.

So by saying that, if I farm 100 acres, I plant 100 acres and I only have 40 base acres.

I'm probably not going to be able to get up to 100.

But I'm probably going to be able to get some more.

I don't know the certain percentage yet.

I don't even think FSA knows that yet.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

There is much more to this discussion to come on a future extension almanac program for Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media, and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. On a recent almanac program, extension ag policy specialist Brad Lubin discussed how the overall farm income in Nebraska is projected to increase significantly, but that projection could send a mixed message to crop producers or cattle ranchers. He talked about the struggles in the crop market, and on today's program, He encouraged his caution to cattle producers who have been enjoying record market numbers in Nebraska.

[Brad Lubben, Nebraska Extension Ag Policy Specialist]
Cattle are about 90% of livestock receipts.

So it really is cattle driving the sector, which is supporting the overall ag economy at this point.

We also could point to over the last 4 years from 2022 forward.

Back in 2022, total crop receipts equaled total livestock receipts at about $16 billion.

Since that time, cropper seats had fallen to 12.

That's a 25% drop.

Livestock receipts had risen to 24.

A dramatic increase.

Livestock receipts in Nebraska are now double crop receipts.

They were equal 4 years ago.

Uh, That doesn't make everything easy for the cattlemen.

Obviously, there's always sort of the challenge of where are the profits in the cattle sector at processing or feeding or backgrounding or the cow calf operation.

Eventually, they're accruing back to some very good prices for feeder cattle and cal calf producers at the moment.

But then cow calf producers can't easily respond to that price signal and say, hey, it's a great time to, uh, it's a great time to grow the herd.

In part, because today's prices make replacement happer is more expensive too. And bowls and investment costs, more expensive, in order to produce a calf that doesn't come for that doesn't come to market for about 2 years or more, at a time when maybe prices will be softer than they are today.

So the economics of expansion aren't necessarily record prices mean we should grow the herd.

It's also true that even if we wanted to grow the herd.

Drought concerns have decreased some of our grazing supplies in the state, wildfire losses earlier this spring have certainly hurt that as well.

Um, You have a capacity constraint in how we can really grow the herd.

And so the economic decisions about growing a livestock sector even in the midst of record returns isn't that easy.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Brad talks about how government payments have played a significant role to the producer's bottom line.

[Brad Lubben, Nebraska Extension Ag Policy Specialist]
The government payment portion of the bottom line here is such a big deal this year.

We're talking in 2026 about projected government payments in Nebraska from all sources, about $3000000000 dollars.

That's $3000000000 of government payments in a bottom line of almost $10 billion.

The change from last year, net farm incomes up about a billion.

Government payments are up about one. 3 billion.

So it is more than the total change in net farm income, just from the government safety net here.

But dig into that safety in a little bit, and we understand both the support that's entered as well as the uncertainty that's in it.

We have the underlying commodity program supports.

Four years ago, they were minimal because we had higher prices and farm program payments that didn't fundamentally pay out.

In the coming year, they could be in excess of $700 million. Substantially higher than where we've been.

And so a dramatic increase in the safety net.

Well, that's what came about because of the 2025 budget reconciliation bill and the increases in government safety net support levels.

Those 1st immediately affected the 2025 crop program year, but the 2025 crop program year doesn't pay out until the fall of 2026.

And so we have this cash flow that shows up later this year.

But that increased safety net will dramatically increase the support going forward for producers.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
There are many more aspects to this issue, and to read a detailed article, or to listen to the entire interview, go to UNL Center for Ag Profitability’s website, at CAP.unl.edu, or download from Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. Nebraska Farm income is expected to have record highs this year, but that statement could be misleading depending upon what you raise on your operation. Projections show overall income should increase by 12% to near $10 billion mainly due to a continued strong cattle market. Crop producers on the other hand, are struggling due to many factors including record production expenses. 
Nebraska extension ag policy specialist Brad Lubben, talks about record returns for cattle producers, as well as the struggles for crop farmers, on part one of this examination of farm income projections in Nebraska.

[Brad Lubben, Nebraska Extension Ag Policy Specialist]
In aggregate.

The NeFarm income projections from Nebraska look like they will reach a record that is near $10 billion.

Uh, that would be substantially above the previous record of 2023.

It's substantially above the outcome last year in 2025.

And so we're talking about a real strong aggregate farm income scenario for the state.

Even as we know, we're concerned about headlines and issues and questions about the strength of the egg sector.

Let's clarify for sure that any aggregate estimate like the state farm income estimates don't accurately capture what's happening in a specific sector or commodity, or region, or certainly any particular farm operation.

So there's always uh, distribution around the mean.

There's always some variability going on there.

But what we can see in the story is fundamentally what I described as a tale of 2 farms, or maybe more specifically a tale of a farm and a ranch, because there are 2 very different sectors going very different directions, that are the principal drivers behind the farm economic outlook that we see both in aggregate and the headlines that we read about on a regular basis here.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Brad focuses in on the struggles for crop producers, talks about some possible positive indicators in the coming months.

[Brad Lubben, Nebraska Extension Ag Policy Specialist]
We see if we back up to 2022 or 2023. 2022 as a record farm income year in the United States, Nebraska actually struggled a bit in 2022 with drought conditions and some declines in production.

So 2023 is actually when Nebraska had previously set a record.

But what we know fundamentally from that period of time is that crop economics have been deteriorating continuously over that time period.

Lower commodity prices, as we came off of some record price levels and as we sort of refreshed the available supplies, We saw lower commodity prices over time.

We saw continued inflationary pressure on production costs, particularly some of the purchased inputs that we have in crop production, seed, fertilizer, chemicals, energy costs, et cetera.

So we saw erosion for the crop sector on both sides, lower revenues, higher cost, shrinking margins.

That has fundamentally been going downhill for the better part of 4 years.

The projection for 2026 is actually relatively stable with 2025.

So we hope that we see a turn in conditions here.

We know that there is more inflationary pressure on input cost even since this analysis was put together back in the early springtime period.

Fertilizer costs have been going up, seemingly nonstop.

That doesn't all translate into 2026 numbers because some of the 2026 fertilizer would have already been pre-purchased or or applied earlier.

But we know that pressure is there.

On the other hand, we also see some of the overall market uncertainty and inflationary pressure is translated into some increases in crop prices since the time of this analysis.

So there may be even a little bit of relief on the crop receipt side, but suffice to say, even if margins are relatively stable at the moment.

They're stable at a much smaller margin than they were just 4 years ago.

And that's the pressure we see on the crop side that translates into financial concerns, cash flow concerns, and economic challenges for producers.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
We'll focus more on this topic of farm income on future almanac programs. For Nebraska extension almanac. I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media, and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

If you've wondered if virtual fencing would work on your operation, you should make plans to take a bus tour sponsored by Nebraska extension, coming up June 16th and 17th. Extension specialist Yiji Ziong says the tour will help producers check out different operations and uses for virtual fencing.

[Yijie Ziong, Nebraska Extension Precision Livestock Specialist]
So we're going to have date one is pretty much just site visits, and um, it is Tuesday, June 16th to Wednesday, June 17th on day one, Tuesday, and we're going to visit a rolling prairie ranch at Phil, Missouri, and this sites utilize halter virtual funds colors, and that is the 1st stop, and then we will transition and move to the mud rich wrench in.

Red Oak, Iowa, and they're using no fence virtual fence colors, and both of those producers are going to really openly share their experience of using these 2 specific products and share what have worked really well for them and what haven't worked out and they learn from their experience.

And then on day two, one day, we will start with eastern Nebraska, research extension and education center, where we will demonstrate a shepherd, and as well as halter virtual funds collars, and see how we can use that for more intensive and smaller scale grazing situations.

And after that, we will have a classroom session and just talk about general best practices for grazing management, as well as bringing up a panel discussion evolving all the industry representatives as well as producers, researchers, and extension educators to openly talk about questions surrounding this and also summarize what we have learned from the site visits.

So I think this is a really, really exciting opportunity and really hoping that we can have a fruitful tour and bringing events for our producers.

As a researcher, we have some targeted questions, we want to answer, and being benefited from having extension appointment is that I often got my research question generated from producer's question.

So, for example, we've been asked about different situations and different increase from producers.

Can we manage multiple groups in the same pasture for some really intensive grazing management and potentially for leading follower system like that.

And we've done that with the Gallagher system and the results was really promising it works.

And then some other producers from the sandhills area and probably our listeners understand the situation they're facing.

So you're facing really, really big terrain with rolling hills, and then also like it depends on what you want to do with your ranch management, and the product will vary, right?

So, there are uh, products are designed for really extensive management and the, with the primary goal is to contain them, or knowing where they're grazing at, but there's also other products are more designed for very, very intensive, grazing management, and with the target at benefiting your soil, health, and then grazing management, and also the forge in vegetation. Management.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Be sure to take this virtual fence tour for ideas on how you might be able to use this technology in your operation. Please register by Tuesday, June 9th by going to go.unl.edu slash bf underscore bus tour, which is one word. Once again, that's go.unl.edu slash VF underscore bus tour. The cost is $200, which includes transportation, lodging, and lunches. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.
Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR, and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. On a recent program, Nebraska extension specialist, Brad Lubin, talked about how the beef industry was a bright spot in agriculture, as opposed to how crop producers are facing challenges. On today's program, Brad focuses on how trade policies affect both the producer and the consumer.

[Brad Lubben, Nebraska Extension Ag Policy Specialist]
It is the quintessential question about trade and what's the benefit of trade.

And as a trade economist or as an economist studying trade policy issues, I would often characterize trade and the benefits of trade are fundamentally about consumers.

Consumers benefit from having new products or more products available and price competitiveness and so forth.

Trade politics tend to be about producers.

And it's supporting or protecting production, resources, and investments from competition from elsewhere. Whether it's fair or unfair.

Well, in the trade arena, the cattle industry, the beef industry, kind of lives in both sectors.

Um, They benefit from consumer demand that drives exports that drives domestic demand as well, certainly, but that drives exports.

And that's exports for some of the higher value products that the US produces, muscle cuts, steaks, and roast.

They also benefit from foreign consumer demand for variety meats.

The kinds of things that most Americans and consumers don't touch.

And so there's value in the carcass that otherwise wouldn't be there, were it not for the benefits of exports and the export of beef and beef products, globally.

There's also import competition and there is import competition in terms of live animals.

Arguably, that's because the US has a, I think, a comparative advantage in feeding animals and processing animals compared to its neighbors and compared to much of the world.

And so importing live animals from Canada, importing live animals from Mexico, when we don't have a New World screwworm outbreak to worry about.

Those are kinds of things that actually support the domestic industry as opposed to directly compete for prices for animals.

Well, it does offer more supply of animals.

So yes, a producer of animals thinks about imports as competition.

A producer of beef, thinks about trade as an opportunity.

And so there's there's always a distinction between which side of the trade.

Do you do you feel impacted by?

Um, the other reality, some of our imports are beef?

Well, that's imports typically of beef trim, lean beef trim.

That's what gets ground into our hamburger mix.

The US seems to be an outsized consumer of hamburger.

We love it in almost every form, and with the animals we produce, and the muscle cuts, and higher value animals that we're sending, or that were processing.

We have a shortage of beef trim to produce the mainstay hamburger blend.

And so getting that from elsewhere adds value to the tallow and the remainder of the carcass here as well.

So that's more of a complimentary import.

It's a complimentary good, not a substitute, but it looks like imports.

And so when we look at statistics, yes, it looks like we import more animals, we certainly do.

We import more pounds of beef.

We do.

Traditionally, we export more dollar value of beef than we import.

In the midst of trade conflict at the moment.

That's hurting a bit, but fundamentally, those are reasons why we focus so much on trade and trade issues.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
You can read the detailed article about issues facing the beef industry by going to UNL Center for agprofitabilities website at cap.unl.edu. You can listen to the entire interview by downloading from Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.  Beef industry policy issues are being studied by UNL students at the Krezinger Beef Industry Scholars Program. Nebraska extension ag policy specialist Brad Lubin says, the students are looking at specific issues like market risk, trade policies, traceability, labeling, and animal health. Brad points out that the beef industry has been a bright spot in agriculture, as other issues like crop production are facing challenges.

[Brad Lubben, Nebraska Extension Ag Policy Specialist]
Yes, it's, it's, it's certainly, uh, a reality that the beef history is driving the state ag economy at the moment.

In fact, if we look at farm income numbers in general that I, uh, that I look at regularly, 4 years ago, the livestock sector and the crop sector were largely on par with each other in terms of total receipts.

This year, the livestock sector is more than twice the crop sector in terms of total receipts, and 90% of the livestock sector is cattle in Nebraska.

So we know it's the cattle industry.

We know prices are up.

We know it's because supplies are down.

The cattle herd is low, which limits the availability of feeder cattle and cattle to be fed.

And so it limits supplies.

Consumer demand is held up amazingly well.

And record prices have helped drive, drive receipts and profitability higher, all the way back through the supply chain.

It doesn't mean there aren't challenges and issues ahead, but certainly some of the issues are maybe a little bit less onerous given the great returns at the moment.

Fundamentally, I think of the cattle marketing, and there's a cattle marketing committee, discussion that happens at the national conference.

Oftentimes, cattle marketing committee is concerned about the competitiveness of the marketplace, whether there are ample bids, whether there is enough transparency and competition in the market to find and receive a fair price.

Well, at at this point in time, when cattle supplies are so short, it's actually the cattle producers that may have the most leverage in the market, as opposed to traditional perspectives, that it's the feeders in the agribusiness sector that has more control.

Well, at the moment, then cattle, uh, and ultimately cattle, uh, calf producers are, are benefiting from that, uh, that leverage in the market and, and suddenly price discovery isn't quite the issue with.

It's still an issue.

There are still concerns, there are still national discussions of concentration in the sector and an analysis of whether the sector is competitive or not.

But the immediate focus on price discovery and price transparency isn't quite the same as it is when prices are struggling.

That doesn't mean that producers don't face risk.

And that doesn't mean that producers aren't still concerned about the bottom line. At these record prices.

We also have record capital investments in those animals.

And volatility in the marketplace that is dramatic from one day or one week to the next.

So producers may be enjoying record prices and record returns for the moment.

They're also facing much greater risks than they have.

One of the tools that we see that's also discussed during these meetings and across the industry is the use of some of the newer risk management products.

Livestock revenue protection is a price risk management product.

The pasture range in forage program is a drought focused production management component helps you manage your grazing capacity.

So both of those insurance tools have really come on board in the last 20 to 25 years.

Both of those have grown dramatically in terms of their usage and have become an important part of the cattle producer's, uh, risk management portfolio.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program was part one of a discussion on the beef industry issues. Stay tuned for part 2 where Brad discusses trade that affects both producers and consumers. To read the detailed article, or to hear the entire interview, go to UNL Center for ag profitabilitie’s website, at cap.unl.edu, or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify, for Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. On a recent program, UNL Ag Economics Professor Jay Parsons talked about writing down your personal values and using that to establish a vision or mission statement for your farmer ranch. On today's almanac, he details the actual process of writing your mission statement.

[Jay Parsons, UNL Ag Econ Professor]
So how do you go about writing these statements?

Okay.

And, um, as with anything, it's the process that's most important because it makes you think through some of this stuff. Okay?

It's not, you want to finish product, of course, to look good, but you'll get 2 or 3 times out of just the process doing it, as you will, with the actual product that comes out.

This is the best advice I can give.

If you're going to sit there and think about what is important to you, how to articulate what the vision or the mission of this operation, farmer ranch operation is or any business for that matter, think of the 5 things.

You want people to see or know about your farm, you know, but when they talk about you and your farm or ranch operation, what are the main or the top 5 things you want them to say about you once they get to know you and once they look at what you're doing in your operation?

If there's more than one person involved, Each of you should do this on your own 1st and then compare notes and bring those together.

Okay, normally these are very short, 2 or 3 sentences would be nice.

You'll see some that are up on the internet that are quite, quite long, but what you are trying to do is come up with a concise statement of why you exist.

Why do you want to be a farmer or a rancher or run this operation?

What is it that you hope to achieve and a little bit about your philosophy, of how you go about achieving that?

And then last piece is how do you serve those that are affected by your work, that includes people within your organization, how you treat your employees or if your organization is made up of primarily a family members, how you treat your family members within there, and then also how you interact with the public in general, and those that buy your products.

So here's some examples of a farm vision statement.

This is one out of that's being used in a lot of agribusiness, uh, um, classes around the country.

Um, and I used it in one that I taught uh, years ago, but uh, basically it's a Cornelius Farms vision statement.

It's to be a farm business that farms and or manages land, to best satisfy the landowner.

So right away, they're articulating that they rent a lot of their land, and they view their landowners as one of their primary customers.

They wanted to be one of the very best farmers and farm managers in a region.

How they want people to view them.

To rent farmland by striving to obtain maximum income per acre, thus creating maximum profits for the landlord intended, through the use of distinguished management of the land.

So, they want to basically maximize those net returns for both them and the landlord.

So that's part of their objectives, right?

That's a value that they have in place.

Theyre in business to make money.

And they want more the better.

Um, but they want to do it by having good management of the land.

So they want to take care of the land.

We also have the model that appearances everything that goes for equipment and your land.

We make every effort to ensure that the landowner's land is virtually weed free and well kept.

So the last sentence kind of provides a vision of it, but the key piece there is taking care of the land is one of their core values.

You start this by getting uh, taking some time to identify your core values.

And if there's other family members involved in that operation with you.

Have them identify theirs and have a frank and honest conversation and come to a consensus on the core values that are going to drive this family farmer ranch down the path into the into the future vision that uh, that you hope to achieve.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
You can find more information on planning your future and writing a mission statement by going to UNL Center for Ag Profitability’s website at CAP.UNL.edu. That's cap.unl.edu. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media, and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. With so much day to day activity on any farm or ranch, it can be difficult to plan ahead or simply understand basic goals and preparations for the future of the operation. UNL Ag Economics Professor Jay Parsons says, having a mission or vision statement is critical to setting goals, making good decisions, and the very future of the operation. He says that starts with determining what your values are.

[Jay Parsons, UNL Ag Econ Professor]
Let's start with a short discussion on values and what they are.

Values are standards, beliefs, or qualities that you consider worth upholding or pursuing.

Values are the way you think things should be.

So they're an ideal picture of how you think people should communicate and treat each other and how they should interact with the environment around them.

Values are what you stand for.

They're things that you don't compromise on.

If one of your values is honesty, you don't just lie when it's convenient for you.

Values can be on different levels.

Values can be personal.

I mentioned honesty, spirituality would be another one.

Things that you typically put in the bucket of being family values.

It can also be economic values.

What kind of lifestyle do you want to live?

Values of saving money up for retirement and such.

Values can be operational, the way you do things, the way you grow your crops.

Maybe it's a, basically the quality that you produce or how you go about producing that in terms of being organic or non-organic, different things like that can be a part of your value system.

And in that same bucket, there's environmental values out there, basically uh, maintaining the soil and the environment around you, water quality issues and stuff like that can enter into and be a core value of the way you do things and the way you think, think things through.

And then there's community values, which is, you know, just communication with those around you, the way you treat each other, uh, general respect for each other and helping each other out.

Those values need to get conglomerated into either a mission or a vision statement, and either one of these is a statement of the purpose of the operation, and that they explain a little bit about what the business organization is, the products and services that they actually put out.

Um, the direction of that business.

The reason it is in business, and in the case of a vision statement, uh, in particular, it could be, it should be more of a long run focus of the operation.

Matter of fact, that's one of the distinguishing features a little bit between a mission and a vision statement.

As the vision is looking out a little bit more in a futuristic sense.

The statement should also explain the uniqueness of the business.

Okay?

They should incorporate those values, the uniqueness of the people involved, and the combination of products and services that that business is providing.

So I mentioned vision or mission, and as I said earlier, there is a subtle difference with them between them and that division is more broad and more future oriented.

It's like a goal out there on horizon, 10, 20, 30 years down the road.

More of an idealistic view of where you would like to be, a little more general in nature.

A mission statement is more focused and it's on how you will get to that horizon.

When you see these statements put out by businesses, whether the farm business or any business for that matter, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between the 2 and it sometimes it's very hard to find a business that actually puts out both of these.

So I'm not advocating that you need to have both a vision and a mission statement, but you should certainly take the time to put together one or the other.

And both of them should be foundationally based on your value system.

What is it that's important to you?

So you take those things that you think are important?

You provide some to direction and the way you would like to go with those, and state some very clear objectives, like I would like to increase the quality of the soil on my operation or something like that, and you want to incorporate that, then in your vision and your mission statement.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Stay tuned to future almanac programs where Jay continues to stress how important a mission statement can be for any operation for Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.  Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. Farmers and ranchers here in Nebraska have had to deal with wildfires and severe drought in some places, and the damage that they cause can be a tricky problem when it comes to taxes. On a recent almanac, Nebraska farm business director, Tina Barrett, discuss how being prepared before these unfortunate events take place to make a significant difference on your taxes.  She continues that discussion today by focusing on lost forage from drought or wildfire, and how ranchers might need to make some decisions about their livestock.

[Tina Barrett, Director – Nebraska Farm Business]
So we have 2 options.

And really even if it's the wildfire impact, we're really going to rely on the drought, which caused the wildfires as probably the deferral options with the livestock.

So we're really talking about those drought deferral options either way.

So we have 2 options with that.

One of them is a one year deferral, and any livestock counts for that.

So feeding, breeding, all of it.

And so that gives us a kind of a flexibility, but what that does in a kind of real short terms is allows you to defer your excess sales to the next year.

So we need to look back at the number of head that you sold the last 3 years, compare that to the number of head that you sold this year, and then take a per head average and carry that forward.

So it's not as simple as if you sold your calf crop in January.

And then sold the next year's crop in December instead of holding it till January.

It's not like, we can't just take that December check and roll it to January.

We need to do some calculations, but, you know, that one, again, works for any kind of livestock, but we do have to make that calculation by type.

So we would look at the calves and the number of excess.

We would look at the cows and the number of excess, and we look at the bulls and the number of excess.

And that just moves that into the following year.

So it works really well, especially with feeding livestock to kind of keep it on a similar half as what your history is.

You do have to have be in an area that was eligible for federal assistance.

If we would get a FEMA, you know, presidential declaration for that area, which could be coming with the wildfires, that's an automatic guaranteed.

But I think we can also look at some of the other things that come from federal assistance outside of FEMA as justification for that.

And the drought monitor is a great resource to show that there's definitely a drought happening and and those kinds of things.

But any sort of documentation that you can keep to show that the sale was due to a due to the drought or other weather related conditions is going to be real important for you.

The other option is a, starts as a two-year deferral.

This is only good for draft dairy and breeding animals.

So not the feeding livestock.

I mean, not the calves.

And this gives us up to 2 years to replace that livestock.

The one year deferral just moves the money and you tax it later.

This one you have to replace it.

If you don't replace the animals, then you have to come back to the air of sale and amend your tax return.

So again, kind of still have to have that weather related conditions doesn't have to be eligible for federal assistance to get that 2 year deferral.

So that's kind of nice, gives us a little bit more flexibility in that one.

But 2 year becomes a 4 year if there is federal assistance granted.

So if we would get some of that sort of designation in your area, we can make that a 4 year deferral, and then it can actually get extended one year at a time if those drought conditions continue.

So, I know we have a lot of counties in Nebraska where we are past that 4 year period, um, and we could continue to defer, and that's maybe good, maybe bad, but, um, it is an option to continue that as long as the drought continues.

The general rule with, with that replacement is that it has to be replaced with light kind, though, so beef cows for beef cows, dairy cows for dairy cows.

And if we get to that 4 year period, then they lift that restriction.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program is a portion of an interview taken from a recent beef watch podcast offered by Nebraska extension. To hear the entire interview, go to beef.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.