Six small farms were visited as part of the Auglaize and Hardin County New and Small Farm College on Saturday, April 8. The New and Small Farm College was an eight-week short course held at the Ohio State University Lima campus in February and March.

Brian Searson, 15, of Kenton and a student of Kenton City Schools, will serve as the 2017 Beef Ambassador for Hardin County. His selection was announced at last month’s Beef Banquet but he was unable to attend due to a previous engagement. Also on the team are Makenzie Jolliff and Madisen Jolliff.  

Hardin County has received its share of precipitation in the past couple of weeks. Soon the 15 Hardin County township rainfall reporters will be back at taking care of the important task of recording rainfall. This type of data has been collected for the past 24 years through the local OSU Extension office.

Brian Searson, 15, of Kenton and student of Kenton City Schools, will serve as the 2017 Beef Ambassador for Hardin County. His selection was announced at the Hardin County Beef Banquet on Saturday night. He was unable to attend due to a previous engagement. Also on the team are Makenzie Jolliff and Madisen Jolliff.    

A Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) class has been planned for Hardin County. GAPs classes are training sessions for fruit and vegetable producers taught by personnel from Ohio State University’s Fruit and Vegetable Safety Program.

MARYSVILLE — The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) awarded Dave Russell of Dola with the Friend of the Expo Award at the Ohio Beef Expo 30th Anniversary, held March 17-19 at the Ohio Expo Center.

MOUNT VICTORY — The Ridgemont Board of Education hired a second agriculture instructor for the district during its meeting Thursday night. Shelby Faulkner, a former state FFA president and graduate of The Ohio State University, will join the district for the 2017-2018 year as a grades 7-12 agriculture and environmental systems teacher. She has taught one year at Indian Lake.

As Hardin County recognized its farmers and agribusinesses on National Agriculture Day March 21, crop yields from the 2016 growing season have been released from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service. Although these crop production numbers are based on estimates, they are used for crop insurance and government reporting purposes.

Elizabeth Brown, daughter of Amyial and Michael Brown, and Chase Fleece, son of Craig and Jennifer Fleece, were named the 2017 Poultry King and Queen at the first annual Hardin County Poultry Banquet at the Christian Missionary Alliance Church in Kenton on Saturday night. Times photo/Ty Thaxton    

Are you a livestock producer that would like to learn more about hay production? The Hardin County OSU Extension office is having a workshop titled ‘Making Hay: From Seeding to Harvesting’ on April 3 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The location of the Extension office is 1021 W Lima Street, Suite 103 in Kenton.