Ottinger's Ag Journalism

06/20/2019

I suppose it seems unusual for an agricultural journalist to write a post about something other than than the usual plant, animal and soil articles so often written, but as a deeply devoted student of social history, I look at the political and social scenes today and often think back to a true story about Abraham Lincoln, during the time he worked as an attorney.
Lincoln had a wealthy client, who held the mortgage on a farm that was being purchased by a farmer and his wife. The husband died very unexpectedly and the new widow found herself in financial straits, with no way to repay the mortgage. The wealthy client came to Lincoln, requesting that he start foreclosure proceedings immediately. Lincoln knew the client was in a position to help the widow and implored upon him to try to help her instead of foreclose. The client refused to budge, stating that he was in his full legal rights. Linclon's reply to his client was, "You may have the legal right, but do you have the moral right?" Lincoln refused to initiate the foreclosure proceedings. He also lost his client. Lincoln chose to take the moral high-road, even when faced with losing a wealthy client and the income he could have generated by acquiescing to the man's demands. Taking the moral high-road was a rare thing for many to do, even in Lincoln's day, but I believe it is even more rare today. As I look at the current political scene in our nation, I pray that there are those leaders, both current and future, who will continue to act out of steadfast principle, instead of bending to the pressure, fanfare, and transient, fleeting enticements of the moment. One can only hope.

01/07/2019

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12/03/2018

Food Trivia: China is the largest producer of potatoes in the world - 22% of global production.

11/17/2018

McMurray Hatchery - Large selection of day old chicks, poultry and exotic fowl. Homestead supplies and poultry equipment available for sale.

10/22/2018

"Intelligence is not the ability to store information, but to know where to find it". - Albert Einstein

10/03/2018

40 years ago, during the 1978-79 school year at Pacific Union College, I did a year-long independent study on the domestic Anseriformes (domestic ducks, geese and swans) as part of my agriculture major. I am just now finishing an article on domestic swan rearing for one of the poultry publications I write for. I was able to draw a great deal of material from the volume I compiled that year. My parents would be proud...after only 40 years, the hard-earned money they paid for me to do that independent study has finally paid off!

09/19/2018

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I am currently writing an article on rare and exotic livestock, for one of the magazines I contract with. I was made aware of this problem that is shown here, by a camel breeder, here in the United States. We always hear about plastic pollution in the world's oceans, but few of us ever hear about it in the world's deserts.

Amsterdam, 9 January 2018 – Every week, Dr Ulrich Wernery performs a necropsy on camels. The Director of the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory in Dubai has been doing this for years. He finds plastic in almost every camel’s stomach. Not just a little plastic, but an unimaginable amount of p...

09/14/2018

09/13/2018

L. Frank Baum, famous American author who wrote the Wonderful World of Oz series, was originally the editor and publisher of a trade journal for poultrymen, in the 1880's. His first book was actually a lengthy compendium on breeding and raising Hamburg Chickens. In 1900, the first book of the fourteen-book Oz series was published: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In 1907, Baum's second book, Ozma of Oz, was published. In this work, Toto the Dog was replaced by Billina the Chicken!

09/13/2018

My grandmother, born in 1893, was one of eight siblings, raised on a diversified family farm, in the township of Tevis Kansas, just outside of Topeka.
As I grew up, she used to tell me many humorous stories of her childhood days, and the antics that only siblings raised in the vast stretches of Kansas farmland, could have concocted and taken part in.
Even though they lived on a farm quite a distance from town, they were fairly modern for the time. They had a telephone at home, when very few people had such a luxury. They were also a devoutly religious family, who believed in health reform. Being modern and up to date, they had that modern medical contrivance, so necessary for the health and well-being of the entire family: The E***a Can.
On the farm was an old tom turkey, who had become the children's pet. One day the turkey became ill. He progressively got worse, until it appeared that there was no hope for him. Not wanting to lose their pet, my grandmother and her older sister, Lois (whom my grandmother often described as the “family nurse”), decided that something had to be done. Lois came up with the idea that maybe the turkey just needed a good e***a. The two girls procured the can from the water closet. Lois mixed up a concoction that she figured should be about right. Then the two girls went to the barnyard to find their sick pet. One of the girls held the turkey, inserting the rubber hose into it's south end. The other one held the can-full of the solution. When the hose was firmly embedded, they let the solution flow. Once that was done, they figured there was not much more that they could do for the gravely ill bird. He showed no signs of immediate improvement. They returned to the house, without much visible hope for his recovery. The next morning they went out, searching for their sick pet. When they found him, he was strutting around, like he had never been sick a day in his life. According my grandmother, he lived quite a few more years after that.
Years later, not too long before she died, I was talking to her about that story. She laughed as we talked about it, and then paused and said, “You know, I don't suppose us kids ever washed that thing off. I think we just put it back on the shelf the way it was...”

09/13/2018

List of Recently Published Articles by Doug Ottinger

Backyard Poultry Magazine
Feb – Mar 2016: Chicken DNA – Why poultry played such an important role in early genetic discoveries
April – May 2016: Genetics, Genomes, Genomics and More – How Chicken Science led to Discoveries in Other Realms
June – July 2016: Feather and Skin Development
Aug – Sept 2016: S*x Links and the W Chromosome
Oct – Nov 2016: Genes and Poultry Diseases
April – May 2017: Breeding Chickens for Egg and Meat Production
Aug – Sept 2017: Breeding to Establish Traits You Want in a Backyard Flock
Oct – Nov 2017: Poultry Facts 201 – Fun facts about chickens and ducks
Feb – Mar 2018: Understanding S*x-link Chickens Today
June - July 2018: Poultry Blips from American History
Aug-Sept 2018: Increase Your Flock by Buying Spent Breeder Stock
Oct-Nov 2018: The Evolution of Turkey Farming

Countryside Magazine and Small Stock Journal
Nov-Dec 2016: Farming to the Nth degree – A degree in Purpose
March – April 2018: Understanding S*x-link Chickens Today
May – June 2018: Is Renting Poultry Processing Equipment a Viable Option?
July – Aug 2018: Poultry Blips from American History
Sept-Oct 2018: Why We Should Preserve Native Pollinator Habitat

Grit Magazine
May-June 2017: Backyard Chickens – Choosing Breeds for your Climate
Sept – Oct 2017: A Day at the Hatchery
Jan-Feb 2018: Poultry on Pasture
May – June 2018: Fruit Tree Care – Thinning, Propping and Pruning
May – June 2018: Conservationist Farmers