1964: 50 years ago

40 Poland China spring boars, 80 open gilts, with performance, type, size, health – Kessler Farms, New Ross-Ladoga, Ind.

Walter DeWitt and family of New Palestine have a Brown Swiss breeder on its way to South America. They sold the animal recently to Dr. Orlando Davila of Venezuela.

1974: 40 years ago

Two steer calves weighing 795 pounds brought $35.25 per hundred weight for the top steer price of the sale at the recent cattle sale at new facilities in Osgood, Ind. One hundred and forty-two steers averaged $32 per hundred and weighed 553 pounds.

Some experts figure it takes on the average of $250,000 to go into the farming business today. Farmers now make up fewer than 5 percent of our total population.

A record-breaking 207,882 registrations were recorded by the American Polled Hereford Assoc. in the fiscal year ending Aug. 31.

1989: 25 years ago

Real estate for sale: Arkansas, 900-acre cattle farm, 600 acres pasture, 300 acres timber, 12 ponds, fenced, cross-fenced, $239 per acre cash sale – Batterton Realty, Franklin, Ark.

Ag Max facility in Circleville, Ind., has vinyl-coated polyester fiber domes that are used to store grain at its facility. Each dome has the capacity to store 1 million bushels each and is kept inflated by a pressure system similar to the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

Registration of Angus cattle during the year totaled 156,697 head, up 9 percent from last year, and the third consecutive yearly increase.

2004: 10 years ago

Hilltop Machine Shop, Shipshewana, Ind. – Cattle Master B squeeze chute, $1,325; Fiberglass feeder, 14-foot feeding space, 2-ton capacity, $835; Cattleman’s choice feeder wagon, 7-by-16 feet, $2,135; Mighty Bale-Hauler, low-profile wagon, sharp-turning 20,000 capacity or 14 bales, $2,605.

The USDA recently awarded the Kentucky Department of Agriculture a $269,093 grant for animal identification projects. Kentucky has been on the forefront of such projects, as an animal health initiative, in hopes of providing a way of verifying origins of all livestock throughout the state.

The Kentucky State Fair Reserve Grand Champion Steer was exhibited by Taylor Stevenson-Tolle at the Sale of Champions and was sold for $20,000 to Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance and the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Assoc. The steer was a 1,294-pound Simmental cross.