White feathers are visible on the outer edge of their short tails when they fly, which helps make identifying them easy as they descend into grasslands. One of the pleasures of Spring is to sit quietly in a rolling grassy valley and listen to the competing songs of male meadowlarks ringing out like notes from a panpipe. Their markings are simple and easy to recognize: both males and females have brown and gray mottled backs, but their chests and bellies are bright lemon yellow with a large...

Once praised as a fine forage crop, the grass is now considered an invasive pest in at least three states and its range is growing. Studying this grass as a model, Jane Molofsky, associate professor of plant biology at the University of Vermont and her post-doctoral associate, Sebastien Lavergne, have discovered a novel mechanism to explain the surprising conversion of some plant species from quiet neighbor at home into expansive bully in new territory. Similarly, the reed canarygrass is...

The ATVs buzz the desolate landscape like motorized mosquitoes, coaxing the farthest flung of the 2,600 head of cattle toward home. Yet in a lean economy, when ranches make do with fewer employees and resources, the ATV brings a convenience even the most reliable horse cannot match. Lacey, a rail-thin third-generation rancher, leads the way atop Notch, the sure-footed 10-year-old mare he prefers for such chaotic chores. Over his 68 years, he has relied on a succession of horses chosen for...

Eventually the girls were used as slaves to forage for food, lug water and firewood, and carry out whatever chores the Indian women chose for them to do. Already short of cash, supplies and livestock, without real guides, they blundered along until they began disagreements among themselves. The family decided to eat a hasty meal, then continue on by moonlight to ease the suffering of the animals who were desperately weak from low provisions and the grueling heat of the daytime sun. After a...

The association has members belonging to more than a dozen dairies in Kerala, with a market share of 50 per cent, according to them. A cow that yields 10 litres of milk would require 5 kg of cattle feed daily. The association office-bearers also alleged that the societies supplying milk to Milma were entangled in political squabbles and hence were unable to focus on the welfare of dairy farmers. It has also demanded that the Government declare a support price for milk. Republication or...