A variety of tools are used for measuring pasture height or capacitance. Cross calibrations between these tools would be helpful for extension staff and producers comparing measurements taken with one tool to those taken with an alternative tool. Rotationally and continuously stocked pastures in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York were sampled for forage height using a ruler, for compressed height using a falling plate meter and a rising plate meter, and for sward capacitance with a capacitance meter. Thirty to sixty measurements were made across each pasture with each device, with paddock means taken as the measurement for the device. Regressions were run using paired paddock means, testing each device as both the dependent and independent variable, with r2 ranging from 0.49 to 0.99. Residual analysis was conducted to evaluate biases due to location and stocking management using the falling plate meter means as the independent variable versus means of the other techniques. No bias in pasture measurements was found due to grazing management. There was a bias due to operator for ruler height and capacitance meter reading. These cross calibrations provide a mechanism for pasture managers to translate pasture heights or capacitance taken with one tool to those taken with another tool.

This paper reports the results of a broad survey of 149 producers who identify their product as "pasture-finished" beef. Returns are from 46 different US states and Canada. Survey responses provide information on farm background characteristics, production systems, and marketing. Results show consensus on many points, and diversity on many others. The structure of the pasture-finished beef enterprise is built on direct marketing, niche marketing, source identification, value added, and rising consumer consciousness of health, environmental, and social benefits.There is a need for more attention to the role of animal husbandry in sustainable agriculture. Recent years have seen renewed interest in grazing systems, and a growth in market demand for pasture-finished beef. This is can be seen in popular press and consumer trends.

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Successful retirement in old age depends on the existence of a set of social arrangements in which a person has accumulated a considerable longtime social standing that justifies his claims for support from the community. In a small, rural Appalachian settlement, the pattern of retirement to the porch illustrates how claims by old men for social attention and care are anchored in the interests of others and are vested with significance for the entire community. While the use of the porch to facilitate the assertion of such claims on others may be more evident in small settlements, it is suggested that comparable strategies to afford successful retirement can occur in urbanized areas. These may be more difficult to develop and maintain, since collective sanctions to enforce the performances of relevant juniors are weakened or are transferred to formal facilities that render common services, not personal recognition, to old people.