As the management of the Chicago Bears is getting ready to present plans for the former Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights, a group of harness horse racing devotees is working to make sure the Illinois horse racing and horse breeding industry stays alive.

You know it’s dry when a deep taprooted plant like grazing chicory has drooping leaves and I have quite a few of those in my pasture. Since I last wrote, I’ve had only 2.2 inches of rain. Looking backward, I should have planted my winter cover crop Aug. 3 instead of Aug. 23.

Happy September! Always seems like the summer goes by so fast. It is nice to have a little cooler evenings. Great weather to sit out on the porch and enjoy. My Shetland lambs are growing nicely. Their color patterns are really starting to be vibrant.

Hello from Graze-N-Grow. As I write this, we’ve had about 3 inches of rain and the high temp today and tomorrow is 60 degrees. It’s a kind of a preview for upcoming attractions. With 80-degree temps yet ahead, there’s still some summer left, but harvest is soon here.

Michigan animal health officials announced the first case of eastern equine encephalitis in a 3-year-old horse just across the Michigan-Indiana border. According to Indiana’s Board of Animal Health, horse owners in Indiana should be aware of the disease.

Pasture conditions are a wreck. Lack of any rainfall has finished off the grass for this season. Cows are existing on old growth and it’s disappearing at a breakneck pace. We are chopping corn as fast as machinery will allow.

My how things can change in just one month. I am talking about the weather and subsequent conditions. Every other month has been different all summer. May was wet, then June got fairly dry, then July was extremely wet. Got into August and it has turned really dry.

We are now experiencing a serious drought to a level not reached since 2012. All the summer months, so far, have provided us with nothing more than a few tenths of moisture at a time and nothing at all lately.

The advice that Dyneah Classen’s mom gave her, when Classen was still in high school and trying to figure out if she wanted a career as a math teacher or as a veterinarian, paid dividends.