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K-State Sorghum Production Schools

Posted on by Harvey County K-State Research and Extension

A series of three K-State Sorghum Production Schools will be offered in early February 2018 to provide in-depth training targeted for sorghum producers and key stakeholders. The schools will be held at three locations around the state. The one-day schools will cover many issues facing sorghum growers: weed control strategies; production practices; nutrient fertility; and insect and disease management.

The dates and locations of the K-State Sorghum Production Schools are:

  • February 6 – Dodge City – Boot Hill Casino Conference Ctr., 4100 W Comanche St Andrea Burns, Ford County, aburns@ksu.edu, 620-227-4542
  • February 7 – Hutchinson – Hutchinson Community College, 1300 N Plum St Darren Busick, Reno County, darrenbusick@ksu.edu, 620-662-2371
  • February 8 – Washington – FNB Washington 101 C Street, Box 215 Tyler Husa, River Valley District, thusa@ksu.edu, 785-243-8185

Lunch will be provided courtesy of Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission. There is no cost to attend, but participants are asked to pre-register by January 31. You can also pre-register by emailing or calling the nearest local K-State Research and Extension office for the location you plan to attend.

Online registration is available at: http://bit.ly/KSSORGHUMSchools

Spring Bull Sales

Posted on by Harvey County K-State Research and Extension

It is that time of year again. It is time to replenish your breeding bulls. Selecting good bulls can really pay dividends with the prices of the cattle market today. Although it doesn’t mean the prices with stay this high by the time you sell next year’s calves the way the markets are trending I would say it’s a good chance they will stay high for a while. Depending on if you are looking for a calving ease, high performance or a female making bulls bidding a few extra dollars at the sale will still be profitable for you in the future.

When selecting your bulls be sure to use EPDs (Estimated Progeny Difference) as a selection tool. EPDs are the most reliable predictors on an animal’s true genetic merit. EPDs will predict the differences in progeny performance, and are calculated from comparisons within contemporary groups (A group of calves that were born in the same year, calving season, herd, and are of the same sex and were fed and managed alike).

But remember the young bulls are not proven yet so take that into consideration. The more you know about the bull’s dam and sires EPDs the better idea you will have on what kind of calves the bull that you are interested in will sire for you.

Training Required for Application of Dicamba Herbicides

Posted on by Harvey County K-State Research and Extension

As we embark on the 2018 growing season, producers should be aware that dicamba herbicides Engenia, FeXapan, and XtendiMax have been reclassified as Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs). In order to purchase and apply these herbicides, you must be certified as a private or 1A (Agriculture Plant) commercial pesticide applicator.  In addition, anyone planning to apply these herbicides this coming season will be required to attend dicamba or auxin specific applicator training.  In Kansas, these trainings will be sponsored by K-State Research and Extension, as well as industry representatives from BASF, Dow/Dupont, and Monsanto. It will be the responsibility of the applicators to obtain this training before the application of these herbicides.

The purpose of these trainings is to cover the label changes and application requirements in detail and provide information on what you, as an applicator, need to do to meet these requirements. The labels for these herbicides include mandatory record keeping requirements, modified wind speed restrictions (3 to 1 miles per hour only), limited times of day that applications can be made (between sunrise and sunset), a revised list of sensitive crops and sensitive sites, buffer zone requirements, and revised sprayer cleaning procedures and documentation.

The dates and locations for K-State Research and Extension sponsored trainings will be posted on the KSU-IPM website at the following address:

https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/pesticides-ipm/private-applicator.html

https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/pesticides-ipm/images/dicamba%20training%20master%20list.pdf

What Beef Producers Should Be Thinking About This Month

Posted on by Harvey County K-State Research and Extension

Historically, cull cow prices are beginning to rise. Finish culling cows in order of priority:

  1. Those that fall within the “Four-O Rule” (Open, Old, Onry, Oddball).
  2. Those with physical/structure problems (feet and legs, eyes, teeth, etc.).
  3. Poor producers.
  • Continue feeding or grazing programs started in early winter. Fully utilize grain sorghum and cornstalk fields, severe winter weather may begin to limit crop residue utilization, be prepared to move to other grazing and feeding systems.
  •  Supplement to achieve ideal body condition scores (BCS) at calving.
  •  Control lice, external parasites will increase feed costs.
  •  Provide an adequate water supply. Depending on body size and stage of production, cattle need 5-11 gallons of water per head per day, even in the coldest weather.
  • Sort cows into management groups. Body condition score and age can be used as sorting criteria. If you must mix age groups, put thin and young cows together, and feed separately from the mature, properly conditions cows.
  •  Use information from forage testing to divide forage supplies into quality lots. Higher-quality feedstuffs should be utilized for replacement females, younger cows, and thin cows that may lack condition and that may be more nutritionally stressed.
  • Consult your veterinarian regarding pre- and postpartum vaccination schedules.
  •  Continue mineral supplementation. Vitamin A should be supplemented if cows are not grazing green forage.
  •  Plan to attend local, state and regional educational and industry meetings.
  •  Develop replacement heifers properly. Weigh them now to calculate necessary average daily gain (ADG) to achieve target breeding weights. Target the heifers to weigh about 60 to 65% of their mature weight by the start of the breeding season. Thin, light weight heifers may need extra feed for 60 to 80 days to “flush” before breeding.
  •  Bull calves to be fed out and sold in the spring as yearlings should be well onto feed. Ultrasound measurements should be taken around one year of age and provided to the association.
  •  Provide some protection, such as a windbreak, during severe winter weather to reduce energy requirements. The lower critical temperature (LCT) is the temperature at which a cow requires additional energy to simply maintain her current body weight and condition. The LCT for cattle varies with hair coat and body condition (Dry, heavy winter coat = 18 degrees, wet coat = 59 degrees). Increase the amount of dietary energy provided 1% for each degree (including wind chill) below the LCT.

 

Benefits of Timber Stand Improvements on Kansas Farmsteads

Posted on by Harvey County K-State Research and Extension

Many producers and landowners in Kansas have wooded areas on their property that can provide beneficial habitat for wildlife. These forests offer protection from wind and snow, refuge from predators, and a variety of foods not found in other landscapes. While these areas might be taken for granted, they can often be enhanced with little or no loss to timber production.

Properly managed forests provide habitat for wildlife such as squirrels, deer, turkey, and songbirds. Other wildlife species such as rabbits, quail and raptors use the forest edge (the border where two different cover types come together) and benefit from the management of these areas. For the landowner, wooded areas offer aesthetic beauty, improve water and air quality, provide valuable wildlife habitat, and offer income opportunities.

Timber stand improvement (TSI) is one option for enhancing the wildlife value of a wooded area. TSI removes inferior trees to improve the growth rate and/or quality of the best, high-valued (crop) trees. Use this practice to thin a forest by removing trees that are restricting the growth of the more valuable trees. Continue reading “Benefits of Timber Stand Improvements on Kansas Farmsteads” →

Winter Cattle Water

Posted on by Harvey County K-State Research and Extension

With winter weather approaching you should not forget to make sure all of your cattle have access to fresh drinking water. Even though with these cold temperatures it might not seem like they need to drink as much water as normal, it is vitally important that they can get to water.

The water needs of cattle are influenced by a number of factors such as: rate and composition of gain, pregnancy, lactation, physical activity, type of ration, diet salt content, dry matter intake and environmental temperature. This time of year cattle are trying to stay warm so they won’t be doing a lot of physical activity.

A study done by Kansas State University showed that in January, on the average, water intake with calves weighing 600 lbs. was 5.0 gallons per day and 1000 lbs. it was 8.5 gallons per day. If you fall calved and have cows milking right now they will need to have access to around 11 gallons of water per day.

A good way to keep the water thawed is by putting a water tank heater in the water tank. If you do that you need to check it often to make sure it is not shorting out in the water. A good thing to look to tell if a short does happen is the cows will congregate around the water tank but will not be drinking. Keeping a close watch on your cattle should tip you off fairly quickly to a problem.

Deep Tillage

Posted on by Harvey County K-State Research and Extension

Now that row crop harvest is over in Kansas, producers might be considering deep tillage for the purpose of alleviating compaction. Here are a few things to consider:

How deep should the tillage operation occur?

That is best answered by taking a spade or soil probe out in your field and digging a few holes. Ideally, you should dig down to about 18 inches. You are looking for dense layers that are restricting plant roots. If you see “platy” soil structure, which looks like many horizontal layers of soil about ¼ to ½ thick in diameter, look to see if the roots have penetrated through this zone in the soil. If the roots have predominantly penetrated this zone, the layer probably isn’t really root-limiting. If you see a lot of roots that are growing horizontally, or if they appear stubby and gnarled, lacking many root hairs, that can also be a sign that the roots are having trouble making it through this layer.

If you see a dense zone that ends, at say, 8 inches, you’d only want to go about 9 inches deep with the tillage operation. As you double the depth of the tillage operation, you quadruple the power requirement, so going too deep is a waste of time and energy. Also, there is no point in going deeper and potentially damaging the soil profile even further (risks are explained below). Continue reading “Deep Tillage” →