Ag Radio programs for August 30 - September 5, 2007

Hay shortage, hay value

This is Ag Outlook 2007 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. Well, as if you couldn't figure it out, there is still a bit of a hay shortage all across the country. So when we add that part of the equation in with the somewhat modest to below average production for alfalfa and brome this year it seems that forages are going to be at an increasing premium as the season progresses. This creates challenges and it creates opportunities. Thinking of what's the most time sensitive right now, take a look at your alfalfa stands. If they are more than 3 years old and just aren't what you'd like, then there is still time to get some new alfalfa planted. If the stand is okay but it sure seemed to be weedy this year, then let's look at the possibility of getting some herbicide applied during the dormant season. There is still time to evaluate this and set the timing as to whether you want to control winter annual weeds or summer annuals. And regardless, we need to be making sure that we are applying annual applications of phosphorus and possibly a little potassium to those alfalfa stands. Speaking of fertilizing, we need to be getting our brome fertilizer scheduled. It probably needs to be going on a little earlier than many of you have been doing it in past years. Think November or December and let's be sure that we are getting some phosphorus in with that nitrogen. Finally, look for opportunities to use crop stalks and other alternative forages this fall to reduce your harvested forage need, which might also allow you to sell some of that excess forage at prices way higher than what it might be worth to you! This has been Ag Outlook 2007 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Volunteer Wheat - Alternative Forages

This is Ag Outlook 2007 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. If you haven't seen volunteer wheat yet, you should by the time you hear this. Recent rains and showers will be bringing it on full steam. We're still a month or a little more before wheat seeding should begin, so let's start making plans for controlling that volunteer. The good news is that we may also now start getting some of the cheat and other annual bromes sprouted and growing. If you were thinking about leaving that volunteer wheat for the cattle to graze this fall, let me offer some options. You could tear up or spray the volunteer and then go right back in, after two weeks, with wheat - and you'd probably have a better stand. But given the fact that good wheat seed may be hard to find, let me offer some options. For cereal grains, which is what most people are going to be thinking about but lets not rule out things like turnips and brassicas, we basically have several options including the aforementioned wheat, winter barley, rye and triticale. Before you scoff at rye, let me remind you that rye will be tops in winter hardiness, spring pasture production, hay quantity and silage quantity. And we also now have glyphosate and roundup ready crops so we have more tools to deal with it. However, if you are more concerned about fall pasture production, winter barley is the way to go. And the beauty of winter barley is you don't have the problems with hessian fly and wheat curl mite so you can plant the winter barley at any time. And barley also has the least winter hardiness so there'll be less of that to worry about next spring when you prepare for planting your normal spring crops. Don't forget to plant adequate seed and fertilize! This has been Ag Outlook 2007 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Odds and Ends

This is Ag Outlook 2007 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. We have some odds and ends to cover this morning. First of all there's a corn and soybean plot tour in Marshall county the morning of September 12th. I'm going to this one and would be glad to give you a ride. I'm leaving the Extension Office at 7 a.m., call if you want to go along. Granted, plot tours are everywhere, but why I'm going to this one is because there will be some representatives from Qualisoy present to discuss opportunities with low-linolenic, or low-lin as they are sometimes called, soybeans and other enhanced quality soybean traits. This should be really interested and it would be great to have some company on the drive up. Still seeing quite a few insects out in the sorghum and soybean fields. If you think you are seeing excessive feeding, especially sorghum headworm in milo heads OR pod clipping in soybean fields, give me a call so we can do some scouting and establish some treatment threshholds. Finally, Soybean Rust has been detected in Ottawa County Oklahoma - which is the most northeastern most county in Oklahoma, immediately south of Cherokee County Kansas. For most full season beans, this is now a non-issue. If you have some late planted beans or double-crop beans, you could see soybean rust develop in them. The problem is, given the lower yield potential of late planted soybeans, would treating be justified? Probably not to be right honest. But, and we're into the land of a whole lot of what ifs now, if soybean rust does show up in Geary County, I do have simple little spreadsheet that I can share that will help us analyze whether it will be cost effective to spray fungicide. So stay tuned! This has been Ag Outlook 2007 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

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