AIR DECEMBER 2, 1998

Thank you Mark and good morning everyone. We are into that end of year rush and I intend to spend the whole month of December talking about end of year things that I feel every producer should do. You may have heard about a Risk Management Club that is forming. Geary County is cooperating with Clay and Riley County on this and if you are interested in finding out more information about this group the organizational meeting will be Thursday, December 10th at the Clay County Extension Office. You need to let us know by Monday the 7th if you’re going. Give me a call if you are interested.

December is a time when we should be "wrapping up" the cropping year. With the fall that we’ve had some of you are still trying to wrap up harvest, but fortunately that is just about done now also. I’ve started to see some tillage going on and I really have to question why that tillage is going on. Is it going to gain you anything? Is the ground truly dry enough to work and not create more problems. Are you working the ground just because you’ve always done fall tillage? If so, and you have no defensible reason to be tilling, I refer to this as recreational tillage. You feel good because you were doing something, but what did it gain you. No-till is great and we can use more of it, but we do need to rip through these soils every once in a while and break up those tillage pans and clay layers, but like I said - if you’ve got iron in the ground at this time of year, you’d better have a good reason.

Now, instead of some of that recreational tillage, why not take this good weather to get the farm yard, shop and storage buildings cleaned up. Get equipment ready to go for next year and get it stored away. Get things picked up now - put away things of value, throw away things without value, if you have trouble telling the difference just ask your spouse - spouses are always a good reality check. Once you get things put away take time to do a quick check to make sure winter emergency gear is easy to get to and ready to go. If you have everything in its place now, life will be a little easier when it’s January, 10 degrees, snowing and blowing and you need to try to get something done.

This is Chuck Otte, County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook '98

Return to Radio Home Page

Return to Ag Home Page