Air December 13, 2000

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. I really like weather like this. In fact, I’ve enjoyed the weather all year long. This is one of those years that I like to call the humiliator. It makes us all realize how little power we really have. It makes us remember that we live in Kansas, that we can have weather extremes and all we can do is adapt and go on. Unfortunately some people don’t seem to want to adjust and then we have problems. We had 27 days this year of temperatures of 100 or higher. That's a little more than normal. We had a high temperature of 109. And now we’ve taken a quick dip down below zero and we may again before the year is over. Weather like we’ve just seen is one of the reasons that I’m a firm believer in planning ahead. Whether it is getting the farmstead straightened up and in order so you can get to those extra feed rations or whether it’s having extra clothes and gear in your car in case you go in the ditch when the road get slick, preparedness is the best insurance against tragedy. We’re less than two weeks away from major holiday travel. Helloooo???? This was your wake up call. Be prepared, it can happen again any time.

Now, the weather is supposed to start moderating today or tomorrow. That’s a relative term, don’t get too excited. Probably the first thing on most crop producers mind is the wheat crop. Was it damaged? I doubt it. What I was looking at last week was well rooted in some moisture. We had a little bit of snow gathered up around those crowns so that helped too. We’d had cold weather leading up to this, so winter hardiness had been building. We may see a few terrace tops or areas where stands were real thin that may have a few problems, but I’d expect more problems later on than I would now. You do need to be following those cow herds closely right now. Anything that is set to calve in January or February is really into that critical time period. Weather like we’ve just seen is going to take body condition away from those cows and you simply can’t feed ‘em enough to stop it. That’s okay - give ‘em a little grain, give ‘em the best alfalfa you’ve got and cross your fingers. For cows not calving until March, you don’t have to be quite so critical yet. Oh, and just be prepared - if the weather continues with below normal temperatures, be prepared for more calving problems. Folks in Canada and Montana know that most calving problems occur coming out of harder winters.

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2000.

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