Air April 30, 2003

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. Need to talk about alfalfa weevils and bluestem pasture reports this morning. The rain the last two weeks has been a welcome change and tends to make other concerns not quite as pressing.

Weevils - most fields are still far enough away from cutting that we need to continue to watch closely. If fields were treated in the past 7 to 10 days then you’ll probably make it through to first cutting just fine. If you sprayed more than two weeks ago or you haven’t sprayed at all, we need to monitor those fields VERY closely. My biggest concern is in new fields that were planted last fall. We really shouldn’t be cutting these fields early, in case of a weevil infestation. We need to wait on that first cutting until we are in excess of 25% bloom to make sure the plant has had time to develop a good crown and root system. If you are getting a build up, go ahead and spray. It’s more necessary on that new field to get the growth we need than to cut early and save the quality. Many fields that were sprayed appear stunted because new growth is replacing the eaten stem tips. Remember that the best indicator of cutting is often the new growth coming up at the base of the plant not the amount of bloom.

The bluestem pasture report has been released and to no ones surprise there weren’t a lot of changes. The average rate for a cow with a spring calf is $108.60 with a range of 45 to 130 dollars per pair. Stockers under 500 pounds were $62.30 for the full season, and 500 to 700 pound stockers were 67.20 a head. I’m not even going to talk about dolar per acre rates because I feel that they are worthless and we need to be renting pasture on a per head basis. If you pick up a copy of the report, or see it in Grass and Grain, please ignore the guaranteed acres per head. These are so low it is ridiculous. Even with the recent rains we need to have greatly reduced stocking rates because the grass plant just isn’t up to speed yet. I’m still convinced that normal stocking rates need to be 8.5 acres per cow calf pair and this year they should be somewhere over 10 acres per pair. You know where to find me if you want to disagree!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2003.

Return to Radio Home Page

Return to Ag Home Page