Air February 25, 2004

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. It never ceases to amaze me at how fast snow will melt when you get temperatures up into the 50's and 60's and a good south wind. And most of that snow melt went in, not off! Just a quick reminder of the upcoming KSU Cattleman's Day. That'll be a week from Friday, March 5th at Weber Hall on the K-State campus. There'll be a lot of discussion about BSE and maybe even more about individual animal identification or the eID or electronic ID you've been hearing about. In the long run, BSE may not have hurt our markets as much as we thought, but it certainly has started or hastened a few changes along in the beef production and marketing system. As they say, stay tuned for further details.

With us not even being out of February yet and the snow pretty well all gone, it leaves us with the chance to maybe get some oats planted. Okay, so not very many people plant oats, but many folks could be missing out on another opportunity to add some extra income or use some land that you might be holding fallow until wheat planting time. You can also use oats as a great hay or silage crop. As always, whenever you are considering a cropping option that is different than what you've done in the past be sure to visit with the folks at the FSA office to make sure you aren't getting yourself in trouble. A couple of the problems with oats is that we haven't kept up on varieties or fertility rates. K-State does still tests oats varieties and if you still think of things like Larry, Don and Bates, well you'd be better catch up with the times. You need to think about varieties like Jim and Indiana 9201 and Dane and Blaze. Of course getting some of these newer varieties may be a challenge. But if you really want some of the new varieties I will help you find them. Planting time for oats is late February thru mid March. This could be a good year for oats if you can get into the field and get them planted in the next 15 days or so. If we get to St Patrick's Day and you still don't have them in the ground, you may want to consider not planting, or using the field for grazing. And finally, fertility rates. Just as we need to fertilize these new wheat varieties heavier, we need to be hitting the nitrogen a little harder on the oats as well. If you are thinking yields in the 80 to 100 bushel range, then you'd better be thinking nitrogen rates of 70 - 90. Oats can still fit in our crop rotations today, so give them a consideration!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2004.

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