Air November 10, 2004

Thank you Jerry, and good morning everyone.

Cow calf producers take note. We have a wonderful meeting schedule for December 2nd at JC Livestock Sales. We're planning a BBQ beef meal at 6:30 and then we'll have presentations on balancing stocking rates and pasture production, preconditioning calves - does it pay, and minimizing winter feed costs, as well as a couple of other topics. If you pre-register by November 23rd the cost is $10 or $15 after that or at the door. Call the Extension office for details!

Now that things are winding down, well, except for that straggling milo harvest thing, I want you all to start thinking about getting out there and pulling soil samples, including deep samples for nitrate, sulfur and chloride. Yes, things are not as simple as they used to be! When I first started this job in the early 1980s A real common wheat fertilizer rate was 100 pounds of 18-46-0 at planting time and then another 40 to 60 pounds of nitrogen as top dress with herbicide in the late winter. And at that time we were running an average county wheat yield of 35 bushels per acre and anything over 45 bushels per acre was considered good wheat. Wellllll, things have changed! Over the last 5 years, not including this year, the county average yield is 50 bushels per acre, 71 in 2003, and good yields start at 75 bushels per acre. Bottom line is that 100 pounds of starter fertilizer and 40 to 60 pounds of N topdress aren't going to cut it any more. Now think back to 2004 yields. Good wheat, not great, but good, and then some absolutely incredible corn, soybean and grain sorghum yields. Trust me, those crops didn't leave much in the ground. With the yield potential that we are finally seeing, thanks to a cooperative Mother Nature, it becomes more and more critical to soil test every year and apply fertilizer rates that will allow us to get to that genetic yield potential. There was fields this year suffering from nitrogen deficiency. I just pulled out some average soil tests from this fall and did some fertilizer recommendations from those tests. Shooting for the five year average of 50 bu/ac, required 80 pounds of nitrogen and a 70 bushel yield goals required 120 pounds of nitrogen. I don't think you even want to know about 80 and 90 bushel yield goals. Do those sound like high rates? Well, if you want to reach the genetic potential, you've got to feed the factory. It's a nice fall, so lets start pulling some soil samples!

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

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