Airing November 15 - 21, 2005

Soybean Rust post season analysis

This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. I guess it's pretty safe to say that we aren't going to get any soybean rust in Kansas this year. And after all the dire predictions from a year ago, I for one am not disappointed. So now that the season is past let's analyze why we didn't see a problem in Kansas, in fact there was very little to worry about across the whole country. First of all, the level of the innoculum, or a seed source for the disease, was was quite low. A hard freeze pushed the surviving spores into the southernmost part of Florida. There wasn't a lot of the disease around to spread. There was evidence that spores did get spread up into the southern corn belt on one or two occasions, but it appears that the weather conditions were not the best for the disease to establish and spread. High temperatures and especially low humidity, read lack of rain, through much of that region were certainly hinderances to this nuisance getting a foot hold. So what about next year? Well, nobody honestly knows. We can surmise that as long as soybean rust stays out of southern Texas it bodes well for us because that's where a lot of our prevailing wind patterns come from at the critical time of the year. To my knowledge there has yet to be soybean rust found in Texas. That's a plus. A lot of it depends on how far south we have a hard freeze again this year. It doesn't have to be a cold winter, just one really good cold spell to freeze back the kudzu and other alternate hosts. Two wild cards - new unknown alternate hosts - what else can this disease live on, and the intriguing question of whether RR ready beans have an edge with rust. A couple topics for this winter! This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Winter Season Awareness

This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. Recent weather forecasts have put the buzz in everyone that winter is on it's way. Or at least winter like weather. And gee, what a coincidence, just about this time every year the National Weather Service has a Winter Weather Awareness Day! So before we get too deep into this winter season, let's review a very few basic awareness tips. First of all - make sure that you are receiving a LOCAL weather forecast twice a day. In these days of satellite radio and satellite TV and a dozen internet weather sites, it's easy to NOT know what is happening locally. One of the most intriguing things about Kansas weather is how fast it changes. And if all you are listening to is a national broadbrush forecast, you are asking for a big surprise. So listen to a broadcast from a radio or TV station with 60 miles of your home. Learn the weather terms like watches and warnings. Watches mean that the stated conditions, winter storm, blizzard, ice storm, could occur but it's too early too tell for sure if and where. Watches tend to cover a large area. Warnings are closer to the actual time the weather is to hit, are usually a smaller area and mean that conditions ARE going to occur somewhere in the warning area. Learn to always keep your gas tank at least half full during the winter weather season. Keep survival clothes and an emergency survival kit packed and in the vehicle just in case. Learn that when we are having winter precipitation you have to slow down and drive very differently than whatever your normal driving habits are. We will have some winter weather this season - it's up to you to make sure that you aren't at risk. This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Winter Tips for Cattle Producers

This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. With us finally getting some weather that feels more like November and December than September, it's time to adjust our cow herd management thinking to winter mentality. Sometimes the hardest thing to remember is that cows aren't people and they react to weather differently than we do. Cattle have what's known as a thermo neutral zone. That is the zone that if the temperature is within that zone, cattle don't expend energy to stay warm or cool. For cattle, that thermo neutral zone is 23 to 77 degrees F. As long as we have temperatures that don't venture too far outside that for very long, we can continue with normal nutrition for the stage of pregnancy that those cows are currently at. And for spring calving cows, we are actually at an annual low right now, until about 60 to 90 days ahead of calving. Feed 'em cheap at this time of year and save the expensive feed for those last 60 days precalving. Now, when the weather or the cow's body condition gets to the point that you do need to start feeding them, remember a few basic principles. Good quality water that is warmed, and avoid mud and manure. Since many of you are going to be feeding big round bales, it's best to keep them on the move. In other words, don't feed them in the same spot all winter long. If the conditions are dry the mud won't be a problem, but the build up of manure becomes a water quality concern. If it is wet and muddy, it will just take extra energy to get to the bale feeder as the mud gets deeper and deeper. So move those feeders before adding new bales. OR if it works, roll out those bales in different locations every time. This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

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