Airing November 29 - December 5, 2005

Holiday Gift Ideas for the ag producer

This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. Perhaps the only thing tougher than buying a Christmas present for your spouse, is buying one for your agricultural producer spouse. You can only buy them so many pairs of gloves. Coats and coveralls are sort of a personal kind of thing that you really have to try on and once you get one you're comfortable with, they just about have to fall into a heap before they'll quit wearing it. If by chance your spouse is one of the few that does not have a cell phone yet - get them one! The nearly instant communication capability is a great peace of mind in case of severe or adverse weather or accidents. The next one is a GPS, global position system, unit. Okay, why do they need one of those and aren't they really expensive? We're not talking about a precision unit for surveying purposes, we're talking about the simple handheld units that cost a couple hundred dollars or less. With it you can obtain coordinates of gates for pastures or fields. Handy if you're trying to get a trucker, or even a county extension agent, to the right location. Or to mark that spot in the field or pasture that you want to find again for whatever reason, be it a developing gully, that weird weed you need identified or just about anything you can imagine. And if you happen to be going on a trip, most of the newer models have built in maps or maps you can download to the unit to help you find your way. Finally, how about a Palm Pilot or personal digital assistant - call it what you want. You may never get that little notepad replaced, but those little rascals do come in handy and they can hold way more information than that notebook every will. Just a few things to consider! This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Winter Weather Preparations

This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. Well, now that we've had a little winter weather as well as spring and summer severe weather all wrapped up in a 24 hour time frame, let's spend a little bit more time talking about winter weather awareness and preparedness. If one thing that the stormy weather a few days back pointed out was how nice it is to have a weather radio. In fact, add a weather radio to the list of good Christmas gifts. With additions of transmitter sights the past couple of years, there are very few places in the county where you can not receive a good signal from the NOAA weather radio transmitters. The new generation of weather radios allow you to program in one or two or a few counties so you only get those alerts that pertain to your area. The radio sits there you don't hear a peep out of it unless specific severe weather alerts are issued. OR you can punch a button and get the current weather forecast for your region 24/7. And battery backups keep them working even if the power goes off. Now, winter weather preparedness. Anytime the temperature is close to or below freezing and there has been precipitation of anykind, you must change your driving habits. Once you venture on to roads that are traction impaired you can not start, stop or steer the same way that you can on dry roads. And traction impaired includes any kind of precipitation, even rain at 40 degrees. Sure, your front wheel drive or 4-wheel drive may still get you going and even going at normal speeds. But the minute those tires start to lose traction, you've got a 4 wheeled toboggan and you have very little control of it. And you can lose traction quicker than you can react, so the best defense is to slow down! This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. With the recent more normal weather conditions for late autumn, many livestock producers are thinking about extra feed. IS it time to roll out that big round bale or not. Are the cows doing okay or do they need some feed. Well, we've had a couple of days now that would certainly justify rolling out some hay for them. But you first need to ask yourself the question, what do they need and what do I have? If you've got cows that are going to calve in March and you have them on good crop residue or native grass, then they probably aren't going to need too much for another 30 days. But if you have backgrounders or especially young heifers you're trying to get some size on, then certainly start getting the good stuff out to them. I would use the good hay for these and supplement them with some wheat mids or no more than a couple pounds of grain per day. Cubes will certainly work well, but make sure you aren't over feeding any protein or energy supplement. You can get to a point where that poor critters rumen doesn't know if it should have bugs for hay or bugs for grain and then you've got a mess. Now, one other thing to be thinking about with those forage sources, especially on sorghums or sudans, is nitrate. While most of the nitrate tests have been coming back low to very low, we are getting a hot one every once in a while. Most of these appear to have been second cuttings or cuttings from stressed areas, but for no more than it costs, a nitrate test would be good. Come in and borrow or bale probe, sample 1/3 to ½ of the bales from the same cutting and field, bring the samples in and we can get you an answer in a couple of days, it's cheap insurance against dead cows or a vet visit! This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

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