Air November 14 - 21, 2006

More thoughts on targeted hay marketing

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. I want to follow up on a previous program about targeted hay marketing. Probably one of the most likely markets locally is going to be to horse owners. So for many of you, you need to start not thinking like a cow and start thinking like a horse, or at least a horse owner. Surveys of horse owners in various states have turned up some interesting, but not surprising facts. Horse owners are going to be as concerned or even more concerned about quality than even dairy producers. Horse owners want consistent quality in the hay that they buy. Granted, that can be a real challenge here in Kansas with our spring weather, but it will pay you dividends to pay attention to the weather and your hay crop and make sure that putting up quality hay is your biggest priority. If you are looking to put up good horse hay, then go for a nice green color. Make sure that they hay is free of mold and dust. Horses are far more particular on this than cows will be. One of the best ways to know if your hay is free of mold and dust is to break open a bale and stick your nose in it - you'll know in a hurry! We've said for years that leaf retention is important for alfalfa and horse owners know it too. Leaf loss comes from late cutting and too much time and/or too much weather while in the windrow. Finally, purity is critical. If you are producing alfalfa hay, then make sure it doesn't have grass in it. If you are producing grass hay, make sure it doesn't have a lot of broadleaf weeds in it. Take your time in evaluating what you can and can't produce and then market what you have to the buyer that wants it! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Winter Annual Weed Control

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. As we have had more people moving into no-till crop production, we have been seeing significant changes in the kinds of weeds that we have to deal with in our fields. While glyphosate and roundup ready crops have certainly been a big boon, they have also really started to show us what weeds are not as sensitive to glyphosate and we are seeing a very noticeable shift in weed populations. One of the things that we really need to be working on is to NOT develop glyphosate resistant weed populations. We are already seeing it happen around the country and even hear in Kansas. Roundup ready alfalfa is going to really start putting some pressure on weed populations so we need to start going back to some of the basics of using pre-emerge and post-emerge and not just be dependent on one herbicide for everything. By using pre-emerge products, even low rates, we can delay how soon we need to apply that first glyphosate application and usually reduce how much glyphosate we need to use. One winter annual weed that has caused us increasing problems is field pansy. While a small rather insignificant weed, it can develop thick stands and is hard to control with normal spring burn down applications. However, we are finding that fall applications, ahead of corn or sorghum, that include atrazine are yielding nearly 100% control. If you are going into soybeans, fall applications of first rate, first rate + valor, BackDraft or glyphosate + canopy + authority are also providing nearly 100% control of field pansy. If you wait until spring to try to control field pansy, you will probably be looking at no better than 75% control however. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Fall Fertilzation and Weed Control in Alfalfa

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. We're coming up on that time of year when we control some of the winter annual weeds in our alfalfa. Now, I'll be the first to admit that one of the best ways to reduce weed problems in alfalfa is to keep the stand healthy and aggressive thru proper timing of cuttings and proper fertilization. I am an advocate of annual applications of phosphorus and maybe even some potassium on alfalfa fields. Forty pounds of phosphorus and 20 pounds of potassium, as KCL, every fall is not a bad idea. Even if you think you have good levels of soil phosphorus, I would still apply these levels every fall. They help keep your stand productive and healthy, which means more tons per acre and more years before you have to re-establish a stand. And anytime in November or December is a good time to apply the fertilizer. Also, if you have some winter annual weed problems we are about into that window when you can apply one of the dormant treatments. Sencor and Pursuit are both readily available and quite effective. If you have cheat grasses though, you need to go with the Sencor option or the less well known Sinbar or Velpar. For the mustards, however, Pursuit will work just fine. Now, if you are more concerned about foxtail and crabgrass in your alfalfa, then you will want to wait until late winter, just ahead of spring growth and probably go with the heavier, and more expensive Sencor rates. One kicker on this is that if you are going to graze that alfalfa stubble, you need to do it before you apply a herbicide as most all of the dormant season herbicides have restrictions against grazing or harvesting, and also watch re-cropping intervals on these products. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

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