Air November 6 - 13, 2006
Time to wrap up wheat planting
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 well into November and for a change, temperatures this fall are running below normal, for two months in a row!! If you are still trying to get some wheat in the ground, I'd be trying to put a little speed on that. Cooler soil and air temperatures are going to be reducing the amount of growth we'll get yet this fall. Less growth is going to equate to fewer tillers, sooooo, we need more plants to compensate. I would not hesitate to be planting a full 120 pounds of seed at this time. If you are trying to get a stand of wheat after milo harvest, and doing it no till, I would probably bump that even further to 150 pounds of seed per acre. Yes, that's a full 2½ bushels, but with all that the stand has going against it, you're going to need that, or make a change and don't plant wheat there. I'd also add an extra ten to twenty pounds of phosphorus to the starter fertilizer mix. And if you weren't going to add phosphorus or starter fertilizer, I would from here on out UNLESS a soil test showed really high rates. Cooler soils simply can't give up as much phosphorus to the young plants so it becomes critical that we make sure there is more there to help out. And for gosh sakes please make sure that you have a seed treatment applied. If you aren't using treated seed, then please use one of the seed box treatments. It may not be quite as good because of distribution within the seed box, but we are at greater risks of seedling diseases with cooler wetter soils. You may also lose a little bit of yield, but if we can get that stand established this fall, we can compensate for most of it! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.
Look for every angle to stretch forage resources for cow herds
This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. This was a tight year for hay and grass in general. Shortages in the pastures led to earlier than normal extra feeding for many producers meaning that a potentially short hay crop has gotten even shorter. Management of the herd and the feed is going to be even more critical this year. And I'll say it again quickly, test all those forages so you know what you've got and you can match your feed to the cow herd's needs so you aren't overfeeding them or selling them short on nutrition. Either one costs you dollars in the end. Look for ways to use crop residue, primarily corn or sorghum stubble. Most cows can get about 30 days worth of nutrition this time of year from 2 acres worth of average stubble. Now that native pastures have gone dormant, you can utilize that dry forage, but realize you WILL have to supplement this with some extra feed sources. If you got some good fall growth on the brome grass DON'T cut it. But if you can fence it, you could flash graze it after December 1st. Don't leave them on too long but let them eat it down to about no shorter than 4 inches in height. It'll still be moving food to the roots until about the 1st of December so please don't stress it now. And finally, look for other purchased feed options. Consider a little bit of grain or cubes or distillers grains. Wheat mids are another choice that's growing in popularity because we can get them here. Just don't automatically do what you have always done, examine options. Anytime you do start feeding concentrates in the winter, proceed with caution and be on the lookout for things like acidosis. This is going to be a fall and winter that really requires you to MANAGE. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.
Speciality 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. Farmers are always looking for ways to make more money from their agricultural production operation and one way to do that is through targeting harvesting and marketing of hay. This year, due to the shortage, hay prices are quite high, but that isn't always the case. For many producers, you are putting up hay for your own use so you use big rounds or big squares because it's the easiest way to handle a lot of hay in a hurry. But do you take the extra time to keep the different cuttings and even the different fields separate? Have you considered putting up hay at a slightly different time to meet a speciality market need? Once of the growing hay markets in this area is horse hay. Most horse owners aren't going to want big rounds, because they don't have the equipment to handle them. Sure, small squares, and I mean the old fashioned small squares. It will mean more labor for you, BUT it also means that there will be a premium paid for those small squares. Secondly, segregate fields, and cuttings. First cuttings and often second cuttings of alfalfa are least likely to have blister beetles in them. So let's set those aside for the horse market. Secondly, let's start pulling samples and get nutritional analysis for each cutting and each field, and this goes for brome and native as well. If you have some high quality hay, let's know it and advertise it and get paid for it. I've watched too much hay over the years all be sold as nothing more than "hay". You've got an infinitely variable product and it will be to your benefit and your buyer's benefit if you spend a little time to segregate your inventory, get it analyzed and then market to what the buyer wants.
This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.
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