Air July 6 - 12, 2006
Early Weaning
This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. A couple weeks ago I mentioned in passing the option of early weaning calves to reduce stress on cows and pastures. By early weaning, we mean calves that are weaned anywhere between 60 and 150 days of age compared to the more traditional 200 days or so. When properly fed and managed - an important consideration - early weaned calves do not have more disease or higher death rate. There is also no penalty in carcass quality. If calves are weaned at under 120 days, there is a trend towards slightly smaller carcass weights, but those weaned over 120 days did not show this trend. By the time a calf is 60 days old and has been feeding normally, the rumen is already nearly fully developed and can be switched over to a full dry feed program. The first two weeks of early weaning are very critical. Immediately after weaning, there is a need for a specialized diet to get that calf adjusted to a wholly dry diet. Remember that it may take a full 14 days for the rumen to adjust to the new diet so be patient. You also need to be paying very close attention to the health and immune system of the calf in those first 2 weeks. Work closely with your vet!! The new diet needs to contain premium quality grass hays offered free choice and in the long stem form. The long stems stimulate the rumen and encourages extensive cud chewing. You also need to be feeding concentrates that are matched to the forage choice. Remember that early intake will be low as the calves adjust. If you are thinking of trying some early weaning, call me for more information.
This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte.
Ammoniating Wheat Straw
This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. I’ve seen an awful lot of wheat straw getting baled up this year. I’m going to guess that a lot of producers are thinking that this may be useful when it comes time to start feeding cattle, especially if forage continues to be on the short side! While wheat straw isn’t that great of a forage, there’s a little trick we can do to make it a very valuable forage. You can treat that wheat straw with anhydrous ammonia and nearly double the protein content taking it from a good bedding material to something that cattle can actually gain weight on! If you aren’t familiar with it, in ammoniating wheat straw you place the bales in a big stack, cover it and seal it with some 6 mil plastic and inject anhydrous ammonia into the sealed stack at the rate of 3% by weight - in other words 60 pounds of anhydrous per ton of straw. Okay, is that cost effective given the cost of anhydrous ammonia now days? Well, the “cost” of that straw is going to be about $21 per ton. That’s what it’s going to cost you to bale it up and move it. When you start adding up all the costs to stack it, cover it and ammoniate it will add just under another $20 per ton. So, assuming anhydrous isn’t too much over $500 a ton, you can have ammoniated wheat straw for just over $40 a ton. What’s it going to cost to get brome or prairie hay right now? And don’t think that the brome is all that much better than ammoniated wheat straw. Most brome I’ve seen tested has come in at about 6 to 7% protein, not too far off ammoniated wheat straw. I do have information at the office of how to ammoniate wheat straw, stop by or call and I’ll be happy to provide you with that information! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte.
Seed Wheat Quality
This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. When we are selecting seed wheat, we need to be really critical, very picky in fact. It doesn’t matter if you are keeping your own seed back, buying from a neighbor or buying from a certified seed dealer - be very particular. If you are keeping seed back yourself, it should be no more than one generation away from certified - maybe two if you’ve been very careful about sanitation. But if your farm hasn’t seen a blue tag on a bag of certified seed wheat for three or more years, it’s time to get some new seed! Make sure that the seed has been cleaned, preferably with a 6/64 screen, but if that’s removing too much wheat, cut it back to a 5.5 or 5/64ths. Anything bigger than a 5/64 is a waste of time. You want to get that test weight up to 60 pounds per bushel or higher. Does higher test weight make a difference? Yes it does, and the more stressful the fall, the bigger the difference. Make sure that the field that you have chosen to be your seed wheat is first of all a pure variety. Don’t save back seed from blends. It just doesn’t work!! Make sure that the field wasn’t contaminated with things like buckwheat, bindweed, rye or jointed goatgrass and preferably not even with any of the annual bromes, although we can clean a lot of that out in an air screen cleaner. While you have the seed being cleaned, also have it treated with a fungicide or possibly an insecticide/fungicide. And then have the seed testing for germination as well as purity. Then you’ll be ready for planting. If you are buying your seed - just make sure it has been through all the same processes! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte.
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