Air March 21 - 27, 2006

Recent Rains

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. It was sure great to finally see some rain, in fact the best rain we've seen in months. This doesn't mean we're out of the woods for pastures and grasslands, but things are looking better. If you have had some bromegrass that you wanted to burn, like ditches or waterways, and hadn't gotten it done because of the wind and dry weather, you can still go ahead and burn those areas. Even if they have a lot of green in them, they will still burn - it'll be smokey, but they will burn and you won't hurt production either. Now, something else you may want to do, is to take some time burning firebreaks. You can burn firebreaks around pastures you MIGHT be burning later this spring or you may want to consider burning some firebreaks around farmsteads and houses, just in case things get ugly later on this spring. I was on a conference call recently and there was a lot of talk about many ranchers in the flint hills burnign firebreaks around buildings for protection. It may not be a bad idea. One of the best ways to burn firebreaks is to mow down an area at least 20 feet wide and wider would be better. Make sure that the mowed grass goes into the middle of the firebreak and then take your time burning that firebreak so you don't lose control of that fire. While we like some wind with a pasture burn, no wind and high humidity is best for burning firebreaks. Have at least two people with a good water source to control that burn and if the weather conditiosn start to turn on you, call a halt in a hurry. One rainy spell won't make or break the burning season, but it gives us a chance to get a little more prepared, just in case! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Post Calving Cow Management

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. As calving season winds down for many of you, I hope you don't just hang it up and forget about those cows until it's time to work calves and put them out to grass. Specifically, I want you to spend some time body scoring those cows. I want you to find the thin cows and the heavy cows and get ready to sort those off to manage just a little bit differently. Sure, if all you've got is a dozen cows this may not make sense, but if you've got 50 or more, you can do yourself a lot of good. We want cows to be body condition score of 5 or 6 as they head into rebreeding. Cows thinner or fatter than this will have problems, we know that very well. So now is the time to sort them off and fix that problem. At body condition 5 and 6 cows will have, at the most, 1 or 2 ribs visible and no more than just a little fat in the brisket and flanks. Additionally, you should have no problem seeing the outline of the hip and bones. My experience is that most producers tend to have cows over conditioned than under conditioned, meaning that they are being fed too good. If you have cows that have a lot of fat in the brisket and flank and you can not see the outline of the hip and bones, you've been treating those gals way too good and that's going to hurt your bottom line. Keep in mind that a lactating cow needs the equivalent of 22 pounds of alfalfa hay per day to maintain her weight and will start putting on weight with 30 pounds of alfalfa hay equivalent. If your cows are over conditioned then back off on that feed and start making them use up that weight to keep producing milk. Keep feeding them, but just not as much! The next 45 to 60 days can have a big impact on your cow herd and calf crop a year from now. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Dryland Row Crop Selection

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. Even with recent precipitation, I don't think anyone is ready to abandon the notion that we are in a drought mode. And with that comes thoughts and concerns with our dryland crops and what crops should we plant if we feel that it is going to be a dry year. Decisions about planting are often locked in based on what our crop roation has been, what herbicide we used there last and what crop we want to go to next year. So for many producers, this may be a moot discussion. Agronomists have taken a look at our common crops and have studied them to see how much water does it take to get the plant to grow to the point to produce that first bushel of grain. Keep in mind this is not the amount of water to produce a good or even an average crop, just to produce that first bushel. Probably to no one's surprise, Corn takes the most water - just a tad under 11 inches. So, if between rainfall, irrigation and soil moisture, if a corn crop has less than 11 inches of water, it will not produce a crop. Coming in an undesirable second is a crop that may surprise many of you and that is wheat with ten inches of water. The good thing about wheat is taht it can be spread over a lot more time! Next on the list is soybeans at 7.8 inches and again this is no surprise. Following soybeans we have grain sorghum at 6.9 inches and sunflowers with 5.4 inches. IF you think water is going to be an issue then we should be planting grain sorghum or sunflowers this spring as these two crops need to least amount of water to start producing a grain crop. It is just something to consider, and timely rains at the right time can mean all the difference, as can soil type soil, soil depth and soil moisture at planting. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

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