Air May 31 - June 6, 2006
Proper Cutting of Hay - Brome and Native
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 been seeing a lot of bromegrass getting swathed recently, which probably accounts for why it finally rained. People are always asking when they should cut bromegrass for maximum protein content. That’s easy - cut it before it heads out because it will be over 16% crude protein. Unfortunately, the yield will be pretty darn low! So we try to find the trade off point where we’re getting better production but the protein hasn’t bottomed out yet. For the most part that’s going to occur at early heading or basically just before it starts to bloom. Waiting until you see it blooming is actually waiting too late. In fact given my choice, I would probably cut it at the boot stage. Even then, bromegrass is going to be down around 10 or 11% crude protein. By early heading it’s down to 9 or 10% and by the time it is fully headed, which would be past bloom and probably where most of it is right now, you are down around 6 or 7% protein. Everyone always talks about 12% protein brome grass, but nobody ever really manages and harvest for that. If you even want a chance of 12% protein brome hay, you’ve missed it for this year - which means if you haven’t put that brome hay down DO IT NOW!!! And let’s immediately segue into talking about prairie hay harvest. We honestly haven’t had to worry about conflicts between wheat harvest and prairie hay harvest for years. But the same plant growth phase holds for native hay meadows. If you want high quality, i.e., high protein prairie hay, plan to start cutting it right after the 4th of July and finish up no later than the 20th of July. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte.
Summer Livestock Insect Control
This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. I was working outside the house the other evening and was buzzed by an insect. I honestly thought it was a bumble bee or carpenter bee. Then it landed on the side of the house and it was one of those huge black horse flies. Which is just another dandy reminder that summer livestock insect season is once again upon us. The rate at which insects grow and reproduce is directly affected by temperature and to some extent rainfall and humidity. Stable fly numbers are already in high swing. The cooler temperatures in early May got them cranked up and the behavior that you are seeing in a lot of the cattle is a result of these stable flies, not horn flies. Stable flies are not easily controlled by ear tags or other insecticide means. Stable flies breed in the hay/manure mixture that is found where big round bales are fed in the winter. The accumulation of hay and manure makes the perfect stable fly breeding nursery. Simply trying to get the hay/manure mixtures spread out and dried down is going to be the best approach. But this brings up the point that you should always be evaluating your fly control options. Make sure you are working with your vet and rotate your ear tags so that you don’t use ear tags with the same mode of action in successive years. Look also at using dusters, oilers, back rubbers to add additional control opportunities. And then evaluate insect control as you go through the season. And keep in mind - there have been about 40 species of horse and deer flies that feed on cattle documented in Kansas. And although each species may only be around for a couple of weeks, it means we have to stay on our toes at all times! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte.
Wheat Fill and Shattering Risk
This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. The heat and low rainfall through mid May was not a welcome thing at all. Remember, wheat is a cool season crop. The ideal temperatures for the crop during flowering and grain fill are between 68 and 72 degrees. With temperatures above that, wheat flowers will abort, young kernels will abort and as we move on into the grain fill period, the plant may shut down nutrients going to kernels resulting in shriveled kernels that will often go sailing out the back of the combine. The problem is worse when night time temperatures are in the 60s. Granted, if we can get night time temperatures down into the 50s the plants will tolerate those higher temperatures a little bit better, but to be right honest, that just wasn’t happening during the latter part of May. The high humidity certainly was uncomfortable but that probably helped stretch out what limited water we had. And the rainfall the night of Memorial Day was in time to do some good and any additional rainfall after that was helpful also. Diseases are going to continue to build because of that rainfall, but in all honesty, with the exception of the Barley Yellow Dwarf which caused all the unevenness in the stands, the disease pressure will be too late to be of concern. One thing to be aware of is that if you have a variety that shatters bad, like Overly, it is probably going to be worse this year because of that weather. With fewer kernels often filling per head, the kernels will be larger and larger kernels shatter worse than smaller kernels. I would not let those shatter prone varieties get too far along - take the risk of a little dock at the elevator and begin harvesting at 15% moisture to minimize that shattering risk. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte.
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