AIR MARCH 31, 1999

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. I can’t believe that we’ve been having as much normal weather during March as we have. Maybe a little drier than expected, perhaps a harbinger of things to come, but overall fairly normal. Of course I don’t think anyone’s complaining about some of the sunshine we’ve been having.

The next couple of weeks can be an important time for pasture owners and managers. For starters you need to be checking for musk thistle... come on, you all know where you usually will have them. A little Tordon at this time of year can go a long ways. But more importantly you should be out evaluating the condition of each pasture. Do you need to burn? Is there enough fuel to burn? If you‘ve got some pastures that are slicked pretty clean then you need to seriously reevaluate your stocking rates. We’re still waiting for this years pasture rental rates, but while looking at last year’s report I noticed that the average number of acres guaranteed for a cow/calf pair was 6.8 acres. If you’ve got any kind of modern cow and calf that is simply not enough grass. You should be up around that 8 to 8.5 acres per pair and if the grass is sort of thin then 10 acres per pair isn’t out of the question. Now that you’re fuming about not being able to afford those stocking rates, let’s keep in mind the long term effect on the pasture. If you are a manager that really cares about your grass, then you should be as equally concerned about the grass condition and how the grass condition will ultimately impact cattle performance. Also take a look at the tree and shrub invasion. While fire is very good at controlling cedars and buckbrush, it is only so so at controlling dogwood and will do nothing for sumac. Additionally the larger trees, locust and hedge seem to be the most prevalent, will not be seriously damaged by fire. In some cases you can rotary mow small trees and shrubs in mid to late summer and set it back, but in many cases herbicides will have to be used. Keep in mind that you may not be able to do all of the things that need to be done in one year. In fact we don’t want to try to treat with herbicides the same year that we burn. Make a list, evaluate your pastures every day of the year and keep plugging along to give those pastures as much care as you do the cattle!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary county Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook '99.

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