Hopefully producers won’t have to irrigate too much this year, but I’d like you to consider joining a program that can not only improve your irrigation efficiency, but reduce nutrient loss and save you money! I’ve been in Extension for nearly nine years and a program I’ve been involved with that has been a very rewarding program and made a positive impact for many is the Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Network, or NAWMN.
Those wishing to participate in the program receive assistance installing equipment and education on how to read the equipment.
A couple of the tools we use are ETgages® or Atmometers which mimic crop evapotranspiration or ET and Watermark soil matrix sensors which measure soil matric potential or the energy required to remove water from the soil. These two tools have really worked well and have made irrigation management much easier than those gut feelings. The more information you have the better decisions you can make!
If you would like to participate in this dynamic program, let me know and I’d be happy to help and get you started! If you are in the NAWMN, install your ETgage soon and start the soaking/drying cycle on your Watermark sensors to be sure they work! As crops have emerged or about to emerge, its important to install your Watermark Sensors soon.
It’s also important to replace the #54 alfalfa canvas covers and wafers on a regular basis at the start of each season. For more information, go to the NAWMN website.
I have received a couple of questions on how to take stand counts and with the storm damage and recent weather conditions decided to highlight some information from UNL’s CropWatch website on Time to Dig In and Assess Need for Replanting Corn written by Roger Elmore, Extension Cropping Systems Agronomist and others. First, let’s review how to take stand counts. In short, after you know your row width (inches), there are given numbers that correspond to row width you will need to measure and count the plants in a row and multiply that by 1000 to calculate plants/acre. For example, most corn in our area is planted into 30-inch rows. The row length in feet to equal 1/1000 of an acre is 17’5” so you would measure out 17’5” in a row, count the number of corn plants in that length and multiply is by 1000. This would tell you how many plants/acre you have in that row. Do this several times in the field.
After you have your average plant populations, calculate the losses from planting to final stands. University research trials suggest 4-7% is typical, but final stands are within 1-4% of seeding rates for top managers. If your attrition losses are 10% or more, examine what happened. Elmore and others suggest considering the following: seed viability, insect such as cutworms, wireworms and white grubs, diseases, compaction and soil crusting and cold soils. One should also scout for weed management issues. Scout weeds within two weeks of corn emergence to evaluate efficacy of burn down and pre-emergence herbicides. Early emerging weeds such as marestail should be controlled early on to avoid early-season competition.
After examining these factors, one must decide if replanting is necessary. For example, if plants have emerged but have variable heights or development, even though a yield reduction is possible, it’s not necessarily a reason to replant. Plant height differences may reflect lack of uniformity in emergence timing or other issue the plant faced. Replanting may however be necessary with reduced planting populations. The most important factor in deciding whether to replant is to calculate expected yield with the current stand versus what you could potentially have if you replanted. Finally, one must estimate the replanting costs of seed, fuel, additional pesticides and labor. Also, be sure to contact your crop insurance agent, Farm Service Agency and others with an interest in your crop.
The full CropWatch article provides more information and some useful tables to help you with your consideration of replanting.
The last 48 hours have certainly brought some interesting weather to Nebraska, and surrounding states. Parts of Colorado, Wyoming, and Western Nebraska had at least a foot of snow and blowing winds, there were reports of 15 tornadoes that touched down across Nebraska alone, and Eastern Nebraska had large amounts of rain in a relatively short amount of time (anywhere from two to five inches reported so far) with loss of power for many around the Omaha metro. While Mother Nature’s fury can leave behind a mess, take us by surprise, and can be devastating – you can be a little more prepared with advance planning. Read on to see what my sister, Kellie Chichester, University of Wyoming Extension Educator and I suggest.
Whether you have 1,000 head or 5 head of livestock, you should spend time thinking and preparing a disaster plan. A disaster plan is good for people…
As I write this, we just celebrated the Centennial of Cooperative Extension yesterday. On May 8, 2014 the Smith-Lever Act was passed which was introduced by Senator Hoke Smith of Georgia and Representative A. F. Lever of South Carolina to expand the vocational, agricultural, and home demonstration programs in rural America. It was designed to disseminate information from the land grant universities to the people. One hundred years later, we are still doing this, only through different methods and delivery systems.
In 2014, we celebrate the Smith-Lever Act, which established the Cooperative Extension Service, a unique educational partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the nation’s land-grant universities that extends research-based knowledge through a state-by-state network of extension educators.
All of this got me wondering what was extension like in Fillmore County
Snow storm from 1918 proved to make extension work difficult!
in the beginning so I looked at our archives and found some interesting information. The first reports I found were from 1918 with the first county agricultural agent being J.L. Thomas. Some of the projects he worked on were wheat smut control, soybean inoculation, poultry judging, hog cholera control and black leg control. April 1, 1918 was when the “Fillmore County Farm Bureau” (now known as Fillmore County Extension Board) began active work in Fillmore County.
An excerpt had the following:
“The county board of supervisors assigned to J.L. Thomas a large well lighted, well heated and well ventilated, as well as a well located room on the first floor of the court house, for his office. The farm bureau board at the time Mr. Thomas was selected made arrangements with him to employ his wife, Mary E. Hall Thomas, on half time as office assistant. At the first meeting of the board held on Monday night, April 8th, 1918 the agent was instructed to purchase needed office supplies and equipment.” Some of the emergency projects assigned to him were “testing of seed corn and finding a substitute for sugar which included, keeping of bees, catching of all new swarms, production of sugar cane, location of sorghum mills in the county and making and use of sorghum.”
Thinking back to what was happening in 1918, World War I ended in November 1918. When the U.S. entered WWI, food had become a weapon and no other country produced more food than the U.S. In order to have enough food to feed the allies, Americans were urged to conserve food and eliminate waste, thus the importance of finding sugar substitutes, etc. Also, life on most farms consisted of no electricity or indoor plumbing. Each family member had chores such as milking cows, harnessing horses, gathering eggs, etc. Farm families looked forward to the fun of school programs, trips to town, church gatherings and other social events.
Extension demonstration showing the use of tractors in farming.
In the 1918 narrative it describes that work began at a very busy time of year (planting) and continued until October when it was planned to hold meetings for the community, but at that time the Spanish Influenza caused public schools to be closed and all public gatherings be postponed for five weeks. Organizational work was one of the first things to occupy the county agent in the next year. Some of the first youth programs focused on pig, chicken and garden projects. Canning teams and a war bread team were organized.
Also interesting in the narrative was that “the domestic science department of the Milligan school canned ten bushels of peaches and three bushels of tomatoes and did not lose a quart of the peaches or tomatoes.” It was a dry year as many members appeared to have lost their gardens completely and the pig projects didn’t do as well as some died and some youth were too busy with work in the fields. “Fifty dollars in prizes was given to the project members by the County Fair Board. Six pigs, one calf, one crate of chicks and some garden products were entered by club members.”
As I found some of these interesting points, trying to imagine what it would have been like in 1918 intrigues me. Thinking of how much more travel time across the county was required to reach people and the difficulty of getting things organized and promoted compared to the ease of the Internet we now take for granted. While there were definitely many challenges, extension managed to overcome them, just as our current extension system evolves with new delivery modes and remains strongly committed to “the people”. For 100 years, the Smith-Lever Act has stimulated innovative research and vital educational programs for youth and adults through progressive information delivery systems that improved lives and shaped a nation.
On May 8, Land-Grant Universities will be celebrating the 100th Birthday of Extension — 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the Smith-Lever Act!
Before I tell you about the Smith-Lever Act, let me backtrack a minute and tell you about the Morrill Act. The Morrill Act (named after Vermont Congressman Justin Morrill) was signed into place on July 2, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. It was officially titled “An Act Donating Public Lands to the Several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.” The Morrill Act provided each state with 30,000 acres of federal land for each member in their Congressional delegation. The land was then sold by the states and the proceeds were used to fund public colleges that focused on agriculture and mechanical arts. Sixty-nine colleges were funded by these land grants (aka Land-Grant Universities (great map at this…
The 2014 Farm Bill provides agricultural producers with a variety of different programs and opportunities to participate; however, the decisions facing them have never been more complex. This bill is designed to offer more of a risk management approach to the federal farm safety net as opposed to the more traditional price and yield support. It is important participants understand how the 2014 Farm Bill works and how these programs may affect their operations. Nebraska offers some unique challenges relative to variability in the type of commodities and the practices in which they grown. In the Spring and Summer of 2014, agricultural producers will be offered an opportunity to update their base acres and program yields. It is important that they understand how these decisions work, to make a well-informed decision.
UNL Extension will be hosting a public webinar open to any interested party, to assist the producer with these decisions. The following are details on how to participate:
Name: Farm Bill Public Webinar
URL: https://connect.unl.edu/publicfarmbill/
Start Time: 10:00 am Central Time Zone
Start Date: May 21, 2014
Duration: 2 hours
Participants will need to have adequate speakers with their computer to hear the presentation. This meeting will also be archived for later viewing; however those connecting live will have an opportunity to ask questions of the speaker. Any additional questions may be directed to Tim Lemmons, Ext. Educator, at tlemmons2@unl.edu.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Tractor Safety/Hazardous Occupations Courses will be offered at seven locations in Nebraska during May and June. Any 14 or 15-year-old teen that plans to work on a farm other than their parents’ should plan to attend. Federal law prohibits youth less than 16 years of age from working on a farm for anyone other than his or her parents. Certification through the course grants an exemption to the law allowing 14- and 15-year-olds to drive a tractor and to do field work with mechanized equipment.
According to Extension Educator, Sharry Nielsen, the most common cause of death in agriculture accidents in Nebraska is overturn from tractors and all-terrain-vehicles (ATVs). Tractor and ATV overturn prevention are featured in the class work. “Instilling an attitude of ‘safety first’ is a primary goal of the course,” Nielsen said. “Where youth have the chance to learn respect for agricultural jobs and the tools involved.”
Classes consist of two days of instruction plus homework assignments. Classes are from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. each day. Dates and locations include:
— May 22-23, Fairgrounds, Kearney
— May 28-29, Haskell Ag Lab, Concord
— June 2-3, West Central Research and Extension Center (WCREC), North Platte
— June 5-6, Fairgrounds, Valentine
— June 12-13, Farm and Ranch Museum, Gering
— June 16-17, College Park, Grand Island
–June 19-20, Ag Research and Development Center (ARDC), Mead
Pre-registration is strongly encouraged at least one week before a location’s start date to the Extension Office at the course site. Cost is $60, which includes educational materials, testing, supplies, lunches and breaks. For more information, contact the Extension Office or Sharry Nielsen at (308) 832-0645, snielsen1@unl.edu.
The first day of class will consist of intensive classroom instruction with hands-on demonstrations, concluding with a written test that must be completed satisfactorily before students may continue driving tests the next day. Classroom instruction will cover the required elements of the National Safe Tractor and Machinery Operation Program. Homework will be assigned to turn in the next day. The second day will include testing, driving and operating machinery. Students must demonstrate competence in hitching equipment and driving a tractor and trailer through a standardized course as well as hitching PTO and hydraulic systems.
Now is the time to begin planning and thinking about the upcoming irrigation season. If you’ve been using the ETgages and Watermark Sensors, now is the time to check your inventory to see if you need to replace the ETgage canvas cover, bird spikes etc. Do you need to replace some of the sensors that were damaged or are not working properly? If you have not been using this equipment, I’d suggest to give it a try, I’d be happy to assist you installing/using the equipment. This is a short ink to the Upper Big Blue NRD 2014 Cost share form. If you are in the Little Blue NRD, check out their website. I hope you’ll consider ordering some of the equipment for you this season. Don’t hesitate to visit with me or the NRD if you have any questions about these tools.
This week, I’ve decided to take an excerpt from our UNL Extension Hort Update on a pest I receive questions about from time to time – the emerald ash borer. I highly encourage you to subscribe to this update if you are a horticultural enthusiast!
By now many homeowners have heard of emerald ash borer (EAB) and are concerned about their ash trees. Now EAB is found in 22 states from Massachusetts south to Georgia, and west to Minnesota and Missouri. Closest to home, EAB was confirmed in Missouri 2008, Iowa 2010, Kansas 2012 and Colorado 2013. The nearest confirmed sites are Kansas City, MO, Boulder, CO and Creston, IA. It is inevitable that EAB will eventually make its way into Nebraska, probably within the next few years.
Now federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) quarantines apply to all of Iowa and Missouri. In Colorado, Boulder County and portions of Jefferson, Larimer, and Weld Counties are quarantined. This means interstate movement of EAB-host wood and wood products are regulated, including firewood of all hardwood species, nursery stock, green lumber, waste, compost, and chips of ash species.
Below are recommendations from the Nebraska Forest Service and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension:
Treatment is recommended when EAB is known to be within 15 miles of a location.
Treating trees beyond 15 miles will likely provide little or no benefit to the trees and will result in unnecessary exposure of the environment to pesticides.
State and federal agencies monitor EAB infestations and will provide updates on infestations in Nebraska.
For people concerned EAB might already be here, but has gone undetected, it is important to know that trees already infested with EAB are treatable if the damage is not yet severe.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Tractor Safety/Hazardous Occupations Courses will be offered at seven locations in Nebraska during May and June. Any 14 or 15-year-old teen who plans to work on a farm other than their parents’ should plan to attend.
Federal law prohibits youth under 16 years of age from working on a farm for anyone other than their parents. Certification through the course grants an exemption to the law allowing 14- and 15-year-olds to drive a tractor and to do field work with mechanized equipment.
The most common cause of death in agriculture accidents in Nebraska is overturn from tractors and all-terrain-vehicles (ATVs), said Sharry Nielsen, UNL Extension Educator. Tractor and ATV overturn prevention are featured in the class work. Classes consist of two days of instruction plus homework assignments. Classes are from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. each day. Dates and locations closest to us include:
— May 22-23, Fairgrounds, Kearney
— June 16-17, College Park, Grand Island
–June 19-20, Ag Research and Development Center (ARDC), Mead
Pre-registration is strongly encouraged at least one week before a location’s start date to the Extension Office at the course site. Cost is $60, which includes educational materials, testing, supplies, lunches and breaks. For more information, contact the Extension Office or Sharry Nielsen at (308) 832-0645, snielsen1@unl.edu.
The first day of class will consist of intensive classroom instruction with hands-on demonstrations, concluding with a written test that must be completed satisfactorily before students may continue driving tests the next day. Classroom instruction will cover the required elements of the National Safe Tractor and Machinery Operation Program. Homework will be assigned to turn in the next day.
The second day will include testing, driving and operating machinery. Students must demonstrate competence in hitching equipment and driving a tractor and trailer through a standardized course as well as hitching PTO and hydraulic systems.
Views from VanDeWalle 