** BQCA Certification is required for reimbursement in CAIP Cost Share for Genetics and Cattle Handling Facilities programs. **

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1 A BQCA (Beef Quality and Care Assurance) training will be held Wednesday, November 14th at 6:00 pm at the Madison County Extension Office for anyone needing to recertify or complete the initial training. Be sure to attend this training if you need BQCA training for a CAIP project. You will also need this certification for upcoming CPH-45 Sales if you plan on selling your cattle that way. BQCA training is good knowledge for anyone involved with cattle production. ** BQCA Certification is required for reimbursement in CAIP Cost Share for Genetics and Cattle Handling Facilities programs. ** To renew your BQCA Certification, you need to attend this upcoming video training session: Time: Wednesday, November 14, at 6:00 p.m. Location: Madison County Extension Office, 230 Duncannon Lane, Richmond. Please come to Rooms 1 and 2, rear building. Training takes about 2 hours. Cost is $5 per person, payment by check or money order ONLY, made payable to KBN. **We will not put cash in the mail, cash will not be accepted.** The certification is good for three years. Please call to let us know you are attending, and if you have any questions. Brandon Sears County Extension Agent for Agriculture & Natural Resources or brandon.sears@uky.edu Curing country ham has been a tradition in Kentucky and throughout the southeast for hundreds of years and the Madison County Cooperative Extension Service is working to uphold this tradition by hosting the Country Ham Project. There are four meetings for this project over the course of the year beginning in January and concluding in July with additional educational meetings. Contracts for this project will be available at the end of November. Call to put your name on the interest list. 4-H Youth Country Ham Project In this 4-H project, youth born between can purchase two hams, make their own cure, apply the cure, and hang the hams here on site in Madison County. Requirements to complete the project are: Complete the contract and return payment for $60 ($60 pays for two hams and all necessary supplies) Cure the hams (Project starts in mid-january 2019) Participate in at least six educational hours about hams Give a 3-5 minute speech at the Madison County Fair and at the Kentucky State Fair To register, call the Madison County Extension Office at to get on the list to have a contract mailed to you. Complete the contract and return with payment by Friday, December 7, More details will be sent directly to those who register for this project. Adult Country Ham Project Adults interested in the Country Ham project can participate as well. Adults will receive one ham, participate in the curing process, hang their ham on site and be invited to learn more through optional educational opportunities. For the adult contract, call the Madison County Extension Office at The adult registration fee for one ham and supplies is $40 and the deadline to register is Friday, December 7, 2018.

2 By Dr. Les Anderson, Beef Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky It s weaning time and I hope most of you are planning your herd "preg check". If you have not incorporated this management practice in the past, please do so this year so that you won t feed non-productive females this fall and winter. When it comes time to cull cows from your herd, pregnancy status is one of the first criteria that will determine whether a cow stays in the country or goes to town. According to the results of a survey conducted by the National Animal Health Monitoring System, fewer than 20 percent of beef cow calf producers used pregnancy testing or palpation in their herd. However, the benefits of this practice are fairly simple to realize. First of all, pregnancy diagnosis allows producers to identify "open" or nonpregnant cows. Compare the roughly $5 per head cost of a pregnancy exam with the $ per head cost of hay alone to feed an open cow through the winter (if you can find hay for $30 per roll). It s easy to see that pregnancy testing quickly pays for itself. Second, pregnancy testing will provide a producer an estimation of when cows will be calving based on the age of the fetus at the time of the pregnancy exam. An average calving date can be calculated and the producer can use this information to better supplement the cows through winter. Remember, the nutrient needs of cows vary throughout their production cycle; cows nutrient requirements are highest immediately before and after calving and are lowest in the second period of pregnancy. Knowledge of the stage of pregnancy can help producers make efficient feeding decisions. For example, most producers will have hay of varying qualities in storage. Since cows in the second period of their pregnancy require less nutrients, producers can target their lower quality feedstuffs for the time when their cows nutrient requirements are the lowest. Alternatively, producers can save their best quality feedstuffs for the post-calving period when a cow s nutrient requirements are the highest. Thus, obtaining the pregnancy status of your cowherd will allow a producer to adjust the supplementation in a timelier manner. Finally, if pregnant cows need to be sold due to lack of pasture, knowing the pregnancy status of the cows will be appealing to potential buyers. Buyers will be looking to purchase cows that will calve closely in line with the cows already in their own herds. Pregnancy diagnosis is a quick and simple procedure. Three practical methods for pregnancy diagnosis can be used in beef cattle: 1) rectal palpation 2) transrectal ultrasonography 3) blood sampling. Rectal palpation is most common and is an accurate form of pregnancy diagnosis that can be performed after day 45 of pregnancy. Many veterinarians are proficient at rectal palpation, and this procedure requires little time in the squeeze chute. Transrectal ultrasonography, commonly referred to as ultrasound, can be used to detect pregnancy as early as 28 days with a high degree of accuracy. This method can be employed just as quickly as rectal palpation when done by a skilled technician and may provide additional information that cannot be determined by rectal palpation. Using transrectal ultrasonography, the technician is actually "looking" at the fetus and can determine the viability of the fetus and the incidence of twins. It is also possible to determine the sex of the fetus between days 60 and 90 of pregnancy. The blood test method to determine pregnancy is simple and accurate. First, a blood sampling kit needs to be ordered from a company. Usually, the cost is about $ per cow for the kit. All tubes should be labeled according to instructions in the kit. The most difficult part of this process for most producers will be obtaining the blood sample. Cows must be at least 30 days pregnant and 90 days from calving for the test to work. Also, producer s who have no experience taking a blood sample will need to schedule this test with their local veterinarian. Once the sample is obtained, samples are packaged and sent to a laboratory for analysis. The cost for the test is $ per cow. So the total cost per cow will be the cost of the kit, plus the test cost, plus the cost of mailing and any costs associated with obtaining the sample if you cannot do it yourself. Likely the cost per cow will be about $5 per cow for most producers. The results are normally obtained with 2-3 days and the accuracy of the test is very high. If the test calls a cow open, then the producer is 99+% sure the cow is open. When the test determines a cow pregnant, you can be 93-95% sure they are pregnant. This test will not determine stage of pregnancy (i.e. 90 days versus 120 days). A final piece of information to keep in mind is to sell cull cows early. The market for cows is usually good through September, and then the price goes south at a fairly rapid pace until it bottoms out in November. So, pull the bulls at the end of the breeding season, schedule to pregnancy check your cows about 45 days later, and get rid of the open cows and other culls before cow prices take a nose dive. So PLEASE have pregnancy diagnosed in your cows. It will save you money.

3 Our fall CPH-45 feeder calf sale will be held at the Bluegrass Stockyards of Richmond on Tuesday December 11, 2017 at 6 p.m. The weaning deadline for calves was on October 27,2017. Ownership deadline October 12th, 2017 All consignors must have a current BQA number, use approved CPH-45 tags, vaccinate and deworm, use a mineral that meets program requirements & other guidelines also required. Give me a call, , with any questions. The Madison County Beef Cattle Association Annual Meeting is Thursday December 13, 2018, 6:00 p.m. at the Madison County Extension Office, 230 Duncannon Lane, Richmond. Tommy Carper from MultiMin will be the featured speaker, and the Outstanding Service to MCBCA Award will be presented. Officers will be elected, and Door Prizes given out. Meal is a ribeye with sides. Call by December 10th to reserve your spot at our Annual Meeting and join us for an evening of food and fellowship! More details next month It s time to renew your Madison County Beef Cattle Association Membership! Notices for the Membership Dues have been mailed. Look for the bright yellow envelope for details. Benefits include: Cow Country News (monthly publication of State and Local cattle news and events) / National State and Local Representation on Cattle Issues / Local Beef Cattle Mineral / Free Use of Cattle Scales / Educational Meetings, Annual Banquet with service awards and many more. Due to renovation/construction at our Princeton Kentucky soil lab, the Lexington lab that we send our soil samples to will experience increased activity. As a result, soil sample analysis this spring will take longer than normal. Make plans to submit your soil samples this fall while return time is much quicker. We are anticipating potentially significant delays next year. Thanks for your patience and understanding while we make improvements to our facilities that will allow us to serve Kentucky farmers even better. Madison County Cooperative Extension Service continues to offer free soil testing year round. We need at least two cups of dry soil to run each test. If you have question on how to collect your samples, call Agricultural and horticultural samples from Madison County residents will be accepted. There is a 10 sample limit per farm or home per calendar year! (Please note: Commercial lawn care companies submitting samples do not qualify for free soil testing; call for pricing.) We would like to thank our sponsors for making this possible:

4 It s that time of year when Mother Nature puts an end to the growing season. This year it was done about on time with our average date, but sort of odd going from the 80 s to the 50 s in a matter of a few days. I have been getting questions about livestock poisoning from frosted Johnsongrass and about the resting period for alfalfa prior to a killing frost. I want to share a few reminders with you this month: Before a Frost (when temperatures are 33 degrees F and above) Cool-season grasses, such as Tall Fescue and Orchardgrass, are regrowing with the cooler fall temperatures and rainfall. Ideally, these grasses should be utilized, but not over grazed into the ground (leave 3 4 inches residue height after grazing). Evaluate pastures for clover content and assess the risk for bloat as fall regrowth occurs (when pastures are greater than 65 percent clover). After a Non-Killing Frost (when temperatures are between 28 degrees F and 32 degrees F) Do not graze summer annuals, such as sorghum x sudangrass or pastures with high populations of Johnsongrass, for 2 weeks after a non-killing frost to reduce the threat of cyanide (prussic acid) poisoning. For more information on cyanide poisoning refer to the UK publication ID-220 Cyanide Poisoning in Ruminants online or at our office. After a Killing Frost (when temperatures are below 28 degrees F for 2-3 hours or more) Do not graze or cut alfalfa after September 15 to allow adequate time for plants to replenish root reserves and prepare for winter. Cattle can be turned back into an alfalfa stand for grazing after a killing frost. This should be done within 3-5 days since alfalfa quality declines rapidly after freezing and plant material degrades quickly. Make sure fields are not too wet or cattle hoof traffic will damage alfalfa crowns and also create a bumpy mess to drive over next year. Cool-season grasses will not grow much until the next spring after a killing frost, so during this time either use that forage by grazing it down short, or you will lose it. Do not graze summer annuals, such as sorghum x sudangrass or pastures with high populations of Johnsongrass after a killing frost until the plant material is completely dry and turned brown (toxins usually dissipate in 72 hours). Make sure the base of the plants are dead and not still green. Generally, cattle can be turned into the stockpiled pasture after November 1 after other pastures have been grazed. For best results use the strip grazing method where temporary fence is used to provide a small portion of the pasture at a time. Ideally each strip should supply the herd enough forage for 2 3 days before being moved. Stockpiled fescue usually yields tons/ac. which will carry one cow for days. Making Hay With Johnsongrass During this time of repeated light to heavy frosts, probably the best use of Johnsongrass is to harvest it as hay. If it is frosted either before or after cutting, the toxic compounds will dissipate during the days required for dry down. Let hay dry as long as possible to give even more time for cyanide to leave the plants. Once made into a bale, cyanide will also continue to dissipate over time. Madison County Beekeepers Association will meet on Monday, Nov. 26, 6:00 pm, Madison County Extension Office. For more information call Kent, or Paul, Whether it s spring, summer, fall or winter, you can Plate It Up with delicious recipes that put a new twist on your favorite Kentucky Proud foods. Visit -hes.ca.uky.edu/piukp-recipes to find all the Plate It Up recipes using Kentucky Proud products.

5 By Dr. Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky The cattle markets continue to be at higher levels than I would have projected this time last year given production levels for all major meats. A lot of large groups of lb steers are still moving in the $150 s. Exports have remained strong and I also think the overall strength of the US economy has encouraged solid beef movement. Heavy feeders moving now, are still being sold based on strong spring CME Live Cattle futures prices, but as is always the case, there is a sizeable drop from April to June. I don t expect heavy feeders to hold at these levels as we move towards the end of the year and the summer live cattle contracts become the driver. Calf markets have also held pretty well through the first part of fall. Some of this is due to a relatively strong spring feeder cattle board, but there is also little question that good fall forage growth has spread fall calf runs out more than usual. Figure 1 shows Medium & Large Frame #1-2 steer prices at Kentucky auctions. As I wrote this, I just had two weeks of October prices to include, but I did go ahead and roll October into the chart. You will notice a significant drop from September to October and most of this occurred in the second week of this month. State average prices fell by about $5 per cwt from the first week to the second. As I was thinking about price levels and cow-calf revenues this fall, it occurred to me that I always show Medium & Large Frame #1-2 Steer prices for my price charts. This is primarily because that is the best dataset that I have available and I tend to use that as an index for our calf markets. But, USDA-AMS does track Medium & Large Frame #2-3 steer prices as well. Although there are a few weekly gaps in this series, it does give us an opportunity to look at how much price discount is typically seen when calves fall into the lighter muscling, 2-3 category. I pulled the last five years of prices for both groups in order to do a simple comparison. From 2013 to 2017, the average monthly price differential between Medium & Large Frame #1-2 steers, and those falling into the #2-3 category, was $20.74 per cwt. On a 550 lb steer calf, this is well over $100 per calf. Much like frame size, muscling has a very significant impact on calf values and is something that producers should be aware of as they make genetic and culling decisions about their cow herds. A quick summary can been seen in figure 2. (Note that price levels are very high because the chart only includes 5 years and 2014 and 2015 are pulling the averages upward).

6 Beef 101 Presented by students from: The University of Kentucky Beef Science Class and University of Kentucky Extension Beef Cattle Specialists Date: Tuesday, December 4th - 6:00 pm Location: Madison County Cooperative Extension Office 230 Duncannon Lane, Richmond, KY **This is a CAIP Educational Component Eligible Meeting** A meal will be served - Please call to reserve your spot,