Fleming County Newsletter

Transcription

1 AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES Fleming County Newsletter SEPTEMBER 2017 Cooperative Extension Service Fleming County P.O. Box 192 Flemingsburg, KY (606) Fax: (606) extension.ca.uky.edu On Tuesday, June 27 th, I began as your new Agriculture & Natural Resources Agent for Fleming County. The past couple of months have certainly flown by and I ve enjoyed every minute of it. I ve had the opportunity to meet and talk with many of you already, whether it be by question about bugs, weeds, plant disease, dropping in a soil sample, or seeing you at the fair. But I know there s many I haven t met or talked with yet as well. If we haven t had the chance to meet, I encourage you to either stop by the office or give me a call and we ll schedule some time to come out and look at your farm operation. April Wilhoit I m looking forward to meeting and working with you all and serving Fleming County. Have a great day! September 13 UPCOMING EVENTS Weaning 101 Workshop 8:30am-3pm Eden Shale Farm September 14 Lewis County Ag Field Day 5:30pm Turkey Run Farms September 16 Your Backyard Woods 1-3pm Masterson Station Park September 21 Rinse & Return Recylcing Program 10am-12pm Morehead Southern States September Grazing School Woodford County Extension Office October 7 Sheep & Goat Annual Producer Conference 8:30am-4:30pm CT L.D. Brown Ag Center, Bowling Green October 17 Kentucky Grazing Conference 8am-4:15pm Fayette County Extension Office October 28 Closing Date for Farmers Market ON the WEB You can check out this Newsletter issue on the Fleming County Extension Service website Also other current information and events can be found on the website, too. Like us on Facebook at If you have questions or comments, please me at april.wilhoit@uky.edu or call my cell at (606)

2 Timely Tips Dr. Roy Burris, Beef Extension Professor, University of Kentucky Spring-Calving Cow Herd Bulls should have been removed from the cow herd by now! They should be pastured away from the cow herd with a good fence and allowed to regain lost weight and condition. It is a good time to evaluate physical condition, especially feet and legs. Bulls can be given medical attention and still have plenty of time to recover, e.g., corns, abscesses, split hooves, etc. Don t keep trying to get open spring cows bred move them to fall calving or sell them when they wean this year s calf. Repair and improve corrals for fall working and weaning. Consider having an area to wean calves and retain ownership for postweaning feeding rather than selling green, lightweight calves. Plan to participate in CPH-45 feeder calf sales in your area. Fescue pastures don t generally produce much this month, however rain in July has given us some forage going into the usually dry months. Keep rotating pastures to permit calves to continue gaining weight. Keep minerals available at all times. Fall-Calving Cow Herd Dry cows should be moved to better pastures as calving time approaches. Cows should start calving next month. Yearling heifers may begin headstart calving later this month. Plan to move cows to stockpiled fescue for the breeding season, so it will soon be time to apply nitrogen fertilizer. Prepare for the fall-calving season (usually September). Get ready, be sure you have the following: - record book - eartags for identification - iodine solution for newborn calf s navel - calf puller - castration equipment General Keep a good mineral mix available at all times. The UK Beef IRM Basic Cow-Calf mineral is a good choice. Do not give up on fly control in late summer, especially if fly numbers are greater than about 50 flies per animal. You can use a different type of spray or pour-on to kill any resistant flies at the end of fly season. Avoid working cattle when temperatures are extremely high especially those grazing high-endophyte fescue. If cattle must be handled, do so in the early morning. Provide shade and water! Cattle will need shade during the hot part of the day. Check water supply frequently as much as 20 gallons may be required by high producing cows in very hot weather. Cattle may also be more prone to eat poisonous plants during periods of extreme temperature stress. They will stay in wooded areas and browse on plants that they would not normally consume. Consider putting a roll of hay in these areas and/or spraying plants like purple (perilla) mint which can be toxic. Select pastures for stockpiling. Remove cattle and apply nitrogen when moisture conditions are favorable. Stockpiled fescues can be especially beneficial for fall-calving cows after calving. Take soil samples to determine pasture fertility needs. Fertilize as needed, this fall. Please sample and bring your soil to the Fleming County Extension Service this fall (Sept-Oct-Nov) for faster results! Soil probes are available to borrow, call for info.

3 2017 FLEMING COUNTY FARMERS MARKET JUNE 17 OPENING DATE OCTOBER 28 CLOSING DATE Tuesday- 2:00-5:00PM (or sellout, whichever comes first) Saturday 8:00AM- 1:00PM (or sellout, whichever comes first) Located at the Fleming County Extension Office Elizaville Rd

4 Capture Value through Weaning Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler, Associate Beef Extension Professor, University of Kentucky Seems like I am a broken record lately. I keep hearing myself say only worry about what you can control and don t fret over those things you cannot. As fall comes, it occurs to me that these words seem to apply to our beef farms. Everyone wanders when the peak in the market will be. Several ask when is the market going to drop? Often we worry so much about what the markets will do in the fall, we forgot to focus on what we can control. Many calves make it to the market unweaned, something we can control. Time and time again, the markets show us that weaned calves bring more money than unweaned calves. Let s consider diverting our worries towards factors we can control. Weaning seems stressful, on the calves, cows and the livestock manager. Planning and preparing will ease this stress. A bit of planning means a bit of thinking about the process. Ask yourself, what makes weaning stressful? Is it the separation of dam and calf, breaking that mothering instinct? Personally, I think this is minimal. Consider research with Zebu or Brahman-type cattle in which heifer calves were naturally weaned around 9 months of age. Bull calves were naturally weaned older near 11 months of age. In this classical research there was considerable variation with the spread being 7-14 months. The point I m attempting to make is weaning calves at 7-9 months of age is near the age they would naturally be weaned. Is there stress from dam vocalization to call the calf to her to relieve discomfort from a full udder? I have watched cows with full udders, milk streaming from the teats while calling to calves across the fence that were bedded down paying little attention. This is a reasonable assumption that udder discomfort induces vocalization of the cow to call the calf to provide relief. However, I know of no research that identifies if the cow answers the calf or the calf answers the cow. I suspect it is a mix of both. What is known is the behavior can be altered. Is the stress related to a change in the environment? Moving the calves to a strange location with strange feed, unfamiliar water source, and close proximity to animals such dogs, cats, and humans which they normally can distant themselves from when in open fields are all stressors. This can be remedied by weaning on pasture rather than a drylot. Planning in advance can make weaning on pasture a success. Spending a bit of time considering where stress can be induced and developing strategies to minimize the degree of stress at each of these points will pay off. In fact, weaning can be a low stress situation with calves gaining well after weaning. I would strongly encourage you to consider stockpiling a field that has good exterior fences. Now is the time to start stockpiling the field. Applying nitrogen with adequate soil moisture will promote forage growth. Ten acres of stockpiled fescue will support about 30 calves for a month assuming there is slightly more than a ton of forage dry matter per acre. Focus your worries on strategies that add value to your calf crop and less on what the markets will do. You ll have the peace of mind knowing you did all you could to maximize the value of your calves. PHOTO: Matt Barton, UK Agricultural Communications Specialist

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7 FLEMING COUNTY 2017 Rinse and Return date is September 21 st, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., at Southern States, 5075 Flemingsburg Rd., Morehead KY Rinse and Return Recycling Program The Rinse and Return Program is a voluntary, cooperative program sponsored by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Agri-Business Association of Kentucky (ABAK). Other partners include the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, which helps coordinate the Program on a county level, Farm Bureau, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service and the local conservation districts, and the Ag Container Recycling Council. Due to the materials previously held by these pesticide containers they cannot be recycled with your ordinary household plastics. This program allows for the proper recycling of these pesticide containers. This reduces the amount of material entering the landfill or being disposed of by other means. Some of the end products include drainage pipe, highway sign posts, underground utility conduit, and wire/cable spool flanges. Pressure Rinsing Remove cover from container. Empty the pesticide into the spray tank and let the container drain for 30 seconds. Continue holding the container upside down over the sprayer tank opening so rinsate will run into the sprayer tank. Insert the pressure-rinse nozzle by puncturing through the bottom of the pesticide container. Rinse for length of time recommended by the manufacturer (generally 30 seconds or more). Triple Rinsing Remove cover from container. Empty the pesticide into the spray tank and let the container drain for 30 seconds. Fill the container 10% to 20% full of water or rinse solution. Secure the cover on the container. Swirl the container to rinse all inside surfaces. Remove cover from the container. Add the rinsate from the container to sprayer tank and let drain for 30 seconds or more. Repeat steps 2 through 5 two more times. Puncture container. The Rinse and Return Program has collected 956,503 pounds of pesticide containers since its inception with more than 100 counties participating. It started out in 1991 with three participating counties and gathered 10,000 pounds of material in the first year. KDA field technicians believe the 1 million pound mark can be achieved this year. Please check out the Rinse and Return Recycling Program schedule for the collection date and time in your area. Discrimination Complaint Procedure - The Cooperative Extension Service prohibits discrimination in its programs and employment on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. To file a complaint of discrimination, contact Rosemary Veach, UK College of Agriculture, Lexington, KY or the Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC Public Notification of Procedure For Filing A Complaint - Any person who believes they have been discriminated against in any Cooperative Extension Service sponsored activity or program may file a complaint with the Secretary of Agriculture by writing to: USDA Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W Whitten Bldg., 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC

8 NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID FLEMINGSBURG, KY PERMIT 20 Fleming County P.O. Box 192 Flemingsburg, KY RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED FLEMING COUNTY AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES NEWS MASTER GRAZER FALL 2017 GRAZING SCHOOL! On September 27th and 28th, UK will be hosting a Fall Grazing School at the Woodford County Extension office in Versailles, KY. The fall grazing school will focus on rotational grazing and the utilization of Warm-Season annuals as well as Cool Season crops for grazing cattle and small ruminants. Our goal is to educate farmers and to encourage beneficial grazing practices. If you would like to attend the school, please contact Zach Workman, Master Grazer Coordinator at (859) / zewo222@uky.edu. Or feel free to visit our website for more information about the Master Grazer Program. Registration is limited to the first 45 individuals. The registration fee is $ This fee includes all materials, manuals, snacks, and lunch for both days of the program.