News Update
August 29, 2013
Fall Beef Cattle Educational Program Slated Sept. 18 in Floresville
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Wilson County, in cooperation with the Texas Farm Bureau, will present the “Fall Beef Cattle Educational Program” from 6-8:30 p.m. Sept. 18 in Floresville.
The program will take place at the Wilson County Show Barn, 435 U.S. Hwy. 97 East.
“This is a free educational program presented by Wilson County Farm Bureau and AgriLife Extension in Wilson County,” said Bryan Davis, AgriLife Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources. “This is a critical time for beef cattle producers to begin preparing for how to meet the nutritional requirements of their herd through the fall and winter. The program will provide useful and timely information on this topic.”
Registration will be from 6-6:30 p.m., followed by a short introduction by Tom Ortmann, president of Wilson County Farm Bureau, and Davis. The program will begin at 6:40 p.m., with a comprehensive presentation by Rick Machen, AgriLife Extension livestock specialist in Uvalde, titled “Winter 2013 — Holding on with Hay and Mirror, Mirror … What Lies Just Ahead?”
“Dr. Machen will provide information on forage and hay requirements for producers to get cattle through the 2013 fall and winter,” Davis said. “He will also give a winter market outlook.”
One Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education unit is offered in the general category.
While there is no charge for the program, seating is limited, so attendees are requested to RSVP to the Wilson County Farm Bureau Office at 830-393-2481.
For more information on the program, contact Davis at 830-393-7357 or by-davis@tamu.edu.
Review Grain Bin Safety Rules Before Harvest
University of Missouri Extension rural safety and health specialist Karen Funkenbusch said now is a good time to review safety precautions for grain bins with farm workers and family members.
Grain bin entrapments are sad reminders that grain storage can be deadly. It takes only five seconds for a person to be caught in flowing grain, and less than 20 seconds to be sucked into the center of the grain, which acts much like quicksand, Funkenbusch said. A child can be buried in far less time.
Grain’s weight and other properties make it difficult to get out of a bin without assistance, she said. Grain resists the force a rescuer uses to remove the victim. It takes more than 325 pounds of force to raise a 165-pound mannequin covered in corn, she said.
Farmers who have worked around grain bins all of their lives might think this won’t happen to them. But the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that at least 26 U.S. workers were killed in grain engulfments in 2010, the highest on record. Since then, OSHA has inspected numerous bins and is committed to changing the “it won’t happen to me” mindset, Funkenbusch said.
All augers and grain-moving equipment should be turned off before anyone enters a bin. Farmers and their employees should never “walk down” grain from the bin’s sides to make it flow, or walk on crusted or bridged grain, which can collapse under a person’s weight. If there is crusted or bridged grain, workers should use a tool to probe the surface from outside the bin.
Entrepreneurial Farm Families and Their Success Stories
Many farm families have dreams of value-added enterprises that might be feasible to launch as a part of their farm operation. A few step out and turn their dreams into reality. If you are considering taking that step, it is wise to listen to others who have successfully started new value-added enterprises. It is also important to analyze your resources, abilities, passion, time and knowledge.
There are numerous unique stories of how farm families solved a problem or saw an opportunity and took action. That action led them on exciting entrepreneurial journeys that they usually are willing to share. Take some time to visit with successful value-added farm operators. Find out their motivation, the barriers they had to overcome, the amount of time and effort it took, the marketing opportunities and challenges they encountered and how it has affected their overall operation and family.
If you don’t know any farmers involved in value-added ventures, or even if you do and want to learn more, you have an opportunity to visit successful practitioners and hear their stories on a two-day entrepreneurial farm tour to northeast Michigan in the Alpena, Mich., area. The tour will take place on Sept. 17-18 and will highlight an hydroponic greenhouse, pastured beef and poultry, fruit production, hoop houses, CSAs, farm markets, agri-entertainment, incubator kitchen, gluten free food production, lumber mill, maple syrup, cider mill, organic vegetables, small diversified operations, lime quarry, cranberry production and much more.
For more information, please view the proceedings here.
Heavy Dews, Cool Nights Increase Downy Mildew in Soybeans
Excessive rain during flowering and right after planting, coupled with cool nights, have caused an increase in some late season soybean diseases in many Ohio fields, according to a soybean expert from Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
The inclement weather during these two key time periods in soybeans have made the plants really vulnerable to disease this year, said Anne Dorrance, an Ohio State University (OSU) Extension plant pathologist who has led soybean disease research and outreach efforts in Ohio.
Dorrance, who also has an appointment with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), said now is the time growers should be scouting their fields to know what diseases may be impacting their soybean plants in order to know how to manage the fields to prevent similar occurrences next season.
OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of the college.
“We’re seeing a lot of late-season disease symptoms across the state,” Dorrance said. “While many of these diseases will spread, they are manageable.
“The key is to know where the pockets of diseases are. So it’s important to scout your fields to take a good, hard look at how things are going. Once you know what pathogens are in your field, then you can make better choices in variety selection and crop rotation, which are two key management elements.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Editor’s Note: The articles used within this site represent a mixture of copyrights. If you would like to reprint or repost an article, you must first request permission of Angus Productions Inc. (API) by contacting the editor at 816-383-5200; 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO 64506. API claims copyright to this web site as presented. We welcome educational venues and cattlemen to link to this site as a service to their audience.