Hello,
Is it raining out your way? We’ve sure received our share of precipitation in the past couple of days. Soon our 15 Hardin County Township Rainfall Reporters will be back at taking care of the important task of recording rainfall. After checking past records, it looks like this type of data has been collected for the past 21 years. Traditionally, rainfall has been collected during the growing season from April 15-October 15. Monthly reports are sent in to the Extension office and the data is summarized. A monthly article is then submitted to the area media to let people know how much rainfall has been collected around the county and how this information compares with the past month and sometimes a ten year average. This is useful information for crop producers, but the disadvantage is that immediate rainfall information is not available. The advantage is that we have a wealth of information from collecting data this way for several years, and this research needs to be continued.
So what about a person who is interested in knowing the rainfall amount the same day, or maybe the for the week? Many farmers now have cropland around the county and in some cases in multiple counties. Different farms receive different amounts of rainfall. There is a rainfall collection and reporting system that meets these needs as well. The Community Collaborative Rain, Snow, and Hail network or CoCoRaHS for short is the nation’s largest rainfall collection network started by Colorado State University in 1998. Once a CoCoRaHS volunteer collects rainfall in their special gauge, it is entered online that day. This rainfall information becomes immediately available to anyone with charts and maps on the internet. Historical records are compiled automatically and can be viewed at http://www.cocorahs.org/.
I have decided to start this method of rainfall reporting in Hardin County in addition to the traditional rainfall collection method that we will be starting our 22nd year of on April 15. Ten new CoCoRaHS gauges have been purchased to begin this new rainfall collection process. The idea is to find volunteers to around the county who are willing to participate in this effort. The Extension office will provide these individuals with gauges and training in return for the data that will be collected and will be available for anyone to view online. A person is expected to check their rain gauge each morning and enter the amount, if any, online. If they are going to be away and cannot check the gauge, a multi-day entry can be made. Check out the website and attached flier if you are interested, and then let me now if you would like to participate in this program.
Once the rain falls, it needs a place to drain. Researchers from The Ohio State University School of Environment and Natural Resources, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences have sent out copies of the Ohio Drainage Management Survey to randomly selected landowners in Hardin County. Names and addresses were gathered by the researchers from county public records. You may have received one of these surveys and may wonder why you are being asked to complete it. This survey is a part of a larger project to educate landowners about conservation management decisions, as well as gain their perspective and views about possible policy being discussed at state and local levels. If you received one of these surveys or want to find out more about it, see the attached news release. It is important to have the views of Hardin County landowners as a part of this process.
Meetings and events for this coming week include the Sheep Improvement Association April 8, starting at 7:30 pm at Ag Credit. The Abundant Life Assembly of God church will host Tree City USA on April 9 from 8:30-3:00 pm. This event is hosted by both the City of Kenton and Village of Mt. Victory Tree Commissions. The Dairy Service Unit will have pick-up for their spring cheese sale at Dan & Molly Wagner’s Dairy Farm from 12:00-7:00 pm on Friday, April 11 and from 9:00-12:00 noon on Saturday, April 12. Below are some articles and related information that you may be interested in reading.
Mark
New Developments in the World of Soybean Pathology – Anne Dorrance
At the regional soybean disease workers meeting in Florida earlier this month, colleagues from Kentucky and Indiana both reported the presence of the fungus, Cercospora sojina, that are resistant to the strobilurin fungicides. This fungus causes frogeye leaf spot on soybean. There are lots of Cercospora species that cause disease on a number of different hosts (gray leaf spot on corn; Cercospora on beets etc.) To date we have not identified any Cercospore sojina isolates that are insensitive to these fungicides. More monitoring will take place in 2014. Go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2014/2014-7/new-developments-in-the-world-of-soybean-pathology to continue reading this article.
ODA Certifies Ohio Beef Marketing Program Referendum Results – Erica Hawkins, Communications Director (Ohio Department of Agriculture)
The Ohio Department of Agriculture today certified the results of the Ohio Beef Marketing Program Referendum. The referendum, seeking to increase the state checkoff on cattle from $1 to $2, received enough favorable votes to pass. A total of 2118 votes were certified; 1527 votes, or 72 percent of the total, were cast in favor of the referendum and 591 votes, about 28 percent, were opposed to the increase. Producers were able to vote by absentee ballot, and also in person at the Ohio Department of Agriculture and at OSU Extension offices. The provisions of the Ohio Beef Marketing Program are defined in section 924 of the Ohio Revised Code. The Ohio Department of Agriculture has the authority through section 924 to oversee state commodity checkoff programs, including administration of the referendum process, budgetary oversight, and authority to assist in establishing new commodity programs.
Sharpen Label Changes – It’s Something Anyway – Mark Loux
A recent change to the Sharpen label results in more utility for this product in spring burndown programs for soybeans. Sharpen can now be applied in a mixture with other PPO-containing herbicides, as long as the following conditions are met: applied at least 14 days before soybean planting; soils are medium to fine-textured; or soils are coarse-textured soils but have 2% or higher organic matter. This pertains to any product containing flumioxazin (Valor, Valor XLT, Envive, etc), sulfentrazone (Authority products, Sonic), and fomesafen (Prefix, Vise). The Sharpen label previously allowed these mixtures only when applied at least 30 days before planting. Labels for most of the PPO-containing residual herbicides appear to also be changing to recommend mixtures with Sharpen at least 14 days before planting. These labels refer the user to the Sharpen label for specifics on timing, rate, soil type, etc. The rest of this article can be found at http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2014/2014-7/sharpen-label-changes-2013-it2019s-something-anyway.
Fact Sheets: PED biosecurity and manure – Mike Monnin (USDA-NRCS)
A series of fact sheets have been developed on manure pumping protocols to reduce the risk of spreading the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv). These three fact sheets layout biosecurity guidelines for pork producers, land owners, and commercial haulers that work with swine manure. PEDv is of the Coronavirus Family of viruses. These two strands of viruses were first discovered in the United States in April and May of 2013. There has been rapid spread in hog states with significant piglet losses. Symptoms are severe diarrhea, dehydration, lack of nutrient uptake which has a devastating loss of piglets ten days old or less. See the attached files for information to help prevent an outbreak on your farm or someone else’s farm.
PED-Biosecurity and Manure Pork Producers
Free-stall Stocking Density Affects Productivity – Rory Lewandowski
I was recently asked about the effect of stocking density in a freestall barn on dairy cow productivity. The incentive to utilize a stocking density above 100% (more than 1 cow per freestall space) is driven by economics; the fixed cost of the building and production facilities is allocated over a greater number of cows. However, this must be balanced by the impact upon cow comfort and cow behavior. Cow comfort and cow behavior have an economic correlation with milk production. Peter Krawczel from the University of Tennessee and Rick Grant of the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in New York co-authored a very good article on this topic and I’ll summarize some of their work to answer this stocking density question. To read this article from the Buckeye Dairy News, go to http://dairy.osu.edu/bdnews/Volume%2016%20issue%202%20files/Volume%2016%20Issue%202.html#Free.
Mark A. Badertscher
Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator
OSU Extension Hardin County
1021 W. Lima Street, Suite 103, Kenton, OH 43326
419-674-2297 Office