Good afternoon,
It’s been a busy couple of weeks and time to update folks about what is going on in Hardin County Agriculture and Natural Resources. Monday we had the Hardin County Dairy Service Unit Annual Meeting with Paul Detwiler from Sexing Technologies and the Ohio Heifer Center as the speaker on exporting bred heifers to Turkey, heifer feed research, and manure recycling into bedding. Tuesday and Wednesday saw hundreds of farmers, crop consultants, agribusiness professionals converge in Ada for what Gene McCluer likes to call the “Hardin County Agronomy Day,” otherwise known as the Conservation Tillage & Technology Conference (CTC). Hardin County’s own Brian Watkins was one of the speakers and did a talk on using Big Data to measure machine efficiencies across different tillage systems.
The Farm Bureau Board met on Tuesday evening and is in the planning stages of a possible county farm tour with a special twist. This group also stepped up and helped with registration and provided breakfast for the 3-Hour Fertilizer Applicator Certification Training which was attended by 100 people Thursday at Ohio Northern University in Ada. This morning was Ag Council with an update from Senator Cliff Hite on pending legislation that could have an effect on farmers and commercial applicators in the Lake Erie Watershed. We also spent time discussing the new 2015 OSU Extension Crop Production Budgets which can be found at
http://aede.osu.edu/research/osu-farm-management/enterprise-budgets among other agriculture and county information that was shared.
Saturday, March 7 will be the Hardin County Lamb Banquet, starting at 6:30 pm at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Kenton. The Fair Board will meet the same evening, starting at 7:30 pm at the fair office. The Men’s Garden Club will meet Monday, March 9 at the home of member Jim Candler, near Ridgeway starting at 6:30 pm. Tuesday, March 10 will be the final agronomy webinar, Agronomic Use of Manure which will begin at 7:00 pm at the Extension office in Kenton. ‘Can Manure Sourced Nutrients be used to Meet Crop Need?’ will be presented by Greg LaBarge, Field Specialist-Agronomic Systems, OSUE. His presentation will be followed by ‘Alternative Applications Timing to Take Advantage of Nitrogen’ presented by Glen Arnold, Field Specialist-Manure Nutrient Utilization, OSUE. For more information, see the attached flyer.
Hardin 2015 CSW Connection Series
There will be a Cattle Producers Directors meeting Wednesday, March 11 starting at 7:30 pm in the Allmax Software Building to discuss the upcoming Beef Banquet. I have attached a news release regarding the new Beef Ambassador program and Beef Scholarships to this email. The annual Hardin County Ag Society Consignment Sale will be held at the fairgrounds Saturday, March 14 starting at 9:00 am. Farm Machinery and other items to be consigned for this sale can be delivered to the fairgrounds Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this coming week (March 11-13) until 5:30 pm. No consignments will be accepted on Sale Day.
Beef Ambassador-Scholarship News Release
The Hardin County Pork Banquet will be held also on Saturday, March 14 at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Kenton starting at 6:30 pm. Tickets for this banquet can be purchased through March 9 from the following county Pork Producers Directors: Grant Mizek, Kevin (Dewey) Skidmore, Steve Searson, Christine Heilman, Doug Heilman, Tim Holbrook, Mark Watkins, Nancy Weaver, Luke Underwood, Rob Wilson, Dick Cronley, Matthew Holbrook, Lavern Weaver, Mike Martino, Rob Underwood, Nathan Weaver, Lane Ritchey, Tiffany and Tyler Sparks. Tickets can also be purchased from the Extension office at 1021 West Lima Street, Suite 103, Kenton. The Pork Producers will be presenting their scholarships and recognizing their royalty at this event. See the attached news release for more information.
While traveling around the ten county area in the Top of Ohio Extension Education Research Area teaching pesticide and fertilizer certification, the question has come up quite often regarding the current rules for manure application on frozen or snow covered ground. I have also answered some questions regarding this topic locally. To help understand the current rules, I have attached an article written by Putnam County Extension Educator Jim Hoorman. There are also some agronomy related articles for your reading below if you’re looking for some good information on these cold days.
Mark
This Winter: Below Normal – Jim Noel
For this winter through February 16, temperatures were about 1 degree below normal in northern Ohio and normal in southern Ohio. The cold since then will cause these numbers to drop a little for the 3 month period. Precipitation for winter through February 16 was 80-100 percent of normal and snowfall was near to slightly below normal except near Lake Erie. February ended on a colder and drier note through February 28. Looking ahead to March, the weather pattern will change from colder than normal and drier than normal to a normal to warmer than normal pattern and wetter. The spring outlook calls for near normal temperatures and precipitation. The outlook for summer calls for near normal to warmer than normal temperatures and near to slightly below normal precipitation. For more information on the weather, go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2015/2015-04/this-winter-below-normal.
Naked Soybeans in Ohio? – Anne Dorrance
At several meetings and based on a few emails this winter it is very clear that Ohio soybean farmers are examining their budgets and looking for ways to cut costs in 2015. Planting naked seed, no fungicide seed treatment, is one place that some producers are contemplating. There is plenty of concern if this is really a good choice to reduce costs. It is true that soybeans do not always need a fungicide seed treatment. However, on our soils with poor drainage where replanting is relatively common, replanting costs today are much higher than our estimates of $80/acre from 10 years ago. Basically seed treatments are an insurance policy to protect that young seed/seedling until it is out of the ground and growing. To continue reading this article, go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2015/2015-04/going-naked-in-ohio.
2015 Overholt Drainage School will be held March 16-20 – Larry Brown
The 2015 Overholt Drainage School will be held March 16-20 at the Defiance County Emergency Management Agency Building on ST RT 15 (22491 Mill Street, Defiance, OH 43512). This year’s program includes three sessions: 1) Agricultural subsurface drainage: System design and installation; 2) Drainage water management: Controlled drainage system design and installation; and 3) Concepts in Water Table Management with Subirrigation: Aspects of Design, Benefits, Installation, Management. The Overholt Drainage School is designed and taught to provide continuing education for land improvement contractors, soil and water conservation technicians, farmers, engineers, crop consultants, educators and others interested in advancing their knowledge of basic concepts, principles, and skills related to the purpose, design, layout, construction, and management of Soil and Water Conservation Systems. The School has been taught for over 50 years. The brochure and registration can be downloaded from the Soil & Water section of the Agronomic Crops Team website: http://agcrops.osu.edu/specialists/soil-and-water-management. Space is limited so register early. If you have any questions, or would like to access the link to on-line credit card payment, please contact Larry Brown at brown.59@osu.edu, or call 614-292-3826.
Is It Too Early to Apply N to Wheat? – Yes – Ed Lentz, Laura Lindsey
Each year producers ask the question when is the best time to apply N to wheat? Also, is it ok to apply N on frozen ground? For any N application the question to ask is, “When does the crop need N?” Wheat does not require large amounts of N until stem elongation (Feekes Growth Stage 6), which is the middle or the end of April depending on the location in state. Ohio research has shown no yield benefit from applications made prior to this time period. Soil organic matter and/or N applied at planting generally provide sufficient N for early growth until stem elongation. Nitrogen applied prior to rapid utilization has the potential to be lost and unavailable for the crop. Nitrogen source will also affect the potential for loss. Urea-ammonium nitrate (28%) has the greatest potential for loss, ammonium sulfate the least, and urea would be somewhere between the two other sources. To continue reading this article, go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2015/2015-04/is-it-too-early-to-apply-n-to-wheat-yes.
New Weed Science Resources – Mark Loux
A couple of new resources on weed identification and herbicide site of action from OSU weed science. We have developed an iBook for weed ID, “The Ohio State University Guide to Weed Identification”. This is a really nice resource to download onto an iPad or Mac computer for use in weed ID in the field or wherever. It will not run on iPhone or other platforms. The first edition of this is currently free on iTunes, but we will charge for the subsequent editions that will contain even more weeds. Go to iTunes, and then search “weed identification” and it should come up. A collection of our time-lapse videos demonstrating herbicide mechanism of action is available on YouTube. These are labeled with herbicide site of action number. Search for “Ohio State Weed Science” in YouTube or use this link: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrQLElJHkjuh65RjQZ8nWDBh0Da_MekB0.
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