Hello,
As we enter the winter banquet season, there are starting to be livestock commodity banquets popping up on the calendar. The first one of the year is the Hardin County Dairy Banquet, which is scheduled for Saturday, February 24 at 12:00 noon at the Plaza Inn Restaurant, Mt. Victory. Tickets this year are $15.00 for adults and $7.00 for children 12 and under. Junior Fair Dairy Exhibitors from the 2017 Hardin County Fair are eligible for a complimentary ticket by contacting the Extension office. Tickets are available until February 16 from the following county Dairy Service Unit Directors: Philip Bauer, Nate Cromer, Keith and Jean Dirkson, Corey Ledley, Chad Hazelton, Bret Rager, Larry and Janice Rall, Parry Rall, Vaughn Rall, Clair and Sue Sanders, Dan and Molly Wagner, or from the Extension Office. For more information about this upcoming banquet as well as the dairy scholarship and dairy princess application procedure, see the attached news release.
Last week I mentioned the upcoming BASF dicamba trainings for those using the new herbicides on dicamba tolerant soybeans. Monsanto has now listed a series of meetings as well, with the closest one being on February 27, 2018 9-10:30 am OR 2-3:30 pm, at the Howard Johnsons, 1920 Roschman Ave., Lima, Ohio 45804. See the attached Monsanto Dicamba Training document for a list of these meetings as well as those already announced by BASF. I have also attached an Ohio Department of Agriculture document explaining Dicamba label modifications for 2018 that are required if you plan to use either Engenia, XtendiMax, or FeXapan this crop year. These new requirements are for all applicators applying any of these products this year. For more information, go to pested.osu.edu. Ag Credit is sponsoring a series of Farm Succession workshops this spring at the Masters Building on the Wyandot County Fairgrounds. The first session is going to be on February 27, starting at 6:00 pm and will feature Dr. Ron Hanson, retired professor from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who will outline the steps necessary to implement as well as achieve an effective succession plan that will avoid potential misunderstandings and family conflicts. Register for the free dinner and program by contacting the Kenton Ag Credit at 419-675-2303. The event is open to anyone in the agricultural community interested in farm succession planning.
Other upcoming programs that I have included flyers for are Fruit Tree Pruning in Greenville on February 21 and 24, Livestock Predator Workshop in Piketon on February 17, Balance Sheets and Record Keeping in Wapakoneta on February 21, Ohio Agritourism Ready Conference in Piketon on March 10, and the Ohio Swine Health Symposium in Plain City on March 21. If you know of an ATI student near the Wooster area that would be interested in doing Integrated Pest Management Scouting for a summer internship, I have attached a flyer for this opportunity with OSU Extension-Wayne County. Local events this week include Ag Council breakfast on Friday, February 2 with information about 2018 OSUE crop budgets for corn, soybean, and wheat. There will be a Fairboard meeting on Saturday, February 3 starting at 7:30 pm in the fair office. The Cattle Producers are meeting on Monday, February 5 starting at 7:30 pm in the Allmax Building. As usual, I have attached some ag crops articles that you may be interested in reading.
- Fruit Tree Pruning Flyer
- Livestock Predator Workshop Flyer
- Balance Sheets Record Keeping Flyer
- Ohio Agritourism Conference Flyer
- Ohio Swine Health Flyer
- IPM Scouting Flyer
Mark
Conservation Tillage Club Breakfast Series Planned – Mark Badertscher
On February 6 Dr. Aaron Wilson will speak to the Conservation Tillage Club. He will be presenting Climate and Weather information and how it has affected crops over recent years. Wilson is an Atmospheric Scientist at The Ohio State University, holding a joint appointment as a Senior Research Associate at the Byrd Polar & Climate Research Center. He is also a contributing member to the State Climate Office of Ohio. He helps coordinate the state’s weekly contribution to the U.S. Drought Monitor activities at the National Drought Mitigation Center, and helps Ohioans understand how changing weather extremes are impacting their lives. His outreach activities include presentations at county events, field days, and the Farm Science Review. To read more, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-41/conservation-tillage-club-breakfast-series-planned.
What accounts for variability in grain protein levels in corn? – Alexander Lindsey, Stan Smith, Peter Thomison
We’ve recently heard comments and questions concerning the varying levels of grain protein levels being found in shelled corn. Some feed companies have reported seeing many samples in the upper 6% and lower 7% protein range this year but there are reports of levels that are nearly 9%. Some feed mill operations are using 7% as the default value based on this year and last year’s levels. However, in the past, higher grain protein levels (% +2) have been cited for corn. Are the reports of low levels in 2016 and 2017 an anomaly? What could be accounting for these varying protein levels in corn? Read more about this topic athttps://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-01/what-accounts-variability-grain-protein-levels-corn.
Agronomic Crops and YouTube – Harold D. Watters
We know not everyone can attend our meetings so for many topics we produce videos or publish bulletins. Some are short and on the concerns of the day, others are for background on broader topics. The OSU Agronomic Crops Team has a Youtube channel where we place the videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbqpb60QXN3UJIBa5is6kHw. One recent addition is from Ryan Haden and Jon Witter on setting up grid soil sampling and then developing a variable rate application map. It can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/kCitqkkRV6Y. This is nicely done, short at 15 minutes, and involves ATI students on our Wooster campus. Go tohttps://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-01/agronomic-crops-and-youtube for more online videos and resources.
Northern Ohio Crops Day – Allen Gahler
The annual Northern Ohio Crops Day, held annually in February at Ole Zim’s Wagon Shed near Gibsonburg, Ohio in Sandusky County is returning to its roots in 2018 with an in-depth agronomy program. Progressive producers will want to mark February 8, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. on their calendar for a program packed full of speakers and topics on the latest issues in agronomy, including a budgeting and cropland values update by Barry Ward, pigweed ID and control strategies by Dr. Mark Loux, and a discussion on weather trends and their impact by OSU Extension climatologist Aaron Wilson. Additional topics will include soybean disease management by Anne Dorrance, soil fertility, nitrogen use in on-farm research trials, and getting the most out of Precision Ag technology. For more information, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-022018-01/northern-ohio-crops-day.
2018 Central Ohio Agronomy School “The Nuts & Bolts About Corn & Soybean Production” – John Barker
The 2018 Central Ohio Agronomy School will be held on Monday evenings, beginning on Monday February 5 through Monday March 5, from 6:30 –9:00 p.m. in the conference room of the Ag Services Building, 1025 Harcourt Rd. Mt. Vernon, Ohio 43050. This five-week program will provide the attendees with the most comprehensive, up-to-date crop production and agricultural technology information available today. This school is designed with everyone in mind; part-time or full-time producer, beginner or CCA agronomist. Within each subject area we will teach the basic concepts and progress to the most advanced agronomic principles. To finish reading this article, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-022018-01/2018-central-ohio-agronomy-school-%E2%80%9C-nuts-bolts-about-corn.
