Febuary 21, 2018

Good afternoon,

Yesterday morning was the final Conservation Tillage Club breakfast with guest speaker Elizabeth Hawkins, OSU Extension Agronomist and Paul Ralston, Hardin County cooperating farmer discussing on-farm research with Soybean Populations.  If you missed the program, you can read about it in the attached news release.  Our next big event in Hardin County will be the Conservation Tillage Conference at Ohio Northern University in Ada March 6-7.  This is the largest agronomy conference in Ohio and it will feature about 60 speakers from several land grant institutions, along with state and federal agencies.  You won’t want to miss out on this big event in our own backyard, so make sure you register by the early bird deadline of February 24 at ctc.osu.edu.  I have attached the mid-February edition of the Ohio No-Till news which features an article about CTC.  Monsanto will be providing USEPA required dicamba training both days of the conference for attendees who are planning to apply Xtendimax, Ingenia, or FeXapan in 2018.  If you need this training but want to go to another session, go to pested.osu.edu to register.  There is also a dicamba training coming up in Lima in the morning and afternoon on February 27 at the Howard Johnsons hotel.

Have you been making plans to attend the livestock banquets?  I have attached a news release about the Hardin County Horse Banquet which is Saturday, February 24 at 6:30 pm at the Kenton Moose Lodge. Doors open at 5:30 for a silent auction to raise funds for a scholarship.  Banquet tickets this year are $10.00 for adults and $8.00 for youth under 18 years of age.  Children age 6 and under are admitted free.

Tickets are available through February 21 from the following Hardin County Horse Club Advisors or committee members: Jonda Cole, Wendy Hooker, Ashley Gossard, David Faulkner, Brieanne Sullivan, Alesia Martin, as well as the Extension office.  The menu for the horse banquet will include a salad bar and pizza buffet.

The Hardin County Sheep Improvement Association will hold their annual Lamb Banquet on Saturday, March 3 at St. John’s Evangelical Church in Kenton at 6:30 pm.  Tickets for the banquet can be reserved from the Extension office by calling 419-674-2297 and paid for at the door the night of the banquet.  Adult tickets are $15, Children $7, and 2017 Hardin County Junior Fair Sheep Exhibitors FREE with a reservation given to the Extension office by February 23.  Banquet guests are asked to arrive early to participate in the silent auction bidding for various items that were donated to provide funds for the scholarship program.  Tickets can be purchased until February 23 from the following county Sheep Improvement Association Directors: Dave Ramsey, Megan Burgess, Scott Elliott, Cory Wagner, Dave Burkhart, Kristie Fay, Max Garmon, Kenny Williams, Jeff Bowers, Bruce Oberlitner, Peter Previte, or Russell Senning.  The banquet entertainment will highlight the California Sheep Production Tour Experience as shared by OSU Extension Educator Mark Badertscher. A dinner will be prepared with various cuts of lamb for the banquet guests to enjoy.

I have attached flyers of other upcoming events around our region and beyond including ‘Getting Control of Your Weeds’ in Greenville on February 26; ‘Improving Your Bottom Line With Nutrients and Cover Crops’ in Wapakoneta on March 13; ‘Horse Forage Management Series’ in Mt. Gilead on March 20, 22, and 24; ‘New Pesticide Applicator Training’ on March 22 in Wapakoneta; ‘2018 Darke County Ag Outlook / Chamber Ag Day’ on March 23 in Greenville; and a save the date flyer for a ‘Hops Conference, Bus Tour, and Trade Show’ on March 23-24 in Piketon.  Other local events include the Hardin County Dairy Banquet Saturday, February 24 starting at noon at the Plaza Inn Restaurant, the first 2018 Master Gardener Volunteers meeting, Monday, February 26 starting at 7:00 pm at Harco Industries, Farm Succession program sponsored by Ag Credit Tuesday, February 27 starting at 6:00 pm at Masters Building on Wyandot County Fairgrounds, and Occasional Quantity Cooks on the same evening starting at 6:30 pm in the Hardin County Extension office.

Mark


Reminders about dicamba training
– Mark Loux

Following the problems with off-target movement of the new dicamba formulations, XtendiMax, Engenia, and FeXapan, last summer, the USEPA mandated a number of label changes, and also designated these products as restricted use pesticides. The labels now contain additional restrictions on application, and also mandate that anyone applying these products must participate in annual training on their use. ODA will be enforcing the new dicamba restrictions and has sent out a letter to all private applicators with category 1 (grain and cereal crops) on their license to notify them of the new requirements. Dicamba-specific training dates and locations can be found at the OSU Pesticide Education website, pested.osu.edu – the list will be updated frequently.  Read more at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-02/reminders-about-dicamba-training.


What’s Limiting Soybean Yield? Take Soybean Production Survey and Receive $40 – Laura Lindsey

To participate in this research, please see the online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ohiosoybean. I am continuing a third year of a State‐Wide Project aimed at generating some baseline producer data on current soybean management practices in Ohio’s production systems. This project is funded by the Ohio Soybean Council and the North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP). The project goal is to identify the key factors that preclude the state’s soybean producers from obtaining yields that should be potentially possible on their respective individual farms. The term used for the difference between what yield is possible on your farm each year and what you yield you actually achieve is called a “Yield Gap”.  Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-02/what%E2%80%99s-limiting-soybean-yield-take-soybean-production-survey-and for more details.

 

2017 eFields Research Report Highlights OSU Efforts to Improve Decision Making for Farmers – Elizabeth Hawkins

Article submitted by Elizabeth Hawkins on behalf of the Digital Ag Team and contributors to eFields. eFields is an Ohio State University program dedicated to advancing production agriculture through the use of field-scale research. Investigations are designed to answer questions that matter to farmers and insights from these studies are used to help farmers and their advisors understand how new practices and techniques can improve farm efficiency and profitability. Projects focus on precision nutrient management strategies and technologies to improve efficiency of fertilizer placement, enhance placement of pesticides and seed, automate machinery, and to develop analytical tools for digital agriculture.  For more information about eFields, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-03/2017-efields-research-report-highlights-osu-efforts-improve.

 

Crawford Agronomy Night March 1st – Jason Hartschuh

The Crawford County Agronomy night with pesticide and fertilizer recertification will be held on March 1st, at the Wayside Chapel Community Center 2341 Kerstetter Rd Bucyrus Ohio 44820. The program will start at 3:30pm and run until 9:00pm. We will have special guest speakers, Dr. Pierce Paul covering corn and wheat diseases; Tunsisa Hurisso with the OSU Soils lab covering Soil carbon, microbes, and nitrogen; Poet will also be providing a corn market update; Other topics coved by local educators: Weed management programs for your farm, Managing herbicide drift and carry over, and Toxic plants and Livestock. All pesticide categories can be covered if needed. Attendees who need credits can attend for $50, you may also attend for education only for $20 Supper is included. For more information visit crawford.osu.edu or call 419-562-8731.

 

Conservation Tillage Conference: New Topics for Changing Ag – Mark Badertscher

So what is the relationship between healthy soils and healthy water? How can you manage inputs and planting date for high economic corn yields? Which soils should respond to sulfur applications? What are some opportunities and considerations with subsurface placement of nutrients? How can you build soil health and organic matter with cover crops and no-till? How can you use economics in the choice between growing corn and soybeans? What will the revised P index look like? How can you get started in honey bees, barley, or hops production? What are some methods to manage invasive plants around the farm?  If you would like to find out more regarding the CTC, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-04/conservation-tillage-conference-new-topics-changing-ag.

 

 

 

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

hardin.osu.edu


February 9, 2018

Good evening,

Winter time is a good time to sit back and look at how you are managing the farm.  One of the best tools to do this with are budgets.  This week I have attached the latest 2018 OSU Extension corn, soybean, and wheat budgets for you to use.  It’s time to sharpen the pencil so to speak, or if you are up to it, use the attached Excel spreadsheets to work with your numbers to see where you are at with production costs and income.  These budgets provide a column to do just that and I hope they are helpful to you.  Another good thing to do in the winter is attend educational meetings and conferences to brush up on topics.  I have attached a copy of the mid-January Ohio No-till News to this email.  It highlights the Ohio No-Till Conference, which was held at Der Dutchman in Plain City with Hardin County farmer Jan Layman serving as president.  It also includes some information about the upcoming Conservation Tillage Conference being held in Ada on March 6-7.

Once again Hardin County is teaming up with Allen County to offer a new Master Gardener Volunteer training course.  This course will begin on March 6 and will meet Tuesday and Thursday evenings at OSU Lima campus from 6:00-9:00 pm.  If you know of someone interested in becoming a Master Gardener Volunteer, share the attached news release and flyer with them.  Registration deadline for the course is February 27.  Don’t forget that Ag Credit is sponsoring a Farm Succession evening program with dinner on February 27 in the Masters Building at the Wyandot County Fairgrounds.  I have attached a flyer to this email along with another flyer promoting a Farm Succession and Transition program with lunch being offered in Greenville on the same date, but during the day.  Handing down the farm operation to the younger generation takes careful planning, so take advantage of these opportunities and register today to get a plan in place if this is your situation.

Organic production is an option for some considering alternative agriculture.  There will be a panel discussion in Urbana discussing this topic over dinner on February 21.  See the attached flyer for more information if you are interested.  This panel will be discussing organic row crops, hay, pasture, and beef cattle.  Do you know a young woman interested in an agricultural career?  If so, see the attached flyer about FarmHer.  This program is scheduled to take place on February 23 at the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus.  That’s about all for now, with the exception of upcoming local meetings here in Hardin County.  The Pork Producers met last night at Ag Credit to plan their upcoming banquet, Farm Bureau is having their Comedy Night at the Kenton Elks Lodge tomorrow (2/10) evening starting at 6:30 pm and the Hardin County Men’s Garden Club is getting started back up again for the season Monday (2/12) at the home of Steve Phillips.  For additional reading material, see the attached agronomy articles.

Mark

2017 Northwest Ohio Corn Silage Test – Rich Minyo, Allen Geyer, Peter Thomison, Bill Widdicombe

In 2017, 50 corn silage hybrids representing 15 commercial brands were evaluated in a joint trial with Michigan State University (MSU). One Ohio location is combined with Michigan’s two southern (Zone 1) silage locations. The trials were divided into two maturity groups designated early and late on the basis of the relative maturity (RM) submitted by the companies with results listed in separate tables. The Ohio test site was located in our Northwest Region at Hoytville (Wood County).  To read more about the 2017 Northwest Ohio Corn Silage Test, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-01/2017-northwest-ohio-corn-silage-test.

The Effects of Soil Conservation Practices on Selected Soil Health Indicators – Alan Sundermeier

Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. Soil health indicators are measurements of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil. As more tools become available to measure soil health factors, it is critical that we evaluate the efficacy of these tools. This 2-year project in Northwest Ohio measured the impact that soil conservation practices have on selected soil health indicators and the subsequent corn yield in cover cropped hay, wheat and corn cropping systems.  To read more, go tohttps://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-01/effects-soil-conservation-practices-selected-soil-health.
Fertilizer Recertification Begins in 2018
– Mark Badertscher, Ed Lentz

Ohio is now seeing full implementation of Ohio’s Agricultural Fertilizer Applicator Certification regulation. The regulation was result of Senate Bill 150, which can be found at http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/905.322 and http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/905.321. The 2014 regulation required farmers to complete a fertilizer certification program if they applied fertilizer to more than 50 acres of land in agricultural production primarily for sale. Exemptions included fertilizer applied through a planter, individuals whose crops remained on the farm for their livestock and not sold, or fertilizer applied by a commercial applicator.  Click onhttps://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-01/fertilizer-recertification-begins-2018 to read more about fertilizer recertification.

Customizing your Weed Management Program – Jason Hartschuh

Two similar advanced weed management program are planned for February 13th  in Marion and 14th in Willard. They will both feature Mark Loux and Bruce Ackley with hands on weed identification. They will also be covering weed biology and making a cost effective weed control program that fits your farm. These will be hands on programs working with green house grown weeds, for weed identification at various growth stages. The Willard Program will have an hour after lunch focusing on sprayer clean out and effects of spray nozzles. The Willard program will also offer pesticide recertification credits and CCA credits. Please call the respective program sponsors on the fliers below for more information and to register.  Go tohttps://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-032018-02-2018-01/customizing-your-weed-management-program to read more about these programs being offered in Marion and Willard.

Input Wanted- Ohio Farm Custom Rate Survey – 2018 – Barry Ward

We need your assistance in securing up-to-date information about farm custom work rates and machinery rental rates in Ohio. This information is updated every-other year and published by OSU Extension. It is widely used across the state, so we need the best information available. Enclosed is a copy of the Ohio Farm Custom Rate Survey for 2018. Please provide rates that are current including the latest price increases or planned increases. An online option for this survey is available athttps://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cJa90YBYdWOa6DX. We would ask you to please respond even if you know only have a few operations with data. We want information on actual rates, either what you paid to hire work or what you charged to perform custom work. To read more about this survey, go tohttps://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-01/input-wanted-ohio-farm-custom-rate-survey-%E2%80%93-2018.

 

 

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

hardin.osu.edu