Good afternoon,
The Hardin County Fair is underway! Make sure you take the time to get out to the fairgrounds to support both the youth and adults who have entries in this year’s county fair. While you are out there, be sure you stop by the Cattle Producers, Pork Producers, and Sheep Improvement Association food buildings to support these local livestock commodity groups who do projects to support Hardin County junior fair youth. If you don’t plan to attend this year’s Hardin County Fair, you can also support your favorite non-profit group through America’s Farmers Grow Communities at https://www.facebook.com/AmericasFarmers/videos/10156566110773524/. You won’t want to miss the Hardin County Carcass Show of Champions being held Wednesday, September 12, 6:00 pm at Mt. Victory Meats. This carcass show will compare the champion and reserve champion steers, barrows, gilts, lambs, and goats from the county fair. See the attached news release and flyer for more details about this coming event.
Carcass Show Flyer
Corn silage harvest has started in the county this past week. A field of corn was shelled in Darke County with 18.3% moisture. Today I heard on a conference call that a few soybean fields in other counties are close to being harvested. See the August 27 Ohio Crop Weather report provided by USDA for numbers specific to Ohio crops. Before harvest begins, there will be an opportunity for agronomists, Certified Crop Advisers, custom applicators and farmers to attend this year’s Farm Science Review Agronomy College being held September 11 in London. See the attached flyer for more details and how to register. Are you interested in learning how to shear sheep? If so, don’t miss out on this year’s Statewide Sheep Shearing School being held September 14-15, sponsored by the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association and OSU Extension. See the attached registration flyer for more information about this school.
Statewide Sheep Shearing School Form
This year’s Hardin County Farm Bureau ATV Tour is Sunday, September 23 in combination with Van Scoy Farm’s Feast on the Farm. You do not have to be a Farm Bureau member to participate, and this year there is also a car/truck tour that visits the same farms. See the attached flyer to find out how to experience local agriculture close to home. Registration for this tour is due by September 10. Other upcoming local events include Ag Council breakfast on Friday, September 14 starting at 7:00 am at Henry’s Restaurant and the Ada Harvest and Herb Festival, which is taking place Saturday, September 15 in that village. If you are interested in reading ag crops articles, see the ones below that I have included in this newsletter. I hope to see you at the fair!
Mark
Ear Rots of Corn: Telling them Apart – Pierce Paul, Felipe Dalla Lana da Silva
Over the last few weeks, we have received samples with at least four different types of ear rots – Diplodia, Gibberella, Fusarium, and Trichoderma. Of these, Diplodia ear rot seems to be the most prevalent. Ear rots differ from each other in terms of the damage they cause (their symptoms), the toxins they produce, and the specific conditions under which they develop. Most are favored by wet, humid conditions during silk emergence (R1) and just prior to harvest. But they vary in their temperature requirements, with most being restricted my excessively warm conditions such as the 90+ F forecasted for the next several days. However, it should be noted that even when conditions are not optimum for ear rot development, mycotoxins may accumulate in infected ears. Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-28/ear-rots-corn-telling-them-apart to finish reading about corn ear rots.
Late-Season Pod Feeding by Bean Leaf Beetle or Grasshopper – Kelley Tilmon, Andy Michel
We have heard a few reports of either bean leaf beetles or grasshoppers increasing in soybeans. As we start to approach the end of the growing season the larger concern with these insects is the potential for pod feeding, rather than foliage feeding. Pod feeding directly impacts grain quality. Crop stage is also an important consideration. Late-planted fields or double-cropped soybeans which are still green when other fields are drying down can be “trap crops,” attracting both bean leaf beetles or grasshoppers leaving the other fields. Such fields bear close watching. Read the rest of this article at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-27/late-season-pod-feeding-bean-leaf-beetle-or-grasshopper.
Tillage After Wheat Harvest – A Good Idea? – Steve Culman
After winter wheat harvest, it’s not an uncommon sight in Ohio to see producers tilling their fields to incorporate wheat residue. These fields are often left fallow until the following spring before there are crops planted again. But is this a good idea? Of course, the answer will depend on the goals of using tillage, but from a soil conservation perspective the answer is nearly always ‘no’. Tillage after wheat with no crop planted until the following spring will leave soil exposed for nine months or more, giving the erosive forces of wind and water time to reduce and devalue one of the most important assets producers have – the soil on their farms. To finish reading this article, click on https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-25/tillage-after-wheat-harvest-%E2%80%93-good-idea.
Late Season Alfalfa Management – Rory Lewandowski, Mark Sulc
Late season alfalfa management decisions often come down to balancing a need for forage versus stand health and winter survival. Weather patterns across the state in 2018 have been variable. Lack of summer rain in some areas have decreased forage yields, frequent rains or too much rainfall in other areas have blown apart harvest schedules and/or resulted in low quality forage inventories. Taking a fall alfalfa harvest is an opportunity to increase both the quality and quantity of the farm forage inventory. Like most farming decisions, there are trade-offs and risk factors to consider when making a fall alfalfa harvest. The decision of when to take the last harvest of alfalfa to insure good winter survival and yield potential for the following year can be boiled down to two choices. To read more about these choices, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-27/late-season-alfalfa-management.
Western Bean Cutworm: Final Adult Moth Update – John Schoenhals, Mark Badertscher, Lee Beers, Bruce Clevenger, Sam Custer, Tom Dehass, Allen Gahler, Jason Hartschuh, Ed Lentz, Cecilia Lokai-Minnich, David Marrison, Sarah Noggle, Les Ober, Eric Richer, Garth Ruff, Jeff Stachler, Alan Sundermeier, Curtis Young, Megan Zerrer, Chris Zoller, Andy Michel, Kelley Tilmon
As Western bean cutworm (WBC) adult trap monitoring comes to an end for the 2018 season, we would like to thank everyone for their participation including land owners and farm cooperators who allowed us to place traps in their fields. Week ending August 25, 2018 was our final week monitoring WBC adult moth catches in Ohio as very few adult moths are being reported in the bucket traps. Overall, 23 counties monitored 69 traps and resulted in a statewide average of 0.7 adult moths per trap (51 total captured). This is a decrease from an average of 1.2 moths per trap (76 total captured) the previous week. See the above graphic for average WBC adult per trap in Ohio counties, followed in parentheses by total number of traps monitored in each county for the week ending August 25, 2018. Legend (bottom right) describes the color coding on map for the average WBC per county.
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