Month: July 2021

Steps to Speed up Field Curing of Hay Crops

– Mark Sulc, Jason Hartschuh, CCA, Allen Gahler

Wide windrows are one or several techniques to speed hay drying

The rainy weather in many regions of Ohio and surrounding states is making it difficult to harvest hay crops. We usually wait for a clear forecast before cutting hay, and with good reason because hay does not dry in the rain! Cutting hay is certainly a gamble but waiting for the perfect stretch of weather can end up costing us through large reductions in forage quality as the crop matures.

As we keep waiting for perfect haymaking weather, we will reach the point where the drop in quality becomes so great that the hay has little feeding value left. In such cases, it may be better to gamble more on the weather just to get the old crop off and a new one started. Some rain damage is not going to reduce the value much in that very mature forage.

Before cutting though, keep in mind that the . . .

Continue reading Steps to Speed up Field Curing of Hay Crops as originally published in C.O.R.N.

Do you have opinions about mobile meat harvest in Ohio?

– Angela Blatt, Program Manager, Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT)

Share your thoughts with us!

Whether you shop for local meat, raise livestock, operate a slaughterhouse, or create value-added products, the meat processing bottleneck affects you!

The project Planning To Advance Mobile Meat Slaughter and Processing in Ohio and Central Appalachia, conducted by The Appalachian Center for Economic Networks, Inc. (ACEnet) and project consultants, aims to draft and support a plan for a possible solution.

Will you commit ten minutes of your time to share your values and needs in a short survey?

We want to hear from as many farmers, processors, and consumers in the Ohio and Central Appalachian region as we can and appreciate any feedback.

Start the survey: https://corexmsffsgb599k6k6d.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2iwNa7YVbJjpRtA

Large Cow Slaughter Continues

– David P. Anderson, Professor and Extension Economist, Texas A & M AgriLife Extension Service

Cow slaughter continues to run ahead of a year ago, led by beef cows.  Even with larger slaughter, prices are ahead of last year.  Over the last three months, beef cow slaughter totaled 818,000 head, the most since the 837,000 during the same period in 2010.  Total cow slaughter over the same period are the largest since 2013.  At that time, the industry was reducing the number of beef cows due, mostly, to low prices and then the drought in Texas and the Southwest hit.

Weekly beef and dairy cow slaughter is reported by region.  Region 6 includes Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.  Beef cow slaughter in Region 6 over the last three months totaled 204,000, the most since 2011.  Slaughter in Region 9, which includes Arizona, California, and Nevada, was the most since 2013.  Region 10, the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho), had their largest beef cow culling in more than a decade.  While drought is likely driving more culling, expanded cow packing capacity in the region likely skews the data.  Region 8 includes the rest of the mountain West and the Dakotas.  Beef cow culling in those states totaled 73,600 head, the most since 2019.

On the dairy side of the ledger, cow culling totaled 667,000 over the last Continue reading Large Cow Slaughter Continues →

Ground Beef Demand

– James Mitchell, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Arkansas

Recently our colleague David Anderson at Texas A&M wrote an article that provided an update on cow slaughter and cull cow markets. You can read his article here. This week, I thought I would continue this discussion by examining one of the main drivers of cull cow markets, ground beef demand.

To review, cull beef cows contribute to ground beef production as a source of 90% lean trimmings, which are blended with 50% lean trimmings to make the majority of our ground beef and hamburger. The other two sources of lean trimmings are Continue reading Ground Beef Demand →

Forage Fertility: Where We Are and Why it Matters

– Garth Ruff, Beef Cattle Field Specialist, OSU Extension and Greg LaBarge, Agronomic Crops Field Specialist, OSU Extension

Hay and haylage crops are grown on just over 1 million acres in Ohio (NASS, 2019) and are grown on more Ohio farms (44% of all farms) than any other crop (Becot et al., 2020). In addition, there are over 1.3 million acres of pastureland on nearly 39,000 farms (50% of all farms) in the state of Ohio (NASS, 2017). Fertilizer costs represent 40 to 60% of the variable input costs of forage hay production (Ward et al., 2016, 2018), and so managing these costs is key to an Ohio forage producers’ ability to stay competitive. Furthermore, water quality issues in the state underscore the need for Ohio farmers to manage on-farm nutrients as efficiently as possible. A farmer’s ability to find this optimal balance between meeting crop nutrient requirements without over-application is highly reliant on the best available information.

In order to make better and up to date forage fertility recommendations, we want to hear back from producers as to what current practices are already implemented on farms across the state. Understanding current practices and limitations to forage fertility will guide us in determining the type and kind of related research to conduct in order to revise current recommendations.

Please take this short voluntary survey regarding current forage fertility practices. This survey is part of a Continue reading Forage Fertility: Where We Are and Why it Matters →

Longer Days Change the Way Plants Grow, the Way They’re Managed

– Victor Shelton, NRCS State Agronomist/Grazing Specialist

Does the beginning of summer change the way some plants grow?

Suddenly, it’s July. We are past the summer solstice – the official start of summer. The summer solstice is best described as the longest period of daylight and the shortest night of the year. The length of the days plays an important role with some plants, because they use the length of the nights to cue the release of hormones for flowering and fruiting – photoperiodism. This topic came up recently and made me stop and think about its possible implications on forages for grazing. Let’s ruminate on this a bit.

Photoperiodism basically describes what a particular species of plant does in response to changing day lengths. Plants are classified into three groups according to the photoperiods: short-day plants, long-day plants and day-neutral plants. Plants adapt to seasonal changes in their environment, but photoperiod doesn’t change. Day length is pretty much the same for any particular day at the same latitude every year. The closer you get to the equator – the more balanced day and night hours are year around. Ironically, the term photoperiod is misleading because the length of the dark period is what predominantly controls plant growth, not the daylight. Temperature, moisture, growing degree days and air pressure are all very much less regular. It’s interesting but shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that Continue reading Longer Days Change the Way Plants Grow, the Way They’re Managed →

So Lush, So Green, And Oh So Poisonous

– Keith Johnson, Purdue Extension Forage Specialist

A yew bush used as landscaping is in need of a trim. Don’t feed the trimmings to livestock or death will occur. (Photo Credit: Keith Johnson)

It’s that time of year when the yew (pronounced like the letter “U”) is likely in need of a trim to look best as a landscaping plant. Yews have been used as a common landscaping shrub or small tree for decades. They have closely spaced, glossy, rather tough, dark green, linear pointed-end leaves that are 1.5 – 2 inches long.  Hard-to-see male and female flowers are found on separate plants and form fleshy red to yellow fruits that contain a single seed.

Many plants have poisonous compounds that can cause all kinds of concerns, and even death, if consumed. The interactions that I have had with veterinarians, suggest that the yew is right at or near the top of plants that cause livestock death. A disheartening scenario is when yew trimmings are thrown over the fence by the livestock owner or neighbor thinking that the trimmings would make a great snack for the livestock. Fresh or dry trimmings, it doesn’t matter. The result will be the same – death.

Yews are Continue reading So Lush, So Green, And Oh So Poisonous →

Posted by at Posted in Health

Corn Acreage, Weather, and Futures Markets

– Josh Maples, Assistant Professor & Extension Economist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University

USDA released the annual Acreage report last week. The report showed estimates of 92.7 million acres of corn in the U.S. This would be about 2 percent higher than in 2020 and is 1.6 million acres more than USDA estimates of Prospective Plantings back in March. The corn market reaction to the report was bullish on June 30th. Despite the increase in corn acres in the report, it wasn’t as big of an increase as many expected and futures prices jumped sharply. December corn futures increased by 40 cents last Wednesday.

However, that same contract is limit-down (40 cents) in trading today (7/6/21). The December corn contract is currently trading around $5.40 per bushel. Much needed rains and cooler weather are a key reason for the drop today. The weather forecast for growing corn in the Midwest is much improved since last week. The map above shows the precipitation forecast over the next seven days. Compared to the drought map at the bottom of this newsletter, the rainfall is Continue reading Corn Acreage, Weather, and Futures Markets →