From Across the Field 10-26-2017

By Garth Ruff, ANR Educator OSU Extension Henry County

Another cool, soggy start to the week is not what the doctor ordered in terms of crop quality and standability. As noted by several educators across the region, there are a number of harvested soy bean fields that have a green hue to them. Upon further investigation it appears that the seedlings coming out of the ground are soybean plants. In some instances, the beans may have been sown out of the back of the combine, especially if the beans were small. Another more likely cause of the beans reaching the soil, is that the pods were shattering upon contact with the grain head. This current pattern of wet to dry will only increase the rate of shattered pods in any remaining beans to be harvested.

In past columns I have wrote about how the wind in Henry County is something that I am not particularly used to, and at this point the standing corn is less immune to it as well. A wind such as the one that blew Tuesday evening could be damaging as the harvest season progresses.

Last week I also promised a bit on fall lawn maintenance, and one thing you may want to do in the next month is a final lawn fertilizing. I would suggest to wait until we have had a couple good killing frosts in the coming weeks. At that point grass may be done growing, but the roots are still active. A shot of lawn fertilizer will help the roots to store carbohydrates and thicken, making a denser, healthier turf next year. In addition, the grass will green up after application and first thing in the spring. Fertilizing now will help, but may make the grass grow and not store as much energy in the roots, so the best time to fertilize is usually between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.

I recommend a high nitrogen fertilizer, and apply only ½ to 1 pound of actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet (which is not a lot). When you purchase fertilizer, the first number in the analysis is nitrogen expressed as a percent. So, a 50 pound of a 20-0-5 fertilizer will be 29 percent nitrogen or expressed in a different way, it will have 10 pounds of nitrogen in the 50 pound bag. This bag of fertilizer would then cover 10,000 to 20,000 square feet which would be approximately ¼ to ½ acre of lawn. In most ready to use lawn fertilizers, the middle number of the analysis will be 0, indicating there is no phosphorus fertilizer in the product. The third number represents the percentage of potash (potassium fertilizer) in the package. If you have questions about fertilizing, give me a call.

I’ll end this week with a quote from businessman Peter Drucker who said, “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things”. Have a great week.

Weed Observation and Management in Ohio

By Harold Watters, Ohio State University Extension

I hear the neighbor’s combine running and the semi rolling past the house so it’s a good night to harvest late. Hopefully as everyone harvested their soybeans they were observing what weeds are out there. We did have an open canopy for an extended period into the year due to the cool, wet growing conditions. This often leads to an increased number of weeds. Our county educators have been observing soybean fields across the state this fall to see what is out there for our annual fall soybean weed survey. Continue reading

Chute Side Vaccine Management Tips

By Taylor Grussing, South Dakota State University Extension

“Shoot, I messed up the vaccines.” If these words have ever been uttered while processing cows and calves, it may be time for implementation of some simple chute side organization tips. A good vaccination program is only as good as the techniques used in each step of administration. 70% of beef operations administer vaccines to cows and calves at least one time every 12 months (NAHMS). With many dollars being invested in vaccines and herd health each year, it’s important to make sure the vaccines are taken care of, as well as administered correctly to get the most bang for your buck.

Here are some quick, easy tips to simplify the process and stay organized chute side during the fall processing. Continue reading

Grain Storage Considerations

By Matt Hutcheson, CCA, Product Manager, Seed Consultants, Inc. for Ohio’s Country Journal

As producers across the Eastern Corn Belt wrap up harvest, care should be taken to ensure proper handling and storage of grain. Proper storage and grain handling is necessary in maintaining the quality of the harvested crop. This article will discuss a few tips for maintaining the quality of stored grain after harvest. It is critical to start with both a clean bin and handling equipment. Any moldy grain or grain infested by insects from the previous year can contaminate grain harvested this season. Storage facilities and aeration equipment should be clean and in proper working condition. Continue reading

Ohio’s Crop Progress — October 30, 2017

Showers at the start and end of the week slowed harvest progress, according to Cheryl Turner, Ohio State Statistician for the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. There were 3.7 days available for fieldwork for the week ending October 29, 2017. Cool, wet weather at the start of the week was enough to keep corn harvest behind the 5-year average by 13 percentage points while soybean harvest remained 2 percentage points behind last year. Average grain moisture for corn harvested was 18 percent and soybean moisture was 12 percent. Frost affected much of the state in the middle of the week, ending the season for some vegetable producers and road side stands. Winter wheat, hay seedings, and cover crops were reported to be in good condition.

New Packing Plants Mean New Opportunities for the Pork Industry

By Garth Ruff, Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Educator with The Ohio State University Extension in Henry County.

Previously printed in Defiance Crescent-News

This past September was a monumental month for the US pork industry as two major pork packing plants opened their doors for business. With the opening of the Triumph-Seaboard facility in Iowa and the Clemens Food Group plant in Coldwater, Michigan the industry has added more harvest capacity in the just the past month than it has ever added in a given years’ time. Continue reading

Five Year Corn and Soybean Price Projections

By Sonja Begemann Farm Journal Seeds and Crop Production Editor

Commodity prices have been challenging, but according to recent projections they likely won’t get any worse. University of Illinois brought together USDA Agricultural Outlook, Congressional Budget Office, FAPRI, WASDE and CME futures to give farmers an idea of where prices might be headed compared to 2017’s projected market year average.

Credit: Univ. Illinois

Continue reading

Funding available to Ohio Western Lake Erie Basin farmers to improve water quality

The next round of funding is now available through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), as part of a five year, $17.5 million program funded by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The goal of the program is to reduce nutrients entering Ohio waterways to lessen harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. Funding is available to assist farmers in installing conservation practices that benefit water quality in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Continue reading

Fall Manure Application Tips

By Glen Arnold, CCA, OSU Extension Field Specialist, Manure Nutrient Management and Kevin Elder, Livestock Environmental Permitting, Ohio Department of Agriculture

With warmer than normal weather forecast for the next couple of weeks, corn and soybean harvest in Ohio is expected to get back on track. Livestock producers and commercial manure applicators soon will be applying both liquid and solid manure as fields become available.

For poultry manure, handlers are reminded to stockpile poultry litter close to the fields actually receiving the manure. Stockpiles need to be 500 feet from a residence, 300 feet from a water source and 1,500 feet from a public water intake. Poultry litter cannot be stockpiled in a floodplain and cannot have offsite water running across the litter stockpile area. The site also cannot have a slope greater than six percent. Continue reading