Winter meetings are going full throttle, as is the flu season, it appears.  Grateful for all

Farmer Panel: Tyler Burkey, Kim Siebert, Scott Gonnerman, Paul Althouse, and Chad Dane (not pictured).

the speakers, farmer panelists, and distance technology that allowed speakers to present in spite of the flu with the AgExpo last week!  Also grateful to have those educational sessions and the good discussions for those who attended.  Thank you to all the exhibitors and everyone who worked so hard to make the Expo happen!  Lyndy Phillips gave a wonderful performance and his message was great for all of us… “laugh more, stress less!”.

Face to Face Dicamba Trainings:  Several Extension Educators have decided to provide one face-to-face dicamba training per county.  During this training, attendees will watch the same video series that you can view in the online training.  All state-wide face-to-face trainings offered through UNL will be posted at the NDA website at:  http://www.nda.nebraska.gov/pesticide/dicamba.html
Anyone attending will need to know your pesticide applicator number which is found on your green pesticide card.  Also, please be sure to check out this week’s CropWatch at http://cropwatch.unl.edu regarding several dicamba-related articles.  Area upcoming trainings include:
Jan. 22:  York County:  Cornerstone Event Center, Fairgrounds, York, 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Jan. 23:  Nuckolls County:  Auditorium in Nelson, 10:00-11:30 a.m.
Jan. 23:  Clay County:  Activity Bldg., Fairgrounds, Clay Center, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Jan. 29:  Thayer County:  Community Center in Davenport, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Jan. 31:  Seward County:  Civic Center in Seward, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Feb. 6:  Kearney County:  Fairgrounds in Minden, Noon-1:30 p.m.
Feb. 12:  Merrick County:  Fairgrounds in Central City, 10:00-11:30 a.m.
Feb. 14:  Gosper County:  Fairgrounds in Elwood, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Feb. 15:  Fillmore County:  Fairgrounds in Geneva, 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Feb. 22:  Hamilton County:  4-H Building, Fairgrounds in Aurora, 10:00-11:30 a.m.
Feb. 22:  Harlan County:  Courthouse meeting room in Alma, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Feb. 26:  Polk County:  Polk Co. Fairgrounds, Osceola, 10:00-11:30 a.m.
Mar. 6:  Webster County:  Webster Co. Fairgrounds, Bladen, 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Mar. 15:  Adams County:  Adams County Fairgrounds, Hastings, 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Farmers and Ranchers Cow/Calf College – Jan. 30:  The annual Farmers and Ranchers Cow/Calf College “Partners in Progress – Beef Seminar” will be held at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center and Great Plains Veterinary Education Center near Clay Center on Jan. 30 with registration, coffee and donuts starting at 9:30 a.m. This program is sponsored by Nebraska Extension’s Farmers and Ranchers College. There is no cost; it does include a noon meal, which means that early registration is necessary to reserve materials and a meal.  Please pre-register by Jan. 23rd, to Fillmore County Extension by calling (402) 759-3712 or registering online at https://go.unl.edu/t38n to ensure a seat and lunch. Walk-ins are accepted, but may not get a lunch. Your contact information is required to be on the U.S. MARC property, so pre-registration is helpful and will save you time at the door!

The program begins at 10:00 a.m. with a welcome by Dr. Gary Bennett of USMARC and Dr. Dale Grotelueschen, Director of the Great Plains Veterinary Education Center. Brett Crosby with Custom Ag Solutions will kick off the event with “Ways to Optimize Cattle Marketing”.  Mary Drewnoski, Nebraska Extension Specialist will present on “One Size Does Not Fit All: Grazing residue with various classes of cattle.” She will talk about some of the issues many producers had this year with so much corn in the stalks and strategies for effectively grazing residue.  Lunch session will feature “Livestock Disaster Assistance Programs” from Fillmore County FSA Director, Ryne Norton.  The afternoon session will start with Rob Eirich, Nebraska Extension Educator with the “Beef Quality Assurance Audit”. It is important to know how beef producers have done in regards to quality assurance and results were just released in the summer of 2017.  Dr. Kip Lukasiewicz, Sandhills Cattle Consultants Inc., will lead you through “Implementing BQA and Animal Husbandry”. A popular presenter, Dr. Kip is sure to entertain you while being right on target to address some of critical quality assurance issues that face beef producers. For our beef producers Dr. Kip will also inform participants on effective animal husbandry and stockmanship techniques.  A presenter panel will wrap up the event.

York/Hamilton County Cattlemen’s Banquet:  The 70^th Annual York-Hamilton County Cattlemen’s Banquet is scheduled for Tuesday, January 30 (6:30 p.m. social, 7 p.m. prime rib) at the Holthus Convention Center in York, reported Gerald Peterson, Cattlemen’s Secretary.

The Annual Cattlemen’s Banquet will feature entertainment by The Peterson Farm Brothers of Assaria, Kansas.  The brothers Greg, Nathan, Kendall and their ‘honorary bro’ Laura started their entertainment careers by producing farming and agriculture oriented videos to help inform the general public about day to day farm life.  Since 2012 the Brothers have been producing videos, writing songs and traveling the Midwest with their Advocacy for Agriculture message.  Their first song “I’m Farming and I Grow It” received over 5 million YouTube views from over 200 countries in two weeks.

Kim Siebert, York-Hamilton Cattlemen’s President said tickets are $25 and are available from any of the York-Hamilton County Cattlemen’s Directors or at the Extension Offices in York and Hamilton Counties.   York-Hamilton County Cattlemen Directors for 2017 include: Brock Ekhoff and Terry Ross of Aurora, David McDonald of Phillips, Allen Klute and Mark Klute of Hampton, Jeff Underwood of Exeter, Jeff Meradith, Josh Chrisman and Kim Regier of York, Chad Hoffschneider of Waco, Brian Blasé of Hordville, and Kim Siebert of Henderson.