Cow-Calf College
This looks like an excellent workshop for anyone in cow-calf production. Hope to see you there!
(Click on the agenda below to enlarge the view).
Why is there a hole in that steer? … Fistulated Fun Fact Friday
Great Fun Fact Friday from Dr. Lindsay Chichester on fistulated steers!
At UNL we have several fistulated steers which are used for research and education. Traditionally, these fistulas (also called a cannula) were inserted for research purposes. The fistula can either be on their neck (esophageal fistula) to monitor what they eat, especially when grazing to determine grazing and forage preferences OR it can be on their left side, which goes into the rumen, the largest compartment of their stomach to monitor feed and diets, ultimately making livestock rations more efficient. I talk more about ruminants (livestock with one stomach which has four compartments) here.
But today I want to introduce you to the UNL Mobile Beef Lab!
There are actually two of these labs in Nebraska, with the intent to educate! Each lab has one steer and a team of Educators. The Educators all have livestock backgrounds, so they know their way around an animal and a trailer…
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Precision Ag Workshops
Agricultural machinery is equipped with numerous tools these days! When it comes to precision agriculture, do you know how to use these tools to the best of their ability for your operation? We’re hosting Precision Ag Workshops in Clay Center and York on January 29th and 30th respectively to help anyone interested learn how to utilize these tools more effectively. Computers, software, and data will be provided, but you are welcome to bring your own yield monitor data card to work on if you wish. Please register for Jan 29th session to Clay County Extension at 402-762-3644 or jrees2@unl.edu or for the January 30th session to York Extension at 402-362-5508 or gary.zoubek@unl.edu.
Soil and Water Conference
Hope you can join us for our Soil and Water Conference tomorrow in Clay Center!
Central Nebraska Extension Master Gardener Program
Interested in plants and gardening? Check out this information about the Master Gardening Program from Elizabeth Killinger, UNL Extension Educator!
New blog posted at http://huskerhort.wordpress.com/ about The Nebraska Extension Master Gardener Program
Do you enjoy plants and gardening? Looking to learn more and hone your skills but don’t know where to go? The Master Gardener program will educate you on many aspects of horticulture, allow you to test your knowledge and skills, all while serving your local community.
The Nebraska Extension Master Gardener program is a horticulture related volunteer training program based in many counties throughout the state. It has been part of University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL) Extension since 1976. Master Gardener volunteers are trained by UNL Extension faculty and staff. They contribute time as volunteers working with their local Extension office to provide horticulture-related information to their community. Participants are required to complete 40 hours of training and 40 hours of volunteer service during the initial year of their involvement in the program. Master Gardener volunteers retain their…
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Celebrating 100 years – Cooperative Extension
Cooperative Extension is celebrating 100 years in 2014! We will be celebrating throughout Nebraska in 2014, but in the meantime, check out our YouTube video!
#Ag Tour Day 1
UNL Extension Ag Educators from throughout Nebraska gathered together in late October for an excellent professional development tour to
Iowa and Minnesota!
Before the bus started moving we were working on plant identification for a client. Then we learned about the status of Emerald Ash Borer among other pests at the Douglas-Sarpy County Extension Office. By the end of the presentation we were considering getting a meat thermometer and recordable Hallmark card! (will explain later).
Along the way, John Wilson provided an update regarding the flood recovery efforts from the 2011 flood. He mentioned at Gavins Point Dam, the lake would have drained every 25 hrs. when releases were occurring for the flood. He was involved with an effort in putting together
a webinar that involved 25-30 agencies and 14 speakers from 5 states. During the recovery there were 2″ to 25′ drifts of sand in fields. One piece of ground that was reclaimed cost $125-150K and needed 7 excavators for a month. One 300 acre piece of ground that wasn’t reclaimed was going to cost $10,000/ac. to reclaim it.
John Hay provided an update regarding wind energy. He pointed out the different types of towers along the way as we passed several wind farms. Facts included: a 1.5Megawatt wind turbine can run 1000 homes each and the gear box is turning 2000:1 compared to the blades. Iowa is #1 in percent of electricity produced from wind power (20%) and it costs $3-6 million each to install a wind turbine (essentially double the cost of how many megawatts). The life span of a turbine is 20 years with a maintenance cost about $0.05/kwh. When considering efficiency, wind turbines are 40-50% efficient vs. coal power (35%), nuclear (35%), cars (25%); so they’re more efficient at converting free energy into electricity but they are less cost 
efficient than those other energy sources. Windfarms also typically pay for themselves in 5-10 years.
Our first stop was at Hawkeye Breeders where we saw their semen storage facility that essentially had enough semen to fertilize every cow in the U.S. They ship all over the world and their primary customer is the dairy industry. We also toured their semen collection facility and got the coolest pen from there.
From there we stopped at Blue River Organic Seeds and were surprised to learn that all their organic seed research is done conventionally. They provide organic seed for corn, alfalfa, soybean, and various forages and are looking for more growers. We also learned about PuraMaize which was developed by Dr. Tom Hoegemeyer to essentially block pollen from outside sources to maintain purity.
That night we had supper with faculty from Iowa State University talking about programming efforts there, including their manure programming, ag economics, and Roger Elmore spoke of the corn programming there. But before that, a few of us took advantage of the 45 min. of time to get a few geocaches in the area 🙂
Toothless grins…Fun Fact Friday
Welcome Dr. Lindsay Chichester, UNL Extension Educator, to the blogging world! Here is her first post regarding a “fun fact Friday” on how cattle eat!
Did you know…
Ruminant animals (animals that have one stomach with four compartments and chew their cud; includes cattle, sheep, goats, lamas, etc. – will explain more later) do NOT have teeth on their upper jaw?
Well, technically they have premolars and molars in the very back of their mouths on the upper and lower jaws, but no teeth upper front teeth. Instead they have a dental pad, which would be hard, slick surface.
(Photo: Virginia cooperative Extension)
So how do they eat? Glad you asked! The part of their mouth where the upper teeth would normally be is called a dental pad. When they take a bite of grass they wrap their tongue around it and use the dental pad and their bottom teeth to bite it off.
So how do the young animals nurse you ask… They wrap their tongues around the mother’s teat and use pressure from…
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October Landscape Projects
In the landscape, October is the month to water, control weeds, and plant bulbs, trees and shrubs. It is also the month to wait until after a freeze to cut back perennial plants and wait for the soil to freeze before covering tender plants with winter mulch. Kelly Feehan, UNL Extension Educator, provides the following information.
Water
Sometimes people ask if trees and shrubs should be watered at this time of year since their leaves will soon drop off; and how late in the season lawns
should be watered. As long as the soil is dry, go ahead and water. Plant roots continue to grow long after leaves drop off trees and shrubs and after grass stops growing. Roots, rhizomes and stolons can grow well into November and fall watering promotes this growth helping plants recover from summer stresses. Plant energy can be used for root growth during fall since energy is no longer needed for leaves, flowering or seed production. Roots continue to grow until soil temperatures drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit with available moisture.
Water enough to moisten the soil to a depth of about eight to twelve inches for trees and shrubs and six inches for lawns. Keep in mind that a lack of oxygen due to a saturated soil is just as damaging to roots as a lack of water. Allow the soil to dry between watering.
Planting
Because roots continue to grow well into fall, September through October is a good time to plant deciduous trees and shrubs. For spring flowering 
bulbs, wait until soil temperatures drop to 60 degrees Fahrenheit to plant.
A common question asked about fall planting is if a starter fertilizer needs to be used at planting time. Starter fertilizers are high in phosphorous, a nutrient important to root production. The only way to know the answer to this question is to have a soil test taken. However, most landscape soils are high in phosphorous (P). Fall soils are often warm and dry which makes P more readily available. In most cases a starter fertilizer does not need to be used during fall planting.
More important is to plant at the correct depth. With bulbs, follow label directions for planting depth. It varies depending on bulb size. Some recommendations say to plant about one to two inches deeper than recommended. The opposite is true for trees and shrubs. Before planting trees, locate where the trunk flares out at the trunk base then plant at a depth so the flare is visible above ground. Do not loosen the soil beneath the root ball or the tree may settle and end up planted too deep. In heavier clay soils plant so the trunk taper is one to two inches above the ground.
Weed Control
October is the best time to control perennial broadleaf weeds like dandelions, ground ivy and clover. There is no ideal time during fall to apply lawn weed and feed products together. The best time to fall fertilize lawns is in early September and again in late October or early November. The best time to apply herbicides for lawn weeds is about mid-October before a hard freeze.
Weed control can be more effective and less herbicide will be applied where it is not needed by avoiding the use of combined weed and feed products during fall. One can achieve better weed coverage and control of established broadleaf weeds if the weeds are spot treated, typically with a liquid formulation of herbicide.
Here’s wishing you a great October of accomplishing landscaping projects!
JenResources 