150^th York County Fair: Hoping you can attend the 150^th York County Fair this week! Full Schedule of

events at: http://www.yorkcountyfair.com. Raffle tickets are being sold for the York County Fair Foundation with proceeds used for projects at the fairgrounds. Only 400 tickets will be sold at $50.00 each. A total of 56 drawing winners will receive $150.00 each and the winning tickets get put back in the drawing for additional chances to win. Drawings will occur weekly from the first week of October 2023 through the last week of September 2024 (and daily winners during the 2024 York County Fair). Tickets can be purchased from Ag Society or Fair Foundation members, at a Fair booth in the Mercantile building during the County Fair, or at the York Co. Extension Office till Sept. 30 (or until all tickets are sold).

Weather Impacts: I keep saying we’re a long way from harvest and it seems like we continue to face difficulties. For me, it keeps reminding me that I’m not in control but I can look to and trust the One who is. Many worked so hard to keep livestock safe. Feel for those who unfortunately lost livestock to the heat and humidity. Farm Service Agency (FSA) asked that we remind producers of the Livestock Indemnity Program and to report livestock losses within 30 days of the losses occurring. Please call your local FSA office to provide an official notice of loss. The local office will share with you what is needed for appropriate documentation of losses.

It was a blessing to receive a widespread 2” of rain on Saturday morning! Also good to see something planted into some hail damaged fields. As storms continue to occur in different areas, what I’ve shared earlier in regards to forages still applies. Summer annuals can still be planted through Aug. 15 (unsure on haying depending on weather, but definitely can graze).

Flying/spreading oats, rye or other small grains with or without brassicas continues to be an option as well. Palmer is emerging. 2,4-D amine and 2,4-D ester are both labeled as “anytime” for applying before seeding any small grain. Read the specific label for any restrictions. Oats give the most fall forage. Earliest greenup in the spring is rye followed by wheat followed by triticale. Triticale will provide the most spring biomass but it comes on late (think June time-frame for haying).

Drought: By Friday afternoon, non-irrigated fields rapidly turned, were firing, and using fields for forage was the question, particularly from Nuckolls Co. I think most were just thinking ahead to having plans in place should they be needed. Reminder again, the field needs to be released by crop insurance. I called Dr. Mary Drewnoski to talk through grazing corn in brown silk to milk stages. We’re treating this as immature corn. So the considerations we gave before were the fact that nitrates would exist but that cattle would self-adapt as they graze the tops first. Any ears present will be mostly water. Mary’s main concern at this point was how much could be knocked down and under-utilized by allowing the full field vs. larger strip grazed areas. One can supplement with a few pounds of grain or with hay. She mentioned to not feed a non-protein nitrogen source (ex. lick tubs) when feeding high nitrate forages. Don’t turn out empty and allow access to plenty of fresh water. If plants end up completely brown before they’re released by crop insurance, it won’t change the nitrate concentration of those plants. Options at that point are still grazing or ensiling. For those who’ve shared they really want to hay the corn, know that your nitrate concentration will be highest with that option. Cut at least 8-12” above the ground. I would recommend sampling for nitrates after baling and also only consider this option if you have the ability to grind those bales and mix in a ration. Do NOT harvest or graze for at least three days following rain that “breaks” drought conditions. The rain causes an uptake of nitrogen from the soil, which is translocated into the plant. After three days, the nitrogen will have been converted to plant protein and is no longer in dangerous form.

Whether for drought or hail damage, for those trying silage, reposting Dr. Bruce Anderson’s silage info. “Fermentation usually (but not always) reduces nitrate levels and risk. Yield is about one ton per acre of silage for each harvested foot of earless corn plant (not counting the tassel). Feeding value is about 70% to 80% of well-eared corn silage. Corn with some grain (less than 50 bushels) tends to produce about one ton of silage for every five bushels of grain with a feed value about 80 to 90% of regular corn silage. Harvest timing is critical with silage to ensure the correct moisture for proper fermentation. Desired moisture level for silage is about 65%. Plants with any green leaves usually are too wet to chop for silage. For proper moisture, most leaves may need to be dead before chopping. The stalk and ear hold amazingly high water concentrations. For corn with no grain, even if all leaves are dead, the whole plant (and silage) moisture can be 70% if the stalk is still green and alive.

Once plants actually die they can rapidly dry down. There are several ways to reduce moisture content. If corn has pollinated, delay silage harvest until all chances of increased biomass tonnage have passed or plants naturally dry down to appropriate moisture levels. Corn can be windrowed and allowed to partially dry before chopping. Excessively wet material can be blended with drier feeds such as ground hay, cracked grain, or dried distillers grains. However, this can take a lot of material — about 500 lb of grain or hay to reduce each ton of chopped corn with 85% moisture down to 70% moisture. Silage inoculants may improve fermentation and preservation of drought-damaged silage.”