Blog Archives
Youth Discover Crop Science
An excellent opportunity for youth to become detectives and have fun while learning about crops and science! Consider having a youth you know attend this Big Red Camp and learn more about agriculture careers! There are also scholarships available to attend!
Are you interested in science, agriculture, plants, crops, insects, or diseases? If so, join our team of detectives to solve crop-related problems in the Crop Science Investigation (CSI) Big Red Camp! Become a detective while participating in hands-on sessions to learn about and increase your knowledge of crops, science, and agricultural careers. Youth detectives will interact with agronomic professionals across Nebraska to solve experiments in: nutrient management; managing disease, insect and weed problems; water management; crop production, and much more! Do you have what it takes to become a CSI detective?
There are a variety of careers related to plant sciences such as:Agricultural Communicator; Agronomist; Crop Consultant; Crop Insurance Adjuster; Educator; Co-op Manager; Farmer or Rancher; Farm Credit Banker; Field or Lab Researcher; Plant Breeder; Soil or Water Conservationist; Seed, Fertilizer, or Chemical Sales; or Technical Representative.
Scholarships are available in the amount of $300 to participants who…
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Mobile Ag Apps from UNL
This week I saw an article from agriculture.com that had ranked UNL’s Market Journal app as the Number 1 agriculture app! I’ve also felt it was the 
best ag app from UNL providing markets, each week’s show segments via YouTube, weather, and all the CropWatch articles in a one-stop app.
So being snowed in right now, I thought it would be a good time to share some new apps developed by UNL. The newest ag apps are for livestock. Some of you are in calving season and UNL Extension just released the NUBeef-BCS (body condition scoring) and NUBeef-Anatomy apps that may be helpful. They are available on the Apple App Store and will be via Google Play shortly.
NUBeef-BCS allows producers to visually assess their cow herd using a number system that objectively describes the amount of condition or fat reserve of the animal. Body condition score describes the relative fatness of a cow based on a nine point scale. When using the NUBeef-BCS app, producers can simply take photos of their beef cows and then score cows at important times throughout the year, such as at weaning and before the start of calving and breeding season. Taking pictures of the same cow multiple times throughout the year allows producers to better manage the herd according to Rick Rasby, UNL Beef Specialist. He said one of the challenges during winter is producers want to score body conditions, but cows have their winter hair coats. The app includes drawings of cows in different body condition scores that also can help with that. An added component to the app is an education component and is designed for instructors to use at all levels-from high 
school, junior college, and four-year colleges. The app has a group of cows that have already been body condition scored that can be pulled up and used to practice scoring.
The NUBeef-Anatomy app provides visual and text information about the muscles and bones of the beef carcass. The user can navigate through the carcass by displaying cross-sections and then touch any muscle or bone to display the respective physical and chemical properties. Check out the NUBeef YouTube channel for more info. or watch Feb. 1’s segment of “Market Journal”.
A listing of all mobile apps from UNL Extension can be found here.
Keeping Your Farm in the Family for the Next Generation
I would encourage any farmers, spouses, and adult children to consider attending this Farmers and Ranchers Program! Communication and fair transition plans are keys to keeping family ties and the family farm strong. I’ve watched too often where communication doesn’t occur-even most recently with my extended family-and the heartache caused as a result. Work on the communication and transition plan now before it’s too late!
The final Farmers & Ranchers College program for the 2012-13 programming year will be held on March 14, 2013 starting at 6:00 p.m. with a meal and the program to follow. It will be held at Evening with Friends Restaurant in Milligan and will feature Dr. Ron Hanson, Neal E. Harlan Professor of Agribusiness, Ag Economics Dept., UNL. A description of Hanson’s program is provided below.
The entire process for mapping out a succession plan to transfer the eventual ownership of a family farm from one generation (parents) to the next generation (their adult children) can be an overwhelming task for many families. Where does this process even begin? Who makes the final decisions? Can you be fair to everyone involved? What if there is not good communications within the family? How do you keep emotions and personal jealousies from taking over and preventing good decision making? These…
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Wordless Wednesday: Technology in Ag
Captured pics of slides at last week’s Nebraska Ag Technology Association Conference. What comments do you have about them?
On-farm Research
Wow, I’m sorry I haven’t published much the past two months! Much has happened though as we’re in the middle of winter Extension ag programming season! I love this time of year seeing farmers and ag industry reps-and just chatting about what happened last year and speculating about the upcoming season.
Many of you are also attending numerous meetings. You’re gathering information regarding products and production practices. You may be wondering “Will this work on my farm?” Why not go a step further and see for yourself? On-farm research is a great way to test these questions for yourself using your own equipment in your own fields!
UNL Extension has partnered with the Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Corn Growers to form the Nebraska On-farm Research Network. There are three main studies we are conducting state-wide: corn population, corn nutrient, and corn irrigation studies…but we are open to helping you design a valid research experiment for your field to test what you would like-and it can be for a crop other than corn.
We have some upcoming opportunities for you to learn more. On February 11 and February 12 from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. at UNL’s Ag Research and Development Center near Mead and the York Co. Fairgrounds in York respectively, growers who conducted on-farm research in 2012 will be sharing their results; you can also learn more about conducting on-farm research in your own field. There is no charge for the meetings courtesy of the Farm Credit Services of America but we do need an RSVP for meal count and handouts. Please RSVP by calling (402)624-8030 for ARDC or (402)362-5508 for the program in York. I hope to see you at these meetings as well!
Great opportunity for women in agriculture interested in learning more about risk management! Brandy VanDeWalle, Extension Educator in Fillmore County is hosting this series of workshops.
Soon 2012 will be in the books and with the New Year approaching, what a better time to set resolutions for your business! Developing management and decision-making skills for farms and ranches is becoming more important than ever before. Today’s volatile agricultural markets can increase your risk if not managed properly. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension is offering a program to address these issues.
Annie’s Project is a six-week course designed especially for farm women to help them develop their management and decision-making skills for their farms. Sessions include brief presentations, discussions focused on the participant’s questions, and computer training to use spreadsheets. Annie’s Project gives farm women the opportunity to learn from agricultural professionals and network with other women in similar situations.
Annie was a woman who grew up in a small town in Northern Illinois. Her goal was to marry a farmer and she did. Annie spent her…
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Unwelcome ‘Holiday Guests’
Great advice from Elizabeth Killinger to keep house mice out of your home this winter!!!!
Winter and snow means that house guests might be coming. Take a few steps now to make sure your ‘guests’ are the ones you want at your house, not the furry, unwelcome kind.
House mice are common guests once the outdoor temperatures drop. These small light gray, furry rodents have large ears and long tail. Their preferred food is grains, but they will munch on just about anything. One reason mice can be a problem once inside is due to their rapid ability to reproduce. Each year, a female mouse can produce 5-10 litters, with about 5-6 young per litter. Mice make nests out of materials like paper, feathers, or other fluffy materials.
Understanding how mice function helps in the control process. They have relatively poor eyesight and are near-sighted. To make up for this deficit, they utilize their whiskers to feel the walls as they move around. Mice also…
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Updated Cash Lease Considerations
Landlord/tenant workshops have occurred throughout the State and I hope you had the opportunity to attend one of them. Survey numbers from
UNL and USDA (click on 2012 County Level Cash Rents) are available for starting points even though basing lease arrangements off the productivity of the land may be fairer. A 50/50 share lease is still the fairest lease arrangement yet I realize for a number of reasons many landlords are switching to cash rent. I also realize we continue to see situations of very high cash rent numbers. These numbers aren’t the norm and they don’t pencil out when cost of production is factored in.
In this post I wrote about considering cash rent based on the productivity of the land and provided a formula for it. Essentially take a 5 year Olympic average yield for the field. Multiply by an agreed price such as fall harvest price or whatever both parties agree upon. Then multiply by 1/3 and it gives you an idea of where to start. The price can be adjusted from there depending on if the tenant provides additional services, etc. Granted this formula isn’t perfect because a high average yield with a very high price can result in the high cash rents we’re hearing. It’s another formula to consider.
A flexible cash lease is another way to arrive at a cash rent price. These leases can be as simple or complicated as you would like to make them. Flexes can be made for yield alone but we wouldn’t recommend flexing on price alone. If you consider flexing on price, you should consider a combination with price and yield.
Communication is Key!
For both landlords and tenants: communication is key. I’m always amazed how many landlords tell me they don’t know the yields their tenants are receiving. If you don’t think your tenant will provide that every year by just asking for it, then build it into the written lease. Landlords, if there are things you want tenants to do like keeping the sprayer boom away from your plum bushes that you like to pick for jam or mow your ditches a certain way, you need to communicate those things to your tenant and/or build those things into the lease as well. Building all these unmentioned things into a written lease also greatly helps family members understand why things are done a certain way when the family member who is the landlord is no longer able to take care of these things.
Landlords: while you hear high crop prices, many of your tenants did not sell $8 corn; most sold at some price along the way.
Tenants: it is important to be fair with your landlords. In good years consider giving them a share of the profit-that’s another reason to consider flexible cash leases because these things can be built in to be fair to the landlord in good years and to the tenant in bad years.
JenResources 