agriculture and natural resource extensionjessamine.ca.uky.edu/files/ag_newsletter_12-17.pdf ·...
TRANSCRIPT
Volume 1, Issue 1 Steve Musen
Jessamine County Extension Agent
Agriculture and Natural Resources
at 502-
Cooperative
Extension Service
Jessamine County
95 Park Drive
Nicholasville, KY 40356
(859) 885-4811
www.jessamine.ca.uky.edu
Inside this issue:
Upcoming Events
in Agriculture
2
Hardy Lentil and
Sausage Soup
2
Pregnancy Check
Your Cows
3
Don’t Let Potash
Limit Your For-
ages
4
Fall is for Plant-
ing
5
Kentucky Fruit
and Vegetable
Conference
5
AGRICULTURE NEWS Jessamine County
Agriculture
December, 2017/January 2018
The Jessamine County Extension Office
will be closed from December 25th through
January 1st for the Holiday Season.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy
New Year!
Agriculture and Natural Resource Extension
Regardless of what your family is involved
in, Cooperative Extension plays a role.
Through research-based education, we
bring the University of Kentucky College of
Agriculture, Food and Environment straight
to you.
Our animal and food sciences programs
cover beef, dairy, equine, sheep, goats,
poultry, swine and meats. Our plant and
soil sciences programs include forages,
grain crops, soils, tobacco, turf, waste man-
agement, water quality and weeds. Our
horticulture programs include flowers,
fruits, nuts, nursery and landscape, new
crops, vegetables and fruits for home, com-
mercial and organic operations. We also
offer many programs in forestry, agricultur-
al economics, entomology, plant pathology
and biosystems and agricultural engineer-
ing.
In 2016, more than 7,000 Kentucky farmers
reported an increase in profits by adopting
one or more practices recommended by
extension. Statewide, we collected and
processed nearly 38,000 soil tests. More
than 400 beef producers experience a col-
lective $504,000 impact by adopting posi-
tive herd efficiencies practices
For more information, contact the Jessa-
mine County Extension Office.
Dec. 5 Master Horseman Program
(Keeping Your Horses—Facilities)
Franklin Co. Extension @ 6:00pm
Dec. 7 Tree and Log Grading Introduction
Webinar@ 7:00pm
Jessamine County Ag. Center
Dec. 9 St. “Nich” Christmas Fest and
Parade, Nicholasville
Dec. 12 Master Horse Program
(Horses and Forages)
Franklin Co. Extension @ 6:00pm
Dec. 19 Master Horse Program
(Feeding Management)
Fayette Co. Extension @ 6:00pm
Dec. 18 Jessamine County Cattlemen
Jessamine Ag. Center @ 6:30pm
Jan. 8-9 KY Fruit and Vegetable Conf.
Embassy Suites, Lexington Jan. 14-17 American Forage and Grassland
Council’s Annual Conf. and Expo
Crowne Plaza, Louisville, KY
Jan. 22 Pastures, Please!!
(Equine Pasture Program)
Scott Co. Extension, 5:30-8:00pm
Upcoming Events in Agriculture
Page 2 AGRICULTURE NEWS
HEARTY LENTIL AND SAUSAGE SOUP INGREDIENTS:
¹⁄3 pound ground Italian sausage
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
2 large carrots, sliced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
8 ounces dried lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced, no-salt-added
tomatoes
1 (14.5 ounce) can low-sodium chicken broth
4 cups water
1 large bay leaf
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
STOVETOP DIRECTIONS:
1. Place sausage in a large stock pot.
2. Cook over medium heat until evenly
browned. Drain excess fat in a colander.
3. Return sausage to pot and add onion, celery,
carrots and minced garlic.
4. Sauté vegetables until tender.
5. Stir in lentils and remaining ingredients.
6. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and
simmer for 45 minutes or until lentils are
tender. Remove bay leaf before serving.
SLOW COOKER DIRECTIONS:
1. Place sausage in a skillet on the stovetop.
2. Cook over medium heat until evenly
browned. Drain excess fat in a colander.
3. In a 6 quart slow cooker, stir together all
ingredients.
4. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
5. Remove bay leaf before serving.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
Source: Brooke Jenkins-Howard
U.K. Nutrition Education Program
For more information on any of these programs, please contact the Jessamine County Extension Office
“When it
comes time to
cull cows from
your herd,
pregnancy
status is one
of the first
criteria that
will determine
whether a
cow stays in
the country or
goes to
town.”
Page 3 AGRICULTURE NEWS
Don’t Forget to Preg Check Your Cows
I hope most of you are planning your herd
"preg check". If you have not incorporated
this management practice in the past, please
do so this year so that you won’t be feed non-
productive females this fall and winter. When
it comes time to cull cows from your herd,
pregnancy status is one of the first criteria
that will determine whether a cow stays in the
country or goes to town.
According to the results of a survey conduct-
ed by the National Animal Health Monitoring
System, fewer than 20 percent of beef cow
calf producers used pregnancy testing or pal-
pation in their herd. However, the benefits of
this practice are fairly simple to realize. First
of all, pregnancy diagnosis allows producers to
identify "open" or nonpregnant cows. Com-
pare the roughly $5 per head cost of a preg-
nancy exam with the $100-200 per head cost
of hay alone to feed an open cow through the
winter (if you can find hay for $30 per roll).
It’s easy to see that pregnancy testing quickly
pays for itself.
Pregnancy diagnosis is a quick and simple pro-
cedure. Three practical methods for pregnan-
cy diagnosis can be used in beef cattle: 1) rec-
tal palpation and 2) transrectal ultrasonogra-
phy 3) blood sampling. Rectal palpation is
most common and is an accurate form of
pregnancy diagnosis that can be performed
after day 45 of pregnancy. Many veterinarians
are proficient at rectal palpation, and this pro-
cedure requires little time in the squeeze
chute. Transrectal ultrasonography, common-
ly referred to as ultrasound, can be used to
detect pregnancy as early as 28 days with a
high degree of accuracy. This method can be
employed just as quickly as rectal palpation
when done by a skilled technician and may
provide additional information that cannot be
determined by rectal palpation. Using
transrectal ultrasonography, the technician is
actually "looking" at the fetus and can deter-
mine the viability of the fetus and the inci-
dence of twins. It is also possible to determine
the sex of the fetus between days 60 and 90
of pregnancy.
The blood test method to determine pregnan-
cy is simple and accurate. First, a blood sam-
pling kit needs to be ordered from the com-
pany. A quick google search will help you find
the closest lab. Usually, the cost is about
$1.50-2.00 per cow for the kit. All the tubes
should be labeled according to the instruc-
tions in the kit. The most difficult part of this
process for most producers will be obtaining
the blood sample. Cows must be at least 30
days pregnant and 90 days from calving for the
test to work. Also, producer’s who have no
experience taking a blood sample will need to
schedule this test with their local veterinarian.
Once the sample is obtained, the samples are
packaged and sent to a laboratory for analysis.
The cost for the test is $2.50-3.00 per cow.
So the total cost per cow will be the cost of
the kit, plus the test cost, plus the cost of
mailing and any costs associated with obtain-
ing the sample if you cannot do it yourself.
Likely the cost per cow will be about $5 per
cow for most producers.
The results are normally obtained with 2-3
days and the accuracy of the test is very high.
If the test calls the cow open, then the pro-
ducer is 99+% sure the cow is open. When
the test determines a cow pregnant, you can
be 93-95% sure they are pregnant. This test
will not determine stage of pregnancy (i.e. 90
days versus 120 days).
Schedule to get pregnancy diagnosed in your
cows. Few management tools are available
that will save you more money.
Dr. Les Anderson, Beef Extension Specialist, Uni-
versity of Kentucky
Page 4 Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 4 AGRICULTURE NEWS
Potassium can be a neglected nutrient
in forages, especially hayfields.
Potassium is needed for many essential
plant processes including stomatal
opening and closing (regulates water
status of plant), winter hardiness, and
resistance to plant disease and stress.
Fall is a great time to sample pasture
and hayfields and apply needed
fertilizer such as potash (K2O).
Silage crops are heavy users of K2O,
and the stover/stems contain ¾ of the
potash. If these fields are not amended
with additional K2O according to soil
test, subsequent forage crops will be K
deficient. Repeated removal of hay
crops without K2O replacement
results in low to very low soil K2O
test levels. Hay crops
on these soils will have
a diminished response
to N, and can even
appear nitrogen
deficient after N
fertilization.
A ton of fescue or
orchardgrass hay will
remove 17 to 19 lbs. of
phosphate (P2O5)per
ton compared to 53 to
62 lbs. of K2O. Using
20 and 60 for P2O5 and K2O removal
respectively, a three ton hay crop will
remove 60 lbs. of P2O5 and 180 lbs. of
K2O. Replacement of these nutrients
using 19-19-19 would require 900 lbs.
of product per acre. Commonly used
rates of 200 to 300 lbs. of 19-19-19
per acre would undersupply the K2O
needed by 120 to 140 lbs. per acre.
To prevent potash from being limited
in your hayfields, get a current soil test
and then work with your fertilizer
dealer to prepare a blended fertilizer
that will supply recommended
nutrients. Hay fields that are very low
in potash will requires high application
rates over time.
“Fall is a great
time to
sample
pasture and
hayfields and
apply needed
fertilizer such
as potash
(K2O).”
Don’t Let Potash Limit Your Forages
Page 5 AGRICULTURE NEWS
“Mulch
conserves
moisture,
keeping berries
off the ground,
which reduces
rot development
and keeps dirt
off of the
berries.”
Mulching Strawberry Plants Hopefully, you had a chance to mulch your
strawberry plantings before the early
winter cold. Mulch helps reduce the
freezing and thawing of the soil that breaks
off the small roots and in some cases can
lift the plants partially out of the ground,
translating into smaller berries and reduced
yields.
Mulching also slows plant development in
the spring which reduces the chances of
frost injury to the flowers. Mulch
conserves moisture, keeping berries off the
ground, which reduces rot development
and keeps dirt off of the berries. It can also
reduce weed development making harvest
much nicer under wet conditions.
Wheat straw is the preferred mulch
material, but oat and rye straw also work
well. Try to acquire mulch that does not
contain a lot of weed, wheat, oat or rye
seeds as this can substantially increase
weed control requirements in
the spring. Apply the mulch
when the night temperature is
expected to reach about 20
degrees F which is usually
sometime in mid-December in
Kentucky, although this year the
lower temperatures came
earlier than usual.
Cover the plants so you can still
see a number of leaves peeking
out from beneath the straw.
Excessive mulch can smother plants. When
spring comes, don’t hurry mulch removal.
The mulch will protect the strawberry fruit
buds as long as it remains on the plant.
Remove the mulch when the plants have
begun to grow and the foliage looks slightly
yellow. If the mulch is left on too long, it
could substantially reduce your yield.
If you are a fruit or vegetable grower or
are thinking about becoming one, the
Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference
is held every January in Lexington, KY.
(Fore registration Information, see below.)
Topics include commercial fruit and
vegetable production, farmers’ markets,
organic farming and gardening, high tunnel
production, direct marketing and home-
based produce microprocessing.
John Strange, U.K. Extension Horticulture
Specialist
The 2018 Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference will be held January 8-9 at
Embassy Suites in Lexington. Advance registration is $40 and must be received
by December 15, 2017. On-site registration will be $60.
http://www.uky.edu/hort/sites/www.uky.edu.hort/files/
documents/2018_FVC_Program.pdf
2018 Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference
Jessamine County Extension Service 95 Park Drive Nicholasville, KY 40356 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED