Cooperative Extension Service Fleming County P.O. Box 192 Flemingsburg, KY 41041 (606) 845-4641 Fax: (606) 845-6311 extension.ca.uky.edu

AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES

Fleming County e-Newsletter

APRIL 2020

ON the “WEB”

You can check out this Newsletter issue on the Fleming County Extension Service website http://fleming.ca.uky.edu/

Also, other current information and events can be found on the website, too.

Like us on Facebook at https://facebook.com/fleminganr

If you have questions or comments, please email me at april.wilhoit@uky.edu or call/text my cell at (606)776-1504.

In this issue….

PAGE 2 IMPORTANT DATES

PAGE 3 TIMELY TIPS

PAGE 4 STAYING POSITIVE & LESSONS LEARNED

PAGE 5-6 REESTABLISHING HAY FEEDNG AREAS

PAGE 7 FORAGE TIMELY TIPS & RECIPE

PAGE 8 PESTICIDE LICENSE INFO FROM KDA

PAGE 9 BEEF MANAGEMENT WEB SERIES

PAGE 10 CAIP EDUCATION INFO & HORT WEB INFO

PAGE 11 HOW TO PEST PROOF YOUR HOME

PAGE 12 CLEAN HANDS SAVE LIVES

PAGE 13 SOCIAL DISTANCING: WHY IT MATTERS

Hi All,

I hope this Newsletter finds you all doing well and staying healthy. It’s a weird time we’re in right now, but we’re ma-neuvering through it and adjusting as needed for the safety of our employees and all of you. As many of you know, we have cancelled all face-to-face meetings/trainings through the middle of May, we will be reassessing at that time. We have many online learning opportunities available for folks. The Fleming County Farmers Market members have been completing their education requirements via Zoom and have done an awesome job adapting to this platform. If you are in need of CAIP education or Private Pesticide Applicators License please look for online training info later in this Newsletter.

Our office currently is operating on limited access, as I said above for the safety of all of you and for our staff. We do have a place for soil to be dropped off. Please follow the instructions listed on the tote on our office porch for dropping off soil samples. We will call you and get further info. An invoice will be mailed to you for payment.

We will get through this. I greatly appreciate your understanding and patience as we fulfill our work in a new adjusted way. You can contact me anytime.

Thank you, :)

April Wilhoit Fleming County ANR Agent

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DATE PROGRAM LOCATION

MARCH 31 FARMERS MARKET TRAINING #3 VIA ZOOM (6:00PM) VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

APRIL 1 HORTICULTURE WEDNESDAY WEBINAR– BLACK RASPBERRY PRODUCI-

TON (2:00PM)

VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

APRIL 7 BULL BUYING WHILE MAINTAINING SOCIAL DISTANCING (8:00PM) VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

APRIL 8 HORTICULTURE WEDNESDAY WEBINAR– SO YOU THINK YOU WANNA

BE A BEE KEEPER (2:00PM)

VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

APRIL 14 PREPARING COWS FOR THE BREEDING SEASON (8:00PM) VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

APRIL 15 HORTICULTURE WEDNESDAY WEBINAR– ASPARGUS IN MY GARDEN

(2:00PM)

VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

APRIL 21 MANAGING CALVES FOR THE MARKET (8:00PM) VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

APRIL 22 HORTICULTURE WEDNESDAY WEBINAR– START COMPOSTING AT

HOME (2:00PM)

VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

APRIL 28 RECIPE FOR PROFIT FOR BACKGROUNDING & STOCKER ENTERPRISES

(8:00PM)

VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

APRIL 29 HORTICULTURE WEDNESDAY WEBINAR– YOUR LAWN & WEED CON-

TROL (2:00PM)

VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

MAY 5 UTILIZING TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE CATTLE MANAGEMENT PRAC-

TICES (8:00PM)

VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

MAY 6 HORTICULTURE WEDNESDAY WEBINAR– INSECTS IN THE GARDEN

(2:00PM)

VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

MAY 12 HORTICULTURE WEDNESDAY WEBINAR– TOPIC TBD VIA ZOOM (ONLINE)

Timely Tips Les Anderson, Ph.D., Beef Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky

Spring-Calving Cows Observe spring-calving cows closely. Check cows at least twice daily and first-calf heifers more frequently than that. Be ready

to assist those not making progress after 1 to 2 hours of hard labor. Chilled calves should be dried and warmed as soon as possible.

See that each calf gets colostrum within an hour of birth, or administer colostrum (or a commercial colostrum replacement) with an esophageal feeder, if needed.

Identify calves with eartags and/or tattoos while calves are young and easy to handle and record birthdate and Dam ID. Com-mercial male calves should be castrated and implanted as soon as possible. Registered calves should be weighed in the first 24 hours.

Separate cows that have calved and increase their feed. Energy supplementation to cows receiving hay is necessary to pre-pare them for rebreeding. For example, a 1250 lb cow giving 25 lb/day of milk would need about 25 lb of fescue hay and 5 lb of concentrate daily to maintain condition. If you need to go from a condition score of 4 to 5, you will need to add about 2 more lb of concentrate. Cows must be in good condition to conceive early in the upcoming breeding season.

Watch for calf scours! If scours become a problem, move cows that have not calved to a clean pasture. Be prepared to give fluids to scouring calves that become dehydrated. Consult your veterinarian for advice and send fecal samples to diagnostic lab to determine which drug therapy will be most effective. Try to avoid feeding hay in excessively muddy areas to avoid con-tamination of the dams’ udders.

Continue grass tetany prevention. Be sure that the mineral mix contains high levels (~15%) of magnesium and that cows con-sume adequate amounts. You can feed the UK Beef IRM High Magnesium mineral.

Plan to vaccinate calves for clostridial diseases (Blackleg, Malignant Edema) as soon as possible. You might choose to do this at the prebreeding working in late April or early May.

Obtain yearling measurements on bulls and heifers this month (weight, height, pelvic area, scrotal circumference, ultrasound data, etc.) if needed for special sales. Heifers should be on target to be cycling by the start of the breeding season.

Prepare bulls for the breeding season. Increase feed if necessary to have bulls in adequate condition for breeding. Obtain Breeding Soundness Evaluation (BSE) on bulls, even if they were checked last breeding season.

Finalize plans for your spring breeding program. Purchase new bulls at least 30 days before the breeding. Order semen now, if using artificial insemination.

Fall-Calving Cows Bull(s) should be away from the cows now! Plan to pregnancy check cows soon. You can also blood test for pregnancy as early as 30 days after bull removal. Creep feed calves with grain, by-products or high quality forage. Calves will not make satisfactory gains on the dam’s milk

alone after about 4 mos. of age – since there isn’t much pasture in March, fall calves need supplemental nutrition. Consider creep grazing on wheat pasture, if available. Calves can also be early-weaned. Be sure that feed bunks are low enough that calves can eat with the cows.

Calves intended for feeders should be implanted. Consider adding weight and selling your fall calves as “heavy” feeder calves. Keep them gaining!

General Repair fences, equipment and handling facilities. If you have a dry, sunny day, use chain-link harrow to spread manure in

areas where cattle have overwintered. This may be done in conjunction with renovation.

Renovation and fertilization of pastures should be completed. Start thistle control. They can be a severe problem in Kentucky pas-

tures. Chemical control must be done early to be effective. Watch for lice and treat if needed.

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Staying Positive and Lessons Learned Kevin Laurent – Beef Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky It’s a rainy Saturday and I’m in the office at the UKREC in Princeton trying to write this article for Cow Country News and Off the Hoof. It’s been quite a week, one that I don’t think any of us will ever forget. This week the coronavirus outbreak was offi-cially declared a pandemic sending the world financial markets and our everyday lives into turmoil. Schools have closed, March Madness was cancelled, and we have learned new terms such as “social distancing”. The commodity markets have been especially hard hit with feeder cattle contracts declining the limit two days in a row. How much of this is a panic or an overreaction? I’m not quite sure. Speculators in the marketplace do thrive on volatility and many times, it seems to be at the expense of the folks with the muddy boots and calloused hands. But to the individuals suf-fering from this virus, their families, and the workers in the health care industry, this situation is very real. I myself worry about members of my family who are in compromised health. Staying positive during these troubled times can be quite challenging, but at the end of the day I can’t think of a more resili-ent and optimistic group than farmers and ranchers. Spring grass is just a few weeks away and calving season is in full swing marking the beginning of hopefully a better and more promising 2020 production year. With that in mind, I would like to dis-cuss a few lessons (good and bad) we learned this past year in the PVAP-Precondition program. 1. Protein matters. Feeding a balanced ration is key to good gains on growing calves and one item that can’t be compro-

mised is protein. PVAP Example One: Producer fed 13 lbs. of cracked corn to calves grazing late planted cereal rye. Calves gained only 1.6 lbs./day at a feed cost of gain (excluding hay and mineral) of $0.57/lb. Good news is he still netted $60.89/head preconditioning these calves for 47 days. Bad news is he left roughly an additional $40/head on the table by not balancing protein in the diet. Replacing 3 lbs. of corn with dried distillers grains (ddgs) would have resulted in a 14% protein ration and daily gains closer to 2.35 lbs. at a feed cost of gain of $0.47/lb. Lessons: Late planted cover crops (in this case late September) are usually not far enough along in growth to provide significant nutrients during the fall graz-ing season. Protein matters and feed cost is not just about dollars per ton. Adding dried distillers grains to the ration at $250/ton would have raised the price of his feed from $140/ton to $170/ton, yet it would have yielded increased gain and net dollars.

2. Feed the calves. A common mistake when preconditioning calves for the first time is simply not feeding enough concen-trate. Newly weaned growing calves are at the most efficient phase of their postweaning growth curve and will respond favorably to concentrate diets. Couple this with the fact that since most preconditioning programs are less than 60-90 days, there is not much time to add weight to ensure a profit for the preconditioning enterprise. PVAP Example Two: Pro-ducer transitioned calves during the first week of weaning to a 14% complete ration with monensin fed in a self-feeder. Calves were fed 49 days and average feed consumption was 18 lbs/day. Calves gained 3.46 lbs./day at a feed cost of gain of $0.56/lb. This producer netted $104/head over all preconditioning costs when sold in the CPH-45 sale. Lessons: This producer checked all the boxes. She had good calves weighing 593 lbs. that were castrated at a young age and ready for weaning. She fed a quality complete ration that seemed a bit pricey at first glance ($215/ton) but gave excellent perfor-mance. A good rule of thumb for precondition programs is to feed a minimum of 2% body weight of a 14% protein con-centrate. If your precondition period is less than 60 days and you have above average genetics, consider 2.5% body weight or even a self-fed ration.

3. Castrate early. As stated in the last example, the length of preconditioning periods leaves little time for set-back in perfor-mance and health. Calves simply can’t afford to have a bad day. Any surgeries such as castration or dehorning need to be done at an early age when it is less stressful. PVAP Example Three: Producer castrated bull calves at weaning and transitioned them to a 12% self-fed ration. Calves average 438 lbs. at weaning and consumed 18.5 lbs of feed per day. Heifers gained 2.51 lbs./day and steers gained 2.28 lbs./day. Producer netted $78/head over all preconditioning costs. Lessons: The steers in this case gained slower than the heifers due to being set-back from late castration. If the bulls had been cut early in life and implanted, they may have gained 0.4 lb. a day more during the precondition period. Additionally, a 14% ration would have been more appropriate for 400 lb. calves at weaning. This was probably a $20/head lesson.

The best part of these examples is that any of the negative lessons are easily fixed. Remember marketing plans begin early. The management we do now, can affect how marketable our calves are next fall. If you have never preconditioned calves be-fore, talk to your county agent about enrolling in the PVAP-Precondition program. But most of all, take care, stay healthy and pray for stable markets and more peaceful times.

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Approaches for Reestablishing Hay Feeding Areas Chris Teutsch, UK Research and Education Center at Princeton

Wet conditions this winter have resulted in almost complete disturbance in and around hay feeding areas. Even well-designed hay feeding pads will have significant damage surrounding the pad where animals enter and leave. These highly disturbed areas create perfect growing conditions for summer annual weeds like spiny pigweed and cockle bur. Their growth is stimulated be lack of competition from a healthy and vigorous sod and the high fertility from the concentrated area of dung, urine and rotting hay. The objective of this article is to outline approached for deal-ing with these areas. Approach I: Planting cool-season grasses and legumes The first strategy is to seed cool-season grasses or a mixture of grasses and legumes in the spring. While this commonly done, results are usually less than spectacular in most years. This is due to several reasons. The first is that seedings are normally delayed until late spring or early sum-mer. This does not allow adequate time for the seedlings to develop a

large enough root system to sustain them through a hot and often dry summer. The second reason is that summer annual weed pressure is very high. Summer annuals weeds like foxtail, crabgrass (?), goosegrass, spiny pigweed, cockle bur and others actively compete with cool-season seedlings for light and water, often causing stand failures. If you decide to attempt a spring planting of cool-season grasses and legumes, there are several things that you can do to enhance, but by no means guarantee success. These are listed below.

Plant adapted forage species. Plant forages that are well adapted to Kentucky and the soils and drainage found on your farm. Tall fescue, red clover and ladino clover are by far are best adapted and most versatile forage species for pastures in the Com-monwealth. Information on the best varieties to use can be found on the UK Forages webpage.

Consider leaving legumes out of the mix. While legumes are an important part of grassland ecosystems, herbicide options for controlling weeds in grass-legume mixtures are limited. Leaving legumes out will allow you to apply selective herbicides to con-trol broadleaf summer annual weeds.

Use the high end of the seeding rate. Seeding rates are normally given as a range. For spring seedings, make sure and use the high end of this range. Rapid canopy closure is critical to suppressing summer annual weeds.

Plant as early as possible. Spring seeded cool-season forages should be planted starting in early to mid-March. Early plantings will have more time to emerge and form a canopy that can shade summer annuals weeds. They will also have additional time to develop a root system that can sustain the developing seeding during the summer months.

Plant in two directions. If drilling, cut your seeding rate in half and plant in two directions. This will aid in obtaining quicker canopy closure and hopefully prevent and shade summer annual weeds.

Check seeding depth. Small seeded cool-season forages should not be planted deeper than ½ inch. Make sure to check and recheck your seeding depth. Seeding deeper than ½ inch will delay emergence, result in uneven stands, and in many cases cause complete stand failure.

Control broadleaf weeds in cool-season grasses. Once seedling have four collared leaves, some herbicides can be applied. Always consult and follow label directions. For more information on using herbicides on new seedings, contact your local exten-sion agent.

Clip or flash graze new stands. Summer annual weeds compete very aggressively for light, water, and nutrients with cool-season grass seedlings that are trying to establish. If this competition is not controlled, it will likely result in stand failure. The most effective control this competition is to flash graze these paddocks before weeds get to far along. Flash grazing is accom-plished be placing a large number of animals in small areas for a short period of time. This reduces selective grazing and in-

crease grazing uniformity. **CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE**

Figure 1. Excessive rainfall and high livestock concentra-

tion in and around hay feeding areas has resulted in al-

most complete disturbance.

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOIUS PAGE: Approach II: Planting a warm-season annual grasses The second strategy involves planting a summer annual grass in late spring or early summer and has much higher probability of success. Summer annual grasses, especially sorghum-sudangrass or sudangrass, have very rapid emergence and canopy clo-sure. This will prevent summer annuals weeds from germinating and provide forage for grazing or harvesting during the summer months (Figure 2). Perennial cool-season grasses can then be reseeded under more ideal conditions in late or summer or early fall. If you decide to use summer annuals grasses, there are several things that you can do to enhance your success. These are listed below.

Plant adapted summer annuals species. Always plant forages that are well adapted to Kentucky and the soils and condi-tions on your farm. Summer annuals that can be used to reclaim hay feeding areas include sudangrass, sorghum-sudangrass, pearl millet, and crabgrass. Detailed information on the adaptability, establishment, and management of these species can be found in

Use the high end of the seeding rate. Seeding rates are normally given as a range. Make sure and use the high end of this range. Even with summer annu-als, rapid canopy closure is critical for reducing sum-mer annual weeds.

Plant after soil warms. For summer annuals grasses to germinate and rapidly emerge, soil temperatures at planting should be at least 60 degrees F. As a general rule, this is about two weeks after the “ideal” corn planting date. This should allow plenty of time to let the area dry out and to get it smoothed up prior to planting. If there is a delay in planting the summer annuals after final tillage, it may be a good idea to do

one more pass of light tillage to disturb any weed seedling that may have germinated. Control broadleaf weeds. Once warm-season an-nual grasses are established, some herbicides can be applied to control summer annual broadleaf weeds. If you plan to reseed cools-season peren-

nials in the fall, make sure and check the label for reseeding restrictions prior to application. Always consult and follow label directions. For more information on using herbicides on summer annual grasses, contact your local extension agent.

Grazing summer annuals grasses. Allow taller growing summer annuals like sorghum-sudangrass and pearl millet to reach a height of 18-24 inches before grazing and stop grazing a to 8-10 inches. Regrowth can be stimulated be applying 40-60 lb N/A after each grazing, but the last. Crabgrass can be grazed once it reaches a height of 6 to 8 inches. Cattle should be pulled off once it has been grazed to a height of 3 to 4 inches.

Haying summer annual grasses. Allow taller growing to reach a height of 30 to 40 inches before mowing. This will opti-mize yield and forage quality. If regrowth is desired, do not mow close than 6 inches apply 40 to 60 lb N/A after each cutting, but the last. Crabgrass should be cut for hay at the late boot-stage. Care should be taken to not mow crabgrass closer than 3 to 4 inches.

Reseeding cool-season grasses in the fall. Pastures should be sprayed with a non-selective herbicide in late summer to control any remaining summer annual grass and any weeds that have germinated. Cool-season grasses can be no-tilled into the killed pasture area.

Figure 2. Sorghum-sudangrass (left) formed a quick canopy that was

able to shade out summer annual weeds compared with a mixture

of forage soybeans and pearl millet (right).

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FORAGE TIMELY TIPS MARCH

Interseed legumes into pastures using a no-till drill Continue hay feeding to allow pastures to rest and spring growth to begin Seed cool-season grass and legumes by mid-March Smooth and reseed hay feeding areas. Graze pastures that have been overseeded with clover to control competition Provide free-choice high magnesium mineral to prevent grass tetany.

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CAIP EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES

If you need CAIP education, please check out the following link.

You will sign up using the instructions provided on the website.

Once it is completed the County ANR Agent will receive notifica-

tion that you have completed the requirement.

https://anr.ca.uky.edu/caip-training

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