Cooperative Extension Service Clark County 1400 Fortune Drive Winchester, KY 40391-8292 (859) 744-4682 Fax: (859) 744-4698 extension.ca.uky.edu

Sincerely,

Clay Stamm County Extension Agent for Agriculture & Natural Resources

Happy New Year! So far, 2020 has been kind to the farming community. 2019 finished off with some stronger trade talks between our nation and its traditional international export partners, and although it has been a little wet, these mild winter temperatures have overall been kind to livestock. Because of these warmer temperatures our farm animals have consumed a little less forage than is usually expected for this time of year. That is some great news considering hay supplies are so tight this winter. I hope all is well on your farm and the new year has began smoothly. As we look ahead into the year, we have a lot of local and regional programing taking place here at the Clark County Cooperative Extension Office that I am sure will be of interest to you! As you read on in this newsletter you will find some information regarding our annual “Winter School” program, some grain crop meetings, and equine meetings. We are excited about the new year and hope to kick it off with some great programs. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to stop by or call me at the Clark County Cooperative Extension Office (859) 744-4682.

Continue strip-grazing of stockpiled tall fescue

for maximum utilization.

Remove animals from very wet pastures to

limit pugging and soil compaction.

Feed best hay to animals with highest

nutritional needs.

Supplement poor quality hay as indicated by

forage testing.

Feed hay in poor pastures to increase soil

fertility and enhance organic matter.

Consider “bale grazing” – set out hay when the

ground is dry or frozen. Use temporary

fencing to allocate bales as needed.

Prepare for pasture renovation by purchasing improved varieties, inoculant, etc. and getting equipment ready.

Emerald Ash Boer: Now What? Dr. Ellen Crocker (UK Forest Health Extension Specialist)

Extending Vegetable Production Season Using High Tunnels Dr. Rachel Rudolph (UK Extension Vegetable Specialist)

Clark County Farm to School David Davis (Clark County Extension Agent for Ag & Natural Resources)

Cattle Marketing Strategies Kevin Laurent (UK Extension Specialist)

Fake Meat Trend & What It Means to Beef Producers Dr. Gregg Rentfrow (UK Associate Extension Professor)

Industrial Hemp Argronomy & Research

Dr. Bob Pearce (UK Extension Professor)

Industrial Hemp Economics Jonathan Shepherd (UK Extension Specialist)

CROP PRODUCTION PRESENTATIONS AFTER LUNCH Profitability through Machinery Management

Precision Ag and Ag Tech Economics

This meeting will help farmers with 2018 Farm Bill decisions for 2019 and 2020 Crops. Examples will illustrate the prices and yields where PLC may provide larger payments than ARC. The market outlook will be provided for the 2019 and 2020 crops along with a discussion of the safety net provided by crop insur-ance, farm program payments, and marketing tools to manage revenue risk.

2020 Farm Bill, Crop Outlook, and

Risk Management Meetings

This material is funded in partnership by USDA, Risk Management Agency, under award number RM18RMEPP522C006/4500081755.

To register, call the Extension Office at (859) 744-4682.

Dr. Bob Coleman (UK Equine Specialist)

“Preparing for the Riding Season”

Clay Stamm (Clark Co. ANR Agent)

“Clark County Equine Concerns”

Complaint Procedure

To file a complaint of

discrimination, contact Tim

West, UK College of

Agriculture, 859-257-3879;

Dr. Sonja Feist-Price or

Terry Allen, UK Office of

Institutional Equity and

Equal Opportunity, 859-257-

8927; or the USDA, Director

Office of Civil Rights, Room

326-W Whitten Bldg., 14th &

Independence Ave. SW,

Washington, DC 20250-

9410 (866) 632-9992.

~ Excerpted from Thomas Kilcer’s “Crop Soil News, Nov. 2019

Absolutely NOT. That is equivalent to reducing feed purchases by cutting back on feeding grain, regardless of how they are milking. It is distressing to see farms fertilizing by best guess, and then shorting their profitability some where else because “enough” money was spent on fertilizer. If you cannot get your whole farm sampled, concentrate on corn fields and fields that are going to be seeded. These have the earliest fertilizer additions. Hay fields can be sampled after first cutting and the top dressing applied after second cutting.

The biggest regulator of the return on your fertilizer investment is to raise the pH to 6.2 for corn or 7.0 for legumes. This is where expensive fertilizer is most available and the plant growth can make the most use of it. As the pH drops, fertilizer efficiency drops 30 – 50% in producing crop yield.

Correct pH soil is a BASIC MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE for any manager who has any desire to run a profitable farm. A few years back I worked with a top managed farm that started a complete farm soil testing program. He discovered to his surprise, he had alfalfa fields that were at a pH too low to ever grow corn well! Ironically, he was putting too much fertilizer on high testing manured corn fields, to the point of hurting plant growth by tying up minor elements. What he saved on fertilizer more than paid for the needed Time IN ONE YEAR! Since then, several more farms have gone on to whole farm soil testing and have had the same results: decreased fertilizer bills and an increased need for corrective liming, and less expensive forage cost for the yield achieved. As the price of fertilizer continues to go up, the investment in this critical part of your crop production demands the highest return on each dollar invested. Unfortunately as more farms are finding the benefit of comprehensive soil testing and recommendations, we were learning that they were severely handicapped in forage profit for several years for having low pH. Fields of 5.4 – 5.8 are common, especially on rented ground. They tried to save on fertilizer by no liming. At these pH levels, as the chart below shows, you are throwing away a third of your fertilizer impact. Even at pH 6.0, nearly 20% (one bag in five) is lost due to the acid soil’s effect on availability. In this era of high prices, correcting the pH FIRST and then adding what fertilizer the checkbook will allow you, is the way to maximize the return in your crop.