HARLAN COUNTY

EXTENSION NEWSLETTER http://extenson.unl.edu/statewide/harlan PO Box 258 Alma, NE 68920 Phone: 308-928-2119

November 2016

72nd Annual Harlan County 4-H Achievement Banquet

Harlan County 4-H members, leaders, parents and supporters attended the 72nd Harlan County 4-H Achievement Banquet, Thursday, October 27. Special thanks to the Dry Ridge 4-H Club for hosting this years event, Orleans Chamber of Commerce graciously prepared and served the dinner and to Harlan County Feeders for donating the meat for the meal. The awards ceremony followed dinner, beginning with recognizing three 4-H volunteer for the years of dedicated leadership and service towards Harlan County 4-H; Amanda Pfeil was recognized for her 5 years of leadership with the Town and Country 4-H Club, Mark Bose for 20 years as a leader with Dry Ridge 4-H Club and Nancy Tarkington, 25 years of leadership with the Republican Livestock 4-H Club. It was an honor to give out the special recognition to the 2016 recipients. Mr. and Mrs. Kurt and Nancy Tarkington were honored with a plaque for, Friend of 4-H Award. The 2016 4-H Alumni was awarded to Kristi Bose while the Meritorious Service was presented to Barb Hartzog. Retiring 4-H Council members, Amy Russell, Polly Murdoch and Janell Ehrke received thank you me-mentoes for their hard work and commitment during their 4-H council terms. The Russell crew, completed their Career Portfolio books this year and each received an awards pin along with a swanky lawn chair. Taylor Russell earned his award in Rabbits, Brianna for Beef and Samuel achieved Poultry this year. The 2016 County Herdsmanship winner went to the Dry Ridge 4-H Club and the Out-standing Livestock Exhibitor belt buckle sponsored by Chuck and Judy Bose was awarded to Cole Guthrie from Holdrege.

The Annual Homemaker Club

Christmas Extravaganza!

November 14th

@ 5:30pm

Ag Center in Orleans, NE The evening will be overflowing with

Christmas spirit as guests take part in

sampling delicious

hor d'oeuvres, shopping around the ‘mini

mall’ of local merchants and friends and

spending time connecting with

others from the community while

enjoying a delightful sit-down meal.

Sounds like an incredible way to start

off the Christmas Season, doesn’t it?

To secure your $15 ticket please

RSVP by November 9th

by calling

308-928-2119.

Get Involved in 4-H As we start a new 4-H programming year, please remember that you to enroll or re-enroll. You will need to log into your family account and profiles for each 4-H member to participate in the 2017 program year. Please do not make a new profile if you were signed up for 4-H this last year. If you don’t remember your password, click on the “I forgot my password” button and infor-mation will be sent to your email. When you are filling out the form, please click on the box on how you would like to receive your correspondence as by mail or email. Also, there is a box to check if you would like to receive notices by text message. No Paper Forms to submit for enrollment. For more information contact the Harlan County Extension 308-928-2119 or email us at harlan-county@unl.edu.

Find us on Facebook! at https://www.facebook.com/harlancountyext/ Stay up to date on events, view photos, learn interesting facts and anything else we happen to post.

2017 DATES FOR PESTICIDE

TRAINING CLASSES TO BE HELD

IN ALMA, NE Harlan County Courthouse Meeting Room

JANUARY 10, @ 9:30AM & 1:30PM

FEBRUARY 16, @ 9:30AM & 1:30PM

The new Nebraska Extension NebGuide G2276, “Herbicide Options for Planting Forage Cover Crops Following Corn and Soybean,” is now available. This research-based information guide allows producers to quickly compare pre-emergent & post-emergent herbicide options applied within corn and soybean fields with time intervals needed after herbicide applications before planting the top 11 cool-season forage cover crop species and top 5 warm-season forage cover crop species planted in Nebraska.

More information regarding cover crops and herbicide labelling is available at the Nebraska Extension website http://cropwatch.unl.edu or your local Extension offices.

New Cover Crops NebGuide Herbicide Options for Planting Forage Cover Crops Following Corn and Soybean

SHOOTING SPORTS SCHEDULE:

Shotgun/Clay Target

Dates: November 6, November 20,

December 4, & December 18

(Weather Permitting)

Time: 3:00pm—5:00pm

Location: Dunlay Range, Orleans

State Competition Date: April 23, 2017

22 PRACTICE

Dates: October 9th, October 23,

November 6, & November 20

Time: 3:00pm—5:00pm

Location: Dunlay Range, Orleans

State Competition Date: TBA

Archery, BB Gun & Air Rifle

Dates: January 15, January 29,

February 12, & February 16

Time: 3:00pm—5:00pm

Location: Harlan County Fair Sheep Barn

State Competition Date:

Archery—January 27-28, 2017,

State Competition Date:

BB Gun & Air Rifle—March 18-19, 2017

Christmas Swirl Workshop!

November 28th 4:15 - 5:15 p.m. @ Orleans Ag Center

Youth will whip up a batch of tasty and festive cookies, enjoy them

freshly baked with hot chocolate and take home their ready-to-bake

log of cookies for the whole family to enjoy. Contact the office at

(308)928-2119 or

email Cammie at cammie.kroll@unl.edu

Cost $5 RSVP by November 21st

Tis the season to spread some cheer.

Monday, December 5th

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.

@ Good Samaritan Society Colonial Villa in Alma.

Come take part in creating and decorating Christmas Ornaments with the residents. Then,

get hands on in helping to decorate our very own featured 4-H Christmas tree that will be up all

season long in the Villa. 4-H’ers, friends and family are all welcome to

join – the more the merrier.

Please RSVP by November 28th

For additional questions: call the office at (308)928-2119 or email Cammie at

cammie.kroll@unl.edu

4-H members from Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas are eligible to submit applications. Any 4-H member who has previously caught a calf in the 4-H Catch-A-Calf Contest is not eligible to apply. 4-H members

may obtain an application from the Harlan County or any other UNL-Extension offices.

A limited number of 4-H members have the

opportunity to catch a calf each January dur-

ing the National Western Stock Show held in

Denver, Colorado. To apply, applicants must

be between the ages of 12 and 18 as of

December 31, 2016 and must be enrolled in

4-H at the time of application. Applicants

must have parental as well as Extension Ed-

ucator consent in order to submit an applica-

tion. Selected 4-H member applicants will be

sent details regarding participation before

January 2017.

Successful catchers will receive their calf in

May 2017 to begin feeding the calf to market

finish. Youth must show and sell their calf at

the 2018 National Western Stock Show.

Information about the Catch-A-Calf Contest

can be found on the National Western Stock

Show website at: http://

results.nationalwestern.com/catch-a-calf/.

Applications are due to Amy Kelley (Cheyenne County Extension, PO Box 395, Cheyenne Wells, CO 80810)

postmarked no later than December 1, 2016. Contact your local Nebraska Extension Office or

Rob Eirich at 308-632-1230 for more information and an application regarding the 2017 Catch-A-Calf Contest.

Bats are misunderstood creatures.

Bats are not aggressive and become less frightening when we take time to

learn about them.

There are 1200 species of bats worldwide but only thirteen species call

Nebraska home. All of the bats found in Nebraska are insectivores, feed-

ing solely on flying insects such as mosquitoes and moths. One little

brown bat can eat 600 to 1200 mosquito- sized insects EVERY HOUR! A

colony of 150 big brown bats (4-5 inches long with wing span of 12 – 16

inches) can consume enough cucumber beetles in a single season to pre-

vent the hatching of 33 million more!

Nebraskans should actually welcome bats as they devour more mosquitoes than any bug zapper.

Nebraska’s bats mate in early fall but delay fertilization, meaning females hold sperm in utero, delaying

pregnancy until the spring. Nebraska’s bats give birth just once per year, having just one young. Except

the Red bat, it could have up to 4 young at once.

Bats typically leave roots at dusk to hunt. Under nat-

ural conditions, bats normally live under loose bark,

among foliage, or in hollow trees, caves,

quarries, and cracks of rocky ledges. As tempera-

tures cool and insects become less available, bats

migrate to suitable hibernation sites. Migration is not

necessarily southward. Some species from Nebras-

ka actually move north and east to the Ohio Valley to

hibernate. Bats can enter through openings as small

as ¾ inch in diameter. Good entry points for bats are near eaves, vents, chimneys, cracks, and other small

openings. Prevention is the best way to avoid having bats in your home. Bats cannot create their own en-

try holes. Therefore, it is important to seal all cracks, plug all holes, and use good screens and tight-fitting

doors. Hardware cloth (1/4-inch or smaller mesh), caulk, sealant and weatherproof foam strips are excel-

lent materials. If you have a bat problem, there are ways to remove and deter these mammals. There are

live traps, and it’s suggested direct bright light at their roosting sites will deter them from coming back.

Bats are associated with rabies and histoplasmosis, two significant diseases that can be transmitted to hu-

mans. While these diseases are significant, they can easily be avoided and should not be used as an ex-

cuse to kill bats.

For the whole article, you can go to

http://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/html/g1667/build/g1667.htm

Or stop by the Harlan County Extension Office for the print out.

Nebraskans

should actually

welcome bats as

they devour more

mosquitoes than

any bug zapper.

Bagworms are about two inches long at this time of year and much easier to see on evergreen trees than they are during

early to mid-summer; when they are smaller and moving about the tree to feed. Being easier to find, now into May is the

time to hand-pick and destroy bagworms. While bagworms have stopped feeding, female bags can contain from 500 to 1000

eggs. Being in the egg stage now, insecticides will provide no control until

after eggs hatch next year, typically from late May into June. If hand-picking

bagworms is not feasible, mark calendars for insecticide control at the ap-

propriate time next season. On evergreen trees, pesticide applications are

justified from late May through July if bagworms are present.

When to prune roses and preparing roses for

winter - Research has shown roses sustain

less winter injury if they are pruned later in

April. To prepare roses for winter, now is the

time to clean up old leaves to reduce over-

wintering organisms. If a rose is a species

or cultivar that requires

winter protection, the key is not

to put protection like mulch or

rose cones in place too early. Wait

until after two or three hard

freezes before applying winter

protection to insure the rose is

fully dormant; which is a plants

best protection against cold tem-

perature. The goal of winter

mulch is to help keep dormant

plants dormant and help avoid

freezing and thawing of soil that may in-

jure roots. Putting mulch in place too ear-

ly can delay dormancy and increase the

risk of winter injury.

Disadvantages of fall pruning in-

clude:

1). new growth is stimulated and

does not harden off before winter;

2). stored “food” in branches is re-

moved before trees transport it into

roots;

3). fall pruning wounds do not begin

to callus over until new growth be-

gins in spring and wounds are open

to disease and/or insect pests; and

4). The risk of decay in wounds is

increased during fall.

Dead, broken or diseased branches can be pruned when they are noticed. Other-

wise, the ideal time to prune is late winter or early spring, except for oaks.

Cutting back asparagus in fall is a common practice for many gardeners. But allowing aspar-agus stems to stand does provides some benefits to plants.

* Standing asparagus fronds trap snow during winter, providing moisture for the crown as the snow melts.

* Nutrients in the stems are transported into the plants' crown if stems are allowed to stand until later winter, February or March. By then the stems will be brown and all nutrients will have moved into the plant crown.

* Allowing asparagus fronds to stand in late winter delays new stem emergence, which can be a useful technique where late freezes are common.

However, if you have an older female cultivar of asparagus, such as Mary or Martha Washington, asparagus seedlings can become a problem in the garden. In this case, cutting back stems in the fall and removing as much seed as possible from the garden minimizes asparagus weed problems next year.

Pruning trees and shrubs is not recommended during fall

coloration period.

Bagworms: mark your

calendars for insecticide for late May through July.

Rose pruning and winterization

Harlan County Extension

PO Box 258

706 Second Street

Alma, NE 68920

Calendar of Events

NOVEMBER 4 - 4-H Fall Ball, Ag Center, Orleans 8pm -10pm

NOVEMBER 9 - Grow FarmHER Event

NOVEMBER 14 - Annual Homemaker Club - Christmas Event

“O Holy Night,” 5:30 pm - 8:30pm

NOVEMBER 28 - Christmas Swirl Workshop in Orleans

DECEMBER 5th— Rockin Around the Christmas Tree, Ornament

Service Learning at Good Samaritan Society Colonial Villa in Alma

JANUARY 10 - Pesticide Training @ 9:30AM & 1:30PM

FEBRUARY 16 - Pesticide Training @ 9:30AM & 1:30PM

In This Issue

Homemakers Annual

Christmas Event

4-H Enrollment

Pesticide Training

Catch a Calf

Bats

Achievement Night

MORE!

HARLAN COUNTY

EXTENSION NEWSLETTER