Barren County Farm & Garden Newsletter June-July 2015 edition

Cooperative Extension Service Barren County 1463 West Main Street Glasgow, KY 42728 (270) 651—3818 Fax: (270) 651—3744 www.ca.uky.edu/ces

Lastly, we couldn’t close this newsletter without taking a second to promote the highly anticipated Barren County Ag Festival sponsored by Alltech. This event will be held Saturday, June 20th at the Barren County High School campus, celebrates all sectors of agriculture and serves as an June and July are busy months for educational event to showcase the Barren County producers and love and labor of how food is grown gardeners. Several chores to and produced. Lots of activities will complete before harvest, so make be going on at this event from sure to check out seasonal tips for farmers market, celebrity cooking “around the garden” and “in the demos, antique tractors, food, field”. Summer pests such as clowns, Kentucky proud farm poison hemlock and ticks are businesses, ice cream, farm animal active now, so take precautions to exhibits, children’s games, and protect yourself from ticks and farm much more! Help us celebrate animals from getting sick. The Agriculture Extension Variety page features a on June spotlight on our summer intern and 20th! It will upcoming 100 Mile Potluck event, be a great while the food and nutrition spot event for all highlights the perfect combination ages! of juicy tomatoes and crispy bacon in a Plate it up! Kentucky Proud recipe: Bacon and Tomato Dip.

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In order to maintain quality vegetables throughout the season, home vegetable gardeners should practice good care to keep the garden healthy and free from pests.

Water is an important practice to help plants grow strong.

Vegetables require an inch of rainfall a week, so if plants don’t receive this amount, supplement with irrigation. Many home vegetable gardeners utilize watering cans, a garden hose, or sprinkler system, but the investment in a drip irrigation system is the best watering method. One major advantage is that drip irrigation doesn’t wet the foliage which lowers the relative humidity and chances for fungal spores to germinate.

Encourage good air circulation in the garden. Good air flow through the plant canopy will maximize sunlight potential and also discourage disease development. In order to provide air circulation, give plants plenty of room to grow and develop.

Overcrowded plants are slow to dry after a rain and result in high humidity that further attracts disease. If growing indeterminate

type tomatoes with a vine-like growth habit, remove suckers that join the stem to also aid in proper air movement.

Practice good sanitation during the growing season. Carefully inspect plants for possible disease or insect pests. Most often, insects will congregate under the leaf blade or along the stem. Also, discard any plant that appears diseased that could spread to other plants. It is best to burn or put diseased material into a sealed container and dispose with household trash.

Lastly, fertilize vegetables at the proper time to produce lush, continuous growth. As a general rule, make sure vegetables are well fed when they are young and give an additional boost when flowering and reproduction begins. When you apply fertilizer, more is not necessarily better. For recommendations on fertilizing vegetables, pick up a copy of the Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky. It is a useful guide filled with general information related to growing vegetables.

 Carry out gardening chores in the morning or late evening,

Sun Safety TIPS!

when the sun is at a lower angle and the temperature is cooler.

Avoid the hours between 10 am and 4pm to garden.  When working outside, wear a light cotton long sleeve shirt and pants, garden gloves, and a hat that protects ears and neck. If not wearing a hat, purchase good quality sunglasses coated with a UVA blocking filter to reduce cataract formation.  Apply plenty of sunscreen with sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 to 50. Reapply sunscreen every hour if working and sweating. Don’t forget a sunblock for lips and remember to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water!

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Restoring proper rumen function and meeting energy needs of feeder calves arriving on the farm are critical.

High energy and high digestible fiber feeds such as soyhull pellets and high quality hay are wonderful options.

Getting the nutritional health of the animal back to high level is the first step in feeder cattle health program. Cattle must have an immune system that fully functional before vaccines can have maximum effectiveness.

Be sure to pay special attention to water consumption. Cattle coming onto the farm may or may not know how to drink water from a trough or automatic waterer. This is especially important in light weight cattle and calves that might not be weaned prior to purchase. Producers and their vets should develop a health program.

Producers should be aware that stress can cause mineral deficiencies. These deficiencies affect the overall health of the animal, depress immune function and response. High quality complete mineral for feeder cattle is very important. Your veterinarian may recommend blood sampling calves to determine if mineral deficiencies are present. You and your vet may find that targeting the deficiencies

found in many KY cattle of copper and selenium could pay dividends. The purchase and use of an inexpensive rectal thermometer is recommended.

Consult with your veterinarian on what is the “target temperature” to treat.

Studies have shown that treating suspect calves according to body temperature reduces death loss, and actually lower use of antibiotics. Many Barren County producers have taken advantage of cost share programs to construct cattle working facilities. However, some very basic steps need to be taken when processing cattle after getting them to the farm.       

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Cattle must be individually identified (ear tagged) Consider intranasal vaccines.

Handle vaccines properly.

Change needles regularly.

Sanitize implants guns, scalps, and other equipment in a livestock disinfectant.

Deworm and control external parasites.

Allow cattle to rest, rehydrate, and regain proper rumen function prior to “working”.

Start with a smaller group of calves.

Refine your protocol.

Resistant Weeds & New Herbicide Traits Princeton UK Research & Education Center 1205 Hopkinsville Street Princeton, KY 42445 June 23, 2015

9:00am — 3:00pm

Save the Date!

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Poison hemlock is a toxic, invasive weed that generally is seen on right-of-ways and over-grown areas. However, producers are seeing more of the plant in their pasture and hay fields. The plant is toxic to all common farm animals. Symptoms can range from death to deformities in newborn animals whose mother has consumed the plant. For small animals, sheep or goat, a lethal dose may be as little as 100 grams of plant consumed. For cattle and horses the lethal does is larger, but can be as little as 200 grams. Poison hemlock can still be toxic if the plant is contained in hay.

The good news is that the plant is fairly easy to control if sprayed in early growth stages. Applications of 2-4D made in late winter and early spring for common pasture and hay field weeds such as thistles and corn buttercup will clean up most poison hemlock. However, once the plant flowers, herbicide control is ineffective. Poison Hemlock in later growth stages can only be controlled mechanically.

That means mowing or chopping down. It is worth noting that each plant is capable of producing 50,000 seeds. Mowed and chopped down plants should be removed from fields where animals are grazing or where hay is to be

taken up. Livestock will not generally seek out the plant to eat. However, when pasture is short, the livestock are more likely to graze the poison hemlock when other forages are not present. Poison hemlock has been reported germinating and growing as winter weed.

This presents a problem as animals are seeking out green, lush plants in winter grazing.

The plant can be identified by its fern-like appearance in early growth stages.

Leaves are waxy and triangular shaped.

Flowers are off-white, small, and have an umbrella shape. (Please see picture below.) The plant grows tall and has a hollow stalk. Purple stripes appear on the stalk in late growth stages. For more information about poison hemlock, contact the Barren County Extension Service.

Crop Reporting Deadline is July 15th Timely reporting crops, such as hay, pasture, row crops, tobacco and vegetables is important as it creates a cropping history and determines eligibility for participation in most FSA programs.

County Committee Nominations and Election The nomination period begins June 15th and ends on August 3rd.

This year the Local Administrative Area (LAA) 3 is holding an election. LAA 3 (Barren County) includes the communities of Temple Hill, Nobob and Etoile. For more information, please contact the Barren - Metcalfe FSA office at 270-629-2081.

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Ticks can carry harmful diseases for humans, so it’s important to check yourself for evidence of ticks. Ticks can be encountered throughout the Kentucky outdoors. They are most common in overgrown vegetation along forest edges and trails commonly transited by deer and other wildlife. Personal protection, frequent self-inspection, and prompt tick removal are keys to reducing tick bites and potential health consequences. The incidence of infected ticks is very low in the state and ticks must feed for hours before passing a pathogen, so importance of early discovery and removal cannot be overemphasized.

Lone star ticks are frequently encountered along woodland trails and overgrown areas in much of Kentucky. Lone star ticks aggressively attack humans, a wide range of other mammals, and ground-nesting birds. Intense reactions to saliva injected while these ticks feed can produce painful, itchy areas that can become infected if contaminated from frequent scratching. Lone star ticks can transmit erlichiosis, a disease that can affect humans, dogs, and cats. It can exhibit a variety of symptom combinations: fever, headache, chills, muscle pain, and in some cases, a rash. These appear 1 to 2 weeks after the bite from an infected tick.

Source: Lee Townsend, Extension Entomologist

The American dog tick can be a vector of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF). Infections in humans usually begin as a sudden onset of fever and headache that appear from 2 to 14 days after feeding by an infected tick. Other symptoms can include nausea, muscle pain, lack of appetite, and a rash.

The blacklegged tick, the vector of Lyme disease, is still relatively new to Kentucky. It has been reported primarily in the region of the Daniel Boone National Forest and in counties along the Ohio River in northern Kentucky. Some cases of Lyme disease have been diagnosed in Kentucky. As with the other diseases, the tick must be attached and feed for at least 24 hours to transfer the pathogen.

1) Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible with fine-tipped tweezers.

2) Pull upward with steady, even pressure.

Don’t twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin.

Source: Center for Disease Control, http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html

3) After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol or soap and water.

4) Dispose of a live tick by submersing it in alcohol, placing it in a sealed bag/container, wrapping it tightly in tape, or flushing it down the toilet. Never crush a tick with your fingers.

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Hello, my name is Molley Scott and I am serving as an intern with the Barren County Cooperative Extension Service. I am an undergraduate senior at Western Kentucky University studying Agriculture with a concentration in Animal Science. As a Hart County native, I have grown up on the family farm raising livestock, tobacco, and hay. I have been heavily involved in the 4-H youth program since the age of four when my parents started me with a lamb project. Being involved in 4-H at such a young age has shown me the importance that Extension holds on the community, youth, and the future of agriculture.

My experience with Extension has lead me to further my career in the Ag field in hopes to one day become an Extension agent. By the end of the summer, I hope to better prepare myself for the agricultural industry and also make an impact in my community, my country, and my world, as the 4-H Pledge says. I am excited to be a part of the Barren County Extension Service staff!

Bring a dish that serves 8–10 people, prepared with locally grown and/or produced food obtained within 100 miles. (Not every single item has to be local, just do the best you can!) Please provide a recipe for each dish to share with others!

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