2017 september & october

Agricultural News

Volume 1, Issue 1

September & October 2017 Dates of Interest call for more details

September 20th @ 6:00 pm Steve Higgins from UK will be at the Nelson County Extension Office to Cattle Automatic water installation and other farm infrastructure Sept 27-28 Grazing School Oct 7 Sheep & Goat Producer Conference Bowling Green, KY Oct 17 Ky Grazing Conference Lexington

Rob’s Report by Robbie Smith The fall harvest is underway and so far it looks to be a large crop for Nelson County. I have done a couple of yield test for farmers in the county and have seen some large yields. Harvesting also brings movement of equipment. Caution should be shared with family and friends that don’t share the level of understanding of the logistics and care it takes to move these large pieces from farm to farm. An efficient harvest helps keep grocery prices low.

This months newsletter is heavy with cattle information but there is a reason for that. The total animal sales for Nelson County in 2012 was over $30 million dollars and 70% of that was Cattle and Calves. The overall

economic contribution to Nelson county for production ag was $64 million. However, this doesn't take into consideration the impact ag has on the entire community. The wonderful thing about this sector of our economy is that most all the money made is spent back in this community.

Remember agriculture is local ; you spend a dollar to grow a crop, you make a dollar, and you spend that made dollar back on trucks, equipment, herd expansion, or infrastructure.

70% of land in Nelson County is used for farming and equals 187,755 acres. More than 45,000 head of cattle are managed by 1326 farm families.

Page 2 Agricultural News

Limiting Weaning Stress for Beef Cattle Weaning is usually a stressful time of year for calves. Limiting weaning stress in beef calves can increase their daily gain. Calves often experience four types of stress: physical, environmental, nutritional and social. You can help them avoid or minimize these with proper management.

is where you separate the calves from the mothers with a good fence that will keep them apart, but allow them to be nose-to-nose. This will keep the calves calmer and separation won’t be such a large issue. Even with more distance, as long as the calves can see the cows, it will reduce stress levels.

Physical stress usually happens during long periods of standing in working facilities, mishandling in the working chute and hauling to a weaning facility.

Castration and dehorning during weaning can significantly increase stress, so castrating at birth and vaccinating before weaning will help decrease this type of stress.

Nutritional stress happens when calves are transitioned from a milk and pasture diet to a stored forage and grain diet. You should have highquality pasture available to calves during weaning time in the spring and the fall. For fall weaning, calves can graze fields cut for hay that are beginning to regrow or stockpiled fescue fields. Fall weaning pastures should be grazed or clipped between mid-August to mid-September to allow enough time for regrowth. We recommend turning calves into the pasture when grasses are 8 to 12 inches tall and letting them graze until grasses are 3 to 4 inches tall.

Environmental stress can be man-made or a product of the climate. The weaning pen is the main human-induced factor in this type of stress. When you transfer calves from a clean pasture to a dry lot, it can add stress as they are not familiar with the new surroundings. Plus, moving calves to dusty dry lot, where they walk around in a confined space turning up dust, can cause respiratory problems and decreased weight gain. Climate issues such as rain, ice, snow and wind are out of your control, but you can try to plan weaning time to avoid those conditions.

Social stress is usually caused by removing the calf from its mother. While this is an inevitable part of weaning, you can decrease the stress by using a cross -fence method. The cross-fence method

Pasture weaning really does offer a lower stress alternative to the conventional dry lot weaning programs. It reduces the environmental and nutritional stress simultaneously because calves are already used to pasture and their diet doesn’t drastically change. To have success with this method, it will take planning on your part regarding highquality, available pastures.

Source: Jeff Lehmkuhler, UK beef cattle specialist

Page 3 Volume 1, Issue 4

Form and Function” in the Cow Herd Replacement heifers are critical to the success of your herd. Open (nonpregnant), unsound, aged cows or animals that die need to be replaced annually to maintain herd size. Since it can be difficult to find a source of mature cows that are problem-free, many producers direct their efforts toward producing or purchasing yearling replacement heifers.

Should you raise or purchase your replacements? That depends upon what you are producing now and what you want your cow herd to be in the future. Someone with a very small cow herd might choose to purchase replacements to simplify the breeding program and allow their herd bull to stay around longer. Others that are using terminal bulls (generally the larger breeds), might prefer to sell all of their feeder calves and buy the needed replacement heifers. Thereby eliminating the need for another enterprise on their farm – breeding and managing replacement heifers.

Some folks, feeling that their heifer calves are a known quantity, choose to breed and develop their own. No problem. But choosing the best ones can be challenging. A lot of cattle judges say that “form follows function”. So if you need 10 replacements select a few more, say 12, by choosing the 12 best looking heifer calves from the calf crop. Or if you

have records, you might consider choosing the older calves that are more likely to be cycling at the start of the breeding season.

I remember one gentleman several years ago that would call me when he weaned his calves and wanted me to pick his replacements. He would run them past me and I would pick out his “best ones”. He would send the rest directly to market.

That’s okay ‘cause “form follows function”, right?

Could there be a better way? I know that you might need sales to generate a land payment, etc. However, a different approach would be to keep most of the heifer calves and sell at different intervals throughout the years – spread your risk (but you will have smaller groups to sell).

I understand that “form follows function” so we could just go ahead and actually focus on function. In a sense, letting the calves sort themselves. Here’s what I like to do at the UKREC: (1) At weaning, sell all obvious culls – like poor doers, extremely rough hair coats, disposition problem, etc.

Every time you put the calves through the chute, or move them around, take off anything that “acts up”. They’ll just disturb the other (Continued on page 10)

Page 4 Agricultural News

Preparing for Retirement Planning for retirement is imperative for all farmers and it should start at least 3-4 years before expected retirement. One major issue a farmer must prepare for when looking toward retirement is the dreaded tax liability that comes with it. In many cases, a farmer will sell all of his equipment and possibly even some of his land once he retires. Below are some options to consider that may help spread the tax liability over a longer time period.

retiring is what to do with their owned land, especially if they do not have heirs. A farmer usually has two options in this case: he can rent the land to another farmer, or he can sell the farm. If a farmer chooses to sell a farm, he may incur a very large capital gain depending on the basis he has in the property. One way he may be able to divert some of that income for a longer period is by selling the property through an installment sale.

One option a farmer has is to lease his equipment to a local farmer for a number of years. The equipment could then be sold to that farmer later at a lower value. The rent collected would be ordinary income and the farmer would be allowed to deduct any remaining tax depreciation on the equipment. Once the equipment is eventually sold, the gain would be considered ordinary income. The selling price of the equipment at that point should be significantly lower.

The leasing option allows income to be spread over several years and is a great option if there is an interested lessee.

An installment sale requires at least one payment after the tax year of the sale. Each payment is broken into three parts: interest income, return on basis, and gain on sale. Each year the interest income and gain on sale must be reported as income on the proper tax forms, but the return to basis is not included. Installment sales require very specific guidelines to be followed, so it is very important to work closely with your accountant when considering this option.

The retiring farmer must make sure that the lease agreement and the equipment sale are considered two completely separate events. If the two events are too closely tied together, the IRS may consider it a financed sale that would be taxable upfront.

Additionally, in most cases equipment rental income is subject to selfemployment tax.

Another issue farmers may face when

Retirement is definitely something that needs advance planning and consideration. It is a major step for any farmer, but steps can be taken to lessen the tax burden with proper planning. As with any decision regarding retirement or any other major decisions, it is very important to involve your accountant and other advisors in the planning process.

Source: Michael C. Forsythe, Area Extension Specialist/Farm Business Management, Pennyroyal Group michael.forsythe@uky.edu

Page 5 Volume 1, Issue 4

Tips for Stockpiling Tall Fescue for Winter Grazing Feed and specifically winter feeding is the single highest expense in cow-calf production systems. In many cases it can make up more than 50% of the total cow-calf budget. Traditionally, hay is the main feed that is used during the winter months. Producing hay that is high enough in forage quality to meet the nutritional needs of lactating brood cows can be difficult.

Feeding that hay during the cold, wet, and muddy winter months can also be a challenge, especially if you work off the farm since it is dark when you leave and dark when you get home.

In contrast to hay, tall fescue stockpiled for winter grazing is almost always higher in nutritional value and will in most cases meet the requirements of a fall calving cow. In addition, grazing stockpiled grass costs about half as much as feeding hay that is supplemented. To me one of the biggest advantages of grazing stockpiled grass is that you don’t have to climb onto an old tractor and try to get it started in the freezing cold and them trudge through the mud to get the hay out to the pasture. The following steps will help to optimize your stockpiling program.

Choose a strong tall fescue sod in a field that is well drained. To get the maximum yield response to nitrogen applications you will need a healthy stand of tall fescue. Choosing a field that is well-drained will help to ensure that the stockpile can be grazed with minimal pugging damage during the wet winter months.

Clip pastures that will be stockpiled to

3-4 inches prior to applying nitrogen.

Clipping pastures removes old growth and increases the forage quality of the stockpiled grass.

Apply 60-80 lb of nitrogen per acre in late August to mid-September.

Applying nitrogen too early can stimulate warm-season grass growth in pastures, while applying nitrogen too late decreases dry matter yield.

When applying nitrogen in midSeptember, decrease application rates to 60 lb/A. Allow growth to accumulate until mid -December before grazing. If limited grazing is available, feed hay during late summer and fall.

Graze stockpiled pastures that contain legumes first. Legumes deteriorate at faster rate than grass and should be grazed first to minimize losses.

Strip graze tall fescue to maximize grazing days. Ideally, allocating only enough stockpiled grass for 2-3 days will increase grazing days per acre by 30 to 40%. However, if you work off the farm, it may make more sense to allocate 7 days of grass.

This would allow you move fences on days off.

Frost seed legumes on grazed areas. Closely grazed stockpile provides an excellent opportunity to establish legumes in grass dominated pastures. Broadcasting the seed as the pasture is being grazed can enhance soil-seed contact and increase overseeding success. Dr. Chris Teutsch, UK

Page 6 Agricultural News

Soybean Producers Needed for UK Studies A University of Kentucky postdoctoral scholar needs Kentucky soybean growers’ help with two new research projects.

The projects are led by Jerrod Penn, postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Agricultural Economics, and investigate issues in row crops such as field management, insects and weed control.

The first project is a brief survey designed to help researchers understand growers’ field management practices. This survey may help direct future research efforts at UK. The second project, Grower Gander, will help researchers determine the prevalence of herbicide resistant weeds across the state. For this project, growers will need to select two soybean fields and take two pictures in each field when the soybeans are completely dry, just before harvest.

Participants will need to submit these pictures online along with information on herbicide use in each field during the growing season.

Participants need to grow at least 100

acres of soybeans and be at least 18 years old. Growers need to submit information for both projects

by Nov. 1. To participate, contact Penn at jerrod.penn@uky.edu or 859-218-4395.

For each completed survey, researchers will donate $5 to the FFA chapter of the participant’s choice. Those who submit pictures for the Grower Gander will receive $10 donated to the FFA chapter of their choice. Researchers encourage farmers to have FFA students take the field photos on their behalf.

The UK Student Sustainability Council is funding the projects.

The UK Department of Agricultural Economics is part of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Source: Katie Pratt, 859-257-8774

Page 7 Volume 1, Issue 4

Mid-October is Ideal Time to Plant Small Grains A group of UK specialists were recently discussing what is the best small grain for high quality forage.

The consensus was wheat, since it is widely available and favored by many KY growers for forage. For dairy or other high producing livestock, you need to harvest at the boot stage (or sooner) to maintain high quality. At this stage protein content and digestibility are high – similar to alfalfa haylage or corn silage. When harvesting at this early stage, the field can be doublecropped with corn or full season soybeans. It is very difficult to cure early season small grain forages for hay, so most producers preserve as silage or baleage.

Beef producers growing wheat for forage often graze the crop late winter (early March) and then harvest later in the reproductive growth stage (at the milk to softdough stage). At this later stage, yields are much higher, but the forage is said to be nutritionally equivalent to an average hay crop. When grazing wheat or any small grains, make sure to remove cattle once stems begin to elongate if you plan to harvest the regrowth.

Forage yields between wheat varieties vary by over one ton per acre so refer to Table 4 of the 2017 Kentucky Small Grain Variety Performance Test http:// www.uky.edu/Ag/wheatvarietytest/.

Ideally, choose a variety that performs well over several years.

For example, the 3 year average shows Pioneer26R10 with

consistently high forage yields and also high grain yields. Other varieties that have done well over the past 3 years are: Beck 125; Agrimax 438 DynaGro 9223, DynaGro 9522; Agrimax 454 and VaTech Hilliard. Newer high yielding varieties with only 2 years of test data include: Seed Consultants 13S26, Croplan SRW 9415 and USG 3197.

Nick Roy, Adair County Extension Agent, shared his experiences with local farmers. I see very few dairy farmers planting cereal rye anymore, unless they are just using it for grazing or cover crop. Rye has a very small harvest window for high quality. The most planted crop for us (Adair County) is still wheat. Cosaque black oats and annual ryegrass are gaining in popularity. There are now later maturing triticale varieties available, but they seem to have the same quality problems as older varieties, just a few weeks later in the season.

A lot of my farmers who have planted barley have had trouble with Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus. I seldom see winter oats planted in Adair county because they are not very winter hardy.

Overall, my “go to� recommendation is still wheat. A certified wheat selected from our forage trials would be ideal, but many farmers still plant bin run seed. (Note: it is illegal to save seed of some propriety wheat varieties). If they want higher quality I recommend annual ryegrass

Page 8 Agricultural News

Don’t Overlook Johnsongrass in Your Pasture Livestock producers in the southern United States should not overlook johnsongrass in their pastures. For one thing, under certain conditions it can kill your cattle. Another reason not to overlook johnsongrass is that it is excellent forage - if you can get over the fact that it can kill your cattle!

Positive Aspects of Johnsongrass As far as nutritive value is concerned, johnsongrass is tough to beat. One study conducted at the Noble Research Institute in Oklahoma showed that the quality, expressed as percent crude protein (% CP), and digestibility, expressed as percent total digestible nutrients (% TDN), of johnsongrass is as good as any of the forages tested (Figure 1). In this study, Bermuda grass was neck and neck with johnsongrass in terms of % CP and % TDN. The Bermuda grass was a managed stand and was fertilized with 50 to 100 pounds per acre of actual nitrogen. The johnsongrass was unfertilized and unmanaged.

In another Noble Research Institute study, the palatability of several warm-season grasses was evaluated by yearling steers. In the study, three yearling steers had access to plots containing pure stands of 14 different warm-season perennial grasses

(both native and introduced).

Johnsongrass came out near the top in this study. Alamo switchgrass was the only other grass in the study that had more bites taken of it than johnsongrass in year one (9,262 versus 6,062, respectively). A testament to the preference for johnsongrass by livestock can be seen while driving down the road; pastures that are continually grazed generally won't have any johnsongrass, but you will see it all along the roadside - out of reach of the fenced-in cattle.

Negative Aspects of Johnsongrass Johnsongrass is on the noxious weed list in several U.S. states (including Kentucky) and has even made the list of the 10 most noxious weeds in the world. Johnsongrass can accumulate nitrates during the summer if exposed to several dry, cloudy days in a row. It can also produce prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) after stressful conditions such as drought, freezing weather or exposure to a herbicide that kills grasses. If your johnsongrass is subjected to any of these conditions, keep cattle away for about a week to allow the prussic acid to dissipate.

Source: Chan Glidewell, Noble Research Institute

Page 9 Volume 1, Issue 4

Frost and Freezes Increase Cyanide Poisoning Risk Cyanide poisoning, more commonly referred to as prussic acid poisoning, can have a very abrupt and deadly effect on ruminant livestock grazing forages and requires careful management as frosts and freezes begin in the area. Plants, such as sorghum, sudangrass, sorghumsudan hybrids, Johnsongrass, wild cherry, and others, contain compounds that produce free cyanide when these plants are damaged by frost or drought conditions. Grazing these plants when they are producing young shoots (less than 18 inches tall) also increases the risk. Using caution when grazing these forages during times of stress can usually eliminate the possibility of cyanide poisoning in

Correct Bracing Patterns for fencing.

livestock. Waiting for two weeks after a light frost (temperature greater than 28°F) is recommended.

For a killing frost, wait until the material is completely dry and brown (usually cyanide dissipates within 72 hours). Grazing at night when a frost is likely is not recommended as high levels of cyanide are produced within hours after frost occurs. Delay feeding silage for six to eight weeks following ensiling of forages in the sorghum family. If cut for hay, allow to dry completely so the cyanide will volatilize prior to baling. For more information, follow this link to the UK publication “Cyanide Poisoning in Ruminants�: http://www2.ca.uky.edu/ agc/pubs/ID/ID220/ID220.pdf.

Forage News October 2016

Page 10 Agricultural News (Continued from page 3)

calves and can generate some periodic “cash flow”. Be critical and be generous with the “trailermycin”.

(3) Develop calves on a normal plane of nutrition – you don’t have to fatten them. Breeders should, in my opinion, put some “selection pressure” on heifers so that we can eliminate problems early in the production cycle instead of passing them on.

(4) Do a reproductive “workup” at a year of age and prior to breeding (of course). Cull those heifers that aren’t cycling, have abnormal reproductive

tracts or don’t have sufficient pelvic area to have a normal-size calf. They can be then sold as feeder calves.

Disposition is very important – you don’t necessarily have to assign a chute score or measure exit speed but the way that they behave “under pressure” is a great predictor of their future – administer trailermycin as needed. Those that do make it through this step are good candidates for breeding.

(5) We do one round of timed A.I. followed by a short “clean-up” period.

Pregnancy diagnosis is done as soon as possible so that open heifers can be removed and sold while they are heavy feeder calves.

Out of the bred heifers remaining, we select the ones that we want to put back in the herd (usually AI bred) and the rest should be good enough and eligible for bred heifer sales.

Selling bred replacement heifers is another potential enterprise on the farm – especially if you have a quality cow herd, you are selecting for maternal traits, have a good health program, etc.

Heifer selection is a continual process. The final evaluation won’t be until they wean their first calf. They need to meet these criteria: (1) wean a good calf, (2) maintain good body condition, and (3) breed back early in the breeding season. If they do this, they just graduated to the cow herd.

Congratulations.

Form does follow function but don’t get so concerned about appearances that you forget about function. I’ve seen some pretty common looking cows that were outstanding producers. It would have been a shame to have overlooked them.

Page 11 Volume 1, Issue 4

Fall Fertilizer Applications to Hay Fields and Pastures You may be wondering if it’s necessary and economical to apply fertilizer to your pastures and hay grounds this fall.

ment recommends P applications starting when the soil test P level drops below 60 pounds per acre and K when soil test K drops below 300 pounds per acre for grasses and legumes. If you are growing alfalfa, we recommend applications for K levels below 450 pounds per acre.

The answer depends on your specific situation. When considering the options for your operation, the first thing you need to do is examine your If soil test levels are above these soil test. If you have not taken soil numbers, the likelihood of a yield samples within the past three years, response to additional P and/or you need to collect new ones before K fertilizer is extremely low. But if making a decision. From the soil test you want to be sure that P and results, determine what, if anything, K are not limiting, apply fertilizis limiting. In terms of soil pH, the ers as recommended. If you are minimum value depends on the type conservative and assume of forage you’re producing. If it’s some risk that P and K might alfalfa and the pH is below 6.0, you reduce yield, you might allow soil should apply lime. A grass-legume test levels to demixture usually can tolerate soil cline further. pH down to about From small 5.8 and a pure plot regrass system Soil Testing can save money. search, we probably can Test don’t Guess, is our motto. know that go down to Soil Testing in Nelson County once soil pH 5.5 beis $5 . For more information on test P fore yields how to properly take a soil test drops below are affected. visit our web page 30 pounds per Similar stateacre and/or soil ments can be test K drops below made for phospho200 pounds per acre, a yield rus (P) and potassium response to added fertilizer is like(K) nutrition, with alfalfa requiring the ly, therefore; these would be the minmost and pure grass, specifically imum tolerable levels. fescue, requiring the least.

The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environ-

Source: Edwin Ritchey, Extension Soils Specialist

Page 12 Agricultural News

Page 13 Volume 1, Issue 4

Page 14 Agricultural News

Page 15 Volume 1, Issue 4

FSA & NRCS News FSA Notes



Please notify the FSA Office if you have had any changes of ownership of land. We will need the deed and survey of any new property purchased.



Also, if you have had banking changes we will need to do a new direct deposit.



Producers can sign up for text alerts from the Farm Service Agency by texting KYNELSON to 372-669.



Producers that have hay and pasture can now report for the 2018 crop year.



Wheat crop reports are due by December 15.

Conservation District Cost Share Program The Nelson County Conservation District are now accepting requests for cost share funding under the Kentucky Soil Erosion and Water Quality Cost Share Program.

These annual cost share funds are administered by conservation districts with priority given to animal waste problems and agricultural district participants where pollution

problems have been identified.

Practices available for funding are: Vegetative Filter Strips, Integrated Pest Management, Pesticide Containment Facilities, Sinkhole Protection, Heavy Use Area Protection, Rotational Grazing System, Water Well Protection, Animal Waste Utilization, Forest Land Erosion Control System, Strip Intercropping System, Stream Crossing, Conservation District Environmental Grant, Cropland Erosion Control System, Pasture & Hayland Erosion Control, Streambank Stabilization, Agriculture Waste Control Facilities, Closure of Ag Waste Impoundment, Riparian Area Protection, On-Farm Fallen Animal Composting and Precision Nutrient Management Incentive.

For more information on the Kentucky Soil Erosion and Water Quality Cost Share program, visit the Nelson County Conservation District located at 2001 Buchannan Blvd., Bardstown, Ky. 40004. You may also call the District office at 502-348 -3363, extension 3.

Phone: 502-348-9204 Fax: 502-348-9270

317 S 3rd St Bardstown, KY 40004

Nelson County

«DPBarcode»

«EndorsementLine»

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID BARDSTOWN, KY PER-