Western Farm, Ranch and Dairy Magazine – West/Southwest Edition - Winter/Spring 2024

Image by Jim McWilliams

WESTERN FAR M, RANCH, & DAIRY

a Ritz Family Publication

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Cover Image by Jim McWilliams

AGRICULTURE

Image by Jim McWilliams

Stukenholtz Laboratory Inc.

Celebrating 53 Years of Agricultural Testing

In 1970, there were no commercial soil and plant testing laboratories in Idaho. Farmers applied fertilizers based upon educated guesswork. Dr. Dale Stukenholtz and his wife Joyce saw an opportunity to build a business and started a soil and plant testing laboratory and field consulting service based in Twin Falls, Idaho. Dr. Stukenholtz had an unusually diverse background as an educator at the University of Nebraska, an agronomist in the fertilizer industry, and a farmer, and he saw a need for more modern fertilizer recommendations to produce greater yields at less cost. His clients were the growers, so he could make unbiased recommendations that maximized economic return to the farmer. After extensive field research, he developed these improved fertilizer recommendations that quickly became popular with growers and form the basis for nearly all fertilizer applications in the intermountain west area. Stukenholtz Laboratory clients include growers from all neighboring states and several foreign countries including Australia, Canada, Egypt, Russia, Mexico and New Zealand.

Stukenholtz Laboratory provides 1 to 2 day service, including picking up and delivery time, across Southern Idaho from St. Anthony and Grace to Parma and Homedale. Results can be delivered, mailed, faxed, or pulled from the Laboratory’s webpage: www.stukenholtz.com. To improve their service, Joyce and Dale Stukenholtz expanded the laboratory 26 years ago, installed the latest in computerized instrumentation and quality control, and made it the most modern and well equipped agricultural laboratory in their market area.

Critical to the success of Idaho’s most efficient laboratory and largest field consulting firm has been its personnel.

Dr. Stukenholtz has had a PhD in Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition since 1964 and his son and Laboratory Manager

Paul has nearly completed his own. Consulting agronomists include J.P. Kruckeberg of American Falls, a 44 year veteran of field consulting and the most successful single agronomist in the state, and Bart Kunz. The Laboratory and office staff are equally good.

Stukenholtz Laboratory continues with research and improvement. In conjunction with the Idaho Crop Production Association and University of Idaho CFEP research project, Stukenholtz Laboratory has helped to ensure that fertilizer recommendations in Idaho are the most cost efficient possible and produce the maximum economic yield while protecting the environment. Stukenholtz Laboratory personnel have conducted field research on over 40 different products and continue to be the experts at “cutting edge” agricultural technology. As we end our first 50 years of business and begin our next, we would like to thank our current and former employees for their dedicated work and our customers and clients for their years of support.

STUKENHOLTZ LABORATORY Inc.

• Soil Testing

• Irrigation Scheduling

• Feed Analysis

• Contract Research

Agricultural Consulting & Testing

• Tissue Testing

• Pest Management

• Field Research

• Grid Sampling

• Variable Rate Fertilization

• International Testing

• Agronomic and CCA Seminars

• Nematode Testing

Contact: Paul Stukenholtz, Consulting Agronomist

Agronomists: JP Kruckeberg, Bart Kunz, Cameron Brower, Antone Christensen, Wess Gibson, Cody McCoy, Kevin Victor 208-734-3050 • 800-759-3050 • Fax 208-734-3919

P.O. Box 353 • 2924 Addison Ave E. • Twin Falls, ID 83301 E-mail: frontoffice@stukenholtz.com Website: www.stukenholtz.com

Analysis room at Stukenholtz Laboratory Inc.

The Fertilizer-Cost-andAvailability Crisis Requires Farmers to Practice Precision Farming to Stay in Business

Efficient Fertilization

Practice is now a necessity!

Noel Garcia, CCA – Chief Operating Officer & Senior Consultant, TPS Lab

Since the onset of 2020, fertilizer prices have been exploding. But now, simply the availability in addition to evermore outrageous cost of fertilizer due to a variety of well-publicized reasons has become very seriously problematic. Presently, there seems to be no ceiling to cost escalation or foreseeable end to limitations on supplies. This means that every pound or gallon of fertilizer applied must be utilized by the crop to the greatest extent possible.

About “Precision Farming”: This term has implied mechanical means of precise seed and fertilizer placement, variable-rate fertilizer applications based on grid soil sampling and nearinfrared ærial surveys, metered applications of fertilizers through irrigation systems and GPS guidance of tractors and sprayers. But realistically, these approaches address only a modest part of achieving maximum crop performance with the most efficient use of money and resources. Whether or not precision mechanical means are used, here some of the most important considerations when attempting to get the most out of the least:

• “Traditional” practices have got to go! Here are the biggest mistakes I’ve seen farmers make over and over again during my 30-plus years with TPS Lab:

• The major application of fertilizer being made at the start of the growing season, expecting it to suffice for the entire season.

• The wrong fertilizer for the soil type or crop.

• Not keeping up with the latest advances and discoveries in crop nutrition.

• Not using bio-stimulants to improve crop performance and its resistance to disease and insects.

• Ignoring existing soil nutrients which are plantunavailable, especially in calcareous, high-pH soils.

• Ignoring irrigation and spray water quality.

• Ignoring soil health/life.

• Not planning beyond this year’s crop using the “Regenerative Agriculture” approach.

• The key issues in efficient crop production are:

• Timing and placement of fertilizer applications.

• The correct fertilizer for your soil type, the crop and its stage of development.

• Acceptable irrigation and spray water quality.

• The use of biological inoculants and bio-stimulants, such as amino acids, growth hormones and other beneficial products that may not be essential for plant growth.

Timing and Placement of Fertilizer Applications Is Crucial

– Many farmers apply the bulk of their fertilizers at the onset of the season. This is colossally wasteful, as plants develop their appetites and tastes with growth, much of the fertilizer has been dissipated by the time the plants start needing it the most. This is particularly true with N. Remember that crop nutritional needs change throughout the growing season, so applying the wrong fertilizer at the wrong time for your particular crop wastes much of your money. As to placement, with row crops, side-dressing can require much less fertilizer and starter “pop-up” fertilizer is astonishingly effective in getting crops off to fast vigorous starts. After emergence, the use of foliar sprays is the most efficient method of getting nutrients into plants.

About Foliar Sprays – In some areas of the country, particularly the Corn Belt, foliar sprays of plant-beneficial and nutritional agents are typically seldom used, as this area of the country has been historically known as having the highest-producing capacity of corn and soybeans per acre. Unfortunately, the Midwest’s rich soil nutrient pool is declining due to reduction of soil organic matter (soil carbon) much like

the rest of the country. This leads to nutrient deficiencies, especially micronutrients, that limit plant genetic potential resulting in reduced yields and quality. As a result, increased disease and insect pressure increases input costs of additional fungicides and pesticides which reduces return on investment. Here, foliar sprays of bio-stimulants, micronutrients and trace elements can have big, faster and longer-term impacts on crop health, performance and economics.

Type of Fertilizer – Here is where a Soil Test is really important! If you have calcareous soils and buy micronutrients in the oxide form, you have literally thrown money on the ground with no benefit at all. When it comes to nitrogen, there can be a huge difference between anhydrous ammonia, urea, ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate as to its longevity, its utilization by the plant and its impact on native soil chemistry and soil life. Is it nitrate nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen or organic nitrogen? The forms of other nutrients are equally important – for example, MAP or DAP? Choosing the best fertilizer for your specific soil conditions or foliar fertilizer for specific stage of growth can save huge amount of money and increase ROI. This is the reason why some have not seen much success from the use of foliar sprays. The wrong product, mixing incompatible or antagonistic products together, wrong application rates, missing critical stages of growth and inadequate water quality are quite common mistakes.

Plant Sap Tests at critical stages of crop development during the season are crucial to determining the nutritional needs of the crop so that no more than necessary of what is applied, thus saving money and limited supplies. Plants eat and drink every day and their tastes and appetites change with time. Those changing needs (but no more than needs) must be accommodated to have some assurance of a profitable outcome.

Advances and Discoveries in crop nutrition and health are being made all the time – particularly in the chelated forms of micronutrients, resulting in a much higher efficiency of plant uptake and utilization. This means using less to produce more. A fairly recent discovery is foliarly-applied water-soluble silicon. Si stiffens and hardens cell walls, thereby discouraging piercing and gnawing insects and resist disease – and lodging. Si forms a very thin hard layer that resists nematodes and soil pathogens on roots. A very recent tool is nanoparticles that encapsulates the inputs you already use into tiny nanoparticles that glide through foliar and root barriers, thereby improving efficiency and speed of uptake and reducing the energy required by the plant to get nutrients into its cells.

Bio-Stimulants – There is more to crop health and nutrition than just chemistry. These game-changers include organic acids, growth hormones and biological inoculants that can dramatically improve crop performance, nutrient uptake efficiency and resistance to disease and insects - thus reducing or eliminating entirely the need for costly pesticides and fungicides. Encourage the plants, microbes and other soil life to do much of the heavy lifting!

Already Existing Soil Nutrients – Particularly in calcareous soils, many of the metal nutrients exist as carbonate and bicarbonate chemical compounds often in abundance – all very insoluble and therefore unavailable to plants. The standard soil treatment is sulfur but the latest method also includes the use of bio-stimulants. These break the chemical bond by chelating the nutrients into bioavailable forms. Humic/Fulvic Acids, Amino Acids, Enzymes and beneficial soil bacteria from additions of soil inoculants all play a vital role to access this nutrient pool. Additions of these bio-stimulants to your existing fertility program can increase your fertilizer efficiency by more than 20% in most cases, allowing you to cut back on fertilizer in times of high cost and limited availability, and have long-term cumulative benefits.

Water Quality Test – Irrigating with hard or salty water can have dramatic impacts on soil chemistry and structure, because What’s In Your Water Becomes Part Of Your Soil ®. As aquifer levels fall, natural dissolved minerals become more concentrated. There are several methods to remediate soil. Using hard water for the spray mix can change the chemistries of spray agents to the extent of making them ineffective and possibly damaging plants. Appropriate water treatment is needed to offset or remediate these problems.

Regenerative Agriculture – Planning beyond this year to reduce costs and increase crop performance by regenerating soil structure and health/life, thereby increasing long-term nutrient availability and carbon sequestration, reducing future costs and resources. Reduction of soil disturbance and continuous vegetation cover on soil as much as possible increases the amount of diversity of organic residues to maximize nutrient and water use efficiency by plants. Restoring overall microbial life is essential to soil/plant health and biodiversity. This sustainable approach is a long road to travel but it must be initiated if farmers want to be successful over prolonged challenging times.

Bottom Line – Maintaining balanced nutrition and vigorous soil life at every stage of your plants’ life cycle will ensure that no matter what challenge Mother Nature sends, your crops will have the best chance of making you money. Soil, Water and Sap Testing is one of the best investments a grower can make, especially during these times of uncertainty with exorbitant fertilizer prices so you can apply only what your crop needs, where it needs it and when it needs it!

Don’t guess and hope for the best!

Image by Jim McWilliams

Catch A Ride On The Feed Train®

In his previous career, before becoming a manufacturer, Bob Lutz was a cattle farmer. As such, he was always looking for ways to save time and money and make life a little easier. Since he was running a rotational grazing system to conserve his pastures, he was spending a lot of time moving feed bunks. Thus the dream of the time and labor saving mobile feed bunk system came into existence.

In order for this system to work properly, a special steering mechanism was necessary to cope with the hilly terrain here in northern Missouri. Bob kept experimenting until he came up with the correct formula and put it into action for his own use. He then applied for and was granted a patent on the steering system.

The high quality construction of the Feed Train® mobile bunk led to requests for stationary bunks of the same quality and those were added to the product line. Next we were receiving customer requests for creep feeders and these were designed so that no tools are required for set up, thus avoiding the “lost screwdriver syndrome.”

Customer requests for bulk bin storage followed and two sizes in portable bulk bins were developed – a 1.5-ton bin and a 3-ton bin. These sizes are also available as stationary units as well as a 5-ton bin. These bulk bin products are also used as seed tenders. And since most cattle farmers now use ATV or UTV units in their operations, we have created u nits for feeding from the seat of your vehicle.

Pull-behind units come in 500- and 1000-pound capacity. And the UTV unit that sits in the back of the vehicle holds 600 pounds. Scales are available for any of these units.

Take a look at our website at www.FeedTrain.com or call us at 888-592-2351 for additional information or to find a dealer near you.

Brown Weight Valve

Introducing

the WEIGHT VALVE

Garry Brown, a former dairyman, has been developing and selling his weight valve–now guaranteed to last over 13 years. This valve is not a float valve. It uses a valve that is normally closed (a float valve is normally open, and the float holds the valve closed). This valve has a weight on an arm that pushes the spring-loaded valve open when the water level is lowered in the tank. The arm is adjustable for setting the water depth.

Brown’s weight valve uses a solid block of HDPE (high density polyethylene) mounted on the arm. HDPE is lighter than water and is the perfect weight for the valve. This block rests at the water’s surface. As water in the tank lowers, the weight pulls down on the arm, pushing the spring-loaded valve open and turning on the water.

As Brown developed his weight valve, he built it the way dairymen would want – heavy duty and built to last. The valve housing and weight are made of HDPE, and all metal parts are made of stainless steel. It is built to last, priced competitively with other valves, and made in America.

Float valves have been the only device available to control the water level in any container, water trough, swamp cooler, and toilet tank for roughly two hundred years.

Can you think of any other device that uses two-hundred-year-old technology? There are variations that have had some success but most are not a dairyman’s favorite device.

That is changing. There is a water valve available that is not a float

valve but operates on a new principle. There is finally a water valve that dairymen can love.

The arm on the regular size Brown Weight Valve is a one-eighthinch-thick bar of stainless steel. The weight is a solid block of HDPE about the size of a brick and weighs about two pounds – these weights will never fail like a float will.

With a weight valve, the most pressure that can be put on the valve is the weight on the arm. The arm is hinged to push in on the valve –but not attached to the valve, so if the water level rises the weight will float up without putting pressure on the valve.

There are several different sizes of Brown’s valves that deliver from four gallons per minute to over twenty gallons per minute. Brown has put together many configurations, such as a valve with a short arm and a hanging weight, and an arm that allows the valve to be mounted under water. Other sizes and configurations as demand dictates.

Weight Valve FREEZE VALVE

Brown has found a perfect freeze valve to use on the weight valve to keep water lines and valves from freezing. It is fully adjustable from a dribble to a full stream (with a 3/16 in. opening). The freeze valve, like the weight valves, are built to last. Moving water will not freeze. This valve can be closed to where it delivers a pin-point stream (it has to be left on with a solid stream) and can deliver as little as two gallons in three hours. You don’t need very much volume in your troughs to hold this additional water during the night when animals are not drinking.

The weight valve arm is adjustable so you can adjust it to shut off the water at a lower level during cold weather so the additional water added to the trough at night when a few animals will drink will not overfill the trough.

There are several freeze valves on the market that turn on a smaller stream of water when the water temperature approaches freezing. These are being sold for use with float valves. Since the water cannot rise any higher than the float’s shutoff without damaging the float valve, this requires an overflow drain to carry the additional water out of your corral. It would be very expensive to put underground drains in all troughs, and this water is wasted – adding further expense. There is one other way to keep troughs from freezing using a float – heat the trough. And that is expensive.

The arm of the weight valve is hinged so it only puts pressure down. If the water level is raised higher with a freeze valve, it puts no pressure on the valve or weight. The weight floats up with the rising water. By adjusting the small stream of water that the freeze valve delivers, it comes out of the valve at the water pressure in your water line, and runs toward the weight so it tends to keep the weight from freezing in the trough.

During really cold periods, it will keep the water line, the valve, and the area around the valve from freezing. When the animals start drinking in the morning, the new water coming into the trough will melt the rest of the trough. If the weatherman says it’s going to be extremely cold, you can open them a little more. During the summer you can shut them completely off.

The WEIGHT VALVE , and the FREEZE VALVE are a perfect match. For one person to come up with just one of these ideas is great – but Garry Brown came up with both!

Ordering these valves is as close and easy as picking up your phone and calling Garry at 1-801-602-9910 , and by ordering direct from Garry you also save all distributor and/or store markups.

Learn more by visiting his website at www. BrownWeightValve.com

Baker Angus Genetic Extra Sale

19th Annual Bull Sale Feb. 24, 2024

The Baker Family purchased the home and land in Vale, Oregon in 1945. In 1982 I bought it from them. At that time, I started a small herd of angus cows and the rest is history.

For forty-one years we have been producing cattle with the genetics that will fit what everyone in the beef industry is seeking. We have developed our program utilizing a rigorous culling program and siring the Balanced EPDs. Our bulls are normally calved in the fall and weaned in June. We believe in raising bulls which are never pushed hard – which, in our opinion, contributes to their longevity.

Customer satisfaction remains our ultimate goal. Our bulls are unconditionally guaranteed for their first breeding season

We now have a bull sale every year, the fourth Saturday in February, selling over a hundred and fifty bulls. We invite you to see for yourself at our next bull sale on Saturday, February 24th, 2024. Come see our offering and enjoy a delicious steak lunch before the sale at our sale barn at the ranch, located at 2175 Bench Rd., Vale, and Oregon 97918. Call me at 208-7393449 or Sam at 208-739-0425.

Pressurized Exhaust Kills Burrowing Rodents

The H & M Gopher Control PERC® system (Pressurized Exhaust Rodent Controller) uses carbon monoxide from pressurized engine exhaust to kill burrowing rodents such as gophers, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, moles & voles.

Exhaust gas has long been one of the most lethal and least expensive methods to kill burrowing rodents, but until now there hasn’t been an economical, efficient delivery system.

Company owners, Allen Hurlburt and Virginia Massey, said the PERC® system involves a narrow steel wand that is used to probe the burrow and inject pressurized exhaust. The burrow is filled with lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide under pressure. The rodent has no chance to escape or block the burrow.

An internal combustion engine generates the carbon monoxide and drives a compressor pump that pressurizes the exhaust gas to 110 psi in a storage tank. An air hose and a handheld probe inject the gas directly into the burrow without any digging.

The PERC® system is simple to use and safe for the operator as well as wildlife since there is no poison bait or explosion

involved. Crop stands are not damaged during treatment. No other control method is as effective, efficient, and as inexpensive to operate as the PERC®.

A PERC® system can treat moderately infested alfalfa fields at about 3.5 acres an hour with a single operator. Each probed location requires only about 2-to-3-minute injection times.

Units have been shipped to customers from Southern California to Central Canada, and as far east as Florida. Though most of the market has been with alfalfa growers, orchard and specialty crop growers have also purchased units. The PERC® system is the best solution anywhere burrowing rodents are a problem.

The PERC® system comes in three sizes, the 206, 412, and 620. The 206 and 412 comes as a skid, single axel, tandem axel, or road trailer. The 620 is sold as a skid, tandem axel, or road trailer. Contact us and we will help you decide what might be right for you.

For more information call toll free (855) 667-5181 or visit the website www.HandMgophercontrol.com and request a quote.

Nevada Farms and Ranches! Paul Bottari, Broker ALC 775-752-0952

Chad Steele, Agent/Realtor® 775-962-1356 www.bottarirealty.com

Ken Clark - Owner 169 S. Sierra Way San Bernadino, CA 92408

Local: 909-889-4084

Toll Free: 800-345-2335

Fax: 909-884-5954

Email: Sales@CleanCutter.com

Super-Efficient Liquid Biostimulant Fertilizers

3 – 4 – 3

41% L-Amino Acids +Chitosan For Maximum Stress Immunity.

4 – 2 – 3

38% L-Amino Acids Give Crops Extra Energy.

● Plant-Derived for Super-Efficient Plant Availability means much less is needed than other fertilizers because much higher percentages of nutrients get into plants with faster uptake.

● Plant Safe. Will not burn plants, even if used undiluted.

● Highest Percentages of L-Amino Acids for stress relief and disease prevention.

- Compare with other brands -

● 100% Water Soluble. Will not clog drip emitters or precipitate in lines.

9 – 0 – 0

35% L-Amino Acids Safe for foliar application.

● Boosts Microbial Biomass and Soil Nutrients Availability. Foliar Spray To Complex Minerals, Nutrients and Hormones.

Soil Conditioner That Helps Prevent Soil Minerals Lockout.