kansas agricultural news
kansas agricultural news
Thursday Jul 20, 2023
Cottonwood director assumes horticulture agent, Master Gardener coordinator position
Thursday Jul 20, 2023
Thursday Jul 20, 2023
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Cottonwood Extension District Agent Jay Harris discusses his new responsibilities as the Horticulture Agent and Master Gardener coordinator.
Read about the Master Gardner program and Harris accepting the position on Hays Post.
Friday Dec 16, 2022
Cottonwood Extension District hires new 4-H Youth Development agent
Friday Dec 16, 2022
Friday Dec 16, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Cottonwood Extension District agent Monique Koerner introduces 4-H Youth Development agent Tamara Robertson.
Thursday Aug 25, 2022
Cottonwood extension district offers resources for producers dealing with drought
Thursday Aug 25, 2022
Thursday Aug 25, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Cottonwood extension district agent Stacy Campbell shares information about the impacts and resources available to ag producers during the ongoing drought.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell
The area drought is having an impact on area producers from the Cottonwood Extension District agent Stacy Campbell stops by to share some information for those dealing with the dry conditions. On this episode of the Post Podcast.
Stacy Campbell
There is a well it says thirsty cattle. We've got solutions. It's next Tuesday, August the 30th. Over in Russell County at the Blunden farms, there's going to be a demo and field day about kind of some alternative ways to get water to your livestock that are feasible, doable that have been done. Stacey Minson, who's our watershed specialist has put together that program, she's got some guest speakers, Hershel George, retired watershed specialist, but very, very knowledgeable on how to get some alternative water sources to your pastures is going to be speaking and I think they might have a little demonstration. And then they're also going to talk about management strategies for Johnson grass, haying, and grazing conditions, managing feed stuffs and drought conditions, even some incorporating some cover crops into livestock operations to save on feeding days. That's next Tuesday, August 30. Beginning at 830, and Russell County, at the Blunden farms, the directions are a quarter mile north of Fairfield road, and then 170/9 road if you've got and I guess you do need to kind of believe let them know if you're coming by calling or texting Stacy Minson at 785-769-3297. So that's 7693297 If you want to come to that demonstration and Field Day on on watering sources and some grazing drought management for your livestock next Tuesday on the 30th.
James Bell
Probably a very important topic if Yeah, yeah, even for a refresher, I would think probably a good idea. Yep. Yep, for sure. For sure. And speaking of water, yeah, the lack of thereof is causing all kinds of havoc for our producers. Yes,
Stacy Campbell
yes, because of the drought, you know, yields aren't going to be great on our crops. And because of that, there's probably going to be some leftover nitrogen phosphorus nutrients in the soil. So before farmers plant the next wheat crop, it would be very, very beneficial to take proper soil samples to see how much is left over, could definitely save you some money by knowing instead of guessing. And we have the soil probes, the the bags, the forms and everything. And we'll even mail them off for you if you'll take them and bring them back in. And if you've got any questions on doing that, give me a call, ideally, recommended to take two different samples, one from zero to six for your phosphorus, and one from zero to 24 for your nitrogen, sulfur and chloride. So for your before your next wheat crop, it's advisable to do that. And then you've got some time if you want for your summer crops you know, you can do that either after harvest this year or early spring but something that will definitely definitely pay big dividends each and every year by doing that and taking the guesswork out. And then yeah, because of the drought. No guys are worried about nitrates in their feed and their hay. Just remind them that even though you might lose a little bit of tonnage, I don't think you'll lose much. In the no the feed is short, but if you can raise the cutting height the cutting bar up, those nitrates accumulate in the typically in the very lower portion of the stem. So instead of cutting it to three inches, if you can raise that up to six, seven, maybe eight inches, you can sure reduce the amount of nitrates in your forages in your feed and your hay and then also we've got probes that you can come and borrow the hook on to a drill that you can probe into your bales you can bring that hay back in and will send it off to the Soils Lab at K State they can also test for nitrates and test for protein if you want and then you'll know what you have there and you know you can probably if it is still turns out to be high in nitrates even after raising the cutting height you know no one what you have you can if you have some low nitrate how you can always grind it in dilute it so that is kind of the deal is dilution is the solution. If you got high nitrate Hey, but you've got some low nitrate Hey, you can blend it together by grinding it and you can usually make that work so and then just a couple of key I guess pointers because of the drought, call cows wean early preg check those are all things that can help extend extend your feed stuffs in the in the grazing season. And then wheat variety selection that's coming up planting wheat we've got information on our website triple w.cottonwood.ksu.edu click onto the crops and livestock tab and then look under hot topics. We've got our local test body Information, the K State Experiment Station, we perform its variety test plots. Colorado State has a neat little decision tool that's easy to use. That is pretty cool, I would advise you to look at that. So we've got our resources there on our website for looking at your next wheat variety if you're looking at changing, getting a different wheat variety. And then lastly, I mentioned this before, but since we're in a drought, good opportunity to clean out livestock ponds, if you do that, it's advised to put the dirt on the backside of the dam, if you put it up by the pond, it's gonna go back into the pond eventually. So and then also, if it's leaking a little bit, if you'll pack it with a, with a sheep's foot roller, really, really, really well that will generally do it. But you can also take a soul texture test if you need to, if it is leaking quite a bit and see how much clays in that soul, we can send that off to the souls lab. And then that'll help you figure out if you need to add some, some some basically some salt. We've got information we could talk about that if you need some assistance on your pond leaking, and I'm probably about out of time and that's probably it.
James Bell
We're okay. I do have one follow up. How do they the producers out there? What's the easiest and best way for them to get ahold of you for your resources? Yes,
Stacy Campbell
just give us a call 6289430 Monday through Friday H 12. One to five we also have voicemail so I understand farmers work many many hours so if you think of something after five you know if you'll call it you should be able to get over to my voicemail and leave me a message or you can just leave the message with Teresa and she'll give it to me. email. My email is s Campbell with just one L so it's S C A M P as in Paul B is in boy e l@ksu.edu. But yeah, give us a call at 6289430 and then if you want to look on our website, just type in Cottonwood exten
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
Extension district wheat test plot results released
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Cottonwood Extension District agent Stacy Campbell shares updates from the district.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell
We plot test results from the Cottonwood Extension District have been released agent Stacy Campbell stops by to share with us the details on this episode of the Post Podcast.
Stacy Campbell
Monique Koerner just started yesterday as our new family community wellness agent here in haste. And she just started yesterday. So yeah, you know, you want to invite people to swing in and meet her or give her a call. But yeah, Monique Kerner is our new family community wellness agents that started just yesterday here in the Hayes office for the cottonwood district. And then there's, you know, a search on for two more agents for four H Youth Development agent and horticulture agents. So stay tuned.
James Bell
Very cool. Very cool. Yeah. When she gets settled in you tell her to swing on by. Okay. We'll do Yeah, we could still hit it. Oh, good. Great, great. We get some important things we're gonna talk about today. You, we just had the harvest got over. And then the fair, you had some results from the wheat, right?
Stacy Campbell
Yeah, yeah, we cut our you know, little little, I can say little, our wheat demonstration test plot that was south and west of town. And we've got those results up on our website. So if you just go to triple w.cottonwood.ksu.edu, click onto the crops and livestock tab, there's kind of some tabs over to the left, if you click onto that. And then under hot topics, I believe is where that's at. And that's a lot to remember. So one of the things I just kind of tell people anymore, if I'm if you just type in Cottonwood extension, and put comma KSU should be able to get our website to pull up and then just click on to the crops and livestock section. And you'll see should see the local wheat demonstration plot results there and also have some other decision aid tools there. There's a publication that extension, you know, updates annually, puts quite a bit of time and effort into it. Called they renamed it now. But in the past, it's been called the wheat variety, disease and insect publication and I forget what they renamed it. But that's that's useful to look at different ratings of wheat varieties for disease resistance, insect resistance. So that's always been updated, it's on there on the website as well. And then one other kind of cool tool that is out there that actually Colorado State University has, and I've got the link to it under the hot topics on the website is a decision tool to where you can do head to head comparisons of two different varieties of wheat. You can look at different locations. And and they basically have compiled all of the different Experiment Station results of wheat variety plots in the Great Plains that includes Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, they've got all that data in there. And then they've got just a real simple decision tool, or like I say, you can do a head to head comparison of two different varieties and see which one, you know and it'll say, like variety X, you know, out yield a variety Why 55% of the time in 12 different trials. So it's a pretty cool little tool put out by Colorado State University. And the link is on the website there to look at that. And then you know, of course, we're We're hot and we're dry. We're probably in a drought. So was talking to our veterinarian, one of our veterinarians last week at the fair and he said yeah, cool cows are coming into the sale barn. So you know, guys are getting rid of some some cows, probably going to be some early weaning. And then I would encourage guys to also do preg checking, you know, early when they take them off of pasture here in the fall and get rid of those opens. And then one other thing just to throw out there. If they when they do cut their hay and I know the hay is not growing a lot because of the drought, but if they do swath and put it down, the tendency is to put that cutting bar pretty low two inches off the ground give or take a little bit, or nitrates accumulate in that lower stem of the plant. Because of stress and drought stress is often how we get nitrates. So if you can raise that cutter cutting bar up from say two inches to six inches that can really help Keith harmony, the range scientist at the experiment station one year and drop in a dry year went out there and did some hand clipping of you know, sorghum Sudan and and He clipped at two inches versus six inches. And I believe I'm just kind of going from memory that there was almost a 50% reduction in nitrates from two to six inches cutting height. So that's that's an impact. It's pretty significant. So and you know, this year, I think he's going to be short. So every bits going to count. So I know your tendency is to lower that to keep that cutting bar low. You're gonna pick up probably not pick up that much more tonnage, if you raise it up, you know, two to four inches and could sure reduce the amount of nitrates significantly.
James Bell
You know, and for us lay people that are out in the fields. Like what what benefit does that give you know long term I know we hear about nitrates quite a bit especially in water supplies and then right your drainage ponds, things like that.
Stacy Campbell
So high nitrates and forages can can actually kill lactating cattle. So it just just causes kind of a, it basically, gosh, hadn't thought about this for a while, but it kind of reduces the amount of of oxygen in the blood. So it can kill your lactating cows, if it doesn't kill them, sometimes it'll cause them to abort. So just trying to reduce those nitrates in our, in our feed is is very important. And like I say, nitrates accumulate in the lower part in the stem of plants, when there's a stress and oftentimes in our part of the world, it's because of drought stress, they're just the plants just really kind of shutting down if you will, and it's not really metabolized and what nitrates and has an in pushing them up for growth because there's not enough moisture there. It's hot, it's dry, they're just trying to survive. So they just kind of in a matter of speaking almost, you know, kind of kick into a hibernation mode if you will, and they're just not metabolizing those nitrates and utilizing them and so they're accumulating in that lower stem. So anything we can do to raise that cutting height on those drought stress plants can help reduce those those nitrates, you know, and, and cause cause fewer headaches down the road. I mean, you know, you lose a cow or two because of that that can pretty much you know, definitely dips into the profit or maybe wipes out any potential profit there was for the year. Thanks. Yeah, yeah, so and then one other little kicker our always mentioned soil sampling, you know, before you plant your next wheat crop, it'd be beneficial to go out and take a soil sample we sampled where we're going to put our wheat plant back in again this year and need quite a bit of nitrogen you know, we've we were able to fortunately have some good yields this year again. And so wheat definitely uses nitrogen. It's a it's a user a consumer of nitrogen. So if you've had some good yields, probably be beneficial to go out there and take two foot if you can get down there, profile soil sample for your nitrogen and see how much you're gonna need for the next for the next crop, whether it be wheat or grain sorghum, if it's grain sorghum, you can wait till you know next spring to sample for that. I guess that's the other thing is whatever its buys to sample kind of consistently at the same time of year. So for wheat, you know, you may be tight pulling samples in August 1 part of September, and then for your summer crops, maybe sample those in the in the spring. You kind of do that consistently. When you do take samples, you know the same time of year for those particular props. It's advisable
Thursday Jun 23, 2022
As harvest continues Ellis County Fair preparations underway
Thursday Jun 23, 2022
Thursday Jun 23, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast Cottonwood Extension District agent, Stacy Campbell shares information about the upcoming Ellis County Fair.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell
As the wheat harvest kicks into full gear throughout the area, Ellis County Fair preparations are also underway. Stacy Campbell from the Cottonwood Extension District stops by to share the all the details on this episode of the Post Podcast.
Stacy Campbell
Well, of course, fair is just right around the corner. In July, like about the week of I think the 16th through the 20th is the main part of the fair. And so we invite the public to come on out all kinds of all kinds of advanced, you know, it's on the Midway, there's bands each evening, the beer garden, there's gonna they're gonna have the mechanical bull out there, James, you ought to come out and give that a whirl.
James Bell
I love riding a mechanical bull. Yeah, my favorite things truly true. I do. Yeah, if there's one around, you'll see,
Stacy Campbell
they've got one out there again this year. So you need to come out and check that out. So anyway, yes, please come out to the fair and kind of mentioning that the Market Week show, we always have that for farmers. And right now no harvest is going on. So if you've got some really good wheat, just put up, put some of it off to the side and a bucket, you can fill a ziplock bag later, bring it into the office or take it to the elevator, and we'll get that entered into the fair. And there's there's cash in there. There's there's prizes and cash for that. So we encourage farmers to enter though, wheat into the open class wheat show. And then also kind of one of the combinations of the county fair is when the kids at their pre at the premium sale sell their animals and the champion baked goods. And that'll be on that Saturday, I believe it is the 23rd of July. And we invite the public to come out to that there's, there's a lunch or excuse me a supper before at five o'clock, and then the sale starts at six o'clock. And James one of the neat things about that is if people just want to add some money on to a kid, I mean, they don't have to buy the animal or the baked good, but if it's the neighbor kid or, or you know, somebody that they know, in what to support them, they can just add some money on simply just go up to the clerk at the sale and say you would like to put $100 on to you know, John Doe steer or something like that. So you don't have to necessarily buy an animal. And then even if you do come out in one is really support the kids embed on an animal there again, you don't have to buy it, it's a premium sale. So you can literally, you know, be the winning bidder on on a on a pig. And then you do not have to keep the animal, the kid, we have one, two options. And then one of the options is you just give a premium price for the animal. And then the animal is the responsibility of the kids, they can take it back home, take it to the to the butcher or whatever. And then the other thing is most of these kids have gotten butcher dates set up for animals. So if you do want some meat to put in the freezer and you buy one, they probably have a butcher date set up for that animal and can get it to a locker and get it processed the way you want it. So
James Bell
very cool. That's what I was curious about. Because you know, if I wouldn't went out there, I wouldn't have any place to put an animal but some steak I could find some room for Yeah,
Stacy Campbell
right. Right. So yeah, in. And the other thing I mean, if you buy an animal and a lot of people know this, they probably come out and do it. But you don't, you know, you can always half it or quarter it, you know, quarter of a beef with with several other people and stuff like that. So lots of different ways to slice it and dice if you will. So yeah, come on out support the kids at the fair at the sale on July 23 At six o'clock. And just yeah, we invite the public to come on out to a lot a lot of different events. You know, there's a rodeo and, and I didn't bring a schedule many other things. And there should be brochures and posters around town and stuff.
James Bell
So yeah, I've seen those around town already. Are they going to get the wheat in before the fair survey and go out and enjoy?
Stacy Campbell
Oh, yeah, cuz wheat harvest is going on now. You know, we've had plenty of hot windy days. So that really drives the wheat down. So it's been it's been going, you know, kind of cloudy, humid days like this. You know, they may not get much cut today until the sun comes out and the wind starts blowing but the wheat harvest is going on. And yeah, I'm sure they'll probably, you know, unless it happens to start raining quite a bit, they'll probably be done here and another 10 days, two weeks, you know, at the most mentioning harvest just kind of wanted to mention to people here and in town that maybe you're going out to the country. Just keep in mind the columbines the grain carts just gotten bigger and bigger and those farmers literally can't see behind them if somebody is behind them, especially when they have to slow down and they've got to turn at an intersection or whatever. So please be very careful. You know, you're driving 50 6070 miles an hour they're doing 24 miles an hour. You can get up on them really quick and then they can't see you so just just be cautious about that. And I guess also talking about wheat harvest after the wheat harvest, you know, for farmers. As a lot of them know it's getting tougher to control some of these tougher to control weeds so I wouldn't wait too terribly long before you decide to spray your wheat stubble once the once you see some weeds, especially if it's Kosha fireweed or pig we'd probably get them sprayed when they're when they're small, it's going to be easier to kill them. And then another thing is just with these high high input prices, fertilizer this boy this is the year to definitely be taking soil samples. So in August or September before you plant your weak crop, you know I would advise taking a soil sample to see just how much fertilizer you actually need instead of guessing you know,
James Bell
and then dilute dial it in because you might be spending money you don't need to
Stacy Campbell
exactly exactly and it the price of sending off the soul samples and getting them is very inexpensive, it's a it's a great return on your time and investment. You know, I've taken those soil samples, you do need to take them properly we've talked about that, you know in a field it's recommended and there's been research to validate that that you need to take about 15 cores you know whether it be a 10 acre 40 acre 80 acre field, tin, tin city and 15 cores and mix those into a clean bucket and then put about a pint into a bag and then take it to the coop they can send it off to us soils lab where you can bring in and dust and we can send it to a soul slab as well. Very cool. And then I guess one of the things we've got time I've talked about it some but since we are dry and if your pond in your pasture has gone dry, this is a good time if you wanted to to clean it out and dig it out some one little tidbit that so a lot of people don't think of is to take that dirt and put it on the back side of the dam a lot of times you'll see them they clean the pond out and they just put the dirt 1015 feet away from the pond. Well where's that dirt gonna ultimately in backup at in the park? Right on Yeah, we get big rains, the cattle even trumpet and kinda you know all that stuff. So put it on the backside of the dam if you clean out your ponds and then if they're leaking, there's a soil texture test that we can send off some soil does take some coarse around the pond about six inches down. Take several cores about half a dozen, we can send that soul in and see what the texture of the soil is. If it has enough clay in it around 30% or more. But the ponds been leaking. You can probably prevented from leaking by this really packing it good with the sheep's foot roller which we've talked about. So it may just need to be packed well if it's leaking, a lot of people think they need to go put bentonite clay in that's very expensive. Yes, it can work but it's really expensive. But before you do that, yeah, get a soil texture test and see just how much clay you have in the soil. You may have enough to where you just need to really pack it well.
James Bell
Yeah, save yourself some money. Exactly.
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
Upcoming Extension District events to assist ag producers
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Cottonwood Extension District agent Stacy Campbell shares information about upcoming programming.
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
Weed control for ag producers can benefit from early herbicide application
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
On this episode of the Post Podcast, K-State Cottonwood Extension District agent Stacy Campbell shares information about pre-emergent herbicide application.
Wednesday Jan 27, 2021
Extension district keeps producers connected with online events
Wednesday Jan 27, 2021
Wednesday Jan 27, 2021
On this episode of the Post Podcast Cottonwood Extension District agent, Stacy Campbell shares information about upcoming events.
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Cottonwood extension district completes grain sorghum hybrid strip test
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Friday Oct 30, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Cottonwood Extension District agent Stacy Campbell shares information about a recent grain sorghum hybrid strip test neat Great Bend.
Thursday Sep 24, 2020
Now is the time to prevent wheat streak mosaic in next years crop
Thursday Sep 24, 2020
Thursday Sep 24, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Cottonwood Extension District agent Stacy Campbell shares information about the wheat streak mosaic virus as farmers get ready to plant next years crop.
Friday Aug 07, 2020
K-State Ag Research Center prepares for upcoming Field Day
Friday Aug 07, 2020
Friday Aug 07, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast, K-State Agriculture Research Department Head Bob Gillen shares details about their upcoming Field Day.
Thursday Jul 09, 2020
Adding forage crops found to be beneficial to area ag producers
Thursday Jul 09, 2020
Thursday Jul 09, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Kansas State University Agriculture Research Center Department Head Bob Gillen shares information about recent research into the benefits of planting forage crops.
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
Extension district sponsors wheat contest at Ellis Co. Fair
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Cottonwood Extension District Agent Stacy Campbell shares information about their ongoing wheat contest.
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Regional drought affecting crops throughout western Kansas
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast, Head of the K-State Ag research center, Bob Gillen, shares information about the ongoing drought affecting western Kansas and the impact on crops.
Friday May 29, 2020
Local extension district wheat field day to broadcast online
Friday May 29, 2020
Friday May 29, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast Stacy Campbell from the Cottonwood extension district shares details of the upcoming Vritual Wheat Field Day.
Thursday May 07, 2020
Sen. Moran says relief on the way for ag producers impacted during COVID-19
Thursday May 07, 2020
Thursday May 07, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast U.S. Senator Jerry Moran shares information about relief efforts for ag producers and rural healthcare systems.
Friday May 01, 2020
Area weed scientist says now is the time to control sorghum weeds
Friday May 01, 2020
Friday May 01, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast K-State Ag Research Center weed scientist Vipan Kumar shares strategies for controlling weeds during sorghum planting.
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Area wheat crop affected by recent cold tempratures
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
On this episode of the Post Podcast, K-State Cottonwood Extension District agent Stacy Campbell shares information about the recent cold snap that may have an impact on the area wheat crop.
Saturday Mar 14, 2020
Eastern Redcedar infecting western Kansas fields
Saturday Mar 14, 2020
Saturday Mar 14, 2020
K-State Agriculture Research Center head Bob Gillen stops by to talk about the continuing growth and prevention tips of Eastern Redcedar in western Kansas fields on this episode of the Post Podcast.
Friday Jan 10, 2020
K-State Research Center finds limited tilling offers crop benefits
Friday Jan 10, 2020
Friday Jan 10, 2020
Bob Gillen from the K-State Agriculture Research Center stops by to share recent findings that limited field tilling can have positive benefits for weed control on this edition of the Post Podcast.