Warm temperatures make for a happy holiday
How about this weather! I?m not one that prays for a white Christmas. In fact, sunny skies and day time temperatures in the low 70?s are just about what I would have on a Christmas wish list. We?ve had our share of unusually warm weather for December the past week or so and it?s fixing to change. I hope everyone enjoys a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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PERFORMANCE TESTED BULLS WORTH THE MONEY
One of the most important purchases for the beef producer is the bull. After all, the herd bull is half of every calf that you have to sell. If he sires a bunch of calves that die calving or if he?s half of a bunch of calves that come off the cow at weaning weighing 400 pounds or less he?s a pretty expensive bull. It?s cheaper to raise a live calf and even cheaper to raise a live heavy, #1 grading feeder calf.
The UT Performance Tested Bull Sale that is scheduled for Spring Hill at the Middle Tennessee Experiment Station on Thursday, Jan. 18, offers some new model herd sires that have been performance tested but are brand new. I don?t know what feeder cattle prices will be in October of 2007. I?m darned sure that there will be more money in the pocket of the fellow that has cows bred to bulls whose offspring are born alive and have the genetic potential to grow. Every bull calf that is born has the potential to sire calves from your cows. You?ve got to get the most calf weaned from each cow each year to stay in the cattle business. That means using superior genetics from a proven sire.
The bull test program is pretty basic. To qualify to be in this sale bulls are nominated by purebred breeders that participate in their breed?s performance test program. That means they record and send in calving and weaning weight data on their herd to the breed association. This is where the EPD figures that are available on all these bulls originate from.
These bulls were delivered to the test station back in July. After a two-week adjustment period the bulls were weighed and started on a 112-day feed test. During the test the bulls were fed a full feed of a commercial bull developing ration that contained 12 percent protein. Each bull qualifying for the sale had to meet minimum performance requirements. They are also subject to conformation standards and a breeding soundness exam.
These bulls were all born from September through December of 2004. At this sale you can select a bull for your herd that can improve growth rate on your calves, improve the milking ability of heifers that you raise for your herd, or you can select bulls with EPD?s for lower birth weight calves if big calves at birth are costing you money. With this number of bulls to select from you may be able to purchase your herd sire at your price. I?ll have catalogs for this sale next week and you can also look at the numbers on the web. I?ll have a video tape of the bulls in before the sale and you will be able to view the bulls before the sale.
Many of these bulls qualify for the cattle improvement grants offered through the TB Department of Agriculture.
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MASTER GARDENER CLASS SIGN-UPS CONTINUE
The Agriculture Extension Service Master Gardener Course will start on January 15 at the Warren County Administrative Office Building at 6:30 p.m. Registration continues for this course at the Extension office. The Master Gardener course will be held on Thursday evenings starting on January 11 through early April. There is room for more participants. If you?re interested give us a call at the Extension office or come by after January 1 to sign up.
The Master Gardener Course is 36 hours of instruction in many gardening and landscaping topics. Master Gardeners receive instruction in botany, soils, landscaping, flowers, vegetable gardening, lawn care and establishment, tree and small fruit production, and insect and disease problems and controls for the home garden and landscape. Master Gardeners also receive their personal copy of the Tennessee Master Gardener Handbook. The cost of the course is $70.00 dollars and includes refreshments and your personal copy of the Tennessee MASTER GARDENER HANDBOOK. Couples are welcome and this will be a good opportunity to meet others in our community who are interested in gardening and landscaping.
The Agriculture Extension office will be closed Dec. 25 and will reopen Jan. 2.