Weather headlines grain conference
What would it be worth to know exactly what the weather will do for the rest of the year?
Unfortunately no one knows for sure, but for five dollars Middle Tennessee grain farmers will have the opportunity to hear one of the leading expert’s predictions at the Coffee County Fairgrounds on Jan. 31.
Drew Lerner of World Weather, Inc. will once again be the keynote speaker for the Middle Tennessee Grain Conference in Manchester. Lerner is the Senior Agricultural Meteorologist for the Kansas based firm that studies weather patterns and there short and long term effects for various farming regions around the world.
Lerner has a unique gift of translating very scientific information concerning the forces that produce our weather into very easily understood terms. His illustrations of our weather’s past, present and his future predictions just make common sense. Those in attendance at last year’s conference will tell you his predictions for the weather in our area for 2007 were uncannily accurate.
Grain farmers interested in attending the conference can pre-register at the UT Extension office. The cost is five dollars per person through Monday, Jan. 28, which includes the conference program and materials, refreshments, lunch and a Middle Tennessee Grain Conference cap.
Registration at the door begins at 7:30 am at a cost of $10 per person.
Beginning at 9 a.m. until noon, conference participants will have the opportunity to choose from a number of excellent presentations addressing some of the most pressing concerns for this year’s cropping season.
Dr. Delton Gerloff, UT Extension Grain Marketing Specialist, will be offering insight on the domestic and foreign forces behind corn, wheat and soybean prices and the direction he sees the markets headed, along with some key price risk strategies.
Dr. Angela Thompson, UT Extension Corn and Soybean Specialist, will focus on the latest production technology that can help increase profit chances and offset rising production cost.
Mr. Bob Williams, UT Extension Western Region Area Grain Crop Specialist, will address seed shortage for soybeans and alternative choices to varieties in short supply.
Dr. Hugh Savoy, UT Extension Soil Fertility Specialist, will address how to make fertilizer dollars count and alternative strategies and strategies to increasing fertilizer prices, plus an update on UT soil test reports.
Mr. Chuck Danehower, UT Extension Area Farm Management Specialist, will present economical strategies of the cost of doing business on owned versus rented acres and the impact on profitability with selected crops.
Dr. Larry Steckel, UT Extension Weed Specialist, will address new herbicide packages for corn and soybeans.
Following lunch, Dr. Russ Patrick, UT Extension Entomologist, will offer updated strategies to managing insects in stored grain and Drew Lerner will conclude the conference with his insight to our weather for the 2008 growing season.
This program, like all UT Extension programs, is open to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability or veteran status. Give me a call for more information or come by the Extension office to register by January 25.
The conference will also host a trade show throughout the conference that will allow farmers to interact with a number of agricultural dealers that do business in Tennessee. At the close of the conference, a re-certification class for renewing private pesticide applicator certification until 2011 will be offered. All private pesticide cards, which enable producers to purchase and use restricted-use pesticides for their crop production, will expire Oct. 21, 2008.
Feeder calves following corn price
If you sold calves last week you ought to be happy because the price will probably drop eight to ten dollars per hundred this week. Corn was up the limit twice since the Wednesday feeder calf sale. That means that a cattle buyer would need to buy 600 pound calves for six dollars a hundred less this week just to make up for the increased corn prices. Cattle are still worth good money there’s just not enough of it right now. If corn goes up more calves will bring less if it drops calves will recover some. They sold about 1450 head last Wednesday and the prices for #1 and #2 black, clack whte face and Charolais cross calves are listed below.
Med and Lg 1
Steers Heifers
300-350 lbs 118.00 102.00
350-400 lbs 116.00-118.00 99.00-99.50
400-450 lbs 13.00-117.00 90.00-92.00
450-500 lbs 111.50-114.00 88.00-94.00
500-550 lbs 103.00-105.00 85.00-90.00
550-600 lbs 93.50-95.00 82.60-82.85
600-700 lbs 87.00-91.00 80.00-82.75
700-850 lbs 86.75-89.75 80.00-81.50
Med and Lg 2
Steers Heifers
300-350 lbs 110.00-112.00 99.00-105.00
350-400 lbs 109.00-117.00 99.00-100.00
400-450 lbs 111.00-112.00 88.00-94.50
450-500 lbs 100.50-104.00 83.00-84.50
500-600 lbs 91.50-94.75 80.00-81.75
600-700 lbs 85.50-87.50 77.75-82.00
700-800 lbs 83.50-85.50 77.00-79.00
If you want to see some low prices check some of the auction prices from sales held every week. Feeder calf sale prices will beat the regular weekly auctions 4-5 cents per pound on good quality calves.