Beef Quality Assurance class scheduled
The state grants are due at the Tennessee Department of Agriculture on June 2. Many of the grants require that the applicant have a current BQA certification card issued by the Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association at the time the grant is applied for. BQA certification cards are required for cattle handling equipment grants, beef or dairy genetic grants, and livestock feed storage grants.
I have planned a meeting next Monday, May 19, at the Extension office starting at 2 p.m. that will allow you to become BQA certified. If you have a BQA card and it has expired or if you need to become BQA certified you need to attend this meeting to apply for the grants offered by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. Please give this office a call (473-8484) so that I will have an idea of how many folks need certification.
Come out Monday and we’ll get you certified. The meeting will last about two hours. We will have grant applications available and will answer any questions you have about the state grant program for the coming year.
Last year Warren County farmers received almost $800,000 in state grant funds. This represents an investment of over $2,000,000 by Warren County farmers in their farming operations.
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LARGEST WHEAT CROP SINCE 1982
Tennessee’s 2008 winter wheat production is forecast at 28.4 million bushels which, if realized, would be almost three times more than the amount produced in 2007, according to a recent survey conducted by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Tennessee Field Office.
Yield is expected to average 58.0 bushels per acre, up 41 percent from a year earlier. Besides yield, another factor that boosted production was producers’ reaction to record high prices last fall, as they planted 200,000 more acres than the previous year. Tennessee farmers seeded 620,000 acres last fall, up 47 percent from the previous year, and the largest single year acreage increase since the 1981 crop.
Wheat producers expect to harvest 490,000 acres for grain, 230,000 more than a year ago. The remaining 130,000 acres were used as a cover crop, will be harvested for hay or silage, or were abandoned due to flooding. By the week ending May 4, half of the state’s acreage had headed, well behind the normal pace. Currently, 80 percent of the crop is rated in good to excellent condition.
United States: Production is forecast at 1.78 billion bushels, up 17 percent from 2007. Based on May 1 conditions, the U.S. yield is forecast at 44.3 bushels per acre, 2.1 bushels above last year. Expected grain area totals 40.2 million acres, up 12 percent from last year. Soft Red Winter (SRW) harvested acreage is estimated to be up 35 percent from last year. Growers in many States in the SRW area expect yields to be above last year, especially in the Southeast due mostly to improved moisture conditions.
Harvested acreage across the SRW area is up from last year due to an increase in planted acres, and fewer acres being abandoned and cut for forage compared with last year when drought conditions and an April freeze reduced harvested area.
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STATE HAY INVENTORY LOWEST IN ALMOST A HALF CENTURY
Hay stocks on Tennessee farms totaled 195,000 tons on May 1, down 54 percent from last year and the lowest since 1962.
Hay supplies across the State were very short to short going into the winter months. This continued a prolonged period of hay deficit issues, combined with poor to very poor pasture conditions. Hay prices soared to record levels over the past year, as supplies had to be shipped in from other areas of the country. Even with the liquidation of many herds last summer and fall, numerous producers were still faced with a lack of available grazing and increased feed costs for their livestock.
Disappearance of hay, which is hay fed, sold or wasted, from December 1, 2007 – May 1, 2008, totaled 1.74 million tons. United States: All hay stored on farms May 1, 2008 totaled 21.6 million tons, up 44 percent from the previous year.
Hay stocks increased from last year throughout the entire Great Plains, the Delta, most of the Southeast, and the Rocky Mountain States. Hay stocks increased significantly in Texas and Oklahoma where weather conditions during the 2007 growing season nearly doubled hay production and improved pasture conditions throughout the year. Lower 2007 hay production in most States east of the Mississippi River, except in the Southeast, held May 1, 2008 hay stocks below a year ago. The largest declines occurred in Kentucky, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. In Kentucky and Tennessee where stocks are less than half of the previous year, production was down due to the April 2007 freeze and dry summer weather, so some producers resorted to hauling hay in from other States.
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BACTERIAL SPOT ON TOMATO AND PEPPER PLANTS
Bacterial spot is abundant on tomato and pepper transplants at garden centers in Tennessee. Be careful not to purchase infected plants.
Once you have placed a plant infected with bacterial spot in your garden, you have embarked on a season-long battle in attempting to control its effects. Our available control products are modest in providing control at best. And this is not just a home garden issue….the pathogen can spread to commercial fields from this influx of infected garden transplants. The bacteria spread in wind-blown rain or on anything wet, such as the coat of an animal that brushes against a plant wet with dew. Dr. Steve Bost, UT Extension Specialist, says that he has seen bacterial spot at almost all garden centers that he has visited lately. Do not purchase plants showing these symptoms and be aware that many, if not all, plants on the shelves may carry the bacteria because of the ease with which they are spread by splashing water. This disease only affects tomatoes and peppers. On pepper, bacterial spot lesions are brown and vary in size and shape. They may run along the margin of the leaf or occur in the interior of the leaf. On tomato, many lesions are pinhead size, but some are larger and may run together. Usually, any necrotic lesions found on pepper leaves are bacterial spot, whereas such lesions on tomato leaves can have other causes.
Give me a call here at the Extension office (473-8484) if you have questions about bacterial spot or other problems growing at your place.
FEEDER CALF SALE REPORT
Higher prices and good demand marked last week’s feeder calf sale here in McMinnville. Just over 1,300 head of calves were sold Wednesday night. Prices are listed below for black, black white face and Charolais cross calves. A graded feeder calf sale like the one here in McMinnville offers farmers the opportunity to sell their in large groups that attract more buyers so that truckload lots can be put together and shipped to the feedlots out west. Feeder sale prices are usually four to six dollars per hundred more that regular weekly auctions.
Med and Lg 1
Steers Heifers
300-350 lbs 117.50-122.50 105.00
350-400 lbs 122.00 100.00
400-450 lbs 112.50-121.00 100.00-102.00
450-500 lbs 111.00-118.00 98.50
500-550 lbs 106.00-111.00 92.50-98.25
550-600 lbs 103.00-109.00 94.25-97.75
600-700 lbs 104.00-107.00 92.50-94.50
700-850 lbs 102.50-106.75 91.75-92.00
Med and Lg 2
Steers Heifers
300-350 lbs 118.50-120.00 105.00-108.50
350-400 lbs 117.00-121.00 103.00-106.00
400-450 lbs 111.50-115.00 95.00-102.00
450-500 lbs 109.00-112.00 95.00-98.00
500-600 lbs 105.00-106.00 91.00-97.00
600-700 lbs 96.00-106.75 90.00-91.50
700-850 lbs 95.50-100.75 86.00-91.50