Beef Quality Assurance certification setProgram to be held Thursday night

One last time before its time to send in the cost share grant applications. Thursday night, May 22, at 6 p.m. This is the last chance to get your Beef Quality Assurance certification. Give me a call here at the Extension office if you have questions. ” HAY TIME IS ON US I’ve been hoping, like a lot of farmers, that the weather would allow us a chance to get some hay cut this week. Judging by the emerging seed heads, it’s time to get some hay on the ground. Some folks got some hay up early last week before the rain started. Most beef producers will say that nutrition is a major factor in beef or dairy production. But their words and actions dont agree when it comes to hay production. Many producers wait until mid-June to begin hay harvest. By that time, tall fescue and orchard grass are of low quality and wont meet the nutrient needs of a lactating cow during the winter. If nutrition is important, then a major goal of your farm should be to produce high-quality hay this spring. This could mean purchasing less supplement to feed the cow herd this winter. The most important factor influencing hay quality is the stage of maturity at harvest. This is where most livestock producers can make the easiest and greatest improvements in hay quality. As legumes and grasses advance in maturity, they drop in crude protein and digestibility. The proper stage to cut grass pastures is the boot to early-head stage. Tall fescue or orchard grass hay cut early will be high quality and can meet the nutritional needs of a lactating cow and calf. Last year with the dry weather we had throughout much of May we put up some really good quality hay. If you cut the hay too late, there will be more tonnage, but quality will be low. Youll need a protein and energy supplement to meet the needs of the animals. This costs money. What about rain? Well it sure can delay hay cutting. This is the reason most people give for cutting hay too late. And granted, rain causes problems with hay harvest. You won’t be able to get all of the hay cut early, but get at least a portion of the hay cut when its still of high quality. This is the hay to feed to the fresh cows and heifers. They are trying to regain weight lost at calving, milk for their calf and also need to re-breed within 90 days of calving. When the rain looks like it will break to allow hay cutting, be prepared. Don’t wait to check the hay equipment until the night before cutting. Have the machinery checked out well in advance of cutting time. I had a producer tell me last week that he had cut a few acres just to seek if the machinery was working. If all beef producers would just get a small portion of their hay cut early here in Warren County it would make a real difference on the pocket book and for the cow come winter feeding time. Our pastures are producing large amounts of high-quality forage. Lets make sure that we harvest the excess forage while its of high quality. The jobs not done when the bale is made. We can cut the amount of hay that we waste with a few simple storage efforts. First get the hay off the ground. Tires, poles, gravel, whatever works for you. Then cover the bale. We may be losing up to 30 percent of the hay we bale due to storage losses. Many producers will submit a grant application to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture to build a new hay barn or add a shed to an existing barn. Applications will be accepted starting June 2. The state will reimburse you up to $5,000. If you have questions or want more information about improving hay production on your farm or getting a grant to help pay for a hay barn give me a call here at the Extension office (473-8484). ” SOME VEGETABLES BENEFIT FROM EXTRA NITROGEN A number of vegetables in your garden will need additional nitrogen several weeks after planting. Vegetable plants that benefit from an extra nitrogen feeding include tomatoes, peppers, greens, sweet corn, cantaloupes, cucumbers, squash, watermelons and okra. Tomatoes should receive one tablespoon of ammonium nitrate per plant after the first fruits are 1 inch in diameter and again every three weeks during the fruiting period. Peppers should receive one tablespoon of ammonium nitrate per plant once after the first fruits are 1 inch in diameter. Okra and sweet corn need about 1/4 cup of ammonium nitrate per 10 feet of row. Fertilize okra after the first picking, and sweet corn when the plants are about 12-18 inches tall. Cantaloupes, cucumbers, watermelons and squash should receive additional nitrogen when the runners are about 12 inches long. Apply 1 tablespoon of ammonium nitrate per plant. Apply the ammonium nitrate in the plant or row area, being careful to spread it evenly and not concentrate all of the material near the plant. You may apply ammonium nitrate to the soil surface and let the rain or irrigation water will move it into the soil. Nitrogen is the essential plant nutrient thats most often lacking in garden soils of Tennessee. Be sure that all of the other major nutrients and the soil pH are in balance by testing your soil in advance of the garden season. ” GARDEN TOMATOES One of the true delights of summer for me is the enjoyment provided by fresh garden tomatoes about three times each day throughout the summer until frost. Most gardeners successfully grow tomatoes in their gardens without significant problems. The best approach is to be observant. Look at leaves regularly and notice any difference in leaf color, size or shape. Holes in leaves usually indicate there are insects eating leaves. If a problem develops, take a sample of the leaf or fruit and give us a call here at the Extension office. There are three fruit disorders that gardeners may encounter. They are blossom-end rot, cracking or catfacing, and sunscald. One of the most common fruit disorders is blossom-end rot. It begins with tan lesions on the blossom end of the tomato. The lesions enlarge and become dark sunken areas. It begins when fruit are about half developed. This rot appears during periods of high growth or when soil moisture is alternately high or low. Any soil condition that affects the plant’s uptake of calcium can result in the rot. To help control this rot, water during dry weather and use a mulch to maintain more uniform soil moisture. Cracking usually occurs near the fruit stem while catfacing occurs near the blossom end. These are caused by environmental conditions such as fast growth caused by high temperatures and moisture levels, initial fruit growth during a dry spell followed by heavy rain or watering, or excessive swings in day and night temperatures. Some varieties such as AAS Winner ‘Big Beef’ are resistant to cracking and catfacing. Lastly, sunscald is the sun burning the tomato skin. It develops white, shiny, blisters on areas which are exposed to the sun. Normally leaf cover keeps the tomatoes in the shade. Sunscald can occur due to excessive pruning, insect damage to leaves or foliage disease causing leaf loss. There are no cures for these fruit disorders once they have damaged your tomatoes. Look for varieties that are more tolerant or resistant to these disorders. To achieve the full tomato flavor, allow the fruit to fully ripen on the plant. Wait until it is deep red, or whatever final color the tomato is to be. Remember that once harvested, no additional sugars will go into the fruit. To harvest, gently hold the tomato and twist the tomato so that the stem separates from the vine. It is easy to damage the plant by pulling the entire fruit cluster off of the plant. Take the fruit one at a time unless you wish to remove the entire ripe cluster. Tomatoes are best stored at room temperature. It is absolutely unnecessary to place a ripe tomato in the refrigerator. I think this is actually against the law in some areas (it is at my house). Tomatoes will store on a kitchen counter for several days. If you have questions about your vegetable garden give me a call here at the Extension office. If you have some good early samples be sure to give me a call.