Have you got your BQA certification?
If you want to take advantage of the cost share grants available from the state of Tennessee during the next few months you need a BQA certification from the Tennessee Cattlemen?s Association.
I mentioned in the paper last week how the State Department of Agriculture is again offering cost share grant to Tennessee cattlemen to give them the chance to improve their cow calf operation by cost sharing on the purchase of a superior herd sire or give you a chance to work those calves to add value to them by help you improve or build a new handling facility for your herd. This is a great program; about 30 producers from Warren County received these grant funds during the past few months and another 20 on the waiting list are about to get their funds. Now is the time to submit a grant application if you are interested. Grants can be submitted to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture on July 1. The grants are awarded on a first come, first served basis.
To qualify for these grant funds you must have cattle and you must be a resident of Tennessee. You must have a Premise Identification Number for your farm and you must have a BQA number.
BQA stands for Beef Quality Assurance. This is a program that teaches farmers about the proper handling and care of the beef cattle that they grow and raise. It teaches farmers that they are not just raising cattle they?re raising food. Farmers completing the BQA program agree to treat their cattle according to BQA standards.
Beef Quality Assurance is becoming a required standard for many livestock sales across this country. Many end users, such as restaurants and groceries are starting to ask the question. How were the cattle that produced the meat I?m buying handled?
To get your BQA certification you have to attend a BQA class, take a test and score 100, and sign a certificate that you will follow BQA standards in handling your cattle. You submit the paperwork and presto, you are BQA by mail in about a week to 10 days.
The BQA class will be held next Tuesday at the County Extension office. There will be a class held at 10:00 A.M. and at 6:30 P.M. You want to attend one of these classes where you can apply for your grant funds by July 1. If you have questions or need more information give me a call here at the Extension office (473-8484). I?ll be looking for you next Tuesday at the BQA classes.
FARMERS? MARKET TOMATOES
Walter Clarke and his wife Carol are one of the farmer?s who sell their produce at out local Farmers? Market. Monday afternoon Walter brought me a couple of tomatoes to the office. Now, tomatoes picked during the first week of June in Warren county aren?t unheard of but I had to admit to him that there aren?t a lot of them around. Walter grows a lot of heirloom varieties and he will have a few at the market this week. The market has started opening on Friday afternoons and there is more and more produce available each week. Give these guys another two weeks and there will be lots of tomatoes available for you at the market.
WEATHER MEN sought for HAY BALING JOBS
The ideal employee for many jobs is one of will show up and follow instructions. If he could predict the weather he would be the man to assist you in putting up good quality hay. A lot of hay has been wet in the field this spring waiting to dry enough for baling. If you bale hay too wet it can mold or even burn. It?s a hard call to make.
More and more farmers recognize the increased cost of making hay and are turning to some sort of storage to reduce spoilage and dry matter losses. Whether you put it in a pole barn, underneath storage tarps or cover it with plastic sleeves you are making money when you reduce hay losses. Research for years in Tennessee and across the south has shown that we lose from 25-35 percent of the bale from baling time to when we feed the cows the next winter. If you put up 200 rolls of hay to feed your cows and you lose 30 percent of the hay to spoilage, that?s a loss of 60 rolls. At $35 a roll that?s $2,100 that you could have used for something else.
Don?t waste hay! It?s expensive, and its been almost impossible to get up this spring. If you?d like some information on saving more of the hay that you put up give me a call here at the Extension office.
Black Spot Hits Roses
The single most damaging, most common problem that most rose growers deal with is the fungal disease Black Spot. Symptoms often appear on roses by early spring and continue into the summer. Antique, shrub and landscape roses are resistant but will be effected during severe problem years. Many folks are using the Knockout varieties to avoid the problem.
The best way to combat this problem is to apply recommended fungicide sprays to protect healthy foliage from infection. Daconil 2787 (chlorothalonil) works well if applied early in the season at one to two week intervals. Use a shorter interval under severe disease pressure.
If you have questions give us a call here at the Extension office.