Extension Notes: Cattlemen’s meeting set Tuesday night
Our monthly cattlemen’s meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday evening at the Extension office. The subject will be mineral nutrition and management.
Tina Richards, the sales representative for Alltech will be our speaker and I hope that many of you will come to hear her presentation.
We’ve got lot’s of cows out in the country that are slow breeders or have trouble carrying a calf to term. The brown hair coats and lack of vaccine performance may also be symptomatic of poor mineral nutrition. We’re going to talk about it Tuesday night. We’ll also talk about the Select-Vac sale that is tonight at the sale barn.
The meeting starts at 7 p.m., but supper is at 6:30. Alltech is going to feed you but I’ve got to know how many dinners to order. Please call the Extension office by Monday evening so that I can get a count for the meal.
FAIR ENTRIES DUE AUGUST 26
There was a big crowd of folks at the fair board meeting last week.
I went to get a fair book but found out quickly that they’ll be out this week. Lots of exciting things are planned for this year’s fair which comes up in about a month. Fair books are available at the Extension office and at many of the banks around town. You need to get yourself a book and sit down and study the rules for the particular exhibit or activity that you’re interested in and fill out the entry form and send it in. All entries need to be pre-registered.
The fair folks have got a new prize-winning computer program that will use a bar code system to keep up with who wins what this year. That’s if us folks who are taking the entries in don’t mess up.
Make sure you get a fair book and make sure you pre-register your entries. Pre-registrations must be dropped off or mailed by Friday, Aug. 26. That’s next week! On entry day at the fair the first stop will be the fair office for all exhibitors pre-registered or not. That’s where you’ll pick up the paperwork for your entries. The fair association will take care of the rest. The UT Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, sex or handicap. Everyone is always welcome at Extension program here in Warren county.
HEAT, HUMIDITY AND HORSES
What do horses and humans have in common in hot, humid weather? Both perspire to cool their bodies. So if you’re hot, you can bet your horse is, too.
Research from Texas A&M University shows that horses not acclimated to hot, humid weather dont perform well. It’s kind of like going outside and working if you’ve been sitting in the office all week. And they dont get rid of the heat produced during performance as well as horses acclimated to hot, humid conditions.
Fat horses dont perform as well either, especially in hot, humi weather. They also have more difficulty in cooling their bodies, kind of like us fat folks. Be careful about horses, heat and humidity.
NOW IS THE TIME FOR STOCKPILING
Stockpiling tall fescue is one of the best methods available to decrease the amount of hay that needs to be fed during the winter. The fall growth of tall fescue will maintain adequate quality into the winter, making it an ideal forage. Save the accumulation until no other grazing is available. It will be all leaves and is a high quality forage.
Select up to one acre per cow of tall fescue to use for stockpiled pasture. Clip the pasture in mid to late August to remove all of summer growth and weeds. After fall rains begin, fertilize with 150 to 180 lbs of ammonium nitrate per acre. Keep cattle off this tall fescue until after frost or start feeding when you run out of grass. After frost, strip graze the tall fescue to improve the utilization of the forage. Following this procedure can decrease your hay feeding season by 60-70 days. UT research trials show that we can grow over a ton of feed per acre using fall stockpiling. Give me a call for more information.
DAIRY HERD RETIREMENT PROGRAM ANNOUNCED
Cooperatives Working Together announced last week that it will conduct a third herd retirement program this fall, with the intention of removing future milk production capacity to avoid the serious imbalance between supply and demand that last occurred before CWT was created in 2003.
Bids will be accepted by CWT starting on August 15th; all bids must be postmarked by Friday, Sept. 16, to be considered. All dairy producers interested in submitting bids to sell their herds must be members of CWT, either through their membership in a participating cooperative, or as an independent member of CWT.
This is the third year in a row that CWT has conducted a program that allows dairy farmers to sell out their herds. The first two programs reduced cow numbers by more than 83,000, representing reduced milk production equivalent to 1.6 billion pounds. If you’d like more information give me a call here at the Extension office.