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Saturday, February 1, 2020

Stories about manure often illustrate two opposing sentiments. Is manure a “Waste” that pollutes our water resources and creates undesirable nuisances for communities?  Or, is manure a “Resource” that reduces the demand inorganic fertilizers and improves the health of our soils? 

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Continuous corn is the most common irrigated crop sequence in southwest Nebraska. Although rotating to other crops, such as soybeans, can mitigate some production issues of continuous corn and often boost the next year’s corn yield, larger adoption of soybean has not readily occurred in this area.

Friday, January 24, 2020

As winter progresses, winter nutrition and increased environmental stress on cows may concern many cow-calf producers. Winter nutritional management affects not only the profitability of a beef cowherd, but also the future performance of the cow and her offspring. With that in mind, building a nutritional program for a cow-calf system requires understanding nutritional requirements, knowing the “stress periods” that can happen, and knowing the quality and quantity of your forage resources. 

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Yellow field peas (Pisum sativum L.) recently gained popularity across Nebraska due to their rotational benefits and increase in consumers' demand for plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy products.

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Animal agriculture often endures criticism from our neighbors and consumers relative to sustainability. But when it comes to management of carbon and nutrients, animal agriculture has a positive story to share.  Many environmental and sustainability organizations promote the importance of a “circular economy” for increasing sustainability.  Farmers should help our neighbors and consumers recognize agriculture’s long term practice of implementing this circular economy.

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Saturday, February 1, 2020

During the winter and spring of 2020 Nebraska Beef Extension Educators will host 7 beef profitability workshops in Eastern Nebraska to help Beef Producers evaluate their operations to make them more profitable through the latest research information. Topics will vary depending on presenter and specific location. These workshops have been held across Nebraska for the past sixteen years. The cost is $15.00 but may vary from location to location depending on local sponsorship. 

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Saturday, February 1, 2020

The annual Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference will celebrate 35 years Feb. 20 and 21 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Kearney.

Workshops and presentations will offer tools and information to help women better manage risk, improve their farms and ranches and become more successful operators and business partners.

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Saturday, February 1, 2020

Beef production from conception to consumption is a complex, biological system where cause and effect are often distant in time and space.   For example, things that occurred to a calf while it was developing inside of a cow, can impact that animal throughout its life all the way to harvest. This can make it challenging to identify and address the actual source of a problem when it is observed.   To better understand and address the source of problems, consider asking the question “why?”  

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Saturday, February 1, 2020

The adverse weather conditions experienced by most agriculturalists in 2019 certainly impacted sugar beet production. The reduced volume of sugar beets available for sugar production has impacted the amount of the by-product, sugar beet pulp, available for beef cattle diets this winter.

Sugar beet pulp is often used in gestating cow diets in the winter to increase the energy density of a forage based diet. The highly digestible fiber in sugar beet pulp gives it a total digestible nutrient or TDN value of 85-90%. The crude protein value is approximately 10%.

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Pivots operating below or above the designed water pressure can create uniformity issues across fields and/or increase operating expenses.

Occasional tillage (OT) of long-term no-till (also called one-time or strategic tillage) might be desired once in more than 5 or 10 years according to need for integrated weed management, fracturing a compaction layer, incorporating a soil amendment such as lime or manure, reducing vertical stratification of nutrient availability, increasing soil organic matter to greater depth, or reducing crop residue accumulation.

Our job at the Nebraska Extension Pesticide Safety Education Program is to educate and train the state’s 29,800+ applicators while using both general use and restricted use pesticides.

Since the start of the 2019 UNL-TAPS wheat marketing competition, the July 2020 Kansas City Hard Red Winter Wheat Contract has rallied over $0.70 per bushel. So, what are some marketing strategies given the current market price?

Auxin type herbicides (eg. dicamba, 2,4-D) are an integral component of major cropping systems in North America. With the recent launching of Enlist E3 soybean in the U.S., in-season application of 2,4-D to soybean fields is expected to increase.

“Good Farmer to Great Manager” Record-keeping classes will teach farmers and ranchers to keep accurate records for their operations.

Photo source: The Learning Child

In the last decade, practicing mindfulness has been acknowledged more since people have been recognizing the benefits of it. Being mindful can be beneficial to everyone, but we are going to focus on how it can help your child. But first, let’s start with the basics.

So, what exactly is mindfulness?

It is simply being present in the moment, which is different from thinking about the present moment. Mindfulness means being aware of what is going on around you, openly accepting one’s thoughts and feelings without thinking about the pressures of life.It requires some effort and intentionality.

Why is mindfulness helpful for kids?

Since children are naturally curious, they are more apt to learn, live in the moment, and be attentive. However, they are often too busy just like adults. This causes children to be tired, distracted easily, and restless. Practicing mindfulness helps kids learn to pause for a moment and be present. Mindfulness helps with attention, patience, and trust which will help your child to grow up and be themselves.

Do certain kids benefit more?

Yes, actually they do! Although mindfulness exercises are great for all children five years and older who want to calm their busy minds, feel and understand their emotions, and strengthen their concentration, they suit specific children even more so. Children who have low self-esteem truly benefit from practicing mindfulness because it helps them realize it is okay to be themselves. Other children who are diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, and autism spectrum disorders also gain from these exercises. Now, these cannot cure the disorders and it is not considered a form of therapy, but it can help children approach the very real issues they’re dealing with in a different, calmer way.

Since mindfulness exercises are great for parents as well, practicing them with your child is a perfect way to spend time together!

Source: Sitting Still Like a Frog by Eline Snel

LaDonna Werth, EXTENSION EDUCATOR | THE LEARNING CHILD

Peer Reviewed by Leanne Manning, Extension Educator, The Learning Child and Lisa Poppe, Extension Educator, The Learning Child

Make sure to follow The Learning Child on social media for more research-based early childhood education resources!

The 35th annual Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference is Feb. 20 and 21 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Kearney. Photo by Craig Chandler | University Communication The annual Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference will celebrate 35 years Feb. 20 and 21 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Kearney.