Feed aggregator

Friday, July 1, 2022

This planting season, early dry conditions followed by late wet conditions in some areas have caused some fields to be designated prevented planting acres. To go along with this, high feed and forage prices and less than ideal pasture conditions due to previous years’ drought are allowing the opportunity for producers to think outside the box. After all, an influx of prevented plant acres provides freedom to produce annual cover crops to counter-balance current forage prices.

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Friday, July 1, 2022

When a beef animal is harvested, the value of the carcass and the resulting cuts are determined based on the grades of the carcass. Quality grading and yield grading is monitored by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS). Unlike inspection, which monitors food safety and is mandatory for meat products being sold in the United States, grading is a voluntary program and is used to determine the marketability of the product.

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Friday, July 1, 2022

Quality is a prediction of the expected palatability of a carcass. Quality grade is based off animal maturity and marbling. In addition to these factors, other characteristics such as color, texture and firmness of the final product are considered by those making purchasing decisions. Differences in these characteristics can be impacted by several different things and often tie back to the life of the animal. It is often noted that the combination of genetics and environment can impact the phenotype, or physical characteristics, of an animal.

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Photo by Jenny Rees Nebraska Extension Educator Jenny Rees shares the latest on hail damage recovery, replant options and other concerns to address while waiting for crop insurance adjusters and fields to dry. 

Friday, July 1, 2022

Forage quality and yearling rate of gain decline throughout the summer, particularly in cool season grasses. Strategically supplementing yearlings with dry distillers grains in the second half of the summer as the grass quality declines will increase average daily gain (ADG), but will it increase returns?    

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Friday, July 1, 2022

The 23rd annual University of Nebraska–Lincoln Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory (GSL) Open House will be held on Wednesday, August 24, 2022. This year’s Open House will be a hybrid format with our traditional in-person event held at GSL along with being live streamed online webinar.

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Figure 1. A wheat field day at the Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center near Grant in Perkins County on June 21.

Friday, July 1, 2022

We ask a lot from our cows come breeding season. We expect her to be providing adequate nutrients for calf growth (lactating), we expect her reproductive tract to repair and return to estrus prior to the start of breeding. All these expectations are within 90 days after calving to maintain a yearly calving interval.

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Friday, July 1, 2022

Drought has limited pasture availability and forced many producers into feeding total mixed rations (TMR) to cows. Including silage in a TMR can reduce ration cost, improve the energy content of the diet, and add moisture, which can serve as a ration conditioner. However, high commodity prices have encouraged many grain farmers to plant corn for grain rather than silage. Silage can also be made from small grains such as rye, wheat, oats, triticale, or barley, or from summer annual forages such as forage sorghum, sorghum-sudan or pearl millet.

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The current forecast indicates multiple chances for widespread precipitation in western Nebraska during the first part of July, which may slow drought expansion and intensification.

USDA/Flickr USDA NRCS has funding available for Nebraska’s farmers and ranchers to develop Conservation Planning Activities, which help identify and find solutions for specific natural resource concerns on a farm or ranch operation.

Hail-damaged corn field in Nebraska. (Photo by Jenny Rees) Experts in agronomy and agricultural economics from Nebraska Extension's Hail Know team cover options for dealing with damaged commodities from a production perspective and discuss the role of crop insurance.

As of June 19, planting season was nearing the end, with sorghum at 95% and dry edible beans at 87%.

Nebraska growers should begin scouting for potato leafhoppers and spotted alfalfa, as these pests have been spotted in alfalfa fields in Gage County and Scottsbluff, respectively.

Valentine’s Main Street looks a little different lately. In summer 2019, the Nebraska Department of Transportation began repaving Highway 83, which runs through Valentine’s business district, and the Sandhills city got to work revitalizing its downtown streetscape. From revamping parking to installing greenspace, the town of 2,700 is creating a place where visitors feel welcome and residents feel at home. And it’s all been aided by a University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumnus.

Estimated crop water use for Nebraska Panhandle crops for the week of June 20.

Nebraska growers, dealers, and processors held 300,000 cwt of potatoes in storage on June 1.

There are five dates scheduled for free, in-person farm and ag law clinics in July. 

As many rural areas experience decline in population and economic opportunity, some Nebraska communities are pushing back against the trend by embracing and enhancing what makes them unique.

Valentine, Nebraska, which boasts proximity to both the Niobrara River and the Sandhills, is one such town and students in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Landscape Architecture program collaborated with officials there on a new look for the town’s Main Street.