University of Nebraska Extension - Holt/Boyd News Column for the Week of May 26, 2024

LaDonna Werth, Extension Educator Phone: 402-336-2760 E-mail: LWerth2@unl.edu

Summer Fun

During the summer months, children tend to have more unstructured time and parents or grandparents may have the chance to spend more quality time with them. Adults can enhance children’s development while building great memories by planning fun and stimulating summer activities. Here are some ideas that don’t cost much money; the only requirement is an adult who is willing to spend time with children.

• Turn off the TV, video games and computers! The average child spends more than 21 hours each week watching TV. Children need interactions with other people to develop social skills. Summer is a great time to hang out in local public parks where children can climb, slide, swim, and swing. All of these physical activities promote coordination and enhanced self-esteem. All the adult has to do is watch and talk about what the child is doing.
• Churn up a freezer of ice cream. Any food preparation activity is an opportunity for a science lesson. What ingredients go into ice cream? How do salt and ice make it freeze? With or without the science lesson, most children just enjoy helping to prepare snacks and meals. The end result is a cool treat for a hot day.
• Go further than food preparation — go to production. Get children into the garden so they can see where food really comes from. It is surprising how tasty vegetables become when you grow your own.
• Visit the library often. Reading is a lifelong pleasure. Libraries generally have special summer programs. This is a great way to improve skills vital to school and life success.
• Use summer events as a way to teach responsibility. Have children plan and lead the games at a family picnic. If you want to teach money skills, give them a budget for entertainment.
• Have your older children plan dinner one night. Give them a budget and the responsibility of planning, shopping for, preparing and cleaning up after the meal.
• Have your children teach you something. This is a great way for parents or grandparents to learn about new technologies or any subject matter that the children are really interested in. It is a great self-esteem builder when children are allowed to be the experts!
• Teach children something you want to pass on such as recipes or a craft like knitting or woodworking.
• Remember what you liked to do as a child and do some of those same activities with your own child. This is a great way to build family traditions that are passed down across generations.
• Call your local parks and recreation center and see what activities they have available.
• Take a swimming break. Go to a local pool or creek. Don’t forget the sunscreen!
• Try “water painting” — all it takes is a bucket of water, an old paint brush and a sidewalk or porch and you have the beginnings of a masterpiece. You can even pass the time watching your creations evaporate. Drawing with sidewalk chalk on the wet pavement is also fun.
• Take a tour around your house or the neighborhood. Look for things you may not have noticed before or play “I spy.”
• Go for a nature walk. Besides being good exercise, you can investigate rocks, plants, bugs, etc. Just remember to be careful around the critters - some of them view humans as a threat and will try to protect themselves!
• Make homemade bubbles: 1/4 cup of liquid dish detergent, 1 teaspoon of corn syrup and 1/2 cup of water. You can make bubble wands out of bent wire wrapped with yarn, a cup with the end cut out, a slotted spoon or a slotted berry basket.
• Camp out in the backyard. Pitch a tent, have some snacks, tell stories, play games, read books, gaze at the stars. Enjoy all types of camping activities without the hassle and expense of traveling.
• Have a cookie baking day. This is the perfect activity for a rainy summer day. Put some in the freezer to enjoy later or take some around to share with the neighbors.
• Look through and/or organize photos. Share stories and reflect on the past with your kids. Organize the photos into an album or scrapbook.
• Check out your Extension Office for program schedules and resources for youth and families.

 Source: Jinny Hopp - former Human Development Specialist; Angela Fletcher - Human Development Specialist, Douglas County, University of Missouri Extension (2018)

Silage Feedout

Loss at the feeding face can drastically affect silage quality, even if care was spent to put up and store a good product. As temperatures warm, let’s review best practices for managing silage feedout.

Once we begin feeding and the pile is exposed to air, aerobic microbes and yeast reactivate, working to decompose the stored plant material. While some factors at feedout like packing density, pile shape and inoculation are beyond our control now, limiting the amount of oxygen introduced to the pile and feeding quickly can help maintain silage condition. If left unchecked, losses of greater than 25% dry matter can be realized.

Try to keep the pile covered as much as possible to reduce oxygen exposure. No one wants to be cutting off plastic daily, but limiting the amount removed at a time maintains an anerobic environment longer. Try not to expose more than three days’ worth of a pile at a time. Face management helps with this too. Try to maintain a smooth face, scraping from top to bottom to minimize jagged edges and cracks into the pile, exposing more of the surface to air.

Finally, let’s discuss feedout rate. As oxygen seeps into the pile through the face, we want to remove silage faster than it spoils. Temperature plays a role as warm temperatures (greater than 40°F) do not depress microbial growth the way winter temperatures do. Ideally, six to eight inches of the face should be removed daily to stay ahead of this oxygen front. University of Wisconsin research recommends no less than four inches of removal daily from piles/bunkers during the summer. Ideally, when planning a new bunker or pile, a removal rate of 12 inches per day should be planned for.

Quality silage can drop condition fast if feedout is poorly managed. Limit oxygen exposure by maintaining a smooth face, keeping plastic covering over as much of the pile as possible, and feeding out at rate of six to eight inches daily.

Source: Ben Beckman – Extension Educator (Cropwatch – May 21, 2024)

Time to Start Planning for Heat in the Feedlot

As we approach the end of May, it may be time to start thinking of the summer heat, particularly that first heat event that cattle and folks who manage may not be prepared for. The following is a list of some strategies cattle feedlot managers, and their crews could begin thinking about as nice weather today turns into heat-stressing weather later.

The list is divided into areas of focus based on cattle type, feeding and watering considerations, and facilities management.

Heat management based on cattle size and type

• Keep cattle marketing current to avoid excessively heavy cattle.
  • Consider extending show lists to include pens that are from 30 to 45 days of initially projected final weight.
  • Place cattle with light-colored coats in pens with greater propensity to create heat stress.

Feed adjustments to consider in hot weather

• Higher fiber concentrations in feedlot diets lower the peak of heat of fermentation.
  • Afternoon/evening deliveries prevent excessive heat load.
  • Avoid challenging cattle to eat more when hot weather is forecast.

Water considerations for feedlot cattle

• Keep these concentrations below the following recommended levels:
  Total dissolved solids — 3,000 mg/L (or parts per million/ppm)
  Sulfate — 1,000 mg/L (or parts per million/ppm)
  Nitrite — 33 mg/L (or parts per million/ppm)
  Nitrate — 45 mg/L (or parts per million/ppm)
• Figure daily water intake (approximately) by multiplying dry matter intake by 0.75 to render a workable estimate in gallons per head. (Example: If dry matter intake is 24 lb per head daily, projected summer water need is 18 gallons per head daily).
• Make sure the water flow rate is adequate. Water flow to meet an 1,800-gallon demand for 100 head is 75 gallons per hour (18 times 100 divided by 24 hours) or flow of 1.25 gallons per minute. Plan for cattle daily water needs to be met in 6 rather than 24 hours, which would mean a flow of 5 gallons per minute minimum is required in this scenario.
• Cattle access at the water tank should permit 48” of linear space per animal and for 5% of the pen population.
  • Maintain water quality by regularly cleaning water troughs.
  • Stray voltage may be the reason cattle in certain pens underperform. Check for stray voltage.
    • Add temporary water tanks if necessary.

Shade, bedding, sprinklers, and windbreaks for feedlot heat management

• Deploy temporary shades.
• The minimum area to consider shading an individual animal should be 32 square feet.
• Bedding during hot, summer days keeps cooler surface temperatures and permits space management.
  • Test and adjust or repair sprinkler heads.
  • Bedding stacks and any other temporary windbreak structures should be removed from the vicinity of pens.
    • Control weeds and grass growth within pen alleys and waterway berms.
    • Deploy fly control programs that consider premises, habitat, and on-animal control.

The intention to release this list well ahead of any heat event was to aid in reminding feedlot managers and their crew to start preparing for heat events. However, some items listed above must be in place well ahead of the heat stress events.

These include placing more heat-tolerant cattle in pens prone to experiencing greater heat loads, evaluating water tanks or other areas for stray voltage, increasing water access, deploying sprinklers and shades, and controlling fly and weed populations. In some cases, cattle need to be accustomed to these strategies while in others, such as fly control, the target organism needs to be exposed to the intervention well ahead of the heat event.

Source: Alfredo DiCostanzo - Nebraska Extension Educator (BeefWatch – May 17, 2024)