Holt Boyd News Column for the Week of August 17, 2025

Nebraska Extension Educator - Holt & Boyd Counties - LaDonna Werth
Nebraska Extension Educator - Holt & Boyd Counties - Amy Timmerman
Nebraska Extension Educator - Holt, Boyd, Garfield, Loup, & Wheeler Counties - Bethany Johnston
Nebraska Extension Educator - Brown, Rock, & Keya Paha Counties - Brittany Spieker
Nebraska 4-H Assistant - Holt & Boyd Counties - Debra Walnofer

August 18:  DUE: Non-Perishable State Fair 4-H Exhibits, at your County Extension Office, either Butte or O’Neill, NE 

August 19:  DUE: Perishable State Fair 4-H Exhibits, at your County Extension Office, Butte or O’Neill, NE

August 22 – September 1:  Nebraska State Fair, Grand Island, NE

of her curfew with the “I” message – and more likely to come up with possible solutions. Judy’s mom may be angry that Judy didn’t follow the rules, but her real emotion is concern about her daughter’s safety. If she really wants to solve the problem of Judy coming in late, the “I” message has a better chance of working.

How to make “I” Messages
An “I” message includes descriptions of:

1.  the problem behavior
2. your feelings about the behavior
3. the effect of the behavior

For example, let’s say that Joe and his younger brother Jason are fighting in the car and disturbing their dad who is driving. To solve this problem using an “I” statement the dad could say: “When you two fight in the back of the car I get worried about driving safely because your fighting is so distracting.”

1. When you two fight (description of problem behavior)
2. I get worried about driving (description of feelings
3. because the fighting is distracting (effect of the behavior)

The key to making an “I” statement is figuring out what your true feelings about the behavior are. There are times when you simply feel mad – but if you really examine your emotions you’ll probably find that more often you feel worried, concerned, frustrated, or afraid. Identifying your true feelings and not just telling kids that you are angry at them, helps you make an effective “I” statement. Of course, sometimes you can have such strong feelings about a situation that it’s hard to think calmly. In this case, take a break and wait to discuss your feelings.

Source: Amanda Kowal, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Human Development & Family Studies, Human Environmental Sciences, University of Missouri

costs are only $10/ac-in, each inch reduction is worth about $1,300 for each quarter-section pivot. For example: If a field of silt loam soil is left at field capacity, it’s missing out on 5.5 inches of off-season storage, worth about $7,200 - not even accounting for the leaching loss of nutrients. Nitrogen loss has been shown by research to be about 5 to 10 lbs/a for each inch of water that moves through the profile.

Across Nebraska, during most years, enough precipitation will be received from October through May to refill the soil profile on irrigated fields. For example, the Grand Island area gets about 14.2 inches during this timeframe, and even the Scottsbluff area will receive about 8.6 inches on average.

The final decisions on furrow-irrigated fields need to be made sooner due to the typical higher application amounts with flood, while the final decisions on the pivot or subsurface drip irrigated fields can be delayed to take advantage of any rainfall that may occur. With this in mind, the publication "Irrigation Scheduling Strategies When Using Soil Water Data," (Nebraska Extension NebGuide EC3036 - https://extensionpubs.unl.edu/publication/ec3036/2018/pdf/view/ec3036-2018.pdf), and the video series "How to Schedule Irrigations with Soil Water Data" (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdssrgg38jJ0eVydpVRM6j898HykkhAlv) were developed. The resources focus on season-long irrigation scheduling and wrap up with end-of-season scheduling.

Many irrigators apply more water than necessary toward the end of the irrigation season because irrigation applications continue at a rate they have grown used to during the middle of the summer, even though the crop is using less water per day. Water use goes down because the crop is getting more mature and the days are getting shorter and cooler. The average crop water use rate for corn drops from around 2.1 inches per week at silking to only about 1.2 inches per week by the full dent stage. This 40% reduction requires irrigators to adjust their thinking about how much water needs to be applied each week.

So, calculating the amount of water needed from rain and irrigation for the crop to reach maturity becomes important starting in early August.

Knowing approximately how much plant available water is remaining in the active root zone is critical for calculating the last few irrigations and will be referred to as the "remaining available water." The best method for determining the amount of remaining soil water is to use a soil water monitoring system. Table II (below) shows the typical amount of water that will be in the different soil types and can be used to help estimate the volume of water. Remember to use the top 4 feet of soil for the active root zone and plan to use the soil water down to 40% of plant available water (60% depletion) after the dough stage for corn/sorghum and the R5 stage for soybeans/dry beans.

Method to Estimate Late-Season Crop Water Needs
To determine how much water from rain and irrigation will be needed to mature the crop, use the method described below and information from Table 1 (below).

Step 1. Based on the current crop growth stage (identified in columns 1 and 2), look up the approximate days to maturity in column 3 and the water use to maturity in column 4.

Step 2. Add the approximate days to maturity to today’s date to estimate the crop maturity date.

Step 3. Subtract the water use to maturity from the remaining available water (as determined by soil water sensors or monitoring). If the number is positive, it indicates adequate soil water to mature the crop; however, if the number is negative, it indicates the additional amount of water the crop will need from rain and irrigation to reach maturity.

The following sample calculations illustrate how to use this method.

Part 1
Determine how much water from rain and irrigation will be needed to reach crop maturity, assuming the field is located in central Buffalo County, the date is Aug. 10, and the corn crop is at the R4 (dough) stage. For this example, the remaining available water is 2.25 inches if the top 4 feet of soil is allowed to dry to 40% of available water-holding capacity.

1. Referencing Table 1, corn at the R4 stage should take approximately 34 days to mature and will use about 7.5 inches of additional water to reach maturity.
2. Add 34 days to today’s date to get the approximate day of maturity, using Aug. 10 as the example.

3. Subtract the water required to reach maturity from the remaining available water.

4. The calculation shows that 5.25 inches of water will be needed from rain and irrigation to mature the crop without limiting yield.

Part 2
Determine the average rainfall per week for the remaining weeks of crop growth and add it into the prediction of how much water may be needed from irrigation. This number should be recalculated each week until the crop is mature.

The chart shows that, on average, central Buffalo County gets 0.60-inch of rain per week in August and 0.55-inch per week in September. The crop is expected to continue growing for three weeks in August and two weeks in September.

The chart predicts that if average rainfall is received over the next five weeks, only 2.35 inches of irrigation would be needed to mature the crop.

Using this information for a center pivot that is set to apply one inch of water per irrigation, the suggested recommendation would be that the system should be off for the next few days to use some of the remaining water. The next inch of water should be applied within the next seven days. Then, the next irrigation should be recalculated using updated soil water readings.

The best way to use the remaining water is to delay the start of the last few irrigations a few days each time and react to any rain that might occur during the period. Slowly using the water in the lower portion of the root zone starting in early to mid-August is much better than keeping the profile full until the very end and expecting the crop to use the water all at once.

Differences in Late-Season Irrigation Timing for Corn/Sorghum and Beans
Corn/sorghum and beans are somewhat different in respect to crop water use as they approach maturity. For example, if hot, dry, windy conditions are experienced in September, daily crop water use will increase. However, since corn/sorghum develop based on heat units, they will use more water per day but will mature in fewer days using about the average amount of water shown in the chart.

Beans develop based on day length. So, with the same hot, dry, windy conditions, they will use more water per day and will still mature at about the same date, resulting in more water use than predicted in the charts. Thus, it is very important to monitor soil water in beans until they reach maturity.

For additional details and charts, see "Predicting the Last Irrigation of the Season," (Nebraska Extension NebGuide G1871- https://extensionpubs.unl.edu/publication/g1871/2008/pdf/view/g1871-2008.pdf).

Source: Steve Melvin - Extension Educator Irrigated Cropping Systems (CropWatch – August 12, 2025)

Expenses of Preconditioning
Some costs associated with preconditioning programs include: labor, vaccinations, death loss, additional feed costs, and interest expenses on borrowed money. Two additional factors to consider are the seasonal patterns of the cattle market and the price slide on increased calf weights.

Benefits in the Feedlot
In a Drovers article, Dr. John Maday, a Bovine Veterinarian, described the benefits of preconditioning for all aspects of the beef industry. Dr. Maday stated that the long-term average death loss at JBS Five Rivers feedyards, the feedlot he consults for, had always been roughly 1 percent.

In three years, that value has increased to 2 percent. Initially the increase in death loss was attributed to drought and poor nutrition early in the calves’ lives.

However, even after a year of increased moisture, the death loss average did not decreased.

Dr. Maday evaluated cattle that had been preconditioned for 45 days prior to feedlot entry and found that those calves experienced one-third the morbidity and one-half the mortality of those calves that were not preconditioned.

Preconditioned calves also gained 0.3 more pounds per day compared to calves that were not preconditioned in his study.

Conclusion
A preconditioning program is not for every cow-calf producer.

Not only should the factors stated above be considered, but producers have to determine:

• how a 45-day retention of calves will affect their grazing program,
• if they have the proper facilities to feed calves and bunk break them, and
• if they have the extra time and labor to dedicate to the weaned calves.

As an industry, the need to better prepare calves for the feedlot in terms of stress, health, and getting cattle ready to eat a concentrated diet is a must.

If more calves are “feedlot ready” the beef industry will see improved cattle health and feedlot performance while potentially reducing the use of antibiotics.

Source: Nebraska Extension (August 1, 2025)

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