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
October 12-29: Knowing, Growing, and Grazing Grass Webinar Series, Monday and Thursday evenings, 7:30pm – 8:45pm CT, https://go.unl.edu/knowing_grass
Oct 12-Dec 17: Tai Chi For Energy Online Classes, Mondays & Thursdays, 5:00pm – 6:00pm, https://pears.io/events/nebraskaextension/10949/, For Questions: Contact Brittany Spieker at bspieker2@unl.edu or (402) 322-2899
October 15: ARC/PLC Options Webinar, 12:00pm CT, https://unl.zoom.us/.../regi.../WN_NOTnN-03Sc2_g4LX6JyZFw
October 17: Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Instructor Update Session, 8:00am, Ashland Gun Club, Ashland, NE
October 17-18: Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Instructor Certification Workshop; 8:00am, Ashland Gun Club, Ashland, NE
October 18: Holt County 4-H Shooting Sports Kick-Off Meeting, 5:30pm, KC Hall, O’Neill, NE
November 1: DUE: Holt County 4-H Shooting Sports Registration
December 2: Understanding Financial Documents Workshop for Nebraska Farmers and Ranchers, 9:00am–12:00pm CT, O’Neill, NE (exact location TBD)
If I Had Parenting to Do Over Again
How would I parent my children, if I could have a fresh start? Diane Loomans' famous poem brings lots of ideas to mind, "more hikes and kites, more hugging and less tugging, and model the power of love".
Most parents that take parenting classes need to learn how to hit less and discipline more. Spanking is very controversial but many parents feel like I do that if you had a fresh start at parenting, less spanking would be in order. Spanking is punishment and disciplining is teaching the child what you really what them to do and how they should behave.
Below is a list of disciplining strategies that need to be repeated, if they have a chance to work:
- Change the child's direction: Help children to go to another activity or toy. This allows children to get away from what they should not be play with. Ages 1-21/2 years
- Avoid Tempting Things: Moving some things in your home so your child cannot reach them. This helps to keep your child safe and prevents breaking things. 1-2 1/2 years
- Remove Child from Activity: When a child cannot follow rules of the game, is fighting or becoming mean to other children. 1-5 years
- Encouragement: For all ages! Encouragement is better than praise because it should describe what the child is doing right.
- Time Out: This is used when children have lost self-control. The rule of thumb is one minute of time out for each age of the child. 2-12 years
- Natural and Logical Consequences: Many times, real learning experiences are gained by natural or logical consequences. For example, a child who refuses to eat supper during mealtime will end up waiting to snack time to breakfast to eat again. Or if toys are not put away, a logical consequence may be to collect the toys for charity or at least put them away for awhile. 2-18 years
- A.C.T.: Acknowledge Feelings, Communicate Limits, and Target Two Choices. For example, I can see that you are angry about something, but the rule is that we do not hurt animals or people. Would you like to kick a ball or play with the puppy?
- Give and Take: Parents and children need to really listen to each other. Listening helps to give in a little and helps to understand. 5-18 years
- Handshake on it: A child and parent make an agreement or contract. Write down what you can agree on and then seal it with signing the notes and a handshake. 12-18 years
The above positive discipline strategies are developmentally appropriate for our children. Effective child discipline yields a long-term investment, a self-controlled teenager or adult.
Source: Mary Gosche, Human Development Specialist, Cape Girardeau County and Southeast Region, University of Missouri Extension
Late Season Rain Impacts to Soybean Seed Quality
Excessive rainfall on mature crops can lead to harvest complications and reduced seed quality. In soybeans, these problems can include lodging, shattering, purple seed stain and even seed decay. Once fields dry out, harvest as soon as conditions allow and monitor seed quality closely. Before hauling, check for sprouting, disease, splits and foreign material that could result in discounts at the elevator.
Pod Shattering
Pre-harvest pod shattering can occur when dry pods are rewetted. Harvest pod shattering occurs when grain moisture content is less than 13%. As soybean moisture decreases, shatter and harvest losses increase.
When assessing harvest shatter losses, approximately four soybean seeds per square foot equal one bushel per acre of loss.
Plant Lodging
Excessive moisture can support saprophytic fungi that break down plant tissue. Under these conditions, fungal activity can contribute. In low areas of fields and along waterways, lodging can occur when water rapidly enters and leaves the field. Lodged plants in contact with the soil or covered with mud, silt and debris are more likely to experience seed deterioration and reduced seed quality.
Sprouting in the Pod
In-pod sprouting occurs in a two-step process. First, seeds swell to a size large enough to break open the pod. This is observed when the pods mature but frequent rains, continuous drizzle or foggy days cause water to be soaked up by the pod wall, wetting the seed. The seed then swells and breaks open the pod. Once pods are opened, more water can reach the seed. If air temperatures are above 50°F and seed moisture increases above 50%, germination will start.
Purple Seed Stain
Infected seeds may appear healthy or have pink to purple spots that range in size from specks to large blotches extending from the hilum and may cover the entire surface. Yield is not affected by the seed phase of the disease, but crop value could be decreased if the seed is downgraded because of discoloration. Seeds with a very high percentage of discoloration have lower oil content and higher protein content compared with healthy seed. Germination and seedling emergence are lower in purple seed stain-infected seeds than in healthy seeds. However, this disease is primarily an issue in food-grade soybean or soybean grown for seed.
Diaporthe Seed Decay
Affected seeds are cracked, shriveled and often associated with fungal mycelium (white cottony filamentous growth) in the pod. Seeds may appear to be covered in a chalky, white mold as well. If planted, infected seeds may fail to emerge due to seedling blight caused by this fungus. Fields with excessive moisture are most likely to have pods containing fungal growth.
Virus Infected Seed
You may see other seed symptoms that resemble purple seed stain but are not caused by fungi or exacerbated by moisture. These include viruses such as Soybean Mosaic Virus and Bean Pod Mottle Virus. These were not common issues in Nebraska in 2026.
What Elevators are Looking For
Elevators may use different evaluation methods depending on their location, standards and procedures, so it is important to check with your local elevator. In general, elevators will be watching for split seeds and may apply discounts if they are over a certain percentage in a load. Since splitting can be associated with in-pod sprouting, be sure to check fields before harvest for this issue.
Foreign material is another concern that elevators may evaluate in each load. Depending on the amount present, foreign material may also result in discounts. Foreign material can include stems, leaves and other plant debris. If sclerotia are present in the sample, they may also contribute to the percentage of foreign material in the load.
Purple seed stain is generally not a major issue, but if a truckload contains a high percentage of seeds affected by this disease, there is a chance the load could be rejected.
Before sending soybean to the elevator, take time to know what is in the trailer and call your local elevator to ask what it will be looking for when evaluating seed quality. This is especially important when hauling soybean from fields where wet conditions have delayed harvest or where sprouting, disease or lodging may have affected seed quality.
Source: Dylan Mangel - Extension Plant Pathologist, Chris Termunde - Extension Instructor, Kyle Broderick - Extension Educator and Coordinator of the UNL Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic, Amy Timmerman - Extension Educator (CropWatch – October 2, 2026)
Make Informed Feed Purchasing Decisions Using the Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator
Despite recent rainfall, persistent drought in the western Great Plains has forced many operations to feed last season's forage deeper into the summer and graze areas typically reserved for hay.
As regional demand for forage rises, some producers may look farther afield to places with better growing conditions — but with freight and fuel costs climbing, does a better buy really keep money in your pocket?
UNL Extension's Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator, an Excel-based tool, is built to help answer exactly these kinds of nuanced but critical questions.
Download the Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator: https://cap.unl.edu/livestock/tools/
Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator Guide: https://extensionpubs.unl.edu/publication/g2214/na/html/view
What the tool offers:
- A library of over 200 feeds with customizable nutrient concentrations
- The ability to adjust feed price and account for freight, storage, and feeding costs
- All-inclusive feed cost calculations on an as-fed basis, a dry-matter basis, and per pound of crude protein and total digestible nutrients
- Side-by-side comparison of up to four feeds to identify the "best buy"
This simple but valuable tool can sharpen feed-buying decisions at a time when elevated prices magnify every choice. Getting the most out of it, though, means pairing it with good information on the feedstuffs themselves.
Apply the following practices to get the most out of the Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator
Incorporate your feed analysis results
Forage nutrient content varies with species, maturity, and growing conditions, so updating the dry matter, crude protein (CP), and total digestible nutrients (TDN) values in the feed library with your own forage analysis can lead to real savings on supplemental feed. To do this, locate your feed's name in the "Feed List," copy it into the desired "F tab," and update the CP and TDN cells to reflect your test results. If your feedstuff isn't already in the sheet, add a new row at the bottom, then reference that feed's name in an F tab (F1–F9) to evaluate it.
Apply your costs to determine the true price of feed the cow consumes
The purchase price of a feedstuff rarely reflects the true cost of feeding it. Feeds are often freighted, stored, handled, and fed, and each step is dependent on labor, equipment, and infrastructure. The F tabs include cells for entering these estimated costs, letting you account for costs not reflected in the purchase price.
Estimate dry matter losses between time of purchase and time of consumption
Dry matter loss, or shrink, can be conceptualized by different hay delivery practices. Consider hay delivered to a bunk, unrolled on the ground, or placed in a ring feeder – all vary in their dry matter loss. Similarly, silages exhibit a range of shrink due to pile management and storage strategy. Even well managed piles exhibit 10-20% shrink on average (Borreani et al., 2018). To account for dry matter loss during transportation, storage, or feeding, use the designated cells within the “F tabs” to input your estimates.
For hay specifically, the following document provides management considerations to minimize hay waste and outlines differences in hay waste for different methods of delivery that you can use in your own evaluation: "G84-738 Management to Minimize Hay Waste" by Bruce Anderson and Terry L. Mader.
Focus on price per pound of nutrient consumed
Because supplements are often used to increase a target nutrient, mainly CP or TDN, in the overall diet, comparing feedstuffs by price per pound of nutrient is a useful way to evaluate them. You'll find these calculations on individual feedstuff tabs (F1–F9) and on the feed comparison tab (Per Pound).
Make direct comparisons of potential feeds
Once feed analysis results, costs, and dry matter loss data have been entered for your potential feedstuffs, the "Per Pound" tab lets you select up to four for direct comparison. This goes beyond purchase price, factoring in your prior inputs to calculate a price per pound of nutrient "into the belly of the cow." Keep in mind that some products, like cubes or lick tubs, often cost more than bulk commodities due to added processing and convenience. These can still be effective at meeting nutrient requirements — just make sure the added cost is justified by labor savings.
Summary and additional resources
Given the subpar growing conditions of 2026, understanding cow nutrient requirements — and meeting them economically through harvested feedstuffs, supplementation, or drylot feeding — is more important than ever. This November, Nebraska Extension returns with its annual webinar series, Fundamentals of Feeding the Cow, offering tools like the Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator to help producers sharpen nutritional decisions, cut costs, and optimize cowherd performance. To register for this four-night series, visit this link: 2026 Fundamentals of Feeding the Cow - PEARS | University of Nebraska.
Source: Brock Ortner, Nebraska Extension Livestock System Educator, Aaron Berger, Nebraska Extension Educator (BeefWatch – October 1, 2026)
News Release - Range and Pasture Management Webinar Series - Registrations due October 1
Nebraska Extension will host a six-part webinar series entitled “Knowing, Growing and Grazing Grass,” beginning Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. MT. The webinar series will assist landowners and livestock producers in growing and managing grasses in pastures and rangelands.
“This series will give producers a solid foundation in range and pasture management,” said Aaron Berger, Nebraska Extension educator and program coordinator. “Whether it’s plant identification, understanding stocking rates or using drought insurance tools, participants will leave with practical, usable information.” Throughout the course, the impacts of drought will be discussed.
Topics will include plant identification, management practices, calculating stocking rates, using tools like USDA Web Soil Survey and Rangeland Analysis Platform, and developing grazing plans and managing drought risk through Pasture, Rangeland and Forage (PRF) insurance.
Participants are invited to submit plant photos for identification. All webinars will be interactive and recorded for later viewing.
The series will run Monday and Thursday evenings, Oct. 12 through Oct. 29 from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. CT (6:30 to 7:45 p.m. MT). Two optional sessions will also be held on Oct. 20 and 27. The course is limited to 30 participants.
The registration fee is $100 per person and includes a copy of "Grassland Plants of South Dakota and the Northern Great Plains" and a printed resource notebook featuring Nebraska Extension NebGuides and Circulars. Register by Thursday, Oct. 1, as materials will be mailed ahead of the course.
To register, visit: https://go.unl.edu/knowing_grass.
For more information, contact Aaron Berger at 308-235-3122 or aberger2@unl.edu.
