University of Nebraska Extension - Holt/Boyd News Column for the Week of March 10, 2024

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

Laughter - Is it the Best Medicine?

We often hear the phrase Laughter is the Best Medicine. Whether it is the best medicine or not it does have benefits for everyone. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain according to the Mayo Clinic.

The Laughter Prescription states “Laughter” and “humor” though often used interchangeably, have different definitions. Humor refers to the stimulus, such as a joke, which evokes a response. Laughter however refers to a physical reaction characterized by a distinct repetitive vocal sound, certain facial expressions and contraction of various muscle groups.

Of course, not a substitution for eating healthy and exercise, but adding laughter to your regime, according to a study by Vanderbilt University increases your heart rate between 10 and 20 percent, and that 15 minutes of laughter could even result in burning around 40 calories a day.

How does a person bring laughter into their lives to reap the benefits? Laughter Therapy is a great way to start, and the whole family can do it together. Laughter Therapy is a therapy that uses humor to help relieve pain and stress and improve a person’s sense of well-being.

Specific things that bring laughter into one’s life might include:

• Be Humor Positive—Look for the humor in your life.
• Follow funny memes.
• Play with a pet and laugh at how funny they can be.
• Find podcasts or YouTube videos full of humor.
• Laugh at yourself!
• Spend time with people who make you laugh.
• Play Games with your family and have fun!
• Take a laugh break. Intentionally laugh. Force yourself to laugh and laugh at various levels. Barely laugh. Laugh from your gut. Laugh with movement. Doing this as a family, will be fun to watch and will lead to more laughter. Afterall, they say laughter is contagious!
• Create a Humor Jar filled with those things that trigger a funny memory or situations that one cannot help but laugh about.

Trying some of these ideas can lead to great laughter and what better way to release those endorphins and reap the benefits.

Sources: Mayo Clinic; “The Laughter Prescription” Louis, D., Karolina, B., Frates, E.; Rhonda Herrick - Extension Educator Kearney/Franklin County (UNL For Families – March 11, 2024)

Winter Survival in Alfalfa

The time for spring planting alfalfa is just around the corner, and selecting the right seed is crucial. Two traits we should take extra time to consider are fall dormancy and winter survival.

These traits are often treated the same but are different. Today let’s look at winter survival.

Winter survival or winter hardiness is the ability for an alfalfa plant to make it through winter without injury, once the plant goes dormant. This is different than the fall dormancy rating that measures the alfalfa’s ability to prepare for and recover from dormancy. Winter survival is measured on a one to six scale, with one being extremely hardy and six not hardy. For Nebraska, a winter survival rating of three is about as high as we want to go.

As temperatures drop and days shorten, alfalfa plants change their physiology to survive freezing temperatures and make it through winter. While increased hardiness can result in reduced yield potential, for a high dollar perennial forage, having a full stand year after year is better in the long run.

In the past, winter survival traits were linked with fall dormancy. With new varieties, this isn’t always the case, so winter survival needs to be evaluated on its own.

We want to pick a winter survival ranking that will get us through winter without compromising yield. Where you are in the state plays a big role in what to pick. Winter temperatures affect the choice, but maintained snow cover is also important. As snow can help insulate the ground, parts of the state that regularly have open winters may need as high or higher survival rating than colder locations with winter-long snow cover.

Bottom line for Nebraska, a winter survival rating of three is about as high as we want to go and areas with open winters or regularly colder temperatures should be even lower.

Source: Ben Beckman – Extension Educator (Pasture and Forage Minute: February 22, 2024)

Paying Family Members On The Farm Or Ranch

For many farm and ranch families, bringing children or grandchildren into the operation is the ultimate goal. Successfully bringing additional family members into the operation may require some creativity as all parties need to maintain a viable standard of living. This is the first in a series of articles that will highlight ideas and tactics for bringing another family member into the operation.

One tactic is to provide new family members with monetary compensation, such as an hourly wage or salary. The total compensation should be comparable to the market value of wages to hire a non-family member to do the same work.

Here are things to consider when employing this strategy.

1. Start anytime - This strategy can begin early in life. Children under 18 can earn monetary compensation from the farm or ranch.  This can give family members a sense of responsibility and allow them to learn how to manage money at an early age. Furthermore, this can jump-start their savings for education, retirement, or business assets. Work with a financial advisor to explore tax-advantaged ways to save and invest on a child’s behalf such as Roth IRAs or 529 Accounts.
2. It’s tax-deductible – Wages or salaries paid to family members may be tax deductible. The downside is that it may require additional paperwork. Work with your accountant to make sure you have the correct documentation and reporting.
3. Financial Freedom – Providing monetary compensation can provide financial autonomy.  A competitive compensation package shows that you value their contributions to the business. Additionally, being able to make their own spending and investment decisions can be empowering for them.
4. Setting Expectations –One of the biggest challenges for farm and ranch families is setting expectations for work. Different generations often have different views on this matter. When setting a monetary compensation rate, also consider writing position descriptions that clearly define working hours and responsibilities.
5. Maintain control – By monetarily compensating family members, ownership of the entity and capital assets are not being transferred. In the early stages of the transition process, paying wages or a salary may be a way to test the waters and see if working together in the operation is feasible. If it is not, the owner still maintains control of the capital assets. The family member also now has cash to start their own operation or choose a new career path.

Not all compensation has to come from an hourly wage or salary. Often, owners will provide compensation to family members in various forms providing housing, vehicles, insurance, etc.

Non-monetary compensation should be valued and factored into the total compensation package. The total compensation package should allow both owners and other family members to maintain a viable standard of living. The compensation package, both monetary and non-monetary, should be discussed, and in writing, before someone becomes involved in the operation.

Providing monetary compensation is just one strategy to help transition someone onto your farm or ranch operation. Look for future articles outlining other strategies on the Center for Ag Profitability website at cap.unl.edu.

Source: Jessica Groskopf - Agricultural Economist, Extension Educator (Center for Agricultural Profitability – February 13, 2024)

Grazing Management Following Wildfire

Spring wildfires that occur on range and pasturelands will happen when there is the right combination of high winds and low humidity. That has been the case here in 2024 and that threat will continue until we have new, green grass growth later this spring. Although the immediate aftermath of a fast-moving fire can look quite devastating, our perennial pasture grasses are resilient and will recover, especially since they are still dormant. Spring is also a time when many prescribed burns are conducted for the purpose of Eastern red cedar control. Of course, adequate moisture through spring and early summer is key for pasture growth whether it was burned or not.

One of the key impacts of a wildfire is the loss of plant residue and litter that protects the soil surface. This residue is important for reducing wind and water erosion and the loss of soil moisture. This plant litter and residue is particularly important on sandy soils. High winds following a fire can lead to scouring erosion around the plants.

An important grazing management recommendation following a wildfire is to delay turnout, possibly as long as one month, but this can be adjusted depending on rainfall. This simply allows grasses to accumulate more growth before being exposed to grazing.

Secondly, stocking rates should be reduced, with the objective of leaving adequate residue, which will become litter on the ground. This is to replace what was lost in the fire. Rainfall in May and June will be most critical and should be the guiding factor affecting any of the above management decisions.

It is not uncommon to see more annual weeds show up in a pasture after a fire. While this may look concerning, these weeds can actually be useful and have some forage value or will turn into residue and cover at the end of the season. Their numbers will decline the following year.

Fence damage may confound any grazing management plans. Additionally, many pastures may have been only partially burned. On a pasture that has been partially burned, studies have shown that cattle prefer to graze the burned portion, resulting in much heavier grazing on that area compared to the unburned portion. Temporary fencing to exclude burned areas early in the season may be a solution but is often impractical.

A by-product of a wildfire can be areas that may have been disked to create a fire break. If this disking was significant to the point where it killed most of the grasses, reseeding these areas using the same grass species found in the rest of the pasture many be warranted.

Source: Jerry Volesky – UNL Extension Range and Forage Specialist (Beefwatch – February 27, 2024)