Local Interest

A research team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research and Extension Center is developing a method of scheduling irrigation for dry edible beans that uses a sensor to remotely check the temperature of the crop canopy to determine when the crop needs water.

The method, known as infrared radiometry thermometer (IRT), has the potential to be cheaper and easier to install and manage than soil-moisture probes, according to Xin Qiao, Irrigation and Water Management Specialist at the Panhandle Center.

Nebraska Extension will conduct chemigation certification training sessions through early April at Alliance, Sidney, Bridgeport, and Scottsbluff, as well as other sites around Nebraska, such as North Platte and Ainsworth.

Producers who plan to apply crop nutrients and pesticides through irrigation systems during 2019, including those who need to renew their 2018 permits, are required to attend a training session and pass the test administered afterward. Attendees are asked to pre-register at the extension office whose session they plan to attend. They will receive a training manual and calibration workbook to review before the training session.

Research findings and industry updates will be the focus of the Nebraska Extension Beef Feedlot Roundtables Feb. 12-14, 2019.

The first workshop will be Feb. 12 at Bridgeport, beginning with registration at 12:30 p.m. at Prairie Winds Community Center. Registration begins at 12:30 p.m., followed by presentations from 1 to 5 p.m. Following the program, Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) training and certification or recertification will be available each day. The meeting is organized by Nebraska Extension and the Nebraska Beef Council.

Online registration is encouraged and available at https://go.unl.edu/2019roundtable. Cost is $20 at the door if preregistered and $40 for walk-ins.

Cutworm numbers have been on the increase in western Nebraska over the past several years, and the damage they can cause to dry edible bean fields has bean growers and others in the industry concerned.

Luckily, it is not too difficult or too expensive to control cutworms. But effective control depends on applying insecticide at the right time. And knowing the right time is a matter of monitoring populations of cutworm moths, which lay the eggs that produce the cutworms.

A hands-on workshop scheduled for early March is designed to train people to identify cutworms from all the other moths, and show how to monitor populations. It is organized by UNL Extension Entomologist Jeff Bradshaw, based at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff.

The 2019 Nebraska Dry Edible Bean Day will feature an appearance by the Nebraska Director of Agriculture, as well as presentations from dry bean processors updates on research, and reports from the state commission.

Dry Edible Bean Day is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019 at the Gering Civic Center, sponsored by the Nebraska Dry Bean Growers Association (NDBGA). Registration begins at 12:30 p.m. After welcome messages from Bean Growers President Paul Pieper, Panhandle Research and Extension Center Director Jack Whittier, and Nebraska Dry Bean Commission Chair Courtney Schuler, the growers’ association annual meeting will start at 1 p.m.

Seven Nebraska 4-H members were among the top finishers in the National Western Stock Show Catch-A-Calf Contest completed recently in Denver.

The youth dedicated a year’s worth of effort to raise animals they caught at the 2018 stock show from calves to market steers. According to the National Western’s website, 4-Hers from Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming compete in National Western Stock Show’s (NWSS) longest running program of practical beef cattle management. In just over 80 years, the Catch-A-Calf Contest has awarded nearly 3,000 steers to 4-H members hailing from the western United States.

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