Nebraska Extension Educator - Holt/Boyd Counties - LaDonna Werth
Nebraska Extension Educator - Holt/Boyd Counties - Amy Timmerman
Nebraska Extension Educator - Brown/Rock/Keya Paha Counties - Brittany Spieker
Nebraska Extension Educator - Holt/Boyd/Garfield/Loup/Wheeler Counties - Bethany Johnston
Nebraska 4-H Assistant - Holt/Boyd Counties - Debra Walnofer
November 28-29: CLOSED: Holt and Boyd County Extension Offices
November 30: DUE: Martha and Don Romeo Scholarship, https://www.nebraskafairs.org/newsletters.php
December 5: Pesticide Applicator Nebraska Department of Agriculture Walk-In Testing, Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County Conference Rooms, Lincoln NE, 9:00am-2:00pm
December 5: Virtual Tradeshow Series: Beef Cattle Technology - Water Monitoring Technology, 7:00pm, https://go.unl.edu/BeefTech
December 6: DUE: Northeast Nebraska Ag Conference registration, https://lcnrd.nebraska.gov/
December 8: Holt County Shooting Sports Kick-Off Meeting, KC Hall, O’Neill, 4-6:00pm
December 9: Virtual Tradeshow Series: Beef Cattle Technology - Virtual Fence Technology, 7:00pm, https://go.unl.edu/BeefTech
December 11: 2025 Landlord/Tenant Cash Rent Workshop, 1pm-4pm, Holt County Courthouse Annex. Register at 402-336-2760 - For more information: https://cap.unl.edu/land25
December 17: Northeast Nebraska Ag Conference, Norfolk, NE, https://lcnrd.nebraska.gov/
What To Do If Your Child Worries Too Much
Some of this is normal worry. Children want to be reassured and they want to know they will be safe. Some need extra reassurance, and routines and traditions can help calm them. Some children, however, will not be calmed by your answers. It doesn’t matter how many times you reassure them or how many times you check on them, they still worry.
Children who have these kinds of worries might struggle in other situations, too. They may not want to meet new children or go to other kids’ homes because of their worries (for example: “What if I need something?” or “What if I don’t know what to do?”).
It’s easy for adults to say, “Don’t worry” or “Stop worrying so much.” Just saying these things, however, does not work. There are strategies that can help, and these strategies can give your child a way to gain control over the worries.
Contain the Worry
Dr. Huebner gives the example of relating worry with milk. When milk is in a container, you can hold and move it. The container does not take up much room. If however, that milk is not in the container, it spreads and flows out and makes a huge mess. The same goes with worry. It needs to be contained, or it will spread and grow.
LaDonna Werth
Extension Educator
Phone: 402-336-2760
E-mail: LWerth2@unl.edu
Set Up a Worry Time
If the child worries about many things throughout the day, set up a worry time. Set aside 15 minutes where a child can talk about her worries. Or, the child can write worries on paper and share with parents, grandparents or adults who will listen. (Make sure to eliminate distractions during this time.)
If the child starts to worry at another time, she should say, “Stop. That is for my worry time.” Then the child should do something else to distract herself. As a parent, you may need to help your child remember to wait for worry time by saying (in a positive and supportive voice), “Keep that for worry time. We’ll talk about it then. For now, how about riding your bike?”
Create a Worry Box
Have the child picture a box with a lock in his mind. This is a worry box. If a child starts to worry, he can imagine opening the box, putting the worry in the box, slamming the lid closed and locking the worry there. Better yet, you can create a worry box and encourage the child to write the worry on a piece of paper and put it in the box.
Remember, the child can then talk about the worry during worry time. You can help with strategies and ways to deal with the worry at that time.
Put the worry outside of the child
It can help the child to think of herself as being separate from the worry. Have the child picture the worry as a creature or thing. Let her create the image and then draw a picture. (Is it furry with claws, a dark cloud or just a blob?)
When the child starts to worry, she can picture that creature and can do something about it by talking back and standing up to it! Have the child write down things to say to the worry creature:
- Stop that!
- I don’t believe you!
- Get away!
This part will take practice. The first few times the child does this, the worry creature may return. The child should repeat her message in a firm voice (either in her mind or aloud), and could even imagine flicking the worry creature off of her shoulder or catching it in a net and kicking it out of the room.
As before, encourage the child to do something else (play, read, run up and down the stairs).
Do something else
Being involved with something is key in keeping away worries. The way our bodies and minds are, we cannot be relaxed and worried at the same time. This can be a powerful way for a child to keep worries away. If a child is playing with a toy or riding a bike, there is less room for the worry creature to bother the child.
Make a list of things to do. Remember, the child may not feel like going outside or playing, but help him understand that being active will help. The child might have to make himself be busy. As children realize that doing things helps keep worries away, it will be easier to want to play and do fun things. Here are some ideas:
- Take three deep breaths
- Run up and down the stairs five times
- Draw a picture
- Read
- Play music
- Sing a song
- Play a game
- Help a neighbor with yard work
- Take a pet for a walk
These strategies take practice and time. Give your child positive messages and tell him that you believe in him. You may want to get help from a school counselor or a licensed therapist/counselor.
Also, if you as the adult tend to worry, your child may have the same tendencies as you. These strategies can help you, too. You and your child can practice these strategies together.
In answer to the question at the beginning of this article, work on some of the ideas listed here, like helping your daughter create an image of her worry monster, talk back to it and create a worry box. At bedtime, say something like, “Sounds like your worry monster is bothering you again. How about we tell it to go to bed? Picture that furry green rascal. OK, ready?”
Have the daughter say something such as, “Go to bed worry thing! Leave me alone. I’m safe here and you get out!”
Then tell your daughter, “Great job! I love you!” Have her think of something happy or positive right after she tells the worry monster to go to bed, and have her hug a favorite stuffed animal.
Source: Lucy Schrader, former HES Associate State Specialist and Building Strong Families Program Coordinator, University of Missouri Extension
Guide to Selection and Care of Christmas Trees
The Christmas tree is a holiday tradition that began in Germany in the seventeenth century. German immigrants and Hessian soldiers hired by the British to fight the colonists during the American Revolution brought the tradition to the United States. Today, many Americans decorate their home with an artificial, live, or cut tree for the holiday season.
Good quality artificial trees are time-saving, clean, safe, and attractive. Yet, for many individuals even the best quality artificial tree lacks the beauty, charm, and romance of real, cut tree. For those who prefer a cut Christmas tree, a few simple guidelines will help ensure an enjoyable and safe holiday season.
Christmas trees may be purchased from cut-your-own tree farms or as pre-cut trees in commercial lots. A list of tree farms in your area can be found on the Nebraska Department of Agriculture website (https://nda.nebraska.gov/pulications/promotion/Christmas_trees/trees.html)
Trees in commercial lots may be from local sources or out of state. Oregon is the largest producer of cut Christmas Trees in the country, followed by North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. More than 80% of all cut trees come from those five states so chances are if it was not grown locally in Iowa, the tree is from one of those states.
Amy Timmerman
Extension Educator
Phone: 402-336-2760
E-mail: atimmerman2@unl.edu
Types of Christmas Trees
Tree species commonly available at tree farms and commercial lots in Iowa include Scotch pine, white pine, red pine, Fraser fir, balsam fir, Canaan fir, Douglas fir, white spruce, and Colorado spruce.
The species you select will depend on attributes like color, shape, needle retention, aroma, and branch stiffness (to hold up heavy ornaments).
Selecting a High-Quality Cut Christmas Tree
Before You Start Shopping
A few decisions should be made before going out to buy a Christmas tree. Decide where you are going to place the tree in the home. Be sure to choose a location away from heat sources, such as a fireplace or radiator. Also, decide on the size (height and width) of the tree you want. Remember trees in a field or outdoor lot will not look as tall or wide as it will in your home. Bring a tape measure with you to ensure it will fit.
Evaluate Freshness
Trees cut and purchased at cut-your-own tree farms are obviously fresh. Keep in mind, live evergreen trees still shed old interior needles so don't be surprised if needles still fall from the tree even before it is cut. Trees in commercial lots may be cut and stored for 4 or more weeks before they arrive at the tree lot so it is important to carefully check these trees to insure their freshness.
Freshness can be determined with a few simple tests. Gently run your hand over a branch. The needles on a fresh tree will be pliable. Those on a dry tree will be brittle. Gently bend the outer branches. Fresh trees will have pliable branches that don't easily snap. Another test is to lift the tree by the trunk and lightly bounce the butt on the ground. Heavy needle drop indicates a dry tree. A fresh tree will drop only a few needles.
Evaluate Other Factors
When looking for a tree, select one that has a straight trunk. A tree with a straight trunk will be much easier to set upright in the stand. Check the diameter of the trunk to make sure it will fit in your stand. Make sure the tree is full and has a nice shape. A tree with a bare side may be fine if you intend to place it in a corner or against a wall.
Storing Your Tree
If you don’t intend to set up the Christmas tree immediately, place the tree in a cool, sheltered location. An unheated garage or shed is often a suitable storage site. (The sun and wind dries out trees stored outdoors.) Put the butt of the tree in a bucket of water.
Caring for a Cut Christmas Tree
Setting up the Tree
Remove an inch or more from the bottom of the trunk before bringing the tree into the house. A fresh cut facilitates water uptake. Place the tree in the stand. Often it is easier to lay the tree on its side and secure the stand to the bottom with the netting used to wrap the tree for transport still on the tree. Once indoors, stand it upright, straighten it, and then remove the net wrapping. Get the tree into water as quickly as possible. Avoid shaving the sides of the trunk down to fit in the stand as the outer layer of the trunk just under the bark is where most of the water is taken up.
Provide Plenty of Water
The single most important factor in caring for a cut Christmas tree is to be sure it always has adequate water in the tree stand. Never allow the reservoir to go dry. If the water level drops below the bottom of the trunk, water uptake will be drastically reduced or cease when the reservoir is refilled. Use a tree stand with a large water reservoir and check water levels at least once or twice a day. Fresh trees absorb large quantities of water (especially in the first few days).
Use plain, clear water. Do not add molasses, sugar, soft drinks, aspirin, or commercial products to the water. Additives provide no real benefit. Additionally, there is no benefit to drilling a hole in the bottom of the trunk or cutting the base of the trunk at an angle or into a v-shaped notch. The tree is more difficult to stabilize when the bottom of the trunk is not flat.
The water reservoir in this tree stand is small. Selecting a tree stand with a large water reservoir makes keeping the tree adequately watered much easier. Never allowing the reservoir to go dry is the most important thing you can do to maintain a cut Christmas tree.
How Long Will It Last?
The length of time a cut Christmas tree can remain in the home is determined by the tree species, the freshness of the tree at purchase, and its placement and care in the home. In general, a fresh, well-cared-for Christmas tree should be able to remain in the home for three to four weeks. Remove the tree from the house when its needles become dry and brittle.
Source: Richard Jauron – Iowa State Extension Horticulturist & Aaron Steil Iowa State Consumer Horticulture Extension Specialist (Yard and Garden – 2022)
Fall Management Strategies for Spring-Calving Cow Herds – Body Condition Score Cows Now
For spring-calving beef herds, calves are being weaned in late October and November. At the time of weaning and calves are processed, it would also be a good time to body condition score the cow herd. Condition scoring the herd will take some extra time, but it will be time well spent. You will be able to identify cows that may need extra feed before calving.
The scoring system used for beef cows is the 1 to 9 system (https://beef.unl.edu/learning/condition1a.shtml.) The scoring system is a visual assessment of the relative fatness of a beef female. Using the 1 to 9 condition scoring system, 1 is a very thin cow and 9 is an obese cow. Seldom seen are cows that are in condition score 1, 2, 8, and 9.
Visually assess the amount of fatness in 6 areas of the cow (brisket, over the backbones, ribs, hooks, pins and tailhead areas), and give the cows a score between 1 and 9. The ribs, backbones, hooks, pins, and bones on either side of the tailhead can easily be seen in thin cows, and there is no evidence of fat in the brisket. The ribs, backbones, and hooks are not seen and there is fat in the tailhead area and brisket in cows scored 6 and greater. If you don’t have a lot of experience condition scoring, run some cows through a chute and feel for condition over the backbones, ribs and tailhead and score based on feel. One challenge when scoring cows is to make sure you are assessing condition (fat) and not muscle. Another challenge is avoiding the temptation to lower the condition score based on gut fill, as this can falsely influence the visual assessment of true condition across the 6 key areas. Also, noting it is more difficult to assess condition on cows that have long hair.
Bethany Johnston
Extension Educator
Phone: 402-336-2760
E-mail: bjohnston3@unl.edu
The body condition scoring system can be used as a management tool, and cow condition can be changed through the nutrition program. In addition, body condition score at calving impacts cow performance, influencing both the quantity of colostrum with a good supply of antibodies for the calf and how quickly cows will begin cycling after calving.
At weaning, condition score each cow. Pay particular attention to young females weaning their first calf. Young cows are most likely to be thin at this time. If there is a pattern of a lot of thin, young cows, consider managing them as a group on range or corn residue fields. Score them again in 45 days to see if they are regaining body condition. If they are not regaining body condition, this group may need to be supplemented. Packaging them as a group makes it easier to strategically supplement them.
Depending on the goals and resources of the operation, it may be more economical to get condition back on March calving cows in the late fall and early winter as compared to waiting until closer to calving. If mature cows are thin at weaning, it is probably not a bad sign because they put nutrients consumed into milk for the calf. Since removing lactation (weaning) decreases nutrient needs, cows should begin to regain condition without supplementation if they fit your feed resources. Score cows again 45 days after weaning. This will give you a good idea how quickly they are regaining body condition and how the 1st-calf-females are responding after weaning their calf.
The goal is to have cows at a body condition score of 5 and 1st-calf females at a body condition score of 6 by calving time next spring. With that goal in mind, condition score the cow herd again at 90 days prior to calving. If cows are still thin, this will be the last time condition can be put on economically. Feeding cows to put on condition after calving is difficult. If at 90 days pre-calving you need to formulate a feeding strategy to get cows to the target body condition before calving, contact your extension educator or nutritionist. They can help you.
Source: Rick Rasby, Extension Specialist | Josie Crouch, Beef Systems Extension Educator (BeefWatch – November 19, 2024)
News Release
Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition, Nebraska Extension and Legal Aid of Nebraska Hold Transition Workshops
Transitioning a farming or ranching operation from one generation to the next, or even from one operator to another can be complicated. The Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition (NGLC) recently partnered with Nebraska Extension and Legal Aid of Nebraska to host two workshops on this important topic.
These workshops were held in O’Neill and Hartington and featured Dave Goeller, retired extension transition specialist and Joe Hawbaker, estate planning attorney. These one-day educational workshops provided participants an opportunity gain knowledge related to succession planning and tools for long term viability of the operation.
“Succession planning is such an important topic, planning for the next generation increases the likelihood of their success” said Angela Redman, NGLC Assistant Director. “These workshops allow participants to connect and be inspired to work on their own succession plans.” By partnering with Legal Aid of Nebraska, participants were able to meet one-on-one with an ag attorney and financial advisor. “Transitioning legal assets and management can take time, even years, so it is critical that producers keep the ball rolling,” Bethany Johnston, Extension Educator, explains. “Eat the elephant one bite at a time, and use the resources out there to continually work on your transition plan.”
These annual workshops were made possible through a grant received by the Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Conservation Partners Program. Thank you also to Tri County bank for sponsoring lunch in O’Neill. “The Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition is extremely grateful to have been able to partner with these amazing organizations in order to provide these educational opportunities for producers to help enhance the grazing lands of Nebraska,” said Redman.
For additional information about this program and other upcoming educational events visit our website at nebraskagrazinglands.org