Growers continue to face harvesting challenges

Agriculture

Discussion

October 26, 2009

By GARY TILGHMAN The Glasgow Daily Times Mon Oct 26, 2009, 12:08 PM CDT

GLASGOW — While the rains have slowed and harvest is progressing, Kentucky growers continue to deal with the ramifications of a cool, wet growing season.

The growing season came to a close the weekend of Oct. 17 with the season’s first frost. While that may seem early, it was only slightly ahead of the state’s average first frost date, according to Michael Mathews, staff meteorologist in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

Fortunately, the majority of the state’s corn was mature; however, only 75 percent of soybeans were mature, said Chad Lee, UK grain crops specialist. Most likely the remaining 25 percent will not grow any further, resulting in lighter seeds,” he said. These soybeans were mainly double-cropped with wheat or planted late.

Not only will the late soybeans have lower test weights, but they may have additional damage, which could reduce marketability and lead to additional price discounts at the elevator. When the frost hit, some of the soybeans had yet to turn yellow and drop their leaves. This could make the plant’s green color nearly impossible to get out of the seeds. High moisture levels may lead to shriveled seeds which could trigger an additional discount, said Jim Herbek, UK grain crops specialist.

Corn and soybean harvesting delays are slowing wheat planting. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly crop and weather report for the state, only 8 percent of the crop was planted as of the first of this week. This compares to 33 percent seeded by this time in 2008 and a 40 percent five-year average.

There could be a lot of late-planted wheat, especially if there’s another crop still in the field.

UK service to end soon

For more than 20 years, the University of Kentucky has been involved with beef cattle records and supported the CHAPS, or Cow Herd Appraisal Performance Software, program. However, UK’s record-keeping service will officially end Nov. 16.

The CHAPS program is a system that allows producers to track cattle performance from conception to carcass. This whole-herd management tool transforms raw data into useful information for producers to make confident management decisions regarding their beef cattle herd. UK has been fortunate enough to provide full service record-keeping for producers at a minimal cost due to funding from the Agriculture Development Board and coordination with the Kentucky Beef Network.

After Nov. 16, North Dakota State University will handle all technical support for the CHAPS 2000 program. As the developer of the CHAPS program, NDSU will allow participants to continue receiving the same benefits, with everything from updates to benchmark data. The custom processing service through NDSU is almost identical to UK’s; therefore, the transition should be very easy.

If you are interested in continuing the custom processing service, please contact NDSU at ndsu.chaps@ndsu.edu for their specific guidelines. For more information about the CHAPS 2000 program, go to http://www.chaps2000.org, or contact me at the Barren County Cooperative Extension Service at 651-3818.

Date set for conference

Don’t forget, for those of you who are interested, the Kentucky Grazing Conference will be held Oct. 29 in Princeton at the UK Research and Education Center.

Text Only

Agriculture

Community shares gardens
The auditorium of the Barren County Cooperative Extension Service was crowded with flowers, vegetables, house plants and seeds Saturday afternoon as garden enthusiasts and other member of the community gathered for the first Plant and Seed Swap through the extension office.

September 26, 2011
Auction competition draws crowd
Farmers Livestock Market of Glasgow hosted an overflow crowd Monday as people from across the country flocked to the stockyard for the first quarterfinal round of the 2012 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship.

September 20, 2011 1 Photo
Farm Bureau works for farmers
The Barren County Farm Bureau Federation met Saturday night at the Trojan Academy for its annual meeting, to review the past year and form a consensus on agriculture policy resolutions the group will push to the state level.

September 20, 2011 1 Photo
Japanese student embraces local culture
A Barren County family is spending a month sharing their American culture with a Japanese foreign exchange student through a 4-H-based program.

August 8, 2011
Ag extension offers homegrown potluck
July 27, 2011
Ag committee discusses hot topics
The Kentucky Interim Joint Committee on Agriculture met Wednesday at Farmers Livestock Market in Glasgow to discuss two difficult issues that have been especially close to the hearts of local farmers — the Eastern Livestock bankruptcy case and dead animal disposal.

July 14, 2011 1 Photo
Farmers feel punished by H-2A regulations
Local tobacco farmers feel like they’re being penalized for using legal foreign workers to help them during the tobacco season.

May 2, 2011
Allen receives ag award
A Barren County man has been recognized by the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy for his work as an outstanding agriculture leader.

February 25, 2011
Livestock farmers have stake in bill
Efforts to compensate for losses from the bounced checks and bankruptcy litigation of Eastern Livestock Inc. are continuing. This time, hopefully, with the help of new legislation in the Kentucky congress.

February 9, 2011
Agricultural investment grant funds available
Barren County has received $325,000 in agricultural development funds for a County Agricultural Investment Program.

February 7, 2011
More Agriculture Headlines

Agriculture

Search Results

Discussion

Growers continue to face harvesting challenges

Site Map