Extension Update by Gary Zoubeck [September 18, 2014]

Coming Events

• September 18, 6:30 p.m., A Celebration of Our American Heroes, Seward Ag Pavilion, Seward
• September 21, 4:00 p.m., Beginning Youth Trap Shooting Clinic, Ikes Gun Club York; for more information call Russ Linhart at 402-362-1469
• September 22, 7:30 p.m., Extension Board Meeting, Extension Office, York
• September 23, 25, 30 & 10/2, 7:00 p.m.–9:30 p.m., Hunter Education Classes, 4-H Building, York; for information call Dan Barrett 402-366-4380

Our Changing Weather or Should I Say “Our Challenging Weather”?

I guess we typically expect it, rain during Husker Harvest Days. This year was no exception, typically we receive about 2.58” during the month of September and we’ve already received about 2.38”. For the year out total is at 31.57” compared to our norm of 26.90”. Hopefully we’ll have a little dry weather for our seed corn, soybeans, corn, and grain sorghum harvests, but only time will tell.

We did have some frost over the weekend in our area, but I’m not sure how much if any damage we’ll have in our area. It’s going to vary from location to location and typically be the worst in low areas. Tom Hoegemeyer shared a little info about the effect of frost/freezing temperatures on corn and soybeans and what to look for this week at CropWatch. I hope you’ll check it out at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu. Al Dutcher also indicated this week in a CropWatch article, that if we get past this past weekend’s chance of frost, the rest of the month looks like we should not have many chances for freezing temperatures, giving our crops a continued chance to mature normally.

Hunter Education Classes Planned

Just a final reminder, Dan Barrett has scheduled sessions for Hunter Safety Education Training for September 23, 25, 30, and October 2^  in the 4-H Building located at 2400 Nebraska Ave. These classes are designed for youth 12 years old and above. To register, go to huntsafenebraska.org and click on the appropriate link. For more information. call Dan Barrett at 402-366-4380.

Beginning Youth Trap Shooting Clinic

I was also asked to mention that the York Street Bullseye Buster 4-H Club will be having a beginning youth trap shooting clinic starting Sunday, September 21. This clinic will run for four consecutive Sundays and will be from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Ikes Gun Club in York. Russ Linhart, who is a certified 4-H shooting instructor, will be providing instruction on beginning trap shooting for any youth over the age of 10 who are interested in learning the sport of trapshooting. Please call Russ at 402-362-1469 to register or if you have questions.

Four PEDV Reporting Workshops Planned

I want to remind area pork producers that the Nebraska Pork Producers Association along with the Nebraska Soybean Board in cooperation with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture will sponsor 4 PEDV Reporting Workshops. Dr. Roger Dudley, DVM, with the Department of Agriculture will familiarize producers with the details of the Federal Order.

Over $26 million in funding has been made available to combat swine enteric coronaviruses. These funds are for (a) biosecurity/disinfections payments to producers; (b) herd plan payments to vets; (c) research; (d) grants to states; (e) diagnostic testing. Financial assistance is available to producers for outbreaks occurring from June of 2014 to September of 2015.

Workshops will be held:

• Sept. 15, 5:30 p.m., Holiday Inn in Kearney
• Sept. 16, 5:30 p.m., Holiday Inn Express in Beatrice
• Sept. 17, 5:30 p.m., Holiday Inn Express in Norfolk
• Sept. 19, 2:15 p.m., Holiday Inn Express in Columbus.

The workshops are free. Registration is available online at www.nepork.org or by calling 402-472-2563.

Put Away Watermark Sensors and ETgages

With the irrigation season over for 2014, as you pull your gated pipe, it’s a good time to also pull your Watermark Sensor and put away your ETgages for another season. I pulled most of my Watermark sensors other than one set that I did not mark well! I’ll have to go back and find them so we don’t run them through the combine. The only other sensors that I have not pulled are those in our Soybean Management Field Day plots. We’ll do that as soon as the beans mature so that we can calculate the water use efficiency in each of the plots.

Pulling the sensors this season has been easier than some years, but the 3’ depths can still be difficult. If you haven’t purchased a Watermark Sensor puller yet, I’d suggest that you do so. It makes the job a lot easier on you, your back and you don’t damage the PVC pipe that your sensors are attached to.

Bill Collett of Collett Enterprises, has been an active participant of our NAWMN the past several years and has been using the Watermark sensors. In 2010 he made a crude jack and used pliers to clamp onto the sensors. In 2011 he used the locking pliers with the extended jaws which helped to hold on better with no damage to the sensor. He realized that other producers also had a difficult time removing their sensors were asking if there was a puller available, so he started manufacturing them.  You can check them out at: http://www.colledun.com/wdc_puller/. Be sure to check out his you tube video on how to use the puller. Once you get the sensors pulled, simply wash them off and store until next season.

Now is also a good time to put away your ETgages and be sure and drain the water out of the ceramic top. Cold temperatures, water, and the ceramic top are not a good combination. I simply pull the ETgages, drain the water and put them away in a safe location for the winter.

Yield Monitor Calibration

As you slowly begin or should I say when you begin this fall’s harvest, it’s important to spend some time calibrating your yield monitor? As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, if you don’t measure it, you cannot manage it, but it’s equally important to calibrate your equipment to make sure the information you are gathering is accurate.

Joe Luck, Extension Precision Agricultural Engineer, prepared a very timely CropWatch (http://cropwatch.unl.edu/) article this week, titled: “Ensuring Accurate Yield Monitor Data at Harvest” and shared a link (http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/ec2004/build/ec2004.pdf) to a publication “Collecting Accurate Yield Data and Avoiding Errors during Harvest.”

He stressed that it’s important to have a separate calibration for each crop you harvest (corn and soybeans). If you’re harvesting high moisture corn at the beginning of the season, create a calibration in the yield monitor for this situation. When you return to corn harvest later in the season after the crop has dried down, conduct a new calibration for the corn at lower moisture. This will help to improve your yield estimates.

Creating a calibration (high moisture corn, for instance) by harvesting small loads, weighing them, then entering that information into the in-cab display can take a bit of time. Many systems will allow you to collect four to six loads per calibration to represent the yield variation during harvest operations. Two methods are available to capture this variation: harvesting at a full header width and varying speed, or harvesting at a constant speed while varying the header cut width. Either option will achieve the same goal if performed properly, essentially varying the grain flow through the clean grain elevator. But he stressed, to double check the manufacturer recommendations on how to perform the calibration.

Joe also indicated that if you need help with your current yield monitoring system or are trying to collect harvest data for the first time and need assistance, please feel free to email him at jluck2@unl.edu or call him at 402-472-1488.

Yield monitors are great tools if used and calibrated properly, so take the time now so that you’ll have the data you need to make informed management decisions down the road.

Finally did you conduct any on-farm research comparisons this summer?  If you did and need assistance in evaluating the finds, give me a call at 402-326-8185 or email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu so we can visit about how best to harvest the plots to get the most reliable and accurate data. I’d be glad to visit with you or bring the weigh wagon out to collect some data.