Extension Update from Jenny Rees

UPCOMING EVENTS:  
Sept. 12-14:  40^th Husker Harvest Days near Grand Island, http://huskerharvestdays.com/hh17/Public/Enter.aspx
Sept. 18-20:  Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training, KState Polytechnic Salina, KS, 855-552-0079
Sept. 20:  Grazing Cover Crops Field Day, 10am-3pm, ¼ mile East of Hawk (N St) on 130^TH Road,  Kearney RSVP:  308-743-2565
Sept. 30:  Forestry Field Day, 9am-4pm, Horning Demonstration Forest near Plattsmouth, NE

Oct. 2:  Paul Hay Retirement Party, 3:00 – 6:00 pm (presentation 5:15 p.m.), Gage County Extension Office in Beatrice.
Oct. 28:  From Recipe to Reality, UNL Food Processing Center, RSVP:  Jill Gifford at 402-472-2819 or jgifford1@unl.edu
Nov. 13:  So You Inherited a Farm, Now What? and Land Management Meeting, 4-H Bldg York.
Nov. 16:  York County Corn Grower Banquet
Dec. 7:  Farmers and Ranchers College:  Dr. David Kohl, 1-4 p.m., Bruning Opera House, Bruning
Dec. 12:  Grain Marketing Seminar, 4-H Building York
Jan. 10-11:  York Ag Expo, Holthus Convention Center, York
Jan. 11:  Crop Production Clinic, North Platte
Jan. 16:  Crop Production Clinic, Norfolk
Jan. 18:  Crop Production Clinic, Lincoln
Jan. 24-25:  Crop Management Conference, Kearney

Farm Finance Clinic Sites and Dates To sign up for a clinic or to get more information, call Michelle at the Nebraska Farm Hotline at 1-800-464-0258.

As I write this, I’m reflecting on the 16^th anniversary of September 11, 2001.  May we never forget that day.  May we remember the lives lost and families left behind.  May we remember those who gave their lives with the rescue efforts and in defending our Country since and their families left behind as well. 

Harvesting Soybeans:  Mid-group two maturity soybeans are rapidly turning.  Other reasons soybeans have leaves turning yellow include pockets of sudden death syndrome or other diseases in fields, moisture stressed or compacted areas, or varying soil types.  As you continue to monitor your soybeans, be aware that they may be at 13% moisture and ready for harvest in spite of having green stems and, in some cases, leaves remaining on the plants. 

Harvesting soybeans at 13% moisture can be more of an art than a science; last year’s harvest worked well in achieving moistures around that level.  We realize it is impossible to harvest all your soybeans at 13%.  The purpose of sharing this information each year is a reminder that we’re ‘giving’ yield away when we harvest soybeans at less than 13% moisture and to make it a goal to get as close to 13% as possible.  Delivering soybeans below or above 13% reduces profits which is something we know you’re watching very carefully.   When greater than 13%, there is a moisture dock on the scale ticket for delivering wet beans, resulting in a lower price per bushel.  Less than 13%, instead of a dockage on the ticket, there are fewer “bushels” to sell. This is because the load weight is divided by 60 pounds per bushel (assuming 13% moisture) rather than by the actual pounds per bushel for the moisture content of the beans at the time of delivery. 

In a UNL CropWatch article, Randy Pryor and Gary Zoubek had a table showing the following:  If you sell soybeans at 8% moisture, you’re losing about 5.43% of your yield; at 9% moisture, it’s 4.4%; at 10% moisture, 3.3%; at 11% moisture, 2.25%; and at 12% moisture, it’s 1.14% yield loss. That does not take into account additional risk for shatter losses during harvest (every 4 beans on the ground can add up to a bushel yield loss).  For a field that’s yielding 75 bu/ac, harvesting it at 9% results in selling 3.3 fewer bushels per acre based on weight because you are not selling the water that you are entitled to sell if the beans were at 13% moisture. With soybeans priced at $9.50/bushel, that’s a loss of about $31 per acre.  So how do you set your combine to harvest soybeans timely when the stems are still green?  Paul Jasa, Extension Engineer shares specifics on this at:  http://go.unl.edu/2boi.  Here’s hoping you have a safe soybean harvest obtaining your goals of close to 13% moisture beans!

Wheat:  One of my goals in Extension is to see increased diversification of farms by incorporating more crops and/or livestock.  Diversification can aid in spreading risk, timing of different operations aiding in labor load, aid in improving our soils, and aid in breaking weed/insect/disease cycles.  As we come into wheat planting season the end of September into October, you may wonder, why wheat?  Economically I realize it’s been hard to justify planting it, yet it truly is a great crop in rotation, especially for non-irrigated fields.  Wheat provides an excellent opportunity for cover crop establishment after harvest for grazing or to aid in fulfilling other goals for your farm.  I’ve also observed how no-till fields planted into wheat stubble had less of a palmer amaranth issue due to the solid residue cover throughout the growing season.  My colleague Nathan Mueller, Extension Educator in Dodge County, also has a goal of seeing increased wheat acres in eastern Nebraska.  Additional benefits he shares from growing wheat include:  Additional revenue from utilizing or selling the straw; Added profit from growing more late summer and early fall forage crops; Capitalize on well above average basis, for example wheat often is 10 cents above futures in Fremont; Higher soybean yields in 3-year and 5-year crop rotations; Opportunity to contract with feedlots for manure application in summer when compaction is less of a concern; Reduced soil erosion and nutrient loss during high risk months of April, May and June; Improved soil health, soil structure, and infiltration; Reduced labor cost through better distribution of workload on the farm; Possible higher cost-share for conservation work in July, August, and September; and Possible higher USDA CSP ranking score for planting wheat. 

If you’ve never planted wheat or it’s been a few years, we have a number of resources to help.   Articles regarding variety selection, population, and other considerations can be found in the UNL CropWatch Wheat Edition at this weblink: http://go.unl.edu/q7ew.  Nathan Mueller also compiled the following for eastern Nebraska considerations:   http://croptechcafe.org/winterwheat.

One thing often overlooked is the importance of good seed to soil contact.  Every year, the primary problem I see in wheat fields throughout the growing season stems from not checking seeding depth during planting.  Good seed to soil contact is a must as it aids in winter survival, allows for seed in proper moisture and where the plant can obtain nutrients, and aids in better root and plant development.  Seed should be planted 1.5-2” so be sure to check the weight on your drill or planter and your seeding depth as you plant, especially when planting no-till into residue.  Also of importance is to use a fungicide seed treatment when planting wheat; this is regardless if you are using bin-run seed or certified disease free seed.  Smut pathogens can live in the soil for a few decades and those pathogens can also be resting on the seed during harvest of any field.  The only way to prevent scab and problems with grain refusal at the elevator after harvest is to fungicide seed treat your seed before planting!  Perhaps some of the above-mentioned benefits of planting wheat may aid your farming operation in the coming year.

Weed Control in Lawns:   September and early October are key times to control perennial, broadleaf weeds like dandelion and ground ivy.  Kelly Feehan, Extension Educator in Platte County also reminds us to be careful using herbicides near trees and shrubs, especially dicamba. Trees with symptoms of dicamba injury are being seen more often.  Symptoms include dwarfed, distorted, and/or discolored foliage. On evergreens, like spruce, the symptoms might be droopy tips.

Dicamba is a broadleaf herbicide found in a number of different lawn herbicides. Dicamba labels sometimes state the product should not be applied within the dripline of a tree, meaning beneath the canopy. However, tree and shrub roots extend much farther out than the dripline and a safer approach is to not apply dicamba within a distance equal to two times the tree or shrub height.  This would mean no dicamba applications within 40 feet of a 20-foot tall tree, within 60 feet of a 30-foot tall tree, and so on. And this recommendation reduces contact with tree roots in the soil, it does not reduce exposure to drifting if products are applied on a windy day.  This is challenging on smaller properties so another option for those situations is to use products that don’t contain dicamba.  The most common broadleaf herbicides used on lawns include 2, 4-D, MCPP, dicamba, triclopyr, and fluroxypyr. There are many different commercial formulations and mixtures of these compounds with varying brand names. Read the label and know what you are buying. Apply herbicides to actively growing weeds and don’t mow within three days before or after the herbicide treatment.