CooperativeExtension ServiceMarshall County

1933 Mayfield Hwy.Benton, KY 42025

(270) 527-3285Fax: (270) 527-1555

http://marshall.ca.uky.edu

The July 2016 Edition of

Nikki’s NewsMarshall County’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Update

ANR Program SurveyHere is your chance to help Nikki decide what programs need to be done

in the county! There is a short 5 question survey on Marshall County Cooperative Extension Service’s web-page. Follow this link to the

Agriculture and Natural Resources tab: http://marshall.ca.uky.edu/content/ag-natural-resources

From there you will simply need to scroll down and click on the Survey. For the not so tech savvy, feel free to stop by the Extension Office and fill out a paper copy. Remember, just like any other type of voting, you do not have the right to be opinionated on what happens if you do not

vote. Thanks in advance to all that participate!

County Agricultural Investment Program Many of you have been asking when we will have the CAIP program

again. Having now jumped through all the administrative hoops required by the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy, we expect to receive the applications from Frankfort any day now. As soon as they

are available we will put a notice on the Conservation District Facebook page and announce on WCBL. We expect to be taking applications by

JULY 11th.Also, to help producers learn more about the program and become familiar with the requirements, we will be hosting an informational

meeting on August 1st at the Extension Office. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. This meeting is not mandatory but it will definitely be helpful if you plan to apply. - Vicki Boatright, MCCD

In this Issue:

FSAp. 2

White Oakp. 3

County Fair p. 4

Crop Newsp. 5

Grazing Economics

p. 6-7

CPH Salep. 8

Blossom End Rot p.9

Recipe of the

Month p. 10

County Committee

FarmServiceAgencyInformationalMeeting

Topictobecovered:2016CountyCommitteeElections

• GeneralRoleofFSAinthecommunityandhowLAA’saredetermined• CountyCommittee(COC)roleandresponsibilities• BallotandVotingprocess• Votereligibilityandhowelectionsareheldandvotestabulated

Wednesday,June29

4:00pmto5:00pm

Monday,July113:00pmto4:00pm

Wednesday,August173:00pmto4:00pm

Wednesday,September073:00pmto4:00pm

MeetingheldattheMarshallCountyExtensionOffice

1933MayfieldHwy,Benton,KY42025

“USDAisanequalopportunityprovider,employerandlender.Tofileacomplaintofdiscrimination,write:USDA,OfficeoftheAssistantSecretaryforCivilRights,OfficeofAdjudication,1400IndependenceAve.,SW,Washington,DC20250-9410orcall(866)632-9992(Toll-freeCustomerService),(800)877-8339(Localor

Federalrelay),(866)377-8642(Relayvoiceusers).”

“Personswithdisabilitieswhorequireaccommodationstoattendorparticipateinthismeeting/event/functionshouldcontactMartyHaleyat270-527-3231,orFederalRelayServiceat1-800-877-

8339,andmarty.haley@ky.usda.govbyMonday,June27,2016.”

Everybody NewsJumping Oak Galls Scorch White Oaks

By Abe Nielsen, Forest Health Specialist, Kentucky Division of Forestry and Lee Townsend, Extension Entomologist

Jumping oak galls, made by tiny non-stinging wasps, are causing white oak leaves to turn brown (Figure 1) and drop in some areas. Brown-to-black spots appearing on upper leaf surfaces are discolorations created by gall formation. Tiny button-shaped galls can be seen on lower leaf surfaces. The more galls there are on a leaf, the larger the brown areas (Figure 2).

Pictured on left- Scorched white oak with jumping oak gall infestation

Pictured on Right- Leaves showing a range of scorch-like symptoms due to varying degrees of gall infestation.

Insect Development:Gall development begins when female wasps place eggs in expanding leaves during spring. Chemicals from these insects cause leaf tissue to develop around grub-like wasp larvae; this leaf tissue (gall) provides protection and food for larvae. When wasp larvae mature, galls drop to the ground, leaving a small scar where it was attached. Larval movements in galls cause them to jump like jumping beans. Pupae may end up in soil cracks or under leaf litter, where they remain until spring. Adult wasps emerge in spring to begin the cycle again. Some jumping oak galls are present every year but are not noticed. The occasional outbreak that causes significant visual effects may last for 2 consecutive years before natural enemies reduce wasp numbers to low levels.

Management:Established, vigorously growing trees usually can tolerate moderate leaf loss without significant harm; however, trees under stress may be adversely affected. White oaks in the landscape may benefit from fertilizer applied next spring. Trees should be watered if they become drought-stressed this summer. It also is important to avoid injury or other stresses to trees. There is nothing practical to do for forest and wood lot trees; most should be able to cope with infestation.

Insecticide applications are not recommended for gall wasp control in home landscapes. The main reason is that research has generally shown that insecticide treatments are more damaging to beneficial insects, which are natural enemies of the wasps, than they are in preventing gall formation. Even if insecticides were available, powerful sprayers are necessary to treat large trees thoroughly. The best strategy is to promote tree health and reduce stress.

1. All exhibits must be entered between 9:00 a.m. and 12 noon on Monday, July 18th at the Marshall County Extension Office.2. All entries must be removed between 9:00 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 20th at the MCEO. Premiums will be paid at this time.3. All entries are to be grown by the exhibitor.4. Each person may make only one entry per class.5. Entries will be ranked by quality, condition, display and description.6. The judges’ decisions are final.7. Each entry needs to arrive and be presented as described above. Entries should be labeled with the class and the variety (ex. Red Tomato, Roma)

Marshall County Fair

FIELD, SEED, GRAIN & TOBACCOBest quart jar of yellow corn Best quart jar of popcorn Best quart jar of white corn Best quart jar of soybeansBest quart jar of wheat Best potted burley tobacco plantBest potted dark tobacco plant

FRUITS & NUTSBest plate of 3 applesBest plate of 3 peaches Best plate grapes Best plate of 3 pears Best plate of berries Best plate of misc. fruit Largest watermelon Best plate of pecans Best plate of misc. nuts

VEGETABLES & MELONSBest plate of beans Best plate of carrots Best plate of 3 cucumbers, pickling Best plate of 3 cucumbers, slicing Best plate of 3 ears of sweet corn Best plate of 3 onions Best plate of okra Best plate of 3 red tomatoes Best plate of cherry tomatoes Best plate of other colored tomatoes

VEGETABLES & MELONS CONTINUEDLargest tomato Best plate of 3 potatoes Best plate of sweet potatoes Best head of cabbage Best any squash Best plate of zucchini Best bell pepper plate Best sweet pepper plate Best hot pepper plate Biggest watermelon Best pumpkinBest plate of leafy greens Best other vegetable or melon Best herb display Best vegetable garden basket

PLANTS & FLOWERSBest potted plant Best single cut rose in water Best hosta leaf on plate Best single cut hydrangea in water Best cut marigold in water Best cut zinnias in water Best cut coleus in water Best other flower in waterBiggest sunflower head

HONEYBest quart jar comb honey Best quart jar of extracted honey

Premiums Awarded: $5 for 1st place blue ribbons, $4 for 2nd place red, and $3 for 3rd place white for all classes except best vegetable garden basket which pays $12 blue/$8 red/$5 white, and best in show is $20.

Farm and Garden Produce

Crop News

Colette Laurent, UK Grain Crops Coordinator ▪ claurent@uky.edu ▪ (270) 365-7541 ext 264

University of Kentucky Corn, Soybean & Tobacco Field Day

July 28, 2016

Registration begins at 7:00 CDT

Soil Water, Crop & Remote Sensing Measurements for Irrigation Management - Ole Wendroth, Javier Reyes, & Xi Zhang

ID of Stink Bugs & Influence of Seed-Treated Soybeans with Neonicotinoids & Border Management - Raul Villanueva & Hannah Penn

New Weed Control Technologies – Are We Prepared? - JD Green

New Soybean Planting Date Recommendations for KY - Carrie Knott

Really High Populations & Really High Yields - Chad Lee

Determining the Economic Value of Poultry Litter - Jordan Shockley

Corn & Soybean Disease Update - Carl Bradley

Cover Crops for Weed Management - Erin Haramoto

Managing Manure Nutrients - Josh McGrath

Corn & Soybean Outlook - Todd Davis

2016 Tobacco Overview & Research Update - Andy Bailey & Tobacco Research Team

LOCATION: UK Research & Education Center 1205 Hopkinsville St. Princeton, KY 42445

Lunch sponsored by KSPB & KyCGA

CCA and Pesticide credits application submitted

Livestock NewsPicking Apples off the Grazing tree

Dr. Greg Halich, UK Ag EconomistWill grazing more and feeding less hay always increase profitability? There are many cases where cattle farmers could graze more days profitably. I would guess that more than half the cattlemen in Kentucky and the region could find ways to do so. But the statement is not universally correct and we need to evaluate the specific situation to determine if increasing grazing days will pay off. The idea that we can be more profitable by grazing more days and feeding less hay is a powerful one, and at first glance seems reasonable. I have seen figures stating the average cost of a grazing day and then comparing this to the average cost of a hay feeding day. The average hay feeding day is shown to be considerably more expensive (correctly) and thus the argument goes that by each additional day we can graze, we will save the difference. If this difference is $0.50 per grazing day for example, and we have 50 cows, we are saving $25 for each extra day that we graze the herd. Unfortunately, the economics behind this simple math breaks down upon closer examination. The most important reason that this logic doesn’t hold is that as we push the envelope and graze more and more days, those last few days grazing will not be at the same cost as the average cost of grazing – they will be higher, possibly much higher. The most effective way I have found to help farmers understand this phenomenon without using lots of economic jargon is the following analogy: Think about picking apples out of one of those big standard sized trees that used to be popular in orchards, during a banner year when it is loaded with apples. Where do you start picking? You get all the fruit that you can easily reach from the ground, correct? This is where you can pick most efficiently. Pretty easy, what do you do next? Well, you might get on your tippy toes and go around the tree and get a few more. Were you as efficient in terms of apples picked per minute as you were when your feet were firmly planted on the ground? No, not quite. Then what? If you grew up picking apples, you will probably know to gently pull down some of the longer, flexible branches to reach more apples, right? Are you as efficient here as on your tippy toes? Again, not quite. The cost to pick those apples has increased again. So you have picked all the apples you can by pulling branches down. What do you do next? Depending on your coordination and dexterity, you either get a ladder or you climb up into the tree to start working on the rest. Are you going to be as efficient in either case as you were previously? Definitely not. The point of this analogy is that you are proverbially and literally picking the low hanging fruit first, and then go on to the apples that are harder and harder to reach. Thus we start by picking the fruit that has the lowest cost, and as we work up into that tree, the cost per apple keeps increasing and increasing. Would you pick every last apple on that 30 foot tall tree? Probably not. Why? Because the cost of some of the apples, the ones that are hardest to reach, will likely be greater than the value of those apples. But if we used the average cost of picking an apple (when we were picking on the ground) as our guide for what we should do, and not the actual cost to pick those last apples, it would tell us to pick every last apple (i.e. graze 365 days a year). Think of grazing in this same light: The Grazing Tree. What are most livestock farmers going to do first to increase the number of grazing days and reduce the amount of hay they need to feed? The low hanging fruit years ago was simply applying nitrogen to pastures to boost production. Today, with nitrogen costs 4-5 times higher than it was 15-20 years ago, learning how to establish and manage a good clover stand is the new low-hanging fruit. This is probably the lowest cost method of increasing grazing days. What’s next on the Grazing Tree? Realizing that everyone’s Grazing Tree looks a bit different the next lowest hanging fruit is probably learning how to implement effective rotational grazing. These first two areas are where the Cooperative

COntinued:Extension Service in Kentucky has made great strides in my opinion. Both are relatively low cost methods to increase grazing days. But unfortunately, at some point we run out of apples at this level. What next? Well, we could stockpile fescue: Set aside pasture in early August to build up forage reserves, and defer this grazing into late fall and winter. This will buy us additional grazing days. Unfortunately, many cattle farmers won’t have excess pasture production in August to remove a portion of it from the rotation. If they did, they would be understocked for much of the grazing season, which is a cost of its own (foregone profit for the removed animals). So there would also be an indirect cost of reduced stocking rate in addition to the direct costs such as the nitrogen. Thus our cost to graze additional days keeps increasing. To increase grazing days further beyond applying nitrogen and stockpiling we would likely have to reduce stocking rates even further so that our winter forage stockpile will be stretched further with fewer animals. This increases our grazing cost per day due to the foregone profit of the de-stocked animals as well as less total utilization of the total forage base (more will be wasted from the spring surplus with fewer animals keeping up with the heavy growth). Thus the higher we continue to go in the Grazing Tree, the higher and higher the cost of a grazing day becomes. The average cost of a grazing day from the base pasture system (the low hanging fruit) has been long passed by. At some point, and that point will be different on every farm in Kentucky, the cost to graze an additional day will be greater than the benefit (reduced hay feeding day). For quite a few years in the cattle cycle, up until about 2010 or 2011, we could have profitably climbed a lot further up into the Grazing Tree than we can today. During that time, profitability for cow-calf farms was low at best, and losing money at worst. In a situation like this, reducing stocking rate is not much of a cost: If you are making next to nothing per animal, less animals will not change overall profit by much. But if at the same time you are significantly reducing cost per animal by feeding less hay, your overall profitability will increase. The last two years, however, with profits of $300-500 per cow, reducing stocking rate comes at a very high cost. If we have to reduce stocking rate by just 10% to implement a particular practice, that is a $50 indirect cost per cow that we need to add to the direct costs of that practice. Thus the same practices, or the degree that we push them, that may have been economically viable for extending the grazing season in 2006 may not be economically viable today. Put another way, you are better off having a relatively low stocking rate and reducing the hay fed per cow when profitability is low, and having a relatively high stocking rate and increasing the hay fed per cow when profitability is high. This, I’m afraid, is a concept that many cattle farmers as well as extension specialists have failed to grasp. *This article was adapted from Dr. Greg Halich’s proceedings from the 2016 Heart of America Grazing Conference. For all of the proceedings from this conference and the complete article from Dr. Halich, follow the link to: http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Forage/HOA%20Proceedings%20Draft%201.pdf.

“You are better off having a relatively low stocking rate and reducing hay fed per cow when

profitability is low.” Photo by Austin Sexten

Cattle Sale

Monday, July 11, 2016 7:00 pm Central Time

KY – TN Livestock Market

Guthrie, Kentucky

For more information contact: Mark Barnett, KY-TN Livestock, 270-483-2504

KY–TN CPH Advantage Sale

Selling 900 Weaned Feeders

Approximately 550 steers and 350 heifers

Featuring one-owner load lot:

Steers - 100% black 775 - 825 lbs

All cattle weaned minimum of 45 days; average days weaned - 69 days Heifers guaranteed open; guaranteed no bulls

All cattle have been weaned and exceed weaning and management guidelines for KY CPH-45 (cph45.com) and the Zoetis SelectVac programs.

Garden NewsBlossom End Rot

by Nikki Bell, MC ANR As our tomatoes begin to fruit in Marshall County, blossom end rot calls have been rolling in to the Extension Office. Blossom end rot (BER) is commonly thought of as a disease but it is actually a physiological disorder. It is caused by a lack of Calcium in the fruit of the tomato plant but Marshall County soils tend to have plenty of calcium. Confused yet? The most common question I get is, “why am I having this problem if I have enough calcium in my soil?” Calcium is a non mobile nutrient in the plant. So basically, when the plant runs low on calcium, it cannot steal it from other parts of the plant to put in the fruit, unlike mobile nutrients such as, N, P and K. Therefore, you need a constant supply of calcium to the plant throughout fruiting. Calcium is only up-taken by the plant when it drinks water. Water is the key. Preventing BER:

1.) Consistent watering throughout the summer. (Water at the base of the plant, as opposed to sprinklers or watering the leaves. This can help decrease the instance of foliar diseases.)

2.) Soil testing to make sure there is adequate calcium in the soil.3.) Don’t over-fertilize with nitrogen, it can compete with Ca for uptake into the plant. Also, when choosing nitrogen fertilizer choose something with nitrate instead of ammonium. 4.) Cover the soil to prevent drying out too fast by using your perferred mulch.5.) Be sure not to cultivate too close to the plants where you can clip roots, we need those to get water and calcium to the plant.

Give all of these methods a try before purchasing blossom end rot sprays. Many universities doubt the effectiveness of these products. If you desire further reading, this is a good publication on BER.

https://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology/ext_files/PPFShtml/PPFS-VG-2.pdf Also, feel free to contact the MC Extension Office if you have any further questions.

Photo credit: UK Plant Pathologists. Left Tomato with BER, and right bell

pepper with BER.

For more information go to http://marshall.ca.uky.edu/AgNaturalResources

or follow us onMarshall County Agriculture and Natural Resources Facebook Page

Marshall County Agriculture and Natural

Resources Agent

Plate It Up Recipe