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Another busy week and more storm detailsBy Richard C. Snell Barton County Extension Agent, Agriculture Kansas Do you ever feel like life is just passing you by because there are just too many tasks and too little time? I suppose whether you work for yourself or for someone else, you feel the pressure to get it all done. Once again, it is that way so I do not have the time to devote to an original column as I would like. Like most farmers, I like staying busy, but wish there was a little bit of time to smell the roses and enjoy. Last week I wrote to you about the storms and wanted to mention a few other related things and will continue to do so as I think of them in the coming weeks. One of our papers accidentally reported that there was three inches of water in the street in front of my house, when it should have said three feet. If you would like to see the pictures of us pushing cars out of the water or the people canoeing the streets, give me a call some time. With all the destroyed buildings, there will be many flat tires on farm implements just as there were after the Hoisington tornado because of small pieces left in the field that you couldn't see from ground searches. Crop damage was yet another factor. We had at least 30 center pivot irrigation systems flipped over and twisted up. There was an area from Odin, south of Claflin where alfalfa and wheat was flattened by hail and wind. This caused more damage than the late freeze. Flooding rivers and streams caused drowned livestock. Exposure to wet soils and standing water could bring footrot cases. These cattle should be watched closely and there could be more Leptospirosis. Cattle producers should check with their veterinarian if a vaccine is warranted. I had more, but lost my notes from last week so the rest will have to wait. There are still plenty of opportunities to give donations or walk fields to cleanup. Beef industry celebrates heritage I started the month of May talking about May being celebrated as beef month. With this being Memorial Day weekend and a lot of outdoor cooking going on at get-togethers, let's talk more about one of the industries that keeps our economy and lifestyle going. Beef! It has been the main item on menus in restaurants and in homes throughout America for years. Beef cattle replaced the bison as the animal to graze our many acres of grassland that would otherwise be unused, although in recent years the deer don't want us to leave them out. As we celebrate May annually as Beef Month, realize that it is more than just a convenient good food in Kansas. It's also a major industry that has a significant economic impact on the American quality of life. In Barton and surrounding counties, beef brings big dollars to our area through cow-calf producers, as well as the feedlots that finish slaughter cattle. That's not to mention the local veterinarians, businesses that sell feed, those that sell livestock supplies and the local sale barn. Kansas is one of the top three states in fed cattle, beef slaughtered and many other related categories. In Kansas, beef production accounts for thousands of jobs in cattle breeding, feeding and processing. In addition, beef production leads to employment in related fields, such as growing feed grains, agricultural research, food safety research, transportation and utilization of by-products. So let's thank those who get the beef from the pasture to the feedlot to our dinner plate. What will the wheat yield? The most frequent question I get lately is what is the wheat going to yield. Your guess may be as good as mine. I think it will be all over the board. One thing to keep in mind is that 9 out of 14 years when we have had late freezes, we have had very good wheat crops. This tells me that the weather stayed mild those years and that means good grain filling conditions. Early, hot weather typically costs us more bushels than freezes. Leaf rust has really become epidemic the last few weeks with all the humid wet weather. The only thing that has helped is the temperature has stayed mild. Those who sprayed a fungicide I believe will reap rewards, especially in the west half of the county. The wheat in the western half of Barton County did not suffer as much freeze injury. I am not sure why other than: Stage of growth in the wheat, cloud cover and how long it was cold, as well as snow amounts all played a role in that mystery. I believe the wheat in the western half could average 40 bushels per acre. The eastern half is a different story. There was more freeze injury as well as significant hail and wind damage from recent storms. Also, they had some mite and army cutworm damage early on. Twenty bushels per acre might catch it. Locally, we did not destroy many acres after the freeze. Most farmers rode it out to see what would happen. We still don't know if all of those freeze damaged heads will fill or be partially sterile or if weakened stems will fall over before harvest. We've had drought, then drowned out wheat, late freezes, late snow, wind, diseases and insects. What next Mother Nature? We still have to watch out for hail, armyworms and weathering from delayed harvest, so it's not in the bin yet. Hopefully the wheat still has a few of its nine lives yet. Date: 5/29/07
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