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Let's get with it on tree ordersby Richard C. Snell Barton County Extension Agent, agriculture Where have all the trees gone? Long time passing! Where have all the tree orders gone? Long time ago! Where have all the trees gone? They've gone to graveyards everyone. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn? Hopefully, we will learn before the trees are all gone. I hope you don't mind me changing the lyrics from a popular 1950s folk song written by Pete Seeger and made popular by the Kingston Trio and later by Peter, Paul and Mary. "Where have all the flowers gone?" was written as a song for peace. I hope to use it to motivate you to order trees. Considering how severely our trees were torn up by the tornadoes, strong winds and ice storms last year--we haven't had the conservation tree orders to show for it. I don't know, maybe it will be a couple of years before landowners get everything evaluated and planned out. The trees that we sell come from the Kansas Forest Service in Manhattan. They are very inexpensive and of good quality. You don't have to be a big landowner to plant these trees. You can buy as few as 25 of one kind or you can plant a backyard songbird bundle. The songbird bundle has 18 trees including five different species. We are already running out of some species. So, get your order in soon even though we will take orders clear into early May. It is time to plant though and the sooner you get them planted, the better off you will be. Stop by the Barton County Extension at 1800 12th Street in Great Bend for an order blank. We also have information on how to plant them and proper spacing. Prevent grass tetany Rye, wheat, and triticale are about ready to graze. These fields can be a great resource, but they can cause health problems. Grass tetany is caused by low blood magnesium. Low blood magnesium can be due to low levels of magnesium in lush spring grass, but it also is caused by mineral imbalances like high potassium and nitrogen or low calcium in the diet. Grass tetany primarily affects older, heavy milking cows or sheep, but young stock also can be affected. It occurs most frequently in spring during cool, cloudy, moist conditions when lush, immature grass (or annual forages in the grass family) starts growing rapidly. Cattle or sheep affected by tetany often graze away from the herd, are irritable, show muscle twitching, awkwardness and staggering, and are somewhat wide-eyed and staring. When severe, the animal will collapse, thrash around, throw its head back, lapse into a coma and possibly die. You can do several things to prevent grass tetany. First, wait until the forage or grass is 4 to 6 inches tall before grazing. Also, feed or graze legumes like clover or alfalfa when you start on pasture, since they have high magnesium levels. Adding about 10 to 20 grams per day of supplemental magnesium via commercial or home-made salt-mineral mixes is a good way to reduce tetany problems, but you should start as much as 30 days before grazing starts. Magnesium oxide is one of the best and cheapest sources of magnesium. Mix equal parts of magnesium oxide with dical, salt and ground corn for a simple home-made supplement that provides adequate magnesium when cows eat about one pound of the mix per week. As always, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More burning issues Last week, I talked about controlled burning of our native grasses. I had a few more points I wanted to make. If you have noxious weeds such as musk thistle or a few tough to control species like sumac, you will probably still need to use a herbicide application. However, if you have brush and weeds that can be controlled with fire, it is much cheaper and cost effective to burn. Some of you may have had fence posts burned or wire ruined by the heat of fire but if you use a perimeter back fire when you start around the fence line, that should eliminate that problem. It's when the main fire goes through a fence that you have problems, especially on older fences. Burning isn't the only tool you can use to improve grazing distribution. Placing oilers, insecticidal back rubs and mineral at strategic spots in the pasture, furnishing the cattle plenty of water and keeping these things away from shaded tree areas will keep the pasture evened out in terms of grazing. There are some newer techniques such as patch burning that have been beneficial in helping control unwanted vegetative species. This allows you to burn a smaller area with less manpower and equipment. Make sure you know your reasons for burning. That should be a year to year decision for us in central and western Kansas. In eastern Kansas, burning nearly every year pays off. Don't burn without a purpose in mind. Having said all that, we need a fire in Barton County. 4/21/08 Date: 4/24/08
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