by Jennifer Showalter
Even though fescue has earned such a bad name throughout the Shenandoah Valley over the years, producers are accepting that it is here to stay and are trying to learn how to best manage it in a way that minimizes the negative side effects of endophyte infection. Recently a group of around 50 gathered at the Augusta County Government Center to learn the results of a recent study conducted by the Virginia Extension Service on the entophyte found in fescue seed heads in the valley and to learn how to make the most of fescue.
Matt Booher with the Virginia Cooperative Extension shared that of the 25 farms he tested in Rockbridge, Augusta, and Rockingham Counties for entophyte infection levels, 65 percent of the pastures were 100 percent infected and 30 percent of the pastures were 80 to 90 percent infected. With livestock experiencing moderate to severe effects from entophyte infection at a 40 percent level, Booher concluded that the valley has some ‘hot’ pastures. Continue reading
Category Archives: Mid Atlantic
Early June downpours lead to variability in corn stands at Bow-Knott Dairy
by Karl H. Kazaks
BOONES MILL, VA — In early June, many parts of Virginia and the mid-Atlantic experienced days and days of continuous rain. Even when it wasn’t raining, it was mostly overcast, with little direct sun.
At Bow-Knott dairy, Dale Boitnott’s dairy in Franklin County, the wet spring has impacted his farm in a number of ways. Small grains he intended to chop he instead combined or wet-baled. Corn fields he planted directly before the early June downpours have shown patchy variability, with some areas showing little or no emergence.
Boitnott is not sure why the bare patches have little or no corn plants. It could soil type, soil compaction, the lack of a crucial nutrient (perhaps sulfur — he has submitted samples for tissue analysis), maybe even planting depth or some combination of many factors.
“There’s some limiting factor, some straw that broke the camel’s back,” Boitnott said.
Given that the lean spots tend to be in low areas, though, Boitnott suspects that the lack of plants is the result of failure to germinate due to an oversupply of moisture.
“There’s a breaking point to everything — no moisture, too much moisture,” he said. “They just basically rotted in the ground.”
The fields with bare spots are protected by diversion ditches, but Boitnott figures they may not have been big enough to handle all of the rain that came down in early June. Continue reading
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Locals attend Junior National Hereford Show
by Rebecca Long Chaney
KANSAS CITY, MO — The “Show Me” state welcomed 660 junior Hereford exhibitors from 40 states with 1,100 head of cattle to the Junior National Hereford Expo (JNHE). The annual event is held every year in a different state to showcase the nation’s top Hereford cattle and junior members compete in 23 skill-based contests.
According to Amy Cowan, Director of Hereford Youth Activities and the Hereford Youth Foundation of America (HYFA), the JNHE is the premier event each year that Hereford families look forward too. “Scholarship and education is the mission statement of the Foundation,” she said. “We have two components — we offer $50,000 in scholarships and we hope to grow the foundation. The short-term goal is raising one million to continue offering scholarships. The long-term goal is raising five million so we can use the interest for scholarships and other junior Hereford activities.”
East Coast youth made an impression at the national show. There were three junior exhibitors from Connecticut, one from Maine, 10 from Maryland, three from New Hampshire, eight from New Jersey, five from New York, 15 from Pennsylvania and four from Virginia. They exhibited nearly 100 Herefords, several winning top honors.
Doug Howe of Wagontown, PA, was happy there was a great delegation of Hereford youth representing the East and Northeast. Howe’s family operates Deanajak Farm and Howe is the chairman of the 2014 Junior National Hereford Expo to be held July 5-12 at the Farm Show Building in Harrisburg, PA. Continue reading
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What’s driving agriculture in the year ahead?
by Stephen Wagner
Mike Pearson is familiar to viewers of Weekly Journal of Rural America. Speaking on the topic titled above at the 135th Penn-Ag annual meeting, he acknowledges that one of his guiding principles is ‘Trust, But Verify!’
Before you know where you are going in the next marketing year, you have to know where you’ve been, Pearson says. “Obviously, the big issue, the driving force in all ag media in 2012 was the drought. It is still an issue this year. It’s one of those things that carries forward. Thanks to the drought last year we saw tremendous spikes in commodity prices. The drought was a compelling story for non-commercial folks to get into commodities.” Pearson cited the lack of a Farm Bill passing. Instead an extension was signed which means this conversation will be re-visited. Last year, interest rates hit new all-time lows, but farmland values climbed to record or near-record highs. Continue reading