Randall County AgriLife Extension

“HAPPENINGS IN AG REPORT”

May 2014

In This Issue:

-News and Views Straight From County Agents Desk -Current County Crop Situation -Critical Decisions for Irrigated Cotton -Growth Stage/Management Tips for Grain Sorghum -”Top Pick” Grain Sorghum Varieties -”Tops Pick “ Forage Sorghum Silage Varieties -”Beef Talk” Cow Management Tips During Drought

Upcoming Ag. Ed. Programs: Farm Bill Mtg. -July 23, 10 a.m. , Kuhlman Ext. Center

News and Views Straight From The County Agents Desk

Howdy! and as al-

ways…..“It’s All Good”! It’s been a fast pace early spring with several edu-cational programs and meetings taking place at the Extension Office. On January 21, we conduct-ed an “Estate Planning Workshop” with a large crowd of 82 attending. Additionally, on January

28, we held a “Why Sorghum? and Crop Insur-ance” Meeting with 22 attending. Also on Febru-ary 26, a “Pre-Plant Producer” Meeting was held with 22 in attendance. Additionally on April 1 a “Strategies for Successful Spring Planting Confer-ence” was provided were 26 producers in attend-ance. And on April 8, the “Randall County Nox-ious Weed District Annual Meeting was held with 25 in attendance. We’ve tried to do our best to provide producers with a variety of helpful pro-duction information that will assist them as we approach what looks like unfortunately another extremely dry upcoming planting season.

Current County Crop Situation

General: I’ll continue to remain positive in regards to receiving moisture. Rob-ert Devin came by the office the other day and men-tioned to me, since I be-came the Randall County Agent in Randall some 4 1/2

years ago we haven’t re-ceived hardly any rain. I hadn't thought about it much, but guess he’s right. Not sure , but perhaps he was trying to tell me something! I promise I’ve been praying for it. As I tell everyone…. we can do a lot of things in this old world, but unfortunately, we cannot con-trol mother nature. At least we are one day clos-er to a rain. And according to the long range weather forecast, El Nino is in fact expected to arrive sometime this fall.

Weather: Dry! Dry! Dry! with lots of Wind! Wind! Wind! Not much more to be said here. In terms of moisture since January of 2014 we have only re-ceived 1.16 inches of rainfall thus far this year. Comparatively speaking to 2013, we had received 3.49 inches of moisture up to this point, 2.80 came in May which made a huge impact on getting crops off to a relatively good start. For this year, there’s currently not even enough mois-ture to get crops emerged unless there’s access to some type of irrigation.

Wheat– Kind of a gloomy out-look at this time. Even most irrigated acres has suffered due to plant water require-ments and needs. Even irrigat-ed wheat harvest acres will be extremely limited this harvest season. No dryland acres are

expected to be harvested again this year.

Corn: It will be a tough year for corn due to the extremely dry conditions, however future price outlook remains steadily higher. In 2013 total corn acres for Randall County were 1,342. For 2014, I anticipate these acres will be less.

Sorghum– With later planting dates for sor-ghum, which is typically around later part of May or first of June, it does create an opportunity to buy some time and hope for a good rain prior to planting. Sorghum acres in Randall County are expected to be up this year potentially reaching 60,000 plus acres for 2014. Time and weather will determine outcome but receivable moisture will be the key.

Cotton- It does appear that more cotton will be planted this year throughout Randall County. In 2013, 3,450 acres were grown and in 2014 per-haps an additional 1,500 to 2,000 more will be planted. Even with the dry conditions cotton seems to be a pretty good crop to consider. Cotton’s ability to still yield fairly well under dry conditions, and withstand extreme heat makes the crop more attractive under current condi-tions. This coupled with the fact that long range price outlook seems promising at this time. Still moisture will be needed to get the crop off to a good start to have an opportunity to maintain good plant growth.

Ensilage- Certainly remains to be a attractive crop to many Randall County Producers who do have irrigated acres. In 2013 there were 2,500 acres of ensi-lage grown in Randall County and in 2014 those acres are expected to be about the same. Com-pared to corn, producers with limited water like ensilage as it can be planted earlier and has a

much shorter growing season than corn thus nar-rowing the window of the needed irrigation sea-son. This coupled with the fact that many of the local and area feedyards and dairies contract ear-ly at a premium which makes for yet another attractive aspect for producing the crop.

Range/Pasture- Hard to get a lot of really good native grass growth when moisture con-ductions remain unfavorable. However in terms of pasture management producers should consider aerating their pastures. This management practices provides an oppor-tunity to break up hard pans in the soil and allows moisture to penetrate deeper into the root zone of grass plants re-sulting in not only more plant growth but increas-ing nutritional value of grass as well.

Critical Decisions for Irrigated Cotton Production

The following information is provided by Dr. Louis Baum-hardt, USDA-ARS, Bushland, Texas

Dr. Baumhart suggest the following considera-tions in achieving optimum cotton yields under limited irrigation.

Wells yielding 2 gpm/acre can provide 1” every ten days.

Growing season energy is limited but cotton uses 5” lbs of water and 50 lbs N/ac for 500 lbs lint

Residue by stubble-mulch or No-Till increases soil water storage and reduces soil water evaporation increasing crop water use and yield

MEAN COTTON YIELD, lbs/acre

Tillage Method Irr. Capacity 2gpm/ac

Irr. Capacity 4gpm/ac.

No Till 1150 lbs. 1270 lbs.

SM 1000 lbs. 1050 lbs.

Disk 830 lbs. 900 lbs.

Growth Stages/ Management Tips for Grain Sorghum Production

The following information is provided by the United Sor-ghum Checkoff Program Guide Lubbock, Texas

First it is important th at we c lear ly understand the various growth developmental stages of the sorghum plant . This will then assist in making irri-gation and management decisions. The stages are shown in the two illustrated below. Figure 1: stages 1-8.

Growth Stages for Grain Sorghum Figure 1

The Growing Point Differentiation (GPD) is a key stage of development within the growing pro-cess. This stage usually occurs 30 to 35 days after emergence, perhaps a few days longer for full- season hybrids, and sooner for early maturity hy-brids. It generally corresponds with the 7 to 8 leaf stage.

Sorghum can tolerate significant stress from drought, hail, and even freezing temperatures prior to this stage; however, stress at this stage can significantly impact yield.

Management Tip: When applying midseason ni-trogen (N) in one application, ideally the N should be available in the root zone by GPD, and irriga-tion, if available, is recommended to ensure that the growing point is not subject to mois-ture stress during GPD. Both good fer-tility and moisture enhance GPD and the subsequent yield potential.

Dryland producers can enhance GPD by ap-ply-ng N early and ensuring that plant popu-lation is modest so that each plant has suffi-cient moisture for good spikelet and seed set.

Figure 2: stages 9-11. Note: The illustration here is only reveling the top 1/3 of the plant.

Growth Stages for Grain Sorghum

Figure 2

Flag Leaf- Tips of the flag leaf ( last leaf, which will be smaller) visible in the whorl. Manage-ment Tip: Green bugs may begin to become ac-tive.

Boot– Leaf collars of all leaves now visible.

Management Tip: Maximum water use occurs at this stage. Crop will respond very favorably to irrigation at this stage. Historically, this stage of growth is the optimum time to apply limited irrigation if crop is stressed. If you delay up to 20% of N past GPD, the final N should be ap-plied within 60 days of planning or mid-boot, whichever comes first.

Heading– 50% of the plants in the field have visible heads. Management Tip: Green bugs may have reached economic thresholds.

Flowering– 50% of plants are in some stage of bloom. Management Tip: Start checking for headworms.

Soft Dough– Grain can easily squeezed between the fingers. Management Tip: Continue to check for headworms.

Hard Dough– Cannot squeeze grain between the fingers. Management Tip: Headworms should be on decline.

“Top Pick” Grain Sorghum Varieties The following information is provided by Dr. Calvin Trostle Exten-sion Agronomist– Lubbock, Texas

Listed below are the top five grain sorghum variety picks for both dryland and irrigated that Dr. Trostle recommends according to trails/ studies conducted by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service . These results reflect studies that were conducted in the Panhandle and South Plains region.

Grain Sorghum Variety “Top Picks”

“Top Pick” Forage Sorghum

Silage Irrigated Varieties

The following information is provided by Dr. Brent Bean, former Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agronomist– Amarillo, Texas

The following list are results of trails that were con-

ducted from 2008 to 2011 at the Bushland Research

Farm. Each year all varieties were planted on 30-inch

raised beds at a seeding rate of 100,000 seed/acre in

late May. All trails were considered to be fully irrigat-

ed.Varieties that consistently yielded above the test

mean with low lodging scores and were not photoperiod

sensitive (PS) varieties are listed below. PS varieties typi-

cally have large diameter stalks and can be hard to dry

down. The larger diameter stalks also sometimes are

more likely to have stronger

stands and can withstand

more wind and heavier graz-

ing traffic. On the other hand

the larger stalk sometimes is

less desired for baling.

Dryland Irrigated

DeKalb DKS 37-07 Pioneer 84P80

Dyna Gro 762B DeKalb 53-67

NC+ 7B11 NC+ 7B11

Sorghum Partners NK5418 Pioneer 85Y40

Asgrow Pulsar DeKalb 49-45

Company Varieties

AR-B Seeds, Inc AS781

Sorghum Partners, Inc. SS405

Pioneer Hibred Int. 849 F

Richardson Seeds, Ltd. 9500

Forage First FS-5

Walter Moss Seed Co. Millennium BMR

Scott Seed Company BMR Gold X

Sorghum Partners, Inc. HiKane II

Forage Sorghum Silage Variety “Top Picks”

“Beef Talk” Cow Management Tips During Drought Conditions

The following information is provided by John Paterson, Rick Fun-

ston Ron Carlstrom- Montana State University and Greg Lardy–

North Dakota State University

Mineral- Provide

the same salt and

mineral mixture

during drought as

you would during

normal conditions.

During drought, however, phosphorus supple-

mentation is even more critical. A complete min-

eral supplement containing 12 percent calcium,

12 percent phosphorus, 5 percent magnesium,

0.4 percent zinc, and 0.2 percent copper.

Protein- Provide dry cows with approximately

0.5 to 0.75 pound of supplemental crude protein

and lactating cows with 0.9 to 1.2 pounds of sup-

plemental crude protein per day.

Energy- Hay, grain, and crop processing byprod-

ucts can all be used to supply energy to grazing

cattle.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

Randall County

Herbert F. & Jeannie Kuhlman Extension

Center

200 N. Brown Rd

Canyon, TX 79015

Return Service Requested

A publication of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Randall County.

Editor: J.D. Ragland

_____________________________

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent, Agriculture

200 N. Brown Road, Canyon, TX 79015

Website: http://randall.agrilife.org/

Phone (806) 468-5543 Fax (806) 468-5547

The information given herein is for educational purposes only. References to commercial products or trade names is made with the understanding that no discrimi-

nation is intended and no endorsement is implied by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service of the Texas A&M University systems is implied.

The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating.

Education programs of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability,

genetic information or veteran status.