Straight from the Horse's Mouth

Duane A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator, Webster County June 27, 2009 Edition If some of you have tried to call our office or even walked in, you may have figured out that we are a little distracted from the norm with the preparations for the Webster County Fair and everything else that is going on this time of year. The old traditional time of the first weekend in August has long passed, and because of troubles with obtaining carnivals, other county fairs on top of ours, and other concerns we are in the second year of a 2 week earlier fair. It really feels weird getting all the final touches done in June, but it is necessary with the fair just a couple of weeks away. There will be a lot more information coming out via local newspapers and radio stations on the events at the fair, but I thought I would take just a moment this week to remind everyone about one of the best kept secrets in the state--the Webster County Fair. It has a lot to offer for everyone and won’t break your bank taking in the events. You can check out all of the events, entertainment, youth 4-H & FFA activity schedule, etc. by simply going to the web at: http://webstercountyfair.org. This website not only talks about the fair but even includes some historical information, so check it out. I would encourage you to mark July 11-18 on your calendar and use that time for some good wholesome family time, food and fun. See you at the fair! Now to the object of this column, to inform and educate people of what is going on in agriculture and its affects on our little part of the world. I want to first say that I appreciated all the replies that I got on last week’s issue. If nothing else I received advice on how to keep my blood pressure down or to express myself without scaring my wife, but most importantly there are a lot of people out there that care about agriculture and are very cognizant of what is happening in the ag world. I received a lot of good information and feedback and encouragement to keep up the fight. You would think that county fair would be on my mind and it is, however there is something looming that is troubling to me and I am sure to our farmers and ranchers in the southern tier of counties. If you haven’t figured it out on your own, we need moisture and we are beginning to need it in a big way. I hate to use the word, but we are in the jaws of a drought. Déjà Vu. This has been a weird year as far as I am concerned. First clue was that all of the snow was going around us. We thought at the time– “Hey that is alright!” – but I was concerned that the pattern would be set for spring and indeed it was. Most of the rain this spring and early summer now has also skirted around us too. It seemed that winter hung on a little long and then we just couldn’t get good growing weather with cool and cloudy days, and almost chilly nights. You could absolutely see the results in cool season grasses and our planted crops including the wheat. Yellowing, stunted looking crops, brome grass that matured way too early and first cutting alfalfa that was frail and short on tonnage. I had several producers tell me that first cutting seemed more like 4th cutting and only yielded half of normal. I got the same report on brome hay. Then all of a sudden it got hot and once again the rains go to the south and to the north, leaving us high and dry in Nuckolls, Webster and Franklin Counties. Even Southern Adams County has been affected. Even windbreaks have been indicators of what is going on. Notice the dead trees, even cedars? I have spent a couple of days evaluating our crops, hay ground and pastures and almost feel sick to what I have found. The further south you go the drier the condition of the soil and thus the crops. I have found cracks in alfalfa fields that I can shove my hand into. I took the soil probe and found very little subsoil moisture. There are stunted crops, burned sections of wheat fields and now blue colored and pineappled corn and milo leaves. Soybeans are cupping to protect themselves and the warm season grasses just aren’t coming on and the cool season grasses are done. Pastures are starting to look more like September or October and small ponds have dried up and larger dams are much lower than what they were just a month ago. Of course there are pockets that look better and to give witness to the advantages of no-till, many of our dryland crops are hanging on in those fields, but barely. However those that decided to do conventional methods probably are rethinking that decision. As is always the case, farmers are hanging hopes on each cloud that comes over. Webster County records show that we are 6-7 inches below normal precipitation for the year and in fact are behind the precipitation levels we had in 2002, the worst year of the 7 year drought that we just recently came out of. Small showers, or teasers as I call them, have kept us thinking positively and give us one more day, but you have to realize we are just coming into the time of year when, even in good years, rainfall is at a premium. I am sure many of you have heard that people are losing livestock from the heat and humidity. For safety sakes, please see to the needs of your livestock with fresh water, shade if at all possible and common sense in shipping or handling your stock. We are assessing the livestock losses in South Central Nebraska at this time, please let our office in Red Cloud know if you have lost any of your animals and how many. We would also like to know the condition of hay, pasture and crops. We will take any information that you can give us. We don’t need names - just data. This will help with possible emergency funds if this thing keeps getting worse. In the meantime offer up your prayers, do a rain dance and for sure conserve what you can. We may have to put our drought caps on and address the same issues as we did in years past! The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu