Ag News and Views: September 1998

Drought is a topic on every tongue in our service area. I've recently visited with several producers who have made plans to manage through this drought. But the length and severity of this dry spell is affecting everyone and is very serious for many.

Shrink is most often measured from the time an animal leaves its origin until the animal is weighed at its destination and is usually the result of time off feed and water and the stress of handling and hauling. Temperature extremes, weather changes, changing environment, feed changes, and even the animal's disposition effect shrink.

In our area it is usually dry during June, July and August. So how do we supply needed moisture to plants during the dry months? By supplementing the rainfall and keeping the moisture in the root zone.

Small grain pasture will provide a source of high quality forage, which will supplement or even substitute for hay to carry your herd to next spring. In addition, the bermudagrass sod furnishes solid footing for cattle through wet periods of the season. Sod-seeding permits small grains to be grown in areas where seedbed preparation would not be feasible.

The fall hunting season is fast approaching and with it comes an increased interest in deer management. The Noble Research Institute is sponsoring its 5th annual Whitetailed Deer Management Workshop.

An option available to producers this fall is overseeding the warm season pastures with a cool season forage, assuming we have adequate moisture conditions at planting. With our summer pastures being grazed short, early establishment is very possible and would thus facilitate fall forage production.