University of Missouri Extension
       Marion County

Ag Info

Northeast Missouri Agriculture Newsletter serving
Lewis, Marion, Monroe, Ralls, and Pike Counties
April - May 2004

In this issue:

    Farm Safety
    Bull Sale Results, Grain & Forage Testing, Fall-Born Feedout, Missouri Brucellosis Free, Across Breed EPDs
    Soybean Aphid, Corn Insects, Management Intensive Grazing School, Corn Planting Date and Yield Effects, Alfalfa Weevil

Alix Carpenter
 Agronomy Specialist
University of Missouri Extension,
Marion County
Courthouse Room 201
Palmyra MO 63461
(573) 769-2177
carpenterac@missouri.edu		 Al Kennett
Livestock Specialist
University of Missouri Extension,
Ralls County
P.O. Box 540
New London MO 63459
(573) 985-3911
kennetta@missouri.edu		 Karisha Vaughn Devlin
Agribusiness Specialist
University of Missouri Extension,
Shelby County
Shelbyville MO 63469
(573) 633-2640
vaughnkl@missouri.edu  

Calendar of Events

May 8 Progressive Farmer Farm Safety Day Camp, Shelbina
July 12 -17 Shelby County Fair
July 12 - 16 Ralls County Fair
July 13 - 18 Lewis County Fair
July 24 Youth Farm Safety Camp, Mark Twain High School, Center
July 26 - 31 Pike County Fair
August 2 - 7 Marion County - Flower City Festival
August 12 - 22 Missouri State Fair
August 20 - 21 Management Intensive Grazing School, Hannibal

       

AG BUSINESS NOTES
Karisha Vaughn

Farm Safety

The weather is starting to warm up, grass is turning green, and tractors are in the field - signs that spring is once again upon us. In a child’s eyes, farms can appear an idyllic playground, but they can also set the stage for tragedy. Each year, an estimated 33,000 children who visit, live, or work on U.S. farms or ranches are injured. Annually, more than 100 children younger than 20 die of agriculture-related injuries. However, almost every injury and death can be prevented.


It is important to teach kids farm safety from an early age. Here are some suggestions to help you make your farm a safer place for children.


Chemicals
Keep farm chemicals locked away out of children’s reach. Store fertilizer and treated seed securely. Clean and dispose of empty chemical containers properly. Fence off chemical mixing and wash-down bays to prevent access to children.


Grain Storage and Silos
Place warning decals on grain bins, wagons, and trucks to alert youngsters of danger. Explain what the warning signs mean. Make sure that fixed ladders are guarded and kept above children’s reach. Guard grain storage bins, silos, and augers to prevent access by children. Never, ever allow children to play in silos. Confined spaces such as silage storage structures can hold a buildup of lethal gases.


Machinery
Children should be taught where and how to turn off all farm machinery. If a person becomes entangled, a child could save his/her life by turning off the equipment and then getting help. Always leave a tractor power take off (PTO) in neutral. Machinery and equipment should be turned off, disengaged, and inaccessible to children when not in use. Make sure to lock tractor cabs, trucks, and other farm machinery after use.


Livestock
Parents and grandparents should remind children to be very cautious and alert when around any animal on the farm. Children need to be aware of their location so they do not end up behind an animal and get stepped on or kicked. Running or screaming around animals can cause the animal to become spooked, which could lead to injury to a child. Children also need to be warned to stay away from animals with newborns - a mother may attack if she feels that her newborns are in danger.


Emergency First Aid
Be sure to teach children how to contact emergency assistance. It is also recommended that all family members take a first aid course. Very often, it is a family member who is the first on the scene of a farm accident. If this person knows how to properly respond to the emergency situation, it could mean the difference between life and death. Therefore, any time spent learning first aid is time well spent.


Safe Play Areas
To minimize your child's attraction to areas where dangerous farm work is being performed, carve out a safe play area with ropes or fences away from all hazards. Make this space appealing to your child by placing age-appropriate play items, such as swings, a sandbox, or a playhouse, in the area.


Teaching a child how to stay safe is one of the most important lessons they will ever be taught. Tailor farm safety rules to your operation and family. You can set an important example by exhibiting safety-conscious actions and attitudes. Children will respond to your concerns about safety if they see you practicing safety rules in daily life.

LIVESTOCK NOTES
Al Kennett

Bull Sale Results

The 32nd annual performance tested bull sale was held March 27 and was very successful.

We sold 45 bulls for an average of $2152. Twenty-eight Angus averaged $2338, six Hereford,
$1654; five Simmentals $2195; five Charolais, $1760; and one Gelbvieh $1700.

The top selling bull was an Angus that brought $3600 and was consigned by Shannon Farms, Bowling
Green. The second high was another Angus at $3500 consigned by Greg and Betty Clark, New
London.

There have been a number of bull sales in our area this spring. However, if you are still in need of a
bull, let me know. I know of several breeders with bulls that have some top performance figures that
are for sale at the farm.

Grain & Forage Testing

For a number of years as I have worked with producers wanting to do some ration analysis or grain
and hay analysis, we have used the Livestock Nutrition Lab in Columbia. Well, that lab has announced
they will close down come April 30, so we are going to need to find another lab to use.

Rob Kallenbach, State Extension Forage Specialist, recommends that for forage samples you should
use a lab certified by the National Forage Testing Association. There are several of those in the
Midwest but only one in Missouri. There are other labs available in our area and through feed
companies. If you have grain, forage, or mixed rations you would like to get a feed analysis run for, let
me know. We can help you locate a lab.

More feed analysis should be done than I think is done in our area. Soil testing is pretty routine, but not
feed analysis. Why?? Well, I don’t know the answer to that. Feed is generally the first thing we want
to blame if performance isn’t what we expect.

You can save lots of dollars by getting feed analysis done. It may mean actual savings on feed fed or it
may mean $$$ in our pockets as the result of better performance.


Fall-Born Feedout

It looks like we have enough interest to have a feedout for fall-born calves. Eligible calves would be
steers calved after July 1, 2003. They will be sent to the Southwest Iowa program that we’ve used the
past three years. We will probably send them out about June 1. So they would need to have been
weaned at least 28 days and preferably 45 by June 1 and have received their complete vaccination
program.

An entry would be 5 or more head. You do retain full ownership and will receive complete gain and
carcass information. Entries are due by May 7. Call if you need more details.


Missouri Brucellosis Free

I’m sure you have heard by now that Missouri finally reached the “Class Free” status for brucellosis on
March 15, 2004. Cattle moving through our Missouri markets will continue to be tested due to
commingling. Texas and Wyoming are the only states now that are not Free at this time. Intrastate and
farm-to-farm movement will not require a brucellosis test now. The same is true for shows and
non-market sales.


Across Breed EPDs
 (borrowed from Eldon Cole, Extension Livestock Specialist)

I receive lots of questions from folks who are shopping for bulls and may be considering two or more
different breeds. We stress that EPDs are most useful when comparing bulls of the same breed.
However, U. S. Meat Animal Research Center staff each year comes up with adjustment factors to
estimate across-breed progeny differences. This allows you to compare bulls of different breeds on the
same EPD scale after adding the appropriate adjustment factor to EPDs produced in the most recent
genetic evaluation of the various breeds.

The Angus adjustment factor is 0 on the four primary EPD traits. So whatever an Angus bull’s EPD
reads, that’s what you’d compare others to. Here are the 2003 Adjustment Factors for several breeds.
You simply add the value from this chart:
 

Breed Birth Wt. Weaning Wt. Yearling Wt. Milk
Hereford 3.3 -2.4 -15.1 -16.2
Red Angus 3.6 -1.2 -0.1 -10.7
Simmental 6.4 21.6 21.1 9.0
Charolais 10.5 41.1 57.8 2.0
Gelbvich 5.3 7.9 -20.3 3.8

to the bull’s own breed EPD then you can more equally compare the various breeds.

For example a Hereford bull has a 79 yearling wt. EPD and you’re also considering a Charolais bull for
your cows and his yearling EPD is 44. You add the adjustment factor for each breed’s yearling weight
to their EPD.

(79 + (-15.1) = 63.9)                                                      (44+57.8 = 101.8)

The resulting answers, 63.9 and 101.8 lbs., reflect the adjusted EPDs and you’d expect the Charolais
bull to sire calves that would average weighing 37.9 lbs. (101.8 - 63.9) more at 365 days when mated
to similar cows and managed alike than the Hereford.

I did not include Limousin in the above table. They have done some base changing of their EPD data
to make them look like Angus EPDs. So, until the researchers at MARC releases their 2004 across
breed factors, don’t attempt to make the comparison.

Finally: The doctor examined a woman, took the husband aside and said, “I don’t like the looks of
your wife at all.” “Me either doc” said the husband. “But she is a great cook and really good with the
kids.”

 
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AGRONOMY NOTES
Alix Carpenter

Soybean Aphid

 Soybean aphid arrived in the U.S. in 2000, doing little damage. In 2001, it caused moderate damage.
In 2003, it caused moderate damage again. It appears that there is a two-year cycle to this pest in the
U.S., leading entomologists to believe that the aphid should not cause serious problems this year. Last
fall, there was an abundance of multicolored Asian lady beetles present. Numerous other predators
were present last summer and fall. These predators feed on overwintering aphid eggs.</p><br>

Soybean aphid eggs overwinter on buckthorn. Eggs hatch in the spring, and go through two
generations as wingless females. The winged generation then migrates from buckthorn to soybean. The
aphid can complete as many as 18 generations in one year. In areas populated with buckthorn, it has
been reported that the multicolored Asian lady beetles have been feeding extensivly on the aphids,
indicating the aphids’ initial population numbers will be low this year. Predications indicate that the
aphids should arrive in Missouri from northern states between the 3rd week of July and the 1st week of
August.



Corn Insects

Black cutworm moths have been caught, to varying degrees, in areas south of Marion County. Based
on the numbers of black cutworm moths captured in the Columbia, MO area, cutting is expected to
begin there May 3-6. Cutting may begin later in this area. As I write this (April 6), no BCW moths
have been captured in two traps in Marion County (central and south east portions of the
county).

Flea beetles. The prediction model says that if the total of the average monthly temperatures,
December through February, is less than 90°F, the risk of flea beetle damage to corn is low. The
model did not work last year though, when high populations developed following cold winter months.
For these months in northeast Missouri this winter, our average was 86°F, similar to the average
temperature for this date range last year.

The severity of damage caused by flea beetle depends on the number of beetles present, and the stage
and rate of the crop’s growth. Corn which is very young at the time of infestation is more likely to
experience severe damage, while rapidly growing corn experiences limited flea beetle damage.


Flea beetles strip a layer of chlorophyll from leaves, leaving the plants with a “window pane”
appearance. The beetles themselves are obvious, as small, dark, jumping beetles present on corn from
emergence to the 4-leaf stage. At flea beetle densities of five or more beetles per plant in corn up to
the 4-leaf stage, control is warranted.


Management Intensive Grazing School

A two-day, Management Intensive Grazing School will be held in Hannibal, August 20 and 21. The
grazing school will cover various aspects of grazing management, including livestock nutrition, grazing
animal health considerations, basic forage growth and management, layout and design of grazing
systems, and stockpiling for winter pasture.

Farm tours of local operations using Management Intensive Grazing systems will be part of the
program. Participants will be shown the improvements that have occurred as a result of their pasture
management programs, as well as innovative ideas in livestock water development.


Registration must be completed by August 13. For more information, or to receive a brochure, please
contact the University of Missouri Extension, Marion County office at (573) 769-2177, or the Ralls
County office at (573) 985-3911.


 Corn Planting Date and Yield Effects

Bill Wiebold, University of Missouri extension agronomist, initiated a corn planting date/population
study in Columbia last spring. The data from this study showed that earlier planted corn germinates at
much lower rates than that planted at optimal times. Corn planted March 27 had a germination rate of
74%, compared with 90% emergence in the crop planted June 5. These data showed that an
additional 4,000 seed per acre were necessary to achieve the population and yield of the later planted
crop.


Alfalfa Weevil

 Scouting for alfalfa weevil should begin soon. The snow cover present for much of the winter should
have caused an increased survival of overwintering eggs, making for larger populations this year.

To scout for alfalfa weevil, randomly collect 50 stems from a field and tap them into a white bucket.
One ore more larvae per stem, averaged, indicates control measures are warranted. In early season
infestations, chemical control is most effective. Later, as the crop’s development is near one-tenth
bloom, mechanical removal of the weevil (by mowing or grazing) is the most effective control
method.
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Revised: May 21, 2004.

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