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The 60th National Hard Spring Wheat Show scheduled to be held in Williston, February 4, 5, 6 will feature several exciting topics and well known experts. One of the featured speakers will be Jolene Brown. Ms. Brown is a farmer, author and an award winning communicator from West Branch, Iowa who has made numerous appearances on television and radio broadcasts. Her work has been featured in several major agricultural publications. As a founder of the Business-First Family Institute, she knows the...
Up until the break of the new century the U.S. beef industry could set its watch on a 10 year market cycle. In other words, producers could expect market lows to be 10 years following the previous market highs. Such things as the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), major drought throughout large sections of the Midwest, competition from rising crop values and an aging group of ranchers have all contributed to a major reduction in the number of mama cows across our nation. USDA data from...
During last year's Wheat Show, many crop producers came just to learn more about soil health and how it can impact productivity of the land and profits on the farm. Since then many of the attendees urged members of the Wheat Show planning committee to include more information on soil health during the February, 2013 event. So this year's Wheat Show will feature two speakers who will address the components of soil quality and how certain farming practices specific to western and eastern Montana...
The North Dakota Wheat Commission recently released the 2012 Regional Quality Reports for both U.S. hard spring wheat and northern durum wheat. The hard red spring wheat samples were produced in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, South Dakota, Idaho and Oregon while the durum samples were taken from North Dakota and Montana. The northern durum crop grades a number one Hard Amber Durum on average with slightly higher test weights and thousand kernel weights compared to last year. Vitreous kernel...
During last year’s Wheat Show, many crop producers came just to learn more about soil health and how it can impact productivity of the land and profits on the farm. Since then many of the attendees urged members of the Wheat Show planning committee to include more information on soil health during the February, 2013 event. So this year’s Wheat Show will feature two speakers who will address the components of soil quality and how certain farming practices specific to western North Dakota and eas...
The 60th National Hard Spring Wheat Show scheduled to be held in Williston, February 4, 5, 6 will feature several exciting topics and well known experts. One of the featured speakers will be Jolene Brown. Ms. Brown is a farmer, author and an award winning communicator from West Branch, Iowa who has made numerous appearances on television and radio broadcasts. Her work has been featured in several major agricultural publications. As a founder of the Business-First Family Institute, she knows the...
One month has passed since our wonderful medical profession has realigned my spine, cleaned out the corrosion in some of the major nerve channels and inserted some wood screws to hold my spine in place. Recovery is on pace and I am now able to spend a full day in the office and continue writing a weekly column. The first thing I need to do is call attention to the tax program scheduled Friday, November 30th, 9 a.m. to 12 noon CST. This interactive video meeting will take place in the Conference...
Almost all farms and ranches in North Dakota are owned and operated by individual family units. It is the dream of most to pass the business to the next generation but this can be a complex task. Some of the challenges include assessments of financial impacts and tax consequences. For some choosing the successor or successors who are best suited to continue the business and dreadful decisions are often ignored. Thus the development of a transition plan for the farm or ranch ends up on a road of...
Longtime durum growers contemplating adding hard red spring wheat to their crop rotation could be surprised and a little over-whelmed by the long list of varieties to select from. In fact, yield trials of North Dakota State University have included close to 50 varieties. Besides those developed at NDSU and the state universities of Montana, South Dakota, and Minnesota many of the varieties hail from private industry. Many of the varieties have a fit for the drier climate of western North Dakota...
Williams County Over the past year or two I have given considerable attention to the importance of soil quality as it relates to crop production. A quick definition of soil quality is the maintenance or improvement of soil organic matter (SOM). For our area, most cropland is in need of SOM improvement. Improving SOM in this semi-arid of northwest North Dakota should become an important goal of crop producers simply because of its ability to hold more water with higher levels. More water almost...
As area farmers complete harvest, their focus will likely turn to marketing the 2012 crop and plans for 2013. Selecting crops and varieties along with determining fertilizer and machinery needs will require major decisions sometime this winter. The primary crop grown in the counties of northwest North Dakota is durum. I suspect it will remain number one but recent requests for information about varieties leads me to believe there will be more acres planted of spring wheat next year. In recent...
Variety identification testing is a certification requirement of the North Dakota Seed Department for spring wheat, field pea and barley. This test must be completed prior to the sale of seed. According to Jeff Prischmann, Diagnostic Lab Manager, spring wheat certification samples are tested using wheat seed protein and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Seed proteins are extracted and tested to differentiate spring wheat varieties from each other based on a specific seed protein...
As area farmers complete harvest, their focus will likely turn to marketing the 2012 crop and plans for 2013. Selecting crops and varieties along with determining fertilizer and machinery needs will require major decisions sometime this winter. The primary crop grown in the counties of northwest North Dakota is durum. I suspect it will remain number one but recent requests for information about varieties leads me to believe there will be more acres planted of spring wheat next year. In recent...
It has been a practice to delay the collection of soil samples for nitrogen tests until mid to late September. The reason for waiting is the fear additional nitrogen will be made available through mineralization and not show in the test results. Dr. Dave Franzen, NDSU Soil Specialist, tells us soil nitrate levels change very little and sampling can take place immediately after harvest with no sampling date adjustment necessary. Franzen sites several advantages for sampling right after small...
Since a recent news column of mine about grasshoppers, several people have described extremely high populations of grasshoppers. It appears we have numerous locations of very high grasshopper populations which have the potential of threatening winter wheat and also be the source of an expanded threat to crops seeded next spring. If you are in a hot spot for grasshoppers and are thinking about planting winter wheat, be prepared to apply an insecticidal treatment. The current hot and dry...
Winter wheat has not been a popular crop in this area. Attempts to grow it during the early 80s brought mixed results. Yields and market prices generally were not competitive with those of spring wheat and the growing popularity with durum. Most of the yield problems came from winter injury to the seedling. Now that farming practices have changed along with improved equipment, which places seed into the previous crop stubble, winter wheat certainly proved to be a successful crop this year. I do...
With record high calf prices in 2011, a growing export market and a strong domestic consumption of beef products, most reports indicated there would be an expansion of the U.S. cow herd. Even though moisture conditions in the southern states have improved, it has not been enough to encourage retention of heifers or purchase of breeding age cows. We are all familiar with the drought conditions throughout the Midwest. Last year the northern plains was a good source of hay shipped to the south....
Last year’s wet conditions and high number of “prevent plant” acres spiked interest among wheat producers resulting in more winter wheat planted acres. Based on early reports this year’s winter wheat yields are quite satisfactory. This is likely to serve as an encouragement to growers to plant winter wheat again this fall. To assist growers in locating a seed source of winter wheat, the North Dakota State Seed Department recently released names of seed growers whose 2012 seed passed the initial...
Nearly every year wheat growers of this area report white heads, sometimes in alarming numbers. For this area of the state, a majority of the problem is caused by the wheat stem maggot which invades the stem cutting off nutrients to that part of the plant above the location of the maggot. An easy test for the presence of the maggot is to gently pull on the affected stem. If it comes out with just slight resistance the bottom of the removed stem will have a brown discoloration and evidence of...
Aphids are beginning to appear across the state and also locally. Now there are many species of this very large family. Aphids in general are host specific meaning each species thrives on specific plants. According to the July 5th issue of the NDSU Crop and Pest Report, pockets of increasing populations of cereal aphids are starting to show up in North Dakota. Fortunately most of the wheat and barley are passed the susceptible stage for yield loss from cereal aphids. The greatest risk of yield...
Concern about future damage caused by alfalfa weevils continues to exist, especially when larvae are still found in great numbers on the cutter bar of the swather. Rest assured the weevil larvae are at the end of their feeding period in North Dakota. The next stage of the weevil larvae is the formation of pupae or cocoons. This is a non-feeding stage. Adult weevils emerge from the cocoon in one to two weeks and then move to sheltered areas under other plant residue. There they go through a...
Historically, alfalfa weevils are not a widespread problem in North Dakota. However, 2012 is different. Until recently most growers have been blaming weather for the slow growth of their alfalfa crop. While the dry, early spring season may have slowed early development, the small weevil larvae certainly have had an impact in recent weeks as they feed in the terminal buds of the growing alfalfa. The larvae are light green in color with a white stripe down the center of the back and about three-ei...
North Dakota county fair season is about to get its jump start. For some reason several counties in the northwest are usually the first to have their fairs. Williams County is one of those. The fair in Williams County is actually known as the Upper Missouri Valley Fair (UMVF). I can only assume that its early founders speculated the UMV Fair could involve people beyond the boundaries of Williams County. To some extent, that has become a reality as several of the events involve youth from many...
Growing degree days (GDD’s) are highly correlated with crop growth. Using GDDs is much better than calendar days or even average daily temperature. DGGs for small grains are calculated using a base temperature of 32 degrees for North Dakota and are easily obtained from the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN). GDDs are calculated by subtracting the base temperature for a crop from the average of the minimum and maximum for the day. For example, if the high temperature for May 1 w...
Now that we have received significant rainfall and considerable acreage of wheat has been planted in to wheat stubble, there is concern about the crops susceptibility to leaf diseases. Certainly winter wheat fields planted last fall into wheat stubble should be watched carefully for such diseases, especially tan spot. There is a number of fungicide products registered for tan spot control, including products in the Strobilurin class and the Triazole class. There are also combinations of these...
