Noble News and Views: August 2018

When it comes to getting replacement females for your cattle herd, multiple options are available. One would be to use your own cow herd and keep the heifers you need. Or you could outsource and purchase virgin heifers from a different operation and breed them to the bull(s) of your choice. Another option is to buy heifers bred to a bull that would roll straight into your program.

Whether you are buying, selling or just producing hay for personal use, testing is an invaluable tool. Forage testing is also a large part of another tool that seems to be becoming a thing of the past: the local hay show.

Entomologists tell us that webworm outbreaks run in cycles. Some years outbreaks are severe, while in other years they are barely noticed. Weather, birds and the predatory insect population contribute to the circular nature of these outbreaks. Heavy, driving rains can flush the worms from the foliage early in the season, reducing the level of damage.

Feral hogs have plagued agricultural lands in Oklahoma for long enough that most landowners have adopted some sort of control strategy on their properties.

Pecan growers should develop a plan for preparing for and addressing tasks throughout the year. Will Chaney, a senior research associate in pecan management systems, outlines activities for August, September and October.

Drought is the most crucial constraint to crop productivity. Most of Earth’s surface area is not suitable for crop production due to severe water limitations, and the scenario is likely to get worse especially in the southern Midwest and southeastern United States. Recent climate models suggest an increase in aridity in many areas of the world. More than 35 percent of the world’s land is considered arid or semiarid. Even in areas of high rainfall, crops experience water stress due to uneven rainfall distribution. Drought can cause significant crop yield loss and under severe conditions up to 100 percent crop loss is experienced.

Lignin is a major component of plant cell walls that provides physical strength to plants, but, higher lignin concentrations can negatively affect forage digestibility. Therefore, it is best to reduce, but not eliminate, lignin in forage crops. Eliminating total lignin content can severely alter plant growth and performance in the field.