Ag News and Views: August 2013
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Agricultural lease education benefits owner, tenant
Leasing can be advantageous, depending on one's operational goals, resources and negotiating ability. Benefits to an owner include property care and income without owner participation. Tenant benefits include an opportunity for expansion or management on a trial basis without capital investment.
Full ponds enable fish restocking
With full ponds again, many pond managers are wondering whether the fish in the ponds survived or if they will need to be restocked. Restocking fish can be expensive and time consuming, so make sure fish are needed before any are stocked.
Low-stress Stockmanship
A common misconception is that "low-stress" must mean "no pressure." That is absolutely false. Cattle, like all other animals, respond to appropriate application and release of pressure.
Monitoring summer forage assists winter management
It is a good time for producers to inventory forages - including what is going to be harvested and stored as hay (or silage) as well as the production remaining in the pastures that will be grazed.
Planning for winter feeding becomes complicated in 2013
Many producers haven't restocked to pre-drought cow numbers, and the welcomed rains have resulted in excess forage. When frost arrives this fall, there will be abundant standing forage in many areas, but the quality will be more extreme than we typically encounter.
Stockpiled forages reduce hay feeding
In most operations, hay feeding represents a large portion of a cow's annual maintenance cost. The cost of feeding hay includes much more than just the production cost or purchase price of the hay.