Ag News and Views: September 2007

The abundance of forage, mild temperatures and strong cattle prices have many cow-calf producers wondering if it is time to increase their cow herd numbers.

With the heavy crop load that most of us are seeing during 2007, there are major factors that producers need to consider this time of year. In the majority of orchards that I've been in during this summer, scab, a fungal disease, is a major problem. With all the rain this year, scab has appeared on trees that haven't been previously affected.

Weather has created challenges for hay production in both 2006 and 2007. Last year, in 2006, little hay was put up on the southern plains because of drought. The first half of this year brought abundant rainfall, with June being one of the wettest months on record in many parts of Oklahoma and Texas, but these wet conditions create new challenges that we should be aware of as either producers or consumers of hay.

Excess rainfall this summer may have caused a few problems with hay harvest, but there has not been too much complaining. The wet summer has provided excellent soil moisture conditions for both warm-season and cool-season forage production this fall.

In 1991, Leonard A. Brennan theorized that if the population decline of northern bobwhites continued until 2000, hunting opportunities would likely be lost across the majority of the range of the bobwhite. Fortunately, this has never happened. However, many of you have noticed bobwhite populations are nowhere near the numbers of the good old days.