Recently in Pastures and Forages Category

Thank you again to the forage producers and area business that helped make this year's Smith County Hay Show Auction at the East Texas State Fair a success. We raised $28,600 for the fair's Junior Livestock Show premium fund, the East Texas Cattle-Ettes scholarship fund, and scholarship and conservation activities sponsored by the Smith County Soil and Water Conservation District.

The Grand Champion bale was exhibited by Hayden Moore of Tyler and was purchased by Agriland Farm Credit Services for $3,000.  The Reserve Champion bale was exhibited by Greg Walker of Bullard and was purchased by Walker and Associates Surveying for $1,800.

We had 54 producers participate in this year's show, which is an increase from last year! 

A complete list of buyers and exhibitors making the 'Top 25' can be found in this file:  2009_Hay_Show_Sale_Results.pdf 

The Smith County Extension office in conjunction with the Extension offices in Rains, Wood, Van Zandt, and Upshur Counties have been working on two forage related demonstration projects (one in soil fertility, the other in pasture weed control) this summer.

The fertility trial is evaluating nine (9) different combinations of pasture fertilizer, including: poultry litter, organic products, dry and liquid fertilizer formulations, and nitrogen source.

The herbicide trial is evaluating six (6) different herbicides and their effectiveness at controlling the hard to kill pasture weed Carolina Horsenettle (Solanum carolinense). Carolina Horsenettle is a perennial pasture weed and member of the nightshade family. All parts of this noxious plant are toxic to livestock and the plant is covered with spines that make handling hay infested with the plant less palatable to livestock and more difficult for producers.

A field tour of these two demonstration projects will be held on Tuesday, August 25. We will begin at the Golden Community Center in Wood County.  Following registration, we will caravan to the 2 demonstration locations and then return to the community center for lunch and a round table discussion hosted by the agricultural Extension agents from the five cooperating counties. Joining us on the tour and for the roundtable discussion will be Dr. Vanessa Corriher, Extension Forage Specialist from Overton.

Registration will be held from 8:00 AM until 8:30 AM, with the tour beginning at 9:00 AM. The meeting will conclude following lunch and the roundtable discussion around 2:00 PM.

Attendees with Texas Department of Agriculture pesticide applicator licenses will receive 3 hours of Continuing Education credit (1 Integrated Pest Management and 2 General) for attending.

This is a free program but an RSVP is required to the Smith County Extension office at (903) 590-2980 by Friday, August 21, for meal planning purposes. Directions to the community center will be provided (if needed) upon registration for the event.

Senate Bill 1693, which was passed by the Texas Legislature and signed by Governor Perry in June, has implications for producers who apply poultry litter to their property or land they lease.

Beginning September 1, 2009,

"A person that purchases or obtains poultry litter for land application must maintain until the second anniversary of the date of application a signed and dated proof of delivery document for every load of poultry litter applied to land. The landowner or the owner's tenant or agent shall note on the document the date or dates on which the poultry litter was applied to the land."

"The commission [Texas Commission on Environmental Quality] may inspect any record required to be maintained under this subchapter."

A full version of this new law may be reviewed by clicking on the following file: SB01693F.pdf. 

Time is quickly approaching for Smith County forage producers to enter samples into the 2009 hay show that is held in conjunction with the East Texas State Fair. Producers and youth benefit from this event which has been the focus of the fair's Howdy Neighbor Barbecue for the past 25 years.

The hay show serves as a great tool for producers to use when planning for their winter feeding needs. Plus, the $3 entry fee per hay sample to enter the hay show is much less than the $10 per sample it would cost you to send hay in for testing on your own.

For your $3 per sample you will receive a placing ribbon for your hay (blue, red, or white), recognition at the hay auction if you have hay that places as one of the top 25 bales, and the nutritional information (crude protein and digestibility) for your hay sample. Submitting hay for the show also earns an invitation to the free hay show wrap-up event in October.

Hay produced in Smith County, or hay grown by a producer who lives in Smith County, is eligible for entry. A hay entry consists of one square bale of hay from a cutting, or one feed sack full of hay (if the hay from a cutting is rolled into round bales).

Producers that submit more than one hay sample for testing are encouraged to write somewhere on the entry tag (other than in the space marked entry number) a code such as cutting number, field name, or something else that will help them be able to correlate their samples back to the results that will be mailed to them following the hay show and sale. It is recommended that producers submit samples from each hay field each time it is cut.

Entry dates for this year's show are August 20^th and 21^st. Hay can be dropped at one of the following locations: Bullard - Circle C Farm & Ranch; Lindale - Fleming Farm Supply; Noonday - Noonday Feed Store; Troup - Steele's Feed & Seed; Tyler - Ag-Power, Inc.; Al H. Horaney's; Estes, Inc.; Natural Resources Conservation Service; Rose Country Equipment; Smith County Extension office; and Stampede Feed & Ag Supply; and, Whitehouse - Whitehouse Farm & Ranch.

Make plans to enter today!  For a complete set of rules, click here.

The very dry summer conditions we have been experiencing are prime grasshopper growing weather. I am getting spotty reports of heavy 'hopper infestations in southeast and western parts of the county. The grasshoppers are already mature and flying, which makes them more mobile. The ones I have personally seen seem to be the differential grasshopper, which is one of the most destructive to crops/pasture land of the 'big five' species of grasshoppers of economic importance found in the state.

If you have been on the receiving end of this rainfall of late, I want to tell you to be on the lookout for Fall Armyworms in the near future. To a pregnant armyworm moth flying north from drought-ridden central Texas, our area is going to look like an oasis, prime territory to lay her eggs. I have already heard reports of Fall Armyworms near Sulphur Springs so I think it is just a matter of time before we have them in our area too.

If you have grasshoppers, the economic threshold of treatment is more than 8 grasshoppers per square yard (or as I like to say, 1 per square foot). Anything above 1 per square foot means that the 'hoppers are consuming more dollars worth of forage than it would cost in insecticide to treat them. The good news is that we typically see only one generation of grasshoppers per year.

If you find yourself with Fall Armyworms, the economic threshold of treatment is more than 3 young armyworms per square foot. If you have more forage than you need (which is unlikely) then you should probably consider skipping the cost of the treatment. However, if you have fertilized warm season pastures and are awaiting another hay cutting, treat if the armyworm load climbs above 3 per square foot. If you plant winter pastures, definitely treat when numbers justify as these insect pests can have more than one generation per year in our area and just might stick around until first frost if weather conditions are favorable to their continued development.

Please note that trade names and retail prices listed below are for educational purposes only and that no specific endorsement of any product is intended or implied.  Please note that there are also waiting periods for some products listed below that are required between application and grazing / cutting for hay.  Follow all label directions and wear required personal protective equipment when handling pesticides and making pesticide applications.

Grasshopper Control Options:

Sevin, Malation, Mustang Max, & Dimilin (Too late for '09 as 'hoppers are past 3rd instar)

Armyworm Control Options:

Sevin (Carbaryl 4F), Mustang Max, Malathion 5EC, Methomyl (Lannate VL), Methyl parathion 4E, Tracer 4SC, & Intrepid 2F

Fact Sheets (Please defer to pesticide list above for differences between pesticides listed on site and those mentioned in the fact sheets):

Grasshoppers grasshoppers.pdf (2 MB)

Armyworms ArmywormFactSheet2008.pdf