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Faulkner County Agriculture Update
March 22, 2024
General Conditions
Weather

The table below shows weather data from the Conway Regional Airport from last week. They got 3.6 inches of rain from the heavy storms. The concerning date was March 19 when they got down to 28 degrees. This low has done damage to forages that were greening up early. We won't know for a while the extent of any damage from these temps. Luckily we went back up on temperatures that day and the rest of the week and that will help with recovery.
This week will have another heavy rain producer predicted for Monday. We could get well over an inch of rain on Monday. The lows go back down on Tuesday and Wednesday but not to the extent of this past week.
Arkansas River
Drought Monitor
Row Crop
Stripe Rust in Wheat

While scouting wheat this week I came across some stripe rust. This is a little concerning to have it show up right now. Stripe rust is very aggressive and can cause extensive damage if it gets out of hand. At this stage we need to just watch and make sure it doesn't start to progress. Our whole goal should be to protect the flag leaf so we don't want to apply fungicides too early.

The following article from Texas A&M has some good information on Stripe Rust.
Wheat Fertilization

The last round of wheat fertilization went out this week on the rest of the wheat in the county. We are fully fertilized now and the crop continues to progress nicely. Stems and nodes are forming. The cold temperatures from this week may burn the tips of a few plants but it didn't get cold enough to effect any yield.
Corn Planting

Corn planting has started in Faulkner County. I am excited to see planting start for 2024. Seeding rates for corn should be between 32,000 and 34,000 seeds per acre for irrigated corn. Dryland should be around 28,000. The attached corn seeding rate chart shows how many seed you should have in 10 feet of row and also inches between seed for different seeding rates.
Beef, Small Ruminants, & Forages
Bermudagrass Cold Injury

These pictures are from our Hay Verification Field in Saltillo. In last week's update I had pictures of the green bermudagrass growing nicely. Then on Tuesday morning we hit a roadblock. The temperatures around the field got down to 29 degrees. These pictures were taken on Thursday. You can see the extreme leaf burn that the cold caused. Hopefully all of this is cosmetic and we will outgrow it. I think what helped us most was even though it was extremely cold that morning we were back up to 70 that afternoon and we have been warm since. All we can do is wait and keep watching to make sure this isn't permanent damage. This is a good example of why I have been saying to wait to fertilize. If this grass had been fertilized and was growing quickly it could have led to winter kill.
Reducing Mature Weight and Increasing Cow Productivity
Mark Z. Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist

The increasing mature weight of United States beef cows is concerning. Larger cows have higher nutrient requirements. Improving the efficiency, sustainability and profit potential of commercial cow calf production involves reducing feed costs while improving pounds of calf weaned. Reducing the mature weight of beef cows has a favorable impact on feed costs. Cumulative weight weaned throughout a cow’s life in production is the result of total pounds of calves weaned and will be higher for cows that annually calve earlier, wean a healthy calf, and avoid being culled as a result of reproductive failure, unsoundness and bad disposition. 

The Role of Selection and Mating
Mature cow size can be effectively controlled through sire selection. Mature cow weight is a high heritability trait with literature estimates ranging from 35 to 70%. Selection pressure applied to Mature Weight Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs) in sire selection should be an effective means of changing mature weight. 

Fertility is low in heritability with estimates ranging from 0 to 15%. Selection pressure, based on additive genetic merit alone, results in very slow progress in improving fertility. Fertility is more largely influenced by nutritional environment and non-additive genetic merit. Non-additive genetic merit (or gene combination value) is the result of mating decisions. The mating decision to crossbreed generates hybrid vigor (or heterosis) because of the gene combination value created by combining alleles from two (or more) different breeds at loci across the genome. Considerable research by various State Agriculture Experiment Stations and the USDA has clearly demonstrated the potential for increasing beef cow productivity through crossbreeding. Accumulated experimental data indicates pounds of calf weaned per cow can be increased by as much as 25% in well designed, systematic crossbreeding programs involving Hereford, Angus and Shorthorn. Approximately half of this increase in total production is dependent upon use of the crossbred cow to take advantage of heterosis for fertility, reproductive fitness, longevity and maternal performance.     

Crossbreeding is a mating system that provides the commercial producer the opportunity to increase the cumulative weight weaned throughout a cow’s lifetime in production. A well-planned crossbreeding system requires a high level of management to reap maximum benefits. The same breeding principles should be applied to the selection of breeding stock for a crossbreeding program that would be used for a purebred program. In both cases, the use of genetically superior breeding stock will result in offspring with better performance levels. Once the decision has been made as to which breeds to include in a crossbreeding program, selection pressure should be applied based on the additive genetic merit (EPDs) of traits of primary economic importance.

Bottomline
Improving mature cow size and productivity can be accomplished in tandem through selection and mating decisions. Sire selection can be an effective means to reduce the mature size of a cowherd. Total pounds of calf weaned during the productive lifetime of a cow can be improved by a well-planned crossbreeding system. 
2024 AGLC Grazing Conference

The 2024 AGLC Grazing Conferences will be held in Hope on March 28 and Harrison on March 29. They have a great line up scheduled this year. It costs $40 a person to attend.
Arkansas River Valley Small Ruminant Conference

The Arkansas River Valley Small Ruminant Conference is coming up April 13, 2024 at Arkansas Tech. The agenda follows and there is a registration link.

8:15 - Registration, coffee, and doughnuts 
8:50 - Welcome - Arkansas Tech University 
9:00 - Improving small ruminant production in Arkansas - Dr. Dan Quadros, UADA
9:45 - Breeds and genetic improvement - Dr. Jim Morgan, Round Mountain Consulting
10:30 - Break 
10:45 - Gastrointestinal parasites management - Dr. Joan Burke, USDA-ARS
11:30 - Farm loans to finance small ruminant operations - Marshall Rye, Farm Service Agency/USDA
11:40 - Producer panel: Sharing positives and negative experiences 
Amanda Goodwin, Arkansas Goat Association/The Arkansas Traveling Goat Farrier/Goodwin Family Farms
Debbie Taylor, Dairy goat producer
Stacy Kirk, Arkansas State Sheep Council/Kirk Club Lambs
Tanya Feagin, South Central Katahdin Association/Rocking TLC Farms 
12:30 - Lunch with lamb burgers
North Central Arkansas Small Ruminant Conference

The North Central Arkansas Small Ruminant Conference will be April 19, 2024 at Damascus at the Damascus Road Cowboy Church.
Here is this weeks Cattle Market Notes Weekly
Livestock Market Report

The weekly livestock market report is available on the Arkansas Department of Agriculture website.
Pesticide Applicator Training
There are two PAT trainings scheduled for Faulkner County. All trainings will be held at the Extension Office located at 844 Faulkner Street in Conway.

The dates are:
May 14, 2024 - 2:00 pm

To register you can call the office at 501-329-8344 or email my administrative assistant Mindy Beard at rbeard@uada.edu.

The training will cost $20. If you bring a check please make it out to Faulkner County Extension Office.

The online course is still an option also. If you want to use the online options, the link is below.

If you happen to miss ours, I have a flyer below with the dates and places of the ones in Conway and Perry County also.
Upcoming Events
Pesticide Applicator Training - May 14, 2024 at 2:00 pm at the Faulkner County Extension Office, 844 Faulkner Street Conway. To register call 501-329-8344 or email Mindy Beard at rbeard@uada.edu.

AGLC Grazing Conference - March 28, 2024 in Hope, March 29 in Harrison starting at 8:00 am.

River Valley Small Ruminant Conference - April 13, 2024 - 9:00 am - 12:00 pm at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.

North Central Arkansas Small Ruminant Conference - April 19, 2024 - Damascus Road Cowboy Church in Damascus
Contact Kevin Lawson, County Extension Agent–Agriculture, Faulkner County | Kevin Lawson