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Faulkner County Agriculture Update

July 19, 2024

Faulkner County Intern Final Week


This week coming up is Jaley's last week as an intern in the Faulkner County Office. She will be in the office on Monday then the rest of the week she will be at the State 4-H Orama in Fayetteville. Jaley is a great intern that learned a lot about Extension and Faulkner County Agriculture this past 10 weeks. I know I am going to miss her but I am proud for her to go on and finish her last year at SAU. Thank you to all the producers that embraced her and helped us through this experience. I asked Jaley to write her last article for the newsletter on her experience this summer.


GOOD LUCK JALEY!


My Internship Experience

Jaley Pearson - Faulkner County Extension Intern


Securing an internship is often seen as a steppingstone to professional growth and development. It is more than just completing tasks—it is about learning, growth, and making a meaningful impact. I feel my experience these past few months has been exactly that, days full of learning, growth, and understanding the impact of agriculture in my community.


My internship was a hands-on experience working closely with local farmers to learn all about various farming practices and operations. I learned a lot about advising on crops, managing pests, and the importance of being an advocate for the producers in your county.


While at the office, I spent time planning for various events with the Faulkner County extension team. This internship gave me valuable insights into agriculture and the significance of teamwork and how it can affect the community around you.

During my internship, I developed a greater respect for the resilience and commitment of farmers, and I saw firsthand the significant impact that minor adjustments in farming techniques can have on operations. I also learned how teamwork and shared knowledge could make a real impact in rural communities, paving the way for meaningful progress.

My internship experience has been a journey of growth and education. Working alongside dedicated professionals and working directly with local agriculturalists has not only expanded my practical skills but also deepened my understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the field. I am grateful for the chance to contribute to meaningful projects and look forward to applying these lessons as I continue to pursue a career in agriculture.

National Association County Agricultural Agents Meeting


This week I had a chance to represent Arkansas and Faulkner County in the National Association County Agricultural Agents Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference in Dallas, Texas. I presented a poster on the buttercup demonstration that I did earlier this year. I got to interact with agents from all over the state and get a chance to show off what we do here in Faulkner County. I am very proud of what we have in Faulkner County and love to talk about it when ever I get a chance.


I also attended several seminars and looked at posters from other agents all over the country and will be bringing back a few ideas from other professionals.

4-H Foundation Fish Fry


Our 4-H Foundation Fish Fry Fund raiser is coming up on August 9th at the Conway Cowboy Church. Come on out for some good food and good fun!

General Conditions

Weather


How do you follow a tropical storm named Beryl that dropped 6 inches of rain on parts of the county last week? You have a crazy rain storm come through the next week and drop 5 inches of rain in parts of the county that didn't get it last week! I have never seen so much rain this close together in July. When Beryl came through we had a little damage, but nothing bad. This past storm was a whole different story. The large amounts of rain fell on the northern part of the county this time bringing all that water down the Cadron. This has led to way more problems than Beryl did. This storm also dropped huge amounts of rain quickly that caused all kinds of flooding damage in Conway and other parts of the county. The one good thing about all that rain is it dropped temperatures and it has been very pleasant the past few days. This is the darndest July I have ever seen.

It looks like the cool temperatures will hang around the rest of the week with more chances of rain. These are nice temperatures with rice starting to head and flower.

Arkansas River and Cadron

The Arkansas River remains low which is good news as all of that rain is moving south down Cadron Creek. We have had several reports of crops along the Cadron going under for several days. The road at Enola was closed due to Cadron flooding and that corn and some soybeans went under water. That water has made it's way down to highway 25 crossing where all of those soybeans and some of the rice are now under water. Luckily it is all flowing and going into the Arkansas but it needs to get on down.

Drought Monitor
US Drought Monitor
Row Crop

Rice


Rice is starting to head in several fields. I have got the last of the kernel smut plots sprayed, so we will wait and see if we get smut and the results. I will be taking heading date data on the ARPT plots this week.


Stink bugs are showing up on headed rice so be out there scouting. I have also heard some reports of armyworms on a few fields so be on the look out for them also.


Below is a link to Dr. Hardke's Arkansas Rice Update from last Friday.

Arkansas Rice Update 7/12/2024

Rice Field Day


The Aug. 1 field day at the Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart will feature presentations on breeding, germplasm, remote sensing and more.


The field day is presented by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, and the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service.


There is no cost to attend. Participants are asked to RSVP online by July 26. The center is located at 2900 Highway 130 East in Stuttgart.


“Hosting this event in partnership with our neighbors at the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center enables us to offer a broader picture of the research and other work being done in support of the rice industry in Arkansas and across the United States,” said Alton Johnson, director of the Rice Research and Extension Center.


The field day begins at 7:30 a.m. with field tours and the opening of oral and poster sessions.


There will be two field tours which start at 7:30 a.m. at the Foundation Seed Facility and will repeat at 9:30 so attendees can see all stops.


Tour 1:

  • Stop 1 — Rice Breeding Updates — Xueyan Sha, professor of plant rice and genetics, and Christian De Guzman, assistant professor of plant rice and genetics.
  • Stop 2 — Rice Insect Management — Nick Bateman, associate professor-extension entomologist, and Gage Maris, graduate student. 
  • Stop 3 — Agronomy — Jarrod Hardke, professor, rice extension agronomist.
  • Stop 4 — Pathology — Camila Nicolli, assistant professor, extension pathologist; and Felipe Dalla Lana, assistant professor, rice pathologist, LSU AgCenter.


Tour 2:

  • Stop 1 – Weed Control in Rice  — Jason Norsworthy – professor, weed science and Bob Scott – professor, extension weed scientist.
  • Stop 2 – Germplasm Evaluation and Disease Resistance — Yulin Jia – director, Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center, and Trevis Huggins – USDA-ARS research scientist.
  • Stop 3 – Drones and Remote Sensing — Jason Davis – assistant professor, remote sensing and pesticide application specialist.


The lunch program begins at noon and speakers include Johnson, Hardke, Kevin McGilton, president and CEO of Riceland Foods; Keith Glover, president and CEO of Producers Rice Mill; Wes Ward, Arkansas’ secretary of agriculture; and Deacue Fields, head of the Division of Agriculture.


This year’s field day is sponsored by the Agricultural Council of Arkansas, AgHeritage Farm Credit Services; Arkansas Rice Growers Association; Arkansas Rice; MirTech Harvest Center, US Rice Producers Association, Belchim Crop Protection, Riceland Foods, Producers Rice Mill, USA Rice, Wintersteiger and Valley View Agri-Systems.

Click Here to Register for the Rice Field Day

Soybeans


Trap numbers were up this week on corn earworm moth traps. I swept a field Friday and found my first small corn earworms. If the soybeans are before bloom, treat when you have 40% defoliation. There is a picture attached that shows what 40% defoliation looks like. I saw some defoliation in this field but it was around 10%. It takes a lot of defoliation to get to 40%.


If it is after bloom then switch to the sweep chart. It takes in to account the value of the crop and the cost of treatment. So for example, November soybeans are around $10 and a treatment costs $14 you need to be catching 6.9 worms per 25 sweeps.

Corn


Our first planted corn is pretty much done with irrigation. This picture shows a kernel I got out of one of the first planted fields and it is a good 75% starch line movement. Row or pivot, this field is done. It has plenty of moisture there after this week so we are done. With this weeks heat units, that brings us up to 2522 total heat units for a field planted on April 1. That means we are only around 350 or so total heat units away from black layer depending on hybrid. That means we are a couple of weeks from maturity so it will all depend on the weather how long that takes us to get to harvest. At black layer we are around 30% moisture, so we need hot and dry weather from this point on to get it down to 18%.

2024 University of Arkansas Corn College, August 7, 2024


The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture will host a Corn College on August 7, 2024, at the Lon Mann Cotton Research Station at Marianna.

 

The Corn College will offer 6 stops with hands-on training on various aspects of corn production and will include weed control programs, insect and disease identification and management, irrigation management, nutrient deficient identification and management, and agronomic considerations.


Continuing education credits will be available. Lunch will be provided.


The training will begin with registration from 8:00-8:30 am, and tours will start at 8:30 am and will conclude by 3:30 pm. 


Registration is $100/person and you must be registered by August 2, 2024.

Registration for Corn College

Corn Earworm Moth Traps


Looks like we are finally seeing an uptick in numbers of moths across the county. The trap on the Cadron had the most moths it has had all year long and the one at the Sand Plant is back to above 100 moths. Now is the time to start scouting and watch the first planted soybeans that are podding.

2024 County Trap Catches
Herbicide Trainings

Anyone that applies Enlist, Dicamba, or Paraquat are required to go through additional education hours. The Enlist and Dicamba training is done online through the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. Paraquat is done through the National Pesticide Safety Education Center and there is a $25 charge.

For Enlist and Dicamba follow the link to our Pesticide Training Page. On the left side of the screen there is a menu that links you to Enlist and Dicamba training. I have also added the link to the NPSEC website for the Paraquat training.
UADA Pest Education and Training Page
NPSEC Paraquat Training
Beef, Small Ruminants, & Forages

Bermudagrass Stem Maggot


We have started to see a build up of Bermudagrass Stem Maggot flies in the county. If you have already sprayed for armyworms you probably won't see them, but if you have a good bermudagrass stand and haven't sprayed for worms I would be scouting.


Damage caused by the bermudagrass stem maggot results from larval stages (maggots) feeding in the shoot causing the top two or three leaves to die. Lower leaves remain alive and unaffected by the maggot’s feeding. Because of the death of the top couple of leaves, the plant (and field, if heavily infested) may exhibit a frosted appearance. The life cycle from egg to adult requires about three weeks. The adult female fly will lay eggs on the bermudagrass stem near a node. The maggot will hatch from the egg, crawl up to toward the last plant node (where the leaf blade emerges from the stem) and burrow into the shoot and begin feeding. Usually by the time the top leaves have died, the maggots have exited the stem and pupated on the ground. With such as short generation period, multiple generations occur and populations tend to increase later in the season causing an accumulation of damage.


The adult fly is small (~1/8 inch long) and yellow colored with four prominent black spots on the abdomen. The maggot (larva) is also yellowish colored and about 1/8 inch in length when fully mature. In general (but we have observed exceptions), this pest is less of a problem in coarse stemmed bermudagrass varieties and bermudagrass that is grazed. In grazed pastures, cattle eat the fly eggs and maggots along with the grass, lessening population build up. Bermudagrass stem maggots often become an economic pest in finer stemmed varieties (common, Coastal, Alicia and others) that are baled for hay, especially later in the season after the population builds. In heavy infestations, regrowth after cutting can be slowed substantially.


Bermudagrass stem maggot management demonstrations have shown as much as 50% yield loss in fine-stemmed varieties. Systemic insecticides and insect growth regulators labeled for use in bermudagrass forage are not effective in combatting bermudagrass stem maggot damage. Effective insecticide applications are aimed at killing the egg-laying adults. When applied from seven to ten days following harvest, a pyrethroid insecticide application will usually protect the crop until the next cutting. Timing of the pyrethroid application is critical for two reasons. First, the grass has resprouted and adults are emerging from larvae that pupated at the time of cutting and are ready to lay eggs. Second, pyrethroid applications made after the seven to ten day treatment window are less effective because some eggs have already been laid and the grass canopy may be too thick for the pyrethroid application to penetrate the area where adults rest. In many situations, early cutting is necessary to allow for a successful treatment to prevent significant yield loss in the next cutting. Pyrethroid insecticides such as lambda-cyhalothrin and others labeled for use in forage grass are the most cost-effective product choices against bermudagrass stem maggots.


It is always a very good idea to survey the field for bermudagrass stem maggot damage just before cutting.  If readily apparent damage is present, treat the field with a pyrethroid 7-10 days after the bermudagrass was cut.

Armyworms in Faulkner County


Armyworm calls have started calming down this week. I have seen a few small worms in small numbers in a few fields but nothing like the outbreak we had a couple weeks ago. I would keep scouting, especially since we have had all this rain. They seem to love that.


Keep scouting your crabgrass and signalgrass. That is the best place to start. Also if you have barnyardgrass, scout it because they seem to like that also.

Cattle and Beef Markets in the Summer Doldrums

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist


Here in Oklahoma and a lot of other parts of the country we have reached the dog days of summer. That was once described to me as a hot summer day when “a dog is chasing a cat down the street…and they are both walking”. Cattle and beef markets often struggle in the period after July 4 until mid-August or so. The week after Independence Day, Choice boxed beef prices dropped back from holiday highs of $330/cwt. to about $322/cwt. but seemed to stabilize by the end of the second week of July. 


Beef demand usually slows between the July 4 and Labor Day holidays as both summer grilling and high-end restaurant traffic slows in the heat of the summer. The early July drop in boxed beef price is the result of seasonal weakness in the main middle meats: Tenderloin, Ribeye and Strip Loin. Wholesale prices for a number of other cuts continue to move higher, including Tri-tip and Flank steak, along with numerous chuck and round cuts. Several lean round cuts are no doubt supported by the record high price for lean trimmings that is pushing wholesale ground beef value to ever-higher record levels.


Fed cattle prices have stalled in the summer heat in July, holding mostly steady after moving higher through June. Carcass weights finally showed some decrease with the latest reported steer carcass weights the last week of June at 911 pounds, down from 924 pounds five weeks earlier. Summer heat is likely a factor in declining carcass weights as well. The decrease in carcass weights has been much slower than is typical through June and it is not clear what the seasonal pattern will be for the remainder of the year. Carcass weights typically begin increasing seasonally in July but steer carcasses are already 27 pounds higher year over year, even with the recent decrease. 


Total fed (steer plus heifer) slaughter was fractionally higher in June year over year and, combined with heavier carcass weights, led to a 3.8 percent year over year in fed beef production for the month. This more than offset a 17.1 percent year over year decrease in nonfed beef production to result in a slight increase in total beef production in the month of June. Retail all-fresh beef prices in June continued to move slightly higher to a record price of $8.00/lb.


Feeder cattle markets also stalled after July 4, with lower prices for all classes reported in Oklahoma auctions for the week ending July 12. Nevertheless, feeder cattle prices remain near record levels. Although June rains have maintained pastures reasonably well thus far, marginal drought conditions have increased in Oklahoma with range and pasture ratings slipping in the latest ratings report.  

Faulkner/Perry Grazing Field Day


The Faulkner/Perry Grazing Field Day was held Saturday July 13 at the Jeff Owen Farm in Enola. There was a great turnout as producers learned about water tanks, rotational grazing, NRCS programs, calibration and electric fencing.


We want to send out a big thank you to Jeff Owen for letting us use his place and sharing all of his experiences on getting to the point he is at today.


Thank you to our partners at the NRCS, Jason Vann and Jody Rodgers, for discussing NRCS programs with the participants.


Extension specialists Kenny Simon and Jonathan Kubesch and our interns did an amazing job going over Extension recommendations.


We also want to thank the Faulkner County Conservation District for supplying lunch! Thank you to LaDonna Taylor for getting everything together for us. We really appreciate it!

Fertility Demonstrations


The last two fertility demonstrations went in this week. On Friday afternoon, Jaley and I established a sulfur demonstration and a high nitrogen rate demonstration on Tucker Farms by the river in the south part of the county. We will be harvesting the other two fertility demonstrations (nitrogen stabilizers and nitrogen rate) very soon.



Cattle Market Notes Weekly
Livestock Market Report

The weekly livestock market report is available on the Arkansas Department of Agriculture website.
ADA Livestock Market Report
Upcoming Events

Row Crop Field Day - To be announced soon.

Contact Kevin Lawson, County Extension Agent–Agriculture, Faulkner County | Kevin Lawson
uaex.uada.edu/faulkner