Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certification training sessions focusing on beef cattle care and health to be hosted in Kansas.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State University and the Kansas Beef Council are partnering to host four advanced beef cattle care and health training sessions in Kansas during October. The Beef Checkoff-funded sessions will provide beef producers and veterinarians with up-to-date standards and technologies to improve animal welfare and food safety. The training sessions will be led by the Beef Cattle Institute’s Dan Thomson, DVM, Ph.D.; Chris Reinhardt, Ph.D.; and Dave Rethorst, DVM.
The meetings are scheduled as follows:
October 1 – Leavenworth County Fairgrounds, Tonganoxie – 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
October 2 – J C Livestock Sales, Junction City – 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
October 7 – Fort Scott Livestock Market, Fort Scott – 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Producers and veterinarians will receive Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) training and information relevant to the cow-calf, stocker and feedlot industry segments; animal husbandry best management practices; and downed animal care and humane euthanasia training. In addition, stockmanship principles and low-stress cattle-handling techniques will be studied. All producers and veterinarians who attend will earn BQA certification. BQA certification is valid for three years.
Each workshop is free of charge and includes a complimentary meal. Pre-registration one week or more prior to the event is requested. You may pre-register by contacting the Beef Cattle Institute at 785-532-4844 or [email protected]. Walk-in attendees are welcome but are not guaranteed a meal.
The Beef Cattle Institute, or BCI, was founded in 2007 to provide beef industry stakeholders with the most current education, research and outreach available in the beef industry. The BCI offers certificates and tools to aid producers in managing a successful beef business.
The Kansas Beef Council administers the $1-per-head Beef Checkoff in Kansas. Funds are used for research, educational activities and promotion of beef and beef products. Twenty-nine cattle producer volunteers from Kansas serve on the executive committee and direct how Checkoff funds are utilized.
Around the country, college students are in the midst of rising tuition and living expenses. Many college students are on their own for the first time and, for many, this includes being on their own financially. They are expected to earn money and manage their own finances along with their busy college schedules and social lives.
College financial plans don’t have to be complicated, but they are necessary. Taking a few simple steps now to manage personal finances will lead to much more positive outcomes down the road.
Here are some financial tips for college students:
Buy used textbooks or e-books when possible and compare textbook prices online.
Don’t be tricked by credit card offers that come with a bag of candy, free shirt or free pizza.
Before signing a lease, be sure you understand the entire contract.
Educate yourself about student loans — know what types of loans you have, how much you owe, your interest rate, and what your monthly payment will be. For information on your federal loans, visit: http://www.nslds.ed.gov
Before turning to private loans to help pay for your education, visit your financial aid adviser to be sure you have exhausted all federal loan opportunities.
Stay away from payday loans. They carry very high interest rates and can trap you in debt for years.
Barton Community College women’s soccer team’s Edith “Scarlett” Real put her name in the school record books last Wednesday versus Kansas City Kansas Community College with her four goal first half thus earning her the KJCCC Verizon Wireless Player of the Week honor.With the Lady Cougars in an offensive funk this season, the Dodge City freshman got Barton off to a fast start scoring her first of four goals by the fourth minute of play. Less than four minutes later Real scored her second and completed her goal assault within the game’s first twenty-one minutes. Her effort placed her tied for twelfth in school history and had her fifth shot on goal not hit the crossbar, Real would have jumped to fifth in the record books.
The Lady Cougars looked like an offensive juggernaut in the 7-0 rout of the KCK Blue Devils scoring five first half goals against a 20 mph south wind. Barton finished with thirty shots forcing the Blue Devil keeper into eleven saves on the day.
Having scored just one goal in the season’s previous six contests, the 5’4″ Real had her break out game scoring four of the Lady Cougars’ first five goals. Turning a KCK miscue into a one-on-one situation with the Blue Devil keeper, Real sent a left foot shot to the near post just four minutes into the contest.
Aliya Marshall quickly buried KCK into a two goal deficit just a moment later finishing off a great midfield turn and pass by Danielle Borelli to left foot drive the ball to the upper left corner. Millie York help set up Real for her second goal of the day with 37:15 remaining after York sent a deep forward ball into the wind. Outmaneuvering the Blue Devil defense Real beat the keeper high to the far post giving Barton a 3-0 lead.
Missing an attempt for a hat-trick, Real took advantage of her next opportunity blasting a Maria Rodriguez pass to the far post. Entering the Barton record books at the 33:03 mark of the first half, Real buried a Lisa Lagos pass to tie for the twelfth spot on the most goals scored in a game along with nine other former Lady Cougars.
Putting up eleven shots with ten on goal against the first half wind, the Lady Cougars put up nineteen second half shots with eight coming within frame.
Two of the eight came from midfielder Maria Munoz who connected on both her shots to give Barton added cushion in the lead. Stealing a KCK pass to the midfield, the 5’1″ freshman from Topeka dribbled in and launched from outside the 18′ off the fingertips of the Blue Devil keeper to the far post. Three minutes later York got her second assist of the day feeding Munoz who dribbled past three defenders into the 18′ finding the top 90 far post.
After a trip conference road trip to Coffeyville Community College on Wednesday, the 2-4-2 on the season and 1-1-1 in conference play Lady Cougars return home to the Cougar Soccer Complex for a Saturday contest against Johnson County Community College. Kick-off for the women’s Jayhawk conference battle is 1:00 p.m. followed by the men’s contest at 3:00 p.m.
The annual celebration and meet-n-greet of Barton Athletics and the community will take place this Sunday, September 21. Hosted by the Cougar Booster Club, the event will kick-off at 6:00 p.m. at Jack Kilby Square in downtown Great Bend with social interaction including free refreshments.
Barton Athletic Director Trevor Rolfs will begin the introduction at 6:30 p.m. of the Cougar Booster Club and Athletic Staff, followed by a processional of team introductions by Barton coaches.
Special performances will also highlight the free community event by members of the cheer and dance teams, as well as, music provided throughout the evening by the Barton Pep Band.
Leading the charge to bring Barton student-athletes to the community, the Cougar Booster Club provides avenues to support the athletic department throughout the year. For information on supporting Cougar Athletics or becoming a member of the Cougar Booster Club, contact the Barton Athletic Department at (620) 792-9377 or visit online at www.BartonSports.com.
By: Scott Eckert, County Extension Agent, Horticulture
Almost everyone who wants a beautiful, healthy lawn knows that they must fertilize to achieve it. But many lawn enthusiasts don´t know how to fertilize properly, and making mistakes in fertilization can lead to problems.
September is the ideal time to fertilize tall fescue (turf-type or K-31), Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass since they are all cool-season turf. Unlike the warm-season grasses like buffalograss, Zoysia, and Bermudagrass that prefer 90 degree weather and up, the cool season grasses thrive when it is in the 60 and 75 degree range. This is why fall is the best time for fertilizing and planting fescue.
If you are wanting a Low-maintenance lawn, you should fertilize with 1.0 pound of actual nitrogen per 1000 sq. feet. This means that if you use ammonium sulfate that is 20 percent nitrogen you would use 5 pounds of this fertilizer to achieve 1.0 pounds of actual nitrogen
per 1000 sq. feet. A low-maintenance lawn means you are mowing less often than for a medium or high-maintenance lawn.
For a Medium-maintenance lawn, fertilize in September at the rate previously mentioned and again in November at the same 1.0 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1000 sq. feet. You will mow a bit more but have a nice looking lawn. It is important to water only as needed.
For a High-maintenance lawn, fertilize in September as above, in November use 1.0 – 1.5 pounds and another 1.0 pound of actual nitrogen per 1000 sq. feet in May. Not March or April. Then if color or growth are not satisfactory apply 0.5 pound of actual nitrogen per 1000 sq. feet in mid-June-early – July. High maintenance turf will require more mowing to keep up with the fertilizer amount you are applying. The more it grows the more irrigation it will take as well.
There is no need to exceed more than 4.0 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1000 sq feet in one season. You can actually encourage fungal disease if your nitrogen regimen is too high.
Remember to fertilize cool season grasses at the correct time of year to get the maximum
appearance.
Melissa Bess, Nutrition and Health Education Specialist, Camden County, University of Missouri Extension
September 16 is known as National Guacamole Day. Guacamole can be healthy, depending on how you make it. Avocados are the main ingredient in this tasty side dish or appetizer.
California avocados are in season from spring to fall. This is the time of year that you will find the best quality and best prices on avocados. Avocados are one of the produce items with the least amount of pesticides, so there is no reason or benefit to buying organic avocados.
Avocados are considered a fruit. They are one of the few fruits or vegetables that contain fat. The fat in avocados is unsaturated and is heart healthy.
Did you know that avocados have more potassium than bananas? Avocados contain 60 percent more potassium per ounce than bananas. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), avocados are loaded with nutrients such as dietary fiber, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium and folate. They’re also cholesterol and sodium free. Two tablespoons of mashed avocado or 1/5 (about 1 ounce) of a medium avocado provides about 55 calories.
Mashed avocado can be used instead of mayonnaise on a sandwich or wrap. You can mix avocado with your choice of whole grains and other vegetables for a tasty whole grain salad. Avocados can also be mixed with tomatoes, diced onions, lime or lemon juice and your choice of seasonings for a refreshing dip.
HAPPINESS IS NOT A STATE TO ARRIVE AT, BUT A MANNER OF TRAVELING ~ Margret Lee Runbeck
They always say that you cannot go back home. In many ways this is true for we never live in the times past but only remember them. I find that when I go back to places in my past there are a lot of good memories alive even if nothing else is. It is always fun to set in and feel the old times yet you are still there on a visit and have to come home, where ever that is now.
After visiting my clinic in Wichita if I time it right I avoid the traffic and travel around on paved county roads. I find many more today than when they were a part of my fire response district. I end up at my old stomping ground on the west end of Cheney Lake at Mt. Vernon at Creations Restaurant.
Now Mt. Vernon has grown since a couple farm and storage sheds went up but I think the population is still around six or seven. At the old country store next to the spot that the old dance hall sat is Creations Restaurant.
When I moved from poetry into music there were several of us that could see that a corner that was not in real use would be a great place to put a small stage. Steve, the owner, was great with the idea and in a couple weeks time a stage was built and the music started.
Every Thursday night there would be musicians wander in and out. There might be 3 or 30 you never knew. We had a regular crowd and it was a fun place. I was a member of the Western Music Association and was working with the best guitar player I have ever known named Gerald Walters. He was one of the Kingman County crowd who grew up with music in their homes on Saturday nights. This before TV, CD, downloads, and when you charged the battery’s on the radio to listen to the Grand Ole Opry in the parlor with the neighbors.
I still get to visit with old friends and there is the memory of Prairie Dog Lafferty who I swear still haunts the place. Sometimes a few of the local musicians pop in for a jam session. I swear that jam session music is the best even if it is off key or the mikes are not right. It is that live feel that makes the music special.
Since I have been fighting health issues I have no air and when I was asked if I would sing a couple songs, I had to go by faith because I was not sure the voice was still there. Well there was enough that I had a great time. There is going to be something special happen at Creations around my birthday so stay tuned.
I guess you can go home for a little bit. But I still had to get on the road and get across that Barber County line. Good memories.
Janet Hackert, Nutrition and Health Education Specialist, Harrison County, University of Missouri Extension
Sept. 14-20, 2014 is National Child Passenger Safety Week
Child safety seats and booster seats may seem like a hassle, but it’s important to know how to use them properly to protect children. Car crashes kill more children 1 to 14 years old than any other cause, so adults need to use child safety tools correctly.
Missouri’s Child Restraint Law states the following:
Child Safety Seat: Children under 4 years old or weighing less than 40 pounds must be in an appropriate child safety seat.
Booster seat with lap and shoulder belt: Children 4 to 7 years old who weigh at least 40 pounds must be in an appropriate child safety seat or booster seat unless they are 80 pounds or 4’9″ tall.
Lap and shoulder safety belts: Children 8 years and older or weighing at least 80 pounds or at least 4’9″ tall are required to be secured by a safety belt or booster seat appropriate for that child.
There are many reasons children need the protection of proper restraint in a vehicle. The bones of young children are soft and their ligaments are looser than adults’. They need the assistance of the appropriate car seat, booster seat or lap and shoulder belts to be held securely. These tools also protect the child from hitting or being hit by something or someone during a crash. Even during a sudden stop, these devices secure children in place, absorbing the force of such an abrupt movement and spreading that impact out safely.
American Agri-Women member Lisa Campion recently traveled to Uganda for 21 days as part of the Farmer-to-Farmer Program. American Agri-Women has partnered with Catholic Relief Services, who administers the USAID Farmer to Farmer Program in East Africa, as its first international grant program. The Farmer-to-Farmer (FTF) program promotes economic growth, food security, and agricultural development in East Africa.
Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the five-year program matches the technical assistance of U.S. farmers, agribusinesses, cooperatives, and universities to help farmers in developing countries improve agricultural productivity, access new markets, and increase their incomes.
Campion is past president of Sigma Alpha Sorority and is an attorney with Martin & Associates in Barre, Vt. She shares this about her time in Uganda, “ Every day for 11 days, I worked with the Barr Orphans, Widowers and Widows (BOWW) Cooperative Society to build their capacity in leadership and management training. Over the 11 days, I trained almost 500 people, of which 350 were women. I learned that, in order to make a difference in someone’s life, you need to try to experience it for yourself, determine potential solutions, and then work with them to give them the tools they need to succeed.”
If you are interested in volunteering, please apply at http://farmertofarmer.crs.org/ as soon as possible. Once you apply, your application will be reviewed and then you will be placed in a database of volunteers. If a scope of work is developed and you meet the qualifications, Catholic Relief Services will contact you to determine if you are interested. Also you can check online at http://farmertofarmer.crs.org/ for new scope of work descriptions that are posted as they are developed. Current assignments include:
When it comes to managing limited irrigation for crops, research suggests pumping more intensively on fewer acres might show more value than spreading out the irrigation over more acres. ~ K-State Research and Extension
A K-State expert explains crop watering approaches and which has more favorable economic returns when water availability is limited.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Getting the most value out of irrigation water is likely on the minds of many Kansas farmers. As groundwater supplies diminish, pumping rates decline and talk of local water conservation policies surface in the state, these farmers face even more difficulty in determining how to best manage limited water.
Nathan Hendricks, assistant professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, recently examined how the value of agricultural production declines as water availability decreases. He specifically looked at two general management methods to determine which is more effective: deficit irrigation on a larger number of acres versus more intense irrigation on a smaller number of acres.
Intensive focus on fewer acres seems to have the upper hand
To answer the question of which is better, pumping more intensively on fewer acres versus less intensively on more acres, Hendricks said he first looked at the basic economics. The question only relates to those facing limited irrigation, not those farmers who currently have limited authorized irrigated acreage and can fully irrigate that acreage.
“The simple intuition is you first want to decrease intensity and maintain acreage if a 1 percent reduction in intensity decreases returns by less than 1 percent,” Hendricks said. “But, eventually as irrigation becomes more limited, you want to end up at an intensity level such that if you decreased (irrigation) intensity by 1 percent, you would decrease your returns by 1 percent.”
“The economically optimal place is where either reducing intensity or reducing acreage gives you the same loss in return,” he continued. “This is constant returns to intensity. Once you have reached this intensity, then it is optimal to further reduce irrigation water use by reducing acreage.”
A county-level data analysis of crop production in the Great Plains and Corn Belt showed losing about 1 to 1.5 inches of precipitation short of meeting the evapotranspiration demand for crops, including corn, is about the place where water hits this constant returns to intensity, Hendricks said.
Crop water need, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization, is the depth of water required to meet the water loss through evapotranspiration—loss of water through evaporation from the soil and transpiration from the plant. Evapotranspiration helps determine how much water is needed by rain or irrigation for crops such as corn.
“One of the key things that surprised me when I did the analysis is that’s quite a bit of water per acre only being 1 to 1.5 inches short of meeting evapotranspiration demand for corn,” Hendricks said. “It suggests that a pretty intense level of irrigation is optimal even when water is severely limited. As we’re seeing dwindling water supplies, it will likely be optimal to start reducing irrigated acreage relatively soon.”
To further illustrate, Hendricks gave an example where a farmer may choose to cut his or her irrigated acreage almost in half—say 120 acres of limited irrigated corn (irrigated at half of corn evapotranspiration demand) down to 66 acres of more intensely irrigated corn (irrigated at optimal constant returns to intensity). That farmer originally had 40 acres of dryland corn, but now tacks on the remaining 54 acres of those 120 acres formerly under limited irrigation, to now equal 94 total dryland acres.
“Before, you were only doing half of corn evapotranspiration demand,” he said. “It could be that you’re planting wheat to do that, or whatever other crops, but the idea is that you’re doing a limited intensity over a large acreage. What’s optimal, according to my numbers, is that you would more intensively irrigate, but you would reduce your irrigated acreage. If you do this, you could pay another $4,260 in rent over the entire 160 acres. You’re getting a lot more value by irrigating a limited area at a more intense level.”
Irrigators should crunch their own numbers to figure out when they are getting below this constant returns to intensity level, Hendricks said, and then they would likely be better off reducing irrigated acreage and increasing intensity.
The role of LEMAs and irrigation timing
Policy-wise in Kansas, the role of local enhanced management areas (LEMAs) comes into play, if groundwater management districts (GMDs) decide to establish their own groundwater conservation policies. LEMAs are water conservation plans voluntarily implemented by agricultural producers, and made possible by a bill passed in the Kansas Legislature in 2012. The first LEMA in Kansas, the Sheridan-Thomas County LEMA, or Sheridan 6 LEMA, is in the northwest part of the state.
“As people are talking about LEMAs, they’re thinking about reducing their water use,” Hendricks said. “How are they going to adapt to less water? How can they get the most value if they’re going to limit the amount of water? How will the value of agricultural production decline if they restrict their water use?”
In addition to examining how LEMAs could further affect limited irrigation, Hendricks said he would like to research further how farmers could time irrigation to get more value out of it. Perhaps they could reduce intensity more just by optimally timing irrigation.
Hendricks said he wants to know how much water farmers could reduce before they see a 10 percent decrease in water use decreasing returns by 10 percent.
“At some point we’re going to hit that, my analysis suggests,” he said. “I’m not exactly sure where, but that’s certainly a conversation for producers. It’s this idea that we can decrease water use without a huge loss in returns. Then at some point it starts to decline at a linear rate.”
