Agriculture and Natural Resources Madison County Extension offers educational opportunities to producers and agri-businessmen on crops, diseases, pest management, farm and business management, risk management, erosion control, livestock management and water quality. Programs are offered throughout the year. For more agriculture information, please call our office, 859-623-4072. Directions to Madison County Extension Center

Farm Field Day was a great success!
Farm Field Day, held at Billy and Debbie Foster's Farm was enjoyed by over 200 participants this year! Thanks to all who helped make the event a success! Watch for photos and details coming soon.

Madison County Conservation Office begins K.A.R.E. Drought Relief Program. See the Ag Newsletter for details.

Fall Bred Replacement Heifer Sale Planned
If you are interested in selling in the “Fall Replacement Heifer Sale”, give me a call.  Heifers bred for this sale must be bred to bulls in the top 25 percent of their breed for birth weight EPD’s.  They must meet pelvic measurements requirements, follow health vaccination requirements, and be field inspected for quality and weight. Calfhood vaccinations are not a requirement this year. However, they are encouraged. Due to the interest and potential selling demand we may have to limit the number each producer consigns. Let me know if you are interested (859-623-4072). I’ll be glad to discuss requirements. This sale will take place at the Bluegrass Stockyards of Richmond LLC.

Ag News and Events...

Fusarium Wilt in Tobacco Fusarium wilt of tobacco is beginning to crop up around the state. We have had a surge in the number of cases & calls related to Fusarium wilt in recent days.  Plants with this disease tend to be stunted & often show a one-sided wilting of the plant or one-sided yellowing of leaves; however, whole-plant yellowing is not uncommon.  A key diagnostic feature can be observed by cutting through the stem of a suspect plant.  In plants affected by Fusarium wilt, the xylem tissue will be brown-to-black in color, giving the appearance of a ring of discoloration when looking at a stem in cross-section.

Fusarium wilt is a soilborne disease like black shank, and many of the control options are similar to what we’d recommend for black shank (sanitation, rotation, and resistance).  The pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. nicotianae, is moved easily by any means that would spread infested soil, so sanitation is very important (particularly cleaning equipment & feet when moving between fields).  Fusarium wilt spreads much more slowly than black shank & it is very unlikely to get multiple infection cycles in a season.  Dry weather tends to increase the severity of Fusarium wilt in the field, and this is one of the reasons that the disease is becoming evident – despite early rains, many areas around KY have had a fairly dry June.  There are no chemical controls that we recommend at this time; resistance & rotation are key to managing this problem.  Unlike black shank, the choice of varieties with reasonably good resistance to Fusarium wilt is limited to KY 14 x L8, NC 4, NC 7, Hybrid 403, Hybrid 501, R7-11, and R7-12.  Unfortunately, these varieties do not have good resistance to black shank, and those that have decent black shank resistance (like KT 204) have very little, if any, resistance to Fusarium wilt.  Varieties like TN 86, TN 90, and TN 97 have no resistance to Fusarium wilt.  We’ve seen some cases this year of growers switching from KY 14 x L8 to get away from black shank and learning, by planting KT 204, that their field had high levels of Fusarium wilt.

 Shortening the Calving Season: A Success Story
Dr. Les Anderson, Beef Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky
Most producers will agree that having a short breeding and calving season has advantages.  Research has shown that controlled calving improves weaning weight, reproductive rate, cow performance, production efficiency, and profitability.  Even though most producers would like to have a short, controlled calving season, most find it difficult to accomplish.

Last year, the University of Kentucky conducted a demonstration in cooperation with Mr. Wendall Gabbard in Jackson County.  Our goal was to shorten the calving season of Mr. Gabbard’s cowherd from 10 months to two, 60 day calving-seasons; one in the spring and one in the fall.  Cows in this herd calved from Feb until November.  We decided to establish a group of cows that would calve in March and April and a group of cows that would calve in September and October.

We began this demonstration in the Fall of 2006.  Cows that calved from February 1st to May 1^st were selected for the spring herd (20 cows).  The remaining cows were selected for the fall calving herd (24 cows).  Most of the cows selected for the fall calving herd calved in October and November.  Estrus was synchronized in this herd by inserting a CIDR^® (Phizer, Inc.) device into the cows for 7 days immediately preceding the bull turnout.  The day after the CIDR devices were removed, the bull was turned out with the cows.  The bull used was a mature bull and had passed a breeding soundness examination.

The results of this trial were very interesting.  Pregnancy rate was fantastic as 23 of the 24 cows conceived.  Unfortunately, two of the cows were observed aborting before calving.  All 21 of the cows calved from September 11^th to November 11^th.  Eighteen of the cows calved in the first 40 days.  Certainly, Mr. Gabbard was pleased with the reproductive performance of his cowherd and remarked that this was the heaviest set of calves he has ever had.

The following breeding season, Mr. Gabbard simply turned a bull out with his cows.  Of the 21 cows in the fall calving herd, 18 conceived within the first 30 days of the breeding season, two conceived the next cycle and only one cow was open.  Obviously, once this cowherd was “straightened out”, cow reproductive performance remained high.

Inserting a CIDR device for 7 days prior to bull turnout can help shorten the breeding and calving season.  The cost of the CIDR devices is usually about $10 per cow.  However, based upon the breeding performance and weaning weight achieved in Mr. Gabbard’s cowherd, we estimated that using the CIDR devices returned approximately $110 per cow.

Educational programs of the Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.