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In this issue
Attention Pork
Producers
Jerry Weiss, ISUE Swine Field
Specialist
I want to bring to your
attention two swine seminars that will be of interest to pork producers.
The first seminar will
be titled – “Advanced Swine Animal Health.” This seminar will be held in
five different locations across the state during the week of February 17,
2003. The first session will be held in Carroll on the 17th. The
second session will be at Cherokee on the 18th. The other three
sessions will be in the Central and Eastern part of the state. Some of the
topics will be - Circovirus/PMWS, Hepatitis E, PRRS and other breeding herd
and grow finish problem areas.
The second seminar that
will be of interest to pork producers is titled – “Managing Your Unseen
Employee – The Ventilation System.” This seminar will be held in only two
locations. The first one will be March 4th at Calumet – ISU NW
Research Farm. The other session will be held March 5th at Sac
City.
This seminar will be a
hands-on experience on setting fan controllers, adjusting inlets, static
pressure effects, dirty fan effects and other real-life effects. The
hands-on portion will be conducted using a six foot by six foot by eight
foot mobile ventilation room. The classroom sessions will include the basics
of ventilation systems, effective temperature requirements, trouble shooting
tools and techniques, and other ventilation situations.
For more information on
either of these programs, contact Jerry Weiss, ISU Extension Swine Field
Specialist at 712-335-3103 or email weissj@iastate.edu
Impact of Ethanol Plants
Pete Olson, ISUE
Beef Field Specialist
Do you know the economic impact an ethanol plant can
have in your community? Do you know how many bushels of corn it requires to
produce a gallon of ethanol? With three ethanol plants online in northwest
Iowa and more being planned there is a lot of interest of these plants and
what they require to operate. The numbers can be very surprising if your
not aware of how the process works. Here are some facts you may not know
about ethanol production and production of the feed co-products.
-
One bushel of corn produces 2.65 gallons
of ethanol and 17 air dry pounds of co-product.
-
To produce one million gallons of ethanol
in a year requires 1,034 bushels of corn/day and produces 8.8 tons of
co-product per day.
-
Average daily co-product consumption is
3.65 air dry pounds per feedlot animal.
-
Daily inventory of cattle needed to
consume ethanol co-products is 5000 head per million gallons.
For Example: One
moderate-sized ethanol plant producing 45 million gallons annually will:
At this rate, cattle
producers would use an additional 20 million bushels of corn and 124,000
tons of hay to supplement the co-product feed yearly, adding sizable value
to Iowa agriculture products.
These plants will
provide great cattle feeding opportunities for the state of Iowa and the
cattle industry. If you are not familiar with these feed co-products the
Iowa Beef Center has 2 new publications. If you would like to view these
contact your local extension office and ask for publications IBC-18 and
IBC-19. They are also viewable on the Iowa Beef Center’s web page.
www.iowabeefcenter.org
Late Season Hail
Damage
Paul Kassel, ISUE Crops Field
Specialist
A hail storm on October
1, 2002 damaged soybeans in a large part of northwest Iowa. Many fields had
a total loss of soybean seed. Questions have arisen on the fertilizer value
of the hailed-out soybean seed.
Nitrogen (N)
value
-
conservative value is 3.1 pounds of N
per bushel
-
assume
80% is available to next years corn crop
-
N
in the soybean is protein
-
this
N is not considered volatile - soil incorporation not necessary
-
N
from the rotation effect (up to 50 lb/acre) is in addition to
soybean
-
N contribution
Crop available N value from different levels
of soybean loss
-
10 bu/a loss - 25
lb N/acre
-
20 bu/a loss - 50
lb N/acre
-
30 bu/a loss - 75 lb
N/acre
-
40 bu/a loss – 100 lb
N/acre
-
50 bu/a loss – 125 lb
N/acre
Adjust N rate where soybean seed was lost
(assumed N need of 150 lb N/acre)
-
total
loss – apply 15-30 lb N/acre
-
40 bu/a
loss – apply 50 lb N/acre
-
30 bu/a
loss – apply 75 lb N/acre
-
20 bu/a
loss – apply 100 lb N/acre
-
10 bu/a
loss – apply 125 lb N/acre
Phosphorus and
potassium in soybean seed
-
10 bu/a
loss – 8 lb P2O5/acre, 15 lb K2O/acre
-
20 bu/a
loss – 16 lb P2O5/acre, 30 lb K2O/acre
-
30 bu/a
loss – 24 lb P2O5/acre, 45 lb K2O/acre
-
40 bu/a
loss – 32 lb P2O5/acre, 60 lb K2O/acre
-
50 bu/a
loss – 40 lb P2O5/acre, 75 lb K2O/acre
A total loss of soybean
seed from hail will be the equivalent of returning to the soil the P and K
removal rate of the soybean grain crop. The P and K returned to the soil in
the hailed soybean seed can be credited toward the P and K needs of next
year’s corn crop.
Farm Management
Thoughts
Ron Hook, ISUE Farm Management
Specialist
A.M.E.S. is here!
Three Agricultural
Management e-school (A.M.E.S.) courses will be available for students this
winter. These courses are Advanced Grain Marketing, Financial Decision
Making, and Farmland Ownership.
A.M.E.S. is an ISU
Extension Outreach Institute providing on-line courses on a variety of farm
management subjects. Students can register online at
www.extension.iastate.edu/ames for any of the above courses.
Coursework consists of
readings, assignments, quizzes, online dialogue and more that can be
accessed any time of the day. For more information contact your county
Extension office or visit the A.M.E.S. website.
Farm Bill Analysis
ISU Extension is providing help for farmers
unsure of which of the five available options to choose for farm bill
signup.
Ron Hook and Tom Olsen,
Area Extension Farm Management Specialists are willing to provide analysis
of the options using computer spreadsheets that will provide some guidance
in this decision.
If you would like to
set up a time to do the analysis for your operation, call Tom at
712-732-5056 or Ron at 712-754-3648 today.
Improving Longevity
of Dairy Cows --- Start with Genetics
Chris Mondak, ISUE Dairy Field
Specialist
During the past few
years, the cost of dairy replacement heifers has greatly increased, while
the value of cull cows has stayed the same. This makes it more important
than ever to keep cows productive, healthy, and in the herd longer to reduce
a dairy’s expenditures for replacements.
While it is wise to
utilize management practices such as transition and fresh cow programs, cow
comfort improvements, reproduction programs, and udder health programs, Dr.
Marj Faust, Extension Dairy Specialist at Iowa State University, says the
opportunity to improve longevity starts with a genetics plan. Dr.
Faust outlines four genetic strategies to improve the productive life of
dairy cows:
When making
decisions on sire selection, use Net Merit Dollars (NM$) to rank service
sires. This is the genetic
measure that incorporates the economically important traits (yield traits,
udder traits, functional type, mastitis resistance) as well as Productive
Life (PL).
Avoid inbreeding.
Select superior sires, but avoid
excessive inbreeding. High levels of inbreeding can result in depressed
longevity, reproduction & survival, and can increase susceptibility to
disease. To minimize inbreeding, use a reliable ID system and keep parentage
records for 4 or more generations. Mate cows to maximize NM$ adjusted
for inbreeding effects.
Be judicious with
cross-breeding. Some producers
are looking to cross-breeding as a way to help reduce inbreeding and gain
cow longevity. Dr. Faust advises to keep long-term profitability in mind
when using cross-breeding. The data available at this point on cross-bred
animals shows that most of the benefit is gained in the young animal.
Calfhood survivability is improved in cross-breds, for example, but there
are not always clear gains as the animal gets older. New Zealand data shows
that cross-breeding may yield gains in reproduction and productive life in
older animals, but this and other cross breeding schemes are not yet proven
to be economically profitable in the US dairy industry, which is on a
non-quota system. Two important things to keep in mind when considering
cross-breeding: Breed choice is important. In the US, Holstein, Jersey, and
Brown Swiss breeds offer the most viable purebred stock. Once the breeds are
chosen, look closely at individual animals to select for the desired
characteristics just as in typical mating schemes.
Select for calving
ease. When mating heifers, sire
selection should balance NM$, inbreeding, and Service Sire Calving
Ease. Minimizing difficult calvings is a wise genetic strategy for
improving heifer stayability and calf livability. Choose sires that score no
more than 10% on Percentage of Difficult Births in Heifers (%DBH).
For more details on
these genetic strategies, you may reach Dr. Marj Faust in Ames at
515-294-2793, or by e-mail at
mafaust@iastate.edu.
Upcoming dairy events:
Transition Cow Nutrition ICN series, Jan 7 and Feb 12 at Sioux Center, Rock
Rapids, Cherokee and Algona
Western Iowa Dairy Expo, Jan 15-16,
Sioux City
Convention Center
ISU Dairy
Days, March 5, 6, 7 at Sioux Center, Rock Rapids, Cherokee and Algona
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