The field is where Cade Stover feels the most at home — not just on the football field, donning his No. 16 Ohio State jersey, but also the hay field, and in the driver’s seat of a tractor. Stover may be known for his athletic career, but his farming background is what sets him apart.
The 6-foot 4-inch 255-pound tight end is poised for big things this season (and this weekend against Oregon) for the Buckeyes. In 2020 he moved into the role from the linebacker position. He also played a key role on special teams. He made three tackles in 2020, including two against Michigan State, and also forced a fumble. Stover played in four games as a true freshman for the Buckeyes in 2019 and redshirted.
Stover made an impression on the coaching staff with his work ethic this summer, which will hopefully translate into more playing time in 2021.… Continue reading
Farmers in the South American country of Argentina have struggled through severe drought in recent years thanks to multiple years of La Niña. Mark Brusberg, USDA chief meteorologist, recently spoke at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Ag Outlook Forum. He said the pattern may finally be changing for Argentina.
“The good news for some of these producers is we are now forecast to go into an El Niño. What does that mean? They look forward to this circulation pattern,” Brusberg said. “Now this is completely the opposite of what you would expect to normally happen. You’ve got reverse flow all over the place, but interestingly enough, the impacts really are the opposite of what you get during a La Niña. And in the case of Argentina, you would expect wetter than normal conditions.”
Brusberg said this is reason for some optimism ahead in Argentina for improving yields.
“What we’ve seen in past years in Argentina is that the years after La Niñas they tend to rebound.… Continue reading
The Northwest Indian War (~1785-1795), also known as Little Turtle’s War, was fought to establish European dominance and control of the Northwest Territory north of the Ohio River in what is now the state of Ohio. The Northwest Indian War played a significant role in the white settlement of the United States frontier and the displacement of the area’s indigenous tribal peoples. The lands of Ohio hosted the largest and most consequential battles of this often small-scale and tit-for-tat series of armed skirmishes that pitted confederated Native American tribes against white settlers and the United States military.
After the Revolutionary War, the British-ceded land of the Northwest Territories had yet to be fully settled and governed. Following a series of tribal attacks against pioneer settlements such as the Big Bottom Massacre in 1791 that left around 11 settlers dead and the attempted Shawnee/Wyandotte siege on Dunlap’s Station in that same year, it became clear from the European perspective that settlement north of the Ohio River would only occur with a significant defeat and vanquishing of the native population. … Continue reading
By James Hoorman, Hoorman Soil Health Services, Adapted from article by Elizabeth Creech, NRCS.
Veteran no-tillers know that no-till farming offers several benefits including keeping soil in place, improved nutrient recycling; savings on labor and fuel; and improved water infiltration, water storage, and drought resiliency. No-till means that farmers plant into an undisturbed soil that is teaming with microbes. Beneficial microbes prefer a stable environment to grow, so soil health improves over time.
High fuel prices, high inputs costs for chemicals and fertilizer, labor shortages, and weather issues are starting to make no-till farming more appealing. Getting started in no-till can be challenging because it is a different system and it takes time to learn new skills. Here are some tips for getting started.
First, it helps to solve some of your existing problems. Make sure you have adequate drainage, take care of the weeds, and soil tests to address fertility issues. … Continue reading
By Peggy Kirk Hall, director of agricultural law, Ohio State University Agricultural and Resource Law Program
Did you know yellow grove bamboo is on Ohio’s “noxious weeds” list? We’ve seen an increase in legal questions about bamboo, a plant that can cross property boundaries pretty quickly and create a neighbor dispute. Weeds often cause neighbor issues, which is why Ohio has a set of noxious weed laws. The laws aim to resolve problems around yellow grove bamboo and other species designated as “noxious weeds.”
The noxious weeds list
The Ohio legislature designated shatter cane and Russian thistle as noxious weeds years ago, then granted the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) the authority to determine other noxious weeds that could be prohibited in Ohio. Since that time, the noxious weed list has grown to include 31 weed species. Two of the species, yellow grove bamboo and grapevines, are noxious weeds only if not managed in a certain way. … Continue reading
As fall approaches, Seed Genetics Direct, will host its annual corn and soybean field days throughout Ohio and Indiana between August 24 and Sept. 16 (see schedule below).
As farmers begin to make planting decisions for 2023, field days provide the opportunity to tour corn and soybean fields to learn and compare how new and previous corn hybrids, soybean varieties and treatments performed this growing season. Seedsmen will also be available to provide detailed information and answer questions. Field days are free and open to all farmers.
“At our field days, growers will see our 34 corn hybrids, five of which are new genetics, as well as our 28 soybean offerings, eight of which are new. They can also learn about our technologies, sprays and treatments that increase yield and help protect from Tar Spot, Western Bean Cutworm, Black Cutworm, Barley Yellow Dwarf, Fusarium, Pythium, Phytophthora, Phomopsis, Rhizoctonia and more. If they want, they can also place an order to ensure they get the best savings, including early order discounts of $10 off corn and $4 off soybeans,” explained Todd Jeffries, vice president of Seed Genetics Direct.… Continue reading
Shorter days, cooler temperatures and sweet apple cider usher in the fall season, and with it Log Cabin Days at Hochstetler Log Homes in Loudonville, at 552 State Route 95, Loudonville, OH 44842. Join in the family friendly fun Friday, Sept. 16 and Saturday, Sept. 17. One of the highlights of the event will be the log home tour, where visitors are able to go through up to 8 log homes and discover the casual, relaxing lifestyle that characterizes log home living. This self-guided tour is available for a small donation which supports the American Cancer Society.
The two-day family oriented event has something for everyone and will also include:
Demonstrations of lumberjack skills, ax throwing, wood chopping and cross cut sawing
19th century log home related trades such as hand hewing, wood carving, furniture making, gun building, spinning and rug braiding
Log home building.
Many activities will encourage audience participation as well as offer a lineup of excellent seminar speakers.… Continue reading
The 10th stop of the North Leg of the Ohio Crop Tour, Sponsored by Ohio Field Leader, A project of the Ohio Soybean Council and Soybean Checkoff was in Delaware County.
Corn
This was a great high population stand of corn at 34,000 plants per acre. The stand was uniform, but there was variability in the ear size.
There was little to no insect or disease pressure.
It had an estimated yield of 207 bushels per acre.
Soybeans
The soybeans we evaluated were a 3.1 bean. They were planted on May 25th in 15 inch rows.
There was some inconsistency in height and holes in some spots as well as pale in color due to excess water.
The canopy was 36″ with moderately spaced nodes.
There were mild symptoms of septoria and 5% defoliation from bean leaf beetle.
The beans were at R4 with a population of 126,000.
The average pod count was 34 with 2 -3 beans per pod and 16 nodes per plant.… Continue reading
Animals, especially at night, rely on their noses to lead them to a broad range of food sources. Hunters take advantage of this concept to attract deer and elk that are searching for their next dinner.
Famous University of Sydney ecologist Catherine Price, PhD, and her colleagues have published a study that details how animals use their sense of smell to find food. She also researched how animal owners may be able to use odors to lead astray fox, coyotes, and other predators, to prevent them from killing their livestock and pets.
This study really hits close to home for me. A raccoon got into the chicken coop my late wife Kristen maintained. Her chickens were all wiped out in one night.
The study also brings back memories of my parents, who every year planted a half-row each of marigolds and chrysanthemums in their large garden. These flowers weren’t for decoration.… Continue reading
Following the noon report release, corn was down 28 cents, soybeans down 38 cents, and wheat 13 cents. Prior to the report, corn was down 23 cents, soybeans down 31 cents, and wheat down 12 cents.
Broken record….again. The theme two weeks ago was inflation and recession concerns with consecutive days of dime plus losses for corn, soybeans, and wheat. The U.S. jobs report last week provided only a short term reprieve from the negative market tone. U.S. job growth was stronger than expected and moved the market talk away from inflation and recession.
Today those two items are once again dominating news headlines. Grains are all lower this morning gaining additional strength with losses getting bigger at the 9:30 am restart for the grains.
The U.S. Midwest 2-week forecasts are warm and dry. Monday’s noon weather forecasts provided more rain than earlier expected. Those forecasts provided additional resistance for grain prices, moving them away from the highs of the day established during the night session. … Continue reading
We are getting things wrapped up with planting. We managed to get all of the corn in we were planning on planting. We were able to get the corn spotted in that we needed to get done, though it was probably in vain because we got a rain on June 6 that turned the ground to cement. A lot of our beans have spots in them too because of that rain. For the most part, we are alright where we are at, but it wasn’t the best situation this spring. We are still looking at replanting a couple places in the beans. We finished planting beans on June 20 and we replanted up to 2 days ago and we still may still touch up a couple of places. We replanted about 15 acres of corn. One field in particular, we thought about ripping up, but it turned out to be a really nice stand.… Continue reading
The 2022 date for the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) tenth annual Replacement Female Sale will be Friday evening, November 25. The sale will be held at the Muskingum Livestock Auction Co. in Zanesville, Ohio and will begin at 6:00 p.m.
The tenth edition of OCA Replacement Female Sale will provide an opportunity for both buyers and sellers to meet the need for quality replacements in the state. Consignments may include cow-calf pairs, bred cows and bred heifers. Females must be under the age of five as of January 1, 2023 and may be of registered or commercial background. Bred females must be bred to a bull with known EPD’s and calves at side of cows must be sired by a bull with known EPD’s. Pregnancy status must be verified by an accredited veterinarian through traditional palpation, ultrasound or by blood testing through a professional laboratory. Analysis must be performed within 60 days of sale.… Continue reading
As the national price of diesel fuel averages around $5.40 per gallon, many farmers are considering no-tilling both soybeans and corn for the first time. Also, due to wet weather and a late planting window, getting crop seed in the ground becomes even more important. Here are a few tips that may help improve your first year no-till crop yields.
First, scout your fields. Weeds like purple dead nettle, henbit, dandelion, chickweed, yellow rocket, ragweed and marestail can be problems and require a good burndown herbicide.
Marestail
Most farmers will use glyphosate (Roundup®)but remember that as a chelator, glyphosate ties up many micronutrients, especially iron, manganese, zinc, and copper, so minimize it use.
Second, check for slugs and other pests, especially in weedy fields. Ferroyx® is a new slug bait that has a 40-day residual. The pellets are very small and the slugs ingest it.
I farm in eastern Ohio with my father. I am the fourth generation of the farm on a dairy and grain operation. We rotate corn, soybeans, wheat, and hay. We are milking about 65 cows and we stay pretty busy with that. We raise corn silage and mainly alfalfa hay with a little bit of sorghum-sudan and ryelage.
The milk prices are definitely climbing. We like this cooler weather for the cows as long as we don’t get too much temperature fluctuation. The manure has been tricky. With the weather we have had we have not been able to get as much spread on some ground as we would like to because field conditions have not permitted. We are also trucking it farther to try and cut down on fertilizer costs at different locations. These prices make you look at things a little closer.
The majority of our ground is rolling hills and we have a lot of strips.… Continue reading
National FFA week is a busy week for every FFA chapter around the country. It is meant to be a week of celebrating the great and national organization that is the FFA. Northwestern FFA took time to celebrate the hard working members in several ways. To kick off the week, the school had spirit days. Our theme days were, Tuesday American day, Wednesday Groutfit day, Thursday Animal day, and Friday Farmer day. Each spirit day was in correlation to our Officer Opening Ceremonies. During the week members wrote thank you cards to their supporters and made tie blankets to donate to the Pregnancy Care Center in Wooster, Salvation Army, and a local Veterans home. The chapter also held an assembly on Tuesday, with middle school students with fun activities to promote agriculture and FFA. On Wednesday, we held our first annual supporter luncheon. Officers sent out invitations to local supporters and invited them to a “Supporter Luncheon” held in the Ag Shop.… Continue reading
No masks required! And the discounted $100 pre-registration is good through March 1 at: ctc.osu.edu.
The annual Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference will be held March 8-9 at the McIntosh Center of Ohio Northern University, 525 S. Main St., in Ada. CTC is presented by The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) and other supporters.
Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) continuing education credits are available, with an emphasis on soil and water management, crop management and nutrient management. Plenty of Certified Livestock Manager (CLM) credits are also available.
The event focuses on providing information to farmers on promoting and maintaining soil health, said Randall Reeder, a retired Ohio State University Extension agricultural engineer.
From offering a workshop on “Water and Drainage Laws-What is new in Ohio,” and a discussion on “Corn Management Today, Does Chasing the Last Bushel Pay,” the two-day event is designed to provide opportunities “for farmers and crop consultants to learn about the latest technology and practices for conserving soil and improving water quality and how that can boost their financial bottom line while conserving their soils,” Reeder said.… Continue reading
By Randall Reeder, Ohio State University Extension Agricultural Engineer (retired)
“Glover, they’re going to fire you.”
The first time Glover Triplett took his wife to see the new no-till research plots in 1962, the corn was about a foot tall, and the ground was littered with dead weeds and corn stalks from the previous year. The plot looked awful compared to a clean tilled field. She was scared he would lose his first faculty position at OSU-OARDC in Wooster.
Well, he was not fired, and neither was his co-researcher, Dave Van Doren. But they did attract interesting questions about their innovative research, including, “How can you measure erosion if you don’t have any runoff?”
Triplett and Van Doren established identical plots in 1963 at Hoytville (Wood County) and South Charleston (Clark County). These plots at OSU-OARDC research stations continue to give valuable results today. No-till was known as “farming ugly” in the early days by farmers accustomed to perfectly clean fields, with not a speck of crop residue. Since these earliest experiments, Ohio has played a unique and important role in the world of no-till. … Continue reading
By Daniele Siqueira, AgRural Commodities Agrícolas
Imagine having your soybean crop trying to bloom and fill pods under 100 to 110 degrees every day for two weeks, after receiving below-normal rains for nearly three months and already having lost most of your corn crop, which is planted earlier than soybeans. That has been the reality in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost state and number-three soybean producer.
In the first days of January, AgRural cut its production estimate for the 2021-22 Brazilian soybean crop to 133.4 million metric tons, 12 million down from the potential production forecasted in early November and about 4 million metric tons smaller than the record crop harvested in 2020-21. Even before the failure in Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná (our number-two soybean producing state) also lost a significant part of its crop due to hot dry conditions in November and December, and further damage occurred in January. … Continue reading
Temperatures across Ohio have been running 2-6°F above average (1991-2010) during the month of December, almost guaranteeing another top 10 warmest year on record for the Buckeye State (1895-present). Daily average soil temperatures remain above freezing, with upper 30s to low 40s across the north and low to mid 40s across central and southern counties.
Precipitation, mainly in the form of rain, has been plentiful as well with a large portion of the state picking up 2-4 inches of precipitation since Dec. 1. Pockets of heavier precipitation can be found across portions of southwest, north central, and southern Ohio. Snowfall has been very light, even across the snowbelt areas of the northeast, with less than 1 inch statewide.
Forecast
High pressure will remain anchored across the Ohio Valley for the next couple of days, with cool daytime highs in the upper 30s to mid 40s.… Continue reading
Seed Genetics Direct, the largest Ohio-based independent seed company, as well as the fastest-growing in the Eastern Corn Belt, will host its Herbicide and Seed Days on Dec. 28 and Dec. 30 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Dec. 28 event will be held in Williamsburg, Ind. at 7263 North U.S. Highway 35. The Dec. 30 event will be held at the SGD main offices in Jeffersonville, 9983 Jeffersonville-West Lancaster Road.
Free and open to all farmers, Herbicide and Seed Days provide the opportunity for farmers to talk with a seedsman about their needs while taking advantage of early-order and early-pay discounts.
“It’s a rapidly-changing and unpredictable herbicide market, but we are working hard to secure good positioning on products our customers will need this spring,” said Todd Jeffries, SGD vice president. “The best advice right now is to order and pay as soon as possible in order to get the best product pricing and availability.”… Continue reading
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