A6 - THE PERKINS
JOURNAL,
Thursday,
December 25, 2014
Back Page
By Payne County Extension Educators
Nathan Anderson, Agriculture Educator
Dea Rash, FCS Educator
Brenda Brantley, 4-H Youth Development
Keith Reed, Horticulture Educator
Suzette Barta, Rural Development
http://oces.okstate.edu/payne
AG NEWS with samples every spring, Forage Disaster Program
but unfortunately that is not have helped remedy some
Central Oklahoma Cattle the case. of the financial strain expe-
Conference Several surveys over the rienced in the less profitable,
The Payne County Exten- years have continued to show drought stricken, high feed
sion office and the Oklahoma that few people soil test reg- stuff years. Cow calf produc-
Cattleman's Association will ular!y and some of those ers seem to be responding to
be sponsoring the Central don't even follow the soiltest the expansion call.
Oklahoma Cattle Conference recommendation once it is As cow calf managers, the
onFriday, January 30, 2014, received. Just in the past few question of how to expand is
at the Payne county Expo months Extension educators more difficult than the ques-
Center beginning at 8:00 in northeast Oklahoma have tion of should we expand.
am and concluding at 4:00 reported or diagnosed, severe A quick survey of the mar-
pm. This program is open yield limiting potassium defi- kets show groups of yearling
to the public and has $10.00 ciencies, poor wheat growth replacements about $1,700,
per individual fee. Area due to excessively low pH, bred heifers around $2,500,
businesses are welcome to poor forage growth due to and aged cows selling higher
register for a booth at this excessively high pH and than ever. Generally speak-
program by submitting a micronuWients applied with- ing, these prices are not out
description of the materials out first getting a soil test to of line With the possible net
they would like to distribute see what if any micronutri- rettLms from the current calf
and a fee of $50.00. Each ents were needed. Nothing market, pasture conditions,
of the fees mentioned above that could be done offered a and input costs. Unfortu-
include one meal. Topics greater return on inveslment nately, evaluating the invest-
include 2015 cattle market than what is possible from a ment in a cow herd is a long
outlook, OQBN, Parasitology $10 soil test. term decision that extends
for Cattle Producers, Teff The folks who study the past the current markets.
Production in Oklahoma, adaptationofnewtechnology Our other expansion option
Creep Grazing Demonstra- would tell you that some will is to retain heifers that were
tion Summary, Entry level study their lesson make a raised on our own operation.
GPS Guidance System and decision and quickly move This method of expansion
Farm Bill Update. Speakers toward early implementation provides many advantages.
presenting these topics will ofnewtechnology.Somewill Being able to retain females
be Dr. Derrell Pell, Grant watch closely until they see it out of otu" own genetics that
Mourer, Dr. Justin Talley, is successful with others and hopefully are a great match
Dr. Randy Taylor, Brian then move toward implemen- to our production system
Pugh, Earl Ward and Scott tation. Others willimplement can pay long term dividends.
Clawson. Pre-registration is the new technology when There is also value in know-
Required by Friday, January they determine it is critical ing how these heifers are
23 , For additional information for their survival. And a developed nutritionally as
or to register for thiS confer- last group will implement a research has shown time and
ence,please contact the Payne new technology only when time agahl that it impacts the
County Extension office at it becomes legally mandated, long term productivity of the
405-747-8320. So, even if there was cheap females. Collectively, the
simple add on guaranteed to more influence we have man-
Is's Soil Sampling Time increase fuel efficiency there aging the heifers, the more
for Summer Crops and would still be those who certain we can be that it is
Forages would not make the effort done correctly. Keep in mind
Ifthere was a simple $10 add to change. After decades that management decisions
on that could be purchased at of promoting soil testing I need to l:e evaluated again
the automotive parts store, guess those of us who work at these unprecedented price
installed in 30 minutes with in Extension Education have levels. As a quick example,
a tool as simple as a screw- witnessed the same reluc- virtually all producers would
driver, that would guarantee tance to adapt a proven tech- agree that we should select
an improvement in fuel effi- nology, a calving ease bull to use on
ciency of your cars, trucks, But even after decades of heifers. But, have we calcu-
and tractors, for as long as 3 promoting soil testing we lated what using that low birth
years, would you do it? For won't give up. Call your weight btdl costs an average
the soil on your property, soil county extension office for size operation? An average
testing could be considered more information about the size cow calf operation con-
that miracle product. Using benefits of soil testing, sisting of 30 cows that keeps
a simple soil probe it takes back 5 replacements every
about 30 minutes to collect a Every Decision Counts year to replace aging cows
good sample, one trip to town All signals point to go. would only be able to justify
to deliver it to the Extension Drought conditions that have having one bull around. If we
office, it costs $10, and it will hampered cow herd expan- purchased this bullwith the
guarantee an improvement sion in the recent past have intention to keep heifers then
in crop production efficiency been largely alleviated in
for up to 3 years before it this region, and cow calf
needs to be "replaced". You returns are at historic highs.
would think the extension At the same time, the pay-
office would be inundated ments from the Livestock
P.O. Box 842 Stillwater, OK 74076-0842
405-372-3367
I FARMERS & RANCHERS
fJla~ I11~ ¢01muet~
PERKINS INSURANCE
AGENCY, INC.
MARY A. MORRIS, AGENT
p JOSHUA E. MORRIS, AGENT
121 N. Main. P.O. Box 136 i;
Perkins, OK 74059
547-2971 ......
the birth weight EPD re ived affordable levels. Without the The Farm Bill 2014
quite a bit of selection pres- economy of scale to spread The 2014 Farm Bill is
sure, and we sacrificed in costs over a larger herd, pro- very complex. Producers
otherareas.Ifourcalvingease dqction costs can be difficult have the option to reallocate
bull sacrifices 25 pounds of to control. In addition, man- base acres and update yields,
weaning weight on the calves agement decisions are based and producers can enroll
from the 25 mature cows, on time limitations because in four different farm bill
then we have forfeited some many small-scale producers options, Agricultural Risk
significant revenue. Twen- haveaprimaryjobofforelse- Coverage (or ARC) County,
ty-five pounds multiplied by where on the farm. Thus, the ARC Individual, Price Loss
25 mature cows results in 625 time devoted to the herd can Coverage (or PLC), and Sup-
pounds of weaning weight, be quite constrained. There plemental Coverage Option
At current prices, that would are a number of practices a (SCO). Producers can find
be well over $1,500 dollars, cow-calfproducercanimple- descriptions of each of these
This lost revenue needs to be ment that can improve time options at the OSU Ag Econ
considered, management and hopefully, Farm Bill webpage (http://
This is just one example the net income of the opera- agecon.okstate.edu/agpol-
of a laundry list of factors tion. One important practice icy/farmbill.asp). To assist
to consider in the expansion toward increasing efficiency producers in comparing the
equation, is setting a defined breeding consequences of each of
The current market can season(75days,forexample) these options, Oklahoma
push us to take another look insteadofyearroundcalving State University Agricul-
at many decisions. Virtually season. A controlled calving tural Economics and Kansas
every decision that we make season concentrates activities State University Agricultural
on cow calf operation right like gathering cattle for pro- Economics have developed a
has significant implications cessing and produces a more computerized decision tool.
as every pound of weaned unfformandheaviercalfcrop. The tool is programmed in
calf lost or gained is worth Budgets can demonstrate the MS Excel and will run in
more than it ever has been. advantages and profitability Excel 2007 and later ver-
Iowa State University has a of this system. Regardless of sions. (Other operating sys-
great tool to help calculate the herd size, OSU Enterprise tems and spreadsheets are
the raise versus buy decision. Budget Software can help not compatible with the tool.)
It canbe found at:http://www, take a closer look at the types Producers can download
extension.iastate.edu/agdm/ of inputs you are using and the decision tool for free at
decisionaidsld.html. Select what they cost. Then one can http://agecon.okstate.edu/
the link titled Raising Heifers begin the evaluation of ways agpolicy/dtl.asp. To assist
for Beef Cow Replacement. to improve the efficiency producers with their Farm
of input use in the opera- Bill decisions, the Payne
Managing Cow-Calf Costs tion. Enterprise budgets help Co. Extension office will
with OSU Enterprise Bud- identify the production and be hosting three workshops.
gets financial risks of altematives We will have a computer lab
According to the 2012 Agri- before committing or shiffing available with someone to
cultural Census, Oklahoma resources. This decision tool assist you. The workshops
has approximately 1,677,000 also provides the documenta- will be held in the Payne
beef cows on 44,000 farms tion necessary to project cash Co. Extension office located
which mean the average beef flows and obtain/maintain at 6th & Duck in Stillwater.
cow-calf operation has only credit-worthiness. It will help Producers must bring their
38 cows. In fact, 80% of the you do the right things when Crop History Summary and
beef cow farms have fewer managing costs. Insurance Yield/Acreage
than 50 cows. Despite strong Additional informationReport. Producers must
cattle prices expected to con- on OSU Enterprise Budget Rsvp to reserve their pre-
tinue into the foreseeable software is available ferreddate andtime. Work-
future, operators with fewer through your local county shop dates are: January 15th,
than 50 cows are faced with extension office, at http:// February 12th and February
rising production costs and agecon.okstate.edu/budgets 26th from 9am-3pm. Dates
a decreasing opportunity to or by calling Roger Sahs at and times will be given on a
buy or rent pastureland at 405-744-7075. first come, first serve basis.
OKLAHOMA
CITY
vs. L.A, CLIPPERS
Saturday night, February 7, 20t5 in the
RESIDENCE INN
OKLAHOMA CITY
DOWNTOWN/BRICKTOWN
and dinner for two @ KD'S
Drawing to be held
Wednesday,
December 31
V
From our Staff and Office
"
Main Bank 202 S, Main, Perkins. OK • Con~ntenee Branch 417 E, Hwy 33. Perkins. OK
(405) 547-2436 • www.paynecounlybank.com
