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By Stephen K. Barnhart, Department of Agronomy
The first frost of the autumn generally brings a flurry of forage related questions centered around three general topics:
By Stephen K. Barnhart and Palle Pedersen, Department of Agronomy
Late season evaluation involves reviewing normal crop growth and development, assessing the condition of the crops in individual fields relative to normal, and thinking through several autumn season scenarios such as: How will this field develop between now and the normal frost time? What are the concerns or alternatives if a frost comes one or two weeks earlier than normal?
By Stephen K. Barnhart and Roger W. Elmore, Department of Agronomy
by Mahdi Al-Kaisi, Department of Agronomy, and Mark Hanna, Department of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering
By William Edwards, Department of Economics and Steve Barnhart, Department of Agronomy
By Mark Hanna, Department of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering
Proper combine settings will maximize grain quality while minimizing machine field losses. Taking time to achieve proper combine settings and harvest safety will benefit producers in the long run. Following are a few general tips, and some that relate directly to soybeans and corn.
•To minimize seed coat damage, start with the lowest recommended rotor or cylinder speed and use only enough speed to adequately thresh grain while keeping loss to acceptable levels.
By John Sawyer and Antonio Mallarino, Department of Agronomy
Fertilizers are at unbelievably high prices, with reports of tight supplies and potash allocation to dealers. Total crop production costs are causing credit supply issues, which complicates decisions to allocate available funds for production expenses. These issues are causing producers to consider changing production practices, including cutting back on inputs like fertilizer. What can be done?
By John Sawyer and Antonio Mallarino, Department of Agronomy
This article continues the discussion begun in Making Fertilization Decisions As Fertilizer Prices Escalate and Production Costs Are High - Part 1 where soil testing and phosphorus and potassium applications were discussed.
Steve Barnhart, Department of Agronomy
Rain in May and early June this year put most alfalfa producers behind two to three weeks for their first, and correspondingly their second and third cuttings. Now in mid-September, producers are taking advantage of a favorable week of drying weather to make what is their last summer cutting.
This is crowding into the normal four to six week fall rest period for the alfalfa stands. Producers should consider if these mid-September harvests will put the stands at risk.
By John Sawyer, Department of Agronomy
Every year products and programs are touted to Iowa producers as being the cure for crop production and economic woes. These seem to increase in number when crop prices are low or input costs are high. The old adage states “if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.” How do you know?
