Extension Report

Baldwin County Extension Office

302A Byrne Street

Bay Minette, AL  36507

Telephone (251) 937-7176 or

928-0860/943-5611 ext. 2222

FAX (251) 937-7285

Ken Kelley

Regional Extension Agent/Animal Science

November 24, 2009

Christmas Gifts for Livestock and Forage Producers

There is a time right after Thanksgiving when a lot of folk’s minds will be on Christmas presents. Children’s minds will be on what they are going to get, and adult’s minds will be on how to pay for what the kids will get that morning. This December, we have two nice presents to give livestock and forage producers. While they might not be wrapped in pretty paper, and you can’t necessarily get them under a tree…they are extremely useful Educational Gifts!!  These educational gifts are educational opportunities that address a couple of very important parts of livestock and forage agriculture.

The first opportunity will be December 8th at the Wind Creek Hotel in Atmore Alabama. This will be the Alabama Precision Ag and Field Crops Conference. This program (or a variant of it) has been offered before in north Alabama. So, it’s really a nice thing to have in our part of the world. However, this particular conference has something new to offer. This will be the first precision ag conference with a livestock and forage component to the meeting. Precision ag has long been used in row crop situations. Most folks that grow peanuts or cotton have some type of guidance system. However, at one point it just wasn’t prudent for a livestock producer to own one of these systems. They were fairly expensive, they were hard to move from vehicle to vehicle, and honestly were somewhat difficult to use. Currently though, these systems have become quite affordable, quite mobile, and fairly simple to use. I was part of a research project funded by the 50 cent beef check off. We bought several GPS systems and put them in some cattle and forage producer’s hands. I won’t try to tell you everything they said…instead I would invite you to go to the internet and see the video that we made of these guys talking about these systems. The video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/alcoopextensionvideo#p/c/61D8FCE4A46E46F2/11/ZnYXyOspuFQ  . I will tell you that all three of the producers that used the system we provided were extremely positive. In fact, all three producers have (1) bought systems of their own, (2) have said that they feel like it will make cattlemen money based on more accurate fertilizer and chemical application and (3) would recommend the systems to other producers. The Atmore meeting will have a “livestock and forage track” for part of the morning session. This will include presentations on (1) Introduction to GPS, (2) considerations for guidance system purchase and use, (3) handheld GPS units: marking points and acreage calculations. There will also be other opportunities for GPS education that includes a workshop on managing and using precision agriculture data, a NRCS precision ag EQUIP update, and several other presentations. For additional information you can check out the precision AG website at www.alabamaprecisionagonline.com  . If you would like to know something specifically about the livestock and forage portion of this conference, then please give me a call (251-238-0373) or send me an email (kellewi@auburn.edu ).

The other great educational opportunity that we have is the Alabama Forage and Grassland Conference. It will be held December 10th at the Bibb Graves Auditorium on the University of West Alabama Campus in Livingston, Alabama. This conference offers the opportunity for forage producers to learn from some of the best and most knowledgeable forage folks in the country. Just as an example some of the speakers include Dr. John Andrae (was on the University of Georgia faculty for several years and is currently Extension Forage Crop Agronomist at Clemson University), Dr. Joe Bouton (developed many important forage varieties while at the University of Georgia..He is now Senior Vice President of the Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma), Dr. Garry Lacefield (Extension forage Crop Agronomist at the University of Kentucky…he is widely known as an expert agronomist and is in great demand as a speaker) and Dr. John Byrd (long-time extension weed control specialist in the Department of Plant and Soils Sciences at Mississippi State University). The topics are as various and interesting as the people who are presenting them. Topics include subjects like “Low, medium and high input beef pasture systems for Black land soils”, “forage crops influence on meat quality of grass-fed beef”, “ Opportunities with improved forage varieties” and “new and neglected forage crops “. These are only a few of the presentations that will be given through the first part of the conference. The last session of the day will in fact be three different breakout sessions that producers may choose from. These sessions include a clover session, an equine session, and a pest management session. Each of these sessions will offer something new for producers within their region of interest. For example, horse owners can learn some basics of horse pasture production, clover connoisseurs can learn about recycling nitrogen in pasture systems, and people attending the pest management session can learn about pasture weed control and invasive plants.  If you would like a flyer/registration form for the 2009 Alabama Forage and Grassland Conference then please go to the ACES animal science and forages team website at  www.aces.edu/animalforage . If you would like to talk to me about the Alabama Forage and Grassland Conference then please give me a call (251-238-0373) or shoot me an email (kellewi@auburn.edu).

Hopefully one or both of these educational opportunities can offer you something this winter. They are both really good opportunities to explore ways to make our industry more productive, efficient, and profitable. I hope to see you at one of these great events. In the event that I don’t see you there, hopefully everybody will have a good Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas and a great 2010.

Email address: kellewi@aces.edu

Phone number: 937-7176 or 943-5611, 928-0860, ext. 2222

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System (Alabama A&M and Auburn Universities) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture is an equal opportunity educator and employer.