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Montana Pulse Day December 1, 2017 Best Western Heritage Inn The 2017 Montana Pulse Day will take place on December 1, 2017 at the Best Western Heritage Inn. The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. Notable Educational programs of importance to producers: 10:30 – 11:30 am Importance of Rotations and Disease Prevention Mary Burrows, MSU Plant Pathology Specialist. 11:30 – 12:00 Platinum Sponsor Update Johnson Seed Inc., JM Grain, AGT Foods, Hinrich’s Trading, ITC Grain. 1:30 – 2:00 pm MSU Pulse Crop Breeding Kevin McPhee, MSU Plant Breeder. 2:00 ...
Front Range Wool Pool Meeting in Conrad The Front Range Wool Pool meeting will take place on December 5th in Conrad, Montana at the Conrad Moose Lodge. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m. A Potluck Supper will begin at 6:00 p.m. President Pete Cornell from Loma will welcome participants followed by Dave McEwen, who will give an update on the Montana Wool Growers Association. Educational presentations include: • Dr. Lisa Surber-American Wool Council: Wool Quality and Trends • Dr. Megan Van Emon-MSU Regional Beef Specialist: Relearning Drought Man...
November Horticultural Tips Managing horticultural landscapes and house plants in November is important to healthy production during the growing season. Below are a few recommendations for Chouteau county gardeners. • Apply protective mulches to perennial beds. • Use a humidifier to maintain humidity for houseplants. • Prune out dead limbs of woody ornamentals. • Do not fertilize or transplant anything after Columbus Day. • Continue to water landscape plantings (trees, shrubs, and perennials) until the soil freezes. • Apply winter mulch to st...
Upcoming Opportunity in Fort Benton to Learn about Evacuation Planning, Varmint Management, Farm Safety, Fire Safety, and 4-Wheeler Safety MSU Extension in Chouteau County will be hosting the fourth annual Fundamentals for Farm Families Forum from 8:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. with check-in beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at the Community Bible Center in Fort Benton. The center is located at 911 16th street in Fort Benton. Daycare will be provided for attendees upon request by contacting the Chouteau County Extension Office....
Boss to Speak at Chouteau County Livestock Protective Association Meeting in Big Sandy on Cover Crop Grazing from a Cattleman’s Perspective The Annual Chouteau County Livestock Protective Association meeting will take place on Thursday, November 16th at 3:00 p.m.at the Mint Bar in Big Sandy. A social will follow the business meeting at 5:00 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:00. Please RSVP to Buck Goldhahn at 622-5572 so the cooks can receive notice on how many people will be attending. This year’s guest speaker is Dr. Darrin Boss (MSU Northern Agr...
Chouteau County Juniors and Seniors will participate in 2017 Chouteau County Agricultural Business Day Junior and Senior students from Big Sandy High School, Fort Benton High School, Geraldine High School, Highwood High School, and Chouteau County Home Schools will participate in the 2017 Chouteau County Agricultural Business day on November 8th. The event will take place from 8:50 a.m. -12:00 p.m. at the Ag Center (1205 20th Street) and Fort Benton High School (1820 Washington). An estimate of twenty Chouteau County businesses will be in...
October is a Great Time to order Shelterbelt Trees The Montana Conservation Seedling Nursery (MCSN) is already receiving new orders for shelter belt plantings. Rocky Mountain Juniper is the most popular windbreak species, and is sold out quite quickly. If you are interested in ordering Rocky Mountain Juniper for your shelterbelt, please place your order as soon as possible. Shelterbelt plans should be approved by the MSU Extension Chouteau County agent, Conservation District or MCSN staff. Seedlings are sold on a first come, first serve basis....
Precautions before Grazing Alfalfa and Cover Crops • All producers should use a bloat block and expose the cattle to the bloat block in the pasture shortly before putting them onto a cover crop or alfalfa field. Seven days prior is a good rule of thumb. The bloat blocks can be placed in their salt tub. • Make sure the cattle are full before letting them out on to the alfalfa or cover crop. • Test the crops and weeds for nitrates (cereal grains, kochia, turnips and radishes). Turnips and radishes seem to have the highest nitrates of the cover...
Factors Affecting Wheat Germination and Stand Establishment in Hot Soils Hot soil conditions at sowing also reduce coleoptile length. The coleoptile is a rigid, protective structure that covers the emerging shoot to aid it in reaching the soil surface. Once the coleoptile breaks the soil surface, it stops grow¬ing and the first true leaf emerges. If the coleoptile does not emerge through the soil surface, the first true leaf emerges below ground, takes on an accordion-like appearance, and the wheat plant typically dies. For this reason, wheat...
Personal Protection Equipment and Paraquat The use of highly toxic pesticides that require respiratory protection were on the decline for over two decades; however one highly toxic active ingredient has been on the rise due to glyphosate resistant kochia in Montana. This active ingredient known as paraquat is in such formulations as Blanco®, Drexel Quik-Quat®, Devour®, Firestorm®, Helmquat 3SL®, Gramaxone Inteon®, Gramoxone SL®, Cyclone SL 2.0®, Bonedry®, Willowood Paraquat 3SL®, Paraquat Concentrate® and Para-Shot 3.0®. Paraquat is a photos...
September Horticulture Management Managing horticultural landscapes in September is essential to healthy production during the growing season. Below are a few recommendations for Chouteau county gardeners. • The average first frost is September 15 (Carter), September 18 (Kenilworth and Highwood), September 20 (Big Sandy), September 25 (Fort Benton) and September 28 (Geraldine). All fruit and vegetables should be harvested before temperatures drop below 40° to 50°F. • Ripen tomatoes in a paper bag along with an apple, or hang the entire plant up...
Summer Pneumonia in Beef Calves Summer pneumonia in nursing beef calves is not uncommon, but occurs with low frequency. A wide variety of risk factors for summer pneumonia exist including relative success of colostrum antibody transfer, commingling of groups, weather changes, nutrition changes or deficiencies, pathogen exposure, handling stress, calving difficulty, and operation-specific risk factors like lack of labor. The immunity a calf receives through colostrum is called passive immunity, and is the major source of immune function in the n...
Top Yielding Winter Wheat Varieties for Chouteau County MSU Agriculture research centers have three test plots for winter wheat in Chouteau County. Research plots are managed by MSU Western Triangle Agricultural Research Center (WTARC) south of the Knees, MSU Northern Agricultural Research Center (NARC) north of Loma and MSU Central Agricultural Research Center (CARC) west of Geraldine. A special thanks to John Miller (WTARC agronomist), Peggy Lamb (NARC agronomist) and Pat Carr (CARC superintendent) for establishing and maintaining the...
Grazing Residues Following Harvest Grazing is the easiest way to harvest crop aftermath. Grazing crop residues allows animals to select a higher-quality diet than would otherwise be obtained by harvesting and mechanically feeding. In grazing scenarios, ruminants preferentially will consume grain and leaves before consuming lower-quality stalk material. This is an important consideration when developing diets based on crop residues. Stocker cattle may have acceptable gains if allowed to selectively graze residues. Younger cattle should be...
Turf to Trees (Applied Urban Integrated Pest Management Workshop) Montana State University’s Urban Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program will host its first training on August 24, 2017. Are you interested in Urban IPM Certification or do you want to learn more about plant diseases, insect pests and plant identification in urban environments in Montana? Then this workshop is for you! Continuing education credits will be available. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Megan Kennelly from Kansas State University. Dr. Kennelly received her Ph.D. in Pla...
July Cropping Notes from Chouteau County Extension What is the status of the orange wheat blossom midge in Chouteau County for 2017? Only one wheat midge was documented in five traps across Chouteau County in 2017. If more than nine midge are found on a trap, the producer is required to go out at dusk and determine if populations exceed the economic threshold. The economic threshold is when one or more midge are observed for every 7 to 8 heads. Visit 3-4 different sites in the field. How were wheat head armyworm numbers this year? Moth trap...
Horticultural Tips for August I hope our Chouteau County gardeners have had a productive year growing vegetables, flowers, trees and shrubs. Below are a few tips for the month of August. • Renovate strawberries by mowing a minimum of every three years. Some people mow their strawberries every year following fruit production. Be sure to set the mower high enough to mow the leaves. Mowing to low may damage the crowns and kill the plant. • Topdress strawberries after harvest with a complete fertilizer like 16-16-16. • Pinch the tops of indet...
Harvest and Storage Rules of Thumb on Pulse Crops • Pre-harvest: A desiccant will not speed maturity but it may be used as a harvest aid to terminate the crop, and to burn down immature weeds which can cause seed staining. Desiccants should be used only after pods have matured, seeds have changed color, and the seeds have detached themselves inside the pods. The pods will rattle upon shaking. Threshing can begin when seed reaches 18% moisture. However, lower moisture percentages are necessary for long term storage or for processors to accept t...
Field days coming up near Loma and Turner MSU Northern Agricultural Research Center (NARC) and MSU Extension will be hosting two field days near Loma and Turner Montana on Wednesday, July 19. The Loma field day will begin at 9:00 a.m. north of Loma near the Terry Mckeever farm at 2088 Houston road. The Turner field day will begin at 5:00 p.m. near the Max Cederberg farm located north of Turner at 32755 Turner Road. A barbeque hosted by CHS Big Sky will follow the Turner field day. Dr. Jessica Rupp (MSU Extension Plant Pathologist) will educate...
Mulching is a must for lawn and garden landscapes during the hot summer The single most serious problem with ornamental plants in Northern Plains region is not a disease, insect or mite problem; it is environmental stress. Stress affects plant material in direct and indirect ways. It can cause damage directly and weaken the plants to the point where they are vulnerable to insect and disease attack. Stress is a problem in the Plains region because we, in our landscaping efforts, are attempting to grow “alien” species (non-native for the mos...
Blue Green Algae Poisoning in Livestock The following overview of blue green algae poisoning in livestock was written by Rachel Endecott (MSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist). Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) are photosynthetic bacteria that live and grow in aquatic environments. Many species exist: some species are harmless, while others can affect the nervous system and liver function of livestock. Large blooms of cyanobacteria can occur when conditions are favorable, leading to elevated concentrations in water sources. When livestock or oth...
Highwood Bench Low pH Soil Field Day MSU Central Agricultural Research Center (CARC) and MSU Extension will be hosting a field day on the Highwood Bench on Wednesday, June 28, at 10:00 a.m. The field day will take place approximately one mile east of the Long farm on 1221 Shonkin Road. The field day will begin with a tour of the CARC cereal variety plots, which have been seeded in low pH soil to determine tolerance to soil acidity. Dr. Jamie Sherman (MSU Barley Breeder) will share research based information on barley varieties for Southern...
Pulse Production Management after Seeding • Peas use water down to 3 feet (Wichman, 2005). • Nodulation begins 2-3 weeks after plant emergence (Jones, 2017). • Nodules are active 3-4 weeks after plant emergence (Jones, 2017). • Active nodules are pink to red inside. Inactive nodules are white inside (Jones, 2017). • Amount of nitrogen fixation depends on species. Green and yellow peas fix more nitrogen than chick pea. Chick peas fix more nitrogen than lentils (Jones, 2017). • If you notice yellow lower leaves (N deficiency) dig and look for ros...
Tree watering rules of thumb • Water trees three times a month in addition to watering your lawn. • Deep watering to a depth of 12” inches below the soil surface is recommended. Saturate the soil around the tree within the “dripline” (the outer edges of the tree’s branches) to disperse water down toward the roots. • For evergreens, water 3’-5’ beyond the dripline on all sides of the tree. • The objective is to water slowly, dispersing the flow of water to get the water deep down to the trees roots. Watering for short periods of time onl...
After visiting with Mary Burrows (MSU Disease Diagnostician), we are estimating that stripe rust will begin injuring cereal grains this week. Below are a few notes I have compiled on biology and management of the stripe rust fungus. • Fungal spores attack wheat consuming the nutrients synthesized by the host plant. • Spread by green bridge and wind dispersal. Community disease like WSMV with multiple infection cycles. • Spores on the ground are dead because they need living plant tissue to survive. Spores will over-winter on volunteer plants. W...
