Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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Many eggs reach stores only a few days after being laid. Determining the freshness of eggs can be confusing at times, as some egg cartons feature two dates. The Julian date is the “pack date,” when the eggs were washed, graded and placed in the carton. This three-digit code represents the consecutive day of the year, with January 1 as 001 and December 31 being 365. The Julian date is usually found on the short side of the carton. Eggs are safe to be consumed four to five weeks beyond that date, as long as they are kept refrigerated. Many egg...
LINCOLN – The Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN), the wholesale power supply entity of NMPP Energy, elected officers for its board of directors for fiscal year 2021-22 at its annual meeting Jan. 21. Those re-elected to one-year terms as officers of the MEAN board of directors beginning April 1 were: • Tom Goulette, city administrator/utility superintendent, West Point, Neb., chair • Tom Ourada, city administrator, Crete, Neb., vice chair • Darrel Wenzel, chief executive officer, Waverly (Iowa) Utilities, secretary/treasurer Four re...
Nebraska Extension will conduct chemigation certification training sessions in February and March at Alliance, Sidney, Bridgeport, and Scottsbluff. Training and testing will also be available online. Producers who plan to apply crop nutrients and pesticides through irrigation systems during 2021, including those who need to renew their permits, are required to attend a training session and pass the test administered afterward, or else complete the online process. The preferred option for both initial and recertifying chemigators is the online...
LINCOLN — Nebraska Extension’s upcoming Farm and Ranch Management webinar will focus on strategies for livestock producers to add value through approved certification programs. Consumers are desiring more information about how their food is produced. Participation in an approved certification program is one way for producers to capture additional value at the time of sale. The webinar will review the historical financial performance of commonly used livestock programs and talk about current and...
I will introduce a bill to move the headquarters of the Game and Parks Department to the City of Sidney. Currently, state law mandates that the headquarters for the Game and Parks Department be in the City of Lincoln. I would like to change that. So today I would like to explain why I believe this move is good for Nebraska. First, there are no state parks located in the City of Lincoln, just as there are no state parks located in the City of Sidney. So, proximity to state parks has never been...
LINCOLN — An upcoming Nebraska Extension webinar will examine recent livestock facility nuisance litigation and look at a tool from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for assessing the odor footprints of these facilities. The webinar will be presented on Jan. 21, from noon to 1 p.m., by Dave Aiken, professor and agricultural law and water law specialist in the university’s Department of Agricultural Economics. In its recent decision in the case of Egan v. County of Lancaster, the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the rulings of lower courts tha...
OAKLAND — Nebraska lawmakers are considering a bill to provide some relief for meat supply chains by allowing consumers to purchase smaller ownership shares of livestock. Aunbrea Zeleny with the Oakland Meat Processing Plant said Legislative Bill 324 would help more Nebraskans who have struggled to find meat at grocery stores during the coronavirus pandemic access food from trusted local sources. “The people that aren’t able to purchase a $700 quarter, being able to just get that piece of what they need, whether it be the roast, a couple of st...
As the new year begins, all is quiet at the research plots at the High Plains Agricultural Lab 6 miles northwest of Sidney. Winter wheat fields are dormant, and other fields await the spring planting season. But inside, scientists and support staff are analyzing data, planning for 2021 and completing other tasks to carry out research aimed at helping crop and livestock producers in this semi-arid region be more efficient, sustainable and profitable. The High Plains Ag Lab is operated by the Univ...
Five members of the Sidney High School Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter, returned from a speech competition with awards, and just importantly experience. Angel Helms, Erika Meakins, Isis Finnie, Riley Rohn, Alyssiah Green and Sidney Allard competed in the speech event. Helms competed in persuasive speaking, Meakins competed in extemporaneous speaking, Finnie in FFA Creed, and Rohn also competed in Creed. This year’s competition took place under the health directives in reaction to the C...
Sidney FFA members competed in the District FFA Leadership contest on December 9, 2020. Our chapter had five members represent Sidney, which is quite an impressive accomplishment. The event was held virtually and conducted using Zoom. Freshmen Riley Rohm and Isis Finnie each earned blue ribbons in the Creed Speaking contest, where they ran against 22 other speakers. The creed is a five paragraph testament to a strong belief in the industry of agriculture and the core values of citizenship and patriotism (National FFA Organization) in the...
The South Platte NRD (District) will not be holding any County Wide Ground Water Advisory Committee Meetings in person this spring. Instead certified irrigation owners and operators will be receiving a letter with instructions on how to provide feedback to the District. All the meeting materials that usually are presented at the meetings will be available online at the District website www.spnrd.org. The public hearing will still be held in March 2021 concerning proposed changes to the District’s Ground Water Rules and Regulations. With the n...
LINCOLN - The 2021 Nebraska Crop Production Clinics will feature research updates and information tailored to regional crop issues and grower interests. Session topics will include crop production, soil management, water management, agribuisiness management, pesticide and environmental safety, pest management, pesticide application technology, cover crops, forages, and agricultural technology. Due to the uncertainty related to COVID-19 around the state, the Clinics will be offered virtually in 2021. There will NOT be an in-person presentation...
LINCOLN – Five directorships for the Nebraska Pea & Lentil Board are open for appointment by Gov. Pete Ricketts. Applications should be submitted no later than 5 p.m. CST on Friday, May 1, 2021. These five (5) appointments will be the inaugural directors for the Nebraska Pea & Lentil Board. Qualified candidates include those who are citizens of Nebraska, are at least 21 years of age, have been actively engaged in growing peas, lentils, chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, faba beans, or lupins in Nebraska, reside in a county in the respective district...
Results of the 2020 variety trials for dry edible beans and field peas conducted by the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center have been posted on the Nebraska Extension CropWatch website. The direct link for variety trial results for both crops (as well as other crops such as millet, sunflowers and oats) is http://cropwatch.unl.edu/varietytest/othercrops. Or, navigate to the Other Crops Variety Trials page from the main Cropwatch page (http://cropwatch.unl.edu ) by...
INDIANAPOLIS - Each year, the National FFA Organization honors FFA members who show the utmost dedication to the organization through their desire to develop their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. The American FFA Degree is bestowed upon a select group of students in recognition of their years of academic and professional excellence. This year 4,136 American Degrees were be awarded. David James George, a member of the Leyton...
LINCOLN – Agricultural producers can now make elections and enroll in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for the 2021 crop year. The signup period is open through March 15, 2021, and producers are encouraged to begin working with their USDA county Farm Service Agency (FSA) office now to complete the process. These key U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) safety-net programs help producers weather fluctuations in either revenue or price for certain crops. ARC/PLC payments for the 2019 production season we...
The Cheyenne County 4-H program recognized Felicity Beyer and Kaylee Eddy as their Outstanding 4-H Members of the Year during their annual achievement celebration on November 22nd. The Outstanding 4-H Member of the Year is given to 1-2 youth each year and the selection criteria is based on 4-H leadership, civic engagement, community service, how 4-H has affected their life, and how they will use their 4-H experiences in their future. Felicity Beyer has been a member of the Bunker Hillbillies...
The Cheyenne County 4-H Youth celebrated their achievements for the year with a virtual celebration on November 22nd. The youth and their families participated in a Goosechase scavenger hunt around the county taking photos and videos of their findings. The scavenger hunt challenges had an entrepreneurship theme where youth learned about different types of businesses and services. They were able to engage with other 4-H families on the virtual platform for some friendly competition. The youth then received their awards on a Zoom celebration to...
Sugarbeet seedling rust, caused by the fungal pathogen Puccinia subnitens, is a very unique disease of Chenopodiaceous plants that has rarely been observed in commercial crop production. The rust pathogen utilizes five distinct spore stages to complete its exceedingly complex life cycle on different and unrelated hosts. Only two early stages occur on the hosts of economic importance (primarily sugarbeets and spinach), while the other stages infect several species of saltgrass (Distichlis spp.),...
Grain is valuable, but lives are worth much more. In the process of handling grain, producers are exposed to a range of safety hazards both during harvest and once the grain is stored. Jess McCluer, vice-president of Safety and Regulatory Affairs at the National Grain and Feed Association (NFGA), and Chair of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer for Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA), encourages producers, grain elevator managers and their employees to...
A potential change to the County Wide Ground Water Advisory Committee Meetings was discussed at the South Platte Natural Resources District (District) Board (Board) November Board meeting held November 10, 2020. The Advisory Committee meetings, held at least once every three years, are for certified irrigation owners and operators to receive information about potential changes to the Districtwide Ground Water Management Area Rules and Regulations. This year the District is proposing sending out letters to certified irrigation owners and...
Drought conditions across much of Nebraska this summer, most severe in the west, have significantly reduced forage production from pasture and rangeland as well as hay ground and crop residue. Cow-calf producers will face a challenge in meeting the feed needs of the herd from now until next spring. When making a plan for a forage shortage, producers should remember these five steps: Calculate feed needs. Accurately assess the feed needs of all the cattle that are planned to be part of the operation from now into next spring. This is an...
LINCOLN — Millions use Twitter to share their rapid-fire opinions, observations and connections to real-time events. And natural disasters are often major conversation starters. With that in mind, National Drought Mitigation Center assistant director Kelly Helm Smith wanted to see what tweets said about the impacts of drought, and whether tweets could contribute to a drought early warning system. Smith embarked on a pilot study, the results of which were recently published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. She developed a...
The COVID pandemic of 2020 has contributed to increased food insecurity for many Nebraska families. In response, communities have pitched in to help. And some of the donated food is produce that has been grown this year at community gardens around Nebraska, which leverage local volunteers with grant funds from Growing Together Nebraska (GTN), part of Nebraska Extension’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) program. Established in 2016, Growing Together Nebraska i...
An upcoming online training for agricultural professionals will teach individuals how to recognize and respond to potential signs of crisis and suicidal behavior. Farming and ranching can be stressful in the best of times. Financial worries, unpredictable weather, unpredictable commodity prices, plant pests, livestock diseases and isolation all contribute to a producer’s anxiety. And now Nebraska’s rural communities and families are coping with the unpredictability and imposed isolation produced by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to thi...
