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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We have now planted field peas on all of our dry land fields for a third time in our winter wheat, corn, field pea crop rotation. We have learned quite a bit over this time on growing field peas and what to expect and watch for as this rotation continues over time and I thought I would share some of what we have learned and a few things to watch for in field pea production. I had several calls earlier this year on how we approach fertilizing our winter wheat following our field pea crop. Field peas are a legume which produces nitrogen during...
As we begin to move into the summer outdoor season, the District is moving forward with plans and work to develop and maintain its recreation areas. The District owns or cares for four recreation areas, with each county currently holding at least one area. Each has a different offering for the outdoor enthusiast and all provide the opportunity for an outdoor experience unique to our area. Goldeneye and Goldenrod Wildlife Management Areas both lie in Deuel County. The District manages these areas under an agreement with the owner, the Nebraska...
Farm Service Agency County Executive Director Brad Fraass announced a change Monday for the Agriculture Risk Coverage-County program for barley in Cheyenne County. The Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs authorized the Nebraska FSA State Committee to determine Cheyenne County eligible for a separate calculation of revenues by irrigated and nonirrigated practice for purposes of calculating payments under the ARC-CO program. Prior to this change, blended yields and revenues would have been used to determine whether a loss occurred in Cheyenne...
An Equine Welfare Training short course planned for May 14 at Sidney has been postponed for lack of registrations. Organizers hope to reschedule the course, which is hosted by the Nebraska Horse Council and Nebraska Extension. The course is designed to prepare law enforcement personnel for conducting investigations concerning neglected and abused horses and laws pertaining to livestock abuse and neglect....
Last week, I took a look at the amount of precipitation we have received to produce a winter wheat crop this year and a projected yield for this year’s crop assuming normal precipitation between now and winter wheat maturation. This week, I’d like to take a look at field peas and the potential yield for this year’s crop of field peas. Each time I have written an article looking at the moisture and potential yield for these spring crops, it has rained. This past week another storm system moved through our region. On our farm we received .25 o...
I sat through two speaker presentations last winter where regional meteorologists gave their predictions for the weather outlook for our area for this growing season. One meteorologist was Brian Bledsoe, who resides in Colorado Springs, Col. Brian gave his presentation at the “No till On the Plains” winter conference in Salina, Kan. The other meteorologist was our own Don Day, who lives in Cheyenne, Wyo. Don spoke at our Panhandle No till Partnership winter conference in Gering. Don is on many local radio station broadcasts and gives weather re...
The South Platte Natural Resources District offered a free landscaping class at its office in Sidney on Saturday. The workshop is an annual event that is structured to benefit homeowners on landscaping and water management best practices. Participants were given information on home gardening techniques including gathering soil pH, utilizing compost, working the soil and watering. A session led by Lucinda Mays from Chadron State College gave local gardeners several suggestions in managing the...
Over the past few weeks, I have been visiting with numerous producers around the Panhandle.Generally producers call to discuss field pea production but the conversation almost always turns to the condition of the winter wheat crop planted last fall. I have also read reports in the University of Nebraska’s Cropwatch and listened to a couple of programs on the radio that also discussed the condition of this year’s winter wheat crop in our area. All the reports from producers and researchers suggest that the winter wheat crop has experienced a p...
I want to start off by thanking everyone for their kind prayers and thoughtfulness in helping me and my family as I recover from my surgery. The well wishes and acts of kindness friends and neighbors exhibit during difficult times always impressed me in our rural way of life. These acts of kindness make living in rural Nebraska a very special place to be. I had my right knee replaced and the surgery and recovery couldn’t have gone any better. I’m still working hard in physical therapy to regain the strength and motion of the knee and leg and...
The South Platte Natural Resources District has two scholarship opportunities for students wishing to attend one of two camps focusing on natural resources education this summer. Each year the Nebraska Section of the Society for Range Management, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and IANR and the Cooperative Extension Service host a learning experience for high school students wishing to increase their knowledge of natural resources. The 52nd Annual Nebraska Range Youth Camp will be held at the State...
There is a developing feed source for the cattle industry here in our region with the introduction of field peas as an alternative feed source for the livestock industry. The production of field peas across our region has come about as producers look for alternative crops to transition back to winter wheat in their crop rotations. The addition of field peas has proven to be a sound agronomic practice in crop rotations that benefits the winter wheat production. As producers, we are attempting to make field peas a long-term part of our crop...
In the last column, we introduced a general overview of the allocation system used by the NRD as one of the tools used to maintain adequate ground water supplies. As the District moves forward to set allocations for the irrigation years 2016-2018, we want to share how the process works and what we’re trying to accomplish. In 2004, the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources designated the entire South Platte NRD as full appropriated, or using as much ground water as there was ground water recharge. Later that same year, the South Platte R...
Amir Haghverdi will join the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research and Extension Center this summer as an irrigation and water-management specialist. Haghverdi's appointment was announced by Jack Whittier, research and extension director at the Panhandle R&E Center. He will replace Dean Yonts, the long-time irrigation specialist who passed away in 2012. When he begins on July 1, Haghverdi will be responsible for conducting research and extension programs focused water...
Over the past 40-plus years, many producers have moved from a wheat/fallow production system to an ecofallow system that includes a summer crop, to a continuous no till crop production system. Each system adds intensity with wheat/fallow having a wheat crop every other year, to ecofallow with crops grown two out of three years, to a continuous no till system where a crop is grown every year. As the intensity of these production systems increases the diversity of the crops produced also increases. With a continuous no till crop production...
“Agriculture: Our Purpose. Our Passion” is the theme of the Women in Agriculture Conference April 10 at Sidney. The conference (8:45 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Country Inn & Suites, 664 Chase Blvd.) is for women involved in farm and ranch business decisions, who want to learn more about farm and ranch management, who are landowners, or who want to broaden their knowledge of agribusiness. A registration fee covers conference materials, breaks and lunch. Forms and more information are available at the Nebraska Extension office at 920 Jackson St., Sid...
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has provided farm owners and producers one additional week – until April 7 – to choose between Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage, the safety-net programs established by the 2014 Farm Bill. The final day to update yield history or reallocate base acres also will be April 7. “This is an important decision for producers because these programs help farmers and ranchers protect their operations from unexpected changes in the marketplace,” Vilsack said. “Nearly 98 percent of owners have already u...
The Chappell Future Farmers of America chapter was chartered 85 years years ago, and many changes have taken place since Leslie Applegate – the first national FFA president – signed the local charter on March 31, 1930. All former Chappell and Creek Valley FFA members are invited to the Creek Valley FFA banquet on April 16 at 6 p.m. at Creek Valley High to celebrate the chapter’s accomplishments. Maile Ilac Boeder, who has Greenhand and chapter FFA degrees; will be the guest speaker. If interested, RSVP by April 7 to sarah.wh...
Back in October when we were starting to combine our dry land corn crop, I visited with a neighbor about the value of wheat residues and residue height in dry land corn production. My neighbor thought he should purchase a stripper head for combining his winter wheat crop to leave more standing residue. The year before he had combined his dry land wheat with a conventional head and had baled the straw for his cattle. He then planted his dry land corn into the wheat residue left in the field. Right beside his dry land corn field was a field of...
Several organizations on local and state levels are pooling efforts and money, along with additional funding from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, in a project designed to improve understanding of groundwater hydrogeology in the Nebraska Panhandle by collecting and digitizing decades' worth of data from thousands of oil and gas well logs. The well log information will be combined with other, existing data to give scientists and resources agencies a more detailed understanding of the High...
The South Platte Natural Resources District board of directors approved a number of changes to its rules and regulations at its March board meeting, including changes to fee schedules. The proposed amendments to the Districtwide Groundwater Management Area Rules and Regulations were reviewed following an information session outlining the changes, followed by a public hearing. Primarily, the changes were related to chemigation, those made to follow LB272 established by the Nebraska Legislature last year. The District’s Chemigation Program r...
Gary Hergert, Rex Nielsen and Jim Margheim With the fertilizer application season approaching, it is once again time for producers to make decisions as to what their fertility programs will be. Soon many fertilizer-application rigs will be in the fields, spreading great quantities of fertilizer. Because the use of fertilizer has become such an integral part of modern farming, we rarely give any thought as to where it comes from, how long it has been used and what impact it has had on our food pr...
Field pea planting is just around the corner so I thought I would share with you my ideas on raising field peas. We’ve been growing field peas on our farm for several years now and I know there are a lot of first time growers or fairly new growers in the area. I might be able to shorten the learning curve for the newer growers by sharing what we have learned over the years we’ve grown field peas. The first step to growing a successful field pea crop is to buy certified seed. The purchase of seed is the most expensive part of raising field peas,...
Spring is just around the corner and it’s time to consider planting the garden. Most of us already know what we want to plant. But there are a number of items you should consider before selecting cultivars for direct seeding, growing your own transplants, or purchasing transplants from your local garden center. The first consideration is the variety choice: either a proven variety for the area or an “All-American” cultivar that has been grown and tested across the United States. They are generally widely adapted and will provide a quali...
Farm Credit Services of America has announced that eligible customer-owners in 13 counties in the Panhandle of Nebraska and Southeast Wyoming will receive checks this month totaling $3,019,000 – their share of the financial cooperative’s record $160 million cash-back dividend for 2014. FCSAmerica has distributed a portion of its net earnings to eligible customer-owners for each of the past 11 years, returning a total of nearly $1 billion in cash-back dividends to farmers, ranchers and their local communities. The share returned to cus...
The path to soil health has many stops along the way to obtaining a live, vibrant and functioning soil. Each of us will find a resting point along this pathway and may settle into a comfortable spot along the way. I think it is very encouraging that those of us in production agriculture are even thinking and talking about our journey down the path to soil health. Our farm’s journey began many years ago and we didn’t even know it at the time. We switched our operation from a conventionally tilled crop production system to a no-till crop pro...
