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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Have you ever wondered what just how fast your Internet service really is? A website from the Nebraska Public Service Commission can help answer those questions. The website, broadbandmap.nebraska.gov, is part of the Nebraska Broadband Initiative, which aims to increase broadband access and adoption, especially in rural areas. The Nebraska Public Service Commission contracted with BroadMap to collect, verify, report and map the availability of broadband Internet access by location within Nebraska. Data provided by the Internet Service Providers...
LINCOLN – Despite recent precipitation, much of Nebraska is still facing dry conditions. As we head into spring, farmers and ranchers are planning how to best deal with the dry conditions. Conservation agencies including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Nebraska’s Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) are working together with farmers and ranchers as they get ready to hit the fields. Faced with limited water resources, farmers and ranchers are turning to the NRCS and NRDs for expert advice and assistance to conserve water...
The American Farm Bureau Federation recently released its proposal for the stalled Farm Bill. The plan, which looks to save $23 billion in farm program spending, would create a new safety net for U.S. farmers. Under the new proposal, producers would be able to choose between a Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) program and an updated target price program. All program crop producers would have marketing loan programs and crop insurance available to them as well. STAX would allow farmers to add-on yield or revenue coverage to the crop...
It’s sure been an ugly April and that is exactly what we needed. The majority of us have experienced several days of snow, wintery mix, spring showers, and back to blowing snow. April has been above normal in precipitation and it couldn’t have come at a better time. With this moisture has come an optimism that the drought may be easing and we’ll have a chance at producing good crops and hay this growing season. All we need now is for Mother Nature not to forget about us and give us “normal” precipitation the rest of the growing season. O...
We live in a part of the country where it is a challenge to grow things. I have heard that comment many times since moving here 27 years ago. It is true. For example, last summer I had several calls from people about their tomato plants blooming and not setting on fruit. It was just too hot, windy and dry, and the blossoms dried up. When it finally cooled off, they set on fruit, but it was late in the season. The summer of 2011 was wet, if you remember, and we had different problems to deal with. That’s what makes my job as an Extension E...
Thankfully we finally received a blanket of wet snow across our growing region. There is also more snow in the forecast which should help us to recover from the prolonged drought we’ve experienced since last growing season. This welcome moisture will begin to add to our soil moisture profile for the upcoming growing season. The past couple of weeks I’ve shown that no-till crop production on our irrigated acres has many benefits. Economic analysis of no-till crop production has shown no-till to be the least costly production system. No-till cro...
The southern Panhandle is in the second consecutive spring of drought conditions. Precipitation September 1 to April 15 for the Southern Nebraska Panhandle is less than half of normal for this time period. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension CropWatch website has weather information that shows precipitation summaries for all of Nebraska. This summary shows recent historic precipitation amounts and compares them to long term averages at locations throughout the Panhandle. Lack of precipitation beginning in the fall of 2011 has resulted...
The recent snow fall is “better than nothing” for the drought, according to John K. Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmer’s Union—although he would prefer a good, soaking rain. At least the state has been targeted by fronts that produce some moisture. From the first of March to the beginning of June is when Nebraska generally receives substantial rainfall. If rain does not hit the region during those times, chances are nowhere near as strong over the rest of the year. Hanson added that the area needs long, steady rains to soak the pasture...
Jessica Johnson, UNL agricultural educator at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center located in Scottsbluff has compiled budgets for the majority of the irrigated crops commonly grown here in our region. I’d like to take a look at these budgets that compare strip till, conventional tillage, and no-till crop production systems. Jessica’s budgets assume equal use of irrigation in producing these crops. When you compare these budgets you also need to factor in that the no-till crop production system actually requires less irrigation to pro...
I have believed in the power and potential of youth my whole life. This past fall, I was given the chance to offer learning opportunities for youth and volunteers in Cheyenne County as an extension educator with the University of Nebraska – Lincoln with a focus on youth. This is a new position that includes 4-H. My responsibilities also include Kimball and Banner Counties. Through this column I hope to share some of the exciting things that happen with 4-H youth! Nationally, 4-H is the largest youth development organization that is c...
No-till crop production has proven to be the best production system for conserving moisture. Leaving the previous crop’s residues on the soil surface and attached has improved water infiltration into the soil and reduced soil moisture evaporation. Numerous research projects have shown the moisture conservation that no-till crop production provides under irrigation. The University of Nebraska has conducted research at the North Platte research farm which has shown that leaving residues on the soil surface reduces soil moisture evaporation up t...
LINCOLN — Spring Affair, the Midwest’s largest gardening event, will be Saturday, April 27, at the Lancaster Event Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 500 varieties of plants will be offered at the day-long plant sale, with educational talks, “talk-abouts” and garden vendors all under the same roof. “For This Place” is the theme of the 2013 event. UNL Extension Horticulture Specialist Kim Todd said the need for regionally appropriate planting influences both plant selection and the event’s educational offerings. “After a summer like 201...
Spring is here according to the calendar and the weather is starting to occasionally give us a nice day and then trend back towards winter. We haven’t been given a lot of reprieve from the drought conditions although there has been some snow with some moisture in it around a few areas of the Panhandle. Most of us are still pretty dry. According to my precipitation records we’ve received about 1.55 inches of moisture since last October. This is .97 of an inch below our normal of 2.52 inches for this time frame. I like to start tracking moi...
Last week I looked at some of the budgets Jessica Johnson, Ag Educator with the UNL Panhandle Resource and Extension Center, put together for winter wheat production on dry land acres for the Panhandle. Jessica’s budgets were for conventional winter wheat/summer fallow, winter wheat/chemical fallow, and winter wheat grown in a continuous no till crop rotation. These budgets indicate a yield of 28.01 bushels/acre is required to cover all costs associated with winter wheat production grown in a continuous no till crop rotation, 33.07 bushels/acre...
Jessica Johnson, University of Nebraska Extension Educator at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center has been busy this winter working on crop budgets. Jessica has developed budgets for dry land as well as irrigated crops using different crop production systems. For the dry land crops she developed budgets for winter wheat using conventional tillage, no-till summer fallow, and no-till continuous cropping systems. She also developed budgets for dry land corn, field peas, sunflowers, and proso millet. I would like to share some of these...
Sand Point Cattle Co, Lodgepole, has been recognized nationally by the American Angus Association for having one registered Angus bull and 9 registered Angus cows included in the Association’s 2013 Pathfinder Report. Only 1,992 of the more than 25,000 American Angus Association members are represented in this year’s report, according to Bill Bowman, chief operating officer and director of performance programs of the Association with headquarters in Saint Joseph, Mo. The Pathfinder Program identifies superior Angus cows based upon recorded per...
LINCOLN – “Hispanic and women farmers who believe they have faced discriminatory practices from the USDA must file a claim by March 25, 2013 in order to have a chance to receive a cash payment or loan forgiveness,” said Farm Service Agency Director Dan Steinkruger. The process offers a voluntary alternative to litigation for each Hispanic or female farmer and rancher who can provide that USDA denied their applications for loan or loan servicing assistance for discriminatory reasons for certain time periods between 1981 and 2000. Call cente...
I’m sitting in a hotel room in Pierre, S.D. waiting for the brakes to get fixed on our recently purchased semi-tractor. We have a full load of field pea seed sitting on the trailer in tote bags. Our situation has got me to thinking about everything involved in the process of providing a consistent and healthy food supply to our consumers. With more and more field pea acres being planted in our region, we decided getting all the seed from South Dakota to our region was going to require some real effort. We decided to take the challenge head o...
Over the past few articles I’ve written about how we developed a no-till cropping system for our farm. After a few years of using no till on our dry land acres, we adopted our irrigated acres to no till production practices. We found the same benefits on our irrigated acres as we did on our dry land acres, so it made sense to put our irrigated acres into no till crop production. After 20 years of no-till crop production I am very pleased that we adopted this practice on our farm. I really feel the no-till crop production practices kept us f...
Irrigators in southeast Deuel County will have fewer management requirements to abide by beginning in 2013, following a change approved by the South Platte NRD board of directors at its February meeting. The change results from lower nitrate/nitrogen levels found through the District’s monitoring program, which showed that for the third consecutive year, nitrate/nitrogen averaged below 8 parts-per-million (ppm) in the South Platte Valley Ground Water Quality Management Area. Those levels show marked improvement from the 1990s when the m...
Once we made the commitment to adopting a no till crop production system we needed to learn residue management with our equipment. We also had to determine a cropping rotation for our farm that would give us the best chance for success. Needless to say we had a few bumps along the way. We adapted our combine to manage the residue at harvest by adding chaff spreaders to evenly distribute the chaff coming out of the back of the combine. Eventually we also adapted a stripper head to better manage the amount of residue entering the combine and...
LINCOLN – Law enforcement officers could seize mistreated livestock with a veterinarian’s recommendation if an Agriculture Committee bill is passed. Rick Leonard, the committee’s research analyst, presented the bill (LB423) at a hearing Tuesday. Six people testified in support of the bill, and one testified against it. The committee also received a letter of support from the Humane Society of the United States. Under the bill, owners of mistreated livestock would also pay for any expense for that animal after seizure until the courts decid...
LINCOLN – A statewide consensus appears to be growing on the need to address water resource sustainability in Nebraska. During a Feb. 13 hearing of the Legislature’s Natural Resource Committee, representatives from a diverse array of interest groups testified in support of LB 517, a bill introduced by Sen. Tom Carlson of Holdrege. The bill would create a Water Sustainability Project Task Force charged with developing a priority list of water resource programs and projects in need of funding throughout the state. The task force would submit its...
I wanted to remind everyone to plan to attend the Panhandle No Till Partnership’s winter conference. The conference will be held on Feb. 20 and 21, 2013, at the Gering Civic Center in Gering. Call the Upper Niobrara Resources District at 308-432-6190 to register. Walk in registrations will be taken on the 20th beginning at 8:00 a.m. Preregistration is encouraged for meal planning, so please call ahead if possible. I think we have an excellent lineup of speakers for this year’s conference. The start of the program will focus on raising for...
Bridgeport – A team from Sidney High School will represent the Panhandle for the Nebraska Envirothon Contest at Chalco Hills in Omaha on May 4, 2013. The first place team comprised of, Nick Banaszak, Jessica Campbell, Brandon Christofferson, Jenny Myers and Jaide Wachtel earned the state berth on Tuesday, February 5, 2013. Fifty three students competed in the split regional contest. Schools represented included Sidney, Bayard, Gordon-Rushville, Minatare, Garden County and Banner County at two lo...
