Hey, it's Sean Bessin here, I am following up with my second blog post here. Since my last post a lot has changed in terms what I have been doing here in the office/Madison County. Last week I really took off with my summer research project, where I am looking into the issue of pinkeye in cattle with the cow/calf producers around the county. To date I have made a little over 20 on farm visits with producers scattered across the county. It's fair to say that I have learned a lot in terms of getting around the county without getting lost. I have been really surprised with reception I have received from many of the producers so far, I was expecting that some may be uneasy with me coming out and asking about certain production practices, but all so far have been really accepting of the project and answer truthfully. The project really consists of a questionnaire and then as time and weather allows, a face fly count on a number of the cows and calves in the herd. After working with a few of the extension specialists we determined that the plan should be to meet with at least 30 producers around here in the county. As things keep moving along I am excited to see this project through and see what kind of figures I come up with for producers here, I have already learned and seen a lot in terms fly prevention and treatment and hope to learn even more.
Also this past week Brandon Sears, the Ag agent for Madison County, hosted a field corn field day/workshop with corn specialist Dr. Chad Lee, and entomologist Dr. Ric Bessin. The field day went really well, Brandon choose a good field for the workshop as the producers were able to see first hand damage by insect pests, they also were able to do stand counts and work with Chad Lee in determining whether or not it would be appropriate to reseed the field.
Last week Brandon and I went to a producers farm to help him set up his no-till seeder to plant an 8-way mix that the NRCS has promoted as a summer forage/ hay crop. Its something I had never heard of and found very interesting. The mix contains seeds of sorghum-sudan grass, cow peas, two types of millet, corn, soybeans, and sunflower all at varying amounts. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out, I am a little skeptical because I don't know how all the different maturity dates will work when it comes to determining harvest time, but I am very interested to see how it develops into a forage crop. Here are some pictures of that mixture, we had to mix in a Tub before adding it into the drill:
Last week we also decided that after my beekeeping course, with all the calls of interest and everything else about beekeeping coming into the office, it may be a good idea to start a small interest group in the county. So I have started working on getting together for the first meeting, I will keep you all posted as more of it comes together.
No comments:
Post a Comment