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Posts By: Midwest AgCenter
BioZyme Product
The VitaCharge Neonatal is a great addition to add into your calf feeding program. This product is a liquid supplement that helps aid the digestive system in times of stress and recovery. It helps promote feed and water intake and can be mixed in drenches, milk or milk replacer.
This product contains Amaferm which is a natural prebiotic designed to maximize the nutritional value of feed. It is research proven to combat stress by increasing intake and nutrient utilization. The VitaCharge Neonatal also contains anti-stress vitamins and MOS. These two products along with Amaferm work together to support calf immunity and performance by supporting the digestive system.
-Amber Keel
Meet Our 2018 Summer Intern- Laura Gray!
My name is Laura Gray and I am from Mineral Point, WI. I attend the University of Wisconsin River Falls where I am earning an Ag Business degree with a minor in Dairy Science. On campus I am the secretary for Sigma Alpha– Beta Zeta, vice-president and secretary for NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association), and involved in Dairy Club. In my free time, I am a superintendent for 4-H, the 2018 Iowa County Fairest of the Fair, help on my families dairy farm, show Holsteins at the local, state, and national levels: and spend time with friends. I was highly involved in cheerleading, karate, 4-H and FFA where I earned my American Degree this past fall. I am excited to work with a company that has so many facets. I have always thought about working in a country store. I also wanted the customer service aspect. I am looking to create connections throughout the agriculture community to last a lifetime and help me find a career.
Meet Our 2018 Summer Intern- Annah Dobson!
Hi! My name is Annah Dobson and I am from Johnson Creek, Wisconsin. I will be a junior in the fall at UW-River Falls where I am studying Agriculture Marketing Communications with a minor in Ag Business. On campus I am a member of the Block and Bridle and am currently serving as the President of the Beef Management Team. I am also serving as President of the Wisconsin Junior Hereford Association. I spend most of my free time showing cattle across the county and working on my family’s farm, Gari-Alan Farm, a 35 purebred Hereford cow/calf operation. When I am not at school or in the barn I can be found playing card games or watching movies with my friends and family. After completion of my degree I plan to continue growing my personal herd of Hereford cattle as well as work in the communications field within agriculture. I am very excited to be spending my summer at WS Ag Center where I get to dive into the livestock industry as well as expand my knowledge into other species as well.
Meet Our 2018 Summer Intern- Vicki Payne!
My name is Vicki Payne, and I am from Plymouth, WI. I will be a senior at UW River Falls, where I am double majoring in Animal Science-Equine and Meat Animal. I am the president of the Horseman’s Association, captain of the English IHSA riding team, and serve as one of the sale managers for the annual UWRF Colt Sale. I enjoy showing horses, spending time with family and gardening outside of school. As I hope to work in the equine and livestock nutrition industry upon graduation, I am hoping to make valuable connections through this internship and find out where I fit into this industry. I have enjoyed working with customers and learning about products so far, and am excited to see what else this internship has in store!
Meet Our 2018 Summer Intern- Keri Zimmerman!
My name is Keri Zimmerman and I am from Deerfield, WI. I am going to be a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, majoring in Animal Science with an emphasis in Agribusiness. On campus, I am involved in Alpha Zeta, an honor society for students in the agricultural field. Outside of school, I enjoy working out and doing outdoor activities. I have a background in dairy, working on a family farm throughout most of my life. I was also highly involved in FFA in both middle school and high school, and continue to be involved with FFA through the Marshall FFA Alumni. After graduating from college, I am hoping to pursue a career related to animal nutrition or feed sales. However, I am also open to possibly having a career in the agribusiness field. I would eventually like to have a small hobby farm in the future. I am excited for this internship because it directly relates to feed sales so I will gain some experience with that and find out if it is a job I would like to have in the future. Also, I really enjoy how every day is different with this internship so I never know what to expect for the day.
County Fairs 2018!
As in the past, we will offer a cash award to the youth exhibitors of our customers for their hard work preparing and exhibiting at any of the county fairs! Best of luck to all of the youth at the fair!
Technology Demo Day Aug 1st, 2018!
WS AG Center along with Crop IMS will be hosting a technology Demo day 11:00am -2:00pm August 1st weather permitting. We are setting up a strip till bar and tractor with the new SmartSTEER technology which keeps equipment on track around headlands and contours. Come check out planter technology such as AgLeader SureDrive, SureForce, and SureFire systems.
Location will be between Willow Branch Road and County O between See-Mor Grain and Holland Road.
Herbicide Injury and Soybeans
We’ve all seen plenty of soybean fields this year and in the past where the soybeans have a burnt appearance. I thought I would dig into this topic a little more to give you an idea of what is going on. Injury symptoms on soybeans that include bronzing, speckling and give soybeans a “burnt” appearance are generally due to the PPO class of herbicides. Common products that make up this class are Flexstar, Cobra, Blazer, Cadet, and Resource to name a few. Many producers use Cobra as a tool for fighting white mold but that is a complex topic that can wait for another day. This article will focus solely on using PPO herbicides for weed control purposes. A huge topic of discussion in agriculture today is herbicide resistant weeds particularly to the active ingredient glyphosate, more commonly known as Roundup. Herbicide resistance has received a lot of press recently so what I want to focus on is weed control, crop injury and how their relationship affects yield.
Soybeans are an amazing plant due to their ability to recover from stresses with little yield loss which is the reason that we can spray them with herbicides that cause crop injury. When PPO herbicides are applied to susceptible plants, they cause a buildup of specific toxins in plant cells that can be lethal to certain plants and non-lethal to others like soybeans. Growing conditions and crop growth stage are important to think about when considering yield loss potential. Crop injury during stressful situations like cold, wet weather or hot, dry weather have a higher chance of reducing yield as opposed to when the injury happens during ideal growing conditions. Under optimal temperature and soil moisture, crop injury from herbicides labeled for soybeans have a very low probability of causing yield loss as the soybean plants can quickly grow new leaf tissue. Soybean growth stages are divided into two categories. Soybeans enter their reproductive (R) growth stages when flowering begins. Before that, their growth stages are referred to as vegetative (V). I’ve attached a chart since it’s hard to explain in print. Leaf defoliation during the vegetative stages causes little to no yield loss but can start to have an effect on yield once a soybean starts reproduction. This is where we can utilize our PPO herbicides for effective weed control. Weed control during the development of the first few trifoliate leaves (V1-V3) is critical for protecting yield. With this logic, it allows us to confidently use PPO herbicides when we are presented with situations involving weeds that are difficult to control with just glyphosate like Lambsquarter or glyphosate resistant weeds like Waterhemp. If you have questions about your herbicide program, contact your agronomist at WS Ag to start the conversation.
-Mark Kendall
Liebig’s Law
In essence, the barrel staves represent plant food nutrients at different levels of availability.
I’m a firm believer in the Law of the Minimum. Over the past 25+ years of scouting crops and troubleshooting problem areas in fields, including alfalfa, corn, soybeans, and winter wheat, I’ve used tissue sampling and soil sampling as my primary diagnostic tools to help fix the problem, or in other words “lengthen the shortest staves.” However, in these situations there has already been some top end yield loss for that year. Which brings up another point: Hidden Hunger.
Hidden hunger is a situation where a nutrient or nutrients are at low enough levels that they are limiting yields, but there are no visual signs of that nutrient deficiency. Sampling can also help to identify these hidden needs.
In closing, ask yourself:
- Have my yields leveled off the past few years?
- What changes have I made in my plant food nutrient program lately?
- Could hidden hunger be leveling off my yields?
Soil sampling and tissue sampling are great tools to help solve problems. If you answered “Yes” to questions 1 and 3 and “none” to number 2, maybe it’s time to take a closer look at the “stave lengths” on your operations, via tissue and soil sampling.
Get a hold of Andy, Mark, Kevin, Tom or myself if you see a need for some sampling to be done. It’s never too early to start planning for next year.
-Dan Langkamp
**Oh yeah, in case you are wondering, Justin Von Liebig was a German chemist from the 1800’s