Ken Overcast to provide entertainment at Mondak Ag Days banquet

Every year, the Mondak Ag Days and Trade Show holds a  banquet between the two days of the trade show and educational sessions.  This year, that banquet will be Thursday, January 10 and our featured entertainer for the banquet is Ken Overcast.  To quote Ken's website "Ken Overcast is the real deal.  In this day and age of plastic throw away everything, to find someone that is really genuine is a treat indeed.  While many in the performing arts tend towards honing and act that is saleable, Ken strives very diligently to just be himself.  His music, writing, and public performances are characterized by a down home connection that is indeed rare.  He is a third generation Montanan, and is truly making a mark on America's entertainment."

Tickets for the banquet, which include a social hour, beef meal and Ken's entertainment are $25 and can be purchased at Stockman Bank in Sidney, the Sidney Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, or the Richland County Extension Office.   Hope to see you there.

Let's treat our soil like we treat our cows

I recently stumbled across an article written by Elin Westover,MSU Extension Agent in Fallon/Carter Counties, that looks at the topic of soil health from a bit of a different perspective.  As you can tell by the title, it suggests that managing for soil health is not that much different than managing for healthy cows. Enjoy!!

Managing for soil health is like managing for rumen health

Elin Westover, Montana State University Extension, Fallon/Carter County Agent

Many ranchers are farmers, and many farmers are ranchers.  Producers often consider themselves to have expertise in one area, but generally not both.  However, similarities in the biological systems of each field mean similar approaches can be used to maximize production in soils and livestock.  Soil functions as a plant’s stomach, similar to the role of the rumen in ruminant animals (cattle and sheep). Both the soil and the rumen are populated with microorganisms: bacteria, fungi, and protozoa.  The function of microorganisms in both systems is dependent on the quality of the environment and availability of nutrients.  Health and productivity of rangeland and crops as well as cattle and sheep can be attained by feeding and managing microorganisms and their environment.

1.      Microorganisms eat first.  To maintain healthy ruminant animals, rumen microorganisms must eat first, which in turn will feed the animal.  When feed enters the rumen (the second and largest compartment of a ruminant’s stomach) microorganisms get access to the food source first and break it down into useable nutrients.  For example, rumen microorganisms break down carbohydrates for their use and volatile fatty acids are an end product.  In turn, volatile fatty acids are used as an energy source for the host animal.  Similarly, the microorganisms in the soil must break down certain materials before plants can utilize them.  Organic forms of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur are present in the soil either as crop residues or manure (organic matter) and must undergo a mineralization process before the nutrients become plant-available.

2.      Do not mess with the “bugs.”  The contents of the rumen are partitioned into three layers based on their density.  The upper region of the rumen contains the gas by-product of microbial fermentation. Grain and fluid-soaked roughage descend to the bottom region, and newly-arrived roughage lies in the middle. There are specific microorganisms associated with each layer due to the degradation process of the specific material.  Rumen contractions are continually mixing the contents slowly. If rumen contents were vigorously stirred into one homogenous mixture the animal would not perform normally.  The microorganisms’ environment would be completely disturbed and it would take time for their environment to be re-established and for the rumen to return to normal. The same idea can be applied to soil, which can be thought of as the plant’s stomach.  Management tools such as tillage, fertilizer and pesticide applications, and livestock can be used to improve soil productivity or can be detrimental to soil health if not practiced correctly.  When management tools are applied incorrectly and do not complement the soil biology, microorganisms must spend time and energy to re-establish equilibrium with the new environment.  For example in the short term, tillage helps microorganism break down organic matter, but in the long term this loss of organic matter will hurt soil health and crop yield.  

3.      Microorganism populations require time to adapt.  In the rumen, time is needed for microbial populations to develop and function at beneficial levels.  Furthermore, each microorganism has a unique function, and depending on the livestock’s diet, the populations of microbes may need to shift.  Therefore animals must be slowly acclimated to diet changes. It takes roughly 7 days for microorganisms in the rumen to adapt to a new feedstuff.  Livestock producers are encouraged to change rations gradually, by introducing a new roughage or concentrate source to livestock incrementally.  This allows the bacteria, fungi and protozoa to adapt and shift ensuring the animal remains healthy and receives the maximum amount of nutrients from a feed source.  Likewise, changes in soil quality and health will not improve overnight; time is required for microorganism populations to build to a beneficial level.

4.      Carbon: nitrogen ratio is critical.  Health of the soil, like the health of ruminant animals, will be improved when carbon and nitrogen are in balance.  Microorganisms break down the protein a ruminant animal consumes and uses the nutrients to their advantage first.  The host animal will then receive the nutrients in the form of amino acids or nitrogen, or the protein may by-pass rumen microbial degradation and will be available for digestion in the small intestine.  The “bugs” use the nitrogen and carbon from protein to grow and their waste provides a portion of the essential amino acids the animal needs.  If there is a shortage of carbon, the nitrogen cannot be utilized and is excreted by the animal.  If there is a deficiency of nitrogen, the microorganism activity is reduced and the animal’s growth and productivity will suffer.  Similarly, the nitrogen waste from the microorganism’s digestion of organic matter in the soil is what benefits plants.  Digested organic matter can be very beneficial to soil because it helps hold onto mobile nutrients as well as moisture.   The carbon: nitrogen ratio is critical in balancing the breakdown of organic matter in a slow release fashion.  If the ratio is too high, organic matter is degraded too slowly and the nutrients do not cycle quickly enough between the soil, plants and microbes. Most plant organic matter has a higher carbon: nitrogen ratio which inhibits its breakdown. Too much undigested (or composted) organic matter can rob available nitrogen from live plants as the microorganisms that break down organic matter need relatively large amounts of nitrogen to break down cellulose – the main structural component of plants.  If the carbon: nitrogen ratio is too low, the nutrients cycle too rapidly and nothing is left to supply the plant with nutrients, or oxygen in the soil can be depleted which is necessary for both microbes and crops.  Additionally, when degradation of organic matter is occurring too quickly, the soil becomes vulnerable to wind and water erosion, and there is increased evaporation.

5.      Dead or alive.  Just as microbial activity is important, dead “bugs” have an essential role in the biological system too.  As the microorganism population in the rumen dies, they are passed to the lower gastrointestinal tract where they are degraded and utilized as a protein source by the host animal.  Microorganisms themselves are a great protein source for ruminant animals.  Bacteria, fungi and protozoa generally contain 20 to 60 % crude protein on a dry matter basis with bacteria providing the most at 50% (±5%) crude protein.  Similarly, the microorganisms that die in the soil can also be broken down to supply nitrogen and other nutrients plants can utilize.  This nutrient cycling is an important facet of soil health and plant nutrition.

6.      More is not better.  If you feed cattle more protein than needed, the protein is used as an expensive energy source rather than a nitrogen source.  Additionally, there is a point that it starts to cost the animal energy to get rid of the excess nitrogen and can cause infertility due to high pH levels in the uterus.  If you add more nitrogen fertilizer to your soil than is needed, it will not be efficiently utilized and often lost through leaching beyond the reach of plant roots or lost as a gas to the atmosphere.

7.      Create the ideal environment.  Moisture and temperature affect microbial activity while pH affects the food availability for the microorganisms.  Consequently, it is critical to understand and manage the environment of the rumen and the soil.  The rumen is an effective fermentation vat as long as the environment is anaerobic (without oxygen) with a constant temperature, pH and moisture content.  It is important to note the environment can change as a result of diet (grain versus roughage diet), but as long as it is changed over a period of time, the microorganisms can adapt.  Diet changes consequently alter the proportion of volatile fatty acids produced.  Like the rumen, soil can be thought of as a semi-aquatic environment.  “Bugs” in the soil are most active in moist, warm conditions.  Each species of microorganism functions best at a specific temperature and pH.  Keeping the soil covered at all times with a crop or crop residue is one method to help regulate temperature and avoid extremes.  Applications of lime, acid-forming fertilizers, and other soil amendments can shift soil pH.  A soil pH of 7 or “neutral” allows for the best exchange of soil nutrients and plant roots – too acid and nutrients leach into the groundwater or streams and too alkaline and nutrients are tightly chemically bound  and are unavailable to plants.  It is always a good idea to test your soil before spending lots of money to amend it or potentially harm it.  Furthermore increasing the diversity of the organisms in the soil will provide balance and stability to soil pH in the rhizosphere, the area immediately surrounding plant roots where soil organisms are concentrated.

8.      Papillae/ villi = Root Hairs.  Much like a shag carpet, the rumen wall is lined with finger-like projections called papillae.  Likewise, the inner surface of the small intestine is covered with finger-like projections called villi.  The size and amount of villi and papillae change as the diet changes.  The function of papillae and villi is to increase the surface area and therefore increase absorption of nutrients and water.  Similarly, root hairs are very important to plants and help absorb water and minerals from the soil.  Root hairs are small lateral extensions of a mature root and are visible with the naked eye.  Root hairs serve as the primary nutrient and water uptake mechanism for plants.  Plants’ association with mycorrhizal fungi can also increase the volume of soil that can be accessed by plants.  Fungal hyphae are like a second set of roots that explore the soil for water and nutrients.  The water and nutrients that the fungi capture from the soil are provided to the host plant in exchange for sugars the plant produces through photosynthesis. 

9.      Diversity.  All microorganisms have a specific role and utilize specific organic matter.  The diversity of microorganisms in the rumen allows the animals to get nutrients from the feed consumed.  Additionally, ruminant animals perform better when on a diverse, non-monoculture diet that provides the microorganisms and animal with a complete diet of nutrients, including vitamins and minerals.  A diverse crop rotation which utilizes all four crop types (cool-season grasses and broadleaf plants and warm-season grasses and broadleaf plants) can be very beneficial.  One of the benefits of crop rotations and diversified planting is array of root structures to scavenge nutrients and water from different levels in the soil and make them available.  Increasing plant diversity increases soil health and soil function by providing the soil food web with nutrient, energy and water cycling.

10.  Continual and Consistent.  Cattle and sheep need access to a continual and consistent food supply in order to perform to their genetic potential.  Furthermore, the rumen microorganisms are unable to function to their potential when their feed source is inconsistent.  Likewise, when there are live plants in the soil, the biology has its preferred food.  Organic matter in the soil provides soil microorganisms with a feed source to break down for the plant.  Plants do not thrive in soils that are low in organic matter because microorganisms have limited access to feed.  Both rumen microorganisms and soil microorganisms suffer from intermittent feed availability. 

Managing the soil as microbial habitat is critical to the functioning capacity of the soil, just as managing the rumen as microbial habitat is critical to the health of a cow or sheep.  To be profitable and sustainable, producers must realize that the soil, like the rumen, is a biological system and must be managed accordingly.

Soil Health Workshop to be held in Miles City November 29

For some time  now, agriculture production has focused on providing more inputs to the soil to ensure a better yielding crop.  Whether the inputs be pesticides, fertilizers, tillage operations, etc... the focus was on adding to the soil in order to make it more productive.

Lately, there has been a sort of change in thinking about how we treat our soils.  A fairly new term "soil health" has been coined.  Now producers are encouraged to think about building better soils so that more of these inputs may not be necessary.  Practices like crop rotations, planting cover crops, using variable rate technologies, and reduced tillage have been researched and implemented as ways to make our soils "healthier".

While these practices, and others like them, help build better soils, they are often not implemented because of various factors.  Changing from one practice to another is not always as simple as it sounds.  Usually there is new equipment that must be purchased or old equipment that needs to be changed and that fact alone, not to mention the change in one's mental approach to raising a crop, leads to a hesitancy by some to adopt the practice.

With that being said, however, we know that a healthy soil ultimately leads to a better crop.  That is why on Thursday, November 29 there will be a workshop in Miles City that addresses the issue of soil health and how these practices can be implemented.  The workshop will be held at the Sleep Inn and Suites, located at 1006 Hayne Ave., start at 10:30 and end at 4:00.  Anyone interested in attending should call the Custer County Conservation District at 406-232-7905 ext. 103.

What if we didn't use the latest technologies to produce our food??

I happened to stumble onto a very useful and resourceful website the other day (www.sustainablebeef.org) and thought that I would share some of the information that I found there.

As an Extension Agent, I am charged with providing information to the public that is non-biased and research based.  I can say with absolute certainty that the results of this study pass both tests.  Dr. Judith Capper and Dr. Dermot Hayes recently published results from a study titled "The Environmental and Economic Impact of Removing Growth-Enhancing Technologies from United States Beef Production". 

There is not enough room to list all of the pertinent information regarding their study in regards to how it was conducted and what controls they used and whatnot, but I thought that I would take the time to share some of the information garnered from it.  According to this study, if farmers and ranchers wanted to produce the same amount of beef that is currently available and had to do it without using growth-enhancing technologies it would take:

• 10 million more cattle in the U.S. beef herd (equivalent to doubling the # of beef cattle in Iowa and Kansas)
• 3 million more fed cattle harvested (which would require 4 additional packing plants with a total capacity of 10,000 head/day to harvest them)
• 81 million more tons of feed (enough feed to fill 1,010 Rose Bowl stadiums)
• 17 million more acres of land for grazing and growing feed (similar to the size of the state of West Virginia)
• 138 billion more gallons of water for producing feed and maintaining animals (enough water to fill more than 200,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools)

PLUS, 18 million more metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) would be released in the United States alone (which is equivalent to the annual emissions given off from 3 million U.S. cars)

I understand that there is a market for beef that is produced without using these technologies and I would never suggest that a person using these methods to meet a demand should stop doing so.  I just found these results interesting and thought I should share.  For the full report, feel free to visit http://www.sustainablebeef.org/resources.shtml

Beet harvest is under way

Actually sugarbeet harvest in and around Sidney started last week.  However, with the warmer-than-normal temperatures there was fear of the beets rotting in the storage piles so harvest was momentarily stopped.  With a return to cooler and more normal temperatures, beet harvest has once again resumed.  If there are not any further delays, and all goes well, all of the beets in the valley should be out of the ground in about 3 weeks.  Although there is not official report that can be made, weather conditions this summer and fall should have made for a fairly good amount of tonnage and sugar content.  Stay tuned for details.

Tips for a successful corn silage harvest

There are several sites dedicated to making sure that your corn silage harvest goes as well as possible.  I just thought I would list a few.

• Here is some information from Wisconsin Extension
• A very thorough article on everything from judging the right stage of the corn to properly packing the silo can be found here

There are several other sites that offer great tips but these are two of the more thorough, research backed, publications that I have found.

Has your farm and/or ranch been in the family for 100 years or more?

If so, you should receive some recognition for it.  The Montana Historical Society has a program designed to recognize farms and ranches that have remained in a family for 100 years or more.  The "Centennial Farm and Ranch Program" was created by the Montana legislature in 2009 for the purpose of recognizing and commemorating the agricultural traditions of Montana.

On November 8, many of the agricultural-related agencies in Richland County are going to host a celebration recognizing 150 years of the existence of the United States Department of Agriculture.  One of the events that we hope to accomplish at this meeting is to recognize those farms and ranches withing the county that have been in existence for at least 100 years.

If you would like help with the application process, feel free to contact Tim Fine.