Search
Prussic Acid Poisoning
As the first frost date approaches, producers often have concerns about the risk of prussic acid poisoning in livestock. Certain forage plants, especially sorghums and related species are associated with an increased risk of death loss because of prussic acid poisoning.
Multi-Species Grazing as an Alternative to Pasture Spraying
Broadacre spraying of pastures is intended to reduce undesirable plants and increase grasses for livestock. This practice often results in unintended consequences, including damage and reduction of native forbs and reduced profitability. One approach to managing perceived “weedy” plants is incorporating different species of livestock into a grazing operation.
Low Temperatures During Soybean Maturity
This year, we had a slow soybean planting due to high rainfall in spring. This was followed by below normal temperatures for most of the growing season, which delayed soybean growth and development. This brings up a question about what these low temperatures will do to soybeans that are in the field.
Estimating Corn Yield in the Field
As a result of late planting and inconsistent weather, both in-field and across-field variations have been significant this year in South Dakota. Even on highly productive land, it is expected for corn yields to vary significantly. Estimating corn grain yield prior to harvest can help growers make management decisions, especially storage and marketing.
Weaning Calves on Cover Crops
What do we do if it is time to wean calves, but the pen isn’t ready? That can be a real concern during wet fall seasons, such as 2019. Putting calves into muddy pen conditions is far from desirable, but holding calves on the cows deep into fall increases the risk of adverse winter weather and tends to pull body condition off the cows.
Assess for Corn Stalk Rots
Several corn fields are beginning to show stalk rot and top dieback symptoms. Stalk rots cause the entire plant to die prematurely, which can lead to plants lodging under windy conditions making harvesting problematic.
Corn Grain Moisture Discount: Why and How Much?
Corn marketed at the standard moisture content of 15.5% and 56 pounds per bushel typically contains 47.3 pounds of dry matter and 8.7 pounds of water. At harvest, a producer has to decide whether to sell (or even store) his corn at ‘as is’ moisture content or mechanically dry it before taking it to the buyer.
Ergot in Western Wheatgrass and the Potential Effects for Winter Grazing
2019 has been a year fraught with challenges for ranchers across South Dakota. Abundant precipitation is usually a blessing, however, wet conditions coupled with a cool spring followed by warmer temperatures has caused another problem across the rangelands of South Dakota: ergot poisoning.
Climate Adaptability of Winter Wheat
For most of us, wheat is wheat. However, there is a distinct difference between spring and winter wheat, even though the vegetative characteristics of these two wheat types are very similar.
SDSU Extension to Address Economic and Marketing Issues in Crop and Livestock Production During Ag Economic Dialogue Series
August 06, 2020
SDSU Extension will host monthly Ag Economic Dialogues throughout 2020 to assist farmers and ranchers in making the best and most profitable decisions for their operations.