April 3, 2009

Jennifer Rees, Extension Educator in Clay County: Producers have been busy applying nitrogen the past few weeks. There's been more tillage here than in the past few years.Some of this is due to changing row direction or evening out rows for utilizing more precision ag technologies. Wheat has been greening up and condition varies. Some looks great and some is fairly nitrogen deficient and may have other problems.

Doug Anderson, Extension Educator in Keith, Arthur, and Perkins counties: As of March 31, we had returned to winter here with snow and hard winds. Unfortunately, we're still short of moisture. Wheat was greening up and starting to grow, but this will set it back and may cost growers some yield.

Paul Hay, Extension Educator in Gage County: There was a lot of conservation work this winter and now growers are receiving deliveries of seed and fertilizer and readying their planters. Prices for anhydrous and liquid fertilizers aren’t bad, but dry is still pricey and producers are looking at options for readjusting their application plans to take advantage of price differences.  Some are applying the dry fertilizer they couldn’t get on last fall and reducing the amount of starter fertilizer, sometimes to two gallons per acre. Most of this production is no-till, but if you tilled, this might not work as well.  Producers are looking for different ways to economize their fertilizer applications and will want to check their soil field tests when making these decisions. Related to farm management, producers may want to closely track interest rates on open loans, especially in the next few months, in case rates begin to climb. Randy Pryor, Extension Educator in Saline County, and I are planning further programs to help farmers compare options related to the new USDA ACRE program.

Michael Rethwish, Extension Educator in Butler County: Wheat is slow growing and slow to green, but stands look very good.  We haven’t seen much frost damage and had good snow cover until the last three weeks.  Our wheat acreage is down somewhat from last year.  In other fields anhydrous is being applied.  Until this week, conditions had been fairly warm and dry for calving, an improvement over last year at this time.  A lot of alfalfa growers are putting Sencor on alfalfa for weed control.

Gary Lesoing, Extension Educator in Nemaha County:  Wheat is greening up and looks pretty decent, but we don’t have as much wheat as in the last few years due to disease problems in continuous wheat.  In other fields anhydrous is being applied and there is some tillage. Some farmers are gearing up to start planting. 

Wayne Ohnesorg, Extension Educator in Pierce County:  A lot of people have been hauling and spreading manure this week.  There’s still a layer of frost deep in the ground and the surface is going through freeze/thaw.  Some farmers are applying anhydrous, but we have a full soil moisture profile for the most part and the soil needs to dry more.

Keith Jarvi, Extensin Educator in Dixon, Dakota and Thurston counties:   Some guys were spreading manure last week, but generally conditions have been cool and wet and the soil is still fairly saturated. Calving just started. We don’t have a lot of winter wheat up here, but the few fields that we have look good.
 
Bill Booker, Extension Educator in Box Butte County:  Things here are still really dry and we’re looking for moisture to have a frost line.  The eastern Panhandle is a little more like eastern Nebraska and has some moisture.  Much of this season's production will depend on what rainfall we receive. The wheat lost tillers during the dry winter weather and some fields look really bleak.  Growers may be looking to spray out these fields, but may not replant into them, given the lack of moisture.