board members - Western New York Crop Management Association
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1. Did you know Ss that 40 is the number of years that Western lambsquarter seeds can New York survive in the eee CROP MANAGEMENT Main Office 5242 Curtis Road Warsaw NY 14569 Randolph Office 91 Jamestown Street Randolph NY 14772 March 11 2013 2012 Annual Meeting Highlights i The annual meeting on February 28 was more than a chance to look at the finances of the cooperative from 2012 it provided a chance to look at ideas to improve member farms in 2013 and beyond The meeting was well attended and opened the eyes of growers to new ideas Tom Kilcer from Advanced Ag Systems shared research on winter forage options that can increase the per acre yield in fields and add high quality forage to the bunk His information on triticale has many growers looking for seed tO plant this fall If you missed this discussion or are looking for more information Tom can be reached at tfk1 cornell edu or visit his website at http WWW advancedagsys com Dr Andrew Landers from Cornell University entertained the attendees with the do s and don ts of spray application Spray particle size has everything to do with effective coverage and drift potential i Thank you to Tim Wittmeyer and Betty Nichols for serving on the board of directors over the past three years Welcome to the board Don Telaak and Shawn Cotter and congratulations to Ben Atwater who will serve a second te2. heavily on urea fertilizer It has always been a challenge to apply urea uniformly with a spinner spreader Part of this is due its light weight and part of this has to do with the very nature of spinner spreaders l went online and downloaded a user manual for a fertilizer soreader The manual listed 13 factors that affected the spread pattem Now we have the additional challenge of the size consistency of urea Natural gas is about 374 of the cost of producing nitrogen fertilizer so its considerably cheaper to make nitrogen fertilizer in places where gas prices are 10 20 of the prices in the U S then ship the fertilizer here By the time it gets to the field where it will be spread imported urea has been through more augers than domestic urea This handling can break down individual granules or prills into smaller particles See below Screen separated urea taken from fertilizer spreader Image courtesy of Needham Ag Broken granules will not travel as far as intact granules when applied with a spinner spreader When poor quality fertilizer with a lot of broken granules is applied using a spinner spreader a majority of the small particles fall near the path of the spreader This results in a high N rate near the path of the spreader and a low N rate midway between passes Does this picture look familiar Uneven nitrogen fertilizer applications with a spinner spreader are probably the cause of the streaks taken in thi
3. ically remove 15 Ibs of sulfur This does not mean that you should plan on putting 15 Ibs of sulfur per acre to replace it but that grass will pull down the levels unless it is replaced Manure is a good source of sulfur Unfortunately there haven t been many sulfur on grass yield trials Adding that sulfur to your fertilizer will make your grass a darker shade of green and the envy of your neighbors And it might even add to your yield and protein In my Opinion adding sulfur to the blend is probably a wise thing to do on fields that don t receive manure
4. ides with the same site of action in these different crops against the same weed unless other effective control practices are also included in the WNY Crop management system Management Scout fields regularly and identify weeds present Respond quickly to changes in weed populations to restrict spread of weeds that may have been selected for resistance Page 3 A Trip to the Crop Input Superstore by Tom Frederes Be it sitting in the car or being the guilty party most of us have been victim of the quick shopping trip that has gone horribly awry We just need milk bread and eggs l Il be back in 5 minutes Thirty minutes later with two overflowing bags we exit having spent a whole lot more than we had intended Do we need everything in those bags Probably not But we are human and that means given enough time we can rationalize most anything It s not like that gallon of ice cream is going to go to waste and sure we didn t need 1000 sandwich bags but it was buy 9 boxes get 1 free A few dollars here and a few dollars there and now that 15 shopping trip cost us 40 Many farmers are fond of saying that if they gained a pound or two of milk every time a salesman or consultant said they would their cows would average 200 Ibs per day It s gotten to be the same way on the field crops side a bushel here seven more there Its a wonder the average corn yield isn t 300 bushel per acre followed by 150 bushel bea
5. mework and find out what is truly effective WNYCMA WNYCMA STAFF CROP CONSULTANTS David DeGolyer CCA CCP Dan Steward CCA CCP Chad Stoeckl CCA CCP David Shearing CCA Eric Nixon CCA Tom Frederes CCA Nick Youngers CCA Henry Kelsey CCA Nate Herendeen CCA CROP TECHS Mike Youngers Andy Marusarz Ben Welch Jason Post Josh Harvey Bob Scott Dave Wiggers Don Mitzel Julia Olmstead Megan Burnley FARMSTEAD PLANNERS Jim Booth CCA CCP Rhonda Lindquist Greg Tessmann Jim Seiler Jared Norton Lori Whittington OPERATIONS MANAGER Deirdre DeGolyer COMPUTERY IT MANAGER Avery DeGolyer OFFICE SUPPORT Jenn Elliott Kathy Morton Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeseoeeeceseeoeeeeseeeeseeannenlt Page 4 WNYCMA What Learned at Growmark s Agronomy Conference By Julia Olmstead Crop Technician In January attended a Growmark sponsored Agronomy Conference at RIT Inn amp Conference Center in Rochester found two of the presentations particularly interesting The Seven Wonders of High Yield Corn Production with Dr Fred Below and Progressive Growers Pushing the Yield Envelope with Missy Bauer Dr Below Crop Physiology Professor at the University of Illinois gave us what he deems the seven most important factors pertaining to corn yield and their contribution value Rank Factor Value bu acre 1 Weather 70 27 2 Nitrogen 70 26 3 Hybrid 50 19 4 Previous Cro
6. n is overapplied We are going to lose more in lost yield on the underapplied areas of grass fields WNYCMA J Air Flow the urea This option is not available in every area but will definitely result in a better distribution of fertilizer It should be noted that even this technology can t fully overcome uneven size distribution 3 Utilize UAN applied through Stream Bars This technology has become popular among wheat growers over the last number of years UAN broadcast sprayed with flat fans will bum vegetation it comes in contact with and has high potential for volatilization Stream Bars on the other hand use an oniice to stream large droplets down to the ground These larger droplets tend to bounce off foliage and don t bum the crop Application should be uniform across the entire width of the boom Of course there are some disadvantages with this system Although the difference in price hasn t been as high in the last few years UAN has historically been more expensive per unit of nitrogen than urea You also have to be set up to efficiently handle a large volume of liquid To apply 80 units of N acre requires about 25 gallons A 500 gallon sprayer will cover 20 acres at this rate On the other hand a five ton spreader of urea can cover 57 acres at 175 lbs per Finally there is the added cost of the stream bars 20 stream bars are listed on Needham s Ag Product web page at 21 00 apiece plus postage and ha
7. ndling To outfit a 45 boom sprayer the cost would be just under 600 00 Above Stream Bars Image courtesy of Needham Ag Page 6 Cont from Page 5 What is the better way to go Comparison of different nitrogen fertilizer materials for grass Cost 80 Ibs Nitrogen Dry Fertilizer Program 200 lbs acre 39 8 0 0 6 80 0 0 12 A dry fertilizer blend of 75 Urea and 25 of Ammonium Sulfate A S gives a fertilizer analysis of 39 8 N and 6 sulfur To help protect the urea from volatilization it will be necessary to treat it with Agrotain Using ball park prices from local retailers the cost of this blend is approximately 550 ton Urea 525 Ammonium Sulfate 415 ton Agrotain 50 00 treated ton urea Cost 55 00 acre 80 lbs Nitrogen Liquid Fertilizer Program 275 lbs acre 25 gallons 28 0 0 2 6 A liquid fertilizer blend of 90 Urea Ammonium ATS gives a fertilizer analysis 28 N and 2 6 sulfur About 1 2 of the nitrogen in UAN is in the urea form which is subject to volatilization The ATS has some anti volatilization properties albeit not nearly as effective as Agrotain Additionally the stream bar s large droplets have the effect of reducing the surface area of the liquid also reducing volatilization Using ball park prices from local retailers the cost of this blend is approximately 420 ton Cost 57 75 acre Agronomic Effects Nitrogen Availability Plants take up the majority of their
8. nitrogen in the nitrate form However they will also take up nitrogen in the Ammonium form Urea is converted to nitrate within a few weeks of application A slight advantage of UAN over urea is that half of the nitrogen is immediately available to the plant Will this result in higher yields It depends on the weather If the Nitrate UAN and 10 Ammonium Thiosulfate moisture and nitrogen is there the grass will In response to requests from area growers for pesticide credit oppor tunities WNY Crop Management has teamed up with Chautauqua County Cornell Cooperative Extension to present 2013 Field Crop Update This meeting on Wednesday March 27 from 11 AM to 3 PM at the Frank Bratt Agricultural Center will address pests pesticide regulations corn and soy bean disease cover crops and herbicide resistance 3 DEC pesticide credits are available for all attendees We hope to see many of you there The cost is 15 per person for Chautauqua County CCE members 25 for non members Call 664 9502 x 209 to register by Wednesday March 20 Up Coming Meeting WNYCMA likely respond quicker to UAN Sulfur Both of these fertilizer programs have some sulfur in them Sulfur from acid rain has declined in the northeast It should be noted that we are in an area that receives a higher amount of sulfur annually compared to the rest of the country Do we need more 10 tons of grass haylage harvested per acre in a year will theoret
9. ns Although with some of the yield monitor reports hear 300 might be a tad low Increase in genetic yield potential has most certainly occurred at a rapid pace the last 20 years with the advent of GMO crops There seems to have been an explosion of silver bullet products to match these technology advances Many of these products come with dubious research if any at all to back them up The extra 5 an acre for product XYZ to improve your Glyphosate activity or that 10 foliar micro pack to add with the fungicide application can really add up It s easy to let that 15 acre trip across the field become a 40 one if you aren t careful and you may not have any more in your bin grocery bag after you ve made the trip to the store I m not suggesting that all of these products don t work or that they are not economical but how do you know The best way to find out what is worth the extra cost is to implement some on farm trials This is relatively simple if you have yield monitors but can also be accomplished through the use of stationary or portable scales The CMA does have a set of portable scales that could be utilized by members It s easy to rationalize that extra buck or two or twenty an acre for a splash of this and a pinch of that But at the end of the year when you have left the store and tallied your crop expenses for the year you may end up feeling like you were sold a bag of goods Do your ho
10. p 25 10 5 Plant Population 20 8 6 Tillage 15 6 7 Growth Regulators 10 4 Total 260bu 100 The prerequisites for these seven factors are drainage soil pH fertility and weed control He placed special emphasis on banding fertilizer saying that it ensured that there were no plants left behind Besides the seven wonders Dr Below de scribed his high tech package which has produced 300 bushel corn in his studies The high tech package consisted of 100 Ibs P205 as MESZ which supplies phosphorus sulfur and zinc 100 pounds extra N at sidedress a triple stack hybrid with soil insec ticide at planting a final stand of 45 000 plants acre in 30 inch rows and a Strobilurin fungicide such as Headline at flowering You can watch informational videos about these seven wonders with Dr Below online at www wondersofcorn com Missy Bauer is an independent crop consultant with B amp M Consulting out of Coldwater Michigan as well as the Farm Journal s Associate Field Agronomist One topic she spoke about was stand establishment and ear count She explained how the microenvironment around the seed at planting has a large impact on whether your cornfield is a picket fence stand with uniform ears She emphasized making sure that everything on your planter is working properly to reduce the number of skips or dou bles and to prevent variations in planting depth Gauge wheels closing wheels and down pressure are among the most im portan
11. rm as a director If you were not able to attend the meeting or are thinking about implementing some of the practices presented be sure to talk with your consultant Discussions should be started now to prepare for rotation options 1 BOARD MEMBERS Eric Dziedzic Donn Branton Shawn Cotter President Vice President Sec Treasurer Ben Atwater Kevin Nedrow John Reynolds Don Telaak Page 2 WNYCMA Glyphosate Resistance Can it Happen Here By Tom Frederes In a rapidly shrinking world where people food seed and fertilizer move freely and geographic borders matter very little the potential for movement of seeds and insects are limitless It s really not a matter of if but when Don t forget to e mail us The area of U S cropland infested with glyphosate resistant weeds expanded to 61 2 million acres in 2012 according to a survey conducted by Stratus Agri office wnycma com Marketing Nearly half of all U S farmers interviewed reported that glyphosate 3 resistant weeds were present on their farm in 2012 up from 34 of farmers in then visit our 2011 The survey also indicated that the rate at which glyphosate resistant weeds are spreading is gaining momentum increasing 25 in 2011 and 51 in 2012 website at Top 3 Countries Resistant Weed Sites of Action www wnycma com 3 Canada tO download 2 Australia 62 1 United States 142 the new How Does Resistance Occur Re CO rd The exact reason that a specie
12. s becomes resistant is not always known The herbicides insecticides themselves do not directly cause the genetic change Ke e in that allows for the resistance The resistant biotype is present in low numbers in D o natural populations When an herbicide is applied most of the susceptible weeds die leaving the few resistant weeds to survive mature and produce Softwa re seed If the same herbicide insecticide continues to be applied and the resistant weeds pests reproduce the percentage of the population that is resistant will increase Here are some helpful hints from the University of Minnesota Rotate herbicides sites of action Do not make more than two consecutive applications of herbicides with the same site of action to the same field unless other effective control practices are also included in the management system Two consecutive applications could be single annual applications for two years or two split applications in one year Apply herbicides in tank mixed prepackaged or sequential mixtures that include multiple sites of action Both herbicides however must have substantial activity against potentially resistant weeds for this strategy to FOLLOW US ON be effective TWITTER Rotate crops particularly those with different life cycles e g winter annuals WNYCMA such as winter wheat perennials such as alfalfa and summer annuals AND such as corn or soybeans At the same time remember not to use FACEBOOK herbic
13. s field Photo from article by Peter Scharf University of Missouri How can you apply your nitrogen more accurately There are basically three alternatives 1 Do a better job with your spinner broadcast spreader Many farms own their own dry fertilizer spreader probably just as many or more use the local fertilizer store s Has that spreader been calibrated Is it being operated correctly Do you even think about it before you start the PTO and engage the drive wheel to start spreading the first load That five ton load of urea you are about to put out there is worth 2 750 at 550 per ton plus your application cost You probably don t have to give your fertilizer spreader as much attention as you do your com planter but at least throw a litte TLC its way After someone does or doesn t calibrate your fertilizer spreader you could also try narrowing your distance between passes Most spreaders are designed to apply fertilizer over a 90 spread pattem But this is a very general guideline Experience usually shows that urea doesn t fly that far Reducing the rate per acre and the distance between passes may improve fertilizer distribution or at least make the pattem of uneveness less obvious With a crop like grass we are generally not going to be hurt in the overapplication strips because we are usually not putting on maximum nitrogen rates Wheat on the other hand unlike corn or grass has the potential to lodge where nitroge
14. t things to check Planting speed is also of importance especially when the seedbed is rough Extensive residue from previous years may also cause the seed to become pinched preventing the seed from having contact with the surrounding soil Missy also explained how changes in soil density are one of the main reasons corn plants do not develop adequate downward root systems A sudden change in soil density causes roots to grow outward at an angle less than the normal 45 de grees These density layers prevent the corn from reaching the moisture that they need in hot summer months Missy suggested a system approach using more than one tool She promoted vertical tillage implements ex zone builder followed by a vertical harrow as a secondary operation You want to create a uniform shatter in the top 4 to 6 inches of the soil so that you don t leave behind columns in between the shanks Proper depth shank spacing and the simple tool design are all important factors to create a seedbed without density changes Digging a soil pit may help identify if you have density layers in your soil Page 5 How Should You Be Putting the Nitrogen on Your Grass By Dan Steward The investment in nitrogen for grass is not a small one Because of the high price of fertilizer and the increased value of all forages many farmers are taking a closer look at how they are applying this input The traditional method of applying nitrogen on grass has relied
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