10 Broadcaster Press March 20, 2018 www.broadcasteronline.com National Ag Week March 19-23, 2018 Using Weather Forecasts for Newborn Calf Health by SDSU iGrow BROOKINGS,S.D. - Calving during a winter season with extreme weather swings can be concerning when caring for newborn livestock. The Cold Advisory for Newborn Livestock (CANL) forecast at the Aberdeen National Weather Service website can be a useful tool for livestock producers when preparing for new newborn calves, in particular in the first 24 hours. "During the month of January, we saw air temperatures as low as negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit and then there were highs of more than 50 degrees," said Laura Edwards, SDSU Extension State ClimaExample of the CANL forecast map hazard areas in S.D. Courtesy: CANL tologist. "The CANL tool was designed to help livestock Fahrenheit and .02-inches precipitafactors together to determine the producers prepare for extreme cold hazardous weather risk to your new- tion temperatures." • Severe: Wind Chill of -9 degrees born calves," Edwards explained. Created with input from Northern Fahrenheit or colder for two or more Visit the CANL website to access U.S. ranchers, experts in animal scihours, or wind chill of less than 32 the tools. ence and those who study biological degrees Fahrenheit and .05-inches of Risk Scale responses to extreme weather condiprecipitation When viewing CANL producers tions, the CANL forecast takes into • Extreme: Wind chill of -18 dewill see a six-category scale (Figure account five factors: grees Fahrenheit or colder for two or 1) which was developed to identify • Wind chill; more hours, or wind chill less than the risk of hazardous conditions for • Rain or wet snow; 32 degrees Fahrenheit and .1-inches newborn livestock, ranging from • High humidity; of precipitation None (green color) to Extreme (red • Combinations of wind chill and Forecast Map color). precipitation; and These risk categories are disThe categories are described as: • Sunshine vs. cloudy days. played on a map of Northeastern • None: Wind chill above 41 de"As a result, it is a science-based South Dakota, and they are updated grees Fahrenheit method to combine several weather at least once-per-day. • Slight: Wind chill less than 41 An example of the CANL forecast degrees Fahrenheit for 2 or map looks like the map in Figure 2. This map for February 13, 2018, more hours shows mild risk in green, moderate • Mild: Wind chill less in yellow over most of the region, Six-category scale to identify the risk of hazardous conand an area of Severe risk in orange than 32 degrees ditions for newborn livestock. Courtesy: CANL in the north central counties. Fahrenheit for 2 A visit to the CANL website will or more hours also display the 30-hour forecasts • Moderate: Thanks to all involved in the Ag Industry! for wind chill, total precipitation and Wind chill less sky cover (cloudy vs. clear). than 0 degrees Now serving the Vermillion The CANL and related maps are Fahrenheit for 2 & surrounding areas or more hours or only available for regions in Montana, North Dakota and Northeastern Wind Chill less South Dakota. than 32 degrees 605-670-3210 Visit us at www.jlkconstructionexcavation.com (605) 624-6904 807 Princeton St Two Locations Open 24 Hours 815 Princeton St 921 E Cherry St SDSU Extension Research Looks at Growing Early Maturing Soybeans by SDSU iGrow BROOKINGS, S.D. - One management strategy soybean growers can implement to reduce risk associated with Mother Nature is to grow soybeans with varying maturity ratings. "With this approach, producers are not 'putting all their eggs in the same basket' so to speak," said David Karki, SDSU Extension Agronomy Field Specialist. He further explained that planting soybeans other than recommended maturity group for the region, especially early maturing varieties, allows producers to start harvest earlier in the fall and continue field activities such as establishing cover crops and/or timely winter wheat planting. "Throughout recent growing seasons, growers have commented that early soybeans have performed equally well in terms of yield, if not better, than soybeans with recommended maturity ratings," Karki said. What SDSU Extension Research Has to Say In collaboration with interested growers and the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station at SDSU, SDSU Extension established a small plot trial during the 2017 growing season at two locations in Northeast South Dakota. The first location was at the SDSU Northeast Research Station near South Shore. The second was in a Clark County soybean grower's field near the town of Henry. The trial used two early varieties (rated 0.2 and 0.3) and two recommended varieties (rated 0.9 and 1.0) provided by Mycogen Seeds. All varieties were planted at two different dates: 1. May 5, 2017 which was early 2. May 23, 2017 which is when soybeans are typically planted in the area. The test plots were 10-feet-by-40-feet plots with four replications for each planting date. Due to consistent rainfall in the second half of September harvesting was delayed more than normal and was only completed October 3, 2017. The results featured in Table 1 show that yields, even though numerically quite different, were not statistically significant at the Henry location, especially for the early planting date. "This could be due to weed pressure and population loss as a result of heavy rainfall in late June," said Anthony Bly, SDSU Extension Soils Field Specialist. He explained that this site received 9-inches of rain in three days the last week of June, which flooded almost half of the early planted plots. Some early flooded plot yields were not as consistent at harvest compared to the non-flooded plots. Therefore, the yields from flooded plots were not used while running statistics which may have contributed to large Least Significant Difference (Table 1). This resulted in difficulty to statistically distinguish mean yields for the maturity ratings used in the study. At the Northeast Research Station, yields from the earliest maturing soybean variety (i.e. 0.2) were significantly different from the other three soybean varieties for both plating dates. "These results suggest that planting soybean varieties that are earlier than half the maturity point than recommended for the region did not result in equal or higher yields in 2017 growing season," Karki said. This research group plans to continue this study in the 2018 growing season. The study was funded by South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council. FIRST DAKOTA Irrigation Sales & Service Irrigation PVC, Wire Installed, Well Drilling Domestic & Irrigation Pump Installation WATERLINE & ELECTRIC TRENCHING Tree & Concrete Removal, Site Clearing, & Ditch Trenching ALL TYPES OF DIRT WORK - FREE ESTIMATES Bobcats • Crane • Dozers • Excavators • Grader Grain Trailer • Scrapers • Side Dumps • Trenchers Vermillion, SD (605)670-9567 Hartington, NE (402)254-2568 Licensed in SD, NE & IA SALUTES AGRICULTURE PROUD TO SUPPORT OUR LOCAL PRODUCERS First Dakota National Bank salutes the families and businesses who work hard every day supporting the Ag industry. Without you, we would not have the land for a resource or be able to enjoy our quality of life. Thank you for all you do! 624-5555 1110 E Cherry Street :: Vermillion FirstDakotaAg.com