Medora Beef Day

 The 34^th annual Medora Beef Day will be held on Monday January 14^th, 2008 at the Community Center in Medora.  Speakers for the day include Dr. Kirschten with the American Simmental Association speaking on Carcass EPD’s, Dr. Greg Lardy, NDSU Beef Specialist, speaking on Emerging Beef Industry Issues and Dr. Eric Berg, NDSU Meat Scientist, who will be speaking on Management Strategies for Improved Carcass Quality.   The Beef Day program will again be followed by the 2^nd Annual Golden Valley SCD Cattlemen’s meeting.  Speakers for the Cattlemen’s meeting include Dr Kevin Sedivec, NDSU Rangeland Specialist, Dwight Tober, NRCS Plant Materials Specialist, and Kenny Miller with the ND Grazing Land Coalition.  The day will end with a social and steak supper.  For more information please refer to the enclosed poster or call the Extension Office.

Crop improvement meeting

The Golden Valley Ag Improvement Association will hold their annual meeting on Friday February 1^st.  Dues for the year are again $15.00 and are payable at anytime.  Members who have paid will receive a free copy of the 2008 crop production guide, as well as a free prime rib supper at the meeting.  The meeting will be at the Golva Bar with a social beginning at 5:30 and supper to be served at 6 pm  A door prize of 25 acres free field inspection will also be given away.  Following the meeting, elections will be held for a representative to the North Dakota Wheat Commission.  Please RSVP the Extension Office by January 25th if you are interested in attending.

 The NDSCIA will also hold their annual meeting on Thursday February 7^th in Minot.  Please mark that date on your calendar   if you are interested in attending.

2008 Crop Budgets Now Available

Andy Swenson has once again completed the projected crop budgets for 2008.  They can be found on the web at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ecguides.html . If you would like a paper copy of the budgets, stop by the office and we can get one for you.

Direction, Diversity and Dollars.- Growing Agriculture in 2008.

Growing Agriculture and Stupid Things Families Do to Break Up Their Business

 Growing Agriculture in 2008 will be presented by the ND Grain Growers and Diversity Direction and Dollars Committee at the Days Inn - Grand Dakota Lodge in Dickinson, ND on January 8^th beginning at 8 am with registration.

 This one day forum will present eight national speakers presenting on such topics as Fitting the Pieces of the Ag/Energy Puzzle Together Easy Disease Management Strategies for Improving Wheat Yield and Quality, Managing Expectations When Using Weather and Climate Projections, and national updates and outlooks from John Thaemert, President of the National Association of Wheat Growers and John Johnson, USDA-FSA.

 Jolene Brown, West Branch, Iowa, is featured at 2:30 pm and will speak on preventing daily aggravations and family business catastrophes by learning from the mistakes of others.  This session is for members of all generations and genders who wish to or are working together in the farming business.

 Conference admission is $20  and includes the noon meal.  For more information go to www.ndgga.com

  Gateway to Opportunity an Entrepreneur Economic Forum

  On January 10^th in Glendive at DCC the Gateway to Opportunity Economic Forum will be held.  Sessions planned include information on Transitioning to Organic Farming, Bio-diesel, Distiller’s grains, Marketing co-ops, Wind energy and many others.  For more information call 406-377-4277 or visit www.dawsoncountyed.com.

Golden Valley Crop Plot Data

The data from the corn and alfalfa plots on the SCD quarter have been analyzed and are displayed in the following tables.  However, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind as you look at the tables.

The yield data on the corn is not dependable numbers.  The high and low yield numbers are included as points of interest, but should not used to differentiate between varieties.

Most of the alfalfa varieties included in the trial were selected by a greenhouse technique in which a sodium chloride (salt) solution is sprayed on breeding lines to determine their ability to germinate and thrive under high salt conditions.  Vernal, which is a public variety released in 1953 was used as a check variety in this trial.

As you look through the tables please feel free to call me if you have any questions on the numbers or data that is included.

Table.  Corn grain test weight, moisture content at harvest, and yield of selected corn varieties, Golden Valley Conservation Farm, Beach, ND, 2007.

 Table . Forage yield of selected alfalfa varieties on the Conservation District Farm, Beach, ND, 2007.

Pesticide Trainings 2008

 With the New Year it’s also time to think about pesticide season.  For those of you who will need to renew you fumigation certification, please mark your calendars for January 30^th.  If our records indicate that your fumigation expires in 2008 you should have already received a letter.  Please RSVP for the training as soon as possible.  There is very limited seating for this training and I will be reserving spots for those who need recertification before anyone looking for initial certification.

 For those of you who’s Private General Certification expires in 2008, you will be receiving a letter in the coming weeks.  There are two trainings that I will be holding this year.  On February 20^th, there will be a joint training with Stark/ Billings County in Medora, and on March 5^th there will be a training in Golva.  Once you receive your letter please RSVP for the training you would like to attend so we can prepare for the number of people attending.

 As always if these dates do not work for you, you are free to attend a training in an area county.  A  listing of area trainings follows.  Please call the office for more information on any training date.

 Jan 30, 2008     Beach High School             Fumigation (IVN)             9:00 am

Jan. 31, 2008        Watford City Courthouse    General and Fumigation         8:30 am

Feb. 14, 2008       New England Tri County    General and Fumigation         1:00 pm

Feb. 20, 2008       Medora, community center      General                  1:00 pm

Feb. 21, 2008       Killdeer,                                 General                            1:00 pm

Feb. 22, 2008       Alexander City Hall             General and Fumigation        8:30 am

Feb. 27, 2008       Halliday, Vo-Ag. Room      Fumigation  (IVN)                  9:00 am

Feb. 28, 2008       Dickinson,                             General                              1:00 pm

March 3, 2008      Dickinson                              General                              1:00 pm

March 5,2008     Golva , 1^st State Bank Mtg room      General            1:00 pm

March 6,2008       Hettinger                                General                              1:00 pm

March 11, 2008    Halliday                                 General                               1:30 pm

March 19, 2008    Dickinson                               General and Fumigation      9:30 am

March 20, 2008    Watford City Courthouse    General and Fumigation          8:30 am

Mon Dak Zero-til Conference Set

The Manitoba-North Dakota Zero Tillage Farmers Association will hold its 30th annual winter workshop and tradeshow at the Riverside Holiday Inn in Minot on Feb. 4-6. “Beyond the Beginning” is the theme of the 2008 workshop.

Registration begins at 5 p.m. on Feb. 4. At 7 p.m., an informal session will be held to allow farmers to discuss what went right and wrong with no-till in 2007.

Registration begins at 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5, with educational sessions starting at 9 a.m. Topics for the day include zero-till equipment and system management, how tractor exhaust may reduce the need for fertilizer, using cover crops to enhance soil health, zero-till economics, zero-till organic and row crops, integrating crops and livestock, intensive fertilizer and pest management, and variable-rate technology. Rap sessions will be held in the evening for informal discussion on cover crops and nutrient cycles, soil management, planting equipment, high-pressure anhydrous ammonia and other fertilizer application techniques, and crop pest management.

Topics to be discussed on Wednesday, Feb. 6, include identifying and overcoming common no-till seeding problems, zero-till nutrient cycles, how to put soil biology to work and new zero-till seeding equipment. Roundtable discussions on soil biology, nutrient cycles, and intensive fertilizer and pest management will be held during afternoon sessions.

The cost of the workshop is $120 if received before Jan. 31 and $150 after that date. An additional fee of $50 allows participants to attend the Feb. 6 afternoon exclusive roundtable discussions. More information and a registration form are available at http://www.mandakzerotill.org.  In addition to the Conference there will be over 40 exhibits as part of the trade show.

Trees, Trees, Trees,… The Series. Parts 2 and 3

The 2^nd in the 3 part Trees Trees Trees series will be held on Tuesday January 15^th at 6pm at the Bijou Theatre.  The featured speaker on the 15^th will be Joe Zeleznik, NDSU Extension Forester.  He will be presenting on Basic Tree Care.  The 3^rd part of the series will be held Wednesday January 23^rd, also at 6pm at the Bijou.  A representative from the North Dakota Forest Service will be on hand to talk about the Ickies, the Creepies and the Crawlies (Insects and Diseases) of trees.  For more information on these meetings please call Ashley at the Extension office or Marty at the SCD office.

Weed and Feed Workshop

The annual Wild World of Weeds and Soil Fertility Workshop will be held January 15^th and 16^th at the Ramada Plaza Suites in Fargo.  Registration forms and schedules can be found on the web at:   http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/weeds/ and http://www.soilsci.ndsu.nodak.edu/franzen/franzen.html

Urea on Frozen Soils.

For those of you still in the Holiday Spirit, here is a news release from Dave Franzen which brings some good fertilizer information and Holiday cheer all in one.

A Winter Urea Story (With Apologies to Charles Dickens)

By Dave Franzen, Soil Specialist

NDSU Extension Service

It had been 10 long years since Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge’s fertilizer plant partner, had died. Ebenezer had bought out Marley’s share of the business from Jacob’s relatives and had run the plant ever since.

It was Dec. 1 and the weather in his part of North Dakota had dropped below zero every night for a week. The ground was hard and a couple of inches of new snow lay on the ground. More snow was forecasted in a few days. Before closing, Ebenezer talked to his floater-driver, Bob Cratchet, about applying urea on his fields in the morning. He explained that urea prices were high, but price likely would be higher in the spring and supplies might be tight. He might as well apply the urea now while they had more time. Anyway, nothing bad could happen. Could it? It was too cold for the urea to volatilize.

As he drove into his lane, Ebenezer reached for the garage door opener and thought for a horrifying moment that he saw the face of Jacob where the button used to be. Blinking hard, he forced himself to look again and the face was gone. “No more sauerkraut at lunch for me,” he thought out loud.

It was late when he arrived at home. You would think this time of year would be less busy, but end-of-the-year sales were important to next year’s spring business and his farmer clients had money to spend before the end of the year.

He watched some TV, had some ice cream and started to get ready for bed. Suddenly, a loud noise, such as the jangling of chains, came from the basement, if the house had one, which it didn’t. Out of the closed door appeared the ghost of Jacob Marley trailing calendars, file cabinets and hundreds of soil thermometers!

“Woe is me and woe is you!” Jacob wailed. “I have suffered these 10 years past because I talked people into putting urea on frozen soil. Now I have this one chance to save you from my fate.”

“Jacob, what are you talking about and what are you doing pulling all that garbage behind you?” asked Ebenezer, quite in awe and fear of this eerie spectacle.

“I talked our customers into applying ammonia and urea too early in the fall and putting urea on frozen soil,” Jacob wailed. “I thought more about getting the order and getting the fertilizer orders out of the way than I did about the consequences. So I am doomed to forever be burdened with calendars, file cabinets full of NDSU Extension Service publications and soil thermometers that could have increased my customers’ nitrogen efficiency! Things that I ignored in life! Woe is me! Now you are thinking about talking your customers into applying urea on frozen ground,” Jacob continued. “To help you, I am summoning three spirits, starting tonight, to help you onto the right path. Expect the first when the clock tolls 1.” Then he disappeared.

Ebenezer was stunned. He stood where he was shaking, not believing what he just experienced. He went to the bathroom and took a shower. He looked all over the house, but finally decided he had dozed off after the ice cream and had a nightmare. He went to bed and, after much tossing and turning, fell asleep.

Suddenly he awakened to the sound of his alarm clock radio. He reached over to turn it off. To his surprise, it was 1 o’clock. He jumped out of bed and almost ran over what appeared to be an old farmer in bib overalls!

“Who are you?” Ebenezer asked. “I am the Ghost of Winters Past,” the spirit replied. “Who’s past?” Ebenezer asked. “North Dakota’s past,” said the spirit. “Hold onto my arm and we’ll take a little trip.” Ebenezer held onto the spirit’s arm and was whisked onto what appeared to be a NDSU Research Extension Center.

“Where are we?” Ebenezer asked. “We are at the Carrington REC in 1995,” the sprit said. “It’s late November and the soil is just frosted in the morning. See? The researcher is applying urea to some of the plots. It will rain tomorrow and the rain will gently wash the urea into the soil. Watch now as time moves forward,” the spirit added.

With that, day and night quickly whirled by before their eyes. When it stopped, they again saw the researcher out in the plots adding urea on areas in the plots with about 4 inches of snow. It was very cold.

“It is about three weeks later,” the spirit said. “It’s December now. The nights have been below zero for more than a week and the ground is very frozen. Now the researcher is applying urea to certain plots. Does this look familiar to you?” asked the spirit.

Ebenezer didn’t say anything, but thought to himself that it did look very familiar. In fact, he planned to do it again just as soon as he woke up from this stupid dream! Time again whirled by, with days and nights cycling like strobe lights at the fair. When they stopped, the snow was thicker and harder.

“It‘s a little warmer, though, so thank goodness for that,” Ebenezer thought. The researcher was again out in the field. “The snow is thicker, it’s March and the ground hasn’t thawed since it froze last December,” the spirit said. “A person would have to be crazy to apply urea in snow this deep,” Ebenezer said. “Yes, he would,” replied the spirit.

Time again passed by, but not as many cycles this time. When the cycles stopped, the researcher was nowhere to be seen. It was warmer and the snow was rapidly melting.

“Why are we stopping here?” asked Ebenezer. “Look at the water in the fields,” explained the spirit. “See how the water pools on areas in the field? Look closely at how the water slowly trickles from the plots to ponds and even into the road ditch. The water is there because it slowly runs there during snowmelt. The water cannot penetrate the frozen soil, so the water, along with any urea applied during the winter, easily runs off. The urea doesn’t stay where it is applied and is free to move with the water.”

“That’s nonsense!” exclaimed Ebenezer. “Urea is attached to the soil and can’t move. Besides, how can we get all of our work done in the spring if we have thousands of more acres to handle that we normally would apply in the winter? Aren’t we doing the farmer a favor by saving money on the cost of their urea?”

“I think someone hasn’t been reading his NDSU Extension publications,” the spirit said. “This study that we just witnessed will be finished a few weeks from now with a urea application made just prior to seeding wheat. The wheat was seeded and grown to maturity. When it was harvested, the wheat fertilized in November yielded similar to the April seeding application. Proteins also were similar. However, the two applications made on frozen ground made nearly 20 bushels per acre less grain and had almost two points less protein.”

“I had no idea,” Ebenezer said. “I must have been using my cell phone in the hallway at the Extension Service meeting I went to during that presentation! But I still need to get my work done and this is one way I can get it done!”

“So be it,” the spirit said. With that, the scene went fuzzy and Ebenezer again found himself in bed in his room. “That was possibly the worst dream I have ever had,” Ebenezer said to himself. He turned over and tried to go to sleep. Before he even got comfortable, the radio alarm went off again and he was confronted by a strange man in a tweed suit.

“Oh, ho!” the man shouted. “Time to get up! I am the Spirit of Winter Present.” “Can’t I dream about something else?” Ebenezer cried. “I get enough winter present when I’m awake!” “Oh ho, let’s go out in the snow!” the spirit yelled.

With that, they were at the edge of town and Ebenezer recognized the house of Bob Cratchet. Bob was just coming up to the front door carrying a boy who looked to be about 9 years old and was holding a broken hockey stick. The door opened and Mrs. Cratchet stood looking at them with a concerned look on her face.

“What in the world are you doing carrying Tiny Jim?” she asked. “Well, mom, I was playing hockey and I think I sprained my ankle,” Tiny Jim replied. “Dad says it’s going to be OK, though.”

“He took quite a spill and broke his stick at the same time,” Bob added. ”If the ankle isn’t better by tomorrow, you might have to take him to the doctor. By the way, it looks like I might spread urea on my fields this weekend, so I probably will be working late.”

“Do you think it’s wise to spread urea on the snow and frozen ground? It’s really expensive, you know,” Mrs. Cratchet said. “It’s OK,” Bob said. “We do it every year for some customers. If Mr. Scrooge says it’s OK, it must be. He goes to Extension meetings from time to time, so he must know what he’s talking about. Besides, he said that supplies might be tight in the spring.”

Ebenezer started to feel a little anxious about the urea and frozen snow idea. Then he looked around and the Spirit of Winter Present was shrinking. “What’s happening to you?” Ebenezer asked. “You don’t expect winter present to last forever, do you?” the spirit squeaked as it slowly shrank into nothingness.

With that, Ebenezer was surrounded by a chill. Looking around, he saw a towering figure dressed in a black bomber hat and a black parka that looked like something out of an arctic nature show.

“Are you the Spirit of Winters Yet to Come?” Ebenezer asked. The spirit nodded and pointed at the Cratchet door. The spirit and Ebenezer walked through the door and stood in the kitchen where Bob and Mrs. Cratchet were sitting. It was late at night.

“We’re really going to have to watch our expenses this coming year,” Bob said. “My wheat yields were at least 15 bushels less than the neighbor’s and the elevator dock because of low protein was a killer! The only thing I did differently than the neighbor was that he waited until spring to apply his urea. I thought I was saving money.”

“I never liked the idea of putting on fertilizer on frozen ground,” Mrs. Cratchet said. “I thought Mr. Scrooge had more sense than that.” “Well it’s done now,” Bob said. “Tiny Jim wanted new hockey skates this year, but I think he’ll have to settle for a hockey stick instead.” “And I think I’ll give you an Extension publication so you don’t do anything stupid again!” Mrs. Cratchet said.

Ebenezer and the spirit floated out of the house into the yard. “Spirit, are these the things that will happen or the things that might happen?” Ebenezer asked the Spirit. “I’ll change! I won’t ever talk my customers into putting urea on frozen soils ever again!”