Ramsey County

October 29, 2007

Howdy!!!!
What a weekend this past weekend turned out to be!!!!!  And finally a good killing frost.  I am not sure of what our record is for a killing frost, we must be close if not beat the killing frost date.  It really does not make any difference when that frost comes as fall clean-up activities never seem to come to an end.  I worked in my yard both days and yet found time to pull rocks for a farmer in the afternoons.  It is really kind of fun finding and pulling rocks as you never know what you will find.  It is so much like harvesting crops or gardens.  So many things can influence the final outcome and it definitely shows in the rock world.  Man has made rock piles upon rock piles and when in the process of pulling rocks you do not need to wonder why a rock pile was placed where it was.  There are rocks that make you wonder why they were not pulled by other equipment and then there are those that seem to be left for a reason.  What ever the case, my point in the whole thing, is enjoy what we have today as you never know what tomorrow will bring or be.  We also have a time change next weekend so we know what that will bring, darkness at the end of the work day, much earlier than I like.  I know most of you like the time change thing but I am one that wished it would get left one way or another.

One last note from the weekend is sports, I would like to congratulate all of our local teams for a job well done this past season and continued success through the playoff picture.  I was a little disappointed in the World Series as I am an underdog fan and hoped the Colorado Rockies could have had a better appearance.  Now days it seems a lot of victories are bought rather than earned through the hard work of new faces, like the Rockies.

Soil Testing!!!!
This is also a good time of year to get your soil testing done for the next growing season, whether you are a farmer or a gardener.  With the soil testing lab destroyed in Northwood, a backlog of soil samples could slow down the time to receive your results back.  For years and years we would apply X amount of nutrients just because it was the thing to do but with increasing costs of Nitrogen, that is simply not the case anymore.  A growing year like we had this growing season uses significant amounts of nutrients and the sample report might come back with numbers you do not like but like it or not, the numbers usually do not lie.  A soil sample report will give you a head start on next years growing season.

Fair Rent!!!!!
There is a program available for producers called Fair Rent.  This program allows you to enter your farm input numbers and yields and determines the cash rent you can afford to pay.  I know we can not determine what are yields are going to be for the next growing season but you do have a farm history yield from crop insurance.  You can also come pretty close with input costs from this growing season and adding a small percentage.  If you are interested in using this tool please give me a call and we can set up a time for you to input your numbers into this calculator to determine what you might be able to pay for cash rent using the numbers from your cash flow statement.  Call 701-662-7030.

  Calendar!!!
            November 15               Farmers’s Night Out, Memorial building
            November 28               Rancher’s Night Out, Lake Region Livestock
            November 28               Tax Preparer workshop
            December  6                District Crop Improvement meeting, Lakota
            January    8-9               Lake Region Extension Roundup
 

524 4th Ave NE #5, 2nd Floor Ramsey County Courthouse
Devils Lake  ND  58301
701-662-7027
email - ramsey@ndsuext.nodak.edu

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