July 3, 2002

Annual NDSU Field Day at Dickinson Set for July 10

The annual showcase for agricultural research in southwest North Dakota is scheduled for Wednesday, July 10 at the North Dakota State University Dickinson Research Extension Center field day.

The day-long event will include presentations on research at the center’s headquarters at the intersection of State Avenue and Empire Road in Dickinson and the center’s ranch southwest of Manning.

The day’s events open at 8 a.m. MDT with refreshments at the center’s main office. Parking is available at the Dickinson Recreation Center. Visitors may take a self-guided tour of the center’s grounds to observe horticultural exhibits and trials. There will be morning and afternoon agronomy tours, a beef and rangeland tour, and a horticulture tour. At 5 p.m. a barbecue supper hosted by the Agriculture Committee of the Dickinson Area Chamber of Commerce will be served on the center’s grounds. For more information, contact the center at (701) 483-2348 or visit its Web site at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/dickinso/ .

"This is our annual open house," says Kris Ringwall, director of the Dickinson Research Extension Center. "A major focus of our summer field day involves reports and updates on research conducted for producers. This research can provide producers with preliminary data on cropping systems and management alternatives." Faculty and staff at the center will headline a list of agricultural researchers and marketing leaders who will make presentations at the event.

Agronomy tour. The morning agronomy tour begins at 8:50 a.m. NDSU barley breeders Jerry Franckowiak and Rich Horsley will discuss barley variety trials and new and developing varieties of barley. NDSU wheat breeder Mohamed Mergoum will discuss advances in spring wheat. NDSU durum wheat breeder Elias Elias will outline progress in durum wheat, and NDSU oat breeder Mike McMullen will discuss new oat varieties. Al Schneiter, chair of the NDSU Department of Plant Sciences will discuss NDSU research with transgenic crops.

Beef and rangeland tour. Vans will leave for the center’s ranch located four miles southwest of Manning at 8 a.m. The program at the ranch will begin at 8:30. Specialists will address livestock density and feedlot runoff, limited intake creep feeding, fat supplementation, hay feeding methods, strategies for extending the grazing season with corn grazing and development of a 12-month forage management plan Lunch will be served at 11:30, and vans will return to Dickinson at 12:15.

Afternoon agronomy tour. This tour, beginning at 1:10 p.m., is an in-depth look at alternatives to traditional crop-summerfallow management options and will focus on the use of crop rotations to manage weeds, water and plant nutrients. Topics will include the Western Malt Barley Initiative, North Dakota biofuels, the use of cool-season cereals as forages, strategies for grazing cereals, sweetclover and alfalfa, forage legume alternatives to and ways of integrating a pasture phase in crop rotations.

Horticulture tour. This tour will begin at 4 p.m. and will allow participants to see a variety of flowers, shrubs, grasses and other plants combined in a beautiful living, growing arrangement. Presentations will focus on ornamental grass and turfgrass research, evaluations of annual and perennial flowers, raised bed gardening techniques, arbor day plantings and the center’s nature trail.

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Source: Kris Ringwall, (701) 483-2348, kringwal@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu