The Alexander County Cattlemen’s Association met in July at Eugene and Shannon White’s cattle working facility located in the Ellendale Community. New South Tractor was kind enough to sponsor this meeting and bring out a New Holland baler for us to see. We held a chute side demonstration using BQA standards. A huge thank you to Shannon, Sonya and Michaela for the wonderful homemade ice cream. It was good to be around other cattlemen and fellowship together. The next Alexander County Cattlemen's Association meeting will be held in October. If you would like to be added to our email list or mailing list for that notification, please contact Allison Brown at allison_brown@ncsu.edu
Early Drought Management Tips for Pasture-based Livestock Producers
Matt Poore, Seth Nagy, Dale Monks, Miguel Castillo, NCSU Cooperative Extension
Due to the recent drought a large portion of the NC corn crop has been severely
damaged. A few weeks ago it looked like most fields would be a complete loss, but
after some significant rain the crop has perked up and is back to growing, but many
fields have little if any grain due to unfavorable conditions during pollination.
Corn silage, hay or grazing for salvage of grain crops. Drought damaged
“Corn for Grain” with very low grain yield may be most effectively harvested as silage.
In areas where silage is produced it will be common to find custom harvesters that can
help harvest this material.
If silage harvest is not possible it is also possible to make hay out of corn. It has
to be cut with a roller type hay conditioner, or a rotary mower for efficient drying. This
works well when the drought lingers. Note that about half the nitrate will be degraded in
corn silage, but this will not occur if the corn is made into dry hay. Nitrate is
concentrated in the lower stalk of the plant, so increasing cutting height to 12 to 18
inches will result in a considerably lower concentration of nitrate in the resulting silage.
The material could also be baled wet and wrapped with plastic to produce “balage”.
It is also possible to graze corn fields if cattle are nearby and temporary fencing
is available. Make sure if the fields are grazed that there are few poisonous weeds
present, and make sure you remove cattle once most of the corn is utilized. We have
had situations where cows did well in these systems until corn was mostly utilized but
then they started eating sicklepod on the field borders which can kill cows.
The August edition is now available. For more information on August and September's garden tasks and what to be on the look out for click the link below. This months newsletter also includes upcoming events along with several horticulture educational topics. If you find this newsletter helpful and you would like to receive it each month contact Cari Rosenbalm atcari_mitchell@ncsu.edu to be added to the mailing list.
July has been very busy with 4-H Summer Opportunites. Many of the Alexander 4-H Clubs will take a break from meeting this summer, but there will be some that continue to meet. Go to the following link to view the newsletter to see what camps are still available and how to get involved in Alexander 4-H: August 2024 Newsletter
Alexander County offices will be closed Monday, September 2nd in observance of Labor Day.
NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension.
