Welcome to Lee Schulz, our new ISU Extension livestock economist! Lee grew up on a cow-calf farm in central Wisconsin, and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, a master’s degree from Michigan State University, and a doctorate from Kansas State University.
“Iowa State University is well recognized for its excellence and leadership in the field of economics and its commitment to extension. I’m excited to join the faculty,” he said. “The livestock extension program at Iowa State has a long, storied history that I look forward to maintaining and building upon.”
Schulz will focus his efforts on a range of integrated research and extension activities, with particular focus on livestock industries. His broader interests cover aspects throughout the meat supply chain, ranging from production level supply issues to end-user consumer demand issues. He will provide leadership and expertise to relevant stakeholders and policymakers.
No doubt you’ll be seeing a lot of Lee in the next year as we get him involved in beef programs.
Director's Comments, Risk Management, Uncategorized market outlook, marketing
We all know we need to make hay when the sun shines, but in a crazy year with a very early spring when should we start mowing first crop hay? ISU Extension has used the PEAQ system developed by the University of Wisconsin that takes climatic variations into account to estimate RFV of standing alfalfa to better predict when to harvest first crop.
PEAQ stands for Predictive Equations for Alfalfa Quality, and uses alfalfa stand height and maturity stage to estimate the RFV. In general, it is recommended to harvest alfalfa at about 150 RFV for milking dairy herds and 125 RFV for heifers, stocker cattle and lactating beef cattle. First crop alfalfa standing in the field can drop 3 to 5 points of RFV per day. A one-week delay of first crop harvest could cost at least 20 RFV points in feed quality.
While PEAQ provides an estimate of standing crop quality in the field, you still have to adjust for harvest loss. Under the best conditions, 10 to 20% of the forage dry matter, or about 15 RFV units for haylage, and about 25 RFV units for hay, will be lost at harvest. Therefore, to end up with 150 RFV alfalfa, it is recommended to harvest when PEAQ measurements predict 165 to 175 RFV for the standing forage.
To learn more about what PEAQ is, or to see what the PEAQ scores are for northeast Iowa, go to the PEAQ monitoring page.
Forages, Hay & Grazing, Uncategorized forage, hay quality
Anyone involved in the cattle industry knows first-hand how farm rental rates have increased the last few years, and the impact it had on feed prices. The 2012 rental rate survey has just been released and can be found at the ISU Ag Decision Maker website.
This years’ survey estimated the 2012 average cash rent for Iowa corn and soybean land at $252 per acre, an increase of $38 per acre or 18 percent from last year. This is the largest one-year increase since the statewide survey was started in 1994. High quality land showed the largest increase in rents. Typical rental rates for land growing oats and hay also were reported, as well as rental rates for grazing pasture and corn stalks. This year rental rates for allowing hunters on farmland also were included.
Other resources available for estimating a fair cash rental rate include the Ag Decision Maker information files Computing a Cropland Cash Rental Rate (C2-20) and Flexible Farm Lease Agreements (C2-21). Both documents include decision file electronic worksheets to help analyze leasing questions.
Economics & Markets, Uncategorized farmland rent
Just because we had a mild winter, doesn’t guarantee that your bull power is ready to work. This week’s rainy spell might be a good time to call up the vet and get your bulls checked in preparation for breeding season.
Dr. Grant Dewell reminds us that vaccination with a modified live virus vaccine should be done at least 30 days prior to the breeding season so spermatogenesis is not impacted. In a few cases, pyrethroid insecticides have affected sperm production, so if using insecticides be sure to do that 30-60 days prior to breeding season also. Remember it takes about 60 days to produce sperm.
More information on bull management and breeding exams can be found on the Iowa Beef Center website.
Cow-Calf Operations, Livestock Health, Uncategorized breeding soundness exam, bull management
Veterinarians who work with cattle are invited to sharpen their skills and learn the latest information on a variety of topics at a May 30 workshop in southern Iowa. The 19th annual “Update for Veterinarians” will focus on topics of specific interest to beef practitioners, according to Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach beef program specialist Joe Sellers who is organizing the event at the ISU McNay Research Farm near Chariton.
Terry Engelken will present information on identifying fescue foot and other toxicity symptoms, and results of an Iowa-based cow internal parasite survey. Other speakers and topics are Mary Drewnoski with fescue management, Steve Ensley with updated impacts of pyrethroid application on bull fertility, Dan Loy with review of improving digestibility of low quality forages, Stephanie Hansen with results of a forage/mineral study, Grant Dewell with an update from ISU’s Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine department, and Sellers with heifer development strategies and using the Iowa Beef Center’s estrus synchronization planner.
Registration materials are available at the Iowa Beef Center.
IBC Events, Livestock Health, Uncategorized
