Hello Again to All. This hour exist the following News: http://agrilife.org/yoakumterryipm/?p=440 . ----- AgriLife Extension experts: Baling hay an economical alternative for freeze-damaged wheat 06 May 2013 Writer: Kay Ledbetter Contact: Dr. Larry Redmon Dr. Calvin Trostle Dr. Steve Amosson COLLEGE STATION â Baling or ensiling freeze-damaged wheat to take advantage of drought-induced higher forage prices might be the best option for some producers, said Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts. Producers would need to determine how much forage they have in the field, said Dr. Larry Redmon, AgriLife Extension state forage specialist in College Station, and compare the economics of harvesting for grain to harvesting for hay. âWhen it turns dry, people get desperate, and that hay can be worth quite a bit,â Redmon said. âBack in 2011 during the drought, the last round-bales of hay into Abilene were priced at $180 a bale. If the bales weighed 1,000 pounds, thatâs $360 a ton. I would use current market prices to start figuring the cropâs potential as hay.â Dr. Calvin Trostle, AgriLife Extension agronomist in Lubbock, said there is no substitute for getting out and assessing a field to see how much damage is there and knowing what potential it has. âYes, for many fields we know now or will soon know that they may not be worth carrying to grain,â Trostle said. âAnd how much grain is âworth itâ if we have to keep irrigating: 15 or 20 or 25 or 30 bushels per acre?â A producer will have to determine how much forage tonnage they can expect to get from their damaged wheat crop, and thereâs not simple method to do that, the experts said. âI donât have a simple means to gauge the approximate tonnage of a wheat field or other small-grain forage field,â Trostle said. âYou eye it and estimate, though it is an educated estimate.â Redmon said if it was a pasture, forage would be estimated by taking a 12-inch quadrant and cut, dry and weigh the forage in that quadrant to extrapolate pounds per acre. But with a drilled crop, generally grown on 7- to 8-inch rows, that measurement has to be tweaked a little. âEstimating forage for crops planted in rows requires adjustments for row spacing to arrive at a reasonable estimate,â he said. Then the producer has to compare the tonnage of hay possible from an acre to the possible wheat grain yield. Grazing freeze-damaged wheat, which is most likely a bearded variety, at this point is not a likely option, except for wheat in the northern Panhandle. The emergence of bearded heads greatly reduces the feed-usability of the forage due to the awns. âHow much hay could we get off an acre â maybe a ton, which might be worth $125 up to $180 a ton, depending on how the rest of the year goes,â Redmon said. âVersus, if they harvest 10 bushels of wheat, they would get $7 per bushel â so the hay harvest looks good.â Some of the questions to be considered, Trostle said, are: What are hay prices? Who pays for haying? What are silage prices? If silage price includes a percent crude protein criterion, will the price be discounted heavily if percent crude protein is not met? Also, Trostle notes a hidden âcostâ of forage production â one that wheat grain growers may not have factored in their consideration â is the amount of nutrients moved off the field in the forage. Depending on the wheat growth stage, it could cost $30 to $50 to replace the nitrogen and other nutrients leaving the field in a ton of dry wheat hay. âRight now haying yield-damaged wheat appears to be the best option,â said Dr. Steve Amosson, AgriLife Extension economist in Amarillo. âThe drought has resulted in very good prices for wheat hay. Currently, these prices are running from $145-$175 per ton. âNew crop wheat offers are about $7.15 per bushel, which is historically a good price, but by the time you adjust for harvest expenses for both hay and grain options, it appears that you will have to harvest approximately 20 bushels of wheat to get the equivalent net returns from harvesting a ton of wheat hay,â Amosson said. âIn addition, you have the added risk of hail damage from waiting to harvest it for grain that you wouldnât have from baling it now,â he said. âOf course, every situation is different, so producers need to use a sharp pencil in determining which option works best for them.â Additionally, Trostle said if the wheat is irrigated, âthen you are still irrigating potentially a few inches, so continuing to grain doesnât stop the expenses on the crop the way haying would.â Redmon said the more mature wheat that has started heading out may not be as high quality as the younger wheat, but it will still make hay that can be more valuable this year than others due to the continuing drought. âOnce it starts to flower, wheat moves the nutrients from the leaves to the grain and out of the leaves. So around here, where grain is already developing, the crude protein on the hay would be around 8-10 percent,â Redmon said. âBut if it hasnât headed out, it would be closer to 12-14 percent. âThat could be a valuable hay crop,â he said. âThey can either store it or sell it to someone and make money on it.â Redmon said making hay now might be insurance of sorts against the forecast for prolonged drought. The current hay situation is starting off a little behind, due to dry, cool weather. âOur warm-season grasses are two to three weeks behind. So the hay situation now doesnât look good, but if we get rain, it will improve,â he said. âEast Texas and Northeast Texas are considered abnormally dry now and thatâs where they could cut some good hay. Central Texas is dry; we are under extreme drought. The Coastal Bend region, where they cut a lot of hay, is in severe to extreme drought. âRight now there is not a whole lot of hay to be cut, although there will be some cut,â Redmon said. âIf they can make hay, they better make some, because it may be the only cutting they get unless conditions change.â As of last week, 92 percent of the state was under drought, he said. The forecast shows that Northeast Texas is supposed to improve, but in the western three-quarters of the state, the drought is supposed to intensify, âso they could sell hay all over the place.â Redmon said wheat hay wonât go to dairy or horse markets, but in the market aimed at stocker cattle and beef cows, âthe freight alone would make it a better buy than bringing in something from Nebraska or wherever, like they had to in the past few years. Thereâs a ready market for that.â For further information on assessing wheat freeze injury as well as continuing crop updates, access http://wheatfreezeinjury.tamu.edu . ----- Kind Regards, George Kanellopoulos.
Hello Again to All. Exist the following News: http://lubbockonline.com/agriculture/2013-05-07/multiple-freezes-damage-area-wheat-crop . ----- Multiple freezes damage area wheat crop In some fields more than 70 percent of crop has been lost Posted: May 7, 2013 - 5:48pm | Updated: May 8, 2013 - 12:29am By CHRIS HOFF Calvin Trostle, extension agronomist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, called the series of freezes between late March and early May much worse for wheat than a normal year. Damage to a wheat crop from a freeze normally takes about a week to manifest, so he hasnât evaluated fields since the Friday, May 3, dip in temperatures. But he has gotten early reports from Terry, Hockley and Yoakum counties of new damage to crops. Damage to the wheat plant is dependent on what stage of the growing cycle the crop is in and when the freeze occurs. Plants are most venerable at the flowering stage and temperatures below 32 degrees for more than two hours can damage crops. âAt that point we would anticipate significant risk to the yield potential,â Trostle said. âIt may or may not happen.â During the two stages of growth before flowering, when the wheat head emerges and in the boot stage, the crop can better survive cold weather. The head is the most sensitive part of the plant, if the head of a stem dies it will not produce grain. Each wheat plant does have up to seven or eight stems. âThe younger the wheat,â Trostle said. âThe more able it is to withstand low temperatures without injury.â On the South Plains, wheat south of Lubbock is mostly in the flowering stage and northwest of Lubbock the majority is in the late boot stage, Trostle explained. âThe bottom line,â Trostle said, âis an assessment needs to be made on each field on a case-by-case basis.â Trostle does predict the majority of the wheat harvest on the South Plains will be sold for cattle feed. But the value the crop has as a hay product could be diminished for farmers who planted with the intention of harvesting wheat. Trostle said most grain wheat is a variety that develops a beard as the head emerges. This beard creates problems for cattle, as it can get stuck in their gums or throats. Those farmers who plan on selling their crop as hay need to think about the price they are selling it for, Trostle advised. âThey need to make sure they are getting paid enough,â Trostle said. One cost producers might not take into account is the loss of nitrogen from their soil. Not taking the wheat to harvest and selling it as hay means removing more of the plant from the field, and more of the nitrogen it contains. Because plants need nitrogen to produce protein, this will need to be replaced with fertilizer. Mark Brown, Texas AgriLife Extension agent in Lubbock County, agreed with Trostle about damage to crops varying from field to field. âSome fields are a 70 percent loss,â Brown said. âThe vast majority of wheat in Lubbock County will not be taken to grain harvest.â Brown said much of Lubbock Countyâs wheat crop will be used as cover for a second crop such as cotton, or will be sold as hay. He pointed out it was the number of freezes that made the season so hard. âIt isnât uncommon for us to get a freeze in April,â Brown said. âBut I donât recall having so many hard freezes roll through this region every few days.â Brown doesnât expect damage to the wheat crop to show up as increased prices to consumers. âThe cost of the raw commodity of wheat is a small percentage of what we pay at the store,â Brown said. Where there is concern for both Brown and Trostle is the supply of seed grain for the fall planting. âThe seed could be more expensive,â Brown said, âand more difficult to find varieties bred for our area.â Wheat varieties for the South Plains are bred for the unique pest threat, rainfall conditions and temperature range of the region. Steelee Fischbacher, communications director for Texas Wheat Producers Board and Association, called the damage significant but highly variable. âThe drought has been the ongoing battle,â Fischbacher said, âand the freeze was the last nail the coffin.â Drought conditions delayed the growth of some of the crop, Fischbacher explained, but the lack of water decreased the health of many plants. Like Brown and Trostle, Fischbacher pointed out less mature plants did better in the cold. Fischbacher said some farmers are calling their fields a total loss and estimated across the High Plains half of the crop has been lost. While Fischbacher has heard reports of damage from other states, she also doesnât expect consumers to see a price increase. âWe have a stockpile of wheat,â Fischbacher said, âwhich should be able to supply a domestic market.â Farmers who want more information about crop damage and information as assessment of their crop can visit the website, wheatfreezeinjury.tamu.edu . ----- Kind Regards, George Kanellopoulos.