Second part of the two part series on Beef Cattle Needs and Supplementation Decisions. Dr. Jason Smith details the decisions to be made based on protein and energy needs of your cattle and available forage. Very good and timely information. I hope you enjoy

Outstanding discusion with Dr. Blake Bennett regarding Ag Tax Status and what you should know. I really enjoyed this presentation and know that agents get a lot of questions regarding ag exemptions or reductions. This episode will help you answer most of those quesitons and where to find answers locally. Thank you Dr. Bennett

Dr. Jake Thorn, Extension Sheep and Goat Specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife recently visited with County Extension Agents Andy Hart and Mark Carroll about the possibility of diversifying sheep or goats with cattle in the Panhandle and South Plains area of Texas. The discussed topics related to economics, grazing preference and diversity, increased numbers of sheep, types of sheep, reproduction facts, challenges, etc. Gaurding animals were a big topic of discussion in dealing with predators and these included gaurding dogs, donkeys, and Llama. Predators and parasites are the biggest challenges along with fencing. What about goats? They get into that as well.

Excellent discussion regarding a growing topic of producers in the area. Thanks to Andy and Mark for recording this and Dr. Thorne for his expertise. Enjoy!

An excellent update regarding the wrapup of the 2024 cotton harvest season. In this episode, Ken, Brant, and Caitlin got into final yields but more importantly discussion on how imputs (population, planting dates, irrigation, etc.) impacted the outcome. It was indeed a challenging year for cotton with a great start, an extremely hot finish to the summer, and a wet November. Strange year!!!

Excellent discussion and education related to Beef Nutrition. This is the first of a two part series were we talk about protein and energy needs of cows and heifers during different times of year and reproduction. We also discussed knowing your hay. This discussion included hay testing, understanding test results, sampling, important results to make decisions on supplementation, examples of hay tested after the recent wildfires, testing variations and types of hay, risk avoidance from prussic acid and nitrates in certain hay, and frost/drought issues that might impact these risk factors. Dr. Jason Smith, Extension Beef Cattle Specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension led the discussion and provided outstanding information.

We will be following this program up with the second program focused on decisions on supplementation and feed sources available. This should be a great followup to this program.

Excellent update on early returns on yield and grade from the 2024 Cotton harvest. Outstanding discussion on what they are seeing and what to expect going forward. Excellent conversation

The duo of Caitlin Frederick and Brant Baugh, AgriLife Extension Agents in Crosby and Lubbock Counties respectively, bring you another informative episode. Their discussion is about tools available to determine or estimate the Net Return of the current cotton crop based on your projections of costs and returns. They visit with AgriLife Extension Economist Dr. Andrew Wright on how to use the Harvest Decison Budget Analyzer to find these answers. This is very usefull and timely information. The location of this analyzer tool is at lubbock.tamu.edu. Dr. Wright also discussed this information in his latest blog post, Ag Economics on the Plains, and can be located at AgriLife.org/AgEco.

Excellent discussion on the harvest aide decisions being made in the area and the challenges, weather impact, drift safety precautions, and general information related to using harvest aides and products. There was also discussion on the upcoming tour in Crosby and Lubbock Counties on October 9 where producers will have an opportunity to see variety trials on drip and research trials comparing row spacings and seeding rates under pivot.

Great information. Danny