Full text of Agricultural News Letter : Vol. 11, No. 2
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AGRICULTURAL NEWS LETTER F E D E R A L Vol. 11, No. 2 R E S E R V E B A NK DALLAS, T E X A S OF D A L L A S F ebruary 15, 1956 IRRIGATED PASTURES FOR SOUTH TEXAS Irrigated pastures offer good profits in milk and beef production and are the bestknown method of soil improvement, accord ing to tests at the Texas A. & M. College E x p erim en t S tations in the L ow er R io Grande Valley and the Winter Garden area by agronomists E. M. Trew and Carl S. Hoveland. When irrigated and managed properly, adapted warm-season perennial grasses pro duce high yields of good-quality forage in south Texas. The better grasses produce for age 8 to 10 months during the year and can be depended upon to supply the bulk of the forage in an irrigated pasture program. Coolseason perennial grasses appear to be im practical for south Texas, as they produce only 4 to 5 months and usually must be irri gated to survive the summer. supply of irrigation water is limited. Angleton — although not as high yielding as the other varieties — appears best for heavy clay soils. Although the latter grass is low in phos phoric acid and protein content, it is very palatable, and cattle stay in good condition while grazing it. Late-fall and winter grazing can be ob tained best from high-producing small grains alone or with a legume. Temporary pastures of small grains alone or with a legume supply green grazing in winter, when it is not avail able from cool-season grasses. Goliad barley should be used in a winter grazing program to provide early pastures, although most of the acreage should be seeded to a highyielding oat variety to provide winter and early spring grazing. Stands of legumes usually cannot be main tained in vigorously growing, cool-season Based on the tests, Coastal Bermuda, buf- perennial grasses under irrigation in south fel (T-4464), Rhodes, Blue Panic, and possi Texas. The high-producing grasses appar bly guinea appear to be the better-producing ently provide too much competition for the perennial grasses for irrigated pastures in legumes. south Texas. Coastal Bermuda and buffel are best suited for use on loamy to sandy soils. Hubam sweet clover is the most widely Rhodes may live only 2 years because of used legume for grazing in south Texas. How damage from Rhodes grass scale, but it does ever, Floranna sweet clover produces about well in rotation with row crops or alfalfa. the same yields as Hubam and provides graz ing a month earlier. Both varieties do well From the standpoint of grazing, guinea is with oats for temporary pastures in the win difficult to manage because of its heavy, ter. The biennial sweet clovers produce less dense stools, which get larger in diameter and grazing and are later than the annuals. taller with age. Blue Panic produces less for Some stockmen — mainly dairymen —• age than the other four grasses but withstands drought better and is well adapted where the have grazed alfalfa in pure stands and, by AGRICULTURAL NEWS LETTER 2 careful management, have avoided excessive bloat in their livestock. Although alfalfa produces less forage than the best-adapted warm-season perennial grasses, the forage is uniformly high in qual ity. Alfalfa provides some grazing during the winter, when summer grasses are semidormant. Indian and African alfalfa make the most growth during the winter and recover more quickly after being clipped in hot weather. Hairy Peruvian and Texas Common alfalfa varieties are third and fourth choices, respectively, for the south Texas area. Irrigated pastures are excellent soil con ditioners but may be soil-depleting crops if they are not properly fertilized. The manage ment an irrigated pasture receives after it is established determines its productivity. In addition to following good fertilization prac tices, other important management points are: (1) proper irrigation and grazing, (2) utilization of excess forage as hay or silage, (3) clipping as needed, and (4) scattering of the animal droppings. In most areas of the State, corn should be planted about the time the last frost usually occurs. If planted earlier, poor germination and slow growth may result. In order to con serve the maximum amount of moisture, the seedbed should be prepared early and should be disturbed as little as possible until plant ing time. A deep, well-pulverized, weed-free seedbed is necessary for high yields. Corn plants which are properly spaced provide the most satisfactory yields, accord ing to Mr. Spears. In east Texas and the Blackland area, the plants should be spaced 18 to 24 inches apart; if subsoil moisture conditions are poor, the 24-inch spacing is preferable. In west Texas, 24-inch spacing is also recommended; under irrigation or ex tremely favorable moisture conditions, a closer spacing of 12 inches would produce maximum yields. Texas Corn Planting Tips Approximately 150 pounds of nitrogen are needed to produce 100 bushels of corn, and the requirements for phosphoric acid and potash — the other essential nutrients — are equally high. It is recommended that the farmer have the soil tested to determine ferti lizer needs. Texas farmers should plant corn as soon as the weather permits, so that the crop can attain maximum growth before the summer’s heat and dry weather set in, advises Ben R. Spears, Extension agronomist with Texas A. & M. College. Only high-quality seeds of proven adapta bility should be planted. The hybrid corn varieties (in the order of preference) rec ommended by Texas A. & M. College for the corn-producing areas of the State are shown in the box below. H Y B R ID C O R N V A R IE T IE S F O R T E X A S Area Y ellow corn varieties White corn varieties Southern part of east Texas and the G ulf C oast........................ ...........Texas 30, 28, 26 Texas 15W, Asgrow 101W, Texas 17W N orthern p art of east T exas......... ........... Texas 28, 30, 26 Texas 17W, T R F3, Texas 15W South-central T exas......................... ........... Texas 28, 30, 26, 32 Asgrow 101W, Texas 17W, 15W N orth-central Texas........................ ........... Texas 28, 26, 30 Texas 17W, T R F3, Asgrow 101W W estern part of Texas, including extreme south T exas............... ...........Texas 28, 26, 32 Asgrow 101W, Texas 17W, 15W AGRICULTURAL NEWS LETTER 3 After the crop is growing well, it should tion for growing chicks, says Ben Wormeli, be cultivated only when necessary to control Extension poultry husbandman of Texas weeds, Mr. Spears advises. Excessive cultiva A. & M. College. tion prunes the roots and reduces their ability The poultryman should — to use available moisture. High Milk Output Stressed 1. Make sure that all windows, doors, and ventilator sections of the brooder houses are well fitted and work smoothly and that the roofs do not leak. Dairy farmers in C ooke C o u n ty , Texas, are stressing 2. Clean brooder stoves and check therm high milk and butostat apparatus to assure a dependable source terfat production of heat. per cow as a means of reducing the squeeze on farm incomes 3. Provide adequate feeding and watering resulting from lower prices and higher costs, facilities. The amount of space provided for according to Claude Jones, Executive Vice the chicks should be increased as they grow President of the First State Bank of Gaines older to insure uniform growth of the birds. ville, Texas. Making sure that the brooder house and Most progressive dairy farmers in the area equipment are adequate and in good repair are members of the Cooke County Dairy will pay dividends in the production of goodHerd Improvement Association and have quality, uniform pullets for the following their cows tested regularly for production year’s laying flock. performance. Supervisors Carl Kemplin and Bob Fuhrman of the Cooke County associa Certified Seed Pays tion recently released data showing that, in November 1955, the cows tested produced The use of certified planting seed — which 783 pounds of milk and 32 pounds of butterusually is the best seed available of a par fat per cow. ticular variety— assures purity, higher germ Cooke County dairymen are making an ination, and increased crop yields, according enviable record as compared with many other to a report from Texas A. & M. College. dairy farmers in Texas. Information released Germination and yields depend, to a great by the State Dairy Herd Improvement Asso extent, upon the availability of moisture, but ciation shows that the average production of farmers cannot afford to gamble with seed both milk and butterfat per cow in the Cooke of questionable quality. Certified seed may County association in November 1955 was cost slightly more, but the added cost is good larger than that for any of the other 21 asso insurance. ciations reporting in the state association. Cooke County herds averaged 770 pounds of Certified seed comes from fields which are milk and 31 pounds of butterfat per cow inspected during the growing season, is prop during that month. In the state association, erly handled at harvesting, and is cleaned an average of 568 pounds of milk and 25 and tested for purity and germination. After pounds of butterfat was produced. seed has passed certain rigid standards, the State Department of Agriculture issues a “certified” tag for each bag. Get Brooder Houses Ready Careful attention should be given to clean ing and repairing brooder houses in prepara Farmers are advised to buy planting seed now for their 1956 crops. Last-minute shop- 4 AGRICULTURAL NEWS LETTER pers may find local stocks depleted and may be forced to plant whatever seed is available. If planting seed has not been chemically treated for seed-borne and seedling diseases, farmers find that such a practice is profitable and also is added insurance against poor stands and plant losses during early growth. Agricultural Experiment Station at State Col lege, Mississippi. Attention was focused upon the study of rumen microorganisms as a pos sible factor in the cause of bloat, and it was decided to investigate whether any of the antibiotics would be helpful in the preven tion of bloat in cattle when grazed upon pure stands of Ladino clover. Information on seed treating and variety recommendations can be obtained from local county agricultural agents. The antibiotics tested in the study included aureomycin, terramycin, bacitracin, strepto mycin, and penicillin. In 2 years of tests, pen icillin in extremely small amounts prevented bloat of yearling steers. A quantity of this Assure Steady Hog Supply drug — about one-fourth the size of an as pirin tablet — provided complete protection A steady supply of hogs up to 3 days for steers grazing on clover. for market throughout the It is estimated that about 15 cents worth year is the goal of the Na of the actual drug should protect an animal tio n a l Swine G row ers through an average spring clover season in Council in recommending Mississippi. that farmers develop a mul tiple farrowing program of A practical way of administering penicillin hog production. to cattle has not yet been perfected. However, The council suggests that many farmers discovery that the drug will prevent bloat will find it convenient to farrow two groups opens a promising solution to a problem of sows twice a year, with farrowing dates which has distressed cattlemen for several spaced 90 days apart. The primary advan years. tage of the system would be the more or The Mississippi Experiment Station is now derly selling of hogs, with less of the sea working with drug manufacturers on the best sonal price fluctuation which usually results method of preparing the penicillin for cattle. from extremely heavy marketings. The prac Satisfactory methods of administering the tice also would stabilize the market for drug in mixtures with feed and salt are now sows, as supplies vary from 5 percent to being explored. 50 percent of total hog receipts, according to the season. Multiple farrowing of hogs will result in production advantages, since smaller groups of sows farrowing at intervals will make more efficient use of farrowing and feeding equipment and the hogs produced for mar ket will be more uniform in size. The time and labor needed to care for the hogs also will be distributed more evenly. Undesirable hardwood trees take water and plant food from the soil which could be used in producing forage for livestock. These trees often grow on the most productive land or in fence rows and reduce the yields of cul tivated crops and pastures. W inter is an excellent time to apply chemicals for con trolling hardwoods. Is Bloat Licked? An intensive study of cattle bloat has been under way for several years at the Mississippi The Agricultural News Letter is prepared in the Research Department under the direction of J. Z. R owe, Agricultural Economist.