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In this issue....
Fall Seeding, Cattle Body Condition Scores, HPP Reclamation Seed, Hay Analysis, Spring Tree Sale, Fall Irrigation, Fall Weed Management, Fire Hazards of Open Floor Plans, Imagine a Day Without Water, Insight into Pennsylvania
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You will be directed to our advertisers' websites if you click the business cards scattered throughout this newsletter.
Contact the Middle Park Conservation District anytime by calling the office at 970.724.3456 or emailing middleparkcd@gmail.com.
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Fall Seeding:
Good Time for Dryland Pasture, Wildflower, Forest, and Short Mixes
Providing that we do not get an early permanent snowpack, planting grass seed in the fall is a good idea for dryland pasture, wildflower, and forest mixes.
Ideally, the seed should be sown right before the permanent snow pack is on the ground, or when it has gotten cold enough to prevent germination (consistent soil temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit). It is important that seed not germinate and then freeze. We typically suggest waiting as long as possible and not before October 15th.
To properly seed, rough up the soil with a rake or similar tool. Scatter seed and cover with approximately 1/4 inch of soil. Then cover that with a layer of light mulch, such as straw or compost.
The Middle Park Conservation District has several seed mixes available for purchase. The Forest Mix is good for areas where beetle kill trees have been removed. The Dryland Pasture/Reclamation Mix is good for soil erosion prevention and is also good forage for livestock. Our Short Mix is ideal for disturbed areas around buildings. We also have a wildflower mix that has both perennials and annuals in it.
Encouraging grasses and wildflowers to grow in disturbed areas will help prevent soil erosion and noxious weed invasion.
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Cattle Body Condition Scoring
The nutritionists at Purina Mills have come up with 10 tips to help you improve your Body Condition Scoring skills....
1. Calculate the percentage of each body condition score in your cattle herd. For example, 23 cows in a 115-cow herd with a 5 body condition score equals 20 percent of the herd. However, do most cows fall between 4.5 and 6 BCS, or are the majority between 3.5 and 7? Both situations result in roughly the same average score (5 BCS), but they tell different stories of herd performance.
2. Score your cattle on a regular basis. There are three key times to collect scores: 60 days before calving, at calving/pre-breeding, and at weaning. It’s most important to score 60 days before calving because the condition in which a cow calves impacts how quickly she will return to estrus.
3. Get another perspective. If you see your cows every day, it’s difficult to notice if they’re losing weight, so have someone else look at your cows occasionally. It’s also helpful to have multiple people scoring to cross-check. Keep a body condition scoring guide handy to recalibrate.
4. Write body condition scores down. Written records help identify trends, especially in groups with a consistent body condition score. A simple chart on a notebook page can work well. Down the left column list the possible scores (1 to 9), including half scores. As you evaluate the herd, put an X in the row corresponding to the animal’s BCS. This format makes it easy to quickly tally across the row and calculate the percentage of the herd at each score.
5. Capture a representative sample of your herd. Aim to score 60 to 65 percent of cows for a holistic picture of the herd. Larger range or challenging environments may prove difficult to achieve this percentage. In those situations, use known cattle patterns to your advantage. For instance, score at the time of day you know cattle visit a water source or when you might expect them behind a wind break.
6. Don’t forget to include the date and conditions. Date your scoresheet and make note of the weather conditions on the day you body condition score. You’re more inclined to score higher on a bright, sunny day than on a cloudy, overcast day. These notes can provide additional insights as you compare datasets.
7. Focus on young and old cows. Young cows and older cows serve as a good barometer for the herd. They’re often the first to show visual change with any environmental, management or nutritional challenges. Keeping close tabs on these early indicator groups and making necessary adjustments can help avoid a whole-herd impact.
8. Pictures can’t tell the full story. Taking pictures of cows on your cell phone can be a handy way to monitor body condition score, but beware of shadows that can make it difficult to accurately score. You’ll be able to tell a BCS 4 from a 6, but it’s harder to distinguish a BCS 5 from a 5.5. It’s particularly challenging to tell differences in photos on mostly black cattle.
9. Maximize your time spent observing. While in the pasture, observe other management factors. Do you need additional fly control? Are mineral feeders full? Should you move a feeder to move cattle into an underused pasture area?
10. Act on the data. Forage quality and quantity change as seasons change, but body condition should remain steady. If you’re seeing a shift toward a lower body condition score or suspect a shift could happen soon, it’s time to look at cattle supplements. Cattle supplements with intake control properties can provide energy to complement your forage and maintain cow body condition through all seasons.
Reference:
Brush up Your Cattle Body Condition Score Skills. https://www.purinamills.com/cattle-feed/education/detail/brush-up-your-cattle-body-condition-score-skills?utm_source=esubscribers&utm_medium=email&utm_content=articletext&utm_campaign=cattle_managementtips_september |
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FREE HPP Reclamation Seed
At the summer meeting of the Middle Park Habitat Partnership Program (HPP), the Board voted to supply landowners in Middle Park that have completed a soil-disturbing project with a free 10# bag of reclamation seed. The Board approved this program because disturbed soil is prone to noxious weed invasion and weeds are often transported by wildlife. By reseeding disturbed soils with beneficial grass species, you can reduce the chances of noxious weed establishment.
In order to receive the seed, you must FIRST contact Katlin at 970-531-0127 or middleparkcd@gmail.com and let her know what your project is going to entail. You must also be prepared to submit pre-treatment and post-treament photos prior to receiving the seed. |
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Spring 2019
Tree and Perennial Sale
Many of you know that fall is the time of year we start gearing up for the following Spring's Tree Seedling and Perennial Sale. As always, the Middle Park Conservation District will serve as the Grand and Summit County Cooperator for the Colorado State Forest Service Nursery's seedling sale.
The Nursery has postponed the beginning of its sale slightly this year so they can get more accurate counts on their inventory. The sale will begin officially begin on November 1st; however, we will begin taking pre-orders in mid to late October. Prices and availability should be similar to last year, but we do not know for sure yet.
Contact Katlin at middleparkcd@gmail.com or call her at 970-531-0127 if you would like to get on the pre-order list.
Look at our Tree Seedling page for more info on our program!
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Fall Irrigation
Because this summer and fall have been so dry, I recently contacted Dr. Joe Brummer, of CSU Crop Sciences, to see if fall irrigation would be beneficial for the plants. Joe gave me thorough, interesting, and educational answer.
Joe said, "If your grass is already brown, you should NOT put the water on it." Brown grass is already dormant, and putting water on it will will wake it up and cause it to use its carbohydrate reserves to start photosynthesizing and growing again. The plants will then naturally go dormant again in just a couple weeks due to cold temperatures. When spring comes and warm temperatures bring the plants out of dormancy, they will rely on their carbohydrate reserves to start growing again. If the plants were brought out of dormancy this fall by irrigating them once they were already brown, their carbohydrate reserves will be depleted and it could stunt their growth next spring.
On the other hand, if your grass is still green right now, it is okay to have irrigation water on it. Joe said that green plants are still photosynthesizing and increasing their carbohydrate stores. They would not be using their reserves to start greening up. That being said, you should be aware that dormancy is a natural progression in the life cycle of grasses, and they should be going dormant soon anyway due to the cold temperatures.
In conclusion, in the fall, it is okay to put water on green grass but not okay to put water on brown grass.
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Fall Weed Management
(Written by Amy Sidener, Grand County Division of Natural Resources)
Weeds to “hit” this time of year would be perennial species, first year rosettes of biennial species, and any green annual. Perennials are good to treat this time of year as they are drawing resources back into their root systems for winter and treating them now generally gets the herbicide deeper into the plant.
Perennials: Canada thistle, even if it has already seeded; Field bindweed; Common tansy; Dalmatian & Yellow toadflax; Spotted & Russian knapweed; Whitetop/Hoary cress; Leafy spurge; and Oxeye daisy.
Biennials: Common mullein; Black henbane; Bull thistle; Musk thistle; Diffuse knapweed; and Houndstongue.
Annuals: seedlings of Chamomile & Downy brome/cheatgrass
Check out the following Noxious Weed Guides developed by the Middle Park Conservation District, Grand County Division of Natural Resources, and Summit County Weed Department for more info on noxious weed identification and management.
Guide to Noxious Weeds of Grand County
Guide to Noxious Weeds of Summit County
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Fire Hazards of Open Floor Plans & Modern Homes
Open floor plans and modern furnishings are all the rage of new construction nowadays. However, these concepts may actually be increasing the risk of losing your home in house fire.
An NBC news station out of Arizona partnered with the local fire department to demonstrate how open floor plans increase the rate of spread and make it harder for you (as a homeowner) to escape a house fire. The firefighters explain that walls help prevent smoke from filling the whole house, giving you more time to get out. Check out the video below to hear all about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8RfOnv71hE
Not only is the lack of walls an issue, new, lightweight construction also adds to the problem. An article featured on NASDAQ.com discusses how modern construction is more dangerous when a fire ignites. Peter Struble, practitioner in residence in the Fire Science Program at Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven and the fire chief in Wallingford, Connecticut, explains, "Now they're using what's called an engineered wood i-joist, which is much lighter weight and is not as substantial, and a lot of times it's thin pieces of wood glued together. It's extremely strong as long as it's not being attacked by fire. When it's attacked by fire, it fails abruptly." Stuble goes on to say, "a test by the National Fire Institute of Safety showed that traditional wood took 19 minutes to burn, but new engineered wood i-joist burned in only 6 minutes."
Finally, today's furniture is not like furniture back in the day. Old furniture was made of natural materials, burned more slowly, and did not release toxic chemicals. In today's world, furniture is made of synthetic materials, including foam and plastics. The NASDAQ articles explains, "One reenactment by Underwriters Laboratories built two homes and set a room full of legacy furniture from the '50s to '70s on fire along with a room with modern furniture. The legacy furniture reached flashover in 29.25 minutes; the room with modern furnishings took 3.25 minutes."
So now that you know about these fire hazards, what can you do?
- Understand the risks and be sure you have a fire escape plan
- Install residential sprinkler systems in new construction
- Make sure you have enough smoke detectors throughout your home and they are working properly
References:
Why a home's open floor plan is concerning to fire safety advocates. https://community.nfpa.org/community/home-fire-sprinkler-initiative/blog/2018/06/25/why-a-homes-open-floor-plan-is-concerning-to-fire-safety-advocates
Your open floor plan is deadly. https://www.nasdaq.com/article/your-open-floor-plan-is-deadly-cm255275
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Imagine a Day Without Water
On October 10, 2018, hundreds of organizations around the country will participate in the fourth annual Imagine a Day Without Water, a nationwide day of education and advocacy about the value of water. According to the Imagine a Day without Water website, "We often take our invisible water and wastewater systems for granted. We turn on the tap and water comes out. We flush the toilet, and it goes away. It's often out of sight and out of mind. But, disasters like Hurricanes Maria, Irene, and Harvey, and crises like what happened in Flint, Michigan, shine a bright light on what it would be like to live without safe and reliable water and wastewater services. During Imagine a Day Without Water, millions of Americans participated in raising awareness about the value of water and the need to invest in water infrastructure so no communities have to imagine—or live—a day without water again."
Here are some interesting water facts for you to mull over. All facts are courtesy of ImagineaDayWithoutWater.org.
- The average American uses 80 gallons of water a day.
- It takes 19 gallons of water to grow one apple.
- It takes 32 gallons of water to make one glass of wine.
- Every year 900 billion gallons of untreated wastewater and stormwater are released into water bodies without being treated.
- A one-day national disruption in water service would cause a 22.5 billion dolar loss of how much in national GDP.
Watch this 2-minute educational video by the Orange County Water District and Denver Water to learn about how a day without water might affect you!
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Insight into Pennsylvania
I recently had a conversation with an NRCS District Conservationist from Pennsylvania, and I thought I would share the highlights from our chat.
The other night as I was getting into my car to leave work for the day a lady and her daughter walked up to the office. I asked if I could help them, and the lady said she was an NRCS DC in Pennsylvania and they were here on vacation. They happened to be staying at the Eastin and noticed our office across the street.
As we were chatting, we started discussing each others resource concerns and challenges. I quickly found out how different our worlds really are. Here are some interesting differences:
- As she was driving around the county, she was surprised to see stacks of hay outside and in the fields. She said that you would NEVER see that in Pennsylvania. The humidity is too high and they get too much rain. She said that all hay must be stacked inside as soon as it is put up. She said you rarely even see stacks outside with a tarp on them.
- She said that it has been pouring there all summer. She mentioned that they have received nearly double the amount of rain this summer as they usually receive in an entire year.
- They mainly have dairy cattle there. However, she said that the dairy market has been terrible for the last few years, and it is causing dairies to go out of business left and right. She also mentioned that the suicide rate among farmers is really high right now because they can no longer financially make it off their dairies and they feel like they have nothing to live for anymore.
- She really promotes high tunnels in her area and does a lot of EQIP contracts on them. She said they do not have much need from producers for irrigation assistance in her office.
- She was surprised to hear how short our growing season is here. It is apparently way longer there.
- Because she lives in a rural area like here, I asked if they have a problem with young adults moving away and not returning. She said, no, that was not a big problem because where she lives is close enough to Washington DC that people commute to DC for 3 or 4 days a week and come home on weekends. Nevertheless, she did say that a large percent of her producers are of the older generations. Does this sound familiar?
Despite these differences, one thing we found in common was the effects of the nationwide NRCS cutbacks on local field offices. I told her about our difficulties we have had since Mark's retirement from NRCS and the challenges we have with a small, part-time staff. She said that the cutbacks are being felt everywhere, including in her office.
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