We are now at mid-January of the new year and that means it will not be long until planting time.
We all need to pray we get some good moisture by planting time for all crops. Corn is the earliest annual crop to go in the ground in the county and we do grow a good bit of corn for silage production, approximately 4380 acres.
With the record high input cost we are looking at this year, it is going to be important to manage your corn crop for maximum efficiency. To help producers get ready for the coming growing season we will be having a pre-plant corn and sorghum production meeting. We cannot do anything about the rain, but we will be providing good management ideas to help make the most of irrigation water and whatever moisture we receive from rainfall.
This year’s program will include Corn Specialist Dr. Ronnie Schnell to discuss “Nutrient Needs for Corn and Sorghum Silage”. I have taken several soil samples from various fields in the county so that Dr. Schnell’s presentation will be customized for local producers. Dr. David Kerns, Extension Entomologist and IPM Coordinator for Texas A&M will be covering “Corn and Forage Sorghum Pest and Prevention”. He now has several years of research on corn root worm here in the county and will have some very interesting data.
The program will be Friday, February 3rd at the Los Juanes Mexican Café meeting room from 10:45 a.m. until 2 p.m. This will be an excellent program with topics of interest to all of our corn silage growers in the central Texas area.
We will also be awarding 1 IPM CEU and 1 DOPA credit. The program and lunch will be covered by our good agriculture sponsors. Please RSVP to the office: 325-3562539, that way we can be sure we have room enough for everyone.