0:05
All right.

0:05
Good afternoon everyone and thank you, Liz for the introduction.

0:10
We’re going to take a look at some things that as an agricultural educator I get questions about.

0:16
So, we’re entering late summer seeding season in Wisconsin.

0:21
Our friends up north, they’ve already started, July 20th -August 1st in our northern tier of the state.

0:27
As far as getting that summer seeding in, those of us in the central part, August 1st to 15th is ideal, and then obviously in the South you can go later than that.

0:38
But what I would say is that the biggest thing when it comes to our late summer seeding in alfalfa is that you’re not changing anything about how you would do your spring seeded alfalfa.

0:51
You’re selecting seed and the most important traits are yield potential.

0:55
It still comes down to dry matter yield, persistence obviously is very important given what we’ve dealt with our next category as far as the winter hardiness and winter survival, disease resistance and rounded out by forage quality.

1:09
So, my favorite story as it relates to establishing late summer seeded alfalfa is back in 2017, Farm Technology Days was going to be in Kewaunee County in 2018, and the host farm wanted to have low lignin alfalfa featured.

1:26
The problem is the tent site has to be an existing alfalfa field.

1:31
Everybody here is familiar with auto toxicity.

1:34
I don’t have to explain that, but here’s my warning to you.

1:38
The farmer said, well is there anything we can do?

1:40

1:41
There has to be a way we can seed low lignin alfalfa.

1:45
And I just off the cuff, top of my head said, well, if you wanted to scrape up the existing topsoil, haul it away and then bring in topsoil from a corn field and put that in.

1:55
Do I need to say more folks?

1:57
If you give farmers an opening or you say “you’re telling them there’s a chance” they will jump at that opportunity.

2:05
It’s interesting because fall of 2023 we had really dry conditions up here and I actually had a producer and out of Guinea here plant on September 3rd because of the dry weather, we planted 3/4 an inch, maybe a little deeper to moisture as opposed to 1 and 1/4 to 1/2

2:22
and that stand is in production today.

2:24
So we’re going to take a look at some of the things that are bugging you out in the field.

2:28
Here’s a generalized calendar of insects and related pests.

2:32
You can see aphids, plant bugs, leaf hoppers.

2:35
That’s what we’re worried about.

2:36
We’re done with weevils at this point.

2:38
Diseases are of concern,

2:40
but given the rapid cutting schedules we have, and people aren’t sitting and waiting 35 days anymore to cut, we pretty much control our diseases, the foliar ones, through that cutting schedule intensity.

2:52
Now, that doesn’t eliminate some of our wet foot diseases and other issues if there’s poor drainage and soil type and other things.

2:59
But we’re not going to get into that today.

3:01
So real quickly, we start with plant bugs, occasional insect pest.

3:06
You can either get tarnished plant bugs or alfalfa plant bugs.

3:09
They can both be in the same stand and damage them

3:12
and so, we look at the photo of the tarnish plant bug here on the side.

3:19
Most important thing is economic threshold for alfalfa.

3:22
When we’re talking about very short alfalfa, less than 3 inches is 3 plant bugs per sweep.

3:27
For taller alfalfa, you’re going to consider treating the populations are more than 5 plant bugs per sweep.

3:34
Probably the most talked about during my 25 years here, is leaf hopper and the photo on the right is taken from the Alfalfa Management Guide

3:44
and talking to people, certainly we’ve had years where it’s severe.

3:49
We’ve got a great Extension publication, Cut, Bale, Scout that’s been in place since 2007.

3:56
Those thresholds haven’t changed.

3:57
We’re going to talk about a little bit of that.

4:00
Start scouting five to seven days after cutting.

4:02
You’re using a standard 15 sweep that walk, that W shaped pattern, 20 consecutive sweeps, in each of five areas in the field.

4:11
Keep a running total of those leaf hoppers caught.

4:14
Count both the adults and the nymphs important to point out, your results are really only going to be as accurate as your coverage in the field while you’re sweeping.

4:22
So, that W pattern, getting that full coverage is important because those leaf hopper population densities vary from year to year in field to field.

4:31
The only way to really accurately determine it, is to monitor on a weekly schedule.

4:36
Most importantly are our new seating stands,

4:39
but if you do have established stands, and you have nymphs that were present there, you may want to start scouting sooner than five to seven days.

4:47
So, here you can see the different heights on alfalfa, 3-inch, 6-inch, 8 to 11,12 plus, we’ll use 6-inch alfalfa as an example.

4:54
So, the damage threshold that UW has as far as current recommendations is 0.5 per sweep.

5:01
So, if we go out in that field, we do our five sets of sweeps, we add up the total, we do the division, and we end up with .56 that is above the threshold of 0.5.

5:12
So this would be a field that we would consider for treatment, again, prioritizing our new seating fields.

5:19
We’ve all seen what hopper burn looks like and damage.

5:21
There’s a reminder of it on the left hand side.

5:24
There are economic thresholds that have been developed.

5:28
But as you can see, 2004, it’s been a while, and there are a lot of changes, and I wasn’t around or would be able to tell you the economics that were used as it relates to this this particular chart.

5:41
So, the current UW recommendations persist.

5:45
The nice thing about UW field days like we had with the forage event at Arlington here a little over a week ago, is we get to talk with our peers in the private sector.

5:54
So, shout out to all the CCA’s and my WAPAC member friends, Wisconsin Association of Professional Ag Consultants.

6:01
Here’s a quote from one of them.

6:02
“This past decade, outside of direct seating spraying for potato leaf hopper has been the exception rather in the rule.”

6:09
I know that that’s not true everywhere in the state, but that’s the pattern.

6:13
I mean, we tend to cut our fields in a day or two of the harvest windows narrower,

6:17
and because of that, we’re not waiting 30-35 days, in that 27 or 28 days,

6:22
the populations just don’t grow,

6:24
and then you combine that with fewer alfalfa acres out there.

6:27
Here’s where the economics come into play.

6:30
Again, I’m not going to be able to tell you what it was back in 2004 or 2007, but one of my peers in the private sector shared this information and I looked it up online.

6:40
If you’re looking for Lambda, either Warrior 2, Grizzly Too, retail, or excuse me, list is $49.99.

6:47
Retail is going to differ wherever you are in the state, but $34 a gallon, pretty darn cheap from a chemical standpoint, 53 cents an acre to treat.

6:57
It’s the cost of the application, $9.00 to $12.00, that’s going to get you.

7:01
But, just because something is cheap doesn’t mean that we should automatically do it.

7:07
There’s some thresholds that are more definitive than others.

7:09
And as you’re making your way through Wisconsin, all the construction that’s going on there plenty of signs out there to give you feedback about your driving habits

7:18
and so, you can see one mile of an hour difference takes you from being OK to being bad and being told to slow down.

7:26
On the bright side, at least they are expressing gratitude and saying “thank you” when you are obeying the speed limit.

7:33
So, as far as PA feds are concerned, occasional past.

7:37
And I fell for the reason I’m spending time on it is we’re coming in the prime-time 3rd and 4th cuttings and we already had Josh tell us what the forecast is going to be,

7:45
so, I’ll be able to move through a couple slides pretty quickly on that,

7:48
but long story short, if aphids are above threshold in the field, is scheduled to be cut within seven days, well then, you’re going to take that early cut and that’s how you control it,

7:58
but if you’ve been in this role of agricultural support for any amount of time, this is what can happen.

8:04
We do get explosions,

8:06
and so, if you count the total number of aphids divide by 100 and we have greater than 100 per sweep, and their signs of plant damage, then you probably have to consider making a decision to spray.

8:19
However, not so fast.

8:22
Take a look.

8:22
Are there diseased or parasitized aphids in the capture, and indicate the presence of natural enemies in the field?

8:31
Well, what are we talking about?

8:33
Here’s our friend,

8:34
lacewing and there’s our not so friendly

8:37
aphid.

8:38
You can again tell with the chronicles,

8:41
the tailpipes are distinctive on the back of the insect pest,

8:45
and the nice thing is when you are scouting fields, you can come across these parasitized carcasses that are left from aphids.

8:53
And so, that biological control, I’m convinced that an alfalfa field is one of the most biologically diverse places you can be this time of year.

9:04
And before we make that decision to spray and basically end up with a clean slate, especially if we have hot, warm weather approaching, think twice.

9:14
Those ladybugs out there as well.

9:16
Just wonderful.

9:17
As far as taking care of those soft bodied insects that are available.

9:23
People may not know the number off hand, but when we talk about them getting rid of mites, mealybugs, whiteflies, those adults in the field can consume up to 50 aphids per day.

9:35
So, while aphid numbers are high, I don’t think there’s anything at 50 that we eat, unless you remember Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke.

9:43
I think there was a bet about consuming 50 eggs, but nonetheless beneficial insects, huge as far as our biological control.

9:53
This was already shared by Josh, so I don’t have to spend time on it.

9:56
Here’s why you want to make sure that if you pull the decision and trigger the spray that you’re sure,

10:00
because if our temps are going to be high and we have especially for Western Wisconsin, the chance of drier than normal conditions, that sets us up for some problems.

10:11
Speaking of problems, Liz alluded to this earlier July 22nd.

10:15
The text went out.

10:17
It was advertised at the beginning.

10:18
If you’re not signed up for the notifications from Bick’s lab, Emily Bick’s lab, you should be, collaborative effort with DATCP, and we definitely have second generation armyworm out there that is feeding.

10:30
When you take a look at the Army worm life cycle, you can see July, front of August, there’s that larval feeding.

10:38
So yes, we’ve got moth flights that are going on, but it’s prime-time to see those things consuming in the field at this point.

10:47
So, in corn, when we talk about thresholds, we’ll get to that in a second, you’re basically checking five sets of 20 plants around the field, at random for the presence of larvae and leaf feeding,

10:58
and you can see that on the left-hand side.

11:01
Very important note the size of the larvae that you’re finding,

11:04
it does matter,

11:05
3/4 of an inch is basically our cut off.

11:08
Be sure to check plants in the edge rows, and areas with grassy weeds for signs of armyworm activity.

11:15
The chemical controls can be warranted if we exceed the threshold in those larvae are 0.75 inches or smaller.

11:23
Once we get greater than an inch, those things are not going to respond to any insecticide.

11:28
So, we’d want to spot treat only border rows when infestations are isolated.

11:35
The threshold basically for corn is based, when we look at those plants, is 25% of the plants with two larvae, if they’re less than three quarter inches, or any size 75% of the plant. Small grains,

11:51
we may have some late planted oats out there yet that when you talk about these things they basically eat anything that’s green and succulent.

12:01
So, maybe not out of the woods completely there, but check your pre harvest intervals with those if there is any treatment that is going to occur.

12:10
Alright,

12:11
so as far as biological control of true armyworm, just as we have with the issues as it relates to aphids, certain species of ground beetles and parasitic wasps can certainly help us out.

12:24
The red-tailed tachinid fly, very effective as far as biological control.

12:29
You’ve seen these egg masses, photo there on the left-hand side.

12:34
The fly eggs hatch and the larvae burrow into the army worm, eventually killing it.

12:39
I think this is the number that’s really staggering.

12:42
You know, this fly frequently parasitizes army worms in Wisconsin and can drastically reduce populations by 50 to 100% in just a few days.

12:52
So again, always be

12:54
looking for those biological signs to help us out.

12:57
We already mentioned it, flight for moth flight is going to continue. Here

13:02
you can see on the left-hand side the cumulative traps, versus what we had this past week,

13:08
and you’re not seeing high numbers of flight up where I am because that’s already occurred in some cases,

13:15
and we’ve got those larvae that are now in place and chewing on stuff.

13:19
So, I wanted to shift to some of the questions I get as an agricultural educator and everybody calls about prices.

13:27
We’ve got a lot of wheat that’s been harvested still wheat to take off in the northern part of the state here,

13:35
but that straw is always a significant part of the budget,

13:38
and so, we want to make sure that we give full consideration to that when it comes to pricing.

13:45
This was the most recent information that I could find,

13:48
so, we’re down at Reedsville Equity.

13:50
They had an auction on July 16th here.

13:53
And as you can see, straw went for $80.00 to $100, $110, excuse me, per ton.

13:59
If it was really poor or lower quality, it went for less than that.

14:02
You can see that noted as well.

14:05
So the question is, what is straw worth?

14:07
Well, you need to consider the cost of field harvest.

14:11
So, you’re probably going to rake that stuff, and then you’re going to bale it.

14:15
We do have the updated Wisconsin 2024 custom rate guide, and you can see I’ve got a link down there and the slide,

14:23
but if you simply Google custom rate guide or one of my peers drops that into the chat, you can find that earlier this year the spring numbers were released, but the full document is done.

14:34
946 was the new average for Wisconsin as far as raking,

14:38
baling is going to be 10 to $12.00.

14:40
So, if you have 4 to 5 bales per acre, we’re talking 600-700 pounds per bale, and you have a ton and a half straw yield, you’re going to end up spending $40 to $60.00 to bale that stuff.

14:51
Don’t forget your cost of loading and hauling,

14:54
and of course you’re going to have to subtract that from the market price.

14:58
So, whether you’re using $90 or $110, you can figure out on your own where you want to price that.

15:04
Speaking of prices, the last time I spoke on Badger Crop Connect, I shared information about pricing alfalfa standing in the field.

15:10
Well, things have changed since then.

15:12
If you take a look, this is from July 9th.

15:15
If you look at prime quality hay, large squares this spring, we were at $163,

15:20
now we’re down to $135,

15:22
and I thought I was all ready for this presentation, until my peer Melissa Ohlrich, released the latest information.

15:31
Prime quality hay as of July 22nd, large squares averaged $111.00.

15:42
Wow.

15:42
I shared with you folks how much our hay inventory had increased based off of the previous year this spring, but if you want to see it show up, here it is looking us square in the eyes.

15:55
I did a presentation for the World Forage Analysis Super Bowl and you can see here what those numbers look like.

16:02
I took decades worth of information from the 1940’s through the 2020’s.

16:07
We have to go back to the 2000’s to find alfalfa high quality that averaged $111.00 per ton.

16:15
Now one number does not make a decade long average.

16:19
That is not what I’m saying, but I was kind of taken back by that.

16:23
We know we had a really good year last year at 5.13-ton average, and here’s the numbers I shared earlier this year.

16:30
So if you you had a field that was basically 5 ton an acre, you would have paid approximately $200 for first cutting, earned $10 approximately for second,

16:42
you’re $75-$80 for 3rd, and you would have been at $51-$55 for 4th cutting.

16:48
Well, we had that damage in the field.

16:50
I was concerned that this was going to be a problem, and sure enough the fields that were most affected were our older stands.

16:57
Here we have WAYP data for a first full year of production and you can see this yield for dry matter tons for first cut was 2.34, second cutting was 1.14.

17:11
Well, this field was on track to produce 6.5 tons of dry matter, but we would have needed another half ton of dry matter in order for that to happen.

17:20
So, we really fell off with second.

17:22
This field would have been on track to produce 6 tons of dry matter with a 2.14 first cut.

17:28
It outperformed at 1.58 and is still on track for that that six-ton average,

17:35
and here’s our new price put in at $135 per ton for dry matter.

17:41
So, again all you have to do is put pricing standing alfalfa in the Google and that will take you to to the documents.

17:48
You can see what that has done to our prices.

17:52
We went from $200 to $150 for first cutting, $74, to less than $50, and basically $30 if we’re looking at a 5-ton field.

18:03
I’m going to just show this really quickly, from the standpoint that didn’t matter if it was first, second or fifth year, our quality was relatively the same.

18:11
If you look at the averages at the end, yes, our 2nd cutting for the second year, and 2nd cutting for the fifth year got rain damage, but otherwise the quality parameters weren’t impacted.

18:21
It was our yield, and I showed you these photos earlier this year and here’s the result,

18:26
1.44 tons of dry matter,

18:29
1.12, this field is on track to basically produce 4 tons of dry matter.

18:34
And so, when it comes to pricing alfalfa, we really need to remember if we can use a scale, do it.

18:41
It’s going to make a lot of difference.

18:42
And so, if you don’t have a scale available, we do have a publication for estimating weight in a forage box.

18:49
And there’s an example laid out here.

18:52
Just remember it’s approximately 5 lbs. of dry matter density per cubic foot.

18:57
And so, what I’m going to do is I’m going to just forward through this real quick.

19:02
We did do some late summer seeding with some cover crops last year, which included Berseem Clover.

19:09
The farmer already already had some oats and pillage radish in there, collected some data on that at the end of the year,

19:15
really high-quality feed if we would have needed the forage.

19:19
You can see the averages of those different items there.

19:23
You can see for yourself,

19:24
we definitely had a ton and a half, two tons of dry matter feed out there.

19:29
But I would caution you, one site in Kakana performed very different than Hortonville.

19:33
Here was the Hortonville site, field doesn’t look terrible, but you can see there’s enough weed pressure and sure enough, there on the right side

19:41
you can see all the weeds that competed with that cover crop.

19:44
So, at the Kaukauna site, we had 0.67 tons of dry matter for the tillage radish and the oats.

19:52
When you did the Berseem Clover alone, averaged over one- and three-quarter tons of dry matter,

19:57
planted on August 22nd, folks, amazing ability to produce feed,

20:02
and then the Hortonville site 0.26 tons of dry matter.

20:06
Well, when you’re in the back 40 and you have woods and deer and other competitors, that comes into play.

20:11
Why the big difference between the Bersin straight at 1.75 and 0.67 for the oats and radish?

20:18
Here’s why.

20:19
Look at the real estate that that tillage radish takes up.

20:22
So, your plant density simply isn’t the same.

20:25
I know I’m basically out of time here, so I’ll simply say that I have had calls about sorghum sudangrass and oatlage.

20:32
The sorghum sudangrass, look at the range in the NDF digestibility, we can look at protein, basically 11, but the range is 5 to 16,

20:42
NDF digestibility 34 to 70, so basically half.

20:46
This is why you would want to test the stuff if you really want to pay for it based on quality.

20:54
Oatlage, same way, look at the range in the NDF digestibility, 40 to 80 plus.

20:59
So, that all comes into play.

21:00
I’ll finish with the Outagamie Forge Council Regional summer twilight meeting that’s coming up.

21:05
The link should be shared with you.

21:07
And we’ve already got our corn silage dry downs set because tasseling has already been occurring, 45 days later.

21:14
So with that, I am done.

21:15
I’m going to stop share, and hope that we are not grossly overtime and I can see wow, 1:28.

21:22
I’m going to have to remember this date, that I snuck under the wire.

21:25
All good.