NDSU field days marked by rain, mud, research

Gray skies, rain showers, and muddy roads were challenging but didn’t stop NDSU Research Extension Centers (REC) from hosting field days in mid-July throughout the state. Sharing unique research studies and technologies, such as soybean biofumigation, with farmers and ranchers and others was a key component of the two weeks where each REC opened its doors for a day or two to the public.

Field days in July were held at Central Grasslands REC in Streeter, N.D.; Hettinger REC (HREC); Dickinson REC (DREC); Williston REC (WREC); Carrington REC (CREC); North Central Region Extension Center (NCREC) south of Minot, N.D.; Langdon REC; and the Oakes Irrigation Research Site.

While thunderstorms brought up to an inch of rain as each field day went on in the morning, and some afternoons and evenings, NDSU provided caps and sun hats with the NDSU logo, along with drink cozies and pamphlets filled with research projects. Local sponsors such as Proseed provided lunch for attendees.

Dr. Greg Lardy, NDSU Joe and Norma Peltier Endowed VP for Agriculture, who spoke ahead of field days at every REC, thanked each staff for their hard work all year long and remarked on how the research could not happen without everyone working together for the same goals.

At CREC, producers, state reps, and others met in the main building before taking the bus to the livestock unit or wagons to the agronomy and horticulture tour. Inside, North Dakota Sen. Jerry Klein from Fessenden, a member of SBARE, and North Dakota State Rep. Dan Vigesaa heard Rae Ann Lynne from Maddock, a retired farmer in the area, talk about how important the horticulture tour would be.

“We are in danger of losing our beautiful trees in Maddock. Seventy percent of our trees have emerald ash borer disease and Joe Zeleznik, NDSU Extension forester, will be talking about how to protect trees from this devastating pest,” Lynne said.

There was also a special organic tour with organic experts from across the state speaking, including FARRMS executive Stephanie Blumhagen.

At the livestock unit, where cow/calf pairs grazed on hay in the dirt feedlot, Karl Hoppe, NDSU Extension livestock systems specialist at CREC, brought out posters with amazing details of how the Dakota Feeder Calf Show turned out.

“These calves come in (to the feeder show) at 600 pounds. They’re all April 1 born calves. Then, when they went out, they weighed 1,460 pounds. Our average day of gain was 3.4 pounds, and that's what it’s always been,” Hoppe said. “Profit per head was $905.80, the highest profit in the Dakota Feeder Calf Show.”

A new NDSU Extension veterinarian, Jake Galbreath, who is based in Fargo, was introduced to the group.

“You can just call me Jake. One of the things we’re concerned with right now with is fly control and watching out for anthrax,” he said.

The bacterial spores that cause anthrax can lie dormant in the ground for decades and become active under ideal conditions, such as heavy rainfall, which is happening in nearly every location in the state, particularly in the southern regions. Animals are exposed to the disease when they graze or consume forage or water contaminated with the spores.

With all the rain, producers tend to worry about disease in their wheat, corn, and soybeans. At HREC, Andrew Friskop, NDSU Extension plant pathologist, said he was starting to see an uptick in a foliar disease in North Dakota – bacterial leaf streak – and there have also been days when scab was a risk.

“In all reality though, the reason why I get worried about bacterial leaf streak is a lot of the varieties we have in the state are pretty susceptible, especially the popular ones we have in the state. And we can’t manage it with the spray. There’s nothing on the market.”

The North Dakota Wheat Commission provided funding for a study where Friskop tested 23 different products, and he found none helped with bacterial leaf streak.

At HREC, Clair Keene, NDSU Extension agronomist in small grains and corn, is working with a graduate student on a corn population study in the western areas of the state.

“Depending on the hybrid and the treatment that farmers are going after, corn seed can run from $270 to $350 for a bag of corn. When you start multiplying that across the populations that you’re going for and across an entire operation, the cost of seed can become a serious line item. So, the question becomes, are we getting a return on that investment?” she asked. 

At WREC, Michael Wunsch, CREC plant pathologist, talked about field peas and root rot and how variety selection, planting date, and seed treatment matter in managing root rot in peas.

“The dogma has always been that the varieties don’t matter – everything’s susceptible. And you know what, yes, everything is equally susceptible if all you care about is how much root rot you have, it’s all the same,” Wunsch said. “But when it comes to varieties, some varieties, even though they get just as much root rot as the other one, can tolerate root rot and the others cannot.”

At HREC and NCREC, David Ripplinger, NDSU Extension bioenergy/bioproducts economist, spoke on carbon markets. Europe continues to have a carbon policy, which involves the state, because North Dakota exports specialty crops to Europe.

“Europe remains very aggressive with their carbon policy. That pushes back to us in North Dakota because we do produce a number of specialty crops that are food ingredients that are consumed in Europe. There are some buyers in the state or folks who buy crops from us who require that you share agronomic data in order to participate in a program to contract with them for delivery,” Ripplinger said. “I would expect that that is going to slowly increase. Just kind of looking ahead a little bit, I expect that we are going to know more and more about this in very short order, both on this market side and on what might be required.”

Ripplinger also talked about Congress’ approval of the 45Z tax credit for biofuels and biodiesel producers, which should include farmers that produce oil crops. A public comment period is needed before implementation

At DREC and HREC, Thomas Wood, Bismarck State College farm business management education program director, spoke on the need for farmers and ranchers to consider the Farm & Ranch Management program. Wood said he is speaking out because their numbers are dropping and the program has had good results for producers who take it.

“What we do is we work with you on trying to figure out the best programs to use for your finances – really being able to have some detailed information in that area. The other thing that we work with is analyzing your crops and livestock. How are you going to be making money this year?” he said. “We’ll do a cashflow analysis, so when we get together, it’s giving another set of eyes to your finances and being able to talk to somebody that isn’t going to tell you what to do.”

At DREC, an interesting livestock tour had Doug Landblom, DREC beef cattle specialist, talking about finding solutions for flies, and Lisa Pederson and Rachel Gibbs of NDSU speaking on stresses cattle go through, which is often the same as humans, and what producers can do to manage stress in their steers.

The new DREC laboratory was named the Wardner Agricultural Laboratory after former North Dakota Sen. Rich Wardner ahead of the agronomy tour the next evening. Wardner was superintendent of Dickinson Public High School years ago.

“Sen. Wardner was instrumental in pushing for this new laboratory,” said Chris Augustin, director of DREC. Augustin was emotional in talking about how much the community needed a new laboratory and how hard Wardner worked with others in the State Legislature to secure the funding and approval for it.