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Fourth-graders explore agriculture through hands-on activities

[APRIL 12, 2002]  Fourth-graders from every school in the county learned that "Agriculture is Everywhere" Thursday, courtesy of a fair put on by a committee of the Logan County Farm Bureau.

[Click here to view more photos]

Gathering at the Logan County Fairgrounds, the youngsters participated in activities ranging from playing soybean bingo to shaking up ice cream and plastic ooze. Along the way they met piglets, lambs and a 6-month-old heifer.

The highlight of the day was a sheep-shearing demonstration performed by Steve Schreiner of rural Lincoln. Counting morning and afternoon sessions, close to 350 students circled him on the textile-building floor, remaining in their spots even when it appeared those on the other side would have a better view. There were gasps of "Whoa!" as Schreiner pulled the sheep to its feet to begin. A few hands flew to faces as his clippers neared the chin and face. After the shearing and a few questions — Does it hurt the sheep? Does it hurt you? — there was a mad dash to the center as Schreiner offered free samples of wool, teacher permitting. He said he found his afternoon sheep much more cooperative than his morning project.

[Photos by Bob Frank]

Earlier, Schreiner’s son Matt, owner of the sheep on display, encouraged children to pet his 1½- to 3-week-old lambs. He said the Southdown sheep are noted for their meat more than their wool, for which he gets about 5 cents a pound.

Lynn Paulus, Farm Bureau chair for ag in the classroom, said fourth-graders were chosen for the event because they are old enough to take in quite a lot of information yet still love to learn and are excited about finding out something new. In addition, they are an age group little served by other outreach activities.

Volunteers from the Farm Bureau and from Hartsburg-Emden, Lincoln and Mount Pulaski Future Farmers of America chapters led hands-on activities highlighting dairy, pork, corn and soybean production and farm machinery. For one, Mount Pulaski FFA member Brian Toohill introduced the students to a 6-month-old Holstein heifer while supplying them with facts such as that one animal can give about 15,000 gallons of milk per year.

Students played soybean bingo with cards on which the squares named products made from soybeans, such as glue, yogurt and crayons. The markers were kernels of corn. Apparently soybeans are too small for the purpose.

Another project was to create plastic ooze by shaking a bag of cornstarch, corn oil and food coloring to mix the ingredients, then microwaving. The result — a brightly-colored blob of malleable plastic.

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At the pork station youngsters first heard from Vicki Huelskoetter, a member of the ag day committee, about what pigs eat and what foods come from them. Next they made "feed bags" full of snacks representing the elements that go into hog feed: M&Ms stood for vitamins, blue jelly beans for water, raisins for minerals, peanuts for protein, and both candy corn and puffed wheat for energy. After snacking, children had an opportunity to touch a baby pig held by Kent Paulus, local Farm Bureau president.

The ag day committee consists of Lynn Paulus, Huelskoetter, Schreiner, Mary Lou Klokkenga and Farm Bureau manager Jim Drew. This was the second Agriculture is Everywhere fair, and Huelskoetter said next year’s event will be revised in light of this year’s results.

The children learned that Logan County agriculture means food production, and they had plenty of opportunities to experience the end product. At the food-tasting table they could sample chocolate soy milk and soy butter that mimics peanut butter. The table also displayed oils from corn and soybeans, assorted packaged cereals, and the raw grains they are made from.

At another station fourth-graders put mixtures of sugar, vanilla, half-and-half and milk into a bag with ice, salt and a little water. After vigorous shaking some managed to make their mixtures solidify into ice cream. Others produced something more like a milkshake.

The farm machinery station offered the opportunity to view a 12-row corn planter and to climb onto the tractor. The cab was equipped with air conditioning, radio and stereo, but several youngsters from Hartsburg-Emden were not impressed. "We’ve seen it all before," they said. "This tractor doesn’t have a TV like Christopher (Crane)’s dad’s does."

Despite this group wise to the ways of farm machinery, Paulus said one reason for the fair is that even most youngsters living in rural communities do not live on working farms, though they may have relatives who do. It’s important that they understand the importance of agriculture and the work it entails, she said.

The event was originally planned for March to coincide with National Ag Day but was postponed because of weather. Paulus said the delay turned out to be a good thing, producing not only a better day but a larger audience as well. Two classes with conflicts in March were able to attend in April, making for 100 percent attendance of county fourth-grade classes.

Following the fair, participants may enter an Agriculture is Everything essay contest. Phi Theta Kappa honor society students from Lincoln College will select the five winners. Committee member Steve Schreiner said that winners were announced at the fair last year. This year the timing was changed to allow students to incorporate what they have learned.

[Lynn Shearer Spellman]

Planting corn

[APRIL 8, 2002]  One of the sure signs of spring is when the corn planters come out of the shed and begin the annual ritual of planting the fields. While it may look like farmers just drive back and forth in the fields, there is a lot of planning and skill involved in this farming operation.

Last year the typical farmer began choosing which hybrids he would plant this year. He used yield data from plots, company information and his own experience. He also had to make note of certain insect and disease problems in various fields to select hybrids that were resistant, or more tolerant, to those conditions. The farmer also had to select varying maturities of corn so that harvest would be spread out over a period of time to avoid losses in the field.

The planting date is critical for success. University research shows that the optimum time to plant corn in our area is the last week of April. After that date, there is about a 2 percent yield loss for every five days of delay. There is also a slight yield loss for planting early, but it is usually less than the late planting penalty. The other "wild card" is that on average there are only 3.1 days available for field work between April 21 and April 30. There are only 4.3 days available on average for the May 1-10 period. This points out the need for timely operations for the farmer.

Another criteria for planting is the soil temperature. Corn germinates at about 50 degrees soil temperature (at the earliest). Right now we are about eight degrees under that. Leaving seed in the ground longer than it needs to be can cause insect and disease problems.

Corn should also be planted between 1.5 and 2 inches deep early in the season. Later on the corn usually has to be planted deeper to reach moisture. This means the farmer has to adjust the planter to plant corn into moisture in about that depth range. The farmer’s goal is to have all the corn come up at the same time so that earlier plants don’t compete with later ones.

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The number of plants per acre is very important. With the current varieties, the farmer will get the most yield from about 30,000 to 32,500 plants per acre. He has to plant a little more than that to allow for seed loss to insects, diseases, birds and mice. Our farmer will lose 2 to 3 percent of his yield for every 2,500 seeds that don’t grow.

The last discussion item for today is row width. You can see the rows of corn after the seed comes up. The most common row width is 30 inches now. It used to be 40 inches, then 38, then 36, and now it is 30. The trend is to get narrower. The wide rows we used to use were based not on yield, but rather on being wide enough to get the horses the farmer used to use down those rows. Now we are worried about yields, and the 30-inch rows allow for more space between kernels in a row.

Add to this the fact that we haven’t even discussed the fertilizer, herbicides, insecticides and other management factors, and you can see that planting corn is definitely more that driving the tractor with the corn planter trailing behind. And we can’t forget Mother Nature. She ultimately has control regardless of what our farmer does.

[John Fulton, Logan County Unit,
University of Illinois Extension]

Spring is here and it’s time
to plant; hold that thought

[MARCH 30, 2002]  Now that Illinois has had a few days with freezing rain and snow, gardeners and farmers alike are eager to begin their spring planting, but they still need to wait a bit longer and keep frost dates in mind.

View spring frost map for Illinois

[The map is an Adobe Acrobat file. Click here if you need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader.]

"The last spring frost usually occurs between April 7 (southern Illinois) and April 28 (northern Illinois), and April 14 to 21 (central Illinois), based on 1971-2000 averages," says Jim Angel, state climatologist with the Illinois State Water Survey.

"The actual frost date varies quite a bit from year to year," says Angel. He suggests adding two weeks to the average frost date for your area before planting tender plants, to protect them against the possibility of a late season frost. "By doing so, the odds are only 1 in 10 that frost will occur later in spring," continues Angel.

Although 32 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature traditionally used to identify frost, visible frost can be seen on the ground and on objects at slightly warmer temperatures on calm, clear nights that allow cold, dense air to collect near the ground. Under these conditions, the temperature near the ground actually can be a few degrees cooler than at the 5-foot height of the official National Weather Service thermometer.

Open, grassy areas usually experience frost first, while areas under trees are more protected because the trees help prevent the heat from escaping. Covering tender plants when a frost is expected can provide this same type of protection. Plants near heated buildings sometimes are spared too. An abundance of warm buildings and trees in town means that urban areas tend to have frost less often than rural areas.

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According to Angel, average high temperatures in spring (March-May) range from the upper 50s (north), to the low 60s (central), to the upper 60s (south), while the average low temperatures range from the upper 30s (north), to the lower 40s (central), to the upper 40s (south).

Data from the Water Survey WARM Network also indicate that soil moisture across the state is near to above average for this time of year.

"Don’t let the mild winter we’ve had fool you into thinking we’ll have a warm spring," cautions Angel. "Historical data indicate that warm springs do not follow warm winters. Although there is a tenuous relationship between warm Aprils and earlier dates at which the last spring frost occurs, it only takes a day or two of unseasonably cold weather to produce a late spring frost," he said.

[Illinois State Water Survey, a division of
the Illinois Department of Natural Resources]

Ready, set, grow!

[MARCH 26, 2002]  The calendar says that spring is here, even though the ice and snow are with us. One thing about spring, the ice and snow just don’t last very long. This time of year can be a very busy one for getting things in shape for a great growing season.

Lawn care is one thing that should be on everyone’s mind. It’s hard to get cranked up much about it when there is snow, but timing in the spring is critical for some operations.

Let’s start with crabgrass control. Crabgrass is an annual grass, which means it comes up from seed every year. One of the best ways to control annual weeds is to use a seed germination inhibitor that works on that germinating seed. The only problem is timing. These herbicides must be put on before you see the weed (in this case, the crabgrass).

Many of the germination inhibitors are combined with fertilizer. They should be applied about April 1 in our area, but the timing can vary a couple of weeks. The crabgrass seed germinates on the basis of soil temperature, but one of the good indicators is forsythia in bloom. If you don’t have your crabgrass preventer on by the time you see forsythia blooms, best get it on quickly. Another thing to keep in mind is that the same product that prevents crabgrass from germinating will do the same thing to other seeds. This means that you can’t sow new grass seed and use a crabgrass treatment the same time of year. If you need seeding done, fall is actually the best.

Grass may be sown either March 15 to April 1 or Aug. 15 to Sept. 10. Spring seedings don’t usually have the success that the fall ones do, because hot weather tends to hit before lawns become well established. Seeding rates should be about four pounds of seed per 1,000 square feet for bare dirt, and half that rate for over-seeding thin areas. We recommend using a blend of grasses,  such as Kentucky bluegrass, a fine fescue and perennial ryegrass. Some people leave out the perennial ryegrass, but it does provide some advantages.

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The seeding times are also good times to use a plug aerator or use a power dethatcher. These operations are very hard on grass, and doing them when the grass recovers quickly goes a long way to keeping your lawn healthy. Both of these operations are usually done to help remove thatch layers. This thatch should be no more than one-half inch in depth, or you’ll tend to have disease problems come in.

Fertilizer and broadleaf weed controls are best applied in May when they work better. This early in the season, lawn weeds aren’t actively growing, and turf isn’t growing actively enough to make good use of nitrogen fertilizer.

Another item we have gotten several calls on is dealing with grubs and moles. The two are often related. Moles eat grubs and earthworms for food. This really isn’t a good time to try to control grubs since they are large in size and won’t be around too much longer. They will pupate this spring and come back out as June bugs, Japanese beetles or green June bugs to start the process all over again. The best control time is from August through September. Mole control is best accomplished by doing away with their food source; then they go elsewhere. With this not being a good time for grub control, you are reduced to trapping for moles.

Hopefully these spring lawn tips will get you started on the right track for the year. If you have further questions, feel free to contact the office at 732-8289.

[John Fulton, Logan County Unit,
University of Illinois Extension]

Honors & Awards

[APRIL 10, 2002]  At the recent public speaking contest for District III FFA, Kent Leesman from Hartsburg-Emden High School was chosen number one out of 10 participants in the extemporaneous division. The topic that Kent chose was "What New Technologies in Agriculture Can Help Reduce Pollution?"

He now advances to the state semifinals, hosted by Illinois State University on May 4. That day, three FFA members will be selected to compete in the state finals, which will be during the state FFA convention in June.

[Hartem FFA news release]

[APRIL 1, 2002]  Three Hartsburg-Emden FFA members participated in the state FFA proficiency interviews on March 23 at the University of Illinois.

Kent Leesman was named the state winner in grain production-entrepreneurship.  Daniel Eeten and Natalie Coers placed second in diversified crop production-placement and diversified horticulture.  All three were judged on the quality of their record books and a personal interview.  Kent now advances to regional competition on the national level. 

Kent was also recently informed that he was named one of the top 10 essay winners in the USDA Risk Management Essay Contest.  By being in the top 10, Kent earned an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., later in April. 

[Hartem FFA news release]

Hartem FFA members at the State FFA Proficiency Awards Day with National FFA Secretary Robin Neihaus. Left to right: Kent Leesman, Robin Neihaus, Daniel Eeten and Natalie Coers.

Ag Announcements

[APRIL 8, 2002]  Beef producers from the Logan, Mason and Tazewell County areas have recently formed the Heartland Beef Alliance. The object of this new group will be to share ideas on beef production, highlight educational benefits of beef to the consumer, tour beef production facilities, learn from guest speakers and enjoy socializing among area producers. Any beef producer, whether owner of one or many beef animals, is encouraged to join.

For more information contact the following officers:  Jason Miller, president, (309) 247-3231; Troy Gehrke, vice-president, (309) 244-7826; Betsy Pech, secretary, (217) 732-4384; or Rick McKown, treasurer, (217) 648-2712.

The next meeting will be June 3, 7:30 p.m., at the Greenhaven Animal Clinic in San Jose.  

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