Tuesday August 7 Ag News

Salvaging Soybeans As Hay And Silage
UNL Extension Educator Larry Howard

Dryland soybeans this year in the drought could be salvaged as hay or silage. UNL Extension Forage Specialist, Bruce Anderson has shared the following information.

Soybean hay and silage can have feeding values very similar to alfalfa. At least when it's made right. But don’t get in a hurry; August rains before beans start dropping leaves still might make a crop.

Harvest soybean forage when leaves start to turn yellow, just before they drop off. Soybean hay is challenging to make. The leaves dry quickly and then become crumbly if raked. The stems are quite woody and dry slowly. Be sure to condition or crimp the hay to hasten stem dry down. Also, avoid raking if at all possible. Soybean leaves crumble easy when dry, which will cause some yield loss and much lower feed value. If you must rake to merge windrows together for baling, do it within one day of cutting. Do not rake just to hasten drying or leaf loss will be severe.

Making good soy silage is less risky, if you have silageequipment and do it right. It is suggested to mix chopped soybeans with corn or sorghum as they are being ensiled, but that’s not always possible. For straight soy silage, first get a good, clean chop. Uniformly add a silage inoculant designed for legumes like alfalfa. In addition, add about one bushel of cracked corn or fifty pounds of molasses to each ton of wet silage to aid fermentation. And pack soy silage especially well.

Obviously, you would rather harvest a good bean crop than make hay or silage out of your soybeans. But when drought and heat prevent a good bean crop, it's nice to know that they can be salvaged as hay or silage.

Growing Fall Feeds
It’s been dry and producers can probably could use more pastureand winter feed. If it rains, what can you plant for quick feed?

Bruce Anderson says, right now your two best choices are turnips for grazing and oats for either hay or grazing. Winter small grains like cereal rye, wheat, and triticale won’t produce as much fall growth as either turnips or oats, although they will provide early grazing next spring.

Oats can produce a couple tons of hay in the fall when seeded by mid-August if, it receives good moisture and fertility. Usually drill about three bushels per acre in a prepared seedbed, but drilling directly into weed-free stubble of corn, beans, wheat, or other crops already harvested will work well when soil remains moist for several days in a row after seeding.

For turnips, plant just two or three pounds per acre and barely cover the tiny seeds. Broadcasting onto bare, tilled soil often works well as does shallow drilling into weed-free crop stubble.

Oats can be ready to graze in six to eight weeks, moisture permitting, but don’t start grazing turnips until late October or November. Ease animals slowly into grazing either one to minimize respiratory or digestive problems. Oats will die following a real hard freeze, but turnips will continue to grow slowly until temperature drops below twenty degrees. Even into the dead of winter, the root of the turnip remains a very desirable, and grazable, feed.



Experience Farm-to-Fork on Local Culinary Tours

Tour local food farms and taste the produce prepared by culinary teams during Flavors of Northwest Iowa's Farm-to-Fork tour Aug. 19 and Aug. 26.

A tour bus will leave from Sioux City at 10 a.m. Aug. 19 and return by 8 p.m. Destinations include The Veggie Patch, a 10-acre vegetable farm near Ireton, Blue Mountain Culinary Emporium in Orange City, and Heirloom Acres, a farmstead near Granville. Each stop includes an in-depth farm tour and samples prepared by local culinary teams ending with a local food dinner served alongside wine sampling by Little Swan Lake Winery.

The Storm Lake Culinary Tour on Aug. 26 will stop at Little Field Abbey, Boyer River Gardens and Antiques, and Carlson Vegetable Farm. Features include information on heirlooms, a tour of a high tunnel greenhouse, line dance instruction and more. Participants receive a map to navigate their own vehicles along the route from 1 to 8 p.m. Samples and dinner will be served.

The Farm-to-Fork tours are part of a series of events in Iowa State University Extension and Outreach's Local Food Road Show aimed at connecting people to locally grown food and flavors in Northwest Iowa.

Learn more and register for tickets at www.flavorsofnorthwestiowa.org or call Woodbury County Extension at 712-276-2157.



US Lowers Ethanol Production Forecasts

Drought conditions continue to wither corn harvests throughout the Midwest, moving U.S. officials on Tuesday to lower 2012 ethanol production forecasts by more than 3%.

The Energy Information Administration said it reduced ethanol-production estimates to 870,000 barrels a day from 900,000 barrels a day, a reduction of 3.3%. The agency says it expects ethanol production to recover in the second half of 2013.

As corn prices increase, several U.S. lawmakers have urged the Environmental Protection Agency to ease a federal requirement for ethanol use in gasoline, known as the renewable-fuel standard.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Tuesday, a group of bipartisan senators said the renewable-fuel standard creates competition for corn, raising prices and hurting cattle ranchers and food manufacturers. Livestock and poultry producers have called for a waiver of the renewable-fuel standard in light of the drought.

Relaxing the standard "will help to ease supply concerns and provide relief from high corn prices," the lawmakers said.

A similar letter was sent to Ms. Jackson last week by more than 150 House lawmakers.

Ethanol producers are rejecting calls for relaxing the renewable-fuel standard. In a statement last week, Growth Energy Chief Executive Tom Buis said it is "irresponsible to blame ethanol for a lack of rain." Mr. Buis said the market will adjust to changing conditions. "We have never run out of corn and this year will be no different," he said.

In addition to lowering 2012 forecasts, the EIA said ethanol production fell from 920,000 barrels a day for the week ended June 8 to 809,000 barrels for the week ended July 27.



House, Senate Urge EPA to Adjust Ethanol Mandate

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) stands with 156 U.S. Representatives and 25 U.S. Senators in their quest to bring commonsense to Washington, D.C., and relief to rural America by encouraging Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA) Lisa Jackson to implement a waiver to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Last week, more than 150 representatives signed a letter to Administrator Jackson and today more than 20 senators did the same. The letters went to Administrator Jackson because EPA was granted the authority in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which set the initial RFS, and in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, which expanded the fuels standard, to waive the RFS because of severe economic or environmental harm.

In the House, the letter was a bipartisan effort led by Congressmen Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.); Jim Matheson (D-Utah); Steve Womack (R-Ark.); and Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.).

“The RFS mandate has created a domino effect. Tightening supplies have already driven up the price of corn, and the extreme weather being experienced by much of the nation will only further increase prices.  I am pleased that my colleagues in the Senate have joined me and 155 other Members of the House of Representatives in urging EPA Administrator Jackson to act now to make a critical reduction in the RFS for 2012,” said Rep. Goodlatte. “We should not be in a position where we are choosing between fuel and feed for our livestock.”

NCBA President J.D. Alexander said his organization supports American ethanol. Alexander, who is a cattleman from Nebraska, said corn-based ethanol has done a lot to stabilize many rural communities in his state and yields a co-product, dried distillers’ grains, which many cattlemen use as a feed ingredient. Alexander, like many of the members of Congress urging EPA to issue the waiver, is seeking a level playing field for cattlemen to compete “head-to-head” for a bushel of corn in one of the worst droughts in the nation’s history. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, roughly 70 percent of cattle producing regions are suffering from drought conditions.

“We find it concerning that these mandates are allowed to continue today in the worst drought I have seen in my lifetime. Seventy percent of cattle country is under drought conditions – this is not isolated to a certain part of the country. One has to wonder how bad the drought has to get before EPA uses its authority to grant a RFS waiver,” said Alexander. “This isn’t rocket science. Let the market work.”

The Senate letter was also a bipartisan effort led by Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.).

"In light of the widespread droughts that are causing severe economic harm to our nation’s farmers and ranchers, I am proud that a bipartisan group of senators signed on to the Hagan/Chambliss letter that asks EPA to use its authority to waive the corn-ethanol mandate of the Renewable Fuels Standard,” said Sen. Hagan. “A waiver from the corn-ethanol mandate will provide much needed relief for livestock and poultry producers suffering from record high corn prices brought on by the worst drought in 50 years.”

The RFS requires 13.2 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol to be produced in 2012 and 13.8 billion gallons in 2013, amounts that will use about 4.7 billion and 4.9 billion bushels, respectively, of the nation’s corn. Some agricultural forecasters now are estimating that just 11.8 billion bushels of corn will be harvested this year – about 13 billion were harvested in 2011 – meaning corn-ethanol production will use about four of every 10 bushels.



Senators Ask EPA For Waiver Of Corn-Ethanol Mandate

A bipartisan group of senators today followed the lead of 156 House lawmakers in urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help livestock and poultry farmers deal with severe drought conditions by waiving the federal mandate that requires corn-ethanol to be blended into gasoline.

The Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) requires 13.2 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol to be produced in 2012 and 13.8 billion gallons in 2013, amounts that will see the ethanol industry use about 4.7 billion and 4.9 billion bushels, respectively, of the nation’s corn.

The National Pork Producers Council applauded the 25 senators – 13 Democrats and 12 Republicans – who signed a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, asking that she take immediate action to bring relief to farmers suffering from the worst drought in more than 50 years. House members last week sent a similar letter to Jackson.

“NPPC applauds these senators for looking out for the interests of America’s livestock and poultry farmers,” said NPPC President-elect Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerton, Minn. “There’s nothing the government can do about the drought, but it can ease the pressure on corn supplies by granting an RFS waiver, a tool put in the law to address situations such as this drought.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently rated 23 percent of the nation’s corn crop as good to excellent and 50 percent as poor to very poor because of the drought affecting most of the corn-growing regions.

“As stressful weather conditions continue to push corn yields lower and prices upward, the economic ramifications for consumers, livestock and poultry producers, food manufacturers and foodservice providers will become more severe,” the senators wrote in their letter to Jackson. “We ask you to adjust the corn grain-ethanol mandate of the RFS to reflect this natural disaster and these new market conditions. Doing so will help to ease supply concerns and provide relief from high corn prices.”

The requests by Senate and House lawmakers follow the July 30 filing of a petition by a coalition of livestock and poultry organizations, including NPPC, asking EPA to grant in whole or in part a waiver of the RFS for the remainder of 2012 and for part of 2013. 



Get Agriculture’s Input On Fire Standard, Says NPPC

In the hometown of a Forefather of American democracy, the National Pork Producers Council argued against animal-rights groups that would deny due process to livestock and poultry farmers who want to have input into national fire standards that would affect their operations.

NPPC today urged the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), which sets fire standards adopted by state and local governments and used by insurance companies, to continue working with the agriculture community to develop “sensible solutions” to address fires in animal housing facilities. Animal-rights activists argued against allowing farmers to have a voice in the process.

In June the NFPA’s full Technical Committee voted to amend a standard to require the instillation of sprinklers and smoke control systems in all animal housing facilities, including livestock barns, and to require quarterly inspections of those systems. The vote was contrary to a previous 19-0 vote against the amendment by NFPA’s Technical Committee on Animal Housing Facilities.

After NPPC and a coalition of agricultural organizations appealed the proposed amendments, NFPA reversed its decision and agreed to work with stakeholders to determine fire risks in animal housing facilities and to develop practical solutions targeting the risks.

The agricultural groups had concerns about the amended standard’s overbroad and impractical nature and the health and biosecurity issues that likely would arise because of its inspection requirement. They also admonished NFPA for initially failing to provide an adequate opportunity for stakeholder participation in the standard-setting process.

“The nation’s livestock and poultry producers were surprised to hear that NFPA was looking into this issue but had not engaged farmers directly in the discussion,” NPPC environment counsel Michael Formica told the NFPA at an appeal hearing. “But we are pleased that NFPA supports an open and informed process, and we look forward to exploring and studying the issue of fire protection for animals and if warranted, to assisting in the development of sensible solutions to real risks.”

“We’re outraged that animal activists want to deny the ability of farmers to have a voice in setting a policy that affects farmers,” Formica added separately.  



Weekly Outlook: Drought and the Cattle Industry
Chris Hurt, Purdue University Extension

The beef industry has already experienced a number of difficult years characterized by falling cow numbers and declining per capita beef supplies. There was hope in the first-half of this year that this downward production phase was coming to an end, but the drought of 2012 has erased those hopes. So, where is the cattle industry today, and what do we know about the impacts of this year's drought?

The mid-year Cattle inventory report from USDA indicated that beef cow numbers had dropped by an additional three percent over the past year. Since 2006, beef cow numbers have dropped by eight percent due to much higher feed prices and to the long drought in the Southern Plains. The 2012 calf crop is expected to be down about two percent, and also down eight percent from 2006. This year's drought likely means further decreases in cow numbers over the next 12 to14 months.

The impacts of the drought are just beginning to show up in some of the national data. We do know the direction, but not the final magnitude of those impacts. The cattle industry is negatively affected by feed costs and lack of availability of forages. Higher corn and soybean meal price have dropped the value of calves and feeder cattle that will eventually go to the feedlots. Lack of pasture is also causing some early movement of cattle.

Since feed prices started rising in mid-June, corn prices have increased around 60 percent and soybean meal prices are up 25 percent. Forage conditions have been horrible across the Midwest. At the end of July, pastures that were in "very-poor" and "poor" condition totaled from 82 percent to 98 percent for the states of Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado (USDA:NASS). There have been many reports of producers forced to feed hay that was intended for this winter's forage supply. Those producers are hoping for late-summer rain that may restore some pasture this fall. If that does not come, then a deeper liquidation of cows can be expected.

In the wake of high feed prices and uncertainty regarding forage availability, calf and feeder cattle prices plummeted. Oklahoma steer calf prices were $173 per hundredweight in mid-June and collapsed to $138 by late July. How much loss of value is that? A $35 per hundredweight decline on a 550 pound calf is nearly $200 per head reduction in value. Multiplying that across a national calf crop of 34.5 million head totals a potential decline in value of over $6 billion. It is still too early to count the actual damages, but this illustration shows it is likely large.

Reduced value of calves and feed uncertainty will most likely result in further declines in cow numbers this fall and winter. National slaughter data so far during this drought indicate only modest increases in cow slaughter. However, most Midwest producers have had hay to feed helping them to avoid panic liquidation. How the drought unfolds in coming months will influence how much cow liquidation occurs. More rain and thus grass will reduce liquidation. Continued drought will increase fall and winter cow culling.

The largest negative financial impacts of the drought will be felt by cow-calf producers and by feedlot managers who did not have feed prices locked in at the lower spring levels. Assuming most large feedlots are primarily hedged on feed and feeding margins, this means that moderate and small sized family feedlots are the primary category that have suffered large losses. Some of those family farms may also have large losses from crops, especially if they did not have crop insurance, and thus could be in financial difficulty.

The message for cow-calf producers is to hold on to the cows if possible. The short-term losses of the next 12 to14 months will be replaced by large profits in late-2013, 2014, and 2015. These anticipated "golden" days are based on continued reductions in per capita beef supplies which will mean higher-and-higher retail beef prices; on an expected return to more normal crops in 2013 and beyond; and record high calf prices and profits in late-2013 and beyond. The problem for some producers in a weakened financial condition is that they have to survive the pain in the short-run to secure the prize in the long-run. The message for family feedlot managers is "risk management."

Any thoughts of industry-wide expansion are pushed off for another year to late-2013 when pastures are restored and feed prices drop. The exception is for producers in areas of the country that have abundant forages. For them, buying cows sold this fall from distressed owners appears to be a strategic move.



Fertilizer Prices Continue Swan Dive

Retail fertilizer prices tracked by DTN continue to show, for the fifth week of July 2012, the majority of fertilizers on the decline. All but one of the eight major fertilizers were lower in price compared to the fourth week of June.

Leading the way lower, like it has many times in recent weeks, is urea. The nitrogen fertilizer was 12% lower compared to a month ago and now has an average price of $638/ton, down about $130/ton since Memorial Day.

Also lower were 10-34-0 and the UAN solutions. The starter fertilizer declined 8% while UAN28 was 7% lower and UAN32 was 6% less compared to a month earlier. 10-34-0 had an average price of $652/ton while UAN28 was at $386/ton while UAN32 was at $434/ton.

Three other fertilizers were also less expensive but just slightly. DAP had an average price of $633/ton, MAP $660/ton and potash $642/ton.

The remaining fertilizer, anhydrous, was slightly more expensive compared to the previous month. Anhydrous had an average price of $781/ton.

On a price-per-pound-of-nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.69/lb.N, anhydrous $0.48/lb.N, UAN28 $0.69/lb.N and UAN32 $0.68/lb.N.

Only one of the eight major fertilizers is still showing double-digit increases in price compared to one year earlier. That fertilizer is urea. The nitrogen fertilizer is now 11% higher compared to last year.

Another fertilizer is showing a slight increase from a year earlier. Potash is now 3% more expensive.

Five fertilizers are all now actually lower compared to July 2011. DAP is 9% lower, MAP is 8% less expensive, UAN28 is 6% lower, UAN32 is 3% lower and anhydrous is 1% lower compared to last year.

The remaining fertilizer, 10-34-0, is now down double digits from a year ago. The starter fertilizer is now 19% less expensive from a year earlier.



Brazil GMO Use to Grow 12% in 2012-13 Season

Brazilians will use more genetically modified seeds than ever in the upcoming 2012-13 season, according to a study released by Celeres, a local farm consultancy.

GMO technology will be employed across 90.4 million acres next season, or 12.1% more than the previous year.

GMOs are by far the most prevalent among the soybean crop. Overall GMO area will grow 11.7% to 59.0 million acres and account for 88.1% of all soy planted, said the survey.

The spread of Monsanto's RoundUp Ready technology across the soybean regions is restricting the sourcing of non-GMO product. Brazil has a small but well-established market for its conventional soy in Europe. The need to avoid contamination means that production is concentrated in distinct areas, most notably western Mato Grosso and western Parana.