Opinions

It’s February folks. Who hasn’t put away their Christmas decorations? Anyone?

The new year means many of us are making resolutions and starting fresh. Before we know it, the gardening season will be here and we will have a chance to till the soil and plant seeds. But we don’t have to be sad during the cold winter months because it’s seed catalog season! I love opening my mail box this time of year and flipping through colorful seed catalogs with thoughts of spring in mind. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of varieties and vast selection catalogs offer. Here are some tips of what to look for and how to take the stress out of starting seeds.

Do you ever wake up and hype yourself up that you are going to just slay the day?

We are told we need to expect the unexpected, right? But what does that mean, exactly, besides an exercise in paradox puzzlement.

Thanks to Dr. Justin Waggoner, K-State Research and Extension, Beef Systems specialist, for sharing information about managing cold stress in cattle. Most cattle producers appreciate that cold weather increases nutrient requirements. However, what increases? And by how much? Cattle are most comfortable within the thermo-neutral zone when temperatures are neither too warm nor cold. The upper and lower boundaries of the thermo-neutral zone are referred to as the upper and lower critical temperature. During the winter months, cattle experience cold stress anytime the effective ambient temperature, which takes into account wind chill, humidity, etc., drops below the lower critical temperature. The lower critical temperature is influenced by both environmental and animal factors including hair coat and tissue insulation (body condition). The table below lists the estimated lower critical temperatures of cattle in good body condition with different hair coats. In wet conditions cattle can begin experiencing cold stress at 59°F, which would be a relatively mild winter day. However, if cattle have time to develop a sufficient winter coat the estimated lower critical temperature under dry conditions is 18°F.

So now that Christmas is over, the New Year has been rung in, the kids are back to school and yada, yada, yada, do you feel any more settled in than you did in 2020? Or 2021?

Well the pandemic is certainly still creating some uncertain and challenging times! We hope that you all are staying safe and well! It is a time to reflect on memories, discuss your family farm operations and even visit about plans in the future for sustaining your family farm.

For those of you who are not registered or do not know the ways of Facebook, this is going to be a bit of an overview “lesson.”