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Dr. JD Ragland, Randall County Extension Agent, recently sat down with cotton experts Dr. Peter Dotray, Megan Singletary, and Blayne Reed to discuss management and control of weeds in Cotton. These guests discussed the steps of managing weeds from starting clean, pre-plant, at plant, and post emergent weed control. The conversations were outstanding as practical and research discussion created some outstanding information as we get wrap up planting in the Panhandle and South Plains Region of Texas. Discussing the challenges and importance of such things as diversification, drift, water quality, resistance, incorportation, proper coverage, options of products, etc. really gave a complete coverage of the challenges and opportunites to have success with this pest. Thanks to all the speakers and Dr. Ragland for taking the time to share and I hope you enjoy the information.

Dr. Andy Hart (Hale County) and Mark Carroll (Floyd County), County Extension Agents with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension recently interviewed Dr. Kara Thorton-Kurth for their "The Graze" radio program. We thought it was good information and wanted to share it with you on this platform so that you would have an opportunity to listen. Dr. Kara Thorton-Kurth is a researcher with Utah State University and has been looking at the impact of minerals on the growth, health, and quality of beef animals in Utah. Some interesting discoveries and I hope you will gain from the discussion. Thanks to Andy and Mark for reaching out to Dr. Thorton-Kurth. For more information please see the podcast episode (Ranch to Retail) with Dr. Smith created last spring along with dozens of other topics related to nutrition and cattle. Thanks.

Caitlin Frederick (Crosby County) and Brant Baugh (Lubbock County), County Extension Agents with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service recently sat down with Dr. Calvin Trostle, Agronomist to discuss growing Camelina and then transitioned to the potential of using prussic acid free sorghum. This was outstanding conversation about two new alternatives being looked at in the area and Dr. Trostle discussed adaptation, production challenges, potential advantages and fit, along with research efforts underway. Sounds like some information worth watching. Hope you enjoy the discussion. Danny

Dr. Smith discusses the importance of getting the most out of your calf crop through health and nutrition programs. These are programs that improve the value of your calves and cost very little to implement. There are numerous ways to increase this very valuable asset and spend very little doing it and Dr. Smith discusses all of them. I hope you enjoy the discussion and if you have questions don't hesitate to contact us at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in Amarillo. Danny

This episode features an excellent update and reminder of terminology related to the insurance options available to producers in the coming year. Dr. Andrew Wright and Will Keeling, economists with Texas A&M AgriLife recently previewed the decisions and what looks best under what scenarios. I hope you enjoy the conversation with Kristie Keys facilitating.

Impressive presentation focused on management of pastures, growing grasses, tools available, research projects, and brush management. Dr. Morgan Treadwell is a range specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and highly respected for the work she does in these areas. Thank you to Dr. Treadwell for sharing

Texas A&M Entomologists Dr. David Kerns, Dr. Suhas Vyavhare, and Dr. Patrick Porter discuss some problematic corn insects (Corn Leaf Hopper, Southwestern Corn Borer) and cotton insects that need to be prepared for in the coming growing season. Thanks to these gentlemen for a excellent presentation.

Presentation from the North Region Production Risk Management Conference where Dr. Dotray discussed issues related to control and management of resistant weeds plus issues impacting producers related to pesticide use and options.

Second part of the two part series on Beef Cattle Needs and Supplementation Decisions. Dr. Jason Smith details the decisions to be made based on protein and energy needs of your cattle and available forage. Very good and timely information. I hope you enjoy

Outstanding discusion with Dr. Blake Bennett regarding Ag Tax Status and what you should know. I really enjoyed this presentation and know that agents get a lot of questions regarding ag exemptions or reductions. This episode will help you answer most of those quesitons and where to find answers locally. Thank you Dr. Bennett

Dr. Jake Thorn, Extension Sheep and Goat Specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife recently visited with County Extension Agents Andy Hart and Mark Carroll about the possibility of diversifying sheep or goats with cattle in the Panhandle and South Plains area of Texas. The discussed topics related to economics, grazing preference and diversity, increased numbers of sheep, types of sheep, reproduction facts, challenges, etc. Gaurding animals were a big topic of discussion in dealing with predators and these included gaurding dogs, donkeys, and Llama. Predators and parasites are the biggest challenges along with fencing. What about goats? They get into that as well. Excellent discussion regarding a growing topic of producers in the area. Thanks to Andy and Mark for recording this and Dr. Thorne for his expertise. Enjoy!

An excellent update regarding the wrapup of the 2024 cotton harvest season. In this episode, Ken, Brant, and Caitlin got into final yields but more importantly discussion on how imputs (population, planting dates, irrigation, etc.) impacted the outcome. It was indeed a challenging year for cotton with a great start, an extremely hot finish to the summer, and a wet November. Strange year!!!

Excellent discussion and education related to Beef Nutrition. This is the first of a two part series were we talk about protein and energy needs of cows and heifers during different times of year and reproduction. We also discussed knowing your hay. This discussion included hay testing, understanding test results, sampling, important results to make decisions on supplementation, examples of hay tested after the recent wildfires, testing variations and types of hay, risk avoidance from prussic acid and nitrates in certain hay, and frost/drought issues that might impact these risk factors. Dr. Jason Smith, Extension Beef Cattle Specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension led the discussion and provided outstanding information. We will be following this program up with the second program focused on decisions on supplementation and feed sources available. This should be a great followup to this program.

Excellent update on early returns on yield and grade from the 2024 Cotton harvest. Outstanding discussion on what they are seeing and what to expect going forward. Excellent conversation

The duo of Caitlin Frederick and Brant Baugh, AgriLife Extension Agents in Crosby and Lubbock Counties respectively, bring you another informative episode. Their discussion is about tools available to determine or estimate the Net Return of the current cotton crop based on your projections of costs and returns. They visit with AgriLife Extension Economist Dr. Andrew Wright on how to use the Harvest Decison Budget Analyzer to find these answers. This is very usefull and timely information. The location of this analyzer tool is at lubbock.tamu.edu. Dr. Wright also discussed this information in his latest blog post, Ag Economics on the Plains, and can be located at AgriLife.org/AgEco.