Growing up on a farm/ranch was a great life! We had stock cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, milk cows, cats, dogs, riding and draft horses. Our farmstead was located 6.5 miles northeast of Carrington. There was always work to do with the animals. That life style required a work ethic and sense of determination that proved to be an important element in my life. Little did I know how my childhood life would guide me.

My country school, Estabrook, was located one mile north of our farmstead. I went to Estabrook from first through sixth grade. In December of sixth grade, our teacher resigned and I transferred to the elementary school in Carrington. What a culture shock! I rode a bus for the first time and my class size went from 4 to over 70.

In high school, along with farm chores, I started working off the family farm. First at local area farms and then for concrete and metal construction companies. This extra work helped pay for high school activities. After graduation in 1980, I decided to enroll at North Dakota State University (NDSU). Another culture shock! Class sizes went from 70 plus to 200 – 300. I took classes toward a BS degree in Agricultural Economics. Within this degree, I chose the Production option. I continued working for a local concrete company during summer break.

In May of 1982, I received an interesting phone call. Dr. Earl Stegman, an NDSU professor, asked me to work for him. He had research plots at the Carrington Irrigation Station. He had hired two employees, but one had contracted mono. I was asked to fill in. Realizing an opportunity, I said, “Yes”. After the Fourth of July, Dr. Stegman said his employee had recovered but he let me finish working through the summer. I ended up working for him for three more seasons.

In December of 1985, I graduated from NDSU. Another job opportunity had appeared. The Carrington Irrigation Station’s superintendent, Howard Olson, hired me as a seasonal employee. This guided me in a job direction that I could not have imagined. Along with other jobs, I helped foundation seedsman, Marvin Hollatz. After packaging the conditioned seed in bushel bags, I helped him stack the bags in the warehouse. This was my first glimpse inside of a foundation seed mill elevator. It was cold and dark! My initial thought was, “I’m never going to manage a foundation seed mill elevator.” Seed conditioning looked like a very complicated process.

Some of the machines Dave has worked with during his 19 years at the CREC.

I am now in my 19^th year as foundation seedstock manager and I would not change a thing. It’s a lot of hard work. There are long days and sometimes longer nights. I’ve been around long enough to see significant changes take place at the Carrington Irrigation Station, now known as the Carrington Research Extension Center. One of the most exciting changes has been watching our current seed conditioning facility built from the ground up and now getting to use it. It’s an honor to serve our constituents and I’d like to humbly remind you, “Never Say Never”.

Dave Copenhaver, CREC Foundation Seedstock Manager

The new mill Dave and the Seedstocks team now work in.

Dave Copenhaver
David.Copenhaver@ndsu.edu
CREC Foundation Seedstock Manager

This winter has lingered on with extreme cold weather.  According to the NDAWN weather station at Carrington, we had 65 days straight where the outdoor temperature did not reach 32 degrees F.   For 42 of those days, the wind chill was -20 degrees F or colder. For eight of those days, the wind chill was -40 degrees F or lower. You can easily search NDAWN for many weather statistics including minimum windchills here: https://ndawn.ndsu.nodak.edu/.

This extreme cold weather has many implications for a cow herd.  Producers are using up hay reserves faster than anticipated and are now searching for feeds to reduce hay needs while stretching reserves until grass turnout. Because of the drought conditions over the last two years, grass turn out time may be farther away than normal. For more information about grazing readiness check out the NDSU Extension Natural Resource Management website: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/naturalresources/gearing-up-for-grazing.

Cows that were challenged by the winter weather may have weak calves that need extra help at calving. Cold weather stress is especially harmful to newborn calves. Cows that are thin in body condition will have calving problems including extended delivery and reduced colostrum supply. Thin cows also may have a longer interval to rebreeding. Bulls may have developed scrotal frostbite and risk becoming temporarily or permanently sterile.

These issues were addressed in a webinar provided by the NDSU Extension livestock specialists. The webinar – Cattle Management in Cold Weather – was recorded and can be watched by clicking on the following link   https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/livestockextension/cattle-management-in-cold-weather. The webinar discussed ways to deal with concerns about forage supplies, animal stress and condition, calving challenges and other issues that have come out of the extended period of extreme temperatures and wind chills.

Presenters include Extension livestock specialists Karl Hoppe of the Carrington Research Extension Center (REC); Janna Block, Hettinger REC; Lisa Pederson, Central Grasslands REC; John Dhuyvetter, North Central REC; Extension veterinarian Gerald Stokka; and Extension Livestock environmental stewardship specialist Miranda Meehan.

If you are looking for sources, phone numbers, and prices of co-products, go to: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/CarringtonREC/livestock/livestock-extension and click on ‘Co-product Feeds in North Dakota – February 2019’.

Karl Hoppe
Karl.Hoppe@ndsu.edu
Extension Livestock Specialist

This winter has lingered on with extreme cold weather.  According to the NDAWN weather station at Carrington, we had 65 days straight where the outdoor temperature did not reach 32 degrees F. For 42 of those days, the wind chill was -20 degrees F or colder. For eight of those days, the wind chill was -40 degrees F or lower. You can easily search NDAWN for many weather statistics including minimum windchills here: https://ndawn.ndsu.nodak.edu/.

This extreme cold weather has many implications for a cow herd.  Producers are using up hay reserves faster than anticipated and are now searching for feeds to reduce hay needs while stretching reserves until grass turnout. Because of the drought conditions over the last two years, grass turn out time may be farther away than normal. For more information about grazing readiness check out the NDSU Extension Natural Resource Management website: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/naturalresources/gearing-up-for-grazing.

Cows that were challenged by the winter weather may have weak calves that need extra help at calving. Cold weather stress is especially harmful to newborn calves. Cows that are thin in body condition will have calving problems including extended delivery and reduced colostrum supply. Thin cows also may have a longer interval to rebreeding. Bulls may have developed scrotal frostbite and risk becoming temporarily or permanently sterile.

These issues were addressed in a webinar provided by the NDSU Extension livestock specialists. The webinar – Cattle Management in Cold Weather – was recorded and can be watched by clicking on the following link   https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/livestockextension/cattle-management-in-cold-weather. The webinar discussed ways to deal with concerns about forage supplies, animal stress and condition, calving challenges and other issues that have come out of the extended period of extreme temperatures and wind chills.

Presenters include Extension livestock specialists Karl Hoppe of the Carrington Research Extension Center (REC); Janna Block, Hettinger REC; Lisa Pederson, Central Grasslands REC; John Dhuyvetter, North Central REC; Extension veterinarian Gerald Stokka; and Extension Livestock environmental stewardship specialist Miranda Meehan.

If you are looking for sources, phone numbers, and prices of co-products, go to: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/CarringtonREC/livestock/livestock-extension and click on ‘Co-product Feeds in North Dakota – February 2019’.

Heavy winter frost captured by Karl at the CREC livestock unit. 

Karl Hoppe
Karl.Hoppe@ndsu.edu
Extension Livestock Specialist

Recently someone asked me, “How do the colors in fruit keep me healthy?” So I used Google Scholar and read up.

Plants have compounds called “polyphenols” (the overall name) which give them their vibrant colors and can make them bitter, astringent, flavorful or delicious. They protect plants from damage from UV radiation, pathogens or things that would eat them. ALL plants provide us with an abundance of polyphenols (aka phytonutrients); there are over 500 chemical compounds in this category!

There are four types of polyphenols and one of them is “flavonoids.” Here’s two flavonoid names you might know: tannins and anthocyanins. You get flavonoids from fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, spices, and drinks like juice, coffee, tea and wine. And let’s not forget chocolate.  Basically, if a plant has darkly colored parts that we consume, like berries, it has a lot of healthful compounds.

Aronia berries have the highest known levels of polyphenols.

 
Do you remember “free radicals”? These are forms of oxygen that damage our cells. They’re missing an electron and they try to steal one from another molecule so that they can be complete.  But once they steal that electron, the place they got it from needs to do the same thing from somewhere else. This just keeps going on and on until an “antioxidant” puts a stop to it.  Antioxidants can give up an electron and not care about it. They are confident molecules!  Vitamin C and uric acid are potent antioxidants.

On websites and older science papers, you will read over and over that polyphenols, flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanins, etc – are antioxidants. They act that way in test tubes in a lab but in the body, they do not. Eating food high in flavonoids is still super healthy for you but just not in the way we are led to believe.

More recent research tells us that after you eat fruits and vegetables, only a tiny percentage of colorful flavonoids are absorbed while the rest are rapidly metabolized and excreted. Our body sees them as foreign and is trying to get rid of them. What actually happens is that the flavonoids stimulate other pathways that are the real antioxidants: uric acid levels increase and nitric oxide synthase is activated.  Flavonoids also appear to strongly influence cell signaling pathways and gene expression, with relevance to both cancer and heart disease.¹

In conclusion, eat a mix of colorful berries (and other fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains) so that you consume different polyphenols. They are not actual antioxidants but they tell the body’s real antioxidants to go do their jobs.

1. Studies Force New View on Biology, Nutritional Action of Flavonoids www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/osu-sfn030507.php

Kathy Wiederholt
Fruit Project Manager
Kathy.Wiederholt@ndsu.edu

Palmer amaranth (paam) arrived in North Dakota in 2018 (five counties) and poses a major threat to our agricultural land in 2019 and beyond. Paam has recently been declared a ND State Noxious Weed. By law and for crop production, the weed must be controlled. It is highly recommended to have zero tolerance for paam = eradication.

The first step in weed management is plant identification. Some basics for identifying paam plants include no hairs on stems or leaf petioles, petiole length similar to and generally longer than leaf length, female plants have spiny bracts (paam is dioecious = a plant has either female or male flower parts, not both), and one primary seed head present ranging from 1- to 4-feet in length. Pigweed species in the coytyledon through at least 2-true leaf stage are very difficult to distinguish. However, by the 4- to 6-leaf stage, if hairs are observed on the upper part of a plant, the pigweed is not paam or waterhemp (likely redroot pigweed or Powell amaranth). If the pigweed plant does not have hairs and at about 4-inch height or taller, leaf petioles (oldest leaves) should be longer than leaf length, indicating paam versus waterhemp. Also, waterhemp leaves typically are narrow, twice as long as wide, and normally are shiny in appearance. Additional paam identification tips can be found at the following website: www.ag.ndsu.edu/palmeramaranth. Also, the Carrington Research Extension Center has live seedlings and mature dried plant displays of paam, which are available for examination.

Pigweed plant mounts, paam second to left.

Some notes on paam biology (main source: Joe Ikley, NDSU Extension weed specialist) to help describe characteristics of this formidable enemy:

• Native to southwest desert area of U.S. Thus, can readily tolerate drouth and high temperatures (>100 degrees F).
  
  
• Seed can germinate throughout the growing season (last half of May through September) triggered by single rainfall events. Plants 2-inches or 10-feet tall can produce seed. A large (female) plant can produce 1 million seeds. Seed is viable about one week after flower pollination. Only one month is necessary from seed germination to new seed production. Seed is viable in the soil for about 3- to 5-years.
  
  
• Paam (and waterhemp) have a more rapid growth rate than other pigweed species. Rapid growth begins at 2- to 4-inch height, and with optimum growing conditions, 1- to 3-inch length can occur per day. Plant height of 4 inches is the maximum for control with post herbicides, which occurs about one month after soybean planting (assuming weed-free conditions at planting). 

Paam seedling.

During the 2019 growing season, if paam is found in new areas, likely this will occur late in the season when ‘unusual’ pigweeds are observed above the crop canopy (e.g. soybean) or at field entrances or edges. Scout for paam throughout the crop season. If plants are suspected to be paam, pull and bag plants, remove from field for identification (e.g. NDSU Extension, ND Dept. of Ag, or county weed boards), and then destroy (burn or bury). Guidelines from the ND Dept. of Ag are pending on procedures for eradicating paam from agricultural land.

Greg Endres
Gregory.Endres@ndsu.edu
Extension Agronomist

North Dakotans like to joke that that we have different seasons here than the rest of the world observes:  “Winter and Road Construction” seems to get the most laughs (or tears?).  Here at the Carrington REC, we don’t think of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter; but Planting, Growing, Harvest, Reporting, Grant-writing, and Meeting.

Usually, Meeting Season happens all around us, and often our most popular meetings are during Growing Season -- we are pleased to see many of you at our annual Field Day in July, and often sell-out our Crop Management Field School in June. 

This winter (“Meeting Season!”), we’ve hosted the Central Dakota Ag Day, Certified Crop Advisers entrance exams, the Advanced Crop Advisers Workshop, the NDSU Feedlot School, Beef Quality Assurance certification, the NDSU Lambing Workshop, and the North Dakota Custom Livestock Manure Haulers Meeting, along with various Extension in-service workshops, and Commercial and Private Pesticide Applicators re-certification sessions.  In addition, our Extension Specialists and research scientists are booked for off-station presentations all over the state, and many choose to attend national conferences to continue their education.

But this week might seem oddly quiet around the station, as staff from all of the eight Research Extension Centers, along with our on-campus colleagues, meet in Fargo for their semi-annual REC Conference.  Although it seems odd to call it “Spring” Conference, this is when we develop and reiterate policies, plan our research collaborations, and coordinate Field Days.

Meanwhile, here at the station…

Our livestock research staff are moving snow and chopping ice to ensure that our cattle herds have access to feed and water, along with daily chores of delivering feed rations, monitoring herd health, and soon, watching for calves.

Our agronomy technicians continue routine and annual maintenance and needed repairs for our equipment.  Often they are designing and building plot-scale equipment that is not available or affordable elsewhere.

Seedstocks staff are hauling grain in and out of our new cleaning facility.  This is the first year that they are sheltered from the elements, using our state-of-the art cleaning facility.  (This edition of Center Points has more information.)

Our greenhouse is nurturing small trials and growing weed samples to help producers identify troublesome weeds at various growth stages.

Sorghum growing in the greenhouse.

In our agronomy lab, trial seed and products have been arriving steadily.  Incoming seeds are logged by variety and intended trial, seed is meticulously packaged in small envelopes, trials are randomized, and then the envelopes are held in temporary storage trays in a very particular order required for efficient seeding.

In our spare time, we have mandated training that needs to be completed.  It’s not our favorite thing to do, but it keeps us aware of policies and makes the Carrington REC a better place to work.

When our research and Extension staff return from Conference, they’ll focus on preparing research protocols and other planting plans.

And we wait for Spring.  (And by that, we mean “Planting Season.”)

Linda Schuster
Linda.Schuster@ndsu.edu
Administrative Secretary

The CREC has had a long history of studying intercropping, with large emphasis on different crop combinations in the early 90s. Over the last several years this topic has stormed back with a vengeance. One of the trending versions of intercropping is harvesting two cash crops at the same time. Common examples include flax with chickpea, canola or mustard with field pea, faba bean with a cereal, and flax with a cereal. The idea is that with two crops 1) there will be less yield from each crop, but the combined yield will be higher than a monocrop; 2) there will be greater biological diversity in the system above and below ground; 3) there may be less inputs required. Common problems include difficulty in seeding multi-crops with current equipment, cost or availability of separating equipment for harvested grain, and harvest synchrony. The goal is to intensify production per acre and maintain or improve soil health. This is one topic in which more testing is being done on farm than by traditional research.

The CREC did conduct several trials this past growing season to evaluate some of the different combinations. In particular, researchers have been looking into field peas with oats, field peas with canola, flax with chickpeas, wheat with clover (as a cover), and silage corn with legumes. The most common treatment in the trials is seeding rates of the crops. Even though 2018 was a very dry summer, several treatments in each study were advantageous compared to monocropping, at least from a production standpoint, with as much as a 30% increase in per acre production. As is stands, we still have a lot to learn about intercropping. Many of these studies will be continuing in 2019. Once we get multi-year data, we can start looking at the economics of intercropping.

For now, here are some nice pictures from some of our trials:

Silage corn and scarlet runner bean intercrop.

Silage corn and soybean intercrop.

Field pea and canola seeding rates in an intercrop.

Flax and chickpea intercrop.

Mike Ostlie, Ph. D.
Mike.Ostlie@ndsu.edu
Research Agronomist

Some producers express concern that SOM levels are not necessarily increasing as they had hoped, despite minor changes in production practices that help build their SOM levels.

Why the concern? Because, SOM takes time to build - contrary to some false beliefs that it is a quick process, and SOM is known to be the single most important soil property in agriculture. Ideally, farmers should strive to build their SOM levels to at least 3.5%. To maintain a good SOM level, use:

• No-till or conservation tillage practices
• Proper crop rotations that include small grains and broadleaf crops
• Manure or compost
• Adequate fertilizer to ensure high yields, better root proliferation and abundant residue

Cover crops also enhance SOM. They enhance microbial diversity and population, which convert soil organic material to SOM. You can find more on cover crops on the NDSU plant sciences website: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/plantsciences/research/forages/cover-crops or the NDSU Livestock Extension website: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/livestockextension/grazing-management-folder/cover-crops.

Farmers should not be overly concerned about small fluctuations in SOM content if their soil test results are just a few percentage points less (typically < 0.4%) than the previous year or two. Annual climatic changes, and changes in crops grown often cause changes in SOM content.

Figure 1 shows four-year average SOM content, averaged across three types of four-year crop rotations and N rates on no-till and conventional till cropping systems study by Ezra Aberle (Cropping Systems research specialist, NDSU Carrington REC). SOM was always greater for NT than conventional till. Differences in SOM content on the graph every 4-years is common.  

You can find more on soil organic matter from Naeem Kalwar, soil health Extension specialist at the NDSU Langdon REC here: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/langdonrec/soil-health/soil-organic-matter-and-its-benefits/view and on the Soil Health Nexus blog here: https://soilhealthnexus.org/soil-organic-matter-and-its-benefits/

Jasper M. Teboh, Ph. D.
Jasper.Teboh@ndsu.edu
Research Soil Scientist

Sheep producers can learn more about lambing time management during the NDSU Lambing workshop at the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center on February 12. 

A new lamb being nurtured by its ewe.

The clinic starts at 10 a.m. Central time at NDSU’s Carrington Research Extension Center, 663 U.S. Hwy 281, and will include an afternoon producer tour at A & L Ranch, Woodworth, N.D.

The morning program includes the following presenters and topics:

• Travis Hoffman, NDSU Extension sheep specialist - wool management
• Cindy Wolf, veterinarian with the University of Minnesota and member of the O’Neill Family Farm near Rushford, Minn. - ewe health
• Cody Krause, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - predator control
• Karl Hoppe, Extension livestock systems specialist at NDSU’s Carrington Research Extension Center - lamb nutrition and marketing

During the afternoon tour of their sheep operation, Brent and Codi Kuss will offer an interactive look at their lambing barn and protocol during their lambing season, and discuss potential challenges to help sheep producers.

Sheep production is gathering more interest by farmers in North Dakota.  Lambing time success in important for productive ewes and healthy vigorous lambs.

For more information, contact Karl Hoppe at 701-652-2951 or karl.hoppe@ndsu.edu or Travis Hoffman at 701-231-222 or travis.w.hoffman@ndsu.edu.

Karl Hoppe, PhD
Karl.Hoppe@ndsu.edu
Extension Livestock Specialist

The newly revised (January 2019) NDSU Extension circular A1718 provides details of a study conducted by NDSU to examine potential increases in soybean seed yield and profit with selected management practices. The four-year study was conducted at the Carrington Research Extension Center and at sites in Fargo and Prosper to examine soybean response to combinations of row spacing, planting rates and use of special foliar inputs.

The following is a summary of the research:

• Soybean yield increased with 14-inch versus 28-inch rows, 200,000 versus 150,000 pls/acre planting rate and special foliar inputs. The narrow rows also had higher net revenue than 28-inch rows. However, the low planting rate and no foliar inputs provided higher net revenue after costs of research factors versus the alternative choice for each factor.

• While several combinations of the three main factors in the study provided high yields, the combination of 14-inch rows and the 150,000 pls/acre planting rate without foliar inputs provided the highest net revenue after costs of research factors.

• While using pure live seed as a basis for reaching a targeted plant population is recommended, also consider that an additional 10 to 20 percent seedling loss can occur between planting and emergence.

• Management strategies that reduce the time required from planting to canopy closure will increase yield potential. This study indicated that canopy closure with narrow rows occurred more than a month earlier than with wide rows.

 

For study details, this circular can be found at the following website:

www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications/landing-pages/crops/economically-increasing-soybean-yield-a-1718

Greg Endres
Gregory.Endres@ndsu.edu
Extension Agronomy Specialist