2011: The year that was...
In terms of weather, 2011 has made it into the record books. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that during this year, there have been 12 different weather disasters that cost more than 1 billion dollars. The previous record disasters were nine disasters in 2008. A few more facts from NOAA: — "These 12 disasters alone resulted in the tragic loss of 646 lives, with the National Weather Service reporting over 1,000 deaths across all weather categories for the year." McDonald County has had its share of weather news. We have had record cold (-22F in February), record heat (110F in August and 17 days over 100F), severe drought (less than 3 inches of rain for July and August), heavy snow ( 31 inches fell in February), flooding (more than 25 inches of rain in April and May), one verified tornado, and an earth rattling event called an earthquake. This has been a record breaking year for weather. How has it affected agriculture?
As far as ag commodities, we lost production on most of our fruit tree production (apples, peaches, ect.), because of the record cold. We had excessive insect damage to our gardens in part to the dry, hot weather, as well as a very poor production of garden vegetables. Our spring hay production was reduced due to the cooler than normal temperatures and flooding. The warm season hay crops were seriously reduced in volume due the drought. Many producers have reduced or sold their cattle herds because of the lack of pasture and hay supplies due to the summer drought. Grain prices are out of site due partially to the weather, which makes our livestock feed more expensive. It has been a wild and weird year and the weather has affected in part most of the agriculture community.
On the bright side, beef prices are at an all time high due to low inventories and worldwide demand for beef. Who would have thought $140 cwt plus feeder calves! 2012 should be a great year for cattle producers. What can be done to prepare of 2012. One step would be get a soil test. A soil test will provide you with the current fertility and pH status of your garden, hay field, or pasture. It will give you information on optimum fertility and liming recommendations and it is an inexpensive way of maintaining good plant health. Most will want to maximize their vegetable production, bale more tons of hay and have more cow days of grazing to overcome the deficient in production in 2011.
There may be some late spring calves due to the 2011 excessive heat. Summer heat stress in cow herds may not show up until much later—at calving time. This year bulls that were fertile or tested OK before the breeding season and this fall bulls tested OK but the heat and humidity problems that occurred between those times caused bulls to lose sperm quality and that takes 60 days for the bull to recover. Also some cows failed to maintain their pregnancies. That can cause a big gap in calving next spring.
Like us on Facebook
Want to know what’s new with University of Missouri Extension? Like us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/MUExtension and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MUExtension.
Learn about new programs, get news you can use and see how extension adds value to Missouri.