On October 1, 1998, the South Florida Beef Forage Program will host Get More Bull for Your Buck, Evaluating Bulls Using EPD's. This program will be held at the Oak Knoll Ranch in Lake Wales, see the enclosed brochure for more details or register by calling the Polk County Extension office at (941) 533-0765 and ask for Doug.

At this program we will demonstrate the value and effectiveness of using expected progeny differences or EPD's to evaluate breeding bulls. Willard Lemaster, the Integrated Resource management Program Coordinator, University of Florida will be on hand to give a basic overview of this evaluation method. Producers will also have the opportunity to hear a panel of ranch managers who have successfully used EPD's to improve the quality of both their replacement females and the calves they sell. Jerry Jones from ABS Global will also lead to a discussion on using EPD's in a Beef Cattle A.I. Program.

Following the discussions, there will be an evaluation demonstration using herd sires and their offspring to show how this type of evaluation system compares to the more traditional visual appraisal.

DeSoto County Cattlemen's Annual Meeting

The 1998 DeSoto County Cattlemen's Annual Meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, October 22 at the Family Service Center Annex. All members along with their family are invited to attend. Members are asked to bring a covered dish. You may bring one guest to the steak dinner. Members bringing more than one guest will be asked to pay $10.00 per additional guest.

On October 8, 1998, the Ona Range Cattle Research and Education Center will hold its Biannual Field Day. There will be several speakers on the morning program that begins at 8:30 a.m. with Registration, Lunch at noon time and Field Tours in the afternoon. Fill out the enclosed registration form by October 2, 1998 or call the Ona Station at (941) 735-1314 to reserve a free steak lunch.

On October 29, 1998, the Highlands & Okeechobee Counties will host the South Florida Grazing Systems Management Tour. This program will be held at the MacArthur Argo-Ecology Research Center at Buck Island Ranch in Lake Placid and Deer Run Ranch in Okeechobee, see the enclosed brochure for more details or register by calling Pat Hogue at the Highlands County Extension office at (941) 386-64540 or Mark Kistler at the Okeechobee County Extension office at (941) 763-6469.

At Buck Island Ranch, we will view and discuss the water quality stocking rate densities research project along with some of the other projects that are being conducted on the ranch. Larson Dairy #1 has just converted to a modified grazing dairy. Cattle still receive some supplemental feed, but not to the extent of a conventional dairy. Grazing is the predominant feed source. Deer Run Ranch is a registered Braford Breeder who utilizes a Management Intensive Grazing (MIG) system. Under the MIG, they are able to run a cow/calf pair per acre year round without any winter supplementation. Deer Run Ranch has been operating under MIG system for 12 years. MIG is a concept that has been prevalent in New Zealand for many years but is only in its infancy in the United States. Deer Run Ranch is truly an innovator of this concept in Florida.

A former graduate student of theDepartment of Entomology and Nematology and his wife are doing some work on yellow jackets this summer. The work involves the study of maternity/paternity in multiple queen colonies versus single queen colonies.

In addition, they are able to use the surplus yellow jackets as a means to finance the project, since they can sell them to a company for the production of desensitization shots for hyper allergic people.

Consequently, they are interested in the location of any nests and will remove them for free. Call Gary Fritz at (352) 379-4700 for further information.

Producers should start thinking about and planning for their winter feed supply - stockpiled pasture, hay, or winter pasture. It is not too early to reserve your supply of rye seed. Rye seed is often in short supply. Other small grains, wheat oats and triticale may also be used for winter pasture. In the panhandle of north Florida, oats can be planted on a clean, tilled seedbed earlier than other small grains but should not be planted before September 15. Other cool season forages can be planted from mid-October to mid-November. When over seeding on a pasture sod (bahiagrass or bermudagrass) planting should be delayed until the weather turns cool, usually in November.

Description - Although the southern and yellow striped armyworms may occasionally be found in forages and pastures, it is usually the fall armyworm that causes the most serious damage. Adult fall armyworm moths are approximately 3/4 inch in length and are gray with lighter markings. They have a distinct light-colored stripe along the front edge of the mid forewing. Eggs are laid in masses of 100 to 150 eggs and are covered with scales from the female's body. First instar larvae are approximately 1/16 inch long and are light green to a cream-colored with a dark head capsule. As they feed and grow they become darker with distinctive light-colored lines down the sides of their bodies. On larger larvae the head capsule is dark-colored with a white inverted Y-mark on the front. The pupae, found in the thatch and soil, are dark brown and are approximately 5/8 inch in length.

Life Cycle and Damage - During most winters the fall armyworm is able to survive in all areas of Florida. However, during exceptionally cold winters survival is limited to central and south Florida. The moths are strong flyers and are capable of reinfesting north Florida in early spring. The fall armyworm has several hundred wild and cultivated hosts in Florida. The eggs are laid on the lower leaf blades and hatch in 3 to 4 days. The larvae undergo 6 molts and require 12 to 16 days to reach their full 1 ½ inch length. Early instars each require 1 ½ to 2 days to complete while larva spend up to 4 days in each of the last two instars. As a result approximately 90% of the food consumed during the larval stage is eaten during the last two instars. The pupal stage usually lasts 9 to 10 days. However, field observations indicate that the pupal stage may be extended by approximately 100% under drought conditions. After the adults emerge, they live an average of two weeks. During her lifetime a female moth will lay 3 to 5 egg masses each containing from 100 to 150 eggs.

The kindest cut may be the one made at a young age, when it comes to castrating beef cattle.

Scientists in the ARS Livestock Behavior Research unit at West Lafayette, Indiana, found calves castrated shortly after birth suffered less stress and recovered faster than those castrated around weaning time.

Farmers remove their calves' testicles to reduce aggressiveness in male animals as they mature. It may also improve the taste and texture of beef, says Julie Morrow-Tesch, an ARS animal physiologist/ethologist who heads the research unit. Meat from uncastrated cattle can be tougher and may carry an unpleasant odor.

The West Lafayette lab studies livestock behavior in order to gauge the stress level in animals.

"It's important to understand which management practices can be combined or should be performed independently to reduce stress in livestock," says Morrow-Tesch. "By integrating castration prior to weaning, stress may be lower for calves at weaning, thereby improving animal well-being".

Source: Agricultural Research August 1998

An Aggie was down on his luck, so he decided to kidnap a kid and hold him ransom.

He went to the playground, grabbed a kid, took him behind a tree and told him, "I've kidnapped you." He then wrote a note saying, "I've kidnapped your kid, Tomorrow morning, put $10,000 in a paper bag and put it beneath the pecan tree next to the slide on the north side of the city playground. Signed, An Aggie."

The Aggie then pinned the note to the kid's shirt and sent him home to show it to his parents. The next morning, the Aggie checked and sure enough, a paper bag was sitting beneath that pecan tree. The Aggie opened up the bag and found the $10,000 with a note. The note read, "How could one Aggie do this to another Aggie?"

Source: Gulf Coast Cattlemen Volume 64 Number 5, July 1998

I want to thank so many of you who called or sent cards to me during my recent illness. After going through open heart surgery, one surely realizes how important family and friends really are in our life. We often take these things for granted. I hope that I have not. Because of my illness, there have been several months without a newsletter. We should be back to our regular schedule now. -Jim

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If you have any comments or need additional information, please contact the DeSoto County Extension Office at (941) 993-4846.

Sincerely,

James F. Selph,

DeSoto County Extension Director, IV, Livestock

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For questions or comments regarding this publication contact James F. Selph

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