SD Corn

As the drought continues to grow in South Dakota so does the number of farmers who will be chopping up their corn crop for cattle feed. Many farmers who also raise livestock normally turn some of their crop into silage, but nobody planned on having to do it this early or this much.

Too many farmers in the southeast corner of the state have no other options as the drought has prevented their cornfields from producing an ear and stunted overall plant growth.

When farmers decide to chop their corn for feed, there are a number of things to consider, including nutrient value, stalk nitrate amounts and moisture percentages.

South Dakota State University Extension offers a great deal of information on their website for those burdened with tough decisions because of the drought. You can visit their page at http://igrow.org/agronomy/drought/

Our recommended links for farmers planning to chop silage would include the following…

 SDSU Extension Nitrate Testing

Nutrient Value of Drought Stressed Corn

 Assessing Drought Stressed Corn

To provide South Dakota farmers and ranchers with access to data in the field, South Dakota State Cooperative Extension’s iGrow has created free mobile applications providing on the go information available on certain smart phone and tablet devices.

These applications instantly deliver assistance to growers whether it’s identifying pests or keeping grazing records. Having access to  information allows producers to reference the available data when faced with important management decisions in the fast-paced world of production agriculture.  Making these mobile tools available will not only allow farmers to yield more, but become better stewards of the land.

The available iGrow mobile applications are:

Thistles of South Dakota

Soybean Diseases of South Dakota

NPIPM Soybean Guide

Grazing Records

Noxious Weeds of South Dakota

Click on the following link for a complete application listing:

http://www.sdstate.edu/sdces/store/MobileApps/index.cfm

New leadership in the college of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at South Dakota State University brings new ideas as Dean Dr. Barry Dunn introduces iGrow.

iGrow is a web-based cooperative extension tool for South Dakota farmers and ranchers that will function as a home-page on a producers computer, smart phone or mobile device featuring expert written blogs, research, libraries, management practices, markets, weather, profit calculators, podcasts and other ag-related information.

iGrow is completely customizable for each individual user as it provides local cash bids, weather forecasts and specific commodity information via zip code. The iGrow website reads, “Think of it as the iTunes of agriculture.”

Setup is quick, easy and painless. Start utilizing it today by going to https://igrow.sdstate.edu/