MSU Extension offers agricultural services to assist farmers and ranchers

Published: 2020
By Sharla Sackman

2020 began as a typical year with MSU Extension agents in Prairie, Dawson, Wibaux, Fallon-Carter, Powder River, Rosebud-Treasure, McCone, Custer, and Garfield counties cooperatively planning the annual Extension Winter Ag Series in January. Winter Series is the largest adult education event in Prairie County. This year’s program included presentations on combatting herbicide resistance, ration balancing, and range recovery after wildfire. In the days following Winter Series, two producers brought feed samples in for forage nitrate testing based on the recommendation given in the ration balancing presentation. One of those samples tested high enough that the producer was advised to not feed the forage to pregnant cows, protecting them from nitrate poisoning. Nitrate quick tests are performed in the Prairie County MSU Extension office to test forage for the presence of the toxin nitrate. As a result of educating producers about the importance of testing their small grain forages for nitrate, producers brought 26 feed samples to Extension to be tested. Twenty-three percent of the samples tested positive for nitrate, with four percent of those samples testing high enough that producers would have to dilute the ration in order to feed safely. Shortly after Winter Series, the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions made it difficult to plan traditional seminar-style programming, so informal, one-on-one educational efforts became more important than ever. MSU Extension in Prairie County offers many services to assist agriculture producers. Issues of particular importance in the spring and summer of 2020 were alfalfa weevil monitoring and treatment, weed identification and sprayer calibration, forage nitrate testing, forage analysis for feeding and marketing feed for sale, ration balancing, livestock water testing, soil nutrient analysis, and grasshopper management.