Land and Livestock Post Jan. 1, 2012

PRSRT STDUS POSTAGE

PAIDBRYAN, TX 77802PERMIT # 23

JAMES THOMPSONStraight from the horse's mouth.PAGE 3

JAMES THOMPSONStraight from the horse's mouth.PAGE 3

JAMES THOMPSONStraight from the horse's mouth.PAGE 3

JAMES THOMPSONStraight from the horse's mouth.PAGE 3

January 1, 2013

To apply ornot to apply?XXXXXXXXXXXXXXPAGE 12

PRSRT STDUS POSTAGE

PAIDBRYAN, TX 77802PERMIT # 23

TO PROTECT &TO SERVECertificate issued in military land sustainability.PAGE 5

EATINGWELLQuality of hay can affect herd for two years.PAGE 9

HAVE FAITHBaxter Black tells why he believes in America.PAGE 15

A TAXING ISSUEUnderstanding the income tax can save money.PAGE 16

January 1, 2013

Mean greeneating machine

Grasshoppers can consume all of your herd’s forage

Page 10

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News

From theGeneralManagerIhave a birthday coming up this

month, and it’s going to be a toughone. I’m not hung up on age really,

but this birthday is tough because Ihave to renewmy driv-er’s license. The lasttime I did this I wasable to do it online anduse the picture of my23-year-old self. That’sthe same picture I seeevery time I flip openmywallet.Since it is a legal document issued

by the great state of Texas, it is a farmore trustworthy reference tomycurrent physical appearance than allthosemirrors and civilian camerasportray. I’m afraid the Department ofPublic Safety officemay have changedthings upwith some fancy new camer-as andmy new licensemight bear thelikeness of a person that resemblestheman from 2003, only 10 years older.But, I’m not that worried— the

extremely handsome rarely are. Thething I am truly worried about is hav-

ing actually to go to the Departmentof Public Safety office, because it ispossible that by the time I get throughthe line, I will have aged another 10years— although I hear the lines canbe shorter these days. .You can’t domuch about time or

Department of Public Safety lines, butyou can do something about grasshop-pers, besides using them for fish bait.In our cover story, we take a look atthis pest and discuss someways youcan try to control its impact on yourpastures.We also have someways to lessen

your tax burden, news from aroundthe industry as well as our regular fea-tures for you to enjoy.Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for

reading.’Til Next time,

By Chad EllisThe Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation

TheNaturalResourcesConservationService launched theWeb Soil Surveywebsite in 2005. The site allows onlineusers toaccesssoil survey informationforaparticularpieceof land insteadofhaving to refer to the traditional coun-ty-levelsoil surveybooks.Youcanreadmore about this website in a 2011 AgNews andViews articlewritten byCo-reyMoffet, entitled “USDA-NRCSHasaVeryUsefulTool inWebSoilSurvey.”Thedisadvantageof thewebsoil sur-

vey is that it is limited to use on a per-sonal computer.Due to this limitation,the Natural Resources ConservationService and the University of Califor-nia-Davis Soil Resource Lab recentlydeveloped an app for iPhone and An-droid smartphones called “SoilWeb.”One unique feature of the SoilWeb

app is that it retrieves graphical sum-maries of soil types associated withtheuser’sgeographic locationthroughsmartphone GPS capabilities. By fol-lowinginstructionsontheapp, farmers

andranchersquicklycanobtain infor-mationaboutsoil typesandpropertiesto help make management decisionswhile still in the field. Each summaryshows the soil name and horizon, orlayer. By clicking on the soil horizon,the app will load the Official SeriesDescription, a narrative of commonlyused soil properties such as horizondepths, colors, texture and rock frag-ments. Clicking on the soil name pro-vides the user with a more detaileddescription, including physical andchemical properties, definitions andlinkstootherdatabases(plants,ecolog-

NewsmartphoneappusesGPStodescribepasture soil condition

See APP, Page 14

TheLand

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January1,2013

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Beonthe lookout fora smellynewbug in town

Published by Bryan-College Station Communications, Inc.(979) 776-4444 or (800) 299-7355

President - Crystal Dupré ..................................................... Ext. 4613Publisher and Editor- Kelly Brown ......................................... Ext. 4656Advertising Director - Ron Prince ........................................ Ext. 4740Advertising Sales/General Manager - Jesse Wright ............... Ext. 4721Financial Director - Rod Armstrong ....................................... Ext. 4605New Media Director - Mike Albin .......................................... Ext. 4663Production Director - Mark Manning..................................... Ext. 4671Circulation Director - Jack Perkins ....................................... Ext. 4752

Published by Bryan-College Station Communications, Inc.,P.O. Box 3000, Bryan, Texas 77805.E-mail: [email protected]

All offices are located at 1729 Briarcrest DriveBryan, Texas 77802.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes toThe Eagle, P.O. Box 3000,Bryan, Texas 77805-3000

The Post is printed in part on recycledpaper and is fully recyclable.

By Steve ByrnSTexas A&MAgriLife Extension

Service

With the holiday season infull swing, Texas A&M AgriL-ifeExtensionServiceentomolo-gists urge travelers to be waryof a new species of unwelcomesix-leggedhitchhikersitchingtobecome full-time Texans.“We’re working to raise

awareness about the brownmarmorated stink bug in Tex-as,” said Bill Ree, AgriLife Ex-tensionentomologist inCollegeStation. “This pest is hittingsome states hard. It’s a greathitchhiker, which is probablyone, if not the main reason, ithas spread to so many states.Adults seeking overwinteringsites tend to get in recreationalvehicles, travel trailers, etc.”Ree said the pest can cause

lasting foul smells in homesand other confines, plus causemajor damage to awidevarietyof crops and plants.“So far, we’ve only had one

confirmed in Texas, Ree said.“That single find last Novem-ber at Corpus Christi was froma pest control operator investi-gating a stink bug infestationin a trailer or RV that had beenmoved toCorpus fromPennsyl-vania.“That’swhywewant thepub-

lic, pest control operators andthose in the landscape industryto be aware that we really wantto knowabout possible sites be-fore they escalate as they have

elsewhere.“New detections in Texas

willmore likely come from thisgroup of folks, rather than anagricultural ‘bug scout’ in themiddle of a soybean field.”Wizzie Brown, AgriLife Ex-

tension urban entomologist inAustin, said the pest is not ahealth threat to people or ani-mals,butshedoesseethepoten-tial for the insect to become a

problem in a variety of outdoorsettings.“It’s possible that it’s already

invariouspartsof thestate,andpeople don’t know about it, sothey’re not reporting it,” shesaid.Brown said the pest is origi-

nally from Asia and is foundin China, Japan, Taiwan and

See BUG, Page 8

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NewsA&Mawardscertificate inmilitary landsustainabilityTexas A&MAgriLife Extension

Service

COLLEGESTATION—WhenChief WarrantOfficerEricMet-calf received his master’s ofwildlife science degree and cer-tificate inmilitary landsustain-abilityatTexasA&MUniversityin December, he combined hisexperience in themilitary withhis love of wildlife and naturalresourcemanagement.Metcalf, a pilot with the U.S.

Armystationed atFortHood, isthe first Texas A&M graduatestudent to earn the certificatein military land sustainability.Thecertificationisofferedjoint-ly through A&M’s departmentof ecosystem science and man-agement and its department ofwildlife and fisheries sciences.Roel Lopez, interim director

of theA&MInstitute of Renew-able Natural Resources andprogram coordinator, said theflexible,distance learninggrad-uateprogramofferscourseworkand research experiences forcurrent and future natural re-source professionals interestedin the management of militarylands.“Thecertificateprogramand

associatedgraduatedegreesem-ploy full use of cyber-learningstrategies to afford the greatestflexibility to students, allowingthem to pursue a graduate de-greewithouthaving tobephysi-cally locatedoncampus,”Lopezsaid.“Eric is the type of person

we had inmindwhenwe set upthe certificate program,”Lopezsaid. “He was able to continuehis military service while com-pleting the program and com-bine his knowledge and inter-est in the military and naturalresources.”Metcalf,who isaTillmanMil-

itary Scholar, said he was ableto complete all but one seminarand an optional one-week longfieldwork course through the

program’s online portal. TheTillman scholarship is namedafter Pat Tillman, a former Na-tional Football League playerwho left the league to join themilitary. He was killed in Af-ghanistan in 2004.Lopez said the overall goal

of this professional degree isto equip students with knowl-edge and skills for managingrelationships among ecology,economics, policy and conflictresolution, and understandinghowthese factors influencenat-ural resource conservation andmanagementonmilitary lands.Metcalf said he is already

using his knowledge gainedthroughthecertificateprogramand his degree while servingon Fort Hood’s seven-memberHunting and Fishing AdvisoryCouncil.The veteran of Operation

Iraqi Freedom and OperationNew Dawn said the programis an excellent opportunity fora military person who is inter-estednotonly inmilitarytacticsand strategies but “what ourtactics and strategies do for theenvironment and how we canmitigate any issues that mightarise.”“Iwould recommend thepro-

gram to anyone,” he said.The graduate certificate re-

quires 15 credit hours of aca-demicwork, all of whicharede-livered via distance education,Lopez said.Nineof the 15 credithoursarerequiredcoursesfromthe military certificate and sixare elective credits that may beapplied toward the degree froma large list of ecosystem scienc-es and management or wildlifeand fisheries sciences courses.As for Metcalf, he plans to

use his degree and certificateto transition from military lifeintocivilianlifeandlandajobasa gamewardenwhen he retiresinSeptember2014after25yearsof service in themilitary.For more information, go to

military.tamu.edu/education.

Photo courtesy of Texas A&MAgriLife CommunicationsChief Warrant Officer Eric Metcalf became the first military land sustainability certificate graduate at Texas A&M Universityin December.

TheLand

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January1,2013

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AgriLife Extension photo by Tony ReisingerTomdeMarr,Gladys Porter Zoo senior veterinarian,andDonHockaday,retiredmarinebiologist, examine the flukes of an injured dolphin.

MasterNaturalist class tobeginBy Rod Santa ana

Texas A&MAgriLife ExtensionService

SAN BENITO — The LowerRio Grande Valley chapter ofthe Texas Master NaturalistProgram is now accepting ap-plications for training classesthat start Jan. 9, according toTonyReisinger, theTexasA&MAgriLife Extension Serviceagent for coastal and marineresources based in San Benito.The deadline to apply is Jan.

2. Class size is limited. The feefor the training is $125.

In the training classes, localexperts cover topics about thearea’s natural resources andlead hands-on field trips to lo-cal ecosystems, Reisinger said.To become a certified Texas

Master Naturalist in the RioGrande chapter, trainees mustfulfill several requirements, in-cluding attending a total of 40

hours in trainingandfield trips,provide 40 hours of volunteerservices within a year and takea minimum of eight hours ofadvancedtrainingwithinayear.“If you’d like to learn about

the unique environment of theLower Rio Grande Valley, thiscoursewill teachyououramaz-ingnaturaldiversityandopenanew world of both wonder andunderstanding for this magicalplace,” he said.

An application form andbackgroundcheckmustbecom-pleted and postmarked by Jan.2.Training feemustbe includedwith each application.Make checks payable to

RGVCTMN, and mailed toRGVCTMN Education Chair,P.O. Box 532129, Harlingen,Texas 78553.For more information email

[email protected],call 956-245-0177orvisit theweb-site at www.rgvctmn.org.

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Memoriesof calfdeliveriesof longagoIthas become a tradition

of this column to start theyear with a humorous or

heart-warming story about an-imals. Anyone who has raisedanimals for very long has plen-ty of stories to tell. With thecalving season getting into fullswing onmany Texas ranches,I want to tell you about one ofmymostmemorable calvings.Althoughmy students and Iassistedmany calvings whileI taught at Texas A&M, thiscalving occurred while I wasin practice. Hope you like it!It was a Sundaymorning

when Lee Young called askingfor help catching a heifer anddelivering her calf. The ranchwas just down the road frommy clinic and I was there inminutes. Within seconds ofarrival, I knew I was in for atough job.The only one waiting to

help was Lee, a tall, thin 84year old. Lee was from a pio-neer ranching family. He hadranched his whole life andwasat ease around cattle. He hadbeen doing rather poorly thatwinter, however, and was pret-ty fragile looking as he limpedup to greet me.Now the patient on the

other handwas the picture ofhealth. She was a big Herefordheifer weighing about 1,000pounds. Themain impres-sion I got of her was extremenervousness. She was rapidlycircling the corral like a sharktrying to find a hole in hercage. I could see the calf’shead and one leg protrudingfrom the heifer’s birth canalas she galloped around thecorral.I had a wild heifer running

loose in a big corral with a

calf stuck in her birth canalandwas almost onmy ownas far as help was concerned.I could see this wasn’t goingto be an easy assignment, butI was young and still build-ingmy reputation. I had notyet acquiredthe nicknameof “SlipperySteve” when itcame to calv-ings. I spranginto action.I told Lee

we needed toget the heiferinto the squeeze chute formeto work on her. There was acatch pen about 20 by 20 feeton the side of the corral witha funnel leading to an alley-way that went to the chute.Our first step was to drive theheifer into the catch pen.Lee and I jumped into the

corral behind the heifer andwaved our arms to drive herinto the catch pen. The heiferwheeled around, snortedand charged us full speed.I was over the fence in onesmoothmotion. Then tomyhorror, I thought I was aboutto witness Lee’s last calving.Poor old Lee, pale andweak,couldn’t even try to get outof the charging heifer’s way.He just stood there tall andskinny like a telephone pole.He faced the heifer, opened histoothlessmouth and croaked,“Haa, haa,” as he shook acoiled lariat up and down atthe heifer. The heifer lockedher feet and skidded to a sud-den sliding halt with her headstopped about 4 inches fromLee’s belly button. Lee was atough old geezer to stand hisground against half a ton of

charging heifer.Well, I was quite relieved

for Lee’s sake, but still had toget the heifer in the squeezechute. She obviously didn’tdrive, so I decided to use hernatural instincts tomy favor. Iwould become her target andlead the way into the catchpen.I hopped over the boards

of the corral fence near thecatch pen andwavedmy arms.The heifer repeated her previ-ous performance instantlygoing from standing still toMach 1 withme in her sights.She was fast, but I thought Ihad enough of a lead. I ranthrough the catch pen gate,immediately turned left andclimbed up the fence as fastas I could. It was closer than Iexpected, because about halfway up I felt her head givemy bottom a little boost. How

nice of her to helpme over thefence!Lee slammed the gate shut

andwe had her in the catchpen. She didn’t like it thereand ran up the alleywayon her own. I dashed to thesqueeze chute and opened theheadgate. She wanted out sobadly she bolted at the sightof daylight. I caught her headand squeezed her up. Sureenough, the calf’s head andonly one leg were protrudingfrom the birth canal. Malpo-sitioning of the calf was thereason for dystocia.Corrections of abnormal

fetal presentations can be easyor hard. A leg back is probablythe easiest one to correct andcan be handled by cattlemenwho are experienced calfpullers, but stronger thanLee. I washed the heifer upand located the held back leg

flexed at the knee within thebirth canal. I carried severalhandfuls of obstetrical lu-bricant into the birth canaland rubbed lube everywhere.I then pushed the head andother leg back into the birthcanal as far as they would gotomake room to unfold theflexed leg. I grabbed the flexedleg below the knee and pulledit out and upwards as far asit would easily bend. Then Icuppedmy hand under thefoot to keep it from digginginto the wall of the uterus andcarefullymoved the foot outthe birth canal until the legwas straight. I easily pulled alive bull calf once his legs andhead were properly lined up.Lee held up a hind leg of

the calf to helpme iodine hisnavel. He toldme he wanted

Dr. STEVEWIKSE

See CALF, Page 8

TheLand

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to keep the pair in the corral acouple of days, because he wasworried the heifer would nottake her calf.We carried the calf into the

corral and set up the gatesso the heifer could go backinto the corral when she wasreleased. Lee exited the workarea through a small side gate.I opened the headgate and let

the heifer out the chute readyto leap to safety if necessary.She ignoredme, ran directlyto her calf, and started lickingit as if her calf was the onlything in the whole world.Lee and I got the job done!

• Dr. SteveWikse is a retired professorof large animal clinical sciences in theCollege of VeterinaryMedicine andBiomedical Sciences at Texas A&MUniversity.

Calf, from Page 7

Photo courtesy of North Dakota State UniversitySometimes, cows need more than a little help in giving birth.

Korea. It was spotted in Penn-sylvania in1998andhasspread .“Since it’saninvasivespecies,

naturalpredatorsandparasitescan’thelptokeeppopulations incheck,” she said. “It also seemsthat the pesticides we have donotdomuchtohelpmanage thepopulations.”Charles Allen, AgriLife Ex-

tension entomologist in SanAngelo, said populations inPennsylvania,Delaware,Mary-land, Virginia, West Virginiaand other states have built upto high levels as they feed onapples,peachesandother fruits.“We think this stink bug will

feed onpecans inTexas, addingto the losseswemayexperiencefrom it,” Allen said. “And itprobably will be a huge prob-lem in grapes because just oneora fewstinkbugscan taint theflavor of a whole vat of wine.”Allen said they also indis-

criminately dine on tomatoes,peppers and a wide variety ofother garden crops and orna-mentalsandcouldposea threatto those industries.

“Our main concerns amongTexas field crops are soybeans,pecansandpossiblycotton,”Al-len said.“In the fall when they start

looking for a place to spend thewinter, theycancauseproblemsfor homeowners. In some areasof other states, they have en-tered homes by the thousandsand tens of thousands wherethey leave a very lasting andfoul odor. So they are not onlyan agricultural problem, butalso a very troublesome house-hold pest. Folks in the worstaffected areas vacuum themup daily, and their homes stillsmell likestinkbugs forweeks.”Brown said as with most

home insect invaders, exclud-ing them from the home is thebestandsafest courseof action,should thepests gaina footholdin Texas.In the meantime, the ento-

mologists are askingallTexansto report and submit suspectedsamples so they can confirm ifand where the insects may betakingupresidence in thestate.“Though theyarenotadirect

humanhealth threat, theyarea

nuisance that could live almostanywhere in Texas,” Brownsaid.“The brown marmorated

stink bug looks just like otherstinkbugs,but it’sadrabbrownwith blackmottling on its backand a distinctive pattern ofalternating white and blacktriangles around the outsideof the abdomen. If folks startnoticing a new stink bug, onethey haven’t seen before, thenwewant to know about it.”Samples should include the

name and contact informationof the sender, the location thebugwas found, and the plant orplace where it was found. Reesaid specimens — preferablydead — should be put in some-thing such as a pill bottle andsent to KiraMetz, Minnie BelleHeepBuilding216D,2475TAMU,College Station, TX 77843-2475.The specimens also could besent to any AgriLife Extensionagent,but thosealsowillbecon-firmed byMetz.Metz is the U.S. Department

of Agriculture domestic insectidentifier with an office on theTexasA&MUniversitycampus.

Bug, from Page 4

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Hayqualityaffects calvingsuccess for twoyearsUniversity of Missouri Extension

The quality of hay fed to abeef heifer the next 60 days ofwinter will determine the vig-or of her calf to be born nextspring — and whether she canrebreed to calve the next year.The amount of fat on a heif-

er’s back determines the careshe needs, said Justin Sexten,University of Missouri Exten-sion beef nutritionist. His con-cernincludesconditionof cowsin a herd, but heifers pregnantwith first calves need extra nu-trition.Sextenisconcernedaboutthe

coming calf crop-for the nexttwo years because of droughtlast summer. Too many beeffemales are going into winterwithout protective layers of fatthat help carry them throughuntil spring grass.For some, hay supplies are

limited and quality low. A ra-tion rich in nutrients allowscows to maintain body condi-tion, keep the fat layer and de-velopacalf.Normallyhaydoesthat.“Unfortunately, much for-

age harvested last season doesnot meet base requirements,”Sextensays.Grain supplementwill be needed if hay is not ofadequate quality.Herd owners judge the

amount and what kind of feedthat will be needed from bodycondition scores of cows.By rule of thumb, a heifer

should calve at 85 percent ofher mature body weight. Mostherds target 1,300-pound ma-ture cows. Thatmature weightis based on 5- to 8-year old cowatBCS5 ona sale of 1 to 9. Thatmeans a goal of 1,200 poundsat calving for heifers — 1,100pounds of body mass plus 100pounds of condition.Growing heifers need more

and better feed than maturecows. They should be fed sepa-rately from the cows, Sextensays.Body condition scores are

measured in 100-pound incre-ments. Scoring estimates faton the cow’s body. If she isflat across the back with nobackbone or ribs showing, shescoresBCS6orbetter,adesiredcondition for calving.If, however, her backbone

“splits a raindrop,” she needsfeed toaddbody fatbeforecalv-ing, Sexten says.With normal summer and

fall grass growth, heifers aregrass fat by winter. Not thisyear. “DuringJulyandAugust,when no grass grew, heifersminedconditionofftheirback,”Sexten says.Nowheifersmustnotonlybe

fed tosupportnormalbodyandcalf growth during winter, butalso to replace lost fat.Lost fat concerns Sexten.

That energy source affectsvigor of the calf at birth. Also,adequate body fat adds qualityand quantity tomilk the heiferprovides her newborn calf.Nutrition in that first 24

hours determines if a calfthrives, Sexten says. Spring-born calves come into a coldworld. They need the rich en-ergy and antibodies providedby colostrum, the first milk, tosurvive

Photo courtesy of 123RF.comThe quality of hay a cow eats in the next two months will determine the vigor of her calf.

TheLand

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January1,2013

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Hop to it!Control grasshoppers before they starve out your herd

By RoBeRt FeaRsSpecial to The Post

Texas grasshopper populationsvary in size from year to yeardepending upon the weather.

During drought and in areas receivingless than 30 inches of rainfall, they canbecome a big threat to forage produc-tion.

Large populations of grasshoppersconsume significant amounts of for-age, which necessitates reduction incattle stocking rates.

“Grasshoppers consume up to 50percent of their body weight in for-age every day,” said Tom Royer, ento-mologist with Oklahoma CooperativeExtension Service. “Cattle consumeabout 1.5 to 2.5 percent of their bodyweight in forage, so pound for pound,a grasshopper will eat 12 to 20 timesas much plant material as a steer. An-other way to look at it is that 30 poundsof grasshoppers will eat as much asa 600-pound steer. Some grasshop-pers feed on the most desirable forageplants, leaving the less desirable forcattle. Their feeding, if coupled withdrought conditions, can cause long-term deterioration of the forage plantcommunity.”

“Grasshoppers are among the mostwidespread and damaging pests inTexas,” wrote Carl Patrick and StevenDavis in Texas A&M AgriLife Exten-sion Service Bulletin E-209. “There areabout 150 species of grasshoppers inthe state, but 90 percent of the damageto crops, gardens, trees and shrubs iscaused by just five species. They arethe differential, red-legged, migratory,two-striped and Packard grasshoppers.Of these, the migratory and Packardare destructive to grassland.”

“Migratory grasshoppers are strongfliers and may swarm over long dis-tances,” Patrick and Davis wrote.“They, as well as Packard grasshop-pers, feed on both grasslands and culti-vated crops The Packard grasshopperis the less damaging of the two species,but large numbers can be a problem.This species prefers sandy soils withlight grass cover.”

Grasshopper lifecycle“Grasshoppers produce one genera-

tion each year except for the migra-tory grasshopper, which producestwo generations per year,” Royer said.“Grasshoppers have three stages: egg,nymph and adult. The majority ofgrasshoppers overwinter as eggs, but afew overwinter as immature nymphs.In late summer and fall, eggs are de-posited in the soil in ‘pods’ that containfrom eight to 30 eggs. Embryos begin todevelop, become ‘quiescent’ or inactivethrough the winter, and resume devel-opment in spring.

“Eggs hatch in the spring, with spe-cific hatching time affected by weather,especially soil temperature. Each spe-cies develops at its own rate, so we tendto see a continuous flush of hatching

grasshoppers over several months.Cold winters have little effect on eggsbecause the pod and surrounding soilprovide insulation from low tempera-tures.”

Nymphs start to feed within a day ofhatching, usually on the same plantsthat they will feed on as adults. Thesesmall nymphs are most vulnerable toweather, disease, predators and para-sites. They grow through five nymphalinstars, shedding their exoskeletoneach time, and become adults in 40 to55 days after hatching.

Population assessment“Ranchers should start watching for

grasshoppers early in the season and

begin control measures while grass-hoppers are still nymphs and still with-in the hatching sites such as roadsidesand fencerows,” Patrick and Daviswrote. “Treating grasshoppers earlyresults in fewer acres needing treat-ment and less insecticide required.Early treatment controls grasshoppersbefore they cause extensive damageand before they can fly, migrate and layeggs. Also, smaller grasshoppers aremore susceptible to insecticides thanlarger ones.”

Grasshopper control in rangelandprobably never is justified until num-bers exceed 12 per square yard. In im-proved pastures, the economic thresh-

Photo by Robert FearsLarge populations of grasshoppers consume significant amounts of forage which necessitates reduction in cattle stocking rates.

Cover photo courtesy of f Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

See GRASSHOPPERS, Page 12

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NewsCropsneedsoilmoisture tobuilda strongroot systemthat isneeded tosurvive in timesof sustaineddrought

By Kay LedBetterTexas A&MAgriLife Extension

Service

AMARILLO — Without soilmoisture, roots don’t developandgrow.Withoutastrongrootsystem,acropcannotsurvive ina drought year, according to aTexas A&M AgriLife Researchcropstressphysiologist inAma-rillo.

While most producers real-ize water is the most importantlimiting factor affecting wheatproduction in semi-arid areassuchastheHighPlains,QingwuXue said the past two years ofdrought have emphasized thekey role of soil water availabil-ity at planting time.

“With the erratic seasonalrainfall, soil water storage —thewater available in the soil atplanting time — is very critical

for a successful crop,”Xue said.“Adrylandfarmer’sfirst impor-tant decision must be to deter-mine if there is sufficient soilwater in the profile to plant.”

This year is aprimeexample,he said. In late September, a2-inch rain fell across much ofthePanhandleandmanywheatproducers got excited.

“But if they didn’t have anexisting storage of water in thesoil, that 2-inch rain is havinga hard time carrying the cropto the next rainfall, which stillhasn’t come as of mid-Decem-ber.”

Long-term field research atBushland and in western Kan-sas demonstrated that wheatyieldsareclosely tied toseason-al evapotranspiration, which isdetermined by soil water stor-age,seasonalrainfallandirriga-tion, Xue said.

“If you don’t have a good soil-water profile at planting, andyou are a dryland farmer, youmay need to just not plant, orwait for more moisture,” Xuesaid.

“You may be better off lettingthe profile fill up for the nextcrop.”

He said the difference be-tween water storage during athree-month fallow period andan 11-month fallow period canbe tremendous in a dry period.

Xue said if wheat produc-ers were at the end of a longerfallow period and had the soilmoisture, then the second partof theequation ishowtouse thesoil moisture effectively. In thiscase, a healthy and strong rootsystem plays an important rolefor water use also.

Texas A&MAgriLife Research photos by Qingwu XueWheat plants grown under greenhouse conditions with different soil water levelsshow the growth difference, both in forage development, as shown above, and inroot development, as shown below.

SeeMOISTURE, Page 12

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Many management toolscan help wheat plants developa good root system, such asplanting date, seeding rates,row spacing, fertilization andvariety selection, he said.

When selecting a variety,seedling vigor will be impor-tant, Xue said. His studies haveshown that vigorous seedlinggrowth not only led to good for-age production but also to good

root production — both neces-sarytotakeacroptoeithergraz-ing or grain harvest.

“We’ve found that if a varietyis vigorous under a well-wa-tered system, it is likely goingto be vigorous under drought-stressed conditions,” he said.“Soitdoesn’tmatterif thepro-

ducerwants tousehiswheat fora dual purpose of grazing andgrainor justgrain, thevigorousseedling growth is necessary toget through dry periods.”

Texas A&MAgriLife Extension Service photo by Kay LedbetterQingwu Xue, Texas A&M AgriLife Research crop stress physiologist in Amarillo, shows the difference seedling vigor can makeon plant growth in these wheat variety trials near Bushland.

Moisture, from Page 11

oldmay be closer to eightgrasshoppers per square yard.“Grasshopper populations

can be assessed through sev-eral methods,” Royer said.“To use the square yard

method youwalk in a straightline across an area and visual-ly delineate a square yard areaabout 9 to 12 feet apart in frontof your feet. Simply count thenumber of grasshoppers thatcan be seen jumping out of theimaginary space.

“About 30 samples should

be taken each spaced about 75feet apart. Take an average ofthe counts to determine grass-hopper population densities,”Royder said.

“With the square footmethod, the surveyor countsgrasshoppers from 18 differentsquare foot areas inmuch thesamemanner as is done withthe square yardmethod.“After 18 samples have been

taken, divide the total grass-hoppers by two to derive an av-erage number of grasshoppersper square yard.”

Grasshoppers,from Page 10

See CONTROL, Page 13

Janu

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Control“Themost common insec-

ticides used for grasshoppercontrol on rangelands andgrass pastures are carba-ryl (Sevin), diflubenzuron(Dimilin) andmalathion,”said Jeffrey Bradshaw, as-sistant professor of entomol-ogy, University of NebraskaPanhandle Research andExtension Center, Scottsbluff.“These chemicals can be ap-plied in several treatment op-

tions, most of which involvereduce agent area treatments,or RAATs. By using RAATs,alternating strips of rangelandare sprayed, thereby reducingthe treated area by one half.RAATs also reduce costs andconserve beneficial insects.”“Awidely adopted chemi-

cal, diflubenzuron, acts as aninsect growth regulator andefficiently suppresses grass-hopper populations; however,it also poses potential risks for

Control, from Page 12

See FORAGE, Page 17

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ical information system, etc.).As an example, consider a

producerwho is contemplatingbermudagrassestablishment ina particular pasture.Key factors for successfully

establishing bermudagrass aresoil type and soil health. Theproducer instantly can receivesoil type and physical propertyinformation about pasture us-ing the SoilWeb app and deter-mine if the soil in the pastureis suitable for bermudagrassestablishment.The type of soil determines

which nutrients are neededand howmuchwater should beapplied or howmuch rainfall isrequired for a defined level ofproduction.The SoilWeb only provides

information about soil physical

properties — not the currentfertility status.The SoilWeb app provides a

lot of useful information, butit does not replace soil testing.Soil testing still is needed to de-termine the level of nutrientsavailable for the current grow-ing season.The SoilWeb app is an ex-

tremely useful tool for smart-phone-using farmers, ranch-ers or others interested in landstewardship.

With its embedded GPS sys-tem, this app provides instan-taneous soil information fromyour given location, which isvery convenient.Perhaps the best thing about

the SoilWeb app is it can bedownloaded for free from theApple App Store for the iPhoneor from play.google.com for theAndroid OS.

App, from Page 3

2013grainpriceswillbedictatedby theweatherBy Blair Fannin

Texas A&MAgriLife ExtensionService

Grain prices for 2013 willhinge on favorable weatherpatterns following the dev-astating 2012 drought in theMidwest, according toaTexasA&MAgriLifeExtensionSer-vice economist.“It’s all about theweather,”

saidMarkWelch, grainsmar-ketingeconomist. “You’vegothigher prices, and the yieldpotential isgreater if theycanget rain.”Texas farmers will plant

more corn to take advantageof higher grain prices in 2013,Welch said.“Sorghum is a better fit for

a lot of areas of Texas andthosemarginal areas compet-ingwithcotton, sosorghumisa better alternative,” he said.

“If we get a lot of moisture,it will also benefit wheat andtherewill be a lot of incentiveto keep that wheat crop forgrain.”Welch said if favorable

w e a t h e rpa t t e r nsd e v e l o pin 2013, itwill set upfarmers toplant sur-plus acreso f c o r nand othergrains.“I think

we are go-ing to see a huge increase inproduction of grain,” Welchsaid. “Corn production in theU.S. was cut from 13 billionbushels toa10.5billionbushelcrop due to drought this year.World production outside the

U.S. set a record high for 2012— the biggest corn crop everoutside the U.S. — 22 billionbushels, and it will continueto increase.”Welch said the U.S. is im-

porting Brazilian corn forlivestock feeding operations.“For years, we have been

the biggest corn producer,user and exporter; the U.S.was the world corn market,”he said. “We continue to holdtheleadershippositionineachof those categories, but withmargins that are shrinking.World competition is on theincrease.”Welch said with favorable

weather and normal yields in2013, production will be high-er, but so will use.“Corn use will rebound as

supply concerns ease,” hesaid. ”Corn use declined inevery use category tracked

by USDA due to high pricesin 2012. Use will come back,though not as quickly as wemay increase supply.“I think that’s the key for

2013. If we have a normalweatheryear,withmoreacresplanted, supply will out rundemand. If it gets dry again,supply remains a concern,and we could be right back to$8 to $10 a bushel for corn,”he said.Farmers looking for mar-

keting options should consid-er taking profits a little alongthe way throughout 2013,Welch said.“I think as we lay out the

marketing year, there arekey elements to watch as wemove along the crop calendardo some pre-harvest market-ing,” he said.Welch said if there is some

profit farmers can lock into

today, do so, but don’t take allof it at one time.“Come February, we will

have a good handle on whatthe South American cropswill look like and early plant-ing intentions surveyswill becoming out for U.S.,” he said.ByMarch andApril, Welch

said “we start to get reportsrelatedtoplantingpace,emer-gence and early crop condi-tions.”“As the year unfolds, these

reportswill give us some ideaof yield prospects that willshape our price projections,”Welch said.“If we are heading for in-

creased supplies relative todemand, then farmers can dosome aggressive marketing.If there are emergingproduc-tion concerns, then it’s bestto hold on and see how thingswill play out,”Welch said.

WELCHJanu

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Commentary

Faith in thepeople tosolveAmerica’sproblemsGrandpa Tommywas

reminiscing, “It’s ashame everybody

couldn’t go through the GreatDepression.”I knowwhat hemeant.

I think. He didn’t mean itlike “It’s a shame everybodyhadn’t been in a concentra-tion camp or had polio.” Hewas remarking that most of usBaby Boomers and youngerare unable to appreciate howtechnology has pampered us.There was no safety net backthen. Grandpa Tommy spentthe Dirty ’30s in the depths ofthe Dust Bowl in Syracuse,Kan. Then the first half of the’40s, he was on a Navy vesselin the Pacific.He passed awaywithout see-

ing our OsamaConomy. Thehard times that today’s gener-ations are suffering under, be-gan on Sept. 11, 2001. We sankto the bottom immediately.Unemployment in 2002 was 7.5

percent. We pulled ourselvesout and by 2007 unemploy-ment had fallen to 4.5 percent.Thenwe over-reached andcrashed again in 2008, wherewe havewallowedfor fouryears with8 percent to10 percentunemploy-ment. Butthis wholeseries ofevents inthe past 11 years began on9/11/01.During this OsamaConomy,

a large percentage of ourpopulation has had to tightenour belts, however a smaller 10percent has sufferedmightily.But, in Grandpa Tommy’s de-fense, just a very tiny percentof those of us caught in thevise of OsamaConomy havegone hungry or have no roof

over their head. Present-daytechnology has allowed themajority of the unemployedaccess to computers, cellphones, vehicles, televisions,emergency health care andschool for their kids.The safety net that is help-

ing these “victims” includesfamily, friends, churches,private giving and govern-ment programs financed bythose still working and pay-ing taxes. This safety net hasprevented anymassmigrationof the unemployed seekingwork. If there had been amassmigration, North Dakota andWyoming would have doubledin population. The 10 percentunemployed have been able tostay in familiar surroundingsand are able to get temporaryassistance to ride it out.The Great Depression had

25 percent unemployment atits peak and lasted a decade.Only the outbreak of World

War II brought an end to it.It is the prayer of all of us,

that our foundering leaderswill get their collective headsout of themud, step out of theway and let America go backto work. It took us five years torecover after 9/11. In 2007, thefederal government collecteda record-high annual tax rev-enue from the private sector.Thatmoney came from peopleworking and paying taxes,fromBill Gates to the legal im-migrantmowing his lawn.We all breathed a sigh of re-

lief when our soldiers finallysent Osama Bin Laden to hell.There seems to be a lot ofblame thrown around aboutwho should bear the burden ofour toxic economy. I don’t haveany doubt. It was him. Osamawas this generation’s Hitler,Ho ChiMinh, Yamamoto andSmall Pox.In 2005, I went to NewOr-

leans after Katrina tomuck

out houses. There were twokinds of people who showedup: those who came to helpand those who came to blame.In this OsamaConomy, we’vebeen barraged with ads anddebates by those who come toblame.My head is ringing.But I knowwewill get out of

this mess. Not because I havefaith in the government, butbecause I have faith in thosewho get up every day andcome to work, like GrandpaTommy did, just doin’ his part.HappyNewYear and God

bless you.

• Contact Baxter Black atwww.bax-terblack.com.

BAXTER BLACKOn the Edge ofCommon Sense

TheLand

&Livestock

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January1,2013

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NEWS YOUCAN USERIGHTIN YOURMAILBOX

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Long-termstrategieshelpminimize taxesBy JoB Springer

Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation

As Ben Franklin once noted,the only two things one cancount on with certainty aredeath and taxes. Most Ameri-cansgotoextra lengths inordertodelaybothas longaspossible.Thisarticlewill sharesometipsonhow tominimize income taxobligation across time.Income and expenses gen-

erated from entities such as asole proprietorship, partner-ship, limited liability company(taxed as a partnership) and asub S corporation are reportedontheowner’spersonal incometaxreturn. It is in thebest inter-estof eachbusinesstoeliminateall unnecessary expenses, and,fromabusinessstandpoint, tax-es are considered an expense.Followingare somesteps takeneach fall by individual taxpay-ers or taxpayers using the as-sistance of a tax preparer.

Income tax systemFirst, one needs to under-

stand the tax rates that areexpected for 2012. The table re-ports theestimated2012 incometax brackets, based on inflationadjustments, released from theIRS on Nov. 7, 2011, for a hus-band and wife filing jointly aswell as those filing singly. Thenumbers in the table corre-spond to a taxpayer’s adjustedgross income.Second, it is important to

understand the rules. Manydo not know that a filer’s tax-able income is not all taxed atthe same rate according to thehighest applicable bracket. In-stead, income is taxed progres-sively. For example, assume amarried couple filing jointlyhas an adjusted gross incomeof $120,000. In a progressivetax system, only the portionof the income between $70,700and $120,000 is taxed at the 25percent rate while the portionof income between $17,400 and$70,700 is taxed at 15 percent,and the first $17,400 is taxed at10percent.This iswhat ismeantby a progressive tax system.When one understands that

taxes are paid at different taxrates progressively, it becomesless important forone’s incometo fall at the top of the lowestpossible tax bracket when pur-suingataxminimizationstrate-gy.For instance,anuninformedmarried couple with an ad-

justed gross income of $120,000 per year might believe that all

of ed gross income of $120,000per year might believe that allof their incomewill be taxed atthehighest possible tax rate forthat income (25 percent in thiscase) if they file as married fil-ing jointly. Suchacouplemightbelieve their required tax pay-ment is$30,000peryearwheninfact it isonly$22,060.This$7,940difference ($30,000 - $22,060)willcreate a large error in their taxplanning and canbe thought ofas thecostof notunderstandingthe income tax system.It is also a good idea to divide

theamountpaid in taxes for theyear by the adjusted gross in-come to knowwhat percentageof the adjusted gross income ispaid in taxes.Thispercentage isa good number to know for de-velopingastrategyto lowertax-able income,and, inmostcases,the percentage is not as high asone thinks. In our example, thepercentage of adjusted grossincome paid in taxes is 18.38percent, as calculated by the

formula {(10 percent x 17,400) +[15 percent x (70,700 - 17,400)] +[25 percent x (120,000 - 70,700)]}÷ 120,000. This percentage willalwaysbe less than thepercent-age associatedwith the highesttax bracket (25 percent in thiscase), except for cases wherethe Adjusted gross incomefalls within the lowest incometax bracket.

StrategiesWhat should be the target

long-term income tax bracketfor a taxpayer? It may not bethe best decision to be in the10 percent income tax bracketone year and the 25 percenttax bracket the next year.One way to determine this isto look at what the filer’s ad-justed gross income has beenin the past andwhat the bestestimate is for what it will bein the future. A second ques-tion is what will the tax brack-

See TAXES, Page 17

Janu

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344 Ac Grimes County…, Beautiful rolling pastures, 6ponds, large barn, equipment shed, barn with horse stalls/pens,improved coastal/jiggs pastures, long frontage on County road. 2story ranch house with cedar paneling, tile floors, and two mastersuites. $1,695,000312 Ac Robertson County…Tidwell Creek Ranch nearCalvert. Productive hayfields, good hunting, great terrainvariations, oak and pecan flats, cedar breaks in the draws, severaloutstanding homesites with great access to HWY 6! $2,721/ac329 Acres Grimes County…Near Iola, entirely high fenced,numerous lakes and ponds and 150+- acres of improved grass.The remainder of the property provides diverse cover andvegetation for the abundant exotic wildlife and improved whitetailgenetics. Barndominium in central 3 acre compound offers shopand large living quarters. $1,498,000192 Ac Walker County…FM 247 and Pinedale Road justminutes from I-45 and Huntsville. Rolling terrain, wooded areasseparated by open fields. Long frontage on Hadley Creek andlots of wildlife. Multiple homesites with lots of natural character.$3,538/ac315Ac Grimes County…Great location on Highway 105 nearPlantersville. Huge potential for developed usage. Upland rollinghillside pastures, Caney Creek transects portion of bottomlands.Would make a great showplace. $8,500/ac198 Ac Walker County….Cedar Creek Ranch offers a 4800sq. ft. home, 10-stall barn with tack/feed room, 6,000 sq/ft metalbldg/shop and roping/riding arena. Two ponds, some hardwoods,rolling pastures, improved hay meadows. North of Huntsville.$1,586,800

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News

ets look like in the near future?That is, will tax rates be goingup or down, and by how much?If one expects income tax ratesto go up in the future or for thetaxpayer’s adjusted gross in-come to increase, it may not bethe best strategy to delay rec-ognition of this year’s income.If a person expects tax rates togo down or for their adjustedgross income to fall, it may bein their best interest to delayincome to future years.

There are two strategies thatcan be implemented to delayincome. The first is to prepayfor expenses that one expects toincur in the coming year. Oneshould be careful, however,that this is done correctly — theIRS frowns on this strategy if itdeems it an attempt to distorttaxable income.Thesecond is topurchase necessary capital as-sets. It is important that a busi-ness purchase a capital assetthat will create a future savingsor a cash flow stream that paysfor itself minus the income taxsavings.Thismeans that capitalasset purchases should only bemade if it makes good businesssense,not simply toreducea taxobligation in the short term.

Therefore, it is important toknow your expected adjustedgross income prior to the endof the year. Once this is deter-mined, it is important to deducewhether or not it falls withinyour targeted incometaxbrack-et. If the adjusted gross incomeneeds to be raised, then delaypayment of bills until after thefirst of the year.

If the adjusted gross incomeneeds to be lowered, then firstunderstand what expenses youwill encounter in the comingyear and pay for those in thecurrent year. If the adjustedgross income still needs to belowered, look for a capital assetthat will truly be an asset andnot a liability.

Taxes, from Page 16

beneficial insects such as theendangered American bury-ing beetle,” Bradshaw said.“Malathion and carbaryl arealso effective in treatment ofrangeland grasshopper infes-tation.

“Because malathion is non-selective, nontarget organismsmay be affected, reducing nat-ural enemies of the grasshop-per. Persistent treatment withnonselective insecticides suchas malathion has been shown

to increase the frequency, du-ration and intensity of grass-hopper outbreaks,” he said.

Bradshaw and his col-leagues evaluated three differ-ent formulations of chloran-traniliprole (Prevathon 7.8,Prevathon 13.6 and Coragen)for grasshopper control andcompared them to dimilin andan untreated check.

Chlorantraniliprole is arelatively new insecticidedeveloped and marketed byDuPont.

“A significant reduction in

grasshopper numbers wasmeasured for all chemicalsfollowing the initial applica-tions and residual suppressionappeared to last for at leastthree weeks,” Bradshaw said.“The Coragen and Prevathonlow and high rate applicationshad the numerically lowestgrasshopper populations; how-ever, no chemical applicationswere significantly differentrelative to each other. In thisstudy, beneficial insect popula-tions were not reduced by anyof the chemical applications.

However, there was a slightsuppression of beneficial in-sects in response to insecticideapplication in the sample weekimmediately following applica-tion.”

“Dimilin appeared to havethe quickest recovery of ben-eficial organisms relative tothe other nontarget insect af-fecting treatments,” Bradshawsaid.

“It is unclear why the highrate of Prevathon would havea more benign impact onbeneficial insects than the

other treatments. This treat-ment also appeared to show anumerical resurgence in thebeneficial insect populationstoward the end of the sam-pling period. No significant re-duction in non target suckinginsects such as spittlebugs wasdetected,” Bradshaw said.

Grasshoppers definitelycompete with cattle for forage.When large infestations occur,you’re left with two choices formaintaining cattle body condi-tion by grazing: control thegrasshoppers or destock.

Forage, from Page 13

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texasland-homes.com

979-828-4000Charlie Neff Broker/Realtor®

4.72 Ac, 2820 Hw y 1940, Franklin3,650 sq. ft. custom Limestone built home in2010, 4 bed, 3 baths, office/den, game room,formal dining room, fireplace, live creek, barns &runs for 4H/FFA projects, FIS D; $349,900

4 Ac, Dunn R d., BremondWater & electric available, 35’x40’ metal barnw/loft storage, BISD; $39,900 (adjacent 21 acavailable for purchase $79,000)

26 Ac, FM 1940, Franklin50/50 wooded & rolling terrain, road frontage on 2sides, several homesites, water meter, elect. avail,100% surface rights convey; FISD; $199,000

4.68 Ac, 4454 Cedar Hills, Franklin3,131 sq. ft., 4 bed, 3 bath custom 1 ½ story home,blt 08, fpl, granite counters, bonus room & storageupstairs, lg. 2 car garage w/storage, 85’x40’ barnw/20’x30’ insulated shop w/10’x30’ awning w/stalls. water & elect., FISD; $393,000

94 Ac, FM 2446, Franklin15/85 wooded/open, 914 ft. rd. frontage, 2ponds, Elect & RCW available, FISD $3,450per ac

99.81 Ac, Hanhart Rd., Franklin60/40 wooded/open, coastal Bermuda,new fence on front third, live creek, smallpond, electricity & metered water, approx,1,675 ft. of county rd. frontage; Franklin ISD;$365,000/$,3650 per acre.

282 Ac, Little MS Cemetery Rd, Franklinto be divided into two tracts of 112, 170; lots of CRRd. frontage; electricity, RC water, wooded & coastal,water wells, 50% new fence, 3 bed, 2 bath brick homeon 170 ac tract; Franklin ISD; $3,496/ac

62 Ac, 1114 LCR 705, Kosse2,000 sq. ft., 3 bed, 2 bath, 30/70 wooded,improved hay pasture, pond, live creek, fenced,GISD $208,000

75 Ac., Walnut Cemetery Rd, Bremond3,091 sq. ft., 4 bed, 2.5 bath, built 04, open floorplan, fpl, granite counters, formal dining, lg master,fpl; 2 CA&H, metal roof, 75/25 Bermuda pasture/wooded, fenced, pond, creek, 100’ x 75’ metal barnw/office & bath, tack room, covered chute & sortingpen, water well; Bremond ISD; $795,000

20 Ac, Puckett Ranch Rd., Franklin75/25 wooded/open, great recreational/homesite, live creek & pond, fenced on 3 sides FISD;$100,000

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TheLand

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1800 N. Texas Ave. in Bryan 979.778.6000 www.producerscooperative.com

Each New Year brings hopeand renewed optimism.

Let us know how we can help.

Your Partner in Agriculture Since 1943