Wheat harvest will soon be over. With a little rain or irrigation, there are several forage possibilities for wheat ground after harvest.

An early maturing corn variety is one possibility if it is planted thick, although yield still might not be very high. An inexpensive option might be to drill a high population of bin-run corn, if there is good germination, with a drill that can handle the large kernels. Also, forage sorghum should work well when high grain producing hybrids are planted. A good choice for short-season silage might be sunflowers. Sunflowers survive light frost and yield well under many conditions.

If a hay crop is desired rather than silage, plant sorghum-sudan hybrids, pearl millet or foxtail millet. A hay crop exceeding 1.5 tons per acre can still be grown if planted soon after harvest and rain is timely. Another hay or silage alternative is solid-seeded soybeans. A couple tons of good forage can be grown from taller, full season varieties planted after wheat.

Oats planted in early August is another option. Yields over 2 tons per acre are possible if moisture is good, fertility high and a hard freeze comes later than usual.

Also consider oats, as well as turnips, for fall pasture when planted in late July or early August. With a few timely rains in August and September, both oats and turnips produce a lot of high quality feed in a short time. Also, they are inexpensive to plant.

Source: Bruce Anderson, Extension Forage Specialist

Upcoming Activities

The Furnas County Fair 4-H Shooting Sports “Competition Shoot” is scheduled for 9:00 a.m., Saturday, June 27 at the Izaak Walton, south of Arapahoe.

******

The Holbrook Pre-Fair Beef and Sheep Show will be held on Saturday, July 11, 2009. Beef weigh-in begins at 6:30 a.m. and the show begins at 8:00 a.m. Lamb weigh-in begins at 9:00 a.m. and the show begins immediately after the beef show. Goat weigh-in begins at 10:00 a.m. and the show begins immediately after the lamb show.

******

4-H families are reminded that County Fair cleanup day will be held Monday, July 6, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Bring your own cleaning supplies. Refreshments will be served when finished.

******

The County Fair 4-H horse show is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, July 14 at the Fairgrounds in Beaver City

******

The Furnas County Fair will take place the week of July 13-18, 2009.