Better Kansas – Ideas for Living, Growing and Succeeding

Tag: cattle production

Better Kansas – Oct. 22, 2020

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In today’s Better Kansas, we touch on the climbing obesity rate in Kansas, drug take back day, making a difference, fall foliage, a resource for feedlots and a competition that has nothing to do with sports. This is a small glimpse of what K-State Research and Extension across the state has to offer. Share on social media and subscribe! – Mary Lou Peter mlpeter@ksu.edu

Better Living, Better Communities

OH, NO! RECENT CDC DATA PUT KANSAS NEAR THE TOP OF THE OBESITY LIST. Not a place we want to be. And the trend is going in the wrong direction. An annual CDC report lists Kansas among 12 states that have topped 35% in the prevalence of obesity in its population. We were just below 35% a year ago. Read the article, Kansas obesity rates top 35% for more information and listen to a Sound Living audio interview with an extension nutrition specialist on the problem and ways to tackle it. The pandemic hasn’t helped. I’ve got to think that when store shelves emptied last spring and we were evaluating what we had in our pantries and freezers, it encouraged some of us to focus on food like we may not have before. Not to mention that again, those of us working from home are 10 paces from our refrigerators. And though many gyms have reopened, there’s an understandable reluctance to go right now.

 

IT’S SHORT NOTICE, BUT SATURDAY, OCT. 24 IS DRUG TAKE BACK DAY. Remember those potent pain pills from surgery five years ago? Or the anti-inflammatory from that bad muscle sprain? Check your medicine cabinet, bathroom drawers and maybe even kitchen cabinets for expired prescription medications that you didn’t finish and safely dispose of them at one of many “takeback” locations across the state. Check the Pollution Prevention Institute’s Prescription Drug Take Back Day page for information on why and where you can safely dispose of those medications, no questions asked. Last year I rounded up several bottles that had migrated to the back of a drawer. One of them was prescribed 10 years ago! Last year, Americans turned in 883,000 pounds of prescription drugs at nearly 6,300 sites operated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and almost 5,000 of its state and local law enforcement partners.

 

SATURDAY IS ALSO “MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY.” I almost didn’t include this because, again, short notice but decided that really, every day can be “Make a Difference Day.” Doing good things for others and our communities doesn’t have a time limit. Take a look at this Make a Difference article for ideas to consider. I’ll bet you can come up with a lot more. And don’t feel constrained by a date. Any day we help or support others is a good day.

Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening

ONE OF THE SIMPLE JOYS THIS TIME OF YEAR IS TO GO FOR A WALK OR DRIVE AND TAKE IN THE BEAUTIFUL FALL FOLIAGE. It’s like free therapy. But why does fall color in our trees vary from year to year? And why even in our prettiest years, do our colors seem less vibrant than those in New England? A short item in the recent Horticulture Newsletter covers those whys and more. Hint: Weather is just one of several factors. Take a walk. Take it in. I hope it’s as therapeutic for you as it is for me. Truthfully, I’ve never been to New England in the fall peak leaf season. I’m only going from the pictures I’ve seen in magazines and brochures. Surely they haven’t photoshopped those colors?! Also included in the newsletter is planting spring flowering bulbs (hurry), fall garden cleanup, preserving garden tools, and winter care of house plants.

 

CATTLE PRODUCTION AND CATTLE FEEDING ARE BIG BUSINESS IN KANSAS. In fact, recent data from the Kansas Department of Agriculture show the output from beef cattle ranching and farming, including feedlots and dual-purpose ranching was worth $8.7 billion and employed nearly 39,000 people. Cattle feeders and others can keep tabs on such values as the average number of days on feed, average daily gain, harvest weight, dry matter feed conversion, average cost of gain, plus corn and alfalfa hay prices with the Focus on Feedlots newsletter.

 

WE KANSANS CAN BE A BIT COMPETITIVE. Just ask a Wildcat or a Jayhawk … or a Shocker, Gorilla, Hornet, Tiger or Ichabod. But we’re not just talking sports. Farmers can be competitive, too. The annual Kansas Corn Yield Management Contest recognizes farmers who have high corn yields, and improve crop management practices and efficiency for greater sustainability and profitability, plus share helpful data with other farmers. So like sports, this contest encourages participants to constantly improve. But in this case, those of us who rely on corn for feed, food, fuel and manufactured products benefit.

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For more resources and activities, contact the K-State Research and Extension office in your area. Check out our other blogs and subscribe to our weekly emails here: https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/news/blogs/

Better Kansas – Jan. 23, 2020

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Welcome to Better Kansas, where every Thursday we shed light on events, resources and other information designed to make your life, businesses, communities and state better. This is a small glimpse of what K-State Research and Extension across the state has to offer. Share on social media and subscribe! – Mary Lou Peter mlpeter@ksu.edu

Better Living, Better Communities

LAST WEEK, I passed along information about a guide to help you know how long food ingredients will do their job in your recipes. But because of a technical glitch, not everyone got that section of Better Kansas, so I’m including the link again in hopes that it works this time. Safe Food Storage: The Cupboard is a really good guide.

IT’S EARLY IN THE YEAR, BUT ARE YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS ALREADY GETTING A LITTLE LESS RESOLUTE? Mine certainly are. One tip to get back on track is starting the day with breakfast if you don’t do that already. Studies show that people who eat breakfast eat 100 fewer calories a day than people who don’t. Another suggestion is to stop eating when you’re no longer hungry. Wait, we were supposed to be HUNGRY before we started eating?! Seriously, if we stop eating just as we begin to feel full, we can save as many as 500 calories a day. Other tips in the fact sheet, Action Plan for Healthy Living, focus on physical activity, sleep and ways to develop your own action plan. This may be just what I need to get back on track. Check it out.

SOMETIMES IT SEEMS EASIER TO LET OUR FINANCES JUST TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES and not pay much attention to things like credit scores or credit reports. Until, of course, our application for that new apartment is rejected or we pay a higher interest rate for that cool SUV we’ve been eyeing … all because of what’s on our credit report. This extension column in FortScott.biz sheds light on the difference between credit reports and credit scores and how they’re linked. It also mentions the upcoming statewide K-State Research and Extension Check Your Credit email program which I’ll be writing more about in the next few weeks.

Better Farming, Ranching and Gardening

ONE OF MY INTERESTS IN WINTER ESPECIALLY, is watching the birds at my birdfeeder. So I enjoyed an item in a recent horticulture newsletter on bird feeding. It includes a list of the grains that different species prefer; for instance, cardinals and most finch species prefer sunflower seeds, while the dark-eyed junco likes white and red proso millet, canary seed and fine cracked corn. The newsletter also provides information on a fast-approaching conference on industrial hemp, plus a section on pawpaw trees, which only recently showed up on my radar when a friend made pawpaw fruit leather. Who knew?! Still other topics include Dutch elm disease-resistant American elm trees, designing your home landscape, starting newly-planted trees off right, plus fruit trees and frost. A bonus is a link to a video on attracting birds to your back yard. True confessions: Years ago, I bought a book on birds that are native to Kansas in hopes of identifying which birds came to dine at my house. I have to say, they’re mostly still little brown birds to me. I enjoy them no matter what!

BIG DECISIONS ARE LOOMING FOR FARMERS as part of the most recent farm bill. We’ve developed a new “tradeoff” spreadsheet tool to help farmers make their program election decisions, which need to be done by March 15. The spreadsheet, which compares potential 2019/2020 Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) county level payments with Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments, includes every state, county and covered commodity for which the USDA’s Farm Service Agency has released data. Included on the Agmanager.info website is both the spreadsheet and an 8-minute video that explains how the spreadsheet works and how to interpret the results. A radio interview on this and several other topics was also part of a recent Agriculture Today broadcast. If you haven’t already signed up, you’ll want to take a look or listen.

KANSAS CATTLE RANCHERS ARE AMONG THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS and some of the reasons why are because they’re always working to improve, be more efficient and look for better ways to care for their animals. To that end, K-State is hosting the popular 2020 Winter Ranch Management Series around the state:

  • 30 – Ulysses
  • 30 – Ashland
  • 11 – Plainville
  • 11 – Mankato
  • 27 – Yates Center

Take a look at the K-State Research and Extension Beef page or check with your local extension office for more on the educational series and other beef production information.

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For more resources and activities, contact the K-State Research and Extension office in your area. Check out our other blogs and subscribe to our weekly emails here: https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/news/blogs/