SUNFLOWER PRODUCTION SEMINAR SLATED

    A South Texas Sunflower Production Seminar will be held on Thursday, December 15, 2011 at the Jim Wells County Fairgrounds (3001 South Johnson) in Alice.  Rising prices along with increased demand for sunflowers have stimulated renewed interest in this native American crop.
    The seminar will begin with registration at 8 am followed by speaker presentations at 8:45 am.  Topics will include overview of local Sunflower Production, Sunflower Production Tips, Insect Pest Management, Weed Management, Local Hybrid Test Results, Sunflower Marketing, Crop Insurance Options, and Updates from Sunflower Industry Representatives. Speakers will include experts from the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Sunflower Industry representatives and local industry representatives.  Following a catered lunch, there will be a tour of the Alice Grain Sunflower Cleaning Facilities.
    To ensure adequate meal and facility arrangements all planning to attend should pre-register by December 14 by calling the Jim Wells County Extension Office at 361-668-5705.
Participants will be awarded 2 CEU’s for seminar participation.  This workshop is being sponsored by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Jim Wells County Field Crops Committee.

Individuals with disabilities, who require an auxiliary aid, service or accommodation in order to participate in any of the mentioned activities, are encouraged to contact the County Extension Office at 361-668-5705 at least eight days before all programs for assistance. Educational programs of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are open to all citizens without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin.

HAY SELECTION TIPS FOR HORSE OWNERS

    In this time of drought and short hay supplies, horse owners should be careful when shopping for hay sources.  Some horse owners have shared some stories with me recently about hay dealers that are making some unusual claims about their hay quality and quantity in the bale including having nutrients that would improve ease of mare foaling to selling bales that were suppose to weigh over 1,000 pounds, yet when delivered the bales could be pushed around like they weighed 200 pounds.  Its important to find a hay dealer who does not mind if you ask questions, check the entire lot of hay you are purchasing before unloading.  If you are not familiar with the hay dealer, ask for references.  After all, being a knowledgeable hay buyer is part of being a responsible horse owner.
    Now lets focus on what kind of hay is acceptable for horses.  There are many different types of hay that are suited for horse feeding programs.  The popularity of a particular type is usually influenced by the geographical area of concern.  Here in the south, coastal bermudgrass is well adapted and thus quite popular.  As you move north in the country, alfalfa, timothy, orchardgrass and alfalfa-grass mixes become more popular.  Because of the potential for health problems, kleingrass, johnsongrass, sudangrass and sorghum/sudan hybrids are not recommended for horses.
    When choosing a type of hay to feed to horses there are several factors that should be considered.  Most important is cleanliness, followed by nutrient value, and the type of horse that is being fed.
    The best hay is clean hay when it comes to feeding horses.  If hay is moldy or dusty, it should not be fed to horses.  Hay that contains dust or mold can inflame their respiratory tract and impair breathing ability.   Hay with mold or dust suggests that conditions in the field when hay was cut and baled were not ideal.  Is the hay insect free?  Alfalfa hay may be infected with blister beetles. When a horse eats a blister beetle, a chemical in the beetle causes colic, fever, and eventually death.
    Color is often used to determine hay quality yet it can deceiving and overestimated as an indicator of quality.  Although bright green hay often indicates the absence of rain damage and good harvest conditions, color can be misleading.  Bright green weeds can add color yet lower quality of hay and make it unpalatable.
    The biggest factor that affects nutrient content within a type of hay is the stage of maturity at harvest.  Hay that is cut very early in the forages growth stage often has a soft texture, is very leafy, and has a high nutrient density and palatability.  Forages cut at this stage are cut soon after the seedheads emerge with grasses or before the plant begins to bloom with legumes.  In contrast, forages harvested in late maturity will have coarse, thick stems and less leaf material.  Bottom line, the older the maturity of the plant at harvest, the lower the nutrient value and palatability.
The best way to evaluate the nutrient value of a hay sample is to have a chemical analysis performed form a lab like the Forage Testing Lab at Texas A&M University.  A submittal form and sampling instructions can be found at this web site; http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/files/Forageweb2.pdf
    Another option for a hay source would be hay cubes.  There are two possible advantages to feeding hay cubes over baled hay; one would be there is less dust than long hay and the other would be less waste. Hay cubes are usually more expensive than baled hay and consumption of cubes may be greater than baled hay.
    To get the most value from hay it would be best to have some type of hay feeder.  Hay feeders will reduce the amount of hay that the horses waste and in may cases can reduce waste by more than 20%.
    More information about hay sources may be found at the Texas Department of Agriculture web site “Hay Hotline”  http://www.gotexan.org/HayhotlineHome.aspx

DROUGHT TOLERANT SESAME HURT BY LACK OF RAIN

Sesame harvest  in Nueces County, Texas

    Sesame, a broadleaf summer crop was introduced to the Coastal Bend about four years ago when we had about 30,000 acres of failed cotton, and we were looking for a late summer crop that liked hot, dry weather.  That year we were lucky and received some timely summer rains and we made a respectable sesame crop.  This year was a bit of a challenge, with very limited rainfall during the growing season.   This year we had about 6,000 acres of sesame grown in the Coastal Bend that produced an average yield of 375 pounds per acre, with very limited rainfall.
    With that said, the demand and market for sesame continues to grow.  This summer I was introduced to some sesame buyers from Japan, that were really interested in how we grow sesame locally.  They also shared with me the growing demand for sesame in Japan and were hoping to meet that growing demand with U.S. grown sesame.  It is always good when folks from other parts of the world come to you wanting to buy home grown Ag products.  Then we have to deal with reality and the drought of 2011.
    Under ideal conditions, sesame can reach heights up to 5 to 6 feet, and generally we see heights of 3 to 5 feet in dryland production, with yields from 500 to 1,200 pounds per acre.  This year, test plots that I evaluated only reached heights of 2.2 feet and yields only averaged 255 pounds per acre.  Sure needed that rain in July and August.
    The most critical aspect to growing sesame is planting, as one needs to wait until soil temperatures reach 70 degrees F in the morning and then have adequate moisture in the top 1.5 inches of soil.  Often times sesame growers find themselves waiting on a planting rain, as the seed needs to have moisture around it for 3 to 5 days for good emergence.  This fact alone, made it challenging this year to find the optimum planting window.  We found ourselves in the situation of waiting on that planting rain, which finally came in early May and allowed us to plant following the rainfall event.
       A Sesame Variety Test was planted on May 17, 2011, at Clarkwood at the Texas AgriLife Research & Extension Center in a randomized complete replicated block with four replications, following the early May rainfall in 38-inch rows, using 45 hole sorghum planter plates and placed to a seeding depth of 1.25 inches.  Seed was planted at 2.5 pounds per acre.  During the growing season, total rainfall received only amounted to 0.88 inch.  Six varieties were evaluated for agronomic performance.  Final plant heights ranged from a low of 21.3 inches to a high of 29.8 inches, with 14 to 16 nodes per plant. Soil moisture stress late in the growing season, resulted in the charcoal rot developing in all varieties.
    Test plots were harvested on September 13, 2011 with yields ranging from a low of 225 pounds per acre for the variety of S28 to a high of 284 pounds per acre for S33.  Despite the poor yields due to a lack of rainfall, prices were good, as the majority of sesame growers had forty-cents per pound contracts and then were paid a bonus of three-cents per pound.
    Results from the 2011 Sesame Variety Trials conducted by Nueces County Extension Staff and Texas AgriLife Research have been posted online at the Nueces County Extension website at; http://nueces.agrilife.org/ under the publications link.  The support of SESACO, Sesame Coordinators, for supplying seed and supporting the test is greatly appreciated.  A detailed report is available at this website or may be obtained in the County Extension Office upon request.