Hamilton County Extension
Winter 2023
A 9-member Extension Board and a 12-member youth and adult 4-H Council representing all areas of Hamilton County are also a part of our Extension team. It gives us great pleasure to serve you in your quest for learning or keeping up-to-date in this ever-changing world.
Private Pesticide Training, Chemigation Training and Corn Producation Clinic
Private Pesticide Training
Aurora, NE- February 22, 2024 at 1pm, at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds
Merrick County- February 20, 2024 at 1pm, Merrick County Fairgrounds
York County- January 11, 2024 at 2pm, 4-H Building, York County Fairgrounds
York County- February 12, 2024 at 9am, 4-H Building, York County Fairgrounds
Hall County- March 12, 2024 at 1:30pm and 6:pm, Hall County Extension Office
Chemigation Training
Merrick County- January 25, 2024 at 6:30pm, Merrick County Fairgounds
York County- Janaury 26, 2024 at 1pm, 4-H Building, York County Fairgrounds
Hall County- February 2, 2024 at 1:30pm, Hall County Extension Office
2024 Private Pesticide Training Dates: https://edmedia.wufoo.com/reports/2024-psep-private-training-dates-copy/ This database can be sorted by county and date by clicking on the heading.
Information on Winter Ag Programs and Training: https://jenreesources.com/2023/12/17/certifications-trainings/
2024 Soils School to Feature Fundamentals of Soils and Nutrient Management
The 2024 Soils School will be held in-person at Nebraska Innovation Campus (NIC) in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Tuesday, Feb. 6 and Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.
Co-sponsored by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and the Nebraska Agri-Business Association, this course has been designed to cover the application of basic principles of soils, water and nutrient management to improve agricultural crop production. Leading experts from the University of Nebraska will present the fundamental concepts of soil, water and nutrient management to improve agricultural production in Nebraska. An update to research-based recommendations of primary crop nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium will be provided.
The course provides continuing education units (CEUs) to certified crop advisors. A total of 11 nutrient management (NM) and one soil and water (SW) CEUs are being made available through this course.
Interested individuals can now view the 2023 Soils School Agenda for a list of session topics and presenters.
There is a $295 registration fee for members of the Nebraska Agri-Business Association and a $395 registration fee for non-members. Register online through the Nebraska Agri-Business Association’s calendar page.
Contact Javed Iqbal, nutrient management and water quality specialist, for more information.
Jenny's REESources
Jenney Rees is an Extension Educator serving York and Seward County and she provides a wealth of resources to the clients of Extension. Jenny writes a weekly newspaper article, newsletter and blog about crop production, educational opportunities, and current issues affecting Nebraska farmers. I encourage you to check them out! Her newspaper articles are published by the Aurora NewsRegister.
Click her to read her blog: https://jenreesources.com/
All Things Nebraska
Do you nerd out over facts and data? Check out All Things Nebraska (allthingsnebraska.unl.edu). From individuals, students, business and industry, nonprofits, governments, and researchers, All Things Nebraska is a place for you to find data. Our data can help Nebraskans better understand community needs, allocate resources, and make more data-informed decisions. The Nebraska County Report Card gives an in-depth look at data in your local county compared to state-wide data across a variety of metrics. Our goal is to provide up-to-date, quality data across sectors to our stakeholders.
The Nebraska Map Room:
- Hosts more than 30,000 mappable data layers
- Allows you to map your community and easily share maps with others
- Provides powerful query tools, data export capability, and annotations
Dynamic Reports & Assessments:
- Quick three-step process to create a robust assessment of one or more counties
- Built-in state and national benchmarks allow for quick comparison
- Easy-to-understand data visualizations
- Download, share, or export your report for additional analysis
Congratulations Emily!
In November, Extension staff from across Nebraska attended Fall Conference in Kearney to learn about the power of programming.
Emily Soll and other team members from surrounding counties received an Excellence of Extension award for their work on the 2023 Junior 4-H Camp - "Escape to 4-H Camp" where youth played the game of Clue to see who stole the chocolate for camp's famous whacky cake!
Keep an eye out for the 2024 camp theme!
Excellence in Extension Team Award -- Escape to 4-H Junior 4-H Camp; Team members include Sheila Hoppe, Kimberly Johnson, Emily Soll, Hillary Fuhrman, Tanya Crawford, Amanda Hackenkamp, Colleen Pallas, Sonya Glup, & Steve Pritchard
Fundmentals of Feeding the Cow Webinar Series
Feed costs are often the largest category of expense for cow-calf producers in Nebraska. Understanding how the cow’s nutrient requirements change throughout the year and how to cost-effectively meet those requirements with the feed resources available can greatly influence an operation’s bottom line.
Nebraska Extension will be hosting a four session webinar series in January that will explain the fundamentals of understanding a cow's nutrition requirements and the options available to meet a cow's needs with grazed or harvested feed. The series will be held Monday and Thursday evenings, January 15, 18, 22 and 25, from 7:30 - 8:45 p.m. CT.
Topics to be covered include:
- What impacts a cow's nutrient requirements and how do they change throughout the year?
- How do you read and understand a feed test analysis as well as a feed tag? What do the numbers mean?
- When comparing feed options, which is the best buy when all things are considered?
- What are things to consider when developing a year-round feeding plan?
The cost of the course is $50 and includes a notebook of Nebraska Extension resources. The course is limited to 35 participants. To register, visit https://go.unl.edu/feedingthecow. Participants are asked to register by January 8 to ensure webinar resources are received before the series begins. A computer and internet connection will be needed to participate in the webinar series.
For questions about the webinar series, please contact Aaron Berger, Nebraska Extension Educator, at 308-235-3122 or aberger2@unl.edu.
The kitchen is a wonderful place to make holiday memories with children. The sights and smells of holiday baking often create a treasured experience as well as an opportunity to teach important skills to children.
Overwhelmed with too many delicious holiday treats? The kitchen can also be used to make non-edible gifts. Homemade gifts such as a salt dough ornament can cost very little and are fun for kids of all ages to create. Did you ever make a salt dough ornament or handprint as a child?
Salt dough is easy to make. It only requires three ingredients, and can be used to make ornaments, figurines, and other items. The creations are then baked and decorated. Young children can help scoop, measure, dump, mix and knead the dough. This helps children build small muscle skills, social skills and math skills. https://food.unl.edu/newsletter/food-fun-young-children/making-holiday-memories
Winter Holiday Central
https://food.unl.edu/article/winter-holiday-central Looking for ways to reduce stress, make food prep easier, and create a healthier and active winter holiday? Try to incorporate small changes that can add up to big wins over time. Check out the following tips, resources, and recipes for making the winter holiday healthy, active, and fun!
eCoaching
https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/rpn-today-s2e4-ecoaching
Learn how Rural Prosperity Nebraska eCoaching program helped Cody Lawson of 1to1 Technologies in Central City, Nebraska.
Parenting Newsletter
Just in Time Parenting is a free parenting newsletter that is delivered by email and specific to a child’s age and needs. They are designed so that information that is relevant to your family is automatically delivered to you just in time!
Each issue includes:
- Easy to use guides on how your child is developing
- Tips on raising a healthy, happy child
- Tools for solving common parenting problems
- Strategies for coping with the challenges of raising children
Off Color Evergreen in Winter by Kelly Feehan
Some evergreen conifers, trees that keep their needles all winter, develop winter color. Because we’re seeing an increase in evergreen diseases and drought injury, an evergreen tree changing color during fall may increase concern about the tree being diseased or dying. Winter color in some evergreens is natural, not harmful. It develops in late fall and early winter and ranges from darker green to purplish-brown to bronze. In contrast, a Scotch pine infected with pine wilt disease turns a dull or grayish-green, and then brown. Browning caused by winter drying typically shows up in spring, not during fall or early winter. It’s important to positively identify the cause of plant concerns. It may be some-thing natural and not harmful or a pest needing management during the growing season. The only care needed now for evergreens is watering if the soil is dry and not frozen, and temperatures are over 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Based on a few questions, some people think tree sap “goes down” into roots during winter and so this is when trees are best pruned. Sap does not move into roots during winter. The amount of sap in a tree is the same year-round. Only the flow of sap changes, with sap flow slowing or stopping in dormant trees. When warm weather returns in spring, sap flow resumes. Some trees, like maple and birch, ooze sap from wounds when spring pruned; and this is another reason some believe trees are best pruned in late fall or early winter. While sap “bleeding” from pruning wounds may create concern, the loss of sap is harmless. If it was, we wouldn’t have maple syrup. In a few trees, like white oak, oozing sap could attract beetles carrying a specific disease and so pruning these trees is best done in late February or early March. For most shade trees, a good time to prune is late March through April as wounds seal quicker at this time.
If you have a compost pile, and want it to remain active during winter, turn it about once a month or more. Because the decomposition process produces heat, compost piles can remain active during the winter months if turned fairly often and kept moist. Turning a compost pile means moving undecomposed material from the outside and top of the pile to the center. This is where microorganisms are doing the job of decomposition and breaking down plant material into compost. Turning also introduces oxygen which microorganisms need for decomposition. When turning, check the material for moisture by squeezing a fistful in your hand. It should feel moist with no excess water squeezed out. If needed, lightly sprinkle the material to barely moisten it. Compost piles also should not be too light and fluffy as they dry out too quickly; and, they should also not be packed too tightly or oxygen levels will be too low.
When buying bulk birdseed, inspect it closely before buying or you might bring home more than birdseed. One of our common stored food pests is Indian meal moth; and it can enter our garages and homes from birdseed. Indian meal moths are tiny, about one-half inch long, and reddish brown with tan-colored bands. Larvae are small and cream colored with a reddish head. Signs of Indian meal moth include the presence of moths or larvae, but also webbing or frass found inside bird seed or other grain-based products, like cereal. When storing birdseed, place it in containers with a sealed lid to prevent pests emerging and invading our own food pantries. Check stored food areas often for signs of Indian meal moth or grain beetles. If found, dispose of infested foods, clean the area thoroughly; and store grain-based food items in air tight containers. Insecticides should not be used as a control method for pantry pests.
When trapping mice, our Extension wildlife specialist recommends these tips. Pre-bait by putting out food such as peanut butter. After the mouse eats the pre-bait, then place the same food firmly on a trap. Wear gloves, then set traps along walls where mice travel. For a snap trap, set the snapping mechanism toward the wall so a mouse is less likely to drag it away. If using glue traps, place any bait in a small container like a bottle cap. This prevents bait oils creating a ‘slick’ on top of the glue so mice get away. Wearing gloves, check traps twice a day. Bacteria in and around a dead mouse will multiply. Gloves help reduces contact with harmful bacteria, lice and fleas. When disposing of a dead mouse, wear latex gloves, spray the corpse with disinfectant, double bag it and dispose in the trash. Wash and disinfect traps to prevent bacteria from spreading; then wash gloved hands before removing the gloves.
Gift Tools for Gardeners
It’s officially the holiday shopping season! If you have a gardener on your gift list this year, consider one of these tools to make their happiness grow. Good tools make work easier and any hobbyist, including gardeners, just plain have fun experimenting with a new toy – I mean tool!
How much Nebraska ag land is owned by foreign entities?
The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1973 (AFIDA) established a mandatory reporting system, overseen by the USDA, that requires foreign entities to provide information on all U.S. agricultural and non-agricultural land in which they hold an interest. “Interest” is reported as a fee interest (legal possession of both the surface and mineral rights), partial fee interest (must state percent ownership), life estate, trust beneficiary, purchase contract, or other. “Other” includes leases that are 10-years or longer. The regulations exempt foreign entities with interests solely in mineral rights and leases of less than 10 years in duration from reporting. In this report, the terms “owner” and “ownership” will refer to all types of interest held by the foreign entity, including long-term leases. Tap here to continue reading.
Nebraska Extension in Hamilton County
Our office is located on the ground floor of the Hamilton County Courthouse in the middle of town on 13th and M Streets. Please stop in for a visit and see what the University can do for you. Our 4-H Youth Development Program, for example, reaches more than 220 youth in Hamilton County alone. Statewide, 4-H touches the lives of more than 90,000 youth each year.
Extension EEO Statement
Nebraska Extension is a Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln cooperating with the Counties and the United States Department of Agriculture.
Nebraska Extension educational programs abide with the nondiscrimination policies of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the United States Department of Agriculture.
©2022
Email: hamilton-county@unl.edu
Website: www.hamilton.unl.edu
Location: 1111 13th Street, Suite 6, Aurora, NE, USA
Phone: 402-694-6174
Facebook: facebook.com/hamilton.unl
Twitter: @HamiltonExten4H