Republican Chronicle - Crane Chronicle / Stone County Republican

Page 10 THE CRANE CHRONICLE/STONE COUNTY REPUBLICAN Thursday, APRIL 29, 2010
Stone County
Agriculture
News, Views & Scoops
News and Notes for and about Stone County Agriculture. Please send information or story ideas to: The Editor, Chronicle/Republican, P.O. Box 401, Crane, Mo. 65633
New Grazing System Offers
Electric Fence Demonstration
The Stone County Soil & Water
Conservation District is hosting
an electric fence demonstration
for a newly implemented
grazing system on the farm of
Gary and Bo Chastain. This system
is for approximately 250
acres. The concrete tanks are set,
and the fence is ready to begin.
Demonstration will focus on energizer
installation & how to select
an energizer, the grounding
recommendations & installation.
Ground rod driver will be used
to install for both the ground rod
and lightning arrestor systems.
We’ll show you how to protect
the system from lightning & test
your system. We’ll stretch and
connect some wire, focus on
electric gates, water gaps, bracing,
offsets & any questions you
would have that would apply to
your own operation. Hands on
and visual how to’s.
Thursday, May 6th, 5:30 with
Grilled Hotdogs & Fixings at the
barn, demonstration to follow
6:10-8:30, RSVP by May 5th to
723-8389. Rain Date: Mon May
10th.
Directions: from Crane, turn
west on Hemphill off Hwy 413
by Dairy Lane, cross tracks onto
Roundhouse Rd, go approx. 2
miles, turn left just after low water
bridge onto unmarked blacktop
(old wire rd), watch for our
signs & go 1 1/4 mi. to barn on
left.
Jamie Kurtz, Resource Conservationist,
USDA-NRCS – Jamie
received his BS degree in
Agronomy from SMSU in 2003.
Since then he has worked for the
NRCS starting in Cassville and
later the West Plains Field Office
where he is currently located.
Jamie and his father Ian operate
a cow – calf operation in Howell
County and do some custom
grazing of stocker cattle as well.
They utilize a mixture of native
and introduced warm season
grass, cool season grass, and
legumes to extend their grazing
season. Both him and his father
are strong proponents of Management
Intensive Grazing and
implement it on their operation
using a mixture of high tensile
electric fence and portable electric
fence. Other NRCS staff
from the Christian County Field
Office and SWCD staff will be
present. Please plan to attend.
USDA and SWCD are an
equal opportunity employer and
provider.
Steer Feedout Entries Being Accepted
Until May 10; Participation Gives
Producers a Chance to Rank Bulls
Beef cow-calf producers wanting
to participate in the Missouri
Steer Feedout need to enter the
program prior to the May 10
deadline.
The Missouri steers will be
sent to the Tri-County Steer Carcass
Futurity which specializes
in helping feeder calf producers
retrieve individual post-weaning
and carcass data.
Considering the excellent prices
on feeder cattle during the last
four to six weeks, producers may
prefer to sell immediately after
weaning rather than retain ownership
another six months.
Since there is no guarantee that
the fed cattle market will stay in
the upper $90’s, or higher, from
a strict profitability standpoint
selling this spring makes sense
according to Eldon Cole, a livestock
specialist with University
of Missouri Extension.
“Some feeder calf growers
take a lot of pride in knowing
what their cattle perform like in
the feedlot and in the carcass.
They feel that if they are above
average in a program it could
help them market feeders and
even breeding stock in the future,”
said Cole.
The Tri-County program was
started in the early 1980’s to
provide the feeding-out experience
to producers from all over
the United States. The Missouri
Steer Feedout started sending
steers to Tri-County in 2001 and
have had excellent results according
to Cole.
The Tri-County folks team up
with Iowa State University to
analyze other facets of the cattle
feeding business such as sorting,
health, temperament, DNA testing,
types of feeding and working
facilities and more.
Each of the last seven years,
they have evaluated sires that
have had five or more animals
go through the program. The
data through 2009 closeouts included
43,250 cattle from 1,087
different sires. This analysis
gives cow-calf participants an
idea how their bulls compare to
others who use the feedout. This
aids in future sire selection decisions.
“Once the bulls get 10 or more
progeny harvested they can be
designated as a gold , silver or
bronze sires if they rank in the
top 75 percent for their breed.
This indicates their superiority in
producing cattle that meet specific
profit standards,” said Cole.
The Missouri Feedout participants
have 21 sires that rank in
the top 75 percent. There is one
gold bull, a Gelbvieh owned by
Bart Renkoski of Purdy and one
Angus bronze owned by Robert
Wilson, Nevada.
“When you consider that the
evaluation covers over 1000
bulls, ranking in the top 25 percent
is a worthy achievement.
Farmers who are serious about
improving their genetic merit
can do so for a minor amount
of risk by entering steers in the
feedout,” said Cole.
Information can be found online
at www.swmobcia.com and
details about Iowa’s Tri-County
Steer Carcasss Futurity can be
found at www.tcscf.com.
For more information, contact
any of the MU Extension livestock
specialists in southwest
Missouri: Eldon Cole in Mt. Vernon,
(417) 466-3102; Gary Naylor
in Dallas County, (417) 345-
7551; and Dona Goede in Cedar
County, (417) 276-3313.
“Kids in the Kitchen”
Nutrition Class
its Own Reward for
Students at Republic’s
Main Street Learning
Center
Students attending Republic
High School’s Main Street
Learning Center in Republic,
Mo., put their new cooking and
nutrition skills on display in the
demonstration kitchen at the Jordan
Valley Community Health
Clinic in Springfield, thanks
to WIC partnership, on Friday,
April 15.
The students have been participating
in a Family Nutrition
Education Program (FNEP)
class – called “Kids Kickin it in
the Kitchen” -- taught four times
a month at the Republic alternative
school by Charlene Cowan,
nutrition program assistant with
University of Missouri Extension.
“Thanks to this MU Extension
program, the 15 students in
this cooking class will receive
their credit for health and nutrition
and be able to graduate
this year,” said Cowan. “It’s so
wonderful to be a part of helping
them succeed.”
Students at the Main Street
Learning Center participating on
April 15 included Dylan McManis,
Justin Farrell, Nadia Nanyongo,
Chynna Robinson, Lilly
continued on page 11
Friday Night Buddy Bass tournament
starts this Friday night
and it looks like its going to be a
good season. The weather report
isn’t the best for this weekend
and that seems to be the pattern
for the last two weekends.
Get ready bass fisherman the
bass in James River arm are biting
like crazy. Sundays bass tournament
out of the marina was a
whopper catch by almost all the
teams. The winning weight of
18.54 pounds plus the same team
had big bass of 5.34 pounds was
outstanding. The second place
team had 15.30 pounds and almost
all the teams had the six fish
limit or were close with some big
bass.
The bass in our area are just
starting to make their nests and
they are cruising the banks in
numbers. Right now you can use
spinner bait and top water baits
early in the morning and pretty
much get your rod jerked out of
your hands. Soft plastics (Senkos-Flukes-wacky
worms) will
work as the day gets toward the
middle and late afternoon. Work
the banks with low bluff rock
structure and fairly large chunk
rock with gravel mix, in between
the big rocks.
The crappie fishing, well what
can anyone say? Where are they?
It may be that the crappie spawn
may well be over. Keeper crappie
are just not coming in, in any
great numbers. The word is that
on our northern lakes (Stockton,
Truman, Lake Of The Ozarks)
the crappie are hitting like crazy
Welcome to Shell Knob at Table
Rock Lake. The lake is rising
at 915 ft and the surface temps
are in the low to mid 60’s.
As I write this report, the
Shriner’s are pre-fishing for this
weekend’s tournament. If the
weather holds up it should be a
good derby.
Bass are in all phases of the
spawn this past week. With all of
the algae in the lake this spring,
it is very easy to spot the beds.
For those that like to sight fish, a
lizard or tube seem to be the ticket.
If you don’t sight fish the best
producing baits have been topwater
lures worked close to the
bank. You can also cast a fluke
along the bank to get bit by these
Cape Fair Marina
Fishing Report
Submitted By: Stan White
and are on the banks. Table Rock
being a southern lake, may have
slipped right by us on the spawn.
I’m not saying give up, but what
I’m seeing is the bigger crappie
are back out in deeper water.
The good news is, the white
bass are hitting again and in
good numbers. Look in the backs
of any cove that has fresh water
running into the lake. Right here
in the Cape Fair Marina cove a
father and his two sons caught
over 100 white bass and turned
them all back. Road runner,
small spinner baits, small diving
baits and crappie minnow’s
are working. These whites aren’t
monsters, but they are fun to
catch and the smaller white are
the best to eat. Plus every once
in a while a big spawned out female
will take the bait and make
you hang on. This pattern won’t
last long, so get that boat on the
water.
As far as water condition and
the weather, who knows. The
rain, which we really needed had
muddied up the Flat Creek arm
of the lake and The James Rive
is off color. Water temperature is
all over the place. Up river had
cooled down due to the recent
rains and the lack of sunshine
has cooled the main lake and
cove ends down to the low sixties
and even lower where fresh
water is running in. Still if you
can put enough clothes on and
get out there you will catch some
fish. I would not recommend
swimming yet unless you belong
to the polar bear society.
Fishing report
By Dennis Hamer
shallow bass.
Speaking of shallow fish, it
looks like crappie have begun to
move close to the bank. I have
received several reports that
crappie are being caught in as
shallow as 4-5 feet of water using
minnows.
It looks like the time to be on
the water is right now.
Be safe out there and practice
catch and release whenever possible.
Dennis has been fishing bass
tournaments since 2001 and is
sponsored by Tournament Force
Tackle Systems www.tfbass.com.
He is also a member of the Aurora
Bass Houns.
Galena Assembly Of God Church
Presents Tim Todd Of Revival Fires
The Galena Assembly of God
Church presents Tim Todd, President
of Revival Fires International,
headquartered in West Monroe,
LA. He will be conducting revival
services starting on Mother’s Day
Sunday, May 9 through Wednesday,
May 12.
Pastor Terry Carter and the entire
congregation invites everyone to
come out and enjoy a good message
and fellowship! The church is located
at 1026 W State, Hwy 248.