OCR Text |
Show Farm Notes Winter Wheat Mother Nature is giving a broad smile to the winter wheat crop these days so the Crop Reporting Re-porting Board of the Department of Agriculture estimates that the nation's winter wheat crop will be a record-shattering billion and 25,789,000 bushels 17 per cent more than the previous record crop of 874 million bushels produced pro-duced last year. The 54,294,000 acres of winter win-ter wheat remaining for harvest tops last year's acreage by 12 per cent, the 10-year average by a third and is the largest acreage since 1919. The prospective yield of 18.9 bushels would be the third highest of record and compares com-pares with 18 bushels, last year. Acreage abandonment is indicated indi-cated at 4.6 per cent, only about one-third of average. States with record wheat crops in prospect include Kansas, Oklahoma, Ok-lahoma, Texas, Nebraska and Colorado with the State of Kansas Kan-sas alone expected to contribute at least 263,000,000 bushels to the record production compared with its previous high crop of 252 million bushels in 1931. Utah's winter wheat crop is estimated es-timated at 5,246,000 bushels compared with an average of 3,- 708,000 bushels for 1936-45. 1946 Spud Surplus Most of the record 90-million-bushel surplus of last year's potato po-tato crop has been disposed of outside the usual market outlets, .the Department of Agriculture reports. , Shipments this winter and spring to foreign countries for relief feeding and seed use may total 10 millian bushels. Other i total 10 million bushels, ther potatoes purchased by the Government Gov-ernment in millions of bushels have been diverted about as follows: Distillation, 33; liye. .stock feed, 10; starch, glucose, and flour, 9; and public welfare, such as State and charitable Institutions In-stitutions and the School Lunch program, 3. According to planting intentions, inten-tions, the 1947 potato crop at average yields would be one fourth smaller than that of 1946. Range Conservation Grazing studies being conduct' ed on 26 native range pastures with the help of 500 steers seek to determine how to obtain maximum max-imum livestock production in the area while maintaining or improving im-proving range pastures. Part of the answer is moderate grazing, judging from the tests. For, while over-grazing for a short period brings larger returns re-turns in pounds of beef, the returns re-turns are not sufficient to offset harmful effects on the grazing capacity of the. and. And, in the long run, this would mean less beef. This is particularly notice--able when contrasted with pastures pas-tures where grazing has been deferred during the growing season. sea-son. Deferred grazing of range pasture pas-ture during the entire growing season hns been found especially especial-ly beneficial to vegetation. When allowed to develop the maximum of surface growth and mature seed, the plants produce a deeper and more extensive root system, become generally more vigorous and are more effective in preventing pre-venting wind erosion. Summer deferment permits natural reseeding on depleted ranges. The more palatable types of grasses then have a chance to develop and crowd out the less palatable ones. And the excess forage produced on a deferred pasture provides an excellent reserve re-serve of winter feed. Pastures reseeded with native grasses have been grazed to determine de-termine the relative grazing val-iue, val-iue, beef-producing quality, and carry capacity of native and "in-, "in-, troduced" grasses in comparison ,with moderately grazed range. Every reseeded pasture supported support-ed more cattle, produced more grain per acre, and had more unused un-used forage at the end of the season than did the native range pastures. On good pastures, prpperly stocked, higher gains per head and more beef per acre have been produced from the continuously contin-uously grazed pastures than where cattle have been rotated from one pasture to another during dur-ing the summer. To control sagebrush, a strong competitor for the moisture needed by grass, th brush was mowed 2 years in, succession and grazed during the summer. June mowings are more effective than during any other time of yea,r. Results showed that each steer on mowed pasture gained an average av-erage of 48.5 pounds per head more than steers on unmowed pastures. There was also a 60 per cent increase in carrying capacity. ca-pacity. I Livestock Producers Livestock producers from now on can have additional protection protec-tion of their sales proceeds under an arrangement worked out by the U. S. Department of Agriculture Agricul-ture and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The plan will be similar tp the insurance protection provided en personal bank accounts. When a commission firm deposits in separate sep-arate "custodial" bank accounts shippers' funds representing proceeds pro-ceeds from sales, such funds will be insured up to $5,000 for each shipper having an interest in the account. So the shippers' sale proceeds on deposit are protected protect-ed even though the bank fails before the commission firm's check in payment of the net proceeds pro-ceeds is cashed by a shipper, This protection is in addition to that afforded livestock shippers by proceeds ponds 0f about $28 million mil-lion now on file with the Department Depart-ment to assure performance of financial obligations incurred by registered commission firms. |