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Show The County Agents Report Duchesne County Farm News By Robert Murdock and Lloyd Smith RUBBING DEVICES HELPFUL Rubbing devices, treated with insecticide, proved to be useful again this season for hornfly control con-trol on cattle. Now is the time to re-treat the rubbing devices to get rid of any - remaining hornflies and to reduce housefly and mosquito annoyance. Even more important in fall, the same insecticide and rubbing device de-vice will destroy cattle lice in areas readed by the treated rubbing rub-bing cable. Fall dipping or spraying for cattle lice control are the best control methods. Your agents have a leaflet describing these control procedures. However, where these treatments may not be used this fall, benefits to herds will result from well-located rubbing devices. Of course, the cable coverings must be treated from time to time with the right oil-insecticide solution. solu-tion. Cattle lice robb Utah livestock owners and dairymen of thousands of dollars of income each season. Many range cattle die because of severe lice attacks. Losses from cattle lice are most costly during the winter, says Dr. George F. Knowlton, Utah State Agricultural College extension entomolgoist. SOIL AUGER HANDY A soil auger can pay big dividends divi-dends to the farmer who uses it, reminds Bruce H. Anderson, extension ex-tension irrigation specialist at the Utah State Agricultural College. A soil auger helps a farmer understand what is happening to his irrigation water how deep it is going, whether it is being uniformly uni-formly distributed, and how much water actually is needed on the soil. "Usually you will be surprised when you auger into your soil to depths of 3 to 6 feet and see the moisture conditions that exist," Mr. Anderson says. "By augering into the soil and sampling it at each foot of depth, you can feel the soil and determine deter-mine how much water is in the soil and available for your crop needs. You can learn how much your particular soil will hold. By subtracting the amount it already has, you know how much to apply. A little practice is all that is needed. Information is available on how to determine the type of soil and the amount of water it will hold." A useful auger can be made by using a discarded carpenter's bit 1 to iy2 inches in diameter. This can be joined to a length of y2 inch pipe. Provisions should be made for extensions. A "T" handle on one length of pipe can be used to turn the auger. Sections of pipe can be added to go down to various depths. PREPARE SEED BED IN FALL Lloyd Lawton, Heber City', has found that fall seedbed preparation prepara-tion reduces packing of heavy clay soil, and boosts irrigated alfalfa hay yields. He gets 4.5 to 5 tons of hay a year in two cuttings. The average yield for Wasatch County is only 2 tons, according to County Agent Paul R. Daniels. For 11 years Lawton has been following a practice of getting his seedbed ready in the fall. He stumbled onto the idea when he was leveling some of the rough spots on his 60 acre place to make flood irrigation easier. In the spring he merely drills alfalfa with oats; harrows and then goes over the field lightly with a land plane to cut down ridges and fill in the tractor tracks. Lawton takes off first crop hay on old alfalfa stands- then plows in midsummer. He lets the furrows fur-rows lie open till summer or early fall. Then he works the field so it is ready for drilling. He has found this prevents excessive ex-cessive packing. He does the work when time is not so critical. His seedbed is moist and ready to plant in the spring. Crops are planted early and get off to a good start. Moisture is retained and alfalfa stands are improved. He figures he saves one to two irrigations by this practice. He's neveT had a failure seeding alfalfa. Dr. Paul R. Christensen, extension exten-sion soil conservationist at Utah State Agricultural College, thinks many other Utah farmers could follow 'Lawton's idea and profit. Neither esteem anything as of advantage to thee that shall make thee break thy word or lose thy self-respect. |