–Sir Winston Churchill

I never would have believed that there is such thing as a perfect pony, but I have witnessed it long enough now to know this is not a fluke. This is the real deal. And I am the last person who would have ever believed this to be possible.

Topper, a shiny black Welsh pony, came to be ours about four years ago. I knew this gelding was a good one the first time I laid eyes on him. It was a chilly, rainy day as we looked over ponies being offered for sale. The unnamed gelding stood calmly with a group of others, most showing signs of a special brand of craziness that has always made me wary of ponies.

Special pony

One stood out from the group, though, and I told my husband if he was really in the market for a pony, that black gelding resembling a small horse was the only one he should consider. While he talked with the woman who owned the lot of ponies, I headed for the truck.

When Doug jumped in and began driving home, he didn’t say a word. We were about a mile down the road when I said, “His name is Topper,” not knowing if Doug had actually struck a deal on a pony or not.

Doug turned the truck around, smiling the whole way back to the horse farm. “I just wasn’t sure you really wanted a pony at all,” he said. To tell the truth, I wasn’t one bit sure. But, I knew the little kid in him desperately wanted one. He envisioned offering pony rides for the neighborhood kids and our adorable great-nieces and great-nephews.

Crazy pony

Having grown up as a dairy farm kid, I had only known a few ponies and horses in my life, and none of my experiences were at all good ones. My older sister Sher had begged for a pony pretty much from the time she could talk, and finally Dad gave in.

We ended up with the craziest Shetland pony in the universe, of that there is no doubt. For some unknown reason, we named her Beauty and the colt by her side we called Trigger. Beast and Brat would have been more appropriate names, as it turned out. Dad just called them both hay burners.

Determined to ride

Sher was determined that Beauty was going to be a nice pony. She brushed her, walked her, lunged her. That pony would screech for her colt, her eyes bugging out of her head with a look of sheer lunacy until Sher took her back to the barn and her colt. I realize now that was our first mistake, of which we made many. My sister tried to convince me that Beauty was great to ride. I did not believe her. I’d been bucked off a horse or two by then, and another time knocked off by a wild horse flying under a low tree limb just to get me off her back, and really didn’t see the fascination.

Wild ride

I tried to be a good sport, and one day when no one was looking, I decided to give Beauty a chance. I threw the blanket across her back, then the saddle. I knew how to put the bit in her mouth, and to hold the reins while I jumped on. Beauty cooperated, moving at a nice trot out across the open field. She began picking up speed, perhaps because I was digging my heels in to her belly with increasing terror. I had never flown like this, and I did not like it one bit.

Suddenly, she came to a screeching halt. The saddle, which I had not cinched tight enough, flew forward, throwing me with incredible velocity straight over Beauty’s head. I landed with full force on my face. Then she turned and bolted, flying away from her bloody-nosed rodeo rider. It was not exactly a joyous occasion.

Good gelding

From the minute Topper arrived here, there were no signs of that high test tension I had come to associate with ponies. This gelding moved with quiet confidence, actually showing signs of grace. He exhibited sweetness, remaining calm even in the midst of all sorts of potentially-upsetting interference.

I watched. I waited for what I considered the arrival of the inevitable bad day. I now have all sorts of good stories and not a single bad one.

(Next week: A few good Topper stories worth sharing.)

Just last week, someone had the temerity to remind me that six months from that day would be Christmas! I did not thank her for that information.

But in this bi-polar summer, the jug of ice tea languishes in the refrigerator untouched while hot cocoa is comforting.

Furnace repairman

To take the dampness and chill off the house, I turned the thermostat up slightly. Nothing happened. Up a little more. Still nothing happened. Imagine having to call the furnace repairman at the end of June.

I did, though, and am grateful for such good service from my longtime friend, Kenneth Pavlik — no relation to you know who — who brags that I was his very first customer when he began his own business a thousand years ago.

Anyhow, the house is comfortable — and by the time you read this, we’ll no doubt be in the throes of a heat wave.

We did have a few days that felt more appropriate for the season, and I resisted turning on the air conditioner.

Joe and Marilyn, my nephew and his wife, were here and basked in the heat. In the Boston area, where they live, June was the “darkest” month on record. Where is Al Gore when we need him?

Pasture mowed

The pasture has finally been mowed, but it had reached such extreme heights from all the rain, that when the wind blew all I could think of was the old cowboy ditty, “Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie, where the coyotes howl and the wind blows free…”

It looked so prairie-like I almost hated to have it cut, but Apache and Toby would not graze in such deep grass where all the bugs lurked.

I can see the pond now and in the evening I hear the bullfrogs’ serenade, which reminds me of olden days (as my sister was wont to call our childhood!) when I would collect frog eggs from the creek, keep them in a fish bowl and eagerly await their hatching and growing and the gradual appearance of tiny legs.

Not until the pollywogs — tadpoles — metamorphosed into froglets were they released back into the creek.

I wonder if today’s children would be at all interested in something that wasn’t technology and I feel sorry for them if they’d missed this kind of untechnical but truly miraculous experience.

* * *

Fireflies

While Joe and Marilyn were here, we tried to still be awake — dozing together in front of the television is such an easy way to entertain guests! — in late evening so we could watch the pasture become a firefly-lighted city.

The fireflies loved the high growth and I wonder now what they’ll do with it gone. The other night I stood at the back gate to watch someone’s noisy fireworks to the north, and I actually enjoyed the fireflies’ performance more!

Joe and Marilyn adore Winnie and vice versa, and they had also loved my darling cat, Lisa, whom I lost in February. I warned them that Bingo, my new kitty, was terribly shy with strangers and that they might never even see her.

Leave it to an animal to make you a liar. Bingo appeared that very first afternoon, gave them the once-over, decided she had new friends, and all through their visit she expressed her approval by throwing herself down in front of them, rolling onto her back and being generally mushy.

* * *

Sad state of affairs

What a sad state of affairs when out-of-town guests are aghast at the helter-skelter and ugly wall-to-wall development of the area they are visiting.

My relatives couldn’t get over how everything here is jammed together with no planning, no attempt for beautification, no effort to adhere to a particular architectural design, plus more.

I was truly embarrassed that my township bears the unflattering designation of “Boardmanized,” but I was also proud that they appreciated my efforts to keep my own acreage quiet and peaceful despite the encroaching surroundings.

And they couldn’t believe the plethora of fast-food places tucked into anywhere they’d almost fit!

Incidentally, I have checked with the zoning office about another huge building under construction nearby, and I learned it is another doctor’s office. We are becoming a medical community and I read recently that perhaps another hospital is planned for this area. I repeat: I am glad I’m so old!

Flowers?

Between the rain and cold, the so-called spring, the ridiculous summer and my ridiculous AR — age related — twinges, mine are a disgrace. And a rabbit or two or a dozen with cravings for larkspur have effectively nipped off any possible blossom.

Nasturtium seeds I planted on Memorial Day took three weeks to put up leaves and even they are puny. Not all the seeds germinated either. (If this is all I have to complain about, shame on me for even complaining!)

The year of 1816 was “the year without a summer.” Is 2009 trying to compete? I have not yet put my grandfather’s snow shovel away, just in case.

* * *

Birds?

Now that the spring migration has passed, there are not many exciting birds at the feeders, although I did see a gorgeous Baltimore oriole in the mulberry tree.

At the window feeder daily is the scruffy little one-legged chickadee — I’ve named her Peggy — and still showing off with his hovering act at the suet is the same male cardinal.

But the barn swallows are getting almost too proprietary and when Winnie and I or anyone goes into “their” barn, they object noisily with much whirling and diving.

It is impossible to count them and I don’t really like their decorating scheme!

* * *

Ann Landers said, “Too many people today know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

“Well,” he replied after a long pause to, I guess, stare 40 years into the future, “if I’m wrong my grandchildren will curse my name.”

Narrow vote

That introspective reply come to mind after the narrow, 219 to 212 U.S. House of Representative’s vote June 26 to approve sweeping climate change legislation that, the New York Times noted, will “transform the way the nation produces and uses energy.”

A funny thing happened on the way to that sausage-making, though: Big ag was big-time opposed to any climate legislation unless it got a piece of the pork pie during the transformation.

The initial bill, pushed by Californian Henry Waxman, contained not one morsel for agriculture.

So House Ag Committee boss Collin Peterson marshaled farm and commodity groups to help him wring major concessions from Waxman and his sky-is-(ahem)-warming allies. In the end, most of ag’s biggest wishes were granted and the Peterson amendment — with its rock solid aggie vote — became part of the Waxman package.

Members bailed

But the hothouse farm vote cooled when the entire bill, with the farm-favoring amendment, came before the entire House. Thirty-one of the Ag Committee’s 46 members — all 18 Repubs and 13 of Peterson’s 27 Dem colleagues — bailed.

Wow. Memory fails to recall any other legislative vote when farm forces switched sides, faces and votes with such breathtaking speed. Yea! Just a second: Nay!

The lack of GOP votes on the final bill wasn’t a surprise, especially after party leaders cleverly presented the bill’s untested “cap-and-trade” plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions as a big government “cap-and-tax” plan.

Two big reasons

Also, the GOP’s oft-ally, the American Farm Bureau Federation, supplied aggies in both political camps two big reasons to oppose the bill by offering little blue sky in its estimated cost of Waxman’s cap-and-trade concept: $5 billion less in farm income by 2020 and nearly three times that smack by 2050.

While both numbers are Everett “Billion-Here, Billion-There” Dirksen big, they’re also lonely. Prior to the final vote, neither the Congressional Budget Office nor the Environmental Protection Agency had time to estimate what farmers (mostly landowners) could earn under the Peterson conservation and carbon sequestration add-ins.

Robert Young, AFBF’s chief economist who came up with the farm income cost figures, estimates the Peterson amendment could cut his $5 billion-by-2020 hit to farm income by “certainly less than half and more like a quarter.”

Net loss

So, the net loss to farm income could be $4 billion or so by 2020, he estimates.

But, Young quickly adds, “That’s using EPA’s current numbers. Who can really say what energy will cost in 10 years? The point of the legislation, however, will remain the same: to raise energy prices in the hope of limiting use in order to lower carbon emissions. We simply ask, ‘Is there a better way to reach that goal than ‘cap-and-trade’?”

It’s a fair question, but one that’s been asked — over and over and over — mostly to stall all climate change legislation, believes Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union.

National Farmers Union, with a three-year-old carbon sequestration project that’s paid nearly 4,000 farmers in 31 states about $10 million, is a strong backer of the House bill.

Far bigger question

“The far bigger question when it comes to cost,” offers Johnson, “is ‘What are the increased costs to farmers and ranchers if we do nothing?’”

The answer, as my friend who’s cold to global warming honestly acknowledged, will be known to our — hopefully loving — grandchildren.

It can be a challenging time to balance forage supplies, pasture health and livestock numbers.

One option that some graziers use to fill in this summer slump period is warm season forages. At temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and until about 95 degrees Fahrenheit, warm season forages thrive and can grow rapidly.

Common annuals

Warm season forage options include both annuals and perennials. Some common annuals are sudangrass, forage sorghum, sorghum x sudangrass hybrids, pearl millet, annual lespedeza and corn.

Warm season perennials include the warm season grasses such as switchgrass, big bluestem and Eastern gamagrass, legumes like alfalfa and sericea lespedeza and forbs such as forage chicory, a short-lived perennial.

Best utilization

In general, the best utilization of warm season forages is obtained through the use of strip grazing. Just like the management of cool season pastures, confining livestock to paddocks that provide one to three days of grazing will result in more even grazing and more uniform manure distribution.

The use of warm season annual grasses in the grazing rotation can provide two to five tons of forage dry matter with multiple grazing passes in July and August and into September.

Summer annual forages in the sorghum family which includes sudangrass, forage sorghum and sorghum x sudangrass hybrids, all have the potential for prussic acid poisoning.

Prussic acid

Prussic acid is also known as hydrogen cyanide. Prussic acid levels can increase in these plants under any condition that stresses plant growth, such as drought or frost.

Conditions that cause plant injury such as cutting, trampling and bruising can also increase prussic acid levels in the plant.

According to the Ohio Agronomy Guide, the risk of prussic acid poisoning can be reduced by grazing at the proper height and by avoiding grazing during periods of plant stress such as before a frost, after a frost or during and shortly after a drought.

The Ohio Agronomy Guide recommends grazing sudangrass and pearl millet at 18-24 inches in height and leaving a 6- to 8-inch residue.

Sorghum x sudangrass hybrids and forage sorghums should be grazed at the 30- to 36-inch height and again leave a 6- to 8-inch stubble. When a 6- to 8-inch stubble is left, it may be possible to do a grazing pass every 14 to 21 days.

Experience

Based on experience here in Athens County with sudangrass and sorghum x sudangrass varieties, leaving a shorter residue definitely slows down the regrowth response and lengthens the time between grazing passes.

Experience and forage testing has also shown that quality, both crude protein and energy content, drops off rapidly once these forages get to boot stage and beyond. Graze them at a vegetative stage. All of the warm season annual forages respond well to nitrogen.

The guide recommends 60 to 70 total pounds of nitrogen for a 3- to 4-ton/acre yield goal and around 100 pounds of nitrogen for a 5- to 6-ton/acre yield goal when a warm season annual forage is planted into a former grass sod.

Most efficient use

The most efficient use of nitrogen is obtained by dividing the total nitrogen amount into split applications after each grazing pass. The use of nitrogen does bring up another potential animal health concern and that is nitrate poisoning.

All of the forages in the sorghum family plus millet and corn can accumulate high nitrate levels in a drought condition. The same grazing precautions recommended to reduce the risk of prussic acid poisoning can reduce the risk of nitrate poisoning.

Avoiding excessive nitrogen fertilization can also reduce the risk of nitrate poisoning. The use of lespedeza, both the annual varieties and the perennial sericea lespedeza is better adapted to the southern third of Ohio.

They generally are lower yielding than other warm season forages, particularly other warm season annuals, but they can be grown on low pH and low phosphorus soils.

In addition, lespedeza contains tannins, which are usually associated with decreased livestock intake, but there is some research that has shown tannins may have some anti-parasitic properties.

Goats

Goats seem to eat lespedeza readily and combined with the possible anti-parasitic properties of the tannins, it has become a warm season forage that a number of goat owners are utilizing.

Warm season perennial grasses will produce 65 to 75 percent of their total tonnage from mid-June to mid-August. Don’t begin grazing until these grasses reach 16 to 20 inches or more in height.

They must be managed so that each grazing pass leaves a 5- to 6-inch stubble for best regrowth and plant vigor.

Forage chicory is a perennial that generally will persist about three years, but with careful management may exceed this time frame. Chicory is a leafy plant that is high in crude protein and digestibility.

Although it begins growth with the cool season grasses, it has a deep taproot that gives it drought tolerance and it produces well even under hot, dry conditions.

Yields of three to four tons of dry matter are common. After the seeding year, chicory has a tendency to bolt and produce a stem, which reduces plant palatability and leafiness.

Minimize bolting

Grazing should be timed to minimize bolting. A 1.5- to 2-inch stubble should be left after grazing. Chicory will respond well to nitrogen. Apply 50 to 75 pounds of total nitrogen per growing season in split applications between grazing passes.

Some sheep and goat producers are utilizing chicory because it contains sesqueterpine lactones, plant compounds that some research studies have linked with anti-parasitic properties.

Alfalfa is a perennial legume that produces well during the summer period. Under proper soil pH and fertility conditions yields of 4-7 tons/acre should be achieved.

Use strip grazing and a stocking density that results in forage removal within five to seven days. If the grazing period is longer, there may be regrowth from the crown and new shoots will be damaged.

Alfalfa should be grazed close enough to insure that regrowth comes from the crown and not from stems.

A more intensive management system of moving livestock every one to three days may work best. Under good management, a grazing pass might be made every 25 to 30 days.

Alfalfa can provide a high crude protein and high energy feed. It is probably best utilized in a grazing situation with young growing animals or with dairy cows.

Bloat

Bloat is a concern when alfalfa is grazed, particularly if livestock have been grazing pastures with a low legume percentage.

In order to reduce the risk of bloat some guidelines can be followed. Do not turn hungry livestock in to an alfalfa paddock or in to an alfalfa paddock heavy with dew.

Let livestock graze on another pasture or eat hay during the morning, then once the dew is off, move them into the alfalfa.

Provide an adjustment period of five days in this manner to let the rumen get accustomed to alfalfa before grazing alfalfa full-time.

Although the production of cool season pastures decreases during July and August, the use of warm season forages can help the grazier fill in this production slump and maintain good livestock gains and body condition.

More information

For more information about the use of warm season forages contact a member of the OSU Extension Forage Team.

Forms

The decision to send him away was not taken lightly. I had read all the literature, spoken to the parents of older scouts who said they hardly cried at all (the parents, not the boys) and perused all the very fine print on the waiver forms.

You know, the ones you sign promising that if anything happens no insurance carrier will ever be held responsible for mauling, maiming or losing your child. Even if your kid comes home with a peg leg and an eye patch you are not, under any circumstances, to come crying to them.

You sign this right after being informed that your child has signed up to earn merit badges in a variety of activities such as archery (real arrows!), firearms and something involving jumping into a very deep lake at sunrise.

Why they don’t just throw in a few awards for rabid dog taunting, sword throwing and playing with fire at “Camp Poke-Your-Eye-Out,” I’ll never know. I think you get that as an Eagle?

Still, once I quit hyperventilating, I realized the benefits far outweigh the risks. As summer camps go, it’s never a bad idea to pick the one where virtually everyone in attendance has extensive first aid training and is not afraid to use it.

Sure, there’s always the risk that a simple mosquito bite will result in an overzealous, badge-hungry scout putting you in a full body cast, but that’s a risk you have to take.

Prepare

Conscious of the need to “be prepared,” we diligently followed the packing list provided. It listed what a boy might need for a week of primitive camping (shorts, underwear, socks) in the quantities necessary (10 each).

This list, of course, was a ruse fashioned solely to put maternal minds at ease. The real list, available only to the boys and possibly written in disappearing ink, was more like this: shorts, underwear, socks — one pair each.

My son, like many 12-year-old boys, would wear the same clothes for a month, easy. On day five, during “Family Night” when parents were invited to visit the camp, the Scout leaders cagily provided brand-new T-shirts for the boys to wear.

Disguise

I think this was solely to disguise how filthy our kids really were. In fact, my son took the opportunity to really embrace his inner-environmentalist and proudly informed me that he had personally conserved water by not taking even one shower all week.

Seeing him wreathed in smiles and as happy as a pig in slop, I had to allow that yes, being able to write your own name in the dirt on your wrist really was something.

He did, he assured me, “jump in the lake everyday.” When you’re 12 that’s just as good as bathing.

Respect

Still there was order — and discipline — to the days. This was Scout Camp after all. They paid attention and stood at attention.

They had classes and chores, dressed for dinner and retired the flag every night. It is really something to see hundreds of young boys and men stand perfectly still, saluting in utter silence as the U.S. flag is carefully lowered and folded in solemn ceremony.

I’m corny enough to say that I looked out across the grass at all that youth and promise and my heart seized up a little at the beauty — and blessing — of it all. Then they shot off a cannon and scared me half to death. Boys!

Unplugged

For seven days the boys were entirely unplugged. No television. No radio. No video games. No complaints. Just boys being boys in the great outdoors. Probably the closest you’ll get to an “old-fashioned childhood” outside of time travel I’d guess.

They carried on and carried their weight. In their free time they played good-natured pranks on each other and plotted wild adventures involving Bigfoot and bears.

Not in on the jokes

At least I think that’s what happened. To this day my son and his friends laugh so hard when they talk about camp that I never really get the full story at all. That’s OK. I don’t think I’m meant to be in on the jokes anyway.

I have a feeling that when it comes to being a kid back from camp there is one truth that remains self-evident: what happens at scout camp — stays at scout camp.

Self-sufficiency, self-respect and walking a little taller on your path to manhood? That you get to bring home.

Well, I got away with an opinion last week so I think I’ll start off with another opinion of mine about something I have trouble understanding.

Is this the year of the groundhog or what? I have never seen as many nor had so many farmers complain about them and from different counties. Now I’m not trying to start a feud with the Division of Wildlife, but with wildlife crop damage increasing every year some rules may need to be revisited.

For example, I know that groundhogs have been dispatched over the years by varying means, including: water, gasoline, smoke bombs, anhydrous, gas forming pellets, burying and even the latest propane groundhog canons. The common thing about all these is they are all illegal to utilize on animals in their dens.

Shooting groundhogs, with the ever increasing rural population, is becoming a dicey issue every time someone pulls the trigger. Trapping is not realistic and I’m sure there is decent reason for why these rodents aren’t supposed to be dispatched in this method. However, crop losses, damaged equipment, livestock injuries, personal injuries (early morning turkey season/hole) may warrant the DOW revisiting this issue.

Wheat harvest approaches and with that might be the time to check out how much erosion has been taking place. The past few years I have seen more erosion damage in the fields than ever before. The increase of soybeans with wheat planting on sloping ground coupled with heavy rainfalls appears to be wreaking havoc on the land.

Waterways constructed via the Continuous CRP Program are a great way to eliminate this problem. Cost share of up to 90 percent of the cost to install them is available; a yearly annual rental rate for 10 or 15 years goes along with the cost share.

I know a lot of producers are willing to install these on their land, but not on cash rented ground. I believe that landowners, if approached with this concern and an option of utilizing CCRP, would be more willing to establish waterways. It’s a win/win situation for producer and landowner alike and will go a long way to keep some of the fields being cut in two due to severe gully erosion.

Once that happens I know of no good way to restore these areas. Stop by your local FSA to see about rental rates and the program.

Foreign ownership of agricultural land that is purchased or sold is required to be reported to the Secretary of Agriculture within 90 days of the transaction. This can be accomplished by stopping at your local county FSA office.

Money derived from FSA programs is virtually 100 percent direct deposited. If you change banks or accounts please remember to let us know of the change or your money will float around in cyberspace until you call and complain about where your payment is or Kansas City lets us know. Then we’ll call and you’ll be embarrassed that we called. Let us know.

In closing, have you ever seen how fast manure disappears down a groundhog hole out of a side discharge?

That’s all for now,

FSA Andy

Then there was that time I watched a dairy judge take 15 minutes to decide what two-year-old would end up with the blue ribbon. I’ve even attended OSU/Michigan games and witnessed that spirited game unravel.

However, all pale in comparison when I became involved in Ohio 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl. If you have never been to one, I strongly encourage you to put it on your “to do” list for 2010!

To say the least, Ohio Dairy Quiz Bowl is intense and I am the one in charge. However, that would be an understatement since it requires the input of Dr. Eastridge and many, many volunteers.

First step

The first step is writing questions for the junior teams and the Senior Jeopardy contest. By the time I am done, I feel like my brains have been scrambled.

Questions come from resource guides, 4-H books, current magazines and news and also from coaches who have teams entered in the contest.

I attempt to combine all, simply and clearly phrase the information and make sure that none are repeated. Then there are extra questions and bonus ones that are also added to the mix. Everything is proofed and documented with a source.

Since we all have interruptions in our daily schedule, I did most of this in the early morning hours. You can imagine my sense of relief when this arduous task is complete.

It takes a staff

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a staff of personnel to run a quiz bowl contest. Each room requires a timekeeper who can concentrate. Moderators must clearly and audibly state each question and with the help of judges, they determine the accuracy of the answers. NBC, ABC and CBS sports could find new talent in these people.

Where would we be without scorekeepers? Even each team’s coach keeps a tally of points, and at the end of matches, the “referees” verify everyone’s score sheets.

Beyond all the action in the rooms, someone must also be at the door to insure that there are no interruptions during a round. They do not wear football pads, but they are a force to reckon with.

Posting the junior division brackets offers the opportunity for another volunteer (or a mathematical genius) to determine who plays next and what round of questions will be used. Since the contest is double elimination, it really livens up the competition.

Rivalry

As the years have gone by, two county teams have forged quite a rivalry. They play with all the spirit and passion of OSU and Michigan at a football game in November. This year, there was even a tie breaking round with these two. We even needed a “time out” to interpret the rules before these 4-Hers could begin.

It was exciting as cheering fans of each team quietly watched, waiting for the outcome. If there were any pompoms, they were carefully concealed. Seriously folks, Coach Tressel has an easier job. Maybe I can ask him to volunteer next year?

Senior Jeopardy is more individualized. Dr. Eastridge handles this better than Alex Trebek. Truly, our game show host does know all the answers, and he doesn’t need them in front of him.

For 4-Hers to compete in this, it takes some real intestinal fortitude to play the game and that final question strategy can be a dilemma. We even have the clever music playing in the background as they record their final answer.

Food

Oh yes, then there is food for everyone. In the morning, it was brain food to summon up their intellect and then Dominoes Signature Series pizza (in collaboration with ADA) to fill their stomachs with energy to sustain the many rounds.

We were even served ice cream sandwiches provided by the American Dairy Association, Mid East.

Did I mention that it was a very warm day? Also, traffic was a challenge as the exit ramps from Route 315 to Lane Avenue were closed. Yet 4-Hers and coaches travel more than 150 miles to spend a long day in pursuit of this event.

Awards

Awards are given out to high teams and individuals at the end of both contests. Coaches are recognized for years of service, door prizes are given and everyone leaves wiser for their involvement.

Thankfully, you can read more about all of this on the pages of this very publication. With some humor, I have enjoyed sharing the “rest of the story” of Ohio 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl. Hopefully, you have been forced to smile once or twice at the comparisons.

Real story

The real story is about those who make it happen. From the 20 plus volunteers who assist in the management, to the parents and coaches who willingly give of their time and talents, to the 4-H competitors who make time to participate, it is definitely another opportunity that more should take advantage of. I applaud all of you!

As the day ended, I felt that we all traveled home feeling we had participated in something really good.

In just about 10 months, we will begin preparations for Ohio’s 2010 Dairy Quiz Bowl. I am going to read this column again, put on some “Buckeye” music and promise myself to recruit more counties for this experience.

Who knows, maybe you will be there too!

There are improvements to be made, as well as retaining the positives. Evaluation forms are made for this type of afterthought.

More information. As usual, if you have more questions about this event and other 4-H dairy programs, contact ayars.5@osu.edu. We have a dairy camp coming up July 17!

]]> http://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/ohio-dairy-quiz-bowl-is-a-must-see/12480.html/feed http://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/noodlers-reach-where-sane-men-fear-to-trod/12486.html http://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/noodlers-reach-where-sane-men-fear-to-trod/12486.html#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:02:21 +0000 Scott Shalaway http://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/noodlers-reach-where-sane-men-fear-to-trod/12486.html There are a few outdoor adventures I’ve never tried and never will. Skydiving, rock climbing, and bungee jumping come immediately to mind.

Noodling is another. I try to avoid activities that put my life or body parts at risk.

Noodling, also called hand-grabbing, is a form of extreme catfishing that’s popular and legal in some southern states. Early settlers learned it from Native Americans.

I first learned of noodling during my Oklahoma years. I had some students who would do almost anything to put fresh meat on the table. When they first explained noodling, I was skeptical. Then they brought in photographs. When I passed on an invitation to join them one Saturday afternoon, I’m certain their opinion of me plummeted.

Here, fishy, fishy

Noodlers use their hands to probe underwater holes, stumps, and burrows. This is where large (20-60 pounds) catfish lurk in murky water. The idea is to tempt catfish with wiggling fingers or annoy them by probing their nesting areas.

Some noodlers even place 55-gallon metal drums in catfish habitat to create spawning beds. Such protected areas are prime nests sites, and noodlers have a better chance of finding nests. It’s like birders who put up nest boxes to attract bluebirds or chickadees.

Male catfish protecting their nests are very aggressive and strike at intruders, even if it’s just a hand waving a few fingers. After the catfish bites the hand and “swallows” the forearm, the noodler works his hand through one of the gill slits. Then he hauls the catfish up and into a boat.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. There’s usually a lot of blood as the catfish’s teeth rake the noodler’s arm and hand. And that’s if everything goes according to plan — that is, there’s a catfish in the hole and not a cottonmouth, muskrat, beaver, or snapping turtle.

Snap, goes the finger

Actually, hand-grabbing snapping turtles is also called noodling, and that sounds even crazier than hand-grabbing catfish. A big snapper can bite a finger to the bone and even snap it off.

Noodling for snappers means using your hands to feel along under stream banks and submerged muskrat burrows hoping for the jagged edges of the hind end of a snapper’s shell.

The idea is that resting snappers face towards the bank. In that case, you grab the tail and pull, keeping the snapper’s head well away from all appendages.

If the snapper is facing the stream, you could have a problem. You’re now disturbing a resting snapper with your precious dangling fingers. This is the main reason noodling for snapping turtles is crazy.

Days of lore

I recall when I was a boy, there were some older men who would bring big, freshly caught snapping turtles to show off to the kids who gathered at the local general store. Usually they displayed them in a bushel basket or a big metal bucket. They claimed they were hand-caught and headed for the stew pot.

Some of these guys even lacked a finger or two, which they claimed to have lost to snappers, but even then I suspected they just picked the turtles up as they crossed the road. The missing digits were probably lost at work.

See for yourself

If noodling sounds insane, like something you must see to believe, you’re right. You can plan a trip Paul’s Valley, Oklahoma on July 11 for the 10th Annual Okie Noodling Tournament or watch for highlights on an fishing show on television.

Or Google “noodling for catfish” or “noodling for snapping turtles,” and you’ll find links to a variety of You-Tube videos.

Fortunately, noodling for catfish is illegal in most northern states. Catching reptiles and amphibians, on the other hand, usually requires a fishing license and hand grabbing may be legal. Check with the state wildlife agency for laws in your state.

Upon reflection, I think noodling deserves a spot in Jeff Foxworthy’s popular redneck act — “You might be a redneck if your idea of a fun Sunday afternoon is noodling for catfish.”

Or, “You might be a redneck if you’re a veteran snapping turtle noodler, and your nickname is ‘Stumpy.’”

Mixed feelings

I imagine the parents of all these high school graduates are both thrilled and somewhat confused. Where is that little kid with the lunchbox and construction paper hearts? The science project volcano and Civil War diorama fashioned out of a shoebox and felt? How did 13 years of school go by in the blink of an eye?

Like all overly sentimental “sappy moms” I console myself with the fact that my children are young and I have ages before I have to worry about such things.

Then I watched my son at a recent graduation party, enamored of the “big kids” and basking in their glow, and realized that, Lord willing, his graduation will be upon us in the blink of an eye.

I started worrying that I should have reserved extra chairs and ordered a cake already. I barely coped with watching our youngest graduate from elementary school recently. High school might be my undoing.

When our firstborn was still a babe in arms I fretted about how I would ever put him on that big yellow school bus and send him away? All I knew about elementary school was based on my own fading memories of the place.

What if?

Like all thoroughly modern mommies, I read a lot of parenting publications and worried about bullies and hazing and how one wrong move could leave a kid branded for life as a nose-picker or paste eater.

What if someone bullied him? Why, I’d just have to slay the bully with my bare hands and suspected that was probably not the way to make friends on the PTA.

All too soon, the day actually came and my fears were alleviated by the fact that he was far too excited about school to spare a second be scared. As his mother I had learned to fake my own “so not scared here buddy!” face pretty well by then myself.

It was honed during the obligatory series of scrapes, stitches, near-misses and inoculations of the first five years of his life, so I had the ability to give a hearty thumbs-up to just about anything even if I was secretly dying inside.

Time – and children – march on and one year later our younger child would join her brother, walking through those doors to elementary with short legs, big dreams, and a Dora the Explorer lunchbox.

Better than expected

We would spend six glorious years in elementary school and in those six years we didn’t meet many bullies or paste eaters, but we did meet many wonderful, talented people.

We met teachers who not only taught reading, but a love of reading, inspiring third and fourth graders to breathlessly await the next installment from their favorite author (to even have a favorite author!). Certainly a lifelong gift long after the last textbook has been closed.

We met teachers who bravely staged “bring your pet to school day” — in farm country. Bird dogs and chickens and steers — oh my! We met teachers who never taught either child, but always had a kind smile and encouraging words when we saw them, whether in the hallway or the grocery store.

In doing so, they sent the invaluable message that the entire community is watching you — and watching out for you — always. It pays not be that nose-picker (or ne’er do well) that mommy warned you about.

Not really mean

We met teachers, who we were told, “are sometimes mean but only when we’re bad.” I am grateful for “mean” teachers who have the gumption and foresight to be strict when needed.

Self-control and discipline are lifelong skills that may not be assessed on a state test, but are certainly crucial nonetheless.

We met volunteers who showed up year in and year out to make our school a better place. HOST Mentors (Help One Student Succeed) tutored our son when, at 6, he struggled with spelling.

Six years later, that kindergartener grew into the fifth grader who placed in the county-wide spelling bee.

Finally, I met teachers — and two principals — who got stuck with a parent with a byline and lived to tell the tale. Six years, five grades, two kids. Innumerable show and tells, a handful of playground scrapes, 10 class programs, and too many PTO meetings to count.

Not over yet

It’s hard to believe it’s really over. But it’s not — not really. We’ve only just begun. As we graduate into “middle school,” I suspect the next few years will fly by in the blink of an eye, too.

I’m going to be a good student, pay attention, and take good notes. I wouldn’t want to miss a thing.

(Kymberly Foster Seabolt misses kindergarten. She welcomes comments c/o lifeoutloud@comcast.net; P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460; or http://kymberly.typepad.com/life.)

“Volatile” and “uncertain” are two words that might best describe grain prices and input costs for row crop production heading into the 2009 planting season.

With this increased volatility and uncertainty, risk increases for producers and more uncertainty arises about the amount of cash rent to pay.

Other side

On the other side of the negotiating table, landowners, seeing higher profitability in recent years for commodity crops, are possibly seeking higher cash rents.

So, just what is that “most equitable” cash rent amount and how can it be maintained from year to year or contract to contract?

One answer is negotiating a flexible cash lease arrangement that varies from year to year based on price, yield and input costs. Price, yield and input cost changes from an agreed upon starting point will trigger changes in the base lease amount.

Historically, flexible cash leases have been based on price or yield or a combination of the two. With the extreme volatility in input costs the past two years, some producers are only willing to negotiate a flexible cash lease if there is some measure of costs built in to the flex lease.

Calculator

This Flexible Cash Lease Calculator can assist users in developing a flexible cash rent model.

Unlike other flexible cash lease calculators, this tool allows the user to incorporate flexible parameters for input costs as well as for price and yield.

The flexible cash rent approach used in this calculator is to multiply the base rent by: 1. the ratio of the Year End Price to Base Price, 2. the ratio of the Year End Yield to Base Yield and 3. the ratio of the Base Input Costs to Year End Input Costs.

Available on Web site

This Flexible Cash Lease Calculator is available at http://aede.osu.edu/Programs/FarmManagement/Budgets/download.htm

The Microsoft Excel spreadsheet is designed to enable the user to input base and year end prices, yields and costs to formulate a flex rent at the end of the lease year.

There are two tabs for this calculator. Page one contains the Flexible Cash Lease Inputs and page two contains the Flexible Cash Lease Output.

Four methods

The Flex Cash Lease Calculator offers four methods of calculating a flex lease.

Method I is Flexing for Price Only. This will take your base rent; multiply it by your adjusted price (current price divided by base price). This will equal the rent per acre, which will then be multiplied by acres grown.

That will calculate the adjusted rent for the year. The total rent per acre is the sum of the adjusted rent for the year divided by total acres. This is the suggested rental rate for the year.

Method II is Flexing for Price and Yield. This method will use the same methods as above, but include the adjusted yield which is the current yield divided by current price.

Method III is Flexing for Price and Input Costs. This section will combine Method I with the total input costs calculated on the user input page. This will take the adjusted input costs (current input costs divided by base input costs) and multiply it to the adjusted price from Method I.

Method IV incorporates flexing for Price, Yield and Input costs. This will multiply the adjusted price, adjusted yield and adjusted input cost.

Choosing a method

In all four methods, the Total Rent per Acre line is the suggested flex rent per acre. Choosing which method to decide rental rates from will come from conversation between land owner and tenant.