January/February 2016 Steve Okonek, Agricultural Agent Email: steve.okonek@ces.uwex.edu (715) 538-2311, ext. 376 Veterinarian Feed Directive Due to concerns about antibiotic resistance to medically important antibiotics in human medicine, how we use antibiotics in livestock production is changing. Starting in January, 2017, you will no longer be able to use antibiotics in livestock feed to enhance animal performance. You will still be able to use antibiotics to prevent illness, control illness, and to treat illness. If you need to use antibiotics in animal feed you will need a veterinarian feed directive (VFD) from a veterinarian licensed to practice in Wisconsin. A VFD is basically a prescription from the vet to the feed mill. The VFD must be in written format or electronic format and contain certain information for the mill. The VFD must be transmitted directly from the vet to the feed mill and it cannot be orally transmitted. Anti-microbial products that do not have a use in human medicine will be available to be fed without a prescription from a licensed vet. These products are Rumensin/Monensin, Corid, and other products in the cocidiostat family. You will need to be in contact with your veterinarian to set up VFDs for various products that you use. Most importantly you will need to establish a valid veterinary client patient relationship, or VCPR. In Wisconsin, a VCPR is defined as: Wisconsin VCPR (Use Federal) "Veterinarian-client-patient relationship" means a relationship between a Veterinarian, a client (client is the farmer) and the patient (patient is the animal) in which all of the following apply: A. The veterinarian has assumed the responsibility for making medical judgments regarding the health of the patient and the patients need for medical treatment, and the client has agreed to accept those medical judgments and to follow the related instructions of the veterinarian. B. The veterinarian has sufficient knowledge of the patient to initiate a general or preliminary diagnosis of the medical condition of the patient because the veterinarian has recently examined the patient or has made medically appropriate and timely visits to the premises on which the patient is kept. C. The veterinarian is readily available for follow-up treatment of the patient if the patient has an adverse reaction to veterinary treatment We are not losing antibiotics in livestock production, just how we use them and we are adding another step in the process. There may be a few hiccups along the way, but all-in-all, having a VCPR will only help you produce healthy and economically effective livestock. Have a conversation with your vet sooner rather than later!
Spotted Winged Drosophila Management Spotted Winged Drosophila (SWD) is a small fly that can cause significant damage to many fruit crops in Wisconsin including raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and cherries. SWD adult females have a serrated ovipositor that they use to cut through the skin of intact fruit to lay eggs. When the eggs hatch, the larva feed inside the fruit causing the fruit to become soft, rotten and inedible. SWD is different from other fruit flies because SWD attacks healthy fruit, where as other species of fruit flies feed on compromised fruit. Below are images of SWD male and female adults. Juvenile SWD are small, white maggots that are inside the fruit. Crushing soft fruit will reveal the small maggots. You may need a hand lense to see the maggots. Management SWD is an invasive species and was first detected in Wisconsin in the fall of 2010. Infestations become worse as the summer progresses. Fall bearing raspberries and blackberries are preferred to other fruits but significant damage can be found on other fall fruit crops as well. SWD needs a soft outer skinned fruit to lay eggs in. Thick skins of apples and most grape varieties, so far, have resisted SWD. In this article I will concentrate on management of SWD in raspberry and blackberry crops. There are currently no thresholds available to direct when treatments should begin for SWD. It is recommended that you use an integrated pest management (IPM) approach. IPM incorporates cultural as well as chemical methods for control of this and other pests. A very useful website for SWD is labs.russell.wisc.edu/swd/. This website goes into depth about making traps to monitor SWD. It would be worth your effort to look at this site before embarking on a chemical control strategy. Cultural Control 1. Use netting to exclude SWD from your crop. Netting must be of a fine mesh and weighted down completely around the planting to be effective. You will need to remove the net to pick and immediately replace the net when harvest is complete to exclude the pest. 2. Pick often to remove ripe fruit. Have two buckets with you; one for good fruit and one for damaged fruit. Berries that are soft or you suspect of being infested with SWD should be solarized by placing them in a Ziploc bag and leaving them in the sun for 24 hours. If you have a large amount of damaged fruit you can pile the fruit on the ground and cover tightly with clear plastic. Do not compost fruit. 3. Remove wild host fruit from around your property. Blackberry, plum and other wild fruit species can be a host to SWD. http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/swd/management-2/#cultural_control
Continued Chemical Control Use traps to monitor for the presence of adult SWD in your crop. Begin treating when adults are present and your crop is at a susceptible stage, typically, as soon as fruit begins to turn color. The table below contains insecticides that are labeled for control of SWD. Be sure to read and follow all label directions. Read the label for the product you have and don t assume that because your product has an active ingredient listed in this table that it is labeled for your crop to control SWD. Observe pre-harvest interval (PHI) and re-entry interval (REI). If you apply a product with a long PHI, your picking schedule will be disrupted, causing fruit to become over ripe. Over ripe fruit may attract other pests to your crop. If you pick before the PHI is over there may be chemical residues on the fruit that you don t want your family to consume. Using both cultural and chemical control methods will result in the best control and the least amount of chemical used. http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/swd/management-2/#chemical_control Hybrid and Variety Selection Hybrid and variety selection can have the biggest impact on a crop producer s bottom line but it often receives relatively little attention compared to other aspects of crop planning. The results for the 2015 trials are now available online and will soon be published in farm papers and other sources. The UW hybrid trials are a tool for you to use to select your hybrids for 2016. In most UW trials there is a 50 to 70 bushel yield difference from the top hybrid to the bottom hybrid. This same relationship exists among varieties of other crops as well. Time spent picking the best hybrids and varieties for your farm will be greatly rewarded next fall, especially with low grain prices. Following are some links to access the UW hybrid trials: Corn.agronomy.wisc.edu learningstore.uwex.edu look for publication A3653 When you are in the learning store site if you page down and click on the yellow view PDF button you can view the results online or print at home. Wisconsin Corn Hybrid Performance Trials 2015 (A3653) The following section describes how to use the hybrid trial results. With a little adaptation these recommendations can be used to look at proprietary yield trials. Don t base seed purchase decisions on one trial, one year, one location. The reliability of such data is very low and it is too difficult to predict what that hybrid or variety will do next year.
Continued Dairy Newsletter Enclosed is a copy of the El Companero/Dairy Partner newsletter. Please read this and share it with your Hispanic employees. This newsletter has informative topics and seasonal items that can help you manage your dairy and your farm workers. Topics throughout the year include dairy herd health, proper dressing for cold weather and winter driving just to name a few.
COME JOIN US Agronomy Update Meetings For questions or to register for any programs outlined here, please call the Extension Office at 715-538-2311 ext. 208 or email michelle.rose@ces.uwex.edu January 6, 12:30 pm lunch; Wausau, Contact: Dan Marzou, Marathon County Extension, 715-261-1230 January 7, 7:30 am breakfast; Eau Claire, Contact: Mark Hagedorn, Eau Claire Extension, 715-839-4712 January 7, 12:30 pm lunch; Sparta, Contact: Bill Halfman, Monroe County Extension, 608-269-8722 Pesticide Applicator Training, Tremplo Room, Trempealeau County Court House, January 13th, 10:00am-3:00pm Becoming the Employer of Choice, Human Resource Management, January 19 & 26, 9:30am-3:00pm, Skyline Golf Course, Black River Falls, Invitation only, for invitation call 715-538-1963 Pesticide Applicator Training, Tremplo Room, Trempealeau County Court House, January 27th, 10:00am-3:00pm Pesticide Applicator Training, Tremplo Room, Trempealeau County Court House, February 17th, 10:00am-3:00pm Milk Quality, Wade Stubrud Farm, Old Stage Rd., Alma Center, February 24th, 12:00 pm-1:00pm, RSVP 715-284-4257 Becoming the Employer of Choice, Human Resource Management, February18 & 25, 9:30am- 3:00am, Loopy s Grill & Saloon, Invitation only, for invitation call 715-726-7950 Weed Resistance Management, February 29th, 5:30pm registration meeting 6pm-8:30pm, Dinner will be served, Centerville Curling Club THANK YOU! This Trempealeau County Extension Newsletter is sponsored by these Trempealeau County Community Agricultural Banks: Alliance Bank: 715-597-2626 Bank of Galesville: 608-582-2233 Independence State Bank: 715-985-3197 Pigeon Falls State Bank: 715-983-2295 State Bank of Arcadia: 608-323-3331 Union Bank of Blair: 608-989-2541 United Bank: 715-597-3136 Waumandee State Bank: 608-323-3555 IF YOU ARE ABLE TO RECEIVE THE AG NEWSLETTER BY EMAIL, PLEASE SEND ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AT michelle.rose@ces.uwex.edu This will help us with printing and mailing expenses