Drought Management Plan… Bull Fertility Index

• Organizing a drought management plan for summer grazing

• Developing a heritable trait index for bull fertility

• Agricultural news, and the Kansas soybean update

• Spring insect pests in the home landscape…

00:01:30 – Drought Management Plan:  K-State range and pasture management specialist Walt Fick discusses putting together a drought management plan for summer grazing, detailing what steps a producer will take if drought conditions persist...he cites a brand-new on-line tool that will give a producer an idea of expected grass productivity based on regularly-updated weather conditions and historical trends for a given location.

00:12:52 – Bull Fertility Index:  K-State beef geneticist Megan Rolf tells of a new project she's overseeing, which aims to develop a heritable trait index for bull fertility, something that's lacking in today's cattle genetics information...she and her team will use several sources of data to come up with a means of predicting fertility.

00:24:16 – Ag News:  Eric Atkinson covers the day's agricultural news headlines; also, this week’s Kansas soybean update.

00:32:32 – Spring Landscape Insect Pests:  K-State horticultural entomologist Raymond Cloyd reports this week on several landscape pests that homeowners should be on the lookout for, and what to do about them:  pine needle scale, lilac ash borers and elm flea weevils.

Send comments, questions or requests for copies of past programs to [email protected].

Agriculture Today is a daily program featuring Kansas State University agricultural specialists and other experts examining ag issues facing Kansas and the nation. It is hosted by Eric Atkinson and distributed to radio stations throughout Kansas and as a daily podcast.

K‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K‑State campus in Manhattan.