Agriculture

Early Season Pasture Management and Weed Control- this has been, by all cattlemen’s reckoning, the worst winter in memory. It rained all October so that little or no ryegrass was planted. The ryegrass that was planted never had a single good day of weather for growth. What seemed like a good amount of hay in September ran out in January. Cattle have been cold, wet and stressed since the first week in December without a break. These cows have begun to calve without much extra flesh or body condition.

By Barrett Courville
LSU AgCenter Agent

Rice Seeding Dates
As we head into the second week of March most rice producers are getting anxious to start planting rice.  Last year at this time many producers had already begun planting rice but with the cool wet weather we have been experiencing not much field work has begun.  Hopefully the weather will warm up and dry some to allow the producers into the field.

Breaux Bridge – A rice production meeting has been planned for Tuesday, Feb.y 9 at 6 p.m. at the county agent’s office, 114 Courthouse Street.

County Agenty Alfred Guidry invites all producers and agribusiness people to attend this very informative meeting.

Sugarcane growers are nearing the end of the harvest season with the last mill set to shut down around Saturday.
Growers have a “really good crop” this year, but trying to compare the 2009 crop with 2008 is a “tale with two endings,” said Dr. Kenneth Gravois, the LSU AgCenter’s new sugarcane specialist.

By Dan Gill
LSU AgCenter Horticulturist

At the beginning of a new year it’s tempting to look back on the previous year and think of ways to do things better. A worthy goal for gardeners is to keep better records of their gardening activities.
Why? Because keeping good records can help make you a better, more successful gardener. Records help you remember what worked and what didn’t, and this makes your gardening efforts more effective and helps you avoid past mistakes.
You should keep track of a number of important things, such as:

Hurricanes marred agriculture production in 2008. In 2009, it was rain – and plenty of it – that created challenges for Louisiana farmers.

Persistent rain during fall harvest season caused significant damage to several crops and brought more financial problems for farmers, according to LSU AgCenter economist Dr. Kurt Guidry.

Fields of sweet potatoes, cotton and soybeans did not get harvested because of poor quality.