Ag Basics 101; Ag Basics 101 Compilation 1

Hi, this is Skitman Seaming, homegrown girl from the Heartland. Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the Coast of Maine. Can you ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. Andrew, tell me why we have blinking strobe lights on each and every center pivot irrigation system across our wide open spaces. At night time, it's beginning to look like the Los Angeles International Airport out there. What's with these lights? Are they some kind of subliminal or subversive message? Yeah, kind of hypnotic, aren't they? I tried deciphering Morse code, I looked on the Internet, I had no idea. But as usual, our friends at the Big Agriculture School helped us out and sure enough, it is a message. Well, the blinking light usually means it's on and doing something where if there's no light at all, that generally means it's off. Most center pivots have blinking lights on them to indicate that they're running

so that it could be an easy way for farmers to check, particularly at night, whether the power is still at the pivot point or at the pivot so that they can not have to drive into the field and check the power source or it's mainly a convenience factor. Initially, when irrigation was just developing, particularly when we were just going to electric systems versus the old water drives, that was a way to... A lot of the systems were close to probably the farmstead and whatnot. They could do a night time check without having to move along ways because of course most of the irrigation are out in the high plains area relatively flat and so you could probably identify your lights from your farmstead or at least, but not having to drive to every field individually. You could probably do a quick check to make sure everything is all right. Now, it's reliability. They're very reliable systems, our power supplies are very reliable.

Also, we have other technology that they might do their checks by other sensing devices that bring them through their computer, but that's still the standby, quick look type of system. Wow, irrigation technology has changed so much since I was a kid in the 50s. When did they first start putting these lights on the sprinklers anyway? Well, center pivots were basically invented in the late 50s and sometime in the mid-60s then we moved from old water drive systems to where we either had hydraulic or electric motors that drive the power to drive the pivot towers. I would guess that they were installed about that time. Okay, so it's really only about irrigation and not about air travel. Yeah, I wanted to say that those pivot lights were really a complex communication system for aliens but I decided that maybe it wouldn't go over too well. I knew there was something else to it. Easy now, just like I told those people in Roswell, it's just egg basics.

It's not the ex files. Egg basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio written and produced by Skip Man Sini and Andrew Mahon. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture or if you'd like to apply for a diploma, see our website www.hpdr.org and join us next time for Egg Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Man Sini, homegrown girl from the heartland. And Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the coast of Maine. You ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn popular? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Egg Basics 101. Andrew, I hear on the markets about formulated cattle. Exactly what is a formulated cow? And don't tell me it produces baby formula.

Well, I talked with Helen Hall, who's worked for 35 years as a bookkeeper at a large fielat in Haskell County. I asked her about formulated cattle and she said it's all about money. What the individual animal brings at the market. And it is the average of what the plant pays the day it is delivered to the plant. Each animal is graded by itself. And grading is done by a specialist in the packing plant. And then, depends on the grading. They'll get a bonus if they're a primer choice most of the time. A select or grade four, which is the animal that has too much fat in it. So, if they're a type four, usually have a discount. She also said that on that day, if select is a hired demand, that individual animal might get a better price. You get your big restaurants, your big chain stores that buy a lot of beef. If they have a lot of a certain kind on hand, they never order something different.

This has to do with what that animal is going to bring to at that time. So, it's no cut and dried way of pricing. It sounds rather complicated, but it's really simple. And I think it's something that people don't understand a lot. But it's kind of fascinating in a way that it's done that way. You know she's right. It is fascinating and it is complicated. Just remember, the formula for prime success is all about choice. Select the right market and you'll get grade A. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio, written and produced by Skip Mancini and Andrew Mahon. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture or if you'd like to apply for diploma, see our website www.hppr.org and join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Mancini, homegrown girl from the Heartland.

And Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the Coast of Maine. Can you ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. Today we're traveling the High Plains in search of a short and sweet explanation of the futures market. Some responses were brief and informative. In the futures market, instead of selling grain here and now, two parties agreed to sell grain at a future date and future price. While some professed a sense of confusion. I don't understand what the futures price of wheat in December has to do with determining the cash price in July. But you will find that the cash price will always reflect what the futures price is on the market throughout the week. Others expressed the gamble when it takes.

Futures is a tool to use in which to hedge in a profit. That is the purpose of it. If you don't have cow, you shouldn't use it. It's speculation, then it's gambling. It's kind of like gambling, except it seems to have a whole some agricultural aspect to it. Not everybody has a bright outlook on the future ahead. So it's kind of hard to gamble setting a price that you would be satisfied with. The futures market to me, I can tell you all the technical reasons. But basically it's like playing Las Vegas at home. It's a mixed bag of tricks, but it's just like walking into Las Vegas and they've got 100 different machines. You can play a hundred different ways. And it's basically when it lives. And as you'll see, some folks had more in-depth answers. 100 years ago buyers and sellers can only get together to buy different commodities. During the harvest time, it was a very limited time period. But the future market now allows buyers and sellers to get together and agree upon a commodity, price for that commodity,

and the quality of that commodity for a future time period. So it's a great tool to handle off-seasonal or off-harvest commodities. Forward contracting, though, is something we have tried in the past and have been successful with it. If we feel like the price is right, we just put a forward contract on a grain and when we deliver it to the elevator, then we get that price that we had set. Earlier in the year. The future's market is complicated. For me, it's like doing, if you have your normal workload to do, and then you do your future's marketing, it's like doubling up your workload. Because it is, it requires thought process and in action, it's like just right now it's like another job you have to do. And if you've already, if you're already almost overloaded, it can be difficult. And there's been, nobody talks about it, but there's been a pretty good number of financial wrecks caused by mismanagement of the future's market.

In some cases, it depends on your risk, your amount of risk that you want to stand. In some case, if you want, if you have a high degree of risk in your business, you probably got to deal with it. But if your risk in your business is fairly low, if you're fairly well-capitalized, I think you could get by without it. And just take advantage of the normal cycles, ups and downs. And that's pretty simplistic way of looking at it. But I've made money in it, and I've lost money in it. And in the long run, in a 50-year average, work at all average out. And I think that's a simple way of looking at it. While others practice brevity. I'll have to pick some other topic. I know nothing about futures. If you have a great explanation of the futures market in three minutes or less, give us a call at 1-800-678-7444 or email your definition to hppratpld.com. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plans Public Radio,

written and produced by Skip Mancini and Andrew Mahon. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture, or if you'd like to apply for Diploma, see our website www.hppr.org. And join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Mancini, homegrown girl from the heartland. Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the Coast of Maine. Can you ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. Now, Skip, I know from listening to your gardening show that... Oh, you mean growing on the High Plains. Heard every Thursday at 10.30 a.m. and again on Saturday afternoon at 3.30 right here on High Plains Public Radio? Yeah, that's the one.

And anyway, you're always extolling the benefits of using wheat straw in your garden. And that got me wondering, what's the difference between wheat straw and hay? I'm pretty sure I know the answer. But to make doubly sure, let's ask Mike Skinner, who has a hay business in the Texas Panhandle. Well, straw would be the dead stem of cereal crops. That's being wheat, oats, rye, tritically, and rice. And those crops have a hollow stem after the grain is matured and after the combine cuts the head and separates the grain, it leaves the straw. And that's just dead and it has a hollow stem. That's what they use for houses, because the hollowness makes good insulation. But the other is hay. That would be prairie grass is used for hay. Hay is defeat animals. Straw is for bedding and the uses I've mentioned. But hay is for animals to eat.

And that would be the native grasses or improved grasses. Prairie hay would be native grasses. And that is popular with horse people and some cattle people. And improved forages would be alfalfa, sorghum, sedan grass, and many different other kinds of forages. But those would be man-bred and developed in a higher, usually higher in the neutrality value, but not always. Okay, here's another question about hay. Where did the term make hay while the sun shines come from? I guess that term must have come from a folk saying, it means to get after your business when it's time to do it. I think that that term must have derived from old northern European farmers that probably had foggy days.

And it meant that when the sun came out and the fog blew away, that you better get out there and get that hay. Before it rains on it. Now I'm in Texas and that's sort of a different story here. The days are very dry and it's so dry that it will crumble up the hay. So I have to bail at night. So that saying doesn't really make it's not appropriate for me. So Mike, I guess you would say make hay while the moon shines, right? That's what I'd say. Because that's the only time we get a little bit of humidity to keep it from crumbling. So I'll try that saying and make hay while the moon shines. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio written and produced by Skip Mancini and Andrew Mahan. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture or if you'd like to apply for diploma, see our website www.hppr.org and join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Mancini, homegrown girl from the heartland.

And Andrew Mahani, a Yankee boy from the coast of Maine. Can you ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. Skip, what can you tell me about high moisture corn? Every fall I see ads from feedlots for high moisture corn. I'm just curious how wet does it have to be to qualify? Well, the ads you see are probably from feedlots in this area because that's where most high moisture corn goes to be used for cattle feed. It's cut earlier when the corn still has moisture in the kernel as to how much moisture I'm not really sure. I'll tell you what, let's ask our corn growers from Haskell County, Pete and Roberta York. Typically the feedlots want the moisture on the corn to be 24-25 up to about 32 moisture. What they do in the silos is they'll grind that corn into it and they want to get a good

what they call pack on it. And if it's about that moisture it keeps good, it packs good. Because when they're packing that they're doing it actually. From what I understand about it does two things. When they pack that they don't need as much airy for storage. Number two, it ferments in there and it's easier to store that way. Because when they pack it it packs tighter and they won't get as much foliage. Because it gets most of the air out of there where it won't spoil and it keeps better. Packing, now is that what I see going on when I drive by a feedlot and see all that heavy equipment all over the big mountain of corn? Right, the tractors do two things. They have dozer blades or buckets that pull behind to make the pile higher. And then as they're doing that they're packing as they go and putting that high moisture corn into condition for use all winter. Once they get it all packed then they cover it with black plastic and hold it down with a covering of old tires to keep our infamous winds from picking it all up and carrying it into another state.

But wouldn't the grower get more money for just letting it sit around and get dry and then take it to a grain elevator? Well there are lots of things to consider in turning a profit. Roberta York gave us some examples of things that a farmer has to think about when shopping for the best outlook for their grain. You couldn't store corn in any kind of a facility with that much moisture in it without it spoiling. You'd have to dry it or leave it in the field till it moisture came down and then dry it but you couldn't store corn like that in an elevator. When you take it to the elevators you're going to be docked, you know, for material you're going to be paying storage on your grain however long you have it in their elevator. To the feedlot we take it there, you don't pay storage on it. They shrink it, though it's high moisture corn that we take to feed us but they do shrink it. And on your farm stored grain then you're looking at hauling it again.

You may be able to sit on it and keep it for a better price but then you do have to haul it again. So it's kind of a pros and cons to both places. You know Andrew, there's another kind of corn sometimes grown around here that has a success rate directly related to the moisture content and that's popcorn. Pete explained the process of the popping this way. Yes, when if it's too wet it doesn't pop right because the kernel doesn't get its dance. If it's too dry it won't pop because there's not enough moisture in it because it's like a big steam generator in that hard shell on that holes everything in till it just has to go somewhere and then it explodes and that's why kernels are all puffy like that. That's moisture trapped in those little starch kernels that blow up basically. And if it's too wet then it doesn't get as hard and as dense and it won't pop it's good. So the next time we see an ad for high moisture corn it'll make sense to me.

Moisture determines if it winds up in a cow's belly or a corn chip or. Or on the floor of a movie theater. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio written and produced by Skip Man Sini and Andrew Mahon. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture or if you'd like to apply for diploma, see our website www.hppr.org. And join us next time for Ag Basics 101. We have fight only had a brain. Hi, this is Skip Man Sini, I'm grown girl from the heartland. Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the coast of Maine. Do you ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture. But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. Today we have a guest lecturer in the Ag Basics classroom and his name is Clifford Lightcap.

Tell me how you're a cowboy, right? Right. And how did you get into cowboy and how did you get into that business? I grew up on the ranch in Eastern Colorado. I grew up right with it. We're out in Eastern Colorado. By the west of Lamar, a pair of about 20 miles. That's by the John Martin Dam. All over that ranch country up in there. You work in a feedlot here, right? Right. Okay. So you're a feedlot cowboy? What's the difference? There are lots, I mean, other than probably space. Do they call them penwriters? Well, yes, some feed yard will call penwriters. Okay. But there's a lot of difference in writing these cows in the pens and that on the ranch. There's in the pen, they're tight. You really have to look at each critter individually. Just like you do out in the open basical it there's a difference in writing them. Because there are a bunch of tight and you have to move them around so you can see them.

Is the job about the same for a cowboy out on the ranch and a cowboy doing pen writing and a feedlot? I mean, are you looking for something that's wrong with the cows or making sure they're okay? Or are you keeping them from fighting or what are you doing? Well, basically what you're doing, you're looking for sickness in them. And you do the same thing out on the ranch. You'll find what you call respiratory, which isn't pneumonia. You'll find what to have. Diphtheria, which is real bad, they breathe hard and get the hunk and real loud. And you'll find foot rot. It's same on the ranch. You know, they get to have them cut a toe or they're facing wet whether you have what's called foot rot in them. And you have to doctor in port so they're just like you're me for foot hurts or something. We don't eat and we don't do well either. There are hospital pens. Yes, ma'am. That's obviously for the sick cows and things. Right.

But is that part of your job is to take care of that or is that a separate person that does the hospital pens? Most feed yards have a person hired to doctor. Okay. So because the use of the pain writers, we have to... You've got to count cattle for the show list. You count cattle coming in the yard. You bring in cattle to and from the processing crews. You can't take care of cattle that way. Because counting in the feed yard is very important. So you know where all your cattle's at as you're moving them around. And it's pretty easy to have a number of strays in the yard if you're not careful with it. Because they crawl from pen to pen and they dig holes and get here there and everywhere. Well, how long have you been doing this? How long have you been a cowboy? Did you start as a little kid? Yes, ma'am. I did. I grew up, like I said, right on the ranch with my dad and road doctor since I can remember. As soon as you can get on a horse, huh? Oh, yes. A lot of times you... If you don't ride a horse bad enough when you're small enough, you learn how to get on a horse. You learn them though.

It takes your time, but you can learn and lead up to a fence if you can crawl up on them. Get on them. Even as we get older, we learn them tricks. Because maybe someday somebody will want one by one of my horses. And if they can't quite figure out how to get on, they can lead them up to a fence and step up on them. And then when you get really older, like me, you need to lead them up to a fence again. And nothing wrong with that. Thanks to Clifford Lightcap for being here today. We'll look forward to visiting with Clifford again in the future when we talk about the paint horse, the Apollosa Horse, and the horse of a different color. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio, written and produced by Skip Mancini and Andrew Mahon. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture, or if you'd like to apply for Diploma, see our website www.hppr.org and join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Mancini, homegrown girl from the Heartland.

Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the Coast of Maine. Can you ever wonder if Sunflowers really follow the Sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. You know, Andrew water is such a precious resource, and I know agriculture folks are always trying to find ways to save it. And put it exactly where it's needed. But I have a couple of questions about things I see as a passerby that have me puzzled. For instance, every summer day when I drive into Garden City, I pass a big metal pipe sticking up about 12 feet at the end of an irrigated field of corn. Water sporadically gushes up from the pipe and spills out. Do you know why that happens? No, I don't have a clue. Well, I didn't either, so I went to a resident expert who's seen irrigation farming developed from ditch to pipe to sprinkler. Pete York, a farmer in Haskell County, says it's a vent pipe, and this is how it works. When wells are pumping water, not too many of the wells pump what we call clear water anymore.

It's kind of like a waterfall, and the air gets trapped in the water. And then when you pump that water out, it's got that air in it. And what that gushing is, is that the air bubbles separate from the water. What that does is it comes up there, and then that water is trying to go down the pipes, and that's what you call an air relief pipe, or a vent pipe. And what that does is vent air off of the underground irrigation line. What happens is that water gets trapped in there with the air, and the air is trying to escape, so it comes out the pipe. Some of the older systems, the concrete line, would not stand the pressures that the new plastic line does, and that's why the vent pipes are on there. That same thing is happening in your sprinkler wells and some of the others, but the air actually comes out through the pipe that's on the ground. That you can't see, or the air bubbles are trapped and coming out into the sprinkler.

Hey, I have a question about center pivot systems. They have those drop hoses that hang down right over the plants, and gently spray, and then raise up inch by inch as the crop grows taller. But lots of times, there's also a top trigger sprayer right at the end of the pipe that shoots water out several feet off the end. They often seem to wind up watering the highway in my car sometimes as I drive by. I guess that the drop hoses are there to conserve water, but why do they still use those trigger shooters on the end? Well, I know the answer to that one because I asked Skip Garner, our irrigation info source, and he gave me a quick lesson in the workings of sprinkler systems. The trigger sprayers are called end guns, and they're driven by water hydraulics. It used to take 70 or more pounds of pressure to make the pivot irrigation systems work, and to make the wheels turn and drive around in a circle. The new drop hose systems save water by being able to be lower to the plant, and thus there's less evaporation and more control of where the water goes. And they're also used because they take less pounds of pressure to work, only about 10 to 20 pounds, thus saving energy and pumping costs.

Another big change in irrigation methods is that the majority of sprinkler systems today are driven by electric motors. Now, as far as the single gun on the end, that's usually there if the farmer wants to stretch the area he's watering by shooting water out at the edge of the circle. By using an electric booster pump, the farmer can pick up extra feed and acres of growing space. But what about that water that sprays on my car as I drive by? Well, Mr. Garner explained that every manufacturer provides end gun shut off mechanisms to better control where the water goes. So your drive by shower may be the result of a shut off needing attention, or more likely the good old Kansas wind is to blame, as the most perfectly aimed sprinkler can't compete against 30 mile an hour wind. Boy, farming methods sure have come a long way since farmers first planted their crops and crossed their fingers and hoped for rain, haven't they? Indeed they have. Technology's working 24-7 to make farming more profitable and efficient. There's a field by our house that has an underground drip system, and it's hooked up to big tanks that mix fertilizer and water together for a kind of formula feeding.

But I guess that's probably another lesson for another day. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio, written and produced by Skip Mancini and Andrew Mahon. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture, or if you'd like to apply for a diploma, see our website www.hppr.org and join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Mancini, homegrown girl from the heartland. Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the Coast of Maine. Can you ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. Andrew, I'm on a field trip today at Hoskinson Implement in the Haskell County, Kansas.

And Ron Lucas is the co-owner. Ron, I'll tell you these machines are huge and they're just incredible. The tires are as high as my head on some of them. Let's fire one up and see how it sounds, okay? That is just incredible. The power of these machines is just amazing to me. And I see the numbers on them. What are the numbers mean, Ron? The numbers, the higher the numbers, the bigger the combine, the more capacity. The 9520 is a four wheel drive and it's 450 horsepower. The biggest in the industry today. 95.

8,000 series is a road crop tractor. 7,000 series is a utility tractor. 6,000 is a well-established utility. Then you get into the 5,000s and there are sub-utilities. What's in our mind is I have a John Deere and it's a 650. And they call that a subcompact. How do we call that a garden tractor? Almost, almost. Garden tractor is actually the next size lower than yours. Now there's a lot of names like Gleaner combines and Minneapolis Moline that you don't see anymore. But John Deere has been around a long time. A long time and it is the only... John Deere is the only single line that there is. They have not merged with anybody. Everybody else has merged.

See, case and international merged. Well, white was the old Minneapolis Moline and the Oliver Company. And then they took on the Alice Chalmers. So Agco is the Alice Chalmers as well. Case and international merged. Now then New Holland has... New Holland had bought Versatile and now then New Holland has bought Case. Case and international. So John Deere stands alone. You know one of the great things about being on a field trip is that you always learn a lot more than you think you're going to learn when you get there. Well John Deere did stand alone when he immigrated from Vermont all the way to Illinois in 1836. He immediately used his metalworking talents and set up a forge and a business that provided horseshoes to the local farmers. However, it was his developments of a special plow that brought him prosperity and opened the Midwest to farming. You see the rich sticky dirt of the plains made farming with a traditional cast iron plow a really tedious job.

As mud would stick to the surface of the blade and force the farmers to constantly stop and they'd have to clean the implements. But Mr. Deere designed a plow made of steel with a polished surface and this did the job in a much more efficient way. It was called a self scouring plow and by 1843 his company was making 400 plows a year. To keep up with this increasing demand for the product John Deere moved his business to Molene, Illinois where he could take advantage of the big Mississippi both for hydropower and for easier shipping using the river and a lot of old Indian trails that were being developed into roads. Today John Deere dealerships sell not only farm tractors and implements but scale model toys that are popular around the world. And Ron, looking over your stock inside the shop, I see that even big city dwellers can now have a John Deere tractor in the form of a lawnmower. That is a big business also. It really is.

Probably more lucrative than farm machinery because people are willing to pay retail price for lawnmowers and they're not for farm equipment. I'd like to sell a piece for retail. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio written and produced by Skip Mancini and Andrew Mahon. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture or if you'd like to apply for a diploma, see our website www.hpdr.org and join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Mancini, homegrown girl from the heartland. And Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the coast of Maine.

Can you ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. Skip, you remember you heard that old joke about how pork production uses everything but the squeal? Yeah. Well, it turns out I learned during a recent visit to a beef feedlot that they try to use everything but the moo. They put the cow chow in the one end and then they make the burgers and the steaks out of the middle. And then they even use the manure in a couple of neat ways. Well, they sell the manure to be used as fertilizer, don't they? Yeah, most of them actually give it away to farmers who only have to pay for the hauling. It goes from the pens and then they spread it on their fields. How often do they apply it? I don't put it on my garden every year because it can burn the plants if the concentration builds up to a high level. Well, it depends on how much is applied. See, at 15 tons an acre, they usually only spread it on about every three years. But some farmers put smaller concentrations on more often.

Now get this. Now, using a natural fertilizer like manure has some advantages in terms of putting trace elements back into the ground. And generally improving the soil structure. And you know, I've heard that it encourages the growth of earthworms and other... Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true too. But listen to this. They have another use that fielands have from manure. It's not just fertilizer. They also use it to keep the cattle warm during the winter months. You're kidding. No, not really. I asked Alan Hall. She's an expert. She's been part of the cattle feeding industry for years. And she told me all about it. There is enough heat in that, especially in winter time. You kind of like to have a pile out there. After the cattle go out, then usually that is scraped up. And actually the... And it's... It again is almost packed so that it isn't soft. And that gives heat to the animals. So that's possibly one of the things that keeps them from feeling the cold too much.

And I did not know that. The next time I drive by a feedlot and see a big old steer standing tall on a manure pile on the dead of winter, I don't know he's just warming himself. Like humans do when they hold their hands out to a radiator on a cold day. Yeah, Helen had one other explanation too, but I suspect it also might help the grass grow green. Of course, maybe they want to be king in the mountain too. Let's start to say. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plans Public Radio. Written and produced by Skip Man Scenie and Andrew Mahoney. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture, or if you'd like to apply for a diploma, see our website www.hpdr.org And join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Man Scenie, homegrown girl from the heartland.

And Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the coast of Maine. You ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. I've been wondering about something. Well, shoot, Skip. When I was growing up in Western Kansas in the 1950s, the primary crops were wheat and something called maize. What in the world is maize? Isn't it the same thing as mylo? And where does the term sorghum fit into all this? You know, my grandfather used to pour sorghum syrup on his pancakes. And what about... Wait a minute, wait a minute. I got you. I was confused, too. After all, I thought maize was corn. But I was talking to the experts, and so salty, who works in marketing for the Kansas Green Sorghum Producers Association, says we're not alone. Lots of people don't quite get it. Mylo is a feed grain crop that we grow here in Kansas. It has several names. Of course, we refer to it mainly as grain sorghum. Talk to your folks or grand folks,

and they might call it maize or combine maize. So we really do have an identity crisis. It's actually a crop that's native to Africa, and was brought to America on slave ships in the late 1700s. And coming from Africa, it came over with several names. Caffir, Stura, Caling, Higari. Of course, mylo. That's an African name. And as I was growing up, I called it maize. But what we call it today is grain sorghum. And Benjamin Franklin is credited with introducing the first grain sorghum crop to the United States. Now, we didn't really get into sorghum syrup, but she said, well, grain sorghum in Kansas, which produces about 40% of the nation's crop, turns into cow chow or livestock feed. She said in other countries it winds up on the dinner table. In Africa and Asia, grain sorghum is a staple food crop for people. Grain sorghum over in the United States is used primarily as a livestock feed, and also is used in the production of ethanol here in Kansas. Right now in the United States,

there are several varieties of grain sorghum that are very high in antioxidants, and really could become the next health food. In fact, there's a company that is test marketing a popped grain sorghum that they've actually put a caramel coating on, and it's very good. Of course, that's a food grade grain sorghum, which is a little bit different than a lot of the grain sorghum you see grown in Kansas, which is a feed grade. The food grade sorghum are bred, actually, for a lighter taste, to appeal more to the people who are eating it. So, just like the cows aren't real particular about the taste, we also shouldn't fuss over the names. Just remember that grain sorghum is mylo, is maze, and you can do lots of stuff with it. So, arose by any other name? Precisely, which also helps explain why the feed lots smell so sweet. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio, written and produced by Skip Mancini and Andrew Mahon. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture, or if you'd like to apply for a diploma,

see our website www.hppr.org and join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Mancini, homegrown girl from the heartland. Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the coast of Maine. Do you ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. Okay, Andrew, let's see how you do on a reverse spelling bee. Okay, I think I've got most of the acronyms, but I do need a review. Okay, here's an easy one. What does USDA stand for? United States Department of Agriculture. And FFA. Future Farmers of America. And what's CRP stand for? Conservation Reserve Program. And LDP. Well, the farm service agency is an agency of the USDA. It was organized in October of 1995.

And it replaced the agricultural stabilization and conservation service, ASCS, and the Farmers Home Administration, FMAJ programs. And now the agency's name has been changed to FSA. What's the story and the background on this switch? Well, the Farm Service Agency is an agency of the USDA. And the Farmers Home Administration, FMAJ programs. The FSA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has offices in just about every state and most agricultural counties. Okay, now here's a sneaky one. What does NAP stand for? NAP. Non-insured agriculture program. Close, but no cigar. NAP stands for non-insured crop disaster assistance program. And here's another government riddle. What is the acronym for emergency loan assistance? ELA? Nope. It's EM. I guess it stands for emergency money. Okay, here we go.

C-R-E-P. Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. C-C-C. Commonity Credit Corporation. AMTA. Agriculture Marketing Transition Act. PFC. Production Flexibility Contract. C-A-B. Crop-Agrage Base. K-I-S. Geographical Information Systems. And finally, SCM-I-I-T. Service Center Modernization Initiative Information Technology. Wow, you're just really good at this. Okay, let's move on to definitions. What is FinPAC? FinPAC is a financial planning and analysis system. It's designed to help farmers and ranchers understand their financial situation and help them make more informed decisions about their management. FinPAC can provide tools to effectively use farm records in making business analysis or long-range planning or cash flow planning. A typical analysis might involve putting together a base plan which would outline how the farm or ranch business is currently structured. And when that's done, an accurate base plan is developed,

then alternative plans for operation can be formulated. Very nice. Tell me about F-O loan programs. F-O stands for Farm Ownership. And there are two types, directing guaranteed. With either of these loans, a farmer can purchase farmland, build or repair buildings and other fixtures, promote soil and water conservation. Applicants have requirements that they have to meet, like having operated farm for at least three years, and they have to prove US citizenship and not be delinquent on any federal debt. The maximum direct F-O loan is 200,000 and guaranteed F-O loans can't be any larger than 717,000. Oh, and this is an interesting thing. There's also a youth project loan program available for rural kids between the ages of 10 and 20. It's designed to help kids establish and operate income-producing projects in connection with 4-H and FFA organizations. For more information, contact the USDA, FSA, F-O, Loanmaking Division in Washington, D-C. Or you can go to www.fsa.usda.gov

Well, Skip, we've got just about enough time left for a lunch at the Student Union. What do you say to a BLT? Oh, I think I'll have a nice hot bowl of alphabet soup. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio, written and produced by Skip Mancini and Andrew Mahan. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture or if you'd like to apply for diploma, see our website www.hppr.org and join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Mancini, homegrown girl from the Heartland. And Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the Coast of Maine. Can you ever wonder if sunflower's really follow the sun? And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask.

Join us now for Ag Basics 101. I love the class trip we took to tour the hydroponic greenhouse as near Monizuma, Kansas. How's your paper coming? It's due tomorrow. Yeah, it's okay. I mean, I'm almost there. I started out with a brief definition in history of hydroponics that hydroponics basically means growing plants without any soil just in a perlite mixture with applied water and nutrients and that it's believed to have been practiced by the Aztecs as long as 500 BC and then by the Babylonians in 600 BC. Oh yeah, there's also an interesting item in there too. I think this will get me some extra points. The military used hydroponics during World War II to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to troops who were stationed in the South Pacific. I started my report with a discussion of the efficiency of the system in terms of the water usage. You know, three gallons a minute is what's needed to keep 900 tomato plants in a single greenhouse growing and producing. Each plant grows in a four by four square container that's fed by drippers that give it water and fertilizers

about one minute out of each half hour. And of course, since productions year round, you have to throw in the costs of heating and cooling. That's true. The temperature must stay a constant 70 degrees with lots of sunshine to produce well. But that sunshine actually produces heat even on cold days. Supplemental heat is usually only needed on cloudy days when solar power isn't available. And during a summer heat wave, they use a big version of a swamp cooler with fans to keep moving the air. Of course, all this is on computers, so changes can be programmed automatically to take place as soon as the temperature drops or rises. You know, one of the things I was surprised about was the height of each plant. It'll look anything like mine. Those babies were eight feet tall and taking the right tomato is meant that you had to use a hydraulic lift on a cart rail system. That's because they grow in determinant tomatoes, the type that keep growing. The vines produce at the top, so the workers keep all the suckers and lower leaves removed and the vine just keeps growing to a length of 45 feet on a one-year plant. And that, of course, is the age that the vines are then removed

and replaced by seedlings that produce next year's crop. Yeah, they kind of look like great vines tied up and trailing all over those supports. But what was on those vines was definitely not grapes. Those great big beef steak tomatoes, vine ripened, but still picked while firm enough to take the handling and shipping of going to local markets. The thing I found most amazing about this whole process was the use of insects in the greenhouse. They can control any outbreak of pests with beneficial insects, instead of using chemical sprays. There were ladybugs, parasitic wasps and other spider mite predators that were on patrol. Oh, and the pollination is handled by bumblebees. 30 to 40 bees in a greenhouse can pollinate the 900 plants. They actually give them room and board providing a hive box and nectar syrup as a food source. You know, working in a hydroponig greenhouse wouldn't be all that bad. I guess the bees have it pretty good that constant ideal temperature, and there's never any wind or sweltering heat or bitter cold. But then I think about working with all those bumblebees and yikes. That might not be real nice.

Oh, not to worry, Andrew. Those bumblebees are bred to be mild, manored, and friendly. There are actually places that provide bumblebees specifically for uses greenhouse pollinators. Oh, would that be a cottage industry or maybe a hive industry? Well, whatever it's called, if I don't get this paper done before tomorrow, I'm going to get hives from worrying about it, or I'm going to get stung. See you later. Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio, written and produced by Skip Man Sceney and Andrew Mahoney. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture, or if you'd like to apply for a diploma, see our website www.hpdr.org and join us next time for Ag Basics 101. Hi, this is Skip Man Sceney. I'm going to grow from the heartland. Andrew Mahoney, a Yankee boy from the Coast of Maine. Can you ever wonder if sunflowers really follow the sun?

And what makes popcorn pop? For answers to anything you've ever wanted to know about agriculture? But we're afraid to ask. Join us now for Ag Basics 101. Skip, I was in the grocery store the other day, and I overheard this lady asking for bread, made from that new white wheat. Now, did I have new kind of wheat sneaking to the wheat state while I wasn't looking? Well, it's made it into Kansas as far as the experimental and testing stages. There is a white version of wheat that has the baking business buzzing, because it can produce a greater amount of flour than the well-known hard red winter wheat. It does this by allowing the grain of wheat to be milled closer to the brand without picking up tannin. Now, tannin, what's tannin? Tannin is what makes red wheat red, and it can cause bitterness in the flour, which isn't a good thing. So the white wheat has less tannin, thus producing a better, more abundant flour for baking. I thought wheat was wheat. I mean, are there a lot of different kinds? Oh, there are lots of different kinds for lots of different uses.

And talking with a farmer outstanding in his field in Northwest Kansas, I found out that there are lots of varieties of wheat that have been produced since the 1930s. Most of them came out of state university breeding research and carried colorful and optimistic names such as Eagle, Ike, Victory, and Thunderbird, or they're named for towns and universities like Newton, Vona, Larned. Oh, and there's a TAM-107 wheat for Texas A&M. In Kansas, there are currently five to seven kinds of wheat that make up around 90% of the crop, but more varieties are being researched and developed, including the white wheat strains. Although hybrid wheat has been developed, they've failed to prove economically viable. Kansas has long been known for its hard red winter wheat, brought over by Russian immigrants and used for bread baking because it has a high gluten content. Pastry chefs want a flower with lower gluten and a finer baked texture, so they opt for flour milled from spring wheat or soft wheat. And then there's Durham wheat, which is used for making pasta.

Now, do we grow spring wheat here in Kansas? We could, but most of it is grown in the Dakotas, where they have really bitter winters and hard red wheat can't survive. They sow the softer wheat in the spring and harvest it in the summer. For their sals on the high plains, we plant winter wheat in the fall, and it winters over, and we cut it the following summer. So when can the lady at the supermarket expect to buy bread made from this white wheat? Well, it may be a while. Although the wheat's been developed and tested, it's still in its infancy in terms of marketing channels. You see, because of the different properties of the different wheat, it's important to be able to keep them separated in terms of storing and shipping. Most of the older elevators around here weren't built to handle more than one major kind of wheat, and the red and white wheat's will have to be kept in their own rail cars when shipping to the mills. Right now, the infrastructure isn't in place for mass marketing the product, but you can rest assured that if white wheat is in demand, the industry is going to find a way to market it soon. You know, old-time jazz musicians used to use the term bread for money,

so I guess it's a matter of needing to make some bread before the housewife can bake some bread. Do you think that maybe everything in agriculture really comes down to raising the dough? Ag Basics 101 is a production of High Plains Public Radio, written and produced by Skip Mancini and Andrew Mahon. If you'd like answers to your basic questions about agriculture or if you'd like to apply for a diploma, see our website www.hppr.org and join us next time for Ag Basics 101.