PROGRAM INFORMATION

EQIP, WHIP, WRP, CREP, CONTINUOUS CRP and SAFE:  Applications for funding assistance or annual payments can be taken at your local USDA Service Center.  The EQIP Local Work Group will be meeting July 23 to discuss the EQIP program for 2009.

NSWCP: Applications for cost-share assistance can be taken any time at your local NRCS office.  July 29 is the application cutoff date in order to be reviewed for approval at the TBNRD's August meeting.  Flow meter and non-irrigation applications will be reviewed in August.  Irrigation practices and all other applications will be reviewed in September.  As a side note, flow meters cost-shared through NSWCP are required to read in acre-inches and cannot have a resettable totalizer.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

July 20-24: Phelps County Fair
July 30 - Aug. 2:  Gosper County Fair
July 30: No-till Whirlwind Expo near Plainview, Neb. Go to No-Till.org or call 1-888-330-5142 for more information and registration.
Aug. 4: CNPPID Board of Directors meeting, 9:00 AM
Aug. 12: TBNRD Board of Directors meeting, 1:30 PM
Aug. 19: Irrigation field tour southwest of Loomis, 10:00 AM to 1 PM.  More information to come.

Water to the Crops per Pivot Turn?

How much water are you actually getting to the crops with one circle of the pivot?  The answer to this question starts with your flow meter.  Knowing this answer will give you more accurate information that can be used in your irrigation water management program.  With crop prices where they are, one would not want to rob the crop of water.  With fuel prices where they are, one would not want to pump more water than what is needed.

So, with your flow meter, the first thing to do is to determine the rate at which water is being pumped through the irrigation system.  If a propeller-type flow meter is being used, you need to time the odometer to get a more accurate pumping rate.

I have worked up two examples that are shown below.  One example is for a flow meter that reads in gallons and the other is for a flow meter that reads in acre-inches.  In these examples, we will only work with the acres under the nozzles since that's where the majority of the crop is located.

If you would like to know how much water you are applying and do not have a flow meter or just have some questions about this, you can call Curtis Scheele at 308-995-6121, ext. 3.

ACROSS THE TRI-BASIN NRD

Dryland, No-till and Grass Field Checks Under Way

This week we started the annual field checks for dryland, not-till and grass contract obligations for EQIP contract holders.  These checks will continue on into August.  This past spring, EQIP contract holders received a reminder letter with a map indicating which areas needed to be dryland, no-tilled, or have grass maintained.  Failure to comply with your EQIP contract could result in termination, repayment of funds, and/or penalties.  NRCS staff or summer interns will be out completing these field checks on EQIP contracts not yet expired from 2003 through 2008.

If you have any questions related to this or anything else about your EQIP contract, contact your local NRCS office at the address or phone numbers listed below.

Stage of Growth:

Corn (8-leaf (V8) to silking (R1) stage):  Corn at 8- to 12-leaf stage is taking moisture from the second foot of root zone.  Early tassel and silking is taking moisture from the third foot of root zone.  Environmental stress, especially moisture stress, at the silking stage causes poor pollination and seed set.  Stress will usually result in a nubbin, an ear with a barren tip.

Soybeans (Third node (V3) to full bloom (R2) stage): Third node soybeans are taking moisture from the second foot of root zone.  Soybeans in the full bloom stage are taking moisture from the two-and-a-half foot root zone.  Irrigating before beginning pod (R3), espcecially when starting with a full soil moisture profile, can result in too much water which leads to taller, leafier plants that are more prone to diseases.  Once at R3, stress from moisture, light, nutrients, etc., through full seed (R6) will reduce yields more than at any other time.

Irrigation:

Irrigation has definitely started with corn.  Some have been irrigating soybeans and others have not.  Timely rains continue to provide moisture in places, yet appears to be shut off in other locales.  As a general rule, it's drier to the south and west part of the TBNRD and wetter the more north and east you go.  I heard on the weather report that this pattern of periodic storms that we have been in since spring is still present, so it sounds like we can continue to plan for precipitation.  I have no idea how quickly that might change.  So far it appears to be a year that, if one does a good job of scheduling irrigations, you might be able to eliminate an irrigation or two, meaning more money in your pocket.

Lake McConaughy is at 41.0% capacity versus 33.7% a year ago. Inflows to Lake McConaughy are 175 cfs compared with 234 cfs a year ago.  Flows in the South Platte River at North Platte are 150 cfs compared with 233 a year ago.  You can track these flows on Central's web site.

Rainfall:
The following rainfall amounts (inches) come from NeRAIN which can be found at NeRAIN.

Nebraska Water Management Demonstration Network (NAWMDN) Crop ET Information
Additional atmometer sites and Weather Station Data can be found on CNPPID's website

Inches of Crop Water Use (ET) = Evaporation x Kc

Crop Coefficients (Kc)

Additional ET Information Sites:

KRVN radio broadcasts
KRVN.com
Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District
Water Use Hotline: 1-800-993-2507

Check out these web sites:

"Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON television?" - Anonymous

If you would like to receive this newsletter via e-mail, or have any questions, comments or ideas, feel free to contact Curtis Scheele at the NRCS office in Holdrege or your local NRCS office at the addresses or phone numbers listed below.

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