Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Farm & Home News

As spring calving season approaches weather is sure to be cold and inconvenient. The main goal of cattlemen during calving season is to get the calf crop on the ground and off to a good start.

The following are some helpful hints that may be useful during this year's calving season:

Have cows and heifers in a calving pasture close to the working facilities.

Have your veterinarian's telephone number handy in the event calving problems develop.

Help the cow if there is an abnormal presentation or the cow is in hard labor for more than one hour.

If assistance is given to the cow or heifer at birth give her an antibiotic shot to decrease the risk of infection in the reproductive tract.

Keep some frozen colostrum on hand for weak calves that may not have nursed.

Identify calves at birth with an ear tag.

As cows calve move them to another pasture so they can be fed and managed as nursing cows.

UPCOMING EXTENSION

PROGRAMS

We are in the process of planning the Tri-County Beef Cattle Conference. This year's meeting will be held at Nashville in March. Details concerning the conference will be in future newsletters and newspaper articles.

The private applicator's pesticide training that was scheduled December 14 was cancelled due to weather conditions and power outages. We have re-scheduled this training for Thursday, February 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the Nevada County Cooperative Extension Service office in Prescott.

If you have any questions concerning either of these programs call the Extension office at 887-2818.

STORM DAMAGE

UPDATE

Many landscape trees throughout the county were damaged by the recent ice storms. Storm damage to these trees can range from relatively minor damage with only the smallest branches being injured to splitting of the trunk and uprooting of the tree.

While minor injuries seldom result in permanent damage to the tree severe injuries can increase a tree's susceptibility to insect and disease attack ultimately killing the tree. Therefore, the best thing a person can do is to properly treat and repair the tree by some method of pruning to attempt to maintain the health of the tree.

The following are some categories of storm damaged trees that have the best chance of surviving for now and can wait to be harvested later:

Trees with broken tops which still have four or more live limbs remaining;

Trees leaning less than 45 degrees;

Wind-blown trees with roots still in the ground;

It is best to have a professional prune large trees, because they have the proper equipment to do these jobs safely. However, if the homeowner decides to prune trees there are a few things to remember.

For trees with tops broken out remove the broken snags down to the next major interior branch.

Try not to top the tree. Topping the tree will result in branches that are weak and prone to future damage.

If a tree is only partially damaged pruning the damaged branches can restore the tree. Correct pruning is the best thing one can do for the tree. Improper pruning will only cause more damage to the tree, weakening it further by exposing a larger area of the tree to decay organisms.

If trees are removed and replaced with new trees one should consider some of the following before planting a new tree.

Rapid growing trees are particularly susceptible to storm damage due to brittle wood, and can be easily broken.

These characteristics should be considered and this type of tree should not be planted close to buildings, utility lines, etc., where potential damage could occur.

If such trees are already growing in these locations, some preventative practices, such as pruning, bracing or cabling may reduce the potential of storm damage.

It is also helpful to know the approximate size and shape of the tree when mature. This will help to determine where to plant a tree to minimize pruning due to interference with utility lines, branches rubbing against a house or other buildings.

If more information is needed contact me at 887-2818.