Ohio Farm News
By Roger Bender

West-central Ohio beef cattle farmers annually enjoy an event that does an exceptional job in feeding the body and the mind. The Sept. 7 Shelby County Cattlemen’s Fall Roundup should attract anyone who likes to eat beef, manage cattle or grow crops.

Tri-Lane Farm, located at 3499 Fessler-Buxton Road (just west of State Route 48) in Russia will welcome all comers to this year’s 7 p.m. Fall Roundup. The Art Ayers family invites everyone out to see their Limousin cow-calf operation, cattle handling facilities, hay barn designed for brood cows and dry stack manure storage barn.

The Shelby Soil and Water Conservation District will provide EQIP information for structures. An excellent lineup of speakers is slated for the evening meeting.

Andy Mack, from the Tri-County Veterinary Service, is Tri-Lane Farms’ herd veterinarian. Dr. Mack’s presentation will detail recommended vaccination protocol for beef producers, essential for animal well-being and farm profitability. In essence, participants can review the Tri-Lane Farm herd health plan, which has worked well for the operation.

Always popular at the Fall Roundup, the segment on feed pricing/grain marketing is sure to generate numerous questions. Jerry Meyer, grain merchant from Cargill, Inc., and Randy Broady, in a similar position at Trupointe Cooperative, plan to share their perspectives on corn, soybean meal and distillers grain values, as well as entertaining challenging viewpoints from farmers in attendance. Gaining insight from competing grain marketers should be advantageous to all.

By now, cattlemen who have attended previous roundups are probably wondering “Where’s the Beef?” – that is, what about the beef ribeyes provided to everyone who comes? No doubt, the grilled ribeye sandwiches will again satisfy hungry farmers, with this year’s menu supplemented by Tri-Lane Farm Limousin Beef, a private label canned meat great for sandwiches. A freewill donation will be accepted to help cover the costs of the meal.

So, have you decided to come? For a map and agenda, check out the website http://shelbycountycattlemen.com

If you need to fine-tune your sense of direction that evening, feel free to call Art Ayers at 937-726-2112. See you there!

By the way, be sure to keep an eye on your soybean fields. As leaves yellow, chewing insects often migrate to more succulent green pods.

Grasshoppers and bean leaf beetles are busy now near the edges of many area soybean fields.

If economic thresholds are exceeded, requiring treatment, it is mostly likely to occur in later maturing fields. Green and brown stink bugs are becoming more common, which could increase feeding levels.

Want to know more? Check out Ohio’s CORN newsletter at http://corn.osu.edu

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Roger Bender may write to him in care of this publication.