Pasture Management Session To Be Held In Corning

Feb 17, 2017

By Joe Sellers

Recent warmer temperatures, muddy field and feedlot conditions, and moderate weather conditions offer reminders that spring is on the way. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach beef specialist Joe Sellers encourages beef producers to begin thinking about their grazing plans.

“It’s time to start planning improvements to your pasture systems," Sellers said. "The Iowa cow herd is growing, and managing feed and forage resources is a key to profitability."

One early opportunity for planning is a pasture management session, "Spring Grazing – Opportunities and Management Needs," Feb. 27, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Corning Public Library.

Topics to be covered and presenters

Grazing cover crops - Erika Lundy, Iowa Beef Center program specialist
Double cropping corn silage and rye silage, cover crops for cattle feed - Tony Mullen, producer
Preventing grass tetany, spring parasite control - Chris Clark, Iowa State Uiversity Extension and Outreach beef specialist
Renovating, improving pastures - Sellers, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach beef specialist

The library is located at 603 9th Street. Go three blocks west of Casey’s to Benton Avenue, then turn right (north) for three blocks.

Source:iastate.edu

Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.