BEEF RED BOOKS AVAILABLE

You’ve got just enough time before Christmas to buy one of the beef red books at our office for $6.00 each. Yes, that’s right folks; you won’t want to miss out on deals like this, especially since we only have a few!
So much for the commercial but, once again this year, we will have the red beef cow-calf record pocket calendars for sale at $6 each. These make great Christmas gifts or stocking stuffers for the beef producer.
Just stop by at the corner of 12th and Baker in Great Bend, northwest corner of the intersection. Buy them as a gift or for yourself.
For more than twenty years, cattlemen have used the Integrated Resources Management (IRM) pocket red book to keep better records and track the profitability of their cow-calf operations. Some of the highlights of the 2011 book are calving records, Quality Assurance summary sheet, calf health records and more.
They have all kind of record keeping pages so that you can write down calf birth dates, ear tags, weights, shots or anything. Stop by our office today for your copies so that you will have them for Christmas.
IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR
Even though I am not much of a winter person, Christmas time is especially joyous if you can go to a few Christmas children’s programs, holiday get-togethers or see the kids open presents around Christmas.
It’s a week or so before Christmas when some of you read this but I wanted to get the message out ahead of time.
I always like to tie a Christmas song in with my column this time of year and no one can sing this Christmas song like Andy Williams.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle-belling
And everyone telling you
Be of good cheer
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
It’s the hap-happiest season of all (wonderful time)
With those holiday greetings
And great happy meetings
When friends come to call
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
There’ll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow (out in the snow)
There’ll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories
Of Christmases long, long ago
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
There be much mistletoe-ing
And hearts will be glowing
When loved ones are near
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
I hope and pray that your Christmas is like that and that you recognize the holiday for what it really is - the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. That’s my Christmas card for you.
SPRAYER SCHOOL
January will be here before you know it and I need at least 10 people signed up in advance before we will conduct the farm sprayer school that I mentioned last week.
It is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 5, We will have a chili and soup lunch and finish up around 2:30 p.m.
Dr. Bob Wolf from K-State Ag Engineering will be here and it will be held at the old 4-H Grounds north of Great Bend on Highway 281. We will be in the big 4-H building with plenty of heat. Dr. Wolf is retiring soon, so this may be the last sprayer event that we have for awhile.
Bob will talk about various nozzle tips and other keys to good application. We may have a farmer panel as well.
We hope to have continuing education credits of 3 hours.
The cost will be $10 per person and that is just to cover the lunch and miscellaneous. Please let me know as soon as possible if you plan to attend so we can decide if it will be worthwhile. You can send me an e-mail at rsnell@ksu.edu or call 620-793-1910 and leave a message.
FARM LEASE WORKSHOP    
On Jan. 20, we will be hosting Farm Lease Workshop at the Front Door Building in Great Bend. This will be a more in-depth workshop than some we have had in the past, as we hope to put you on the computer.
The workshop will be comprised of four parts. The first part will help participants better understand different rental arrangements, including cash rent, share rent, and the recently popular flex-rent arrangement, where rental rates can flex depending on changes in prices, yields, or both. The second part will include a discussion of ethics of leasing. The third section will provide computer training in using Excel spreadsheets. Finally, participants will be introduced to examples of alternative leasing scenarios and a decision-making tool, KSU-Lease, will be demonstrated. Participants will then have the opportunity to sharpen their skills via hands-on computer application sessions.
The $10 registration fee and application is due by Jan. 12. For more information, go to http://www.agmanager.info and click on lease workshops.
Rick Snell is the Barton County Extension Agricultural Agent for K-State Research & Extension. He can be reached at 620-793-1910 or rsnell@ksu.edu. The Barton County Extension Office is located at 1800 12th Street in Great Bend.