First of all, I’d like to say “Thank you” to all our road workers: township, county, state, towns and cities. It’s been quite a busy few weeks with all the snow and ice! I, and I’m sure others, truly appreciate your dedication to making sure our roads are passable and as safe as possible in this weather. Thank you! Of course, my observations indicate that you’ll probably be busy next spring/summer, too: I’m seeing a tremendous number of potholes …

Just a quick Shout-Out that the Shelby County Cattlemen’s Association will be holding their Annual Banquet on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at the Houston Community Center. Prime rib dinner will begin at 5 p.m. The featured speaker will be Aaron Heilers, project manager of the Blanchard River Demonstration Farms Network. The cost is $25, pre-sale by Feb. 9; $30 at-the-door. You can make your reservations by sending a message to [email protected].

There will be a program on Balance Sheets and Record Keeping: More Valuable Now Than Ever on Wednesday, Feb. 21, from 6:30 to 8:30.m. in the downstairs meeting room at the Auglaize County Administration Building. With tight budgets, using and maintaining balance sheets is very critical to knowing what is profitable. Register before Feb. 19, by calling 419-739-6580.

Additional Pesticide and Fertilizer Applicator Recertification trainings coming up in our area of the state include the following: Campaign County will be holding theirs on Tuesday, Jan. 30, in Urbana. The FertRecert will be from 8 to 9 a.m. with the Pesticide Training from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cost is $10 for FertRecert, $30 for Pesticide; $40 for both.

Union County will be holding two different programs: Thursday, Feb. 15, at their office in Marysville with the Pesticide Training from 1 to 4 p.m. and FertRecert from 4 to 5 p.m. and also Friday, Feb. 23, in Plain City; 9 a.m. to noon for Pesticide Training and 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. for FertRecert. Costs are $10 for FertRecert, $30 for Pesticide Training; $40 for both.

Darke County’s program will be on Monday, Feb. 19, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Both Pesticide and FertRecert trainings will be offered. The cost is $40. For any of these programs, you can go to https://pested.osu.edu/Recert/topofohio for more information and registration links.

Now, for a quick update on West Ohio Agronomy Day: We held our evening session last week and I’ve finally got stuff out of the car, but not put away! Between the two programs, we had 99 Private Pesticide Applicators, 12 Commercial Pesticide Applicators, and 113 Fertilizer Applicators get their recertification credits. We had another 60 at the Monday program just for the “Fun, Food, Fellowship, and Lots of Information.” I thank all of you who braved some of the worst weather since I’ve been here to attend these programs. We hope to bring good stuff next year, too!!

It’s thanks to our sponsors that we have all that “Good Stuff.” Here’s a Giant Thank You to this year’s sponsors: From the Ground Up Ag Service in the Botkins/Anna area, Lena Ag Center from Conover, Shelby County Farm Bureau, Farm Credit Mid-America, Otte Ag from Maria Stein, New Ag Horizons from Minster, Precision Agri-Services and Precision Agri-Services Planter and Technology Service from Minster, Fertilizer Dealer Supply from Anna, Bambauer Fertilizer & Seed from Jackson Center, Ohio Soybean Council, Koenig Equipment from Anna, Seed Consultants, Cargill, and Ohio Corn and Wheat.

I’d like to think I could rest and catch up a bit after this past week, but not so! I’ll be presenting at the Mercer (today) and Auglaize Pesticide Recertification events (next Monday) and we’ve got our Annual Conference in Columbus this week. Maybe by the end of January I’ll be able to catch my breath!