Yes, it’s January: The official start to “Meeting Season.” We kick off today with West Ohio Agronomy Day at Fort Loramie. The Shelby County Cattlemen will be meeting tomorrow, the 9th, to plan for the annual banquet that will be held on Fat Tuesday in February. I’m expecting a few other items of business to come up as we look at the requirement for Beef Producers to become Beef Quality Assurance certified. There will be BQA trainings sometime this winter; I haven’t heard any details, yet, but I’ll keep you posted …
Friday, Jan. 12, is the Outlook Meeting being held at the Eagles in downtown Wapak, beginning at 9:30 a.m. If you haven’t yet signed up, give Auglaize County Extension a call at 419-739-6580.
Yes, our Evening Portion of West Ohio Agronomy Day, featuring strictly the Fertilizer Applicator and “Private” Pesticide Applicator Recertification trainings will be next Tuesday, Jan. 16, at the VFW Post here in Sidney – corner of Interstate 75 and County Road 25A. We begin with a light supper and market update at 5 p.m. followed by the trainings themselves at 5:30 p.m. The FertRecert will be the last topic covered; if you need only that, you are welcome to arrive at 8:30 p.m. We should have all the paperwork and stuff done by 10 p.m. If you still need to register, please call!
The Dairy Luncheon for January will be Wednesday, the 17th, featuring Dr. Mark Hardesty. He will be discussing Pre- and Post-Natal Calf Care to Maximize Milk Production. More details/reminder later.
West Central Ohio Weed Science Day will be held on Friday, Jan. 19, at the Palazzo in Botkins. This program begins at 10 a.m., includes lunch and should adjourn by 2:30 p.m. Aaron Hager from the University of Illinois will talk about waterhemp and Palmer amaranth biology and control, dicamba soybean and new products and technology, and Mark Loux will talk about managing weeds in non-GMO corn and soybean, and managing giant ragweed and marestail. Other topics to be discussed include weed identification and herbicide sites of action. Register by calling our office.
Additional Pesticide and Fertilizer Applicator Recertification trainings in January:
Mercer County will hold its training Monday, Jan. 22, at the Eagle’s Lodge on the east end of Celina. Pesticide Recert will be from 9 a.m. to noon with FertRecert from 1-2 p.m. $40 cost for both; $30 for pesticide, $10 for fertilizer. Contact Dennis Riethman at 419-586-2179 to register.
Auglaize County’s will be held Monday, Jan. 29, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at St. Joseph Parish Life Center in Wapak. The morning program will include guest speaker Laura Lindsey to talk about Maximizing Soybean Production. Costs are as above; lunch on your own. Preregister before Jan. 26 by going to Auglaize.osu.edu and following the link.
If none of these dates have worked for you, so far, and you’re interested in traveling east, Champaign County will be holding their training on Tuesday, Jan. 30, in Urbana. You can find details at Champaign.osu.edu, looking under the Ag and Natural Resources link.
Potential Master Gardeners: One more plug for our training class which begins March 1. Contact our office for more information and an application packet!!
So, yeah, January begins our “Meeting Season”! On top of these, let’s put in a three-day annual conference in Columbus, helping with other programs and other state meetings, and you can see why I’m busier this time of year! And, this is only January!
No, I’m not grousing!! It’s fun to be busy … and working with our cohorts to provide good programs for you, our clientele! Take care, be safe, and I’ll (plan to) be back next week!
