Plant of the Month Eastern Red Cedar Juniperus virginiana L. See more plants > Implement of the Month Weed Wiper See more implements   > >See livestock equipment

Wow! What a ride it has been for all of us in the commodity businesses this year: fertilizer, grain, feed, cattle, carbon, fuel...

The Agriculture Division 2009 Calendars are in the mail as well as the little "Red Books" for livestock producers.

As this message is being prepared, we need to remind ourselves that in spite of the 0.03 inches of rain over the past few days, it is still very dry. An important item to consider is planning and implementing a prescribed burn. Even if you have no other goals for a burn, you may want to consider one for the purpose of reducing fuel before the possible event of a wildfire. Probably the most important part of implementing a prescribed burn is proper training and experience. To help with that, we have some prescribed burn workshops planned at the Noble Foundation. We also plan to conduct actual prescribed burns in the Ardmore area so you can obtain a hands-on experience. Feel free to contact us if you are interested and need more information.

All of us on the NF-1 team wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happier New Year!

What is AgExchange?
AgExchange is a web site hosted by the Noble Foundation providing our cooperators with an environment designed to help them interact with our consultants and to give them easy access to information beneficial to their farm or ranch. AgExchange is located at http://www.noble.org/AgExchange/ and can only be accessed by Noble Foundation cooperators.

Access your Information
- Forage tests
- Soil tests
- Maps to your properties
- Recommendations

Contact your Team
AgExchange provides you direct contact information for each of your team members, including phone numbers, email addresses, specialty areas, and photos.

Read the Latest Articles
Each month our specialists write new articles for Ag News & Views, our monthly newsletter. View the newest articles in the "Recent Articles & Publications" section or search our archived articles for something written in a previous year.

Use our Agricultural Tools
Choose from over 20 calculators designed to help you with your operations. Categories include agricultural economics, horticulture/gardening, livestock, pasture and range, soil and crops, and wildlife and fisheries. These simple, interactive tools allow you to enter data that you know to find answers that you need.

View your Management Calendar
Our consultants create a wall calendar every year with recommendations for our various consultation areas. With AgExchange, you can view a customized version of this calendar with the ability to filter out consultation areas that do not apply to you. The AgExchange home page will automatically show you the current month's recommendations, but you also have the ability to search previous and future months.

Add Favorites to your Dashboard
If you find something on the AgExchange site that you want to keep at your fingertips, you can use our new dashboard feature. Add your favorite documents or articles, agricultural tools, or (coming soon!) links to external agricultural web sites. Be sure to use our five-star rating system to tell others what you think of our articles, and send feedback to our specialists.

Register for Events
AgExchange lists all of our upcoming events, including cooperator-only events, and allows you to register online. For those events that require payment, you are given the option of paying by credit card or paying by check upon arrival. Make sure you don't miss out on an event of interest to you and your operation by checking AgExchange frequently.

Read the Latest Agricultural News
AgExchange gives you the ability to read the latest agricultural news from industry sources right on our home page. Choose from 20 sources including: Brownfield Ag News, Purdue Agricultural News, Texas A&M University Agricultural News, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, USDA Economic Research Service, and others. Some news providers update content daily, so be sure to come back often.

Keep up with the Local Weather
The Noble Foundation knows how important the latest weather is to the success of your operation, so AgExchange includes links to the latest weather right at your fingertips. Change the zip code to the location of your ranch and keep up-to-date.  

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What To Do With Extra Grass by Chuck Coffey
7 ratings:
With the much appreciated rains we received in August, available forage for grazing in the fall of 2008 is more abundant than we expected. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

Articles by Lori Heman


Articles by Jim Johnson

Eragrostis tef - Is it a Viable Forage Alternative? by Jim Johnson
Eragrostis tef is a warm-season annual grass from Ethiopia related to lovegrass. It has historically been grown in northern Africa for the seed, which is used to make bread. In the United States, teff is being promoted for forage and grain.

Articles by Dustin Oswald

Profit Potential in Wheat for Grain by Eddie Funderburg and Dustin Oswald
5 ratings:
Since it looks like wheat may be $8 per bushel at harvest in 2009, many producers are considering planting it strictly for grain. This can be profitable in some situations with good management, cost control and high yields. Unfortunately, costs have increased at a very fast pace and have diminished profit margins.

Articles by Russell Stevens

Basic Wildlife Habitat Management Makes "Cents" by Russell Stevens
3 ratings:
Food plots and feeders are intensive management practices and, while widely used, they are not real habitat improvement practices in most cases. Usually, they only work as supplemental feeding to concentrate wildlife populations for improved harvest success or observation.

Did You See Many Bucks This Fall? by Russell Stevens
Among deer hunters, this is a common question each year. Answers range from subtle facts to outright hyperbole. The commonality is that most deer hunters dream of taking a big buck home or at least seeing several bucks that they can pass and allow to grow larger.

Articles by Steve Upson

Necessity Leads to Hoop House Invention by Steve Upson
7 ratings:
During my tenure with the Noble Foundation, I've had the opportunity to meet many innovative growers. I met one such person this past September on the farm of Tod and Jamie Hanley at a hoop house conference sponsored by the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

Articles by Robert Wells

Interesting Times for Cattle Economics by Robert Wells
9 ratings:
There is an old Chinese curse that says, "May you live in interesting times." The current era in the livestock industry is about as interesting as most of us can stand. I believe we are in the midst of a paradigm shift. The cattle industry of tomorrow will almost certainly look different than it has in recent years.

Take Care of Your Heifers and They Will Take Care of You by Robert Wells
10 ratings:
About the end of every year, beef producers have sold the last calf crop and have a few weeks or months of relative calm before calving season starts. It is easy to become complacent about the cow herd and the replacement heifers, but if you don't take care of them now, they will not be able to take care of you in the future.