A choice of three tours is available for those attending field day at the University of Wyoming's James C. Hageman Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center (SAREC) near Lingle Thursday, July 22.
Tours include research of dryland crops, irrigated crops and livestock. All tours begin at 9:30 a.m. following breakfast starting at 8 a.m. A noon lunch will be served.
The tours end at 11 a.m. and are followed by presentations about skin cancer and agriculture, the new wind turbine at the site and energy efficiency and renewable energy and a demonstration of an oilseed crusher and bioreactor.
The wind turbine was built for those interested in residential wind power, says John Ritten, who conducts production economics/systems analyses at SAREC.
"We are connected to the grid via net-metering," says Ritten. "Currently, it will not power a very large portion of our electrical usage, but it is the size that will cover a significant portion of a small residential building."
A seminar by Manjula Bandara presenting fenugreek as a multipurpose legume crop immediately follows lunch. Bandara is leader of the Pulse and Special Crops Program at Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. Fenugreek is a specialty crop used as an herb and spice. Studies show fenugreek can decrease cholesterol levels in the liver and blood plasma, reduce blood sugar levels and is a breast milk stimulator. Fenugreek has potential to be used as animal feed.
Highlights of the three tours include:
Dryland crops -- Winter annual peas as a complement to winter wheat; Proso millet variety trial; medic regeneration; management of herbicide-resistant kochia.
Irrigated crops -- Fenugreek, a specialty crop establishment in southeast Wyoming; turfgrass performance under irrigated and dryland conditions; forage legumes establishment; grass-legume mix may mitigate nitrogen cost; disease resistance in sugar beets and potatoes; weed control in dry beans with Valor herbicide; mitigating iron deficiency in dry beans with grass intercrops; effect of early season crop stress on nutrition of sweet corn.
Livestock research -- Wyoming Hereford Association bull test; impact of calf weaning date and backgrounding management on quality grade; SAREC ag systems project - soil organic matter dynamics of organic, reduced input and conventional management approaches on beef-calf, forage and cash crop production, and quantifying production and identifying the economic and marketing parameters that influence the long-term viability of organic cash-crop production.
For more information, call (307) 837-2000. SAREC is 2.5 miles west of Lingle on Highway 157 (www.uwyo.edu/uwexpstn/SAREC/Location.htm).
