A few years ago, a friend of mine was out in the back yard and noticed one of his trees had some odd orange growth all over its trunk. He was worried that the tree had become engulfed with some tree-eating fungus. Well, it was nothing as sci-fi as that but guessing it might be a fungus wasn’t so far off the mark. His tree had lichen growing on it. 

Lichen can be a little strange looking but it’s nothing to worry about. Actually, it is a rather interesting organism. Lichen is a symbiotic union between a fungus and an alga and/or cyanobacterium. The fungus gives structure to the partnership whereas alga provides food through photosynthesis.

Thousands of lichens have been catalogued throughout the world with roughly 3,600 found in North America. Lichens are grouped based on their color and growth habit. Their color palette includes white, gray, green, red, yellow, orange, and black while their growth habit divides them into four main categories: foliose, fruticose, squamulose and crustose. In a nutshell, foliose has slightly raised, flattened leaf-like structures, fruticose is upright with more branch-like structures, squamulose has a scale-like shape and crustose is flat, forming a crust-like covering over the surface it grows on.

Raising calves is a huge expense on any dairy farm and getting them off to a great start is important in cold weather as much as warm weather. Cold stress can increase the risk of disease in pre-weaned calves. Additionally, growth rates can plummet during the cold months unless we provide energy through a higher plane of nutrition or preserve energy by improving the calf’s environment. The thermoneutral zone is the temperature range where calves use no additional energy to maintain their core body temperature. A calf is born with only two to four percent of body weight as fat. If forced to burn fat to maintain body temperature, calves will typically have lower growth rates or compromised immune status. If not managed well, death rates in calves are higher during cold weather.

Temperature

Older calves can tolerate colder temperatures than calves less than one month old. The lower critical temperature in a calf less than one month of age is 48°F versus 32°F for an older calf. When temperatures drop below the lower critical temperature, calves will begin to use more energy to maintain their core body temperature and less to support growth and the immune system. Younger calves have more surface area and weigh less than the older calves, causing them to lose body heat quicker.

Pesticide Applicator Trainings 

Jerry Clark

Crops & Soils Educator

Chippewa, Dunn & Eau Claire 

UW-Madison Extension

Training manuals are only available for purchase through the University of Wisconsin Pesticide Applicator Training state office in Madison. Local county extension offices do not have manuals for sale for any training category. You need to purchase your training manual from the state office https://patstore.wisc.edu/secure/collection/private/17 and scroll down to the Private Applicator Training section and then “General Farming”, “Fruit Crops”, or “Greenhouse and Nursery. If you need to order via a paper form to order your manual, please contact the Extension Office.

Cost is $40.00 for the training manual. When you receive your training manual, you will also be provided more information about training options. These training options are also listed below. You must purchase the manual before taking any training or testing options.

Live Training / Review Sessions. These one-day sessions are meant to be a general review of material in your manual and DO NOT cover everything that might appear on the certification exam. At the end of the review session, the certification exam will be given. You can sign up for sessions in the online store. Space is limited. All start times are 9:00am. You need to register to attend these locations at https://patstore.wisc.edu/secure/collection/private/45 cost is $10.00

January 24 – Augusta-Bridge Creek Fire Department, 745 Industrial Dr., Augusta

February 5 – CDR Farms, 19769 85th St, Bloomer

February 15 - Dunn County Government Center, 3001 US Hwy 12 E, Menomonie

February 27 - Dunn County Government Center, 3001 US Hwy 12 E, Menomonie

March 12 - Chippewa Valley Dairy Supply, 6055 County Rd G, Stanley

Manure Processing Technologies

Fresh Cows: Fetching the Cow and Blood Money

Upcoming Webinar Information

December 19 topic is “Udderly efficient: management strategies for optimal performance.”  Join Faith Reyes and Carolina Pinzón, newly appointed statewide Dairy Outreach Specialists at the University of Wisconsin – Madison Division of Extension, who will be presenting this webinar to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of effective dairy animal handling, grouping strategies and their impact on efficiency in the parlor and beyond.

Farm Pulse: Crop Insurance and Grain Marketing

Chippewa County Extension Office

(715) 726-7950

Dunn County Extension Office

(715) 232-1636

Eau Claire County Extension Office

(715) 839-4712

An EEO/AA employer, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title VI, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act requirements.