It was a beautiful day for a Field Day!

The temperature was perfect for a July day with a cool breeze blowing. The sky was a clear, deep blue as visitors took their seats on bales of hay and straw on tractor-drawn wagons to tour the Mucci Farm on Highway 1262 off Georgetown Road Thursday.

The only thing that would have made this Field Day better would have been a gentle rain that had been falling all night, one that softened dry, parched, and cracked fields and gave wilting plants a taste of water not drawn from ponds close to drying up.

"It's been a great day for the Field Day," said Keenan Bishop, local Extension agent for agriculture. "The only thing that would have made it better " and that's tough to say about a Field Day " would have been some rain."

Bishop's comments echoed those of others as he surveyed Field Day visitors queued up beneath a bright sun for the ribeye steak lunch.

In fact "The Drought of '07" was the talk of the day with two of the four "stops" on the tour focusing on how farmers can economically survive this double-whammy year of disaster with first the Easter freeze and now this. What for homeowners and home gardeners has become an "inconvenience" is teetering on catastrophe for those who produce our food and fiber.

Rita Jones, county executive director of the USDA/Farm Service Agency (FSA), talked about the possible government help in the form or low-interest loans for disaster losses.

"They're available now for 2005, 2006 and for things planted before Feb. 27 this year," Jones said, "but it's unlikely there'll be anything available from the federal government for this year's drought until next year."

She said her office, located on Lakeview Court but now only open on Wednesdays each week after the tobacco buyout, has money available for crops the federal government doesn't cover. She encouraged farmers to get in touch her office for more information. The number is 695-5203.

Jones said that for any farmers listening it's important for them to get insurance on their crops and livestock.

"Congress is trying to get away from dealing with "ad hoc disasters' like this," she said. "If you don't have insurance there are loans you won't be eligible for. Get the insurance and keep good records."

At another stop Glen Mackie, who described himself as a "cattle producer all my life and an Extension agent in the day," talked at length about getting cattle through the drought.

"The main thing is don't panic," Mackie said. "We have options but we have to exercise those options."
As Bishop has written in his column that appears on Sundays in the Spectrum section, Mackie talked about various feed options, weaning early and culling the herd of cows that have problems.

"This is not the year to try to rehabilitate bad cows," he said. "Culls are bringing a good price now so look over your herd and sell those that aren't helping you out."

He said with hay prices set to go through the roof, farmers would be best served to feed grain and cut way back on the hay rations, especially in the winter. "The cows might not get all they want to eat but they'll get what they need and that's what's important. As long as you can stand them bawling!"

In dry weather, he said, farmers need to watch what the cows are eating in the pastures, too.

"They're looking for anything to munch on now and there are some things that will make them sick " and others that will kill them almost immediately. Just look around your pastures to see what they're grazing on."

Mackie said we'll get through this just as we have other crises, counseling patience.

The first stop on the tour dealt with the use of insecticides on farm and garden crops. Dr. Lee Townsend, an entomologist from the University of Kentucky, talked about the use of pesticides and being particularly concerned about how long the product remains active on the crop and what it decomposes to as it breaks down.

"They don't just become hydrogen and oxygen," Townsend said. "Some even break down into other chemicals that are not acceptable."

He said buyers have strict guidelines about the last application of a pesticide before the plant is harvested, whether it's a tomato or a tobacco plant.

The final stop before the lunch featured Dr. Chad Lee, a grain specialist from UK. Admitting he's a traditional "corn, soybeans, and wheat man," Lee said he's getting a lot of questions these days about converting these crops to ethanol or biofuels.

"We're all abundantly aware of the cost of gasoline and our increasing dependence on foreign oil," Lee said. "Producing biofuels offers and alternative."

Probably hearing the collective growling of stomachs from the three wagons, Lee quickly went through his presentation.

"Essentially," he said, "the process is no different than what the Egyptians used to make beer thousands of years ago or how whiskey makers produce their products.

"We're getting more and more efficient at doing it all the time and we continue to fine tune and study the process and the products."

The lunch, as always, was delicious. I ate mine while sitting on the side of a wagon, leaning against a precious bail of hay, and "soaking up some rays!"

Even without any rain it was a great day at the Field Day indeed!