Marisa Morgan Dallman

The USDA Cooperating with the Kansas Department of Agriculture released its October All Farm Products Index of Prices Received by Kansas farmers today. Most prices are all up but still down from last year.

Wheat prices in mid-October, at $4.28 per bushel, are up 25 cents from September but $1.64 below last October.

All hay prices averaged $99 per ton in mid-October, up $1 from September but $12 lower than last year.

For more specific information and additional crop stats on corn, sorghum, and livestock please visit

www.nass.usda.gov/ks

It is that time of year again when deer start popping up on the side of the road especially here in Kansas. The expression... Deer in the Headlights... really made sense to me a few weeks ago. I was traveling down Highway 4 in Kansas just past dusk when I saw movement in the ditch and I slowed to about 20 mph. I saw two deer but they turned to go away from the road into the pasture and I thought I was in the clear and so I started to speed back up but at the last moment they bolted right into the road. I slammed on the brakes and I screamed "MOVE" (which now as an afterthought sounds ridiculous because I'm sure they didn't hear me) but the poor thing just stood there with the Deer in the Headlights look and frozen in time. I couldn't stop fast enough and then...there it was... I heard the dreaded sound....K-Thud.

After a second when I felt my heart restart I quickly turned on my flashers and jumped out to survey the scene. As I begin to search around I realized my truck was fine and no deer in sight. I must have clipped it. At this point I was beginning to wonder if I had dreamed the whole thing. I was in a hilly area on narrow roads so I had to get going before someone came over the hill and clipped me. Later when I reached my Dad's farm and told him the story I realized it sounded outrageous since there was no damage and other than the fact that I was still trying to catch my breath there was no evidence of the K-Thud incident where Deer had met Truck. Then my Dad reached up on my truck headline and pulled the deer hairs off. I have to admit I felt relief knowing there was evidence of my near miss.

In 2008, 9,371 deer-vehicle collisions were reported to the Kansas Department of Transportation and deer-vehicle collisions were reported in every county in the state. More details, including a map showing all accidents and deer accidents by county, may be found at the KDOT website, www.ksdot.org/burtransplan/prodinfo/2008factsbook/Deer.pdf

The statistics show that this time of year is when the most accidents occur. So be vigilant and watch the side ditches especially at dawn and dusk. Flashing your brights may help if you see them but remember they don't travel alone so watch for others even if you think you are in the clear. And I hope none of you hear the K-Thud.

Equine therapy has long been known to be therapetuic and healing especially for children and those who have suffered trauma. Kansas has its own equine healing program superstar. Scott Sinemetz of Healing Hearts Ranch in Great Bend Kansas trains horses. He also recently participated in the Mustang Heritage Foundation's Extreme Mustang Makeover in Fort Worth, Texas in September. This event takes mustangs and gives them to trainers for 100 days to train and work with them and then the horses compete. Immediately following the competition the horses are adopted and Stinemetz horse was adopted by Madeleine Pickens.

The Kansas hay and alfalfa market is trading slow and demand is moderate according to the Kansas Department of Agriculture-USDA Market News Service for the week ending October 20. Mostly I am hearing from landowners that the market is slow and steady.

The number of cattle on feed as of Oct. 1 in Kansas feedlots was approximately 2.22 million head.

Ranchers who had signed up for the Livestock Forage Diaster Program began receiving checks for losses from drought that effected stock grazing animals. For more information about this program visit your local FSA county office to apply.

The American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, i.e. the Stimulus Package, placed particular emphasis on green jobs and renewable energy. Solar and wind power are two viable renewable energy options for Kansas. The incentives available from the stimulus package will hopefully help expand growth in this industry especially in terms of creating a central transmission grid for Kansas wind power. Transmission seems to be the major challenge. There could also be some over speculation about how much wind Kansas really has especially when you look at the map done by the Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory. View the Kansas Wind Map at http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/maps_template.asp?stateab=ks

There is a lot of wind potential in the southwestern part of the state but the eastern part of the state is mostly in the fair zone for potential. Any major energy company is going to concentrate their efforts in that hot zones and it is foreseeable that any major transmission system would originate from the southwest part of the state. The American Wind Energy Association ranked Kansas number 9 in existing capacity ranked number 3 overall for wind energy potential which means there is room to build new wind farms.

For all the talk about wind energy development especially in Kansas it is important to remember that for a wind farm to be profitable or even worth building the site has to be windy. Not just every once in a while but consistently windy. Wind speeds need to be about 15mph on average at about 160 feet in the air. Another important point to consider is that many times the best wind sites are the furthest from the high energy demand areas. The energy may be able to be harnessed but there needs to be a transmission line to get it somewhere else. If your land is a good candidate for wind potential you may consider a small home use wind turbine to tap into this green energy potential for your own use. Wind energy demand is growing and with tax credits and other incentives it will hopefully become more mainstream; however many challenges still remain with transmission.