Four new PNW Extension Bulletins on forage grasses are now available. They are PNW 5O1&emdash;Annual Ryegrass, PNW 502&emdash;Orchardgrass, PNW 503&emdash;Perennial Ryegrass, and PNW 504&emdash;Tall Fescue. These bulletins have a similar format and cover identification, areas of adaptation, uses, varieties, establishment, fertility and pH requirements, cutting and grazing management, and pest control. For more information and/or to purchase a copy, contact the Pasco WSU Extension office at 509-545-3511.

Information From Tom Hoffman, WSDA Chemigation and Technical Assistance Program, and Tom Woods, Washington State Patrol, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officer: transporting pesticides and fertilizers is serious business and it pays to know the rules. As of October 1998, the state's hazardous materials regulations apply to fertilizers, pesticides, soil amendments, and fuels transported within Washington. Before that date, the rules applied only to individuals who shipped or transported these materials between states. This means growers need to comply with the state's hazardous materials regulations when transporting any of these products during the course of business.

The state's hazardous materials regulations set forth requirements for packaging, labeling, placarding, completing paperwork, responding to an emergency or spill, and training handlers. If transporting ag products between fields of the same farm, or to and from a farm using local roads, a farmer is exempt from some of the hazardous material regulations. However, the ag materials must support a farming operation, and the farmer must be an intrastate private motor carrier. Flammable and non-flammable compressed gases do not quaIify for this exemption. When transporting ag products to or from a farm within a 150-mile radius, growers are exempt from the emergency response and training requirements. However, they must be:

• Transporting no more than 502 gallons of a liquid or gas ag product, or 5070 pounds of a solid ag product

• Transporting no more than 16,094 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer&emdash; in a bulk container.

• Transporting a formulated liquid ag product in specification package of 58 gallons or less with closures manifolded to a closed mixing system and equipped with a positive dry-disconnect device.

• Or be licensed as an intrastate private motor carrier.

If growers meet these conditions, they are only required to have the appropriate shipping papers and placarding on the vehicle. They do not need to have an emergency response plan in place or fulfill the training requirements. Grower's still must follow proper incident reporting requirements in case of a spill. Packaged hazardous materials purchased from a retailer should be in packages that meet the hazardous materials requirements. The retailer is responsible for providing shipping papers and placards, if required. in all circumstances, packages of hazardous materials must be closed, secured against movement and protected against damage. For more information, contact Woods at 509/734-7029.

Purdue University researchers have come up with yet another reason to "get" milk.

In a two-year study of 54 women ages 18 to 31, the researchers found that higher calcium intakes may reduce overall levels of body fat and slow weight gain for women in this age group.

And women who consume calcium from dairy products, or who consume at least 1,000 milligrams per day, may reap the most benefits.

"Our study is the first to show that, when overall calorie consumption is accounted for, calcium not only helps keep weight in check, but can be associated specifically with decreases in body fat," says Dorothy Teegarden, assistant professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue.

She presented her findings April 20 in Washington at a conference of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

The women in the study were within normal weight ranges and followed no specific diet, Teegarden says. Dietary intake was assessed by diet records, and participants' body composition was measured using a method called dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, which provides measurements of muscle and fat mass of different areas of the body.

The researchers found that the women in the study who daily consumed less than 1,900 calories and at least 780 milligrams of calcium either had no increase in body fat or lost body fat mass over the two-year period. The women who consumed less than 1,900 calories but who averaged less than 780 milligrams of calcium gained body fat mass over the same period.

"Women who consumed an average of 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day, which is slightly below the recommended daily allowance for this age group, showed an overall decrease in body weight as high as six to seven pounds," Teegarden says.

The study showed that exercisers and nonexercisers benefited equally from high calcium intakes, but that women who consumed more than 1,900 calories per day did not benefit.

"There appears to be some sort of interaction with higher-calorie diets," Teegarden says. "When we looked at the data for the women with calorie intakes of more than 1,900, we found that the calories take over, and any potential benefits of weight-control from calcium are lost."

The researchers also found that women in the study who got their calcium from dairy sources, such as milk, yogurt and cheese, showed more of the weight control benefits than did those who primarily used nondairy sources&emdash;such as dark green leafy vegetables, nuts and beans&emdash;or calcium supplements.

"This difference may be attributed to the fact that women who use nondairy sources would have to eat significant amounts of those foods to produce the effect, or it may suggest that there is something in milk that works to help regulate body weight," Teegarden says.

Teegarden says that if these findings are confirmed, it may prompt recommendations to increase calcium consumption, especially from dairy sources, and lower overall calorie intake to prevent increases in body weight and body fat in young women.

The findings may or may not apply to women over 30, Teegarden says. "This is the first time this weight-regulation effect has been documented in people. We cannot speculate on how it might affect women in other age groups."

Working with Teegarden on the research were Connie Weaver, head of the Department of Foods and Nutrition at Purdue, Roseann Lyle, associate professor of foods and nutrition, George McCabe, professor of statistics, and graduate student Y-C Lin.

Teegarden's research is supported by the National Dairy Council.

The relation of diet variables to 2-year changes in body composition in young females was investigated in a prospective study. Subjects were 56 Caucasian females, 18 - 31 years (mean 26.9 +/- 3.4 yr.) who were within normal weight range (mean 62.7 +/- 10.5 kg.) Dietary intake was assessed by 3-day diet records, and body composition was measured by DXA. Percent change in body weight ranged from -13.9% to 21.4% in two years. Linear regression analyses showed that percent change in body fat accounted for 68.5% of the variation of change in body weight, and change in lean mass only explained 15.0% of the variation. Calcium intake, corrected by total energy intake, significantly predicted change in body weight (p<0.01) and body fat (p=0.02) such that subjects with high calcium intake, corrected by total energy intake, gained less weight and body fat.

Occasionally an observer of the markets needs to take a big step back from the quote screens, charts and reports and take a look out the window. It is nice if the view thn includes a nice bright sunrise over misty valleys filled with fresh and dewy green fields, but sometimes the vista is not so much like the musical "Oklahoma," and more like a scene from Orwell's "1984," grim and gray streets with frozen-faced citizens rushing anxiously.

The markets sometimes reach the point where there is no way to simply sell at a profit, no matter how slim the margins are sliced. If we have been trained to look first to the USDA for survival through government programs, somehow we have to shuck off that impulse and focus on our own business actions. The reality for the present is that without government progams there are lots of good producers who would be forced out of existence, but in the long run, government programs, no matter how well intentioned and designed, will become burdensome and unpopular to either the producer or the general public or both. So we ask, "How in blazes do we make it through these years of low prices and weak crops?" Everyone has asked this question of themselves, even the ones who are not hanging on by their teeth.

A good part of the answer is to work every part of the business for maximum effect, including the boogieman marketing plan. Looking at how marketing risk was measured and handled in the past, we discover that we carried quite a bit more risk in the past than would be considered reasonable now. The simple action of carrying cash physical wheat in a bin for some months is EXACTLY THE SAME IN TERMS OF MONEY AT RISK AS CARRYING THE EQUIVAlENT AMOUNT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS for the same amount of time! How many of us would feel comfortable automatically selling all cash wheat every year straight off the combine, immediately buying futures contracts for the same number of bushels and holding that position until year-end? The risk is exactly the same, even in white wheat futures (which are still tradable) as sitting on wheat in storage for that same period.

The cost is less, because we wouid save any storage and interest costs that would have accrued. If there is a barrier for any of us it is only psychological. Then we add options to the picture. For hedgers they are superior to futures in some ways. Now we can "lock in" risk levels for any position and go back to work&emdash;no possibility of the dreaded margin call and no guessing about potential costs in a budget. Everything is defined right at the start. Now we can sell all the wheat off the combine and carry the same position on paper knowing EXACTLY what the risks are, which is impossible when simply carrying physical wheat. We can keep the benefits of ownership (potential profits) without having to suffer the entire downside risk.

When we talk about using the "marketing tools," this is what it is all about&emdash;just measuring risks and shifting our positions to minimize them while maintaining the potential for a decent profit from a nice positive market move. It is certainly not about telling the future, or trading strange recombinant derivative contracts. It is working out the pattern of the current market and keeping in harmony with that pattern. It is being aware of the dominant factors affecting the market today and watching for changes. When we take positions, there should never be any anxiety about why we are taking them. All of that "skull sweat" should be spent and committed to written form long before any action is taken. We are then in control of our marketing and not the other way around.

Simply taking the low road by accepting whatever price the govenment provides as a "safety net" and hoping for a better year next year is fine for a limited number of lucky folks, but we know instinctively that such an approach is not the best we can do. We also know that it really is not so difficult to learn. Good marketing does require that an individual sit down alone a few times with a calculator and work out all the various outcomes for each action taken. It can be like chess, one does not need to be a master to be successful and benefit from the game. There are no hidden pitfalls. Everything is definable, and there are professionals.&emdash;Jon Newkirk at WSU Ag Extension in Ritzville, Mike Krueger and his associates at MK Commodities in Portland, Gary Hofer Commodities in Walla Walla and others. All of us committed to our clients' successful negotiation of the marketing channel.

At the bottom line, we MUST take the time and energy to learn how these strategies and tactics work if we are to survive. In the long run, if we are so totally dependent on government programs that we simply cannot survive without them, we are actually working for government wages as detemined by political tides. Unless we are willing to surrender the reason we are wheat growers in the first place, those wages are not going to be enough.

Washington State University (WSU) has conducted alfalfa variety yield trials for many years at the Prosser Experiment Station and occasionally at the Othello and Royal Slope Experiment Stations. The Washington State Hay Growers Association (WSHGA) in cooperation with WSU has started alfalfa variety yield trials in Pasco and Othello, Washington. Private seed companies are paying to have their varieties tested in areas other than at the WSU Experiment Station. The WSHGA has arranged for WSU to manage and harvest these trials under the leadership of Dr. Dave Evans, Research Agronomist, from Prosser.

The association was given a Carter forage plot harvester by Pioneer Hi-Bred International. The harvester was re-built, load cell scales were purchased and installed, and a flatbed trailer was bought to haul the harvester. A dump cart to carry harvested forage was also built and donated by Callahan Manufacturing of Royal City. The harvester was then loaned to WSU to harvest the Pasco and Othello trials.

The seed companies pay $400 per entry per location. Companies participating represent seven major breeding programs. In 1996 trials were seeded at Prosser (46 varieties), Othello (33 varieties), and Pasco (33 varieties). The trial in Pasco failed due to damping off seedling disease. This trial was replanted in April 1997 with 28 varieties.

Variety trials were again seeded in late summer 1997 in Prosser (20 varieties), Othello (20 varieties), and Pasco (19 varieties). Most of the varieties seeded in the Pasco and Othello trials were seeded at Prosser in both 1996 and 1997. The trials continued with seedings in 1998 at Pasco (33 varieties) and Othello (31 varieties). Most varieties were again seeded at Prosser. Results for 1997 and 1998 are available for both yield and regrowth rating.

WSHGA and WSU would like to thank the private seed companies who have participated in these trials. Cooperators and contributors also need to be recognized. These are Pioneer Hi-Bred International; Callahan Manufacturing; Olberding Seed; U.S. Ag Analytical Services, Inc.; Western Farm Service; Lamb-Weston, Inc.; and Tomlinson Farms, Inc.

Funds received for the variety trials are dedicated to a special research account. These funds pay trial and machinery expenses. The balance of these funds aroused for various research projects. Research funds ($30,000) have been promised to purchase one-half of an NIRS (Near Infra-Red Reflectance Spectroscopy) machine for the new Extension Forage Specialist who will be located at the Prosser Experiment Station. The machine is used to analyze forage quality and is important in forage research. The other half of the funds will be provided by Washington State University. Part of these funds are allocated for alfalfa research at the Prosser Experiment Station. The WSHGA has budgeted at least $15,000 in research at Prosser. Funds will also be available to help the Grant-Adams Extension Forage Educator to start research in the Columbia Basin. Current plans call for seeding new trials every year for both Othetlo and Pasco.

We would like to thank Dr. David. Evans for all of his help and work in supporting these variety trials and wish him well in his retirement. Until the new Extension Foraage Specialist arrives at the Prosser Station next year, we appreciate the willingness of Tom Cline, Research Technician, in harvesting the trials in 1999 and 2000.

For more information ask for the free bulletins on "Alfalfa Variety Yield Trials" and "Fall Dormancy & Pest Resistance Ratings for Alfalfa Varieties 98/99" from the Pasco Extension office.

Observing 50 years of success at their permanent horne, the Palouse Empire Fair is gearing up for a celebration September 9-12th as "Patienoe Turns Gold!"

Premium books listing exhibit categories and special contests are available in area banks and businesses. Popular contests such as the Shedd's Spread Country Crock baking contest is offered with cash prizes for top entries. McGregor Company and Almota Elevator Company sponsor agricultural photography contests with adult and 4-H youth categories. First place winners receive $100; 2nd place $80; and 3rd place $40. Becky's Fabrics and Bernina, Colfax, offers gift certificates in adult, youth and 4-H divisions. The Quilt Block contest returns for another year with the winner reciving the completed blocks and cash premiums. Over $4,000 in cash and gift certificates sponsored by the Fair and area businesses for participation in special contests and competitions during the four day fair. Grab a premium bock and make plans to enter. Registration numbers and exhibitor tags may be picked up in advance frorn the Fair Office.

Livestock registration forms are included in the Premium Book. Registration deadline is August 1st.

Area Royalty candidates are now selling fair wristbands. Adult wristbands are $12.00 and youth sell for $5.00 (K-12 grade). Children under school age are admitted free. Advance Day Passes are sold at the Fair Office for $4.00 for adults, a discount off the daily ticket price of $5.00, and are good for any one day of fair admission. Advance Day Passes are available through September 8th and are a great gift for friends and relatives. Friday, September 10, is Family Day at the Fair. All immediate family members are admitted for $12.00 with tickets available at the main gates.

The Official Fair program will be available throughout Whitman county the first week of August. The program lists show schedules, entertainment, food concessions, carnival information and the special events planned for the 50th anniversary celebration. A history of the Fair, compiled by Berniece Krom, is also included. Collector buttons featuring the fair logo are for sale at Whitman County Library branches, the Pullman Chamber of Commerce and the Fair Office for $2.00. A quilt, designed by Carolyn Gottschalk, Potlatch, and quilted by Colfax Custom Quiltng, is being raffled to raise funds for the celebration. On display at Becky's Fabrics and Bernina in Colfax, the colorful full size quilt features quilt blocks depicting 4-H, FFA, agriculture, exhibits and other fair related items. Tickets sell for $1.00 each. The winner will be announced during the Grand Parade on Sunday of the Fair.

For more information, contact the Fair Office at 509/397-6263.

When will my child start to read?"
It's a common question for parents of first-graders, unless little Ashley or Justin happened to master the skill in kindergarten&emdash;or even before.

"It's a very individual process," says Beverly Cox, a professor of language and literacy at Purdue University. "Some children are reading before they even start school, others will learn in kindergarten, but most of them start to do what we would call 'conventional reading' in the latter half of the first grade."

Cox says the important things for parents to remember is that every child is different, and teaching her to read is not the exclusive domain of teachers.

"There's a whole lot of learning that goes on long before the child ever sees the inside of a classroom," Cox explains. "Reading is a complex skill that develops over time, and it starts with what the child sees and experiences at home."

Cox says sitting down and reading to your child is just one part of the early learning process.

"Let your youngster see you reading and writing in a variety of settings," Cox says. "This shows her that these skills are important in everyday life."

The first step in mastering almost any new skill is becoming familiar with the tools. Cox recommends that parents introduce books as early as possible.

"Picture books are now made from soft fabrics that can go right into the baby's crib along with the stuffed animals and favorite blankets," Cox says. "There are also a wealth of children's books constructed in sturdy materials that will stand up to a toddler's curiosity. These should be kept with the baby's other toys so she learns to recognize books as entertaining and fun."

When the child gets old enough to hold a crayon, provide not only coloring books but also plenty of plain paper to scribble on. Cox also suggests encouraging little ones to tell stories about their activities and having a parent or older sibling write them down as they are being told.

"Many of the skills a child needs to begin reading are developed informally through experiences at home, so it's very important that parents and caregivers provide those experiences," Cox explains.

Educators call this process "emergent literacy." It's based on the concept that literacy actually begins to emerge from birth and continues to develop over the course of a lifetime.

So how can parents know if their child is on track?

"Parents really don't need to worry unless they aren't seeing consistent progress," Cox says. "Watch your little one with story books. Does she choose them over other sources of entertainment? Does she have favorites? Does she 'pretend read' to dolls or other siblings? Encourage that."

Cox says verbal skills are another good indicator.

"My own research has shown that one of the precursors to reading is being able to talk like a book, which is very different from regular face-to-face conversation."

But for those who need a benchmark, Cox says keep an eye on the latter half of the first grade, and don't hesitate to talk to your child's teacher if you're concerned.

"By the middle of the first grade, you should see that your child is attending more to the print than the pictures in books," Cox says. "First-grade teachers regularly say they really notice a difference after Christmas."

The followiug information is from the "EAT First!" newsletter (EAT is an acronym for Environmental & Agriculte & Technology) edited by Pat Tigges (509/674-9727)

Always looking for ways to engage youngsters (who in turn badger their parents), the greens are now targeting fuzzy, cute, black-tailed prairie dogs as their next endangered species. The pests inhabit 11 states and about a million acres. This could become the mother of all land-grabs. The campaign to list the destructive varmints is headed by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in cooperation with Dayton Hudson Corporation's Target stores.

The animal's threatened existence was touted in an issue of "Earth Savers," a school newspaper published jointly by NYF and Target. The article stated that 98% of the animal's "natural" habitat had been lost. It failed to mention that the pest rapidly adjusted to new habitat (farm and ranch lands) and was just as numerous, prolific, and destructive as before. Farm Bureau warns that if the pest actually gets on the threatened list, the American farmer will become the endangered species. Prairie dogs are devastating to ranch and farm lands.

WSU Cooperation Extension will hold the1999 Carrot Cultivar Field Day on August 26. This event will feature cultivars from 10 commercial vegetable seed companies.

The entries, which include Imperator, Chantenay, Nantes, and Kuroda type carrots, were planted for evaluation under local conditions on May 5. In addition to evaluating roots and foliage, the field day will be an opportunity to discuss this interesting crop with carrot breeders, processors, and other industry personnel.

The field day, which begins at 9:00 a.m., will be held at Mercer Ranch located off Alderdale Road just north of Highway 14. Mercer Ranch is the largest carrot growing operation in Washington State. The Pacific Northwest Vegetable Association is a cosponsor of this annual event.

Everyone with an interest in carrot production and marketing is welcome to attend. For more information contact Erik Sorensen by telephone at 509/545-3511, fax at 509/545-2031, or email at esorensen@wsu.edu