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April 2019 Articles

Just Rambling April 2018:
• Spiritual Corner: Just Like Johnsongrass 
Winners of the 1st Annual Velvet Bennett Roberts photography contest
Scripture to Live By: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Suns Out, Fertilizer Out?
Update on the cattle cycle: what’s next?
Louisiana January 1 All Cattle Inventory Down
Timber markets face challenges
Wildflowers can cause cattle problems
Wheat crop survives below-freezing temperatures
Azaleas herald arrival of Louisiana spring
Farm Bureau Statement on Gray Wolf Delisting
Broad Coalition Urges Congress to Protect Farm Program Funding
New Legislation Provides Economic Boost to 4-H, FFA Students
American Farm Bureau Supports Year-Round E15 Proposal
Nation’s Ag Leaders Urge Ratification of USMCA
Home gardening featured at spring seminar
LSU AgCenter presents AgMagic this spring in Baton Rouge, New Orleans area
Azalea Toxicity in Goats
New Certification Process for Sales Tax Exemption
Beef Cattle Artificial Insemination Class at Hill Farm Station
LSU AgCenter beef, forage field day set for April 25 in Bossier City
USDA Designates Two Louisiana Parishes as Primary Natural Disaster Areas
LSU AgCenter wheat, cover crop field day set for April 12

(24 articles found)

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Spiritual Corner: Just Like Johnsongrass 

Spiritual Corner: Just Like Johnsongrass
The other night, my husband, dad, brother-in-law, and I were at a Union Parish Cattlemen’s meeting. We were enjoying a wonderful meal and listening to Mr. Ron Strahan speak on weeds and how to get rid of them. For whatever reason, one phrase that Mr. Strahan said stuck out to me and prompted me to type it in the notes of my phone. He said, “Johnsongrass is a good forage, but can be toxic when under stress”. This caused me to read a little bit more about Johnsongrass. On the website, drovers.com, I found an article from January 2011, titled, “The good and bad of johnsongrass”. It talked about some studies that had been conducted that were evaluating johnsongrass as forage. The studies found that johnsongrass averaged 11.6 percent crude protein, and 58 percent total digestible nutrients. Among 16 grasses used in the study, johnsongrass ranked number one for crude protein and number two for total digestible nutrients. Another study showed that, out of 14 grasses, johnsongrass was near the top for cattle preference, falling in second, showing it had high palatability. After the article listed several positive attributes of johnsongrass as a forage, it then pointed out that “johnsongrass is listed as a noxious weed in several U.S. states, and can be toxic to cattle”. The article then explains that if johnsongrass is under stress due to drought, frost, or herbicide exposure, then it can produce prussic acid, or hydrogen cyanide. It can also accumulate nitrates during the summer season if there are several dry, cloudy days in a row. The article warns ranchers to keep cattle away from any johnsongrass that they suspect may have dealt with these conditions in order to allow the toxins to dissipate. So, needless to say, what Mr. Strahan said was exactly right. Johnsongrass is a good forage, as long as it hasn’t developed toxicity due to certain stresses. So, let me ask you this…have you ever felt like johnsongrass? I know that I have. I like to think that I’m a pretty decent person. I truly enjoy making others happy, showing compassion to others, giving and serving. However, some days the stresses of life get to me. I may wake up on the wrong side of the bed. I may spill my coffee on me while driving to school. My pile of papers that need graded may be astronomical, my heart may be hurting extra badly from missing my sister, I may have an extra meeting that I have to go to, but really don’t want to. I may have a to-do list a mile long with only a few precious hours to get it done. Do you know what all of these stresses tend to cause me to do? They cause me to become short with my husband, for no reason. They cause me to get annoyed with my dogs’ rambunctiousness, when they are simply showing that they are happy to see me. They cause me to lose my patience with my students, when they are just needing love and attention. They cause me to walk around during my day with a very much less than joyful attitude. They cause me to become toxic to those around me. You see, as children of God, we can be wonderful for this broken and lost world. We can exude joy, we can share compassion, we can give and help and serve others. We can share the love of Jesus! BUT…when we are dealing with our own personal stresses, we often neglect to share that joy and love with others and instead, we are negative and irritable. What if someone who doesn’t know God, or who just needs a little uplifting, approaches us when we are dealing with these stresses? And what if we react by being negative or short with them and we ruin our witness for Jesus for that particular person? We have then become toxic to them. A negative, impatient, irritable, mopey person is toxic to God’s kingdom. We are allowing our stresses to falsely represent who Jesus is. Jesus should cause all of us to be filled with JOY! He should motivate us to give and love and serve! Yes, we will still deal with stresses, but we can’t allow those stresses to taint the world’s view of our Jesus. We must show them that, despite our stresses, Jesus enables us to be joy-filled and loving and kind. Johnsongrass is a good forage, but ranchers are warned to watch it if it has undergone stress. We don’t want to be like that. We don’t want to be a good disciple of Christ, but only when we aren’t dealing with our own struggles. Scripture tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). God wants us to rejoice ALWAYS, not only when our life is stress-free (because let’s be honest, is it really EVER stress-free?). We are to “be anxious for nothing, but everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let [our] request be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard [our] hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Give your stresses over to God and allow Him to fill you with joy! Regardless of what is going on in your life, Jesus died on the cross for YOU. That is something worth being joyful about. Just like cattle need a good forage to sustain them, this world needs Jesus. We might be their only access to Him. So lay your stresses at the foot of the cross and allow Jesus to shine through you, as you serve as a forage for the souls of humanity.
Source: http://www.drovers.com/article/good-and-bad-johnsongrass

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