Water News Archive

Water quantity and quality is critical to cattle health and performance. Hot weather and drought conditions can impact both water quality and quantity for cattle. How Much Water Do Cattle Need? There is an easy answer, and there is a right answer. A general guideline is that lactating cows need two gallons of water per 100 pounds of body weight per day.

Study Reviews Farmer Irrigation Scheduling Tendencies in Dry Years.

Weekly Weather Update: June 8, 2023

Early Season Irrigation During Drought

Estimated Crop Water Use for June 5-11, 2023

Featuring the Republican River, which holds the record for the worst flood in Nebraska history.

Part 3 of the Nebraska Rivers series focuses on the Loup River drainage system, which originates in the Sandhills.

Water is life! In Nebraska, approximately 85 percent of people receive their drinking water from groundwater resources. This includes individual homeowners living in suburban and rural areas, as well as the majority of towns and cities across the state. Because of Nebraska’s relative wealth of groundwater resources, we often tend to overlook the vital role water plays in the everyday lives of Nebraskans and our state as a whole.

One of the most important factors in getting plants off to a good start is watering. Overall, the best guidance is to water to the bottom of the roots and to keep the roots of new plants moist, not soggy or dry. Inserting a screwdriver into the soil will help with determining the moisture content by gaining a sense required to push it in and also to feel the soil particles that stick to the blade. If they feel muddy, then water is likely being applied too often; if it’s dry and powdery, then it needs to be applied more frequently.

Part 2 of a six-part series that will cover the major rivers and their respective drainages found in Nebraska, with some geography and history about Nebraska’s rivers.

This year’s 4Rs Field Day will focus on up-to-date research information and demonstrations on all three major crop nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

The Soil Health Nexus is excited to debut two new resources on the Soil Health Toolbox! Two Soil Health Nexus members, Francisco Arriaga, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Anna Cates, Assistant Professor and State Soil Health Specialist at the University of Minnesota, recently published a long-awaited whitepaper exploring the connection between soil health and water quality.

Extension recommendations for calculating the amount of nitrate-nitrogen in irrigation water and optimal timing of applications to reduce the cost of nitrogen inputs in irrigated corn.

Industry experts shared snowpack/snowmelt runoff estimates for the upper North Platte River basin, updates on UNL irrigation management research and progress on replacing the Goshen/Gering-Ft Laramie tunnels that collapsed in 2019.

This new series by Nebraska Extension Educator Gary Stone highlights the main rivers in Nebraska and their impacts across the Midwest and Northern Plains. Part 1 of a six-part series that will cover the major rivers and their respective drainages found in Nebraska, with some geography and history about Nebraska’s rivers.

This week — Strategies for irrigating alfalfa in early season dry soil conditions, grazing to control abundant weed growth due to drought and forming a drought plan.

There are so many decisions to be made when it comes to vegetable gardening. Selecting the right location, determining what to plant, even how many plants you might need. One topic that might not have crossed your mind is how to make the vegetable garden more water conscious. Conserving water in the vegetable garden may sound more difficult than it really is.

This year's conference will focus on innovative ways to improve water and food security by increasing farmers’ resiliency to a changing landscape.

The 2023 TAPS Competition participants will soon make their first decisions of the growing season — watch for updates in the coming months as participants choose their seed varieties, manage nitrogen applications and irrigation, and more.

Eastern Nebraska tends to have high soil pH, also known as alkaline soil, which can cause problems for some plants, like river birch, pin oak, big-leaf hydrangeas and blueberries to name a few. Alkaline soil changes the availability of certain plant nutrients in the soil, often making them less available, resulting in deficiency symptoms.