Center to host in-person field day

For the first time since 2019, New Mexico State University's agricultural science center in Tucumcari will host an in-person field day Tuesday.

Last year's field day took place in a virtual setting due to COVID-19 restrictions. Although this year's field day will take place in person at the Rex E. Kirksey Agricultural Science Center at Tucumcari, COVID-19 safe practices will be respected.

Presentations will also be posted to the center's Facebook page.

"While we did our best in 2020 to do a virtual program due to COVID-19 restrictions, we are looking forward to having an in-person program this year with a hay wagon tour preceded by dinner on the grounds, fair weather permitting," said Leonard Lauriault, the science center's superintendent and forage crop management scientist at the Kirksey Center.

This year's keynote speaker will be Jon Boren, NMSU College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences associate dean, and director of the NMSU Cooperative Extension Service.

Among the topics to be discussed will be:

• A weather update for the Tucumcari area provided by Caitriana Steele, coordinator for the USDA Southwest Climate Hub.

• Small plot gardening, presented by Gasper Martinez, research assistant at the Kirksey Center.

• Beef cattle feed efficiency testing, presented by NMSU Extension livestock specialist Marcy Ward.

• Edible bean crops, presented by Murali Darapuneni, semiarid cropping system specialist at the Kirksey Center.

• A comparison of pearl millet and sorghum-sudangrass for autumn pastures, presented by Lauriault.

Ward said during her presentation, she will demonstrate how the individual water intake system, which she and others at the center have been working on for several years, will work and the implications of the data it will generate.

"The co-operators of the Tucumcari Bull Test, along with the Rex Kirksey Ag Science Center, have allowed us to continue to develop the system," Ward said. "The ultimate goal is to learn more about the link between genetics and water intake in beef cattle."

Registration for the event will begin at 4:30 p.m., with the keynote presentation and dinner to follow, as well as a hay wagon tour.

The science center is three miles northeast of Tucumcari on U.S. 54. For additional information, directions or if you are an individual with a disability who needs auxiliary aid or service to participate in the field day, please contact the center at (575) 461-1620 or [email protected].