Plant Counts Can Prove To Be An Important Crop Management Tool

Jun 16, 2021

Farmers are busy checking fields and monitoring crop emergence.

Crops Extension Specialist Sherri Roberts says producers should be doing plant counts before the crop gets too thick and its hard to count the individual plants.

"By doing those plant counts, you see where there's gaps in the field. Geez, do I have a disease or maybe some cutworms. You start digging around and looking, and you find those little buggers or maybe the wireworms are doing it."

She notes if farmers use a seed treatment doing plant counts can also help determine just how effective that seed treatment was, or if there's an underlying disease issue where you should send plants away for further testing.

Roberts also suggests producers count forages on pastures because that forage is putting the dollars on those beef cows, you need to know how productive that pasture is going to be and plant counts can help you do that.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.