Teen pregnancies

Teen pregnancy is a national concern. Teen mothers are the focus of most research on this critical issue. Far less is understood about the men who father children with teen girls; what information is available usually comes indirectly from the teen mothers. IANR Family Scientist Rosalie Bakken is interviewing adult men involved in teen pregnancies to understand their perspectives, experiences and feelings about fatherhood. She's concentrating on adult men because many teen mothers report the fathers of their babies are at least 20 years old. Findings from this research should broaden understanding of teen pregnancy.

NU releases forage triticale

The University of Nebraska's first forage triticale variety offers outstanding forage yields and new crop rotation options.

Triticale, derived by crossing wheat and rye, is most often grown as a grain crop. NE422T, like most forage triticales, looks like a very tall, lush wheat plant and has a hairy neck and waxy green coloring, said Steve Baenziger, an IANR plant breeder and geneticist. The crop generally is planted in early September and harvested for forage in early to mid-June. Cattle also can graze the crop directly.

"NE422T offers superior forage production in dryland winter cereal production systems throughout Nebraska," Baenziger said.

In irrigated fields, producers can plant their regular crop, such as corn, irrigate it, harvest in the fall and then plant triticale, he said. The triticale is cut for hay or ensiled in the spring and the producer then can plant soybeans or another summer annual crop.

"Producers can get three crops in two years this way," Baenziger said. "Planting a cereal crop between two feed grains gives them some diversity. This rotation also helps with soil erosion and can help producers comply with winter ground cover requirements."

In performance trials, NE422T yielded 6 percent more than Trical 100, a comparable, commercially developed forage triticale variety.

NE422T was developed jointly by IANR researchers and USDA-Agriculture Research Service scientists at NU. Seed is available from NUPride Genetics, an open cooperative that is a subgroup of the Nebraska Crop Improvement Association.

– Heather Corley

Even the best equipment deserves to be replaced every 65 years or so. So it goes with the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory's trusty silver test car. It's been plying the one-third-mile East Campus test track since 1937. This summer, the lab expects to receive a new car, fitted with computers, sophisticated equipment and more power for testing today's larger, more complex tractors.

In addition to the much needed technological revamp, the new car will make testing faster and easier, said Leonard Bashford, tractor lab director. "What this means for the manufacturers is they'll spend less time here," he said.

Computers on the new car will automate many functions adjusted manually in the old car. It also can provide five times more resistance than the old car to test modern tractors' pulling power. Today's larger tractors offer 450 horsepower on the power takeoff. In the 1930s, most tractors offered less than 50 horsepower, with only a few close to 100 horsepower.

The old car has tested 1,520 tractors and logged about 150,000 miles around the test track. Numerous additions and updates were made over the years with the car's current configuration coming in 1963. It has reached a point where parts are hard to come by if something breaks, Bashford said.

The new car is privately funded from testing fees. Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill., is custom building it.

The Nebraska Tractor Test Lab tests tractor performance, including power and fuel consumption. It's the oldest and only tractor testing station for the United States and tests tractors according to internationally recognized standards.

The old test car will be retired to the Lester Larsen Tractor Test Museum on campus.

– Sandi S. Alswager

Top: The NU Tractor Testing Lab's test car in 1940, attached to tractors of the day. Bottom: Nearly 65 years later, the old car is dwarfed by today's larger tractors. It will be replaced soon.