I

Volume 39, Number 10 | APRIL 15, 2013
$4.25
PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER
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Blackleg in canola evolving
As the blackleg pathogen changes in Western Canada, an “R” rating
for blackleg resistance may not be as meaningful as you expect
BY ANDREA HILDERMAN
I
f there is one thing farmers can count on it’s that
when you’re dealing with
biological systems, generally
there is no “win.” This certainly
is appearing to be the case when
it comes to blackleg in canola in
Western Canada.
Blackleg in canola is caused by
the fungus Leptosphaeria maculans
and it has spread to all canola
growing areas in Western Canada.
Blackleg resistance has been bred
into canola varieties and it’s very
important to understand that
the pathogen was fairly well controlled by those varieties, however,
that will not continue for very
much longer.
NEW RACES OF BLACKLEG
Since 2003 the blackleg pathogen
has started to change. New races of
blackleg are overcoming the resistance of those varieties grown in
Canada. Selection pressure on the
pathogen has come from:
• tighter rotations;
• minimum till and other similar practices;
• inoculum kept on stubble for
the following season; and,
• the pathogen reproducing
sexually leading to mutations
and new races.
Dr. Dilantha Fernando is a professor of plant pathology at the
University of Manitoba. He has
been studying the blackleg-causing pathogen for many years.
“We are seeing an increase in
new races of blackleg across the
Prairies,” Fernando says. “No one
province can be singled out as a
particular problem, it is as widespread as canola itself.”
Fernando’s laboratory has been
monitoring the pathogen. It’s
changing and breaking down most
of current resistance bred into canola varieties. “For 30 years or more,
the same genes have been used
for blackleg resistance in canola
regardless of who bred the cultivars,” Fernando says. “It has been
relatively easy for the pathogen
to break down and overcome the
resistance because most cultivars
use the same gene, essentially.”
Farmers may find this confusing because varieties are being
rated “R” or resistant to blackleg. Fernando explains where this
anomaly lies. “The resistance rating is true. To the extent certain
few isolates of the blackleg pathogen are used to test cultivars prior
Blackleg on canola stems.
to registration, but not all the
new races that are cropping up in
the field.”
A farmer may see significant
disease in an “R” rated canola variety if his fields are infected with
one of the new races of blackleg.
And this is how the problem will
become worse. The new races will
cause disease on varieties considered resistant. Inoculum will be
left on the stubble providing more
chances for sexual reproduction
for the fungus, leading to potentially more races and more disease.
FUNGICIDES
Fungicides are an option to
reduce the disease levels of blackleg in canola, however, they will
not provide 100 per cent control.
Additionally, application timing
needs to be precise.
In This Issue
Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240
Fernando has done work in this
area, in collaboration with Alberta
and Saskatchewan scientists. “It
is also disappointing to note that
while fungicides might give some
control of the disease,” he says,
“they are most likely not going to
provide any economic benefit to
the producer — we haven’t seen
any significant yield increases as
a result of using a fungicide.” But
» CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Wheat & Chaff ..................
2
Features ............................
5
Crop Advisor’s Casebook
6
Columns ........................... 14
Machinery & Shop ............ 19
Cattleman’s Corner .......... 24
DIY variable rate
ANGELA LOVELL PAGE 11
Spring farm boot challenge
FarmLife ............................ 28
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/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Wheat & Chaff
STAMPEDE
BY JERRY PALEN
LEEANN
MINOGUE
I
“His sore toe is turning into MY pain in the neck!”
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HEARTS
Ask for hearts
When you renew your subscription to
Grainews, be sure to ask for six Please
Be Careful, We Love You hearts. Then
stick them onto equipment that you,
your loved ones and your employees
operate. That important message could
save an arm, a leg or a life.
f the universe is kind to us at
all, by the time this issue of
Grainews gets to your kitchen
table, the snow in my yard
will have melted, and we’ll all be
breathing a little easier around here.
Not that I’m holding my breath.
On the morning of April 1, when
my husband told me it was -13 C,
I assumed he was playing a lame
April Fools’ joke. But it was true.
And we still had about three feet
of snow on the deck.
(Of course, even on April 1, the
weather forecast was calling for
warmer weather “next week.” I’m
not sure when this mythical “next
week” is actually going to arrive. For
the last two months, week after week
the TV weatherman has shown us a
screen with cold temperatures for
the next seven days, and promised
that things would definitely warm
up “next week.” I’ve been waiting
for next week most of the winter,
and it still hasn’t arrived. I don’t
think weather forecasters can really
be this incompetent. I’m convinced
this is a federal government plot
to keep us all from packing up and
emigrating to Australia.)
SPRING EXPECTATIONS
I’m not going to use the “f” word.
Nobody is using the “f” word. But
around here, the spring of 2011 is
on everyone’s mind. That was the
year when snowmelt and spring
rain created a flood that kept us
right out of the field. We didn’t seed
an acre, and most of our neighbours
were in the same boat.
If we hadn’t lived through 2011,
we might be able to enjoy this
never-ending snow. (Well, “enjoy”
might be pushing the feeling a bit,
unless you’re also a six-year-old
with his first snowmobile who
really enjoys digging in snow.)
But with the aftermath of 2011
still playing on our minds and our
bank accounts, it’s very, very hard
to ignore all the lingering snow
and keep ourselves from saying
the five-letter “f” word.
There are so many questions.
Should we have bought the new
combine? Will a slow snowmelt
leave us in a good position to
seed? What are we going to do if
we have another year like 2011?
There is an underlying anxiety
here that would be hard to explain
to someone who doesn’t live on a
grain farm.
A QUICK TRIP SOUTH
To take our minds off potential
spring rains and fill the time on
a long Easter weekend, we took a
quick trip south — about 90 miles
south, to Williston, North Dakota.
While I won’t pretend to be a
travel writer, I do have some suggestions for things you could try
on your next trip to Williston.
1. Confirm that the media
reports are true. Stories about outof-control oil development in North
Dakota’s area of the “Bakken Zone,”
a major oil find, have appeared
in several different TV shows and
magazines lately, including a recent
cover article in National Geographic.
It’s really happening. People from
all over the U.S. are flocking to
towns like Williston to find their
fortunes in the oilfields.
Between July 2011 and July
2012, Williston topped the U.S.
Census Bureau’s list of fastest
growing “micropolitan” areas,
with a 9.3 per cent increase in
population.
2. Win the “licence plate bingo”
game. The kind of population
growth they’re seeing in Williston
doesn’t come without a lot of people moving in from out of state.
Many oilfield workers are so newly
arrived in town they haven’t had
time to re-register their cars for
North Dakota yet. We saw licence
plates from seven different states on
the walk from our spot in the parking lot to the Walmart entrance.
(South Dakota, California, Oregon,
Florida, Alabama, Ohio and Kansas.
Really.)
3. Play “guess that accent.” A
man pushing a cart told a woman
in a Walmart smock that he was
flying home to Vermont in a couple of days.
“Yup,” she said. “I fly back to
West Virginia on Saturday.” I
heard voices that sounded like
they belonged to people who’d
arrived from everywhere from
Boston to Alabama.
4. Imagine you’re in a supersize Legoland. We saw row after
row of tiny white pre-fab trailers
— at least 100 of them — conveniently located right across the
highway from the truck stop. And
this was just one of the new housing solutions we drove by on the
highway north of town.
While it’s pretty possible that
these tiny homes don’t look so
adorable if you actually have to
live in one, it is something to see.
5. Become a super-matchmaker
for all of your single female friends.
The truck stop where we stopped
for some gas was crawling with
men. At least two dozen — coming in alone, or in small groups.
The only other women in sight
were watching from behind the
cash register. “Is it always like this?”
I asked. “You betcha,” said one.
The other woman had a southern accent. “And summa them are
pretty dang cute, too.” (I’m not
making that up. She really said
“dang.”)
6. Play “guess how many new
hotels have gone up since last
time we were here.” There are new
hotels everywhere in Williston.
About 10 years ago, Williston
had maybe three hotels. The twostorey “International Inn” was
one of the most interesting-looking buildings around. Now you
hardly notice the International
Inn for all of the new four- and
five-storey hotels that have shot
up overnight.
But don’t bother trying to get a
last-minute hotel room — there’s
no vacancy. As I’m writing this, a
quick Expedia.ca search for hotel
rooms shows that the Holiday Inn
Express is charging $254 for a nofrills room for one night on April
15. (To be fair, that does come
with a complimentary breakfast
and free parking.)
7. Try to decide if this is great or
terrible. We live in the middle of
Saskatchewan’s Bakken zone. We
thought we had seen the impact of
oil on communities, bank balances
and infrastructure. But Williston is
Estevan on steroids.
How do you balance jobs, jobs,
jobs and buckets of money against
increased crime, the high cost of
living and environmental risks?
I don’t know, but Williston is an
interesting place to give it some
thought.
IN THIS ISSUE
If the weather actually does
warm up around here, I’m going
to be doing the same thing I do
every spring: realizing at the last
possible second that my son and
husband both need new rubber
boots. Right now!
If this happens at your house
too, this is your lucky day. Scott
Garvey has taken the time to testrun five different pairs of rubber
boots to see which type was best
for the job on his farm. Turn to
page 19 before you head off in the
mud to get to town.
Leeann
Like us on Facebook!
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Find, read and comment on blog posts
easily and with a thumbs up!
Find us on Twitter:
Leeann Minogue is @grainmuse
Lisa Guenther is @LtoG
Lee Hart is @hartattacks
Scott Garvey is @machineryeditor
This photo shows a surprising amount of snow just south
of my hometown, Lacadena, Saskatchewan on March 30,
2013. Mark Turner took this photo when he went home to
his family farm to spend Easter weekend with his mom,
Kay Turner. Lacadena is in west-central Saskatchewan, 60 My six-year-old waiting for the bus on our lawn in
miles northwest of Swift Current.
southeast Saskatchewan on March 29, 2013.
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
Wheat & Chaff
Farm safety
Developing hazard
control strategies
A
s part of my job as a farm safety adviser, I
make a habit of reading about farm-related
injuries. It’s not a pleasant task, but I consider it a part of my job to be as informed
as I can about the circumstances surrounding injuries
and fatalities.
It chills me to the bone when I read or hear about
farmers that are injured while working alone — by
themselves, in pain, sometimes in the dark or cold,
and with no means of sending for help. It takes me
back to those nights on the farm when my dad sent
everyone home to get some sleep but he was going
to keep baling to beat the rain. Could that have happened to him?
When injuries happen, every minute counts.
Minutes can make the difference between saving a
limb or amputation. Minutes can make the difference
between life and death.
So when working with farmers to implement
health and safety plans, I always stress the need to
put in place hazard control strategies that take into
consideration every possible circumstance, including
working alone.
Control strategies are steps a farmer can take to
protect the health and safety of themselves and their
workers. Once a hazard has been identified, the first
step is to see if you can get rid of it. This could involve
shipping a bull or throwing out faulty tools. If you
can’t eliminate it, the next step is to control that
hazard. This could include replacing old tools, ensur-
ing guards and barriers are in place, replacing manual
lifting with a mechanical option and developing safe
work practices. Safe work practices should include a
description of work including safety practices, communication processes, emergency procedures and
required equipment and supplies. More obvious control strategies include frequent handwashing, regular
equipment maintenance and repairs, job rotation
and adequate supervision.
When it comes to working alone, developing
a working-alone policy is really important. A
policy might include anything from informing a
supervisor or other person what you are doing,
when and where you will be doing it, and how
long it will take, a buddy system, making judicious use of cellphones, radios or other forms of
communication and regular checks. These measures can help farmers ensure their employees are
supervised. A farmer working alone can take comfort in knowing that systems are in place should
something happen.
Putting in place control measures may seem daunting, but when you break it down into small, manageable steps, the solutions become clearer.
For more information on implementing control
strategies or developing your own written health and
safety plans, visit www.agsafetyweek.ca. †
Carolyn Van Den Heuvel has spent the last year helping farmers
implement the Canada FarmSafe Plan as a Canada FarmSafe Adviser
for the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA).
Seed technology
DuPont and Monsanto agreements
D
uPont and Monsanto
have reached agreements that include a
multi-year, royalty-bearing licence for Monsanto’s nextgeneration soybean technologies in
the United States and Canada.
Through these agreements,
DuPont Pioneer will be able to
offer Genuity Roundup Ready 2
Yield soybeans as early as 2014, and
Genuity Roundup Ready 2 XtendTM
glyphosate — and dicamba tolerant
soybeans as early as 2015, pending
regulatory approvals.
DuPont Pioneer also will receive
regulatory data rights for the soybean and corn traits previously
licensed from Monsanto, enabling
it to create a wide array of stacked
trait combinations using traits or
genetics from DuPont Pioneer
or others. Monsanto will receive
access to certain DuPont Pioneer
disease resistance and corn defoliation patents.
“This technology exchange helps
both companies to expand the
range of innovative solutions we
can offer farmers, and to do so faster
than either of us could alone,” said
DuPont Pioneer president Paul E.
Schickler. “The agreements broaden
the Pioneer soybean lineup.
Under these agreements, DuPont
Pioneer will make a series of upfront
and variable-based royalty payments subject to future delivery of
enabling soybean genetic material.
It will make four annual fixed royalty payments from 2014 to 2017
totalling $802 million for trait tech-
nology, associated data, and soybean lines to support commercial
introduction. Additionally, beginning in 2018, DuPont Pioneer will
pay royalties on a per-unit basis of
Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield
and Genuity Roundup Ready 2
XtendTM for the life of the agreement for continued technology
access, subject to annual minimum
payments through 2023 totalling
$950 million.
DuPont and Monsanto also
agreed to dismiss their respective antitrust and first-generation
Roundup Ready soybean patent
lawsuits pending in U.S. Federal
Court in St. Louis.
Additional terms of the agreements were not disclosed. †
Monsanto.com
photo contest
GIVE US YOUR
BEST SHOT
Brenda Cartwright sent us this photo of her niece MacKenzie Reid.
MacKenzie was seven when this photo was taken at Leanhaven Farm near
Gananoque, Ontario.
Brenda wrote, “The dairy and crop farm is owned and operated by
MacKenzie’s grandfather, Brian McLean and uncle, Trevor McLean. This is
their first attempt at growing sunflowers to that extent and the flowers did
amazingly well in the hot summer of 2012.
Brenda took this photo while MacKenzie was helping her cut bouquets
of sunflowers to sell at the farmers’ markets in Lansdowne and Gananoque.
If you’d like to see your photo on this page and receive $25, send your
best shot to [email protected]. Please send only one or
two photos at a time and include your name and address, the names of
anyone in the photo, where the photo was taken and a bit about what was
going on that day. A little writeup about your farm is welcome, too. Please
ensure that images are of high resolution (1 MB is preferred), and if the
image includes a person, we need to be able to see their face clearly.
— Leeann
Agronomy tips from the field
Finding ROI
in fungicide
A
t grower meetings
this winter, there was
a lot of surprise about
the damage to canola
caused by Sclerotinia last year.
Maybe it’s that sense of uncertainty that’s behind the most
common question I’m asked by
farmers, regardless of the crop:
“Should I pencil in for fungicide
this year?”
My answer is absolutely,
budget for fungicide because disease happens. But how can farmers evaluate whether this application will pay off in the end?
Consider the three points
of the “disease triangle.” First,
are your crop genetics susceptible to disease? Second, do the
weather conditions favour an
outbreak? And third, is disease
already present? If you think
the answer is yes to any two
of these questions, you should
plan on applying a fungicide.
The last question — “Is disease already present?” — can be
tricky. With many diseases, if
you see symptoms, it’s already
too late. So be proactive. If the
field had disease last year or if
you use a short rotation that
could foster disease, then the
answer to this question is yes.
During application, leave an
untreated check strip so you can
evaluate application effectiveness and calculate your return
on investment (ROI). With
experience and data, you’ll be
able to predict when a fungicide
spray will pay for itself. †
This agronomy tip is brought to you by
Aaron Bouchard, agronomic service
representative for Syngenta Canada Inc.
Weather Lore
South winds and rain
A
wind from the south has
rain in its mouth.
Weather lore is fun
and it can also be practical. The people (often farmers) who first created weather
rhymes and adages, such as the
one above, spent much of their
time outside and experienced
enough weather to figure out
some fairly reliable patterns.
A wind from the south often
heralds an approaching low pressure system. As it blows clouds
nearer, humidity increases and
so does the chance of rain.
A pressure system is a whirl-
ing mass that moves across the
earth, usually from west to east,
rather like a spinning top. In a
high pressure system, the air/
wind moves clockwise around
the centre of the high, and we
experience winds from north
and west. In a low pressure system, air moves counter-clockwise, resulting in south, southeast and easterly winds, and
often, precipitation. †
Shirley Byers’ book “Never Sell Your
Hen on a Rainy Day” explores over 100
weather rhymes and sayings. It is available
from McNally Robinson at: http://www.
mcnallyrobinson.com/home.
3
4
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Cover Stories
Crop disease
» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
evolving blackleg
in canola
there are other important benefits
to using fungicide, including:
• control of the pathogen,
despite no yield increases;
• the crop may be cleaner; and,
• inoculum may be reduced for
the next season.
Managing blackleg
Fernando does have a proposal
to manage the blackleg issue in
Western Canada. “The primary
measure is to introduce cultivar
rotation,” he explains. “By rotating
cultivars with different resistance
genes, the chance of the pathogen
overcoming the resistance is minimized. Think of it as confusing the
pathogen.” About 70 per cent of
varieties have the same genes for
resistance in Canada, so there is a
little leeway with other genes that
could be used to farmers’ benefit.
“This is the good news,” says
Fernando. “Now we know the
genes that confer resistance so
seed companies can use that information in their breeding programs. The key is to avoid using
one resistance gene and/or to stack
new genes for resistance.”
Some genes are easier to overcome than others. “A single resistance gene is easy for a pathogen
to overcome,” says Fernando.
“We have identified so-called field
resistance or adult plant resistant
types. In this scenario, several
minor genes are working together
to provide resistance to blackleg,
keep yield at acceptable levels
and survive the onslaught of the
pathogen.
“More good news for producers in Canada is that this situation has already been dealt with
in Australia,” says Fernando.
“They went through this breakdown of resistance issue earlier
than us, and cultivar rotation
has been a successful tool to
manage it.”
This is a good example of why
it is so important to keep research
funding at healthy levels so scientists like Dr. Fernando and his
team can continue to do the basic
science on these emerging issues.
Thereafter it will come down to
the industry working together to
implement successful strategies to
manage the problem, which in
this case has already been tried
and tested on the other side of the
world. †
Andrea Hilderman has her master’s degree
in weed science and is a member of the
Manitoba Institute of Agrologists. She writes
from Winnipeg, Man.
1 6 6 6 D u b l i n Av e n u e ,
W i n n i p e g , MB R 3 H 0 H 1
w w w. g r a i n e w s . c a
PUBLI SHER Lynda Tityk
Associate Publisher/
Editorial director John Morriss
Edi tor
Leeann Minogue
field Edi tor
Lisa Guenther
Cattleman’s Corner Editor
Lee Hart
Farml ife Edi tor
photo: dr. dilantha fernando
This photo shows blackleg infection on canola leaves, with concentric
rings of spore-bearing structures. The pathogen that causes blackleg has
been changing since 2003.
Spreading blackleg
T
he blackleg pathogen
is capable of spreading,
but this needs to be put
in perspective. In comparison to rusts in wheat, which
can spread thousands of miles,
sclerotinia in canola which can
spread miles or clubroot in canola which can also spread as far
as infected soil dust is blown
in the wind, blackleg can be
effectively dealt with using 500metre buffer zones.
“Research in Canada by my
laboratory and independently in
Australia has shown that 500metre buffer zones are sufficient
to prevent the spread of blackleg from field to field,” says Dr.
Dilantha Fernando. †
Andrea Hilderman.
Blackleg is the biggest issue
By Andrea Hilderman
C
anola is a different crop
in Australia than it is
in Canada — different
in the season required
to grow it to maturity and the
area seeded to canola. The former
makes it susceptible to diseases
that are not as economically significant in Canada and the latter
makes it a less valuable crop to the
overall agricultural economy than
it is in Canada. However, farmers
in Australia are as determined to
keep canola as a viable rotational
option as Canadian farmers.
Ask any Australian canola
grower, agronomist or industry
professional to list the top five
problems growing canola in the
land Down Under, and you’ll get
the same answer: blackleg, blackleg, blackleg, blackleg and, of
course, blackleg.
Joking aside, it’s really that
important to the success of canola
crop primarily because whereas
canola is a 100+ day crop in
Canada, it takes 200+ days to
mature in Australia. That gives the
blackleg-causing pathogen more
time to do the damage of which
it is capable — especially some of
the more aggressive races found in
Australia. Simply put, it has 100
more days, give or take, to inflict
damage and yield loss.
Back in Canada, farmers are more
concerned with lack of moisture,
heat blast, early frosts, sclerotinia,
Clint Jurke has been studying
the actions the Australian canola
industry is taking to combat
blackleg.
insects and aster yellows robbing
them of yield. It is only in recent
years that blackleg has started to
show it can be a problem again.
Blackleg continues to be a significant disease. It has the potential to cost farmers millions of
dollars in lost trade if it is not kept
on the front burner.
Clint Jurke, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of
Canada recently returned from a
study tour to Australia to see first
hand how blackleg is managed
there.
“Blackleg is a much bigger
problem in Australia,” says Jurke.
“Resistance in many cultivars has
broken down and this has led
to a system of cultivar rotation
by growers to keep the pathogen
from getting the upper hand.”
Machinery EDITOR
Scott Garvey
Produ ction Dire ctor
Shawna Gibson
Desi gner
Steven Cote
MARKETING/ CIR CULATION
Dire ctor Lynda Tityk
Ci rc ulat ion manag er Heather Anderson
president
of Glacier Agricultural
Information Group
Bob Willcox
H e ad O f f i c e
1666 Dublin Avenue,
Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1
Phone: (204) 944-5568
Fax: (204) 944-5562
Adv ert isi ng Sa l es
Crop disease
Fighting blackleg
in Australia
Sue Armstrong
The biggest component of
Australia’s solution involves having farmers pay close attention to
the varieties of canola they seed.
Resistance groups
The Australian industry has
resorted to grouping blackleg
resistance into six groups, and
working with farmers to promote
rotating varieties between groups.
“By rotating groups,” says Jurke,
“producers are able to keep the
pathogen on the defensive and
have successfully prevented it
from overcoming resistance with
the ease it did in the past.” The
groups of resistance include both
varieties with single gene resistance and those with what could
be called field resistance or quantitative resistance (multiple genes).
When they’re following recommended rotations, farmers won’t
always have a large number of
varieties to choose from. That
really speaks to greater market
segmentation in Australian canola
as compared with Canada.
“In Australia, there are three
types of maturity in canola,” says
Jurke. “In addition to that, producers have to be on top of rotating
their multiple herbicide groups
and finally keeping GM production segregated from non-GM production fields. It can sometimes
be a challenge to find a cultivar to
rotate so that will work.”
Managing blackleg
in Canada
Canadian canola producers have
options at hand to keep blackleg
from breaking down resistance.
“The first and most important
strategy any producer can engage
in right away is field scouting,”
says Jurke. “Essentially, most pro-
ducers have relied on the cultivar
to do the job against blackleg, but
we are starting to see that break
down occasionally. Field scouting
for blackleg symptoms will go a
long way towards putting this disease back on the radar.”
If blackleg infections are becoming more noticeable, then the first
line of defence is to lengthen out
canola rotations. “The Australian
situation is a worst-case scenario,”
says Jurke. “If producers keep blackleg top of mind and utilize good
rotations and management practices, we will never get to a worstcase scenario here in Canada.”
Jurke is a member of the Blackleg
Steering Group which is made up
of a cross-section of the industry including provincial producer
organizations, the Canola Council
of Canada, CFIA, public plant
pathologists and the seed developers. This group is actively working on ensuring research is being
carried out and production plans
developed to assist growers to manage the disease.
The Blackleg Steering Group has
also developed a 10-year strategic
plan to stay ahead of blackleg.
Part of that plan included Jurke
attending the Australian Canola
Pathology Meeting in March.
“In Australia, 99 per cent of canola pathology concerns are blackleg concerns, so I am taking a lot
of information back to the steering group for our next meeting,”
explains Jurke. Canadian canola
producers can expect to hear a lot
more about blackleg over the next
few years as the industry works
together to ensure it never becomes
the problem it has “in the land
Down Under.” †
Andrea Hilderman has her master’s degree
in weed science and is a member of the
Manitoba Institute of Agrologists. She writes
from Winnipeg, Man.
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APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
5
Features
Farm finance
Federal budget — few breaks for farmers
With federal tax changes, farmers will find themselves paying
higher taxes on corporate dividends
By Andrew Allentuck
T
he March 21 federal
budget gives farmers little
reason to smile. Farmers
with privately held farming corporations will pay more
tax. Famers subsidize their operations with town jobs are likely
to be denied deductions for their
losses. However, there is a proposed increase in the lifetime capital gains exemption.
Farming corporations
capital gains exemption
Farmers who manage to make
a good living will get tax relief
when they sell or structure trans-
fers of their farms to children.
The March 21 budget proposes
to allow owners of small businesses, farmers and fishers to
use an increase in the Lifetime
Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE)
to apply a limit of $800,000 starting in 2014.
The LCGE will be indexed to
inflation after 2014 and the increase
in limits will be available to farmers
and others who have previously
used their full $750,000 exemption.
“That is a positive move,”
says Doug Chorney, president of Keystone Agricultural
Producers. †
CHANGES TO FEDERAL TAXES ON DIVIDENDS
2013
2014 and beyond
$1,000
$1,000
$250
$180
$1,250
$1,180
Federal tax (highest rate of 29%)
$363
$342
Dividend tax credit (a % of gross
up: 67.7% in 2013; 72.2% in 2014)
– $167
– $130
Net federal tax
(federal tax less the credit)
$196
$212
After tax proceeds
(dividend – federal taxes)
$804
$788
Non-eligible dividend
Gross up
Taxable dividend
(dividend plus gross up)
Andrew Allentuck’s latest book, “When Can
Top federal marginal rate
19.58%
21.22%
I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After
on dividends
Work,” was published in 2011 by Penguin
T:8.25”
Canada.
Source: This table was provided by CIBC in the bank’s budget report.
S:7.425”
Beware of leaf disease.
Restricting farm losses
Restricted farm loss rules apply
to losses when a farmer’s main
source of income is not farming
nor some combination of farming
and some other activity.
The new rules, designed to
ensure that part time and hobby
farmers don’t get too rich a tax
deduction, follows an August 1,
2012 decision by the Supreme
Court of Canada which said that
if a taxpayer with two businesses,
one of which is farming, makes
good money in something else,
then in spite of the fact that the
farm may be bleeding red ink,
there will be bar to deduction of
farm losses. All that is required is
that the farmer make a serious,
bona fide effort to make money by
investing time, labour and capital.
The decision was a 180 degree
turn from the former rule from
a May, 1977 case in which only
farmers who got the majority of
their income from farming could
deduct their farming losses.
The 2012 decision allowed
Unchecked, leaf disease can reduce cereal crop
yields by up to 40%.
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C-50-03/13-BCS13012-E
T:10”
S:9.175”
Changes in the taxation of
dividends will hit farming corporations. Dividends received
from Canadian controlled private
corporations that pay tax at the
small business rate are having
their tax rates raised.
The concept is that an individual
receiving income from the corporation is compensated for income
taxes paid by the corporation at
the corporate level. The March
21 budget proposes to adjust the
gross up factor applicable to these
ineligible dividends from 25 to 18
per cent and then to push the dividend tax credit from 66.7 per cent
of the gross-up amount to 72.2 per
cent of the amount. As a result of
these changes, the federal tax rate
on ineligible dividend income for
a person in the highest tax bracket
will rise to 21.2 from 19.6 per cent.
“It’s a couple of percentage
points on companies that shareholders own, so it has a negative
effective,” says James Doer, managing partner of accounting company BDO in Winnipeg.
There has been overcompensation of shareholders receiving these
ineligible dividends. The budget
repairs this by raising taxes. As a
result, $1,000 of non-eligible dividends paid in 2013 will be taxed at
19.58 after federal tax calculations.
Beginning in 2014, the tax rate will
rise to 21.22 per cent.
As shown in the table, a farmer
paying himself $1,000 in dividends in 2013 would pay $196 in
federal personal taxes at the highest tax rate. In 2014 and beyond,
these taxes would increase to $212.
deduction of farm losses in full
rather than the $8,750 limit
imposed after the 1977 case, called
Moldowan v. The Queen.
The new budget restores the core
of the 1977 rule and cancels the
effect of the 2012 case by saying that a taxpayer’s non-farming
income must be less than farming
income if farming losses are to
be fully deductible against income
from non-farming sources. The
budget also proposes to increase
the limit of annual deductible farm
losses to $17,500 from $8,750.
6
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Features
CROP PRODUCTION
MOTHER NATURE THROWS A CURVE BALL
CROP ADVISOR’S CASEBOOK
BY ALAINA STOESZ
A
t the end of June,
Frank — who lives
west of Yorkton and
farms 4,000 acres of
wheat, canola and barley — sent
me an email with a picture of
his spring wheat field, which
was presenting some odd symptoms. In the photo, distinct
areas throughout the field were
yellowing and stunted.
Frank had just returned from
holiday and was anxious about
his field since it was almost at the
critical flag leaf stage. I wasted no
time and visited his farm that
day. From the road, the affected
areas appeared yellow, but as I
entered the field I noticed many
of the penultimate leaves had a
greyish-dark green, water-soaked
appearance. In addition, some
of the leaves were already dead,
the areas of necrosis extending
toward the plants’ midveins.
“I’m baffled,” said Frank. “I
think it could be water stress
or herbicide injury.” But, after
further discussion with Frank,
I discovered he had sprayed
herbicide more than two weeks
earlier and he had not noticed
any plant damage then, so we
ruled out herbicide injury or
sprayer malfunction as the
problem. However, I did notice
that many of the stunted and
discoloured areas were mainly
on side hills.
Although the region had
received multiple heavy rains
the previous week, we were able
to eliminate water stress because
the damaged areas did not coincide with the wet areas in the
field. After discussing Frank’s fertility program, and because the
symptoms did not support it, we
also ruled out nutrient deficiency
as the source of the damage;
however, we took a tissue test of
the affected and unaffected areas
to be sure.
This disease was unlike any
other I had diagnosed in spring
wheat in this region — the symptoms did not resemble tan spot,
rust or leaf blotch. Since so much
rain had fallen the previous week,
we thought it could be the roots
W
ith plenty of moisture came plenty
of bugs and disease last summer.
At the beginning of July 2012,
farmers in the Tisdale area of
Saskatchewan had noticed insect
damage in their canola fields and
in many alfalfa crops as well. The
region had received a lot of moisture followed by warm, humid
days, which led to increased
disease and insect pressure. The
main crops in the area consisted
of canola, wheat, barley and oats
— and many were being robbed
of yield by a gnawing insect.
T
he winner of the
Casebook contest
from the last issue
of Grainews is Paul
Ed Hofer, at Lumsden, Sask.
We’ll be sending Paul a
Grainews hat and renewing
his subscription for a year.
Thanks for entering, Paul!
Alaina Stoesz
suffering from the overly wet conditions; however, after digging up
some of the plants, it was clear
that the crowns were white and
the root biomass and structure
were normal and healthy.
Despite ruling out many potential causes of the plant damage,
environmental factors remained
high on our list of suspects because
of the severe storms of the past
week. After discussing the situation with my agronomy manager,
we decided the symptoms could
be due to a disease that rarely
occurs in spring wheat fields.
Distinct areas throughout Frank’s
field were yellowing and stunted.
I sent the tissue samples to the
Crop Protection Lab in Regina.
Sure enough, the lab confirmed
our diagnosis, wrapping up this
curious case.
What unusual disease is
affecting Frank’s spring wheat
field? Send your diagnosis to
Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg,
MB, R3C 3K7; email leeann.
[email protected]
or fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop
Leeann Minogue is the editor of
Grainews.
Advisor’s Casebook. Best suggestions will be pooled and
one winner will be drawn for
a chance to win a Grainews
cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The best
answer, along with the reasoning which solved the mystery,
will appear in the next Crop
Advisor’s Solution. †
Alaina Stoesz is a sales agronomist for
Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Yorkton, Sask.
SCOUT REGULARLY FOR DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS
CROP ADVISOR’S SOLUTION
BY KIMBERLEY SLADE
Casebook
winner
Bill, a local farmer, called
me with concerns he was having about his canola field. “It’s
definitely an insect. I noticed
some damage when the crop
was around the 20 to 30 per
cent blooming stage, and I fear
it’s only getting worse.” Bill
explained that something was
taking bites out of the canola
plant pods. “My neighbours say
they have the same problem.”
At the field, the canola plants
looked normal and healthy,
but close examination revealed
insect damage. There were visible bite marks on the canola
pods, and some pods were falling off without maturing.
As we walked through it,
we noticed many insects flying throughout and over the
field. We conducted a sweep
net test which revealed the field
was infested with lygus bugs at
threshold levels.
The lygus bug is easy to identify due to the light-coloured
“V” or triangular shape on its
upper back. Lygus bugs can
vary in colour from pale green
to reddish brown to black,
depending on the species.
There are four main species in
Western Canada — Lygus lineolaris, L. borealis, L. elisus and L.
keltoni. Each species is thought
to be equally destructive.
Typically, farmers should
begin scouting canola for lygus
bugs from the time the crop
bolts until the seeds within the
pods are firm. Lygus bugs tend
to feed on buds, flowers and
young pods, causing buds to
turn white and fail to develop.
As a result, flowers will fall without forming pods, and pods will
fall before maturity.
Bill’s crop yielded poorly.
However, it is difficult to say
definitively how the yield was
affected because it was a poor
year in general for canola yields.
There was also an unexpected
shortage of insecticide chemical
due to increased insect pressure
in many areas of the province
caused by the increased moisture levels.
In this case, and many others
like it, it’s important for farmers
to watch for increased insect
pressure, especially in years with
a lot of moisture followed by
warm daytime temperatures. Be
aware of threshold levels in order
to determine when to spray.
Regular scouting of fields is
necessary to determine if insects
are invading your crops and at
what level — before they rob
you of yield. †
Kimberley Slade is an area marketing
representative for Richardson Pioneer Ltd.
at Crooked River, Sask.
SPRAYING
OFF LABEL
COSTS
YIELD
Spraying herbicide on Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola,
above recommended rates or outside the application window,
can cost you 3 bushels per acre or more in yield.
10630-MON-RR Spray-grain-news-9.5x5.indd 1
ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW GRAIN MARKETING AND ALL OTHER STEWARDSHIP PRACTICES AND PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Genuity®,
Roundup Ready®, Monsanto® and Vine Design® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Canada Inc. Licensee. ©2013 Monsanto Canada Inc.
2/27/13 11:42 AM
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
7
Features
Crop disease
Glume blotch or fusarium?
The symptoms of glume blotch are often mistaken for fusarium
by Angela Lovell
G
lume blotch is a cereal
disease that thrives in
wet, humid growing
conditions. It has
generally been more prevalent in
Ontario, but it does occur across the
Prairies. Glume blotch symptoms
on harvested grain can be confused
with the fusarium damaged kernels
(FDK) caused by Fusarium Head
Blight, and can negatively affect
the quality of grain, especially
wheat, and cause downgrading.
Glume blotch symptoms on
wheat kernels are caused by septoria
infections, and are very similar to
those caused by fusarium. The septoria damaged kernels, however, do
not contain mycotoxins that would
be found in kernals damaged by the
F. graminearum pathogen.
spotting on winter and spring
wheat in central parts of the region
and wheat leaf spotting was also
quite severe in breeding nurseries,
probably due to wet, warm conditions during May to July, but the
symptoms could have been due to
other leaf disease pathogens such
as tan spot.
Some wheat varieties are
moderately resistant to glume
blotch. Seed treatments and
foliar fungicides are available,
but farmers should spray only
in cooperative weather. Leaf and
glume blotch development will be
arrested during dry weather.
What to look for
Symptoms of leaf and glume
blotch may first appear as small
spots on the lower leaves of seedlings, although symptoms might
not be detectable at the seedling
stage depending on weather conditions. These spots grow into
larger, yellow, lens-shaped lesions
which later turn reddish brown.
They become grey or greyishbrown and speckled as tiny black
or brown fruiting bodies develop.
Septoria produces lesions that can
be confused with tan spot, which
has oval, tan-coloured lesions,
however the presence of pycnidia
indicate Septoria leaf spots.
On the chaff or glumes, brown
marks start at the tips, develop
downwards and later produce pepper-like brownish dots, which are
characteristic of septoria glume
blotch. Infection can also occur on
the stems at the joints or nodes.
U.S. data recommends a fungicide application if 25 per cent
of the leaves have one or more
lesions in three or five spots sampled in the field. If the disease is
present, but this threshold is not
reached, farmers are advised to
watch weather forecasts, because
the disease can spread rapidly during periods of heavy rainfall.
Recommendations from North
Dakota State University indicate
that it’s not economical to apply
fungicide unless there is significant leaf disease present. Yield
reduction will be anywhere from
10 to 40 per cent when the flag
leaf is affected. †
photo: jeannie gilbert, aafc
Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor
and communications specialist living and
working in Manitoba. Find her online at
www.angelalovell.ca.
The septoria leaf and glume blotch
pathogens can overwinter on seed
or crop residue, on volunteer wheat
and the leaves of winter wheat.
What is glume blotch?
Ron Howard, a plant pathologist
with Alberta Agriculture and Rural
Development, says leaf blotch is
usually more common than glume
blotch, since leaf material is available for infection for a longer
period of time.
Most leaf spot diseases require
temperatures between 15 to 30 C,
with an optimum of 20 to 25 C and
periods of high relative humidity or
leaf wetness for 48 hours or more.
The pathogen that causes
glume blotch occurs later in the
season because of the timing of
head emergence. The septoria
leaf and glume blotch pathogens
can overwinter on seed or crop
residue, on volunteer wheat and
the leaves of winter wheat.
Dark-coloured fruiting structures present on old infested residue release spores that are spread
by wind and cause early spring
infections. Later in the summer,
infection is primarily caused by
rain-dispersed spores. Rain splash
helps spread the disease, which is
favoured by high humidity and
temperatures between 20 and 28 C.
The fungus cycles progressively
on the crop as it develops, causing
lesions which produce the fruiting
bodies, releasing spores spread by
rain splash to cause new lesions
that begin the cycle all over again.
Stubble mulching and minimum till may increase the incidence of this disease, but short
rotations, susceptible varieties and
favourable weather conditions are
the main risk factors for glume
blotch development.
“Leaf diseases, in general, were
quite prevalent in wheat fields
across the Prairies from 2010
to 2012 because of higher-thannormal levels of precipitation,”
says Howard.
Historically, glume blotch has
been most severe on red spring
and durum wheat in Manitoba and
eastern Saskatchewan. Although it
has shown up in plant surveys over
the past two years, incidence and
severity of glume blotch has been
low in Manitoba, which has experienced generally dryer conditions.
Northwest Saskatchewan had very
high levels of cereal leaf diseases
such as septoria and tan spot in
2012 and at the heading stage
glume blotch was present in many
wheat fields sampled in the region.
Alberta surveys in mid-July to
early August found severe leaf
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13-03-01 1:43 PM
8
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Features
Seeding
The plan for 2013
Kevin Elmy’s plans for spring seeding include
more cover crops, less canola and a strong
focus on soybeans
By Kevin Elmy
W
hat a winter! Most
farmers are looking
forward to the challenges of this coming crop year, just to get out of this
winter. Markets have been volatile.
Bins are being emptied. Plans are
being made.
Plans at Friendly Acres
On our farm, 2013 is going to
look like any other year, with some
modifications to our rotation and
a few new strategies to reduce risk
and increase net income per acre.
We put 170 acres of fridge forage
winter triticale in the ground last
fall, into both canola stubble and
into cover crop ground. It will be
interesting to see the differences
this summer and fall.
We’ll be tissue testing early in
the season to see what the plants
need. For sure, it will get a foliar
application of Alpine’s copper. If
nitrogen is required, we will do a
foliar application using the Fabian
system of melting 46-0-0 (Patrick
Fabian wrote about this method
in the March 11 issue of Grainews.)
Our canola acres will take a hit
from our long-term average, similar
to last year. We’ll seed half of our
long-term canola acres, replacing
the other half with cover crops.
Our goal with the cover crop is to
create a good environment to seed
next fall’s winter triticale into.
We’ll be using proso millet, tillage radish and crimson clover that
we will seed late June or early
July, and then hay in early to
mid August. That way the bales
can be moved and we can seed
in late August. The canola stubble
will wait until after it is harvested,
which will spread out our workload. InVigor L120 is the canola we
will seed. It’s early and stands well.
From our trials, it has performed
well, with similar yields to L130.
Working budget numbers comparing a cover crop to canola was
interesting. Using long-term numbers, and current local feed requirements, we come up a little lower
income using cover crops instead
of canola, but our risk is down significantly due to lower input costs.
It also all but guarantees that we’ll
be able to seed our winter triticale
on time. That should translate into
earlier maturing winter triticale
and higher yields.
The other positive is that,
under drier years, the cover crop
will have more moisture to get
the winter triticale establishing better, plus the ground will
have adequate cover. When the
top growth is poor and feed is
required, there is an option to
graze the cover crop before seeding the winter cereal.
Soybeans
We’ll continue to seed 45 per
cent of our acres to soybeans.
We’re hoping to get replicated
small plots on our farm so we
can produce statistically relevant
numbers and properly evaluate
varieties and agronomy.
Getting agronomic and variety
information from Manitoba is okay,
but Saskatchewan farmers need
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the market action
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marketing wheat, durum,
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canola, flax, lentils, peas,
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for each of Alberta,
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• futures and options quotes
Wild Oats, every Tuesday, keeps you on
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in market noise. It’s one page of news,
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The cost is $295 a year. Delivery is by
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trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC.
Used under license.
Kevin Elmy plans to seed 45 per cent of his acres to soybeans in 2013.
local trials and information. The
double rate of granular inoculant
started on our farm from one of our
strip trials. To fine-tune the rest of
Saskatchewan soybean agronomy,
we need to continue our research,
based on initial information from
Manitoba, so we can maximize our
potential yields and returns. Ideally,
there would be five of these sites
because of the range of our climate
and the sheer size of Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Seed Guide uses
Bow Island, Saskatoon, and Roblin
to give us yield numbers for the
province. This is not adequate or
representative of Saskatchewan.
Our soybeans will be seeded half
on soybean stubble, the rest on
either winter triticale or on cover
crop stubble. It will be interesting
to see if there is any yield advantage
to seeding soybeans on cover crop
ground as opposed to winter triticale stubble. My theory is that when
we get dry, and we will, using cover
crops every other year or every second year will help store water, cover
the soil and build microbes.
Depending on the time of year
we seed, we may do some seeding
rate trials in field scale strips. If we
can’t get the small plots seeded,
we’ll continue with our field scale
strip trials. That is the only way we
can get a good feel for how these
varieties perform and how they
react to our climate.
Other crops
Our azuki bean experiment will
continue into Year 2. Last year was
almost the opposite of what the
plants are accustomed to. We’ve
been told they like to be grown in
a drier environment. Considering
the plants were under water for a
third of the growing season, year
one confirmed that saturated soils
are not conducive to azuki bean
production.
The samples we sent away met
quality specifications for end users
in China. Stay tuned for updates
on 2013 production.
Verene Elmy, Kevin Elmy’s mom,
in a field of soybeans near Sturgis,
Sask.
We will also be performing some
trials on corn grazing, testing new
and proven varieties. Last year, we
only seeded 15 varieties over five
acres, out of 40 acres planned. The
rest of the field was seeded to cover
crops. This year’s plan is to seed 35
acres of the field to corn, leaving
five acres to seed to cover crops,
then graze it all off from October
to December. We’ll be using varieties from Prairie Pacific Seeds,
Maizex, Hyland, and Canamaize.
We took out a field of alfalfa last
fall, so we’ll be seeding another
down to Tophand alfalfa to get us
back to 100 acres of alfalfa for hay
and green manure. Our Shoshone
sainfoin is scheduled to stay in for
another three years.
Overall, we have been happy
with our rotation, the crops we are
growing and our net income per
acre. There are no major plans for
capital investment or equipment
upgrades on the radar. We are just
hoping for a normal year, but I’ve
been waiting for a normal year for
six years now. †
Kevin Elmy operates Friendly Acres Seed
Farm, along with his wife, Christina, and
parents, Robert and Verene, near Saltcoats,
Sask. Contact him at 306-744-2779 or visit
www.friendlyacres.sk.ca.
C NOLA M.D.
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8/20/12 2:47
1 PM
grainews.ca/DIAGNOSEIT
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
Features
SEEDING
How to treat treated seed
Treated seed is a safe and efficient way to protect seeds.
Just make sure you handle it safely
BY REBECA KUROPATWA
P
esticides, including insecticides, play a significant role in maintaining
a sustainable, abundant
food supply.
“Without pesticides, the world
would lose at least 40 per cent of
its food supply due to pest damage,” said Pierre Petelle, vice president of chemistry at CropLife
Canada, the trade association
representing pesticides and plant
biotechnology manufacturers,
developers, and distributors.
In the early growth stage, insecticide seed treatments are a valuable way to protect planted seeds
and crops from insects. “Only
small quantities of insecticide are
needed to coat the seed, which
is then planted in the ground,
reducing human and environmental exposure as well as exposure to non-target organisms,
such as bees,” explained Petelle.
Today’s seed-applied insecticides have been in use in
Canada for over a decade.
“The majority of treated seed
planted in Canada is canola in
the Prairies, where there have
been no reports of related bee
deaths, despite millions of acres
of plantings,” said Petelle. “In
Ontario, treated corn seed and
pollinators have successfully coexisted for the last decade.
Petelle recommends farmers
follow a set of CropLife Canada’s
Best Management Practices
(BMPs), including “controlling
a field’s flowering weeds before
planting; communicating with
nearby beekeepers and being
aware of hive locations near
your fields; following planter
manufacturer recommendations
when using seed box lubricants;
properly calibrating your seeder
for the conditions; providing
pollinator-friendly habitats away
from active fields; seeding at
times of day when bees aren’t
foraging (typically early morning
or evening); and properly
disposing of seed bags according
to local regulations.”
EFFECTIVE APPLICATION
Murray Belyk, manager, scientific affairs with Bayer CropScience
at Regina, Sask., says, “Innovative
seed treatment technology repre-
sents an environmentally sound
approach to crop protection.
Treating seed provides targeted,
effective application.
“By incorporating the seed
(and applied pesticide) into the
soil at planting, exposure to wildlife is reduced. Typically seed
treatments reduce the number of
spray applications required.”
Fungicide seed treatment is
very important too (and in some
cases, even more so than using
insecticide), according to Belyk.
With many different seed
treatment available, Belyk says it
all comes down to (a) the crop
type and (b) the pest likelihood.
“Diseases can be seed or soil borne.
Some seed treatments can be
applied by the farmer, while others
must only be applied by a commercial seed treatment facility.”
Belyk says, “The industry is
continually improving the technology to improve the quality
of treated seed and minimize
exposure.”
SAFE HANDLING
David Drexler of Researchman
Consulting Inc. became
involved with seed treatments
and bees at a very high level
about seven years ago, when he
returned from Europe to take
on the role of head of research
and development for Bayer
CropScience.
“Safe handling and use of any
crop protection product is important and critical,” However, in
this case, the value outweighs the
risk. “Treated seed is an incredible evolution in growers’ abilities to benefit from crop protection products. They don’t have
to buy, store, or measure them, or
calibrate a sprayer.
But Drexler advised caution
about important issues concerning treated seed. Some circumstances increase the risk associated with treated seed. These
include:
1. Strong winds (especially
towards environmentally sensitive areas, like a body of water
or an apiary).
2. Pollinators foraging nearby early in the foraging season
(growers should consider controlling those weeds immediately on the field margins).
3. Treated seed is left on
PHOTO: MURRAY BELYK
Remember that treated seed
contains crop protection products
and needs to be handled like crop
protection products.
the surface that could be consumed by wildlife (it needs to
be buried through some kind
of cultivation).
4. When the seeder isn’t
properly calibrated for depth.
5. When there’s a seed spill at
the filling site, which could be
consumed by wildlife (it needs
to be cleaned up immediately).
6. When seed bags are left at
the filling site.
7. When seed bags are are
shaken briskly to get that last
seed out.
8. When dust forms in the
bag during transport, handling,
or storage.
Drexler says, “Realize treated
seed contains crop protection
products, and, therefore, should be
handled like crop protection products — carefully and with attention to recommendations.” †
Rebeca Kuropatwa is a professional writer
in Winnipeg, Man.
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10
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Precision Farming
APPQUEST
AppQuest: Grain bin
contents estimator
This handy app helps you figure out how many
more truckloads you have in the bin
JAY
PETERSON
I
t seems in today’s world of
multiple loading sites, different bin sizes, mass quantities
of product and trucks loaded
by different people, it can be easy
to lose track of how much grain
you’ve shipped versus how much
you have left in the bin. For $5,
Farmer Apps has tried to help
relieve you with their grain bin
contents estimator app.
The inputs into this app are very
simple. It first asks you for the
diameter of the bin and the height
up to the bin eaves, in feet and
inches. The more accurate you are,
the more accurately the program
can calculate the grain in the bin.
Next, you enter the distance
from the eaves to the height of
the grain. This of course is where
the many years experience of tapping on the side of the bin comes
into play.
Lastly you enter the numerical
value in pounds per bushel for the
test weight. Now, select the type of
bin — whether it’s a flat bottom,
45° angle hopper or a 60° hopper.
The last thing to select is the
crop type and whether the grain
is coned up, coned down or level.
There are six crops to select from.
The app is missing some of the
major pulses we grow in Western
Canada. One can probably get
away with using another crop of a
similar seed size and the proper test
weight to get an accurate result.
PRECISION FARMING
Keeping track
Keeping track of your field
data is the first step on the
way to precision farming
BY SHANYN SILINSKI
“Back in ’78 that field had its best
yields,” he says, “And the rain that
year was…”
ld school field data and
history, often captured
on calendar squares or
in notebooks covered
in grease smeared pencil marks. In
today’s electronic and outsourced
world this data is very valuable.
Farmers rely on agronomists and
analysts to give them information
they can use year after year, but
there are gaps in that information
that only the farmers can fill.
At research farms across the country, researchers take soil samples,
mark GPS points and capture aerial
maps annually. These high-tech
data forms are great tools for capturing the “right now” and tracking recent history, but what about
the other information that makes a
complete production history?
Farmers usually have a good idea
of what crops they’ve planted, the
long-term hitstory of their fields,
and the of inputs they’ve used but
are they tracking the results?
When you farm thousands of
acres, keeping track of your farm’s
history is a more difficult task.
Thankfully, technology can help.
O
COLLECTING DATA
In every day farming and living we collect data continuously.
The importance is whether we are
intentionally collecting the information and using it.
When you try something new on
your farm, you’re doing research.
When you keep track of what happens, you’re collecting data.
The first step is to assess your data
collection methods. This is part of
the recordkeeping of your farm.
Is your record keeping still on the
calendar, or in a notebook? Are you
using an app on the iPad or your
smart phone? Many apps are available to record farm data.
Many times we consider our
farms based on the yield data we
get at the end of the season, and the
cost of putting in the crop. Perhaps
when we look at the bigger picture
and track our results consistently we
can find other trends.
A farmer recently told me this
about his record keeping: “I have
data maps and field maps. I’ve done
some on farm trials. I have all this
information but year to year I don’t
know how it helps me. I know my
hard costs but I feel like there is
more I can be doing with the other
information I have.”
Farmers who have access to
yield data and field mapping may
not always have the tools to use
the information getting. By taking farm management to the field
level, farmers can look at the long
term productivity of their farm
historically and make choices
based on what has been successful
in the past.
Data collection is the core of
precision farming. Farmers who
want a more in-depth analysis
of their farms can engage in soil
sampling, detailed mapping and
scouting records. Knowledge is
power. By tracking information,
farmers can make informed decisions. At the end of the day that
means better farming. †
Once you press “calculate”
the app takes you to another
page full of results. The first two
are the possible maximum bin
capacities, one in cubic feet and
the other in possible bushels.
The last sets of results are the
contents estimated left in the
bin. The app gives you the percentage of the bin still full, contents in cubic feet and the bin
content in bushels. Lastly the
app gives you the CWT, tons,
and metrics tonnes of grain.
This works well because you can
then estimate the amount of
hauling you need to clean out
the rest of the bin.
This app is not really complicated but it can sure save some
headaches.
Price: $4.99 †
Jay Peterson farms near Frontier, Sask.
DOW AGROSCIENCES
9.000X6.00
000035113r1
4C
Built for
baRLey.
Shanyn Silinski is a writer, speaker,
rancher, mom and advocate, currently
working as the national coordinator for the
Animal Emergency Working Group. Find her
blog at choretime.blogspot.com.
19452-07 DAS LiquidAchieve_13.167X9.indd 1
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
11
Precision Farming
Precision farming
DIY on variable rate
Find out how one Alberta farmer makes
variable rate fertilization work for him by
creating his own prescriptions
By Angela Lovell
P
lenty of agronomy
companies offer services to help farmers get
the most out of their
variable rate technology, which
seems to get more sophisticated
every year.
What began as GPS (Global
Positioning Satellite) guidance
systems to keep the tractor in
a straight line and avoid overlap has evolved into Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) that
use satellite imagery to create
nutrient management zones
in fields and write prescription
maps that tell the variable rate
sprayer how much fertilizer to
apply and where.
But is it worth the cost, which
can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, to contract out
these services, such as mapping
and prescription building for variable rate fertilization and seeding?
Or can a farmer do this himself?
the pivots) that were irrigated
and the dry land corners (that
were not irrigated) were going to
yield differently,” says Stamp. “I
was able to write a prescription
just for the irrigated parts of the
field. Then when we went to seed
into the dry land areas of the
field it automatically reduced the
amount of seed and fertilizer.”
Stamp did this by downloading a satellite image of the field
during a previous growing season
from Google maps, a free online
application that anyone with a
computer can access.
With that image, Stamp could
clearly see the areas that the
irrigation pivot could reach.
They were vividly green on the
image. The areas that the pivot
didn’t reach, which were not
quite as green, told him which
areas were receiving irrigation
and which ones weren’t.
Making your own maps
One farmer who does do it
himself is Greg Stamp, who
farms at Enchant, north of
Lethbridge, Alberta. Stamp uses
Google maps and the Apex
software, which came factory
installed in his John Deere tractor, to write his own fertilizer
and seeding prescription maps.
He finds this Do-It-Yourself
approach especially useful in
areas of the field where he knows
there are already problems — for
example low spots, saline patches
or irrigation pivot corners.
“We have an irrigation farm
and last year we rented a field we
hadn’t farmed before and it had
pivot corners, so the areas (under
photo: greg stamp
Greg Stamp wrote his own prescription map using satellite images.
“I just drew around the area
with my mouse where it was
dark green and that became
one prescription and then everywhere else became another
dry land prescription because
it was outside of my pivot,” he
explains. “Then I loaded it into
the air seeder and pulled up that
map and told the air seeder that
I had a prescription for that
map, told it which file I wanted
to use and away I went. I was
varying nitrogen and phosphorus and the seeding rate using
three different tanks on the drill
and it was all automatic. It’s one
really good example of where it
has been quite simple to do a
DIY prescription map.”
Stamp took GIS training in
university, so he does have a
level of technical know-how
that most other farmers don’t,
but he does feel it’s something
that, given a bit of time, many
farmers could learn. “I think
that anybody that can use a
computer can do this, but like
anything else it just takes time
to sit down and focus on it and
that’s usually the biggest challenge, we don’t always have
the time,” says Stamp. “It all
depends too on how you value
your time. It may be that you
can hire someone else and it’s
more cost effective for you to
do it that way.”
Data on hand
What many farmers don’t realise, says Stamp, is just how much
of the information they already
have to hand that is needed to
create a simple prescription map.
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“You know your land well,
and if you know what is going
on in a part of a field it’s quite
simple to write a prescription for
it. That’s where you are going to
get the best returns,” he says.
“Once you get a handle on those
things then you can focus on
things like, ‘should I be putting
more fertility here because I
got good yields?’ or ‘should I
decrease fertility here because
yields are always good here no
matter what I do?’”
As an example, Stamp created
his own prescription maps for
some low lying, saline areas in
a field, where he knew from the
yield maps coming off his combine that he wasn’t getting good
production. “If I know that, I
know I can cut my fertilizer rate
and possibly my seeding rate as
well. So using my yield map I can
draw around the area where that
yield is always poor and create a
low prescription for that spot,”
says Stamp.
The technology doesn’t do
everything. There’s still a need
for some basic, sound agronomy,
like soil testing for residual nutrients in the soil that provide a
benchmark to determine whether
overall fertility is improving or
decreasing over time.
Of course there will always be
a need for agronomists and for
many farmers the time factor
and uptake to make their own
prescription maps just doesn’t
pencil out in the overall picture, and Stamp isn’t suggesting for one moment that everyone should go it alone. He
admits his training was what
got him interested in doing his
own prescription maps and he
does it largely because it gives
him more flexibility, which as
a hybrid canola seed grower, is
often invaluable.
“If all of a sudden we can’t
grow seed canola on a certain
field because we don’t have
isolation, we may have to grow
something else instead at short
notice,” says Stamp. “So I can
make last minute changes very
easily, I don’t have to rely on
someone else for that because
they would probably be very
busy at the time I would want
to make those last minute
changes.” †
® TM
3/18/13 6:36 AM
Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor
and communications specialist living and
working in Manitoba. Find her online at
www.angelalovell.ca.
12
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Precision Farming
PRECISION SEEDING
Precision seeding to boost yields
Variable rate fertilizing is becoming more common. Now some farmers
are moving on to variable rate seeding
BY LISA GUENTHER
P
recision and variable rate
seeding have the potential
to boost crop yields and
cut seeding costs. Corn
growers have improved productivity by adopting precision seeding, but so far attempts to apply
the practice to Western Canadian
crops have yielded more questions
than answers.
Precision seeding involves
placing a specific number of
seeds at a precise depth and spacing. Corn growers became interested in precision seeding when
the first high-yielding hybrids
were introduced in the 1930s.
Corn seed costs jumped and the
new varieties responded to better
management. Precision seeding
became popular with corn growers in the 1950s and 1960s, and
yields rose, a researcher told a
farm show audience.
Mainly because precision seeding leads to increased uniformity,
Saskatchewan researchers found
that precision seeding increased
corn yields by 15 to 20 per cent.
an UltraPro Seedmaster precision
roller to a Valmar roller. Seeding
rates were set at 10, 20, 40, 80,
160 and 320 seeds per square
metre. Row spacing at Melfort
was eight inches, it was 12 inches
at Indian Head.
Brandt presented preliminary
results from Indian Head and
Melfort at Crop Production Week.
But he was hesitant to draw conclusions from the limited data.
“I don’t want you to walk away
thinking that I’ve provided you
with the answers about precision
seeding.”
Spring plant density closely
matched the seeding rates at the
lower levels at Indian Head. But
plant density was lower than seeding rate at Melfort, and the ratio
dropped as seeding rates rose at
both sites.
Researchers also measured plant
density after harvest. “What you’ll
see right away is those numbers
dropped down substantially when
we look at the fall plant densities
compared to the spring.”
For example, at Indian Head,
plant densities rose to over 250
In 2012, Aberhart ran seeding
rate trials on wheat, varying rates
based on different zones between
lighter and heavier land. His average target seeding rate was about
30 plants per square foot, but
they were set as low as 20 plants
per square foot, and as high as 40
plants per square foot.
But the higher seeding rates
didn’t produce more yield than
the regular rates. Aberhart said
gleaned information to put into
practice in 2013.
“We put a lot of emphasis of
plant spacing and density in the
spring. But it’s equally likely,
or even more probable, that
density and spacing at harvest
will be more revealing in terms
of our understanding of what’s
going on,” Brandt said.
Brandt said researchers will
also need to look more closely
Which crops may most benefit
from variable rate and precision seeding remains to be seen.
Aberhart thinks crops such as
peas, flax, and soybeans may
be more responsive to variable
rate seeding than wheat. He did
start variable rate trials with
canola last year, but didn’t follow through with them. Because
canola is such an elastic plant,
Aberhart thinks financial bene-
T:12.9167
Freedom from wild oats.
Which crops may most benefit
from variable rate and precision
seeding remains to be seen
“But one thing we do know
is that corn ain’t canola,” said
Stewart Brandt, research manager
with the Northeast Agriculture
Research Foundation. Brandt presented preliminary precision seeding research at Crop Production
Week in Saskatoon.
PRELIMINARY RESEARCH
RAISES QUESTIONS
Planting a single, small canola
seed precisely is a mechanical
challenge. Most canola seeding
rates target a 30 per cent emergence
rate, and the plants self-thin
through the growing season.
Canola’s ability to compensate for
low plant populations also allows
farmers to get away with a shotgun
seeding approach.
Brandt and his colleagues
looked at precision seeding canola
at sites near Melfort, Scott, Indian
Head, Swift Current, and Redvers,
Saskatchewan. They compared
BY DAN PIRARO
Bizarro
plants per square metre in the
spring. After harvest, plant density was no higher than about
160 plants per square metre.
Brandt said self-thinning started
at seeding rates above 40 seeds
per square metre.
Yield at Melfort was slightly
higher at higher seeding rates. But
at Indian Head, yield plummeted
at the highest seeding rates.
Brandt was initially puzzled by
the Indian Head results. But after
talking to Chris Holzapfel, research
manager at Indian Head, he thinks
the plots seeded at higher rates
may have been more mature when
the big wind blew through last
fall, leading to more shattering.
Lodging and disease may have
been factors as well.
VR SEEDING WHEAT
Terry Aberhart farms near
Langenburg, Saskatchewan.
Aberhart attended a few conferences in the United States, and
heard about the success of corn
growers using variable rate seeding. Dropping seeding rates in
eroded areas reduced costs substantially and increased corn
yields, Aberhart said.
Aberhart believes there are two
approaches to variable rate seeding. “One is to increase your plant
populations where the soil will
support higher yields and reduce
them in lighter, sandier areas.”
The other approach is to use seeding rates to offset mortality rates.
“So say a higher, salinity area is
going to have increased mortality
of seeds. So you might have to
increase the rate there just to get
the same amount of plants compared to other areas in the field,”
Aberhart said.
BayerCropScience.ca/Varro or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative.
Always read and follow label directions. Varro™ is a trademark of the Bayer Group. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.
the late summer was dry, and he
thinks that may have played into
the results.
“We may have seen some yield
increases if we’d had better moisture throughout the season. But
it’s hard to say,” said Aberhart.
Determining which rates are
best for each zone is the biggest
challenge to variable rate seeding
trials, Aberhart said. There’s little
information on variable seeding
rates for Western Canadian crops,
and rainfall is a wild card.
MORE RESEARCH PLANNED
Though initial trials haven’t
yet produced new recommendations for management practices, both Brandt and Aberhart
at how lodging and maturity fits may come more from lowerdates play into the equation. ing seeding costs than bumping
Plant spacing between and yield.
But Brandt does see plenty of
within rows, metering systems,
SBC13019.Varro.8
with precision seeding
depth control, seed quality3-19-2013
and 5:41potential
PM
seed protection are also part CALMCL-DMX8127
of canola.
Cyan,
Magenta,
Yellow,
“And really, if we want to be
the puzzle.
Marsha Walters
to takeSPECfull
advantage
of
Next year Aberhart plans
to able None
ORIGINALLY
GENERATED: Marianne
100%
measure mortality rates in difwhat
precision seeding SAFETY:
might
12.9167”
x 8”
None TRIM: 12.916
ferent zones to see how vari- offer us, we need to have
one
Helvetica
Neue LT Std (75 Bo
able rate seeding could even plant at harvest for every viaout the plant stand. He’s also ble seed that we place in the
looking at fine-tuning seeding ground. And that’s a huge chalrates to maximize yield in dif- lenge with a small-seeded crop
ferent zones.
like canola.”
“What we’re looking at doing
Farmers can view Brandt’s presthis next year is seeding three entation online at www.iharf.ca/
or four different rates in each presentations.php. †
area, and then measuring which Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews
rate performs the best (in each based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.
[email protected].
soil type),” said Aberhart.
12.9167”
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
13
Precision Fertilizer
PRECISION FARMING
Optical sensors for variable rate fertility
Optical in-crop sensors like GreenSeeker can automatically
assess your crop’s nutrient needs
BY ANGELA LOVELL
A
recent
technology
takes variable rate to a
whole new dimension.
Optical in-crop sensors can make all your nutrient
decisions for you by measuring
the reflectance of the vegetative
growth and using an index — the
Normalised Difference Vegetative
Index (NDVI) — to assess your
is needed to maximize yield
potential. The system basically
takes all this data and prepares
the fertilizer prescription map
on the go, varying the rate of
nitrogen or other nutrients as
needed.
There is now a handheld
version of the GreenSeeker
technology, which costs around
$500 and gives an instant
NDVI reading in the field. It’s
and over the last four years
he has had a chance to put it
through its paces under varying
conditions. So far it’s given him
excellent results.
Moats used to simply use a
one-size-fits-all approach to fertilization, applying all his nitrogen at seeding, GreenSeeker
has allowed him to spilt his
nitrogen applications and more
accurately match the require-
crop’s nutrient needs in real time especially useful for farmers that
and adjust rates automatically as want to create experimental
you travel across the field.
plots or assess how a smaller
GreenSeeker from Trimble
part of a field is responding
SBC13019.Varro.8.4C_REV1
rro.8.4C_REV1.indd
was the first optical sensor sys- to
certain fertilizer applications
Grainews
chemical
treatments, says
Insertion or
Date: April
1, 2013
ellow,
Black tem to be introduced into the
marketplace a few years ago, but BayerRon
Hughes, sales manager
CropScience
hasPAGE:
since
been joined by others for Pattison
Liquid Systems,
1
BCS13026
the dealer for GreenSeeker in
M: 12.9167” x 8”which
Bleed: None use similar technology
such
as the OptRx Crop Sensor Western Canada. “It will give
d (75 Bold, 55 Roman;
OpenType)
from Ag Leader Technology and you hard NDVI numbers so,
CropSpec from TopCon.
as you take repeated readings,
Production Contact Numbers:
These sensors emit 403
various
you can
build
261 7161
403 261
7152 up a picture as to
light wavelengths which are whether there is any change in
reflected back by the vegetation the crop,” Hughes says.
and can be used to calculate the
NDVI, which is closely correGREENSEEKER IN THE FIELD
lated to the amount of biomass
Lee Moats was one of two
present. Generally, the more
plant material, the higher is farmers in Canada to purchase
the NDVI and the less nutrient a GreenSeeker system in 2009
C-76-03/13-BCS13026-E
ments of the crop. “We are
really sold on it as a nitrogen
management tool. The reason
is we are not applying all of
our nitrogen at seeding time,”
he says. “We have another time
period to make a decision that
is closer to the time that the
crop actually needs the nitrogen. And the closer you get to
the right time the more relevant
your decision making is. The
GreenSeeker does all the decision making for you.”
To use the system, you have
to put down a nitrogen rich
strip for the GreenSeeker needs
to use as a baseline for the
maximum yield. This strip will
provide the upper limit boundary, so it will usually have 125
T:8”
New Varro™ herbicide for wheat.
Freedom from Group 1 herbicide resistance.
Freedom to select your preferred broadleaf partner.
Freedom to re-crop back to sensitive crops like lentils.
to 150 per cent of the normal
fertilizer rate. Then, you load
a pre-set algorithm for the particular crop type and the system
adjusts accordingly.
In 2009 and 2010, with good
growing conditions, Moats got
record canola yields of around
63 bushels per acre, while using
only two-thirds of the nitrogen (about 60 pounds per acre)
that he would have ordinarily
applied.
“Our experience with it was
quite different than what we
thought it would be,” admits
Moats. “We were imagining that it
would be a tool that would work
as a way of reducing nitrogen rates
in dry years when we didn’t need
as much and increasing them in
wet years when perhaps we would
be under-applying. So far it hasn’t
worked that way.”
In 2011, a year with excessive
moisture and damaged crops
Moats applied a lot less nitrogen, which saved him a significant amount of money. “We
have applied much less nitrogen
than we thought we would on
some of our more moist years
and I think the reason is that
our long term zero tillage treatments of our soil has resulted in
a lot more mineralization hap-
“We felt that the Greenseeker
was the best system to meet our
needs as we just don’t have the
confidence in using historical
yield maps and satellite images
to predict our needs for this
year’s crop,” says Moats.
ON-FARM KNOWLEDGE
No one is suggesting for one
moment, says Hughes, that a
GreenSeeker or any other incrop sensing system will replace
the skill and expertise of an
agrologist. “It’s a complement
to the knowledge that the farmer already has about his own
land,” he says. “But it takes the
emotion out of it because it’s
hard, repeatable numbers over
and over again. Every time the
farmer goes over a field, whether he’s applying fertilizer at
seeding, top dressing additional
fertilizer or spraying herbicides
or fungicides, the system is creating another level of mapping
and, whether he has someone
on the farm or he is getting outside professional advice, that
data can be used to see what is
going on in the crop over time.”
There are some downsides,
admits Moats. GreenSeeker operations can sometimes conflict with
“GreenSeeker gets the timing
and that placement right.”
— Lee Moats
pening over the growing season
than we were really accounting
for in the past,” he says.
When Moats went looking for
a variable rate system he evaluated various options and settled on
the GreenSeeker because he felt
it better addressed the variability
on his land that doesn’t seem to
follow the idea of soil zones.
“Our variability going across
the fields in some years has
been quite exceptional — it’ll
vary quite a lot just in a matter
of 100 yards. And that variation
is beyond our human ability to
assess as we are driving along
because you can’t see it, and our
land is so flat that you wouldn’t
anticipate much variation at
all,” says Moat.
GreenSeeker is able to see
what the human eye can’t and
can make as many real time
adjustments as often as it needs
to. And because it is responding to needs of the crop as it
grows, growing conditions are
also taken into account.
“Our biggest issue, especially
in recent years has been an
excess of moisture,” he says.
“One year you may go and
produce a crop on the low land
that is extraordinary because
the moisture has been short
and the low land has had more
moisture in it, but in recent
years we have had exactly the
opposite because there is excess
moisture in the low land and
production in the low land is
poor because of moisture, not
nitrogen.”
other operations such as herbicide or fungicide applications or
even seeding — this is especially
true for Moats, who is a winter
wheat grower. That said, he isn’t
about to go back to the way he
used to apply his fertilizer.
“The mantra of the fertilizer industry is right time,
right place, right form. Well
the GreenSeeker gets the timing
and that placement right, and it
makes sure that you are applying the right rate for the crop’s
needs,” he says. “I am not sure
whether there will be a tool that
will allow us to do a better job
on those things.” †
Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor
and communications specialist living and
working in Manitoba. Find her online at www.
angelalovell.ca.
BY DAN PIRARO
Bizarro
14
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Columns
SOILS AND CROPS
The truth about
Lake Winnipeg
The Prairies are only a small part of the Lake
Winnipeg’s phosphorus loading problem
defined problem, with no review of
existing information and no vision
to use the data usefully.
In Saskatchewan our Lake
Diefenbaker is a gem and our lifeblood. It is imperative that work
continues to monitor the status
of the lake, identify problems and
look for solutions. That work must
first summarize the decades of
existing information. †
J.L.(Les) Henry is a former professor and
extension specialist at the University of
Saskatchewan. He farms at Dundurn, Sask. He
recently finished a second printing of “Henry’s
Handbook of Soil and Water,” a book that mixes
the basics and practical aspects of soil, fertilizer
and farming. Les will cover the shipping and
GST for “Grainews” readers. Simply send a
cheque for $50 to Henry Perspectives, 143
Tucker Cres, Saskatoon, SK, S7H 3H7, and he
will dispatch a signed book.
EAsiER.
In TandemTm.

4
1
5
NOW FOR THE FACTS
3

2
6

What follows comes from Table
7.3, page 83 of a report titled “State
of Lake Winnipeg 1999-2007,” prepared by Environment Canada and
Manitoba Water Stewardship.
The map on this page shows
a Google Earth image of Lake
Winnipeg, the position of the
major rivers that drain into the
lake and each river’s percentage
contribution to the lake’s total
phosphorus load (averaged from
1994 to 2007). At its northeast corner, Lake Winnipeg spills into the
Nelson River and eventually, with
a few power dams along the way,
to Hudson Bay.
The Saskatchewan River flows in
at Grand Rapids, and its final hurrah is through a very large hydro
dam. The Saskatchewan River,
which takes its head all the way
to the Rockies and passes through
huge areas of productive farmland
contributes a grand total of five per
cent of the total of all phosphorus
that goes in to Lake Winnipeg.
The atmosphere provides
This map produced by the former PFRA shows (in red) areas of the
Prairies that do not flow into Lake Winnipeg.
Tougher.

L
ake Winnipeg is much
in the news these days.
It is the 10th largest
fresh water lake in the
world. It plays important roles
in power generation, fisheries,
recreation and urban and First
Nation communities.
In some recent summers it has
turned a sickly green colour with
algal blooms. The consensus of
many studies is that phosphorus
loading is the key trigger that
flushes up the ugly mess.
Many reports show a map of
the Lake Winnipeg Watershed that
includes most of the farmland in the
Canadian Prairies and some northern U.S. states. However, many of us
farm land where the only drainage
is to the nearest slough.
But the map showing most of
the Canadian Prairies as part of the
Lake Winnipeg Watershed ignores
the fundamental topography of
our land — sloughs.
The former PFRA produced a
map showing non-contributing
areas. All of the red colour on that
map is land that has no connection
to Lake Winnipeg. Some point out
that the drainage area varies from
dry to wet periods. In wet years
sloughs fill and spill over.
In low relief land that is true. But
it is easy to remove huge chunks
of land from the Lake Winnipeg
Drainage basin. In Saskatchewan,
Old Wives Lake, Goose Lake and
the Quill Lakes are only a few
examples of basins that have no
connection to Lake Winnipeg.
Many of the hill lands (like Allan
and Touchwood) drain only to the
nearest slough.

LES
HENRY
more phosphorus than the
Saskatchewan River — seven per
cent. And the Winnipeg River,
which extends all the way back
to nearly Lake Superior and passes
mostly through bush land contributes 15 per cent.
But the granddaddy of them all
is the Red River. It contributes 68
per cent of Lake Winnipeg’s total
phosphorus.
Much of the Red River basin lies
south of the 49th parallel. The Red
River Valley is flat and much of
it was swamp before agricultural
development. Before it could be
farmed, it had to be drained. An
extensive network of man-made
drains hooks the water together
and dumps it into the Red River.
The same as with many productive farmland areas around the
world.
There is little doubt that agriculture plays a role in phosphorus
loading, and work should be done
— and is being done — to figure
out ways to minimize that impact.
But why do so many use such a
broad brush and pretend that all
of Canadian Prairie agriculture is
screwing up Lake Winnipeg?
We need a rifle rather than a shotgun to identify problems and craft
solutions. And the studies must be
focused on a specific problem area.
N o r m F l a t e n , We y b u r n
Saskatchewan farmer extraordinaire, put it most succinctly. “We
are drowning in data but starving
for information.” Too much science is providing data on a poorly
7
Phosphorus Loading
1994 - 2007 Average
1.
Sask. River = 5% of P
2.
Dauphin River = 1%
3.
Red River = 68%
4.
Nelson River — Outlet
5.
East side rivers = 3%
6.
Winnipeg River = 15%
7.
Brokenhead R. etc. = 1%
Atmosphere = 7%
Total sources of phosphorus in
Lake Winnipeg.
19446-04No DAS_Tandem 13.167X9.indd 1
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
15
Columns
GUARDING WEALTH
Global bonds — not
for the faint of heart
Investors looking for high yield alternatives in the
global market are in for a risky ride
BY ANDREW ALLENTUCK
T
hese are tough times for
fixed income investors.
The Bank of Canada continues to suppress short
term interest rates so that businesses can borrow cheaply and
home buyers can finance houses
and condos inexpensively. What
helps stocks and the home building industry hurts anyone who
wants a safe and solid short term
return, for, as everybody knows,
everything from bank accounts to
five year GICs pay pittances.
Worse, there is a widespread
belief that the U.S. stock market,
which is up more than 100 per
cent since the depths of the 2008
to 2009 financial crisis, will continue to soar.
Beware: trends are called that
because they are. The U.S., which
drives the Canadian economy and
much of our stock valuations,
has profound budget problems, a
still massive overhang of unsold
houses variously built and not
sold or in default, a dysfunctional
federal government, a power structure that allows value preferences
to clobber the daily business of
keeping government running and
national and household debts that
would wreck any other country’s
ability to operate.
GLOBAL BONDS
In this stew of problems, investors have been showing renewed
interest in global bonds. It is possible to buy a Republic of Iceland
sovereign bond due Oct. 22, 2026
with a yield of 6.5 per cent. A
Government of Canada bond due
June 1, 2027 was recently priced
to yield 2.33 per cent to maturity. The Iceland bond has a Baa3
rating from Moody’s Investors
Service, the lowest rung of investment grade. The Government of
Canada bond is AAA, the crème
de la crème of bond ratings. The
Icelandic bond is priced in its
currency, the krona, which takes
it value from such things as fish
sales. If you want to spend a lot
of time in Iceland, the 2027 bond
may be a smart buy. If you are just
in search of yield and don’t want
your income dependent on fish,
it’s speculative at best.
Heightened risk has not deterred
yield seekers. Last year, Zambia
issued a bond payable in U.S. dollars priced to yield 5.625 per cent
to maturity in 2023. Buyers asked
for an astonishing 15 times the
US$750 million issue, never mind
that Zambia has been in default 28
per cent of the 49 years since its
independence in 1964.
So hungry for yield are investors
that they have recently bought
eight other bond issues from
African countries. The issues are
priced in U.S. dollars. One issue,
from Ivory Coast in 2010, has
seen its price double in the last 15
months, cutting the yield to seven
per cent. Ivory Coast has been in
default for 49 per cent of the 53
years since it declared independence in 1960.
Reaching for yield in the global
bond market is something like
climbing steep mountains without
safety gear. It has become marginally safer. The global default
rate for high-yield debt such as
bonds from developing countries
dropped 0.6 percentage points in
the fourth quarter to end 2012
at 2.6 per cent at annualized
rates, according to a report from
Moody’s Investors Service. But
that is still 26 per cent per year
over 10 years.
It is not just African countries
that default. The unenviable
honour of being the world’s top
defaulter goes to Greece, in default
more than half the time is has been
independent since 1800. Russia,
whose bonds are now esteemed
as a solid investments because of
massive gas revenues, has been in
default for 40 per cent of the time
it has been independent since the
fall of the Soviet Union. If you
add in defaults on Tsarist railway
bonds the USSR declined to honour in full, the number is much
higher. Want worse numbers?
Honduras has been in default for
64 per cent of the years since its
independence.
DIVERSIFICATION
Anyone considering plunging
into global bonds should keep a
copy of This Time is Different: Eight
Centuries of Financial Folly by Carmen
M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff
(Princeton University Press, 2009)
close at hand. Brilliantly written,
it is a compendium of horrors that
should deter any sane investor from
making direct investments in single
bonds of developing countries.
It is, however, possible and even
quite sane to invest in diversified funds of global bonds. The
reason: risk spreading and access
to countries at different stages of
economic expansion and contraction. These funds blend sovereign bonds from the U.K., the
U.S., France, Sweden and more
countries with other issues from
housing authorities in Hong Kong,
foreign businesses, some emerging
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ities like the World Bank. These
funds of mostly senior issues can
be sound investments
Global bond mutual funds
have a respectable record. For the
five years ended Jan. 31, 2013,
Canadian mutual funds specializing in global bonds produced a
4.85 per cent average annual compound return, a little more than
the 4.45 per cent average annual
compound return of mutual funds
with just Canadian bonds in the
same period. If you are interested, shop for issues hedged to the
Canadian dollar. That way, you
get a bond return without currency risk.
Investors have
been showing
renewed interest
in global bonds
There are also exchange traded
funds that have made successful
bets on emerging markets debt.
For example, the JP Morgan USD
Emerging Markets Bond Index
Fund (CAD Hedged) returned
9.43 per cent for the 12 months
ended Feb. 28, 2013. But beware,
the fund is smallish and therefore
could be terminated by the manager. It has a lot of bonds at the
low end of investment grade, a
fair amount of exposure to rising
interest rates and carries a relatively high 0.72 per cent management
expense ratio. If this interests you,
do some research starting at the
iShares website and discuss it with
your financial advisor.
Is it necessary to go offshore to
get more yield or to diversify risk?
For yield, absolutely not. High
yield fixed income mutual funds
turned in a 6.67 per cent average
annual compound return for the
five years ended Jan. 31, 2013
with substantial risk. Canadian
inflation protected bonds called
Real Return Bonds, all government issues, produced an average annual compound return of
6.48 per cent for the period with
approximately zero default risk.
If you don’t mind compromising
the idea of having bonds separate
from stocks, you can pick stocks and
funds of stocks with solid and rising
dividends paid faithfully for the last
10 or 20 years. Many are available
as exchange traded funds with very
low fees. You can also make a continuing dividend bet by loading up
on shares of our chartered banks or
American consumer products giants
like Procter & Gamble.
Investing directly — without the
aid and filter of a professionally
managed fund — in debt of countries that are serial defaulters is simply foolish. It is not worth default
risk, the problem of selling the
bonds if you don’t want to hold
them to maturity, accounting and
currency valuation if they are not
in something major like American
dollars or U.K. pounds, and the
fundamental problem with any
sovereign bond — inability to seize
property defended by an army. Buy
a fund if you have a taste for global
debt, keep the commitment small
and remember: if the bonds pay
twice or thrice what Government
of Canada bonds pay, there’s gotta
be a problem. †
Andrew Allentuck is author of “Bonds for
Canadians: How to Build Wealth and Lower
Risk in Your Portfolio,” published by John Wiley
& Sons in 2007.
16
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Columns
UNDERSTANDING MARKET BULLS AND BEARS
Finding ways to manage risk
Grain companies lower their risk by passing it on to you. Now lower yours
BRIAN
WITTAL
E
verytime you sign a contract to sell your grain,
there is risk for you (the
seller) and the grain company (the buyer).
Let’s look at how this process
works, the risk both sides take on,
and how both parties offset risks.
World buyers buy grain every
month of the year — usually six to
12 months in advance to allow time
for grains to be handled, cleaned
and shipped to destination.
Numerous countries around
the world grow grains at different
times of the year and export into
world markets, so there is a lot of
competition out there.
As Canada is a major grain
exporting country we need to sell
grain every month of the year, six
to 12 months in advance, to meet
the needs of the world buyers.
And, we need to market all of the
tonnes we produce every year.
Because we don’t have the
climate to grow two crops in
one year, we must start selling
next year’s crop before it’s in the
ground, and continue to sell it
before it is harvested. This can put
grain companies at risk — they’re
selling grain to world buyers based
on the hope that the quality and
quantity for the coming year will
be at least as good as or better
than the average of the last several
years. If there is a problem with
quality or quantity at harvest, the
grain company could be at risk.
How do they protect themselves?
When the grain company
makes a sale, its contract with
the end buyer will be for a specific grade and protein range.
But the contract may also
include a clause that allows the
seller the option to substitute
with best grade available due to
poor harvest conditions, upon
the buyer’s approval. This helps
the grain company reduce some
of the unknown grade risk when
making sales prior to harvest,
but they do not know what kind
of a grade spread will apply if
they substitute another grade
of wheat against the sale. This
is why grain companies will not
lock in grade spreads prior to
delivery — they need to know
the over all quality of the harvest before they can realistically
establish grade spreads.
From a pricing risk perspective,
the grain company will protect
itself by hedging its sale using
futures contracts, as it still needs
to buy grain from farmers to fill its
sales contract. The grain company
has to face that the risk that prices
may go up before they buy the
tonnes they need.
That’s why, when you sign a
delivery contract with a grain company, you are obligated to deliver
100 per cent of the tonnes you
contract, or buy out the contract.
This is part of grain companies’ risk
management strategy, and it transfers the risk to you, the producer.
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MANAGING YOUR RISK
The key word is “manage.” You
can use a number of different strategies, including timing and luck.
Using a production contract
with an Act of God clause will protect you for a portion of your production if you don’t have enough
grain to deliver after harvest due to
a crop loss event (drought or hail).
Some malt barley production
contracts have a 100 per cent Act
of God clause available, but this
is very rare as it puts the buying
company at risk if a major crop
loss eliminates most of their contracted acres.
Using a deferred delivery contract (DDC) to price some of
your grain pre harvest helps you
manage some of the pricing risk
but leaves you open to delivery
risk. You can reduce or eliminate
this delivery risk by buying call
options. Some companies offer
contracts that incorporate the use
of an option in the contract for
your added protection, at a cost.
Instead of using a DDC to pre
price grain you could use the
futures and hedge your production or use put options to set a
floor price for your grain These
strategies, of course, cost money
and you pay it all up front, so you
will need cash or a line of credit to
do this. You could be doing them a
year before you harvest your crop,
depending on what the futures
markets are doing, so using a line
of credit and paying interest may
not make financial sense. This is
something you need to consider
well in advance.
Using a futures hedge allows
you to guarantee yourself a price
on paper, and eliminates your
delivery risk (since you’re only
selling on paper). The risk is that it
may take a bit of cash to keep your
hedge in position until harvest,
depending on what the futures
are doing. Then you would deliver your grain and unwind your
hedge. Another risk with a hedge
strategy is, if you should get hailed
out and the futures go up before
you unwind your hedge, it will
cost you money because now you
have no grain to sell at the higher
prices to offset the hedge costs
you’ve incurred.
If you use a hedging strategy,
pay close attention to the markets
and stay in contact with your broker to ensure your hedge stays in
place. Once you start to deliver,
unwind your hedge properly.
Buying put options will help
you set a floor price for your grain,
so if futures drop by harvest time
you are protected. If futures prices
increase, you can sell you grain at
the higher value and your options
contract will expire with no value.
You protected your price and had
no delivery risk because you didn’t
price any grain until after it was
harvested.
These strategies can only be
used for grains that have actively
traded futures and options contracts — canola, wheat, beans,
corn and oats. We’ll discuss some
of the other grains in the next
article. †
Brian Wittal has 30 years of grain industry
experience, and currently offers market
planning and marketing advice to farmers
through his company Pro Com Marketing Ltd.
(www.procommarketingltd.com).
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
17
Columns
OFF FARM INCOME
What I learned from doing spreads
Andy shares some general thoughts on investing, and a bit of his experience with spreads
ANDY
SIRSKI
T
his winter I decided to
broaden my financial
education and learn how
to do spreads. I think I’ve
figured out how to do bull put
credit spreads, where I choose a
stock and a strike price and sell
the expensive put and buy the
cheap put.
The expensive put I sell brings
in cash while the cheap put I buy
reduces how much margin or put
space the transaction needs. Don’t
get me wrong, I still sell a lot of
covered calls and intend to keep
doing that. I can do bull put credit
spreads in a rising market and bear
call spreads during downturns.
If I can learn both reasonably
well, I should be able to make
some money from stocks whether
the market is going up, down or
sideways. But first a few thoughts
on investing.
I bought my first shares in 1961.
I knew nothing and had little
money but I wanted to learn. Most
investors learn in steps.
think in terms of how to set up
a portfolio. When I had little
knowledge I should have bought
shares in stocks like Disney (DIS),
Enbridge (ENB), Imperial Oil
(IMO), Fortis (FTS), or perhaps
Canadian banks.
These shares pay dividends,
which are usually increased year
by year. And, the shares have
stood the test of time. I bought
FTS in 1995 for $35, the shares
went to $100, split four for one,
and are not at $33 again. Plus
the dividend has grown almost
every year. So I did do something right.
SELLING COVERED CALLS
Some years ago I learned the
strategy of selling covered calls
on stocks I own. This has several
advantages — I get to keep the
dividends and I can bring in extra
cash by selling covered calls (like
milking a cow). Plus, I can sell calls
above the price of the day when
the shares are going up and below
the daily price if the shares are
going down.
The disadvantages are that
volatile stocks can outrun the
strike price. Then I’m faced with
the decision of whether to buy
the call back and let the stock
run, buy the call back and sell
another, or just be happy with
the money I took in by selling
the call.
I don’t think we have to have
a lot of experience to buy good
stocks and sell calls on them. We
just have to learn to be happy
making 10 to 18 per cent per year
instead of hitting home runs.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
With the goal of learning
how to use spreads to make
some extra cash I started out
on my new education by selling
bull put credit spreads on three
stocks: Thompson Creek Metals
(TCM), Sherritt (S) and Potash
Corp. (POT).
As I’ve been learning more about
this strategy, I’ve made a couple of observations about spreads.
Observation 1 is that doing spreads
takes a lot more thinking than selling covered calls.
Observation 2 is that I would
likely be better off choosing a
stock and strike price that is com-
MUTUAL FUNDS
Most investors start with mutual
funds. Sometimes it’s because a
relative is selling them, sometimes
it’s because investors don’t know
enough, have no confidence in
investing or are too busy to spend
more time.
When you go the mutual fund
route, you basically turn your
money over to someone, pay a fee
and likely don’t learn much.
Many funds have a front end or
back end fee, plus a yearly management fee. That raises the average
annual cost of the fund. Most managers will tell you the fees if you
ask. I have saved multi thousands
of dollars by not paying those fees
over the years. Since I’m a self
investor, I’ve learned a lot about
stocks, the market and my feelings
towards winning and losing.
EXCHANGE TRADED
FUNDS
Exchange traded funds are fairly
new to the market. They can now
be filled with a broad or narrow
group of stocks by sector, country,
risk and so on. The management
fee is around seven tenths of one
per cent per year so quite a bit
less than managed money would
cost you.
ETSs trade like a stock all day
long. Most ETFs hold 15 to 20 different stocks so even if one stock
got hurt the other stocks should
still hold up the value of the ETF.
ETFs reduce the risk of any particular stock dropping like a rock
because of some event in the company or in the market.
Since my objective is to learn
how stocks work and how I react
to things that happen to my stocks,
ETFs are not part of my portfolio.
CORE STOCKS
While no one taught me this
thinking years ago, I see now
that most investors should
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ing into season and has a rising
chart and collecting maybe $150
to $250 per safer trade than trying
to make $1,000 or $1,500 with a
less safe trade.
I didn’t make any money with
my lesson on doing spreads but I
think it was worth the effort. You
can do bull put credit spreads in
trading accounts and with special
permission from your broker.
I expect to make hundreds or
maybe thousands of profitable
trades, so the occasional cost of
tuition is okay. †
Andy Sirski is mostly retired. Along with
playing with grand children, dry walling for
relatives, blowing snow and having naps,
Andy manages his family’s portfolio. He also
publishes an electronic newsletter called
StocksTalk where he writes about his trades,
win or lose. If you want to read StocksTalk
free for a month, email [email protected].
18
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Columns
Management Minute
Are you ready for growth in
the cow-calf business?
If you’re planning an expansion, take a look at your financial ratios first
ANDREW DERUYCK
& MARK SLOANE
W
e recently enjoyed
a meeting with Les
Eetsumbeef, a beef
farmer who immigrated from Germany in 2002.
Eetsumbeef’s position was
this: he has toiled through poor
margins since the onset of BSE.
His banker, Hans Immapocket,
has treated Eetsumbeef like a
leper in recent years, hardly
passing a glance his way even
during the Christmas bonspiel.
The local Dodge Truck dealer
quit phoning four years ago.
But Eetsumbeef is smiling
now. His yard is full of hay,
his pens are full of fairly priced
calves and his cow herd is in
great shape because he aggressively culled in recent years to
generate cash flow.
Getting here hasn’t been easy.
Eetsumbeef has built up significant accounts payable with
local suppliers, and his operating line of credit remains close
to his limit — as it has for many
months now.
Les Eetsumbeef loves the cattle business and called us out to
discuss his plans for expansion.
Eetsumbeef had 200 heifers in the
pen, pasture for 150 and wanted
to retain 150 this summer for
breeding and retention in the
herd. After much discussion and
analysis, we were able to give him
a report and our advice.
Firstly, the business has to be
in a position of financial strength
to support growth. Upon analy-
sis of Eetsumbeef’s liquidity, it
was apparent that some of his
accounts payable were high
interest bearing accounts. We
identified the following options
to restore this working capital.
First, he could term out (pay
down) accounts payable and
his operating line of credit. This
decreases the interest rate and
lowers the impact on cash flow as
the payments are made over time.
The reality is that Eetsumbeef’s
historical income tax does not
demonstrate the very recent pos-
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itive margins in the beef industry. The bank is in the risk business, not the farm speculation
business and as such terming
accounts payable out with the
support of weak income tax is
viewed as risking lending and
may not be an option.
We determined that the sale
of 100 heifers would clean up
the accounts payable in full. The
remaining cash flow projection
indicated that the operating loan
would not revolve completely
— that was the focus of the
last discussion Eetsumbeef had
with Hand Immapocket. For that
reason, in addition to the sale
of the heifers, Les Eetsumbeef
would request that the bank term
out 50 per cent of the value of
the 100 remaining heifers. This
restores Les Eetsumbeef’s liquidity and allows the operating line
to remain within its limit and
revolve accordingly.
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We used the following targets
in this financial planning;
Current Ratio: current ratio =
current assets divided by current
liabilities. Target = 2.0.
Wo r k i n g C a p i t a l R a t i o :
Working capital ratio = (current assets – current liabilities) /
cash operating expenses. Target
= 65 per cent. This indicates
that roughly 35 per cent of the
fiscal year’s operating expenses
are financed
Fixed Charge Requirements /
Cow: Fixed charge requirements
/ cow = (payments + land rent
+ leases + taxes + living costs) /
number of calving cows. Target =
$300. This number was calculated
based on historical expense levels,
historical production levels, and
a conservative estimate for future
market levels, all three of which
will be unique to each operation.
The moral of this story is that
very few businesses can expand
their way out of a problem. In
order for expansion to make
sense over cleaning up high
interest bearing accounts payable, the return on the capital
tied up for the expansion must
be greater than the carrying cost
of the payable. This also carries
with it the false assumption that
the guy carrying your payable
has agreed to be the financer for
your expansion.
The beef industry has endured
tremendous hardship since BSE,
floodwaters, and drought. The
beneficial change in the markets has illuminated tremendous
light at the end of this long tunnel but one has to be careful not
to crash into the wall on the way
out. †
Andrew DeRuyck and Mark Sloane
manage two farming operations in southern
Manitoba and are partners in Right Choice
Management Consulting. With over 25 years
of cumulative experience, they offer support
in farm management, financial management,
strategic planning and mediation services.
They can be reached at [email protected]
and [email protected] or 204-8257392 and 204-825-8443.
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F101-029566-01_Canada Authority Charge Ad 2013-Grain_News
1/22/13 3:17 PM
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
19
Machinery & Shop
SPRING FARMYARD BOOT CHALLENGE
Evaluating waterproof farm boots
We put five different pairs of
boots to the test to see how they
perform in our first-ever Spring
Farmyard Boot Challenge
BY SCOTT GARVEY
W
ith so much water,
slush and late-season ice and snow
lying around this
spring, we thought it would be
the ideal time to take a look
at insulated, waterproof boots.
Sloshing through slush and
muck around the farmyard
requires a good pair, and there
are lots to chose from. So we
picked five — all from popular
prairie retailers — and subjected
them to our version of a spring
farmyard challenge.
While our methods may not
be entirely scientific, we’ve evaluated each pair based on comfort, traction, warmth, and price.
1
Then we ranked them based on
our overall impressions.
To measure traction, we tested
them on different surfaces. We actually measured how far we could get
them to slide on compacted snow
(that’s kind of scientific), then we
tried them on ice. After that we
walked across a wet and slippery
concrete floor in the workshop.
Then we put them in what little
mud we could find.
Here’s what we liked and didn’t
like about each of them. Starting
with our least favourite, which garnered the lowest rating in our tests,
we move up the scale from there
and finish with our Spring Farmyard
Boot Challenge winner. †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected].
2
5
4
3
PHOTOS: SCOTT GARVEY
In our first-ever Spring Farmyard Boot Challenge, we pit these five different waterproof boots against each
other and rate their capabilities.
IN FIFTH PLACE — AGGRESSOR
SECOND PLACE, THE RUNNER UP — MUCK BOOTS
Brand name: Aggressor Purchased from: Mark’s
Brand: The Original Muck
Boot Company
Purchased from: supplied by the manufacturer, but they’re
available at Co-op, Canadian Tire and other retailers
Price: $42.93
Comfort level: excellent
Warmth: good
Traction: good overall
Price: $49.99
Comfort level: fair
Warmth: very good
Traction: Ok overall , good on snow,
poor on wet concrete
Type: 12 inch rise, waterproof to the tops with a handy drawstring top closure,
removable felt-like lining
Comments: The soft compound and loose fit makes these feel sloppy when
walking, allowing your heel to lift off the sole. There isn’t much ankle support.
Definitely not our favourite pair.
FOURTH PLACE — TRACKER
Brand name: Tracker
Purchased from: Rona
Price: $49.99
Comfort level: fair
Warmth: very good
Traction: Okay overall, good on snow,
poor on wet concrete
Type: 12-inch rise, waterproof to the tops with a drawstring top closure,
removable felt-like lining
Comments: Very similar to the Aggressor pair. These suffered from exactly the
same fit and comfort drawbacks. We wouldn’t want to walk a long distance in them.
THIRD PLACE — WEATHER SPIRIT
Type: Rubber bootie with elasticized, tight-fitting upper
Comments: Hands down, these are the most comfortable of all our test boots. They come
very close to being an equal to regular work boots with their fit. Unlike all the others
tested, the waterproof rubber portion on these only goes up to the ankle, so you won’t
be fording deep puddles in them. The manufacturer says if you swamp them, they can
be quickly blown dry, and they wash up easily with soapy water. The upper is made of
breathable material to keep your foot cool in warmer temperatures, so they may be the
best three-season boot in the lot. But the upper fits so tightly that you can’t get more than
a pair of jeans and cotton coveralls tucked into them.
Overall, though, a really good multi-season boot.
FIRST PLACE, OUR SPRING FARMYARD BOOT CHALLENGE CHAMP — BAFFIN
Brand: Baffin
Purchased from: Mark’s
Price: $229.99
Comfort level: very good
Warmth: very good
Traction: excellent overall
Brand/manufacturer: Weather
Purchased from: Walmart
Spirit by Rallye Footwear Inc.
Type: Ice Bear model, 14-inch rise, fully waterproof to top with safety toe and puncture
resistance, -50 degree thermal rating
Price: $49.98
Comfort level: good
Warmth: very good
Traction: Not that great, poor on snow,
fair on wet concrete
Comments: This is one impressive pair of boots. But their cost is more than four times that
of any of the others, so they’d have to be good.
Their -50 degree thermal rating, though, seems more like marketing hype. We didn’t get
the sense they were good for anything near that. They seem better suited for cool spring
days than January blizzards.
When we tried to get them to slide on hard-packed snow, we nearly ended up flat on our
faces. They dug in like an anchor. They were just as good on wet concrete.
Their high level of protection makes them a little rigid around the foot, so they do feel a
little like we imagined walking in wooden shoes might feel. Nevertheless, they were still
comfortable to wear, providing excellent ankle support.
If you will be walking through muddy and slippery barnyards carrying feed pails to bulls
— or some similar task this spring — these are the boots you want.
Type: 12-inch rise, waterproof to the tops with a drawstring top closure,
removable felt-like lining, non-metallic puncture barrier and protective toe, -40
degree thermal comfort and CSA approval ratings
Comments: This boot has a similar design to the previous two, but with a firmer
compound it provides better ankle support and has better fit, making it much
more comfortable. The safety features helped convince us to give it a higher
ranking. But it slid nearly twice as far on snow than any other boot, so we had to
downgrade it for poor grip. However, it ranked third best on the concrete test.
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©2013 CNH America LLC. New Holland is a registered trademark of CNH America LLC. NHCCC04137872
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
Machinery & Shop
EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE
Ten tips to get your air
seeder ready for spring
Here is our guide to making sure air seeders are
properly set up and ready to go to work
BY SCOTT GARVEY
I
t’ll be spring before we
know it, and air seeders will
soon be hitting the fields.
Now is the time for a last
good look at them before their
wheels start turning. Whether the
machine is brand new or newto-you, focusing on fine tuning
product delivery mechanisms will
pay dividends through good, even
germination and maturity.
To help farmers cover as many
bases as possible, we’ve put
together our top-10 checklist of
key inspection points. Cut it out
and take it out to farm shop. Tack
it on the wall or drop it in your
toolbox. That will help ensure you
don’t forget anything. Good luck.
1. Start by giving the seeder
frame an overall inspection
With so much horsepower pulling on them, toolbars are subjected to a lot of stresses. Inspect
the hitch and main frame for signs
of cracks or damage. Check, then
equalize the pressure in all tires.
This is particularly important if
the seeder depends on the frame
being level for accurate placement.
Ensure packer wheels are following accurately behind openers.
2. Check all bearings on rollers and auger delivery systems
for possible damage
Seed treatments and coating on
crops, like canola, can leave a
residue that can penetrate sealed
bearings and may cause drag and
bearing wear, which can slow rotation of the seed delivering system
and cause inaccurate seeding rates.
3. Check for opener wear
Opener designs vary in how
much wear they can tolerate before
placement accuracy is affected. On
some, a relatively small amount of
wear can cause wide placement variations. Pay particular attention to
openers that follow in wheel tracks,
as these typically see increased wear.
4. Check air lines and manifolds for leaks
Use the soap-test method, just
as you would for a propane line
8. Check faor excessive wear
on components within the delivery system
Determine if there is a bypass
effect on seed and fertilizer caused
by wear. Check auger flighting and
or fluted roller delivery systems for
wear by running the air fan in the
stationary position and watch the
end of the seed boot for seed and
fertilizer delivery.
9. Test seed velocity at the
wing edges
Take the hose off the last opener
on the outside wing of the air
drill and attach it to the frame at
the angle recommended by the
manufacturer. This will help you
evaluate air flow as it relates to
fan speed. If seed and fertilizer
are propelled either less than 12
inches or more than 24 inches
from the end of the tube prior to
to the BBQ (and after you’re done
setting up the seeder, maybe it’s
time for some sizzling steaks. Just
a thought). Squirt a water and
dishwashing soap solution around
hose connections at manifolds,
metering systems, air tank seals
and other joints — escaping air
will set the solution to sudsing.
Eliminating leaks can make a big
improvement in seed and fertilizer
placement accuracy. Also, look for
internal obstructions like mouse
nests or other debris.
5. Turn product delivery lines
1/4 turn
This will maximize the life of
lines and even out wear patterns
inside them, particularly at bends.
It will also reduce drag and help
even out seed and product flow.
6. Check tank compartment
seals
Opener designs vary in
how much wear they
can tolerate before placement
accuracy is affected
dropping, adjust the fan speed or
air dampers at the fan outlet to
regulate output and help reduce
seed bounce, damaged seed or
plugging at the boot.
10. Mark your settings on tillage implements
After a tillage unit is levelled,
mark all the adjustment nuts, lock
collars and other adjustable components with a punch or chisel
to make it easier to notice any
changes due to backing off from
vibration.
A special thank you the Canola
Council of Canada and the former
Alberta Reduced Tillage linkages
group for help on putting this list
together. †
Proper product flow requires
pressure be equalized between the
inside of the tank and the lines
delivering product to the drill.
A loss of tank pressure will slow
product flow out of the tank due
to back pressure from higher pressure in the tubes. Not keeping
pressure on tank seals during winter storage can help keep them in
good condition and extend their
service life.
7. Check seed monitor sensors
A build up of seed coating on
monitor sensors can affect seeding
rate accuracy. Ensure the number
of pulses per mile are set properly.
They can be affected by tire size,
tire pressure and soil conditions.
Confirm tire circumferences; there
can be a small variation between
brands. Measure and be sure.
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews
and wishes everyone a safe and happy
seeding season.
SALES EVENT
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READY.
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ROLLING.
Now’s the season to save on select
tractors, combines and crop production
equipment built New Holland SMART.
visit your local new holland dealer
today and ask for a demo!
www.newholland.com/na

9
6


©2013 CNH America LLC. New Holland is a registered trademark of
CNH America LLC. NHCCC04137872FT
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

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3
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21
22
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Machinery & Shop
Seeding equipment
How to adjust planters
If you are using a planter this spring, getting good seeding results
from it depends on how well it’s adjusted
SCOTT GARVEY
“
M
ost guys spend more
time setting and
managing combines and harvesting equipment than they do with
their planting equipment,” said Bill
Lemkuhl, a farmer and consultant
from Minster, Ohio, as he spoke to
a group of farmers at a planter clinic
in Regina in March. “You need to be
out there digging seed to find out
what’s going on,” he added.
But if you’re using a planter and
you haven’t spent time fine tuning it and looking for all the little
things that can cause problems,
don’t expect to find seed where
it’s supposed to be was the main
message Lemkuhl delivered.
To get reliable performance, farmers should be pulling planters into
the farm shop well ahead of the season to give them a good once over,
paying attention to detail. “It’s all
the little things that will maximize
your ear count (in corn),” he said.
Servicing planters
“We saw a seven bushel per
acre difference just by cleaning up
and servicing that planter,” added
Sandy Endicott, a senior agronomy manager at DuPont-Pioneer,
who also spoke at the clinic. She
emphasized that planters with
even minor adjustment problems
can cause significant yield losses.
And shiny new planters just off
a dealer’s lot need an inspection
before hitting the field, too. “When
they come out of the factory, they
all have their little kinks,” said
Lemkuhl. Farmers who don’t
spend extra time adjusting them
before heading out to the field will
pay a yield penalty, he explained.
To start with, planters need to be
level front to back and across their
width. When determining if that
is the case, Lemkuhl cautioned
farmers not to just drop the implement down on a concrete pad in
the yard and take a measurement.
Levelling a planter is a job that has
to be done in the field.
“You cannot do it by yourself,” he explained. That’s because
checking for level should be done
while the tractor and planter are
moving through the field. He recommends having a helper drive
the tractor slowly while you check
to see if the main frame is level
while its working.
Getting the planter level may
require adjusting the hitch height,
and you need to ensure the bottom of the main bar on the frame
is 20 to 22 inches (51 to 56 centimetres) above the ground. That
ensures the row units will be in
the correct orientation when they
engage the soil.
If your planter is equipped with
side marker arms, Lemkuhl says
they should appear to be completely vertical (90° to the horizontal) if the frame is level, when
you look at them from the side of
the unit. If they seem to be leaning
forward or back, it’s a good indication the frame position needs
adjustment.
And getting the frame level from
side to side is important as well.
Planters with a central fill hopper
tend to have more weight in the
middle, which can result in the
centre section sitting lower than
the wing ends. That can also be a
problem if a farmer orders a wide
planter without end marker arms.
A weight kit may be necessary to
compensate for the missing arms
and keep the wings level.
When inspecting a planter, take
a close look to ensure the row units
are running straight. “I’ve seen
guys take planters to the corner of a
field and make a 90° turn with the
row units in the ground,” Lemkuhl
said. “It’s not pretty.” Bent linkages
won’t allow row units to engage
the soil properly.
Down pressure needs to be
consistent across the planter to
ensure accurate seed placement.
With the row units down in
their working position, make a
check of how much pressure is
on the gauge wheels. “Try spinning the gauge wheels by hand,”
he said. “If you can just make
that wheel spin with one hand,
you just might be in the range
you should be.”
“It’s very critical you have uniform (seed depth),” added Endicott.
When using a planter in no-till
fields, Lemkuhl believes there are
some extra things to consider.
“All planters made in the North
American sales area were made for
tillage conditions,” he explained.
No-till farmers should add row
cleaners ahead of the row units
Doing preseason planter inspections will maximize yields.
to prevent residue from getting
trapped in the seed trench, which
can cause disease and germination problems.
But row cleaners shouldn’t be
set too aggressively. They should
just brush reside away, leaving
uncovered soil and not move dirt.
Lemkuhl offered other suggestions to consider when buying a planter for no-till operations as well. “Drag chains. I do
think they’re a must,” he said.
“Especially in if you’re running
an after-market closing wheel.”
And when setting the row units,
he recommends the tail piece that
holds the closing wheels should be
level to slightly tilted up when the
unit is set correctly. That will help
ensure accurate seed placement.
Choosing an offset closing wheel
configuration may improve a row
photo: scott garvey
unit’s ability to properly close the
seed trench. And mixing the types
of closing wheels in some soil conditions, particularly in no-till fields,
can also improve performance.
And finally, keeping seed meters
turning smoothly and accurately is
a must. Lemkuhl recommends taking them out of the planter in the
off season and storing them inside
to prevent corrosion. If the metres
on your planter are chain driven,
replacing chains regularly is essential. Rusty or worn chains can create
vibrations in the meters and prevent them from turning smoothly.
That results in uneven seed spacing.
“The best thing to check chains
with is a bolt cutter,” he said. That
may be excellent advice when
servicing any farm machine. †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected]
High seeding
rates may improve
Canadian corn yields
“
Y
ou can see an increase
in (corn) fields being
seeded at 33,000 to
36,000 plants per acre,”
said Sandy Endicott, a senior
agronomy manager at DuPontPioneer. “The further north you
go (in the United States), the
more seeds per acre farmers are
planting.”
Endicott was speaking to a
group of farmers during a
planter clinic held in Regina in
early March. She explained that
optimum seeding rates across
the U.S. depend on what region
farmers are located in. The
farther north they are, the higher
the seeding rate they needed
to maximize corn yields. While
there are no specific Canadian
studies, that data from south of
the border indicates Canadian
prairie corn growers should be
seeding at the high end of the
plants-per-acre range.
But getting the best results
from those higher seeding rates
depends on how well your
planter performs. Endicott recommended ensuring corn seeds
are placed at least 1-1/2 inches
deep. “Plant at least one and a
half inches deep. Bottom line.”
she said.
photo: scott garvey
Sandy Endicott is a Senior
Agronomy manager at DuPontPioneer.
Corn seeds need to be planted
at that depth to allow nodal
roots to develop three quarters
of an inch below the soil level
and have access to soil moisture.
There may not be enough moisture very close to the surface.
“If you plant your seed shallower than that, those nodal
roots need moisture and if there
is no moisture, those roots won’t
grow,” she added.
And if you’re still deciding what row spacing to use,
Endicott said her research
showed 20-inch spacings tended to provide the highest yields.
“What we find is a 20-inch seed
row gives us about a two percent yield advantage.” †
Scott Garvey
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
23
Machinery & Shop
Planter checklist
Before you head to the field with a planter this
spring, here are 10 things you need to check
1. Level the planter, front to
rear and side to side
When the end marker arms
(if your planter is equipped with
them) are completely vertical,
it’s a good indication the planter
frame is level.
2. Check bushings and
parallel linkage
If bushings or linkage connections are worn or damaged on the
row unit, it won’t track properly.
3. Drive system
Ensure nothing is causing excess
vibration that can interfere with
smooth, even metering. Old drive
chains can, and they should be
replaced often. Check shaft connections between wings and the
main section; they should line up
perfectly.
4. Calibrate metres
You may need to have a pro do
this job.
aggressive, spiked closing wheel
for better results in closing the
seed trench.
8. Closing wheel alignment
To check this, lower the planter
row units down on a concrete
pad and pull it ahead a few feet.
The marks left by the disc openers
should run right down the centre
of the two closing wheels.
9. Row cleaners
They should be set to just
remove residue ahead of the openers and not move dirt.
10. Seed firmers
Installing Keeton seed firmers
can help with seed-to-soil contact
and improve the odds of even and
consistent germination. †
Scott Garvey


1
3
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9
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6
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5
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
I
f you are using a planter
this season, ensure you
give it a thorough preseason inspection. When
doing that job, DuPont-Pioneer
recommends you look at these
10 key areas. This list was
compiled from information
provided by speakers at the
Regina planter clinic and
information published online at
www.precisionplanting.com.
5. Double disk openers
The front of both opener discs
should touch correctly. Slide a
business card down between the
two discs from the top and mark
the spot the card stops. Do it
again, but this time up from the
bottom and mark that spot. The
distance between those two marks
should be within the manufacturer’s specifications.
6. Seed tubes
Check the shape of the bottom
of the seed tubes and replace any
that have excessive wear.
7. Closing wheel system
Pick the right combination of
closing wheels for your operation. No-till farmers may benefit from using at least one
7
8
24
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Cattleman’s Corner
ANNIVERSARY
SSGA proud to be 100 years young
BY LEE HART
A
s the Saskatchewan
S
t
o
c
k
Growers Association
(SSGA) uses new social
media tools such as Facebook
and Twitter to keep in contact
with members as well as the
general public, it is a clear sign
that just because you turn 100
years old that doesn’t mean
you’re outdated.
While the SSGA founding
fathers who probably had to ride
horseback half a day to get to
town once a week for mail and
supplies couldn’t have imagined
the technology that has become
commonplace today, the SSGA has
worked hard to provide modern
leadership, while staying true to
its roots.
The organization that was created at a founding meeting in
Moose Jaw in 1913 has kept
pace with the changing production practices, politics and consumer preferences over the past
100 years, says Calvin Knoss, a
longtime rancher at Rockglen in
southern Saskatchewan, and a
past SSGA president.
“I believe as an organization
we are just as relevant today as
we were 100 years ago,” says
Knoss, who is also chair of 100th
anniversary celebration events.
“There have been a lot of changes
in the industry, and the SSGA has
been at the forefront of many
issues maintaining its original
mandate to represent the beef
producers of this province and be
the voice of the people.”
CELEBRATIONS IN JUNE
The SSGA 100th anniversary
celebrations will be held in
conjunction with the annual
convention and general meeting
in Moose Jaw June 9 to 11.
Social events include an SSGA
ranch rodeo, beef barbecue and
barn dance on June 9, with the
convention events with a number
of key speakers June 10. The day
wraps up with a gala banquet and
auction. The SSGA annual general
meeting will be held June 11.
“The annual convention will
be the foundation but we’re
planning events around that
to make it a bit more grander,
more special as we also celebrate 100 years as an organization,” says Knoss.
The long-standing code of
the West “Riding the Brand,”
which meant that a cowboy had
signed on for the mission, is the
theme of the 100th anniversary.
“It is a fitting theme that recognizes the commitment, dedication and loyalty of the organization and ranchers during a
century of contribution to the
beef industry in Saskatchewan,”
he says.
Knoss, who ranches with his
wife Sandra and son Brett south
of Moose Jaw, just north of the
U.S. border has had long involvement with the SSGA. Born and
raised on the ranch at Rockglen,
Knoss got involved with SSGA 25
years ago. He attended meetings
and conventions, joined the zone
board and eventually became a
provincial director before being
Calvin Knoss is an SSGA past
president and chair of the 100th
anniversary program.
elected SSGA president. He has
served as past president for the
past two years.
AN INDEPENDENT VOICE
Knoss says as businesses and
organizations developed to serve
the growing agriculture industry
in Western Canada, the SSGA was
formed to give the beef producers a
strong voice. Over the decades the
SSGA has been at the forefront of
many big and small issues being an
advocate on behalf of “independent, self-reliant cattle producers.”
The SSGA mission statement, in
part, is to “advocate through education, communication, and research
for an economically and environmentally sustainable cattle industry
where cattlemen are free to do busi-
PHOTO: SSGA
Representatives of the newly formed SSGA in Regina for a meeting in
late 1913.
ness — within a free and open marketplace, free from industry limited
laws and regulation.”
“While we are always involved in
provincial and national policies and
programs, one of our key areas of
interest is to support development
of international markets for beef,”
says Knoss. “We are very aware of
the market and the fact that while
much of our trade is with the U.S.
we are also in a global marketplace.
So it is important to ensure whatever policies and programs being
considered actually support efforts
to access new markets.”
While the Saskatchewan
Cattlemen’s Association is a newer
organization created in 2009
to administer the beef checkoff
in Saskatchewan, Knoss says it
doesn’t replace the SSGA.
“The SSGA still has an important role to represent the interests
of beef producers,” says Knoss.
“On certain issues, the views of
a smaller, independent organization might differ from that of a
larger organization which may
have its own limitations.”
He points to one of the core
values of the SSGA, “We believe
the freedom of expression is a
cornerstone of democracy. The
loss of a single voice in deference
to the majority view is a loss to
all. The SSGA recognizes that the
freedom to hold and state different beliefs and opinions contributes to the health of our organization and industry.” †
Lee Hart is editor of Cattleman’s Corner based
in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by
email at [email protected].
INDUSTRY
Federal meat plant still a
goal for Manitoba producers
Supporters looking at alternatives to help launch the much-needed processing facility
BY JULIENNE ISAACS
C
huck Gall clearly
remembers why he
answered the call to
sit on the board of the
Manitoba Cattle Enhancement
Council (MCEC).
“In 2003, the day they
announced the border closure, we
had cattle at the stockyard — our
whole year’s income — and cattle
were going through at the current market value,” he remembers. “One group of cattle went
through, the next group came,
and then all of a sudden (the buyers) were backing off on the price,
and it dropped to $.60/lb. Then we
found out the border was closed
because of the BSE crisis.”
As there are no federally
inspected slaughterhouses in
Manitoba, plants in Alberta and
Ontario could not absorb animals
from all provinces, which resulted
in a huge local glut.
Enter the MCEC, an organization formed in 2006 with the
mandate of expanding the beefprocessing industry in the province. As one of its first projects,
the MCEC purchased a former
hog-slaughtering facility in
Winnipeg with the intention of
transforming it into a small-scale
beef slaughterhouse.
“Manitoba has a small
population and there’s no way
we can consume all of the beef
we produce, so we really need
an export outlet. Federally
inspected plants are able to
export out of the province and
out of the country,” says Adam
Dooley, spokesperson for MCEC.
“The idea was to operate a plant
that would be small — 250 head
per day — that would be focused
on marketing to premium niche
markets, such as kosher and
halal, around the world.”
In 2009, the federal government
promised the project $10 million,
and the province also pledged its
support.
Soon after, MCEC and the federal government entered into
long discussions regarding the
business plan for the plant. In
2011, the federal government
withdrew its support. “From
our perspective, we felt we’d
wasted two years trying to jump
through hoops, and we were
forced back to the drawing
board,” says Dooley.
MCEC took the federal government’s withdrawal from the
project in stride. Since then, it
has continued to invest in the
slaughterhouse project. A major
Canadian bank has signed on,
as well as industry third parties
and potential clients, who have
signed letters of intent pledging
to purchase 100 per cent of the
plant’s output. A management
team with extensive experience
is in place. And until recently,
the plant still had the province’s support.
But according to Dooley, the
organization is facing a frustrating
point in the plant’s life cycle. “The
province has now made some public comments that indicate they
would like to see a higher level of
private equity, so they’ve asked us
to change direction in what we’ve
been building,” he says.
“As a result we’re seeking strategic alternatives for the project,
such as selling the plant to private
investors, or bringing on a thirdparty investor.
PRODUCER SUPPORT
Dooley says that long-term studies of the cattle industry indicate
input costs such as transportation
and feed will continue to rise,
even as the demand for protein
increases around the world.
“We’re at a position where as a
regional agricultural economy we
could be laying the groundwork
for a bright, prosperous future,
where we’re getting our fair share
of the market,” he says. “That’s
only going to happen if we have
a federally inspected beef plant in
the province.”
For almost 10 years following
the BSE crisis, the price of cattle
has continued to suffer, according
to Gall. “I’m a lifetime farmer, and
that’s all we do, so our whole livelihood is at stake if we don’t have
access to export markets,” he says.
He lists the benefits the plant
would bring to local cattle producers. Freight costs to Alberta continue to increase, and the long
journeys are costly both in terms of
fuel consumption and pollution. A
new plant in Manitoba would put
profits in producers’ pockets, guar-
antee buyers, and kick-start a new
platform for jobs in the province.
Most of all, Gall says, the plant
would offer security to producers
waiting for the next crisis to hit.
According to Jerry Bouma, a management consultant and expert on
the Canadian beef market, MCEC’s
Marion slaughterhouse would not
only provide needed slaughter
capacity in Manitoba, it would help
cater to niche demands that are
currently unmet. “With the right
strategy and execution, the plant
can determine better returns for the
producer, but it could also inspire
others to see that a small, focused
plant is a competitive business,”
he says.
Despite setbacks, MCEC will
continue to tout the value of the
plant for Manitoba’s beef producers. “We’re eternal optimists and
we’ll continue to work with everyone to make this happen, because
it’s the right thing to do,” says
Dooley. “We hope that the organizations and people who have stood
by us will continue to do so.” †
Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance
writer and editor. You can reach her at julienne.
[email protected].
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
25
Cattleman’s Corner
REPORT FROM BIG MUDDY
Memories of the workhorse era
BOYD
ANDERSON
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this Part
1 of two columns, Boyd Anderson
recalls the rise and decline of the
once-thriving workhorse industry in
Western Canada.
FEBRUARY 13, 2013
I
have just returned from a
walk to the Glentworth Post
Office for my mail. It is just
over four blocks and it is a
lovely morning with a southwest
wind. The ice and snow are starting to melt off of the street; I hope
it is the start of a good chinook.
We have many farms and ranches
calving right now and many big
snowdrifts accumulated over the
countryside.
This deep snow and wind
make it hard on newborn calves.
I talked to one young farmer’s
wife this morning and she told
me that her husband had a newborn calf under the heater in the
truck for two hours yesterday.
She hoped the calf would be fine
and if he had a good suck, he
probably would be. Lloyd and
Nyla will be having calves in
about two more weeks. Right
now I have not travelled far, I
think because of health problems
and laziness. Everything seems
to be OK now and so I hope to
PHOTO: BOYD ANDERSON
Leonard Anderson, pictured here in 1940, began ranching in Saskatchewan
about 100 years ago raising horses for an expanding agriculture industry.
relate some of the past month to
whomever will read this.
It is just over 100 years since my
father and mother came to this
area of southern Saskatchewan
from South Dakota. Dad’s parents were of Norwegian descent
and Mama’s parents were of
longtime American heritage and
50 per cent French Canadian. My
father, Leonard Anderson and
Abraham Price, my grandpa on
my mother’s side, got together
in South Dakota and came into
southern Saskatchewan by train
to Ogema and then overland
from there to their homesteads
here on Rock Creek which is
40 miles south of present-day
Lafleche. It is also 15 miles north
of the American border. Glasgow
and Scobey were the nearest
American towns.
Shortly after arriving at the Price
homestead with her parents, my
mother, Mary Aquina, married
Leonard Anderson and they made
their homes in adobe houses, which
the men built on their respective
homesteads on the banks of Rock
Creek. This creek flowed continuously for 30 miles into Montana
and then into the Milk, Missouri
and Mississippi rivers.
Leonard Anderson, my father,
had moved to Saskatchewan to
ranch. His idea was to raise horses
that would be needed by the
homesteader to plow and till the
soil to grow the grain to sell to the
world and hopefully to provide a
home and settle the lands where
the many people were coming by
the thousands to make homes on
the Prairies.
The area on Rock Creek where
Dad and Granddad Price settled
was perfect. Dad’s plan was to
run mares on his grasslands. He
would break the two- and threeyear-olds to the harness and sell
them to the farmers for horsepower. His methods of farming
and of harness breaking horses
were simple. He let the mares
and colts run loose on the prairie, and then break the two- and
three-year-olds to the harness
and then sell them to the farming community.
DEALING HORSES
Sometimes he would make
sales of 10 or 20 or more to
dealers. Some of these horses
would go to Eastern Canada and
work in the forests in Ontario or
Quebec. One sale he made that
I remember very well was when
he sold 40 mares to a Russian
delegation in 1927. The railroad
had come to Rockglen that year
and Dad, my brothers and I
rounded up the horses. They
were sorted and 40 were selected
and then three riders herded
them 40 miles to Rockglen
where they were to be on their
way to Russia.
The first time we put the herd
into the corral, the buyer could
not make a deal. The buyer said
the horses were not quite right
and Dad turned the horses out.
One week later, the Russians were
back and the deal was made.
Another time, we rounded up
a lot of horses and Dad sorted
out about 40 head. These horses
were herded to the railroad at Fir
Mountain, which was 30 miles
away. They were loaded on stock
cars and carried by rail to Regina
where they were used as bucking
horses for the annual rodeo at
the fair in July. As time went on
though, more and more farmers
were buying tractors and it was
getting to be harder and harder for
us to find buyers.
One good sale Dad had was
when he sold 100 big, strong head
to a horse dealer in Montana. He
only received $15 each, which was
not much per horse, but he got rid
of these big horses. It was obvious to Dad the old way of raising
horses for farming was over. †
Boyd Anderson, 93, is a mostly retired rancher
from Glentworth, Sask. and has been a columnist
for Grainews for many years.
PRODUCTION TRENDS
Horses and ATVs each have a place
BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
I
f you want to start a lively discussion among cattle producers, just ask
whether they prefer to gather/move/
sort/handle cattle by horseback or
with an ATV. Some are adamant about the
virtues (and drawbacks) of one or the other
method, while others use both. Each has its
place, with advantages and disadvantages.
Our son Michael and his wife Carolyn
have used horses ever since they started
working with cattle. In the past 15 years,
however, they’ve also been using ATVs —
quads or four-wheelers — after expanding
their ranching operation.
“There were times we had four-wheelers
when we were irrigating or fencing, and
hadn’t planned to move cattle, but there the
cattle were where they shouldn’t be and we
just did it on the four-wheelers,” says Michael.
He still prefers to handle cattle with
horses and feels it has its advantages, but
there are times four-wheelers can be handy.
He’s seen abuse of four-wheeler use, however, especially when helping friends and
neighbours gather cattle.
“The worst situation is when part of the
crew is using horses and the others are using
four-wheelers,” he says. “It can get pretty wild.
The horseback people can be in jeopardy.”
If a horseman and a four-wheeler are
both trying to get a stubborn cow in from
the field or back to the herd, working at
speed, it can be dangerous. A person on
foot trying to help may also get run over
by the animal or the four-wheeler.
“Last spring my daughter got dumped
off one of our mares when we were trying
to get yearlings in from pasture,” Michael
says. “The yearlings started running the
wrong way and I went on a mad dash with a
four-wheeler to head them off. I don’t know
whether it was the yearlings running at her
or my four-wheeler roaring after them that
spooked the horse, but the mare panicked,
whirled around and dumped my daughter.”
Michael says there can also be problems
if horses aren’t used to four-wheelers, but
if the people using the ATVs are alert and
savvy, it’s usually no big deal. They can
pull back and let the horses do their job
and not have a wreck.
He’s seen some trouble when helping on
various ranches when people got excited
and weren’t aware their four-wheelers were
bothering the horses. “That can make it
challenging for the riders,” he says.
THEY CAN GET ALONG
But out in the open where there’s plenty
of room, a lot can be accomplished by horsemen and four-wheelers working together.
“They need to be aware of each other,
and let each do their job. Let a four-wheeler
race ahead of the herd and open the gates,
and if the horseman is doing something up
close with the cattle, stay back and let the
rider do it,” says Michael.
“When we help our neighbours round
up cattle off the range, some of them ride
four-wheelers because they can cover a lot
of country on their low pastures. In that
flatter country they can get around more
quickly with the four-wheelers.”
It’s easier to work cattle quietly and efficiently with horses, but sometimes a fourwheeler is the only option.
“Some older ranchers are so crippled up
they can no longer ride a horse, but they
can still use a four-wheeler. And some people never were comfortable on a horse,”
says Michael.
There are also situations and seasonal
issues that make the ATV a valuable tool,
such as moving and gathering cattle on
frozen ground. “We use four-wheelers a lot
when calving, and most of the ranchers
around here do if the ground may be frozen and slippery,” says Michael. “An ATV
may slide sideways but it generally won’t
fall down on you.
“In winter, working cattle can be risky
with horses. You dial back your expectations, get your four-wheeler, take a little
more time, and get it done safely. It’s all
about taking your time to be in the right
place at the right time, planning your
strategy and movement. You can do nearly
everything you want to do in most circumstances, with a little more patience.”
A few diehard ranchers just use horses
during calving, says Michael. They leave
a horse saddled all night to go out and
check cows. For most of us it’s not practical to have a horse taking up space and
feed in a corral, compared to just getting
on your four-wheeler, turning a key and
going.” If you keep the machine in good
condition, it will usually start, even in
very cold weather.
LOW STRESS IS KEY
It doesn’t really matter which method
you choose to handle cattle — horseback,
on foot, or with an ATV or pickup — it
can be done effectively if you use good
judgment and low-stress cattle-handling
methods. “It all boils down to knowing
when to pressure them and when to hold
back,” says Michael. “You need to think
ahead and know the cattle.
“If cattle get used to seeing you on
a four-wheeler all winter, you can do a
lot, with less disruption, just travelling
slowly among them all the time with the
four-wheeler. They become comfortable
and desensitized to it. When you show
up with horses and dogs, they know it’s
gathering time and become much more
PHOTO: HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
One of the Thomas’s neighbours uses a fourwheeler to move bulls to another pasture.
agitated. You’ll actually work harder to
get them in that day than if you’d just
quietly moved them around by yourself
or with a couple people on four-wheelers.
It’s all a matter of what they get used to
and how you go about it.”
Some ranchers can make it work smoothly
no matter which method they choose.
“A person can go irrigating, open a gate
and holler at the cows and go change the
water and by the time you get back the cows
are all in the new pasture, moving themselves. It’s a matter of training your cows to
whatever method you choose,” he says.
People sometimes have wrecks with
ATVs or with horses. “This doesn’t mean
you shouldn’t use ATVs or horses. It just
illustrates a situation where something
went wrong or someone used poor judgment whether horseback or with the ATV.
It’s usually operator error!” †
Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband Lynn
near Salmon, Idaho. Contact her at 208-756-2841.
26
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Cattleman’s Corner
RANGE MANAGEMENT
Savory system analyzed
HYLAND
ARMSTRONG
PART 1
Editor’s Note: After reviewing the
research, Grainews columnist Hyland
Armstrong presents in this two-part
column, a contrary view of some of
the claims for the popular Savory
Grazing Method. Whether you agree
or not, before you shoot the messenger, Armstrong has compiled a long
list of the reference material supporting his view. For a copy of this list
please email the Cattleman’s Corner
editor — [email protected] —
and read before you speak.
BY HYLAND ARMSTRONG
O
ver the past several
decades, a number of
ranchers have asked me
if the Savory Grazing
Method is a viable alternative to
managing native range in Western
Canada. In each case, my response
is always the same. I usually take
the time to go over the research
conducted in North America and
Africa to give the person an idea of
just how complex the issue is.
During this discussion I point
out there is very little scientific
evidence supporting the ecological
and economic assumptions of the
grazing hypothesis as proposed by
Allan Savory. Finally, to drive my
point home, I usually conclude, by
adopting this grazing hypothesis,
they would be placing the economic and ecological well-being
of their ranch in jeopardy.
Although Allan Savory has
based his grazing hypothesis on
the observation of African ecosystems, he borrowed most of
his concepts from South African
ranchers and the pre-eminent researcher, André Voisin.
Nevertheless, he presents his grazing hypothesis as the only way of
simultaneously 1) stopping and
reversing desertification (improving range health) and 2) improving the profitability of a ranching
operation. To achieve these goals
his hypothesis relies upon using
stocking rate, time (plant rest),
stocking density and herd effect
as tools to achieve a number of
ecological goals:
1. Improve water infiltration
into the soil.
2. Facilitate seed movement
into the soil.
3. Increase mineral cycling.
4. Reduce the percentage of
ungrazed plants (improve
grazing efficiency).
5. Improve livestock distribution (more uniform use of
range).
6. Increase the period when
actively growing forage is
available to livestock.
7. Accelerate plant succession.
8. Improve animal productivity.
In order to substantiate or disprove these assumptions, a great
deal of research has taken place on
North American and African grasslands. This research has focused
on the impact stocking rates, as
recommended by Allan Savory,
have on: 1) the herd effect, 2) forage production, 3) livestock distribution and grazing efficiency, 4)
plant succession/range health, 5)
plant rest requirements following
defoliation, 6) livestock productivity 7) simulation of natural ecological processes, and 8) ecological
and economic sustainability.
Allan Savory and his supporters
cite a number of problems associated with this research that include 1)
it is impossible to study a “holistic”
theory using reductionist methods,
2) the studies are limited in scope,
and 3) the manner in which trials
are conducted preclude any adjustments to management strategies as
environmental conditions change.
Despite these criticisms, one
must always be aware of the
problems researchers face when
they design a grazing trial. The
most obvious are the budgetary
and time constraints. In addition, the design of the grazing
trial 1) must have a testable
hypothesis and null hypothesis,
and 2) the trial design must allow
researchers to identify and control specific variables.
THE HERD EFFECT
Allan Savory proposes under
high stocking rates and densities
a herd effect is created. The “herd
effect” creates conditions that will
improve in water infiltration, seed
implantation, nutrient cycling
and promote the “dunging effect.”
Research in Africa, Canada and
the United States consistently
does not show the same results.
As stocking rates (and stocking
densities) increase, water infiltration rates decline and rates of soil
erosion increase. Research conducted in Alberta showed this
type of grazing did not significantly improve the incorporation
of litter into the soil and significantly lowered the organic matter content of the soil. Research
in Africa and the United States
also showed the type of grazing system did not improve the
accumulation of litter, the rates
of defecation, (dunging effect) or
seed implantation.
FORAGE PRODUCTION
A basic tenet of the Savory
Grazing Method is the optimization theory. This theory predicts
that as stocking rates increase, forage production will increase until
it reaches an optimal level. Thus,
the goal of this grazing system is
to utilize high stocking rates/grazing intensities in the belief they
result in higher forage production.
On western Canadian grasslands, there is a direct relationship between forage production
and stocking rates. As stocking
rates increase, forage production declines. Research consistently shows forage production
on a heavily stocked continuous grazing system and forage
production on a Savory Grazing
Method stocked at a stocking
rate recommended by Savory are
very similar.
LIVESTOCK DISTRIBUTION AND
GRAZING EFFICIENCY
One claim made by proponents
of the Savory Grazing Method is
this grazing strategy offers an efficient way to control the grazing
patterns and behaviour of livestock. Under ideal circumstances,
this may be true. However, the
uneven distribution of resources
on landscapes makes this an unattainable ideal.
Nevertheless, studies in Africa
and North America clearly show
the Savory Grazing Method
does not significantly improve
livestock distribution or forage
utilization when compared to
conventional rotation systems.
Furthermore, there is very little
evidence that supports the notion
this grazing system improves forage quality in all types of plant
communities when compared to
conventional rotational grazing
systems. †
Hyland Armstrong is a consultant and retired
rancher from Cypress Hills, Alta. with a long
educational and career background in animal
science and range management. He can be
reached at [email protected] or
403 528 4798.
BY SEAN MCGRATH
I
n my day-to-day work I deal
with a lot of seedstock data
and have a lot of focus on
genetic evaluation, including
trends. I also deal with many seedstock and commercial producers
who have questions about genetics and sire selection.
My favourite seedstock producers are the ones who are connected
to and focused on their customers
in the commercial industry and
the best commercial producers. I
acknowledge and appreciate the
work that seedstock suppliers do in
creating genetics for their use. These
people cover the entire spectrum of
breeds and hybrids and every marketing approach/price point/value
proposition you can imagine.
A lot of these folks want some
coaching about measuring traits,
and applying technologies beyond
visual appraisal to selecting cattle.
There are also many folks who
More on the web
those s”
“famou
plainjans.com
Roper
620-872-5777
gloves m: p l a i nj a n s
f ro
show up and look for eye-appealing
bulls and purchase them. While
individual breeders and commercial ranchers may counteract the
trend, over time the law of averages
will tend to drive selection across
the industry back to the middle of
the breeds being used.
LAW OF AVERAGES
If we look at a population scale
example, producers generally
try to select bulls that minimize
inbreeding and they will of necessity work through a cross-section
of genetics from their breed(s)
of choice. Across the board, this
means the industry average will
revert to the average of the breed.
By itself this is not necessarily a
bad thing, in fact for a lot of traits
where optimal is not maximum,
“average” may be just about right.
Those folks using the available
selection tools can counteract this
trend to the middle, but one of the
most important things the seedstock industry does is drive the average in a specific direction. One good
example is calving ease. Another is
growth performance. Every major
breed exhibits a positive genetic
trend for these traits. In essence this
means that the average of the breed
keeps moving in a positive direction
due to selective breeding decisions
by breeders. While there are still
cattle that are below the breed aver-
age, overall the industry still makes
significant progress.
There is still a lot of room for
progress, particularly in important
traits such as fertility, longevity,
carcass merit and functionality
and we can certainly argue for a
lifetime about what the direction
for a specific breed should be and
what optimal really is.
There are two graphs that show
breed wide progress for six major
Canadian beef breeds from 2001 to
2012. I set 2001 EPD to 0 for each
breed to give a common starting
point. The values were adjusted so
they would fit onto the same graph
and we could see their progress from
that point to today. It is important
to remember that this does not
mean that the breeds started out
from an equal place in 2001 and
that there are breed differences.
For this reason I did not print the
names of each breed on the graph,
as the article is focusing on progress
rather than breed differences.
Across the board there has been
a lot of movement in calving
ease (getting better) and growth.
There are some breeds that were
faced with more calving ease
issues, and they have tended to
focus more on improving calving ease than growth, and some
breeds with growth issues that
have focused more on growth,
but overall the direction of the
industry is apparent.
Birth Year
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Weaning Weight Adjusted Genetic Trend for six Major Breeds
14.0
12.0
10.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
Adjusted WW EPD
Why seedstock
progress matters
Calving Ease Adjusted Genetic Trend for six Major Breeds
Adjusted CE EPD
LIVESTOCK REPRODUCTION
-2.0
Birth Year
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Similar upward trends are
also apparent for post-weaning
(feedlot gain). This is industry
driven, as bull customers get
older and cow herds get bigger
and feed production and delivery costs continue to increase.
This is also relatively impressive
as growth and calving ease are
genetically antagonistic traits
and in the time frame of cattle breeding, 10 years is a very
short time span.
In short, it is possible to argue
for a lifetime about whether the
direction of the seedstock sector
is the right one, but that direction greatly impacts the industry
as a whole. Seedstock production
is hard work and commercial producers working with professional
seedstock suppliers and multiplying genetics into the commercial cow herd have changed our
industry dramatically. †
Sean McGrath is a rancher and consultant
from Vermilion, Alta. He can be reached
at [email protected] or (780)8539673. For additional information visit www.
ranchingsystems.com.
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
27
Cattleman’s Corner
FENCING TIPS
User-friendly gates: tips for quick fixes
HEATHER
SMITH
THOMAS
K
eeping gates in good
repair can sometimes
be a challenge, but this
is an important part of
maintaining a farm or ranch. A
sagging or broken gate can be a
chore to open and shut, and may
also tempt an animal to jump,
lean over or crawl through, possibly injuring itself — or getting
out on a road or into a neighbour’s
place. A free-swinging gate in a
corral makes sorting cattle much
easier than if you have to struggle with it. Here are a few tips for
making your life with gates easier.
FIX A SAGGING GATE
A wooden or metal gate can
become a heavy burden to open
and close if it begins to sag. Gate
posts should be sturdy and set deep
in the ground, to keep a gate from
sagging, but sometimes the posts
“give” a bit over time, unless set in
concrete. Some ground is unstable
and won’t hold a post, especially
for a heavy gate. Sometimes frost
pushes posts upward, and then the
gate won’t open or close properly.
Occasionally a pole panel is used
as a gate, in an opening that does
not have a sturdy post for hanging
a gate. Having to lift or drag the
panel to open or shut it can be a
back-breaking chore.
This problem can be solved
by putting a small wheel on the
moving end of the panel or sagging gate. The wheel takes all the
weight and supports the gate — it
cannot sag any further, and also
enables it to move easily when
you open or close it. You no longer
have to pick it up and carry it to
keep it from dragging.
Any small wheel will work for
this purpose. On our gates we
have used old wheelbarrow tires,
small discarded machinery tires,
or metal wheels — the kind you
sometimes find in old junk piles
or might salvage from a piece of
ancient farm equipment. A wheelbarrow tire or some other small
tire can be easily adapted so you
can bolt the uprights (or even
just one side of metal bracket that
comes down either side of the tire
to hold its small axle) to a wooden
gate or pole gate.
An old wheel or tire with an
axle attached to it can be securely
wired to a metal gate. The horizontal piece of axle can be fastened to
the bottom rail or pipe of the gate.
If you use stiff, strong wire and
securely wire it at each end of the
axle (close to the wheel) the wheel
will stay solidly in place and the
weight of the gate will not alter
the angle of the wheel very much,
if at all. You want the axle securely
attached to the gate so the wheel
or tire will stay upright, with no
wobble. Then it will roll freely and
easily on the ground, taking the
weight of the gate without binding or catching.
to it when the gate is shut. These
latches work fine if the posts are
solid and never move. Sometimes,
however, the gate posts shift over
time, and the latch no longer
reaches the hole it is supposed to
go into on the gate post.
A simple way to fix this without having to reset the gate post
or rehang the gate is to securely
nail two small poles or boards on
either side of the latch hole on the
gate post. Then the metal latch
(when pushed into shut position)
will insert between the two poles
or boards and “catch” to hold the
gate shut.
ELECTRIC FENCE
GATE CROSSING
If you use electric fencing
around pens or pastures (to keep
livestock or horses from leaning, rubbing or chewing on the
fence, or from crawling through
it), you’ll generally have an insulated gate handle wherever you
have a gate, so you can open it to
get through the “hot” wire to go
through the gate.
On some gates that you go
through a lot, you may find it
easiest to put a tall pole on each
side of the gate, so you can route
the electric wire up and over the
gate, high enough that people,
animals or machinery being
driven through the gate will not
touch the hot wire.
On many gates, however, you
may just use a plastic or rubber
fence handle so you can undo
and move the hot wire when you
open the gate. In these instances,
always situate the handle on the
end toward the fence charger, so
that the gate “wire” will have no
electricity in it when the handle
is undone and the gate is open.
Then if the wire “gate” is looped
over the wooden or metal gate, or
thrown on the ground while open,
it won’t shock anyone nor short
out and possibly start a fire in dry
grass or weeds.
If the hot wire is spanning a
metal gate, the wire may become
a nuisance if it happens to
touch the metal while the gate
is closed. The wire may short
out the electric fence or electrify
the gate and shock anyone who
touches the metal gate or tries to
open it. It can be tricky to open
and shut the gate if you forget
to unhook the electric handle
before touching the metal gate.
Even if the electric wire and its
insulated gate handle are a few
inches away from the metal gate,
the wind may sometimes cause
the wire to touch the gate.
One way to eliminate any risk
of having the hot wire touch the
Mr. Agbedoamenu is not using
a Seed
air seeder.
Pulses
helpHawk
put seven
children
through school
Elisa Pallangyo and won’t
his wife Mary
Ndosi farm
in the
of Maweni,
Tanzania,
Wonder Agbedoamenu
be buying
one
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where they grow corn, beans and vegetables. Like farmers in Canada, they’ve
plant hislearned
Cassava
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about
boost
from of
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pulse crops which manufacture
their own nitrogen. By intercropping pigeon peas with their corn, Elisa and
But like Mary
the farmers
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who
equipment,
have been in
ableWestern
to increase
their yields
anduse
theirour
income
enough to be
put their
three girls minimum
and four boystillage,
through to
secondary school.
“I am
Wonder able
is now
practising
protecting
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happy because I could educate my children. My son could get a masters degree
so it canbecause
produce
betterThe
crops
and into
the the
future.
of farming.
housetoday
— everything
— is from
farm,” Wonder
says Elisa.
learned about minimum tillage through a radio script produced by
Elisa, Mary and millions of other farmers are learning about the benefits
Farm Radio
International,
Canadian
organization
that provided
reaches by
of intercropping
with apulses
through
radio broadcasts
Farm
Radio
International,
a
Canadian
organization
with
more
than
400are
radio
farmers through more than 400 radio stations in Africa, which
station partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, where radio is often the only medium
often their
source
management
information.
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information.
Working Atwith
FarmBioAg,
Business
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has
Novozymes
we’re pleased
to help bring the Seed
messageHawk
of the benefits
of intercropping with pulses and the benefits of inoculants to farmers
donated everywhere.
the value of
this advertisement to Farm Radio International
Working with Farm Business Communications, we’ve donated the
of this
advertisement
Farm Radio
so it can value
deliver
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totoeven
moreInternational.
farmers like Wonder.
EASY FIX FOR A GATE LATCH
Metal gates are handy and some
of these have latches that work
with a handle to pull or push.
The latch is a metal prong that
inserts into a hole in the post next
www.bioag.novozymes.com
www.farmradio.org
www.agcanada.com
gate is to put that segment of
wire through an old garden hose.
Cut the hose to match the length
of the metal gate, with a couple
inches to spare on each end so
there’s never any danger of the
wire touching the gate. The hose
will insulate the wire where it
travels along the metal gate, and
prevent any shorts or shocks if
it does happen to brush against
the gate.
If the wire you use for the gate
portion is stiff, it’s easy to push it
through the length of hose, and
then attach the electric fence
handle to the end of it. This is
a good use for old garden hoses.
Even if they leak or have a ruined
screw end, they will still provide
insulation for an electric gate
wire. †
Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her
husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact
her at 208-756-2841.
28
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Home Quarter Farm Life
SEEDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Understanding first-born farmers
TYPICAL TRAITS
ELAINE
FROESE
I
am the first-born of five children who grew up on a farm.
When I encourage farm audiences I sometimes tease them
that we will have a special group
therapy session for first-borns after
lunch, and the audience laughs
knowingly!
Dr. Kevin Leman is the author
of The Birth Order Book… Why you
are the way you are, and I think
many farm moms will find it a
very good read.
Farmwomen are tired of wearing their “black and white sweaters,” the referee shirts of being the
ones mediating between the farm
founders, the dad, and the farming successor, the son or daughter
who is in the process of finding
out their leadership skills to run
the farm in the future.
Dr. Leman is great about explaining the strengths and weaknesses
of firstborns, and I’ll give you my
impressions from an excerpt of
his work:
Dr. Leman’s book is a great read
for farm families seeking to understand how other team members
may see the needs of the farm differently. My husband is the baby
of the family but exhibits firstborn traits, as he was the first
male, and there was a three-year
gap from his closest sibling.
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Leadership ability
Take charge, know what to do.
May decrease initiative of others or come off as overbearing
and aggressive.
Aggressive
Command respect.
Can be too goal focused and not sensitive enough to others.
Compliant
Co-operative, easy to work with, good team player. Can be taken advantage of, bullied, bluffed.
Perfectionist
Do things right, and be thorough with the job.
Criticize self, and others and not be satisfied with
never doing a “good enough job.” May procrastinate.
Organized
Tend to be on top of things, on time
and on schedule.
May need more flexibility with timelines.
Show impatience with disorganization. Don’t like surprises.
Driver
Ambitious, enterprising and willing
to sacrifice to be a success.
Put themselves and other farm team under
too much pressure and stress.
List maker
Set goals they reach and plans for the day.
Get lots done, more than others.
Too busy with the to-do list. May not see the big-picture
vision and lose sight of the current needs.
Logical
Straight thinker, not compulsive.
Uses common sense.
May believe they are always right and fail to
see more intuitive opinions of others.
Scholarly
Voracious readers, harvest information; good
problem solvers who think things through.
Gathering facts may preclude other important things that need to get
done. May be so serious they fail to see humour in situations when
humour is desperately needed.
I don’t expect you to turn into
“mini” psychologists. As I tell my
coaching clients, “Counselling
is about recovery, and coaching
is about discovery.” My goal as
a coach is to help farm families become more aware of their
personal styles, communication
preferences, and find out the
strengths of the team that they
can build on.
Middle-children qualities tend to
be mediator, compromising, diplomatic, avoids conflict, independent, loyal to peers, many friends, a
maverick, secretive, and unspoiled,
according to Dr. Leman.
Leman feels the qualities of the
last-born are manipulative, charm-
ing, blames others, attention seeker,
tenacious, people person, natural
salesperson, precocious, engaging,
affectionate, and loves surprises.
I will let you be the judge as
to the strengths and qualities
of your birth order. I know that
asking clients what their birth
order is gives me a few more
clues as to how they “might” be
dealing with farm conflict and
leadership issues.
If you would like some more
tools to help you understand
“why you aren’t more like me,”
please contact me on my website
at www.elainefroese.com/contact.
For under $40 per person I can
do an online assessment with you
to figure out your personal style.
It really helped our farm team as
we are comprised of an “influential, a driven ambitious, a balanced
responsive, and a practical person.”
Also, revisit my blog at www.
elainefroese.com/blog and read
the previously published article
called, “Why aren’t you more like
me?” or Google that title and
check out the website.
Spring on the Prairies is going
to be interesting as the heaps of
snow create water issues, and the
calendar turns to May and farmers
panic. Work hard at taking one day
at a time. Be kind to yourself, and
others on your team. Recognize
that different folks have different
strengths. “Different is not wrong,
it is just different,” might become
your new mantra for managing the
stress of a late spring.
Remember, you always get
to choose your response. It is
your farm, your family, and your
choice. †
Elaine Froese runs meals to the field near
Boissevain, Manitoba. She is Skype coaching
families across Canada as a CAFA member and
certified conflict resolution and communication
coach. Call 1-866-848-8311 to book her for
your next conference or contact her at www.
elainefroese.com/contact. Buy her book
Do the Tough Things Right for Mother’s Day.
Mom on the farm no longer wants to be the
mediator. “Like” her at “Farm Family Coach”
on Facebook, and start having courageous
conversations. Contact Elaine to find out more
about her “in-law telecoaching” focus group.
EXTENDED OUTLOOK FOR THE PRAIRIES
Weather Forecast for the period of April 28 to May 25, 2013
Southern Alberta
Peace River Region
April 28 - May 4
Variable weather conditions and
temperatures as mild sunny days
interchange with cooler, wet
windy ones. Risk of frost in some
areas.
April 28 - May 4
Variable weather conditions and
temperatures as mild sunny days
interchange with cooler, wet windy
ones. Frost in some areas.
May 5 - 11
Highs often in the teens. Sunny
aside from heavier rain and a
chance of snow on 2 or 3
occasions. Blustery.
May 5 - 11
Highs often in the teens. Sunny
aside from heavier rain and a
chance of snow on 2 or 3
occasions. Blustery.
May 12 - 18
Changeable. Fair and cool with
patchy frost, but a couple of
warmer days bring showers or
thunderstorms. Risk of snow.
May 12 - 18
Changeable. Fair and cool with
patchy frost, but a couple of
warmer days bring showers or
thunderstorms. Risk of snow.
May 19 - 25
Sunny and breezy. Highs in the
teens and 20s set off heavier
showers or thunderstorms. Risk
of frost and snow in some places.
0 / 13
Grande Prairie
35.3 mms
Manitoba
April 28 - May 4
Variable weather conditions and
temperatures. Windy at times.
Sunshine exchanges with
occasional rain or snow.
April 28 - May 4
Weather conditions and
temperatures vary as mild, sunny
days alternate with some rain or
snow. Occasionally windy.
May 5 - 11
Pleasant temperatures but 2 or 3
cooler, windy days bring rain and
a chance of snow. Nighttime frost
patches.
May 5 - 11
Sunny and mild but a couple of
cooler, windy days bring some rain
and a chance of snow. Frost
pockets.
May 12 - 18
Highs often in the teens. Lows at
times near zero. Sunny with
showers or thunderstorms.
Chance of snow in places.
May 12 - 18
Seasonal with some lows near
zero. Sunshine dominates but
expect few showers or
thunderstorms. Chance of snow in
places.
May 19 - 25
Warm to cool with a frost risk,
mostly central and north. Sunny
with scattered showers and
thunderstorms.
May 19 - 25
Sunny and breezy. Highs in the
teens and 20s set off heavier
showers or thunderstorms. Slight
risk of frost and snow in places.
May 19 - 25
Temperatures vary. On warmer
days expect showers or
thunderstorms, some heavy. Frost
risk, mainly central and north
Precipitation Forecast
0 / 14
Edmonton
43.5 mms
0 / 12
Jasper
28.6 mms
BELOW
NORMAL
-1 / 10
57.5 mms
Banff
0 / 12
Calgary
Forecasts should be 80%
accurate, but expect
variations by a day or two
because of changeable
speed of weather systems.
Saskatchewan
52.9 mms
1 / 13
North Battleford
0 / 13
Red Deer
49.2 mms
3 / 16
Medicine Hat
19mms
cms
Lethbridge 42.3
51.4 mms
26 cms
2 / 15
-1 / 12
Prince Albert
37.0 mms
1 / 13
Saskatoon
44.2 mms
41.6 mms
-1 / 10
The Pas
NEAR
NORMAL
1 / 13
Yorkton
1 / 15
50.7 mms
2 / 14
Regina
Moose Jaw 50.8 mms
2 / 14
Swift 47.7 mms
Current
45.7 mms
2 / 14
Weyburn
52.8 mms 2 / 15
Estevan
54.6 mms
Precipitation Outlook
For May
37.3 mms
-1 / 13
Dauphin
52.7 mms
ABOVE
NORMAL
-1 / 11
Gimli
57.4 mms
1 / 14
0 / 13
Portage 1 / 14
Brandon 56.8 mms Winnipeg
48.4 mms
Melita -1 / 14
52.4 mms
59.8 mms
Much Above Normal Below Much
above normal
normal below
normal
normal
Temperatures are normals
for May 1st averaged
over 30 years.
Precipitation
(water equivalent)
normals for May in mms.
©2013 WeatherTec Services
www.weathertec.mb.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
29
Home Quarter Farm Life
FROM THE FARM
Spread a
Create it and
little sunshine they will come
DEBBIE
CHIKOUSKY
O
ver the last few
months we have had
an inordinate amount
of very ill people in
our circle — everything from the
common cold to meningitis and
brain tumours. Thankfully all of
these people have overcome their
illnesses and there has even been
a few babies born — always cause
for celebration — but we have
been in need of lots of simple,
inexpensive gifts. Those kinds of
gifts that just tell someone that
people out there love them and
are praying for them. This is how
we started something called a
“Sunshine Box.”
The main idea is that several
small gifts are wrapped and placed
in a box and when choosing
items for the box the theme of
encouraging and pampering is
followed. I came across an online
site that specializes in assembling
Sunshine Boxes for cancer patients
www.fightingcancerinc.org/. This
is a list of suggestions from the
site on what is useful for cancer
patients going through treatments,
although many of these items
would be useful for anyone:
blank journals; puzzle books like
crossword and Sudoku; teacup and
tea bags; stationery, blank greeting
cards and postage stamps; baby
shampoo (for washing wigs); gift
cards for pharmacy, grocery store,
salon/spa treatment, car wash;
wall plaques with inspirational
quotes; picture frames; candles;
mints, gum, hard candy (chemo
leaves an awful taste in the
mouth); mascara, moisturizer, nail
polish and files; reading material
and bookmarks; key chains;
cute socks; seasonal decorations;
hand sanitizer; bubble bath;
jewelry; knick-knacks; handmade
craft items; CDs, DVDs; handheld games like Rubix cube or
electronic games; silk or flannel
pillowcases (feels good on bald
heads); neck pillows (for chemo
days when many hours are spent
reclining in a chair); fleece caps
for guys or knit/crocheted chemo
“hats”; memo pads; seed kits;
tissues (small packs); nail clippers;
playing cards; eye mask (to darken
room); bath pillow; pill box; softbristle toothbrush.
My daughter and I crafted a
couple of items for the Sunshine
Boxes:
CROCHET-TRIMMED
WASHCLOTH
Supplies:
• One washcloth
• One crochet hook size D
(3-3.25) with a sharp-enough
head to pierce the cloth
• Crochet cotton (I used Red
Heart Lustre-Sheen Knit &
Crochet Yarn because it is
very soft and wouldn’t be
scratchy against the skin)
• Scissors
Instructions:
The washcloth acts as the crochet
foundation chain. Taking the hook
pierce it through the fabric and
make a slipstitch, chain two (this
will act as a single crochet) and
then pierce it through the fabric
again to the left. Draw the loop
through and make a single crochet.
Keep repeating this till you’re all the
way around the washcloth. Join the
round with a slipstitch, turn, chain
two and make three half double crochets in the space below as follows:
cotton over hook, insert hook in the
space below to be worked in (like
when making granny squares), cotton over hook, pull cotton through
the stitch, cotton over hook, pull
cotton through all three loops on
hook (one-half double crochet
made). Continue making three half
double crochets in the spaces on
the straight sides. For corners make
three half double crochets, chain
three, make three more half double
crochets. Continue with these till
the round is completed. Slipstitch
the beginning and end of round
together and knot. Snip end and
wind the tail back for a neat finish.
HOMEMADE BATH SALTS
Supplies:
2 c. Epsom salts
15-20 drops of essential oil
or fragrance oil
Food colouring gel (optional)
Instructions:
Place Epsom salts in a zip-lock
bag. Add the rest of the ingredients and squish them through
the salt with your hands. Pour
them into a container of choice.
(We collect decorative-shaped jars
and recycle them.) Place two to
three tablespoons in a tub of warm
water and enjoy.
Whether it is for an ill person
or a family in need of encouragement, a Sunshine Box will make
everyone feel better. We’ve had
lots of fun creating ours. †
Debbie Chikousky farms at Narcisse, Manitoba.
BY CHRISTALEE FROESE
T
hey come to Carnduff,
Saskatchewan from
miles around, ordering
everything from escargot to baby back ribs to steelhead trout.
The Olive Branch Bistro is very
popular, and has had to turn
away customers who couldn’t
get a table, and founder/owner,
37-year-old Angie Haider has a
hard time keeping up with the
demand for her made-in-house
cheesecake.
The 18 tables at the bistro are
typically reserved in advance, in
what was formerly one of this
small, southeast Saskatchewan
town’s first banks.
The town’s economic development officer said the entire community benefits from the success of the restaurant. “We feel
very fortunate to have the Olive
Branch Bistro in town because it
brings in a lot of new people and a
lot of visitors to the community,”
said Tara Beck. “It has helped to
put Carnduff on the map.”
Haider said the best part of her
business is the regular clientele
whom she gets to know so well
she can start orders before they
even arrive. “For example, if this
one customer I have is coming,
I’ll put the jerk bread appetizer
in the oven before they get here
because it takes 20 minutes to
bake and I know for sure that
they’ll be ordering it.”
While Haider’s business has
grown into a bustling one that
keeps her and her staff of seven
employees busy five days a week,
it wasn’t always that way. Starting
out in 2000, Haider took over
a small coffee shop and turned
it into a smoke-free restaurant
before provincial legislation went
into effect. She received a lot of
negative feedback with some people telling her that she would
never keep her doors open if she
went smoke free.
“It was pretty stressful but I
didn’t think I was making a bad
decision.”
Haider stood her ground and
slowly drew a crowd that appreciated her unique menu items
and her smoke-free atmosphere.
In 2004, she purchased the
building where the Olive Branch
Bistro now resides, doubling her
capacity.
With 80 per cent of her clientele coming from the surrounding area, Haider said people in
rural areas are certainly willing to
drive for something that is a little
bit different.
“I think people come for the
whole package — the atmosphere, the service, the food and
the fact that everything is homemade and you can tell.”
PHOTO: DEBBIE CHIKOUSKY
The lucrative oil-related economy of the southeast area has
served Haider well, and the a la
carte menu, which gives customers the choice of every menu
item, is rather unique to a smalltown setting. Haider said it took
people a while to get used to
the menu format and restaurant
rules of no children under five
and no groups over six people.
It’s still a struggle to convince
people that they need to make
reservations to guarantee themselves a table.
And while it’s been a learning
curve all around, the most
rewarding experience for Haider
is when someone comes in for
the first time to try her food
and becomes a regular customer
— a common occurrence at
Carnduff’s Olive Branch Bistro.
For more information visit
www.olivebranchbistro.webs.
com. †
Christalee Froese writes from Montmartre,
Saskatchewan.
How to find the
ag equipment
you need... OVER
Start
here.
Find it fast at
Crochet-Trimmed Washcloth.
PHOTO: CHRISTALEE FROESE
Angie Haider at the Olive Branch
Bistro.
43,000
PIECES OF
A
EQUIPMENT G
!
30
/ grainews.ca
APRIL 15, 2013
Home Quarter Farm Life
POSTCARDS FROM THE PRAIRIES
Life’s secrets, according to you…
People of the world, tell me this — what’s the one topic
we should talk about more openly? Part 1
JANITA
VAN DE VELDE
A
while back I shared with
you that I had a hard
time, following the birth
of my first child. After
the birth of my subsequent children, I braced myself for darkness
to fall yet again. But it never did.
That’s when I looked back at those
first few weeks following the birth
of my first and declared, “What
was that?” Although never officially diagnosed, I think I had postpartum depression. Being a good,
old-fashioned suck-it-up-buttercup
farm kid, I fought my way through
it blindly. I never visited a doctor,
or shared my demons with family
and friends. No one talks about
such things. How dare we admit
being sad following the birth of a
beautiful, healthy child. That’s just
not done. That would be weird…
frowned upon, even. Looking back
now, I find it surprising that more
people don’t talk about it. But I can
understand why.
I don’t recall a lot about the days
immediately following the birth of
my first child. Even as I write this,
my feelings are hard to retrieve,
tucked away and hidden in a faraway place. My safe place. My,
I-don’t-pull-these-memories-outto-fondly-embrace place. I don’t
like to share my inadequacies or
my fears, or hold these moments
up to a harsh, unforgiving light.
But I suspect stories don’t flow
until they’re ready to be told, and
in sharing this, I may help those
who feel the same way I once did;
those who feel untouchable when
it comes to being swallowed whole
by consuming sadness.
Back when I was pregnant for
the first time, I recall reading
about emotional elements that
could unfold after childbirth.
Depression. Mostly, I would skip
past these sections, thinking: “I
don’t get sad. I don’t fall prey
to feelings of depression. And if
I do, I’ll just count my blessings
and slap myself back to reality.”
Big talker, slow walker. The first
day home from the hospital, hot
tears of shame washed my face,
as I inwardly burst over the loss
of my old life — my freedom,
the relative safety of never exposing my heart in this magnitude,
never feeling this raw — all while
addressing my feelings of inadequacy and the utter betrayal of
maternal instincts. I had expected
the weeks following the birth of
my baby to be the most joyful of
my life, and yet it was as though
suddenly I was looking through
the lens of a camera, and the
world was set to grey. I worried
about everything at once, almost
as though I had to figure it all out.
Right away. How would I know if
he was sad? In pain? Was I feeding him enough? Could he feel
my love, even though I trembled
with fear? Who would teach him
how to walk? What if he got in
a car accident one day? What if,
what if, what if... what if I wasn’t
good enough to be his mama?
As I cradled this wondrous new
being, it dawned on me that I
had perhaps forgotten how to
love someone that fiercely — I
was terrified of being that vulnerable, reluctant to bare my soul
that openly at the risk of looking foolish, scared that I didn’t
have all the answers. Scared to
death of letting him down, and
we had only just met. I desperately needed my mom; I certainly
wasn’t ready to become one.
When I become a mother,
my significance was altered.
Accepting who I was and what I’d
become, feeling blessed for what
I had, seeing my entire existence
reflected back at me through the
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eyes of a child — absorbing that
— completely and utterly understanding that I was simply a part
of something much bigger than
me, well, let’s just say it hit me
like a bat upside the head. You
know what else I learned? That
it’s perfectly all right to want time
to stand still, just for a while. To
say to those around you, “You
go ahead. I’ll catch up in a bit.”
Yes. Sometimes all we need is
a moment or two to catch our
breath... that moment to find
ourselves again. And sometimes?
Sometimes we just need to talk
about it. Your fears and struggles
don’t make you a lesser person.
Rather, coming through them
gives you a bigger heart. Let’s
listen to each other with an open
heart, and replace our judgment
with compassion.
Here forthwith, are things you
think we should talk about more
often. Part 1
What we love about people.
We seem to always wait until it’s
too late.
Mental health issues, particularly depression.
Anything related to sex or personal body parts. I still have a hard
time talking about it, and it should
be something that’s celebrated,
not ignored.
Relationships. Of all kinds.
Faith.
Mistakes from the past — at
least the unresolved ones. I do
believe that these should be
hashed out, not that they’ll be
resolved necessarily, but at least
so that everyone can get everything off their chests!
Apathy and the ability to take
action.
Miscarriages. I think it’s healthy
to talk openly about the loss felt
from a miscarriage, whether it’s
early on in the pregnancy or near
the end. It’s still a taboo subject
and yet half of all pregnancies end
in miscarriages. I think it’s part
of the healing to talk about the
loss and all the feeling that comes
with it.
What scares us and why.
Mental health issues. They exist
and are more prevalent the more
stress we experience. Why is the
topic still so taboo?
The importance of faith in God,
not religion.
Money. It is the root, in my opinion, of the breakdown of a lot of
marriages. I learned the hard way.
The emotional and physical
health of our elders, specifically our
parents. I didn’t really know my
parents until my dad was terminally
ill, but on the bright side we were
able to discuss prostates, colostomy
bags and sexual health on a regular
basis at the dinner table. It took facing death to realize that our parents
hold back on how they are really
doing and really feeling, I think in
part because that’s their generation,
and in part because I think they
want to protect their children. They
were just as scared as my sister and
I, and ironically enough, it was
refreshing to get to know my parents as adults… as equals. It helped
me deal with the whole situation
better because I knew more about
how my parents were dealing with
it. They get scared, they hurt, they
have feelings, and they get angry
with God just the same as I do, but
I never realized it until it was almost
too late. †
Janita Van de Velde grew up on a farm near
Mariapolis, Man. She holds a bachelor of
science degree in agricultural economics from
the University of Manitoba, and has worked
for a financial institution since graduating.
She lives in Regina, Sask., with her husband
Roddy and their children Jack, Isla and James.
Her first novel, Postcards Never Written, was
the recipient of the Saskatchewan Reader’s
Choice Award and also listed by CBC as one
of the top funny books in 2009. She donates a
portion of proceeds from the sale of her book
to World Vision to help those less fortunate.
For more information, or to order her book, visit
her website at www.janita.ca.
Gluten-free eating
BY JULIE GARDEN-ROBINSON
NDSU EXTENSION SERVICE
G
luten is a protein
found in wheat,
barley, rye and oats
(unless labelled gluten free). It acts somewhat like
elastic and provides a framework for bread. As yeast bread
rises, gluten proteins stretch and
allow expansion of the dough.
Gluten-free bread products usually contain eggs or some type
of food gum that mimics the
action of gluten.
According to the Celiac
Disease Foundation, one out
of every 133 people has celiac
disease, which also is known
as gluten-sensitive enteropathy.
They must avoid gluten for the
rest of their lives.
This autoimmune disease
often is accompanied by abdominal pain, bloating, vomiting,
diarrhea, and/or skin rashes,
among other possible symptoms. Damage to the intestinal
tract may result in nutritional
deficiencies, which can promote
such conditions as osteoporosis
or anemia.
People with celiac disease may
experience unintended weight
loss, joint pain, numbness in
the hands or feet, depression,
migraine headaches, fatigue,
weakness and/or other symptoms. Children with the disease might not grow as well as
expected.
Celiac disease can occur at
any age, but you cannot diagnose yourself. Specific blood
antibody tests and other medical procedures are used to diagnose the disease.
Some people who have not
been diagnosed with the disease may experience similar, but
milder, symptoms. Another category, non-celiac gluten intolerance (or sensitivity), is being
debated within the medical
community. Be sure to discuss
your health concerns with a
medical-care provider.
Many gluten-free products are
available, which is of great benefit to the many people who
have celiac disease. However,
gluten-free foods are not necessarily healthier for people who
do not need to avoid gluten for
a medical reason.
Gluten may be found in processed meats, ice cream, ketchup,
soy sauce, mouthwash, toothpaste and many other items, and
sometimes you’ll have to contact
the manufacturer to know if the
product contains it.
You need to be cautious about
cross-contaminating glutencontaining foods with non-gluten-containing foods. For example, if you have one person eating gluten free in a household,
you may need to have separate
jars of mayonnaise and peanut
butter for that person because
the contents can become contaminated with gluten from
bread crumbs. In addition, you
may need to have two separate
toasters, so one could be designated for use with gluten-free
products only.
The “gluten-free” designation
often carries a higher price tag.
According to a research article published in the Canadian
Journal of Dietetic Practice and
Research, all of the gluten-free
products researchers studied were more expensive than
similar products that contained
gluten. In fact, the gluten-free
products, on average, were 242
per cent more expensive.
Many foods are gluten free
naturally unless they are crosscontaminated by gluten-containing foods during processing
at a food company or during
food preparation at home or in
a restaurant. Fruits, vegetables,
nuts, hard cheese, dry edible
beans, meat, fish and poultry
without breading or certain flavourings are naturally gluten
free in their “whole food” form.
Rice and potatoes contain no
gluten and are available as flour
that can be used to make bread.
For more information about
celiac disease, visit http://
w w w. c e l i a c . o r g . C o l o r a d o
State University Extension
has a fact sheet about glutenfree baking available at http://
www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/
foodnut/09376.pdf. †
Julie Garden-Robinson, PhD, R.D., L.R.D., is
a North Dakota State University Extension
Service food and nutrition specialist and
professor in the department of health,
nutrition and exercise sciences.
APRIL 15, 2013
grainews.ca /
31
Home Quarter Farm Life
SINGING GARDENER
How did your fruit trees winter?
Plus, thanks to all for emails, letters and calls
Since storage tomatoes aren’t
meant to be eaten in season,
there’s no rush to get them
started and set out. Depending
on your location and nature of
the season, the focus is on harvesting, usually in September or
early October before frost hits
and just after tomatoes begin
to lighten up in colour. The
outer skin may be a pale olive
green, yellow, orange or pink
and that’s normal. When cut
open, you can expect red tomato
flesh inside.
TED
MESEYTON
I
t’s 11:30 during the quiet
time of a Friday evening as
I begin gathering words of
wisdom and placing them
on this page. Earlier in the day,
one of many calls I received
came from a gardener wanting
the best dates according to the
moon for planting long-keeper
tomato seeds indoors (and it’s
still not too late). A stroll into
the home orchard is also on the
agenda and I’ll share an email
from Cecil Lake, B.C.
A GARDEN STORY
THERE’S MORE
THAN ONE WAY
… to skin a cat. That’s an
expression I’m sure most gardeners and farmers have heard. Short
and to the point, said statement
suggests there are several ways
to do something or more than
one method to reach the same
end. It certainly applies to witching for water. Allow me to say
“thank you” to all the good folks
from B.C. and into the Prairie
provinces who’ve emailed, written and telephoned me about
their experiences. A high interest
certainly exists among people
whether they possess this gift
or not. A unique ability and
ways of applying their tools and
methods occur among witchers
when searching for and determining depth of underground
streams. Even watching someone
do water witching is fascinating.
I talk to people, chew the fat
and correspond; listen to their
folk tales, old-time stories, home
garden remedies, weather lore
and water-witching experiences.
Collecting, studying and writing about folklore and moonlore
have always sparked my interest since days of youth. Each of
these has helped me along the
way to become a bit of a selfappointed professional folklorist.
COMIN’ THROUGH THE RYE
… is the name of an old song.
But, I, Ted, am wondering: How
SUE
ARMSTRONG
LOVE HEARING
FROM YOU
Do you have a story about a
farm or home-based business?
How about some household
management tips? Does
someone in the family have a
special-diet need? Share some
of your meal ideas.
Send them to FarmLife,
1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg,
Man. R3H 0H1. Phone 1-800665-0502 or email susan@
fbcpublishing.com. Please
remember we can no longer
return photos or material.
— Sue
This trio of potato growers consists of George McKenzie (centre) his wife Mary McKenzie (l) and their friend
Larry Chorney (r). According to George, some of their potatoes weighed five pounds. In an email to the
Singing Gardener George writes: “I saw your article in Grainews about water well witching. I too can do
this. I live on the Grimshaw Gravels, the largest underground freshwater lake in the world, where I live at
Brownvale, Alta.” Ted says — there’ll be more on water witching in future; meantime do see George’s garden
story in today’s column.
did your fruit trees come through
the winter? Let’s head for the
home orchard and do some
inspection and low-cost maintenance. Washing fruit tree trunks
and growing the right plants
nearby can help. Gather some
tops from chives and nasturtium
leaves and mix them into a large
pail filled with water plus a tablespoonful of liquid soap. Leave it
to brew for a few hours and then
scrub down each fruit tree trunk
using a whitewash brush or stiff
broom, doing it from ground
level up to the first side limbs.
Such a washing cleanses undesirable foreign material clinging to
tree trunks and transmits a disagreeable flavour to insects.
Another tree trunk formula consists of a water paste about the
consistency of thick paint made
from rotted cow manure, wood
ashes, diatomaceous earth and
some paper glue to help it stick.
Chives tea can also be sprinkled
on apple tree limbs and branches
several times during the season
to help prevent apple scab from
forming on fruit and to improve
tree health. Dolomite-lime mixed
into water and applied as a whitewash on tree trunks will help too.
Dormant oil spray preparations
act as a pre-season cleanup of
overwintering pests, eggs and scale
insects on fruit trees, evergreens
and shrubs. Another choice is an
all-season product called natural
lime sulphur that performs insecticide and fungicide duties during
both dormant and growth periods.
Dolomite-lime is available
from West Coast Seeds, Delta,
B.C., phone 1-888-804-8820
and dolomitic-lime, dormant oil
spray and lime-sulphur are available at Early’s Garden Centre,
Saskatoon, Sask., phone 1-800667-1159 or check at your local
area garden centres.
MORE GOOD THAN BAD
Contrary to popular belief
there are far more good ones
than bad bugs. A mixture of
beneficial herbs, nasturtiums
and chives can be grown under,
around and among fruit trees
and does wonders to reduce incidence of insect pests. A sprinkling of chives tea every week or
10 days over gooseberry bushes,
shrubs, cucumber and pumpkin
vines, zucchini, Monarda bergamot, zinnias and other vulnerable plants helps prevent powdery
and downy mildew.
If you’ve ever grown nasturtiums you’ll know they’re subject
to attack by flea beetles. These
pests dash like a dart and pepper
nasturtium leaves full of holes in
no time flat. A prayer that flea
beetles don’t find your nasturtiums may help, but it also takes
action. You’ve heard that ancient
expression: God helps those who
help themselves.
Here’s an old-fashioned cure
against unwanted fungi spores
and fungus attacks on plants.
Cutworms and root maggots find
it distasteful too. Sprinkle soil
surface with a 50/50 mix of wood
ashes and dolomite-lime (mentioned earlier).
Another preferred protection
against flying pests is to drape
lightweight row cover material
over nasturtiums and cole crops
at the first sign of flea beetles and
cabbage butterflies. Such fabric
covering also protects against
other troubling pests such as
aphids, carrot rust flies, leaf
miner flies, onion maggot flies
and thrips, yet allows rain to
penetrate.
GROWING GREEN
ONIONS INDOORS
Here’s a tried-and-proven suggestion, especially useful during
non-gardening season. I, Ted, say
multi-thanks to Maya Wenger in
northern B.C.
Hi Ted,
Here’s a note on growing green
onions indoors. I thought I’d
pass this on to you, as you like
neat ideas. We accidently learned
to grow green onions a different
way: One February day when I
was transplanting geranium cuttings, I had an inspiration and
set a sprouting fall onion into a
pot with soil. It was one of those
yellow Dutch onions that I had
stored over the winter. I always
have a few that sprout about
this time of year. I put it in its
own pot of soil, twisting, turning
and pressing it a bit so the bulb
would be firmly connected to the
soil. Then I let it grow. It worked
fantastic. There was vigorous
growth of the green onion shoots
and then more regrowth when
I cut them. The onion gives up
its strength to the new shoots,
which is why I think the shoots
grow so fast. The bulb itself will
not be edible when the shoots
stop growing. So if you like green
onions and you have stored fall
onions sprouting in your basement, this is a fun thing to do.
And it is awfully satisfying for
the green thumb heart to watch
something grow so fresh and
green while the snow still lies on
the ground here in northern B.C.
In a recent article you were
talking about great tomato varieties. Here in the Fort St. John area
(the Prairies of British Columbia),
I find the Cluster Grande (I get
it through Lindenberg Seeds in
Brandon, Man.) is a great one. It
is early, very uniform, grows in
clusters of five to six fruits that
weigh four to five ounces each.
They keep well once stored and
have even won me some prizes
at our local fall fairs. Love your
writings, Maya Wenger, Cecil
Lake, B.C.
STORAGE TOMATOES
If you grow any variety of storage tomatoes such as Long Keeper,
Mystery Keeper, Graham’s Good
Keeper and Peron, it’s not too
late to start some. The best seeding dates this month are April 16,
17, 18, 23, 24, 25 and 26, 2013.
… according to George that
speaks for itself. “My wife asked
me to put some rows of fibre,
like some straw, in the soil so it
wouldn’t be so hard. Then she
was going to open rows and seed
in between the straw. I had 17
old alfalfa bales that I spread on
it. WELL! When I went to work it
down with my 34-ft. heavy disc
that was hopeless. So we moved
the garden to another place. The
next year I got enough dirt on it
to be able to plant the seeds. Boy
did we get a great crop of vegetables for the next five years. You
could dig the potatoes with your
hand. One hill had 25 lbs. of
spuds in it and we never watered
the potatoes. I think the alfalfa
bales with no weeds in them are
the best.”
On another note: “We had
about five deer in the yard
waiting for the corn to get big
so I fixed that by putting mig
welding wire around the garden
about three feet high. I tied the
wire to conduit pipe posts used
by electricians or use small stick
posts about one inch square and
three to four feet long placed 50
feet apart. The deer come up to
it and when the wire touches
them they jump back as they
can’t see the wire. I’ve done
this for five years now and so
far no deer in the garden. They
used to use piano wire for the
fence but you can buy a small
roll of mig welding wire at
Peavy Mart, Princess Auto and
all welding stores. It is very
fine, making it hard to see. Pull
the wire as tight as you can.
I have since bought a threepoint-hitch rototiller eight ft.
wide and 2,200 lbs. to work the
garden. This doesn’t pack the
ground as much as other ways
of doing it. Keep in touch.”
George McKenzie †
This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener
and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie,
Man. Gardening and farming are great
teachers. The real test for both the gardener
and farmer and in life itself is not in keeping
out of the rough spots. It’s in knowing how to
get out of them after we are in. Life is fragile.
Handle with prayer. It helps and hinders no
man or woman on their journey. Those who
run from God in the morning will scarcely find
Him the rest of the day. My email address is
[email protected].
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