Document 2025669

Volume 41, Number 13 | JULY 21, 2015
$4.25
PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER
www.grainews.ca
TWO GOOD REASONS FOR
PRE-HARVEST HERBICIDE
Pre-harvest application can give you better weed control
and simplify harvest. But know the residue rules
By Angela Lovell
F
1. Effective weed control
There are a couple of reasons why
a pre-harvest glyphosate application is
effective against perennial weeds, says
Brenzil. First, perennial plants at this
time of year are moving sugars to the
roots, which helps translocate the herbicide to the root system and prevent
growth the following year. Secondly,
prior to harvest there is more plant
material present, which provides a larger
target to maximize the uptake of the herbicide and give better control.
The other economic advantage is
that it’s generally less expensive to
deal with perennial weeds in-crop than
the following year. “Canada thistle,
as an example, is very competitive,
so if a producer has a well-established
stand no crop will grow underneath it,”
says Brenzil. “If there are a substantial
number of thistle stands within the
field that’s a significant yield loss.”
Dalgarno says using a pre-harvest
glyphosate application is fairly economical for him as he has his own high clearance sprayer. “The herbicide cost is anywhere from $3.50 to $4.50 an acre, plus
the cost to run the sprayer,” he says. “I’d
say it probably costs us around $6 an acre,
but it would be more if you had to hire a
custom sprayer, although you’re saving
the cost of swathing as well.”
2. Harvest quality
For Dalgarno a pre-harvest herbicide
treatment isn’t just about weed control;
it’s also about ensuring a good quality
crop on his farm, which is located amid
rolling hills and potholes, which means
maturity is all over the map. “We can’t
straight cut our wheat without pre-harvesting it because everything is a different moisture level and maturity, so the
herbicide also kills the plants and makes
it more even by the time we harvest,” he
says. “When we used to swath our wheat,
and it had lain out there for a week or
two we were lucky if we got No. 2, and
most of the time it was a No. 3. Now 90
per cent of the time it’s a No. 1, and if the
difference is $2 a bushel, at 60 bushels an
acre, we potentially could lose $120 an
acre by not pre-harvesting it.”
Dalgarno also knows from his own
experience that timing of a pre-harvest
glyphosate application is crucial. “We’ve
run into a few situations where it’s turned
cool for a week or two after application
and the chemical doesn’t uptake as well,”
he says. “So you have to look at all the
factors — the weed situation in that field,
the crop type and stage, and the value
of the crop to determine if a pre-harvest
treatment is worthwhile, whether it’s barley, oats, wheat, or any crop.”
“Another challenge with having dead
plants sitting out there in the weather
» continued on page 4
photo: thinkstock
arming decisions always seem
to come back to economics, and
whether to do a pre-harvest treatment for perennial weed control
or harvest management is no exception.
But there are many other considerations such as crop type, geographic location, weather and even trade risks that
contribute to that decision, says Clark
Brenzil, provincial weed specialist with
Saskatchewan Agriculture.
In northern regions of the Prairies
a pre-harvest herbicide application
is often the only opportunity farmers have to control perennial weeds
because the season is too short to allow
enough re-growth for a post-harvest
application to be effective. But even
in the southern prairies a pre-harvest
application is a better economic option,
says Brenzil. “For a pre-harvest application of glyphosate the recommendation
is 360 grams of active ingredient per
acre,” he says. “Following harvest, weed
re-growth presents a smaller target, so
producers have to use about two-and-
a-half times more glyphosate to get the
same amount of control.”
Bruce Dalgarno, who farms near
Newdale, Manitoba, started using a
pre-harvest application of glyphosate
on his crops around 1994, partly to
try and control the Canada thistle
and quack grass in his fields. “We’ve
certainly seen a change in our weed
spectrum in that we’re getting rid of
Canada thistle and the quack grass has
all but disappeared,” he says.
Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240
In This Issue
Wheat & Chaff .................. 2
Features . ........................... 5
Crop Advisor’s Casebook . 8
Columns ............................ 10
Machinery & Shop............. 33
Cattleman’s Corner .......... 39
Winter wheat strategies
Ross McKenzie page 10
Morris’s new air cart tender
scott garvey page 38
FarmLife ............................ 44
2
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Wheat & Chaff
STAMPEDE
BY JERRY PALEN
Leeann
Minogue
I
am afraid to write this sentence. Whatever you do, don’t
read it out loud — that could
send bad luck our way. But
here it is: Our crops are looking
good this year. This week, smoke
from northern forest fires is even
keeping the weather cool enough
to help the canola flower nicely.
If you’re reading this in a
drought-stricken area, please don’t
get angry. Keep in mind that the
last time I posted a photo of a nicelooking canola crop on Facebook,
it was completely hailed out within
10 hours. And remember that the
only reason we have enough soil
moisture to maintain the crops in
southeast Saskatchewan this summer is that we’re still using up the
rainfall from 2011, the Year of the
Flood, when we seeded 2.5 acres
before getting stuck and heading
back to the yard.
I know as well as you do that
by the time you read this article,
we might have lost our whole
farm to hail. Or heat could
wilt the canola. Plough winds.
Locust plagues. Tornados.
Tsunamis are unlikely, but
these days, you never know.
And if none of that happens,
those soybean plants still look
pretty small — one early frost
will be the end of them.
And of course, even with a
good crop out in the field, it’s still
hard to sit on the deck enjoying a
nice cold drink on a sunny afternoon without thinking, “Gee, it
hasn’t rained in a while. I wonder
if we’ll have enough moisture to
get us through next year.”
But, today, our crops are looking good. So we’ll try to take it
one day at a time.
“Are you nuts?! Yelling at Flo when you’re
working cows and she’s running the gate!”
contact us
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Our peas were looking good (touch wood) on June 25.
photos: leeann minogue
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The oats looked good on June 25, too. We haven’t grown oats on our farm in a quite a few years, so this is
something sort of exciting.
One trip, two events
There’s not just one, but two
great reasons to go to Saskatoon
this month.
A brand new farm show, Ag in
Motion, is taking place just 15
minutes northwest of Saskatoon
(by Langham) from July 21 to 23. If
you’ve been driving by Langham,
you might have noticed all of
the background work that’s been
underway — 320 acres have been
set aside for plots, exhibits and displays. There will be more than 300
exhibitors waiting to tell you about
their business. (You can get a sneak
peak of some of them in the Ag in
Motion section starting on Page 16
of this issue.)
And since you’re going to
Saskatoon anyway, why not go a
day early and catch the “Farmers’
Forum on Grain Transportation”
on July 20. This one-day event is
hosted by SaskWheat, SaskBarley
and APAS (Agriculture Producers
Association of Saskatchewan) at the
Saskatoon Inn.
The point of the transportation forum is to raise awareness of
the current rail situation, increase
understanding of demand growth,
explain the current transportation
review and discuss the changes
needed to build efficient rail capacity. Register in advance at www.
apas.ca.
One of the confirmed speakers is
Dr. Richard Gray, an economist from
the University of Saskatchewan.
Given how important transportation costs are to all of our bottom
lines, Dr. Gray was also on the
agenda speaking about transportation at SaskWheat’s semi-annual
meeting in Regina on June 17. He
mentioned that “drought might
make a difference” to basis levels in
the coming season, bringing basis
levels down to a more “normal”
level in the coming season. Who
says economists can never find a
bright side?
Did you see it?
My husband sure did. As soon as
he pulled the last issue of Grainews
out of the stack of mail on the
table.
Right there on the cover, there
was a photo of a shiny new blue
New Holland tractor. Under it? A
caption that said, “New JD round
balers.” Oops.
There was a story on Page 18 about
the John Deere 900 baler. There was
also a story on Page 19 about New
Holland’s T6 and TS6 tractors. The
caption came from Page 18; the
photo came from page 19. Oops.
Everyone knows John Deere is
green. There is really no excuse
for this. My apologies. I hope you
enjoyed the error as much as my
husband. †
Leeann
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
Wheat & Chaff
Farm safety
Be ready for severe summer storms
E
verybody likes to talk about the
weather. Nowhere is weather
talked about more than in
Canada. Everybody has had a
conversation that starts out with the
question: “Hot enough for you?” Farmers
especially take weather seriously — after
all fortunes are gained and lost due to the
weather. Rain, hail, frost, wind, and snow
all impact a farming operation. Severe
weather not only has the potential to ruin
crops, buildings and machinery, it also
can pose a serious risk to human safety.
First of all, being prepared is the best
defensive against a catastrophe. An emergency kit can save your or a family member’s life. Items like flashlights, extra batteries, wind-up radio, ready-to-eat food,
water and first-aid supplies can make all
the difference. It’s also important to create
and share an emergency plan with family
members and workers.
The summer presents specific types of
severe weather events like thunderstorms,
hail, wind, and tornados can impact life
and limb. It’s important to be able to recognize potential threats to human health
and safety.
Thunderstorms
Thunderstorms are a common occurrence during the summer months. A
severe thunderstorm can be accompanied by hail, winds and even torna-
dos. However, a thunderstorm doesn’t
need hail, wind or a tornado to be
dangerous. All thunderstorms produce
lightning. According to Environment
Canada, it is estimated that there are
between nine and 10 lightning-related
deaths and up to 164 lightening-related
injuries per year. It’s easy to recognize
a thunderstorm – remember, if you can
hear thunder, you are within striking
distance of lightning.
What to do during a thunderstorm:
• Try to take shelter immediately,
preferably in a building or an allmetal automobile.
• If you are caught outdoors, stay
away from tall objects and take
shelter in a low lying area.
• If you are in a boat, get to shore
as quickly as possible.
Remember, there is no safe place
outdoors during a thunderstorm.
Hail
Hail can grow larger than 10 centimeters (the size of a grapefruit) and can hit
the ground at 130 kilometers per hour.
Hail is an underrated danger — serious
injuries have been reported due to hail.
Just like in the case of a thunderstorm,
the best response is to immediately seek
shelter. If you are driving, pull safely over
and remain in the vehicle.
Tornados
Extreme heat
Canada gets more tornados than
any other country with the exception
of the United States. They primarily
happen during the summer, more specifically from May to September. It’s
important to understand the signs of a
potential tornado and how to respond
if a tornado does develop.
Summer is a busy time for all farmers
and often means working in hot temperatures. Working in very hot temperatures
can be dangerous to your health and can
cause heat stroke and heat exhaustion.
There are plenty of precautions that can
be taken to prevent heat-related illness.
• Wear lightweight clothing and
a wide-brimmed hat
• Take breaks frequently.
• Drink water regularly.
• Slow down! Work at a slower pace.
• Work in the shade whenever possible.
If you do get overheated, don’t ignore
the symptoms. Sudden and severe fatigue,
nausea, dizziness and light-headedness
are all warning signs that you need to
take action. It’s important to get to a cool
or shaded area, drink sips of cool water,
apply a moist cloth to the skin and seek
medical attention as soon as possible.
Summer is a busy time for farmers, but
it’s important to know how dangerous the
weather can be. Take the time to develop a
plan, build an emergency kit and talk about
how to respond to severe weather with the
people on your farm. For more information
about emergency kits, emergency plans and
severe storms and other hazards, visit getprepared.gc.ca. For more information about
farm safety, visit casa-acsa.ca. †
Warning signs of a potential tornado:
• An extremely dark sky,
sometimes highlighted
by green or yellow clouds.
• Severe thunderstorms
with frequent thunder
and lightning.
• Wall-shaped clouds.
• A freight train
or whistling sound.
• Funnel clouds.
What to do during a tornado:
• If you’re able, take shelter
immediately in a basement or
take shelter in a small interior
ground floor room like
a closet or bathroom.
• If you’re in an open field,
get out of the vehicle and lie
in a low area or ditch with
your arms over your head.
• Always try to get as close to
the ground as possible.
Agronomy tips… from the field
Weather Lore
Get the most from
your cereal fungicide
A
fungicide
application
at flag leaf protects your
cereal crop’s yield potential, as well as its bushel
weight and plumpness. Spraying the
head helps preserve your grain quality through to harvest.
So, what do you prioritize when
you only have so many dollars to
spend per acre on a fungicide?
If you’re in an area that has a history of heavy fusarium head blight
infection, you need to spray the head
— no question about it. However,
you may be sacrificing yield to maintain quality.
In areas where fusarium isn’t as
consistently an issue, such as northern Saskatchewan and Alberta, put
your fungicide dollar towards the
Canadian Agricultural Safety Association,
www.casa-acsa.ca
You might be from the Prairies if...
By Carson Demmans and Jason Sylvestre
flag leaf. You can always reassess, see
if there’s potential for fusarium to
develop, and protect the head.
This year, given the dry conditions
in large parts of the West, some growers are debating whether it’s even
worth applying a fungicide.
The disease inoculum is still lying
in wait on the trash and stubble
from previous crops, and with the
hot conditions, it won’t take much
rain to create the perfect conditions
for disease to develop. That’s why
it’s important to assess your field
conditions, yield potential and look
closely at the two-week forecast
around the flag leaf stage. †
This agronomy tip is brought to you by Ryan
Lorenz, agronomic service representative,
Alberta South, with Syngenta Canada Inc.
Photo contest
GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT
This adorable shot came in from Tara Fritz. Tara said,
“We were out doing yard work on the farm in southwest
Saskatchewan. This fawn wandered out in front of the trees
and our dog Dutchess found herself a little friend.”
Tara, thanks for sharing this! We’re sending you a cheque
for $25.
Send your best shot to leeann.minogue@fbcpublishing.
com. 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 write-up 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
TREE WISDOM
T
hese weather rhymes
work well with
poplar and maple
trees:
When the leaves show
their undersides
Be very certain that rain betides.
Trees are light green
When the weather is fair.
They turn quite dark
When a storm is in the air.
Damp air caused by increased
humidity softens leaf stalks, allowing
the leaves to be more easily lifted by
breezes and by rising currents of
heated air that occur before a local
shower or thunderstorm.
You have competed in a sport that has an ash
tray for every team and bar for all competitors.
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: www.mcnallyrobinson.com.
3
4
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Cover Stories
Harvest management
Desiccants for dry down
Desiccants are more economical, but there
are still limited applications for canola
Angela Lovell
L
ate spring frosts and extremely dry
conditions in various parts of the
Prairies mean a lot of farmers will
face uneven maturity at harvest
time — especially with canola crops that
had to be reseeded in parts of Manitoba and
Saskatchewan.
The question is, what can they use preharvest to dry down their crops and even out
maturity for harvest? Clark Brenzil, provincial weed specialist with the Saskatchewan
Ministry of Agriculture says although there
are more desiccants on the market today for
many different crops, including some forages,
there are still limited options for canola.
“If producers use a desiccant, such as
Reglone, for canola, the dry down is so
quick that it risks pods being disrupted,” says
Brenzil, adding that for Polish canola it’s not
as great an issue. “But if producers use a desiccant on Argentine canola they should only do
it when the crop is lodged.”
Bruce Dalgarno farms near Newdale,
Manitoba, and he generally still swaths his
canola because of problems with pod shatter. He’s even tried a product designed to
reduce pod shatter but says it didn’t make
a lot of difference for him. “We tried the
product on a couple of plots in different
fields,” he says. “The first plot gave the same
yield as the rest of the field we had swathed.
The second plot, which was in a field about
eight miles away, got a thunderstorm so
we couldn’t harvest it for four or five days.
During those days it was very windy, and
the pods shattered. There was 22 bushels
per acre drop in yield compared to the first
field, including in the second plot. Plus, you
still have to drive through the crop to spray
it on so you’re losing your sprayer track ruts
in the crop. There would have to be better
technology or a different product before we
would try that again.”
The purpose of desiccants is to dry down
any lush plant material as quickly as possible so an evenly mature crop can be
harvested efficiently, or in some cases to
move the harvest window if non-favourable
weather conditions are expected.
“Perhaps there’s going to be a stretch of
good, dry days before rain settles in again for
several days, so the idea is to manipulate your
harvest date so it occurs in that window of
opportunity,” says Brenzil. “The first available
day you apply Reglone and in four days you’re
out there with the combine.”
The use of desiccants has increased as
more products have come to market over
the past few years. “Desiccants have become
more economical,” says Brenzil. “It used to
be that diquat was the only player in that
game, but now there are not only more
diquat products available but others with different active ingredients, such as aflufenacil,
found in Heat from BASF.”
Brenzil believes the real challenge for producers is that they are trying to compensate
for agronomic changes that result in uneven
maturity, and believes there are ways to
reduce unevenness without resorting to preharvest treatments.
“One way to alleviate the problem of uneven maturity is to reduce the number of
secondary tillers or branches produced by the
plant by increasing seeding rates and closing
in row spaces,” says Brenzil.
A wider row spacing, say 12 inches, allows
the plants more opportunity to grow out
sideways to fill in-between the rows, and
it results in plants producing more tillers
or branches to do that. The more tillers
or branches that are produced, the more
uneven maturity is going to be. If the row
spacing is reduced to eight to 10 inches
the seeding rate is increased by 50 per cent,
so there is more competition, and more
primary stems being produced rather than
secondary tillers later on into the season. A
single stem with maybe just one or two tillers also gives bigger, plumper kernels so the
overall quality of the grain improves.
The last word on pre-harvest treatments is
that there’s no magical solution to enhance
crop maturity, says Brenzil. “If you terminate
the plant prematurely, whether with glyphosate or a desiccant, you run into similar problems,” he says. “The advantage to a desiccant
is that they tend to leave less residues since
they are not systemic like glyphosate.” †
Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor and communications
specialist living and working in Manitoba. Find her online at
www.angelalovell.ca.
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Weed control
» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
TWO GOOD REASONS
FOR PRE-HARVEST
HERBICIDE
for any amount of time is that
they’re going to be susceptible
to saprophytic fungi and things
like that cause quality loss,” says
Brenzil, who doesn’t recommend
focusing on glyphosate exclusively for its harvest management
benefits for a number of reasons.
“If your goal is to control
green weed growth, that is one
thing, but to control green crop
growth carries another range of
problems,” he says. ”At 30 per
cent seed moisture, the earliest
timing indicated on the product
label, the crop is essentially ripe.
Research has shown that there is a
little harvest management benefit
at seed moistures less than 40 per
cent. But if you apply a herbicide
above that moisture level, you’re
terminating that plant before the
end of its life cycle, and it also
terminates filling, so there could
be a risk of more green seed, or
shriveled and sunken seeds.”
Watch residues
If an application is made too
early in the life cycle of the crop
plants, there will be a higher
likelihood of residual glyphosate within the grain, he adds.
“International buyers are more
and more concerned about pesticide residues in grain and they’re
doing more routine testing of
grain that they’re purchasing,”
says Brenzil. “If the residues
exceed allowable limits there
is the risk of a shipment being
rejected and the boat turned back,
or the buyer maybe negotiates a
deep discount on that product so
that they can blend it off to meet
the maximum residue limits that
are required.”
Increasingly grain marketers are
taking sub-samples of grain so
that they can trace a lot back to
the individual farmer if there is
an issue. “It’s kind of like traceability, just not in a formal sense
but the marketers are going in
that direction in order to protect
themselves, so producers have to
realize that risk is starting to tumble down to them as well, and be
aware of those maximum residue
limits,” says Brenzil.
There can even be instances
where a product is registered for
use in Canada but isn’t registered
in the countries the grain is being
exported to, “Producers need to
check with the people that are
buying their grain to make sure
that they can use that product on
the crop they hope to deliver,”
says Brenzil.
Brenzil recommends producers plan ahead and consider
perennial weed control in the
fall before planting a high value
crop in the next growing season.
This way the perennial weeds are
addressed prior to the growth of
the high value crop, maximizing
their return on that value. “If producers select their primary and
secondary crops each January,
February or March based on the
current commodity prices, and
then try to track down products
to manage perennial weeds incrop, they risk losing yield to
the weed before in-crop control
occurs, if there is an option for
control in that crop at all.”
They also run the risk of having
a more volatile crop rotation, and
volatile economics, and higher
risk. The real challenge for producers these days is to diversify
and stick with their rotations so
they can stabilize their incomes,
while being more sustainable over
time, rather than trying to capitalize and maximize their incomes
from any one particular year or
any one particular crop.” †
Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor
and communications specialist living and
working in Manitoba. Find her online at www.
angelalovell.ca.
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JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
Features
5
Grain transportation
Torch River facility up and running
Starting short-line railways and local grain handling facilities is hard work, with a good pay-off
By Lisa Guenther
S
etting up a short-line railway takes a good deal of
patience and determination, but Saskatchewan
farmers are finding it’s a worthwhile endeavour.
“I think at the end of the day
this is definitely going to be well
worth it to our farmers,” said
Wayne Bacon, farmer and president of Northern Lights Rail.
Northern Lights Rail is on track to
becoming the 14th short-line in
Saskatchewan. The 37-mile track
connects Melfort and Birch Hills.
At interview time in early June,
Bacon hoped to be running cars
by July, but he had to tie up a few
loose ends. The short-line’s locomotive needed to be transported
from Humboldt, and then certified.
The short-line was also waiting on
paperwork before its track could be
certified. Bacon expected to have
the locomotive and outstanding
paperwork in place shortly.
“So I think things are getting put
together here right now,” he said.
Bacon said the paperwork had
been the biggest challenge to setting up the short-line. Other communities interested in purchasing
a short-line should find a good
consultant to wrangle paperwork,
he said. They should also talk to
someone who’s been through the
process, he added. Northern Lights
Rail worked closely with Ron
Shymanski, chair of Torch River
Rail, Bacon said.
Torch River Rail ran its first
train in July 2008. But getting the
short-line up and running wasn’t
easily done. The RM of Torch
River was tasked with buying the
line from Canadian Pacific (CP).
Under the Canada Transport Act,
CP would have to sell the line at
net salvage value to the RM.
But under the Act, the RM of
Torch River would have had to
accept the deal without knowing
the purchase price. The RM council
ultimately defeated the motion,
according to information gathered by Saskatchewan Municipal
Awards, which includes this project
in its best practices library. The
deadline passed, and CP was no
longer obligated to follow the process laid out under the Act.
This left local farmers and municipalities to hammer out a deal with
CP outside of the legislated process.
No other group had successfully
purchased a short-line this way in
Canadian history, according to the
Saskatchewan Municipal Awards.
Ultimately they closed a deal
with CP in late 2007 to buy the
28-mile stretch of track between
Choiceland and Nipawin.
Torch River also needed a
trained crew, a locomotive and
other equipment.
“We didn’t have a screwdriver
in 2007,” Shymanski said during a
recent media tour. Shymanski also
farms a stone’s throw from Torch
River’s Choiceland facility.
But they made it work,
Shymanski said. Key to their
success was their first producer
car loading facility, which cost
$160,000. Torch River Rail paid it
off in two years, Shymanski said,
and only charged $400 per car.
Torch River Rail has been paying income tax from the beginning, Shymanski said. Their initial
business plan called for 150 to
200 cars, but Shymanski said they
moved 400 cars that first year.
Business has grown steadily
since. The short-line moved 800
cars in the 2014 fiscal year.
Northern Lights Rail got started
in February 2012, with an engineering study to assess the track.
That study wrapped in March
2013. The RM of Invergordon
bought the CN line for net salvage
value, Bacon said. Invergordon
then turned over the line to
Northern Lights Rail’s board of
directors, which includes representatives from local rural municipalities and towns.
Northern Lights Rail raised over
$1 million locally. Bacon said 70
farmers threw money in, along
with municipal governments.
Northern Lights Rail also borrowed just over $500,000 from
the provincial government, he
added. The credit union worked
closely with them, Bacon said,
loaning money to the short-line
and to farmers buying shares.
Northern Lights has producer
car loading facilities in Beatty and
Kinistino. Each location has four
hopper bins. They plan to build
a third facility in Birch Hills this
fall, Bacon said. He added they
may add legs to the facility if they
think it’s warranted.
Running a short-line and producer car loading facilities is a
big learning curve, said Bacon.
“We’ve… loaded producer cars
by augers but we’ve never really
loaded a bunch of cars. So it’s
going to take us a while to figure
out everything, how we’re going
to make things work the best.”
new facility “works slick”
In June 2013, Torch River broke
ground on their new million-dollar loading facility. The facility has
been running since June 2014. “It
works slick,” said Shymanski.
The new facility consists of
four bins, holding 14,000 bushels each. Computerized controls
report bin levels. Farmers can
unload grain anytime, thanks to
a key-lock system.
Farmers are assigned a bin and a
key. Inserting the key and pressing
a button allows farmers to weigh
their trucks and unload.
“When they’re done unloading, they press the button again.
The equipment shuts down, the
truck is weighed and they’re ready
to go,” Shymanski said. Farmers
leave a grain sample in a jockey
box, he told reporters.
The system was built by Stockdales
Electric Motor Corporation, a
Regina company that builds industrial systems, including rail car
weighing systems and handling
facilities. Shymanski’s son, Carson,
also helped design the system.
They also did some of the welding themselves, shaving a fair chunk
from the total cost. Shymanski said
he doesn’t know exactly how much
they saved, “but it’s probably in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Torch River Rail employs
three staff, who do everything
» continued on next page
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6
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Features
» CONTINUED FROM Previous PAGE
from running the locomotive to
unloading grain. The short-line
has equipment such as a snowplow, ballast regulator and tie
changer to maintain the line.
Car supply is probably the shortline’s biggest challenge, Shymanski
said. Some years they’ve had excellent service, he said. They’ve also
suffered, most recently during the
car shortage following 2013’s binbuster. But Shymanski thinks service levels are back on track.
“We’ve got 50 to 75 cars left
on the books for this year and
we’re caught up until the new
crop comes in,” Shymanski said.
Choiceland oats top-shelf
Bacon said there’s interest in
shipping wheat on Northern
Lights Rail. But he expects a lot of
oats to roll down the short-line.
Six or seven years ago, Quaker
started buying oats from the
short-line. Quaker was looking
for plump oat kernels for granola
bars, Shymanski said.
“I don’t know why it’s special, but
they tell us that Choiceland grows
the best oats,” said Shymanski.
Shymanski thinks the oat quality
has something to do with the moisture and cooler nights.
Those plump, high-quality oats
come from all over north-eastern
Saskatchewan, but have been
dubbed the Choiceland oats.
Quaker still buys Choiceland oats
through Andersons Grain Group.
Andersons also buys wheat from
Choiceland, Shymanski added.
Bunge and the CWB’s Mission
Terminal are also customers.
These days roughly 50 farmers
unload grain at Torch River Rail.
About 90 per cent of the shortline’s business falls within a 40 mile
radius, Shymanski said. They’ve
also attracted farmers from as far
as Shellbrook, about 90 miles away.
For more, visit http://municipalawards.ca/best-practices-library. Scroll
to the “Transportation” section. †
photos: lisa guenther
Torch River’s million-dollar loading
facility has been running since June
2014. There are four bins, holding
14,000 bushels each. Farmers using
the Torch River facility can unload
anytime by inserting their own key.
The system was built by
Stockdales Electric Motor
Corporation, a Regina company
that builds industrial systems,
including rail car weighing
systems and handling facilities.
Shymanski’s son, Carson, also
helped design the system.
Lisa Guenther
www.farm-king.com
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hen a federal
railway company decides
to abandon a
line, it needs to follow procedures outlined in the Canada
Transportation Act. The railway needs to notify the
federal government, along
with any affected parties, of
its plan. It needs to give 12
months’ notice of its plan.
It then has to advertise the
line, giving interested parties
60 days to come forward.
They then have six months
to hammer out a deal.
If they don’t reach a deal,
the railway must offer to
transfer the line to provincial, municipal and district
governments, and urban
transit authorities whose
territory the line passes
through. In some cases, the
railway must also offer the
line to the federal Minister
of Transport, Infrastructure
and Communities.
The railway has to offer
the line at net salvage value,
which is the market value
minus the cost of disposing
of the line.
These parties have 30 days
to accept the railway’s offer
to transfer the line. They
then have 90 days to agree
on the line’s net salvage
value. If they can’t agree on
the net salvage value, the
Agency can determine it. In
this case, the Agency’s ruling
is binding.
Before accepting a railway’s offer, a government
or transit authority can also
ask the Agency to assess the
line’s net salvage value. In
this case, the ruling isn’t
binding, and the transit
authority or government
must pay for the cost of
the assessment.
For
more
information, Google “Guidelines
Respecting Net Salvage
Value Determination Applications.” †
Lisa Guenther
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
Features
Crop disease
Cereal cyst nematodes are moving closer
These nematodes are in Montana, and their symptoms are worse in drought conditions
By Julienne Isaacs
P
rairie grain producers should be on the
lookout for cereal cyst nematodes (CCN)
this year. This soil-borne pest has not yet
been discovered in the Prairie provinces,
but the species Heterodera filipjevi has been newly
confirmed in Montana.
Cereal cyst nematodes are worm-shaped microscopic soil-dwelling organisms that can cause yield
losses of 30 to 50 per cent in cereal crops due to early
growth reduction.
According to Tom Forge, a specialist in soil ecology and nematology with Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada, there are three different species of CCN:
Heterodera avenae, H. filipjevi, and H. latipons.
“Heterodera avenae is the most widespread species of cereal cyst nematode in North America,”
says Forge. In Canada, this species has so far only
been found in Ontario, but is a growing concern in
the U.S. states of California, Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Montana and Michigan.
Until this year, H. filipjevi, which is closely related
to H. avenae, had only been discovered in Oregon
(in 2008) and Washington (in 2014).
“Although the recent finding of H. filipjevi in
Montana does not represent a significant new threat,
it nonetheless serves as a reminder of the potential
for either of these species to be disseminated to
Alberta,” says Forge. “Alberta cereal growers should
always be vigilant for cereal cyst nematodes.”
“In spring and early summer, infective juvenile
nematodes hatch from eggs that are contained
within cysts in the soil,” Forge explains. The juveniles penetrate cereal crop roots and initiate “feeding sites” in the root tissues, eventually growing to
lemon-shaped adults about a millimeter in diameter.
When a mature nematode dies, its cuticle becomes
the protective covering for an egg-filled cyst. “As the
cysts remain viable in dry soil, cereal cyst nematodes
spread from field-to-field through movement of
infested soil. The movement of contaminated farm
machinery is probably the primary means of long
distance transport of the nematode,” says Forge.
Diagnosing cereal cyst nematodes
Alan Dyer, a cereal pathologist at Montana State
University, says CCN is hard to diagnose based on
symptoms, as its effects are similar to those shown by
crops infected with rhizoctonia root rot. The diagnosis
is further complicated by the fact that CCN can serve
as a primary pathogen weakening cereal crops and
instigating secondary infection by root rot pathogens.
“The first sign a grower will see is stunted and
malnourished plants often localized throughout
the field,” says Dyer. “There is no killing of tissue,
but growth from the root tip is disrupted, causing
the root tip to swell first. Then, often, several lateral roots form at the site, giving the root a bushy
and stubby appearance.”
In contrast, roots attacked by rhizoctonia are killed
at the root tip; larger root tips look like spear tips.
To ensure a correct diagnosis, Dyer says finding
the pathogen is important. For CCN, he explains,
small cysts begin appearing on the roots around
heading through mid-grain fill. “These can be seen
with the naked eye during this time if one gently
soaks the soil from the roots,” he says. “After midgrain fill the cysts start to fall off and can’t be seen
again until the next season.”
According to Mario Tenuta, a nematologist at the
University of Manitoba and Canada Research Chair
in Applied Soil Ecology, nematode problems are usually misdiagnosed or not picked up at all.
“Symptomatic patches in fields have stunting of
plant growth, yellowing, chlorosis and early maturity; the root system can be shallow, cluster branching and brown due to lesions, and there are fungal
infections at the crown of the plant. So diseases such
as pythium, rhizoctonia and other fungal root pathogens look to be the culprit, but it’s the nematode that
is the instigator of the disease,” he says. Tenuta adds
that symptoms are most obvious under drought and
low fertility levels.
photos: alan dyer, montana state university
This barley root has symptoms of cereal cyst nematode infection.
Management
Crop rotations are farmers’ best defense against
CCN. “Rotation is big. Producers should use nonhosts in rotation — canola and pulses are nonhosts,” says Tenuta. “Winter and spring wheat,
barley and oats are susceptible — give these crops
a rotation break.” Good rotation crops could also
include broad-leafed non-host crops. There is resistance variability in cereal cultivars that hasn’t been
widely explored in Canada. One exception is that
Wascana and Wacooma durum have been found to
be resistant to H. avenae and H. filipjevi.
Tenuta says increased industry and research
investment is needed as CCN continues to spread.
“Even if we don’t have this issue at the moment in
Western Canada, we need to get the word out,” he
says. “It’s easy to misdiagnose nematodes, so crop
consultants and growers should keep them in the
back of their minds.” †
Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer and editor.
Contact her at [email protected].
The hard red spring wheat in this field has been severaly damaged by
cereal cyst nematodes. The photo was taken in Montana on June 22.
This photo shows uneven growth in a Montana barley field on June
22. The field is highly infested with cereal cyst nematodes.
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8
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Features
Crop Advisor’s casebook
Herbicide drift
suspected culprit
By Heather Krahn
R
alph, a grain farmer near Regina, Sask.,
called me in mid-July to say he didn’t
like how his canola crop was shaping
up. Some of the early flowering canola
on one of his quarter sections was misshapen
and growing irregularly — and he suspected a
neighbour might be to blame.
Because of the appearance of the plants, Ralph
thought the problem could have been caused by
chemical drifting over from an adjacent field. “I
don’t want to confront anyone about it unless I
know it is actually herbicide drift,” he said. “But
I think my neighbour drifted on my canola!”
Ralph, who grows 4,500 acres of canola,
durum wheat, flax and lentils, asked me to
come out so I could provide an opinion. After
arriving at the farm, I was taken to the canola
field where I observed that stems of many
plants were kinked over, with some stems
appearing curved and twisted. These symptoms
were most dramatic in the lower areas of the
field along the south edge where sloughs had
existed.
Other than the twisted appearance, the
plants looked healthy and were obviously correcting, growing back in an upward direction
in most instances. Ralph couldn’t say exactly
when the problem first appeared, but it was
likely a few weeks earlier when the canola was
in the bolting stage and the plant stems would
still have been more flexible.
My first task was to assess herbicide drift
as a possible cause. Ralph informed me that
the neighbour’s field across the road from
the affected canola crop had durum wheat. It
had been sprayed with a broadleaf herbicide
already, and chances are it contained Group
4 active ingredients that can cause a similar type of symptom as was seen in Ralph’s
canola crop.
A closer look at the weeds along each side of
the road separating the two fields essentially
ruled out chemical drift. On the south side of
the road (closest to the durum field), the weeds
were healthy and actively growing. Along the
north side of the road (closest to the canola),
the weeds were showing signs of epinasty
(twisting and curling) and thickening at the
base of their stems, which is typical of Group
4 injury; however, Ralph recalled that earlier is
Heather Krahn is an agronomy manager with
Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Regina, Sask.
Casebook winner
This issue’s Casebook winner is Glenna
Sparks. Glenna and her husband farm
near Zealandia, Sask. This makes it official: we’ve had Casebook entries from
A to Z. Glenna, we’re renewing your
Grainews subscription for a year and
sending you a Grainews cap. Thanks for
reading and thanks for entering! †
Leeann Minogue
he had used a herbicide hand sprayer along the
canola field edge to clean up the weeds.
I was then left with the burning question:
if herbicide drift didn’t cause the damage to
Ralph’s canola crop, what did? If you think
you know the answer, send your diagnosis to
Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man., R3C 3K7;
email [email protected] or
fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop Advisor’s Casebook.
The 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 answer, along with the reasoning that solved the mystery, will appear in the
next Crop Advisor’s Solution File. †
Heather Krahn is an agronomy manager with Richardson
Pioneer Ltd. in Regina, Sask.
Other than the twisted appearance, the plants looked healthy.
Crop advisor’s solution
Phosphorus deficiency causes wheat woes
By Josefine Natterqvist
B
ack in late June, I was called out
to visit a farm in Fairview, Alta.
Henry, who grows 5,600 acres of
canola, wheat, barley and peas,
told me one of his crops was looking very
unhealthy.
“I have a field where the spring wheat
is yellowing and it’s very short. The whole
field is yellow but there are some spots that
are worse than others,” Henry explained.
“I think a disease or a deficiency might
be causing this but I’m not sure. I’ve been
told by another agronomist it’s a sulphur
deficiency.”
Henry wanted a second opinion on
whether he should apply a top dressing
of sulphur to the field, and I said I’d be
happy to oblige.
When I arrived at Henry’s wheat field,
I could see that the entire crop was an
uneven light green colour and that some
areas looked worse than others. There was
no discernable pattern to these patches,
which were non-uniform in size and shape.
The plants within them were severely
stunted and had in their lower canopies
chlorotic, yellowing leaves and dead tissue
at the leaf tips.
After ruling out herbicide damage and
disease as possible causes, I knew that a
nutrient deficiency was the most plausible
explanation for what was going on. But was
it a sulphur insufficiency (as Henry initially
suspected) or some other nutrient deficit?
I didn’t think a sulphur deficiency was
at work here, because the affected wheat
had chlorosis on older leaves; because
sulfur is not mobile in plants, a sulphur
deficiency would have caused chlorosis on
younger leaves.
The soil in the problem field was a
sandy loam with very little organic matter, which revealed some important clues.
Because there was very little organic matter in the soil, there probably wasn’t much
phosphorous being released through mineralization. In addition, sandy soils usually
have less of a long-term supply of available
phosphorous to replenish what the plants
take up, compared to clay soils.
The recent weather was another clue.
Phosphorus deficiencies can show up if
the soil is cold and dry — in this case, it
hadn’t been a cold spring but it had certainly been dry.
Plant tissue samples sent in for testing revealed significantly low phosphorus
levels. The lab analysis also eliminated a
nitrogen or potassium deficiency along
with any micronutrient deficiencies. In
addition, the tests revealed high iron levels; when there’s lots of iron in the soil,
this can cause phosphorus to be tied
up so that there’s less of it available for
plant uptake. Phosphorus doesn’t move
very much in the soil in any case, hence
the patchy nature of the crop damage in
Henry’s wheat field.
I was fairly new to the company at that
time so I consulted with an agronomist colleague at Richardson Pioneer. After discussing the case and the tissue test report, we
thought there might be enough time left in
the growing season to turn the crop around
and we recommended that Henry apply a
top dressing of phosphorus to the field.
Unfortunately, the hot, dry weather
stretched into late summer and resulted
in very little precipitation; with no rain
to move the fertilizer into the ground, the
phosphorus application did very little to
help the ailing plants.
All of Henry’s crops that year suffered
from heat and drought stress, but the
phosphorus deficient wheat fared particularly poorly. A telling statistic: the crop in
the problem field yielded only 26 bushels
per acre, while the healthier wheat crop in
the field right next to it yielded 47 bushels
per acre.
We suggested Henry consider a fertility
plan that would gradually build up phosphorus levels in the field over the next
few years. We also recommended that he
use seed-placed phosphorus to help ensure
early season success, and that by applying manure, which is a good source of
phosphorus and nitrogen, this would help
boost nutrient levels as well as add organic
matter to the soil. †
Josefine Natterqvist is a sales agronomist with Richardson
Pioneer Ltd. in Fairview, Alta.
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
Columns
Soils and Crops
Irrigation: Past, present and future
During the past few wet years, irrigation projects have lost their urgency. Now is the time to refocus
les
henry
T
his column has dealt
with irrigation many
times over the past decades, but this installment deals mainly with the situation in Saskatchewan.
Alberta is the big irrigation
province where irrigation has
been going for the longest but
it has pretty well maxed out the
acres that have water available.
Manitoba irrigation deals mainly
with potatoes and assurance of
quality as well as yield. Much of
Manitoba irrigation comes from
groundwater — particularly the
Assiniboine Delta Aquifer.
Now, back to Saskatchewan.
The South Saskatchewan
River Irrigation District (SSRID)
draws water from huge Lake
Diefenbaker and is the major irrigated area. Other smaller projects
at Riverhurst and Luck Lake and
smaller projects also draw from
Diefenbaker but the fact remains
that evaporation uses more than
irrigation.
The past and present
The first irrigation water
spilled from Lake Diefenbaker
to nearby farmland in 1968.
The area is mainly “lighter”
land and had been farmed as
mainly wheat and summerfallow for many years. Much of
the irrigation was flood irrigation with border dikes and corrugations and a few side role
sprinklers were used.
Previous experience showed
good crops in good rain years,
so irrigation should have provided a good crop every year.
But, dryland fertilizer practices
provided a low yield even with
all the water. That was soon
remedied with some research
to show what was needed and
those problems have long since
been solved.
Leaking irrigation canals and
excess flood irrigation “juiced
up” way too much salinity.
But, in the 1970s quarter section pivots came along and irrigation was transformed from a
rubber boots game to a regular
farming operation. Along with
the pivots came the decommissioning of many leaking
canals and pipelines and major
repairs on big canals. Some of
the newer projects are entirely
pipeline and pivot.
Now, the main irrigation
areas around Lake Diefenbaker
are doing well with sustainable irrigation, cropping and
agronomy practices. But what
about the future?
The future
On a world-wide basis there
are many irrigation projects
that rely on groundwater;
in some cases the supply is
not sustainable. The famous
Ogallala Aquifer in the Great
Plains States in the U.S. is the
closest example. It is not going
completely dry anytime soon,
but conservation measures and
reduced water use are a big
topic of discussion and research
in several states.
And, here we sit with a huge
lake that evaporates more than
we use. There have been many
studies in the past two decades looking yet again at large
projects to make use of the
water and diversify and stabilize agriculture. There is little
appetite by either provincial or
federal government to take on
multi-billion dollar projects. If
all the money spent on studies of megaprojects had been
used for construction, some
smaller projects could now be
operating.
My suggestion
My suggestion is to pick out
smaller projects that have everything going for them and
can be quickly built with a
good chance of rapid uptake.
The Tugaske area is an obvious
choice. A small pipeline/pivot
project would not involve a lot
of miles and could work.
I often drive by the irrigation project that draws water
from Blackstrap Lake, which
is fed by a canal from Lake
Diefenbaker. The past five
years have been “irrigation”
years for all farmers in this
area so most of the pivots
have been a nuisance to farm
around. But, 2015 has changed
all that and several section
pivots have been going around
often since mid-May.
Just north of Blackstrap Lake
there is a block of land with a
larger area of Class 1 irrigation
land than anywhere else in
the vast area potentially served
by Lake Diefenbaker waters. If
anything is to happen it better be fast. The area is near
Saskatoon and acreages could
soon occupy a lot of land and
it will not be available for irrigation.
As this column said recently,
the time to build an irrigation project is the wet years so
water is available when the dry
cycle comes along. But, human
nature does not work that way.
If what we are seeing in 2015
is the start of the next dry
cycle maybe we can move fast
enough to build a few smaller
projects rather than more studies of mega projects.
For all dryland farmers — hope
you have been catching the odd
shower. The past five years we
did not bother to record a 3/10”
shower. This year it is something
to crow about. †
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, Sask., S7H 3H7, and he will dispatch
a signed book.
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/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Columns
Agronomy management
Strategies for winter wheat success
With higher yields, winter wheat can be an economical addition to crop rotations
Ross
McKenzie
I
am a big fan of winter wheat.
Its yield potential can be 15 to
40 per cent higher than spring
wheat depending on environmental conditions. This can make
winter wheat very economical in
a rotation. Growing winter wheat
is fairly straightforward. However,
success depends on a number of
specific management practices.
1. When to plant
Planning ahead is essential. The
first consideration is having fields
available for seeding winter wheat
at the correct time in late summer.
Typically, winter wheat must
be seeded in late August or early
September, depending on the
agro-climatic area of your farm in
Western Canada. It is normally harvested earlier than spring wheat,
the following year.
Farmers in the brown and dark
brown soil zones in the southern Prairies should seed winter
wheat in the first two weeks of
September. Farmers in the black
and gray soil zones should seed
winter wheat in the first week of
September or even in the last week
of August.
Seeding at the ideal time is very
important to allow for winter
wheat to germinate, emerge, establish three leaves and then estab-
lish a crown root system before
winter to ensure over-winter survival. Later seeding may result in
poorly established plants, which
results in lower winter survival.
Later seeding can reduce winter
survival and will result in delayed
heading, later maturity, increased
weed problems and lower yield
potential. Research in southern
Alberta has shown up to a 30 per
cent yield decrease when seeding
is delayed to early October.
Frequently, soil moisture is
low in stubble fields in early
September. Farmers must decide
whether to seed into dry soil
or wait for rain. Saskatchewan
research has shown that winter
wheat will germinate at very low
soil moisture levels. Ideally it is
best to seed winter wheat at the
recommended time for your area
rather than wait for rain, provided
that the seeding operation leaves
the seed firmly covered with no
more than one inch of soil.
2. What to plant
Variety selection is important. Selection should be based
on a range of agronomic factors
including winter hardiness, yield
potential, disease resistance and
lodging.
Farmers outside of southern
Alberta should select a variety
with very good winter hardiness. Farmers in higher moisture regions and under irrigation
should select varieties with good
lodging and disease resistance.
Check your provincial seed
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guide to see which varieties are
best suited to your local area.
3. Where to seed
Ideally, winter wheat should be
direct seeded into standing stubble. Seeding into canola or mustard stubble offers crop rotation
advantages such as reduced weed
problems, easy-to-control volunteers and reduced disease problems. Standing stubble is very
important to trap snow, which
acts as an insulator. Four inches of
snow will normally provide sufficient insulation to ensure overwinter survival.
Winter wheat should only be
seeded into “clean fields” without any actively growing volunteer cereals. In southern Alberta,
volunteer grain can harbour an
insect called the wheat curl mite,
which can transmit a virus called
wheat streak mosaic. Any actively
growing green vegetation such as
volunteer grain or grass in road
side ditches can serve as a host for
the mites.
If winter wheat is seeded into
stubble with green volunteer
or by adjacent green fields, the
mites will move from the host
plants into the winter wheat after
emergence and spread the virus.
The damage from this disease
can range from moderate to complete crop failure. The mites wrap
themselves within the wheat
leaves; therefore, control using
insecticides is completely ineffective. Cultural controls are the
only way to control this disease.
Radiant is presently the only winter wheat variety that has resistance to the wheat curl mite.
4. How to plant
Kayleen Holman
Ariane Bergeron
Julie French
Christopher Manchur
Middle Musquodoboit, NS
St-Samuel, QC
Caledon, ON
Gilbert Plains, MB
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Generally, winter wheat should
be seeded at a rate to achieve
a plant stand of 25 plants per
square foot. Higher seeding rates
should be used in the black
soil zone and under irrigation
to achieve about 30 plants per
square foot. Thousand kernel seed
weight should be calculated to
achieve target plant population.
Winter wheat has considerable
ability to tiller; however, best
yields are obtained with higher
seeding rates. Narrower row spacing of nine inches is usually best.
Winter wheat has a very short
coleoptile, which is the extension of the seed embryo that
pushes its way through the soil
to the surface, from which the
first leaf develops. To allow for
this, it is very important to seed
winter wheat only 0.5 to one
inch deep. Winter wheat seeded
deeper than one inch will often
have reduced emergence. Deeper
seeding will delay emergence
and cause weaker, spindly plants
that are more susceptible to winter kill. A common mistake new
growers make is seeding winter
wheat too deep!
5. How to fertilize
Alberta research has shown that
phosphorus (P) fertilizer placed
with or near the seed at the time
of seeding improves plant growth
in the fall and results in increased
winter hardiness. Approximately
20 to 35 lb./ac. of phosphate is
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
11
Columns
usually adequate and is most effective when placed with the seed.
Most stubble fields are low in
soil nitrogen. After a high production crop year, soil nitrogen
(N) levels are often very low. Soil
testing to determine N and P
are strongly encouraged to accurately determine N and P fertilizer
requirements. In the black and
gray soil zones, potassium (K)
and sulphur (S) are more commonly deficient and should also
be checked. Soil sampling and
testing is important to determine
optimum fertilizer requirements.
If soil moisture conditions are
very dry at planting, it may be
best to apply approximately 50
to 60 per cent of estimated nitrogen requirements at the time of
seeding and apply additional N
in early spring depending on soil
moisture conditions.
Previous recommendations
for winter wheat suggested
that N fertilizer should only be
spring applied — fall applied N
may reduce winter hardiness.
Alberta Agriculture research over
the 20 past years has clearly
shown that fall-applied N fertilizer does not reduce over winter hardiness when applied in
balance with phosphate fertilizer. Research did show that N
fertilizer banded before seeding
tended to dry out the seedbed,
resulting in a rougher and lumpier seedbed, which negatively
affected uniform germination
and emergence.
Research also showed that
seed-placed N fertilizer applied
at rates greater than 30 lb. N/
ac. using urea at a seedbed utilization of 10 per cent (spreading the seed and fertilizer over
0.9 inches with a row spacing of nine inches) with low
to medium soil moisture, had
a detrimental effect on winter
wheat germination and emergence. Therefore, side or midrow banded N at the time of
planting is usually best when N
rates are higher than 30 lb. N/ac.
However, seed-placed rates of up
to 80 lb. N/ac. using ESN with a
10 per cent seedbed utilization
can be used successfully.
In spring, for most growers,
very early spring broadcast urea
(46-0-0) can work reasonably
well. Another option is to dribble
band or use spray jet nozzles to
apply 28-0-0 liquid fertilizer. For
both 46-0-0 and 28-0-0, there is
always concern of volatilization
of urea (conversion of urea to
ammonia gas), therefore, apply
as early as possible in the spring
when soil and air temperatures
are cool. Consider a urease inhibitor such as Agrotain to reduce
potential volatilization. Broadcast
ESN has been shown to release
too slowly to be effective, and is
not recommended.
Due to the competitive nature
of vigorously growing winter wheat in early spring, weed
pressure tends to be lower than
with spring seeded crops. Winter
annuals are the greatest problem.
However, these can be controlled
with inexpensive products such
as 2,4-D or MCPA.
Winter wheat can be an excellent addition to a crop rotation.
For more information, visit provincial ag web sites and www.
growwinterwheat.ca. †
Ross H. McKenzie, PhD, P. Ag., is a former
agronomy research scientist. He conducted
soil, crop and irrigation research with
Alberta Agriculture for 38 years. He has also
been an adjunct professor at the University of
Lethbridge since 1993, teaching four-year soil
management and irrigation science courses.
Winter wheat can be a profitable addition to a crop rotation. It should be seeded into “clean fields,” with no actively growing volunteer cereals.
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/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Columns
Off-farm investing
Sirski’s summer stock strategies
This season Andy Sirski is selling calls and buying shares in insurance companies
ANDY
SIRSKI
T
here all kinds of slogans
about summer time and
stocks: “sell in May and
go away,” “buy when it
snows and sell when it goes” are
just two of the most common. In
my opinion this summer is like
many other recent months — picking the right stocks is more important than the time of the year.
I cushion my strategy by selling
covered calls on most of my stocks.
I’m now using the same strategy
on 1,200 shares of Couche-Tard
Inc. (ADT/B.TO) and so far the
idea has worked well. Couche-Tard
owns about 14,000 gas stations
and convenience stores: 8,000 in
the U.S. and 6,000 in Europe.
I paid $51.50 for 1,000 shares
and bought 200 more when shares
dropped to around $47. I have
sold covered calls at several prices.
This stock has only monthly calls
so it is a little slower than when I
sell weekly calls.
I know some would say that selling calls is limiting gains and that
is more or less true. However, I did
collect $0.77 per share when I sold
calls the very first time.
When the outlook for shares is
up I like to sell calls above the price
of the day and if the price of shares
looks like it will drop I like to sell
calls below the price of the day.
Some months I keep the money
and the shares and some months
I buy the calls back and sell again
or let the calls get exercised and
buy the shares back. I don’t get too
emotional about which way this
works out because over the longer
term I have lots of proof that selling calls has worked for me.
Manulife (MFC.TO)
I’ve been watching Manulife
shares for years. I used to trade that
stock every week back in the days
when it was $40. It was pretty easy
to pick up a grand almost every
week by buying the shares at a low
bid and selling at a high offer.
The shares got slaughtered during the bear market, partly because
when interest rates dropped and
dropped, there was very little mar-
gin on money the company had
invested. Insurance companies
have a special business model that
few other businesses have.
Insurance companies collect a
premium for insurance policies. In
other words they collect money
up front. If payouts from damages
are too high, companies raise the
premiums so the dollars collected
are more in line with the payout
for damages.
Insurance companies set aside
some of that premium money to
cover possible damages according
to some risk formula. They invest
the rest of the money. They are
restricted to buying bonds and
the companies hold the bonds
to maturity. As interest rates
dropped, the money the bonds
paid to maturity shrank. Basically
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premiums and returns on the
investable money were too low to
cover risk and operating costs and
leave some money for the company and its shareholders.
Old management was kicked
out; new management was
brought in and over the years the
premiums on insurance policies
were brought in line with the cost
of payouts and operations, leaving some money for growth and
shareholders.
Basically Manulife moved from
not making enough money to making the money it needs to cover
risk, operating costs and profit. So
it can now afford to pay a dividend
and likely raise it in years to come.
While many companies fear rising interest rates for a number
of reasons, insurance companies
enjoy the enviable position where
higher rates lead to higher margins
and profits. As the developed world
starts to raise interest rates, even
by not much and even slowly, the
outlook for insurance companies is
to be more profitable.
When you look at a chart of
Manulife or most other insurance
companies and compare the chart
to many other charts, Manulife’s
charts are quite positive and appear
to have a low downside risk as the
long term trend for interest rates
changes from sliding to rising.
I lost about $1,000 on MFC
shares in 2008 when I fell asleep
while a granddaughter was having
a nap. I missed the news that led
to the drop but I did sell out before
losses became too big. The shares
dropped from $32 to $8 or so in a
few months and I did not own the
shares then.
Now that it looks and sounds
like the long term trend of falling
interest rates has ended, and management has improved, it looks
like insurance companies could
well be in a long uptrend. I want
to be part of that.
By the time you read this article
I will own shares in MFC again.
MFC now has weekly options and
I might milk those from time to
time. I will likely sell calls above
the price of the day since I think
the shares have low downside risk.
I might use a strategy of buying
more shares with money I collect
from premiums, then selling more
calls, which leads to a great magic
of compounding over time. †
Andy is mostly retired. He plays with
grandchildren, runs a tax business, manages
his family’s investments and publishes and
electronic newsletter called StocksTalk. If
you want to read StocksTalk free for a month
send an email to [email protected].
By jonny hawkins
Country Chuckles
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JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
13
Columns
Open field
How to haul your grain to the U.S.
Many farmers are looking at State-side selling opportunities. Sarah Weigum digs into the details
sarah
weigum
H
ere in the brave new
post-single desk world
I hear a lot of curious
chatter from farmers
thinking about hauling their own
wheat and barley to the United
States. Of course, Canadian pulse
and oilseed producers have always
been allowed to sell their production to the U.S. so this is not
entirely uncharted territory. Other
farmers jumped into cross border
grain movement full-force since
August 2012. I tapped into the
available expertise to answer some
questions farmers may have before
they cross the line.
“It seems they can always take
grain,” said Friesen.
By the end of March 2014, when
much of the western Canadian
harvest was still land-locked and
the federal government had mandated minimum grain movement
by rail, Herrnbock managed to
empty his bins by hauling into
the States. Hauling oats to Iowa
was pretty extreme, he said, but
with American millers desperate
for oats, it paid for him to drive to
Cedar Rapids.
This year, Herrnbock said, he is
11 weeks behind on hauling his
locally contracted canola. Peas that
he had contracted for movement
in September 2014 were still sitting
in his bin in February, but he was
trying to get out of those contracts
so he could move them south. He’s
also busy hauling “for-hire” as the
U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT) refers to commercial truckers. Most winters Herrnbock works
in the oilfield, but this year he suspected he would be hauling grain
for neighbours.
Buyers bank on
Canadian production
Farmers might be asking themselves, how eager are U.S. grain
buyers to accept Canadian grown
commodities? I’m sure the answer
varies by location and product,
but some companies are expanding their facilities for the express
purpose of capturing the increased
flow of grain from north to south.
One such company is Columbia
Grain. I heard a while back that
they were expanding their facility
at Sweet Grass, Montana, which
intrigued me as there’s not a lot
of grain production in that area
of Montana.
Jeff VanPevenage, senior vice
president of Columbia Grain,
acknowledged that that area of
Montana is “mostly cattle country,” but he pointed out that,
all things being equal, there’s a
35-40 mile radius of grain production in Alberta that should
come to Sweet Grass rather than
Lethbridge, based on proximity
alone. VanPevenage estimates that
60 to 65 per cent of the grain handled at Sweet Grass now comes
from Canada.
Farmers on the road
Landon Friesen farms with his
brother and father at Crystal City,
Man. — a mere nine miles from the
North Dakota border. They have
hauled hay steadily to U.S. dairies since 1995, but began hauling
wheat, soybeans and canola there
as well in 2012.
“In North Dakota there are elevators everywhere, so the marketing opportunities are huge,” said
Friesen. It takes him the same
amount of time to haul a load of
grain to the closest North Dakota
elevator as it does to the nearest
Canadian one. He now hauls about
90 per cent of his grain to the U.S.
Convenience isn’t the only reason Friesen hauls to the U.S.; he
finds grain grading more favourable stateside.
“When I take a grain sample to
my local elevator they’re nailing
us for mildew and things they
don’t have to,” said Friesen. “In
the U.S. they don’t seem to be so
particular in the grading room,
less dockages and better grades.”
Friesen mentioned that his wheat
samples are tested for protein,
moisture and falling numbers, a
measure of the amount of sprout
damage in cereals.
Many farmers see protein, moisture and falling numbers as more
objective and fair assessments of
a sample’s milling performance
than the Canadian visual grading
system. Chris Herrnbock, a farmer
at St. Gregor, Sask., is one of those
farmers.
“If your wheat is completely frozen or sprouted, it’s going to be feed
wheat anywhere,” said Herrnbock,
“But if it’s bran frost or one of our
more subjective grading factors up
here, then it’s best to go south.”
Herrnbock, like Friesen, hauls
his own grain to the U.S. and
also hauls grain south for his
neighbours. Despite being about
400 kilometres from the border,
Herrnbock said all of his oats, as
well as about 80 per cent of his
wheat and half of his peas will be
sold into the States this year.
Problematic grain movement
has been a big factor pushing both
Friesen and Herrbock to go south
with their grain. When we talked
in mid-February, Friesen moved
his February contracts to a North
Dakota elevator in December and
now he was working on March
contracts.
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Columbia Grain acquired the
original, smaller Sweet Grass facility in 2002 when they purchased
General Mills’ assets in Montana.
VanPevenage said they almost sold
it then, but a decade later they are
glad they didn’t. They expanded
the facility and moved it from the
Canadian Pacific railway line to the
Burlington Northern line, where
VanPevenage says freight is more
“dependable, reliable and known.”
“We wouldn’t have done it
if we hadn’t seen the Canadian
potential,” VanPevenage said of
the expansion. Canadian grain
also motivated expansions at
Columbia’s facilities at Plentywood
and near the Port of Turner.
» continued on next page
14
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Columns
» CONTINUED FROM Previous PAGE
VanPevenage encouraged farmers interested in selling grain into
the U.S. to bring or send their samples to a U.S. grain lab for official
grading and then have a discussion
with the buyer about price.
“In Montana, there’s a state law
that the grower can take their grain
to a third-party lab,” explained
VanPevenage. “We as a grain company don’t want anything to do
with grading. That’s too much
intervention.”
Many grain buyers list their
prices online, but an actual contracted price based on each sample’s specifications should be
agreed on before farmers send their
grain south.
“We handled a lot of durum
this year and we did it grower by
grower,” said VanPevenage. “It’s
been an education for growers to
figure out how our grading system
works.
I asked Friesen and Herrbock if
they ever saw different prices posted
at U.S. elevators for Canadian grain.
They both said sometimes, but not
always. VanPevenage said they do
post a different price for grain of
Canadian origin and it’s generally
lower. Reading between the lines, I
believe the price differential might
be the result of the commodity’s
final destination.
VanPevenage explained that generally U.S. and Canadian grain can
not be co-mingled in shipments
bound for export. Some countries
have different testing standards for
grain originating from different
countries. The cost of keeping the
two streams of grain separate lowers the value of Canadian grain in
the U.S. system.
I suspect in the cases where the
price posted for Canadian grain is
the same as American grain, the
end user is a domestic processor
and they see Canadian grain as
equal in quality to that produced
in the U.S. All this to say, don’t be
surprised if you come across a different price for Canadian grain, but
don’t take it as a given.
Find some hoops, learn
how to jump
If reading about the experience
of Friesen and Herrnbock motivates you to make some miles, the
next step is to figure out what you
need to do. As Herrnbock said, “It
took longer to make phone calls
to get the right information than
anything.”
The paperwork
can seem
daunting
The first step is to obtain a
DOT number, which is required
for all vehicles or combination of
vehicles over 10,001 pounds. A
DOT number is free but requires
a credit card number for identity
verification.
No surprise, once you have a
DOT number, both driver and
vehicle are subject to DOT’s regulations, so make sure to read up on
those. As in Canada, farm plates
are acceptable if you are only hauling your own grain. However, you
will still be considered a commercial vehicle on U.S. roadways.
Drivers need to keep a log book
and observe hours of service limitations. (There might be some
exceptions to the log book requirement if you are within a certain
radius of home). Dyed fuel is not
allowed on U.S. highways.
Your vehicle will also have to
be able to pass U.S. DOT safety
inspections; drivers just starting
to haul to the States can expect to
have an inspector go through their
truck and log books at least once
during the first year.
“You’re going to get scaled, so
make sure your weight distribution is correct,” said Herrnbock.
While axle weight restrictions
vary by state, 80,000 lbs. gross
weight is the maximum on all
interstates (without an overweight permit). A tandem trailer
works in all jurisdictions and
super-B configurations are generally not allowed, except within a
short distance from the border in
some Northern states.
For his loads into North Dakota,
Friesen added a pusher axle (a
non-driving axles that goes in
front of the tandem driving axles)
to his semi and along with his tridem trailer he will be able to haul
105,000 pounds year round.
All carriers traveling in more
than one state or province need
to apply for membership in the
International Fuel Tax Agreement
(IFTA). Depending on your home
province, this will cost $15 to 65
for the company each year and
$4 to $10 per truck. Carriers must
report the number of kilometres
driven in each province and state
and the litres of fuel purchased in
each jurisdiction. Since road taxes
are embedded in fuel purchases,
this program is meant to ensure
that taxes are paid proportionately to the road usage in each
area.
State-side
hauling tips
and websites
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errnbock said if
you don’t have
an international cell roaming
plan, turn off your data
when you go to the States.
Manage currency exchange. Herrnbock has a U.S.
chequing account for grain
payments and a U.S. Visa
to buy fuel or other goods
in the U.S. He uses the U.S.
chequing account to pay
off the Visa and limit the
number of times he loses
money on the exchange.
Friesen has a U.S. funds
chequing account at his
Canadian bank, but uses a
money exchange company
to exchange funds. He can
already lock in exchange
rates for the 2015 crop year.
Make sure you or your
drivers have adequate personal health insurance and
that you have appropriate
liability on your trucks.
To get a DOT number,
see www.dot.gov. On the
left side of the screen under
“Featured Resources” click
“Motor Carriers — Get a
DOT Number”
For International Fuel Tax
Agreement
information:
Google your home province
+ IFTA. †
Sarah Weigum
By jonny hawkins
Country Chuckles
Rocky Mountain Equipment is a Founding Member for Ag for Life, an organization that delivers educational
programming to improve rural and farm safety. Ag for Life also builds a genuine understanding and appreciation of the
impact agriculture has on the lives of all Albertans. To learn more about Ag for Life,
go to agricultureforlife.ca.
Visit Rocky Mountain Equipment at rockymtn.com
07/15-23180_06 GN
“The hens are so forgetful.
They’re always mislaying their eggs.”
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
15
Columns
Each state and province has a
different rate of taxation, so carriers could end up owing money
or getting a refund depending on
the scenario. For example, since
Alberta taxes diesel fuel at $0.09
per litre and Saskatchewan’s
rate is $0.15 cents per litre, if
a driver bought all his fuel in
Saskatchewan, but did all or most
of his driving in Alberta, then he
would get a refund. The opposite
mean the operator owes money.
Anyone operating a commercial vehicle in the U.S. must also
be enrolled in a random drug and
alcohol testing program (read:
pee in a cup). I spoke with Dr.
Barry Kurtzer, medical director
of DriverCheck Inc., a company
that provides a range of medical
testing services. According to Dr.
Kurtzer, companies must create a
drug and alcohol policy, provide
supervisor and employee training and finally, provide testing
for drivers. The testing step is not
meant to be “punitive or a witch
hunt” said Kurtzer.
“It’s meant to be a support and
a barometer for the success of
how companies have been able to
introduce the policy and educate
everyone on the risks of drug use
on the job.”
Drivers must be pre-screened
and pass a urine test before they
are allowed to drive on U.S. roadways. Then they are entered into
a random testing program, which
requires them to give a sample at
an accredited collection site on
short notice.
According to DriverCheck communications co-ordinator, Sherry
Morley, individual drivers are not
normally asked to present proof
of testing, but the DOT does audit
companies for compliance on
driver testing.
“Employers must keep accurate testing and random program enrolment records, must
provide testing statistics to DOT
upon request, and must provide
actual individual testing records
on demand as required under
DOT testing regulations,” Morley
wrote in an email. For a fee,
DriverCheck can provide companies with a policy manual template and online or in-person
supervisor training.
Getting through customs
Once your truck, driver, and
fuel taxation requirements are
met and you’ve delivered samples
to U.S. grain buyers and agreed
upon terms, the next step is customs brokerage.
When commercial goods move
across borders, governments want
to know about it. Customs brokers are licensed by the government to act as a communication
agent between exporters, importers and their respective governments. Harry Wood II is president
of International Trade Solutions
(ITS), a North Dakota based customs broker that has been facilitating international trade for four
generations.
“The primary services of a customs broker are that we help
guide the exporter in compliance
matters, keep the processes quick
and easy, and train exporters on
best practices used industry-wide
to efficiently move shipments to
the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere,”
explained Wood.
A shipment of grain going
into the U.S. must be properly
reported to U.S. customs, the
United States Department of
Agriculture and the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA).
Mistakes on commercial entry are
costly — around $10,000 at customs and up to three times the
value of the shipment if handled
incorrectly with the FDA.
Customs brokers like ITS help
shippers avoid these expensive
mistakes. For $500 per year
they can provide exporters with
a continuous bond, which is
required by the U.S. government
and ensures that if mistakes are
made in the shipping process
the government can collect any
fines levied.
It can take up to two weeks to
receive the continuous bond but
after that, exporters can proceed
with shipments as long as they
provide two hours prior notice
to the FDA and one hour prearrival notice to customs. Wood’s
company provides a computer
program that allows shippers to
fill in their customs, FDA and
electronic manifest documents
on one interface. ITS then sends
the information to the govern-
ing bodies, calling shippers if any
issues arise that would delay entry
at the border.
All imports of commercial
goods must be reported to the
U.S. government agencies with
actual weights and values, which
most shippers won’t have until
the grain is delivered, unloaded
and graded. To accommodate the
delay between border crossing
and final weights, exporters are
allowed to submit prior notice
and cross the border with estimated weights and values. Wood
explained that their computer
software allows people to go back
and change the estimated units to
actual ones when known.
Wood said 98 per cent of the
paperwork can be processed in 10
minutes, but he encourages shippers to submit their documents
a couple days early to ensure the
smooth flow of goods and reduce
FDA delays.
“If you have a shipment that’s
going across on Friday, get
us the information to submit
the paperwork to the FDA by
Tuesday and then they have a
few days to review the information,” said Wood.
Wood wouldn’t say how much
an individual shipment would
cost someone exporting grain.
Rates are “based on the time we
spend to file entries and make sure
they’re compliant,” he explained.
When I asked Chris Herrnbock
and Landon Friesen about the
cost for bringing a load across
the border their answers were
between $45 and $60 per load.
While the costs aren’t enormous,
the paperwork can seem daunting.
Wood said some producers may
still find it in their commercial best
interest to sell to a Canadian grain
handler, but the import requirements shouldn’t deter farmers
from exporting their own grain.
“For commercial trade, the border has never been easier to cross.
If you get your profile set up and
do your paperwork in advance,
average booth time at the border
is 40 seconds,” he said.
For Friesen, the upfront costs
are enough that he doesn’t see
this as a venture to jump in and
out of.
“It’s a long term thing you have
to look at.”
When Herrnbock compares
prices locally and in the U.S., he
figures he needs to make $1.20
per bushel more just to cover
the costs associated with hauling south. Given the current
exchange rate that amounts to
a $1 difference between the U.S.
and Canadian posted prices.
For farmers who don’t have
the inclination or equipment
to haul State-side themselves,
a bonded trucking company
can take care of much of the
paperwork and all of the miles.
Staying informed of the options
and costs in marketing, however, are responsibilities now
in the hands of producers —
embrace them. †
Sarah Weigum grows pedigreed seed and
writes at Three Hills, Alta. Follow her on
Twitter: @sweigum.
special event section
Ag in Motion: July 21 - 23, 2015
™
Located 15 min. NW of Saskatoon on
Hwy. 16 near Langam, Saskatchewan
www.aginmotion.ca
photo:
canada’s outdoor farm show
Ag in Motion: Empowering farmers
Premier western ag expo brings innovation into the field
A
ll farmers know decisions are made in the
field. Imagine a place,
an event, created to
empower farmers by providing the information they need
to make these important decisions. A place where they can
see the latest equipment in
action, in the field – operating
in the same environment it’s
made for. A place where farmers can see multiple varieties of
live crop plots growing side by
side in the field.
This summer, such a place
will exist. Introducing Ag in
Motion, Western Canada’s
newest and only outdoor farm
expo. Debuting July 21 to 23,
on a half-section (320 acres)
near Saskatoon, SK, it’s the
only show that provides an
outdoor venue for progressive
farmers in Western Canada that
want to see and experience the
latest agricultural innovation,
all in one place. Ag in Motion
will feature field equipment
demonstrations, live crop plots
and interactive exhibits such as
“ride and drives” and smaller
equipment demos.
“Ag in Motion will offer
farmers a unique opportunity
to compare crop plots and
machinery, in action, and ultimately help them make deci-
sions about the best products
for their operations,” says
show director Rob O’Connor.
“There’s nowhere else in
Western Canada where farmers
can actually see multiple pieces
of farm equipment in operation, take a test drive, or compare different crop varieties all
in one place.”
What does an outdoor
show look like?
The Ag in Motion team
brings together the expertise
of seasoned farm show organizers. The expo is operated
by Glacier FarmMedia, that
owns Canada’s Outdoor Farm
Show, the country’s largest outdoor farm show held annually near Woodstock, Ontario.
Also part of Glacier FarmMedia
are Western Producer, Manitoba
Co-operator, Grainews, Country
Guide, Canadian Cattlemen,
Alberta Farmer Express and
AgDealer. The team knows
what’s involved in delivering an outdoor show, and the
potential such a venue provides.
Now in its 22nd year,
Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show
delivers 750 exhibitors and
42,000 visitors each year. Most
attendees come to see the new-
est technologies in agriculture.
Its success is based on the fact
that active farmers attend to
do business – make decisions
– and the show is dedicated
solely to agricultural products,
equipment and services.
Ag in Motion is applying the
same model and will become
a must-see event by showcasing cutting-edge agricultural
advancements that empower
Canadian farmers to help meet
their goals in producing highquality, safe food in a competitive marketplace.
To learn more about how an
outdoor show looks and operates, view the videos on the
Ag in Motion website, www.
aginmotion.ca.
Live demos and
interactive exhibits
The number of Ag in Motion
exhibitors is growing steadily
each week and includes seed
and crop protection companies, field equipment and livestock-handling manufacturers,
financial services, nutrition,
baling products, tires, fertilizers and much more.
For more information about
Ag in Motion please call toll
free: (800) 563-5441 or email:
[email protected].
The live field demos at Ag in Motion are a great way to see first hand new ag
products and innovations.
5-Section
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Visit us at
BOOTH #325
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5/27/15 11:18 AM
See our 2015
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moiebnildley
Ag in Motion, P.O. Box 2500 A1, 2310 Millar Avenue, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 2C4
Tel: (800) 563-5441 Fax: (519) 829-1777
www.aginmotion.ca [email protected]
Follow us on twitter: @AginMotion
fr website
1-866-443-7444
LakelandGroup.net
Livestock Handling | Animal Health | Land Management
ag in motion 2015
The Wolverine scrapes and
spreads the soil in a single
operation, creating and
maintaining ditches faster and
more efficiently than a scraper.
The Wolverine:
See the latest in seed
and crop technology
Live crop plots offer unique real-world perspective
• eliminates the operation of leveling
dirt piles left behind by a scraper
• creates smooth ditches that allow
field equipment to pass through
with ease (no ridges or barrel cuts)
• reduces field compaction
compared to using a scraper
• works in all soil types including
heavy clay soils (not soils with
rocks)
• moves up to 750 yards per hour
photos:
Ag in Motion Staff
A
Visit us at Ag in Motion 2015
www.ritewaymfg.com
1-800-352-8822
g in Motion will offer
farmers
a
unique
opportunity to see live
crop plots from a variety of seed and crop protection
companies, all in one place.
To prepare the plots, exhibitors began planting a variety
of crops on site in May and
June to showcase their latest
innovations and products. The
crop plots, which are all 170
feet deep and range in frontage from 30 to 500 feet, will
be located around much of the
perimeter of the Ag in Motion
Business Park, where all of the
exhibits are situated.
“There’s no place like this in
Western Canada where farmers
can see crop plots from different
exhibitors side by side, in the
field,” says Dan Kuchma, crop
plot demonstration program coordinator. “The timing is good
for growers, just before harvest, to
assist in making decisions about
seed and crop protection products
for their farms.”
Here are the exhibitors that will
feature live crop plots at Ag in
Motion.
SeCan
Visit SeCan to check out the
new wheat, barley, oats and flax
varieties you will want to grow in
2016 and beyond!
Alliance Seed
Alliance Seed will be showcasing all the wheat varieties in the
Alliance Seed portfolio — AAC
Elie CWRS, AAC Prevail VB
CWRS, AAC Tenacious VB CPSR
(which is R for FHB and Midge
Tolerant) along with our new
CWRS and CWAD varieties — and
producers will have the chance to
learn about grain marketing, milling and the connection between
these varieties and the end-use
customer.
Oat Advantage
The Oat Advantage crop plot will
highlight oat breeding including a
field experiment, early-generation
work and seed increase.
DuPont Crop Protection
Come visit the DuPont Crop
Protection plot site to see the
ag in motion
performance of our new products including DuPont Travallas
liquid cereal herbicide, DuPont
Predicade, our all in one grass
and broadleaf herbicide and our
new non-crop herbicide DuPont
Express FX, a new tool to help
control kochia and an excellent
tool for resistance management.
Brett Young
Our Ag in Motion demo plot
site features our leading and soonto-be commercialized canola, soybean, forage and corn varieties
and as this is a multi-year site,
we are establishing alfalfa under
a cover crop of Clearfield Canola
and ryegrass under a cover crop of
pea/triticale mixture.
CANTERRA SEEDS
CANTERRA SEEDS is proud to
showcase the strength and quality of its extensive portfolio, spanning across almost every crop
type grown in Western Canada.
Crop Production Services
Crop Production Services is
planning product demonstrations
of over 50 products and seed varieties, featuring Proven Seed and
FEED THE WORLD
Westeel Grain Storage
When storing and managing grain, fertilizer and petroleum products, look to a name you trust. Westeel supplies
a full line of farm management products and accessories, all manufactured to the same industry leading standards
our bins are famous for. See everything we can bring to your farm. Talk to your Westeel dealer today.
ag in motion 2015
Loveland Products, with all products and demonstrations housed
at a 500x170-foot outdoor exhibit
space well suited to showcasing
the agricultural products and services that will help farmers achieve
maximum success.
Nufarm Agriculture Inc.
Nufarm is showcasing key innovative products in a number of different crops such as wheat, barley,
canola, pulses and soybeans that
range from pre-seed burn-down
and seed treatments to in-crop
herbicides and fungicides.
Engage Agro
Engage Agro is demonstrating
MANIPULATOR plant growth regulator, allowing growers to see,
in the plot, how MANIPULATOR
works in varied management practices including different wheat
varieties, fertility rates and PGR
application timings.
Monsanto Canada Inc.
Monsanto Canada’s display
plots, designed to spark new thinking about crop management, will
showcase the latest in soybean technology, the Roundup Ready Xtend
Crop System, as well as Monsanto
BioAg’s product offerings, and
Roundup Ready Weed Management
Solutions recommendations.
DEKALB
Come connect with the
DEKALB team of experts who
can help you unlock your seed’s
full potential in canola, corn
and soybeans; from breeding
and testing to agronomic advice
for your region, we AIM to show
you why many farmers have
confidence in DEKALB seeds.
Stoller Enterprises
Stoller
Enterprises
plots
are treated with 100 per cent
keylated micronutrients and
hormone-regulating technology
to maximize genetic expression
and yield for growers.
Rack Petroleum
The Rack is proud to present
a selection of best management
practices and products that
have been researched through
the Ultimate Yield Management
Institute, which for 2015,
includes fertility plans and yield
enhancers for cereal crops. Dow AgroSciences
See all that’s new from Dow
AgroSciences — Nexera canola
hybrids, Paradigm and Pixxaro™
herbicides, GoDRI formulations,
nitrogen stabilizers N-Serve and
eNtrench, plus Dow Seeds corn
and soybean varieties — all
results of their focus on customer-driven research and product development.
BASF
BASF is showcasing their new
innovations throughout their
product portfolio, with focus on
pulse seed treatments, canola
and cereal fungicides and harvest aid treatments for straight
cutting canola.
DuPont Pioneer
Come visit our plots to see
the new early corn hybrids and
T Series soybean varieties built
for Western Canada as well
as our new Genuity Roundup
Ready canola hybrids, Pioneer
Protector HarvestMax with
resistance to pod shatter and
pod drop and Pioneer Protector
Plus with built-in resistance to
sclerotinia and clubroot.
PAMI
In partnership with BASF,
PAMI will be highlighting its latest research in evaluating equipment for straight cutting canola
with three different header types
and comparing yield, header
shatter loss, environmental
shatter loss and seed size and
quality.
University of
Saskatchewan, College
of Agriculture and
Bioresources
The College of Agriculture and
Bioresources will feature the latest crop varieties released from
the department of plant sciences
and the Crop Development
Centre as well as some advanced
breeding material of several crop
types and the latest developments in horticultural crops,
including sour cherries and
haskaps.
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• Your washbay door specialists.
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• 24 Hour Service. • Replacement Springs & Cables.
Phone: 204-326-4556 Fax: 204-326-5013
Toll Free: 1-855-326-4556
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email: [email protected]
Beautiful display homes available
and ready now! MUST SEE!
www.marvinhomes.ca
Marvin Vogt. Mitchell, MB
(204)326-1493 • (204)355-8484
photos:
FUEL YOUR
ENGINES
Westeel Petroleum Storage
ag in motion
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OPERATION
Westeel Fertilizer & Seed Storage
888-WESTEEL (937-8335)
[email protected]
westeel.com
FRONT END LOADER BLADES
Our loader blades come in 10 and 12 foot models.
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With a heavy duty design and full blade bracing
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STANDARD HD 12 FOOT
LAND LEVELLER
If your your looking for universal, we have a
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Features:
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• tilt gauge
Please give us a call today for more information on our services,
rates and to book an appointment for all your welding needs.
Swan Lake, MB • 204-526-7022
See more at www.bdmanufacturing.vpweb.ca
Come visit us at the corner of
3rd Street and Saskatchewan Drive
Booth # 329
ATTENTION CANADIAN
CUSTOMERS
Take advantage of the strong export dollar and
your U.S. selling power
across from Brett Younge
• We hold three regularly scheduled equipment & truck auctions in nearby
Grand Forks, ND each year, in addition to numerous on-farm single
seller events annually
Come join the FREE
• Major auctions offer simulcast online bidding and most units move easily
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TO BUY OR SELL EQUIPMENT OR TO JOIN OUR DIRECT MAIL PROGRAM
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Booth At The Ag In Motion Show
SEE US AT AGDAYS 2015 IN BARN 1 FEATURING:
™
Ag in Motion, P.O. Box 2500 A1, 2310 Millar Avenue, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 2C4
Tel: (800) 563-5441 Fax: (519) 829-1777
www.aginmotion.ca [email protected]
Follow us on twitter: @AginMotion
ag in motion 2015
Greetings
from the
show
director
TILLAGE DEMOS & MORE
Rob O’Connor
S
how Director, Ag in
Motion
Welcome to Ag
in Motion, Western
Canada’s first outdoor
agriculture trade show
which can demonstrate
farm equipment, crops
and crop inputs and livestock in a real agricultural
setting.
Ag in Motion is being
held on a half-section
of typical Saskatchewan
grain and oilseed farmland
about 32 km northwest of
Saskatoon on Highway 16.
Visitors will be able to see
crop plot demonstrations
by a variety of local and
international companies
as well as by the University
of
Saskatchewan
and
the Prairie Agricultural
Machinery
Institute
(PAMI).
There are also 100 acres
dedicated to equipment
demonstrations and test
drives, and some companies are also arranging bus
tours of farmers to take
them in. It’s an opportunity to see equipment
working before choosing
which one you need to
purchase for your operation. Thanks to the members of the Agricultural
Manufacturers
of
Canada, Farm Equipment
Manufacturers Association,
Kubota Canada and Buhler
Versatile for their early
support for the equipment
demonstration program.
Another important part
of Ag in Motion is the
opportunity to learn. The
Agri-Trend
Knowledge
tent will hold several daily
seminars on today’s farming practices.
I would like to thank
the staff and volunteers
for helping plan and
implement this very first
Ag in Motion. It takes a
huge amount of dedication and effort to run a
trade show and a phenomenal amount to start
a new one from scratch. I
would also like to thank
the many companies that
have put their faith in
this new project, especially our parent company
Glacier FarmMedia with
its family of farm publications produced by Farm
Business Communications
and the Western Producer.
Many thanks also go to
our colleagues at Canada’s
Outdoor Farm Show in
Woodstock, Ontario, who
have shared their time and
expertise in helping Ag in
Motion get up and running for the first year.
I hope you will enjoy
year one of Ag in Motion!
Ag in Motion lets you feel the earth move with numerous in-field demonstrations. Ag in Motion takes place July 21 - 23, 16 km northwest
of Saskatoon. photo: canada’s outdoor farm show
SOYBEANS
Made for Saskatchewan
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© NorthStar Genetics 2015
ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® brand
agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Genuity and Design®, Genuity Icons, Genuity®, Roundup Ready 2 Yield®,
Roundup Ready®, Roundup WeatherMAX®, and Roundup® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee. Respect the Refuge and Design is a registered
trademark of the Canadian Seed Trade Association. Used under license. ©2012 Monsanto Canada, Inc.
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Front, 27” Rear, 3 Row Har . . .$69,900
ab89hy
2009 VERSATILE 435, 1183 Hrs, 435
HP, Cat PS, 900 Duals, GPS $179,500
ab85qe
Like an old friend.
2005 BUHLER VERSATILE 2360,
4024 Hrs, 360 HP, Autosteer . $85,500
Avadex® and Fortress®
pre-emergent herbicides have had
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weed control and alternative modes of action.
The Results? Reduced resistance pressure on
Group 1 and 2 herbicides, and minimized early
season competition from wild oats.
2005 J&M 875-18, 875 Bu, 18” Unload
Auger, New Flighting, Scale . .$27,800
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AGRI PARTS LTD.
YOUR FARM PARTS HEADQUARTERS
2 1/2 Miles South of Irma, AB on 881,
1 Mile East & 1/2 Mile North
Dependable. Trustworthy.
Visit us at Ag in Motion in booth AG 24.
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Avadex® and Fortress® are registered trademarks of Gowan Company.
Always read and follow label directions. 1438-1 06.15
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Email: [email protected]
Ph: (780) 754-2303
Fax: (780) 754-2333
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ag in motion 2015
Getting ready
for Ag in Motion
Transforming a field to a farm expo
Ag in Motion Staff
T
he Ag in Motion site
has evolved from an
empty canola field
to Western Canada’s
newest and only outdoor farm
expo. Site construction, grass
seeding and crop plot planting
began in May. Unlike indoor
trade shows, the preparation for an outdoor venue is
beholden to the elements and
the team had to wait until the
weather co-operated.
The expo site — a halfsection (320 acres) of prime,
agricultural land northwest of
Saskatoon, on Highway 16 —
was farmed in canola last year
and grass was seeded in the
business park area, where all of
the exhibits and crop plots will
be located. For year one, 42
acres of turfgrass were planted,
thanks to Ag in Motion sponsor Brett Young. Another sponsor, Crop Production Services,
has provided enough seed to
plant 60 acres of pasture grass
blend for the expo parking
areas.
Four east-west and three
north-south gravel roads for
pedestrian use during the expo
also had to be constructed.
Here’s a look at how the
adventure began.
TAKE THE
DEALS
WITH YOU!
MOBILE
photos: ag in motion
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Ag Growth International (AGI) is a leading manufacturer of portable and stationary grain handling, storage
and conditioning equipment. Batco (specialty crop belt conveyors), Wheatheart (grain handling and fencing
equipment), Westfield (portable grain augers), Grain Guard (grain drying and storage equipment), Twister
(galvanized grain bins), HSI (material handling and temporary storage equipment), Applegate (livestock
equipment), REM (GrainVacs) and Westeel (storage equipment) are all leading brands, part of the AGI group.
VISIT US AT AG IN MOTION FROM JULY 21 – 23, 2015 FOR MORE INFORMATION ON
OUR LATEST PRODUCTS AND INNOVATIONS INCLUDING:
• Highest Capacity 16" Auger
• Batco 2045 Field Loader
• GULP Drive Over Hopper
aggrowth.com
• REM GrainVac VR12
• STORM Seed Treater
• Westeel Storage Solutions
DELTATRACK
» MOST ADVANCED TRACK UNDERCARRIAGE
IN THE INDUSTRY
» INTEGRATED TRACK SOLUTION,
INCORPORATED WITH THE TRACTOR FRAME
» SOLID CAST DRIVE WHEEL, BIGGER DRIVE
LUGS AND MORE LUGS ENGAGED
» TWO MIDROLLERS PROVIDE A BETTER RIDE
IN FIELD AND ON THE ROAD
» POLYEURTHANE-COATED MIDROLLERS
DESIGNED FOR LONGER LIFE
» DESIGNED FOR LOWER MAINTENANCE
FOUR-WHEEL
DRIVE
» 350 TO 550 HP
» CUMMINS QSX11.9 AND QSX15 ENGINES
» CAT® POWERSHIFT TRANSMISSIONS
» 12 X 4 MECHANICAL TRANSMISSIONS
(350-450)
» LARGEST CAB IN THE INDUSTRY
MFWD 260-310
» 260-310 HP
» CUMMINS QSL9 ENGINE
» POWERSHIFT TRASMISSION
» 540/1000 RPM PTO
» DOUBLE REDUCTION PLANETARY
DRIVE
» LARGEST CAB IN THE INDUSTRY
» V-PAS
VERSATILE POWER
AT AG IN MOTION
SEE THE FULL LINE OF VERSATILE EQUIPMENT.
PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONS ON SITE.
SELF-PROPELLED
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» AVAILABLE WITH 240 OR 280 HP
» 1000 GALLON POLY TANK OR 1200 GALLON
STAINLESS STEEL
» AVAILABLE IN FIXED, MANUAL OR
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» LARGEST CAB IN THE INDUSTRY PROVIDES
EXCELLENT VISIBILITY AND OPERATOR
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» NEW SPRAY CONTROL PANEL IS EASY TO
UNDERSTAND AND OPERATE
RT490 COMBINE
» CLASS VIII COMBINE
» 360° ROTATING CONCAVE ROTARY SYSTEM
» 4-STAGE FEEDER HOUSE
» THREE-POINT THRESHING SYSTEM
» CUMMINS QSX11.9 ENGINE
» 340 BU. GRAIN TANK
» INTEGRATED STRAW CHOPPER AND
SPREADER
» ALL-WHEEL DRIVE AVAILABLE
ML SERIES
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TO EASILY SET THE FURROW PROFILE
» ACCURATE SEED DEPTH AND EVEN
CROP EMERGENCE
» AIR CARTS AVAILABLE FROM
300 - 600 BU
WWW.VERSATILE-AG.COM
26
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
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YOUR SOIL IS YOUR FUTURE
...serving farmers since 1984
Ag in Motion, P.O. Box 2500 A1, 2310 Millar Avenue, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 2C4
Tel: (800) 563-5441 Fax: (519) 829-1777
www.aginmotion.ca [email protected]
Follow us on twitter: @AginMotion
Celebrating the Registration of Prosper & Faller
Seed Depot is excited to announce the successful registration of the Prosper and
Faller wheat varieties.
We have waited a long time for the opportunity to make these high yielding
US milling wheat varieties available to Western Canadian farmers.
We wish to celebrate this occasion by donating the entire production of Prosper
wheat from the one of the first fields of Prosper sown since it became a registered
variety, 105 acres just north of Crystal City, MB.
The entire production will be donated to the Canadian Food Grains Bank to feed
the hungry in third world nations.
Richardson Pioneer® will be the exclusive retailer of Prosper certified seed, apart
from Warburtons contracting opportunities.
Faller Certified seed will be available at Seed Depot dealers for spring 2016.
t
x
e
N
e
h
t
o
Welcome t
ass
l
C
t
a
e
h
W
n
o
i
t
a
r
e
Gen
Prosper
& Faller
PIONEER® FOR THE SALE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SEED IS A REGISTERED TRADE-MARK
OF PIONEER HI-BRED INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND IS USED UNDER LICENSE BY THE
UNAFFILIATED COMPANY RICHARDSON PIONEER LIMITED.
Wheat
How to win enough seed to sow ¼ section
of Prosper or Faller wheat (320 bu)
✔ Research Prosper data using
Yield MB 2015
✔ Review Prosper agronomics at
seeddepot.ca
✔ Have a look at the field on Hwy #3
just north of Crystal City
✔ Calculate the expected average
yield in bushels per acre
✔ For contest rules and to submit
Thank you for the hard work and
vision provided by the CGC,
CFIA and the PGDC that have
made registration possible.
your estimate visit seeddepot.ca
“Working Hard To Earn Your Trust”
Blue Means Freedom
RUBIN 9
RUBIN 12
HELIODOR
Because every farm operation has its own challenges,
come and see us to pick the best LEMKEN disc for your
special needs.
VISIT OUR BOOTH ON MIDDLE DRIVE
(800) 488-0115 | www.LEMKEN.ca
INTEGRITY
SEED LAB LTD
1038 Arlington Street
Winnipeg, MB R3E 2G1
• Now offering Vomitoxin Testing for Cereals
• Accelerated Aging for Soybeans
• Herbicide Tolerance Testing for Canola and
Soybeans
IF YOU GROW CANOLA, YOU NEED SEED SAVER!
Our exclusive patented hinged panel systems are the only units designed to virtually
eliminate the seed loss and dust created by the aggressive nature of the table auger
fingers. See us in the Big Tent, Booth AG 7 at Ag in Motion July 21st to 23rd.
Bring your chequebook, we’ll have units at the Show Google Houston Seed Saver
and watch our You Tube videos. Order now to guarantee availability.
HOUSTON SEED SAVER
...will put money in your pocket rather than leaving it in the field.
• Universal mounting • Aluminum
frame • All SAVER
stainless steel hardware
HOUSTON
SEED
• Easy installation
• Margard Panels
• Adjustable throat opening
...will put money in your pocket rather than leaving it in the field.
• Universal mounting
• Easy installation
• Aluminum frame
• Margard Panels
Sto
Auge
2 to
Stop
Auger lo
2 to 10
• All stainless steel hardware
• Adjustable throat opening
• We can Test your Seed for Germination,
Purity Export Testing etc.
• Contact us for your Seed Testing Needs
Phone 774-1882 Fax 774-1881
www.integrityseedlab.com
Let our service exceed your expectations
INNOVAAT.COM INT-NOT AUTO
5.0000X2.0000
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BILL HOUSTON 306-726-7977
[email protected]
HOUSTON
SEED SAVER
BILL HOUSTON
[email protected]
P.O. Box 32
P.O.
Box 32, Southey, Sask
S0G
4P0
Southey,
Sask
S0G 4P0
306-726-7977
“No more losses over the header, less dust, faster reversing [email protected]
plugged.”
BILL HOUSTON
P.O. Box 32
Harley Herman - Craven, Sask.
HOUSTON
Features:
• Heavy duty steel construction
• Automated continuous processing
• Economical mortality management
SEED SAVER
306-726-7977
Southey, Sask S0G 4P0
• Reduces bio-security risks
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• Produces high quality compost
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• Easy integration with existing systems
For more information please contact us:
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www.TripleGreenEnergy.com
www.TripleGreenEnergy.com
FULL BIN ALARM
STOP CLIMBING BINS!
For your Safety and Convenience
Alarm sounds when bin is full!
Don’t just get that
new tractor smell
Get that new tractor
Call FCC and get your financing pre-approved
Finance new or used equipment through more than 800 dealers
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* Helps prevent overfilling
* Simply mounts on virtually any auger and conveyor
* Available for 10, 13, and 16 inch augers
* Operates on tractor electrical, no batteries needed
* Only ONE Never Spill Spout needed for most farms
* ORANGE SPOUT for better visibility at night
* Installation in 30 minutes
* Enclosed Diaphragm Sensor
* Proven Design since 2003
Includes all
parts shown
IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, SEND IT BACK AFTER
HARVEST FOR A REFUND
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ELECTRIC AUGER HOPPER MOVER
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For 10” & 13” Augers
Two wheel drive $495 (With Remote $695)
10% off if bought together with a NEVER SPILL SPOUT
NEVER SPILL SPOUT INC.
TOLL FREE: 1-866-860-6086
John and Angelika Gehrer: Niverville MB WWW.NEVERSPILLSPOUT.COM
Ag in Motion, P.O. Box 2500 A1, 2310 Millar Avenue, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 2C4
Tel: (800) 563-5441 Fax: (519) 829-1777
www.aginmotion.ca [email protected]
Follow us on twitter: @AginMotion
“No m
less dust,
Har
“No mor
less dust, fas
Harley H
ag in motion 2015
business park map
This is a tentative layout of the Ag in Motion Business Park. It is subject to change.
Food/Drink
Crop Plots
Agribusiness Exhibits
PA R K I N G
TREE LINE
AgDealer
Country Guide
Entrance #4
Entrance #3
3RD STREET
3RD STREET
1ST STREET
FOOD
Knowledge Pavilion
ATM
MANITOBA DRIVE
FCC Ag Pavilion
ALBERTA DRIVE
FOOD
B.C. DRIVE
BEER
GARDEN
2ND STREET
SOUTHEAST
DEMONSTRATION
FIELD
SOUTH
DEMONSTRATION FIELD
TREE LINE
3RD STREET
NORTH DRIVE
Information
Grainews
Entrance #2
MIDDLE DRIVE
HIGHWAY 16
Machinery Exhibits
2ND STREET
FOOD
1ST STREET
S
1ST STREET
Fastcover
Special
Events
Tent
TREE LINE
TREE LINE
SITE
OFFICE
HWY 16 W
Canadian Cattlemen
Entrance #8
To Radisson and
the Battlefords
Alberta Farmer Express
Entrance #7
TREE LINE
AgCanada.com
W
SOUTH
DEMONSTRATION FIELD
TREE LINE
Western Producer
Entrance #1
N
Demo Fields
E
PA R K I N G
To Langham
and Saskatoon
Entrance/Exit
SOUTH DRIVE
HWY 16 E
Bathrooms
SASKATCHEWAN DRIVE
™
Entrance #6
Manitoba Co-operator
Entrance #5
your
Be First in
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We're farmers, just like you, so we know how important top genetics and traits are
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Our soybean, corn and silage corn seed consistently performs for maximum yields and
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CONTACT OUR EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR QUARRY SEED 888-274-9243
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INTEGRAL POWER
DOUBLE AXIS
BOGIE
Two way oscillation provides better weight transfer and reduces shock
loading. Reduced vibrations and frame stress increase operator comfort.
The DeltaTrack double axis bogie system also offers a better ride over a
variety of obstacles.
COME SEE US AT AG IN MOTION, JULY 21-23, 2015
The Versatile DeltaTrack is a fully integrated purpose-built four track system from Versatile. Available in
three models 450DT, 500DT and 550DT, the DeltaTrack exceeds the performance and durability of existing
track systems. The DeltaTrack is built using the most advanced track design in the agriculture industry
and features proven Cummins engine technology, rugged CAT® powershift transmissions, and legendary
Versatile reliability and serviceability.
WWW.VERSATILE-AG.COM
©2015 BUHLER VERSATILE INC. | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | [email protected]
™
Who’s Coming? Ag in Motion Exhibitor Profile
Ag in Motion, Western Canada’s only outdoor farm expo, is proud to offer farmers
interactive exhibits, field demonstrations and crop plots from a wide diversity of
exhibitors. A sample of Ag in Motion exhibitors will be featured in our
“Exhibitor Profile” series, to inform you about some of the companies you can
expect to see at this summer’s expo, July 21-23.
the vertical mixer specialists
Ag in Motion Welcomes
Hi-Tec Ag/New Direction Equipment
S
teel innovators Hi-Tec Industries will be
represented at Ag in Motion by Hi-Tec Ag and
New Direction Equipment. Hi-Tec Ag markets
the V-Wing Ditcher, a total soil management system.
New Direction Equipment is the vertical mixer
specialist.
Hi-Tec Ag will display the 2100 HD and 3200 HD
V-Wing Ditcher at Ag in Motion. The V-Wing adds
value to the land, increases land productivity,
improves soil management and allows for earlier
access to the field in spring. The V-Wing is useful in
many areas on the farm and can be used to create
new custom profiled waterways, terracing, cleaning
up pre-existing waterways or reshaping the land.
Hi-Tec Ag will be demonstrating the V-Wing in
action, in the Southeast Demo Field, along with GPS
land forming using the V-Wing.
“We look forward to exhibiting at Ag in Motion,”
says Chris Laing, factory representative with HiTec Ag. “The Expo offers a great opportunity for
producers to see our equipment operating right
on-site.”
New Direction Equipment will be displaying its
side door, front door, dual and triple vertical TMR
Mixers at Ag in Motion. On the market for 18 years,
the vertical mixers are produced using laser-cut
steel components for precise fitting, providing
high-quality construction. Curved knives provide
outstanding cutting performance with every mixer.
Founded in 1995 and located in Portage La
Prairie, Manitoba, Hi-Tec Industries Inc. specializes
in fabrication, machining, welding, painting and
assembly. The V-Wing was added to the production
line five years ago and is retailed by Hi-Tec Ag.
Known as the Vertical Mixer Specialists, New
Direction Equipment builds every piece of
equipment with the farmer’s operation in mind.
The quality of their vertical mixers reflects their
close relationship with customers, an uncommon
attention to detail, and an in-depth knowledge
of industry trends. Recognized as leaders around
the world, New Direction Equipment takes pride
in providing their customers with a high quality
product, backed up with quality service and up-todate advice.
For more information, visit www.hitecag.com
and www.ndeco.com.
SOmETHing nEw iS in THE fiEld. ViSiT Ag in mOTiOn THiS SUmmEr - JUlY 21-23
For more information about Ag in Motion please call toll free: (800) 563-5441 or email: [email protected]
www.facebook.com/AginMotion
SEE Technology
™ Denotes a trade-mark of Canada’s Outdoor Shows Limited Partnership.
TOUCH Innovation
BE Empowered
@AginMotion
www.aginmotion.ca
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
Machinery & Shop
33
Seeding equipment
Bigger Bourgault drills and carts
A 100 foot drill and 1,300 bushel air cart push at the size limits of dry-land implements
By Scott Garvey
T
he new 100 foot 3420
paralink hoe drill and
1,300 bushel 71300 air
cart at Bourgault’s display
at Canada’s Farm Progress Show in
June seemed to be one of the most
talked-about exhibits. Building a
drill with a 100 foot working width
makes the brand one of only a
couple of manufacturers who are
offering anything that big.
“The drill is truly a part of the
PHD family,” said Rob Fagnou,
Bourgault’s marketing specialist,
during a conversation at the company’s exhibit at the show. “It runs
the same openers you would see
on our 3220 QDA drill. And it does
have the quick depth adjustment
option also. Even though on this
model here it has 120 openers,
you only have to adjust depth at
the running gear.”
But in order to get the 100 foot
wide drill from field to field, the
brand decided to give it a different
folding arrangement for transport
than its other drills use. The 3420
gets what the company calls a
TransFold design, which splits the
drill in the middle and folds each
side rearward. That allows the drill
to fit through a relatively compact
space and makes road travel easier.
“The unique aspect of the 3420
is it’s 100-foot working width, yet
with the TransFold design you
can transport this unit within an
envelope of 18 feet wide by 16 feet
high,” said Fagnou. “The way we
achieve that is with a special foldback design.”
The drill also gets a special turn
assist feature, which is controlled through the X30 Topcon control monitor. The four rear sets of
transport wheels can be steered
left or right to help negotiate tight
corners.
“The drill has been tested for
a few years now and we’re at the
point where we can release it for
limited numbers for the spring of
2016,” he added.
And to keep large drills, like the
3420, fed with seed and fertilizer,
Bourgault also introduced a new
air cart, the 71300, which has a
1,300 bushel capacity. In addition,
it also can be ordered with the
brand’s standard 40-bushel canola
or small products saddle tank.
“Like our other 7000 Series air
seeders it has four compartments
inside with a fifth flex tank that
allows you to divert product from
one metering tank or a second
metering tank,” said Fagnou. “It
also has the option of a 40-bushel
saddle tank on the side.”
To keep refill times down, the
brand has equipped the 71300
with a loading conveyor that uses
a 20-inch belt running inside a
12-inch tube.
“It allows producers to fill the
tank in approximately the same
amount of time it would take
to fill a 950 air seeder cart,” he
added. “The 1,300 bushel tank
is truly part of the 7000 Series
family of carts so it has all the
same options you would see on
the other tanks. We have auto
sectional control, the hydraulic
metering drive, the saddle tank
with the platform and all the
other features.” †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected].
1
2
1. company engineers gave the 3420 drill
a rear-folding transport design. In transport
position it is only about 18 feet wide and
16 feet high. 2. Bourgault debuted its new
3420 PHD drill, which has a 100-foot working
width, at Canada’s Farm Progress Show in
Regina in June. 3. Even with a 1,300-bushel
capacity plus an optional 40-bushel saddle
tank, Bourgault marketing reps say the
71300 cart can refilled in about the same
time as the company’s 950-bushel cart.
photo: bourgault
3
photo: scott garvey
photo: scott garvey
TM
The Total Soil Management System
• Increase land productivity
• Elevation control system compatible
• In-cab adjustable ditch profile
• Patented design allows for easier pulling
• The total soil management system
• Create ditches up to 32’ wide in a single pass
• Get on the land sooner in the spring
• Reduced hours over conventional ditching methods
Adding Value to Your Land – Dealer Inquiries are Welcome
3200HD and 2100HD Models Available
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34
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Machinery & Shop
Seeding equipment
New brand identity for SeedMaster
SeedMaster launched a new corporate look and digital technology updates this year
By Scott Garvey
I
n late June, SeedMaster’s president, Norbert Beaujot, stood
in front of a group of farmers
and made a brief presentation
on the brand’s history during a
field day at the company’s research
farm in Southeast Saskatchewan.
In any similar future presentation,
2015 may have to be highlighted
as another important year for the
company, which has just gone
through a rebranding exercise. That
has resulted in the firm adopting
a new corporate image, which was
unveiled at Canada’s Farm Progress
Show a week earlier.
According to Cory Beaujot,
SeedMaster’s marketing manager, the 7614F_MBLB_8125x10_VF.pdf
new brand logo, which 1
includes a stylized cube-shaped
image with the company initials embedded in it, reflects the
changes that have taken place
in the last decade in dry-land,
no-till seeding. The previous drill
opener graphic that had been
the brand logo no longer reflects
the focus of corporate R&D in
SeedMaster management’s view.
The independently linked
opener has become an industry
standard and the image of it on
corporate logos no longer sets the
brand apart, as Cory describes it.
The challenges, as he sees them,
have moved beyond seed placement issues and now lay in technologies that advance precision
agriculture in other ways.
“It (the old logo) didn’t represent
us in the
bigger picture, the
2015-04-15
2:30 PM
higher view,” he said. “From prod-
uct development, metering technology, electronics and hydraulics, all of that stuff wasn’t fully
represented with the logo. So we
revised it.”
Along with the new look,
the company had new product
options to talk about which demonstrated that new focus on other
technologies.
To appeal to producers who
are concerned with soil compaction and floatation problems,
SeedMaster toolbars and the
Nova seed carts are now available
with track systems rather than
tires. The Camoplast track option
is available as a replacement for
standard tires and will add about
$29,000 to the purchase price
of a Nova seed cart and about
$39,000 to toolbars.
The company also revealed
this month it has been working with its digital partner,
Raven Industries, to introduce
an ISOBUS-compatible control
system, which will be available
for 2016. That will allow producers to simply connect one
cable into any standard ISOBUS
plug on the back of a tractor
and use any brand’s virtual terminal (monitor) to control drill
features, eliminating the need
for wiring in a dedicated, in-cab
drill monitor.
“It’s customer driven demand
to go into the ISO world,” said
Tim Ottenbreit, product development specialist. “Over the
last several months we’ve been
working with Raven Industries
to develop an ISO system. The
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long and short of it is we should
be able to back up any color
tractor, connect to the ISO plug
on the back of the tractor and
pull up our screens up on their
VT (virtual terminal) in the
tractor.”
To emphasize that fact,
SeedMaster product reps had
a drill hooked up to a display
arrangement that used one of
John Deere’s 2630 terminals.
“What we’re doing is showing the VT side of the 2630
terminal,” Ottenbreit added.
“You could run this (drill) with
your IntelliView (NH), Pro 700
(Case IH/Trimble), your X30
VT, Outback has a VT on their
monitor, and the list goes on
and on.”
If you choose to use your tractor’s own terminal rather than
purchase a dedicated Raven drill
monitor, you can take advantage of the convenience of
using a familiar terminal and
save some money by reducing
your investment costs.
“You’ll see some cost savings
for sure,” said Kinch.
But the move to ISOBUS compatibility comes with a trade
off. It may mean losing some
features, which ISOBUS virtual
terminals aren’t yet capable of
controlling.
“When you move to ISO, you
loose a lit bit of the features,”
confirmed Ottenbreit. “But you
gain a lot of (other) features at
the same time. That’s why we’re
moving slowly. We have so many
awesome features on our tanks
now, we want to make sure we
keep them when we move into
the ISO world.”
“That’s one of the handicaps
when you’re the first to come out
with new ideas,” added Norbert
Beaujot. “There is no technology
out there to support the ideas.
That’s where ISO falls behind a
bit. If you’re the first out with
something new, it might not
(yet) be available on the ISO
platform.”
With
SeedMaster’s
initial
ISOBUS compatible offering, most
system features will be available,
but not all.
“We’re going to have all of our
drill features plus control one
tank on frame,” added Ottenbreit.
“The initial step into it is control
one product and then we’ll move
from there.”
For producers who already
own a SeedMaster drill and
want to move to ISOBUS compatibility, the company expects
to be able to make retrofit kits
available, but each one will
have to be tailored to the particular features a drill has and a
producer’s needs.
“We will (be able to offer
ISOBUS upgrades) for pretty
much any toolbar out there,
depending what features you
want,” said Ottenbreit.
“We’re really happy to offer
this for our dealers,” said Kinch.
“The dealers know their (main
brand) monitors and, like farmers, want to use something they
know and are comfortable with.
This is going to help them provide the support they need to
for us.” †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected].
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
Machinery & Shop
SeedMaster
offers buy-back
guarantee
1
35
2
S
eedMaster management is now so confident their drills can do
a better job in the field
than any competitor’s offering,
they introduced the launch
of the brand’s SuperSeed buyback program during Canada’s
Farm Progress Show in Regina
in June.
Here’s the scoop. If
after three years of use, a
SeedMaster drill hasn’t outperformed any other new
hoe or disc drill and boosted
farm profits, growers can ask
the company to buy the drill
back. The guarantee is limited
to drills with the most common sizes and configurations.
At an open house held on
the company’s research farm
near Langbank, Saskatchewan,
in late June, SeedMaster staff
helped explain why they
believe their drills are capable
of boosting profits.
Since 2012, the company
has been comparing seeding results on farms across
Saskatchewan. Owen Kinch,
SeedMaster’s research farm
manager, presented a summary of the research findings,
which included a comparison of seed survival rates. He
explained the results show
SeedMaster drills, which use
dedicated product delivery
lines from the meter to each
opener, have consistently
delivered higher seed survival
rates than drills using distribution towers.
“The UltraPro meter is very,
very gentle on the seed,”
he said. “And gentle delivery, we’re not blasting that
product through the (distribution) towers. We’ve done
this (study) for two years
now. Basically, we’ve looked
at what are SeedMaster customers achieving on seed survival. The ultimate goal is to
provide that information to
all the users so they can make
more informed decisions.”
“The 2013-14 combined
results showed an 8.8 per cent
difference,” said Kinch. “That’s
on 40 farms over two years.”
Kinch said those improved
survival rates result in a direct
profit increase of about $7.20
per acre, when estimated using
$12 canola. With a 67 per cent
seed survival rate compared
to 58 per cent, growers could
reduce their per-acre seeding
rate from 4.5 pounds per acre
to 3.9 and still achieve a target
stand of five plants per square
foot. †
Scott Garvey
3
photos: scott garvey
1. Unveiled at Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina, SeedMaster’s new
corporate logo is meant to convey an updated image for the brand. 2. Using a
JD GreenStar 2630 monitor as an example, product development specialist Tim
Ottenbreit explains the ISOBUS-compatible option for drills, which will allow
them to be controlled by main-brand VT monitors instead of requiring a dedicated
terminal. The option will be available on 2016 models. 3. New for 2015, buyers can
opt for Camoplast track modules on the Nova carts and toolbars instead of tires.
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36
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Machinery & Shop
Seeding equipment
Case IH debuts new 5 Series air carts
Design for the brand’s new, expanded line up is based input from its customers
By Scott Garvey
W
alking around Case IH’s
new 950-bushel air cart
during an open house at
the CNH training facility
in Saskatoon in June, Dan Klein, the
company’s crop production marketing manager, explains all the models
in the new 5 Series line represent a
complete redesign. And their features
are the result of extensive customer
input, which involved focus groups
and product evaluations by growers
over several years.
“It’s the next generation,” Klein says.
“Completely new from the ground up.”
The June open house marked the
debut of the brand’s new 5 Series line of
air carts, which now span the 350 to 950
bushel capacity range. So their design
not only includes updated engineering compared to the previous series, it
includes two, much bigger versions, for
a total of seven carts in all.
“We go from a 350 to 580, 760 and
950 (bushel models),” explains Klein.
“Then we have the tow-between. The
bigger two models are only tow-behind.”
The new flagship 950-bushel model
4955 uses three main poly tanks and one
steel 35-bushel canola compartment.
Although tank sizes are fixed, the new
modular metering system allows for flexibility by giving producers the option to
channel product flow from any tank, or
combination of tanks, into any air flow.
photos: scott garvey
This new, model 4955 air cart, a 950-bushel version that tops out the 5 Series line, is equipped with the unique, ground-level canola loading feature.
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©2015 Farm Business Communications
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
Machinery & Shop
The components in that new
metering system are made of
plastic, which eliminates the
risk of corrosion, and they are
now electrically driven. An onboard, 24-volt alternator and
batteries provide the power to
turn the rollers.
The meter housings and rollers
can be removed quickly without
tools for replacement, clearing
obstructions or repair. One metering roller works for all product
types and turns inside one of three
interchangeable housings that do
the job of restricting product flow
rates from the tanks.
“When you get down to the
heart of the unit, it’s an all new
metering system with electric
drive meters,” says Klein. “That
brings in a lot of flexibility.
Through that we can blend any
tank with any run. It allows us to
be more accurate. It’s very easy to
calibrate and very modular. We
also wanted to make sure it was
simple and easy to use.”
Product flow to any run can
also be stopped to provide overlap
control, either with an optional
automatic feature or manually on
base-model carts.
“With our AccuSection control
system we have eight runs and
can control each of them individually, shutting off any meter
or having different rates of flow,”
he continues. “On our base model
we have the ability to manually
shut off any section. With our
high-flow system we can get up to
52 pounds per minute of wheat,
for example.”
If any of the runs develop a
problem, the in-cab monitor
will display information to make
tracking it down much easier.
Unusually high torque readings
from any of the motors will cause
an alert to be sent to the operator
if something is jamming the roller,
and the display will identify which
one is causing trouble.
“All the feedback from all the
motors goes to the screen,” Klein
explains. “So if one is carrying a
higher torque or higher temperature, it’s going to tell you that.
It’s not only going to tell you
you have a problem, it’s going to
tell you where it’s at and what to
look for.”
To get seed and fertilizer into
the cart, both auger and conveyor
options are available.
“Our largest tank comes with a
conveyor option that can move
about 88 bushels per minute into
the tanks,” says Klein. “All of our
tanks, augers and options are there
to basically fill the entire system
in less than 15 minutes. We can
basically fill every thank without
moving the truck.”
And the carts feature a unique
ground-level loading system
that loads seed directly into
the canola tank. Bags can easily
be lifted into the small hopper
while standing on the ground,
or a tractor can position a tote
above it. “The tank has a sensor
to indicate how full it is,” Klein
says. “All the product gets blown
into the tank. It’s very gentle on
the seed.”
With the new cart designs now
ready for production, Klein says
he expects the range of available
options will eventually grow to
include features like scale kits for
product tanks.
“We built this cart with longevity in mind to blend a lot of
products and really be versatile,”
he says. †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected].
1
2
37
New Holland offers its
version of the new air carts
Back in mid-January, New Holland issued a press release
announcing the introduction of blue versions of the new
air carts being built at the CNH facility in Saskatoon. CNH
is the parent company of both Case IH and New Holland.
NH calls their carts the P Series and will also offer seven
models. The blue carts will be ready to plug into the brand’s
IntelliView monitors. †
3
Scott Garvey
New Holland has also released
a version of the new air carts,
calling theirs the P Series.
photo: new holland
1. Auger and conveyor systems are
available, depending on the model, which
are engineered to be capable of filling the
carts in less than 15 minutes. 2. Tanks can
be equipped with optional sensors, cameras
and lights that allow operators to visually
confirm how much seed or fertilizer is left
inside. 3. This mock up shows the modular,
electric drive, plastic meters, which are
designed to be simple to set and repair.
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38
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Machinery & Shop
Seeding equipment
Morris’s new concept air cart tender
This prototype tender is designed to dramatically cut spring air cart refill times
By Scott Garvey
A
t Morris’ display on
the grounds of Canad
a’s Farm Progress Show
in Regina, the company’s chief operating officer, Don
Henry, points out the two new air
carts the brand is introducing for
2016, a tow-between version of its
800-bushel model and its biggest
model yet, a 1,000-bushel, towbehind cart.
But while Henry says the company intends to keep pace with
the demands from growers for
ever-larger carts, executives there
think they may have an even better idea to help farmers improve
efficiency in the spring.
“In the industry everything is
bigger, bigger, bigger,” he says.
“We understand that, but we’re
always thinking, is there a better way to do something. There’s
a percentage of the marketplace
that needs that big cart. But we
also looked at it and said, how
big is big enough. Because when
you get that big you also have to
consider the horsepower it takes
to pull it, the compaction that
you may have, the manoeuvrability. And in the last few years in
Western Canada we’ve been in a
wet cycle. There’s been a lot of
guys getting stuck. And the bigger the cart, the harder it is to
get out.”
That’s where the better idea
Henry mentions comes in.
Alongside those two new air carts
on display at the show was a brand
new, four-compartment tender
designed to help growers cover
more acres per day with their
existing equipment. The way the
tender does that is by allowing a
producer to fill all air cart compartments at once, cutting refill
times down to under 10 minutes.
“The reason we (farmers) went
to a bigger cart is because we
don’t want to stop and refill,” he
continues. “Fill time, takes time.
It means we’re not doing acres. So
what can we do, then, to improve
fill time? We did some brainstorming to come up with ideas on how
to improve those fill times. The
design criteria was try and get that
fill time from anywhere from 30 to
35 minutes down to five to seven
minutes.”
“The idea came up that the only
way to do that is to fill the four
compartments at one time. So
that’s when we started with the
tender cart. And what we came up
with is what we have here.”
The tender on display at the
show is a 1,000-bushel, four-wheel
cart that has one unloading auger
for each of the four compartments.
The unloading position of each
auger is adjustable, and they can
be operated with a remote control
from the top of the air cart.
“The (tender) tank sizes at this
time are made to match the Morris
(air cart) tank,” says Henry. “But
ultimately we could match up
with other tanks, other makes.”
A PTO-driven pump on the tender’s hitch provides the drive for
the unloading augers.
“The reason we went that way
rather than PTO direct is hydraulics
is a nice clean way to do it and easy
to control from the top with the
remote,” he explains. “The augers
are hydraulically dropped into the
1
1. Morris’ new 1,000-bushel air cart and new prototype tender are
designed to work together, cutting refill times in the field down to only
five to seven minutes. 2. All four augers can be controlled using a remote
control. They can also be moved close together to fill a truck or gran
bagger, allowing the tender to double as a grain cart in the fall. 3. A PTOdriven pump provides hydraulic power to run the augers. 4. The prototype
cart is also equipped with brakes to help control it when loaded.
tank from the tractor. Now you can
operate them from the top (of the
cart) with the remote.”
The system is then able to fill
Morris’ 1,000-bushel air cart in
about five to seven minutes, turning an in-field refill into something like a NASCAR pit stop.
“You can fill him anywhere in
the field,” Henry adds. “It’s like a
grain cart in the fall; you can fill it
anywhere. You’re not wasting time
having to drive (the drill) to the
other end of the field or fill when
you’re not empty yet because you
can’t make it to the other end of
the field and back.”
And company executives considered the argument against the
tender idea as being just another
machine with another cost. To
counter that line of thinking, the
prototype tender can also replace
a machine many farmers already
use, the grain cart.
“The other concept was we all
have grain carts we only use at harvest time,” he goes on. “We might
use it around the yard a little bit.
Was there a way we could combine
the efficiencies in the spring and
also use it (the tender) as a grain
cart? So with this particular cart we
have here, we can compress those
augers into one point. So now I
can fill a grain trailer, in any part
of the trailer I want. They’ll come
together close enough that I can
fill a grain-bagger hopper. I can
now use it for harvest. I can use it
as a grain cart in the fall and turn
around and gain all the efficiencies
in the spring of filling the air cart
as well.”
photos: scott garvey
4
Trying it out
After a year of field trials,
Henry says the tender concept
proved itself.
“We had it out (with a large
farmer) at Gerald, Saskatchewan,
this spring,” he says. “They had
five units, but one was off by
itself seeding flax. That guy
said it (the tender) saved him
two hours a day in fill time.
Depending on the size of your
drill, you start doing the math,
and you can save some significant acres every day. And
maybe, just maybe, you don’t
have to go to as big a tank and
save some horsepower, compaction, manoeuvrability, and getting stuck, those types of things.
Using an idea management
employed with the Razr drill a
couple of years ago, Morris is once
again showing a prototype and
asking the public to participate in
selecting a name for it.
“It (the tender) is a different
concept,” acknowledges Henry.
“We’re actually enlisting the help
of the public to help us come up
with a name, because we don’t
know what to call it.”
“So that’s our thought. It’s a
different concept. It’s a different
category. We’re kind of putting
our toe in the water and testing
the market. We’ll see after the
show what the response is. But
we can turn it around relatively
quickly. I think we can have
some (built) this year.” †
Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.
Contact him at [email protected].
3
4
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
39
Cattleman’s Corner
forage production
Measuring feed quality in the field
A new system allows for bale-by-bale feed value testing
BY MICHAEL THOMAS
I
n challenging economic
times it is more important
than ever to know the value
of the alfalfa forage you are
feeding your dairy or beef cattle.
Whether you are blending alfalfa
in a ration to maximize lactation, fertility and calf growth, or
utilizing lesser-quality hay for dry
cattle or replacements, you want
to know that you are consistently
getting the most value for your
dollar.
Many of us have relied on
core samples and traditional lab
tests for years. Although we have
all dealt with some variability
between labs, the far greater problem is sampling the crop. With traditional core testing it is difficult
to get a sample that represents the
entire stack. In addition, it’s common to have significant variation
with a given bale. The challenges
compound as we unknowingly
add unrecognized variations in
quality into feed rations, and then
witness unexplained fluctuations
in the cattle’s production/performance levels.
Today there is a new technology
emerging in the arena of relative
feed value (RFV) testing for alfalfa
hay. Because it provides the vital
data for every bale produced, this
system will show precisely what
relative feed value each bale is
bringing to the ration. Hay producers will also find it to be a great
marketing tool.
This new method of measuring
RFV was developed by Harvest Tec
of Hudson, Wisconsin, and tested
against lab results of individual
bales from eight farms over six
states since 2013. Because the system calculates the RFV on every
bale as it is produced, the hay
can be sorted into grades as it is
stacked, and therefore be shipped
to the customer with the same
consistent RFV, bale for bale.
HOW RFV WORKS
To use this technology, the
hay producer acquires the software program from his equipment dealer, such as AGCO, New
Holland and others, and downloads the program into the applicator or moisture-reading system
on the baler. The operator then
takes a scissor sample just before
cutting, or a windrow sample at
the time of cutting, and sends this
sample to a lab.
At the time of baling, the
operator enters the data from
the lab sample into the system.
The information from the sample is used to calibrate the system, allowing for the quality of
the stand including variations in
maturity and other factors.
“Grabbing a few windrow samples, sending them into the lab, and
entering the results when I start is a
lot easier than trying to core representative bales later on,” says Gary
McManus, owner of one of the test
farms in Lakeview, Oregon.
photo: micheal thomas
These sensors are part of the Harvest Tec system for measuring feed quality of hay as it is baled in the field.
Then as the operator bales the
hay, the system uses the information from the lab sample as a
baseline, representing the stand
before any leaf shatter. As the
baler operates, dual star wheel
sensors measure crop moisture
readings 96 times every three seconds to determine a moisture
level of plus or minus one per
cent accuracy. The baler’s scale
provides the bale weight to within
two per cent accuracy.
Based on the premise that the
majority of the nutrient value of
alfalfa is in the leaf, and that more
density equates to higher leaf-tostem ratio, the system analyzes
the moisture content and bale
weight data. It then calculates the
dry matter density and the RFV
of each bale produced based on
the sample previously sent to a
lab. The operator can then use
this information as it appears on
the system’s screen to calculate an
average for a field.
A bale-tagging system can also
be used to attach a radio-frequency
identification tag (RFID) that can
be read with a hand-held or stationary scanner from the point of
retrieval from the field all the way
to the feed ration.
The RFID tagger attaches a vinyl
tag containing an RFID chip to
the No. 6 twine on the bale; then
writes valuable information to the
tag before the bale is ejected from
the chamber, including: bale moisture, weight, RFV, bale number,
the time the bale was made, field
location, and more.
SYSTEM TESTED
Dr. Allen Young, Utah State
University, performed some the first
comparative tests during the crop
season of 2013. This initial work
was performed on farms owned and
operated by Utah State University
Agricultural Experiment Station.
Samples were taken from 546 bales
from three fields over three cuttings.
» continued on page 42
The Markets
Cattle prices going sideways, or may trend down
As U.S. and Canadian producers increase production, beef demand appears to be levelling off.
Jerry
Klassen
Market
Update
F
ed and feeder cattle prices
appear to be in transition.
All the major factors that
drove the cattle and beef
complex to historical highs over the
past quarter are slowly turning so
that it will be difficult for the market to experience further significant
upside. The U.S. economic expansion, which drove beef demand to
unprecedented levels, is curtailing
while overall North American beef
supplies will slowly increase.
Feeding margins have been narrowing due to rising feed grain
prices and a softer fed cattle market; therefore, feeder cattle prices
are starting to come under pressure. It is expected feedlots will
bid up the price of feeder cattle until there is no margin and
with barley and feed wheat prices
percolating higher, higher input
costs are quickly eroding the profitability. The drought-like conditions across much of Alberta
and Western Saskatchewan will
likely cause the yearling run to
start sooner this summer. Cowcalf
pairs are also grinding lower due
to rising hay and forage costs in
Western Canada.
U.S. NUMBERS
U.S. cattle on feed as of June
1 were 10.6 million head, which
was one per cent above June 1,
2014. Feedlot placements during May were 1.7 million head,
down 10 per cent from May of
last year while fed cattle marketings during the same month were
down eight per cent from year-ago
levels. Overall, U.S. beef production during the second was down
188 million pounds from the second quarter of 2014. However,
notice that from the third quarter
onward, the USDA is projecting
that beef production will exceed
year-ago levels all the way through
the end of 2016. Annual beef production for 2016 is expected to be
up 726 million pounds compared
to 2015. The main point is that
the contraction phase in the beef
complex is coming to an end.
CANADIAN NUMBERS
Alberta and Saskatchewan cattle on feed for slaughter as of
June 1 were 808,267 head, down
nine per cent from June 1 of
2014. From January 1 through
June 20, Canadian beef production was nearly 439,537 mt, down
seven per cent from last year for
the same period. Canadian basis
levels could weaken due to the
increase in U.S. production and
slower export pace of frozen and
chilled cuts.
The beef demand equation
appears to be stagnating because
the expansion phase of the U.S.
economy appears to have peaked
for the time being. U.S. housing starts during April were the
highest since November of 2007,
prior to the recession. This is a
leading indicator of the economy and while we may see small
gyrations in the housing sector,
the main growth occurred from
2011 to the first part of 2015.
Secondly, the U.S. unemployment rate during May 2015 was
5.5 per cent during May, under
the long term average of 5.8 per
cent and down from the peak
of 10 per cent in October of
2009. When about 6.7 million
people go back to work after
being unemployed, beef demand
increases.
Once again, the large change in
employment levels has occurred
and while we may see small variations from month to month,
changes in beef demand will be
minimal because the rate is under
the long-term average. Finally,
U.S. consumer confidence is also
at similar levels to 2007 prior to
the recession. Consumers are fairly
confident about their income levels but further increases will not
likely sway a significant change in
restaurant spending.
U.S. QUARTERLY BEEF PRODUCTION (MILLION POUNDS)
Quarter
2012
2013
2014
EST. 2015
EST. 2016
1
6,283
6,172
5,868
5,664
5,825
2
6,475
6,517
6,183
5,995
6,360
3
6,584
6,608
6,178
6,220
6,345
4
6,571
6,420
6,023
6,130
6,205
Total
25,913
25,717
24,252
24,009
24,735
Source USDA
THE FEEDER MARKET
Looking at the feeder cattle,
the 2014 U.S. calf crop was 33.9
million head, marginally higher
than the 33.7 crop in 2013. We
will start to see the calves from
the 2014 crop come on this
fall. For 2015, I’m projecting
the U.S. calf crop to reach 34.9
million head, up one million
head from 2014. The contraction phase in the U.S. herd has
come to an end and producers
can expect an additional two
years of expansion. The 2014
Canadian calf crop was nearly
4.6 million head and I’m expecting a similar number over the
next two years. The larger U.S.
calf crop will temper demand
for Canadian feeder cattle South
of the border, unless we see a
significant deterioration in the
Canadian dollar from current
levels. Feed grain prices are per-
colating higher due to the lower
Canadian barley and U.S. corn
production.
U.S. quarterly beef production
will experience year-over-year
increases over the next six quarters. Beef demand is stagnating
because U.S. economic expansion has peaked and average
income levels are tapering off.
Fed cattle prices will have limited upside from current levels and I feel the market will
trade sideways to lower for the
remainder of 2015. Feeder cattle
prices also have limited upside
because feeding margins are narrowing. A softer fed cattle market along with rising feed grain
prices will pressure feeder cattle
prices moving forward. †
Gerald Klassen analyzes cattle and hog markets
in Winnipeg and also maintains an interest in the
family feedlot in Southern Alberta. For comments
or speaking engagements, he can be reached
at [email protected] or call 204 899 8268.
40
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Cattleman’s Corner
Better bunks and pasture
Help cattle cope with the three Bs of heat stress
If cows and calves aren’t eating, overall performance and weight gains are down
PETER
VITTI
I
always feel sorry for beef cattle
in an open field that cannot
escape the hot summer sun.
The other day I was driving a
pasture with about 30 Black Angus
cows and spring calves. Not a tree
or waterer in sight. All the animals
were crowded together, none were
grazing and their calves were not
nursing. I am pretty sure these cattle were suffering from heat stress.
As the temperature/humidity
chart illustrates, beef cattle like
the ones that I saw are susceptible
and suffer from one of three Bs
(baked, broiled or barbecued) of
summertime heat stress. It starts
to occur in cattle at any time when
the temperature-humidity index
(THI) of 72 is exceeded.
As cattle enter the ‘baked’ zone,
because they don’t sweat like us
(cattle have a 10 per cent capacity
to do so), they must rely on panting to dissipate heat to maintain a
normal body temperature of 101.5
F (38.6 C). As the weather gets
hotter and/or more humid, these
cattle figuratively move into the
‘broiled’ zone, where they significantly increase water consumption
and lose much interest in eating.
Finally, under extreme heatstress conditions, cattle are visibly
uncomfortable and often foam
from the mouth from excessive
salvation. Beyond this point, cattle
are literarily ‘barbecued’ to death.
Luckily, heat stress fatalities
are rare in Western Canada, yet I
would expect heat-stressed cows
to slow down any significant grazing during the hottest parts of the
day. If they don’t catch up at night,
overall nutrient intake could be
reduced and milk production could
be irreversibly compromised. Also,
slightly heat-stressed calves usually do not nurse as well and are
less likely to use the creep feeders.
Cow-calf loss of nutrition leads to
significant lower spring calf weaning weights, which could mean
lower revenues coming off pasture.
LOSSES ADD UP
Just consider a 300-cow-calf
operation with spring calves that
traditionally gain 2.0 lbs. per day,
only to stall out during a 21-day
heat-stress period in August.
When these calves are sold in the
fall (assumed at the same time of
the year); my calculation for their
failure to gain weight/subsequent
decreased income is as follows:
300 spring calves x 2 lb./head/
x 21 days x $2.25 (demonstration
autumn price — weaned 600-lb.
steers) = $28,350. That’s nearly a
loss of $30,000 revenue directly
due to heat stress.
Overall research supports that
heat-stressed cows are more likely
to remain open, because they are
less likely to ovulate, have irregular estrus cycles, may have poor
conception rates, and suffer from a
high rate of early embryonic deaths
at two different times of pregnancy.
Cows that experience early embryonic loss during the first week of
pregnancy appear as repeat breeders (return to cycling), while cows
that experience fetal death later on
come back to cycling at the end of
the breeding season.
Late-breeding season bulls (re:
breeding bull still out on pasture)
might also become temporarily
infertile due to heat stress.
TEMPERATURE HUMIDITY INDEX (THI) RELATIVE HUMIDITY%
C
22
24
26
28
20
66
68
70
72
30
74
32
76
30
40
50
60
70
80
66
67
68
69
69
70
69
70
70
71
72
73
71
NO HEAT STRESS
73
75 BAKED - MODERATE HEAT STRESS
90
71
74
78
81
100
72
75
79
82
84
86
77
BROILED - SEVERE HEAT STRESS
88
90
BARBECUED - FATAL
91
93
34
78
80
36
80
82
84
86
88
90
93
95
97
38
82
84
86
89
91
93
96
98
100
40
84
86
89
91
94
96
99
101
104
This chart shows when temperature and humidity combine to cause heat stress.
MANAGING HEAT STRESS
Producers can’t change the
weather, but there are many proactive steps that can help reduce hot
weather’s negative impact upon
the comfort and performance of
the beef herd:
1. Lots of cool, clean water
must be provided. The water surface area should be sufficient for
a large number of cattle to drink
at the same time, and the water
flow within the waterers and tanks
should be replenished, quickly.
2. Cows and calves should access
to trees and other forms of shade.
Open buildings and pole sheds
with light-coloured roofs can be
used to provide shade. Windbreaks
will provide shade, but they reduce
air movement and sometimes contribute to heat-stress.
3. Adjust pasture management.
Under rotational grazing systems;
rotate the cattle through pastures
more quickly. This change allows
cattle to graze more digestible pasture forages which lowers their
internal generation of heat from
fiber fermentation.
4. Feed a nutritious and palatable creep feed to nursing calves.
It is also a good idea to frequently
check the creep feeders, and not
allow them to go empty.
5. Provide salt and a good
commercial mineral at all times.
Pasture studies suggest cattle need
more sodium, potassium, and
magnesium under heat stress.
6. Implement a good fly-control program. Many producers
implement insecticide ear tags
and use cattle back-rubbers, dust-
ers and oilers. Eliminate shallow
pools, muddy areas and other flybreeding spots.
We can help grazing cattle and
calves hit hard by the three Bs
of heat stress by implementing
these coping techniques. It’s my
experience that they do work. A
few years ago, I took a beef management course at Texas A&M
University. One afternoon, I was
walking down the street in College
Station and the temperature was
40 C with a relative humidity of
about 80 per cent (THI = 99). The
rest of the day, I spent in the hotel
pool, in the shade and drinking
diet Pepsi. I felt much better. †
Peter Vitti is an independent livestock
nutritionist and consultant based in Winnipeg.
To reach him call 204-254-7497 or by email at
[email protected].
Animal Health
Drought brings its own package of health risks
Pests, toxic plants and disease can all thrive under dry conditions
Roy
Lewis
animal
health
W
ith the current lack of runoff moisture and few spring
rains across much of Western
Canada, certain disease conditions may become more prevalent. It will pay
to be extra vigilant this year when checking
your herds.
We commonly see more blackleg and all
the other clostridial diseases in dry conditions. With shorter grass, cattle and bison
graze closer to the soil and increase the
likelihood of picking up the organisms. Also
slough holes, creek bottoms and other areas
normally covered by water are exposed.
All livestock must receive preventative vaccinations and that includes mature stock if
they have not had booster shots within a
maximum of two years or less.
ANTHRAX
Anthrax is fatal as well and although very
rare is often traced to these dried-out waterways. There is a vaccine for it, but generally
it is only given in outbreaks or if a history
in the area. Generally if it has been diagnosed in a herd, surrounding herds are vaccinated as well. The federal veterinarians
(CFIA) no longer look after control of anthrax
or removal and disposal of dead animals.
Vaccination is then considered for several
years subsequent and close neighbours may
consider it.
Any producer along the same waterway
may need to consider vaccination and
should consult with his/her veterinarian.
Always have a complete autopsy performed
by your veterinarian in any sudden deaths
of cattle you find to rule out these diseases.
Private veterinarians through the provincial
associations now can access quick tests on
blood for the determination of anthrax. This
could become a great help because if we suspect anthrax we are not supposed to open
up the carcass.
PARASITES
We always think of internal parasites
being a problem in wet weather. This is for
the most part true and desiccation (drying)
does wonders to kill the parasitic larvae.
However livestock, especially calves, will
be grazing very close to the manured sites
and may pick up parasites. Calves, because
they are so inquisitive will eat whatever is
available. If grass is short, picking at manure
patties and licking dirt may become a pastime. This is especially true if being dry fed
in confinement.
An easy check is to run routine fecals on
about 10 per cent of the group in the summer. If worms are a problem they will be
shedding at this time. Dewormers can often
be placed in the minerals or feed to avoid
bringing everyone back from pasture. Calves
do not eat much mineral yet in studies they
eat enough to get the medication for internal
worms. Deworming results in gains up to 20
to 30 pounds over an average summer. In a
drought condition we definitely can’t afford
to be feeding worms and the extra feed efficiency helps as well.
RESPIRATORY ISSUES
With dry conditions come dust and other
particulate matter in the air. Regular movement will stir this dust up. Often the respiratory tract is overtaxed clearing out this debris.
Coughing is the normal response to purging
the respiratory passages. If too much coughing is evident, watch closely as pneumonia
can be the sequelae, or secondary result.
This year especially young calves will be
hardest hit and even when moved out to pasture the dust has been unavoidable. In some
cases mass medication of the calves has been
necessary. Many producers now are also vaccinating the younger calves for the respiratory
bacteria as well as the viruses. Many are using
the new intranasal products that are out there
If coughing is evident in many of the
herd always keep in mind lungworms. Even
though it needs moisture to complete the life
cycle, Watch the grazing pattern of the livestock. With drier conditions cattle, bison and
other herbivores will seek out lower, wetter
areas where vegetation is more plentiful. This
is where exposure to the lungworm larvae
may happen. Again fecal tests specifically for
lungworm can help diagnose this condition
if you suspect it. Alberta and Saskatchewan
seem to be the two provinces we see lungworms in the most.
WATER QUALITY
With drought, water sources become taxed.
All the issues with water quality need to be
addressed. Blue-green algae will proliferate
as organic matter builds up. Contamination
by coliform bacteria and other water borne
organisms such as giardia proliferate. You
need to maximize water preservation by using
the solar or wind pumps. This also improves
water quality. Dugouts become extremely
hazardous for calves getting stuck or bogged
down especially if weak from another illness.
TOXIC PLANTS
Cattle may also start to forage on less desirable weeds such as stinkweed, lambs quarter,
tansy, horsetail, locoweed, water hemlock
and several others. Each of these plants has
varying degrees of toxicity so watch for them
if pastures get too low. Your veterinarian will
know which toxic plants are resident in your
local area and advise if there are any other
diseases or health issues to worry about.
MANAGEMENT OPTIONS
In a dry spell many management decisions
need to be altered and health monitoring is
one of them. We have producers in our area
contemplating early weaning and implementing a deep cull on their cow herd in order to
better utilize grass shortages. Early pregnancy
checking is another way to cull early allowing only the pregnant cows to complete the
grazing season. Fewer cattle will extend the
grazing season.
Let’s always communicate as to specific
conditions the local region is encountering.
Veterinary clinic newsletters, provincial surveillance programs and neighbours talking
among themselves allows us to help each
other when strange environmental issues lead
to disease emergence. †
Roy Lewis is an Alberta-based veterinarian specializing
in large-animal practice. He is also a part-time technical
services vet for Merck Animal Health.
BUILDING TRUST IN CANADIAN BEEF
Antimicrobial resistance:
Take a deep breath
Beef producers should think positively and responsibly rather than overreact
As the battle over antimicrobial resistance continues and livestock production is in the crosshairs,
how should beef producers respond?
Calvin Booker thinks that despite negative talk,
there are a lot of reasons for beef producers to
think confidently, positively and most importantly, responsibly about this issue.
Booker has a unique perspective. He’s manager of and a shareholder in Feedlot Health
Management Services in Okotoks, Alta. The company provides health programs for 2.5 million
cattle in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. About half
of those are in Canada.
As a veterinarian he sees the issue from a technical and professional perspective.
“People ask how we use antimicrobials in
our feedlot production work and I’m actually
pretty proud to tell the story,” he says. “In our
case, we use group medication in high-risk
populations, but that involves a veterinary
risk assessment, and corresponding action
based on that assessment. And we use largescale field studies to tell us what we should be
doing and when.
“Is everybody doing that in the beef industry?
Likely not, but more and more cattle fall under
those kinds of oversight.”
Issue in focus
So where to start on the antimicrobial issue? The
first message to society has to be that antimicrobial resistance is important, he says. In humans
or animals, diseases need to be managed in a
way that we don’t unnecessarily cause resistance.
This is a shared responsibility for those working
in human, food and companion animal health.
Second part is that this is a very complex
issue and there are no “smoking gun” overuses that should be banned or simple fixes
that the medical and veterinary professions
can do to make the problem go away. In spite
of what is often written, quoted, or alluded
to elsewhere.
There is progress. Doctors in human medi-
Dr. Calvin Booker says research should identify the top opportunities in food, companion
and human medicine that will really make a difference.
cine are not as quick to overprescribe antimicrobials. On the animal side, producers,
accused by some as using antimicrobials as a
crutch, think more carefully today about how
and when antimicrobials are needed to control,
prevent or treat disease.
Programs, management skills
Programs can drive management skills. VBP
has done a good job of putting together a broad
framework of base management principles,
says Booker. Whether you have a few cows or a
50,000-head feedlot, those apply.
“Companies like ours help people add layers
to continually improve the production system,” he says. “They want to be on the leading
edge of progressive practices, evaluating new
technologies and management practices. And
identifying which ones really bring advantages
to the system.”
Research and future solutions
In resistance research, the beef industry continues to be a leader.
As far back as 1998 work started on understanding how antimicrobial use in feedlot production affected animals and workers. “Several
studies to date show there’s just not a whole
lot of impact of our current use on antimicrobial resistance of concern to human or animal
health,” says Booker. “That’s good news but we
have to continue to plan accordingly so that we
don’t have a big negative impact sometime in
the future.”
Fast-forward and today a multi-disciplinary
team is looking at run-off water to determine
if there is something bigger going on, he says.
“We’re trying to get baseline knowledge to not
only shape future research but also to influence
policy and regulations.”
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42
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Cattleman’s Corner
forage production
» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 38
Good grazing management
helps renew pastures
To reseed or not to reseed? How about applying new pasture management?
BY ALBERT KUIPERS
T
he question about how
to rejuvenate a pasture
economically has been
around for as long as
I can remember. Breaking up
and reseeding a pasture can be
expensive and time-consuming.
Grey wooded soils with tough
old bluegrass/fescue sods are
particularly challenging to get a
decent seedbed developed. It is
often recommended to grow cereals for a couple of years before
seeding perennial forages to give
time for those old sods to break
down. Also, large cereal seeds
tend to survive better than small
forage seeds when a seedbed is
less than ideal.
Because of these costs, many
are interested in different ways
to improve pasture production
and quality without breaking up
the pasture and starting over.
Often attempts are made to
add legumes into pasture. Over
the years seeding equipment has
been developed to seed directly
into sod, or broadcasted onto the
sod. There’s been lots of debate
over the effectiveness of different
equipment.
REJUVENTATING
CHALLENGES
One of the biggest hurdles for
sod seeding has been, and still is
the competition from the existing forage stand. Another has
been getting good seed-to-soil
contact without getting the seed
too deep. This is especially a
problem on old bluegrass/fescue
pastures with a tough layer of
sod and thatch. Thatch is that
layer of dead organic material
covering the soil between plants.
To deal with the competition,
many have resorted to applying a half rate of glyphosate to
the existing forages. This usually slows forage growth without
actually killing it, allowing new
seedlings to get established.
Others choose to finish the previous grazing season by severely
overgrazing the pasture to be sod
seeded. Seeding at some time during the dormant season ensures
that seeds are ready to germinate as
soon as there’s sufficient warmth.
Still others have resorted to
mixing legume seed with freechoice, fed-loose minerals to let
the livestock spread the seed
across the pasture. I’ve learned
the animal will digest 80 to 90 per
cent of the seed when this system
is used. That’s fine when the seed
is dirt cheap, but isn’t a great idea
for more expensive seed.
I’ve also learned that seeds
consumed while still on forage
plants in fall are much more
likely to survive the trip through
the animal’s gut — as much as 80
to 90 per cent of the seeds will
survive. So, you do this by allowing forage stands to get mature
enough to make high levels of
mature seed available for this
photo: albert kuipers
Proper grazing management is a vital tool in restoring and maintaining healthy and productive forage stands.
purpose. The only drawback is
that you won’t be introducing
new species to the pasture, if
that’s what you want.
Using this system, it is also possible to have the livestock carry
the seed from one pasture to
another. Simply graze a pasture
with the forage mix you want
and then move the livestock to
the pasture you want to rejuvenate so they can deposit the seeds
there while they graze. It would
be a good idea to severely graze
that pasture to reduce competition for new seedlings if you’re
using this method.
OVERGRAZING IS
THE MAJOR CULPRIT
Often, however, the problem
with a pasture is not the forage species. Grazing systems
that allow a lot of overgrazing
is usually the major culprit.
Overgrazed plants tend to miniaturize. Tiny top growth and
shallow roots limit the plant’s
ability to capture sunlight and
access water and nutrients.
In most of our area in west-central Alberta, we see the only forage species that thrive are those
that can handle such overgrazing. Kentucky bluegrass, white
clover and dandelions dominate
these pastures. Encroachment of
weedy species like tall buttercup,
wild caraway, scentless chamomile, ox-eye daisy, strawberry,
yarrow, and in drier areas, pasture sage, absinthe/wormwood
and others are more common.
Even if you’ve broke up and
reseeded a pasture, if you continue to allow overgrazing of the
pasture, you will soon be back to
that point and have to reseed all
over again.
In all but the worst cases,
changing your grazing management strategy to minimize overgrazing will improve the health
and productivity of plants and
pastures. If your pastures have
a long history of overgrazing,
we often cannot afford to wait
till grazing management alone
can rejuvenate a pasture. Some
kind of major intervention often
becomes necessary.
When pastures get that bad,
their soils are often depleted of
organic matter, nutrients and
soil microbes. Instead of being a
vibrant community of symbiotic
relationships between aerobic
organisms, plants, organic matter,
water and air, these soils become
dormant, with very little microbial activity.
Healthy, vibrant aerobic microbial activity is vital for healthy,
productive plants. Organic matter is important, not only as a
food source for microbes, it also
enables soils to have good structure which allows soils to hold
water, nutrients and sufficient
air for those beneficial microbes.
Soils with little organic matter,
more so with clay-based soils than
sandy soils, will be low in oxygen,
thereby creating an environment
suitable only for anaerobic microbial populations. Sandy soils with
low organic matter tend to allow
nutrients to leach out.
Most anaerobic microbes tend
to be of the disease-causing,
or plant-damaging varieties.
By increasing oxygen-holding
capacities of soils, you will shift
the microbial populations from
anaerobic to aerobic species. You
do this by increasing organic
matter and beneficial microbial populations in soils, your
pastures can and will become
healthy and productive.
You also need to avoid the
use, or overuse of fertilizers in
the form of soluble salts and
pesticides that kill beneficial
microbes. Anything you do that
reduces beneficial microbes will
increase disease-causing and
damaging microbes. By adopting
practices that increase beneficial,
aerobic microbes you not only
reduce damaging microbes, you
also protect plants from damage
and diseases caused by anaerobic
microorganisms.
NOT AN EXPENSIVE FIX
OK, so how can we get this
done in our pastures? Does it
require a whole lot of expensive soil amendments applied by
expensive equipment?
No, you can use the tools
you normally have on hand —
the grazing animals. Simply by
changing to a system that uses
high stock density grazing for
short durations, followed by sufficient recovery times, you can
get these natural processes working again.
High stock density grazing
with lots of trampling and manuring provides an excellent food
source for many beneficial organisms, from earthworms and dung
beetles to bacteria and fungi.
Allowing plants to fully recover
after each short grazing period
allows the cycle of roots growing
and sloughing off to contribute
large amounts of organic materials for food and habitat of beneficial microbes.
Beneficial bacterial and fungal
microbes, by consuming organic
materials and other microbes,
convert these into plant available nutrients and hold them.
Aerobic protozoa, nematodes
and microarthropods eat bacterial and fungal microbes and, by
defecation, make the nutrients
available to plants.
When you begin using grazing management systems that
promote this kind of mineral
and nutrient cycling by providing good food and habitat for
beneficial microbes, you kick
the whole system into gear.
You benefit from increased
production of healthy, nutritious forage plants. Your livestock benefit by being healthy
and productive and you benefit
by increased dollars in your
pocket, without the drain of
expensive inputs.
So, while cattle prices are high
and you’re making a good profit,
invest some of those dollars
into your pasture infrastructure.
Those investments now can set
you up so you’ll have greatly
reduced production costs, making you even more profitable,
now and even when cattle prices
go through the low end of their
economic cycles. †
Albert Kuipers is a long-time forage and
grazing specialist with the Grey Wooded
Forage Association at Rocky Mountain
House, Alta. You can reach him at gwfa2@
telus.net.
measuring feed
quality in the field
“The system seems to work and
appears to be a practical way to get
a reasonable approximation of the
quality of hay as it comes out of the
field…” says Young. (For Young’s
full report, visit www.harvesttec.
com, Relative Feed Value)
In addition to the preliminary
RFV testing to determine the accuracy of the system, Young further
sorted alfalfa bales into a feed
ration balancing program to determine what effect this would have
on projected milk output based
on (metabolizable energy) ME and
(metabolizable protein) MP.
These diets were formulated
to utilize a high-forage diet. It is
important to keep in mind that
alfalfa grown in the intermountain
area is more consistent that that
grown in some other regions due
to growing conditions.
“However, it is obvious from the
scenarios where hay was sorted by
CP per cent and RFV that there is
variation within a field that can
show changes in milk production
of about three to four pounds ME
milk, or four to six pounds MP milk
(depending on the field; in our
rations MP was more limiting than
ME),” says Young.
FARMERS SAY IT WORKS
Over the past two growing seasons additional private studies
have been performed on eight
farms across six states, culminating
in over 3,000 bales tested by the
in-field RFV system and compared
with core samples sent to conventional laboratories.
These bales were produced under
different conditions of temperature, alfalfa varieties, cuttings, irrigated and non-irrigated fields, and
made by different makes of balers
and bale sizes. The results uniformly demonstrate that the bales
tested by the in-field RFV system
closely follow the values generated
by laboratory tested core samples.
“Our calculated value represents
the RFV of the entire bale,” says
Jeff Roberts, president of Harvest
Tec. “We feel this system is revolutionary in the production of
alfalfa. We are adding precision
to the testing of hay that was not
available before.”
Don Leonard of Brush Colorado,
participated in the study in 2014.
“The values from the Harvest Tec
system on the baler are pretty close
to the values coming back from
the lab taken with a Colorado
Hay Probe — within five points
and that is pretty amazing,” says
Leonard. “What has surprised me
is the difference in RFV from bale
to bale. The Harvest Tec system
picks that up.”
Gary McManus, of Lakeview,
Oregon,says “What is really useful
is having the RFV on the screen
while I am baling. I thought as
moisture increases, RFV would also
increase, which I learned is not
always the case. I went out one
morning and was watching the
RFV monitor, thinking ‘this hay
should test better than that,’ so I
shut down and went back to the
house. I came back to that field
later that night and sure enough,
the RFV jumped 20 points over
what it had been that morning.”
To learn more about the RVF
testing system visit www.harvesttec.com. †
Michael Thomas ranches with his family near
Salmon, Idaho.
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
43
Cattleman’s Corner
Rancher’s Diary
Water shortage an issue heading into summer
It’s becoming a struggle to meet enough water to meet the needs of local ranches
heather
smith
thomas
JUNE 1
G
randdaughter Heather’s
first book, Basic
Horsemanship:
How
to Stay Safe with Your
Horse, is now available through the
publisher (The Frontier Project),
Amazon, and other booksellers. We
are proud of her accomplishment.
Emily’s photos are on the front
and back cover. Young Heather
hasn’t seen the book yet; she is in
Saskatchewan visiting her friend
Gregory on his grain farm.
Last Sunday Michael, Carolyn
and Nick helped us vaccinate,
deworm and tag the heifers —
putting new ear tags in their
heifers and brisket tags on our
heifers — then hauled their
heifers to the upper place. We
vaccinated our cows and bulls,
then branded and vaccinated
the calves. Dani helped, and
enjoyed lounging around with
the calves in the shed as they
waited to be branded.
Cub Cake’s calf was lame on a
hind leg when we let him out of
the calf chute after branding him;
he may have cracked a leg bone
getting it caught in the chute. So
we left him and his mama in a
pen and didn’t put them in the
field with the rest of the cows.
Thursday Michael and Carolyn
hauled horses to the vet at Challis
(70 miles away) — one for dental
surgery, and their mare and foal,
for correctional surgery on the
foal’s front legs.
Nick started setting more posts
in the fence between our 160-acre
hill pasture and the neighbouring one. This is a new fence we
built three years ago, but the
neighbour’s cattle pushed it so
hard reaching through for grass
the past two summers that they
loosened the wires and pushed
over some steel posts. Last fall the
neighbours sorted cattle in the
corner and rammed them against
the fence, knocking wires off and
bending steel posts. We’re putting
wood posts between all the steel
posts, tightening the wires, and
will rebuild the fence on the bottom end with poles.
(from the low pasture to the middle range) they missed 17 cowcalf pairs. We moved those cattle
to the middle range.
With cattle gone from the low
range, we took our cows and
calves to the little hill pasture
above our house. We couldn’t
move them up there until there
were no bulls adjacent to them.
Andrea and Robbie helped Lynn
haul water troughs and pump
water from our ditch across the
road. Dani rode with us to move
the cows.
Last Monday Andrea and Lynn
went to pump water for the cows
on our hill pasture (a task we have
to do every other day) and the
ditch was drying up. Another user
on the system had taken all the
water again!
JUNE 30
Robbie is helping Lynn get
the tractors, swather and baler
ready for haying. He also helped
set steel posts in the old fence
between our swamp pasture and
the hayfield above our house.
The cows finished grazing the hill
pasture so we moved them down
to the swamp pasture. It lasted
until we moved them to the field
near the house on Saturday and
put the bull with them. We left
our spare bull in the corral and
put Buffalo Girl and her calf with
him for company so he won’t try
to jump out.
Young Heather got back from
Canada and is training horses
again. The local newspaper did a
feature story about her new book.
Michael and Carolyn’s foal,
Clarice, has really grown! The surgery to straighten her front legs
was successful. The mare and foal
have been in a small pen since the
surgery, so the foal won’t exercise
too much. Thursday they hauled
the mare and foal back to the
vet in Challis to have the screws
taken out.
The creek is dropping, in the hot
weather. Yesterday evening Jack
(the rancher at the mouth of our
creek) was short on water at his
weir so we had to adjust the flow
on some ditches up here, to make
sure he has enough for his water
right. It may be a very dry summer! †
Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her
husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact
her at 208-756-2841.
Basic Horsemanship:
How to Stay Safe with Your Horse
www.farm-king.com
Cut it, Ted it, Rake it, Move it.
Sickle Bar Mower
Disc Mower
Tedder
Easy Rake
Easy Rake Superstar
Bat Rake
Round Bale Carrier Model 1450
Round Bale Carrier Model 2450
Square Bale Carrier Model 4480
JUNE 11
Last Tuesday Andrea and Dani
helped move our cattle to the
field below the lane — the wet
part that we can’t hay (divided off
with electric fence).
Michael and Nick built a weir
for our ditch that serves the field
on Heifer Hill so we can measure
how much water is actually getting there. This ditch we share
with our neighbour Alfonzo
above us; he can use half, as long
as there is plenty of water in the
creek; after the creek gets low, our
place has a prior water right.
Getting your hay from the field to the yard has never been easier.
Farm King offers a full line of hay tools designed to increase
productivity of your operation and maintain the nutrient value of
your crops. From first cut to the last move, Farm King meets your
haying needs.
JUNE 21
Last week Sam and Dani rode
with us several times while they
were home. The day Alfonzo and
Millers moved their range cattle
©2015 Buhler Trading Inc. | [email protected] | www.farm-king.com
Visit www.farm-king.com
to find a dealer near you.
44
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Home Quarter Farm Life
SEEDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Importance of taking time
with friends and community
Not only good for our well-being, they can also give
perspective of what’s happening in our lives
Elaine
Froese
T
he summer is slipping
away quickly, yet I hope
that you’ve carved out
some time for visiting,
camping and fishing. We all are
busy farmers, but deep down
there is a longing that I see for
folks hoping to have a deeper
sense of connection. This column is an excerpt from our book
Farming’s In-Law Factor:
When we find ourselves in the
midst of hectic lives on farms,
sometimes it’s difficult to find
time to connect with friends and
community. If we aren’t careful
to nurture our relationships with
others, we may find ourselves
isolated, with only the support of
our immediate family. Social and
emotional support networks are
important, particularly on farms.
Friends and community are not
just a nice bonus for farm families, they are essential. They serve
several important roles. Friends
are great for fun, relaxation,
renewal, and leisure activities.
They provide an excuse for muchneeded breaks from farm labour.
More than just a good laugh, we
can share joys and frustrations
with them. They are good for our
sense of well-being and our frame
of mind.
When we need insights, friends
can give us an outside perspective
of what is happening in our lives
and our farms. They can act as
our sounding board. Watching our
friends’ lives unfold helps us to see
other examples of families, marriages, parenting, and farm activities. Good friends can give both
positive feedback and constructive
criticism when we can’t see the
situation clearly ourselves.
What happens if you become
socially isolated?
If people become socially isolated, they may lose a sense of
what the range of “normal” looks
like. Their world may become so
small they are unable to see the
possibilities that exist or, on the
other hand, they may think their
untenable situation is “normal.”
In several of the most conflicted
farm families we have worked
with, these off-farm relationships
have been severed over time and
the families are left in isolation to
sort through the troubles.
Community relationships can
reassure us we’re not alone and
people care about us. They can
help hold us up, both emotionally and in practical ways, when
life’s storms hit. In community,
the celebrations in life are sweeter
and the tragedies more bearable.
“By reaching out to others and
taking advantage of their support and friendship, you can gain
strength to deal with your problems and an ability to take control of your situation.”
Social time and being connected to community or to the
family of origin can be a lifegiving factor to the daughter inlaw (DIL) or others on the farm
team. Sometimes the demanding
nature of farming can make it
difficult for a DIL to leave to be
with her family. “The farming
operations and related livestock
and crop responsibilities made it
difficult to visit extended family
members who resided outside of
the geographical area, which was
particularly the case for extended
maternal family members. Some
farm women expressed sadness
in their inability to travel great
distances to see extended family
members.” It’s important that
the rest of the farm team ensures
that this visiting can happen
without it being a huge burden
for the DIL.
Questions for reflection:
• If you were feeling worried
about something, whom would
you call?
• If there was a tragedy, whom
would you call?
• If you wanted to go out for the
evening, how easy would it be to
find someone to hang out with?
• If you had really wonderful
news, who would be delighted to
hear this news?
• Whom can you share just
about anything with and not
get the sense that they are judging you?
This summer I will be spending time with family and friends
to refresh my soul and fill my
“coaching well” so that I have
sound emotional strength to coach
farm families come September. I
also want to encourage you to
seek out resources to support your
Megan’s Story: One time I
had a wise friend tell me that
my then boyfriend wasn’t
treating me well enough. In
the midst of the situation I
was in, I couldn’t see that for
myself. I am forever grateful that he did that for me.
I once told that friend that
I was concerned about his
mental health. It was one
of the most difficult things
I ever did, but I did it with
love because I was sincerely
concerned about him.
mental well-being. I have found a
new magazine from www.bphope.
com which is a great resource to
support folks who struggle with
bipolar depression. According
to the Canadian Mental Health
Association, one in five Canadians
is struggling with a mental health
issue. As a depression survivor I am
on a personal mission to encourage people to get medical help and
treatment for depression in all of
its various forms. My mental wellness plan for the month of August
is to take a break from my professional work, and focus on my family. What is your plan to take time
for family, friends and community
this summer? †
Elaine Froese and her co-author Dr. Megan
McKenzie both live in Boissevain, Manitoba.
Elaine offers workshops on, Farming’s In-Law
Factor, and is a certified farm family coach.
Like “farm family coach” on Facebook. Buy the
book at www.elainefroese.com/store. Tweet:
@elainefroese.
Preserving the art of basket weaving
Beth Crabb creates her own beautiful pieces and teaches others how to do the same
BY EDNA MANNING
“
T
here is something extremely satisfying about
taking one-dimensional materials and creating
something three dimensional that’s both functional and beautiful,” says Beth Crabb.
Crabb is a retired social worker and professional basket
weaver and has been teaching basketry for many years.
In 2007, she was selected as one of three artists who
travelled to Ottawa to represent Moose Jaw as one of the
Cultural Capitals of Canada.
Growing up in the small hamlet of Baildon, south of
Moose Jaw, Crabb enjoyed the quiet of the country and
gave her an appreciation of nature. “This love of the natural world grew greatly when my husband Byron introduced me to northern Saskatchewan with its ancient
landscape of trees, rocks and water,” she says. The couple
now lives in Moose Jaw.
Her involvement with basket weaving began in 1991
when she and Byron attended an art school in Crete,
Nebraska for a week. “I’ve always been intrigued by baskets and their shapes and construction, so it seemed like
a marvellous opportunity to pursue that interest. It was a
fabulous week of very hard work, sore hands, and ended
in my determination to continue weaving.”
After that first workshop, Crabb ordered instructional
books and reed from supply houses in the U.S. intent
on learning more.
“Rattan grows in warm tropical climates like Indonesia;
it is a climbing palm, so is a readily renewable resource,”
Crabb says. “Reed is what rattan is called after it has been
machined to create uniform widths and thicknesses.”
Crabb is also involved in dyeing the reed. “Over the
years I’ve tried many different dyes, and now use a procion mx type that fibre artists use, as it is very stable and
fade resistant.”
In 2000, the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery asked
if she would be willing to teach a class, and “it has been
15 years of teaching an annual class for them,” Crabb said.
She has also taught at Shekinah’s Sask River Valley Art
School, the Alberta Wildlife Carving Association’s Carving
in the Park, and Shuswap School of Carving and Art, in
B.C. “Teaching basket weaving is very enjoyable for me,
in that I get to foster my students’ growth as they learn a
new skill and develop their sense of design,” Crabb said.
Her baskets have been exhibited in numerous galleries
and are in private collections across Canada.
For more information, call (306) 692-6667, or email
[email protected]. †
photos:
courtesy beth crabb
Above:
Beth Crabb
working
on a wall
hanging.
Left: One of
her many
pieces.
Edna Manning writes from Saskatoon, Sask.
y! .
da e d
to it
er lim
st s
gi g i
Re atin
Se
“If it weren’t for the messages from some of the leaders
I connected with, I wouldn’t have this clear vision nor the
motivation to go after it. I can’t thank you enough for that.”
- Jen C., Ontario, 2014 AWC Delegate
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conference could change your life! Join women from Ag and related businesses as they reveal the secrets to their success.
Early Bird and Group Rates available now. Register today! Visit advancingwomenconference.ca or phone 403-686-8407.
WESTIN HARBOUR CASTLE, TORONTO, OCT 5 & 6, 2015
Advancing Women Conference / Grainews 10.25” x 3” / Ontario Quote
JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
Features
Home Quarter Farm Life
45
PRAIRIE PALATE
Eating shashlik in Ukraine
Here on the Prairies we may know it as shishliki
but I instantly recognized this grilled meat
us, a group of clean-cut young
men (perhaps soldiers) with a bottle of vodka on the table between
them. The dance floor was empty
(the DJ arrived later) and, playing
on a giant screen, music videos
of beautiful models in tropical
locales. Our waiter didn’t speak
a word of English and neither
did his menu. It looked Greek to
me. Literally. Prior to Ukraine, we
had travelled in Greece, where I
became somewhat adept at reading Cyrillic letters.
The Cyrillic alphabets of Greece
and Ukraine are close enough that I
opened the menu and began sounding out the offerings. But even
though I could pronounce it, I had
no idea what it meant. You might
be surprised to know that restaurants in Ukraine often don’t serve
Ukrainian food, or what we here on
the Prairies know and love as the
foods of our Ukrainian ancestors.
Vareniki, holubtsi, kutia, babka and
borshch — these are familiar foods
in Ukrainian homes, but when people go out to eat, they’re happy
to dine from the smorgasbord of
the world. Ethnic restaurants are as
familiar in Ukraine as anywhere.
Working my way through the
menu, I suddenly came upon a word
I understood: Карьонара. Carbonara.
Amy Jo
Ehman
I
magine if you had to solve
a word puzzle before you
could eat. But the puzzle is
in a different language and
a strange alphabet. That was the
challenge of ordering dinner in
Izmail, Ukraine, a small historic
city on the Danube River near the
border of Moldova.
My husband and I had just
arrived in Ukraine, travelling down
a country road full of potholes,
the creaky old bus zigging and
zagging while the onboard television blared a popular music show,
the performers singing a familiar
Beatles tune, slightly altered, “All
You Need is Peace.”
After a day of travel, we were hungry.
In Izmail, the only restaurant
that appeared to be open was on
the main drag, a popular place full
of well-dressed millennials sipping
cocktails and raising a din of conversation, of which I understood
not a word.
At the table beside us was a
young couple on a date. Behind
Below it was вологнесе or Bolognese.
Italian!! Both were delicious.
In Odessa, we ate several meals
in a sweet French bistro and in
Kherson, we enjoyed grilled skewers of meat in an outdoor Georgian
grill (that’s the former Soviet republic of Georgia, not the U.S. state). In
Kiev we ate paninis from vendors
on the street.
The grilled meat was called
шашлік, which I recognized
instantly. It’s shashlik, a familiar food among descendants of
Russian and East Ukrainian immigrants, also known here on the
Canadian Prairies as shishliki. In
the old country it’s common to add
lemon juice, but since lemons were
impossible to find on the Prairies
more than a century ago, local versions tend not to use it.
Old-timers will tell you a secret to
making good shishliki is to mix it
with your hands, so don’t be afraid
to put a little elbow grease into it.
Is shishliki part of your family
heritage? What old-country recipes
do you crave? Send me a note on my
food blog HomeForDinner.blogspot.
com or reach me via Facebook. †
Amy Jo Ehman is the author of Prairie Feast: A
Writer’s Journey Home for Dinner, and, Out of Old
Saskatchewan Kitchens. She hails from Craik,
Saskatchewan.
photo: amy jo ehman
Shashlik and cabbage salad in Kherson, Ukraine.
SHISHLIKI
Traditionally it’s made with lamb, but pork and
chicken are good, too.
2 lbs. meat (1 kg), cut in 2-inch cubes
Salt and pepper
1 big onion, sliced
Put meat in a bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt
(a good teaspoon) and pepper. With your hands, rub
the seasoning into the meat. Mix in onion. Cover and
refrigerate 3 to 7 days, turning the meat once a day.
Thread meat onto skewers. Grill over hot coals or BBQ.
If you’re feeding a crowd, use 50 lbs. of meat, 20
lbs. of onions, a generous 1/2 cup of salt and 1/4 cup
of pepper.
EXTENDED OUTLOOK FOR THE PRAIRIES
Weather Forecast for the period of July 26 to August 22, 2015
Southern Alberta
Peace River Region
Saskatchewan
July 26 - August 1
Pleasant conditions under sunny
skies on most days, apart from a
few isolated showers or
thunderstorms.
July 26 - August 1
Warm temperatures under sunny
skies on most days, apart from
some isolated showers or
thunderstorms.
July 26 - August 1
Skies will be generally sunny with
comfortable temperatures. A couple
of hotter days will set off heavy
thunderstorms.
August 2 - 8
Warm and sunny, but a couple of
cooler days will bring showers or
heavier thunderstorms.
August 2 - 8
Warm and sunny, but a couple of
cooler days will bring showers or
heavier thunderstorms.
August 2 - 8
Highs often in the twenties under
sunshine. Minor cooling brings a
few showers or thundershowers.
August 9 - 15
Seasonal to hot temperatures
under sunny skies on many days
aside from spotty showers or
thunderstorms, with a chance of
heavy storms in a few localities.
August 9 - 15
Seasonal to hot temperatures
under sunny skies on many days
aside from spotty showers or
thunderstorms, with a chance of
heavy storms in a few localities.
August 9 - 15
Seasonal to occasionally hot
temperatures dominate under
sunny skies. Isolated thunderstorm
activity, possibly heavy in a few
localities.
August 16 - 22
Mostly sunny and warm, but a few
hotter days set off thunderstorms,
with a risk of heavier storms in
places.
August 16 - 22
Mostly sunny and warm, but a
few hotter days set off
thunderstorms, with some
heavy storms in a few places.
August 16 - 22
Sunny aside from passing showers
or thunderstorms on a couple of
days. Some cooler nights, but
seasonable to warm by day.
8 / 21
Grande Prairie
61.8 mms
July 26 - August 1
Pleasant temperatures on most
days under sunny skies. Spotty
showers or thunderstorms.
August 2 - 8
Variable temperatures and
weather, as warm and sunny
days alternate with showers.
August 9 - 15
Sunny skies dominate the
week with seasonal to hot
temperatures. Expect scattered
thunderstorm activity that could
be heavy in a few locations.
August 16 - 22
Sunshine dominates with
seasonal to warm temperatures,
but a couple of cooler days set
off scattered showers or
thunderstorms.
Precipitation Forecast
8 / 22
Edmonton
67.0 mms
7 / 22
Jasper
50.6 mms
BELOW
NORMAL
7 / 22
51.3 mms
Banff
9 / 23
Calgary
Forecasts should be 80%
accurate, but expect
variations by a day or two
because of changeable
speed of weather systems.
Manitoba
48.7 mms
10 / 24
North Battleford
8 / 22
Red Deer
64.8 mms
11 / 27
Medicine Hat
19mms
cms
Lethbridge 30.6
42.9 mms
26 cms
10 / 25
9 / 23
Prince Albert
58.6 mms
11 / 22
The Pas
49.3 mms
10 / 24
Saskatoon
36.8 mms
10 / 24
Yorkton
Precipitation Outlook
For August
57.5 mms
10 / 24
Dauphin
NEAR
NORMAL
12 / 23
11 / 26 57.5 mms 63.3 mms
11 / 26
Gimli
Regina
10 / 24 Moose Jaw 40.0 mms
79.8 mms
Swift 34.8 mms
12 / 25
10 / 25
Current
11 / 26
Portage 12 / 25
Brandon 78.8 mms Winnipeg
38.2 mms
Weyburn
69.3 mms
NEAR
75.3 mms
47.4 mms 11 / 26
NORMAL
Estevan Melita 10 / 26
53.2 mms
81.2 mms
Much Above Normal Below Much
above normal
normal below
normal
normal
Temperatures are normals
for August 15th averaged
over 30 years.
Precipitation
(water equivalent)
normals for Aug. in mms.
©2015 WeatherTec Services
www.weathertec.mb.ca
46
/ grainews.ca JULY 21, 2015
Home Quarter Farm Life
Meat cutters – a dying breed?
Butcher and owner of Rumpel Farms Abattoir thinks they are
BY CHRISTALEE FROESE
H
e’s a dying breed.
When Gord Rumpel surveys the
Saskatchewan landscape for fellow
meat cutters he is almost always the
youngest. At age 40, Rumpel said it is rare to find
anyone his age in the butchering business and even
rarer to find those who own an abattoir.
Rumpel and his six older siblings grew up being
part of any butchering process on the family mixed
farm located north of Craven, Sask. His dad, Albert,
started a commercial abattoir in the mid-’80s, eventually building a large shop complete with a holding pen, slaughter floor, cooler for up to 45 sides of
beef, two freezer rooms and a cutting area.
“We were out there helping as soon as we could
walk and that’s just the way it was,” said Rumpel.
When Albert passed away in 1993, Gord stepped
in, deciding that at the age of 18 he would be the
one to continue his father’s legacy. With his mother
Justina by his side taking care of the wrapping and
the bookkeeping, they built Rumpel Farms Abattoir
into a strong local business that now keeps Gord
busier than he’d often like to be.
“Right now I’m booked three months in advance.
I’d like to hire someone, but there’s really no one
out there going into meat cutting,” said Rumpel.
Louise Malowany has been a Rumpel Farms
Abattoir customer for over 30 years, taking her beef
to Gord’s dad and now dealing with Gord himself.
“There’s nobody that does it like Gordie —
they cut it the way you want it, they double wrap
everything and you get the cuts exactly how you
want them.”
Rumpel said customers notice a distinctive
difference between his cuts and those from largescale packers in bigger stores.
“For example, with our hamburger, there’s no
colour, additives or water so when you fry it,
there’s no having to drain it several times. All of
our beef is hung and aged and we know exactly
where the cow came from and how it has been
fed and handled,” he said.
While the meat cutter does not sell to retailers,
he does sell product from his farm abattoir. The
majority of his business, however, comes from
local farmers within a 100-km radius who bring
cows, pigs and lambs to him for slaughter and
cutting and wrapping.
While owning his own business has been a
challenge at times, Rumpel said now that he has
a wife and three children of his own, the abattoir has afforded him a good work-life balance.
Rumpel’s wife Jennifer works full time in Regina
so he values the time he can take to be part of his
children’s schedules.
“The best thing about this job is the flexibility
because I get to do stuff with the kids — I haven’t
missed an ultrasound, I can take them to their
appointments and I can take a day off if I really
need to.”
Currently Rumpel butchers beef, pork and lamb
with beef being his busiest area. He expects the
cattle butchering to continue at a record pace in
the coming year as farmers finish their cattle at
home because of an abundance of feed grain from
the 2014 harvest.
For more information, call 306-731-2761. †
Christalee Froese writes from Montmartre, Saskatchewan.
photo: christalee froese
Gord Rumpel butchers a side of beef at his abattoir near Craven, Sask.
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JULY 21, 2015 grainews.ca /
47
Home Quarter Farm Life
SINGING GARDENER
Chit-chat, reader feedback and more Ted Talk
Plus, make your own mosquito trap
A MOSQUITO TRAP YOU
CAN MAKE AT HOME
ted
meseyton
H
owdy again Grainews
partners. Just in case
some of you are wondering, “howdy” is a
familiar form of greeting or expression that’s condensed from brief
statements such as “how do ye”
or “how do you do.” Reminds me
of some of “them thar” old-time
Western movies featuring the likes
of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and
their sidekicks.
Well here we are right dab in
the middle of summer. As I sign
on to the Singing Gardener page
let me again remind you of one
thing that’s never in short supply
around here and that’s chit-chat,
reader feedback and more Ted
Talk. Whoops! Before we go any
further, gotta remember to tip my
hat and extend a warm welcome.
Many thanks for tuning in to my
warble of words.
photo: courtesy louise rosset
This hummingbird hawk moth is similar to the bee hawk moth as it flies rapidly between plants and hovers to feed
over these geraniums growing in the French Alps. It has orange-brown hind wings which are evident in flight.
Forewings are greyish brown on a body that is checkered by black and white.
FOR ANYONE OVER 55
APPRECIATING
THE MEADOWLARK
Canada Week and Canada Day
celebrations with associated festivities and fireworks are behind us. The
longest day of the year is now going
in reverse. That means our daylight
period will continue shrinking until
just before Christmas.
Among the many things I’ve
really appreciated this season is
the abundance of meadowlark
trills echoing from off in the
distance. To me their presence
is a confirmation of healthy
surroundings and a sound environment.
I knew a local whistler now
gone on to his reward, who
possessed the great and unique
ability to duplicate many different meadowlark trills and his
interpretation of what each tune
meant. There are so many gifted
people in this country with talents and you the reader, may
very well be among them in one
way or another.
HI FROM EDMONTON
This is short and sweet and
to the point. “I buy my Mr. Big
peas from Stokes Seeds. Know
they still sell them as I bought
them this year. I have lived in the
city for years but still subscribe to
Grainews. Martha Sales”
Note from Ted: Mr. Big peas
for planting are also available
from Early’s Garden Centre in
Saskatoon, phone 1-800-6671159; West Coast Seeds at Delta,
B.C., phone 1-888-804-8820
and T & T Seeds, Winnipeg;
phone (204) 895-9962. Mr. Big
is described as producing fiveinch easy-to-shell pods that
yield like crazy. Each contains
eight to 10 dark-green, plump,
sweet-tasting peas.
Thinking back to when yours
truly was a youth, it’s amazing how
35 cents or a couple of quarters
paid my admission into a Saturday
afternoon movie with some coin
left over to also buy a treat. Those
shows as we called ’em offered everything a kid and grownup audiences wanted such as fast action,
spacious scenery, moral lessons,
some not so good guys brought to
justice by manly men and gentlemen cowboys coming to the aid of
fair ladies in distress. If you recall
seeing Roy Rogers in movies, then
you know what I’m talking about
and probably heard him singing
“Happy Trails to You.”
Thanks to Martha Sales for some
of the following and happy trails
to her. Alas, like many things, the
end of an era dawned when the
legendary Roy Rogers and Dale
Evans Museum in United States
closed its doors on December 12,
2009 after more than four decades.
Roy Rogers is said to have told his
son, “If the museum ever operates at a loss, close it and sell the
contents.”
One of Roy’s many shirts sold
for $16,250 and one of his numerous cowboy hats fetched $17,500.
Trigger’s saddle and bridle sold for
$386,500. Roy and Dale’s set of
dinnerware plates and silverware
went for $11,875. The Bible they
read at the dinner table every
night sold for $8,750. One of Roy’s
several guitars collected $27,500.
A black and white photograph
of Gene Autry with a touching
inscription from Gene to Roy garnered $17,500. One of many pairs
of Roy’s boots topped out at a bid
of $21,250. Trigger was bred on a
farm co-owned by Bing Crosby.
Roy bought Trigger on a time payment plan for $2,500. Roy and
Trigger made 188 movies together.
Trigger even outdid Bob Hope by
winning an Oscar in a 1953 movie.
We can still purchase movies
made by Roy Rogers, “King of
the Cowboys” and those of Gene
Autry, the Lone Ranger and others. These wholesome role models
of childhood days taught right
from wrong and they showed us
respect for each other and to care
for and appreciate animals with
which we share the earth. Got me
to wondering how many of our
Grainews readers have a favourite
horse and how its name was chosen. Let me know!
HELLO MR. TED FROM LOUISE
AT ST. CLAUDE, MAN.
Louise writes: Feb. 23, 2015.
Emailing: “Just finished reading
your page in Grainews. Well for
us, we had these little critters (see
picture on this page) as part of
our lives since the early ’70s in
our lilac bushes for many years
and for some reason they started
to disappear on us. We never did
see any damage to the lilacs from
them being around. They were
only feeding on the lilac’s blossom
nectar and other flowers. Every
spring they would show up! I used
to observe them as it was so nice
to see them feeding.
Last fall we were in France
(French Alps) and to my surprise,
saw quite a few of them on some of
my cousin’s geraniums. The plants
had no damage to them at all and
she was telling me that they see
lots of them every year and they
love to have them around.
I am sending you a picture
of one which I took in France.
CHEERS Mr. Ted and keep up the
good work… Louise Rosset, St.
Claude, Man.”
APPLE MAGGOT BREW
FORMULA NO. 1
See my Singing Gardener column in Grainews, April 28, 2015
issue, page 34 for apple maggot
controls. Here’s feedback in that
connection during my conversation with Louise Rosset regarding
her experience with formula No.
1. First allow me, Ted, to repeat
the recipe.
1 litre (or 1 part) molasses
8 litres (or 8 parts) warm water
6 litres (or 6 parts) white vinegar
Dilute or thin blackstrap or
cooking molasses in some hot
water so it disperses easily into
remaining water and white vinegar. Here’s what Louise says. “We
put the bait in bottles with an
opening so maggot flies could
enter and drown. It worked
really well. There were barely any
worms in our apples. We had
apples without worms. This stuff
is really working. We had about
12 traps hanging throughout
the apple tree.” Further she said,
“Chives were planted under the
tree. Along with that we applied
some granulated stuff on soil
all around the tree that we got
from Solomon’s Garden Centre
in Portage. (You called it granular
dolomitic limestone.) Louise concluded, “since we’ve been doing
this, it’s working well.” †
This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener
and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie, Man.
How’s the rain situation in your part of the
country? Too much, not enough or just the right
amount? I close with a short story. Once upon
a time all the farmers in a certain area of this
great land gathered together and decided to
pray for rain. On the appointed day of prayer
the farmers assembled, but only one of them
came with an umbrella. Now that’s faith! My
email address is [email protected].
… and you’ll probably
want several — one to take
to the garden; another by
the barbecue and one for
the patio. In order to lay
eggs a female mosquito
requires blood. However,
both male and female
mosquitoes
get
their
energy from flower nectar
and fruit juice. Researchers
from West Africa and Israel
picked up on that information and went a step
further. They designed
homemade mosquito traps
baited with sugar and boric
acid, then added both to
fermented fruit juice. As a
result local mosquito numbers were reduced by an
amazing 90 per cent. Want
to make your own traps at
home? Here’s what you’ll
need for materials.
1/16-inch nail
(one-sixteenth-inch
diameter) OR a drill bit of
equivalent size
1-litre-size plastic container
with a top lid that has a
wide mouth covering
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon boric acid
(available at pharmacies)
1 cup crushed overripe or
fermented fruit with its
juice (otherwise a bit of
water may be required)
Preparation is as follows
and some experimentation
may be necessary. Place
crushed fruit in direct sunlight for one or two days
to increase fermentation,
unless it’s already well fermented. Punch or drill a
dozen or so holes in the
container lid, large enough
to allow a mosquito’s
entry, but small enough
to deny access by beneficials such as bees. Mix fermented fruit with other
ingredients and place in
the container. Cover with
ventilated lid showing the
entry holes on top. Set
each trap at strategic locations where it won’t be
rained on.
We don’t think of female
mosquitoes as wanting anything but blood, but they
and their male counterparts
will feed on fermented sugary fruit juice laced with
boric acid leading to their
demise. Researchers also discovered that some species of
mosquitoes are attracted by
the odour of jasmine. As a
bonus, add a drop or two of
jasmine essential oil available at health food stores, to
each mosquito trap.
This type of homemade mosquito trap is
really new to Canada,
so if you’re among the
first to try, consider yourself to be on the front
line of personal research.
Somewhere along the line,
let me know how you
made out. †
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