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Volume 40, Number 9 | APRIL 8, 2014

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PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER

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Manage wild oats with these five tools

Wild oats are a serious, ongoing problem for Prairie farmers.

Keep them in check to prevent development of glyphosate resistance PHOTOS: MAFRD

BY ANDREA HILDERMAN

W

ild oats continue to be one of the top five weeds in Western Canada.

Controlling wild oats costs western Canadian growers about $500 million annually.

When Grainews looked at the wild oat situation in 2011, Nasir Shaikh, provincial weed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, viewed wild oat management as an important ongoing process, especially in Manitoba where the frequency of herbicide resistance is higher than in Saskatchewan. Now, Shaik’s biggest fear is that wild oats may develop resistance to glyphosate.

“Wild oat resistance to glyphosate has not yet been documented anywhere in the world,” says Shaikh. “However, looking at how extensively glyphosate is used in pre-seeding burn down, pre-harvest applications and in-crop with Roundup Ready varieties, it can’t be long in happening.” If farmers lose the ability to control wild oats with glyphosate, costs will skyrocket.

Research conducted by Hugh Beckie and his team at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon shows that two out of three fields have some level of Group 1 resistant wild oats. Beckie has also shown through modeling that, in forecasting which weeds might develop resistance in the future, wild oats ranks second behind kochia, which

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has been found to be resistant to glyphosate in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

“Although we conduct various weed surveys, the most likely indication that we are going to get that wild oats has developed resistance to glyphosate is when a farmer or farmers notice that glyphosate has ‘failed,’” says Clark Brenzil, provincial weed control specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture. “Then we’ll hear about it soon enough.”

Managing wild oats continues to be key in the business of farming field crops. Experts agree there are some important tools in farmers’ tool boxes that must be used judiciously to control wild oats and minimize the risk of developing or building numbers of resistant populations of wild oats. “Integrated weed management is what farmers need to be thinking about,” says Shaikh. “In other words, bringing to bear all the options, agronomic and chemical, to combat this serious weed problem.”

Here are five tools that will help control wild oats on your farm.

1. DIVERSE CROP ROTATIONS “First and foremost, plan crop rotations,” says Brenzil. “Growers need diverse crop rotations to keep weed populations from building up to high densities in preference for a particular crop or narrow selection of crops. Increase the density of any one weed species and you increase the risk of it

becoming resistant to the herbicide or herbicides you use.”

In years past, crop rotations were more about agronomy than profits.

Before growers had a large selection of herbicide to choose from, crop rotations were an important tool for managing weeds. Now, crop selection is more about maximizing short-term economic returns. That often means the rotation shrinks to one or two very profitable crops.

This can result in over-reliance on a narrow selection of herbicides and herbicide groups. “The real danger wild oats presents is that it is in almost every field in high numbers,” says Brenzil. “This is a classic recipe for the selection of resistance, because resistance is a numbers game. The more weeds you have in a field before the herbicide is applied, the greater the likelihood that there is a rare mutant out in that field that is able to survive the herbicide treatment.”

Ideally, crop rotations should include winter and spring crops, broadleaf and grass crops as well as perennial forages. “If wild oats are really thick, consider perennial alfalfa as an option for control,” says Shaikh. “The regular cuttings over the summer for forage will reduce the wild oats seed bank significantly.” Brenzil advises a minimum of a three-year crop rotation, preferably four, and ideally an eight- to 10-year rotation with the inclusion of three to four years of perennial forages.

“The seed bank is the driver of

resistance,” says Brenzil. “Research shows a 95 per cent reduction in the density of wild oats and other troublesome weeds in crops seeded into fields broken out of a three-year alfalfa stand.”

2. WELL-TIMED PRE-SEED BURN-OFF Getting into the field and getting a pre-seed burn-off completed as close as possible to seeding is key. “Adjust seeding time if possible to be as close to the pre-seed glyphosate application as possible,” says Shaikh. “Growers want to get the crop established to be competitive against a second flush of wild oats.”

Brenzil also suggests growers consider the idea of two glyphosate applications in the spring, an early application for perennials and then another just prior to seeding that includes a mix with a herbicide with another mode of action for emerged annual weeds.

3. HIGH SEEDING RATES Research conducted by Charles Mohler at Cornell University in weed ecology and management indicated a 50 per cent increase in seeding rate had a substantial effect on weeds without any adverse impact on crop quality. The real key is to get the crop to cover over the ground ahead of weeds emerging, and allowing the crop to control late emerging weeds.

In This Issue

“The gradual widening of row spacing on seeders is also concerning,” says Brenzil. “Row spacings are getting wider, and mainly for engineering efficiencies.

Equipment manufacturers promote research that shows no yield losses and are now even promoting using less seed as a way to cut input costs — but this assumes perfect weed control is a given. With wider rows and lower crop plant densities, there is more open ground available for weeds to establish and colonize, and there is more competition between individual crop plants within the row. I liken wide rows and lower plant densities to walking a tightrope with no safety net below. If something doesn’t go just right it could be disastrous.”

4. GOOD CROP ESTABLISHMENT Do everything under your control to maximize the ability of the crop to get established, and emerge quickly, evenly and vigorously to close the canopy. “Fertilizer should be properly banded close to the seed,” says Shaikh. “Otherwise the wild oats will benefit.”

Seed quality is critical. “If you are not using your own seed, then use certified seed,” says Brenzil.

“Certified seed has to meet certain specifications for weed seed content. But even with certified seed, request the certificate of analysis

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Wheat & Chaff ..................

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Features ............................

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Crop Advisor’s Casebook

7

Columns ........................... 14 Machinery & Shop ............ 24 Cattleman’s Corner .......... 31

Getting the timing right for pre-seed burn-off KARI BELANGER PAGE 8

John Deere’s new high-speed planter

SCOTT GARVEY PAGE 28

FarmLife ............................ 36

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APRIL 8, 2014

Wheat & Chaff STAMPEDE

BY JERRY PALEN LEEANN MINOGUE

S

“OK, then two out of three to see who breaks ice!”

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HEARTS

Ask for hearts

When you renew your subscription to Grainews, be sure to ask for six Please Be Careful, We Love You hearts. Then stick them onto equipment that you, your loved ones and your employees operate. That important message could save an arm, a leg or a life.

pring was in the air. Snow was melting, trees were starting to bud and the municipality had pounded road ban signs into the ground at either end of the grid road that runs by our farm. This added one more complication to converting the grain in our bins into cash in our bank account.

“Maybe the elevator won’t call that canola in before the end of March,” my husband said, as he looked out the window at the road. “Maybe road bans will be off by the time we have to move it.”

“Isn’t it a March delivery contract?” I asked.

He just looked at me, as if to say, “What does that have to do with it?”

As Grainews readers know, this past winter, signing a March canola delivery contract did not necessarily mean hauling canola to town in March. Unless, of course, the company wanted it in March.

If not, we’d have to wait, and figure out how to find the trucker or the time to move that canola in April, or maybe in the middle of May. Either way, we’d be waiting by the phone for the grain company to call.

We can all be hopeful that following the federal government’s March 26 introduction of Bill C-30, our days of waiting by the phone will be over. Or, at least, we can hope to be compensated while we wait.

The delivery problem hasn’t been limited to one specific area, or one specific grain company. Yes, grain companies have been having trouble moving grain. Yes, there are other problems in our grain transportation system. But when we can’t deliver grain we’ve agreed to sell, we have cash flow uncertainty, time management issues and an increase in our general stress levels.

Marketing experts urge us to time our grain sales to meet our cash flow needs. This is great advice, but impossible to implement when contract dates don’t match actual delivery and payment dates.

Imagine reversed situations.

What if farmers booked fertilizer for February pickup, then didn’t actually pick it up or pay for it in February? Penalties would vary, but you can bet it wouldn’t end well for the farmers. Input supply companies couldn’t operate like this — how would they control inventory? How would they manage their cash flow?

Or, can you imagine going to a car dealership, negotiating on a car, signing a contract and then telling the sales guy you’ll pay for the car and pick it up in a few months, when you really need to take that trip to Edmonton? Car companies could never stay in business if all of their customers did that.

And yet, during the transportation problems this winter, Prairie farmers accepted inventory risk, paid storage costs and covered interest costs for much of the product that grain companies ultimately sold to their end customers.

Hopefully, Bill C-30, the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act, will bring an end to this situation.

The bill is reported to give the

Presents

My Favourite

Farm Machine Grainews invites you to nominate your all-time favourite piece of farming equipment! You name it — whatever your all-time favourite rig is, we want to know!

Like us on Facebook!

Any model not currently in production in the following 3 categories: tractors, combines, other farm machinery.

Grainews has a Facebook page.

A list of finalists will be announced.

Farmers can cast their votes at this year’s Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina.

Find, read and comment on blog posts easily and with a thumbs up!

Watch upcoming issues of Grainews for more information.

Find us on Twitter:

To nominate your favourite farm machine email us at:

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Canadian Grain Commission the authority to regulate compensation when elevator companies don’t honour contract delivery dates. Arbitration may be involved.

It would be ideal if the grain commission took a proactive approach — setting standard interest and storage compensation rates and requiring farmer compensation for every late delivery. We can hope that actually collecting compensation for interest and storage won’t be a difficult, expensive process. Or a process that farmers are afraid to go through, for fear that local grain buyers will punish them with lower grades or lower prices in the future if they seek compensation for late delivery once. What we don’t need is a system where grain companies don’t have to pay compensation for missed contract dates if they can prove that grain transportation problems were beyond their control.

Assuming Bill C-30 is passed, it won’t be helpful to farmers unless compensation is automatic — not something each farmer has to fight for with each late delivery.

To deal with multinational grain companies that wield ever-increasing market power, we need a fair foothold. Our best solution would be enforceable, standardized contracts that require companies to pay fair storage and interest costs every time they don’t take delivery within the contract month. We’re not looking for taxpayer dollars or unreasonable legal privileges, just fair contracts that require both parties to actually do what they said they were going to do. Is that too much to ask?

Leeann

?

? ?

farmerschoiceaward@fbcpublishing.com DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS APRIL 30th

APRIL 8, 2014

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Wheat & Chaff FARM SAFETY

Keeping kids safe

Y

ou would probably do just about anything to keep your kids safe on the farm. That’s what over 90 per cent of Canada’s farmers said in a farm safety attitudinal survey conducted by Farm Credit Canada in 2011. But how do you know what to do?

From 1990 to 2008, Canadian Agricultural Reporting (CAIR) recorded 248 agricultural fatalities of children under 15 years of age.

That’s an average of 13 deaths a year.

Approximately 44 per cent of those fatalities involved children under the age of five. The most common causes of fatalities included being run over by equipment, drowning, or equipment rollovers. In many cases, these fatalities were workrelated, though the child wasn’t

necessarily performing the agricultural task at the time of the injury.

So what can you do to raise your children to celebrate farm life, while keeping them safe? You’ll need to have a really good handle on child development levels, abilities and limitations, as well as when and how to set clear rules and boundaries, so that everyone stays happy, healthy and safe.

While you can’t completely child-proof your farm, creating a safe play area can limit their exposure to hazards including traffic, agricultural production and environmental concerns. A safe play area is a carefully planned location with safe, age-appropriate play equipment designated by physical boundaries such as fences, gates or shrubs. Establish any necessary play

rules and supervise your children appropriately.

Next, identify areas on your operation that are off-limits to children, such as confined spaces including grain bins or silos, pesticide or fertilizer storage facilities, bodies of water, and manure pits. Can a fence be installed to barricade a hazardous area? Can materials be stored inside locked cupboards or locked buildings? Do it. When it comes to visiting the barn, storage buildings or bin yards, establish age limits for entry. For example, if a child is younger than 10 years old, establish a rule that they have to stay in the fenced yard area; if a child is 10 to 13 years old, they can enter these areas if they are accompanied by an adult.

When it comes to farm chores, the ability of a child to carry out an agricultural task is dependent on several factors, including age, motor skills, cognitive function and awareness of the world around them.

Children under seven years of age are dependent on adults to provide them with a safe environment and should not be engaged in agricultural tasks. A seven- to nine-year-old child generally doesn’t have good hand-eye coordination. They have a short attention span and need parents to demonstrate a task each time. For this age group, short tasks that don’t require a great deal of accuracy such as yard and garden work or feeding the animals would probably be okay, as long as they are under constant supervision.

Contrast this with 16- to 18-yearold youths, who can usually begin adult tasks, but may have a tendency to be a bit reckless and easily distracted. However, every child is different, so be vigilant and adjust tasks based on your day-to-day assessment of their abilities. And when it comes to youth employment, whether you are hiring your own child or another youth, be sure to check legislative requirements to

WEATHER LORE

ensure you are operating within the legal parameters of your area.

Guide your child through the farm workplace and protect them from the obvious, often overlooked, hazards on the farm. It will help keep them safe while setting them on a path to become a safety-conscious farmer in the future.

For more information on talking to your kids about safety, visit agsafetyweek.ca/producer-tools and browse through over 20 free resources designed to help producers make their farms safer. † Glen Blahey, Canadian Agricultural Safety Association. This article was produced in support of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Week 2014 Let’s Talk About It! campaign, which encourages farmers to engage in conversations about safety. CASW is brought to you by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, with support from the Government of Canada through Growing Forward 2, long-time corporate sponsor Farm Credit Canada, Ag for Life, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, CHS, Imperial Oil and Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited.

PHOTO CONTEST

Squeaky snow

You might be from the Prairies if...

By Carson Demmans and Jason Sylvestre

A

The squeak of the snow will the temperature show. t around -10 C, snow begins to squeak underfoot. Why? There are two reasons: Pressure and temperature, says Paul Huttner chief meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio.

When you step on snow the pressure of your foot on the snow crystals causes some of them to melt. This has a lubricating effect and the tiny crystals slide quietly by each other as they are compacted beneath your foot.

But when the snow temperature is below about -10 C the pressure applied by your foot is not great enough to cause melting, and the snow crystals break and crash into each other as you step on them. We hear it as a squeak. A kajillion tiny snow crystals, hollering, “Ouch!” † 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.

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT Remi Gregoire sent us this photo, taken on his family farm at St Pierre, Manitoba. Remi found this hive in his machine shed.

It measured 12 inches long, eight inches wide and five inches in diameter.

When our little boy was three, he found one of these under our deck. He found it the hard way. I’ve never seen a small kid run so fast. Remi, we’ll send you a cheque for $25. Hopefully you don’t need to use it to buy AfterBite — that’s what we used!

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

You have a drawn a provincial map in under three seconds.

AGRONOMY TIPS… FROM THE FIELD

Right reasons to use seed treatments

G

rowers are doing their own on-farm trials with seed treatments, and they’ve shared the reasons they continue to see value in treating their seed prior to planting. In this column, I offer the two primary reasons why producers continue to invest in these products.

First, growers have found that treated seeds produce a vigorous, uniform crop stand from the moment they germinate. And, as we know, you can’t have a good harvest without a strong start.

Second, seeding conditions are not always favourable for young seedlings. Cool soil conditions in the spring carry greater risks for disease

and insects. Given the protection they provide, seed treatments can help counteract these risks, allowing for timely seeding.

Modern production practices can also increase pest pressure. Today there’s more crop residue that can harbour diseases and insects. Tighter crop rotations mean that crop-specific diseases can get a toehold in the field and cause significant damping-off, resulting in poor crop stands — all the more reason to use seed care products. † This agronomy tip is brought to you by Ted Labun, technical lead for seedcare with Syngenta Canada Inc. Ted has worked for Syngenta since 1981, and has focused on seed treatment technology for the last 13 years.

Avadex® is a registered trademark used under license by Gowan Company, L.L.C. PMRA Reg. No. is 25112. Always read and follow label directions. 12002 09.12

Un-sow your

Wild Oats

For more information call: Cory Bourdeaud’hui 1.204.390.2340 Javan Davis 1.306.590.8600 Jim Vancha 1.306.951.7008 UAP at 1.800.561.5444 www.gowanco.com

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APRIL 8, 2014

Cover Stories CROP PRODUCTION » CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

MANAGE WILD OATS WITH THESE FIVE TOOLS from your seed supplier that will list every weed seed found in the sample. Compare this to the weed control legislation for your province and do not purchase seed that contains weeds regulated at the provincial level or has weeds that you don’t already have on your fields.”

Randy Court of Court Seeds & Greenhouses at Plumas, Man., explained that wild oats is considered to be a secondary noxious weed under the Canada Seeds Act, the legislation that governs seed growers and their practises. “There are no wild oat seeds allowed in Certified No. 1 wheat seed,” explains Court. “The presence of a single wild oat in the sample will result in downgrading. This is the same for all primary and secondary noxious weed seeds in wheat.”

The exceptions are for barley and oats. The official table for secondary noxious weed seed in oats and barley has zero wild oat seeds allowed per kilogram of sample, however, there is an exemption that allows for one secondary noxious weed seed per five kilogram sample of barley and up to one secondary noxious weed seed per two kilogram sample of oats.

“Certified seed is well within the tolerances outlined in the Act,” says Court. “Or considerably better. Reputable seed growers do not cut corners on seed quality.”

5. VARYING HERBICIDES Farmers have a range of herbicide options ranging from preseeding and post-harvest burn-off applications, to in-crop applications with a range of active ingredients from herbicide Groups 1, 2 and 8 in cereals as well as Group 3 for several broadleaf crops and Groups 9 and to some degree Group 10 in canola.

“In an ideal world, we don’t want farmers to have to rely on in-crop options, especially as the wild oat resistance problem is so serious and prevalent,” says Shaikh. “Farmers should view these options as supplementary to agronomy and cultural practices.”

Brenzil advises using more than one herbicide group/mode of action in a tank mix. By using two herbi-

cides with different modes of action at the same time for the same weed, the odds (prior to heavy selection with herbicide) of an individual weed carrying two mutations for resistance to both modes of action is infinitesimally small.

Shaikh advises farmers to invest in testing for resistance problems on an ongoing basis. “A resistant population doesn’t happen overnight,” he explains. “Most farmers are unaware they actually have a problem until the problem exists in about 30 per cent or more of the field. Given this is a growing issue, annual testing should be considered. Think of it as an investment in your overall management strategy.”

The sum total effect of the above five tools should mean the minimum amount of seeds being returned to the soil every year.

Wild oat seeds are not as persistent in the soil as might be believed.

For instance, compared to wild mustard or pigweed seeds, which can survive in the soil for decades, wild oat seeds are relatively short lived — a maximum of five years in loam to sandy soils and nine years in clay soil.

RECOGNIZING AND MANAGING RESISTANCE Ty p i c a l l y, r e s i s t a n c e f i r s t appears as individual plants escaping control that gradually form into patches. “Is the patch an escape or a resistant population? Growers need to answer this question quickly,” says Brenzil.

“When the grower is scouting, find out, ‘is it a single species escape?’ If yes, then it is more likely to be resistance, not a problem with herbicide efficacy. If two or three weeds escaped, then it’s likely a miss or the herbicide used didn’t perform the way it should have for another reason.”

If you suspect a resistant wild oat population has developed in your field, have samples tested at a provincial laboratory. The key is to actively start managing that resistant population before it’s identified. “Some growers are in denial about the problem, I think,” says Brenzil. “But it is crucial to act quickly and decisively. Don’t ignore individuals that survive.”

The goal in managing escapes is to prevent further spread of seed.

Modern technology is very helpful in marking areas with suspected

1 6 6 6 D U B L I N AV E N U E , WINNIPEG, MB R3H 0H1 w w w. g r a i n e w s . c a PUBLISHER

Lynda Tityk ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

John Morriss

EDITOR

Leeann Minogue FIELD EDITOR

Lisa Guenther CATTLEMAN’S CORNER EDITOR

Lee Hart FARMLIFE EDITOR

Sue Armstrong MACHINERY EDITOR

Scott Garvey PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Shawna Gibson DESIGNER

Steven Cote MARKETING/CIRCULATION DIRECTOR

Lynda Tityk

CIRCULATION MANAGER

Heather Anderson

Ensure you can recognize this serious grassy weed earlier in the season.

Wild oats is easy to recognize when headed out. It has a distinctive ligule at the collar. resistance so repeated tillage or mowing can be conducted over the season to prevent the wild oats heading out and going to seed.

Continue monitoring the area in future years and give it special attention.

“Although we don’t have resistance yet in wild oat glyphosate,” says Brenzil, “we know what it would be like from the Australian experience with rigid ryegrass, which is now resistant to every herbicide that used to control it.

And we don’t want to get it to get to that point.”

Australian growers plagued with rigid ryegrass resistant to several herbicide groups are resorting to using technologies like the Harrington Seed Destructor — a pull-behind 200-plus horsepower implement that pulverizes everything coming out the back of the combine, doubling fuel consumption in the process. Australian growers have also outfitted their combines with fins to concentrate everything into a two-foot row, instead of blowing it across the field. Those same rows are travelled every year using on-board guidance systems. The result is

that weed seeds build up in that two-foot path; weeds emerging in that area are less vigorous since they are competing with each other. Additionally, some growers burn these rows after harvest to kill the seeds and reduce the numbers returning to the seed bank.

The lesson for wild oat management is to diversify now rather than face the proverbial death by a thousand cuts. “There are only so many ways to kill a plant,” says Brenzil. “While there may be new active ingredients that come along, we should be managing what we have now very carefully so we don’t lose these tools for the management of important weeds in the future to resistance.

Growers need to be using every tool in the wild oat control toolbox to its fullest extent.”

Shaikh agrees, stressing that an integrated management strategy is the only way to keep as many options on the table as possible and to delay the onset of resistance to glyphosate. † Andrea Hilderman has her master’s degree in weed science and is a member of the Manitoba Institute of Agrologists. She writes from Winnipeg, Man.

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Don’t ignore patches of wild oats. Map the spot and pay special attention to the area with tillage and mowing to prevent seed rain.

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Today’s smart choice for preventing weed resistance. herbicides with different modes of action

®

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When tough broadleaf weeds invade your cereal crops, it’s no time for half-measures. You need action now. With a new and more concentrated formulation, DuPont™ Barricade® II herbicide leverages the strength of three active ingredients from 2 different groups (Group 2 and Group 4) to keep broadleaf weeds far away from your crop. Powered by Solumax® soluble granules, Barricade® II also delivers one-hour rainfastness and easier, more consistent sprayer cleanout. It’s no wonder growers made it Western Canada’s premier broadleaf herbicide for cereals.

Barricade® II. Raise the bar on your broadleaf weed control.

Questions? Ask your retailer, call 1-800-667-3925 or visit barricade.dupont.ca powered by Solumax®

soluble granules, combining

narrow-leaved hawk’s beard, kochia, cleavers, flixweed, lamb’s-quarters, cow cockle, volunteer canola

multiple modes of action from two groups – Group 2 and Group 4.

An effective, time-saving formulation. Barricade® II is powered by DuPont™ Solumax® soluble granules, combining the c As with all crop protection products, read and follow label instructions carefully.

The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science™, Barricade® and Solumax® are registered trademarks or trademarks of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. E. I. du Pont Canada Company is a licensee. Member of CropLife Canada. © Copyright 2014 E. I. du Pont Canada Company. All rights reserved.

cereal crops

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APRIL 8, 2014

Features Columnist update

A visit with Lyle Walker Milk River resident Elise Walker took time to check in with long time Grainews columnist Lyle Walker

By Elise Walker

A

fter receiving a few phone calls from farmers across the Prairies wondering if I know Lyle Walker, I decided to stop in to chat with Lyle at his home in Milk River. Here is an update for all you Grainews readers wondering how Lyle is doing.

At the age of 84, Lyle Walker says he is doing well. Back in 2008 he suffered a severe hip injury that has required many surgeries, which left him crippled. He also says one surgery impaired his hearing badly. Lyle has also battled cancer in recent years.

Lyle still has his own farm. He likes to work in his shop, keeps the gopher population down with his .22 and helps at harvest. He still likes to do machine work especially when someone says it can’t be done — Lyle likes to show them he can do it!

Lyle’s family is doing fine: no

drugs, no booze, no jail, which makes him proud. His son lives on a farm in the Milk River area with his wife and family. Lyle’s daughter is a doctor in North Dakota. Lyle’s mother passed away just over a year ago at the age of 100.

Lyle is very happy that farmers are making their own decisions on marketing their grain. He chuckles that the Canadian Wheat Board’s gross incompetence finally did it in. Lyle still has no patience for the Alberta Government although “pernicious prevaricators” of bygone years are just ordinary liars now.

These are just a few of the things we talked about. He will see this article as he still subscribes to Grainews and enjoys reading. If anyone would like to contact Lyle, it is best to reach him by mail. His mailing address is: Lyle K. Walker, Box 262, Milk River, Alta., T0K 1M0. †

Former Grainews columnist Lyle Walker still enjoys reading and is happy that farmers are now marketing their own grain.

Elise Walker is no relation to Lyle Walker, but is a neighbour in the Milk River area.

Risk management

Lower-priced hail insurance

A

G Direct Hail Insurance Ltd., established by Bruce Lowe, will be providing online hail insurance to farmers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta at premiums it says will be up to 15 per cent less than the policies offered by its competitors.

“The main difference,” says Bruce Lowe, “is that we won’t be using brokers or agents. Farmers will apply for their coverage needs directly on our secure website and that alone will save about 10 per cent on costs.”

Costs will be further reduced through streamlining loss adjustments and minimizing their advertising and promotion.

“Loss awards will be on par with industry standards and farmers can be assured that we’re providing a secure product,” says Lowe. “We’re exclusively backed

by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty; the second largest insurance company in the world and a leader in cutting edge insurance products.”

Working with provincial programs In Manitoba and Alberta, producers can apply for an AG Direct Hail policy only after they have secured coverage with their government crop hail insurance provider. “I want to complement and not compete with MASC and AFSC.

They have solid hail insurance programs and I want to be the price competitive, second layer of coverage for farmers in those two provinces” Lowe says. In Manitoba, producers must first purchase $200 an acre in hail insurance from Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) before buying from AG Direct Hail.

In Alberta, $150 an acre is required from Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC).

Unlike Manitoba and Alberta, Saskatchewan farmers will not be required to purchase crop hail insurance before applying for an AG Direct Hail policy.

“We anticipate our rates to be very competitive compared to Saskatchewan Municipal Hail Insurance (SMHI) and the private crop hail insurance providers in Saskatchewan.

Farmers will be able to purchase up to $200 an acre in coverage from AG Direct Hail. However, the amount of insurance liability will be limited in each township, so producers are advised to apply early to avoid disappointment. By completing a simple, no obligation registration now at www.agdirecthail.com, producers will receive a priority rate availability email near the end of April. Applications will be accepted beginning in May. † www.agdirecthail.com

TOUGHER. EASIER.

TANDEMTM IS THE ONE.

APRIL 8, 2014

grainews.ca /

7

Features Crop production

MYSTERY OF THE STUNTED SOYBEANS

Crop Advisor’s casebook

By Dan Friesen

Casebook winner

B

The older plants in Ricky’s field were short and spindly with a dark bluish appearance and necrotic spots on the leaves.

ack in early July I got a phone call from Ricky, a soybean farmer located near Headingley in Manitoba’s Red River Valley. Ricky was calling about the sorry state of his soybeans — the crop in one of his fields was stunted, and he was worried a bad batch of seed was to blame.

“I must have received some poor seed with low germination percentage when I was planting,” he said. “It’s the only thing I can think of to explain such a short plant stand as this.”

I told Ricky I’d come out right away to have a look. When I arrived at the affected field, I could see right away that Ricky’s soybean crop was struggling. The older plants in the field were short and spindly with a dark bluish appearance and necrotic spots on the leaves. The crop appeared to have the appropriate plant density, but was generally shorter than other fields close by that had been planted with the same soybean variety.

I asked Ricky about planting

T Dan Friesen is a sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Starbuck, Man. conditions and his crop inputs, to try to narrow in on the cause of the problem. Soil conditions had been cool and wet when the field was seeded in mid-May, he said, adding that no fertilizer had been applied at planting. Ricky had used dual inoculants and a seed treatment to enhance nitrogen fixation and control diseases and insects. No residual chemical had been used on the oat crop planted in that field the previous year.

Ricky said he’d first noticed the symptoms, which included some patchiness across the field, when the crop was nearing knee height.

Was bad seed to blame for Ricky’s stunted soybeans? I didn’t believe that was likely, but I needed soil and tissue tests done in order to confirm my suspicions and provide a proper diagnosis.

Do you know the reason for

he Casebook winner for this issue is Joe Waldner, from Prairie Home Colony at Wrentham Alberta. Thanks for entering, Joe! We’ll renew your Grainews subscription for a year and send you a Grainews cap Also, thanks to Joe for pointing out that we ran the wrong fax number in the last issue. It’s fixed now, so if you’re using a fax machine, go ahead and hit “send” to enter your analysis of this issue’s case. †

Leeann Minogue

Ricky’s soybean sorrows? If you think you do, send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man., R3C 3K7; email leeann. minogue@fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop Advisor’s Casebook. Best suggestions will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a Grainews cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The answer, along with reasoning that solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File. † Dan Friesen is a sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Starbuck, Man.

Crop Advisor’s Solution WEATHER TO BLAME FOR PURPLING WHEAT CROP

By Kim Brown-Livingston

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uring the first week of July I got a call from Donald, who has a 1,800-acre farm just west of Dauphin, Man., where he grows wheat, canola and some ryegrass.

Donald said his wheat crop just didn’t look right, and he needed my help to figure out what was causing it.

Donald said the problem was discolouration in the wheat leaves. Initially, he thought herbicide drift originating from a different crop might be to blame, but since the field was surrounded by wheat on all sides, things didn’t really add up.

“It’s odd,” Donald said.

“It looks like it might be herbicide drift, but not sure where it could come since the field is surrounded by wheat on all sides. But what else could it be?”

When I came out to Donald’s farm to inspect the wheat crop, I could clearly see most of the plants had some kind of purpling, giving the whole field an offcolour appearance. The purpling plants were now turning brown, indicating dead tissue, and they were all damaged in exactly the same spot on their flag leaves, which were all bent in the same direction.

There were no signs of any diseases present and previous soil tests had ruled out a nutrient imbalance, so I decided to ask

Donald: “What has the weather been like lately?” When he answered, I began to zero in on the source of the problem.

Donald said the weather had been really hot with bright, sunny days all the previous week. These weather conditions had caused environmental damage, not just on Donald’s farm, but also throughout the region — a fact that was confirmed in a subsequent conversation with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development officials.

The bad news was there was nothing to be done that would immediately help Donald’s purpling wheat crop — it was simply a case of the plants having to grow out of it (which they did — Donald ended up having a bumper wheat crop). The only thing farmers can do to minimize environmental damage like this is to ensure their crops are as healthy as possible during the year, so they are better equipped to withstand environmental stresses.

The good news? Fortunately, there are lots of steps farmers can take to get their crops off to a healthy start, such as good crop rotation, a strong fertility program and proper seedbed preparation, seeding rates and seed treatment. Timely weed and disease control when necessary also contribute to a healthy crop. †

By Kim Brown-Livingston is a regional agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Dauphin, Man.

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APRIL 8, 2014

Features CROP PROTECTION

Make pre-seed burn-off a top priority Canola fields that have had a pre-seed burn-off produce higher yields than fields that have not

BY KARI BELANGER

I

t’s a tough call Prairie producers must make each spring — to start seeding or wait and spray first. Sometimes the elements leave little choice but to seed; however, when conditions allow, farmers who burn-off early weeds ahead of canola reap the rewards at harvest.

“There is evidence that producers could see a yield increase upwards of 15 per cent when comparing a field that has been given a pre-seed burn-off with one that has had no burn-off in direct seeding situations,” says Angela Brackenreed, a Canola Council of Canada agronomy specialist. “Even if it means the crop is not seeded until later, there is evidence of a greater yield advantage to completing a pre-seed burn-off.”

Early weed management before seeding canola is particularly important due to canola’s vulnerability during initial growth stages. “Canola can be a little wimpy early in the season. It’s really important it’s not competing with weeds for nutrients and moisture, and that it gets off to a good start,” says Brackenreed.

“The more weeds you have competing with your canola, the more yield they’re going to rob from it at the end of the day. Often, at the beginning of the season, we can forget about the yield goal. Right from spring through fall these things affect canola’s yield potential,” she says.

A clean field puts canola at a distinct advantage. However, before spraying it is essential for producers to assess weed types — annuals, winter annuals and/ or perennials — every year, field by field, to determine the length of time required between spraying and seeding as well as chemistry options.

Glyphosate may be the No. 1 product used for a pre-seed burn-off, says Brackenreed, but producers must still check labels for control of the specific weeds in their fields as well as to determine whether or not another chemistry should be added to the tank, such as a product with residual control.

TIMING IS KEY Canola can be seeded 24 hours after spraying annuals and winter annuals with glyphosate, which is the time it takes the chemical to reach the weed’s growing point.

For perennials, which are harder to control, it takes three to five days for glyphosate to reach the growing point, depending on the conditions at the time of spraying. When conditions are sunny and warm, canola can be seeded three days after glyphosate application.

During cool or cloudy weather,

translocation of glyphosate within perennials is slower and could take up to five days.

“It’s important to know what’s out there. If you were to spray and you had mostly perennials and you started seeding 24 hours later, you probably didn’t give enough time for the plant to take in that product and control it,” says Brackenreed.

Specifically, sunny conditions and daytime temperatures between 12 C and 15 C and night time lows above 4 C will provide optimal glyphosate activity on annuals, winter annuals and perennials.

Frost can throw a monkey wrench into pre-seed burn-off plans. If temperatures below 5 C are forecast, farmers should hold off spraying perennials.

“All of these things can stack up against you and make it harder to find the time to spray…

If there’s frost, the plant is not actively growing and not taking in the herbicide,” says Brackenreed.

B:13.167”

Angela Brackenreed is an agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada.

PHOTO: CANOLA COUNCIL OF CANADA

T:13.167” S:13.167”

“Know what’s out there.”

— Angela Brackenreed CHOOSE THE RIGHT PRODUCT Volunteer canola is another weed that should be controlled during a pre-seed burn-off.

The type of canola volunteer — Roundup Ready, Clearfield or LibertyLink — will influence product choice to control the weed.

CleanStart, Amitrol 240 and bromoxynil are also registered for pre-seed burn-off ahead of canola, and are the only options for control of volunteer Roundup Ready canola. Targeting volunteer canola while it is small is key to the efficacy of these products.

Crop safety and the use of registered products ahead of canola is especially important due to the plant’s initial fragility. “Crop safety is so important — you don’t want to hurt your canola at the beginning of the season and put it off to a bad start,” says Brackenreed.

BayerCropScience.ca/Varro or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative.

Always read and follow label directions. Varro™ is a trademark of the Bayer Group. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.

OTHER TIMING OPTIONS There are some years, like last spring for example, where the window of opportunity to burn off early weeds prior to seeding is too narrow or non-existent. But to roll the dice on a post-seed or pre-emergent herbicide application is also not a good bet.

“I don’t like recommending a post-seed/pre-emergent spray because in good conditions, canola can come out of the ground much faster than you would expect. It can sneak up on you, and then you never get it done… and you have to wait for your first in-crop herbi-

FS:6.3335”

cide. By that time, those weeds could have robbed your canola of quite a bit of much needed moisture and nutrients,” says Brackenreed.

Ground crack is also of concern when applying a post-seed or pre-emergent herbicide as emerging cotyledons are hard to spot and will be damaged by spraying.

Farmers rely heavily each spring on glyphosate for early weed control. As glyphosateresistant weeds continue to advance in Western Canada,

taking measures to protect and is in your fields and to make F:6.5835” prolong glyphosate’s efficacy is early weed removal a priority. paramount. “In the long run, Sometimes you have to make the economics of dealing with a decision, and sometimes that glyphosate-resistant weeds decision is to get out and seed. in your fields are really going Last year, there wasn’t a lot BCS.10182718.Varro.1 2:10 PM to exceed the cost of 2-13-2014 adding of pre-seed herbicide activity Magenta, in a tank-mix partner to CALMCL-DMX7993 your going on because Cyan, we had two Yellow, Bla Marsha Walters glyphosate,” says Brackenreed. feet of snow in the fields at the SPEC ORIGINALLY GENERATED: Oli None 100% Farmers may be at the mercy beginning of May, but that’s 13.167” x 8” SAFETY: None TRIM: 13.167” x of Mother Nature’s whims each just an example that every year Helvetica Neue (Bold; True Type), Helvetica Neu spring, but a pre-seed burn-off is different and you have to ahead of canola reduces the work with what you’re given,” odds of weeds getting the better says Brackenreed. † of their yields.

Kari Belanger is a Winnipeg-based writer “The key is knowing what and editor.

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APRIL 8, 2014

grainews.ca /

9

Features DIGITAL MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Farm Dock app launches Free web-based app helps streamline day-to-day farm management tasks

BY SCOTT GARVEY

“

T

he idea (to try and find a good farm management app) originally came to me in 2011,” says Scott Andrew, who farms near Morden, Manitoba. But his

in November of 2011 to see if anyone was interested in creating it. He approached Farm Business Communications in Winnipeg (a division of Glacier FarmMedia and the publisher of Grainews), and management there decided to

The farm management app Farm Dock has just been introduced and is designed to help producers track field operations, costs, inventory and customizable types of additional data.

“And not just tracking jobs but tracking everything that goes into them, where that work was done, who was doing it, what inventory was used or created, what equipment was used.

“It will keep running totals of everything,” he continues. “You can see, at any point in time, things like your bin capacity.

You can see what’s in them, so it helps you track inventory on the farm. You can also record supplementary information.

For example, if you were spraying you can record what the

T:8”

search back then for one that work with Andrew to create an F:6.5835” suited his farming operation app intended to meet both his didn’t turn up anything that needs and those of most Prairie exactly met his needs. farmers.

“In November of 2011 there Roughly two years later, the BCS.10182718. were only two,” he continlaunch of the new FarmDock rro.104REV1.indd ues. “One was Brazilian and Grainews app is the result of those develInsertion Date: February 25, 2014 , Black the other was Australian. The opment efforts.

Bayer CropScience Brazilian one was ridiculously “The main purpose (of PAGE: 1 10182718 expensive and the Australian FarmDock) is to help the 3.167” x 8” Bleed: None one was glitchy and didn’t do farmer manage all the activitica Neue LT Std (65 Medium; OpenType) what I wanted.” ties that are going on, on the Knowing exactly what he farm, including assignment of Contact wanted but unable Production to find itNumbers: jobs,” says John Bauer, Glacier 7161 403 261 7152 in an existing app, 403 he261began FarmMedia’s senior director speaking to web developers of technology and operations.

C-78-02/14-10168062-E

B:8”

Varro™ herbicide for wheat.

Freedom from Group 1 herbicide resistance.

Freedom to select your preferred broadleaf partner.

Freedom to re-crop back to sensitive crops like lentils.

S:8”

Freedom from wild oats.

windspeed and direction was.”

“As farms get bigger you have to be more efficient,” adds Andrew. “The idea of this app is to make things easier for the main farmer.”

A big part of making things easier means eliminating the need to keep volumes of handwritten records. “(FarmDock) makes those things you have to do for crop insurance easy,” Andrew says.

“Up until this point I had to take binders in, do Excel sheets and make a report out of it. It took a lot of time and a lot of effort. I wanted to find a different way that allows you to do it once, not four times.”

“The concept behind this whole thing is we understand a lot of farmers record all this information and carry it around in a black book in their back pocket,” says Bauer. “This is a way to capture everything seamlessly as you’re running the farm.”

Keep a handle on costs The app also allows farm managers to supervise one or more equipment operators. Multiple users can sign into the system and a manger can assign different field operations simultaneously. A manager can also see when employees log the jobs as completed along with the other related data.

“Instead of having a binder of paper in each tractor to track everything and every operation, it’s a lot simpler to have it in one area,” says Andrews. “If you have three or four guys working, it’s all instantly there.”

“I think it has a very powerful dashboard that others don’t have,” says Bauer. “It gives you all the latest jobs and all the work activity that’s going on.

You can see it at a glance, based on jobs, inventory, work equipment activity. You can have all that stuff at your fingertips.

If you have a lot of people involved in work activity in a day you can see what’s being done as it’s being done.”

Aside from tracking of field operations, operators can use FarmDock to manage costs.

“You can keep track of what it’s

costing to farm that particular piece of land or that crop,” he adds. “It’s a place to record that information.”

Getting started with FarmDock doesn’t require a lot of set up time. A farmer can initially input only as much information as is necessary to get started on one field operation. Other equipment, fields, inventory and job activity types can be added throughout the season as the need arises.

“What makes it (FarmDock) different is we really tried to streamline the app so you can use it without spending hours setting it up,” Bauer says. “You can do that on the fly. In 30 seconds you can set up your first job. It allows you to build your configuration as you’re using it.

“The other thing is we tried to make it as simple as possible.

When you look at the app you don’t see a bunch of useless or complicated stuff.”

And Bauer believes FarmDock can be just as valuable to a small farmer as a large corporate operation. “It’s really flexible,” he says. “It will accommodate everything from the largest, most complicated farm operation to the single, coupleof-hundred-acre farmer. You can have one operation or multiple operations, like grain and dairy, together. You can also have multiple farms.”

Andrew says he’s happy with how FarmDock has evolved. “It fits my farm perfectly, because it’s exactly what I wanted,” he explains. “There are some things we discussed and want to add to it as well, which will only make it more attractive.”

Producers can now use the full-featured app for free.

Eventually, , Bauer says there will be two versions, the free one and a pay-for-use version.

Exactly which features will remain free hasn’t yet been established.

“We’re going to have a freeforever version,” he says. “(The paid-subscription version) is going to be priced competitively and be affordable for any size farm operation.”

For more information visit www.farmdock.com.

Editor’s note: The FarmDock app is a product of Glacier FarmMedia, owner of Grainews and other Farm Business Communications publications and the Western Producer. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.

Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

10

/ grainews.ca

APRIL 8, 2014

Features CROP PRODUCTION

Volunteer canola in Roundup Ready soybeans As soybean acreage increases, growers will have to find ways to manage volunteer canola

BY JULIENNE ISAACS

T

he last time a weed survey was done in Manitoba — more than five years ago — there was no need to collect data on the impact of volunteer canola on soybean yields, as there weren’t enough soybean acres to justify the work.

Just a few years later, soybeans are a major crop in Western Canada, often grown in rotation with canola, and growers are noticing more of an issue with volunteer canola in their Roundup Ready soybean fields.

ECONOMIC THRESHOLDS According to Rob Gulden, a weed specialist in the Weed Ecology and Management Lab at the University of Manitoba, there is virtually no data yet on the problem of volunteer canola in Roundup Ready soybeans. “Things can look pretty bad at times, but we don’t have numbers,” he says. “Last time (the weed survey was done in Manitoba) we didn’t have enough acres to survey soybeans, so I suspect that this time around, because soybeans are our third biggest crop, they

will be surveyed. We do need the numbers on this.”

Gulden and his students are two years into a four-year study focusing on the impact of volunteer canola on Roundup Ready soybeans. The first stage, according to Gulden, involved collecting threshold data — in other words, assessing the environmental and economic action thresholds that should be reached before growers begin spraying.

Paul Gregoire, a student involved in Gulden’s project, has generated initial estimates of thresholds, although final numbers are not yet

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available. “In terms of five per cent yield loss, comparing narrow and wide-row production systems, his estimates are somewhere between one plant per square metre and 10 plants per square metre,” says Gulden, “So an average of two to eight, depending.

“If you assume five per cent yield losses in soybeans will pay for your herbicide, that’s where it becomes economically viable to spray.”

Gulden’s student Charles Geddes is studying cultural methods of controlling volunteer canola, work which will continue for the next year or two. “Canola is a fast crop out of the ground and soybean is slow. So Charles is looking at planting density and row spacing — wide row soybean and inter-row tillage. It seems to work quite well, in terms of controlling volunteer canola, when you narrow the row spacing to 15-inch rows,” says Gulden.

“That makes sense — you want the crop to occupy as much space as you can as quickly as you can.

Increasing the seeding rates, in comparison, had relatively little impact.”

This year, the team begins studying herbicides, and they’ll continue collecting data for the next two or three years. “Hopefully we’ll get some survey data in the meantime, and that will help a lot in giving meaning to the parts we’re doing,” says Gulden.

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Gulden’s project is primarily sponsored by the Manitoba Pulse Growers Association and ARDI, but other sponsors such as Monsanto are also involved. Sean Dilk, a technology development manager for Monsanto, says growers have been focused on the management of volunteer canola in their soybean acres for years and already have a handle on effective control methods. When volunteer canola is controlled properly there is virtually no impact to yields, he says.

However, this also depends on the volunteer canola. “There are quite a few factors that come into play,” Dilk says. “How many weeds there are, what stage they

emerge in relation to the crop, and whether they are up before or after the crop.

“But the fact is that growers want to control the volunteer canola that’s in their Roundup Ready soybeans. They want a proactive strategy. They don’t want it to go to seed and shatter and return to the weed seed bank,” he says.

According to Dilk, the industry has been doing an excellent job disseminating information on how best to control the weed, promoting tank mixes, pre-mixes and the use of multiple modes of action. He believes growers are using every strategy they can to prevent volunteer canola from impacting soybean yields.

Target volunteers before the four-leaf stage “Even if they see a few volunteer canola plants they’re throwing in a tank mix partner, because they want to control that volunteer canola,” he says. “Adding that additional mode of action to glyphosate is an excellent way to protect glyphosate as an effective weed management tool.”

Dilk recommends that growers target volunteers before they reach the four-leaf stage, because if canola plants are allowed to go to seed, they shatter and the seeds return to the weed seed bank. Based on the data collected in field-scale trials, he says that applying Heat or Valtera herbicides, prior to planting, is growers’ best bet.

Usually, this will help prevent any issues with volunteers, but if growers notice a second flush in-crop, they can follow up with Viper or Odyssey. “After that your soybean crop will canopy and you won’t see any weeds,” he says. † Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer and editor. Contact her at julienne. isaacs@gmail.com.

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APRIL 8, 2014

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11

Features CROP PRODUCTION

Controlling downy brome This aggressive weed can be confused with fall rye. Luckily, there are several ways to keep it under control

BY MELANIE EPP

D

owny brome is a winter annual grass that is a problem in every Canadian province except Newfoundland. A prolific seed producer, it germinates in the fall and overwinters as a seedling. Come spring, it resumes growth rapidly.

Generally, downy brome starts heading in late April to early May. By late April, it has an extensive, fibrous root system that is hard to control with tillage, making it especially problematic in no-till or minimum till systems.

An aggressive grassy weed, downy brome is a threat to winter and spring cereals, pastures and rangeland and dry hayfields. In both Saskatchewan and Alberta, it is considered a noxious weed.

“It’s the lower category of the two,” says Nicole Kimmel, weed specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “If you do have downy brome you are obligated to control it so that it does not spread.”

bringing in a certified crop advisor or someone with expertise in grasses.

CONTROLLING DOWNY BROME Josh Fankhauser farms some 7,000 acres of cropland in Claresholm, Alta. Growing a wide range of crops — winter and spring wheat, yellow peas, canola, flax and barley — Fankhauser says downy brome has been a problem on his farm, especially in winter cereals and forage production. For control, Fankhauser has tried products like Simplicity and Everest, with a preference for Simplicity.

“In the fall cereals — because they germinate at the same time and the way you’re spraying — you don’t really have a chance to whack it with glyphosate before you seed, so it’s been pretty hard,” he says. “In the spring crops, it hasn’t been such a big problem, especially since you can spray glyphosate and set it back enough that it doesn’t rear its head until late fall.”

Downy brome is one of the earliest plants to get going in the spring, says Neeser, which makes it a particular challenge in winter wheat. Control options, he says, are limited, but he agrees that Simplicity

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Good rotations are key In the seedling stage, downy brome can be confused with fall rye. While both are purplish in colour, downy brome does not have auricles (those small hooks that encircle the stem at the base of the leaf blade). Once fully grown, the plant has densely hairy leaves and sheaths, a soft, drooping panicle and long, thin awned spikelets.

A lot of producers don’t notice it until it’s too late, says Neeser.

“It sort of has a fuzzy appearance and you don’t notice it until there’s a solid stand.”

Kimmel agrees that identification is difficult. “You’re looking for a grass in a grass. It’s not being found very easily or fast enough, so it’s getting out of control before it’s being recognized as a problem.”

When producers suspect they may have a problem with downy brome, Kimmel recommends

does a fairly good job. Another option is a grass herbicide called Assure II. Its active ingredient is quizalofop. With Northstar winter wheat growers have another option, Sencor.

The seed survives for up to three years, making good control extremely important, says Neeser.

And it can creep into fields from the margins along the roadside.

“A farmer should keep a close eye on the field margins and if downy brome is there then action is required,” he says.

Where possible, a pre-seed burn down herbicide is recommended; usually something mixed with glyphosate, like florasulam,

says Neeser. “Glyphosate controls downy brome quite well, and so does florasulam.”

Fankhauser says that while products do work, good rotations are key when managing for downy brome.

“Our general attitude is if you’ve got too much of one weed it’s probably because your cultural practice or your rotations are out of whack,” says Fankhauser. “So if one weed starts to look worse than all of the others and starts to become a problem you better start thinking about your rotations and adjust it to combat that problem.”

According to a report issued

by Alberta Agriculture, in minimum or no-till systems, glyphosate applied in late fall or early spring does provide better control than tillage, especially in cool, wet conditions. After heading, higher rates of glyphosate will be required. †

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APRIL 8, 2014

Features CROP PRODUCTION

Managing oat fertility If you’re growing oats, here are five nutrients to watch

BY LISA GUENTHER

W

hen it comes to oat fertility, soil testing is key, Thom Weir told CropSphere delegates in Saskatoon this past January. Weir is a senior agronomist with Farmers Edge at Yorkton, Sask.

Here are five nutrients oat growers should keep an eye on.

1. NITROGEN “It takes about a pound of nitrogen to grow a bushel of oats,” said Weir.

Soils lose nitrogen through crop removal, residue removal, denitrification, leaching and volatile loss.

Nitrogen is socked away through fertilizer application, lightning

strikes, fixation by rhizobium bacteria and fixation by other living organisms in the soil. In his book Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water, Les Henry notes little nitrogen is added by lightning or fixation by soil organisms other than rhizobium bacteria.

“Most people I think assume that their nitrogen is virtually all available. It’s actually only 50 per cent available for the current crop, or 50 per cent removed by the current crop,” said Weir.

That doesn’t mean the system is bleeding a lot of nitrogen. Some goes into straw, roots and weeds, Weir said. “In a no-till scenario we’re about 85 to 95 per cent effective efficiencies on nitrogen.”

Knowing how much organic matter soils contain is also useful,

as “organic matter is a sponge that holds a lot of nutrients,” said Weir.

Black soil with five per cent organic matter will hold about 5,000 lbs./ac. of nitrogen in the first six inches, Henry writes. Crops will access a small percentage of that total each year through mineralization.

Varying levels of organic matter can account for the fluctuating yield monitor, especially on sloping land. “It’s not necessarily the fertilizer you put on. It’s the nitrogen that’s released from the mineralization of the organic matter in the soil,” said Weir.

2. PHOSPHATE As farmers have pushed yields, phosphate rates haven’t increased,

Weir said. Peas often don’t see any phosphate, and many farmers dial back the phosphate with flax, too, he added. And farmers can only apply limited amounts of phosphate in the seed row with canola because of toxicity.

“And so we’re shorting the system,” said Weir.

Weir compared the soil’s ability to hold phosphate to a bank.

“The whole story is you only use 20 per cent of what you put on.

The other 80 per cent goes in the bank account.”

Cereals give farmers a chance to bank phosphate for future crops.

Weir suggested oat growers bump phosphate applications to 30 or 40 pounds to balance the rotation.

Henry writes the phosphate soil test works well if farmers and agronomists know what to look for. If a huge deficiency is shown, farmers should apply phosphate fertilizer. If the test shows a huge surplus, such as 65 lbs./ac. in the first six inches, phosphate fertilizer probably isn’t needed. With

a soil test showing between 15 and 40 lbs./ac., a crop response is a coin toss, Henry writes.

3. POTASH “If you’re going to use potash, you’ve got to get serious about it,” said Weir.

“Putting on five or six pounds of potash is the equivalent of putting on five or six pounds of nitrogen,” he added. “When we’re talking a crop needing 100 to 150 lbs./ac., putting on that little amount in a bank that you probably have 200, 300 pounds or more in the soil is really not worth doing.”

Weir said there are two reasons farmers might apply potash. One is to boost early crop growth in cold, wet weather, which would require 15 to 20 pounds in the seedrow.

Anything less than 15 pounds isn’t going to trigger a crop response, Weir said, and will cause problems. “Potash has sharp edges and tends to break off pieces of sulphur which turns into dust that picks up moisture that gums up your drill.”

If soil tests reveal potassiumdeficient soils, broadcasting is just as effective as seedrow application. Weir suggested broadcasting 40 to 60 pounds to build deficient soils.

Potassium deficiencies will show up in the lower leaves, Henry notes. Leaves will look scorched and dead. Soil tests showing less than 120 pounds of potassium in the first six inches should spur farmers to apply plenty of fertilizer. Anything between 121 and 180 pounds means farmers can probably get by with lower rates of seed placed fertilizer, Henry writes.

Most Prairie soils have plenty of potassium. Weir noted that peat soils can be deficient. Henry writes that soils around Carrot River, Sask, and Manitoba’s Almassippi soils are known to be deficient.

4. COPPER “If you’ve got peat on the quarter, there’s definitely a good chance that it’s going to respond to copper,” said Weir. High organic matter sands are also likely to show a copper deficiency.

To correct the deficiency, Weir suggested applying a foliar copper product to half the field with the fungicide at the flag leaf stage, leaving half of the field as a check.

5. SULPHUR

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Some soils, such as Grey Wooded, are notorious for being short on sulphur. But continuous cropping, canola’s popularity and higher yields add up to more sulphur deficiencies, Henry notes. And while soil tests will reveal sulphur deficiencies, tests showing plenty of sulphur can be off. Henry writes a little gypsum anywhere in a quarter can skew sulphur soil test results.

Weir suggested oat growers apply five to 15 pounds of sulphur with oats.

“For the most part sulphur’s not going to go anywhere. So putting on 15 pounds of sulphur in your oats will mean that you may be able to back off five pounds when you go to your canola crop.” † Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.

Guenther@fbcpublishing.com.

2014-03-24 12:01 PM

APRIL 8, 2014

grainews.ca /

13

Features GRAIN TRANSPORTATION

Brazil invests in rail transportation Like Canada, Brazil is experiencing transportation troubles.

New investment and a revised system may resolve these issues

BY LISA GUENTHER

C

anadian farmers aren’t the only ones wrestling with transportation logistics. Brazil has its own transportation woes, a soybean industry executive told delegates at the Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas, in February.

“We do a pretty good job within our farmgate. Our farmers are really as efficient as an American farmer, as farmers here in the mid-west,” said Marcelo Duarte Monteiro, executive director of APROSOJA, the soybean producers association in Brazil.

“But outside the farmgate, even though we’ve made a lot of progress in the last two years, there’s still a long way to go.”

Brazil’s main soybean region sits in Mato Grosso, which is a long way from export terminals. Trucks do most of the hauling, which costs four or five times what it would to use waterways, Duarte Monteiro said.

And high transportation costs wreak havoc with the basis, he added. “I mean, we were talking about $3.50 a bushel corn. And that’s exactly the negative basis we have in the middle of the state of Mato Grosso with our logistics.

It means corn is worth nothing in that market if it hits $3.50.”

The bidding process was delayed, but bidding on the first railway should wrap this year, Duarte Monteiro said. This first railway will run east from Mato Grosso, connecting the soybean state to the coast.

A north-south railroad is being built as well and Duarte Monteiro told delegates it should be ready within five years.

Right now only one company can use a rail line, creating monopolies on each line, Duarte Monteiro said.

But the Brazilian government is trying to change the system so that one company would control the track. That company wouldn’t be able to haul freight.

Instead, it would charge other companies to ship freight on its lines, much like a toll road.

Several companies would haul freight on the same line.

The company charging the toll would have to invest in the tracks.

To offset risk, the government is trying to guarantee a minimum freight volume. “And if they don’t get that volume, the government would pay them for the difference,” Duarte Monteiro explained.

Duarte Monteiro said the new model “seems quite smart.”

“That brings competition to the same rail line. But it’s a new model so that comes with a lot of challenges as well that we’re getting right now.”

ROADS UPGRADED Brazil’s government has also tagged nine main roads for private sector investment. Companies that win the bids must widen and maintain the roads, in exchange for charging tolls for 30 years, Duarte Monteiro explained.

The main soybean route, BR-163, connects Mato Grosso to the northern port of Santarem.

The company that won the bid to upgrade that road has five years to add two lanes to the road, said Duarte Monteiro. He said the road should be finished next year, and more roads are expected to be in place in the next few years, too.

Railways and roads aren’t the

only parts of the logistics system seeing investment. There are also six trans-loading terminals going up along the Tapagos River, at the port of Miritituba, said Duarte Monteiro. Soybeans will be trucked from Mato Grosso to Miritituba. Some will flow north on the Tapagos to the Amazon, while others may sail to the east coast.

Duarte Monteiro acknowledged Brazil faces plenty of infrastructure challenges.

“But we have a stable situation.

We have a stable democracy,” he said. † Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.

Guenther@sasktel.net. With files from Reuters.

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The private sector plans to invest US$40 billion Cargill operates grain terminals in Santarem, which sits at the junction of the Tapagos and Amazon Rivers, north of Mato Grosso. The company used to truck all its soy 1,500 kilometres west from Mato Grosso to Porto Velho. From there it was loaded on river barges, floated up to Santarem, and then on to the coast.

Duarte Monteiro said although there are 44,000 kilometres of potential waterways in Brazil, only 13,000 kilometres are being used. “There is no investment at all in our waterways and that is something we’re trying to change as well,” he said.

Part of the problem was the government’s poor administration of PAC, Brazil’s transportation infrastructure program, Duarte Monteiro told delegates. “Between 2007 and 2012, only 60 per cent of the entire budget was actually put into works, which means that they were not efficient enough to get on the ground.”

But Brazil’s federal government is now bringing in private sector investment into infrastructure, said Duarte Monteiro. And the country is revamping the very way railways operate.

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2014-01-08 4:18 PM

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APRIL 8, 2014

Columns MANAGEMENT MINUTE

Success or mess Setting clear goals is an important part of successful farm succession. It could mean the difference between success and mess pendently of other areas within a successful business transition. We liken a successful business transition to an operating planetary gear. Our aim is to share the successful traits and habits in each of these components that we have seen to be crucial in a successful business transition.

ANDREW DERUYCK

MARK SLOANE

GOALS

T

his is the second article in our series on succession. You may recall from our introductory article that we looked back over the last 10 years identifying successes and messes in business transitions that we’ve witnessed. We’ve developed an extensive list of reasons why those transitions were successful or what caused them to go off the rails. We grouped this list into categories and eventually we ended up with five key areas that captured our list.

It was obvious to us at that point that none of these five key areas or components operate inde-

The first gear we want to green light or pro check is “goals” at the centre of our planetary. Goals are one of those soft squishy areas that many hard-handed farmers don’t really want to spend a lot of time thinking about or discussing. For retiring generations, the acceptance of our own mortality really isn’t exciting or encouraging.

One has to appreciate that the “goals” gear is at the center of our planetary model for a reason.

Goals overlap with respect to family, business and asset ownership.

If they are ignored, the mess may be waiting around the corner.

As we write this article, the Canadian Olympic team is up two to nothing and we wonder, what

would hockey look like without any thought towards strategy.

How would the game be played if all 12 guys on the ice were just doing their own thing without any understanding of what they were hoping to accomplish as a team. The game would be so poor that next thing you know we’d be watching Duck Dynasty reruns or, worse yet, Olympic figure skating.

So, the first step to a success is setting goals Poor goals are barely better than no goals at all. In our dissection of successful transitions, we found the goals were SMART (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Framed). Goals that meet these criteria are easy for everyone involved and responsible to sink their teeth into and clearly commit to achievement.

For example, we worked with a large family farm with tremendous wealth — large enough that the entire generation that was still in elementary school could have a place there. One of their clearly defined business goals was net income growth of 10 per cent per year. The value of this goal wasn’t

necessarily the 10 per cent extra net income as much as the focus that it provided to their planning.

It pushed management and ownership to think of new revenue streams and rethink existing ones such that efficiency and returns were always planned for and frequently achieved.

TWO COMMON RETIREMENT GOALS Goals need to be clear and understood by both generations.

We have seen great success when the retiring generation chooses one of two priorities.

The first is to retire with plans and goals outside of the farm business, such as travel, hobbies, investments or other activities. The resources they don’t need to fulfill their retirement goals often remain to support the farm business. Harry Fosdick, a well-known preacher in the early 1900’s and the author of some 47 books once said, “Don’t simply retire from something, have something to retire to.”

The other priority we encounter is one where the retiring generation is absolutely committed to providing support to the farm business through succession, and willing to retire on whatever means necessary or available.

Neither approach is wrong but not clearly setting a priority can result in both generations floundering without focus until someone either loses their mind or someone loses interest.

A “mess” can result from goals that are non-existent, not written, vague, always changing, unmeasureable, or more dreams than goals.

Sometimes, when we come onto the scene, each generation seems to be waiting to set their goals in anticipation or assumption of what they would like the other generation to do. SMART goals force each of us to focus on what we can control. Goals for the older generation are important as they often revolve around capital and equity. The younger generation’s goals are equally important — they revolve around commitment to labour, energy and vision.

Goals don’t just provide you with an agreed upon end point to get everyone working together but also a measuring stick and evaluation tool that allows you to look back and evaluate your approach or better yet, learn a lesson.

My grandfather always said, “None of life’s lessons are free.”

It’s easy to tell when we are working with an operation that has discussed and set some goals. The process of discussing and setting goals is not easy, but farm businesses that develop good habits reap the rewards. † Andrew DeRuyck and Mark Sloane manage two farming operations in southern Manitoba and are partners in Right Choice Management Consulting. With over 25 years of cumulative experience, they offer support in farm management, financial management, strategic planning and mediation services.

They can be reached at andrewd@goinet.ca and sloanefarms@hotmail.com or 204-8257392 and 204-825-8443.

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APRIL 8, 2014

grainews.ca /

15

Columns Hart Attacks

Dinner times — they are a changin’ If adding “gluten free” to the label of Lee Hart’s ham is a good marketing tactic, it can’t hurt Grainews

By Lee Hart

I

believe with this issue, Grainews is now officially gluten free.

You can now read it and not get wheat belly, or otherwise gain weight from a carb overload.

I made the decision to declare Grainews gluten free after opening a package of Maple Leaf ham for lunch the other day and noticing one of the red letter claims regarding the health benefits of this ham is that it was in fact gluten free.

Initially I was very excited, but then being a skeptic I had to wonder why would any ham, pure and natural, ever contain gluten to begin with? I can’t wait to find watermelons that are gluten free, grown with no growth hormones and no antibiotics.

I figured if gluten free marketing worked for ham, it could work for a farm magazine.

This whole healthy eating thing is getting out of hand. Especially when it affects my dinner table.

When our small family all gathers for a Sunday dinner it becomes a culinary challenge to get everyone happily fed — especially me.

My wife is going on holidays soon and wants to lose five pounds. She has been avoiding carbohydrates like bread and potatoes. I live on carbs.

To my right, our daughter has

recently been on a gluten free, no dairy, no eggs diet. She had a few health concerns and her naturopath suggested this diet.

Talk about limiting.

On the other side of the table, my son’s girlfriend is lactose intolerant — so again no dairy there.

My son, who is tall and trim has no limitations really, other than there are certain foods he doesn’t like — and if there happens to be gluten and dairy-free cake and ice cream for dessert the two food items just can’t touch each other on the same plate. Touching food doesn’t work for him.

My son-in-law is pretty well a general-purpose eater and likes just about everything, and is willing to try most. His only limitation is he prefers meat to be cooked well done, which is something I have to keep in mind when I’m at the barbecue. That moment between medium rare and leather isn’t very forgiving.

No one in the above crowd likes liver, except me.

So any meal that works for everyone has to free of any grain products, no dairy, no eggs, no starch, nothing deep fried, not include turkey or fish (because someone doesn’t like those), needs to be well cooked and eaten off separate plates because different foods can’t touch.

The only thing that comes right down the middle and might work for everyone is a bowl of chickpeas, but then you’re getting into those pulse crops and let’s not forget the always looming concern over gas.

My Mom use to fry fat-lined pork chops served with mashed potatoes and gravy, a bowl of peas dressed up with a bit of flour, butter and mint, accompanied by plain white bread and real butter, and often one or two kinds of pie or chocolate cake for dessert. And if you wanted a drink you had a glass of 100 per cent whole, unpasteurized milk. And amazingly no one at that table ate that meal (and many similar ones) and died.

Granted the odd person got a little heavier, but otherwise they left the table full and feeling content.

I am not sure what has happened in the world!

The other day I was having lunch with some people at a work conference in Banff and the young couple sitting across from me were gluten free folks.

They both ordered some specialty burger, but without the bun.

Salad instead of fries.

The young man said he had been gluten free for several weeks. He said he felt a lot better, no aches and pains, and he B:10.25” had lost 27 pounds.

T:10.25” That weight loss part caught my

Grainews and ham — two fine gluten free products that should keep you healthier and smarter. attention. But… a burger without a bun, and no fries… that is a pretty drastic move.

I guess I could eat mine with a gluten-free bun, but we bought some of those a while ago and get this, we bought them in September 2013 and the bestbest-before date was September 2014 — what’s in there?

My wife worked with a gal who would only eat “happy meat.”

That’s certified organic, humanely raised, hormone- and antibioticfree, and is so thrilled to be of service to humans it runs to the

packing plant. Our tribe hasn’t gone that route yet, we’re still enjoying conventionally-tortured animal products. For now.

And if the table ever goes nonGMO, I may just have to sit in my truck and eat a properly buttered, white bread, liver and onion sandwich by myself. Maybe I can convert the storage console between the seats into a canola oil deep fryer to whip up fries and corn fritters. † Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

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APRIL 8, 2014

Columns CAN’T TAKE THE FARM FROM THE BOY

From sod houses to brain games For early Prairie settlers, life and expectations were very different than they are for today’s farmers TOBAN DYCK

O

n January 14, 1879 it was -32 C, without wind chill. And on the Prairies in winter, there is always a wind chill. “Intrepid” describes only a few people — and possibly no one who is alive today.

Jacob Banman was a real per-

son. He was intrepid. The Banmans braved the harsh, Prairie winters, surviving its severities decades before motors, snowblowers and HBO. And it’s likely they didn’t have the time or feel entitled enough to complain about the conditions. The promise of a new life, distant from Russian oppression, only strengthened their resolve.

Let’s not blame ourselves for the battery of far-from-intrepid traits that separate us from Mr. Banman and other Prairie settlers. We did not ask for them, and to say things

have changed — that people have changed — since the 1870s is not a rationalization.

The juxtaposition is stark.

And it’s a leap to make it, a leap that clears all that has changed between the late 1800s and 2014.

To mention Lumosity.com sits at odds with the telling of the Prairie settler experience. But doing so also highlights one specific and somewhat humiliating difference between those who believe they need the luxury of brain training offered through the website and

Pictured is the wood house the Banmans built around 1900. Family and crews are pictured in this mid-century photo moving the house to make way for a newer one. those who are perhaps more like Mr. Banman.

“I work out my body, but it’s harder to work out my brain,” the company’s TV spot informs viewers.

“Lumosity.com is based on neuroscience, and it just feels like games, but it’s serious brain training.”

The company’s existence and presumed success speaks to an

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embarrassing fragility — to be dissatisfied with one’s brain. Those who settled the Canadian Prairies did not play brain games.

THE STORY Imagine the following less a collection of historical facts, and more a series of moves that actually happened. It’s a history worth preserving in an academic library.

This is a story, to be read by readers and told by storytellers.

You are now with Jacob Banman in Russia. You observe in him the dream, the hope that from nothing, from this fresh start, will come freedom and eventually prosperity.

Mr. Banman arrived in Manitoba with about 7,999 other Mennonites between 1873 and 1884. Moving is difficult. Moving to a new land, full of promise and unknowns, would be even more so. But such a risk must have seemed the best course.

“The first thing you’d do was figure out where you were going to put your sod house. Then you’d plow out that. Maybe 16 by 24.

That is feet. You could make it any size. You see, what you were working with was the native soil and it was tough,” an excerpt from Memories of Settlers Who Opened the West by Barry Broadfoot.

The decision of where to dig must have felt arbitrary in 1878.

Mr. Banman chose a spot, an area, dug it out, and stacked the sod needed to build the first house on what is now a Heritage Farm.

The Dominion Lands Act was a golden ticket for the settlers who could hack it. Many died trying to farm, and many moved further west or east to Ontario, giving up the acres they purchased for the token fee of $10 per 160 acres.

Surveyed plots closest to towns and railways were chosen first, forcing later settlers further from towns, supplies and closer to scarcity. Mr. Banman’s plot was a couple miles from town, a distance that on January 14, 1879 will have seemed a world away.

Most homesteaders lived in tents while they built their sod houses. It makes sense that the Banmans did the same. It had two bedrooms by the time it was finished. “Sod” conjures misleading images, keep in mind. Many plastered the interior walls of their houses. And many such homes had smart-looking interiors. Style wasn’t completely abandoned to survival.

The Banmans will have needed a garden for vegetables, a cow for milk, wood for heat, and the ability to hunt and process wild game.

Adversity and the shared goal of survival bound most homesteaders to their neighbours. Doors were kept unlocked, and lanterns were kept burning as guides for those travelling at night. These bonds built communities, and the fun that was once confined to

APRIL 8, 2014

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17

Columns Kelly’s AgExpert tips and hints

Toban Dyck is a freelance writer and a new farmer on an old farm. Follow him on Twitter @tobandyck or email tobandyck@gmail.com.

Get the most from AgExpert Analyst For better farm management, get the most out of your farm accounting software Editor’s note: We realize that not all Grainews readers use FCC’s AgExpert software for their farm accounting, but it is a very commonly used program. We’ve added Kelly to our columnist line up in hopes that her accounting tips and tricks can save everyone a little time, and hopefully some money.

— Leeann

By Kelly Airey

A

gricultural is an evolving industry. Only a few generations back we were working a few small acres with the horse and plough; now we run big equipment on large pieces of land.

With industry changes come changes in paperwork requirements.

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a successful farmer is being a strong manager and having the appropriate information at your fingertips to make management decisions. Farm C r e d i t C a n a d a ’s A g E x p e r t Analyst Accounting Software helps all types of agricultural producers manage their farm finances, and organize the information needed to know your bottom line.

I am glad to have this oppor-

tunity to introduce myself as an AgExpert Certified Advisor who has worked with the AgExpert Analyst Software for a number of years. I love using the program. My family runs a grain farm, a feedlot and cow-calf operation, and we raise registered quarter horses in western Manitoba. AgExpert Analyst has been the key to our maintaining a successful operation! I currently work through my Ag Consulting business to assist fellow farmers get setup and using the software. As well, I teach AgExpert courses in everything from setting up a new data file to using the inventory, payroll, and management tools.

I’m excited to have the opportunity to reach out to fellow farmers across the Prairies, and offer you monthly hints and tips for using this software! I will bring your attention to new features, timesavers and tips for making the most out of the program. Next month I will be giving you some great tips on effectively working with payables and receivables, including ways to avoid some common errors. † Kelly Airey is a farmer and ag consultant at Strathclair, Manitoba. If you’re interested in purchasing AgExpert software, she can help you receive $25 off your purchase.

Contact Kelly at kelly.agconsulting@gmail. com or (204) 365-2442.

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a single homestead soon became neighbourhood events.

Many farms failed within the first few years, according to records of the time. There were “disastrous attempts” at homesteading and high levels of transiency.

For those with an appreciation of the everyday, prosperity probably meant surviving. It’s likely one poor yield, a failed plow or a death in his herd could have ended his career and made his a “disastrous attempt” statistic. Wheat prices were low, and must have forced second thoughts. But Mr. Banman and his family survived.

Commodity prices were low at the start. It’s unclear how this affected him, as his beginning years were spent working as a farmhand in exchange for the use of horses to break his own land. If he farmed his own land before 1890, he would have been forced to deal with the poor wheat prices, a result, in part, of high shipping costs.

In the early 1890s, that changed.

Wheat prices began to rise, as transportation costs decreased after a deal was reached between the Canadian government and the Canadian Pacific Railway. The rail company received government funding to allow them to extend their lines into the newly discovered mineral-rich zones of British Columbia via the Crowsnest Pass in exchange for eastbound and westbound rate reductions.

Conditions were ripe for Mr. Banman to start building a successful farm. In the early 1900s, he moved his family out of the sod and into a two-story, wood house.

Sheds and barns were built.

Steam, gang plows and threshing machines allowed agriculture production to surge. When wheat prices skyrocketed during WWI, it’s even more likely Mr. Banman, or his son, Abram, would have purchased more land. Between 1901 and 1931, the amount of worked land in the Prairies leaped from 1.5 to 16.4 million hectares.

Mr. Banman’s farm built endured the Depression. His choices amid the advent of new technologies were smart and farsighted enough to see the farm through the droughts and dismal commodity prices of the 1930s.

Mr. Banman had the right stuff, starting a farm that now spans 1,200 acres and is still in the family.

It’s only a dimple now, but it’s clear where that first house was. There are apple trees nearby, and the site is only a 100 or so metres from the farm’s current main house.

The farm no longer requires horses. Its machinery would be unrecognizable to Mr. Banman.

The mechanized harvester waiting in the machine shed for fall is roughly twice as big as that first sod house. And surviving winter is no longer a goal reserved for the intrepid few. The farm now has motors, snowblowers, and HBO. The farm’s family name has changed since Mr. Banman broke its ground. Jacob’s son, Abram, married widower Helen Dyck and passed the farm to her son, my grandpa, John Dyck. The farm survived and grew.

There’s a weight to taking up such a mantle, a weight that demands less fragility, fewer brain games, and more time spent breaking new ground, appreciating the everyday, the simple, a good laugh. It started in 1878, and the 2014 seeding season is a couple months away. †

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APRIL 8, 2014

Columns SOILS AND CROPS

Potassium fertilization Some argue that farmers don’t need potash fertilizer and potassium soil tests are useless; Les Henry disagrees LES HENRY

S

ome recent press has suggested that: 1. Potash fertilizer is a waste of money; and, 2. The potassium soil test is useless.

Saskatchewan is the hotbed of potash mining. It pays good coin to our provincial coffers so we take it seriously.

Work on potash fertilizers in Saskatchewan started in the 40s and 50s with little or no yield response to potassium. The con-

clusion was that our soils were well supplied. We did not need the good potash that rests comfortably 1,000 metres below our soils.

The first potash mine did not come on stream until the 1960s.

A curious and experienced Elephant Brand (then CM&S, later Cominco, now Agrium) fertilizer dealer from Nipawin begged to differ. Roy Lanz said he had farmers who were getting great responses to potassium fertilizer. So, in the late 50s the Soil Science Department at the University of Saskatchewan did more potassium field experiments west of Nipawin and still found no response.

Then came 1966. Don Rennie convinced Saskatchewan

Agriculture to pony up enough coin to set up and start operating the Saskatchewan Soil Testing Lab. He hired Ed Halstead as the first director. Ed was sporting a fresh PhD from Purdue University under the famous Stan Barber.

When Ed was planning the lab he said he was going to run available potassium tests on all samples. Lesser lights like Les Henry argued strongly that it was a waste of time. Any number of experiments had shown our soils were well supplied and we did not need it. Thank goodness Ed was way too smart to listen to me and potassium tests were run.

Guess what? The Carrot River soils east of Nipawin were as potassium deficient as any

This photo was taken in 1968, of barley growing near Carrot River, Sask.

The centre three rows had no potassium, and grew almost no barley.

Adding potassium took yields from 10 to 60 bushels per acre. known in the world. The 1966 farm soil tests showed it up. So, in 1967 Ed started simple field strip tests to check out the soil test. I was in charge of field work then so did the experiments that Ed designed.

The Saskatchewan Potash industry was just getting going, so were anxious to see more plots and helped with the funding.

Many years of Potassium Soil Test Calibration work was done and a reliable set of potassium soil test benchmarks were set up.

I did much of that work and was very involved in extending the information to farmers. Many thought I was responsible, but all credit is due to Ed Halstead (1933-2008), a Nokomis farm boy.

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Back to our original two points.

1. Yes, it is true that many farmers can get by very well without potassium. On my Dundurn farm I have yet to use a pound of it.

The most potassium deficient soils are the Carrot River soils of Sask. and the Almassippi soils of Manitoba. Sandy and peaty soils across the north of all three provinces can have potassium deficiency.

A few years ago when potassium fertilizer prices went through the roof and some were encouraging buying before it went even higher, I said “wait, prices will come down.” And they did.

2. The potassium soil test is the best soil test we have. If a zero to six inch soil sample shows less than 100 pounds of potassium per acre, you’d better be using potassium, or you won’t be farming long. When the zero to six inch soil test potassium is more than 250 lbs./ac., potassium will not be a big issue on your farm.

Those that say the potassium test does not work are dealing with a range of high potassium soils that are not deficient.

There may be medium- to highpotassium soils where an occasional small response is obtained —perhaps as much due to the chloride as the K. If grain prices are high and fertilizer prices low, a small response can make money.

But the big money is made where real deficiencies occur.

Author’s note: After 37 years you can well imagine that some topics are dealt with more than once — this one several times. For another look at the same topic see “Grainews” page 13, June 4, 2012. † 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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Columns GUARDING WEALTH

Find a safe shelter in bonds Take shelter in bonds as stocks hit highs and the world sweats out the Ukraine crisis

BY ANDREW ALLENTUCK

M

aking off-farm investments is tough these days.

Stocks are trading at their highs with barely a step backwards since 2011. Investment grade bonds pay very little interest. House prices are forecast to tumble after a big run up since 2009. What’s a farmer to do with off-farm investments?

The problem in part is looking at markets with a long-range view and using the right strategies and tactics for what many would say is a recovery that is already long in the tooth.

The dilemma investors face is that the recovery appears to be fizzling out. The recovery problem, specifically its weakness, is manifest in the lack of inflation.

Unemployment has declined in both Canada and the U.S. to acceptable levels consistent with growing Gross Domestic Product, but inflation is far below the mid-target range of two per cent in each country.

Stocks return more than bonds over periods of 20 or more years.

Moreover, we are at the end of a massive and prolonged bull market in bonds. However, interest rates are rising. Bond investments are at risk in this environment, but there are low risk ways to make them work.

It is wise to seek haven

BACK TO BONDS In stocks, there is no getting away from market risk. But let’s go back to bonds. Ten-year U.S. Treasury bonds and Government of Canada bonds are trading in a range in which yields are 2.4 to 2.8 per cent. Prices, which move opposite to yields, are seemingly range bound. You will not get rich investing for such returns and, after inflation and tax, there will be barely anything left. But trade the range and you can do very nicely indeed. Here’s how.

The concept is to buy an 2.37 per cent. When the yield on investment grade corporate bond the Canada bond rises to 2.7 per with very little default risk and cent, the price would be $90.25. match it to a short sale of a The short would thus pay the difgovernment bond. The corporate ference, $2.58. You can sell and bond yields a good deal more pocket your profit. The same trade than a government bond. It is would work on U.S. corporates not default proof, but it is invest- matched to U.S. Treasuries of the ment grade and you should not same term. The trick is to keep go out more than 10 years, just maturities fairly well matched. to reduce default risk. After all, as If straddling bond prices seems time increases, even the biggest complex, then you can still buy companies can have trouble.

U.S. Treasuries as actual bonds or For example, you can buy a as units of exchange traded funds Loblaw 4.86 per cent bond due with low management fees as a Sept. 12, 2023 recently priced hedge against stock market mayto yield 3.97 per cent. At the hem that may be caused by tumult same time, you sell a Government in the Ukraine and the question of Canada bond with a 1.5 per of who governs the Crimea. Every time the Kremlin rattles its sword, cent coupon due June 1, 2023 T:8.125” recently priced at $92.83 to yield stocks swoon. U.S. Treasuries offer

safe haven and the possibility of taking profits on geopolitical jitters. This tactic will work with any U.S. Treasury bond and, to a lesser extent, with Government of Canada bonds.

It is wise to seek haven, but foolish to go far into the future. The worst case is that the move into government bonds does not work out. A 10n-year bond may drop in price if interest rates soar in a recovery. At least with the 10-year bond, you’d get your money back in a reasonable period of time. If you want that period to be even more reasonable, keep your term down to no more than five years. † Andrew Allentuck’s latest book, “When Can I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work,” was published in 2011 by Penguin Canada.

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Stocks as an alternative to bonds are a very mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly. The Standard & Poor’s Composite Index of the 500 largest American public companies has been hitting new highs. The S&P’s multiple of price to expected annual earnings is now about 16. That means it will take 16 years to earn back an investment in the index.

When investors worry about the market as a whole, they shop for defensive stocks. Typically, that means industries driven by things other than macroeconomic forces. Drugs and pharmaceuticals are candidates, for they are less correlated with the broad stock market than are financial services and materials.

Trouble is, each pharmaceutical company has its own issues of expiring patents, new drugs in or not in development, and, hanging over the whole industry, the potential of massive lawsuits for harm drugs may do. Labeled by some fund managers as “the next tobacco,” drugs can make or break investment plans.

There’s also alternative energy in the form of solar panel production, though much of that is offshore or small cap. There is uranium mining, which has yet to recover from the March 2011 Fukashima disaster. Finally, for non-macro investments, there are fashion companies driven by trends in ladies ready to wear

and purses, among others. As a mere numbers guy, I would not personally try forecasting trends in frocks and bags.

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APRIL 8, 2014

Columns OPEN FIELD

Seed, treat, repeat With a new grain cart and a Storm seed treater, Sarah Weigum’s farm is ready for spring SARAH WEIGUM

H

opefully by the time you read this our grain cart is ready to go.

Typically, farmers give their tractors, sprayers and seeding equipment a final tune up this time of year, and we’re doing that too; however, we also finished modifying a 1,000-bushel grain cart that will be pressed into service for seed distribution any day now.

We have been using a 400-bushel gravity wagon with load cells to tender seed to our customers for 15 years. My dad added the scale to the wagon himself, as well as an auger and treating system, and it has served Alect Seeds well. Many seed growers time their augers and then weigh at the scale. This system works, but it sometimes means more than one trip under the auger and over the scale to get the right amount of seed. The accuracy of the wagon saves us having to weigh twice and I believe has been valued by our customers.

However, as my dad points out, farmers used to come for seed in single-axle trucks and now they come with super B-trains. It takes four fills and a lot of time to load out our bigger customers. Since last fall we’ve been discussing what piece of equipment would best serve our seed operation for the next era. The options were a larger gravity wagon or a grain cart.

A 750-bushel gravity wagon was initially attractive because we are familiar with it and because gravity wagons are easier to clean out than the grain cart with the auger. A new gravity wagon would require modifications, including an auger and load cells, but my dad had experience from the previous wagon.

The bigger challenge for us was modifying the axles to put bigger tires underneath. We have a very high water table in our yard and when the frost comes out of the ground, the loaded wagon probably sink up to its belly, so the solution was to put larger tires underneath.

However, we talked to another farmer who had a 750-bushel gravity wagon that he used for feeding cattle and he complained that the large wagon was top heavy and tipsy. Higher tires combined with our uneven yard would probably only exacerbate the problem.

Once we started looking inside the large wagons we saw that they had a lot more cross bracing and ledges where grain could get caught than our small wagon. We looked inside a few 1,000-bushel grain carts, and besides the auger, they actually didn’t have a lot more places to trap grain than the largest wagons. The pros of the cart: it comes with big tires, a scale (though still not legal for tender), and an auger (which we likely we won’t use much, but more on that later).

In the end, we settled on a Brandt 1020 cart because it looked the easiest to clean. The slide that covers the intake end of the auger goes completely outside the cart, rather than

being sheathed inside more metal and Brandt capped the square tubing braces inside the cart with angle iron so they should shed grain.

While we’ve never used a grain cart before in our harvest operation, we now have that option.

My dad estimates that the gravity wagon, even with the modifications would have cost only about 60 per cent of the cart, so we have a higher upfront cost. But, ever the strategist, my dad pointed out that a grain cart would be a lot easier to sell at an auction sale. Besides his potential auction, another principle that guides my dad’s decision making on the farm is making sure that everyone who needs to can operate the equipment. Since my mom and I load a lot of the seed, it’s been a family discussion about how to improve on the existing engineering. Because we climb in and out of the cart a lot to clean it out, we built a better ladder and put air lines into the cart so we can hook up to the compressor on the outside and just take the wand inside with us to blow the grain out the bottom.

volume treated and can be used to reconcile inventory at the end of the day or the end of the treating season.

One feature that we might not use a lot, but other farmers might find helpful is the “batch” setting which allows the user to set the machine to treat a specific amount of seed, whether it’s 20 bushels or 2,000 bushels. They say the metering is accurate to within +/- two per cent.

The Storm uses a peristaltic pump that can pull directly from bulk drums of treatment. These pumps are similar to the ones used in hospitals for administering fluids intravenously. These pumps push the treatment towards the nozzles, by squeezing the tube that contains the fluid, meaning there is never a messy diaphragm pump that can plug or needs cleaning. The peristaltic pump can also reverse, leaving the lines clear in between treating sessions if necessary.

Two clean out areas on the Storm treater can be seen here.

Something that at least one seed treatment company — Bayer CropSciences — is doing to make things a little easier on custom treatment applicators is accepting drum containers back without being rinsed. They will be returned to Bayer’s facilities and refilled. This sounds like a little thing, but represents a huge amount of rinsewater that farmers and small custom applicators will no longer have to worry about dealing with in an environmentally responsible way.

At $50,000 the Storm treater isn’t cheap, but it’s also about half the price of drum treaters which are harder to clean out and in some cases are less mobile, requiring the

grain to be brought to a central treating location, rather than moving the treater from bin to bin.

Is the Storm treater perfect? No. I know people in the seed applied technology industry who say diaphragm pumps and drum treaters are better applicators. There are big questions at stake about application efficacy and the ramifications of below dose application on some seeds. I may take up these issues in a future column, but for now, this is what we feel is the best solution available on the market, both for our seed operation and for our customers. † Sarah Weigum grows pedigreed seed and writes at Three Hills, Alta. Follow her on Twitter: @sweigum.

OUR TREAT We also added a Storm seed treater to our seed distribution system this year. My dad had built a treating system on our old wagon, but we needed something that would work with the new grain cart. The Storm treater, manufactured by Ag Growth International, is designed to take grain from a hoppered bin using a metered conveyor. It delivers the grain to a treatment application chamber where nozzles spray both sides of the curtain of grain. The treated grain then falls into a 40 foot by 10 inch auger which both mixes the seed so the treatment is evenly distributed and allows the treatment to dry on the grain before going into the truck.

If our customers don’t want their seed treated it will go into their truck using the grain cart auger, but if they want the seed treated (as most do) we will position the hopper of the Storm treater under the sliding door at the bottom of the cart’s auger sump.

To accommodate this new treater, we had to undertake our biggest modification on the grain cart: raising it up by 10 inches to make enough clearance under the bottom hatch for the treater hopper.

I won’t go into the details, since these kind of projects fall into the “not my department” category on the farm. Suffice to say that plenty of iron, bolts, calls to the engineers and blue paint were required. The modification is reversible, should we wish to return the axle to its original position for harvest use.

Looking at the Storm treater itself, there were a number of features that appealed to us. The treater has electronic controls where the user inputs the actual bushel weight of the grain being treated (not standard bushel weight) as well as the amount of treatment to be applied per unit of weight. The speed of the conveyor can be changed on the go and because of the cleats, the software knows how much grain is being delivered and adjusts the treatment rates accordingly. The software logs the chemical used and

ANOTHER STELLAR TM

PERFORMANCE.

PHOTO: AGI

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21

Columns 10" auger mixes the grain and treatment and allows treatment to dry.

The Westfield or Wheathart auger has been slowed to about half speed to allow the proper time for these processes.

Canvas hopper must be flooded for grain to metre properly.

Cleated belt delivers grain from hopper to treating area, where two nozzles spray a curtain of grain.

Peristaltic pumps knead product through tubes and can be run in reverse to allow for-up after treating. photo: agi;

Captions : Sarah Weigum

Seed will flow out of the bottom hatch on grain cart into Storm treater.

photos: sarah weigum

Two peristaltic pumps can move product into treating chamber through kneading action on the hose. Beside the pumps is the electronic screen where we will enter data for specific seed treating operations.

The wheels are off. My dad is raising the cart 10 inches so we can get the Storm treater under the bottom hatch. A desk and extra ladder rungs are also being added.

One small reason for going with the Brandt cart was the bracing capped with angle iron to make clean out on the cart easier.

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This is my dad, Garry, and cousin, Jason, working on lifting the grain cart.

This picture shows the extra beam with axle receiver below the original position of the axle.

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APRIL 8, 2014

Columns OFF-FARM INVESTING

Two sides to stocks Focus on the best time to sell as well as to buy stocks ANDY SIRSKI

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f you are a true blue buy and hold investor you might not agree with most of this article. Farmers understand there are two sides to farming — grow the stuff and sell it. Sometimes people who buy stocks forget there are two sides to owning stocks.

Over the years, stocks have sorted themselves into four groups. One group is up quite a bit from the high in 2007.

Another group had stocks drop

and recover and make some new highs since the bear market of 2008. Many stocks have dropped and not recovered.

And the fourth group has deads such as Nortel and Enron that have disappeared off the face of the earth.

Why am I saying this? Because investors who understood the two sides to stocks sold stocks as the last bear market started and then bought those same good shares back near the bottom. In most cases they have made lot more money than investors who kept their stocks right through the bear and bull markets.

Yes, die-hard buy and hold investors will argue the point

but when I study stocks and the stock market, a little knowledge and a little work the past 10 or 20 years would have made an investor a lot more money than simply buying and holding most stocks.

Recall most stocks dropped from late October 2007 to March 6, 2009. Even good solid stocks like Berkshire, Coke and Heinz dropped a lot. Balanced portfolios usually dropped a third. Portfolios of small caps likely dropped by 70 per cent and maybe have not recovered yet.

The big names have recovered but many are not worth much more than they were before November 2007. Yes, they paid dividends and have gone up

some since October 2007 but the really good money was made by anyone who used a half decent selling rule in November 2007 and a half decent buying rule in early 2009. Neither selling nor buying needed to be perfect to work well.

Some argue that we cannot time the market. But a lot of sellers had to be timing the market (selling) in late 2007, otherwise stocks would not have dropped in price. And a lot of buyers had to be timing the market (buying) after March 6, 2009 or stocks would not have gone up as they have.

Since I started to run our portfolios in 1995 I have been in the middle of two bear markets.

One started in March 2000 when the techie boom went bust. The first sell signal was when stocks dropped through the 10-day moving average (10 dma). The next sell signal was when the 10 dma dropped through the 30 dma. Techies crashed. I got out with more money than I started and learned stuff.

In the bear market of 2007 to March 2009 I was selling covered calls on my 12 stocks and ended 2008 down one per cent. Yes, the shares were down a lot but the account was down one per cent because I was selling calls.

And the portfolio started to gain after that.

SELLING WEEKLY COVERED CALLS These days I don’t count on much capital gain from my stocks. I choose to make cash by owning half decent stocks that let me sell covered calls week by week. Yes I do have to work a few hours on Thursday and or Friday to get ready for the next week and I do have to think and work on Monday as I sell covered calls for the upcoming Friday. But I get paid well.

My goal is to bring in about $1,000 a week by selling weekly calls on three to five stocks. I top it up by doing two or three spreads, if I can find good ones.

I usually beat my goal of $1,000 a week.

With the spreads, I did try to make as much money as possible but it was far too busy for me. Now I do fewer spreads, I’m more cautious and I find it’s easier on the brain to make $600 a week and keep all of it than to try make $2,000 a week and lose most of it now and then.

I usually beat my goal of $1,000 a week

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With the covered calls I try to follow what I call my above and below rule. If the charts look like the stock wants to drop I will sell a call below the price of the day, which gives me downside protection. If the charts look like the stock wants to go up I will not sell a call right away or I will sell the call above the price of the day and give the shares a bit of room to make capital gain for us.

I find that if a stock drops through the 10-day moving average the price often falls more. Then I have to decide if I will sell a call well below that daily price or buy the calls back and sell the shares.

Since I stopped trying to “make as much money as possible” I find I can run a routine, have a life, free up time to talk to more readers, play with granddaughters, blow snow, work on income tax, go out for lunch and have a nap. I am richly blessed. And I help readers learn. Some learn faster than others but pretty well everybody is capable of learning this stuff. † Andy is mostly retired. He plays with granddaughters, gardens in summer, talks to readers and publishes an electronic newsletter called StocksTalk where he tells what he does with his portfolio. You can read it free for a month by sending an email to sirski@mts.net.

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Columns UNDERSTANDING MARKET BULLS AND BEARS

Change in the blink of an eye When political unrest leads to market swings, the value of having a solid marketing plan in place hits home BRIAN WITTAL

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he past month has been a classic example of how quickly grain markets can be affected by world

events.

Unrest in the Ukraine and Russia’s moves to reestablish its hold on the region have ramped up world tensions and caused major market uncertainty. Stock markets, currency markets and commodity markets have all reacted swiftly to this uncertainty.

Add to this recent world weather uncertainties and you have the start of another commodity market roller coaster ride. Where’s the top or the bottom? When will this ride be over?

Buyers, sellers and speculators are trying to determine where they should be positioned in these markets in an effort to either protect themselves or to try to make some profits in these volatile times.

The reality as to how quickly things can change brings with it a sense of urgency that pushes most to overreact, “before it’s too late.”

That is the fundamental reason why the futures markets work.

There are two sides to every trade, with someone on either side at any time. Add speculators who play on the panic in the markets to make profits and you have over-reactive markets that cause confusion and uncertainty that continues to feed the frenzy and move the markets even more dramatically.

are all what I would classify as “what if” and or “hope or maybe” scenarios. It would sure be nice for something like that to happen that would help improve grain prices but you cannot predict when, if ever, these events may occur. You can’t risk your farm business’s future hoping for some event to take place to improve prices. You need to react to the situation at hand and determine the most likely outcome based on as much factual information as you can find. Then, make marketing decisions based on that information and your situation to ensure your farm’s profitability and growth.

Too many producers I talked to this winter are running scared and don’t know what to do when it comes to pricing their grain. Without fail, each of those did not have a marketing plan in place. This leaves them exposed and open to panic marketing or the do nothing plan. The do nothing, stick you head in the sand “ostrich syndrome” leaves you with your backside sticking up waiting for a good kicking.

These producers who didn’t price their grain last fall had a common response: “Prices were falling and I was hoping they would come back up, and now

that they have continued to fall I don’t know what to do.”

This goes back to knowing your costs and breakeven numbers, setting pricing targets to ensure profitability and acting on those targets when the opportunity is there.

Last fall, prices were still at very profitable levels and should have been locked in.

What is worse? The fear of locking in a price at a profit and then having the prices go higher, or the fear of not locking in a price because you think the price will go higher and then having markets crash?

Locking in a profit is always good.

Not locking in a price because you want to wait for futures to bounce

back is putting your farm’s profitability and future at risk.

Take the uncertainty and fear out of your marketing. Know your numbers, set your price targets and execute your marketing plan.

Keep emotions out of the equation or you will end up back in panic mode marketing.

A secure profitable future is far better than the gamble and risk scenario. You will sleep better at night knowing you’ve protected your farm for the future. † Brian Wittal has 30 years of grain industry experience, and currently offers market planning and marketing advice to farmers through his company Pro Com Marketing Ltd. (www.procommarketingltd.com).

Let your flag leaf fly.

Set your price targets So how do you know when to price your grain?

Over the past couple of months we have been discussing the need for planning and preparation for the coming spring seeding season, and setting a marketing plan to establish and protect your farm’s profitability. Some of you may have decided to pre-price some of your grains over the past two months to protect the slim profit margins projected at that time.

Based on the situation at the time, that was the right thing to do.

To all who did some pre-pricing: good for you! You were following your plan and making solid business decisions that weren’t based on hopes, what if’s or “maybe” situations. You used the information you had to make the best marketing decisions at the time.

Now that markets have moved higher, you have an opportunity to lock in prices that will help up your average price and allow you to be even more profitable.

Events such as political unrest in the Ukraine, extreme cold weather across North America, excessive rains in parts of South America and the U.K. and drought in parts of Australia and the United States

Stand up for healthy yields with Quilt ®. By applying Quilt fungicide at the flag-leaf stage, you protect your cereal crop from leaf diseases that reduce your yield and quality. Cereal crops treated with Quilt are protected against rusts, tan spot, powdery mildew and Septoria.

Registered on all wheat, barley and oats, Quilt safeguards your investment and your profitability.

Visit SyngentaFarm.ca or contact our Customer Resource Centre at 1-87-SYNGENTA (1-877-964-3682).

Always read and follow label directions. Quilt®, the Alliance Frame, the Purpose Icon and the Syngenta logo are registered trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. © 2014 Syngenta.

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APRIL 8, 2014

Machinery & Shop New equipment

AGCO introduces new tractors New models unveiled at U.S. farm shows in February

By Scott Garvey

A

Eight new 800 and 900 Series models raise the already high features bar Fendt is known for.

t farm shows in Kentucky and California, AGCO pulled the wraps off new tractor models in all three of its North American brands: Massey Ferguson, Challenger and Fendt. The all-new 8700 Series Masseys, which will replace the existing 8600s, made their debut at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California.

The new five-model line will span the same 270 to 370 engine horsepower range looked after by the 8600s, but the new tractors offer a range of updated specifications. All will use the AGCO Power 8.4-litre diesels that deliver 900 to 1,136 foot-pounds of torque. These engines use twin

turbochargers and the company’s new Engine Power Management (EPM) ECU, which maximizes the engine’s efficiency by controlling the electronic fuel injection and coordinated transmission features.

That helps bring down fuel consumption numbers.

To keep the engines cool, a new CYCLAIR cooling system is more efficient without using larger components. The hood and grill have been modified to increase intake airflow, while additional vents on the side panels let warm air out much faster. A bypass system manages airflow to the intercooler while maintaining airflow to the radiator.

To deliver all the power from the Tier 4 Final-compliant diesels, all 8700s come standard with the

As a farmer, I expect…  10-section automatic overlap control that saves money by eliminating double seed and fertilizer application.

 Knowledgeable support staff who can trouble-shoot remotely via my in-cab monitor while I am in the field.

 Gentle metering and distribution that lets me reduce seeding rates while maintaining target plant populations.

 To apply granular fertilizer at rates of up to 400 lbs/acre on my 100’ drill with no plugging.

 Hydraulic, ground-following openers  Variable rate capability for up to five that give me uniform seed and fertilizer products at one time. placement, excellent emergence,  A ruggedly reliable system that can strong growth and even maturity. seed thousands of acres with no  Stress-free, in-cab automatic calibration breakdowns and minimal maintenance. that’s based on actual product usage  A light-pulling drill with a lift-kit that thanks to weigh cells on each tank and seeds through muddy fields without a user-friendly monitor. getting stuck.

“

Zone Command saves me about $57,000 per year or 5% of my input costs on dry years and probably twice that in wet years.

I wouldn’t farm without it.

Franck Groeneweg Edgeley, SK

”

SeedMaster gives me all of this in one seeding system with advanced technologies that make money for my farm – like Auto Zone Command™, Auto Calibration™, the UltraPro Canola Meter™, the Nova Smart Cart™, and SafeSeed Individual Row Metering™.

SeedMaster’s cost savings and efficiencies are the new normal on my farm.

The Leader. By Design.

™

1.888.721.3001

™

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www.seedmaster.ca

advanced version of MF’s DynaVT continuously variable transmission.

“The 8700 Series tractors deliver all the power and capability our customers demand with advanced features that boost fuel economy and enhance operator comfort for longer, more productive days in the field,” says Conor Bergin, product marketing manager, High Horsepower Tractors. “And, these tractors are built with pride in Jackson, Minnesota.

“We have more horsepower, more torque and better fuel consumption,” adds Ash Alt, field marketing manager for high horsepower tractors at AGCO. “(The 8700s) get quite a few new features and upgrades.”

Hydraulic capacity is one of those upgrades. It gets bumped up to a new high of 54 gallons per minute. And a front, 21-spline PTO shaft is now available as a factory option.

The cabs on the 8700s get a more ergonomic layout with a new gauge and control arrangement, with all of the commonly used controls in one area.

A new SIS (Set up and Information Screen) is now colour and 50 per cent larger and includes new software that provides more data on tractor functions.

All 8700s come equipped with the new Auto-Guide 3000 precision farming software fully integrated into the cab.

The sister line to the MF 8700 Series, the Challenger MT600E, made its debut at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky. These tractors offer the same specifications in five similar models that wear Challenger yellow.

AGCO also had other tractors to introduce in Louisville.

Eight updated models in the 800 and 900 Series of the company’s German-built Fendt tractors made their North American debut. The newest offerings span the 220 to 360 horsepower range.

Fendt is often referred to as the Cadillac of tractors, particularly in Europe (replace Cadillac with BMW there), because it offers some very high-end features. But marketers say those features do much more than improve operator comfort, they offer systems that enhance overall efficiency.

“The 800 and 900 lines represent the latest generation of Fendt high-horsepower tractors featuring cutting-edge technology and attention to ease of use and efficiency in the field,” says Bergin. “The new six-cylinder Tier 4 Final engines in these lines offer growers more horsepower, better torque curves and improved fuel efficiency.”

Fendt remains the only brand under the AGCO umbrella that doesn’t use AGCO Power engines.

Instead they have Deutz-Fahr-built diesels under the hood. During an interview at the company’s Bavarian assembly plant in 2012, Reid Hamre, Fendt brand marketing manager, said Fendt and DF engineers have worked closely to match the performance of the engines with the transmissions they’re coupled to.

That has allowed them to achieve

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Machinery & Shop 1

3

2

PHOTOS: AGCO

1: The new 8700 Series MF tractors replace the existing 8600 models and offer updated specifications along with cab improvements. 2: The MT600E Series Challengers are a sister line to the 8700 Masseys and share the same specifications. 3: AGCO has stuffed its new 16.8-litre AGCO Power diesels under the hoods of the three new four-wheel drive Challengers in the MT900E Series. impressive fuel efficiency ratings, something the brand isn’t shy about mentioning.

Those diesels now feature twin turbochargers, too, and a threepump fuel system that uses a 29,000 p.s.i. common rail. The injectors are capable of multiple discharges during each power stroke. To meet Tier 4 Final emissions levels, these tractors use a combination of selective catalytic reduction, cooled exhaust gas recirculation and a coated soot filter.

The Fendts also get a new engine cooling system that includes an electronically-controlled variable pitch cooling fan that can be reversed to blow debris out of the radiator and coolers.

The new VarioGrip feature allows operators to adjust pressure in all four tires right from the cab.

That allows operators to reduce pressure in the field or raise it for road travel, all of which maximizes traction and bumps up fuel efficiency even further.

The enhanced X5 cab gets a new 10.4-inch Varioterminal, which has its software set up to look like apps on a smartphone. The Varioterminal can also stream images from up to two video cameras.

And like the MF and Challenger models, the Fendt, too, gets a redesigned dash, making for a more ergonomic layout.

At the top end of the horsepower scale, AGCO’s flagship fourwheel drive Challengers also get an update and a new designation as the MT900E line. They shared the spotlight in Louisville, also making their debut there.

No longer will you find a Caterpillar engine under the hood, instead these tractors now use the company’s own, newly-developed 16.8-litre AGCO Power diesels.

“Unlike competitive models that rely on modified over-the-road engines, all MT900E Series tractors feature AP168-4 diesel engines built just for agriculture,” says Bergin.

The three MT900E models offer 490 to 590 engine horsepower.

And yet again, these diesels rely on twin turbocharger technology.

Hydraulic capacity gets bumped up to a 58 gpm, with a high-flow option lifting that to a maximum of 85 gpm. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@ fbcpublishing.com.

Outback MAX™ with ISOBUS Capability Outback MAX™ continues to redefine simplicity with its introduction of ISOBUS Universal Terminal and task controller functionality for automated section control, data management, and rate control with variable rate capabilities.

Connect to ISO ready implements regardless of brand/color for display and control purposes. The system features section and variable rate control within the rugged, high-definition console.

Seamlessly transition from guidance to planting with Outback MAX™ with ISO

We’ve also enhanced the industry’s best steering solution.

In another industry exclusive, Outback eDriveX™ with eTurns™ has been taken to a whole new level with the ability to initiate a turn based upon the headland or a field boundary.

www.AgJunction.com 326 Saulteaux Crescent Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 3T2

Phone: (204) 888-4472 Toll Free: (866) 888-4472 Fax: (204) 888-0991

For the latest innovations in hay tools, go to nhsmart.com/hay Š2014 CNH Industrial America LLC. All rights reserved. New Holland is a trademark registered in the United States and many other countries, owned by or licensed to CNH Industrial N.V., its subsidiaries or affiliates. NH04149141HT

APRIL 8, 2014

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Machinery & Shop NEW EQUIPMENT

Versatile debuts new SP sprayers Two all-new models replace the SX275, which the company introduced in 2009

BY SCOTT GARVEY

I

n 2009 Versatile unveiled its first-ever, self-propelled sprayer, the SX275, at a dealer convention in Las Vegas.

At the time, Versatile had recently acquired the U.S. sprayer manufacturer Redball, and the SX275 was a modified version of the design that company had manufactured. The basic rear-wheel drive concept with a mechanical driveline configuration made it a perfect fit for Versatile’s simple and efficient design philosophy. And, of course, there was a Cummins under the hood, Versatile’s traditional engine of choice.

In February of this year the brand used the Commodity Classic farm show in San Antonio, Texas, as the venue to introduce the public to two new successors that will replace the SX275, the SX240 and SX280. In a press release, Versatile says the two new models “represent an evolution on the current sprayer design.”

Now with five years of field experience under its belt in SP sprayer production, the company says it has accumulated and a lot of customer feedback and integrated it into the updated design 1

4

used on the SX240 and SX280.

The first thing you notice with these machines is there are some styling changes to the body and a completely new cab entrance, with the steps relocated to the machine’s front.

Climbing those steps gets you into what Versatile claims is the largest cab in the SP sprayer industry. The “HQ cab” has over 140 cubic feet of interior space wrapped with 77 square feet of glass. Interior design also takes a giant step forward with all controls now mounted on a large armrest.

Up front is a 6.7 litre Cummins putting out 240 or 280 horses, depending on which model you choose. Both engine versions use a variable geometry turbocharger, diesel particulate filter and EGR to meet emissions standards, so they don’t require additional DEF fluid. The new sprayers stick to the same mechanical driveline concept used on the SX275. So the Cummins engines are mated to an Allison five-speed automatic transmission capable of 57 km/h on the road.

Behind the cab, the SX240 gets a 1,000 gallon (3,785 litre) poly main tank with a 100 gallon rinse tank. The SX280 is available with

that same-sized poly tank or a 1,200 gallon (4,540 litre), stainless steel option, which gets a 150 gallon rinse tank.

Boom widths stretch to 90 or 100 feet (27.4 and 30.5 metres) in either model. The chassis rides on an air bag suspension with auto height adjust and sway control, along with four-wheel disc brakes. The axle track width can be adjusted manually or hydraulically from 120 to 152 inches (3.04 to 3.86 metres).

To make things simpler for the operator, the new machines use a redesigned fill station. Control valves are oriented so that all handles are in the “up” position when the machine is ready for the field, which serves as a quickglance indicator for the operator.

The company adds that the overall plumbing on the machine is designed to be easy to service.

Both the SX240 and SX280 have already gone into production at Versatile’s assembly plant in Willmar, Minnesota, and are available in limited quantities for the 2014 season.

Base price for the SX240 is $291,168 and the SX280 starts at $304,863. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.

Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

2

3

For the latest innovations in hay tools, go to nhsmart.com/hay

PHOTOS: VERSATILE

1: Two all-new, self-propelled sprayers from Versatile for 2014 offer upgrades in design and operator comfort. 2: The new sprayers get a significantly improved cab with a much more comfortable interior design and larger square footage. 3: The fill station layout has been changed to simplify operation. 4: The SX240 and SX280 are each available with 90 and 100-foot boom widths.

©2014 CNH Industrial America LLC. All rights reserved. New Holland is a trademark registered in the United States and many other countries, owned by or licensed to CNH Industrial N.V., its subsidiaries or affiliates. NHHT04149141FT

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APRIL 8, 2014

Machinery & Shop New equipment

Running like a Deere John Deere’s new high-speed planter maintains placement accuracy at 10 m.p.h.

By Scott Garvey

“

J

ohn Deere is breaking the planting speed and accuracy barriers of traditional row-crop planting with the introduction of a revolutionary new seed delivery system,” reads the opening line on the company’s press release announcing the launch of the ExactEmerge row unit. At the same time, the brand also introduced the MaxEmerge five-row row units capable of highly efficient operation at more traditional planting speeds.

Deere used the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, in February as the venue to unveil the new planter technology to farmers.

When operated at high speeds, the ability of many planters to singulate seed and place it accurately within the seed trench suffers. Deere’s ExactEmerge row unit uses a completely new metering and seed delivery system to ensure both of those critical elements remain consistant at field speeds of up to 10 m.p.h.

To achieve that, ExactEmerge row units use a new, rigid bowlshaped metre and brush-style doubles eliminator that require no adjustment. They work together to provide a reliable seed handoff to the all-new and pretty innovative brush belt, which replaces the traditional free-fall seed tube found on many planters. Instead of just dropping seeds from the metre into the seed trench, the brush belt carries them down and drops them just above the ground, which significantly reduces seed bounce and improves placement accuracy, giving the ExactEmerge its high-speed capability.

“This new design eliminates the long gravity drop and retains the seeds in the brush,” says Kelby Krueger a product specialist at John Deere’s Seeding Group. “This careful controlling of each seed from the metre to the trench and then releasing it at the correct rearward

photos: lisa guenther

The innovative brush belt used on the ExactEmerge row unit carries seeds down to the trench rather than dropping them down a seed delivery tube. velocity allows the gentle placement of each seed in the trench without the normal bounce and roll that would otherwise happen at the higher speeds. We can do this with both corn and even with high-rate soybeans. And because we never let go of the seed until each one is in the trench, we’ve drastically reduced the ill effects of rougher planting conditions.”

According to the company, ExactEmerge units handle all seed shapes and sizes, achieving a 99 per cent singulation rate with no mechanical adjustments when switching between seed types — even over terrain with slopes up to 15 degrees.

“Another important feature is that our new brush belt does not have to be synchronized with finite metre speeds,” Krueger adds. “The systems are completely independent of each other, allowing the metre to turn at the right speed for the desired seed population, while the delivery system exactly matches ground speed.”

If it’s necessary to stop in the field and start again, the new seed delivery system prevents any gaps.

The combination of seeds retained in the brush and the new Fast Start feature eliminates skips. Operators don’t have to back up to restart planting in the middle of a row.

To keep the row units correctly positioned, the new planters use an active Pneumatic downforce system. “Active pneumatic downforce means all row units maintain the required ground contact, even at higher speeds,” adds Krueger.

“The operator easily sets the downforce pressure and the brush belt delivery system delivers the seed accurately to the bottom of the trench at the desired depth.”

ExactEmerge row units are compatible with 1775NT and 1795 model planters with central commodity systems in 15-, 20-, and 30-inch row spacings for corn and soybeans.

But if you’re not into speed or you need more versatility from a row unit, the MaxEmerge five-row units may be the ones for you.

“For traditional planter customers, John Deere is also introducing an entirely new line of MaxEmerge row units, the MaxEmerge 5,” says Krueger. “These row units combine the best features of the existing MaxEmerge XP and Pro-Series XP units, which they replace. The MaxEmerge 5 features one common vacuum metre... And it offers the greatest versatility to customers needing a variety of different configurations.”

“These field-proven units have double eliminator adjustments, three times longer-life gauge wheel arms and easy-to-adjust downforce capabilities (spring, heavy duty or pneumatic) for more uniform seed depth control, regardless of field conditions. All adjustments and seed clean out functions are now much easier to access and faster to accomplish because of the improved design of the row units.” † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.

Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

photo: john deere

John Deere released two new row units for its planters. The ExactEmerge version is capable of highly accurate seed placement at speeds up to 10 mph.

The new, rigid bowl-shaped meter and brush-style doubles eliminator on the ExactEmerge row unit doesn’t require any adjustment.

A John Deere planter equipped with the brand’s new ExactEmerge row units was on display at the Commodity Classic farm show in San Antonio, Texas, in February.

Elevate your uptime

You can rest assured that when you run a reliable, all-crop, all-condition John Deere baler, that you’ll keep baling long after other balers have called it quits.

How do we do it? The 9 Series feature roller shafts that are a 1/4 inch larger and bearings that are 1 1/2 inches larger than those found on the 8 Series. With an increased shaft size the baler can now handle even heavier loads in the toughest conditions. And the bigger bearings run cooler, last longer, and are more reliable.

Everything about a John Deere 9 Series Round Baler has been designed to raise performance to all new levels, while greatly reducing the chances of downtime.

That’s why more and more hay producers run John Deere Round Balers than any other color baler. And should your baler ever need service, it’s good to know that there’s a local John Deere dealer standing behind you who will get you back up and running.

See your John Deere dealer today about a new 9 Series Baler – and elevate your uptime.

JohnDeere.com/Hay

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APRIL 8, 2014

Machinery & Shop Canada’s Farm Progress Show

Bourgault expands its 7000 Series cart line The tow-between L7800 becomes the third air cart added to the relatively new 7000 Series

By Scott Garvey

B

ourgault has expanded its 7000 Series line of air carts, which it launched with the introduction of the high-capacity 7950 model in 2012. This year, the company added two additional models.

During the winter, the company announced the introduction of the 7700, which was meant to replace the previous 6700 model. At Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina in June, Bourgault expanded the Series again and debuted the L7800 tow-between version.

The L7800 boasts an 800-bushel capacity split between four compartments, plus an optional 40-bushel small product saddle tank. Beside the saddle tank is a pallet storage area to keep additional canola bags stored and ready to add.

This cart is the first in what Bourgault is calling its “Leading” design. Translation: tow-between configuration. The L7800 gets the “L” in its model number to indicate that. “This is the first ‘Leading’ cart design in the 7000 Series,” says Bourgault’s Haydon Rice.

The L7800’s uses the company’s flex-tank design, which means the contents of one its compartments can be metered out with the product in either adjacent tank and increase working time between fills. That also gives growers some flexibility, allowing them to get just the right mix of inputs on board.

Those inputs get metered out using Bourgault’s newest meter-

ing system, the PDM Pro, which is available on all the 7000 Series models. The L7800 can be equipped with up to five different metering augers and seeding rate control comes from a Topcon X-30 monitor. “It (the monitor) is laid out very well,” says Rice.

“Switching from single shoot to double shoot is the same as you’d expect from any other Bourgault system with our Class A distribution system. You can put any product down any line.”

The L7800 also offers some design improvements intended to help make life a little easier for tractor operators. To start with, hitching up to this cart should be a breeze. A hydraulic hitch jack connects to the tractor remotes and adjusts the hitch height from the tractor seat, which eliminates the need for manual jacking.

Getting access to the tanks’ loading hatches is now easier, too. A stairway directly above the hitch means operators don’t have to walk around a drill or the tractor to get up on the cart.

The stairs are just a few steps away from the cab door. “There’s no more climbing ladders,” says Rice. “You get to walk up stairs. It makes it easier for carrying pails.”

And the L7800 rides on 850 80R38 tires. That keeps its footprint relatively light and helps minimize compaction in the field. “They’re the same size as the tires on our 7950 tow behind,” explains Rice. “So we’re able to keep our tire pressure and ground pressure to 18 PSI. We’re able to carry a lot of weight, a lot

photos: scott garvey

Bourgault’s new 800-bushel, tow-between cart, the L7800, includes an easy-access stairway above the hitch, making climbing up to load hatches safer and easier. of product, and keep our ground pressure down.”

The L7800 also uses 7-inch distribution lines. “It’s for increased capacity, pushing product out for the large drills we’re producing these days,” he adds. To get product in, the L7800 comes with a standard, remote controlled, 12-inch

loading auger. “It’s very handy and user friendly,” says Rice.

Bourgault also joins the ranks of seeding equipment manufacturers now offering sectional control technology. The company just introduced its new system at the Regina show. Like the L7800 cart, sectional control will be available in limited

quantities for the 2014 season and in full production for 2015.

For a video look at the L7800 cart and Bourgault’s new sectional control system, watch the E-QuipTV episode at www. grainews.ca/videos. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.

Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

Presents

My Favourite

Farm Machine Grainews invites you to nominate your all-time favourite piece of farming equipment! You name it — whatever your all-time favourite rig is, we want to know!

Any model not currently in production in the following 3 categories: tractors, combines, other farm machinery.

A list of finalists will be announced.

Farmers can cast their votes at this year’s Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina.

Watch upcoming issues of Grainews for more information.

To nominate your favourite farm machine email us at:

?

? ?

farmerschoiceaward@fbcpublishing.com DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS APRIL 30th

By tapping into a tractor’s remote hydraulic valves, hitch height can be easily adjusted to make connecting a tractor to the L7800 fast and easy.

Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS). Monsanto products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for Commercialization of Biotechnology-Derived Plant Products in Commodity Crops. This product has been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship.

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®, Monsanto and Vine Design®, Roundup Ready® and Roundup® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee.

APRIL 8, 2014

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Cattleman’s Corner ANIMAL HEALTH

Bull health is a year-round concern ROY LEWIS ANIMAL HEALTH

T

he herd bull is often the most neglected animal in most cattle operations.

Great emphasis is put on them just before and during the breeding season but the rest of the year bulls are often not thought of at all.

But the reality is producers need to be mindful of not neglecting the huge genetic potential bulls have on their herds. It is important to protect your investment and help maximize fertility to maximize that genetic potential. Proper management should include bull health and management procedures over the full year.

The easiest way to adopt a program is to be thinking of your herd bulls every time you process the cows and deciding then whether any treatment is needed.

People often shy away from handling bulls as they are larger and can raise havoc with even sturdy corrals. There is also the issue of every time bulls are moved the fighting resumes and the pecking order must be re-established. This can be minimized with good facilities and returning bulls to a large pen or pasture after processing. Sufficient physical exercise at all times of the year keeps the bull’s fitter and the feet and legs in much better shape.

BULL VACCINATION A vaccination program for bulls should correspond to what is provided to cows. All respiratory and reproductive vaccines

as well as multivalent clostridials (blackleg) are valuable to bulls, as well as cows. Bulls can be the source or spread of disease especially the reproductive ones like vibrio, leptospirosis, or trichomoniasis if they are a problem in your area.

Our clinic further recommends a foot rot vaccination for bulls.

A lame bull at breeding season is not desirable. This vaccine only protects for one cause of lameness in bulls but the foot rot organism can gain entry through cracks in the bull’s feet. It is a small investment considering the bull is half the breeding equation. We administer the vaccine at semen-evaluation time, as bulls are already being handled.

Deworming and delousing should be done in the fall with a pour on endectocide plus a drench dewormer such as safeguard.

Internal parasites are becoming more of an issue and can build up especially in rundown breeding bulls. Use the proper dosage for the weight of the bull and don’t skimp. The bulls always are the sentinel animals when it comes to lice. Hair loss may indicate lice but often lots of scurf will lead to scratching especially on hot days.

With spring-calving herds, semen evaluations most often are preformed after winter and before breeding. Producers want them done before bull sales in case decisions have to be made as to new purchases. If bulls are insured it is a very wise to adjust the test date to before the policy expiration date, in case something has happened over the winter. If a bull has been sick, had swellings develop in the sheath or testicles, or had cows returning to heat it is important to check the bull’s

fertility and find a replacement if needed.

Older bulls (five years or greater) have an increasing likelihood of becoming infertile because of things like testicular degeneration.

Do as many procedures as possible at semen-evaluating time such as ear tagging if necessary, taking a hair sample in case genetic testing is necessary or checking the eyes for scarring. Get all lumps and bumps and scuttle lameness checked out as well. There is never a more ideal time and tagging is made much easier by doing it at the same time as electroejaculation.

FILE PHOTO

FEET AND LEGS

The bull pen represents 50 per cent of the genetics in your beef herd, which should mean that bulls deserve as much animal health attention as the cows.

Many bulls are culled because of feet and leg problems. As bulls mature and grow bigger tremendous pressure is put on their feet and legs, especially in the breeding season. Preventive maintenance such as trimming feet may extend their useful life as well as prevent lameness problems during the breeding season.

Again, lots of exercise on hard terrain (not peat moss) goes a long way towards keeping the toes short. Many hereditary conditions involving the feet can be selected against, such as corns, spiral and corkscrew claws. Even when young bulls with great feet are selected it may be necessary to trim them in their later years.

Look very closely at your bull’s feet every year. Trimming one to two months before breeding season is ideal. The trimmer can then be more aggressive knowing the bull has several weeks to recover before being turned out.

Fly control is imperative for bulls over the summer. If not treated you will notice hundreds of horn flies

feeding on the backs of your bulls.

Flies have more of a predilection for the bulls so in order to reduce irritation, blood loss and gadding provide fly control. A pour on product cy-lence is quite effective against flies for 60 days. Otherwise fly tags or back rubbers may be used.

Nutritionally, again, treat the bulls like your cows with trace minerals. Maintain a condition score of 2.5-3.5. A rising plain of nutrition prior to the breeding season is a good idea. A crude protein level of 12 per cent or higher in their diets is ideal. A leaner bull is more desirable than a fat bull at breeding season. Fat, especially in the scrotum, can impair fertility for a considerable time. Remember after breeding season, when bulls are pulled, their nutritional requirements decrease substantially.

Since a good breeding bull is always a good investment he is one worth protecting. If breeding pastures have a lot of bush make sure bull nose rings are removed.

If hardware (peritonitis) is a potential problem, as soon as the bull

arrives on the farm, placing a good quality magnet in their stomach (reticulum) can be good insurance.

Most illnesses with bulls appear subtly and weight loss is often the first sign.

When checking bulls during breeding season pay particular attention to their walk or gait.

Wobbliness or knuckling may be the sign of a back problem.

Swelling on the sheath from cuts or a broken penis require immediate bull replacement.

By implementing the above strategies hopefully a long reproductive life can be attained from your bulls. Always buy bulls from reputable purebred breeders and make sure they have had their initial breeding soundness evaluation done and are up to date on vaccines. Over the years many a breeding bull has died from a clostridial disease because vaccinating had been missed. † Roy Lewis is a Westlock, Alberta-based veterinarian specializing in large-animal practice. He is also a part-time technical services vet for Merck Animal Health.

THE MARKETS

More demand, cheaper feed keeps cattle prices firm JERRY KLASSEN MARKET UPDATE

F

ed and feeder cattle markets continue to trade near historical highs as the market adjusts to lower beef production and steady consumer demand. In mid-March, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle in the $138/cwt to $140/cwt range, which is about $15/cwt above break-even prices for pen closeouts.

Healthy feedlot margins have translated into record-high feeder cattle prices while feed barley continues to trade near three-year lows. Feeder cattle in the 550- to 600-pound weight range are readily trading above $200/cwt while 800to 850-pound steers sell for between $165/cwt to $175/cwt.

Stronger feeder cattle values have encouraged herd expansion in the U.S. and Canada resulting in fewer heifers moving into feedlots. Now supplies of quality replacement cattle start to wane and feedlot operators are paying

up for feeders that will perform well into the summer.

Consumers are spending more on food and despite the higher prices and colder winter, there appears to be pent-up demand as warmer temperatures are developing. Overall economic data favours an increase in spending patterns moving forward which should sustain the price structure in the beef complex. However, there are a number of risks that should be taken into account for the summer months.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS Cattle on feed for slaughter in the U.S. as of Feb. 1 were down five per cent in comparison to February 1 of 2013 while January placements were up nine per cent over year-ago levels. The year-over-year decline in on-feed numbers has resulted in tighter available supplies for slaughter. U.S. year-to-date beef production for the week ending March 15 was down seven per cent in comparison to the same timeframe of 2013. The weekly slaughter pace has been lagging year-ago levels and the total number of cattle slaughtered so far in 2014 is down 7.5 per cent. Higher cattle prices have

encouraged feedlots to market cattle sooner than anticipated, which has resulted in lower carcass weights.

Alberta and Saskatchewan inventories have been running 10 to 12 per cent above last year during the winter. For the week ending March 8, year-to-date Canadian beef production was up four per cent in comparison to 2013 while the number of cattle slaughtered was up seven per cent. Carcass weights in Alberta are down a whopping 50 pounds in comparison to 2013. This is having a major impact on the supply equation. In addition to the larger domestic Canadian slaughter, fed cattle exports to the U.S. are running six per cent above last year as U.S. packers struggle to fill their nearby requirements.

CONSUMER SPENDING U.S. at-home food expenditures in 2014 have been 5.8 per cent above 2013 while away-from-home food spending is up 7.8 per cent.

Average disposable income in the U.S. is only up four per cent so consumers are clearly spending more on food and less on other products. The overall economy looks quite positive over the next four to

U.S. QUARTERLY BEEF PRODUCTION (MILLION POUNDS) Quarter

2011

2012

Est 2013

Est 2014

1

6,411

6,283

6,172

5,935

2

6,559

6,475

6,517

6,280

3

6,737

6,584

6,608

6,265

4

6,492

6,571

6,420

6,060

Total

26,199

25,913

25,717

24,540

six months. Unemployment numbers continue to trend lower while consumer spending is expected to increase each quarter by approximately two per cent. This should bode well for beef consumption.

KEY FACTORS As of mid-March, the feeder cattle market remains in an upward trend due to record-high fed cattle values and low barley prices. The breakeven price on 850-pound steers going into the feedlot in March will be in the range of $130/cwt to $132/cwt; therefore, the feeder market has some breathing room to move higher given current fed cattle values. However, the June live cattle futures are trading at a $7 inverse to the April contract as the market factors in the quarterly increase in production and slightly softer demand.

This may weigh on the feeder market in late spring and summer; however, most of the quality feeder cattle will have moved through the auction ring by this time.

The second factor is the price of feed grains. Canadian barley acreage is expected to be down 10 per cent this spring.

The barley market is expected to go through a fundamental shift from burdensome supplies in 2013-14 to a relatively tight fundamental structure for 2014-15. This will increase the cost per-pound gain and feedlot managers will have to factor this into account when purchasing replacement cattle.

Old-crop barley prices have potential to be pulled higher by new-crop values due to the anticipation of lower production.

We saw how the feeder market responded in 2012 when barley prices moved over $300 per mt and new crop barley production will have a major influence on feeder cattle prices. † 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 gklassen7@hotmail.com or call 204 899 8268.

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APRIL 8, 2014

Keepers & Culls Disappearing sage grouse puts stress on ranchers LEE HART

I

f they hired me to hunt greater sage grouse, the population would not only be maintained but no doubt flourish. My track record of successful bird hunting — pheasant hunting in particular — has contributed greatly to the survival of that species.

Let’s just say I scare a few birds (I like to think of it as improving their distribution), but beyond the momentary adrenalin rush for both man and bird, pheasants have been quite safe for some time.

Someone suggested target practice might help but that seems to be a highly over rated solution and a lot of work. It is sort of like that wornout recommendation to “eat right and exercise” for losing weight.

Surely someone can come up with a more imaginative option.

To pull a Bart Simpson — if the greater sage grouse population is disappearing “you can’t blame me.”

All smart comments aside, it is fair to say the bird is in deep trouble. According to a recent Calgary Zoo report (the Calgary Zoo is planning to mount a $4 million captive breeding program to save the grouse), but according to their news release there are only 138 greater sage grouse left in Western Canada. And they can be found in two isolated pockets in the southeast corner of Alberta and southwest Saskatchewan.

That’s not very many birds. If they were to band these things they could name them rather than number them.

The zoo estimates the birds could be extinct within two to five years.

Along with this captive breeding program, the federal Environment Canada last December (after legal action by environmental groups) imposed “the first ever Emergency Order under the Species at Risk Act to protect the greater sage grouse on Crown lands.”

The order prohibits activities that are known to be harmful to sage-grouse and their habitat. The emergency order will achieve the best protection for the grouse while minimizing impacts on landowners and agricultural producers, says a release. “It will not restrict activities on private lands.” (The order covers about 1,700 square kilometres — see accompanying map.)

That seems to be a bit of a “closing the barn door” move, but in any event now ranchers and oil and gas companies working in the affected area, are concerned about the economic impact of this emergency order. The order doesn’t apply to private land, but does apply to any government land under lease to ranchers.

The government estimated when it imposed the order that it could cost oil and gas activity in the area about $10 million over the coming years. They estimated there would be little impact on ranching.

However, the ranchers who use this land fear the order could have a significant impact by either eliminating or reducing the ability to graze lease land. More published

reports suggest about 200 landowners in the designated area plan to form an association to mount a legal challenge to have the emergency order reversed.

In reports I have read ranchers have made two interesting points.

Some say it isn’t ranching (or even oil and gas activity) that has decimated sage grouse numbers — there are two many predators. Another producer pointed out, in the vast open native prairie grassland there are fairly large tracks with no cattle and no oil and gas activity and the bird didn’t survive there either. So you wonder what is going on.

I doubt that ranchers want to see the greater sage grouse become extinct either, but you have to wonder even if cattle where raised in feedlots for the next 10 years, would that help sage grouse numbers to recover?

There will be more as this story unfolds over the coming months.

But it is an example of the how the public and environmental spotlight again is focused on the agriculture industry. There has been considerable talk of ecological goods and service programs or an environmental tax, well the sage grouse issue seems to be an excellent example of where one could be applied.

Ranchers are out doing their ranching thing as they have for decades — applying the best practices they can. Now if the public wants lands protected for some specific reason, the affected land users should be properly compensated.

Lee Hart is editor of Cattleman’s Corner based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@ fbcpublishing.com.

WATCH THOSE FRIDGE DOORS Charlie Main, who farms near Virden, Manitoba made a good point if anyone is planning to use an old refrigerator or freezer for any non-typical application on the farm — remove the latches. Main was commenting on an article in a recent Cattleman’s Corner where beef producers were using an old nonworking fridge beside the squeeze to hold medications when cattle are being processed. It is a handy idea for keeping vaccines from freezing when being used in cold weather.

However, as Main pointed out an old self-locking fridge or freezer can be a death trap for kids playing and looking for place to hide. If an old fridge is being used, make sure any locking latch has been removed, and perhaps attach an exterior hasp to keep the door shut.

CWA FOUNDER PASSES A founder of the Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, and a long-time promoter of the Hereford beef industry has died.

Chris Sutter, who was born and raised and farmed most of his life on the family farm at Redvers, Saskatchewan, passed away in midMarch at the age of 94.

After serving in the Second World War, Sutter returned to the farm at Redvers where he raised Hereford cattle and went onto to become active in the Saskatchewan Hereford Association and the Canadian Hereford Association.

He was named Salesman of the Year by the Sales and Marketing Executive Association of Regina, was inducted into the Northern International Livestock Exposition Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame and the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Always a strong advocate of the agriculture industry he was instrumental in launching the first Canadian Western Agribition and served as it’s first president in 1971.

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Vera, their five children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

BETTER BUNKS AND PASTURES

Seven tips for reducing risk of pasture bloat PETER VITTI

E

ven in the last remaining snow mounds, green grass will start to sprout. It then doesn’t take long for pastures to grow quickly and easily support many of the nutrient requirements freshened beef cows need to nurse growing calves and get ready themselves for rebreeding.

Unfortunately, much of this nutrition is locked away in luscious alfalfa plants, that may cause fatal bloat. Therefore, beef producers should take bloat-precautionary steps to introduce their cow herd to alfalfa pastures, so a safe and productive grazing season is assured.

Cattle that are not prepared for grazing alfalfa pasture and as a result bloat is easy to see. In mild bloat cases, the left side of the animal is modestly distended and the animal might graze without incident. However, in more severe bloat cases, both sides balloon out and the animal appears to

be in distress. If left untreated, a seriously bloated animal may die, because this gut distention interferes with its breathing and the animal suffocates. Approximately two per cent of all recorded cattle mortalities in Western Canada are attributed to bloat.

TYPES OF BLOAT There are two main types of bloat that can be fatal to beef cows and their calves. The first is “freegas” bloat which is a straightforward accumulation of gas in the rumen. It occurs in about 10 per cent of all bloat cases. It is thought to be predominant among chronic bloaters (cattle that have re-occurring bloat) that have physical damaged rumen gas receptors (re: an ingested piece of metal). Freegas bloat is rare in pasture cattle.

Alfalfa grazing cattle often suffer from a second common type of bloat, known as “frothy bloat.”

Frothy bloat occurs when the rate of forage consumption and digestion is so rapid fermentation gases mix with the rumen fluid into slimy foam. Natural gas release is slow, because gases are

trapped inside small emulsified bubbles as well as this gaseous foam interferes with the rumen receptors that open up the esophagus for its gas expulsion.

Cattle are more susceptible to frothy bloat when grazing alfalfa pastures compared to other types of legume and grass pastures, due to alfalfa’s: (1) relative low fibre content that allow greater consumption in a short period of time, (2) a rumen digestion rate that is five to 10 times greater than most grasses that produces lots of gas (carbon dioxide and methane), and (3) a high level of soluble protein that increases the viscosity of rumen fluid, which can easily trap fermentative gas bubbles and may prevent natural expulsion.

Therefore, the potential for frothy bloat production in cows (and their calves) grazing alfalfa pastures is greatest when alfalfa is in its vegetative to early-bloom stages of growth. As the grazing season progress, alfalfa grasses like other pasture plants matures as it enters its bloom stage; fibre levels in its stems increase substantially and soluble protein levels in leaves decrease. This natural maturation

PHOTO: FILE

As alfalfa matures it becomes a much safer bet for pasturing cattle, with a lower risk of bloat, but it is the early, lush, first-flush crop that really needs to be properly managed. of alfalfa plants lead to a slower rate of digestion when consume by cattle and then digested in the rumen; lessening its overall bloat risk.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES Since it is not always practical to wait toward the middle of the grazing season to allow cattle to graze alfalfa pastures, many cowcalf operators implement good pasture management techniques

to prepare cattle to adapt, reducing the chance of alfalfa bloat.

The following recommendations are some sound bloat preventative and cautionary guidelines: • Plan out new alfalfa fields — These pastures should contain no more than 50 per cent alfalfa.

Select companion plant species that have low bloat-risk properties (such as more fibrous grasses) that

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

BUILDING TRUST IN CANADIAN BEEF

the promise of a new beef year Thoughts from beef producers to renew energy and ideals

No time of year represents the hope of the beef industry like the arrival of young calves each spring on Canadian beef farms and ranches. It’s a powerful time, with emotional, personal moments that can find producers thinking about what’s really important.

One of the things that Verified Beef Production (VBP) program provides is an opportunity to learn directly with those beef producers. It’s a privilege to be able to hear that feedback.

Here are some of their best thoughts about success and how producers can contribute to the end product regardless of size or scale of operation.

Credibility starts at the beginning. It all starts with the cow-calf industry. Credibility begins here and producers want to contribute to a wholesome, healthy food product.

Do what’s right for your industry. People are watching and expect the best. Don’t let them down. Lead through behaviour. Leading by example helps and modelling industry practices can help others do the right thing.

Think like a consumer. How would you feel if you think someone is breaking the rules? They likely feel the same, so don’t push limits without being able to react to consequences. Think about how someone else would react.

Records anchor trust. Keep the important information. It helps you identify trends and it provides a backup if something unexpected comes up.

Many animals will have three owners in their lifetime and records can link them together.

You don’t have to be big to be good. It’s proven every day across this country in the beef business. The most passionate and successful players are not always expansive operations. Cattle quality is not necessarily a function of herd size.

Get involved. Industry programs aren’t perfect but participation builds reputation and tells others our industry is strong. It also helps demonstrate to customers what matters.

Build your own reputation. Leaving it to someone else to enhance your reputation doesn’t work in the real world. It starts at home.

Producers care. It’s about proving that in real time. Stay in the game and like the Olympics, showcase your best for all to see.

Programming is low cost or no cost. Take a close look. The VBP program is designed to be built into your daily routine. Practices need not be complicated. Taking notice of a few key ones means one is ready in case something needs to be tweaked slightly. These actions are entry-level building blocks of a bigger opportunity.

Leadership means everything

As producers get their calves on the ground this year, there’s promise of a new year and another production cycle. Whether it is food safety, animal care or environmental stewardship, the ball is in our court.

We can play the “A” game ourselves or sit on the bench and let others determine the score.

There’s a renewed interest in the power of positive actions. Help your industry thrive.

Ask for a VBP pocket record book, a great tool to capture important information at calving time.

DEVELOPED BY PRODUCERS. DEVELOPED FOR CONSUMERS

One implant. That’s it. You’re done!

Avoid the inconvenience and stress of re-implanting.

Do it right. Do it once. ® Registered trademark of Intervet International B.V. Used under license.

For more information, talk to your veterinarian or call our technical service at 1-866-683-7838.

Merck Animal Health, operating in Canada as Intervet Canada Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA. MERCK is a trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA. Copyright © 2011 Intervet International B.V., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA. All rights reserved.

REV-XS Grain News QSHere.indd 1

13-06-13 16:26

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APRIL 8, 2014

Cattleman’s Corner ANYONE CAN START FARMING

Scheduling is key to diversified operation DEBBIE CHIKOUSKY

A

s spring approaches cattle breeding starts to niggle in our minds. It is also time to look over our baby season and evaluate things. Our biggest problem for a long time has been providing shelter space for cattle, goats and sheep to have their babies. So our family has spent time lately discussing if we want to remain so diversified.

We have decided for now it is best we do but we need to be mindful of when our next baby season starts.

Each species we raise has a special job on our farm. Each species compliments the other in their grazing styles so we get more out of our land. If my husband had to pick a favourite it would be the beef cows.

Overall they require the least attention and the least housing but we will never forget that throughout the BSE crisis, the goats and sheep held their value and helped keep us going. The other issue is having an adequate land and pasture base. The last few years our small livestock numbers have risen and our cattle have greatly diminished so we need to reorganize again.

REVIEW THE RECORDS To formulate our new plan we examined our notes from this year while they are still fresh in our minds. We utilize one

barn at the yard site where we live to calve, kid and lamb. This means we have to organize their “delivery” dates so there is room throughout the season. Spreading the seasons out as much as we have seems to be the main problem with our three-species system. It is very hard to maintain night checks and tend to animals for months at a time. So we are trying to streamline and utilize space better.

Our baby season stretches from about mid-January (cows first) to mid-June (goats last), which is too long. By the time we were finished everyone involved is exhausted and haying is ready to start but the machinery isn’t.

We have also found by kidding and lambing this late in the season we have to keep the kids and lambs over winter. This uses more pens, more shelters and more hay and our young females are often too young to breed till the following season. This schedule is costing us money and needs to be changed.

We’ve decided to move calving ahead to March. This will help with warmer weather overnight and hopefully we will be finished before the really wet spring weather arrives. Over the years the only times we’ve ever had navel ill or scours was when we calved in the wet.

Those health issues haven’t been a problem with the small stock. Lambing in late January to February worked well the last two years. This leaves the goats kidding for April.

PHOTOS: DEBBIE CHIKOUSKY

There are some important economics in having a diversified livestock operation, but when you have limited facilities it becomes a challenge to give each species the space and attention it needs.

REMODEL, REPURPOSE This scheduling will work as long as the goats and cows can share the barn. We have been utilizing the existing quonset in the yard, which was remodelled as a winter shelter for goats and we can use it for some kidding. This doesn’t add to capital expenses and will allow us to overlap part of the kidding and calving seasons. With January calving all cows spend a few days in the barn with their calves. Once the calf is completely dry, including umbilical cord, they go back outside, weather permitting. For some reason our cows like to lick the ears of these little guys when they go outside and that is when they freeze.

This could change with calving in March if the weather co-operates.

The last few years we have tried kidding and lambing in the warmer

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months so we weren’t as stressed about keeping the babies from freezing in the colder weather. We found however the little goats born in May/June don’t grow as well.

Instead of being out of the yard before November when the prices drop we are feeding them for the winter. This puts an extra strain on pen space and our alwayslimited hay supply. By kidding in February/March they were always market weight by September.

April kidding should be a safe bet. September market prices are usually higher for kids and lambs due to Muslim celebrations.

This new plan will require careful management of our animal’s post-partum this year. According to our vet, we need to ensure we give all our females vitamin shots and be vigilant they maintain body condition. This also means keeping them in a constant sup-

ply of salt/mineral. We will also have to plan now, before haying and other field works gets us sidetracked, to be prepared for goats/ sheep breeding in the fall.

If these changes work we will be able to avoid spending money on more buildings for a few years. It should be easier too for our sheep/ goats to be pasturing earlier in the season thereby better utilizing their brush-cleaning capabilities.

By implementing this breeding/ baby season schedule we hope to utilize our work force, buildings and feed much better. This in turn will result in higher profits per head. It will also help free up time to get important spring jobs done such as fencing, machinery preparation and field maintenance. †

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32

tools — Provide cattle molasses- or corn distillers-based blocks or tubs in different areas of pasture. If you want cattle to graze a particular piece of pasture; place cattle blocks in those areas to attract and congregate cows. The licking action will also assist with efficient digestion of grazed alfalfa.

• Observe the beef herd — During the first few weeks of grazing, observe any signs of bloating. Some animals will experience some mild bloating, despite all precautions. Most of this gas buildup is natural and should dissipate as cattle walk around grazing. Remove all chronic bloaters.

• Av o i d f r e q u e n t p a s t u r e changes — Once cattle are established on alfalfa pastures without significant problem; do not remove them or make them go both and forth to different pastures. Such irregularity prevents them from adapting to alfalfa pastures.

• Observe the pastures — It is a good idea to take an inventory of your pastures for rapid changes of growth during weeks of cloudy wet periods in the spring or after a stressful period, where rapid alfalfa growth may occur.

It’s interesting that such common pasture bloat has been recorded since cattle became domesticated. While its risk cannot be entirely eliminated, bloat can be significantly deflated with preventative management, prior to and when cows and calves step foot on an alfalfa field. †

SEVEN TIPS FOR REDUCING RISK OF PASTURE BLOAT are easily established and grow at the same rate of the pasture alfalfa.

• Feed dry roughage prior to cow herd release — Fill cows on grass hay before being turned out to alfalfa pastures. On pasture introduction, adjust to higher than normal stocking rates in order to increase competition among cattle. Consider dosing all adult beef cattle with CRC Rumensin boluses beforehand in order to help decrease the risk of bloat on pasture.

• First graze your grassy pastures — During the first few weeks of the pasture season allow cows and calves to continuously graze older pastures with a high proportion of grass and then move them onto pastures with a higher concentration of alfalfa. On some alfalfa fields it might be preferable to wait until the majority of alfalfa plants are past their early/lush vegetative stage. Avoid grazing areas of pure alfalfa stands, especially upon cattle introduction.

• Use other pasture management

More on the web

those s” “famou

plainjans.com

Roper

620-872-5777

gloves m: p l a i nj a n s f ro

Debbie Chikousky farms with her family at Narcisse, Manitoba. Visitors are always welcome. Contact Debbie at debbie@ chikouskyfarms.com.

Peter Vitti is an independent livestock nutritionist and consultant based in Winnipeg.

To reach him call 204-254-7497 or by email at vitti@mts.net.

APRIL 8, 2014

grainews.ca /

35

Cattleman’s Corner RANCHER’S DIARY

Surprise calvers needed some shelter HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

FEBRUARY 25

A

fter the rescued calf and its mama had been in the barn a week, and the calf was getting around OK on its frostbitten feet, Michael and Carolyn shovelled snow out of the windbreak corners of the pen below the barn. They put hay down for bedding for the cow and calf. It was nice to have Michael home from North Dakota for a few days, and he enjoyed a break from steady truckdriving in the severe winter weather.

We thought there would be only one “surprise” calf, but on Valentine’s Day the skinniest, oldest cow of Michael and Carolyn’s was calving when we fed the cows that morning. After she had it, Michael pulled the calf down through the fields in a sled, with the cow following. We put them in the barn, out of the wind and snow.

That Sunday Michael, Carolyn and Heather helped Lynn and me vaccinate and delouse the bulls and yearlings, and tagged the yearling heifers (brisket tags) with their permanent cow numbers. Then we moved the old cow and her calf from the barn into the pen with Heather’s pair. Those two calves were sired by the precocious bull calf last spring, but there won’t be any more surprises because the rest of their cows had barely calved when Michael and Carolyn weaned that little bull and removed him from the herd. The calf we rescued three weeks ago — with frozen ears and feet — is losing the skin off her nose, and ears, but she seems healthy otherwise.

Andrea had some tests on her throat; she has permanent damage from 14 years ago when she was intubated for so long in the ICU after her burn injuries. She has to go to a specialist for more tests.

The yard light in our barnyard and calving area quit working, so Michael helped Lynn replace it.

They put a long extension ladder up the pole and Lynn steadied it while Michael climbed up to replace the light and timer. I’m glad Michael was able to do this before he went back to North Dakota. Lynn and I are not very steady on ladders!

Emily played in the state hockey tournament in Idaho Falls, the last games of the season. Her team was doing well, but in the third game she and another girl were racing for the puck and Em slammed into the wall full speed and broke her leg.

MARCH 9 Emily had another leg x-ray. The doctor won’t be able to put a cast on until after it is surgically repaired.

The tendons are pulled loose from the bone and the break is separating.

I’ve been working on edits and page proofs of my next book, which is coming out in late April.

It’s called Good Horse, Bad Habits, published by Trafalgar. This book is a collection of tips on retraining problem horses.

We had warmer weather last week; the snow is melting. On Wednesday Emily had surgery on her leg to reattach the tendons and stabilize the fracture with a metal plate. She

has to stay off the leg for two weeks, keep it iced and elevated, and then have stitches taken out before a cast can be put on.

With the warmer weather we’ve had snow slides closing several roads. Thursday water was running down our road and across the fields.

Water coming down a draw by the upper place nearly washed out the road; the county crew brought a road grader up that evening and got the flood diverted. The next day brought two truckloads of gravel to fix the washout.

MARCH 18 Andrea’s kids have two new puppies. A friend’s dog had a litter they needed to give away.

These puppies are border collie and Brittany spaniel. They will help entertain Emily while she is recuperating.

Our holding pen has thawed — getting boggy — so Lynn moved the rest of the stacked big straw bales into the hay yard. We need to clean out the barn stalls where the cows with surprise babies spent time, so we can get ready for calving.

Saturday morning we fed the cows at the lower end of the field by the gate, and sorted off five that are starting to get udders. We put them in the horse pasture and orchard where we can watch them.

I’ve been writing the life story for a rancher friend in Oregon who is 86 years old. He wants it written for his children and grandchildren. I tape our conversations on the phone as he tells me his stories about his life and then I type them up. It’s been a very interesting project. † Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact her at 208-756-2841.

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PHOTO: HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

Other than losing skin on its nose and ears due to frostbite, this early unexpected calf appears to be doing well.

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APRIL 8, 2014

Home Quarter Farm Life SEEDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

An Easter of love What would it look like if we paid attention to the true meaning of Easter?

Lucado in his book Live Loved. I take great comfort in the words of encouragement that Lucado writes, but more so in God’s word: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you that you also love one another” (John 13:34).

“And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24).

Coaching farm families in transition is challenging. Many times I offer folks to consider a change in their approach to stop exhausting each other with conflict, and move toward love and respect.

As I was driving on the TransCanada Highway to a family meeting, I spotted a rail car with a huge graffiti message which read “Jesus loves you!” That one can stay on that train forever as it crosses the country. Later I was in Langenburg, Sask. where the “Save Room for Dessert” Café offered me steel-lasered magnets with great Easter messages: Rejoice!, Spirit!, Give! and even Kiss! These treasures were far more valuable to me than the 16 different rabbit statues in a popular home décor store that don’t represent the true meaning of Easter to me.

Rabbits are part of the spring fertility rites of the old-country cultures, and eggs are part of the same

ELAINE FROESE

E

aster Sunday is April 20. It is my favourite Sunday of the entire year because it is the day I celebrate God’s deep love for me with the resurrection of Jesus. In our Sunday school group we are studying the book of Romans where it is made very clear how our faith in Christ gives us new life and the hope of heaven.

It’s no surprise Easter is a “quiet” holiday compared to hectic activities of Christmas preparation.

What would it look like to pay more attention to the true message of Easter this year? How could we show more folks the love of God in practical ways? When can we take an opportunity to explain that Christ rose from the dead and was seen by more than 500 people? They saw him physically.

That’s why Christians have no fear of death, and that is an amazing reason to celebrate!

This past winter has been a hard journey. “People can exhaust you.

And there are times when all we can do is not enough. The best of love can go unrequited,” says Max

vein of thinking when they used to roll eggs over the land to “make it fertile” in the spring. Regardless, hunting for Easter eggs can be a fun family tradition, and one that our neighbourhood used to love to share.

When a young woman marries a farmer she brings with her the traditions of Easter that her family found important. The young farmer also likely has less love for the rituals than his new wife does, and this can cause conflict. The joy and adventure of marriage is carving out new traditions and meaning for your new family unit. This is just one example of the types of adjustments that daughters-in-law need to make when they become part of a farm family team. She also may value celebrating faith, so she packs up the children for church faithfully each Sunday while her hubby attends to the endless chores of the farm. Here is another conflict, trading time for family, faith and letting go of work. This life/work balance as it is commonly called, is not ever balance. It is an ongoing polarity or unresolvable issue that just needs to be managed, because it is never checked off the “to do” list.

Very soon our new book, Farming’s In-Law Factor will be printed, and we are excited to share practical tools for all in-laws to have more

PHOTO: ELAINE FROESE

harmony and less conflict on family farms. Forgiveness is a key issue. The model of forgiveness that Jesus gave us helps families let go of past hurt, and embrace a new start or chapter.

The families that I coach who have a model of forgiveness that they employ and a way to make “quick repair” are much better off than the families that continue to offend, hurt and frustrate one another.

As of March 15, 2014, I have been writing in this paper for 19 years.

The babies who tore the pages of Grainews apart on the floor are now tearing up the gravel roads in their pickups. They are also the ones calling me for new insights on how to have their folks say “I love you son, and I am proud of you.” Ten years later they are back asking how to get some equity. Twenty years later they are asking what control looks like. Seasons of the year mirror the seasons of life. What is going to be different for you this Easter compared to the many Easters you have already witnessed?

Do you have energy to get up early for the sunrise service? Can you add a few special touches to your dinner table to make everyone

who gathers around it glad that they came? Do you have the courage to invite the family members who have distanced themselves, yet really need to be loved unconditionally?

Easter calls us to look at renewal and resurrection. We are given new life in Christ when we accept his gift of forgiveness for us. We are given the comfort, wisdom and counsel of the Holy Spirit when we become believers. God loves you more than you will ever know, and now is the time to embrace His unending love to energize your life, and give your farm family the best legacy ever: the legacy of richness in relationship towards God, and richness in relationship with each other.

I would like to know what changes you have made since you’ve been reading this column over the years.

Send me encouragement; address mail to Box 957, Boissevain, Man. R0K 0E0.

Have a wonderful Easter ! † Elaine Froese, CAFA, CHICoach has been called “Canada’s Farm Whisperer” by Faith Today magazine. Engage her resources to empower your farm team. Visit www.elainefroese.com or call 1-866-848-8311. Buy her new book for Mother’s Day!

EXTENDED OUTLOOK FOR THE PRAIRIES Weather Forecast for the period of March 30 to April 26, 2014

Southern Alberta

Peace River Region March 30 - April 5 Variable freeze/thaw cycle and often cool and windy. Fair, but snow or rain on 2 to 3 days, heavy in places.

April 6 - 12 Weather conditions and temperatures vary, as fair sunny days and mild temperatures interchange with cool, wet days.

April 13 - 19 Sunny and windy but look for a couple off cooler days with rain, and snow in places. Chance of heavy precipitation.

April 20 - 26 Sunny with seasonal to mild temperatures, but expect periodic rain with a chance of heavier snow.

-3 / 9 Grande Prairie 19.8 mms

Manitoba

March 30 - April 5 Variable freeze/thaw cycle and often cool and windy. Fair, but snow or rain on 2 to 3 days, heavy in places.

March 30 - April 5 Cool but with occasional thawing.

Windy. Sunny apart from snow or rain on 2 or 3 days, chance of heavy in places.

March 30 - April 5 Cool but with occasional thawing.

Windy, sunny days alternate with rain or snow, chance of heavy in some regions.

April 6 - 12 Weather conditions and temperatures vary, as fair sunny days and mild temperatures interchange with cool, wet days.

April 6 - 12 Mainly sunny and milder aside from a couple of wet, cool days with rain or heavier snow. Blustery at times.

April 13 - 19 Sunny and windy but look for a couple off cooler days with rain, and snow in places. Chance of heavy precipitation.

April 13 - 19 Highs reach the teens with a few frosty nights. Fair, windy days exchange with cool, wet days.

Chance of heavy snow.

April 6 - 12 Sunny, other than a couple of days with rain or snow in the south, and heavier snow in the north. Windy.

Mild days exchange with frosty nights.

April 20 - 26 Sunny with seasonal to mild temperatures, but expect periodic rain with a chance of heavier snow on 1 or 2 days this week. Blustery at times.

April 20 - 26 Often sunny, mild and windy but expect scattered rain or snow on 2 to 3 days this week, possibly heavy in places.

April 13 - 19 Unsettled, windy and changeable this week as sunshine alternates with rain and a chance of heavy snow. Frosty nights.

April 20 - 26 Variable from mild to cool with some frost. Sunny, but with scattered rain or snow on 2 or 3 days.

Precipitation Forecast -3 / 10 Edmonton 22.1 mms

-2 / 9 North Battleford

-3 / 10 Jasper

21.2 mms ABOVE NORMAL

Forecasts should be 80% accurate, but expect variations by a day or two because of changeable speed of weather systems.

Saskatchewan

-3 / 9

32.4 mms

Banff

-3 / 10 Red Deer 22.9 mms

-2 / 11 Calgary

25.1 mms

0 / 13 Medicine Hat 19mms cms Lethbridge 26.0 35.9 mms 26 cms -1 / 12

-5 / 6 The Pas

-4 / 8 Prince Albert

21.7 mms

-3 / 9 Saskatoon 19.7 mms

22.2 mms

27.4 mms

NEAR NORMAL

-3 / 9 Yorkton

-4 / 9 Dauphin

-4 / 7 -2 / 11 20.3 mms 31.7 mms Gimli -2 / 11 Regina -2 / 10 Moose Jaw 20.4 mms 39.2 mms Swift 24.3 mms -2 / 10 -3 / 9 Current Portage -2 / 10 -2 / 11 Brandon 40.4 mms Winnipeg 24.7 mms Weyburn 35.4 mms 35.9 mms 28.9 mms -2 / 11 Estevan Melita -4 / 10 33.3 mms

33.5 mms

Precipitation Outlook For April Much Above Normal Below Much above normal normal below normal normal

Temperatures are normals for April 15th averaged over 30 years.

Precipitation (water equivalent) normals for April in mms. ©2014 WeatherTec Services www.weathertec.mb.ca

APRIL 8, 2014

grainews.ca /

37

Home Quarter Farm Life FROM THE FARM

Think you don’t like to eat liver?

Try these recipes and you just might change your mind 350 F oven, in an ovenproof baking dish, for about one hour.

DEBBIE CHIKOUSKY

Another idea for chicken livers would be this recipe that can be found at http://www. theclothesmakethegirl.com.

T

he most unpleasant dinner memories of my childhood are liver.

Hated it. I know that is a strong sentiment but I can still feel the mushiness of it when I chewed. I couldn’t camouflage that away no matter how much ketchup we were allowed to pour onto it.

Then I grew up and got pregnant and absolutely couldn’t take pregnancy vitamins without being very ill. So, the doctor and I had to come to an agreement. The worst part of it was that I had to, no getting around it, consume liver once a week. I am happy to say that once we started raising our own grassfinished beef, liver has become one of our favourite meals. My children even enjoy it.

Organ meats have gotten a bad reputation for cholesterol but for a healthy person organ meats in moderation can be a healthy addition to their diet.

Of course people have to follow their doctors’ recommendations. Our family isn’t overly adventurous with organs but we do very much enjoy liver and will tolerate heart now. Organ meats are highly nutritious.

Liver is a fantastic source of copper, zinc, iron and vitamins A and D in abundance, and is also a rich source of antioxidants. It is an organ that is used by the body to filter toxins, therefore, it is best to know your source.

Heart is a muscle so it is predisposed to having a nice firm texture. Beef heart has very concentrated levels of CoQ10, B vitamins, folic acid, selenium, phosphorus, zinc and amino acids that help burn fat, store energy and boost stamina and endurance. CoQ10 is speculated to be highly protective against cancer and is found only in animal foods, and its function is to protect the heart. Beef heart contains 40 per cent of our daily requirements per serving, and also has twice as much collagen and elastin. Our family enjoys chicken hearts as well as beef.

CRISPY SPICED CHICKEN LIVERS 1 to 1-1/2 lbs. chicken livers 2/3 c. coconut flour (we use spelt) 1 tsp. paprika 1 tsp. garlic powder 3/4 tsp. cumin 3/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper 1/4 tsp. cloves 2-4 tbsp. coconut oil Fresh lemon and chopped fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro or mint) for garnish

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

Knowing why it was important to eat these meats did help me to overcome the gag reflex and learn to love them.

The first dish that made liver tolerable was stir-fry.

LIVER STIR-FRY 2 lbs. liver Onions Garlic Ginger root (about 1/2 tsp. chopped) Carrots Celery Broccoli Cauliflower Bean sprouts 1 c. beef broth 1/4 c. soy sauce 2 tbsp. cornstarch (dissolved in the soy sauce) Coconut oil for frying While the liver is still slightly frozen chop it into bite-size pieces. The narrower the strips the less the mushy texture is noticed. Soak the liver in water with a sprinkle of salt in it to help remove the excess blood while the vegetables are prepared. Cut up the vegetables in a method pleasing to your

family feeling free to change the assortment. Drain the liver and dry on a clean dish towel.

Season the liver with salt, pepper and garlic powder. In the melted coconut oil simmer the garlic but don’t brown it, then add the liver. Cook till it loses its pink. Remove from pan. Fry vegetables, adding more coconut oil if needed. When they reach the desired texture remove and add beef broth and soy sauce.

Stir to thicken then add the liver and vegetables. Toss them well to coat. Serve with rice. Serves 6.

When this method was well tolerated we added the option of Fried Liver to our menu. It can be used for any species of liver/heart that happens to find its way into a farmer’s freezer.

FRIED LIVER/HEART 4 ozs. liver/heart per person Onions Freezer bag Whole grain flour (we use spelt) Salt Pepper Turmeric (just a sprinkle) Garlic powder Coconut oil

Slice the liver, while still a bit frozen, into very thin slices.

Put the flour and spices into a freezer bag that will allow you to shake the pieces of meat, a few at a time, comfortably.

Brown the meat in the coconut oil and place in a baking pan.

Cover with sliced onions and bake till it is cooked through, adding a bit of water if needed.

Sometimes the flour and meat juices will make gravy on their own which is very tasty over mashed potatoes.

Another way to prepare heart that is very flavourful is to stuff it.

STUFFED HEART 1 cow heart (usually feeds four) 3 c. bread crumbs 1 onion 1/2 c. butter Wash the heart and remove any fat along the top edge.

Combine bread crumbs, onions, salt and pepper and butter very well. Stuff this mixture into the heart chambers. Grease a piece of aluminum foil big enough to wrap the heart in. Wrap the heart and place in a preheated

Cut chicken livers into 2-inch pieces and pat dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, mix flour, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and cloves with a fork until blended. Pour the seasoned flour into a large zip-lock bag, add the chicken livers, and shake gently until coated evenly. In a large sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil over medium high until hot, about 3 minutes. Add about half the chicken livers in a single layer — try to arrange them so they don’t touch. Allow the bottom to brown well and form a crisp crust, about 3-5 minutes.

Using tongs, flip the livers, and brown the other side. Set aside to drain on paper towels while you cook the second batch. You may need to add more coconut oil to the pan. Place the livers on a serving plate and garnish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkle of chopped fresh herbs.

Prep 10 min.

Cook 15 min.

Serves 2-4 With these new recipes and the knowledge that organs really are a nutritious and usually economical meal choice feel free to be adventurous.

Imagine how surprised my mom was to find out that I actually enjoy eating liver now and my children ask for it! † Debbie Chikousky farms at Narcisse, Manitoba.

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APRIL 8, 2014

Home Quarter Farm Life POSTCARDS FROM THE PRAIRIES

Life’s secrets, according to you…

People of the world, tell me this — what’s the one thing you wish you’d spend less time worrying about? Part Two JANITA VAN DE VELDE

A

s human beings, we’re all very different, and yet our worries are remarkably similar — we worry about our finances, mortality, what we look like, what other people think, what (we think) they’ll say about us, often focusing more on keeping everyone else satisfied, rather than concentrating on our own happiness. We worry about being the best we can be for our families, and in the process, many

of us live our lives solely to please others. Sometimes I think it all comes down to just wanting to be liked… feeling good enough, valued and appreciated for who we are. And if we don’t feel that, then we try to be someone else. What a world this would be if we all felt that we’re good enough and totally lovable, just the way we are… inherently knowing and trusting that those who come through us and after us would truly understand that we gave it our all, that we fought hard, and loved hard. I worry a lot about not being good enough — I feel stretched in so many different directions that I often don’t even know which way I’m looking, or if I’m even standing anymore. I worry

a lot about mortality — about the end and not having done enough. I worry that I’ll be lying on my deathbed with regrets about not being a better mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, and that fills me with a sense of angst that can consume me if I let it.

Maybe there’s a real beauty in the collective similarities of our worries… perhaps this very flaw in the human condition is exactly what binds us all together. I don’t have a tattoo, but at the ripe old age of 39, pardon me, 29, I’d like to get the following quote inked on my body. (Incidentally, my mother would faint if I got a tattoo. But not before issuing an oral dissertation on how silly a tattoo

will look when I’m 80. Guess what, Mom? If I make it to 80, I’ll likely start smoking again to kick off my octogenarian celebrations, so the appearance of a wrinkled tattoo will likely be the least of my concerns.)

“Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves, will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we’re gone and wonder who we were? How bravely we fought… how fiercely we loved…”

— from Homer’s Odyssey Here’s what I know: In the end, all material and ego-related issues will be laid to waste; our pride, our

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That my husband is going to stray.

What other people think or say about me… I’ve been working on this for the last year, and have made some milestones, but it’s always a work in progress. I believe it comes down to self-confidence.

What tasks are coming down the pipe at home and at work.

My body image.

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I wish I spent less time worrying about being a loser at work. I worry that I will suck at my job and that people will think I’m stupid.

I should worry less about pleasing others.

What I look like.

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Things getting worse again.

Everyone else’s happiness. I’d love to spend less time trying to make other people happy; I’d love to resign from this neurotic career.

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This one’s easy. I wish I would quit worrying about my weight and body size, but I fear that if I did that and really let go, I would quickly weigh 300+ pounds.

Luckily I am not a big worrier.

I take after my dad, thank God. In fact, I should probably worry more. Oh great, now I’m worried that I don’t worry enough!

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Here forthwith are the remaining responses to what you wish you’d spend less time worrying about.

I wish I spent less time worrying about my biggest regret.

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✔

quest to be perfect, our attempts to hide our weaknesses, our worries, our fear of someone not liking us or thinking we’re not smart enough or good enough, our desire to be liked.

In the end, none of this will matter.

I’d like to think all that’ll matter is how deeply we loved.

>

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100% Complete, Assigned to David Done Sept 25, 2014

>

>

I wish I spent less time worrying about keeping the farm together, the pressure to be fair and yet keep it together as a functioning unit. Although I think that’s my job to do.

My grandchildren’s health.

I wish I spent less time worrying about being wrong or unliked.

If the work will ever get done on time. †

>

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Janita Van de Velde grew up on a farm near Mariapolis, Man. She holds a bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics from the University of Manitoba, and has worked for a financial institution since graduating. She lives in Regina, Sask., with her husband Roddy and their children Jack, Isla and James. Her first novel, Postcards Never Written, was the recipient of the Saskatchewan Reader’s Choice Award and also listed by CBC as one of the top funny books in 2009. She donates a portion of proceeds from the sale of her book to World Vision to help those less fortunate. For more information, or to order her book, visit her website at www.janita.ca.

APRIL 8, 2014

grainews.ca /

39

Home Quarter Farm Life SINGING GARDENER

Sharing tomato and RLS emails Plus, a reader wants to know where to get Ogallala strawberry plants TED MESEYTON

H

owdy again good people and thanks for landing on the Singing Gardener page. No matter where you are on your journey as a gardener you’re always welcome on my runway.

Fruits of the vine are certainly the essence of summer and I’ll share emails with more tomato talk.

First though — a request from a strawberry grower and another reader’s experience with restless leg syndrome.

QUESTION? Is there anyone out there among our family of Grainews readers with Ogallala strawberry plants for sale, for barter or exchange for something else? Clark Reed writes in his email: Hi Ted, We enjoy your page in Grainews! We are looking for an older strawberry plant called Ogallala and can’t find a dealer, so do you know of any nurseries that sell Ogallala plants or maybe some of your readers have plants they would be able to spare.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Clark.

We live in Trochu, Alta. which is 45 min. east of Olds, Alta.

We’re on the open prairie near the Red Deer River. We’re home gardeners working in raised beds mostly. We are suffering from the seed catalogue’s habit of always turfing out the old favourites for some new seed that doesn’t taste as good to us.

We have lost our favourite pea, Improved Stratagem and our best canning bean, the original Roma. The Roma II had no flavour for us. Well, enough complaining. Thanks again, Clark and Marilyn Reed in Trochu, Alta. Phone 403-442-2889.

SUE ARMSTRONG

LOVE HEARING FROM YOU Do you have a story about a farm or home-based business?

How about some household management tips? Does someone in the family have a special-diet need? Share some of your meal ideas.

Send them to FarmLife, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1. Phone 1-800665-0502 or email susan@ fbcpublishing.com. Please remember we can no longer return photos or material. † Sue Armstrong

STRAWBERRY ROAN ... recorded by Canada’s great, late Wilf Carter also comes to mind. The song is about a horse of a roan colour having a mixture of bay, chestnut or sorrel shades with spots of grey or white interspersed on its coat. Now back to the request at hand.

If any gardener can help out the Reeds please give them a call.

Ogallala is a cross between a hybrid and a wild Rocky Mountain berry, making it very cold tolerant with blossoms that are fairly frost resistant. Ogallala is especially recommended for northern-tier gardeners.

Meanwhile, I, Ted, had a chance to speak with a representative at T&T Seeds in Winnipeg who indicated Ogallala strawberry plants are not available this year. However, T&T does have Fort Laramie, another everbearing strawberry described as extremely hardy with excellent vigour, a heavy fruiter of large, scarlet-red berries and excellent runner production.

Regardless of variety, strawberries are traditionally started from bare root plants that should be set out as soon as soil can be worked in early spring. It’s recommended to pinch off all flowers during the first growing season, allowing plants to build strong roots. The exception is flowers on newly planted everbearing varieties. A few blossoms can be left on after Canada Day for a fall crop, but harvest is usually sparse the first year. Well there you have it Grainews readers. Let’s move from the strawberry patch to the next email.

FROM THE QUEEN CITY A Regina reader writes: Enjoy your page — all is of much interest. In reference to your Feb. 11, 2014 column pertaining to restless legs. My aunt to no end had restless legs. She was prescribed a medication that is reserved for people with malaria that really did work. I think restless leg syndrome is caused by mosquito bites. This became evident after a very busy bunch of insects made life anything but enjoyable, therefore, malaria medication. It was prescribed by a general practitioner. The druggist asked the patient when she got malaria, to which she replied that indeed she did not have malaria and the druggist told her this is the medication prescribed for malaria.

She passed away a number of years ago, so cannot give name of med.

Perhaps a druggist can be of some assistance. I find that by raising my feet at bedtime I can get some relief. My discomfort has decreased in the past year.

Did you know that there are about 23 types of moss? I just loved walking down the back road and along fencelines and checking stones, and the north side of trees.

At one time, the early pioneer women used moss on baby’s butt, but also was a method of direction if you were lost. Moss grows on the north side. I had moss at the back of my farmhouse. It was a fantastic colour of green that would change as it matured. It only grew where there were ideal conditions.

Despite that brutal March cold, new calves dared brave the snow and cold. A lot of extra work, but

PHOTO: RICHTERS HERBS

This may come as a surprise but low-growing dill varieties make excellent companion plants dispersed here and there among nearby tomatoes. Shown is Ella dill that is densely leafy, bushier and short enough to even grow in pots. Other dwarf varieties include Fernleaf dill and Monia dill. Check for these at local garden centres and seed displays in your area or phone Richters Herbs at 1-800-668-4372; www.Richters.com. then, what is challenging and not enjoyable except of course farming. The tragic loss of bees both domestic and now the native species gives cause for concern. No insects, no cross-pollination, and then what will mankind do? I thoroughly enjoy your column.

Enjoy your week. (name withheld by request)

MORE ON THE SUBJECT OF RLS Researchers have puzzled for decades over this curious condition called restless legs syndrome and offered little explanation why some folks have difficulty keeping still at night. More recent studies suggest that RLS may be triggered by immune system disorders associated with excessive inflammation in the body. Based on that theory, episodes of inflammation and RLS may be helped, reduced or controlled by avoiding and/or eliminating sources of inflammation from certain foods and medications. Follow guidelines prescribed by your physician and dietitian. Inflammatory contributors include processed foods, cured meats, refined carbohydrates and sugar. Ask your health-care provider about taking anti-inflammatory and calming supplements such as calcium and magnesium, herbal valerian, ginger, curcumin, omega-3s and B vitamins especially 6, 9 and 12.

Besides fish and walnuts, antiinflammatory vegetables to include in your diet are beets, carrots, leafy greens, peppers, tomatoes and all kinds of berries and cherries.

Speaking of cherries, the University of Saskatchewan has pioneered and introduced an amazing group of Prairie-hardy cherry trees such as Carmine Jewel, Crimson Passion, Cupid, Juliet and Romeo.

These are available at nurseries across the Prairies and elsewhere in Canada. All the more reason to have your own home orchard and garden. There’s nothing finer nor more pure than homegrown.

CURCUMIN BRIEFLY EXPLAINED It’s a substance in turmeric and both words are often interchanged. In India especially, turmeric is used to treat many health conditions. It is believed to have

anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and perhaps even anti-cancer properties. Keep in mind that most studies are done in the laboratory. It’s too early to draw final conclusions although ongoing research continues to confirm turmeric’s health benefits. Turmeric does have years of traditional use and some preliminary research is convincing. There’s a tremendous revival of interest in old folk remedies especially when a person is ailing now.

FAITHFUL READERS … help lead me in the direction of things that I write about. Louise Plante emailed the following in early March: Hi Ted — I am from St. Paul, Alberta, which is two hours north of Edmonton — one hour south of Cold Lake — and 1-1/2 hours northwest of Lloydminster. My all-time favourite tomato is the Hy-Beef 9904 VFT, then the Jetsetter is very good and another old-timer is the Big Beef Hybrid. Have had good results with the Sun King but seeds are not available now. The Debut was another good tomato with the smaller vines loaded with large fruit but the seeds are not in the catalogues this year.

I have been growing the big Beefs and 9904s for well over 30 years (probably 40). I have been gardening since 1957 when we first married. I have the perfect garden for tomatoes — bush on the north side so they get sunshine and no winds from the north and west. I start them at the end of March — and plant them deep. I even use a posthole auger to dig the holes. I break off the bottom leaves and in the ground they go when there is no more risk of frost — usually close to Farmer’s Day. In Alberta, this was always on the second Friday in June. Schools were closed and it was picnic time for farmers. Back when my children were growing up in the ’60s and ’70s we often transplanted the tomatoes in the garden in the forenoon then off we’d go to a local lake to join in with friends for a wiener roast. Now the holiday has been lost. Agriculture has taken the back seat of the economy.

Next email comes from Barbara Kaiser, Thorhild, Alberta. She writes:

Hi Ted: There is always news about tomatoes and here I have a little tidbit of my own experiments. Last year I planted one extra beefsteak tomato plant in a bucket. I wanted to see if I could get the plant to overwinter. You know how it is in the Prairies. At end of summer if the plant is frozen, you cannot take cuttings anymore. There’s just one night with a little frost and then plants buckle all over — afterwards weeks of fine and warm weather. This plant I rescued before the cold. It came in the house and over the winter grew slowly, but continuously.

Last week I trimmed the big plant back and had some wonderful cuttings, all approx. 10 inches long. I left only a small crown of leaves on them and put them up to the neck in water. Rooting started over the whole length of stem after two days. After further root development I will transplant them in one-gallon pots and hope I’m some weeks ahead, especially after we seem to be so late this year. The long rooted stem will grow to a big root ball.

If you hold it worthwhile go ahead. Share with your readers!

You really should think about the possibility to put all your garden tips of the past on a CD. Take care of your green thumb. Have a great day. Barbara Kaiser, Thorhild, Alberta, one hour north-northeast of Edmonton. †

This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie, Man. Again: Thank you for stopping by. You are just what the garden doctor ordered.

The next best dates for seeding flowering annuals and tomatoes are April 13, 14, 15, 16, May 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 2014. When it’s Grainews renewal time you can reach one of our friendly receptionists on the other end of the line by dialing 1-800-665-0502. It’s one sure way for us to stay connected. My email address is singinggardener@mts.net.

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