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Resistant clubroot a ‘nightmare’ scenario Continuous cropping likely cause of new resistant clubroot pathogen, but canola council says tight rotations are still OK for some By Alexis Kienlen af staff

he breakdown of a clubrootresistant variety just four years after it came on the market is a “nightmare” — but doesn’t mean growers in clubrootfree areas can’t plant canola every other year, say industry officials. “It’s unfortunate that this had to happen,” said Ward Toma, general manager of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. “We had a tool in resistance and it’s a nightmare that it broke down so fast. And it broke down so fast because it was not used properly, from what we understand.” Late last summer, several growers in the Edmonton area who planted resistant varieties developed in 2009 reported finding dead patches and infected plants in their fields. “We were hoping that we would get maybe eight to 10 years from the current sources of resistance but we got four,” said Clinton Jurke, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada. “But that’s not to say that all resistance has failed out there.” The canola council came under criticism earlier this year from some, including the past chair of the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, for backing tighter rotations in some circumstances. In announcing a new target of 26 million tonnes of production by 2025, the council released a document stating crop insurance data showed “in many areas, growers are maintaining canola yields while growing the crop more frequently.” A minimum one-in-four-year rotation is still recommended for clubroot-infested fields, but many farmers find themselves in a grey area. Round Hill grain farmer Humphrey Banack is one of them.

HOT TOPIC

His farm is 80 kilometres from Leduc County, a clubroot hot spot. Banack and his brother, who runs a custom spraying operation, keep their equipment clean and ensure oilfield equipment coming onto their land is clean, too. They also avoid clubroot-infested fields, and rigorously scout their crops for signs of the disease. Clubroot has come to their county, but so far they haven’t found any on their land. Still, Banack plans to plant resistant varieties for the first time. “We wanted to try it out this

year and see how it performs,” said Banack, who is vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. “If there are small amounts (of clubroot) out there, maybe it will provide us a yield benefit.” About 45 per cent of his acres will be seeded to canola, with the rest divided among wheat, pulses, and flax. Some of his fields are on threeyear rotations, but most are on a canola-wheat rotation.

see CLUBROOT } page 6

A two-year rotation is OK, as long as you aren’t in a clubroot-infested area, says Ward Toma, general manager of Alberta Canola Producers Commission. supplied photo

Has productivity trumped welfare in livestock breeding? } PAGE 3

news » inside this week

inside » Stan Blade new U of A ag dean Veteran researcher has a bold vision for school

MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

livestock

crops

columNists

Keys to livestock price insurance

Coping with fertilizer shortage

A vision of farming in 2050

Daniel Bezte

Everyone can be a forecaster

PEDv battle going well Biosecurity efforts working well so far

LAURA RANCE

Futures, basis, dollar are key but so is the producer’s situation

There are measures to give underfertilized crops a boost

terryn shiells

Cold, wet weather driving canola

Researcher using chicken feet to prevent crow’s feet By Alexis Kienlen af staff / edmonton

an a pill made from chicken feet and cow hides give your skin a younger, healthier look? Yes, says University of Alberta food scientist Mirko Betti, an expert on modifying animal proteins from meat byproducts. Betti is currently extracting collagen from poultry skin, feet, bones, and cartilage as well as bovine hides. Collagen is a natural protein that becomes “cross-linked” as we age, and injecting or ingesting the protein can help prevent signs of aging, such as wrinkles. It contains peptides, and research has found they stimulate fibroblasts, which are the cells involved in skin regeneration. Collagen peptides are already available for sale as capsules or gel pills, with a bottle of capsules fetching $20 to $40. That got Betti and the other researchers on his team thinking about extracting collagen from livestock byproducts, which are normally incinerated or used in pet foods. He has developed a unique process — involving enzymatic hydrolysis and then combining hydrolyzed collagen with amino-sugar glucosamine — that makes it more readily available to the body. The majority of gelatin peptides on the market are made from bovine, swine and fish gelatin and aren’t as effective, said the associate professor. “There are problems with solubility and bioavailability,” he said. “Our technology improves the solubility and bioavailability of peptides by developing a particular cocktail of enzymes.” Demand for nutraceutical cosmetics is growing, and Betti said he was approached by an Alberta company a couple of years ago looking to get into the market. “They were looking for Alberta byproducts because even our bovine hides are of better quality compared to the U.S.,” he said. And even if younger-looking skin isn’t at the top of your wish list, collagen may find its way into your diet. Betti said he’s heard Nestle wants to add collagen peptides to an instant coffee product sold in the Far East. “In Asia, they have the concept of food as a medicine, so all of the byproducts are something precious rather than something to be discarded.” Betti’s collagen research project will be finished by 2015. It’s funded by the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency and Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions. akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

Grizzly bears are no longer a rare sight in southwestern Alberta. photo©thinkstock

Fears raised by growing bear numbers A bear safety training program in southwestern Alberta will arm producers with some knowledge about bear behaviour — and their very own can of bear spray By Jennifer Blair af staff

$10,000 farm safety grant may keep southwestern Alberta producers a little safer from bears. “(Bears have) been a problem that the community has grappled with,” said Jeff Bectell, chair of the Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association in Pincher Creek. “Any time a community is facing issues, it really feels good when they know people understand… and are actually trying to help in solving those concerns.” The association will host a series of workshops in June for farm families in the Cardston and Pincher Creek areas to cover general bear safety and behaviour. They will also offer some handson training on using bear spray — albeit without the bears or real spray. A bear spray-style canister containing an inert gas is used instead, but it’s good practice, said Bectell. “They can actually pull it out of the holster, point it at a target, and see… how it works.” Every family will get a canister of real spray so they “have a tool that they know how to use and maybe feel a little bit safer.”

Bears have become a growing cause for concern in southwestern Alberta over the past decade. University of Alberta research found 51 grizzly bears in 2011 and 122 a year later. The actual number is well north of 130, said Bectell. “(This research) has really supported what the community has been saying, that grizzly bear numbers have been increasing in this area. That’s part of the reason we’re seeing an increase in conflict.” In the area where Bectell ranches near Cardston, there were four livestock kills and two bear incidents in farmyards in a two-week period in April. “Large carnivores and people should both have a place in the landscape,” he said. “Most people don’t want to see bears or wolves completely gone.” The association has other programs to reduce the potential of conflict between farmers and ranchers and large carnivores. This includes bear-proofing grain bins, removing deadstock, and installing electric fencing. But you can only reduce the chance of a problem, not completely eliminate it, he said. “Everything on a farm is a bear attractant,” said Bectell. “It’s not practical to imagine that we’re not going to have anything that might let bears be a problem.”

Bectell has lost livestock to bears in the past, and while he hasn’t had an aggressive encounter with the animals, he calls living with them “nerveracking.” “We just didn’t have bears on my farm when I was a boy,” he said. “Places I used to go and ride a horse when I was a kid, I’m a little nervous to let my kids ride in those locations.” Producers need to be more “bear aware,” he said. “We’re just trying to help people who are having problems to deal with these problems in a proactive way.” The farm safety project is funded by Farm Credit Canada, which partners with the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association to deliver the AgSafety Fund, which doles out $100,000 across Canada every year to non-profit groups for agriculture safety programs. This year, four Alberta projects received funding. The others are a oneday Safety Day in the northern hamlet of Bezanson, a series of farm safety workshops hosted by the Battle River Research Group in east-central Alberta, and a youth safety training session in the southern Alberta village of Delia. jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

Expert says productivity has trumped welfare in breeding programs New breeding techniques could improve welfare-related traits in animals, creating a win-win for livestock industry BY JENNIFER BLAIR AF STAFF / CALGARY

“We could balance commercial pressures with animal welfare outcomes if we can select for some of these (welfare-related traits).”

nimal welfare shouldn’t take a back seat to productivity, says an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research scientist. “Health and welfare traits should take precedence over production traits,” said Karen SchwartzkopfGenswein at the recent Livestock Genomics in Alberta conference. “Successful livestock production will only be accomplished through welfare-conscious management.” But that hasn’t been the case in recent decades, she said. While production levels of meat and milk have more than doubled in North America since the 1960s, breeding for traits that improve livestock health and welfare has lagged, she said. In part, that’s because selecting for health and welfare traits is “complex and multi-faceted” and those traits have low rates of heritability. “Even if you wanted to select for some of those things, it would be hard through our traditional techniques,” she said. As a result, there have been “unintended side-effects,” said Schwartzkopf-Genswein. “Selecting for particular genotypes has had some negative impacts on animal welfare,” she said. “With increased production, there’s an overall greater risk of… behavioural problems, physiological problems, and immunological problems.” High-producing dairy cows are a “classic example of unintended welfare problems” caused by breeding programs. “This high-producing dairy animal is more susceptible to mastitis. She has got reduced fertility and increased lameness. That connection (to breeding) has been clearly made.”

KAREN SCHWARTZKOPFGENSWEIN

Milk production from dairy cattle has sharply increased, but so have problems with mastitis, reduced fertility and lameness. PHOTO: ©THINKSTOCK Foot problems caused by increased body weight in laying hens are another example. “Increased selection for body size and body weight puts increased pressure on hens to draw calcium reserves from their own bones to put into the eggshell production. This can cause brittle bones and leg problems.” And this “boomerang effect” could be hurting livestock producers’ bottom lines as there’s a very close relationship between animal welfare and productivity, said Schwartzkopf-Genswein. “We know that when an animal has compromised welfare, there’s a stress response that’s elicited, and when this happens, we know that… performance measures and growth are also affected,” she said.

“The negative effects of these unintended consequences also make reductions in profits to our commodities.” But new “molecular” breeding could change this scenario, she said. Scientists have identified “chromosomal regions that contain genes that have important effects on health and welfare” and can use genetic markers to incorporate this genetic material into breeding programs. “We can select specifically for some of these (health and welfare) traits now,” said SchwartzkopfGenswein. “Along with this comes more genetic information that allows us possibly to negate the negative effects of these selections.” This would be a “win-win scenario,” she said.

“We could balance commercial pressures with animal welfare outcomes if we can select for some of these (welfare-related traits).” But like traditional breeding techniques, marker-assisted selection could come with its own problems, including causing “genetic changes to happen too quickly,” she said. “Because of this directed selection… there’s a lack of time required to adapt to the changes imposed by that selection.” Caution should be the watchword, she said. “It’s unlikely that these molecular techniques will offer a complete escape from unintended consequences,” she said. “Sometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” But another conference speaker

said he’s “not on the same page” as Schwartzkopf-Genswein when it comes to health and welfare taking precedence over production traits. “I don’t think we can ignore production traits because it’s so tied to productivity,” said Joe Stookey, a professor of animal behaviour at the University of Saskatchewan. “We have to keep in mind health and welfare, but I don’t see how they could ever trump economics.” Genetic selection has a role to play in addressing welfare issues — but it won’t come at the expense of productivity, he said. The cattle industry, for instance, has begun to sidestep the issue of dehorning by using traits from the naturally polled Angus breed, but the same cannot be said of the dairy industry. “The dairy industry has that same potential. It could use that gene to address concerns with dehorning,” said Stookey. “But even though there are sires out there that carry that gene, the uptake is not there because of productivity.” jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

SPRAYING OFF LABEL

COSTS YIELD

Spraying herbicide on Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola, above recommended rates or outside the application window,

can cost you 3 bushels per acre or more in yield.

ALWAYS FOLLOW GRAIN MARKETING AND ALL OTHER STEWARDSHIP AND PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Details of these requirements can be found in the Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers printed in this publication. Monsanto and Vine Design® is a registered trademark of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada Inc. licensee. ©2013 Monsanto Canada Inc.

MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

EDITOR Glenn Cheater Phone: 780-919-2320 Email: glenn.cheater@fbcpublishing.com twitter: @glenncheater

Reporters Alexis Kienlen, Edmonton 780-668-3121 Email: akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

Change is constant, but there may soon be a lot of it

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Climate change on the Prairies could affect just about every aspect of agriculture

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he next time you have an hour or two to spare, find your way to the National Centre for Livestock and Environment’s website and download a paper called: Moving Toward Prairie Agriculture 2050. But be forewarned, while reading through it doesn’t leave one with any overriding sense of panic, neither does it leave one feeling particularly comfortable with our farming system as we know it today. The document represents the best guesses of 23 scientists representing various fields of expertise presented at the Alberta Institute of Agrologists conference last month. It offers a frank look at where we are today on the Prairies and lays out some of the challenges that could change agriculture’s path into the future. As can be expected, there are positives and negatives. The Prairies are no stranger to a variable climate, but it is the intensity of the various hot, cold, wet and dry extremes that is of concern as well as the changing disease, weed and pest cycles. More land might become farmable as the mean temperature rises and growing seasons become longer, but moisture contraints may limit productive capacity of land already being farmed. Instead of becoming the new Iowa as some have suggested, it might be more

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Conference highlights the new reality — women not only play a key role in agriculture but are critical to its success

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season, but the railway line servicing it will be affected by the melting permafrost. How will the world trade be affected because of changing supply and demand and the surge of bilateral trade agreements in the absence of a world trade deal? Can the insurance schemes in place keep up? Is the industry prepared to address the challenge of adaptation. AAFC scientist Henry Janzen outlines the need for a comprehensive adaptation strategy that looks beyond the economic opportunities and one that can “envision the range of unfolding possibilities for future lands, and to devise measures that will be robust across a long time, even in the event of certain surprises. “Ironically, some of the best insights toward this future perspective may be found in the past, by asking: Which metrics have survived the tumultuous changes of the past century or so? Some of these, such as soil carbon, ecosystem nutrient balances, diversity of farming systems (including livestock) might well be melded into future metric systems.” Prairie agriculture has been in a dynamic state of flux ever since the Selkirk settlers arrived two centuries ago, so it’s no surprise that it must continue to evolve. In today’s context however, it’s important farmers don’t lock themselves so tightly through investments and contracts they can’t continue to adapt as their environment changes.

It’s no longer a man’s world in agriculture

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realistic to think South Dakota instead, these academics suggest. Corn and soybeans are making inroads into some areas, particularly the eastern Prairies, but the dominant three crops on the Prairies — wheat, barley and canola — won’t be pushed from their pedestals. On balance, a warmer Prairie climate doesn’t bode well for the pollinator community, largely because the stressors such as the varroa mite will be harder to control. Invasive species, such as the Africanized killer bees, will come north and the weed spectrum will become more complicated. As well, resistant weeds are moving northward, too. On the upside, a more diverse range of crops, including winter and warmseason crops, is helpful for integrated weed management. Fusarium head blight is expected to thrive in the changing Prairie climate; and expect new pests such as new types of nematodes. On the livestock front, warmer winters could reduce overwintering costs for cattle producers except that the increased frequency of extreme weather could create shocks that threaten herd health. Anthrax and liver flukes may become more common. There will be impacts on grain storage, handling and transportation. Consider this spring’s warning from the Canola Council of Canada on the potential for spoilage of canola in storage due to a quick move to warmer temperatures. Churchill will likely see a longer shipping

By Dianne Finstad

ommas, don’t let your daughters miss out on careers in agriculture!’ That’s how the Willie and Waylon classic could have been modified by anyone attending the inaugural Advancing Women Conference in Calgary. The event, created by well-known conference organizer Iris Meck, was designed to provide life and leadership skills for women involved in agriculture. While many of the 360 attendees were women long established in their careers, there were also many young females just getting launched into agriculture work. And it was evident there’s demand for a lot more. “The days of token women in agriculture are gone,” Meck told the crowd. “Now there are women among the top executives in industry.” Agribusiness firms were out in full force — and in recruiting mode. Monsanto Canada recently hired its first full-time talent acquisition person, and reps from DuPont, Dow AgroSciences, Bayer Crop Science, and MNP all spoke of their efforts to hire and promote women. “We need to start nurturing women in agriculture,” said Gwen Paddock, RBC’s national manager

‘

for agriculture. “With banking and the chemical industries doing initiatives to encourage women, if agriculture doesn’t create an environment welcoming to women, it will fall behind. It’s theirs to lose.” Cargill marketing manager Fran Burr called it a ‘career highlight’ to see so many ag women in one room together. She said gender was more of an issue when she began as an ag sales rep three decades ago and, like several other speakers, she talked of working long, hard hours to stay ahead of men in similar roles. But things have changed. “Now the emphasis is on talent and experience, not gender, when choosing employees,” said Burr. “I’m optimistic about the changes I’ve seen and continue to see. Many agriculture companies now see gender diversity as a business accelerator.” There are also more diverse career options open to young women, particularly in operations, she added. “We’re finding that’s interesting to women now,” said Burr, noting several of her female Cargill colleagues at the conference are general managers. “The driver now is how strong women are in the organization, and what they are doing for the company — the diversity of thought and the style that they bring.”

When she looks at her customer base, she sees a similar shift in the role women are playing, she added. “They’re the actual farmer, not the farm wife,” she said. “The other part of it is how active the woman on the farm is in the farming decisions. It’s a dominant, decision-maker role. In our case, we find men are very emotional about grain-marketing decisions, where women cut right through. They’re putting the grainmarketing plan on the fridge so they never lose sight of when they’re selling. Women have always been contributors, but what they do now is very influential on the calibre of the farm operations.” It’s no longer a question of whether there are opportunities for women in agriculture, but how to attract more women, she said. “How can we make it something they look to first? We need these people in agriculture. We absolutely need this youth, and these new ideas.” Conference participants got a glimpse of the diversity of careers in agriculture in a panel discussion, which included Senator JoAnne Buth; Alison Sunstrum, ‘chief technology evangelist’ and co-CEO for livestock tech firm GrowSafe Systems of Airdrie; and Angela Santiago, CEO of the Little Potato Company of Edmonton. There were numerous mother-

daughter combinations among the delegates, who came from all walks of agriculture. Ponoka rancher Mandi Matheson said she wished she had brought her daughters, too. “I came to see other ag women, and to see life out there,” said Matheson. “To meet and see these women has been great, and they’re all willing to talk and share.” Women from six provinces, five states, and more than 150 organizations attended the conference. “The most outstanding thing I’ve been hearing from women here is that ‘I’m not alone,’” said Meck, adding there will be another Advancing Women Conference (although she’s been asked to hold the next one in Eastern Canada, or even the U.S.). The conference was a unique experience for me personally. As a woman who’s been reporting on ag and rodeo for more than 30 years, it was great to reconnect with many of the folks I’ve interviewed in the past, from ‘my era.’ But it was also exciting to see the young women, and learn about the spectrum of choices they have ‘in the field’ today. To meet the women, and hear their stories, and broaden both networks and horizons was truly inspiring. dianne.finstad@gmail.com twitter @DianneFinstad

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

The time has come to scrap supply management Canada has a unique opportunity to supply the world with dairy products, but first it must phase out supply management By Daniel Muzyka and Michael Bloom

Conference Board of Canada

photo: ©thinkstock

airy supply management is an old solution to an old problem. The approach of setting dairy prices, controlling production, and controlling imports has been costly to Canadians as a whole and to dairy farmers for a long time. Today, Canada has an opportunity to break with supply management for the benefit of everyone — and it’s time to seize it. When supply management policy was implemented in the 1960s and 1970s, Canada had a growing domestic market for dairy products. China was in the throes of the Cultural Revolution. Today, China is hungry for quality, safe dairy products. Canada could quickly become a major exporter to China and other developing countries. The New Zealand dairy industry illustrates the potential gains. Since opening its once-closed market in the 1970s, New Zealand has become the world’s greatest dairy exporter, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of dairy products traded globally. New Zealand exported

US$9.4 billion in dairy in 2012 while Canada, in contrast, exported $27 million in dairy products that year. Yet, Canada has a unique opportunity to supply the world with dairy products. New Zealand is already struggling to keep up with demand. And shipping milk to Asia can be done efficiently. Taking advantage of this opportunity requires embracing a new vision, instead of settling for a share of a stagnant domestic market. Think of supply management as a three-legged stool consisting of price setting, a production quota, and trade barriers. Successful reform will require co-ordinated action on all three to eliminate price setting, wind down milk production quota, and remove international trade barriers. Quotas could be bought out on the basis of their book value (the cost of the quota at time of purchase). This cost is estimated at between $3.6 billion and $4.7 billion. This approach would compensate farmers fairly and equitably for their quota purchases. The buyout could be funded by a temporary levy on dairy products. In the medium term, prices would

“China is hungry for quality, safe dairy products. Canada could quickly become a major exporter to China and other developing countries.”

not decline much, if at all. In the longer term, however, Canadian prices would settle around the world price, saving consumers an estimated $2.4 billion annually. While reform to the price and quota factors are being pursued, Canada would need to aggressively negotiate access to international markets for Canadian products. These steps would result in somewhat larger farms, but they will remain largely family owned. Under supply management, the number of farms has been declining for half a century. The most efficient and successful dairy operators are expanding already.

With moderate growth in the industry over the next decade, the number of farm operations would decline at a rate similar to what is currently occurring. Under a rapid-growth scenario, in which Canada’s production grows 150 per cent to meet export demand, the number of dairy farms would actually increase by 2.1 per cent over 10 years, adding thousands of jobs. And there should be no doubt that Canadian dairy producers can take advantage of the opportunity that surging global demand offers them. The top dairy Canadian farms are managerially and technically among the most sophisticated in the world. There are few, if any, technical barriers to Canada’s farmers scaling up their operations to be globally competitive in markets that are eager for Canadian dairy products. The real barrier is our outdated policy. Daniel Muzyka is president and CEO of the Conference Board of Canada and Michael Bloom is vice-president of industry and business strategy. A version of this commentary originally ran in PostMedia News.

Conference board’s supply management reform ill conceived Scrapping the current system would require government to subsidize both domestic production and exports by Jan Slomp he Conference Board of Canada embraces the mantra that “all growth is good.” Its plan to change supply management for growth is a prescription for weakening, if not eliminating, the three pillars of supply management for dairy production in Canada — production controls, import tariffs and farmers’ cost-of-production pricing — in order to produce more milk, lower its price and increase exports. The board claims to be an independent think-tank, but advocates for policies that promote corporate interests at the expense of the values and aspirations of Canadian people. In the 1960s, dairy processors were using erratic milk-hauling practices to depress farm gate prices paid to farmers. Farmers were faced with delivering milk at whatever price they could get or lose it all. In 1969, a new system had the government regulate farm gate prices based on farmers’ cost of production in return for farmers producing a constant flow of high-quality milk along with a

system of discipline (quotas) to prevent overproduction. Canada’s dairy supply management operates smoothly, efficiently, and sustainably without government subsidies in contrast to other Canadian agricultural sectors where AgriStability payments are often needed to support farm incomes and overcome depressed commodity prices. The conference board now promotes increasing dairy production beyond Canadian needs in order to export. There is definitely capacity in Canada to produce a lot more milk. But what kind of export markets could we pursue, what kind of programs would be required to obtain those markets, and what net benefits would there be for various players in the system? Only a small portion of the world’s milk production crosses borders because it is a bulky perishable product. Most exports depend on subsidies, often obscured as indirect production supports to comply with trade agreements. American dairy farmers receive U.S. Farm Bill-related payments that nearly double their milk cheques. European

“To compete internationally we would have to match the massive U.S. and European subsidies.” subsidies provide dairy farmers a base income, allowing them to survive on lower farm gate prices. The exception is New Zealand, a major dairy exporter with little or no subsidies. With the world’s lowest production cost (no winters) it can sell at the world’s lowest farm gate prices. Dismantling dairy supply management would be costly for Canadian taxpayers. To compete internationally we would have to match the massive U.S. and European subsidies. Dairy farmers in Canada would receive lower prices for milk, be subjected to less transparent pricing and require government bail-out programs to keep operating. The conference board suggests an export-oriented dairy system with lower

farm gate prices would result in lower prices for consumers. In reality, retailers charge what the market will bear — New Zealand consumers pay among the highest prices for dairy in spite of their farmers’ low cost of production. Canadians value dairy supply management, as they enjoy a steady supply of high-quality products for a reasonable price. Supply management regulates production in each region of our vast geography, providing milk where consumers need it. An unregulated dairy market would centralize production, processing and distribution, requiring consumers in distant areas to pay more due to transportation and storage costs. Dismantling dairy supply management would help companies affiliated with the conference board, such as food processors and retailers, and those industries that have their eyes on massive concessions at the trade deal table. Their gain would be a huge loss for Canadian citizens and Canadian dairy farmers. Jan Slomp is president of the National Farmers Union and a dairy farmer from Rimbey.

Off the front

CLUBROOT } from page 1 “There is more return from a canola and wheat rotation, than there would be if we went to a fouryear rotation,” he said. “It’s harder for us to compete with a land base if we’re being more cautious for clubroot.” What’s more, he notes, a twoyear rotation has been deemed acceptable by the canola council. And while Banack is adhering to the council’s recommendation of “more intensive monitoring and management of diseases and insects” when using tight rotations, some wonder if enough farmers are doing the same. “They’re assuming that with all our tools, we should be able to manage risk,” said Murray Hartman, oilseed specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “That may be overplaying the role of new varieties and new products, and downplaying the role of cultural tools, like rotation. Not everyone agrees with that message.” And since no one knows how quickly new strains of resistant clubroot might appear, longer rotations might be a better path to follow, he said. With a one-infour rotation, resistance might last

may 12, 2014 • Albertafarmexpress.ca

eight or 10 years, and give breeders more time to create new resistant varieties. “We’re not prepared with more resistant varieties,” he said. “Now there’s guys with resistance breaking down, and we don’t have anything to offer them.” And farmers should not be gambling with resistant varieties, he said. “Guys who have clubroot on their field shouldn’t be growing a resistant variety more than once every four years,” said Hartman. The canola council agrees. “We don’t want this resistance to be lost in a short amount of time, but it looks like not all growers were heeding that recommendation,” said Jurke. His organization is only saying shorter rotations work in areas where there is not a concern about disease or pest issues, he said. “What we had communicated a few months ago was that we were encouraging growers to accept a rotation that could be the best for them, on the basis of what their risk thresholds are,” he said. “A two-year rotation is OK if you’re not in the blackleg zone or the clubroot zone,” added Toma. “If your risk of disease from pathogens and insects is very limited,

then a two-year rotation or break is probably OK.” But the only way you can know that for sure is through constant and in-depth scouting, said Banack. “Producers have to be very aware of whether or not they have it,” he said. “We can’t bury our heads in the sand and say we won’t have it if we don’t look for it.” He hopes that’s the case in his area. “If my neighbour had clubroot, I think it would be virtually impossible to contain because it could be spread through birds or animals or mud on a field,” he said. Among the canola council’s recommendations are rotating resistant varieties, scouting fields seeded to other crops (since volunteers and susceptible weeds can harbour clubroot), and scouting right up to swathing. Meanwhile, University of Alberta plant pathologist Stephen Strelkov, who confirmed the existence of the new clubroot pathogen this spring, will be using it to try to infect all commercially resistant varieties to see which ones are still functioning. At this point, no one knows how widespread the new pathogen might be. akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

Humphrey Banack practises due diligence and knows about the danger of living in a clubroot-infested county. supplied photo

Brief

PROTECT YOUR CROP. UNLEASH YIELDS.

Be safe around power lines

Treat fungicide as an investment, not a cost. Today’s depressed (and depressing!) grain prices have many producers feeling squeezed for operating capital. But experts say reducing inputs on the upcoming crop in order to minimize expenditures could cost producers more in the long run. “Producers need to maintain a balanced approach, because the production of a successful crop requires all inputs in balance. You need to set out with an intention of what kind of yield is realistic and what kind of inputs are necessary to achieve that yield. If you have to cut back anywhere, you have to recalibrate to a lower yield goal and calculate corresponding inputs to achieve that revised goal,” says Sheri Strydhorst, an agronomy research scientist, with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD). “Imagine if it’s a year where crops are susceptible to disease and someone loses 25 per cent of their yield because they choose not to apply a fungicide. That fungicide might cost $25/acre in input and application costs. But if wheat is $4 a bushel and the yield drops by 20 bushels per acre because of disease, they’ll lose $80 per acre to save $25 per acre. It’s a very dangerous thing to make a pest

management decision based solely on minimizing input costs rather than growing conditions.” In 2013, Strydhorst conducted the first of a four year small-plot research trial that compared various agronomic management systems. Jason Wood, a production crops economist with ARD, then took this production data and analyzed the cost of production

“It is complicated to get your head around, but the extra cost of fungicide application is divided across more bushels, resulting in a lower overall production cost per bushel. The cost of production economics are so dependent on yield,” explains Strydhorst.

“The extra cost of fungicide application is divided across more bushels, resulting in a lower overall production cost per bushel.”

It’s important to note that the per bushel costs from these trials are a result of a single year of data in a single location in a year with heavy disease pressure. Strydhorst cannot confirm that the findings represent a long term trend. That said, the benefit of slightly higher inputs resulting in significantly more yield is obvious, she says.

of various agronomic practices. At the Barrhead location – where growing conditions were favourable and high yields were achieved – the cost of production (including cost of inputs, land and labour) of a standard CPS wheat crop grown with basic agronomic management and no fungicide application was $2.66/bu. When sprayed at flag leaf with Headline® at full rate, the cost of production dropped to $2.51/bu. A single application of Prosaro® at head emergence dropped production cost further to $2.43/bu. Two applications of fungicide resulted in

The window to apply an effective fungicide is very small, particularly for farmers who opt to spray only a single application. Some diseases, especially stripe rust, move incredibly quickly and need to be attacked as soon as they first infect a field. Therefore, scout often, have a spray plan in place and supplies available, and be prepared to act quickly. It is always harder to scramble to apply an unplanned but necessary application than to cancel a planned application if weather conditions or crop growth are not conducive to disease.

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CROP

TARGET DISEASE

Sclerotinia

Wheat, Barley, Oats

Fusarium Head Blight, Rusts (Leaf, Stem & Stripe), Tan Spot

Canola

Black Leg, Black Spot

Wheat, Barley

Fusarium Head Blight, Septoria, Tan Spot, Leaf Rust, Stem Rust

Field Peas

Powdery Mildew, Mycosphaerella Blight

Wheat, Barley, Oats

Fusarium Head Blight, Leaf Rust, Tan Spot, Net Blotch

Canola

Sclerotinia, Black Spot

Wheat, Barley, Oats

Leaf Rust, Tan Spot, Stripe Rust, Septoria

Field Peas

Powdery Mildew, Mycosphaerella Blight, White Mould

Wheat, Barley, Oats

Leaf Rust, Tan Spot, Stripe Rust

Canola

Sclerotinia

Wheat, Barley, Oats

Leaf Rust, Tan Spot, Powdery Mildew

Field Peas

Sclerotinia Rot (white mould), Mycosphaerella Blight

Wheat, Barley, Oats

Fusarium Head Blight, Rusts (Leaf, Stem & Stripe)

Canola

Sclerotinia

Wheat, Barley, Oats

Rusts (Leaf, Stem & Stripe), Net Blotch, Septoria

Canola

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Rusts (Leaf, Stem & Stripe), Net Blotch, Septoria

Field Peas

Powdery Mildew, Mycosphaerella Blight

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Joint Utility Safety Team release / Every day, two to three Albertans needlessly risk their lives by contacting an overhead or underground power line. In 2013, this translated into about 782 power line incidents in Alberta. Although that’s a significant decrease from the 934 incidents reported in 2012, power line safety should be top of mind for operators of large equipment, says the Joint Utility Safety Team. Modern equipment is larger and is often as tall or taller than power lines, or can dig deeper than buried power lines, says the organization, created by the province and Alberta’s electric utilities. Complacency born of routine tasks, deadlines and productivity pressures often lead to skipping important safety steps, it says. It recommends farmers familiarize themselves with power lines on or near their land every year, and also review the height of any new equipment. Being too close to a power line can also be dangerous because electricity can arc or “jump” from a power line to a conducting object such as a machine or a ladder. It recommends both operator and equipment be a minimum of seven metres away from overhead power lines. When working any closer, operators should call the local utility company and always contact Alberta One Call (1-800-2423447 or www.albertaonecall. com) before beginning work. Operators are also reminded that taking equipment over 4.15 metres high on public roads or highways is considered overheight and requires a permit from Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation. If equipment is over 5.3 metres high, the local utility must be contacted in advance of the move.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

NEWS

Tight U.S. cattle supply trims March feedlot placements CHICAGO / REUTERS The number of cattle placed in U.S. feedlots unexpectedly fell five per cent in March versus year-ago levels. Most analysts had anticipated a modest bump, driven by record-high prices for market-ready cattle. A USDA report showed March placements at 1.795 million head, down five per cent from 1.884 million a year earlier. USDA report’s quarterly steers and heifers on-feed data showed steers as of April 1 rose 2.2 per cent from a year ago, but heifers dropped 5.9 per cent, said University of Missouri livestock economist Ron Plain. “This suggests we’re keeping a lot of heifers back on farms for breeding, which helps pull down the placement number and tightens up supplies in feedyards,” he said. However, bouts of harsh wintry weather may have delayed the sale of animals at some auction barns, which might have kept numbers from going to feedlots, said another analyst.

Stan Blade chosen new agriculture dean at U of A BY ALEXIS KIENLEN AF STAFF

veteran of Albertan agricultural research has been named the next dean of the faculty of agricultural, life and environmental sciences at the University of Alberta. Stan Blade, currently chief executive officer of Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions, will assume his new role Aug. 1, replacing John Kennelly, who will remain in the department after a decade as dean. “My role is to build on this remarkably functioning organization and maybe bring forward some new and different ideas on how we engage with industry, our community, and society at large,” said Blade. The ag faculty will celebrate its centenary in 2015, and Blade said he’s excited about the possibilities in the next 100 years because of the department’s wide range of expertise.

“I was a farm kid who always had a fascination with science.” STAN BLADE

“It’s everything from water to biodiversity, to sustainable production, to nutrition and food security and climate change,” he said. “We have expertise in these areas, not only the technical expertise, but also people who understand the context for the issues that Alberta faces, and that Canada faces, but in many cases what the world is facing.” Blade grew up in Leduc County near Millet, earned his bachelor of science at U of A along with a PhD at McGill, and his international experience includes working as a volunteer teacher in Cameroon and studying as a Commonwealth scholar in subSaharan Africa. “I was a farm kid who always had a fascination with science and all of a sudden, it just became obvious to me, especially after my time in Cameroon, that there was a nice connection between research and the biological basis of agriculture and just all of those things come together, and how they now come together in a faculty like ALES,” he said. The department has 120 faculty positions, 1,600 undergrad students, and more than 500 graduate students. Blade has also worked as a research scientist for the province, including breeding pea crop cultivars and serving as director of Alberta’s Crop Diversification Division, prior to heading Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions. akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

Stan Blade, current CEO of Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions, will be the new dean of the faculty of agricultural, life and environmental sciences at the University of Alberta.

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Ethicist says consumers have a right to labelling of GM foods Despite scientific consensus that genetically modified foods are safe, consumers are understandably concerned By Jennifer Blair af staff / calgary

C “The final decision over what you put in your body — right or wrong — is a right that people have.” Andrew Kernohan

onsumer concern about genetically modified food may not be science based, but it’s a natural reaction and farmers have to get used to it, says an agricultural ethicist. Andrew Kernohan pointed to an early (although never commercialized) example of GM food — a tomato modified with a flounder gene in order to give it increased frost tolerance. “There is a certain yuck factor,” the adjunct professor of philosophy at Dalhousie University said at the recent Livestock Genomics in Alberta conference. That alone means consumers are going to be wary because “disgust is… fundaT:8.125” mental to our existence,” he said.

“It’s what prevents us from eating things that are bad for us.” It’s that gut instinct — rather than sound science — that consumers rely on when evaluating GM food products. Today, 64 countries require labelling of GM foods, and that’s not a bad thing, said Kernohan. “The final decision over what you put in your body — right or wrong — is a right that people have,” he said. “Human dignity and human respect go deeply into that.” He compared GM labelling to a visit to a doctor. “When you go into your (doctor) and consent to a treatment plan, you want all the information,” said Kernohan. “You want to know what’s going to happen to you and why it’s being done. “That’s just like the (GM) label.” Asking people to eat GM foods without

their knowledge or consent is reminiscent of how the medical profession operated prior to the 1970s, he said. Up until then, “doctors basically told patients what to do.” “There was no notion of informed consent, no control by the patient over what was happening to their body.” Eventually, this led to a paradigm shift in medical bioethics toward the idea that patients should be given the information they need to provide informed consent. “That applies also to food products,” he said. “Consumers are putting things into their bodies and should be treated like doctors treat patients. “You do have to respect the autonomy of the people who you’re asking to eat this stuff.” jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

A doubling of world food needs tied to poverty reduction From flag to head.

By Allan Dawson staff

Who says you can’t be in two places at once? With the wide window and flexible rate options of Folicur® EW fungicide, it means you simply have more time to work with. Folicur continues to provide exceptional value for cereal growers who want longlasting protection from a broad spectrum of diseases, including fusarium head blight and the most dangerous leaf diseases.

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Projections that world food production must double by 2050 hinge on a very big assumption — billions of poor people getting richer, says Greg Page, Cargill’s executive chairman and former CEO. “The only way for the... 100 per cent increase in food production is if the population grows by two billion and the proportion of the population earning $10 a day expands dramatically,” Page said at the recent Canadian Global Crops Symposium in Winnipeg. World population is expected to hit nine billion by 2050, up two billion from today, but currently two-thirds of the world’s seven billion people earn less than $6 a day, Page said. They need at least $10 a day before they start improving their diets, seeking more meat, eggs and milk. “And that is what drives global grain demand much quicker than population,” Page said. If all the new two billion people remain poor, world food production will only have to increase 20 per cent, he said. “Now that’s glacial growth.” allan@fbcpublishing.com

BayerCropScience.ca/Folicur or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative. Always read and follow label directions. Folicur® is a registered trademark of the Bayer Group. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.

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Greg Page, Cargill’s executive chairman and former CEO, says predictions that world food production must double by 2050 hinge on many of the world’s poorest people becoming better off. photo: allan dawson

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

New season of Bugchat underway staff / Wheat midge and bertha army worm top the list of insects to be on the watch for this spring, say insect management specialists Scott Meers and Shelley Barkley. And dry conditions in the U.S. High Plains could see a northward migration of pests, the duo said in their first #ABbugchat of the growing season. The two Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development bug experts host a weekly ‘chat’ on Twitter (using the #ABbugchat) to highlight, in real time, pest issues and how to deal with them. “Wheat midge is a very high risk in the central Peace region and in scattered fields throughout the rest of Alberta,” Meers said during the April 30 episode. “For wheat midge, one of the major cultural practices to reduce damage is seeding early.” To get a better handle on infestation levels, Meers is asking farmers to deploy pheromone traps (they can be obtained by emailing bugs.r.us@gov.ab.ca) and promised that if there are enough co-operators, he will create a “wheat midge activity map” with data posted one day after it is sent in. He also urged producers to check for army worms. Although infestation levels are expected to decline this year, fields that had fall-seeded crops or weedy growth last fall are “high risk,” Meers said. Producers are also being sought for ‘Insects in Alfalfa,’ a three-year project in which sweep net and plant samples will be collected prior to the first cut. For more info, go to www.agriculture. alberta.ca, type ‘alfalfa fields’ in the search box, and click on ‘Seeking alfalfa fields in Alberta.’ Bugchat is held each Wednesday at 10 a.m. Twitter users who participate during the one-hour session can ask questions and submit pictures of pest problems. Using the #ABbugchat hashtag allows people to read posted questions and comments at any time.

Canola stored through the winter risks moisture damage if the outside temperatures warm up faster than the insides of the bins. photo: thinkstock

Farmers urged to warm canola to prevent moisture buildup Staff

(with files from CNS and Reuters)

he Canola Council of Canada is telling farmers to warm their stored canola to avoid moisture buildup as the weather heats up. An estimated nine million tonnes of canola were in commercial and on-farm storage as of March 31 — the highest amount ever. “The goal is to reduce the temperature differential between stored canola and the outside air,” Angela Brackenreed, agronomy specialist with the

Canola Council of Canada, said in a release. “This reduces the amount of moisture movement within the bin, and can prevent the concentration of moisture that can lead to spoilage and heating.” Cold grain should be turned or aerated to raise the grain temperature to between 5 C and 10 C. “If you use air that is more than 10 C warmer than the grain, the air will lose its ability to hold its moisture as soon as it hits the cool grain,” said Joy Agnew, a grain storage researcher with the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute. “This means it will

condense on the grain and possibly freeze — which would cause major airflow issues.” Agnew recommends turning the grain after it has been warmed. “If possible, entirely empty the bin and put it into another aeration bin,” she said. If that’s not possible, pull out several loads and put them back on top in the same bin, she said. “The goal here is to try to mix the grain to help even out the temperature variations and help warm up the grain a bit more.” She recommends stored canola remain below 15 C. The larger the bin, the greater the risk of spoilage if canola is

not warmed. Canola that went into the bin with moisture above 10 per cent, even above eight per cent, deserves extra attention this time of year. “Tough canola is at much higher risk, and it should be dried if it can’t be delivered right away,” said Brackenreed. A hot air dryer will do the job quickly. Natural air drying with aeration fans can also work, but the ideal conditions for this technique are when outside air temperature is higher than 15 C and humidity is lower than 65 per cent. Canola dried with a hot air dryer should be cooled to 15 C for storage.

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news » livestock

MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Open Farm Days needs ranches

France bans pig/pork imports

The organizers of Alberta Open Farm Days are currently seeking ranchers and farmers who would like to be part of this year’s event on Aug. 23-24. The event gives Albertans an opportunity to experience the farm and understand where their food comes from. It is a backstage pass to meet the farmer, experience ag tourism in Alberta and taste local foods direct from the producer. There are culinary events on Aug. 23, and free ranch and farm visits on Aug. 24. For more information and to register, email openfarmdays@gov.ab.ca or visit www.albertafarmdays.com.

paris / reuters France has banned imports of live pigs, pork-based byproducts and pig sperm from Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Japan in a bid to keep out porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, which has killed around seven million young pigs in the U.S. in the past year. “When you see the numbers, there is a reason to be worried,” said Jean-Luc Angot of the French Farm Ministry. “There are few diseases that have such a high mortality rate at such a large scale.” The ban would chiefly concern animal feed, with exports mainly coming from Canada, he said.

Drilling down into the livestock price insurance program The futures price, basis, and exchange rate are part of the equation, but a producer’s situation is also key By Alexis Kienlen af staff

Editor’s note: One of the producer questions for the April 28 edition — on the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program — took some additional investigation by reporter Alexis Kienlen.

ermilion cattle producer Sean McGrath asked, “I understand the risks that WLPIP is covering — futures price, basis, and exchange rate — but what goes into the formula used to calculate that risk?” The program’s coverage levels start with a combination of forward prices for both cattle and the Canadian dollar on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange futures exchange said Brenda Hagen, Alberta WLPIP co-ordinator. “Those two combined then makes it forward looking in Canadian price,” said Hagen. The Agricultural Financial Services Corporation, which runs the program in Alberta, then reduces that price by deducting the historical basis. “That gives us a top level of coverage, and from there, we offer 95 per cent of the forward-looking determination,” Hagen said. In other words, by using futures, a currency forecast and historical basis (adjusted for Alberta), the program comes up with a price at a given point in time and offers to cover 95 per cent of that price for a premium. The further out in time, the higher the premium. Producers can get a lower premium by insuring less than 95 per cent of the forecast — but the odds of a payout also decline because prices would have to fall considerably more. It’s all about minimizing risk in case there is a dramatic plunge in prices, while not limiting the upside, said Hagen. “In a bullish market, there’s still a chance that you’ll have a better market to sell into, but you’re really just minimizing downside.” And with cattle prices up about 20 per cent this year, the risk of a sharp price drop is

High cattle prices also mean an increased risk of a sharp price drop, says Alberta WLPIP co-ordinator Brenda Hagen. Photo: Agriculture Financial Services Corporation higher — especially for feedlots and backgrounders that have bought high-priced calves and feeder cattle, said Brian Perillat, a senior Alberta cattle market analyst with Canfax. “Those producers have more money on the table than ever before,” Perillat said in a press release. “And with the increased market volatility that often comes with high prices, producers could easily lose a lot more money a lot faster if they’re not using tools like price insurance.” Tight cattle supplies, a weak Canadian dollar, and low feed costs are all positive for prices, but things can change quickly, he added. “For example, the Canadian dollar can be extremely volatile and negatively impact cattle prices,” said Perillat. “Or if there’s a drought or some other weather concern that results in a small U.S. grain crop, that could reduce cattle prices this year.” The program is closely tied to the futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and coverage can only be purchased after the market has closed for the day.

(Purchase hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 2 to 5:30 p.m.) While the feeder and fed cattle programs offer 36 weeks of coverage, calf contracts are more seasonal and linked to the high fall volumes at auction markets. Calf contracts are sold from February until the end of May, for settlements in September through December. “There’s not a hard number to tie to that, but it’s seasonally based,” said Hagen. WLPIP, which also offers coverage for hogs, was given a new name this year (replacing CPIP for cattle and HPIP for hogs) after the four-year-old program was expanded to B.C., Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Whether it’s a good deal depends on a producer’s situation and risk tolerance, say experts. “It has its place for some people, but it can be expensive,” said Les Smith, president of Gateway Livestock Marketing Services. “Managing your risk is very individual.” “There’s a lot of value in it and I would encourage people to look at it and lock in,” said

“In a bullish market, there’s still a chance that you’ll have a better market to sell into, but you’re really just minimizing downside.” Brenda Hagen

Fred Hays, policy analyst with Alberta Beef Producers. “It really does depend on the year and what the market is doing. “If there is a drop in price, you’re going to at least have a base to drop to, and then you’re protected that far.” Still, Hays urges producers to watch the markets to determine an optimal time for buying. But cow-calf producers don’t have much time left — the last day for buying coverage this year is May 29. akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

An example of calf insurance By Gerald Klassen Commodity News Services Canada

he Western Livestock Price Insurance Program is basically the same as buying put options on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle futures. However, this program offers a price in Canadian dollars and also provides a basis for the local region. Producers should know their costs to determine how much coverage they need. Here’s a basic example of how it works: In April, a cow-calf producer plans to sell 600pound calves in September. The forward expected price is $1.88 per pound and the producer wants to lock in 95 per cent of that price — $1.78 per pound. The premium for this price level is $0.03 per pound, so if the producer has 100 calves expected to weigh 600 pounds each, the total premium cost would be $1,800. In September, the feeder cattle index for the region for the 550- to 650-weight category falls to $1.68 per pound. The producer would receive $0.10 per pound or $6,000. (If the price is higher than $1.78, then there is no payout.) Experienced marketers may find an outright short futures position more advantageous because it provides more of a correlated hedge for 100 per cent coverage. However, with WLPIP, there are no margin calls after paying the initial premium. When a producer has a short position on a futures contract, there will be margin calls if the market continues to go up. Another strategy is to buy put options on feeder cattle and sell out-of-the-money call options. This is essentially equivalent to a short position on the futures market but the margin calls are only necessary if the futures move above the strike price of the out-of-the-money call option. 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.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

PED has a bright side if virus kept off Canadian farms

Pork industry successful at preventing PEDv Funding from Growing Forward 2 helps pork industry to increase programs to prevent porcine epidemic diarrhea virus By Alexis Kienlen

By Jennifer Blair af staff

orcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Canadian hog producers who have been hit hard by the U.S. countryof-origin labelling law — if they can keep the disease off their farms. “With the PED situation, there is a temporary reduction in the COOL impact,” said Martin Rice, executive director of the Canadian Pork Council. The hog industry has lost roughly $400 million a year in exports to the U.S. since the labelling law, or COOL, was enacted in 2008. “It essentially shut off 80 or 90 per cent of the customers that we had for Canadian slaughter hogs,” said Rice. With “very few buyers in Canada” and the pending closure of one of Ontario’s largest pig slaughterhouses, Canadian producers have increasingly limited marketing options. That’s pushed down prices and limited herd expansion in this country, he said. But as PED continues to spread south of the border, the disease is “limiting and even causing contraction” in U.S. hog supply, even though pork prices have shot up more than 30 per cent in the past year, said Rice. “Under normal circumstances, these prices would be generating significant expansion, (but) U.S. hog supplies are going to remain significantly lower than they would normally be.” That trend will continue later into this year, when the impact of PED will be the greatest, said Rice. Canadian producers, on the other hand, have seen a “reasonable level of stability” in their production despite PED arriving into the country in late January, and are even seeing some benefits from the disease. “There’s more opportunities for those exporting feeder pigs,” said Rice. “The PED situation has made those much more marketable than in the past.” As long as hog producers stick to strict biosecurity protocols and limit the spread of the disease, they should enjoy favourable prices “for several quarters,” he said. jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing. com

af staff / edmonton

lberta’s pork industry is getting another $1.35 million to improve biosecurity and thwart the arrival of the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv). “The funding comes at a critical time for our industry,” said Alberta Pork chair Frank Novak. “There’s a sense of guarded optimism for the future after a series of very challenging years.” Alberta Pork has been working with provincial officials to monitor biosecurity efforts at abattoirs, truck washes, and processing facilities. The new Growing Forward funding will be used to train 28 veterinarians, and to conduct 400 on-farm biosecurity assessments and 300 assessments of farm service providers such as transport companies. Alberta Pork intends to implement surveillance projects and swine risk assessments at high-traffic areas such as truck washes, processing plants, and assembly yards. “It’s important that this is seen as an initiative that touches not just the primary producer but everybody up and down the chain,” said Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson. “The weak link in the chain creates a risk for everybody.” Although it has no impact on human health, PEDv causes vomiting and diarrhea in pigs, and is usually fatal for young pigs. Piglet losses in the U.S. have topped the five-million mark. The virus has been found in Ontario, Manitoba, P.E.I., and Quebec, but hasn’t found its way to Alberta yet. “It’s a bug that is so easy to move and there is so much trade across the CanadaU.S. border that it is inevitable that there

www.albertafarmexpress.ca

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 BiotechnologyDerived 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.

Frank Novak, chair of Alberta Pork, said that the co-operation in the industry has helped pork producers keep PEDv out of Alberta. photo: supplied are times when the bug will make it across the border,” said Novak. “And it has made it across the border a few times already. Luckily, because of the whole program we’ve got with respect to truck washes and things like that, we’ve been able to stop it every single time, with the exceptions of the one farm in Manitoba that had it and an assembly yard in Manitoba that has had a positive case.” Novak praised the trucking industry, noting 25,000 to 30,000 truckloads of pigs are moved annually in the province. “You can imagine what an effort it is to wash and disinfect every one of those trucks every single time to a standard that

would prevent a bug like this from moving from farm to farm,” he said. It costs about $500 to $800 per truck wash. Alberta Pork and producers have also worked to create more breaks in the system. For example, trucks that move breeding sows to different farms are no longer allowed to go anywhere near an abattoir. “Every single truck that comes on one of our farms right now has to be certified as being washed, disinfected, and certified by a third-party auditor,” Novak said. akienlen@fbcpublishing.com

AlbertA beef Producers Needs your iNPut Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) is beginning our five-year review of the regulations that govern our operations. To make the Plan Review a success we need to hear from you. ABP wants your opinion on our:

• Mandate • Structure • Operations • Funding A discussion paper is available for review and comment on our website at www.albertabeef.org. Over the next few months, zone meetings will be scheduled throughout the province and webinars will be held so watch for upcoming dates. Our objective in this process is to encourage as many producers as possible to participate in the Plan Review. ABP is your organization and we want you to help us be better. This is a chance for us to hear your voice and make ABP a stronger, more effective voice for all the cattle and beef producers in Alberta.

MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Dairy production dips as cull cow prices soar

EU should halve meat, dairy consumption to cut nitrogen Halving meat consumption could cut nitrogen emissions by 40 per cent

Dairy production in Alberta has dropped to its lowest level in a year — and the high price of cull cows is to blame By Jennifer Blair af staff

he price of replacement dairy heifers in Eastern Canada is keeping cull cows on the farm longer, reducing milk production by almost three per cent in Ontario from the same time last year. But in Alberta, it’s the strong price of cull cows that’s keeping milk production down. “Cull prices are really, really high,” said Mike Southwood, general manager of Alberta Milk. “Milk production may be lower because people can get such a good return for cull cows, so they’re just moving them out if they’re at all unhealthy or showing signs of age.” In December, strong demand for dairy products over the holiday season caused a peak in Alberta milk production. But February production levels dropped almost two per cent from the same time last year and were even lower than in summer, when demand for dairy is traditionally low. “We’re not outside our provincial flexibility limits, but it has been lower through the winter period than we would like,” said Southwood. “The cull cow price being strong has definitely kept our production lower than we would normally see it at this time of the year.” The high price of replacement heifers and the strong market price for cull cows “go hand in hand,” he said.

By Nina Chestney london / reuters

P file photo “Demand for replacements is going up, and at the same time, they get a really good return rate now for cull cows, so they also have an increased demand to replace cows that they’re culling.” Over the past three years, there’s been a small but steady decline in Alberta’s milk cow numbers — but the industry can afford the small drops, said Southwood. “If you’re seeing a decline in the total cow numbers on the dairy side, it’s because of genetic improvement and feed efficiency,” he said. “Through great improvement in the way animals are managed genetically and through nutrition, we’re getting more or equal production out of fewer cows.”

Last spring was a good example of that, he said. “At this time last year, we would have just come out of a really high production, where we were bumping up against our upper flexibility.” Even with the dip in production, there’s no risk that dairy producers won’t be able to meet demand over the next few months. “We’re seeing a slight swing up again,” said Southwood. “If you’re looking for replacements, it’s a bit of a struggle, but hopefully, within our provincial flexibility and each farmer’s flexibility, they can manage it.” jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

eople in the European Union, who according to a United Nations body eat way more protein than necessary, could prompt big cuts in nitrogen pollution if they halved their meat and dairy consumption, a UN-backed report said in late April. Currently, 6.5 million to eight million tonnes a year of nitrogen escape into the environment due to agricultural practices. That represents around 80 per cent of nitrogen emissions from all sources, said the study by the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen. Around 79 to 88 per cent of total emissions in the EU related to nitrogen are from livestock production. The nitrogen footprint of meat and dairy is considerably higher than that from plant-based products, the report added. “If all people within the EU would halve their meat and dairy consumption, this would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 25

to 40 per cent, and nitrogen emissions by 40 per cent,” lead author Henk Westhoek, program manager for Agriculture and Food at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, said in a statement. On average in Europe, a person eats 83 grams of protein a day and 60 per cent of this comes from animals, the study showed. The current average per capita protein intake in the EU is about 70 per cent higher than necessary, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. The reduction in dairy and meat consumption would also reduce the need for soybean imports, currently used in animal feed, by 75 per cent. “ T h e EU c o u l d b e c o m e a major exporter of food products, instead of a major importer of, for example, soybeans,” Westhoek added. Agriculture, through meat production, is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions which are believed to fuel global warming. Estimates vary but scientists say animal agriculture could account for between 10 and 25 per cent of total global emissions.

SKYVIEW

Please join us on a 16 day agricultural tour to Australia’s national beef exposition. Beef Australia is one of the world’s great beef cattle events and is held just once every three years in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.

Departing Canada April 30th to May 16th 2015 5 nights Rockhampton - 5 nights Cairns - 4 nights Sydney For more tour information please visit Beef Australia webpage:

http://www.leadertours.ca/beefweek2015/

Space is limited please register your interest by contacting: Lawrence Rowley Phone: 403-270-7044 Email: lawrence@leadertours.ca Website: www.leadertours.ca

A red-tailed hawk scans the fields, looking for signs of rodents, from its lofty perch in a cone-laden spruce tree near Turner Valley, Alta. Photo: Wendy Dudley

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

Be careful how you ‘treat’ your horse horse health } Aside from the nutritional impact, treats can

influence horse behaviour in positive or negative ways by Carol Shwetz DVM

reats are becoming increasingly common in today’s horse community, and so the nutritional impact of the treat as well as the treat’s ability to shape a horse’s behaviour merits consideration. Horse treats have evolved from traditional sugar cubes, peppermints, apples and carrots to a multimillion-dollar industry marketing formulated cookies and crunches. Simple treat selections such as apples, carrots and dates do not stray too far from the horse’s natural diet and are eagerly consumed by most horses. Fed sparingly in a day, these treats will not adversely affect the horse’s digestive system. Moderation is the key. Unsuitable choices for horse treats are lawn clippings, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage-family vegetables, breads and pastry. These items significantly alter the environment within the gut as the horse attempts to digest them, risking an episode of colic or laminitis. Owners of competition horses also need to be aware that chocolate can cause a positive result on drug tests. Commercially made horse treats are becoming increasingly popular due to their palatability and durability for storage and travel. To achieve palatability most common treats are processed from cereal grains and sweetened with molasses or sugars. Additives and preservatives are then used to stabilize and bind the treat.

when food is involved, it can be alluring to overuse treats. Some horses, can receive hand-fed treats and never develop any bad habits. Some horses, can become more trainable and will work hard at learning new things for treats. Whereas, in other circumstances, the horse may become nippy, “mouthy” or pushy when hand fed treats. If the manners of the horse are not corrected in the early stages these ill behaviours can escalate into general mobbings and unsafe, dangerous behaviours. Vigilance and care must always be taken when utilizing treats in one’s training regimen. It must be remembered that they are supplemental to the training process and not the training process itself. Carol Shwetz is a veterinarian specializing in equine practice at Westlock, Alberta.

WINTER BLUES

out in

GREEN PASTURES

Fed sparingly in a day, these treats will not adversely affect the horse’s digestive system. Moderation is the key.

Treats that contain additives, preservatives or artificial flavourings may be well tolerated by some horses. In other horses, commercially made treats may aggregate and contribute to food sensitivities, allergies and metabolic and inflammatory disorders, even in the smallest of amounts. Excessive consumption of sugar-laden treats can also increase the likelihood of dental caries. Therefore horse owners are advised to make informed decisions when purchasing commercial treats based on the nutrient analysis and ingredient list on the label. Newer formulations containing nutraceuticals, minerals and vitamins need an added level of vigilance when given to horses. These formulations are promoted as a means for effectively supplementing a horse’s diet and it is necessary to ration them according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Most horse owners have a strong personal preference regarding the offering of food as a treat or as a reward. Food is a powerful motivator of behaviour in horses. Therefore it is important for horse owners to recognize in what manner treat use contributes to or shapes their relationship with horses. Since horses appear to be more willing to interact with people

Extra bedding, non-stop checking. Full attention, regardless of frostbite. And no rest until all heads are accounted for. An unforgiving winter was the ultimate test. But you persevered. And so did your herd. Now, ice is thawing, creek water is running, and greener pastures await. Here’s to a worry-free grazing season. UFA has everything you need to prepare your herd and pastures. Visit us in-store or online at UFA.com/Beef.

UFA.com 37757_Grazing Print Ad_AFE 8.125x10.indd 1

2014-04-02 3:05 PM

MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Two-stage weaning reduces stress on calves Plastic nose flap prevents nursing while allowing calves to stay with their mothers, which reduces stress MERISTEM LAND AND SCIENCE RELEASE

wo southern Alberta ranches are among those who have found a two-stage calf weaning program is less stressful for livestock and improves rate of gain. The two-stage weaning system involves processing calves about a week before the actual weaning day to apply a plastic guard, or nose flap, in the nose of each calf. The guard, about the width of the muzzle and three inches deep, just clips into the nostrils, similar to the plastic closers found on many bread bags. The Canadian-made flaps are marketed by Saskatchewan company Quiet Wean. Calves are then released back into the cow herd. In the majority of cases, the nose flaps prevent the calf from nursing its mother. Within four or five days the calf forgets about trying to nurse, and then calves and cows can be separated. On weaning day, calves can quickly be run through the chute again to remove the reusable nose flaps. “It is natural for calves to be weaned — to stop nursing their mothers,” says Dr. Joe Stookey, a researcher and professor in animal behaviour at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon. “But in a natural environment the cow will simply dry up and discourage the calf from nursing, but the calf is still with its mother. What is not natural for a calf is for mother and milk to disappear on the same day. Conventional weaning is probably the most stressful event ranch calves will experience in their lives.” Research shows conventionally weaned calves — those removed from milk and their mothers on the same day — will spend the next two days pacing and walking as much as 25 miles, bawling and looking for their mothers. Among calves weaned with the twostage system using the nose flap, walking is reduced to about 10 miles, and there is very little bawling. “It is such a simple system, yet so effective,” says Stookey. “The stress on the animals is greatly reduced and that leads to all sorts of benefits related to improved calf health and improved rates of gain, not to mention it is much quieter.” Chad Monner, who ranches with his uncle, Michael Monner, has been using the system with their 240-head commercial cow-calf herd at Milo, in southern Alberta, for about six years. “Since we have been using this twostage system, weaning day doesn’t even seem to phase the calves one bit,” says Monner. “They go on to feed the first day — get right into it. There is no bawling, no pacing, no wasting time. From an animal welfare perspective, you can see it is much less stressful for the calves.” Monner says the tags, which cost about $2 each, are easy to install and remove. He says there is very good retention, estimating they replace about 10 per cent each year. “The odd calf will lose one, and some calves will figure out a way to nurse the cow even with it on,” he says. “And you can certainly identify those calves on weaning day. Everyone else is quiet and eating, and the ones that were still nursing look pretty sad, and they’re bawling and looking for their mothers.” The Blades family began using the

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PHOTO BYLINE AFTER EN DASH (SHIFT CMD N)

A plastic guard, or nose flap, discourages calves from weaning while allowing them to stay with their mothers. PHOTO: COURTESY QUIET WEAN

“Conventional weaning is probably the most stressful event ranch calves will experience in their lives.” DR. JOE STOOKEY

two-stage weaning program last year on their 600-head cow herd on Rocking P Ranch. “We were really happy because you could see the difference,” says Mac Blades. “We background our calves every year, bring the calves home from pasture and put them in the corral for a couple days or more to allow them to settle down and then put them out on pasture again.” They also say calves that “cheated” and continued nursing were distressed while the rest were calm. Mac and Renie Blades operate Rocking P Ranch with son Justin, daughterin-law Mida, and daughter and son-inlaw Monica and Blake Schlosser. While the ranch headquarters are just west of

Nanton, they have a second place and most of the summer pasture south of Chain-of-Lakes. “We manage the cattle in three herds, and do any sorting right on pasture,” says Blades. “Handling the smaller groups is less stressful, and after sorting we haul calves back to the ranch by truck and trailer, which is also easier on the calves.” In late October, they moved portable corrals to the three pastures to capture calves and apply the nose flaps and

vaccinate about a week before weaning. Calves rejoined their mothers for five to seven days before being sorted, weaned and hauled home to corrals at the main ranch. The day they were weaned, calves were brought home to the corral and didn’t miss a beat. “There was virtually no bawling, they seemed content and just started eating,” says Blades. “By removing that stress calves were much healthier, there was very little sign of sickness or respiratory disease.”

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

Dairy seminar delivered the goods on crossbreeding Dairy Cases BY KEES AND MIRANDA VERHOEF HAPPY COW DAIRY, BOWDEN

or us, one of the highlights of this year’s Western Canadian Dairy Seminar was the presentation on crossbreeding. We thought it was pretty progressive of the seminar’s organizing committee to put crossbreeding on the program because a lot of dairy farmers in Canada avoid this very valuable practice. Frank Buckley’s presentation was fast and he packed a lot of information into 30 minutes. He spoke about the durability and fertility of crossbred cows, and gave examples of the effect of heterosis (or hybrid vigour). He also made it clear that crossbreeding will not destroy your herd, and definitely makes economic sense. That’s exactly what we have found on our farm.

We have crossbred our cows on a regular basis for nine years now with Holstein, Brown Swiss, and Jersey. We have seen our vet costs come down, and improvements in hoof health, fertility, and calving ease. The amount of milk did decrease, but components went up. And after a few years we had too many young stock and milk cows, and so now sales of replacements and calves have become a contributor to our farm business. Currently, our herd is onethird Holsteins, one-third Brown Swiss crossed with Holsteins, and one-third Jersey crossed with Holsteins. Many of them are three-way crossed already, but we stay close to the Holstein breed because of the higher amount of milk. The cows are supervised milk recorded, 90 per cent on a Holstein base and 10 per cent on a Brown Swiss base. They are all classified by Hol-

There are all sorts of colour combinations in Kees and Miranda Verhoef’s herd, but also fewer health problems and other economic benefits. PHOTO: COURTESY HAPPY COW DAIRY stein Canada, and scored on a Holstein base. Our milk statement of February 2014 shows 4.20 per cent fat, 3.58 per cent protein and 5.77 per cent other solids — this compares with the provincial average of 3.98 per cent fat, 3.30 per cent protein, and 5.73 per cent other solids. As a result, we receive $3.97 more per hectolitre than the average producer in Alberta.

Currently, we sell our onecoloured baby bull calves for $250 (compared to $120 for a black and white baby bull calf). We do have all sizes and colours of animals in our barn, but they seem to adjust easily to each other without the big cows being too bossy. And every time when a calf is born we are surprised by the speckles and colour combinations.

One in an occasional series. The presentations from this year’s Western Canadian Dairy Seminar are now online — go to www.wcds.ca and click on ‘proceedings.’ The paper presented by Frank Buckley (written by his colleague Conrad Ferris from Northern Ireland) is a 21-page paper that has ‘takeways’ on the pros and cons of crossbreeding as well as data from research done in Ireland and at the University of Minnesota. To find this presentation, go to ‘proceeding’ and enter ‘crossbreeding’ in the search box.

You are invited to the 4th annual… thursdaY, June 19th hot topics in Cattle health and Welfare:

uCvM

Beef Cattle Conference

2014 Pushing the Frontiers of Beef Cattle health

· Codes of practice for beef cattle – next steps · Calf management survey · Management of gastro-intestinal parasites

reproduction:

· Epigenetics and fetal programming · Trichomoniasis and campylobacteriosis · New estrus synchronization strategies

FridaY, June 20th nutrition and Growth:

· Beta-agonists · Ruminal acidosis in feedlot cattle · Mineral feeding

afternoon Workshops:

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1. Calves & Calving 2. Bovine Lameness

…and MuCh More!

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vet.ucalgary.ca/beef Email: beef@ucalgary.ca 403.210.7309

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} heating up

MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Scorcher sends wheat higher chicago / reuters Scorching temperatures in the southern U.S. Plains recently is hurting winter wheat already stressed by months of drought. Temperatures set records in Kansas and Oklahoma the first weekend in May with readings peaking at 102 F (38.9 C) in Wichita, Kansas. The heat wave pushed hard red winter wheat futures to a 16-month high. “Sunday’s record-setting highs over 100° with extremely low humidity and strong southerly winds (were) a little too much like 1936,” said weather expert Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc.

Strong El Niño feared sydney / reuters A spike in ocean temperatures has raised fears of the strongest El Nino in several decades. El Niño, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, affects wind patterns and can trigger both floods and drought. “I think this event has lots of characteristics with a strong El Niño,” said Australian climate expert Wenju Cai. “The wind that has caused the warming is quite large and there is what we call the pre-conditioned effects, where you must have a lot of heat already in the system to have a big El Niño event.”

Time to start learning how to forecast

Unisys is great at laying out model data and offering explanations of what it means

By Daniel Bezte AF contributor

ow many times have you heard the saying, “Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it?” Well, I’m not going to say I know how to do something about the weather; after all, if I did I would be rich! In my opinion, though, the next best thing to doing something about it is to be able to forecast it — at least with some sort of accuracy. In my previous life, before teaching, I was in the private sector, and I always said that if you want to move up in the business, you better have someone ready to take your place. Well, let’s start getting you ready to take my place — only kidding! But seriously, I think it’s time to take a look once again at the information available on the Internet and hopefully learn a bit about how to read weather models and begin making your own forecasts. First of all, forecasting using weather models is not as simple as just being able to read the weather models and come up with a forecast. Besides having to first understand what the heck the models are showing, you need to learn how to watch the models day in and day out to learn what the “real” information is and be able to tell it from the weather models just being the weather models. To do this you need to watch what the weather models are doing every day — or even better, a couple of times per day — day after day. This allows you to see trends in the weather model data. That is, you may look at what the weather models are showing 10 days from now and think, “Great, that will be perfect weather,” but the further out you go, the less likely the forecast will remain the same. A day later, instead of perfect weather 10 days out, it might be the exact opposite. What you need to look at is the way weather models are trending. If the model shows high pressure with warm, sunny weather 10 days from now, what will it show you later that day or the next day? Is the warm

weather still there, or is it trending toward colder conditions?

Where to look

So, where can you find this weather data? Most media publications only give summaries of weather data and usually only look out to five days at best. Luckily, for those of us who feel

comfortable using the Internet, nearly all weather data used by forecasters are available to us; we just have to learn how to interpret the information. Several websites make this data available for free, with the only limitation being image size (detail) and sometimes timeliness (we may have to wait an

extra hour or so to see the data). Usually for what we want to do, which is to see the general weather pattern, neither of these issues really matter. So which website should you use? I think the best place to start is with a website called Unisys Weather (www.unisys.com). There are several different web-

This issue’s map shows the total amount of precipitation that has fallen across the Prairies so far this agricultural year (September 1 to May 1) as a percentage of average. The one thing that jumps out right away is that the majority of the Prairies has seen around average to slightly higher-thanaverage amounts of precipitation (85 to 150 per cent). Alberta’s Coronation and Hanna regions and south-central Manitoba are the only two areas that saw below-average amounts.

sites that offer much the same information, and often in a better format, but this website does a great job of showing you the model data and offering explanations for what the data mean. Several different weather models are available for us to look at. The primary two for medium- to long-range forecasting are the GFS model (U.S. 10- to 15-day model), and the ECMWF model (European seven- to 10-day model). For the rest of this article and next, we’ll be looking at the GFS model. With that said, if you look on the left-hand side of the Unisys website, you’ll see a whole bunch of information. Feel free to explore all of the links. The one we are interested in is located under “Forecasts” and is called “GFS/AVN Model.” If you click on this link the website will show you some really small graphics showing sea level pressure and 500-millibar heights; click on this image and you’ll get a much more detailed view of the data. Located above the new image, you’ll see a main menu that allows you to change what you are looking at. The first thing you can do is change the model type (Model). For our purposes we’ll stick with the GFS (NAM is a short-term forecast). You can change the region (Region) from the default North America (US) view to any other part of the world if you want. The next menu (Plot) is the key one to use when you want to try to see what the weather models are predicting. The default plot or graphic shows us sea level pressures which are our surface weather patterns, along with expected precipitation amounts. The final menu is “Time” and it allows us to zoom in and look at what the weather model is predicting every halfday or so. In my next article I’ll go into some of the details of this weather model and try to understand exactly what some of the data plots are actually showing us. In the meantime, if you are interested, you can click on the “More Information” link located at the bottom of the main GFS Model page (http://weather.unisys.com/gfs/index.php?r=us) to learn more about how and what each of the data plots is showing you.

NEW GM FOR WHEAT COMMISSION Tom Steve is the new general manager of the Alberta Wheat Commission. “Tom has an extensive background in agriculture and many years of experience working directly with growers, and grower-elected boards,” said AWC chair Kent Erickson. A former journalist and government media spokesman, Steve has spent most of the past two decades with United Grain Growers, its successor Agricore United, Viterra, and most recently with the newly formed Saskatchewan wheat and barley commissions. Steve will take up his new post in early June.

Fertilizer — prepare for worst-case scenario Post-seeding application is one option, while healthy seed and timely spraying can boost crop prospects BY HELEN MCMENAMIN AF CONTRIBUTOR

FILE PHOTO

you can move crops around a bit to put those with higher N needs on fields with a little more soil test N. I’d say use those fields for a crop that needs N earlier in the season.” This is also a year when good agronomic management pays dividends, he added. “Productive, well-farmed soils have a good level of organic nitrogen that can be mineralized into plant-available forms during the growing season.” A cereal such as wheat needs N between the three- to five-leaf stage and tillering to produce to its yield potential. Applying N later pushes up protein content rather than boosting yield, said Dowbenko. Canola, ideally, needs N at the rosette stage before bolting. But it continues to branch and produce pods for some time, so N later in the year would likely push yields up.

“Crops really need nitrogen by about three weeks after seeding,” said Dowbenko. “They can hold on till then. But with delayed fertilizer application, the nutrients need to be available. You have to judge whether to use dry product or a liquid formulation and how to apply it. Dribble banding is one option that may be more efficient than broadcasting. But don’t forget about the potential losses with surface-applied urea.” Volatilization is worst at high soil temperatures under moist conditions, especially followed by dry, windy weather and in fields with lots of crop residue. Sandy soils with low organic matter, high pH, and high lime content create the conditions for higher losses. Urea is most susceptible, but UAN (280-0) is not as stable as ammonium nitrate (34-0-0). Only a little rain, 2.5 millime-

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repare for the worst-case scenario, then things may not be as bad as you think.” That’s Ray Dowbenko’s advice for dealing with the tight fertilizer situation. The senior agronomist with Agrium thinks there may be shortages this spring, but not everywhere. “A lot will depend on your relationship with your retailer and your retailer’s relationships with truckers and the plant,” he said. “If the season is fairly normal and starts in the south and moves north in the usual pattern, we can probably stay ahead of demand. A situation where seeding starts at the same time all through the province will be more challenging.” Shortages in all fertilizers, except potash, stem from last year when world fertilizer prices, especially for phosphates were low. Then export demand picked up in late winter, and rail congestion hindered fertilizer delivery. As well, an auxiliary boiler at Agrium’s Carseland plant blew up this spring, taking out 100,000 tonnes of urea production. Dowbenko suggests talking to your retailer about your needs and whether you might have a long or a short wait. Then take another look at last fall’s soil test nutrient levels. “With last year’s yields, most fields probably don’t have a lot of residual nitrogen,” he said. “But you may have a field or two that didn’t produce as well for some reason. Maybe

“

tres, is needed to incorporate urea into the soil. But losses from urea applied in July can be more than double those following May application — 88 per cent compared to 40 per cent on zero till. The urease inhibitor, Agrotain, can limit losses, but Dowbenko said he hasn’t seen extra value in SuperU (a urease inhibitor with additives). Pulses are one way to cut nitrogen needs. Peas, beans or lentils need little nitrogen but they do need inoculant, and JumpStart can help them use soil-bound phosphate more effectively. If you have to ration fertilizer Dowbenko advises doing everything else you can to support the crop. “Use healthy seed, even screen for bigger seeds and seed by target plant population, especially for canola,” he said. “Seed to the perfect depth and don’t skip any herbicide or other pesticide. A crop with limited nutrients will be more susceptible to disease and competition from weeds, slower to close the canopy, and lose more moisture from bare patches. Use every management tool to do the best you can to compensate for that nutrient shortage.” There is one small benefit from this year’s tight supplies, said Dowbenko. “This year is really a wake-up call for farmers,” he said. “We’ve been saying for years that they need more on-farm storage for fertilizers. It saves money because spring prices are always higher, but lack of storage really leaves you at the mercy of logistics.”

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MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Dreyfus files rail level-of-service complaint, others may follow Grain is moving but the railways are the ones deciding where it goes BY ALLAN DAWSON STAFF

ouis Dreyfus Commodities has filed a level-of-service complaint against CN Rail with the Canadian Transportation Agency. Other grain companies are contemplating similar action in hopes of recouping losses due to poor rail service for grain this winter. Although grain is now moving at government target rates, grain companies are frustrated the railways are deciding which elevators will load cars and where they will be shipped. The result is domestic and American markets not being properly served, said Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association. “In some cases we’re having to truck grain from Saskatchewan (elevator) locations to Alberta locations because the railways want to move from there to get quicker turnaround times to Vancouver,” Sobkowich said in an interview. It’s either that, or the grain

A grain train being loaded near Nesbitt, Man. April 8. Grain is now moving off the Prairies but companies say some markets aren’t being served. PHOTO: LAURA RANCE company doesn’t get the cars, he said. The federal government’s March 7 order-in-council requiring the railways to ship one million tonnes of grain a

week doesn’t specify how much grain should move in each shipping corridor. “The focus of the order is to get and keep grain moving as quickly as possible,” a Trans-

port Canada official wrote. “It is up to railways to plan how best to meet the targets.” The U.S. is Canada’s closest and often best-paying grain customer, but grain companies

can’t fill existing sales to American customers or make new ones, Sobkowich said. “Is that what the government intended? I don’t think so,” he said. Grain is moving through Thunder Bay. The first two ships arrived April 21 — a month later than normal because of unprecedented ice on the Great Lakes. “It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Tim Heney, CEO of the Thunder Bay port. Louis Dreyfus Commodities did not return calls for comment, but a CTA official confirmed the complaint was lodged under a section of the Canada Transportation Act requiring railways to provide “adequate and suitable accommodation for the receiving and loading of all traffic offered for carriage on the railway...” Industry sources say other grain companies are considering filing level-of-service complaints to the CTA, a quasi-judicial organization that administers the Canada Transportation Act. allan@fbcpublishing.com

Fertilizer supplies tight BY ALLAN DAWSON STAFF

ight fertilizer supplies might put the kibosh on some farmers’ hopes for seeding early this year, industry officials say. Poor rail service this winter and two nitrogen plant breakdowns have combined to tighten fertilizer supplies to

local retailers. “If seeding does drag out to the end of May or into June there should be product arriving all the way through the season,” said Steve Biggar, Richardson International’s assistant vice-president of fertilizer and energy products. “I think the later the season goes the greater the likelihood is we’ll have enough fertilizer. If we end up mostly finished seeding by May long weekend then there just isn’t

going to be enough fertilizer in place to meet all the demand.” Farmers should continue to speak with their local fertilizer retailers to stay up to date on the supply situation, he said. Agrium’s nitrogen plant at Carseland is broken down, taking about 120,000 tonnes — or about three per cent of Western Canada’s nitrogen use — off the market. U.S. fertilizer company CF Industries

Holdings recently shut down an entire nitrogen plant in Oklahoma because of boiler problems. It doesn’t directly serve the Prairies but the six- to eightweek shutdown will add to the tightness in supply. Phosphorus, half of which is imported from the United States, is also in short supply, Biggar said. allan@fbcpublishing.com

Fertilizer supplies are tight this year due to a combination of logistical and production problems. Farmers are advised to remain in close contact with their fertilizer retailers about available supplies. FILE PHOTO

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ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

Railway profits don’t impress unhappy customers A lack of competition is good for shareholders but not shippers BY ALEX BINKLEY AF CONTRIBUTOR

obust financial results posted by CN and CP for the first quarter of 2014 aren’t winning applause from their customers. “CN and CP already have the vast majority of the business in Western Canada, and they are focused on reducing costs to improve their operating ratios,” says Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevators Association. “This manifests itself as worse service for their customers.” CP posted its “best firstquarter financial results in company history” with a 16 per cent rise in net income to more than $217 million, said CEO Hunter Harrison. CN’s net income was $623 million for the first quarter of 2014 compared with net income of $555 million for the same period last year, said CEO Claude Mongeau. The performance drew fawning praise from stock market analysts, but Sobkowich said it comes at the expense of captive shippers. “The railways are focused on shareholder returns above all else, including customer service,” he said. “What we are experiencing amounts to a transfer of wealth from railway customers to railway shareholders.” A massive and late Prairie crop last year combined with a long and harsh winter to create a mammoth backlog in rail shipments that could cost farmers more than $7 billion in lost sales and lower prices, grain companies say. While the arrival of warmer weather has improved grain transportation, there remains a shortfall of 68,000 rail cars, Sobkowich said. “We are still not seeing enough capacity for shipping to the United States or Eastern Canada, and we are still having difficulty getting trains spotted at locations of our choosing — i.e. where the product is for a particular vessel.” Harrison didn’t mention his company’s unhappy customers when he bragged “CP delivered solid results in a period that was severely impacted by extraordinary cold and severe winter weather conditions.” CN’s Mongeau at least acknowledged the weather had “reduced our capacity to serve our customers.” With spring at hand, “CN’s recovery is now well underway, with key safety, operating and service metrics returning to pre-winter levels.”

U.S. cellulosic fuel makers say expansion finally at hand A number of production facilities are coming online BY AYESHA RASCOE WASHINGTON / REUTERS

.S. producers of cellulosic ethanol said April 29 the industry is poised for rapid growth in 2014 after years of false starts, and that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed usage target is too low. Lawmakers set ambitious goals for use of cellulosic biofuels in the 2007 law establishing the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires increasing amounts of various types of biofuels to be blended into the U.S. fuel supply. Production of cellulosic fuels, made from sources such as grasses, trees and crop waste, has so far not been anywhere near the targets set by Congress,

forcing EPA to repeatedly slash its annual mandates. But producers say the industry is finally on the verge of success, with a handful of plants soon to open. The EPA’s draft proposal for 2014 would require the use of 17 million gallons of the innovative fuel, about one per cent of the 1.75 billion gallons originally stipulated by Congress. “They are being conservative at this point,” Doug Berven, vicepresident of corporate affairs for biofuel producer POET LLC, said at a press event. “They should be a little bit higher. We’ve got a number of production facilities coming online and I do think they are going to be successful,” Berven said, although he declined to specify an alternative target.

A $250-million cellulosic ethanol plant backed by POET and Dutch food and chemicals group DSM is set to come online by June. The plant could eventually produce 25 million gallons of fuel a year. Biofuel officials warned that the EPA’s proposed cut to the overall 2014 biofuel mandate, including conventional corn-based ethanol, would hurt the entire renewable fuel industry. The draft EPA rule cut the 18.15 billion gallons (68.7 billion litres) of biofuels mandated for use in 2014 down to 15.21 billion gallons. The rule is set to be finalized by June. Abengoa’s cellulosic ethanol plant in Hugoton, Kansas will begin producing fuel within weeks and at full capacity could produce 25 million gallons a year.

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“We’ve got a number of production facilities coming online and I do think they are going to be successful.” DOUG BERVEN

Other projects discussed at the April 29 event included DuPont’s Nevada, Iowa plant, expected to start operations in the fourth quarter, and Quad County Corn Processors’ Galva, Iowa plant, scheduled to come online in June.

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MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Nailing down the value of precision agriculture The potential for geo-referenced yield maps and variable rate is huge, but how it works in the field is key By Ken Coles FARMING SMARTER People have been talking about precision agriculture as the next big thing in farming for more than two decades. Of course, back then, GPS wasn’t as commonplace. Today, almost all smartphones have built-in GPS and the things that you can do with the right “app” are pretty amazing. You can geo-tag your pictures (which means locate it precisely on a map so you know exactly where you took it), get your current location on Google maps, and even hook up with single people based on your current latitude and longitude! Yeehaw… I mean, “Of course I don’t do that, Dear.” Farm GPS technology is equally cool. Autosteer allows you to drive straighter than Grandpa could have ever imagined while easily flagging obstacles and reducing your overlap to almost zero. But really taking it to the next level eludes us so far. The next level to me means effective variable-rate applications and statistically valid on-farm research. There are still many opportunities for farmers to take advantage of new technologies, but they also need to clearly see the value. Farming Smarter has con-

Precision agriculture has great potential, but much of it is not yet farm ready. PHOTO: FARMING SMARTER

ducted several applied research projects using geo-referenced yield maps. These include the feasibility of two sclerotiniacontrolling biofungicides, nitrogen rates in canola, phosphorus inoculants in peas, and fusarium head blight management with fungicides and irrigation scheduling. We are now working on two precision agriculture projects. The first is looking at electro-conductivity sensors (Veris and EM38) used to map soils for variable-rate applications. This project studies the

utility of the sensors and how various types of field data correlate with different nitrogen and seed rates across a quarter section. We have five fields across the province involved in this study. A new project led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada starts this year using multiple years of combine yield data to study the effects of variable-rate nitrogen in canola. This approach uses small study blocks within a field that intersect with three production zones (low-, mediumand high-yielding areas).

Both projects have so far proven to be difficult, but we have learned a lot. Many technical issues arise when trying to work in this area. We had to buy a heavy-duty, everything-proof laptop because tractor vibration causes problems. We found the new USB ports don’t work as well as the old com ports. Because we had two types of soil sensors working on the same laptop, we had to split the GPS signal. This required some technical shenanigans involving cables to get it to work. We also had challenges getting instruments to communicate properly with monitors, software functionality issues, and problems with file formats. So it’s not hard to see why this hasn’t caught on with the average farmer. But we are confident now that we will have valuable advice regarding these challenges. With the systems working now, I’m optimistic that at the end of these projects, we will be able to recommend the types of useful data for farmers — and where and when to collect it. Even if it means losing a little more hair! Farming Smarter crop walks are being held at its Lethbridge site on May 29, June 5, 12, and 19. See www.farmingsmarter. com for details.

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Many ways to protect the price of your canola crop Spring Price Endorsement, put options, and a variety of contracts with delivery commitments offer different benefits Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development release

armers should keep in mind the Spring Price Endorsement (SPE) to protect the price of this year’s canola crop, says Neil Blue, a market specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. The 2014 canola spring price under the SPE program from Agriculture Financial Services Corporation is $9.75 per bushel. “A payout under the SPE would be triggered if the fall price drops by more than 10 per cent from this spring price,” said Blue. That means the payout would be triggered if the calculated fall price is below $8.775 per bushel. “That payout would equal the spring price of $9.75 per bushel minus the fall price times crop insurance coverage in bushels,” he said. “SPE coverage is limited to a 50 per cent price drop from the spring price of $9.75, or to $4.88 per bushel for 2014.”

ment to use several different pricing alternatives to distribute the pricing risks of your upcoming crop,” said Blue. Farmers with their own futures account may consider buying a put option to lock in a minimum futures price. “For example, with today’s November canola futures price of $494 per tonne, the cost of buying a November $490 put option is about $24 per tonne,” he said. A put option can also be sold before expiry to capture a premium, and there is greater timing flexibility and decision choice with a futures account, he added. Neither the Spring Price Endorsement nor the put option includes a commitment for phys-

ical delivery, and neither alternative locks in the basis. “That situation can be an advantage, but having a delivery commitment has become a more important factor this spring due to restricted crop deliveries and carry-over crop,” said Blue. “Therefore, some farmers may choose to sign one of several types of contracts directly with a physical canola buyer, all of which contain a delivery commitment.” Commonly available contracts include deferred delivery contracts, basis contracts, and minimum price contracts. the possible need in the case of a “The potential disadvantage of production shortfall to pay a buya contract with a physical buyer out penalty relating to that shortTrim: 8.125” is the delivery commitment, and fall,” said Blue. “Before signing

photo: thinkstock such a contract, consider asking the buyer how an Act of God clause could be incorporated into the delivery contract.”

“It may be prudent in the current crop-marketing environment to use several different pricing alternatives to distribute the pricing risks of your upcoming crop.” Neil Blue

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The fall price for canola for 2014 is calculated by finding the average of the daily closing prices for ICE Futures Canada November canola during the month of October, and then subtracting $20 per tonne, which represents an average basis level. To trigger a payout under SPE, the closing November futures price average during October would have to be less than $406.90 per tonne. “The current price for November canola futures is about $490 per tonne, far above the price of $406.90 per tonne, the calculated futures trigger for the Spring Price Endorsement,” said Blue. “Also note that depending on location and buyer, current Alberta basis levels for October canola delivery are much weaker than the $20-per-tonne average basis level used in the SPE fall price calculation. The Alberta October delivery basis levels currently range from $43 to $70 per tonne under the November futures. Those basis levels can weaken or strengthen any time at the discretion of each buyer.” Blue said farmers should gather all the information about the various pricing alternatives and consider their costs of production and financial needs, as well as estimated crop carry-over, storage capacity and potential production. “It may be prudent in the current crop-marketing environ-

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NEWS » Markets

MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

climate change report

Mosaic pares workforce

washington / reuters The Obama administration has issued a report saying climate change requires urgent action to counter impacts that touch every corner of the country, from oyster growers in Washington state to maple syrup producers in Vermont. “Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” the report said. Some groups hailed the National Climate Assessment as a possible “game changer” for efforts to address climate change, in part because it makes the impact less abstract to many Americans. The extensive report detailed how consequences of climate change are hitting on several fronts, including health, infrastructure, water supply, agriculture and especially in more frequent severe weather such as floods and droughts. The impacts are also broken down by region — from storm surges in the northeast to wildfires and water shortages in the southwest.

reuters U.S. fertilizer producer Mosaic Co. will eliminate 500 jobs in the next 12 months, part of a plan to cut $500 million in costs over five years, according to chief executive officer Jim Prokopanko. Prokopanko said on a conference call that the company will shed the jobs through layoffs, attrition, early retirement and elimination of contractors. The cost cutting is aimed at bolstering Mosaic’s status as a low-cost phosphate producer and improving its relatively high-cost position in potash.

Cold, wet Prairie weather comes into play on canola World wheat stocks ought to limit gains from U.S. drought By Terryn Shiells

anola futures on the ICE Futures Canada trading platform saw some large price swings, but finished narrowly mixed, with nearby contracts higher and deferred values down slightly during the week ended May 2. The market was little changed for the first half of the week, before falling sharply along with the U.S. markets on Thursday, then recovering some of those losses on Friday. Large gains in the nearby July contract on May 2 caused its value to close $6.10 per tonne above last week’s settlement. On one side, the burdensome supply situation and expectations of large 201314 carry-out stocks continued to weigh on the market, as did some farmer selling during the week. Farmers were said to be selling canola in order to generate cash flow ahead of the growing season, though they were also said to be taking advantage of forward pricing opportunities for new crop. Some support came from steady commercial buying, linked to “spring jitters” as buyers built a weather premium into the market. Cold, wet weather was starting to cause concern about delayed seeding in Western Canada this spring, as well as in the northern U.S. Going forward, the market will likely take direction from U.S. commodity futures, including soybeans, its products, corn and wheat. All the U.S. markets are overbought, and will start to turn lower eventually, pulling canola with them. Soybean futures were US16 to 24 cents per bushel lower during the week, undermined by profit-taking after the market hit nine-month highs on April 30. Though supplies remain tight for old crop in the U.S., and demand is steady, it is generally expected the 2014-15 U.S. soybean crop will be very large. The market is also overbought, which could trigger speculative-based selling that would cause prices to dip lower going forward. Corn futures were moving higher for most of the week amid worries about delayed planting in the U.S. Midwest — but forecasts changed, and were calling for beneficial planting weather during the optimal May 1-10 seeding period in the U.S., which caused prices to end the week lower. Traders will continue to watch the weather going forward, though crops are generally expected to get a good start to the season as soil moisture conditions are excellent in many growing regions in the U.S. Midwest. Any production problems seen this summer will cause prices to move higher.

photo: thinkstock Winter wheat crops in the southern U.S. Plains have been experiencing production problems all spring due to drought conditions, which weren’t showing signs of any improvement during the week. Futures moved higher in reaction to the news, with Kansas City wheat futures leading the way higher. An annual crop tour in Kansas, a major wheat-producing state, showed average wheat yields were at 33.2 bushels per acre, the lowest since 2007. Ongoing concerns about problems in Ukraine causing disruptions to wheat exports, and possibly its production, were also bullish. But production problems in the southern U.S. Plains are unique to them, as growing conditions in other parts of the world are generally good. Favourable conditions in other parts of the world, paired with the fact that there

is no shortage of wheat globally, will keep the rally in U.S. wheat futures capped. Though the Canadian wheat cash price did improve along with the climbing U.S. wheat futures markets, extremely wide basis levels were keeping farmers from taking full advantage of the rally. It’s still unclear when basis could

start to improve, as there is such a large amount of wheat left in the country and logistics haven’t caught up with this winter’s backlog yet. Terryn Shiells writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

For three-times-daily market reports from Resource News International, visit “ICE Futures Canada updates” at www.albertafarmexpress.ca.

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

Short covering rally propelled CBOT wheat futures to an 11-month high market outlook } It’s important for producers to know where resistance levels

are, as they can use this information to establish objectives for setting target prices By david drozd

CBOT wheat weekly nearby

As of April 22/14

he wheat futures markets have had an impressive rally, gaining $1.75 per bushel in only seven weeks. Reversal patterns signalling an end to the three-month decline occurred on the daily wheat futures charts at the end of January 2014. This was followed by the development of two-week reversals at the MGEX, CBOT and KCBT on February 7, 2014. This is illustrated in the accompanying chart. Adding further confirmation of an impending rally was the ensuing two-month reversals that appeared on the monthly nearby futures charts at all three U.S. wheat exchanges on February 28, 2014. Prices accelerated higher when buy stops were triggered on Monday, March 3, 2014. Traders place buy stops just above an area of resistance to protect the profit in their short positions, or to limit their loss. Once triggered, they become market orders at the prevailing price. The large speculative funds were short the market and the buying back of their short posi-

tions initiated a short covering rally. This buying propelled prices up through the upper boundary of the downtrending channel, which is illustrated as (A) in the accompanying chart. Also shown is the open interest, which was declining on this rally. This indicates short covering was taking place. In fact, the open interest in wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade fell to a four-year low. Technical analysts regard short covering rallies to be weak in nature because it’s a result of market participants exiting the market. Conversely, a strong rally is

accompanied by increasing open interest, which is a sign of renewed buying interest. Therefore, fresh buying is needed before this market can extend the gains. Unless this occurs, the wheat market is vulnerable to retracing some of its advance. The recent high ($7.10) on the CBOT weekly nearby chart is proving to be resistance. Before prices can resume the uptrend, they will have to overcome this area of resistance.

Resistance

Resistance is a term used to B:10.25” describe a price level where selling

of futures contracts is expected to increase and at least temporarily halt the current direction of the market. On bar charts, these areas will appear as well-defined price ranges within which the market at some previous time traded essentially sideways prior to making a decisive move up or down. The greater the amount of time spent and the number of contracts bought and sold in this range, the greater will be the potential for resistance in the future. Another characteristic which helps to gauge the relative resistance of a price area is the vertical distance the market must rise prior to reaching the area in question. The greater the upward price move prior to reaching a resistance level, the greater will be the resistance.

Market psychology

Resistance areas evolve because equilibrium is reached between buyers and sellers. The market attracts selling in this area because any return move back to this zone subsequently represents an area in which to liquidate a long position. Also, the offering of contracts for sale increases, as those who sold at higher levels

now have profits and may utilize the rally to sell more contracts. Where a classic formation may not appear on a chart for several months, one can be reasonably sure that there is always a resistance area, even if minor, not very far from the market. This is important because it can help formulate expectations of future price action. Occurrences such as these are commonplace on futures charts, but are extremely important as they illustrate where future rallies are likely to fail. It’s important for producers to know where resistance levels are, as they can use this information to establish objectives for setting target prices. Send your questions or comments about this article and chart to info@ag-chieve.ca. David Drozd is president and senior market analyst for Winnipeg-based Ag-Chieve Corporation. The opinions expressed are those of the writer and are solely intended to assist readers with a better understanding of technical analysis. Visit Ag-Chieve online at www. ag-chieve.ca for information about our grain-marketing advisory service and to see our latest grain market analysis. You can call us toll free at 1-888-2743138 for a free consultation.

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MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

Community news and events from across the province

Screamin Brothers dishes up a double scoop of generosity By Jennifer Blair af staff

ne Alberta farm family has turned a global tragedy into an opportunity to help impoverished children — with some pretty tasty results. In 2010, then 10-year-old J.R. Wikkerink was awaiting the arrival of his adopted baby brother from Haiti when a catastrophic earthquake devastated the country, leaving his new sibling living in a tent and suffering from cholera. “J.R. was pretty touched by this and felt, like the rest of us, pretty helpless,” said Wayne Wikkerink, president of Screamin Brothers, a dessert company based on the family farm near Lethbridge. So J.R. decided to fundraise by selling a novelty frozen dessert he created at the farmers’ market, making it dairy free so his lactose-intolerant brother Dawson could enjoy some, too. Week after week, the product sold out. “As a dad, you’re going, ‘Hey, this kid may be on to something here,’” said Wikkerink. Before long, a retailer approached the family, and today, its dairy-free frozen treats are sold at more than 80 stores in Alberta and B.C. Now, the goal is to go national with Screamin Brothers — a name jokingly coined when J.R. and Dawson were loudly arguing about what to call the company. At first, Wikkerink was surprised by the demand, but with eight flavours free of the 10 common allergens listed by CFIA — including dairy, gluten, and nuts — Screamin Brothers fills a gap in the market. Having locally sourced ingredients is also key. “The ingredient with the largest volume we source locally is honey,” said Wikkerink, who also buys local strawberries and fruit from B.C. As a farmer (the family raises grass-finished cattle and heritage chickens), Wikkerink feels it’s important to support local producers whenever possible.

lberta 4-H has added a third camp for its popular Junior Camp program. The Junior Camp is for 4-H members aged nine to 11 (dates are July 14-18, July 20-25, and Aug. 18-22) and features events such as crafting, archery and dancing, beach time and slip ‘n’ slide. Registration deadline is June 15 and an early-bird rate of $200 is available until May 15. The camps are held at the Alberta 4-H Centre in Westerose. For more info on all 4-H camps, go to www.4h.ab.ca.

J.R. Wikkerink (r) with parents Wayne and Anne and brothers Dawson, Joseph, and David, created his novelty frozen dessert as a fundraiser and it has transformed the family farm. Photo: Courtesy Wayne Wikkerink

“All too often in agriculture, we’re based on a commodity market price,” he said. “The more value we can add to the commodity that’s come out of our region, the more dollars that get spun into our own economy.” Farming has now “taken a back seat to the ice-cream business,” he said. Screamin Brothers has a few contract employees, mostly for food safety and packaging, but the bulk of the work still falls on the family. “It’s in such a growth stage at the moment, and there’s a lot of work that goes into getting to meetings and attending trade shows to get the word out there.”

Both J.R., now 14, and Dawson, 13, are still heavily involved in the business, with J.R. managing the marketing and Dawson taking care of the finances. Their mother, Anne, along with seven-year-old Joseph, and five-year-old David, work in their onfarm processing facility. The family also donates five per cent of net profits to support children’s charities at home and abroad. “The main goal of the business as it got started was to help kids, and that’s still a major part of why we do what we do,” said Wikkerink. jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com

‘Sold’ isn’t the last word at this charity auction T

hey do auctions a little different in Ponoka — at least at the annual fundraiser for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB). A pair of llamas fetched $250. And then they were sold again for $200. It was only after going on the block for the third time that the donated duo were kept by the winning bidder, earning another $175 for CFGB. Bidding and then giving the animals back for resale is a tradition at the auction “It’s a fun thing — they bid and bid and when they win, they say, ‘Nah, I don’t want it,’” said Peter Doornenbal, a dairy farmer and one of the founding volunteers. In all, 30 animals donated by farmers, five fresh Holstein heifers donated by local businesses, and other donated items brought in $51,250. That money is matched four to one by the federal

Registration open for 4-H camps

government, meaning more than a quarter of a million dollars was raised at the 13th annual auction. In all, the auction has raised more than $700,000 — not counting matching contributions — over the years. Many of the volunteer organizers have been involved since the beginning and are “growing old together,” joked Doornenbal. But their passion to help CFGB hasn’t waned. “It’s a good cause and not too much of the money stays behind,” he said. “I’ve been to Africa myself and seen where the money goes. “I’ve been to Kenya and Tanzania and seen projects. It was a trip I will never forget. They’re not giving the money away, it’s food-for-work projects and they have such a big impact on the lives of these people. That’s why you want to help.”

what’s

Send agriculture-related meeting and event announcements to: glenn.cheater@fbcpublishing.com May 13: Water Well Workshops, Balmoral. (Also June 5, Flagstaff County.) Contact: Melissa 780-422-1791 May 19-20: Stettler District 4-H Beef Show & Sale, Stettler Agricultural Ground, Stettler. Contact: Darla Rairdan 403-742-6288 May 24: Lawn Tractor Racing, Valleyview Ag Grounds, Valleyview. Contact: JoAnne Clarke or Meladine MacFadyen 780-524-9352 May 29: Farming Smarter Crop Walk, Lethbridge. (Also June 5, 12 and 19.) Contact: Jamie 403-381-5118 May 31-June 2: 4-H Expo, 5521 - 49 Avenue, Lloydminster. Contact: Corinne McGirr 306-825-5571 June 6-8: All Breed Horse Show, Ag Society Grounds, Valleyview. Contact: JoAnn Clarke 780-524-3473 June 14-15: English Horse Shows, Exhibition Park, Cold Lake. Contact: Tina 780-594-0667 June 21: Breakfast on the Dairy Farm, Van der Sluys Dairy, east of Olds. Contact: Arie VandenBroek 403-507-9129 July 10-12: Balancing the TradeOff between Productivity and Environmental Health, University of Lethbridge. Contact: Sheri Strydhorst 780-674-8248

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

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MAY 12, 2014 • ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA

REAL ESTATE/RENTALS

COMPUTERS

Land For Sale WANTED: ACCESS TO LAND in Central AB for gopher hunting purposes, willing to travel. Phone (780)542-0323.

ANTIQUES ANTIQUES Antique Equipment AUGUST 9 &10, 2014 the Eighth Annual IHCC Ch 38 show will be held on the grounds of the Western Development Museum in North Battleford Sask. We will be joining WDM to celebrate their annual “Those were the days” & join them on the occasion of their 65th birthday. www.nbattleford@wdm.ca All IH machinery, trucks, tractors, household, stationary engines, power units, cub cadets & anything else marketed by IH are welcome. Membership annual meeting w/banquet & guest speaker. More information available from show chairman Gary Algot. (780)741-2115. www.ihc38.com

BUSINESS SERVICES BUSINESS SERVICES Crop Consulting

FARM CHEMICAL SEED COMPLAINTS We also specialize in: Crop Insurance appeals; Chemical drift; Residual herbicide; Custom operator issues; Equipment malfunction; Yield comparisons, Plus Private Investigations of any nature. With our assistance the majority of our clients have received compensation previously denied. Back-Track Investigations investigates, documents your loss and assists in settling your claim. Licensed Agrologist on Staff. For more information Please call 1-866-882-4779

BUILDINGS

Combines

FARM MACHINERY Sprayers

COMBINES Combines - Various

DO YOU...OR YOUR BUSINESS NEED... ► ► ► ► ► ► ►

Website or Facebook page Logo or Branding Need help getting in shape? Brochures or Catalogues Video event or Photography Signs, Banners & Business card Or All of the above?

Contact April Ockerman for your designing needs!

1-780-872-2655

April_Ockerman@yahoo.ca

COMBINE WORLD located 20 min. E of Saskatoon, SK on Hwy. #16. 1 year warranty on all new, used, and rebuilt parts. Canada’s largest inventory of late model combines & swathers. 1-800-667-4515 www.combineworld.com

Combine ACCessories FARM MACHINERY Combine – Accessories

FARM MACHINERY HAYING & HARVESTING Baling Equipment WANTED: JD 7810 c/w FEL & 3-PTH; sp or PTO bale wagon; JD or IHC end wheel drills. Small square baler. (403)394-4401

RECONDITIONED COMBINE HEADERS. RIGID & flex, most makes & sizes; also header transports. Ed Lorenz, (306)344-4811 or Website: www.straightcutheaders.com Paradise Hill, SK.

FARM MACHINERY Parts & Accessories

JD 9400, 9420, 9520, 8970 JD 9860, 9760, 9750, 9650, 9600 JD 9430, 9530, 9630 Case STX 375, 425, 430, 450, 480, 500, 530 CIH 8010-2388, 2188 combine CIH 435Q, 535Q, 450Q, 550Q, 600Q pto avail. JD 4710, 4720, 4730, 4830, 4920, 4930 SP sprayers JD 9770 & 9870 w/CM & duals CIH 3185, 3230, 3330, 4430, 4420 sprayers

9280 12 speed with 80% rubber 4720 JD Sprayer w/ boom track autosteer, 4700 90 ft very clean 4955 JD low hrs, 3 pth, very clean S680 JD combine low hrs 936 Versatile

“LIKE MANY BEFORE, WE’LL HAVE YOU SAYING THERE’S NO DEAL LIKE A KEN DEAL” • Phone: (403)526-9644 • Cell: (403)504-4929 • Email: kendeal@shaw.ca

Tillage & Seeding FARM MACHINERY Tillage & Seeding – Tillage MORRIS B3-48 RODWEEDER, $650; Morris 519-ft csisel plow, single wing $950; CCIL circulra harrow, 3 ring 27-ft $350, 1 ring, 10-ft $200 Phone:(403)782-2545.

REINVENTING THE WHEEL

We know that farming is enough of a gamble so if you want to sell it fast place your ad in the Alberta Farmer Express classifieds. It’s a Sure Thing. Call our toll-free number today. We have friendly staff ready to help. 1-800-665-1362.

BUILDINGS NEW WOBBLE BOXES for JD, IH, MacDon headers. Made in Europe, factory quality. Get it direct from Western Canada’s sole distributor starting at $1,095. 1-800-667-4515. www.combineworld.com

Spraying EquipmEnt 40’ X 60’ X 16’ RIGID FRAME STEEL BUILDING

FARM MACHINERY Sprayers 2013 Rogator RG1300

$28,418 When you go with steel you get the right deals!

Pioneer One Steel Buildings

Call toll free 1 (877) 525-2004 or see us online at www.pioneeronesteel.com

patent pending

Reduce Plugging with Open-Rim Gauge Wheels by Ridgeland Manufacturing Sales & Distribution by:

thunderstrucksales.com 855.752.5525 FARM MACHINERY Tillage & Seeding – Various

410-hrs, 132-ft recirculating aluminum boom, Raven Viper Pro, 7 section autoboom shutoff, autoboom height control, Smarttrax steering, 800 & 380 series tires, 2-yr warranty. $348,000 (204)824-2290 ellisseeds@mts.net

TracTors

1982 JD 3140, 148 loader bucket w/3-PTH, sale #514292-CD, 18.4x34 rubber, c/w $4,200 work order, $14,000. Phone (780)675-4784.

MORE OPTIONS TO SAVE YOU MONEY

Buy one province, buy two provinces or buy all three. Great rates whatever you choose

Degelman 10 ft. Snow Pusher Blade JD 2950 complete with ldr. with 3 pth hitch JD 7200 FWA, 740 ldr. with 3 pth hitch JD 4240 complete with ldr. JD 4020 c/w ldr. & new motor JD 2550, FWA CASE IH 485 ldr. with 3 pth hitch JD 7700, 740 ldr. JD 7800, 740 ldr. with 3 pth hitch ST 250 Steiger, tires new 20.8 x 38 2012 CAT 272D Skidsteer, 800 Hrs Clamp on Duals, 20.8x38-18.4x38 158, 148, 265, 725, 740, 280, JD ldr. FINANCE, TRADES WELCOME 780-696-3527, BRETON, AB

Big Tractor Parts, Inc. Geared For The Future

STEIGER TRACTOR SPECIALIST

RED OR GREEN 1. 10-25% savings on new replacement parts for your Steiger drive train. 2. We rebuild axles, transmissions and dropboxes with ONE YEAR WARRANTY. 3. 50% savings on used parts.

Contact Sharon

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous 1999 CAT 460 1,400 sep. hrs, rake up $70,000; Road King ground loadstock trailer, 8 x 42.5-ft, will haul 25 cows, $8,500; 2013 Highline 651 Bale Pro, chain floor, twine cutter, big tires, $16,000. Call:(403)665-2341, Craigmyle, AB. ACREAGE EQUIPMENT: CULTIVATORS, DISCS, Plows, Blades, Post pounders, Haying Equipment, Etc. (780)892-3092, Wabamun, Ab. QUONSET NEW, 35X52X18; JD 2420 DSL, 25-ft & 16-ft hay; JD 7410 FWA, w/loader; MF 860 p/u & 20-ft straight cut; Ford 5000 w/loader; Vac, sewer tank & pump; Rotex SR7 power parachute for parts; Chev tandem gravel box & hoist; C7 tree farmer skidder; Bison head squeeze (complete); 2004 Rumblebee shortbox; 24-ft dual axle cattle trailer gooseneck, like new. Cyclone PTO Fert spreader; Skid mount Cummins motor w/transmission; D343 CAT motor for parts; Bantam C366 w/471 Track hoe for parts; 21-ft Carter Hart PU/reel; MH 13-ft 26 run seed drill w/fert, like new; 1-tonne truck hoist; Ford 6-ft, 3-PT angle blade for 40-HP & bigger tractor; CAT IT 28G loader, 2.5-yd. (306)236-8023.

FARMING IS ENOUGH OF A GAMBLE...

CARBIDE DRILL POINTS & openers for air drills. VW Manufacturing Ltd Dunmore (Medicine Hat) (403)528-3350 US: Loren Hawks Chester, Montana (406)460-3810 www.vwmfg.com

FARM MACHINERY Tractors – Various

Prairie-Wide Display Classifieds

GOOD SELECTION OF JD & CASE SP SPRAYERS AND 4WD TRACTORS

1-800-982-1769 www.bigtractorparts.com

Email: sharon.komoski@fbcpublishing.com Stretch your ADVERTISING DOLLAR!

1-800-665-1362

Advertise in the Alberta Farmer Express Classifieds, it’s a Sure Thing!

1-800-665-1362

RON SAUER

MACHINERY LTD. (403) 540-7691 ronsauer@shaw.ca

846 Ford Versatile Designation 6, 4WD Tractor 1990, newer 18.4 x 38 dualled tires,12 speed manual, 4 hyds., 6036 hrs., looks & runs good .............................. $30,000 555 JD Crawler Loader, 250 hrs. on rebuilt engine, good condition ........................................................... $20,000 51’ Degelman Landroller, only done 3,000 acres, as new.... .......................................................... $40,000 Degelman Dozer Frame MF 4000 Series 4WD .$1,000 B 275 IHC Diesel Tractor, 3 pth, pto, runs good ......$4,250 31’ Flexicoil B Chisel Plow,3 bar harrows, extensions to 41’ incl., excellent condition....................................... $12,500 Flexicoil 6 Run Seed Treater .............................. $1,000 134’ Flexicoil S68XL Sprayer, 2007, suspended boom, auto rate, joystick, rinse tank, triple quick jets, auto boom height, electric end nozzle & foam marker............. $39,500 100’ 65XL Flexicoil Sprayer, complete with windguards,elec. end nozzles single tips, auto rate, excellent condition .............................................. $12,500 30’ 8230 CIH PT Swather, PU reel, nice shape, . $10,000 25’ 8225 CIH PT Swather, PU reel, nice shape .... $9,500 25’ 1200 Hesston PT Swather, bat reel, good .... $5,500 10 Wheel MATR (Italy) Trailer Type V-Hayrake, hyd. fold, as new.................................................. $5,000 14 Wheel Enorossi V-Hayrake extra contour wheels, as new .............................................................. $11,500 8 x 1000 Sakundiak Auger, new 30 HP Koehler engine, Hawes mover, gear box clutch, spout ....... CNT $9,000 8 x 1200 Sakundiak Auger, 25 HP Koehler engine, Hawes mover, clutch, runs good ................................... $8,500 7 x 1200 Sakundiak Auger, 18 HP Koehler engine, looks and runs good, ......................................... CNT $3,500 8 x 1400 Sakundiak Auger, 25 HP Robin engine, Hawes mover, clutch, spout, excellent condition, ...........CNT $10,000 8 x 1400 Sakundiak Auger, 27 HP Koehler engine, E-Kay mover, belt tightener, power steering, light package, as new, .................................................. $12,500 New E-Kay 7” Bin Sweep .............**In Stock** $1,785 New E-Kay 7”, 8”, 9” Bin Sweeps available.........Call 8” Wheat Heart Transfer Auger, hydraulic drive.. $1,500 New Holland Trimbal EZ Guide 500 Monitor ....$1,700 New Outback S3, guidance & mapping ....................$3,000 18.4 x 30, tractor tire & tube .....................................$500 New Outback MAX & STX guidance & mapping ...In Stock New Outback E-Drive, TC’s .................................In Stock New Outback E-Drive X, c/w free E turns ............In Stock New Outback S-Lite guidance ............ **In Stock** $900 New Outback VSI Swather Steering Kit...........In Stock New Outback E-Drive Hyd. kit, JD 40 series ........ $1,000 Used Outback E-Drive Hyd. kits..............................$500

SOLD

**NuVision (Spray Air) & Meridian-Sakundiak Augers, Outback GPS Systems, EK Auger Movers, Belt Tighteners, Bin Sweeps & Crop Dividers, Kohler, Robin Subaru, Generac Engines, Headsight Harvesting Solutions, Greentronics Sprayer Boom Auto Height, Kello-Bilt Discs**

ALBERTAFARMEXPRESS.CA • MAY 12, 2014

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Miscellaneous

FARM MACHINERY Machinery Wanted

LIVESTOCK Sheep For Sale

WANTED: NH BALE WAGONS & retrievers, any condition. Farm Equipment Finding Service, P.O. Box 1363, Polson, MT 59860. (406)883-2118

HEAT & AIR CONDITIONING

Horses

The Icynene Insulation System® Barb Wire & Electric High Tensile Wire Spooler & Water Hose Roller

PLAN TO ATTEND THE 8th Annual Pound Maker Ram Sale, 110 yearling rams sell by auction, Thursday May 22, 2014 at Ford Macleod Alberta. Suffolk, Dorset, Hampshire, Rambouillet, North Country Cheviot and Coloured. For details call Warren (403)625-6519 or check our website poundmakerrams.com

• Sprayed foam insulation • Ideal for shops, barns or homes • Healthier, Quieter, More Energy Efficient®

HAVE SEVERAL H.B. QUARTER horses, young quarter horses that need to be broke or are broke to ride. Also 2 half Gypsy-Vanners. Phone (306)435-3634, lv msg.

ORGANIC Organic – Grains

1-800-587-4711

BUYING ALL TYPES OF feed grain. Also have market for light offgrade or heated, picked up on the farm. Eisses Grain Marketing 1-888-882-7803, Lacombe. FEED GRAIN WANTED! ALSO buying; Light, tough, or offgrade grains. “On Farm Pickup” Westcan Feed & Grain 1-877-250-5252

SEED/FEED/GRAIN Grain Wanted BUYING HEATED/DAMAGED PEAS, FLAX & GRAIN “On Farm Pickup” Westcan Feed & Grain 1-877-250-5252 BUYING SPRING THRASHED CANOLA & GRAIN “On Farm Pickup” Westcan Feed & Grain 1-877-250-5252

BOW VALLEY TRADING LTD.

WE BUY DAMAGED GRAIN

LIVESTOCK

- Wire Roller can now be converted to roll up & unroll flat plastic water hose up to 6” diameter (11” flat) - Hydraulic Drive (roll or unroll) - Mounts to tractor draw bar, skidsteer front end loader, post driver, 3pt. hitch or deck truck (with receiver hitch & rear hydraulics) - Spool splits in half to remove full roll - Shut off/ Flow control valve determines speed - Works great for pulling out old wire (approx. 3--5 minutes to roll up 80 rod or 1/4 mile) - Also works great for swath grazing or rotational grazing The Level-Winder II Wire Roller rolls wire evenly across the full width of the spool automatically as the wire is pulled in Ken Lendvay (403) 550-3313 Red Deer, AB email: kflendvay@hotmail.com Web: www.levelwind.com

Farming is enough of a gamble, advertise in the Alberta Farmer Express classified section. It’s a sure thing. 1-800-665-1362.

Bioriginal Food & Science Corp., based in Saskatoon, is actively buying Organic Flax from the 2013 crop year.

LIVESTOCK Cattle – Angus REG YEARLING RED & Black Angus bulls, various BWs, born Jan-Feb, quiet, semen tested & delivered, $2,500. Also Unregistered yearling Red Angus heifer bulls, born Apr, light BW, quiet & semen tested, $1,800. Darrell & Lorraine Davidson (780)888-1374 or (780)888-1087 Lougheed, AB.

If interested, please send an 8lb sample* to the following address: Attn: Sandy Jolicoeur Bioriginal Food & Science Corp. 102 Melville Street Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7J 0R1 *Please state the Variety & Quantity for Sale

LIVESTOCK Cattle – Red Angus

For more information, please contact Sandy at:

Wheat, Barley, Oats, Peas, etc. Green or Heated Canola/Flax

New 30.5L-32 16 ply, $1,995; 20.8-38 12 ply $765; 18.4-38 12 ply; $789; 24.5-32 14 ply, $1,495; 14.9-24 12 ply, $486; 16.9-28 12 ply $558, 18.4-26 10 ply, $890. Factory direct. More sizes available new and used. 1-800-667-4515. www.combineworld.com

TRAILERS Trailers Miscellaneous 50 FLAT-DECK SEMI-TRAILERS, 7 heavy lowbeds, 8 gravel trailers, pictures, prices, www.trailerguy.ca Saskatoon/Aberdeen. Phone (306)222-2413 TANDEM GERRY’S BOOSTER, $7,900 OBO; 16 wheel Whillock jeep, $8,900; Bottom dump Super B grain trailer, $19,500; TA belly dump, $15,900; (403)704-3509. Hit our readers where it counts… in the classifieds. Place your ad in the Alberta Farmer Express classifed section. 1-800-665-1362.

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1-877-641-2798

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AGRICULTURAL TOURS

• Competitive Prices • Prompt Movement • Spring Thrashed

Hungary/Romania ~ June 2014 NWT/Yukon/Alaska ~ July 2014 Mid-West USA ~ October 2014 Australia/New Zealand ~ Jan 2015 Kenya/Tanzania ~ Feb 2015 South Africa/Zambia ~ Feb 2015 South America ~ Feb 2015

HEATED & GREEN CANOLA

306-975-9251 306-975-1166 purchasing@bioriginal.com

41 REGISTERED RED ANGUS BULLS Quiet, Easy Calving, Low to Moderate Birth Weights, Good Growth, E.P.D’s available Guaranteed Breeders (Vet Checked & Semen Tested). Excellent Bulls for Heifers or Cows. Cleveley Cattle Company (780)689-2754.

TIRES

SEED/FEED MISCELLANEOUS Feed Grain

LIVESTOCK Horses For Sale

ORGANIC www.penta.ca

SEED / FEED / GRAIN

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1-877-250-5252

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LIVESTOCK Cattle – Hereford

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HEREFORD BULLS, YEARLINGS AND two year olds, dehorned, and polled, excellent quality, low birth weights suitable for heifers, catalogue online at couleecrest.ca Coulee Crest Herefords, Bowden, AB. (403)227-2259 or (403)588-6160.

LIVESTOCK Cattle Various TOP QUALITY POLLED HEREFORDS & Red Angus Bulls for Sale. 2-yr olds & weanlings, Thick easy calvers. Cutbank Cattle Co. Mick Kubinec, Three Hills (403)442-2564

Select Holidays 1-800-661-4326

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REAL ESTATE REAL ESTATE Land For Rent WANTED: ACCESS TO LAND in Central AB for gopher hunting purposes, willing to travel. Phone (780)542-0323.

CANOLA WANTED

www.selectholidays.com

Buying Tough, Heated, Green, Canola, Freight Options, Prompt Payment Bonded and Insured

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