Gnn140722 by Farm Business Communications

Volume 40, Number 13 | JULY 22, 2014

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PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER

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Three tips for a successful post-harvest burndown There’s only a small window to get your weeds under control after harvest and ahead of the frost. Make the most of it

PHOTO: JOYCE BARLOW

BY MICHAEL FLOOD

t the end of a long growing season with the harvest in and the fields clear it’s tempting to let your guard down against weeds. You may see a few spots of Canadian thistle and dandelion and feel that with frost coming on soon you can wait until spring to deal with them. Before you get complacent you should know that those “few” weeds are getting ready to become a bumper crop once the ground thaws. Killing them will cost you time, money and aggravation before planting can begin. Wouldn’t it be nice to deal with them before the first frost? Once you’ve brought the crops in you’ll want to start thinking about a post-harvest herbicide application, a “burndown” to kill the weeds that remain before the first freeze. A well-planned burndown can yield many benefits. Cleaner fields in the spring mean earlier planting with less or no need for pre-planting herbicide applications, saving you money. The reduced mats of dead weeds

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speed soil warming and dry out as winter recedes, meaning earlier planting and more time for growth. Additionally, fewer weeds mean less shelter for destructive insects, reducing your pesticide costs. At the same time, you have to be cautious. Like any other task on your farm, you’ll want to plan your burndown carefully. Here are a few tips.

1. PICK YOUR TIME Chris Neeser, a weed specialist with the Alberta Government’s Department of Agriculture, knows all about post-harvest burndowns and pre-emptively treating noxious weeds. “In Western Canada our harvest takes place mostly in September,” he says, “and there’s no point in spraying once you have frost. So we have a fairly short window depending on your harvest, basically late September to early October. For most crops you’re talking two to three weeks.” Neeser advises against being overly zealous in attacking weeds immediately after harvest. You have to allow time for the weeds

to start their late-season growth, both to spot them and to most effectively deal with them. Most herbicides need to be applied to the green growing parts of the plant — if the stems are turning brown there will not be sufficient absorption to kill the plant, and you’ll just be wasting time and money. It’s always a judgment call, but if you’re harvesting in early October it’s probably best to wait till spring. It’ll be more labour intensive and expensive but you can be assured you’ll catch every weed that’s in the soil without wasting herbicide.

2. KNOW YOUR WEEDS It’s important to identify the weeds you’re dealing with before spraying. Common late-summer and autumn weeds in Canada are foxtail barley and dandelions. Each of these has different sensitivities to common commercial herbicides. Each provincial ministry of agriculture’s website provide extensive weed identification guides, and lets you know their sensitivities and resistances to other chemicals.

Glyphosate is a good all-around herbicide for dealing with fall annuals, being low cost, broad spectrum and non-residual. At the same time, glyphosate resistance is becoming a more and more common problem. If you sprayed glyphosate earlier in the year your weeds in the fall are likely resistant to it and a second spraying would be ineffective — consider spraying something your weeds have not been exposed to yet.

3. BEWARE RESIDUALS While post-harvest herbicide applications can be very effective against weeds, they can also hurt next year’s crop. Herbicides are broken down primarily by two factors: microbial action and photo-decay. With soil temperatures low and less light through the long Canadian winter, the spray you put on the ground in fall could still be there come the spring, inhibiting the growth of many crops. This is less of a problem with non-residuals like glyphosate, which undergo rapid breakdown upon contact with soil. Others,

In This Issue

like 2,4-D, have significant residual effects from one to four weeks or longer, as well as a broad inhibitory effect on many different crops. Again, timing is a very important — you’ll want to allow for a window between your application and the first frost. For the economic health of your farm you’ll want to have maximum recropping options. This means you’ll want to avoid locking yourself into a set of crops because you used an overly strong or inhibitive herbicide. To avoid re-cropping problems, Neeser has some simple yet sound advice: always read the label, and all the documentation that comes with your herbicide. This will contain extensive information about residual risks, re-cropping restrictions and other important information. By keeping in mind these factors you’ll be able to plan a successful time and money saving post-harvest burndown without restricting your options for what to plant in the spring. † Michael Flood (www.michael-flood.com) is a business writer and columnist. You can reach him at michael@michael-flood.com.

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

Crop Advisor’s Casebook

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

Columns ........................... 10 Machinery & Shop ............ 18 Cattleman’s Corner .......... 26

Considering fall rye

SARAH WEIGHUM PAGE 16

New Seed Hawk features SCOTT GARVEY PAGE 18

FarmLife ............................ 32

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JULY 22, 2014

Wheat & Chaff STAMPEDE

BY JERRY PALEN LEEANN MINOGUE

“Ok. Now up about this much.”

Write, Email or Fax

’m afraid to run this in print for fear of bringing bad luck, but by early July, we had come through the rain storms relatively unscathed. We had a little more rain than we needed, but the 3.5 inches in our rain gage after the mid-June storm was far from the up to 10 inches reported by some farmers. We are lucky. Many farmers east of us couldn’t seed, or had crops drowned out. We are thankful. After our 2011 flood — when we couldn’t seed at all — and our 2013 basement flood, I have a lot of sympathy for everyone dealing with too much water. (I think we’re going to have to figure out a way for the Manitobans to just keep their sand in bags, to cut down on all that spring shovelling.) We’ve seen a little cutworm damage in our canola, and we aren’t sure the soybeans are far enough advanced to make a decent crop before fall frost, but otherwise things are looking pretty good so far. We have our fingers crossed, and we’re busy with spraying and getting everything ready for harvest.

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HEARTS

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

WHOSE DATA IS IT? Most of us are spending more and more time on the Internet, and transferring more of our lives into virtual clouds. Whether we take the time to think very deeply about it or not, every time we use a free Internet service (like Facebook, Google, Twitter and so many more), we’re paying for that service by giving a corporation access to our information. Facebook knows who my friends are, which products I “like” and where I go on vacation. There is a business motive behind Facebook’s constant nagging for me to tell it my hometown — it’s not just wondering if I know its aunt’s second cousin. Google knows what I’m searching for on any given day and can instantly target ads for businesses that are near me and selling something I might want to buy. I’m not

sure what ways Twitter has found to profit from my use of its product, but I know they aren’t employing all those software developers just so I can see up-to-the minute photos of the latest tornado. I try to remember to think about this every time I’m online, but quite honestly, I’ve decided that most of my data isn’t really that valuable. Sure, if I’m looking for a cheap flight to California for my next vacation, Expedia knows all about it. The next time I’m online, I’ll probably see a notice about a sale at a San Diego hotel, and maybe an ad for sunscreen. I can live with that invasion of privacy. Maybe I’ll see an ad for a hotel I actually want to book, and who doesn’t need a reminder about sunscreen? That’s fine for my personal life, but what about our business? The same principle holds: whenever we’re taking advantage of a free service, someone, somewhere is getting their money’s worth from the costs of providing that service. If we’re using a scouting app to report finding a certain weed, there’s probably someone on the other end analyzing that information. They can use our input to know which chemicals we might be about to buy, giving them information about targeting their advertising. Maybe they can use the information to know which new products they should consider developing or selling. We can benefit. What can it hurt, having someone send us an brochure for something we might need? We still get to decide if we’re going to spend the money or not. And if a company finds out we have a weed they didn’t know we had, and they develop a solution that fixes our problem, that’s a benefit for us, as well as the company selling the product. But that’s not the whole story. If you’re using free software to upload your data from the combine and print out a pretty map, check the fine print. Can the company storing your data can use the information to calculate exactly how much canola you have in your bin at the end of the season? That company might have an agreement to sell your information to a grain buyer. If that grain buyer also has access to data about what you spent on your inputs, she should be able to figure out exactly what price to offer

You might be from the Prairies if...

By Carson Demmans and Jason Sylvestre

Like us on Facebook! Grainews has a Facebook page. Find, read and comment on blog posts easily and with a thumbs up!

Find us on Twitter: Leeann Minogue is @grainmuse Lisa Guenther is @LtoG Lee Hart is @hartattacks Scott Garvey is @machineryeditor

for you for that canola, to give you just enough profit to feel satisfied. Could she have paid more? You’ll never know. It’s not all downside. If your local buyer knows you have a lot of durum on hand, maybe you’ll get a call when they need some and you have time to haul it in. Maybe, if their high-tech data sources show that we just pulled in a large crop, grain companies can work with the railways to make advance plans to move extra product to port. (Or maybe not, but we can always hope.) There are ways we can benefit from “Big Data,” but huge investments by big corporations make it obvious that agri-businesses also plan to gain from access to information. Many agribusiness companies are using their hard-earned cash to invest in data services to increase their future profits. Here are just a few examples that will affect you: • Monsanto spent almost $1 billion to buy an American data science company called The Climate Corporation last year. • John Deere has access to farmers’ yield data through its telematics program. • DuPont launched an online data sharing program called Encirca in the U.S. last year. • BASF is developing a farm accounting program for its customers to use. We’ll use these products at our own risk, and try to feel that the benefits we gain are worth the price we’re paying. It’s hard to see the entire technology revolution as a huge conspiracy theory, because farmers also stand to benefit. But it’s also hard to tell if we’re getting fair compensation for the use of our data. Is it worth giving up all of our production data to have access to the yield map? If the precision agriculture company makes a profit from selling our data, do they have some obligation to share some of that profit with us? A group of American farmers have come together to reclaim their data. The Grower Information Services Cooperative (GiSC) was started in Texas in 2012 by farmers who believe the data generated on and by farms belongs to farmers. GiSC’s website stresses the importance of farmers not only controlling their own data, but also owning that data and making choices to use or sell it. GiSC’s directors believe that if anyone is going to make money from farm data, farmers should get some of the money back. To make this possible, the cooperative is developing its own information network, AgPro-X Exchange, where farmer members can store information. Each farmer will have access to his own information (in “the cloud”), but will also have the right to decide who else can access that information. GiSC will use this valuable database to generate profits, then return the profits to members through dividends. So far, I’m not aware of any organizations like this springing up in Canada. I hope you’re having a great summer. Keep one eye on your data, and one on that rain cloud circling overhead.

You’ve used a cow patty as second base.

Leeann

JULY 22, 2014

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Wheat & Chaff FARM SAFETY

Store ag chemicals safely

esticides are often a necessary part of farm production. Agricultural chemicals present risks to farmers, agricultural workers, children, livestock and the environment if not used and stored properly. Farmers generally only purchase enough agricultural chemicals for one growing season, reducing the need for long-term storage. However, it is sometimes necessary to store agricultural chemicals. The first step for safe agricultural chemical storage is to know exactly what you’re dealing with. Request a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) when you’re purchasing agricultural chemicals. Material Safety Data Sheets are available from chemical producers and distributers. An MSDS provides product information including: hazardous ingredients, fire or explosion hazard data, physical data, first aid measures, preventative measures and preparation information. Farmers storing agricultural chemicals are responsible for familiarizing themselves with this information and under-

standing how to store the chemical based on its MSDS. If a pesticide has been poured into another container, label each container properly, listing all the qualities of the stored chemical giving farm workers critical information to prevent inadvertent exposure. Keep a detailed inventory of all stored chemicals. Maintaining an up-to-date list (and Material Safety Data Sheets) of all stored chemicals should be standard practice on any farm operation. In case of a fire or a natural disaster like flooding, it’s important to be able to quickly and accurately identify any hazards to farm inhabitants, emergency personnel and the environment. Chemicals have different reactions with different types of substances. Make sure that all chemicals are stored according to their chemical storage group. For example, acids and bases should never be stored near each other, neither should flammables and oxidizers. These chemicals should be separated by a chemically resistant physical barrier, a form of sec-

PHOTO CONTEST

ondary containment (such as impervious bins or trays that are big enough to contain the contents of the container in case of a spill) or by keeping them far enough apart that it would be impossible for the chemicals to come into contact in case of a spill. Simply keeping incompatible chemicals stored separately isn’t enough to ensure safety. Choose storage locations carefully. A room with good ventilation away from direct sunlight is ideal. Chemicals should never be stored where animals are housed or where children have access. Once the containers are properly labelled and tightly sealed, they should be placed off the ground with plenty of room from the edge to make sure they don’t fall. After agricultural chemicals have been properly labelled, kept in the correct chemical storage group and safely placed in an area where there’s no chance of them getting knocked over or spilled, producers should make sure the area is secure. Always use a lock to keep unauthorized people out of the chemical stor-

age area. Children get adventurous, and thieves may seek out chemicals. You can never be too safe in making sure their chemicals are impossible to get to without the right key. Safe agricultural chemical storage really boils down to a few simple points: • Know the chemical and the associated hazards • Keep all agricultural chemicals correctly labelled • Inventory all stored chemicals • Keep your agricultural chemicals properly segregated • Make sure the chemical storage area is secure By following these steps, you can protect youself, your workers and your family from potentially deadly chemicals. For more information about Farm Safety, please visit the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association website at casa-acsa. ca or follow CASA on twitter @planfarmsafety. † Canadian Agriculture Safety Association — www. casa-acsa.ca

AGRONOMY TIPS…

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT This is a photo of Landon Hofer, from the Interlake Colony near Teulon, Man. He’s helping his dad haul grain from the combine to the farm grain bin. Zack Hofer, thanks for sending us this picture! We’ll send you a cheque for $25. I hope all Grainews readers have their harvest helpers trained up and ready to go for the busy season ahead. Send your best shot to leeann.minogue@fbcpublishing.com. Please send only one or two photos at a time and include your name and address, the names of anyone in the photo, where the photo was taken and a bit about what was going on that day. A little write-up about your farm is welcome, too. Please ensure that images are of high resolution (1 MB is preferred), and if the image includes a person, we need to be able to see their face clearly. Leeann

With desiccants, coverage is key

crop desiccant is an herbicide intended for the rapid drydown of the crop, not for long-term weed management. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that applying a diquat-based desiccant entails a few distinctive “best practices.” Firstly, you need to use a higher water volume. Contact desiccants should be applied with at least 20 gal/ac of water, double what many systemic herbicides require. A desiccant is a true contact herbicide and will only drydown the foliage it directly contacts. Higher water volumes ensure that the desiccant distributes optimally across the leaf surface and deeper into the canopy. Secondly, a crop desiccant is best applied in the

WEATHER LORE

evening. The reasons are two-fold. First, cooler evenings minimize evaporation of the desiccant solution, so the active ingredient has time to spread, along with the water, across the leaves. Second, diquat breaks down in sunlight. Therefore, an evening application results in less breakdown and a more complete drydown of the crop canopy. Finally, be sure to use the proper surfactant at the proper rate, if required. With diquat-based products, you’ll need a non-ionic surfactant at the appropriate concentration. Alternatively, look for a product that has a built-in surfactant to minimize the risk of errors during mixing. † This agronomy tip is brought to you by David Forster, agronomic service representative for Syngenta Canada Inc.

WEATHER LORE

Sleep soundly AgExpert Mobile App Men work better, eat more and sleep sounder When the barometric pressure is high. eather can affect us emotionally and mentally. When the barometric pressure rises we are more apt to work better, eat more and sleep sounder because it is barometric pressure that forces invigorating oxygen into our bodies. Even a slight variation in barometric pressure can have an impact. After a yearlong study, on the blood-sugar levels of people during different weather conditions, Dr. Solomon Strouse concluded that blood sugar levels are higher during periods of high barometric pressure and lower during low-pressure weather. Blood sugar levels are related to energy levels. As blood sugar levels rise, energy levels go up; as they drop, energy levels go down. †

Shirley Byers’ book, “Never Sell Your Hen on a Rainy Day” explores over 100 weather rhymes and sayings. It is available from McNally Robinson at: www.mcnallyrobinson.com.

Enter transactions on the go with FCC’s AgExpert Mobile app KELLY AIREY

ith Farm Credit Canada’s AgExpert Mobile App, you can enter accounting transactions anywhere with your iPhone or Android phone. No more lost receipts, or faded receipts that have become hard to read. To use the app, just enter the details of any transaction on the go, then snap a picture of the receipt with your phone to attach to the transaction. Here are some tips to help you use the app: • First, you must create a user account and password. This must be done directly from the app on your phone.

• Once you have saved transactions on your phone, transfer the data to the FCC Management Software Server, known as a “cloud”. Once your information is in the cloud, import it to your desktop computer through the Tools menu. • Once you’ve imported the data, complete each transaction by allocating each item to an expense or income account. • Every entry you imported from your phone must still be recorded into your datafile. Clicking on the pencil button beside each line in the import screen will automatically pull up the transaction entry screen where the transaction can be recorded. Next month: tips on using the Cost of Production tool. † Kelly Airey is a farmer and ag consultant in Western Manitoba. If you’re interested in purchasing AgExpert software, she can help you receive $25 off your purchase. Contact Kelly at kelly.agconsulting@gmail. com or (204) 365-2442.

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JULY 22, 2014

Cover Stories Crop production

Crop Advisor’s casebook

CANOLA CONUNDRUM CONFOUNDS

By Rachelle Farrell

n early June I received a call from Wayne, a canola grower in Westlock, Alta. He told me a field of his canola was suffering from very poor plant establishment and vigour. The plants were purpling and dying. “Only a few plants have come up,” Wayne said. “The ones that did are stunted and have very pinkish-purple leaves, which I noticed when the crop emerged.” He suspected the problem had something to do with poor seed quality, and he asked me to come out to see what I thought. When I arrived at Wayne’s field the problem was evident, I could see uneven and stunted growth along with purpling and dying plants throughout the crop. I inquired into Wayne’s seeding practices; although a new disc drill had been used at planting, there were no issues initially and all the seed had appeared to go down at the right rate. I could see the ground was extremely wet — almost saturated. There was a great deal of trash, or straw from the previous crop, covering the field and acting to hold moisture in. I pulled up some plant roots and had a look. While they were stunted, the roots didn’t appear to be infected with disease that often thrives in wet soil. My first guess was that some kind of nutrient deficiency might be to blame. However, when I inquired into Wayne’s fertilizer program, it appeared to be very comprehensive and a subsequent tissue test revealed all the necessary nutrients were in balance for canola plants at the two- to fourleaf stage. When Wayne and I examined the plant stand more closely, I could see there wasn’t anything close to a decent canola crop here. Wayne needed at least five plants per square foot, but we were looking at a field with only about two to three plants per square foot. Something had prevented many of the plants from germinating and emerging. Could it also be the source of the purpling and

PUBLI SH ER

Lynda Tityk Associate Publisher/ Editorial director

John Morriss

Edito r

Leeann Minogue fiel d Ed itor

Lisa Guenther Cattleman’s Corner Editor

Lee Hart Farm life Edito r

Sue Armstrong

Rachelle Farrell is a crop input manager for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Morinville, Alta.

n late July I got a call from Rob, a mixed grain and cattle farmer east of Swift Current, Sask. He had just returned home from a weeklong fishing trip and noticed the leaves of plants in one of his lentil fields had small lesions and were turning brown, although the stems were still green and appeared undamaged and the roots healthy. It was only one field that was affected — the others were fine. I paid Rob a visit, and when he showed me the affected field I could see bronzing occurring throughout the crop. In addition to turning brown, the lentil plants were losing their

Machinery EDITOR

Scott Garvey Pro duction Di recto r

Shawna Gibson

Casebook winner

Des igne r

Steven Cote

MARKETING /CI RCUL ATION Dir ector

his issue’s Casebook winner is Dean Schenk. Dean is an agronomist and territory sales manager for Precision Ag, at Griffin, Sask. We’re sending Dean a oneyear subscription to Grainews and a Grainews hat. Dean says, “I’m looking forward to the subscription. I’m always checking the website for the digital issue to come out and hear the latest news around the industry.” Thanks for entering, Dean!

Lynda Tityk

Circul ation manage r

Heather Anderson president

Glacier farmmedia

Bob Willcox H e ad O f f i c e 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1 Phone: (204) 944-5568 Fax: (204) 944-5562 Ad vertis ing Sa le s

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dying plants that had managed to emerge? Or were two separate problems at work? If you think you know what’s behind the problem with Wayne’s canola, send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, MB, R3C 3K7; email leeann.minogue@ fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-94495416 c/o Crop Advisor’s Casebook. Best suggestions will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a Grainews cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The answer, along with reasoning that solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File. † Rachelle Farrell is a crop input manager for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Morinville, Alta.

Crop Advisor’s Solution By Jeneen Ewen

1 6 6 6 D u b l i n Av e n u e , W i n n i p e g , MB R3 H 0 H 1 w w w. g r a i n e w s . c a

leaves and many appeared to be dying. I immediately suspected it to be one of the two most common lentil diseases, ascochyta or anthracnose. However, Rob had sprayed for these, and the plants didn’t show the typical signs that I’d expect to see from these diseases. I thought the lentils in the low spots of the field were possibly dying because of standing water from recent heavy rainfalls, but the affected plants were all over the field, not just in low-lying areas. I asked Rob to tell me a little more about the history of the affected field. It turned out there was one major difference between this lentil field and the others on Rob’s 3,000-acre farm, which

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Wayne’s canola plants were purpling and dying. There was uneven and stunted growth throughout the crop.

STEMPHYLIUM IS THE SOLUTION also included canola, durum and barley — this field had lentils on it only two years previously, while his other lentil fields were on a four-year rotation. This confirmed my suspicion that it had to be a disease issue. I sent a few plants to the crop protection lab in Regina to get an accurate disease diagnosis. Stemphylium blight was confirmed. This fungal disease is on the rise in Saskatchewan and can occur when there is a heavy rain during the mid-to-late podding stage. Little is known about the disease, which is caused by the Stemphylium botryosum fungus. It thrives when lentil leaves are wet for at least eight hours, temperatures hit 25 degrees and humidity is hovering around the 85 per cent mark.

There wasn’t much Rob could do at this point. There is no fungicide yet registered for stemphylium blight in Canada. The lentil yield in that field was lower compared to his other fields, but not significantly — Rob was happy with what he got. I told Rob that all he could really do in future was to watch his fields for signs of stemphylium blight, and maintain proper crop rotations to help manage all lentil diseases. Until further research reveals more about stemphylium blight and a fungicide becomes available to prevent it, a watchful eye is Rob’s best defense against this particular disease. † Jeneen Ewen is a sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer in Reed Lake, Sask.

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Your next issue! You can expect your next issue in your mailbox about September 2, 2014

The editors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to Grainews and Farm Business Communications attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists and Grainews and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as Grainews and Farm Business Communications assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader for this publication based on any and all information provided.

JULY 22, 2014

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Features FARM MANAGEMENT

Triple your canola yield Farmers who don’t like to think about feelings might have skipped this page. Now that we have your attention, learn how to recognize farm stress BY LISA GUENTHER

any people don’t like to talk or read about their feelings. But dealing with stress by burying yourself in work instead of talking can backfire. “We all, at times in our life, need some help getting back on track,” says Kathy Decelle, outreach social worker. Decelle has been counselling people in rural northwestern Saskatchewan for nine years. Decelle says people who find a balance between work, family and other parts of their life manage stress better. “If it’s only about the work, eventually that can wear thin, I think, on people’s nervous systems. They don’t get the chance to rejuvenate their nervous systems, to relax and slow down.”

SIGNS OF STRESS Given the unpredictable weather and markets, heavy workloads, and financial risk, it’s no wonder farmers feel stressed, particularly during busy seasons. But there are several warning signs that a person is feeling overwhelmed: • They’re angry. “People blow

up. That’s usually such a safe emotion to express,” says Decelle. • They’re tired. • They make many negative comments. Decelle says negative talk could be a sign someone is feeling anxious and overwhelmed. • They appear sad or depressed. They’ve lost interest in things they used to be interested in, have no energy, and no ability to concentrate. These people could be suffering from a combination of anxiety and depression, Decelle says. Some people won’t seek help on their own, Decelle acknowledges. “I guess that I would encourage partners who know them well, if you see that kind of a person going down fast, to really perhaps drag them there, if you have any influence.” People who are dealing with anxiety or depression will have a more successful recovery if they have a supportive person who encourages socializing and positive thinking, says Decelle. Close connections to family and friends also buffer people during stressful times, Decelle says. Although family and friends might not be able to help with the actual work, they can support farmers. Being connected to

neighbours can be especially helpful, Decelle says. The greatest weapon against stress is the ability to pick one thought over another, says Decelle. She suggests practicing positive thinking when things are going well, to makes it easier to control negative thinking in high-stress situations. People also need to learn to let go of things that aren’t within their control, Decelle says. “You have to let go of thinking about the weather. You just can’t control it.” But when people are tired, they have less ability to control their thoughts, she says. And getting enough sleep during the hectic season is often a big part of the problem, she adds. “Sleep is a great regulator of the body. You need a good five hours of deep sleep,” she says. Worry and negative thoughts often interrupt sleep. Routines can help. Staring at the alarm clock all night is counterproductive, so tuck it out of sight if need be, she says. Recognizing that we have a choice in what we do with our lives also helps us manage stress, says Decelle. Farmers need to remember that they’ll have good years and bad years.

Learning to live in the moment and trusting one’s gut about which direction to take are also helpful, Decelle says. “I think, actually, rural people have that more because they’re outdoors more. They’re more aware of the elements and a little more intuitive because of that.”

MENTAL HEALTH MYTHS Decelle says she thinks there’s a myth that people have to be in really bad shape to see a counsellor. It’s much better to address stress, anxiety and depression early. Decelle says counsellors don’t solve people’s problems. Instead, they give people tools to figure out what they need to do. And accessing mental health services in Saskatchewan isn’t an arduous task. There’s no cost for provincially-funded services and no need for a referral, Decelle says. Perceived social stigma around mental health shouldn’t keep rural residents from accessing counselling, either. Counselling sessions are confidential. If people can’t bring themselves to access local services for fear of the town gossip, they can go to other communities

or call Saskatchewan’s Health Line at 811, Decelle says. Concerns about others gossiping about who’s seeing a counsellor are likely overblown. Decelle says she’s never heard anyone gossiping about who’s seeing a counsellor, even before she became a social worker. Other people in the hospital waiting room are usually too focused on their own health issues to wonder why anyone else is there, she says. “People initially have that worry (about confidentiality), and then it evaporates. Because as they get feeling better, they’re so grateful to feel better that they don’t care anymore.” “People today are more informed about mental health issues and I think there isn’t the stigma that there used to be.” Rural Manitobans can call a tollfree stress line at 1-866-367-3276 or visit www.ruralsupport.ca for mental health information. Saskatchewan’s farm stress line is 1-800-667-4442 and Alberta’s is 1-877-303-2642. To meet with a counsellor face-to-face, check with your family doctor or health region. † Lisa Guenther is a field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa. Guenther@fbcpublishing.com.

Weeds.

Managed. At 30% moisture or less, your crop may be ready for a pre-harvest application. Spraying Roundup WeatherMAX® herbicide at 0.67 L/ac is one of the best ways to control a range of perennial weeds in many crops. To find out how to stage your crop, download the pre-harvest staging guide at

Roundup.ca ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Transorb®, Roundup WeatherMAX® and Transorb® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee. ©2014 Monsanto Canada Inc.

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JULY 22, 2014

Features Harvest

Timing the canola harvest When it comes to bringing the canola in from the field, the right timing is crucial By Melanie Epp

hen it comes to canola harvest, timing is everything, says Harry Brook, crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. Farmers, he says, are mostly concerned about green seed, since green seeds contain more chlorophyll and are therefore undesirable to processors. If timing is so important, how do you know when is the right time?

Visual clues Although it’s not foolproof, the easiest way to tell if your canola crop is ready for harvest

is to look at the visual clues. Before swathing (or combining), the crop should reach an average seed moisture content of 30 to 40 per cent. When scouting fields, look for colour changes. Specifically, swathing decisions should be made based on the seed colour changes on the plant’s main stem, says Brook. Depending on the cultivar, when they reach that point they will turn from green to light yellow, reddish brown or brown. While the most mature seeds in the bottom third of the stem will have completely changed colour, the seed in the top pods will still be green — firm, but not squishy, he says.

Look around your fields, says Brook. When the majority of the crop is mature, it’s time to harvest. Of course, final decisions will depend heavily on how many acres you have and how long it will take you to harvest those acres.

Potential yield loss Harvesting too late or too early can result in yield loss, says Brook. Swathing too early when only zero to 10 per cent of seed colour change has occurred can lead to a 10 per cent yield loss. If only 10 to 20 per cent of seeds have changed colour, you risk a five per cent yield loss. Finally, harvest too late and you

leave yourself open to all sorts of problems, including shattering, which can lead to significant yield losses as well. Getting the crop off at the right time can be tough if the operation has too many acres to swath. “I’ve seen a huge consolidation in acreages here, so the farms just keep getting bigger,” says Brook. “The problem with that is the time squeeze of getting the crop in and getting the crop off. So anything they can do to speed up harvest, they’ll do.” A lot of growers, he says, are switching from swathing to straight combining. It can sometimes, but not always, be quicker and can result in less shattering.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Consider the weather Ideal timing isn’t just about the crop itself, though. There are other factors to consider, says Brook, like disease, pod damage that occurred earlier in the season and weather conditions at the time of harvest. The ideal weather, he says, is warm, but not too warm. “Anything over 25 C is too hot,” he says. “The crop will dry down too quickly.” Under normal conditions, canola will lose about 1.5 per cent moisture content per day. Depending on the weather, it can lose as much as three per cent per day. If conditions are too hot, though, the crop can lose moisture content even quicker than that. “That’s when you get the problems with the green seed,” he says. Really high winds pose a danger, too, says Brook. “Two years ago we had some big winds come from an unusual direction. It wasn’t northwest or southeast,” he says. “That’s why you’ll often see swathing done in a northwest to southeast direction, because they’re trying to go parallel to the prevailing winds to avoid the swath moving.” If the crop does move and get blown around in the wind, he says, the result can be very high harvest losses.

Avoid frost damage

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Lastly, frost can damage crops, creating green seed issues, as well. If green seed is frozen that green colour is fixed (since freezing permanently deactivates the enzymes responsible for removing chlorophyll from the seed). If frost is predicted, swath two to three days early, if possible, says Brook. If frost is predicted before the crop is mature, all is not lost. Moisture from rain, he says, can sometimes reactivate those enzymes, reducing chlorophyll and, therefore, green seed. Yield losses depend heavily on the degree of frost, plus its duration.

Timing for straight cutting

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Shawn Senko, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada warns that timing is somewhat different for farmers considering switching from swathing to straight combining. Farmers, he says, are choosing direct harvesting for a number of reasons, but mostly because they already straight cut other cereal crops. “The plants would have to be fully mature and the seed dried down to around 10 per cent for direct harvesting,” he says, “whereas with swathing it is generally done at 50 to 60 seed colour change.” Since combining eliminates the need for swathing, time can be gained, but depending on the weather, the crop may still need to be harvested at the same time either way, Senko says. † Melanie Epp is a freelance farm writer based in Guelph, Ont.

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Features FARM FINANCES

Life insurance alternatives Banks push mortgage life insurance, but there are cheaper, more flexible alternatives BY ANDREW ALLENTUCK

f you’re getting a mortgage for the first time or refinancing an existing mortgage at a different institution, chances are the person across the desk is going to try to peddle mortgage life insurance. Data show that about 60 per cent of Canadians with a mortgage written by a bank also have mortgage life. It’s a check mark on the mortgage application, but it’s costly, often a bad deal when sold by a lender and deeply troublesome if the borrower dies before the mortgage is paid off. Banks love to sell mortgage life insurance. Statistics from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, an organization of U.S. insurance regulators, shows that mortgage life insurance lenders pay claims amounting to 40 cents for every dollar they collect in premiums. Regular life insurance policies pay 90 cents of premium dollars in claims. The concept behind mortgage life is not troublesome. The lender wants to be sure it is paid; life insurance is just a way of covering the risk of the borrower’s death before the last dollar is paid on the debt. The bank fills out a form, gets a signature, and adds the life insurance cost to the monthly mortgage payment. The devil is in the details, goes the saying, and that is where mortgage life gets to be problematic. Mortgage life has one beneficiary, the lender, and, though the amount of the risk declines as the mortgage debt is paid down, the premium remains the same. Although the bank’s risk is decreasing, there is no transfer or spillover of benefit for anybody else — for example, the borrower’s heirs.

MORTGAGE LIFE CAN BE RISKY Not only does mortgage life not provide benefits to anyone but the lender, it also tends to be evaluated or underwritten after a claim is made. That gives the insurer the opportunity to deny the claim, often on the basis that material facts were not disclosed. Critics of the underwrite-after-claim process say that questionnaires asking about pre-existing conditions are complex and confusing. Some questionnaires ask, “Do you have a condition which would affect your health but about which you have not seen a licensed medical practitioner?” Or the ultimate basket case question: “Is there any condition that you have not disclosed which, if disclosed, would affect your insurability?” Do you recall a throb near your liver last year? Maybe you should have had imaging studies. In after-the-fact underwriting, you ignore even faint hints of illness at your financial peril. Have you ever smoked? If you did take a puff 20 years ago but did not become a committed smoker, you can explain that and probably get a non-smoker discount on a conventional term policy. Mortgage lenders tend not to give non-smoker discounts and are keen to deny coverage if they think they have been deceived. This is not just theoretical. Here is a case reported by the Toronto

Star in 2009: In 1979 a couple took out a mortgage. In 1999, they refinanced and added more debt. They disclosed on their application form that the husband had a history of diabetes, open heart surgery and back surgery. He could not get critical illness insurance, the bank’s mortgage officer told them, but he could get mortgage life. They took the mortgage life, refinanced again in 2002, filled out the forms, and advised the bank that nothing had changed. Then came a diagnosis for stomach cancer. The bank’s policy had a provision allowing a claim if a life-threatening illness is diagnosed. The bank denied the claim, saying coverage should not have been issued. When the case hit the press, the bank decided that on compassionate grounds and, perhaps to save face, they would pay the claim. The moral of the story is to be very careful to report every illness when seeking life insurance, report anything that could be related to questions asked, and remember that lenders do their underwriting when you have a claim. That is a terrible time to find out that you should have shopped the policy and gotten coverage from a conventional insurance company that checked you out when you bought the policy. With conventional term coverage, the insurer has two years to decline coverage for any reason. After that, you are covered even if you fudged a question. With conventional term coverage, you can make the lender the beneficiary, provide evidence of that to the lender, and, if you change lenders, change the beneficiary. You will need the approval of the insurance company, but it is routine and usually given. As the loan value declines, you can beef up what other potential heirs get.

THE PRICE OF MORTGAGE LIFE Mortgage life is expensive. For example, a 38-year old man and a 37-year old female can pay $140 per month for $500,000 of term coverage with a 20-year level premium from a major bank for its mortgage life insurance. The same couple could get 10-year term renewable and convertible coverage from a major life insurer through an independent agent

for $41.54 per month. $500,000 of coverage for the same couple with 20-year level term would be $66.75. Details change from one quote to another, but the size of the gap indicates the advantage of shopping. Over 10 years, in the first case, the savings would be $11,815. In the second case, which matches the 20-year term of the lender’s insurance, the savings would be $17,580. There is also a cost strategy you can use with conventional term coverage. When young, say in your 30s, you can get 10-year level term coverage for very little. The rate rises for the next 10 years and

then higher for the next. But family income is likely to rise and — this is the critical point — as mortgages are paid down, your need for coverage also declines. This is insurance cost management. Add guaranteed renewability to the 10-year term policy and you have a low-cost, intelligent method of premium management, a base insurance plan for your family or farm, portability and control.

NON-BANK INSURANCE There are other advantages to having your own term insurance to cover mortgage debt. If

you change lenders, you take your coverage with you and — this is vital — there will be no gap in coverage. There are sad cases in which a mortgage borrower dies before coverage is in place in a mortgage transfer. That can’t happen if you have your own policy. Properly drafted, the policy and benefits provisions of your own policy would cover debt transfer in process. Finally, and this is no small advantage, when you choose your own term policy, you can shop by price and have the policy tailored to your needs. Guaranteed renewability, guaranteed convertibility to whole ordinary life, various discounts for not smoking, good health, sometimes memberships in professional societies that get good insurance deals for members — all can help set the price of insurance and the bells and whistles on the policy. That is not possible with the one-sizefits-all life policies mortgage lenders offer. As well, with your own policy, you can extend coverage for other debts, even for a family loan. One policy can then cover your house, maybe some equipment purchased with loan and other obligations. That flexibility is valuable and, if you do it right, you can get more insurance, more appropriate coverage, and pay less. † Andrew Allentuck’s latest book, “When Can I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work”, was published in 2011 by Penguin Canada.

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JULY 22, 2014

Features Crop protection

Drying with desiccants in pulse crops Desiccants can simplify pulse crop harvest and weed control, but make sure to read the label and know your MRLs By Andrea Hilderman

iven this year’s cool, wet spring, harvesting in a timely fashion might become a challenge. In pulse crops, desiccant use can be a critical component of harvest management to dry down any remaining green material in the field as well as deal with actively growing weeds. Dale Risula, Saskatchewan’s provincial special crops specialist, starts almost every conversation with the same comment: “Desiccants are not designed to speed up crop maturity.” “Desiccants are harvest management tools that facilitate the timely harvest of crops, like pulse crops, that mature unevenly because of their indeterminate growth habit,” explains Risula. “Desiccants are widely used around the world for that purpose.” True desiccants are not systemic — they don’t move within the plant. Instead, they act on contact with living material and destroy green tissue quickly. “The desiccant acts by breaking down plant cell walls — releasing their contents — and that causes the material to dry down very quickly,” says Risula. “There are other systemic products like glyphosate that are desiccant-like. They are translocated within the plant and will eventually kill the plant. They don’t typically work as quickly as a contact desiccant.”

When and how to apply a desiccant

Desiccants will not speed up crop maturity. The general guideline is to apply at 30 per cent moisture.

“Bearing in mind desiccants will not speed up maturity, application needs to be timed to about 30 per cent moisture or less,” says Risula. “This is a general guideline and farmers should check the label of the product they are going to use for specific instructions.” In pulses, the bottom pods mature first. As the plant con-

tinues to grow and flower, the pods towards the top of the plant may not mature enough to harvest, but growers will usually get the majority of the pods harvested. The herbicide label will have detailed instructions on when to apply and the rates of application. It is very important, particularly in pulses, to follow label

recommendations because of the risk of residues after harvest. “Because desiccants are applied very close to harvest, there is always the risk of residues on the seed,” says Risula. “Pulses are exported for the most part and importing countries have strict limits on maximum residue limits, or MRLs. If the residues exceed the limit, the crop will be downgraded and can

be almost worthless. Additionally, Canada’s reputation as an exporter could be tarnished.” Risula and the provincial pulse organizations strongly recommended farmers talk with their pulse processor or buyer to understand what MRLs will apply to their crop before they use a desiccant. Risula advises farmers to use the provincial crop protection

photo: saskatchewan agriculture

guides, which explains application timing and rates on for registered products. It’s also important for growers to check the labels for rates on the over 20 brand names containing glyphosate as an active ingredient. † Andrea Hilderman has her master’s degree in weed science and is a member of the Manitoba Institute of Agrologists. She writes from Winnipeg, Man.

Know your MRL limits “

he biggest concern with MRLs is not the actual MRLs per se,” says Gord Kurbis, director of market access and trade policy with Pulse Canada. “The bigger concern for us are those countries without an MRL in place. In that case, the limit that applies could be a zero or near-zero default, and no one can meet a zero limit, especially with testing methods now capable of detecting residues down into the single parts per billion.” Pulse Canada is engaged globally in this area of trade negotiation on behalf of Canadian pulse growers. “Our approach is to try to push JMPR, the MRL deciding committee of Codex, to work through the process of reviewing the data and determining safe tolerances faster,” says Kurbis. “Currently it is mired in process and bureaucracy, yet without MRLs growers and exporters face unpredictability.” One area of opportunity is the so-called mutual recognition principle. Pulse Canada is looking at options to expand

the number of countries using a common-sense approach to MRL’s. “Panama, for instance uses Codex MRLs like many countries,” says Kurbis. “But if Codex has not set an MRL, Panama will use a US MRL, or an EU MRL.” This approach would solve many of the potential trade problems presented by missing MRLs. “Why ignore all the risk assessments done in by other countries?” asks Kurbis. “There is a wealth of scientific evidence available that can be used by others versus recreating it at great expense.” Finally, Global Joint Reviews to harmonize registration and tolerance levels are a very desirable outcome Pulse Canada is championing. In addition to the usual participants — Canada, US, EU and Australia — several other key countries are participating or observing, like Brazil, China and Japan. “The ultimate goal is we have better clarity in both the MRLs themselves and in the over-arching process,” says Kurbis. † Andrea Hilderman

Gord Kurbis, Pulse Canada’s director of market access and trade policy.

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Features

European Union (EU)

Market

DESSICANTS IN PULSES CHART Glyphosate as a harvest management tool (e.g. Roundup)

Diquat as a desiccant (e.g. Reglone)

Saflufenacil as a harvest management tool (e.g. HEAT)

No marketing issues associated with glyphosate residues for peas, lentils or chickpeas in the EU. Although there is an MRL set for the use of glyphosate on beans in the EU, the MRL level is set at a low level of 2 parts per million (PPM) for this crop in this market. Consult with your exporter/processor about dry, edible beans destined for the EU. (This applies to the preharvest use only.)

No marketing issues associated with diquat residues for peas, lentils, chickpeas, and beans. The MRL is in place for these. Follow label directions to minimize residues and maintain levels below the MRL.

While there are currently no MRLs that would allow for preharvest use on pulses, approvals of MRLs for peas and beans are in the final stages of review and are expected to be published later this summer (lentils will not have an MRL in place for the 2014 crop, and the product is not registered on chickpeas). For peas or beans destined for the EU, please watch for more information from SPG in coming months. If the MRLs are not in place prior to application, growers and exporters should confer to ensure there will be no marketing problems in the EU. (This applies to the preharvest use pattern only.)

Glufosinate as a harvest management tool (e.g. MPOWER Good HARVEST) Lentils are the only pulse crop for which the product is registered in Western Canada. There are no marketing issues associated with glufosinate residues for lentils, as the MRL is in place. Follow label directions to minimize residues and maintain levels below the MRL.

Carfentrazone (e.g. Cleanstart, Aim)

Flumioxazin (e.g. Valtera)

There is no MRL set that would allow for preharvest use on beans, chickpeas, or peas (not registered on lentils). In cases where crop is destined for the EU, growers and exporters should confer prior to using the product in order to avoid marketing problems in the EU. (This applies to the preharvest use pattern only.)

No marketing issues associated with flumioxazin resides for dry beans (not registered for harvest aid use on other pulses). The MRL is set. Follow label directions to minimize residues and maintain levels below the MRL.

Countries that rely on CODEX MRLs (e.g. India, Pakistan, many others)

! No marketing issues associated with glyphosate residues for peas and lentils. Although there is an MRL set for the use of glyphosate on beans, the MRL level is set at a low level of 2 parts per million (PPM) for this crop in this market. CODEX does not have a glyphosate MRL for chickpeas. Consult with your exporter/processor about beans or chickpeas destined for CODEX countries. (This applies to the preharvest use only.)

No marketing issues associated with diquat residues for peas, lentils, chickpeas, and beans. The MRL is in place for these. Follow label directions to minimize residues, maintain levels below the MRL.

No marketing issues associated with saflufenacil residues in CODEX countries. The MRLs are set for pea, lentil, and bean desiccation uses (the product is not registered on chickpeas). Follow label directions to minimize residues and maintain levels below the MRL.

Lentils are the only pulse crop for which the product is registered in Western Canada. There is no CODEX MRL set for glufosinate on lentils. Consult with your exporter/processor before using product on lentils.

There is no MRL set that would allow for preharvest use on beans, chickpeas, or peas (not registered on lentils). In cases where the crop is destined for the CODEX countries, growers and exporters should confer prior to using the product in order to avoid marketing problems. (This applies to the preharvest use pattern only.)

There are no CODEX MRLs established for flumioxazin at this time. In cases where the crop is destined for CODEX countries, growers and exporters should confer prior to using the product in order to avoid marketing problems.

Japan

! No marketing issues associated with glyphosate residues for peas, lentils, and chickpeas in Japan. Although there is an MRL set for the use of glyphosate on beans in Japan, the MRL level is set at a low level of 2 parts per million (PPM) for this crop in this market. Consult with your exporter/ processor about beans destined for Japan. (This applies to the preharvest use only.)

No marketing issues associated with saflufenacil residues in Japan. The MRLs are set for pea, lentil, and bean desiccation uses (the product is not registered on chickpeas). Follow label directions to minimize residues and maintain levels below the MRL.

Lentils are the only pulse crop for which the product is registered in Western Canada. There are no marketing issues associated with glufosinate residues for lentils, as the MRL is in place. Follow label directions to minimize residues and maintain levels below the MRL.

No marketing issues associated with carfentrazone residues on beans, chickpeas, or peas (not registered on lentils). The MRL is set and is adequate for preharvest uses. Follow label directions to remain within legal limits.

No marketing issues associated with flumioxazin residues on dry beans (not registered for harvest aid use on other pulses). The MRL is set and is adequate for preharvest uses. Follow label directions to minimize residues and maintain levels below the MRL

Although Canada and the U.S. are working to harmonize MRLs in pulses, the diquat MRL has not been harmonized between the two countries. Consult with your exporter/processor before using product.

No marketing issues associated with saflufenacil residues in the U.S. The MRLs are set for pea, lentil, and bean desiccation uses (the product is not registered on chickpeas). Follow label directions to minimize residues, and maintain levels below the MRL.

Lentils are the only pulse crop on which the product is registered in Western Canada. There is no U.S. MRL set for glufosinate on lentils. Consult with your exporter/processor before using product on lentils.

No marketing issues associated with flumioxazin residues on dry beans (not registered for harvest aid use on other pulses). The MRL is set and is adequate for preharvest use. Follow label directions to minimize residues and maintain levels below the MRL.

United States (U.S).

! No marketing issues associated with glyphosate residues. The MRL is set and is adequate for preharvest uses. Follow label directions to remain within legal limits. (This applies to the preharvest use only.)

2014 Markets where MRLs are sufficient to allow for use of main desiccants on pulse crops. Courtesy of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, Manitoba Pulse Growers and Alberta Pulse Growers.

/ grainews.ca

JULY 22, 2014

Columns SOILS AND CROPS

Precision ag on Blackstrap farm The challenges of precision ag

y Dundurn farm is rolling Weyburn/Elstow loam with some very eroded knolls. For many years the combine raced over the knolls with little pouring in the hopper. The erosion over the decades was by water, but much of it from annual tillage — especially in the days of summerfallow. A few years ago I acquired a six-yard Crown scraper which my 108HP MFWD tractor handles well. Some of two feet of topsoil resting comfortably down slope and around sloughs has been moved to the eroded knolls. In the fall of 2011 I broadcast a large rate (about 300 pounds per acre 1

of 12-52-0) on most of the knolls. This was one of the worst knolls that grew little; now it looks just like the rest of the quarter. The above can hardly be described as any sort of precision, but it does deal with the individual soil problem within a quarter section and is gradually making the former eroded knolls as productive as much better parts of the quarter. I really have no data to calculate the economics of what I have done, but it will certainly be a lot more fun running the combine over the formerly desperate excuse for a soil. †

LES HENRY

Les Henry

PHOTOS: LES HENRY

1: I took this picture on June 25, 2014. This was one of the worst knolls that grew little. Now it looks just like the rest of the quarter. 2: The zero- to four-inch level is the new topsoil hauled in from the lower land. The four- to seven-inch level is what passed for topsoil for many years. It’s really upper subsoil. 3: Below seven inches is the subsoil with free lime (calcium carbonate). The bubbles in this picture are the CO2 released from the lime by the acid (weak HCl). Maybe the Global Warming Police will get me for spewing CO2 into the atmosphere!

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recision agriculture, including variable rate fertilizer, is commonplace in farm literature and has been for many years now. But despite the hype, the actual adoption of the practice has been slow. Ask for a show of hands at any farm meetings and the result surprises many. GPS and autosteer is commonplace and has made a huge difference in field efficiency, reducing or eliminating overlap and operator fatigue. But after that, the winners are not as many as some lead you to believe. In my opinion, what is missing is a framework in which to think and a fundamental knowledge of the soil resource that we are using and the natural variation that exists. The framework to set the thinking should be the fundamental soil properties: texture, organic matter, depth of topsoil, depth to lime, pH, salt content (electrical conductivity) and depth to the water table. Soil maps are the first step in establishing the fundamental soil properties but for the most part, soil maps are not usable at the quarter section level. But, soil maps and the soil types they map and describe can and should be the framework in which to think and share information on what worked in variable rate. A topographic map with contours aof one meter or so is very important and can be made in many ways. Topography and landscape pattern (sloughs, etc.) is a big part of soil formation. Even a small, shallow slough can have much different soil than the uplands around it. But to capture and map those sloughs, a field scan with something like a Veris/ EM38 with standard spacings of 30 feet or so may miss many important landscape features. The operator must look at what is being driven over and make extra passes to pick up those small but important differences.

PRECISION AG RESULTS I have heard many winter talks with reports on variable rate fertilizer experiments — usually nitrogen. Several site-years of data may be presented with nary a hint about the soil or landforms the experiments were on. What works on Red River clay in Manitoba is not what is going to work on Weyburn loam in Saskatchewan or a Malmo silt loam in Alberta. In the work that Alberta Agriculture did on Lethbridge loam soils southeast of Lethbridge, soil nitrogen was not highly variable. Phosphorus and potassium were low on the high land and high on the lower land. For that soil type

with that kind of cropping system, that conclusion can likely be applied to similar soil/agriculture types elsewhere. In the current race to more technology we see many pretty colored maps that are used to “zone” a field for variable rates or other practices. Reports of an X-dollar per acre advantage are often based on limited evidence. What works in one market area with a particular soil/landscape pattern may be of no use in a different situation. Pretty coloured maps based on past production can show the good and poor producing areas. But they do not show why production is high or low. In an area with significant saline or other problem soils, with production limited by the problem, the pretty colored maps should work. There is no point pouring fertilizer on saline acres. Veris or EM38 can do a very good job of mapping saline acres. If the fertilizer wasted on saline acres is used on non-saline acres it is easy to expect a good profit from the variable practice. If the poor areas are poor because of a nutrient limitation, it makes sense to add extra of the limiting nutrient. Nitrogen is still the big nutrient that makes the big differences but establishing the variability and the “recipe” to deal with that variation is not simple. Nitrogen mineralization is a much bigger issue now than in the past so the nitrate test needs tweaking. Treating the phosphorus soil test like a dipstick in a crankcase is problematic. For very low-testing soils there is a high probability of phosphorus response. For very high-testing soils there is a low probability of response. For medium-testing soils response in any given year is a coin toss. Variable phosphorus rates applied over many years would work — it would gradually raise the soil phosphorus level on very low phosphorus eroded knolls and the like. For years, I have said that phosphorus fertilizer is an investment in the land. If you own the land or farm it for many years phosphorus fertilizer will always come home in the bank. There are examples where individual farmers/consultants have devised systems that work for a specific soil/landscape/cropping system. But with the lack of public investment in the research to evaluate what works in what situations, there will be many more false starts before variable rate becomes a standard management practice. The technology is here. The agronomy is not. † J.L.(Les) Henry is a former professor and extension specialist at the University of Saskatchewan. He farms at Dundurn, Sask. He recently finished a third printing of “Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water,” a book that mixes the basics and practical aspects of soil, fertilizer and farming. Les will cover the shipping and GST for “Grainews” readers. Simply send a cheque for $50 to Henry Perspectives, 143 Tucker Cres, Saskatoon, Sask. S7H 3H7, and he will dispatch a signed book.

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Columns MANAGEMENT MINUTE

Success or mess: Part 6 Good communication is the key to successful farm transition. Finding common ground is a good way to make this happen ANDREW DERUYCK

MARK SLOANE

his is the final part of our series on succession. We’ve looked back over the last 10 years identifying successes and messes that we’ve witnessed in business transitions. From here we developed an extensive list of reasons why those transitions were successful or what caused them to go off the rails. We grouped this list into categories and eventually we ended up with five key areas that captured our list. None of these five key components operate independently of other areas within a successful business transition. We liken a successful business transition to an operating planetary gear. The final gear we want to examine closely for any signs of wear is the communication gear. George Bernard Shaw, playwright and co-founder of the London School of Economics, once said: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” — George Bernard Shaw.

Effective communication requires buy-in

Managers involved in successful transitions do not take effective communication for granted. Successful management sees it as the ring gear that keeps all of the other gears turning in unison. Effective communication requires buy-in from the entire operational team. A strong culture of communication within any business is: organized, purposeful, scheduled, respectful, non-assuming, inclusive and high level. MY

CMY

FINDING COMMON GROUND Whenever there are two parties in a dispute or disagreement, the first step is to find common ground. Initially, both parties will focus on their positions. But they need to understand the underlying interest of the other party to find the common ground between them. How can they do that? Let’s look at an example. Father says, “No Roundup this year on the wheat. We don’t want poor germination and were not gonna kill more people with chemical.” Sonny Boy is immediately angry and his reply is, “I wonder if three liters will dry the kochia down quicker?”

First, let’s look at their interINTENT, ACTION AND EFFECT ests. Father loves harvest. He loves combining with his 7810 A conflict often arises from the and pull type 7721. There’s no effect of a specific action. If the GPS in the cab and he can smoke action prompts retaliation, a downin there. It’s peaceful and he can ward spiral begins. Sometimes, just follow the swath all day there were no negative intentions long. Sonny Boy wants to ensure behind the initial action. We worked with a small dairy viability of the farm. He’s looking for cost effective solutions, operation where the son had made an offer to purchase his father’s clean fields and fewer passes. The common ground is that farm. This should have been a day they both love farming. The son of great celebration. Instead, the wants to be able to continue offer resulted in a heated argument farming as a business; the father about responsibility and respect. Let’s look at this situation wants to be able to continue for fun. Turning to common using the intent, action and ground may help them reach a effect model. ABIC2014_Grainews-Junior.pdf 1 25/02/2014 4:04:55 PM The son’s intent was to take pressolution.

sure off his father and let him relax, retire and enjoy money in the bank. The son’s action was to make an offer to purchase the farm. The effect on Dad was huge stress. He worried about his son losing the farm, and also about the potential loss of his own identity. Naming the components in the model removes the emotion and lets real discussion begin. Understand some of the basic concepts of mediation allows you to look at an action and question the underlying intent, rather than jump to worrying about the affect. That’s our vision of how the most important components of

succession need to work together. Succession planning is about managing and mitigating the risks involved with making all of these gears turn. The power of a planetary is tremendous and, like succession planning, if it’s working correctly nobody looking in from the outside even knows it’s there! † Andrew DeRuyck and Mark Sloane manage two farming operations in southern Manitoba and are partners in Right Choice Management Consulting. With over 25 years of cumulative experience, they offer support in farm management, financial management, strategic planning and mediation services. They can be reached at andrewd@goinet.ca and sloanefarms@hotmail.com or 204-8257392 and 204-825-8443.

/ grainews.ca

JULY 22, 2014

Columns UNDERSTANDING MARKET BULLS AND BEARS

From good planning comes review The crop is in the ground. Now it’s time to put your marketing plan under review BRIAN WITTAL

hese were my final comments in my last column: “As a primary producer you are fully exposed to these market swings and fluctuations so you need to be prepared to react when they happen to protect your bottom line. Have a marketing and pricing plan in place that incorporates ways of protecting yourself when futures and or basis shift dramatically is critical. Know your numbers and when profits are available in the marketplace, secure them.”

Now that the crop is in the ground and growing, it’s time to move to the next step in your marketing plan: reviewing your situation. What has changed that may impact your marketing plan? Did your seeded acres change? Is the crop on time or late as far as crop staging? Where is your level of pre-pricing? What has the weather been like and what is the long range forecast? What are world markets telling you?

CHANGING SEEDED ACRES If your seeded acres changed, you need to review how that is going to impact you as far as how much pre-pricing you may have done.

If you find yourself in a position where your total tonnes of pre-priced grain are pushing you beyond your comfort zone there are a couple of strategies you can use to help rebalance your potential delivery risk. If you priced your grain at a value higher than current markets, you may be able to find a neighbour willing to take on some of those tonnes. Some companies may let you cancel a contract if your price is higher than the current futures but you can expect to pay an admin fee. Other companies won’t let you cancel a contract unless you have experienced a crop loss due to drought or hail. In that case you would have to do a contract buyback. This could include the difference

between your contracted futures value and the current futures value plus possibly an admin fee for cancelling. Another strategy would be to buy call options for the number of tonnes you are concerned about. This will protect you in if markets run higher later in the year. If you have to do a buyback and markets have moved higher, the value of your call option will have increased to offset the rise in the futures value. Consider the upfront premium you’ll that have to pay for the option contract to determine if it is worth the cost to protect you from unknown risks. If your seeded acres haven’t changed from your original plan you still need to review your

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pre-pricing commitments to ensure you are where you want to be based on current market conditions. You may also want to consider using options contracts as a way to help improve your net returns per acre. If markets are lower now than when you did some of your pre-pricing and you believe markets will rebound between now and late next fall, you could buy call options to capture any upward movement in the futures markets. The key to making this strategy profitable is that the increase in the futures markets must be greater than the premium you pay. If current markets are at higher levels than earlier, but you aren’t comfortable doing any more pre-pricing because of the risk of delivery, you can look at using a put options strategy to set a futures floor price for yourself and protect your profits. Food for thought!

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Here again you must try to determine what you believe markets will do over the next six months to decide if it is worth spending the money to buy options contracts to protect yourself, or if you should wait, because you believe markets are going to stay fairly flat. No one has the answer to this question. It comes down to what you believe, what you are comfortable with and what you can afford to spend to protect yourself. This is a critical time of year for grain producers as there are so many things happening around the world that impact grain prices. Crops around the world are in various stages from growth to harvest. World markets are transitioning from old crop supplies to new crop supplies. There is a lot of speculation and projection about end results, but in the end it is a lot of guess work that can change in the blink of an eye. For you to make better decisions you need to be focused on your farm and your numbers so that when the markets provide you the opportunity to lock in profits you are prepared with a plan and ready to execute that plan. Good luck through the growing season. † Brian Wittal has 30 years of grain industry experience, and currently offers market planning and marketing advice to farmers through his company Pro Com Marketing Ltd. (www.procommarketingltd.com).

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JULY 22, 2014

Columns OFF-FARM INVESTING

Planning for bull market in gold Summer is an exciting time to invest in gold, silver and related shares ANDY SIRSKI

s I write on June 25, we are coming to a very interesting time in the life and price of gold, silver and their shares. The in-season for gold and silver runs from late June/early July to late August. But that could be three weeks early or late so I prefer to let the price help me decide when to invest, not the calendar. Technical indicators suggested big money started to buy gold and silver and their shares around June 4. This included futures,

shares of companies or the actual metal. That was a little early. I had bought call options on Detour Gold Corporation (DGC), and some shares and call options on Silver Wheaton. When the price started to drop I sold some of those holdings. However, I fully intend to own gold and silver shares as we come into the in-season for those metals and their stocks. A lot of people don’t appreciate technical indicators and some are quite quick to criticize strategies they don’t know. However, there now is enough historic data to show that when we use technical indicators we improve the odds of buying and selling more correctly. I know many people who owned shares in Rim, Cameco, Enron, Dell and

GE and lost a lot of money. If they had used technical signals to sell they could have escaped with only a small loss and in some cases a nice profit. I try to use fundamentals to help me choose a stock to own and technical indicators to help me buy and sell at a profit or small loss.

SUMMER INVESTMENT PLANS I chose Detour Gold (DGC) as my company of choice. I could have chosen Franco Nevada, Silver Wheaton, First Majestic or a number of others. Why DGC? I’ve known this company for several years and recently spoke to the investment person at DGC’s office. The company has one big open pit mine north of Cochrane, Ontario,

which is north of Timmins. The mine is on the Ontario/Quebec border so in a friendly country. The mine has recorded 15.3 million ounces of gold and has 600 square kilometres of explorable land in the area. Its plan is to mine something close to 500,000 ounces of gold in 2014 and around 600,000 ounces in the years ahead. This will make it one of the biggest if not the biggest gold producer in Canada with an expected life of 21 to 23 years. The mine is open pit, which normally are lower cost producers compared to underground mines. Data shows that as they dig deeper the company is finding richer ore. In June/July the company is crushing 50,000 tonnes of ore per

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day but is not cash flow positive yet. In the second half of 2014 the company expects to be at full crushing capacity of 55,000 tonnes per day and cash flow positive. I see many fundamental reasons to own this stock. This summer, I might own some shares but I will certainly buy call options and I might even sell a naked put on some shares. This is not for everybody, but a lot of farmers use these strategies on crops — I’m just applying it to stocks. DGC clearly has a following already since there are thousands of open interest contracts on DGC on the call side while most other companies have only a few hundred open interest contracts. My total dollar investment will be a very small part of my portfolio so if even if I lost half it wouldn’t hurt us. With the leverage I can get from buying calls, if I make this work I will make some significant money and learn something. This is not a buy and hold strategy. I caution you that if you choose to try this out do not think you will be holding these shares or options past August and you should be prepared to sell at a good profit or a small loss.

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Here are my fundamental reasons for zeroing on this gold stock. Statistics show that the in-season for gold and silver is from late June/early July to the end of August plus or minus a few weeks. There some very good recurring reasons why this seasonality comes year after year.

July to the end of August can be very profitable If you or I were jewelers in India we likely would not buy gold or silver until a few months before we need it so we’d likely start buying in July. Weddings in India create a big demand for gold of various forms. Farmers in India are big buyers of gold. When harvest is done they pay their bills, keep some money for next year and buy gold with money left over. This also is a recurring event, although this year the monsoon season isn’t very strong so we don’t know how big the harvest will be. Next come Christmas and Chinese New Year — both put big demands on gold. After that there is very little fundamental reasons for gold to go up in price until July rolls around. From what I have seen in past years and from following the technicals for gold, the six to eight weeks from July to the end of August can be very profitable. † Andy is mostly retired. He gardens, plays with granddaughters, travels a bit and publishes an electronic newsletter called StocksTalk. To read StocksTalk free for a month send an email to sirski@mts.net and Andy will sign you up.

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Columns GUARDING WEALTH

Buying risk, paying for liquidity Price-earnings ratios are a useful way to analyze your investment decisions BY ANDREW ALLENTUCK

hat do you get when you invest in capital markets? You might say stocks or bonds, mutual funds or units in real estate investment trusts. That answer is both true and false. You do get ownership of those things, but in a more analytical sense, what you are really getting is risk — any stock or negotiable bond can vary in price, and illiquidity, for stocks and bonds must be sold to be spendable. Both are proportional to return. In general, the higher the risk, the higher the expected payoff (or loss). The easier it is to cash out, that is, the higher the liquidity, the lower should be the expected return. Stocks do produce cash, either as earnings and dividends. Bonds generate interest and, if they can be traded after purchase, which is the case for all negotiable bonds, they can generate capital gains or losses. Let’s examine stock risk first. The risk in holding in any stock is immense. As a shareholder, your money is backed by no company promise other than to let you vote for directors. With non-voting common stock, you don’t even have that.

30s, the price of the underlying stock is considered to be driven by high growth expectations. Thus it is a so-called growth stock. In this category are smaller firms that can generate high growth. For example, Gildan Activewear, a maker of t-shirts and other athletic apparel, has a p/e of 20, reflecting investors’ expectations that it will be able to keep its sales rising. Dollarama Inc. has a p/e of 27. So far, neither Gildan nor Dollarama has disappointed shareholders who have stuck with the shares through their occasional down times. Back in the dot com bonanza, 1998 to 2000, companies sometimes got p/e’s over 100. One firm, now out of business, had a p/e of

800. Investors threw money at these stocks on the theory that they had to be hot, otherwise they could not have such p/e multiples. These were momentum stocks, propelled upward by investors because they saw other investors hopping on the bandwagon. For such multiples to be rewarded by actual earnings, earnings would have had to grow at 60 per cent a year compounded annually. A few companies have such gains, but there are none able to sustain such growth for a decade. The dot coms crashed, taking down the fortunes of investors who had ignored traditional multiples. An investor looking at p/e’s alone should stick to the low double digits. Indeed, that’s where the chartered banks are. In the low 20s

range, you find Canadian National Railway at 20.9. CP has a p/e of 36.9. The p/e difference is huge, but CP is undergoing a transformation under former CN boss Hunter Harrison. He has forced the railroad to morph from the worst performer in North American railroading to one of the best. In the last quarter, earnings were up over the same quarter a year earlier. Harrison has agreed to stay on the job to 2017. The higher multiple for CP appears to be warranted, say shareholders (of whom I am one). P/e’s can be high even if there is not a lot of expected growth. For example BCE Inc., the phone company, has a p/e of 19.6 based on last year’s earnings. Odds are that the company’s earnings from wire-

line phones, cell phones and publishing are not going to increase at a rate high enough to justify this multiple. But bond interest rates are low, virtually forcing money into relatively stable stocks and BCE is seen by many as a kind of bond with almost bulletproof earnings. They are treating BCE as a quasi-bond and propelling it into growth stock territory. Chances are that if and when interest rates rise appreciably, money will come out of BCE stock. Perhaps earnings will have risen enough to cushion the fall. This is what equity risk is all about. Unlike bonds and their promise to pay, stocks are balanced between expectations

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Some stocks are safer bets than others PRICE-EARNINGS RATIOS There are several measures of stock risk. One of the best is the widely used and very common ratio of price to earnings. Price earnings ratios express shareholders’ expectations for the stock. A low p/e ratio, say below 10, implies that earnings are expected to be flat or to rise little. While a dead in the water stock may have a high p/e ratio if investors wait for the company to be sold and reward them with a handsome takeover premium, p/e remains a good first guide to expectation for a stock. Stocks vary in their risk. There are several measures of how risky a stock is. A common one, called beta, just reflects how volatile or bouncy a stock is in comparison to the entire market. A beta of 1.0 means the stock is as volatile as the market. A beta less than 1.0 means the stock is less volatile than the market, a beta of more than 1.0 means the stock is more volatile than its broad market. For example, Royal Bank’s p/e on trailing earnings, that is earnings per share reported for the last 12 months, is 13; Bank of Montreal’s is 12; CIBC’s is 12.4. P/e’s for expected earnings tend to be a little lower, for the earnings are expected to be higher. But whether you are looking at past or future earnings, the real meaning of the p/e ratio is how long you have to wait for earnings at the present rate to pay back your investment. Of course, if the stock pays a good dividend, that will cut your payback period. When p/e’s rise into the 20s and

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JULY 22, 2014

Columns OPEN FIELD

Rye, oh rye? Got the unseeded acre blues? Consider this fall cereal SARAH WEIGUM

’ve heard it called a poor man’s crop, a niche market, prehistoric and a weed. Fall rye brings out strong feelings in some farmers and is completely off the radar of others. With unseeded and now flooded acres across the Prairies, there might be a fit for fall rye in some crop rotations.

PENNY-PINCHING CROP At one time Prairie farmers seeded a million acres of rye per year. In 2013 that number was down to 270,000 acres (Statistics Canada). Much of that is on less productive, sandy ground as rye thrives in places other crops don’t. It germinates easily in the fall, even with minimal moisture and my dad says in his experience it is more winter hardy than winter wheat. Jamie Larsen, rye breeder at AAFC in Lethbridge agrees. “Rye has excellent winter hardiness — considerably better than

winter wheat. It’s grown in the Medicine Hat area where they have less snow cover and it can get pretty cold, so if rye can grow there it can grow anywhere.” Larsen also pointed out that rye seems to be a more efficient user of fertilizer. It’s difficult to compare apples to apples, but on our farm rye has often yielded as much or better than spring wheat and we certainly weren’t over-fertilizing as we were trying to keep a taller variety standing. Rye is not susceptible to leaf or stem rust, Larsen said, so when budgeting producers can remove the fungicide pass from the equation. Finally, rye can save money in the short- and long-term on the cost incurred by herbicides and weeds. Rye is allelopathic which means it emits toxins that inhibit the growth of other plants. By the miracle that is nature, allelopathy is only expressed by the rye seedling at germination and the residue for a few weeks after harvest,

providing weed control when it’s most needed. In between these two points on the on the crop cycle, rye vigorously out-competes most weeds. We haven’t used herbicide on our rye and we’re planning to grow it next year on a field with some herbicide resistant wild oats to reduce the seed bank and hopefully put money in our pockets in future years. Larsen said growers should not fear allelopathy. “People get concerned about allelopathy,” said Larsen, but because the toxins breakdown a few weeks after harvest, next year’s spring crops are safe. He pointed out that in Eastern Canada farmers use rye as a cover crop, then roll or silage it and plant soy or corn immediately after. “Those are high value crops and if they’re not seeing any affect then I think it’s something you should not be as concerned about.” An interesting aside: the allelopathic compounds in rye are

the same as those used in some cancer-fighting medicine. “If you could bump up those properties then maybe there could be some pharmaceutical applications for rye which would increase the value,” said Larsen.

NICHE-LY DONE Our experience with growing rye began in earnest after the 2002 drought. With harvest done early my neighbour, a fellow seed grower, decided to plant some pedigreed rye. The next year, when the seed guide came out, the South Korean government contacted him looking for someone to provide several thousand tonnes of rye seed annually. They wanted to plant it in the fall, between their rice growing seasons to reduce erosion, provide weed control and serve as green manure (it was tilled under before planting rice). Every seed grower dreams of a customer who doesn’t own a combine, and since

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

BUYING RISK, PAYING FOR LIQUIDITY and realizations. That is not a lot different than shooting craps in Vegas, though, to be sure, some stocks are safer bets than others. P/e is not the whole story. It expresses valuation, but that alone does not tell an investor the complete tale of an asset’s risk. For that, you have to add what you are putting into the stock. P/e multiplied by your investment tells you what you have at stake in the stock. So if earnings are $5 a share and you pay a p/e of five, you have $25 at stake as a bet on earnings. If the p/e rises to 10, you have to pay $50 for those earnings. At 30, you are paying $150 as a bet on what the company will report in a year. If it turns out that earnings are flat, you will have to wait three decades or a little less if there are dividends for earnings to repay your investment.

OTHER MEASURES There are many other measures of what a company is worth. Price to sales is a good valuation, for sales are solid and reportable and can’t be manipulated like earnings. For example, a company can accelerate some costs, charge them against earnings to get them out of the way, then show a glowing next quarter with lower costs and higher resulting earnings. Or it can recognize some earnings ahead of when they are realized. That can be done by recording sales when goods or services are shipped rather than paid. If receivables rise faster than sales, then you know that either the company is playing tricks with its books or that customers have good reasons not to pay. If you want to learn more about how this works, get a copy of Abe Briloff’s More Debits Than Credits: The Burnt Investor’s Guide to Financial Statements. It is a classic tale of deceptive accounting methods and how to detect them. Read it and you will be at least alert to what crooked accounting and limp stock analytics can do to trusting investors. † Andrew Allentuck’s latest book, When Can I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work, was published in 2011by Penguin Canada.

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Columns this rye would never be taken to grain production, my neighbour decided to pursue the opportunity, recruiting my dad and another farm to work alongside him. It took five years to negotiate an agreement with the Korean buyers and we’ve exported clean, bagged, treated rye for several years. We’ve heard the green manure program may be ending in Korea, but as I’ve spent time in the rye business, I’ve learned there are other unique marketing opportunities. I spoke to a grower who exports rye to Japan for flaking (think oats) and we’ve exported food grade rye to Korea for puffing (my mom asked if they had heard of puffed rice). This year, I am exporting a small amount of rye into the U.S. for cover crops. According to USDA estimates, about three million acres of cover crops are planted in the U.S., which is only one per cent of the farm land, but the goal of the National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health is to increase that ten-fold by 2020. Rye by itself or in blends is a popular option in the cover cropping market thanks to its quick growth in fall and spring, its large biomass and root system, and weed suppressing abilities. Domestically, rye typically trades below spring and winter wheat price, but because there is so little grown, a patient producer can take advantage of price spikes. This winter I know Alberta Distillers was buying rye for around $7.90 per bushel laid into Calgary. We sold some rye commercially this spring for $5.75 to 6.25 per bushel at the bin in central Alberta. Compare that to what a lot of wheat traded for this winter and spring and that price doesn’t look so bad. Like any crop, good harvest samples help farmers get the most for their product. Falling numbers, germination and of course ergot specifications vary by end user, so be prepared to do some testing and/ or provide a representative samples. Because there is no futures market for rye, it can be hard to figure out a value for the crop, but from my experience, once you’re in the game, you seem to catch wind of opportunities as they come along. Canada Malting recently entered the rye malting market with a contract for a whisky producer. They purchased old crop this spring and are looking to contract some new crop production in fall 2014 and as well as acres for 2015 harvest.

Coming next issue I have spent a lot of time thinking and talking about growing and selling rye over the last two years, so not surprisingly I have a lot more to write than would reasonably fit in one column. Next issue I’ll talk about why rye is a “prehistoric” crop, how it differs from other cereals and some of the unique research being applied to it. I’ll also talk about the challenges of growing rye. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a final word of advice: get the drill ready and your seed lined up now! Whether you’re seeding into fallow ground or this year’s stubble, it seems the biggest hurdle to getting winter crops seeded is having the right mindset. Once harvest starts, getting the drill in the field seems like the least of a farmer’s concerns. So have your equipment ready and when that first little shower comes that sets you back for a day or two on the combine, get planting. † Sarah Weigum grows pedigreed seed and writes at Three Hills, Alta. Follow her on Twitter: @sweigum.

photo: sarah weigum

photo: janine paly, ducks unlimited

Left: Sometimes, the biggest hurdle to getting winter crops seeded is having the right mindset. Right: Sarah took this photo on July 2, on her neighbour’s farm. “It’s actually hard to photograph rye waving in the wind,” she said.

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

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

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

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

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/ grainews.ca

JULY 22, 2014

Machinery & Shop Canada’s Farm Progress Show

Seed Hawk debuts new features for the 2016 model year New grain tanks, an 84-foot tool bar and a completely new metering system will soon see production By Scott Garvey

“

volve your farm,” reads Seed Hawk’s new corporate slogan, which could be seen nearly everywhere around the company’s display during this year’s Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina. And as Pat Beaujot, the firm’s founder and director of strategic markets, pointed out during a presentation to dealers, customers and members of the media at the show, the equipment coming out of the brand’s Langbank, Saskatchewan, factory is set to undergo an evolution, too. Seed Hawk used the Regina event to introduce its 2016 model year lineup to the marketplace. And the changes built into the new seeding equipment it is about to release are significant. “We’ve got an all new tank, new metering system and new control system,” says Beaujot. “It’s been two or three years in testing. These things don’t come quickly.” The company will stretch the working width of its 2016 drills to 84 feet. Behind (or in front of) those drills, the product tanks feeding seed and fertilizer to them will be much different. The new four-model line of tanks have capacities that range from 500 to 980 bushels. The two smaller ones (500 and 660 bushels) are available as either towbetween or tow-behind models. The larger two (800 and 980 bushels) come in tow-behind versions only.

These redesigned tanks are now all modular, and they include load cells on each compartment to weigh the contents, helping improve metering accuracy. They also supply the necessary data for the monitor to compute the number of acres that can be seeded before the compartments run dry. “There are three load cells on each tank,” Beaujot explains. “The reason our guys decided three was the right number is that way there is always weight on each cell. We’ve also increased the resolution on the load cells to get more accurate metering.” “We’ve been asked to put a fourth tank on for a number of years,” he continues. “And here it is. It’s a (40 bushel) canola or small-product tank. We have much bigger floatation tires as well.” But under the carts at the meter is where things really look different. The redesigned modular metering system has gone entirely electric, with an individual motor driving each roller. Electric control provides instant stop-start control to enhance the brand’s Sectional Control Technology, and it makes immediate rate adjustments possible right from the cab. “There are a lot of things that can be done with an electric meter that can’t be done with hydraulic or mechanically driven rollers,” Beaujot adds. “It’s a lot simpler system to operate.”

» continued on next page

photo: scott garvey

Seed Hawk’s flagship product tank, the 980, is the largest of the modular carts that will use the brand’s new electrically-driven meter and wireless iCon control system for the 2016 model year.

photo: scott garvey

Seed Hawk’s Pat Beaujot explains how the Auto Calibration feature photo: lisa guenther of the company’s iCon control A mock-up of the new modular seed meter. Up to eight electrically driven system functions. rollers can feed product into separate airstreams.

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop CANADA’S FARM PROGRESS SHOW

Grainews’ special show coverage A BY SCOTT GARVEY

s usual, Grainews was at the annual Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina, and there was no shortage of new equipment introductions to check out. This year, the event had a significantly different feel, because many of the usual exhibitors weren’t to be found in their usual locations. Construction of Regina’s new football stadium has taken a sizeable bite out of the east side of the show grounds, causing exhibits to shift westward toward Lewvan Drive. For prairie equipment manufacturers, the Regina show has long been the primary venue for introducing new models and technologies. Not surprisingly, this year was no exception. The Big Four major brands (JD, NH, Case

IH and AGCO), however, usually debut new models at their own events or major shows in the U.S. But this year, New Holland broke with that practice and chose CFPS as the venue to pull the wraps off the first of the 25 new machines it intends to introduce this season. It showed updated CR combines and forward control sprayers in Regina. Although we certainly can’t include all the show highlights in a single issue, we’ve kicked off our coverage of the show with a look at some of the new seeding equipment introductions. Watch for more from CFPS in upcoming issues. For a video look at some of the show’s highlights, go online to Grainews.ca, click on the videos link and watch the e-QuipTV episodes. †

PHOTO: SCOTT GARVEY

Visitors and exhibitors wait out one of several rain showers during the three-day event.

Scott Garvey

» CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Each meter section is an independent module made from a polymer (plastic) that is designed to withstand corrosion. Rerouting product between two different airstreams, installing any of three different metering rollers or taking the meter apart to remove an obstruction are now all very quick and simple procedures. “It’s all plastic, so it will handle fertilizer or any products you want to throw at it.,” says Beaujot. “It’s easy to take apart and clean or check.” When it comes to the incab monitor and controlling that meter, things are radically different there too. No longer will Seed Hawk equipment use Raven technology. Instead, the brand has moved to a system it calls iCon, which is its own wireless meter control created by U.S.-based Apario Systems. iCon has been designed specifically for Seed Hawk drills, notes Beaujot. Because its not an off-the-shelf, generic system, it’s highly compatible with the brand’s machines, easy and intuitive to use, he adds. With data transfer and control going wireless, there is no longer a need to route an awkward harness into the tractor cab, and the system uses an ordinary iPad as a monitor. Wireless sensors also send blockage warnings to the same iPad. “A good meter is nothing without a good control system, so what we’ve come up with is iCon,” says Beaujot. “We’re using an iPad for a screen in the tractor. You can use one or two iPads. You can set the rates with it, check your blockage or all kinds of good stuff. Or you can have it in your half ton and follow around the guy that’s operating if you wanted to.” And Beaujot hinted Seed Hawk’s iCon system will allow for even more advanced precision farming features in the next generation of updates. “In the future there may be turn compensation,” he says. For a video look at the new meter and iCon control system, go online to Grainews.ca and watch the e-QuipTV episode under the videos link. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

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/ grainews.ca

JULY 22, 2014

Machinery & Shop Canada’s Farm Progress Show

CX6 concept takes shape Last year Clean Seed Capital Group introduced its hybrid seeding concept. This year it showed a complete prototype drill By Scott Garvey

hen Clean Seed Capital Group introduced its hybrid CX6 seeding concept at Canada’s Farm Progress Show last year, it won the People’s Choice Award. This year after displaying a complete CX6 Smart Seeder prototype, the company again snapped up that honour. That isn’t too surprising. The group’s drill was one of the most talked about displays at this year’s event. The CX6 is described by company product reps as a “crossover,” merging the typical features of a planter and a seed drill. On top of that, it offers wireless application control of up to six different products, allowing all their rates to be controlled in a highly-managed way in the same seeding pass. “The farmer can take not only all six products and micro manage them with the electronic meter controls, but he can decide which aperture he wants them to come out of, because we have a triple-shot opener. You can put products out of the left side, the right side or down the middle,” explains Graeme Lempriere of Clean Seed Capital Group. “And you can control that directly across the whole drill.” That kind of micro management of seed and product flow is possible because metering is done inside the pod on each row open-

er instead of at the tank. Each pod has its own control module, so it operates independently of all the others. That makes features like overlap control highly precise, moving the level of accuracy from entire drill sections down to individual seed rows. The Pods respond to flow requirements created from prescription maps “What we’ve done here is create a system that can micro manage that prescription for the farmer,” Lempriere continues. “We can transfer that prescription to an iPad. That iPad then sends a signal to this drill. It can then micromanage it at plant level.” Clean Seed Capital Group’s promotional brochures say all that takes field management to an entirely new level. “The Smart Seeder puts down what you want, where you want it in every square foot the field,” it reads. Lempriere believes the electronics package on the CX6 also offers another distinct advantage with its data logging capability. “We know what went in the ground per foot and what that blend was,” he says. “So when their yield results are calculated, the farmer and the agronomist know exactly what that blend was.” In the event of a meter malfunction in one of the pods, replacement is quick and easy, according to Lempriere. “It’s one wire, two bolts and the cartridge is removed,” he says. “We like to call it plug and play. It’s a sim-

ple process we’ve designed into this drill.” And while much of the technology employed on this drill may be new to seeding equipment, Lempriere says Clean Seed’s design uses systems already common in other industries. “What we’ve done is taken a lot of proven technologies that are in the auto sector and applied them to the seeding sector.” The company chose to give its initial prototype model a 60-foot toolbar. The unit includes a mounted, six-compartment, 450-bushel tank. And it rides on tracks rather than tires. “The undercarriage is a planter,” says Lempriere. “It’s a single row, front-folding tool bar on tracks. You require 5 to 6 horsepower per opener to pull this.” Clean Seed Capital Group plans to complete an initial production run of six drills in the next few months, but orders from farmers have apparently already exceeded that. Nevertheless, the firm will still accept additional orders that will be filled during future production runs. “Our production capacity at the moment is for the first six drills,” explains Lempriere. “We have orders beyond that. So far, demand has been pretty aggressive. Right now we have an option-to-purchase list. Farmers can put a deposit down, and what that does is assure their place in line for production.” Total purchase price for the CX6

photo: scott garvey

Clean Seed Capital Group introduced a full working prototype of its CX6 “hybrid” seeding system. The drill, which rides on tracks, includes a 400-bushel, six-compartment tank and 60-foot tool bar. comes in just shy of $500,000, but that also includes the innovative nurse cart that will allow on-thego refills to keep the CX6 moving, reducing down time in the field and compensating for the lower tank capacity. The plan going forward, according to Lempriere, is to stick to their production schedule and work closely with the farmers who put the initial models to work next season. The company will then move carefully to meet

on-going demand and not get ahead of itself. “Obviously this is a new company,” he says. “We hope to be delivering our first products next year. We’re going to walk before we can run.” For a video look at the CX6 Smart Seeder prototype, go online to Grainew.ca, click on the videos link and check out the e-QuipTV episodes. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

photo: scott garvey

Planter-like row units are capable of delivering up to six products per row.

Meter All metering is done at the row inside each “pod.”

photo: lisa guenther

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop GRAINEWS CONTEST

And the winners are...

We asked you to vote for your all-time favourite farm machine. Now, the results are in BY SCOTT GARVEY

s we at Grainews have spoken to you, farmers, about machinery over the years, one thing always seemed obvious to us. Almost everyone has fond memories of one machine or another that ranks as their lingering favourite. So, we decided to embark on a mission: to find out just which piece of farm equipment stirs more producers’ hearts than any other. To do that, we launched the Grainews All-Time Favourite Farm Machine competition back in April. We invited everyone to nominate the machine that still gives them that warm and fuzzy feeling. And the entries came from as far away as Europe. So nominations covered a wide variety of brands and models, but they all had one thing in common: passion, which was exactly what we were looking for. The trouble, of course, is our judges had to first whittle down the many and various nominees on the list in order to pick the finalists, which left them with some tough calls to make. Only three machines in each of the tractor, combine and general equipment categories could make it onto the ballot. If yours didn’t, please don’t hold it against us. The judges took a few primary factors into consideration when choosing the finalists. First, they looked at how many nominations each machine received. Second, what kind of reputation did it gain over the years. Third, how did the engineering built into it advance agricultural machine technology. And lastly, to be fair, the model had to be one that was no longer in production. Visitors to Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina in June voted for their selections. So you, prairie farmers, have now spoken and picked your winner. With all that said, the envelopes please. The winner by a landslide in the tractor category was the 30 Series line of John Deeres. They beat out the 9030 New Holland bi-directional and 835/875 Series II Versatiles. There were more nominations for 30 through later 55 Series Deeres than for any other brand. Those later tractors were all updated incarnations of the 30 Series. Launched under great secrecy and with much fanfare, the 30 Series began production for the 1973 model year and clearly placed an emphasis on operator comfort and safety with their new Sound Guard cabs. We don’t know what the overall production numbers of these tractors ended up at, but you still can’t swing a cat in Saskatchewan without hitting at least one of them. In the combine category, the race was tight. But the 410 Massey Ferguson edged out the IH 1482 and original transverse rotary Gleaner. The 410, which debuted in the early 1960s, was a gigantic leap forward for MF combine design, leaving behind the outdated models MF had been offering. Engineers built it on a unit-body design instead of a traditional frame, a concept not even many sports car of the day had yet moved to. MF even built a brand

new factory in Brantford, Ontario, to build them. The factory was based on the most modern automotive assembly lines of the time. The 410, and eventually the larger 510, were roaring successes for MF, building a solid foundation for the brand that eventually allowed it to capture more than a quarter of the entire North American combine market by the 1970s. In the general equipment category, the skid steer loader proved to be your most loved machine. It beat out the Spra-Coupe and the air seeder. The nominations for this machine type included multiple models from different brands. So it seemed obvious to the judges that in order to be fair, the entire category of skid steers be named rather than one model.

The insiders here at the Grainews home office were betting the air seeder would be the clear winner, so we were a bit surprised with the final results in this category. Our crystal ball is obviously flawed. U.S.-based Melroe’s website claims that company took over a three-wheeled skid loader concept and morphed it into a four-wheel design that went into production as the now-famous Bobcat in 1962. Of course, that skid-steer configuration is now being built by numerous brands, and it has found work in everything from construction to agriculture, making it a real crossover hit. That wraps it up. Those are your winners. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

The clear winner in the tractor category: the 30 Series John Deeres.

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/ grainews.ca

JULY 22, 2014

Best of Grainews

Tracks on Deere combines now an option John Deere brings tracked combines to North America, and announces other updates to the S Series combine lineup BY SCOTT GARVEY

t the 2011 Agritechnica machinery show in Germany, John Deere introduced a track option for S Series combines sold in Europe. When Grainews asked back then if tracks would be made available here, Deere’s spokesperson said they eventually would, but the track system design would be different, because the company didn’t think the European-style track module met the needs of farmers in North America. At its product launch in Columbus, Ohio, in August, North American tracked S Series combines were finally unveiled. And as Deere promised two years ago, with a much different track system. Canadian farmers paying for the new option will get a track module with a highidler design for better trash and obstacle clearance. “Tracks will be available for the S670, S680 and S690 equipped with a ProDrive transmission,” Kim Cramer of Deere’s Harvester Works told a group of journalists at a briefing during the Columbus event. “When harvesting in tough conditions, operators will be able to get in the fields earlier and harvest longer with the new track option,” said Katie Dierker, division marketing manager at

Dealers had a chance to try out this S Series combine equipped with the new track option in a mud pit at Deere’s convention in Columbus, Ohio, and compare it to a wheeled version in wet conditions.

Deere’s Harvester Works. “The tracks can be ordered as a factory-installed option or ordered separately for our model year 2014 S Series machines.” Nothing changes in the combine driveline to accommodate the track systems, explained Cramer. So, farmers can switch between tires and tracks on the same machine. One advantage of that is farmers could remove and hold back their tracks, switching their trade in over to tires and reinstalling the tracks on another new S Series machine when they update their fleet. “When that customer trades that combine in, typically he’ll keep the tracks and the dealer can outfit his used machine with tires or tracks,” said Cramer. “There’s nothing unique about the tracked combine.” Because the tracked versions use the same driveline, the maximum ground speed of a tracked S Series machine will be slightly slower than a wheeled model. Removing tracks and installing them on a replacement combine could shave a bunch of money off the cost of a new purchase, although how much wasn’t quite clear. Pricing had not yet been set for the track systems at the time of the Ohio product launch. “We haven’t got pricing yet,” Cramer added. “It’ll be over $50,000. They’ll be comparably priced.”

INTERACTIVE ADJUSTMENT There were other new S Series combine features for product reps to talk about as well. Aside from a leather cab interior package, most notable was the new Interactive Combine Adjustment system (ICA). ICA allows for automated, onthe-go thresher settings. The system simplifies fine tuning the threshing mechanism to improve performance, which allows less experienced operators to do a harvesting better job. “It takes where we were with Automatic Combine Adjust (ACA) one step further,” explained Cramer. “Now it interacts with him (the operator). It will ask him questions, he can respond to it and it will give him recommendations on how to improve a situation, clean up the sample in a grain tank or whatever (problem he wants to correct).” S Series models come with a new Engine Speed Management System which can reduce overall fuel consumption, especially during road transport. They also offer a new Dual Adjust Chaffer, which is designed to produce a cleaner grain tank sample. Up front, buyers will notice another new option: “The 630 HydraFlex draper header is new,” added Cramer. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at scott.garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

PHOTOS: SCOTT GARVEY

36-inch-wide tracks fitted onto a high-idler module can be ordered as a factory option or interchanged with tires on the three largest 2014 S Series combines, the S670, S680 and S690 when equipped with a ProDrive transmission.

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Best of Grainews

Cleaning to prevent clubroot Clubroot can spread from farm to farm, or come in from other sources BY LISA GUENTHER

FARMER CONCERN

Ad Number: SEC_MOAFLO14 Publication: Grainews 4Col x 140 (8.125” x 10”) Non Bleed

ometimes energy companies are prime suspects when it comes to clubroot contamination in western Canadian farmland. But Encana has developed strict cleaning procedures to minimize that risk, one company leader told FarmTech delegates in Edmonton. Many of Encana’s Alberta sites tap into farmland in south central Alberta. These coalbed methane wells produce sweet gas and are about one kilometre deep. Encana has 11,000 km of pipeline, plus 13,000 natural gas wells in Alberta. The wells sit on 25 per cent of the land growing canola in the country, Andrea Bullinger said. “Do we bear some risk? You bet we bear some risk,” Bullinger said. She is a soil chemist and heads up Encana’s soils, vegetation, and spills management group in Canada. The energy company puts in minimal disturbance sites, meaning they don’t build roads and drill on top of topsoil. The well sites are usually about 4X8 metres. When they install pipelines, they use a Cat to strip topsoil and plow into sub-soil, Bullinger said. The faster Encana gets wells up and running, the more profit, which is vital with lower natural gas prices, Bullinger pointed out. But she added Encana doesn’t want the liability of contaminating farmland with clubroot or any other pests. Encana was doing lots of drilling in Alberta between 2006 and 2008, Bullinger said. There were no regulatory requirements on biosecurity for energy companies. But there was a groundswell of concern among farmers as clubroot became a growing problem.

Produced by: SeCan Product/Campaign Name: SeCan Winter Wheat Flourish / Moats Date Produced: July 2014

By the end of 2007, 50 per cent of landowners were asking Encana about their clubroot mitigation plan and up to 25 per cent demanded the company clean and disinfect its equipment before setting foot their farms. “One of the engineers described it as like being the bride the night before the wedding and hearing that you can’t go,” said Bullinger. “Because when we took a look at that meant for us — washing and disinfecting before we entered the site — it was a show-stopper.” Washing and disinfecting the equipment used to construct one coalbed methane well would cost Encana about $43,000 and use 112,000 litres of water, Bullinger said. The company planned to drill 300 wells in the central Alberta in 2008. Disinfecting equipment would have cost $12 million and use 33 million litres of water. Bullinger told delegates Encana’s engineers initially handed her numbers double those costs, but she cut them in half because she thought “they were a little hysterical,” and not accounting for increased efficiency over time. Encana had better data for pipelines, Bullinger said. Cleaning the gear used to put in 443 miles of pipeline would ring up $7 million and use 26 million litres of water. “Those are kind of scary numbers for us,” Bullinger said.

But because Encana’s wells rest on a quarter of Canada’s canolaproducing land, Bullinger calculated they could impact over $1 billion in canola production, if canola was selling at $14 per bushel. Those are the types of numbers that make sense to engineers, Bullinger said. “A billion dollars is material, even to them.” Bullinger and her colleagues began working with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development to cut their risk of spreading clubroot and other pests.

to reduce contamination risk. Summer means a higher contamination risk, so they don’t inspect wells as frequently in the summer. But regulations still require inspectors to check on wells monthly. Before staff and contractors enter a new field, Encana requires them to hand clean equipment. Contractors and employees also have to wash vehicles as part of regular maintenance. “Vehicles or equipment that arrive dirty on our site will be sent back at the contractor’s cost. That only has to happen once or twice before they start bringing in clean equipment,” said Bullinger. Encana also complies with CLUBROOT MITIGATION county bylaws, Bullinger added. Sign-off at Encana sites differs a Encana employees and consultSEC_MOAFLO14_GN.qxd 7/8/14 littlePM withPage each 1group. But they do ants try to enter the field when 3:14 it’s dry and cold, Bullinger said, take pictures of equipment when

it arrives on site. Employees or inspectors sign or stamp a document confirming the equipment arrived clean, Bullinger said. Farmers aren’t obligated to tell Encana about soil or pest issues, but Encana will change its practices to avoid knowingly spreading contaminated soil. “If we know you have clubroot, we’re not going to tell the ag fieldman,” Bullinger said. Asked whether Encana would consider constructing roads into well sites, Bullinger said minimal disturbance sites made more economic sense with low natural gas prices. “For us it’s a bit of a showstopper.” Many farmers prefer minimal disturbance sites, as they can farm around them, Bullinger added. Encana is hesitant to make excep-

tions — concessions made to one landowner must be offered to all. Encana is looking at putting four wells on one site, slanting them into the field, to further shrink the well site footprint. Bullinger speaks only for Encana. Farmers dealing with other companies could look to Alberta’s Clubroot Management Plan for guidelines. Farmers can find the plan by visiting agriculture.alberta.ca and searching “clubroot management plan.” The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has also published best practices to help the energy industry deal with clubroot. They can be found by searching “clubroot” at www.capp.ca. † Lisa Guenther is a field editor for Grainews. Contact her at Lisa.Guenther@fbcpublishing.com.

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/ grainews.ca

JULY 22, 2014

Best of Grainews

Rhizoctonia is growing concern No canola varieties are completely resistant to rhizoctonia, but management techniques can make a difference BY JULIENNE ISAACS

hizoctonia is a fungus affecting crops across Canada, from row crops to field crops. The “type species” of Rhizoctonia is Rhizoctonia solani — in other words, R. solani is the species usually linked with the term “rhizoctonia.” It’s also the species that is increasingly affecting canola in Western Canada. According to Sheau-Fang Hwang, research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development and adjunct professor in Plant Pathology at the University of Alberta, R. solani belongs to a disease complex that also includes Fusarium spp. and Pythium spp., all of which affect canola in the field. “The reason we call it a disease complex is because these are three important soil-borne pathogens that affect canola at the seedling stage or even before,” says Hwang. “But they are different in terms of what conditions they prefer. The warm, dry soils are more favourable for rhizoctonia and fusarium blight.” Pythium, by contrast, takes off when soil conditions are damp and cool. Particular, identifying fea-

tures of R. solani affecting canola include reduced seed germination and seedling establishment, along with seedling blight, root rot or wire stem, and a kind of “girdling” or constriction of the basal stem. “Rhizoctonia seedling blight has been a serious impediment to stand establishment in the Canadian Prairies for many years,” Hwang and her co-authors argue in a soon-to-be-published study, entitled, “The effect of seed size, seed treatment, seedling date and depth on Rhizoctonia seedling blight of canola.” “Earlier studies reported that most canola fields in the Peace River and central regions of Alberta are affected by R. solani, with up to 80 to 100 per cent infected plants and yield losses in excess of 20 per cent… In 2005 and 2006, seedling establishment was poor in over 20 per cent of fields surveyed in central Alberta.” The study claims that no cultivar of canola currently grown in Western Canada has resistance to R. solani, but there are differences in susceptibility. While the evidence is clear that R. solani is negatively impacting

crops in Western Canada, Hwang says in recent years not enough research has been done into possible management techniques — hence this study, to be published in the Canadian Journal of Plant Science, is long-awaited.

MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES Management techniques such as crop rotation and manipulation of seeding depth have been used to reduce the impacts of R. solani on canola stands. Crop rotation is an excellent technique, according to Hwang, but growers have to be careful in their choice of rotation crops. Within the species R. solani, there are multiple Anastomosis Groups (AG groups) that affect different crops to greater or lesser degrees. The group AG 2-1 affects canola primarily, and AG4 impacts pulse crops, while the group AG8 impacts cereal crops. AG4 can also affect canola, however, so rotating canola with pulses can backfire. The best rotational crops for canola, according to Hwang, are cereals. But Hwang’s study’s results point to fungicidal seed treat-

ments as the best management technique available to growers. Early seeding was tested as a possible management technique, and while it generally improved emergence under R. solani-inoculated conditions, it did not consistently improve stand establishment or yield under high disease pressure. Seedling depth and seed size, similarly, did not have noticeable impacts. By contrast, the use of seed treatments such as Prosper FX or Helix Xtra resulted in significant improvements in seedling emergence and yield — even under high inoculum pressure. “The results of this study suggest that the manipulation of seeding date, seeding depth and seed size is unlikely to significantly improve seedling emergence under heavy disease pressure by R. solani, while fungicidal seed treatments can play an important role in stabilizing canola stand establishment under the same conditions,” concludes the study. According to Ted Labun, Syngenta’s seedcare technical lead for Western Canada, growers’ options for fungicides to control R. solani are widening.

“On canola we’re finding that rhizoctonia is an important disease,” he says. “One of the key components is that our rotations have become quite short. It’s not unusual to have wheat on canola on wheat, and the pathogen builds up with particular types of residue.” Syngenta’s fungicidal seed treatment Vibrance, says Labun, has performed extremely well against rhizoctonia in trials. Beyond its effects on canola, rhizoctonia has also shown negative impacts on wheat, he says, specifically affecting root health. “The window of infection is right at germination to four to six weeks after planting. With the introduction of Vibrance, we found we were able to extend that protection extensively.” According to Labun, early stand establishment sets the stage for yield potentials. Fungicidal seed treatments such as Vibrance, through protecting crops against soil borne pathogens such as R. solani, can help provide growers with uniform stand establishments, even under heavy disease pressure. † Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer and editor. Contact her at julienne.isaacs@gmail.com.

HOW CUSTOMERS USE CANADIAN FIELD CROPS

Pasta in Italy is made with durum – or else! The best pasta is made with durum wheat, just ask Italy. A decree from the President of Italy in 2001 declared that Italian pasta manufacturers are forbidden by law to use any wheat other than durum in dried pasta for domestic consumption. That’s a good thing for Canada, the world’s leading exporter of high quality durum wheat.

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Canadian International Grains Institute

JULY 22, 2014

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Best of Grainews

Diversity in the soil A teaspoon of soil might just look like dirt, but soil scientists see a complex ecosystem affected by everything from crop rotations to fertilizer BY LISA GUENTHER

sing DNA technology, researchers are finding that microbial diversity in the sea is huge, said Dr. Marcia Monreal, soil microbiology scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “But (their results) suggest the diversity in the soil is much larger.” Monreal explained that there is a food chain in the soil that includes bacteria plus other creatures such as fungi, nematodes and micro arthropods. “It’s a very dynamic system,” said Monreal. Plant roots discharge substances such as sugar, acid, polysaccharides and enzymes. Different plants release different materials into the soil, Monreal explained. These substances boost some populations over others. “But that doesn’t mean the other populations aren’t there. They just go dormant.” Monreal said some fungal spores, for example, can be dormant for 50 years before germinating. The plant root itself also affects soil ecosystems. “For example, legumes (roots) are soft and mushy and others have far more fibre. So with fibre you would be stimulating a different type of microbe, like fungi that could produce cellulose.”

U.K. RESEARCH Recent research out of the United Kingdom gives us a glimpse into the soil ecosystem, and how agronomic practices affect it. Scientists with the John Innes Centre sampled soil from a Norfolk-area field. They then planted wheat, oats and peas in the field and took more samples after four weeks. “The soil around the roots was similar before and after growing wheat, but peas and oats re-set the diversity of microbes,” said Dr. Philip Poole, in a media release from the John Innes Centre. The soil in the area where wheat was grown mostly contained bacteria. Oats and peas grown in the same area bumped up protozoa and nematode worm numbers. Peas grown alone increased fungi. Researchers also seeded an oat variety that doesn’t produce normal levels of avenacin, which protects roots from fungus. They thought there would be more fungi in the soil samples as a result. But the soil included a more diverse population of protozoa and other eukaryotes. Eukaryotes include plants, animals and fungi. Researchers at the John Innes Centre are also looking at how to develop cereals that form a relationship with the same bacteria that allow peas to fix nitrogen. “Small changes in plant genotype can have complex and unexpected effects on soil microbes surrounding the roots,” said Poole. Monreal and her colleagues

have studied the effect of crop rotation on soil dwellers such as mycorrhiza and bacteria. By soil sampling a few centimetres from the roots, they have found microbial populations responding differently to crop rotations. But Monreal said they haven’t seen clear results in how crop rotations affect specific soil species, with the exception of mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizal fungus grafts onto flax roots and scavenges nutrients and water for the plant. Plants such as canola and mustard don’t host mycorrhizae, and so planting flax the following year cuts

the flax’s ability to take in nutrients. But preceding flax with a mycorrhiza host, such as wheat, barley or a legume, ensures there’s plenty of mycorrhiza for the flax to work with. Monreal said, based on her experience, a crop can affect the soil ecosystem even after one year of a rotation. A consistent rotation may yield more long-term changes that are slow to happen, as microbe populations change with time. One population will benefit and grow very quickly on its favourite substrate, but then it decays, Monreal explained.

“And then another one takes the opportunity, and the other takes the opportunity, and you end up with a very different population.” Because soils are complex ecosystems, studying one species in isolation is ineffective. For example, one year Monreal expected to see more mycorrhizal activity in a zero tillage field. But rain created the perfect conditions for mites and other soil creatures that feed on mycorrhizae spores, reining in mycorrhiza numbers.

SOIL MANAGEMENT Farmers need to know how crop rotations and other management practices, such as tillage and fertilizer application, affect soil populations, Monreal said. “There are many management techniques. For example, in flax you may not need to apply phosphorus if the previous crop was properly fertilized.” If micorrhizal fungi are present, they will rummage through the soil for phos-

phate. There seems to be little benefit to applying phosphorus fertilizer to flax unless the soil is deficient. The soil ecosystem was a research focus in the 1980s and 1990s, Monreal said. “There was a lot of work done and people were trying to explain these things in a very rational, careful way.” Monreal said the John Innes Centre research is important and comments the scientists are on the right track. “Diversity in the soil could provide a lot of answers.” But Monreal said researchers are just scratching the surface in terms of understanding the soil ecosystem and its population dynamics. What’s needed next is for researchers to not only look at the details but also the broad picture, Monreal added. “It’s a very complex, interesting world. We haven’t been able to tackle it (just yet).” † Lisa Guether is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa. Guenther@fbcpublishing.com.

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JULY 22, 2014

Cattleman’s Corner CALF MANAGEMENT

Two-stage weaning reduces calf stress Capturing ‘win-win’ benefits in an area where new knowledge and options are emerging BY MERISTEM

wo southern Alberta ranches are among those who have found a twostage calf weaning program is not only much less stressful for livestock and improves rate of gain, it also makes for a much quieter weaning week. The two-stage weaning system involves processing calves about a week before the actual weaning day to apply a commercially available plastic guard, or nose flap, in the nose of each calf. It is a small plastic plate, about the width of the muzzle and three inches deep, that just clips into the nostrils, similar to the plastic closers found on many bread bags. The Canadian-made flaps are marketed by the Saskatchewan company Quiet Wean, www.quietwean.com. Calves are then released back into the cow herd. In most 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 nose-flaps, which are reusable next year. “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 is 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.” The two-stage weaning program eases calves into weaning. Research shows calves that are

conventionally weaned — simply one day removed from milk and their mothers — will spend the next two days pacing and walking as much as 25 miles, bawling and looking for their mothers. Among calves that have been weaned with the two-stage system using the Quiet Wean 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.”

they may have to 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 who were still nursing look pretty sad, and they’re bawling and looking for their mothers.” For their operation applying the nose-flaps is one extra step in calf processing in the fall — they plan to vaccinate and apply insecticide anyway, but Monner says it really doesn’t take that long, and overall it improves calf performance.

CHAD MONNER, MILO, ALBERTA

ROCKING P RANCH, NANTON, ALBERTA

Chad Monner, who ranches with his uncle Michael Monner, has been using the two-stage Quiet Wean weaning system with their 240-head commercial cow-calf herd at Milo in southern Alberta, for about six years. About a week before actual weaning, they process calves through the chute, apply the nose flaps as well as vaccinate and turn the calves back out with their mothers. A week later they sort the calves for weaning, remove the nose flaps, apply a topical pest control, and put calves into their on-farm backgrounding operation. “Since we have been using this two-stage 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. After a week of wearing these nose flaps and not nursing they’ve learned they don’t need mom anymore.” Monner says the tags, which cost about $2 each, are easy to install and remove. He says there is very good retention, estimating

The Blades family at Nanton, Alta. has been impressed with how smoothly and quietly weaning week went in 2013 after following the two-stage weaning program for the first year. They wean their 600-head cow herd on Rocking P Ranch in three bunches of about 200 head at a time. “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. “This year with the two-stage weaning the calves were so much quieter. The few that may have lost their nose flaps or figured out how to cheat were much more restless. They were bawling and looking for their mothers and the rest were calm and started eating. We kept them in the corral one night, and then turned them out to pasture.” Mac and Renie Blades operate Rocking P Ranch along with their son and daughter-in-law Justin and Mida and their daughter

PHOTO: COURTESY QUIET WEAN.

This plastic shield that simply clips into the nostrils helps calves get weaned while still with their mothers. Some producers report the plastic material can get brittle over time and if exposed to cold temperatures. and son-in-law Monica and Blake Schlosser. They pay attention to practices that can reduce stress in the cow herd, and maintain good records — all cattle are tagged, calf birth weights and vaccination protocol is recorded. While the ranch headquarters are just west of Nanton, they have a second place and most of the summer pasture south of Chainof-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.” Wi t h a c t u a l w e a n i n g d a y planned for 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. “Even a few days before they

were actually weaned you could see a difference,” says Blades. “Calves with the nose flaps couldn’t nurse anymore, so the calves were bunching up by themselves. You could see they were learning they didn’t need their mothers anymore.” 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,” he says. “By removing that stress calves were much healthier, there was very little sign of sickness or respiratory disease.” Blades says they will definitely be using the nose flaps in coming seasons. Admittedly they got a lot of comments from people who saw calves on pasture with the yellow nose flaps on their faces. “But I’ve also talked with a few neighbours who say they plan to try it themselves this year,” he says. †

the risk of infection has diminished. Theoretically this means that parasitism will decrease if the number of parcels of land is increased or the rotation rest period is increased. Unfortunately, in practice, it appears difficult to diminish the parasitic load with intensive grazing. It is helpful to have fecal samples tested so producers know what type of parasites are on their farm and thereby can learn their specific life cycle. The lifespan of some parasites is in fact always greater than the time required between grazing periods for maximum grass use. Therefore, by waiting six weeks before returning animals to a paddock, the quality of the grass decreases as well as the quantity of grass ingested by the animals, whereas the level of parasites only diminishes slightly.

dry the manure quickly and lowers the survival rates of shedded parasites. Studies in New Zealand and Ireland also show the use of chemical wormers slow the decomposition of manure, thereby not allowing this natural process the same efficiency. There is also a marked decrease in dung beetles on manure that has chemicals in it, again decreasing the efficiency of a natural cleaning system. A new pasture is considered a field where animals have not been grazing for a number of years or was last visited before extreme winter temperatures, which killed the existing parasites. On subsequent trips through this “new” pasture, it is important to remember that about 80 per cent of parasites live in the first five centimetres of pasture growth. Parasite infection and multiplication are prevented by allowing animals to graze only to 10 cm (about four inches) from the ground in a field where there are parasites. We like to keep our sheep

Article courtesy of “NewStream Farm Animal Care by Meristem”, anchored at www. meristem.com

ANYONE CAN START FARMING

Organic farming strategies useful for controlling parasites DEBBIE CHIKOUSKY

arasite control in our livestock is an evolving process. When we started farming, we had clean land and a handful of animals — we couldn’t understand what all the excitement was about. Now, we’ve come to realize that parasite control is an economic reality and one that has many facets. Just pouring chemicals repeatedly on our livestock is not a total solution. The more research that’s done it becomes more obvious that conventional livestock producers need to pay attention to how organic producers control parasites on their farms.

That’s because for several years now there has been absolutely no testing to develop new products. And studies are showing that certain common parasites have developed resistance to such deworming products such as benzimidazole, levamisole and even ivermectin, due to too-frequent use. Hot humid weather is ideal for parasite numbers to explode and this wet year so far has been ideal.

STARTS AT PASTURE Pasture management is a major focus of natural parasite control. The first rule is not to overstock livestock numbers on pasture, which increases the concentration of parasites. When trying to use chemical wormers less often it is recommended to worm the flock at least 10 days before releasing animals to pasture.

This will kill off the new season’s hatch and hopefully assist in not populating the pasture. It is generally estimated that parasite infections increase with the square of the animal load per surface unit. Therefore, for a given parcel of land, parasite infestations are four times greater where animal density is doubled. Density varies depending on whether grazing is intensive or extensive. Extensive grazing for sheep, for example, is fewer than 10 lambs to 2.5 acres. Pasture rotation, or intensive grazing, consists of dividing pastures into parcels of varying sizes called paddocks and frequently moving the animals from one paddock to another to optimize grass use. For optimum parasite control, the objective is to not put the animals back onto the same field until

USE THE SUN When animals are put onto new uninfected pastures experts say they should be allowed to graze grass very close to the ground. This allows the sun to

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

BUILDING TRUST IN CANADIAN BEEF

Needle-free injections show promise Manitoba research gives fresh look at intriguing technology

When researchers study emerging technology they want to know how well it meets industry needs and whether producers will get value from it. Manitoba researchers studying needle-free injections for beef cattle got a clear look at the potential benefits of the technology. But they also raised questions that may require further investigation. Needle-free injections are both old and new. The technology has been around for years and was used in humans in the ’40s, says Kim Ominski, the University of Manitoba researcher who headed up the study team. Today, it is used quite widely in the swine industry. In livestock a needle-free injection device (NFID) uses pressure to drive vaccine through the hide into subcutaneous or muscle tissue. Pressure on the nozzle triggers the injection as it reaches the hide. There are several brands on the market around the world. Injection comparisons

Ominski’s research studies focused on two areas. Could needle-free technology generate an immune response in beef calves? Was the technology easy to handle and cold tolerant? Studies showed no significant difference in immune response between the NFIDadministered product and the conventional needle delivery. And the delivery system worked in cold weather. “Needle-free vaccination techniques offer a number of potential advantages,” says Ominski. “Many of the concerns of needle vaccination techniques are eliminated. That includes the risk of broken needles in meat and the risk of needle-stick injuries. “Needle-free injections may also reduce risk of transferring disease through blood on needles. There is some conflicting research on that issue, so more study may be needed.” One question raised in her research was a reaction in some animals at the injection site, she says. “On one hand, that’s a good thing in that we are trying to generate an immune response. But we

Needleless injection equipment may be viable for low-dose vaccine delivery. would want to do further studies to ensure that they do not persist until slaughter.” Industry acceptance

Whenever Ominski demonstrated this equipment at meetings, beef producers seemed intrigued with the technology. “They were eager to try it out and had many questions and comments,” she says. Cold weather handling. Researchers used a backpack and fed the injection line down through the sleeve of the handler’s winter coat. There were no issues, says Ominski. Cost. These products are just emerging in the marketplace and costs are significant, ranging from $2,500 to $5,000. Formulation, dosage and application. The needle-free system does not require different product

formulation. However, the unit tested administered only one product at a time. And limited dosage means the technology is not suitable for higher-dose products such as antibiotics. A producer’s response

Mitch Rey, a beef producer and masters’ student who was involved as part of the research team, says the technology is more complex so does require maintenance and some training to use. He suspects it could be a challenge for cowcalf producers who may only use it four times a year at a maximum. But he believes feedlots, which handle larger volumes, often indoors, would likely consider the equipment easy to use and maintain.

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JULY 22, 2014

Cattleman’s Corner REPORT FROM DOWN UNDER

Great trek to the Outback BY KIM NIELSEN

e had a fascinating trip into the Australian Outback earlier this spring. As always anything of an agricultural nature got us sidetracked more often than not. Australia is a big country with many thinly populated areas, especially once you cross the Great Dividing Range and venture into the drier, less forgiving parts, at the mercy of an erratic weather pattern since settlement and with global warming perhaps more so now than ever. We live in the state of Victoria, which receives a reasonable amount of precipitation relative to the rest of Australia, roughly 680 mm (27 inches) annually with most arriving during the winter months of July and August. We are just south of the Great Dividing Range, a mountain range running along the east coast of Australia and bending westerly to finish here at the Grampians. South of the range we are under the influence of the coastal weather, cooler and rainier and progressively such as you approach the Southern Ocean about 100 kms away. In that direction Warrnambool gets an extra 100 mm (four inches) to ours. To the north, however, a much drier climate greets you almost instantly as you cross the range only 70 kms from us. At Horsham, Victoria 136 kms away the annual precipitation drops to 380mm (15 inches) annually. Then further into central

Australia it becomes much drier and from our diverse agricultural portfolios of Victoria the farming enterprises change from mixed farming to cropping areas to then strictly grazing. Well on your way into the outback at Easter we met an anomaly, the mighty Murray River, which has spawned an incredible horticultural and viticultural (wine) industry from irrigation. But once across it the real Outback is right there in front of you with vast open areas of grazing country dotted by shrubs such as salt bush and interspersed with tussock grasses.

HOME OF DROUGHTMASTER CATTLE Our destination was Birsdville in the southwestern part of Queensland and for most of the 2,000-km journey we crossed back and forth along the New South Wales/South Australia borders. Many of these areas receive only about 175 mm (about seven inches) of rainfall annually and the livestock choices are sheep or cattle with cattle dominating as we neared the township of Innamincka. The genetics also changed with Bos indicus cattle breeds noticeable in the breeding with the Brahman humps and droopy ears. Cattle producers have switched to gain genetics resistant to the cattle tick and also tolerant of the hot and humid weather experienced in the center. One of the unique cattle breeds

PHOTO: KIM NIELSEN

This cow-calf pair is the Droughtmaster breed developed to handle the severe conditions of Australian rangeland of the outback is Droughtmaster, a recognized breed that the Australian pioneering pastoralists developed from the adversities of the droughtand tick-prone Outback to become one of the great success stories of rural Australia. Crosses between the Bos taurus and Bos indicus lead to the Droughtmaster breed retaining the best characteristics of both genotypes. It was typically Shorthorn and Devon breeds that were crossed with Brahman or Santa Getrudis to maintain fertility, calving ease, heat tolerance, parasite resistance and a quiet temperament. As we toured the township of Innamincka, tucked up in the corner of South Australia but pretty much where Queensland and New South Wales meet it became evident we were indeed in the middle of Droughtmaster country. The cattle were predominantly dark red with the distinct humped neck and droopy ears. The landscape east of Innamincka is a gently rolling terrain with individual rises of sandstone buttes looking Wyoming-ish

with the same open vastness and very lightly stocked grazing country. It is a harsh and uninviting landscape most times but the numerous flood markers along dried-up creek crossings told a different story — a story of significant floods that periodically transform the desert into lush grass within weeks.

FEAST OR FAMINE COUNTRY The cattle herds were few and far between but so are the roads. The only indication of a sizable cattle industry was the massive cattle-handling systems located near the roads. We had a chance to talk to some of the local stock hands at the famous Innamincka Hotel and it was fascinating to hear their stories of the industry’s patience and perseverance in such a feast or famine part of Australia. They muster (gather) their cattle twice a year with ongoing weaning and pregnancy testing. Ownership of the weaned calves is often retained, slowly reaching a marketable weight of 500 to 600

kg at the age of three to four years and then either going straight to the abattoir as grass fed or into a feedlot for a short grain-fed finish. We had a drive-by look of the iconic Nappa Merrie cattle station and I wish I could have stopped in to meet the people running it, which is just one of a dozen cattle stations owned by the S Kidman Cattle Co. This station is average with 11,000 cows running on 2,800 sq miles or 1.8 million acres or roughly one cow per section of land! Many of the cattle stations in the outback are certified to sell organic beef and it shouldn’t be a surprise. The certifying criteria are much simpler than for most farms. The land has a history since settlement of no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides applied only relying on a timely rain to give productivity. † Kim Juul Nielsen, retired Manager of Agricultural Service, Clearwater County, Alta is a summer time resident of Alcheringa, Dunkeld, Victoria, Australia and is Canadian summertime grazier of 4-Clover Ranch, Rocky Mountain House Alberta

ANIMAL HEALTH

There is gain by reducing pain ROY LEWIS ANIMAL HEALTH

ith the advent of the increasing consciousness in animal welfare, any products which can relieve pain, decrease inflammation and reduce fever are a welcome addition to the repertoire we as veterinarians have to treat clinical disease. They also may have a place in controlling post surgical pain or inflammation such as might occur with castration or dehorning of cattle. With pain/inflammation/ fever more controlled there is less stress, animal appetite is maintained in many cases, and calves recover more quickly and are less likely to contract conditions such as respiratory disease. All the NSAIDs (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug’s) are prescription drugs so must be prescribed first by your veterinarian. They may be incorporated into protocols for the treatment of specific diseases on your farm. There are three main groups of NSAIDs: • Flunixine: Banamine was the original and now there are many generic trade names for the same thing;

• Ketoprofen, similar to human ibuprofen has the trade name Anafen; • Meloxicam trade name Metacam. This product has a huge market for treating small-animal arthritis primarily (now generic meloxicams are marketed in small animals) and is the most recent one to be approved in large animals. Each of these products may be used for different reasons based on the veterinarian’s preference.

BANAMINE The company that makes Banamine (Merck Animal Health) has also combined it with the antibiotic floramphenical in the same product calling it Resflor. Their research found very good recoveries with less scarred lungs in pneumonia cases. This was a result of decreasing the inflammation in the lungs, recovery was quicker the antibiotic could work better so death loss and percentage of chronics was reduced. Banamine by itself is only approved for intravenous usage, but in the antibiotic combination called Resflor it can be given subcutaneously. It shows that the one good shot of an anti-inflammatory really helps economically. There often is not the need to repeat the treatment. Check with your veterinarian but the adding of NSAIDs to the mix

when treating pneumonias will often help.

METACAM The company that makes Metacam (Boehringer Ingelheim) looked at using the product on clinically affected scouring calves along with the standard scour treatments such as electrolytes. They found that both the calves appetite was better, they recovered on average quicker and the calves were less active or more calm. The non-metacam treated calves because of probably uneasiness caused by gas pains or pain in general they weren’t nearly as content. Thus treated calves put more energy into getting better and recovered sooner. One must make sure the patients are properly hydrated and have good urine flow, as in under-hydrated calves kidneys may be harmed. That is generally true for all the NSAIDs. Boehringer IngelheimNin anotherNstudy looked at the pain response from hot-iron dehorning in young calves. While dehorning is becoming less necessary with using polled bulls in the beef breeds, dairy breeds are pretty much straight horned. A few polled dairy cattle are making inroads in Quebec. Dehorning is still routine in young dairy calves and

some strains of beef breeds (full French Charolais and Fleckvieh/ Simmental are two examples). The beauty with modern technology is that readers can be used that record pressure to elicit a pain response. The pressure pushing down around the dehorning site was recorded and response was elicited with calves struggling or pulling back. Behaviour such as flicking of the ears, head shaking or head rubbing compared to the non-dehorned animals or dehorned animals without the Metacam was looked at. These calves were done at the normal six to 12 week age and a significant reduction in pain responses were noted. Some were even given local anesthetic as well but that wears off after a few hours and the Metacam took over. The same principal really applies to the dehorning as the scouring calves, appetite will be maintained calves will be less stressed and recover quicker plus be less prone to get sick. This is a winwin situation and should return revenue to the producer especially in light of the fact that the amount of product is small in these young calves.

MORE RESEARCH Other animal welfare researchers are currently looking at using NSAIDs when doing other painful procedures such as castration or branding. Animal welfare is

pretty much at the top of the list when it comes to the public’s vision of food production and food safety. Our recent Beef Code of Practice makes the use of NSAIDs mandatory with castrating large calves starting in 2016. With castration the push is to do it at a younger age with a painkiller of some type and most veterinarians are now recommending this for both knife and banding castrations at older ages. Merck has a study indicating lameness is significantly reduced in the feedlot with Banamine proving its place as a painkiller with the increase in hairy heel warts (strawberry foot rot). In order to be adopted for routine procedures, producers need products to be effective, economical, easy to administer, long lasting and have no longer a withdrawal than most antibiotics it may be given with. These products definitely will fit the bill. Although they do cost money when using them for routine procedures on young calves the dose is small. There may be a feed formulation but administration by needle is still pretty easy. I find new veterinarians who have grown up in the animal welfare culture are more apt to use these products for many painful procedures. This is a good thing. Procedures such as eye enucleations, caesarian sections, claw amputations or even prolapsed

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Cattleman’s Corner RANCHER’S DIARY

Many days spent checking summer range HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

Nick to Indianola where Nick competed in a six-mile run. The race was a fundraiser for families of fallen firefighters. Nick placed first, but gave his prize money to the second-place finisher.

JUNE 4

JULY 1

randdaughter Heather has been riding with us, leading Willow out on the range, to give the filly experience out in the big wide world. She’s also been riding her around the pen and pastures for her first riding lessons. Andrea and I have been riding Sprout and Dottie nearly every day. Last Thursday the neighbours put their cows on the 160-acre pasture next to ours, and didn’t fix their torn-down fence onto the road. Michael doesn’t want their bull to get in with his cows — he doesn’t want his cows bred this early — so Lynn took two pole panels up there with the tractor and put them across the hole in the fence. A few days later we set a railroad tie for a brace post and Lynn helped the neighbours fix their fence. We did chores early and went to the kids’ music concert. Sam had a trumpet solo in her band, and Charlie’s group did very well. He’s the only trombone in his group. Last Saturday we moved the cows and calves from the field above the house, put the heifers with them (from the field below the barn) and put them all in the lower end of the swamp pasture — finally off hay! Then Andrea, Emily and I rode — Emily’s first ride since she broke her leg in February.

Rubbie and Veggie (age 27 and 28) are fully retired this year and we are no longer riding them. We put them on pasture together a couple of weeks ago. Andrea and I have been making some longer rides on the range, checking water troughs and fences. We told John Miller about one trough that wasn’t working, and he rode out a few days later and fixed it. We made

a long ride last Monday with Dani, into the high range, and shut some gates and saw two cow elk. The next day Carolyn and Heather rode down here and led an extra horse, and Charlie rode with us on a short ride on Gus. A couple of weeks ago a publisher accepted my proposal to write a book of “Horse Tales,” which will be published in October. These are stories of some of our horses and our experiences and adventures with them — from the time I got my first horse when I was nine years old. It’s a fun project, bringing back lots of memories! † Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact her at 208-756-2841

PHOTO: HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

Granddaughter Andrea, with her grandmother, Heather Thomas, checking some of the summer pastures.

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JUNE 17 Last week Andrea and I rode nearly every day, putting more miles on Dottie and Sprout, checking fences, etc. Dottie is coming along in her training but needs a lot more riding before she’s dependable enough for Sam to start riding her. Now that school is out, Sam and Dani have been riding with us — Dani riding Ed and Sam on Breezy — the first time Sam has ridden Breezy since the surgery to remove her eye. That mare is doing nicely with one eye and she and Sam are getting along fine. Tuesday Andrea and girls and I rode up toward the 320 and found a dozen pairs that got missed, and took them around the hill and into the middle range gate by Baker Creek. Andrea went ahead to open the gate and head the cows, while the girls and I brought the cows down the steep hill. The next day Andrea helped Lynn take water troughs to our hill pasture above the house, and pump water from the ditch across the road (using a pipe through the culvert under the road). Then Andrea and the girls and I took the cows up to the hill pasture. Michael went back to North Dakota to his truck-driving job. Andrea went with Carolyn and

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JULY 22, 2014

Cattleman’s Corner HORSES INDUSTRY

Canadian pride is through the roof Lifelong love of horses helped keep Saskatoon businessman on the right track BY EDNA MANNING

ruce Taras is proud to be Canadian and his new riding arena illustrates that very well. The businessman, horse trainer and owner of the Lazy T Ranch west of Saskatoon recently expanded his boarding facilities by adding a large indoor arena with a special feature. “My wife Marjorie and I thought if we were going to build a new indoor riding arena, we should do something different,” says Taras. With his knowledge of graphics and help of some highly skilled labour, Taras created a Canadian flag design that covers the roof of his arena. The flag, which measures 30 metres by 15 metres, is possibly the largest flag-roof design in North America. The flag was designed to exact scale at his business, Qwik Signs in Saskatoon. The roof has two bars of red at each end and the maple leaf in the center. It was constructed from pre-painted, ribbed sheet metal roofing. No paint or decals were used in the fabrication. “We joined sheets of roofing metal inside the facility on the ground. The maple leaf was drawn onto the sheet metal, cut out with a special metal-cutting tool, and all the pieces were numbered. We placed the numbered pieces on the roof in proper sequence. That was the easy part — the installation took us about four hours. The design and cutting took 30 hours,” Taras says. The arena opened in time for Canada Day celebrations July 1, 2013. A small barn has since been re-roofed and now displays Saskatchewan’s provincial flag in complete detail.

RAISING TENNESEE WALKERS Taras has been raising registered Tennessee Walking horses for the past 20 years and currently has

PRESENTS…

eight registered Tennessee Walkers of his own and 25 boarders of various breeds. “The Tennessee Walking horse or gaited horse was developed as a specific breed for plantation owners in the southern U.S. to monitor the slaves picking tobacco and cotton. They wanted a saddle horse with a calm disposition that was comfortable to ride. Tennessee Walking horses are noted for their smooth gait and easy-going disposition,” Taras says. Taras has more than 53 years of experience in training horses. His love of the animals began when he was a 13-year-old working a paper route on the west end of Saskatoon. “The last stop on my route was a riding stable owned by Gordon Spence. From my paper money, I purchased my first horse when I was 13. “Horses kept me off the streets as a youth,” says Taras. “After school and after delivering papers I stayed busy with horses and went home at night. My weekends were always occupied with the horses. It was a great benefit to me.” The stable owner, cowboy named Gordon Spence, became his mentor. “He was an old rodeo cowboy and a very skilled horseman who had travelled the rodeo circuit for many years. His skill with animals was unique. He was a very knowledgeable individual and knew more about horses than any person I’ve ever known. He was a fine man and a great teacher. He not only taught me a lot about horses, but also about life and what work was all about.”

ALWAYS LOVED HORSES In his teens and youth, Taras spent a great deal of his spare time around horses and developed the skills necessary to teach and train the animals. “I was breaking horses when I was 14 and absolutely loved it. When I was 21, I had the opportunity to help round up a

PHOTO: EDNA MANNING

Roofs on the barns at the boarding centre demonstrate the fact Bruce Taras is proud to be a Canadian in Sask. herd of wild horses near Ashcroft in the mountains of B.C. That was a great experience for a young ‘prairie boy,’” he says. When he was young, Taras also participated in bull-riding and bareback rodeo events at the encouragement of another one of his mentors, Ralph Claypool and his wife Ellen. Taras taught his horses to perform a variety of tricks to entertain audiences at halftime during rodeo events, which helped with road expenses. “I’ve gotten a lot of bumps and bruises over the years that come with the territory, but if you take the time with the horses, you’ll be amazed what they can do and how well they respond,” he says. Taras says patience and kindness are two of the most important factors to remember in working with horses; also body language. “If you watch a horse — they’re all body language — how they move and how they gesture, this is how they mostly communicate with other horses.” In 1992, Taras took over his uncle’s farm, which originally belonged to his grandfather. He got back into horses simply for the love of the animals, though he was still operating his textile

business at the time. He decided to retire from the business in 2001, but says he just couldn’t sit still. He started the sign business in his garage as a hobby, which was eventually relocated in Saskatoon. He credits his success to Marjorie, his wife of 40 years, who has supported his every effort; his three children, Mitch, Chris and Amanda who have been equally supportive; and his parents Peter and Francais, who made sure the horse board was paid when the paper route was a little short of funds. Taras also values the influence of Gordon Spence, who taught him how to have a strong work ethic and more about horses in seven years than most people learn in a lifetime. “With a good work ethic, I think anyone can be reasonably successful in life,” says Taras. “The world is open to you — people have to seize the opportunities at hand and work hard. If you run into obstacles, which happen in everyone’s life, you’ve got to overcome them and move on.”

BOARDING AND TRAINING The Lazy T currently boards about 30 horses but the facilities

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are available to accommodate 50 animals. With two barns, Taras has 22 box stalls along with several private outdoor paddocks with shelters. He has 70 acres of pasture for the animals. Boarders are entitled to the use of all the facilities. “We also have a young lady who trains horses and provides riding instructions at the Lazy T Stables. Rachael Johnson is an accomplished horse trainer from England with 14 years of training horses. She has a great deal of experience and a wealth of knowledge. She loves horses and is a dedicated, competent and capable gal. “We live in the greatest country in the world,” says Taras. “The huge Canadian flag roof and the provincial flag roof on our barns are a reminder to everyone who either drive by or fly over the Lazy T Stables of how fortunate we all are to be able to enjoy the freedom our country offers us.” For more information, contact Bruce Taras at the Lazy T Ranch at (306) 229-6651, or email lazytstables@shaw.ca or tennesseewalkers@shaw.ca. † Edna Manning is a Sask. based freelance writer.

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28

THERE IS GAIN BY REDUCING PAIN uteruses or other exploratory surgeries do much better with the addition of an NSAID. There is no doubt about their benefit. With more approved products coming onto the market competition has pushed the price down so they are more affordable and can be used routinely in processing situations if your veterinarian prescribes them. In the near future we will see more and more pain medication given to cattle. While it does appease the animal welfare concerns it also makes total economic sense. Reducing pain in livestock will return to the farmer both increased production, and hopefully reduce clinical disease. We as veterinarians just need to think about how it should fit into our treatment protocols and keep the animal welfare concerns in the back of our minds. † Roy Lewis is an Alberta-based veterinarian specializing in large-animal practice. He is also a part-time technical services vet for Merck Animal Health.

JULY 22, 2014

grainews.ca /

Cattleman’s Corner BETTER BUNKS AND PASTURE

Pencil out creep feeding economics

PETER VITTI

ecord-high prices for feeder cattle and modest grain costs make creep feeding spring calves this year a very attractive option. However, before putting creep feeders on pasture, each operator should pencil out the economic return of creep feeding and take note of any relevant side benefits. It’s also important to know the main objective of creep feeding as it applies to your cow herd. Creep feeding might not be for everybody, but in today’s unprecedented market should be investigated for a prospect of good revenue and profit. For the 2014 creep-feeding season, the profitability of most situations can be evaluated by following the accompanying worksheet. It uses ballpark estimates of autumn weaned-calf prices and feed costs in order to yield creep-feeding returns.

RUN THE NUMBERS Assumptions: We are raising healthy large-framed calves that are still nursing their mums and grazing medium-quality nativegrass pasture. The creep feeders are filled with a well-balanced creep feed that put on an extra 60 lbs. of bodyweight with a 7.0 lbs. of creep/gain ratio and in a 150day creep feeding program until calves are weaning in the fall. Replacement heifers are segregated from the rest of the herd and not creep fed. Your own respective numbers can be entered in the last column to forecast your own creep feeding returns. A worksheet to calculate creepfeeding returns is as follows*:

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26

ORGANIC FARMING STRATEGIES USEFUL FOR CONTROLLING PARASITES and goats in a night pen with hay. This practice can also limit exposure to parasites. The drier the grass, the more parasites will stay at the base of the plants. It is estimated in wet grass, larvae can be found over 30 cm (about 12 inches) above the manure piles, whereas they venture only a few centimetres away when the grass is dry. The risk of infection is greatly reduced by waiting until the dew has lifted or until the grass has dried after rain before putting animals out to pasture. The larvae of most parasites move to the tops of plants when light levels are low, that is, when the sky is overcast or at sunrise and sunset. They avoid strong light however. Limiting grazing time to when the sun is strong also diminishes the risk of infection.

00-235-6140 DIFFERENT SPECIES

When it is not economically sound to leave a long rest period between pasture or pad-

The above spreadsheet simply illustrates the objective of a true creep feeding program — the need for nutritious creep feed in order to maintain and promote overall spring calf performance, which is directly related to how much milk the nursing cows are producing and to good grass quality and availability. For example at the start of the summer, calves that are receiving lots of milk from cows and grazing lush pastures — might only be eating only about two to three pounds of creep feed. However by mid-summer (three to four months after calving), milk production is declining such that the average beef cow might meet only about 50 per cent of her growing calf’s requirements. In addition, pasture quality is also on a decline, once lush grasses are maturing and essential nutrients such as energy and protein are not so readily available. As a result, the same calves are being drawn to the feeders and dramatically consume about eight to 10 lbs. of creep feed by summer’s end and well into autumn before weaning. In a similar way, creep feeding calves grazing higher-quality pastures translate into lower feed efficiencies of nine to 11 lbs. per pound of gain compared to a standard creep feed efficiency of five to seven pounds of feed per pound of gain grazing the same but mature fall-time pastures. Therefore, it will be the entire season’s feed conversion of creep feed into saleable weaning weight that is the driving force behind calf creep performance and profitability. Case-in-point: In the above spreadsheet; a feed conversion of seven yields about $43 per calf due to creep feeding, while a lower feed conversion of 10 yields only about $15 per calf.

dock grazing, farmers might consider grazing a different animal species. Generally parasites are species specific. This does not apply to sheep and goats though. Apparently their parasites find each other perfectly acceptable hosts but they will not infest cattle. Therefore if the sheep/ goats go through first and then the cattle are put through on regrowth this could be a better use of resources. Another option is to utilize poultry on pasture. Virginian grass farmer Joel Salatin recommends moving the cattle daily onto fresh pastures and following them with poultry. The poultry will scratch through the manure, picking out the parasites, allowing the manure to decompose. A bonus is that unlike chemical wormers, that could cost producers thousands of dollars, the poultry produce meat and eggs for your family for the winter while doing parasite control work. Properly timed, mechanically harrowing pastures is also an option for reducing parasite loads. This should only be done after the last fall rotation and only if freezing temperatures are imminent. If not this practice will just broadcast parasites over the

A WORKSHEET TO CALCULATE CREEP-FEEDING RETURNS*: No Creep (1)

Creep (2)

Your Calculations

540

600

Input

Weaned calf weight (lb)

Expected body wt gain due to creep feed (lb)

Input

Expected Creep feed used

420

*7.0 x B

Predicted calf price at weaning

2.35

2.30

Input

Predicted calf value

1269

1380

A1 x D1 A2 x D2

Value of Expected gain

111.00

E1 – E2

Creep feed cost per lb

0.16

**Input

Total cost of creep feed

67.20

CxG

Return per hd due to creep feed

43.80

F-H

* Feed conversion = 7.0

**Creep Feed costs = $350/mt

OTHER BENEFITS TOO Aside from the variable dollars per calf generated by most creep feeding programs on a given year (including 2014), one should keep in mind that there are many benefits of setting up creep feeders on pasture, such as: • Improves weaning weights on calves that are born during a late-calving season. • Effective on cowcalf operations with a substantial amount of poormilking cows. • Supplements the nutrition of calves from thin and poorly conditioned cows. • Provides more essential nutrition to exceptionally good growing calves. • Develops a more uniform calf crop at weaning time. • Easier to wean calves and acclimatizes them to bunk feeding. • Reduces sickness of calves that often occurs after weaning. To take advantage of all direct

pasture rather than keeping them in the manure clumps. During pasture season make notes on which animals have no resistance to parasite loads and require repeated treatments. We have stopped keeping replacement females from dams that are constantly in need of treatment as it is proven to be a genetic trait. There is more to natural parasite control than just pasture management, but without this nothing is going to work. Recurring infestation, which points to the contaminated pastures is the major problem on most sheep and goat farms so this is where we need to start. The next steps will involve utilizing nutrition and perhaps herbal treatments, in the control program. † Debbie Chikousky farms with her family at Narcisse, Manitoba. Visitors are always welcome. Contact Debbie at debbie@chikouskyfarms.com