Gnn150106 by Farm Business Communications

Volume 41, Number 1 | JANUARY 6, 2015

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PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER

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Farmers still concerned about grain movement By Lisa Guenther

he grain industry’s transportation woes have eased somewhat over the last few months, but farmers’ concerns linger. To get a sense of where things are at and what need to be done to resolve the complex issues around transportation, Grainews spoke to farmers from each Prairie province.

Grain bound for ports at the West Coast “moving very well” Recent grain movement pushed the grain handling and transportation system’s total handlings to record or near-record highs in recent months, according to Quorum Corporations’ third quarter report. Road and rail shipments from western Canadian primary elevators rose by 7.6 per cent from the previous year, reaching 29.1 million tonnes. Shipments in the third quarter jumped over 26 per cent, hitting 10.5 million tonnes. That’s a record for Quorum’s grain monitoring program, which began in 2001. Canadian National (CN) Railway’s December 8 order book showed the cars spotted for this crop year were well above the five-year average. In October 2014, CN spotted on average 5,508 cars per week, while the five-year average was 4,738 cars per week. November 2014

saw 4,836 CN cars per week, while CN’s fiveyear average was 4,369 cars per week. On the ground, farmers are seeing some improvements over last year. Allison Ammeter, who farms near Sylvan Lake, in central Alberta, wrote via email that grain bound for export on the West Coast is “moving very well” in her area. But, Ammeter wrote, her farm is close to both the CN and Canadian Pacific (CP) lines, “both of which are about as close to the ports as we can come in Alberta. The railroads cherry-pick us first.” Crops headed for the U.S., such as oats, are stymied in her area, she added. Stuart Person is a business adviser with MNP and farms near Shellbrook, Sask. Asked about rail movement in his area this fall, Person said it was significantly better on the surface. Shellbrook, located in northeast Saskatchewan, is “at the end of the world for grain shipping,” Person said, because of the distance from ports. Grain didn’t move immediately in his area after the order-in-council, but once Alberta was cleaned out, things started moving, he said. “In general, the east-west rail movement has been significantly better this year, or at least steadier. But anything going south is pretty much non-existent,” said Mike Bast, who farms near La Salle, south of Winnipeg. Rail movement started picking up in the spring and remained steady through the summer, he added.

A CN train waits at a (Cargill terminal near North Battleford, Sask., on December 4. While grain movement has picked up in recent months, farmers still have long-term concerns about the transportation system.

In This Issue

Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240

Wheat & Chaff .................. 2 Features . ........................... 5 Crop Advisor’s Casebook . 8 Columns ............................ 15 Machinery & Shop............. 23 Cattleman’s Corner .......... 28

Outstanding young farmers lee hart page 12

May God's richest blessings come to you and your family this Christmas. John M. Smith

Combine speecial

scott garvey page 23

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

` “Straight Cut”

CARDALE

“More Wheat...Less Shatter” seeddepot.ca

photo: lisa guenther

Grain is moving more freely this winter, but concerns linger

/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Wheat & Chaff STAMPEDE

BY JERRY PALEN Leeann Minogue

“Aw, we’re not stuck. Well, maybe a little...”

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eeling tired? Maybe a little overwhelmed? I’m not surprised. You’re a member of so many associations and organizations, I don’t know how you have time to keep your truck filled with gas, what with all that driving to meetings. What’s that you say? Just the Elks? Count again. Through checkoffs deducted from your grain cheques, grain farmers are members of all kinds of research and development organizations. In Saskatchewan alone, there are 10 different organizations collecting checkoffs from the sales of crops. That’s right, 10. And this doesn’t include groups that deal with livestock and forage crops, or farm policy groups like the Western Canadian Wheat Growers or the National Farmers Union. Since you’re a member of these organizations, I’m sure you read all of the magazines, pamphlets and glossy brochures that they send to your mailbox. But just in case you need a quick refresher, here are some things to consider when you’re eyeing those deduction lines on your grain cheques this winter.

Get the information You don’t have to sign a membership card, or pay a fee, or even show up at a meeting. If they’ve taken your checkoff, you’re automatically a member of the organization. Go to the information meetings. Read the newsletters. As well as funding research, most of these associations have great extension programs. Wondering if you should buy micronutrients for your canaryseed crop? Ag Canada researcher Bill May will be speaking about that at the Saskatchewan Canaryseed Development Commission’s AGM in Saskatoon in January. Not quite sure when will be the best time to sell your fababeans? Alberta Pulse has current market outlooks right on its website for anyone to read. The most recent issue of the Winter Cereals Canada newsletter has an interesting article about the 2014 fusarium head blight survey of winter wheat in Manitoba. If you didn’t keep

your mailed copy, you can find it online. You’re paying for this research and development. Make the most of it. Surely there’s something here that will be useful for your business.

Get involved Maybe you read that last paragraph and muttered, “Bah. None of that research is any use on my farm. They’ve got the wrong location. Wrong crop. Wrong technique.” You can change that. This is not one of those cases where a bunch of people in suits from Ottawa or Toronto are telling us what to research. This is our money. The decisions about which research projects get the funding dollars are made by a bunch of Prairie farmers sitting around tables, drinking lukewarm coffee. With a little interest and effort, you could get a chair at that table. They’d probably even let you bring the doughnuts. With so many organizations out there, there is almost no limit to the number of leadership opportunities open to you. Not ready to commit to being a board member? Lots of these groups have subcommittees. Start by volunteering to sit in on conference calls and add your voice to the discussion about that one issue that’s keeping you awake at night. Maybe your idea can make a difference.

Take pride in your work You’re funding some pretty impressive research. In fact, it’s so impressive that the Canadian Revenue Agency will give you an investment tax credit! (Through the Scientific Research and Experimental Development [SR&ED] Program.) Every year, the federal government takes a look at the organizations that are doing active research. The CRA has a list of criteria. Spending has to meet their conditions to count as “research spending.” For example, money spent on flying in a guest speaker for a meeting doesn’t count; funding to develop a new barley variety does. For 2013, the CRA decided that 25 per cent of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers’ spending met their criteria for SR&ED — that means you can write 25 per cent of your pulse levy into the SR&ED line of your tax form, and your taxes will be lower. Alberta canola growers can use 19.47 per cent of their canola levy (the CRA is very precise.) I suspect that not all farmers

One more variety

n our list of new crop varieties for 2014, we should have included this one from DuPont Pioneer: D3155C. D3155C is a Roundup Ready hybrid that contains the Pioneer Protector clubroot-resistant trait, with a yield potential of 103 per cent of average of the industry checks in DuPont Pioneer Research trials from 2012 and 2013. It has an R rating for blackleg and fusarium wilt. It has excellent early growth and yield potential. † Leeann Minogue

are using this tax deduction. Almost every year, after we submit our taxes, I get a confused call from the CRA. They start off with: “I see you’ve claimed a research and development tax credit.” I agree. Then they say something like, “But you can’t possibly be doing actual, creditable research on a family grain farm in Saskatchewan.” (He’s probably picturing me wearing an apron, churning fresh butter and chasing live chickens at my end of the line.) I’m always proud to tell the CRA agent that, “Yes, we are funding real research,” before I turn the whole confusion over to our accountant.

You don’t have to play You can pack up your toys and go home. With the exception of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, each of these levies is refundable. You are free to phone in and ask for your money back. There will be some rigamarole (forms, application periods), but it’s not something you can’t figure out. But, will cashing your refund cheque for $0.50 per tonne of oats be as much fun as telling the CRA agent he’s wrong? And, do you really want to leave the important job of funding development of the next chickpea variety up to your neighbour? Funding research is a good investment. Garth Patterson, executive director of the Western Grains Research Foundation, says that as well as directly funding research, when farmers invest their own money, it’s easier to convince governments and other research funders to invest more of their dollars. “It’s a different voice at the table,” he says. Before he moved to the WGRF, Garth Patterson was the executive director of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. Since I had him on the phone, I asked him if he noticed a difference when he moved from an organization with a non-refundable levy to one where farmers can ask for their money back. “From a staff and a board perspective you treat farmers the same whether it’s refundable or not,” he said. “You have to be just as diligent in either case.” Maybe you spent your Christmas vacation catching up on your bookkeeping, tracking your levies, and now you have “levy fatigue” and think your deductions are too high. Garth suggests taking a look Down Under. “We have a lot in common with Australia, but they’re also one of our major competitors.” And they’re investing a lot in research specific to their climate. When it comes to wheat, Garth says, “It’s pretty safe to say the Australian farmers are investing about four times more per tonne than we are.” So, now that you’re thinking about it, turn to Page 10 of this issue for a complete list of levycollecting organizations, their telephone numbers, their websites and the amount of the levy you’re paying. You’re a member. Get involved. † Leeann

JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Wheat & Chaff Photo contest

Farm safety

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT Denis Carter sent us this photo. Denis says, “This is our grandson Will playing with some cute little kittens that were born in our barn. Will is from Brandon, but loves to come to the farm to play with the animals and see the farm machinery. We, along with our son, farm 2,500 acres of wheat, canola, rye, and barley near Kenton, Manitoba.” Thanks for sharing this great shot Denis! We’re sending you a cheque for $25. Send your best shot to leeann.minogue@fbcpublishing.com. Please send only one or two photos at a time and include your name and address, the names of anyone in the photo, where the photo was taken and a bit about what was going on that day. A little write-up about your farm is welcome, too. Please ensure that images are of high resolution (1 MB is preferred), and if the image includes a person, we need to be able to see their face clearly. Leeann

You might be from the Prairies if...

By Carson Demmans and Jason Sylvestre

Carbon monoxide: be aware and ready

long with winter comes the increased risk of Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning. The danger not only exists in homes with natural gas powered furnaces, water heaters or stoves, but also in sheds, garages barns or shops where work is being performed with internal combustion engines or being heated with fuel-powered heating sytems. Many people using equipment like compressors, generators, welders and even pumps in buildings or semi-enclosed spaces have been poisoned by CO. Bill Hunter, Fire Chief for the Township of Perth East and Municipality of West Perth has first-hand experience in responding to a case of CO poisoning. He explains: “A man, working on a cistern with a gas-powered concrete saw in an unventilated location was exposed to CO. Fortunately, his wife checked on him, recognized he was in distress and called 911. When we arrived, he was just about unconscious.” Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless gas — a by-product of incomplete combustion. There is always some produced whenever any carbon-based fuel is burned such as natural gas, heating oil, wood, reconstituted wood logs, gasoline, charcoal or any similar product. It is a highly toxic gas that is undetectable to the human senses — making it the perfect killer. CO enters the body through the lungs. It replaces oxygen in the blood and prevents the flow of oxygen to the heart, brain and other vital organs. When you inhale carbon monoxide, it reduces your body’s ability to carry oxygen in your blood. The health effects can be very serious, even resulting in death. It’s important to note that carbon monoxide is dangerous at any level. Even low exposure can result in damage to your health. Symptoms of CO poisoning are the same as a case of influenza. “CO poisoning presents very much like the flu, but with no fever,” Hunter says. “You become nauseous, may experience a headache and become lethargic; you just want to crawl into bed.” CO poisoning can also cause chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, confusion and drowsiness. On the farm, just because it’s cold outside, doesn’t mean work stops. Often repairs on machinery like tractors take place during these cold months when work in the field has

Canadian Agricultural Safety Association — www.casa-acsa.ca

Agronomy tips… from the field

Ask yourself now

You have ever whistled at a girl wearing a parka and snow boots.

stopped. Sometimes this means using a generator or compressor or even idling a piece of equipment, all of these activities produce CO. Carbon monoxide can rapidly accumulate and build up to dangerous or fatal concentrations within minutes. So what’s the best bet to prevent CO poisoning? “Unless your building is designed with a proper mechanical ventilation system avoid running gas-powered equipment inside,” Hunter says. “If you do have to run a machine or tool inside a building that isn’t designed with a mechanical ventilation system, ensure there is adequate air ventilation. For example, make sure there is a man-door open at open end of the building and the shed door open at the other end for example, but your best bet is to avoid running these gas-powered equipment, like generators inside the building at all.” Run these machines away from windows, doors and vent openings so that fumes can’t enter the building through these areas. Avoid idling tractors, trucks and other vehicles inside garages and sheds. Even with the overhead door open, CO can quickly build if the area isn’t properly ventilated. If you suspect you or someone else has been exposed to carbon monoxide, evacuate the area and call emergency services. If you suspect that your home has a CO leak, don’t open the windows or try to ventilate the area. Emergency responders will be able to more quickly and accurately locate the source, liked a blocked chimney or faulty water heater. If your home, garage, shop or barn is heated with natural gas, propane or other fuels, ensure that you have working carbon monoxide alarms. All heating appliances should also have regular maintenance and ventilation should be checked, ensuring it isn’t blocked by snow or other debris like leaves. Carbon monoxide isn’t always at the top of our minds when it comes to safety, but CO poisoning is a leading cause of accidental poising deaths in Canada. Prevention is the key to stopping these deaths. For more information about carbon monoxide, please visit cosafety.ca. For more information about farm safety, please visit casa-acsa.ca. †

hile the details are fresh in your mind, it’s a good time to extract the lessons of last season before moving forward. Here are three questions that might unlock some important but overlooked lessons from 2014. What worked and what didn’t? An obvious question, but one that sometimes isn’t given the attention to detail it deserves. For instance, if you made herbicide passes a few km per hour faster (or slower) this year, did it affect product performance and is it a practice that you might extend next year? Little observations can lead to big improvements. What’s important to you? Think beyond agronomics. Include the things that made your life better or

worse this year. Were you frustrated enough by jugs that you’re looking for a bulk option next year? Is the improved establishment you get with an early postemergent herbicide spray enough to sway you from your regular practice of later applications? Your preferences matter. Why? It happens. Those weird situations that don’t make sense. Why did the field that looked so bad in May deliver such great yields at harvest? Why did your crop, which you treated the same way your neighbour treated his, outperform his by four bushels? Answering “why?” can reveal new ways to do things better. † This agronomy tip is brought to you by Rob Klewchuk, technical lead, Western Canada for Syngenta Canada Inc.

Weather Lore

Listening for rain

Sounds travelling far and wide A rainy day will betide. his is a fairly reliable weather rhyme for two reasons. Air temperatures tend to even out just before a rain and sound muffling currents are neutralized allowing sound waves to zip along more efficiently. Also, before a rain an inversion can occur. In an inversion, temperatures increase with height. Vertical sound waves are usually lost in the cold upper air but the warm upper air of an inversion catches them and allows them to zip along reaching the listener at the same time as the slightly slower moving horizontal waves. †

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.

/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Cover Stories Grain transportation » CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

rail movement “We are in the interswitching area but we haven’t seen the benefit from that yet,” said Bast. More time may be needed for interswitching to take effect, Bast said. Logistics issues in the U.S. may be having an effect, too, he added.

Farmers concerns: ed about competition, capacity and safety All three farmers interviewed expressed long-term concerns about grain transportation. Ammeter is troubled by the lack of competition between the two major railways. CN and CP, she wrote, “take the attitude that they can dictate what they will do. And they can.” She suggested open running rights, or even a farmer-owned railroad, as potential solutions. At interview time, Bast was worried the order-in-council calling for railways to move a set amount of grain each week would be lifted once the backlog was cleared. Since then, the federal government has opted to extend the order-in-council. Weekly tonnage requirements have dropped from the 536,200 tonnes per railway called for in the previous rule. “I’ve never been a fan of government sticking their nose too much into things,” said Bast. But if the industry can’t figure it out on its

own, the government has to step in, he added. Bast saw the focus on weather as the reason for poor rail service as a red herring. “We’ve had that for 100 years. We’ve always dealt with it. We can move grain when we want to,” he said. “I think it boils down to, at the end of the day, profits for companies. They’re going to move the stuff that makes them the most money.” Bast said he doesn’t blame CN and CP for wanting to make the most money on what they haul. “But when we’re a captive group or captive industry that’s held to them — we have no alternative — then there have to be other things in place that make it more fair, I guess.” If more regulation isn’t on the books, hopefully interswitching, allowing other shortlines to operate, or sending grain south will help, Bast added. Person wondered whether sales lost during last winter’s logistics knots are long-term. “We need to figure out what capacity needs there are and how do we fix it,” said Person. Whether government, railroads, farmers or grain companies should invest is the question, he said. Person said he doesn’t really believe it’s a government issue. “But the issue is what is it costing the government not to do something?” Ammeter’s wish list includes a focus on serving farmers’ needs rather than moving cars to port. “We should not have to continually be battling the rail-

roads for appropriate service,” Ammeter wrote. Person would like to see an engineering firm or logistics company step back, take a look at the geography of the Prairies, the ports, and grain movement “and really think hard about well, if you could start from scratch, what would you do?” Person would like to know if it would make more sense to beef up the current rail system, or start sending Saskatchewan grain south to the Mississippi. Ammeter is also concerned about railway safety. Last summer she visited ports in Oregon, Washington and B.C. American unloaders told her automatic wrenches often wouldn’t work on Canadian cars so they had to manually wrench the cars. American unloaders used terms such as old, outdated, and poorly maintained, Ammeter wrote. Since 2007, grain cars have been provided to both railways at no cost to the railways, Todd Frederickson of Transport Canada told Fields on Wheels delegates in early December. Under an agreement with the federal government, railways are responsible for refurbishing the fleet to ensure “hopper cars remain in good operating condition throughout the service life,” Frederickson said. Cars are normally good for 40 years, but refurbishing them adds 10 years to their lives, Frederickson said. The majority of the fleet won’t be retired until 2026, he said. “So there is a bit of time to have a policy discussion on the capacity of the fleet long-term.”

cap or entitlement? Both Person and Ammeter raised concerns about discussions around the revenue cap. The revenue cap is a formula the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) uses to determine how much revenue CN and CP should earn from hauling grain. An index takes into account forecasted costs for railway, fuel, labour, material and capital purchases by both railways, according to the CTA website. The CTA also looks at how much grain the railways hauled and the average haul length. Ammeter wrote that the media often refers to the revenue cap. But, in her opinion, it is not a cap. “There is a revenue entitlement for moving grain, and it is plenty,” she wrote. Person said, as railways are responsible to shareholders, they are going to haul freight that makes them more money. Person said if a railway’s capacity is limited, it will pick and choose freight. There is a perception, Person said, that the freight caps “do not allow the railroad to maximize revenue from hauling grain.” But, Person added, it’s tough to nail down a fair rate for hauling grain without a valuator. While the formula may need to be adjusted, he said, “nobody really knows what the right rate is because we have two rail line companies. They’re not really that competitive.” † Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.Guenther@ fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

Grain transportation

Grain movement chills in winter By Lisa Guenther

hy can’t the railways push through winter? Kyle Petluk hails from Alberta’s Peace River region. He was one of few farmer delegates at the Field on Wheels transportation conference in Winnipeg last December. Farmers are hurting after last winter, not CN and CP shareholders, he said during an interview. “(The railways are) saying it’s a harsh winter — and, hey, we know all about it. We’re producers. Our livelihood is based on the weather,” said Petluk. “Now they’re going to throw even more risk upon us saying, ‘Well, the movement is due to the weather. You’re going to incur that too?’ No.” But no one should expect dramatic technological improvements anytime soon, Paul Miller told delegates at Field on Wheels. Miller is former vice-president of Canadian National (CN) and now serves as railroader-in-residence at the University Alberta. “If a rail-roader comes to you and says ‘We’ve got winter solved this year,’ I’d be a little bit skeptical of that rail-roader,” said Miller.

Winter is tough on railroads because of the basic technology they use, Miller said. Once the mercury drops to -25 C, railways are plagued by all kinds of problems. Steel rails contract and break. The ballast under the rail also freezes, so when wheels pass over the rail, there’s no give. Steel wheels also suffer, getting into “a bit of an out-ofround condition,” Miller said. And when air brakes are applied, wheels heat and cool dramatically, producing a brittle material known as martensite, Miller said. The martensite flakes off the wheel, moisture gets under the flakes, and wheel pieces break away, he explained. Cold weather also means shorter trains as more leaks develop in the air brakes. Miller said trains could be cut from 10,000 feet to 7,000 feet in cold weather. Dropping those cars ties up the switching operation and another track in the yard, Miller said. It also delays the crew that’s doing that work. “And now once the train is put back together at 7,000 feet, they have to again requalify the brake pipe and requalify the brake system,” said Miller. “All of this

takes times. So time is kind of the enemy in the winter time.” Operating conditions may be good through most of the network. But if a central location such as Chicago gets backed up, it ripples through the network, Miller explained. Sometimes a railway has to choose between sending crews and locomotives to a specific customer’s location or the busy main line. Miller said when the chips are down in the winter, railways will try to keep their main lines and main terminals going. “If they can’t keep the main core network fluid, dealing at a particular customer location frankly isn’t going to help. So those are the decisions that get made,” he said.

New technology Steel-shattering cold only affects part of the rail network for part of the year. Historically, research has focused on things that will help all the railroads all the time, Miller said. But even implementing innovations in air brake and rail technology is easier said than done, according to Miller. The current air brake system is based on the Westinghouse system from the 1920s, Miller said.

“It does not work, on the same train, in conjunction with the new system. So it’s a big, big logistical challenge.” Both Miller and Jean-Jacques Ruest, executive vice-president of CN, mentioned portable compressed air stations as one way to make rail movement more efficient. If it’s very cold, it takes two or three hours to charge the air lines before a safety test can be done, Ruest said. Elevator staff can use compressed air stations to boost pressure in the air lines of unit trains before the rail crew arrives. That way the crew can be moving in half an hour instead of three hours, Ruest said. CN is offering a financial incentive, which Ruest said adds up to $5,000 per train, for grain companies to charge air lines of unit trains in the winter. “So we’re very happy with those that joined us in that effort and we hope that more of them will decide to sign up, assuming moving grain in the winter time is mission critical for all of us in the supply chain,” Ruest told Field on Wheels delegates. † Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa. Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

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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.

JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features Crop production

From 34 to 52 The Canola Council wants the average Prairie canola crop to yield 52 bushels per acre by 2025. Here’s how By Leeann Minogue

3. Fertility management

he slogan is “52 by 2025. Keep it coming.” With increasing demand for canola oil and meal, the Canola Council of Canada would like to see higher Canadian production, mainly through increased canola yields. The Council’s target is to increase average Prairie canola yields to 52 bushels per acre by 2025. This would be a 53 per cent increase from the current average — 34 bushels per acre. The Canola Council is focusing on five pillars to add 18 bushels per acre to average yields. On November 26, at the third annual Grain Expo, a crop production conference held in Regina in conjunction with Agribition, Shawn Senko, the Canola Council’s agronomy specialist for northeast Saskatchewan was on stage to explain these pillars.

Another three bushels per acre can come from improved fertility management, or, as Senko says, “Making sure you’re not leaving any yield on the table.” Senko recommends using soil test recommendations to max out your fertility.

4. Integrated Pest management

Senko has tips: • Make sure the first in-crop sprayer pass takes place before the two-leaf stage. Senko says he sees many farmers getting into the field for that first pass later than the optimal time. • Again, a competitive plant stand will help. “No product’s as good as a good crop.” • Monitoring insects is key. Remember that economic threshold for spraying vary, depending on the price of the product and the price of canola. • Consider the pests’ natural enemies. “You don’t want to be out there spraying if you don’t need to, because you may be killing natural enemies as well.”

5. Harvest management

The Canola Council says improvements to pest management could bring yield up another two bushels per acre.

The Canola Council believes farmers can increase average canola yield by another two bushels per acre just by watching harvest losses.

Some of these losses are happening due to swath timing. “Every year I see canola crops swathed early,” Senko says. Some of the lost yield is coming out the back of the combine. We’ll never get the loss to zero, Senko says, “it’s almost impossible. You want to get to one or two per cent.” Losses can be limited, he say, by “checking your combine properly and maintaining that speed, and not pushing it.” In a Canola Council study of harvest loss, researchers found the combine settings were key. “It really didn’t matter what brand of combine you’ve got.” Senko suggests checking behind the combine every day during harvest, as canola losses vary by variety and by changing conditions. “Just get out behind, check your combine and see where you’re actually at for seed loss. You might be surprised.” † Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

This chart outlines the Canola Council of Canada’s five pillars to increase average Prairie canola yields from 34 to 52 bushels per acre. In bushels per acre Current average yield

Between now and 2025 the Canola Council believes better genetics will increase yields by eight bushels per acre with no real change in agronomic practices. Seed companies believe the new traits coming out in the next decade will help farmers maintain yields even under environmental or disease stress.

2. Plant Establishment

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Genetic improvement

Plant establishment

etter fertility B management

etter harvest B management

B etter integrated pest management

Total yield increase

Target average yield by 2025

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1. Genetic Improvement:

One of the most important factors to increasing yield is good plant establishment. “You really need that seven to 10 plants per square foot,” Senko says. Seed survivability is crucial. Senko says the usual seed survival rate is about 50 per cent. The Canola Council is researching ways to increase this. “We’re putting 100 seeds in the ground. How do we get to 80 to 90 per cent of those seeds producing viable plants?” It’s important for farmer’s to know their own seed survival rates. “If you don’t know what you’re actually getting for survivability you really can’t calculate what you should be putting in the ground.” The best way to calculate seed survival rates is to measure your fields. Senko reminds farmers that this can be done in the winter: “those plant stalks are still there.” Comparing how many plants were producing at the end of the year with last year’s seeding rate will give farmers an estimate of seed survivability. Next year, Senko says, “you can actually do your plant counts after seeding.” This will allow farmers to know if the seeds are simply not emerging, or if plant loss is happening later in the growing season. The Canola Council’s 2025 target calls for farmers to gain an additional three bushels per acre from improved plant stand establishment.

STEPS FROM 34 TO 52

/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Features Crop protection

Practical ways to fight herbicide resistance Do you have herbicide resistant weeds growing in your field? Here’s how to tell, and how to stop or slow that resistance development By Leeann Minogue

rian Wintonyk wants farmers to be able to identify herbicide resistant weeds in their fields and know what to do about them. Wi n t o n y k , w e s t e r n c r o p s agronomist with Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc., was on the agenda at the third annual Grain Expo, a crop production conference held in Regina in

conjunction with Agribition in November. He described several conditions that can increase the risk of herbicide resistance developing: Weed characteristics: Weeds with high seed production are more likely to spread resistance. For example, “a single kochia plant can produce 14,000 weeds,” Wintonyk said. Kochia is also quick to reproduce, especially as compared with weeds like wild oats that can stay dor-

mant in the ground for years. Wintonyk said, “the kochia that was grown in 2014 and produced seed, 92 per cent of that population, roughly, is going to emerge next spring.” These physical characteristics increase kochias’ ability to develop resistance to herbicides. Use patterns: “Using the same product year over year,” can speed the development of herbicide resistance. Most importantly, “reliance on a single mode of

herbicide activity,” gives weeds a chance to develop resistance to that particular product. Farming practices: Practices like tight crop rotations also contribute to herbicide resistance.

Detecting herbicide resistance If you believe you have herbicide resistance weeds in one of your fields, ask these questions. Was the weed control prod-

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uct applied correctly? That is, Wintonyk said, “Were the tank mixes compatible? What was the crop stage?” Was the product applied at the right time? “Some herbicides perform less effectively under cool conditions or cloudy conditions.” If the product wasn’t applied according to the label directions and under good conditions, you may not have a case of herbicide resistance. Do the weeds show any symptoms of control? Has the product been effective in the field at all? Did the weeds come up after the spray treatment? That could indicate that this is not a resistance problem but just timing. Do the weeds occur in patterns? A pattern of natural weed growth can indicate resistance. Weeds in a straight line are more likely to indicate a sprayer miss. Has more than one weed escaped? If all but one of the weeds that the chemical should have controlled were controlled, that would indicate an effective chemical application. There may be resistance in that one type of weed that survived. Has that same herbicide or group been used in the field for several years? If so, that can increase the odds that weeds in the field have developed resistance. “Sometimes we think about rotating herbicide brands, but we don’t think about rotating herbicide groups,” Wintonyk said. Rotating brands with the same mode of action does not lower the ability of the weeds to develop resistance. And finally, what’s going on in the neighbour’s field? Are there herbicide resistant weeds growing there? “Talk to your neighbours,” Wintonyk advised. If, after asking these question, you believe you do have a chemical failure, call the chemical manufacturer or an agronomist right away. “If it’s not investigated properly, the same use pattern continues, and you have failure next year.” If you do have resistance in your field, Wintonyk said it’s time to consider developing a long-term strategy. “That doesn’t mean shifting to a different herbicide family and using that until resistance development occurs.”

Tolerance versus resistance Brian Wintonyk, western crops agronomist at Dow AgroScience explained the difference between “herbicide resistant” weeds and “herbicide tolerant” weeds. Herbicide resistant weeds are “weeds that were once effectively controlled by a herbicide. Now when that herbicide is applied at the same rate, it doesn’t appear to be controlling those weeds.” An herbicide tolerant weed is “a plant that can naturally survive that herbicide application.” Generally speaking, herbicide resistance has a chance to take hold when weeds are controlled by the same herbicide in the same conditions multiple years in a row. † Leeann Minogue

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JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features

Risk of resistance development based on number of applications

12 HIGH

MODERATE - HIGH

MODERATE

erbicide resistance is likely to develop at different rates to different chemical groups. For instance, a given plant has a moderate risk of developing resistance to a Group 3 chemical. It could happen with 11 to 20 applications. • High risk: 10 or fewer applications; • Moderate risk: 11 to 20 applications • Low risk: more than 20 applications Graphic from Brian Wintonyk’s presentation, based on data adapted from “Herbicide Resistant Weeds: Management Tactics and Patterns” by H. J. Beckie, published in 2006, Volume 20, issue 3 of “Weed Technology.”

Other

LOW-MODERATE

4 6 9 10 LOW

Tips to slow or deal with resistance Whether you already have herbicide resistant weeds or you just want to slow the development of resistance in your fields, Wintonyk said, the most important step is to “move to a herbicide rotation that consists of multiple modes of action.” This means using two herbicides together that are both effectively controlling the same weed (either in a tank mix or a pre-mix). “When you have two modes of action,” Wintonyk said, “both of those ingredients are acting on that same weed.” With two active ingredients, “you can go through multiple generations before that risk increases.” It’s also important to know that some herbicide Groups have a higher risk of resistance development than other. As shown in the graphic above, there is a much higher risk of weeds developing resistance to herbicides in Group 1 or 2 than to herbicides in Groups 4, 6, 9 or 10. Changes to cultural practices can also help. Rotate crops that require the use of different herbicides, as well as different life cycles (for example, Wintonyk said, “What about the introduction of winter wheat?”) Try other methods to change the weeds’ growing conditions. For example, Wintonyk said, the driest field on the farm is usually seeded first. “Weeds are very adaptable,” he said, and they’ll adapt to that practice in the field. “If you can switch the practice in that field by even as much as a week you can completely throw the weeds off.” Sometimes, “tillage may be a necessary thing,” Wintonyk said. It can reduce the need for chemical application to control persistent weeds in a particular spot. Using clean seed, growing competitive crops, scouting regularly, and keeping good records of weed occurrences are all practices that can help to slow herbicide resistance development. Also, Wintonyk said, “be judicious about proper equipment hygiene. Prevent the spread of that seed.” This means not allowing weeds to move from fences, railways, oil and gas leases or utilities. †

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Always read and follow label directions. AgSolutions is a registered trade-mark of BASF Corporation; AgCelence, PRIAXOR, and XEMIUM are registered trade-marks of BASF SE; all used with permission of BASF Canada Inc. PRIAXOR should be used in a preventative disease control program. © 2015 BASF Canada Inc.

Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

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/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Features New crop varieties

Barley varieties for 2015 The Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre has released its list of varieties for the next crop year

he Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) is made up of members of the malting barley, malt and brewing industries, and partially funded by farmers (see Page 10). The CMBTC distributes an annual list of recommended malt barley varieties, based on input from grain companies, maltsters, brewers and other organizations. The CMBTC says in its press release, “The recommendations are based on varieties the industry has indicated will have the greatest likelihood of being selected by grain and malting companies for both domestic and export markets from the 2015 harvest.” Because different varieties grow better in some areas or are more in demand in some regions, Peter Watts, CMBTC managNSG CA Print Ad Moosomin 8.125x10.pdf

ing director, said in the release, “the CMBTC and its members recommend producers talk with their local malting barley buyer about opportunities in their area to grow and market two-row and six-row malting barley varieties.” The CMBTC says demand for six-row malting barley has been declining. Talk to your local buyer before choosing to grow a six-row variety in your area. On November 14, the federal government announced that it will provide the CMBTC with $1.95 million over the next five years. In a press release, Watts said the funding will “help Canada remain the premier supplier of malting barley to domestic and international markets.” † Leeann Minogue 2014-10-02

2:49 PM

TWO-ROW MALTING BARLEY VARIETIES Variety

Market comments

CDC Copeland

Established demand

AC Metcalfe

Established demand

CDC Meredith

Limited, increasing demand

Bentley

Limited, stable demand

CDC Kindersley

Undergoing commercial market development

Cerveza

Undergoing commercial market development

AAC Synergy

Undergoing commercial market development

Newdale (Canada Malting Company)

Limited, stable demand

CDC PolarStart (Prairie Malt-Cargill)

Limited, stable demand

Merit 57 (BARI-Canada)

Undergoing commercial market development

SIX-ROW MALTING BARLEY VARIETIES Variety

Market comments

Legacy

Limited demand

Tradition

Limited demand

Celebration

Limited demand

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Casebook winner

his month, ag students taking Danielle Tichit’s Integrated Crop Management class at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Man., used Casebook as a class assignment. Marty Logan, crop input manager for Richardson Pioneer at Brandon, stopped by the classroom to announce winners and talk to the students about agronomy careers. To encourage this classful of young agronomists, rather than holding a draw to choose the Casebook winner as we usually do, we had Marty and his colleagues at Pioneer judge the ACC entries and choose two winners from the bunch. The winners are Mark Tripp and Kayla Bessant. Congratulations, and we hope you did well in the class! We’ll send you both a Grainews cap, and a one-year subscription to Grainews. For everyone else that entered, don’t worry, we’re holding your entries over to the next issue, so you’ll still have a chance to win. †

Leeann Minogue

By jonny hawkins

Country Chuckles

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JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features Crop Advisor’s casebook

Crop advisor’s solution

Bleached canaryseed heads mystery By Olivia Denomie

t was early August when I got a call from Peter, a mixed grains farmer at Claire, Sask. Peter, who grows Hard Red Spring wheat, Soft White wheat, oats, canola, barley, canaryseed and occasionally green peas on his 3,500 acre spread, had a serious problem with his canaryseed crop. He was distressed to see that the tops of the plant heads throughout his canaryseed field were all turning white. “I don’t know what’s going on but I’m afraid the crop is going to be a total disaster,” Peter said. I paid Peter a visit and he took me out to the affected field. Sure enough, I could see that the top one-third of the plant heads in the canaryseed were going white and they were also not filling properly. Peter said he first spotted the first discoloured heads a few days previously, and now there were affected plants throughout the field. I had a closer look to see some parts of the field were more adversely affected than others. The symptoms, however, were evenly spread throughout the entire crop. When I inquired about growing conditions that spring and summer, Peter

informed me the weather had been close to ideal in terms of temperatures and moisture. After questioning Peter about his herbicide program, it was evident that he had applied the right amount of the right product, at the right time and in the right conditions. Jared also informed me that he’d followed his normal fertility program for the crop, and had never had a problem with his canaryseed before. I had begun to suspect what was behind the bleached canaryseed heads, and plant tissue tests confirmed it. Do you think you know what’s going on in Peter’s field? If you do, send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3K7; email leann. minogue@fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop Advisor’s Casebook. The best suggestions will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a Grainews cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The answer, along with reasoning that solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File. † Olivia Denomie is an area marketing representative with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Wadena, Sask.

Off-type seed source of giant canola By Andrea Astleford

Olivia Denomie is an area marketing representative with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Wadena, Sask.

The top one-third of the canaryseed plant heads were turning white and T:10.25” were not filling properly.

t was back in mid-July when Tyler and Steve, two grain farmers in the Colonsay area southeast of Saskatoon, Sask., called to complain about the same problem — they were both seeing very large canola plants scattered throughout some of their canola fields. When I arrived at the two farms to investigate the problem, I could clearly see the giant canola in the fields. The rogue plants were taller, stalkier and generally bigger than the rest of the crop. After checking field edges and high and low spots, I agreed with the growers’ assessment that the giant canola was distributed randomly in the fields. I did notice that some of the rogue plants contained more root maggots than the rest of the crop, but I quickly discounted this as a source of the problem. Severe root maggot damage on a plant would typically cause it to wilt and eventually die, not make the plant bigger or more robust. Disease pressure was also ruled out, so if it wasn’t anything in the environment that was causing the giant canola, what was? The answer to that question lay in the seed. Tyler and Steve informed me that they had planted the same canola variety, and that in fact their seed supplies had both come from the same lot number.

We contacted the seed representative, and after the company did some additional testing it was confirmed that the specific batch from that variety contained some off-type seeds, which are part of the hybrid production process, mixed in with it. It was these offtype seeds that had produced the large, sterile plants and created the non-uniformity in the canola crop. Fortunately for Tyler and Steve, their canola yields were not affected. We checked the number of offtype plants in one small field area to estimate a percentage of the canola affected, and this percentage turned out to be so small it was determined that there would be no issue other than the appearance of the crop. A similar test by the seed company produced a percentage figure that coincided with ours. In the end, there wasn’t really anything either farmer could have done to prevent the rogue canola from showing up, since there’s always a chance some off-type canola seed will be mixed in with the variety you buy. However, it’s a good idea for growers to be aware of this possibility, and to check their fields regularly for abnormalities that, if enough plants are affected, could possibly threaten crop yield or quality. † Andrea Astleford is a Sales Agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Saskatoon, Sask.

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/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Features Farm management

You’re funding crop research If you’re selling grain in Western Canada, you’re an agricultural research funder By Leeann Minogue

inter is the time to finally read those association newsletters that have been coming in the mail. Or to make time to go to one of their AGMs. There are a lot of AGMs for you to attend. I’ve made a list of the major checkoff-funded organizations in the Prairies. A Saskatchewan farmer could conceivably be paying levies to 10 different organizations (of course, it would have to be a farmer growing canaryseed, barley, mustard, oats and a pulse crop, in addition to wheat.) To make it easier for Grainews readers to keep up with all of these organizations, I’ve made a list of the groups collecting levies, along with their web addresses, so you can look up the latest agronomic information or information about upcoming meetings. I considered including a list of elected chairs, but this is prime AGM season. By the time you clipped out this list and pinned it up in your office, many of these chairs could be replaced. As I was putting the table together, I noticed that the flax levy is $2.36 per tonne, compared with $0.75 per tonne of canola. Wayne Thompson, Executive Director of SaskFlax, says the numbers are correct. “Yes, the flax levy is $2.36 per tonne of seed, which is more than canola, but flax acreage is much smaller than canola. The Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission is a much smaller budget by comparison. It was during the EU trade restrictions due to Triffid that farmers approved an increase in the flax levy from $1.18. Without the increase in the levy SaskFlax may not have survived as an organization that could work for farmers to grow the flax industry.” You’ll notice that the B.C. list if very short. In the Peace River region one organization, the B.C. Peace River Grain Industry Development Council, collects levies from sales of all grains, oilseeds and pulse crops. A blanket levy of one-third of one per cent of all gross sales goes into their coffers, and the Council divvies out funds for research that will best advance agriculture in the region, whether those research projects advance canola or quinoa. Farmers in every Prairie province are paying the new Wheat and Barley checkoff (except Alberta barley growers, who are paying a lower rate.

Money back guarantee Almost all of your checkoff dollars are refundable. If you take time to go through the steps every year, all of these groups, except the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, will return your checkoff funds. The Saskatchewan Pulse Growers’ levy is non-refund-

able. While it’s the only one on this list, it’s not the only agricultural association in Saskatchewan with a nonrefundable checkoff. “SaskPork and the Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board are also non-refundable,” said Cory Ruud, general manager of S a s k a t c h e w a n ’s A g r i - F o o d Council, the board that supervises all of these agencies. The difference is that these non-refundable organizations are, technically, “development boards,” while the others are all “development commissions.” It comes from differences in the ways the agencies were set up. Farmers who want to set up a new development board, rather than a commission, have to jump a few more hurdles, like having a higher percentage of growers vote in favour of a non-refundable levy. Ruud suspects that the newer groups, like the Saskatchewan Wheat Commission, were formed as “commissions” rather than “development boards” because, as Ruud says, “people like to have the option of having the money back.” People might like having the option of a refund, but few take advantage of it. Average refund rates vary among organizations, and change from year to year. “Anywhere from zero per cent to nine or 10 for some,” Rudd said. Anecdotally, some believe that managers of large farms are more likely to apply for refunds than farmers with fewer acres. The more wheat you grow, the higher your total annual checkoff payment. And, applying for a refund takes the same amount of time and paperwork if your refund is $1,500 or $150. Keep in mind, this list only includes research and development organizations that are directly funded by farmer levies. In some cases, these funds are passed on to umbrella organizations that take research or market development to the next level. For example, Pulse Canada is funded partially by farmers through levies, but also by pulse processors and exporters. The Canola Council of Canada is funded partially through your canola levies, but also by canola input suppliers, grain handling companies, processors, exporters and government. In Alberta, a new umbrella organization has been formed by the Alberta Wheat Commission, Alberta Barley, The Albert Canola Producers Commission and the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission. They’re planning to pool their funding to improve extension services for their members. They’re calling the new organization ACE: Alberta Crops Extension. All farmers have an interest in how this funding is used. Clip this list and get involved with at least one of these groups. † Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

CHECKOFF ORGANIZATIONS AND LEVY RATES ORGANIZATION

WEBSITE:

PHONE:

COST

Alberta Alberta Barley Commission

albertabarley.com

1-800-265-9111

$1/tonne of barley

Alberta Canola Producers Commission

albertacanola.com

1-800-551-6652

$1/tonne of canola

Alberta Oat Growers Commission

poga.ca

1-306-530-8545

$0.50/tonne of oats

Alberta Pulse Growers Association

pulse.ab.ca

1-780-986-9398

1% of pulse sales, including soybeans

Alberta Wheat Commission

albertawheat.com

1-855-917-3711

$0.70/tonne of wheat

Wheat and barley checkoff

wheatbarleycheckoff.com

1-800-265-9111

$0.48/tonne of wheat; $0.04/tonne of barley

BC Peace River Grain Industry Development Council

Bcpeace.com

1-250-785-5774

1/3 of 1% of all gross commodity sales

Wheat and Barley Checkoff

wheatbarleycheckoff.com

1-800-265-9111

$0.48/tonne of wheat; $0.56/tonne of barley

Manitoba Buckwheat Growers Association

www.specialcrops.mb.ca/ crops/buckwheat.html

1-204-925-3780

0.75% of buckwheat sales

Manitoba Canola Growers

www.mcgacanola.org

1-204-982-2122

$1/tonne of canola

Manitoba Corn Growers Association

manitobacorn.ca

1-204-745-6661

0.5% of corn sales; $1.25/ acre voluntary for silage

Manitoba Oat Growers Commission

poga.ca

1-306-530-8545

$0.50/tonne of oats

Manitoba Pulse Growers Association

manitobapulse.ca

1-204-745-6488

0.5% of pulse sales, including soybeans

Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association

mbwheatandbarley.ca

1-204-750-2656

$0.52/tonne of wheat; $0.50/tonne of barley

Wheat and Barley Checkoff

wheatbarleycheckoff.com

1-800-265-9111

$0.48/tonne of wheat; $0.56/tonne of barley

Winter Cereals Manitoba Inc.

wcmi.info

1-204-874-2330

$0.50/tonne of winter wheat

Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan

canaryseed.ca

1-306-933-0138

$1.75/tonne of canaryseed

Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission

saskbarleycommission.com

1-306-653-7232

$0.50/tonne of barley

Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission

saskcanola.com

1-877-241-7044

$0.75/tonne of canola

Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission

saskflax.com

1-306-664-1901

$2.36/tonne of flax seed; $0.50/tonne of flax straw

Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission

saskmustard.ca

1-306-975-6629

0.5% of mustard sales

Saskatchewan Oat Development Commission

poga.ca

1-306-530-8545

$0.50/tonne of oats

Saskatchewan Pulse Growers

saskpulse.com

1-306-668-5556

1% of pulse sales, including soybeans

Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission

saskwheatcommission.com

1-306-653-7932

$0.50/tonne of wheat

Saskatchewan Winter Cereals Development Commission

swcdc.info

1-204-874-2330

$0.50tonne of winter wheat, fall rye, and winter triticale

Wheat and barley Checkoff

wheatbarleycheckoff.com

1-800-265-9111

$0.48/tonne of wheat; $0.56/tonne of barley

Manitoba

Saskatchewan

The Wheat and Barley Checkoff ALLOCATION FOR WHEAT $0.30

Western Grains Research Federation

westerngrains.org

1-306-975-0060

$0.15

CIGI

cigi.ca

1-204-983-5344

$0.03

Administration

$0.48

Per tonne, total levy

ALLOCATION FOR BARLEY $0.50

Western Grains Research Federation

westerngrains.org

1-306-975-0060

$0.03

Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre

www.cmbtc.com

1-204-984-4399

$0.03

Administration

$0.56

Per tonne, total levy

JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features

The wheat and barley checkoff

“

ell, this is new,” you might be saying, if you weren’t really paying attention last year, and suddenly notice there are two deductions instead of just one on the sales ticket for your durum. Well, yes it is. Sort of. You always paid levies to the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), to the Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI) and to the Canadian Malt Barley Technical Centre. Before, the Canadian Wheat Board collected them. Now, these levies come straight off your cheque. (The Alberta Barley Commission does the actual collection work.) This checkoff was set off as a transitional fund — it’s only in place until

July 31, 2017. Garth Patterson, executive director of the Western Grains Research Foundation, doesn’t yet know exactly how the WGRF, CIFI and the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre will be funded after that. One possibility is that the newly funded wheat and barley commissions may decide to increase their levies after mid-2017, and pass funds on to these organizations. “Our understanding is that commissions are looking at their options and considering this,” Patterson said, “but there’s been no commitments made or decisions made.” The commissions aren’t obligated to do this, they may decide to fund the public breeding institutions themselves, leaving the WGRF out of the funding loop.

Ether way, Patterson says, the WGRF’s funding for public breeding research will continue. “We have enough reserve built up that we can fund the public programs past July 31, 2017,” he says. “We anticipate being able to make commitments to 2019 or 2020.” The WGRF has an endowment fund valued at over $100M. Farmers will remember that a large portion of this fund came from the railways after the 2007-08 crop year, when final freight rates came in above the revenue cap. The railways paid a penalty of $67M to the WGRF. In mid-December, the Canadian Transportation Agency ruled that CN over-charged farmers during the 201314 crop year. CN will add another $4.98 million to the WGRF’s endowment fund.

Now, this endowment fund is used to fund a wide variety of research (“over 200 projects,” says Patterson), into a wide range of crops. They’ll consider projects not only for wheat and barley research, but for any crop that is or could potentially be grown on the Prairies. “There’s been about 193 public varieties that have come out over 20 years that have been supported by farmers’ checkoff funds,” Patterson says. These varieties have been marketed by seed companies like SeCan, Canterra and FP Genetics. Without farmers’ funding, Patterson says, “I don’t believe we’d have wheat and barley varieties as good as are out there right now.” † Leeann Minogue

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/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Features Outstanding young farmers

Manitoba and P.E.I. couples are OYFs Two farm couples are lauded as Canada’s 2014’s Outstanding Young Farmers By Lee Hart

ontinuing to expand their seed retail business in Manitoba, and building on the partnership they have with other potato growers in Prince Edward Island, are the priorities of the two farm families who were named Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) for 2014. Myron and Jill Krahn, who operate Krahn Agri Farms Ltd. at Carmen, Man. and Andrew and Heidi Lawless, of Hilltop Produce Ltd. near Kinkora, P.E.I. were selected national OYF winners at competitions held in Quebec City in late November. B:8.125” photo: lee hart Heidi and Andrew Lawless (l) and Myron and Jill Krahn congratulate each Both couples were named regionT:8.125” other at the OYF ceremony in Quebec City. al OYF winners earlier in 2014 and S:8.125”

then were among seven farm couples from across Canada competing for the national honour. After attending school and working at off-farm careers, the Krahns returned to Myron’s home farm in 2001 with plans to increase the size of Krahn Agri Farms Ltd. and also to diversify the business. The original home place was about 900 acres. In the following years they increased farm size to about 3,000 acres. About half their crops are commercial corn, soybeans, wheat, canola and oats, while the other half of their soybean, cereal, and canola acres are produced as certified seed. They also have a “small but very interesting” acreage of native grass seed production. The Krahns look after all their

own fieldwork and take on some custom work for other farmers as well, including everything from seeding to harvesting to grain drying. The native grass seed business isn’t a big part of their operation, but “it has very high margins, and it is fun,” says Myron. In the past few years they have focused their efforts on developing and expanding the seed retail business. With it often difficult to find good, affordable farm land in their immediate home area, the Krahns say that expanding their retail business is one option for expanding the overall business.

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Andrew and Heidi Lawless have built their farm business considerably since 2002 when Andrew grew his first potato crop of 60 acres and constructed a potato storage facility. He has been growing potatoes for Cavendish Farms since 2003. In 2005, Andrew and Heidi incorporated their farm as Hilltop Produce Limited along with Andrew’s parents, Neville and Bertha. Today they produce about 1,200 acres of potatoes. To strengthen their business, more recently they developed a partnership with three other growers to create R & L Farms, which is operated by Andrew, Peter Roberts, Gerry Roberts and Austin Roberts. The farm focuses mainly on growing top quality potatoes for processing. They diligently maintain a three-year crop rotation with barley or wheat followed by hay. The majority of the hay crop is mulched down for green manure. Working with their farming partners the Andrew and Heidi have built three state-of-the-art storage facilities where they can store potatoes for up to a year. Two of the buildings have a five million pound capacity. The third holds 10 million pounds of potatoes. The same partners have built a potato washing facility, which is available to all P.E.I. potato growers and equipped with an optical sorter that can process 80 tons in an hour. The seven regional finalists in the 2014 OYF competition included farming operations ranging from a 15-acre organic market garden operation near Vancouver, B.C. to a 10,000 acre ranching operation in Saskatchewan, to a Aryshire dairy and hog finishing operation in Quebec. Selecting two winners was a difficult decision said Brian Newcombe, OYF alumni who was one of three national judges. Celebrating 34 years, Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers’ program is an annual competition to recognize farmers that exemplify excellence in their profession and promote the tremendous contribution of agriculture. The program is sponsored nationally by CIBC, John Deere, Bayer CropScience and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The national media sponsor is Annex Media, and the program is supported nationally by AdFarm, BDO and Farm Management Canada. † Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features Outstanding young farmers

Stamps honoured with Motherwell Award Richard and Marian Stamp are recognized for their commitment to the agriculture industry By Lee Hart

southern Alberta couple has been recognized with an award for their overall commitment to bettering the agriculture industry, and their ongoing support for an organization that recognizes the achievements of some of the most progressive young farmers in the country. Richard and Marian Stamp, who along with family members operate Stamp Seeds farm at Enchant, southeast of Calgary were named recipients of the W.R. Motherwell Award which is presented to “an individual or couple that has shown exemplary dedication” to the Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) of Canada Program and also have “unselfishly given of their time and talents to promote the value of excellence, advancement, opportunity and exchange within Canadian agriculture.” The award is named after W.R. Motherwell, a western Canadian pioneer who became the first minister of agriculture in Saskatchewan in 1905 and later also served from 1921 to 1929 as a federal minister of agriculture. The Stamps, who are first generation farmers on their land just on the edge of Enchant, began commercial crop production 35 years ago and then switched to pedigreed seed production about 30 years ago. Today along with their three sons, Greg, Nathan, and Mathew and their respective families, they produce and market seed from a wide range of crops including hard red spring wheat, soft wheat, durum, fababeans, malt and feed barley, peas, flax, corn and canola. The Stamps also have a daughter Aimee, who farms with her husband and son at Foremost, southeast of Lethbridge. Richard and Marian Stamp were named Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmers in 1998 and went on to win the national OYF award (west) that year along with Edwin and Dawn Jewell of York, P.E.I. (east). But since then the Stamps have continued to be steadfast supporters of the regional and national OYF organizations. Marian has been involved with the provincial/regional awards program for the past 16 years, and at the national level Richard served as vice-president, then president and also as past president for a total of eight years. “Marian and I can not express our sincere gratitude and thanks for being thought of and then selected for this award,” said Richard at the award presentation in Quebec City in late November. “For the past 35 years we have strived to build a strong family and a business with a solid reputation and foundation. Today we are so blessed to have the opportunity to work with all three of our sons and their families. Stamp says their involvement with OYF over the years has been invaluable not only in terms of personal relationships, but also in terms of connecting with a national network of business mentors and advisors. “Probably the greatest value of being involved with OYF has been the opportunity to get

to know so many progressive, positive and leading edge people across the whole agriculture industry,” says Stamp, during an interview at the farm office. “Through this program we meet not only a bunch of bright farmers, but bankers, farm machinery company reps, ag chemical company reps, politicians, and a host of other business types we normally wouldn’t have had the chance to get to know.” While their farm business has had many good years, Stamp says there have also been some very tight years due to high interest rates, low markets, or a sudden shift in market demand — and they learned how to weather those storms. “Being involved with this program has given us the confidence to know that we can do things,

there are people we can trust, and we just have to try,” he says. “We have a tremendous network of people who we can and have called upon to talk about business issues open and honestly, which has helped us to learn and adapt.” Some of the key pillars of life that he and Marian believe in, include: • Find a passion for what you love to do. • Have courage to just do it. • Always have an attitude of hope. • Thirst to always learn more, each and every day. • Never fail to dream, about what can be done. • Always be very thankful. † Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

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/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Features Organic production

Organic researchers get a boost New funding for organic research could bring benefits for conventional farmers too By Julienne Isaacs

n August, the Harper administration announced it will spend $8 million for the Organic Federation of Canada (OFC) to lead the Organic Science Cluster II (OSCII). With funds in place through to 2018, OSCII will pursue industry-led research and development priorities, including optimizing cop productivity, advancing horticulture science, investigating sustainable solutions in integrated pest management, optimizing livestock health and welfare and adding value through innovative processing.

The research

gap,” according to Lynch. While the increased research funding will tackle production challenges, additional support — such as enhanced extension, technical training, certification or transition support payments — could help conventional farmers move to organic production. Organic production is a selfrewarding system to “reward growers for best management practices,” Lynch says. “Because of the added value placed on organic products, organic growers can afford to spend more time building and maintaining soil quality and soil health because they have to have longer and more diverse rotations in place for agronomic reasons (for exam-

Derek Lynch holds the Canada Research Chair in Organic Agriculture, and is an associate professor in the Department of Plant and Animal Sciences at Dalhousie University. He is the principal investigator on a project that brings together industry partners and researchers from across Canada to optimize green manure and fertility management for organic cereal production. “Over the past 10 years my research program has examined the productivity of organic farming systems in quite diverse production sectors (blueberries, organic dairying, potato production, and grain production),” he says. “In addition, my research has had a parallel goal of documenting the impact on soil quality and soil health, and air quality (greenhouse gas emissions) and water quality (nitrate leaching) of these low-input, but biologically intensive systems.”

ple, fertility and weed management). As they have these less intensive production systems overall they’re in effect being rewarded for having far less risk of nutrient losses from the farm, whether that’s through avoiding excess soil phosphorus or nitrate levels for example.” Lynch recognizes that while many conventional growers may not intend to switch to organic production anytime soon, organic sector research may yield useful information to conventional growers as well. For example, his current research project is studying alternative forms of green manure and cover cropping. In the study, novel green manures, such as hairy

vetch, are ploughed under in the fall or spring and compared with more traditional green manures to look at their respective efficacy and cost-effectiveness. “Improving the understanding of the soil benefits and nitrogen released from these green manures in different environments — that kind of information is of benefit to everyone,” says Lynch. “The more we understand about nitrogen credits (how much less nitrogen fertilizer you can use with confidence), and if we can get good multiyear and multisite data via this project, then you’ve quantified the nitrogen replacement value of the materials. These are are very practical questions.”

Lynch and his team are also using a zero-till approach for some of the green manure trials. They’re experimenting with a roller-crimper — a barrel with raised blades attached to a tractor, which rolls over the standing green manure biomass, crimping and terminating it. The process ultimately creates a substantial surface mulch (two to five inches thick) into which the spring wheat crop can be planted. In addition to tracking the impact on the wheat crop, Lynch and his team are measuring the soil quality and soil biology impacts of this practice. † Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer and editor. Contact her at julienne. isaacs@gmail.com.

Ag Outlook 2015 Understand the trends, see the opportunities

Economy

Commodities

Information is of benefit to everyone The team has also investigated energy use and efficiency of organic farms. Across Canada, organic production systems vary. “The differences in production intensity of the individual farm within an organic sector can lead to very interesting ‘tradeoffs’ and/ or synergies with respect to productivity and environmental or ecological benefits,” Lynch says. Organic grains and products are the most valuable export commodity coming out of the organic sector, according to the OAC’s website. In addition, the site claims, “continued shortages of supply and high prices of organic feed grains have slowed the expansion of the organic livestock and dairy sectors, and provide a further opportunity for the development of efficient organic field crop production.”

Benefits for conventional growers Because demand still outstrips supply in terms of major organic commodities in Canada, there is a major organic “production

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JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Columns Can’t take the farm from the boy

Musing on going organic An email from a long-time organic farmer pushes Toban Dyck to wonder if he should try it too Toban Dyck

he scene ends in horror. No matter how many times I replay. Telling the farming community and anyone else who would listen that “I, Toban Dyck, am going organic” is like saying, “thanks for letting me spend a couple years on the family farm; now I’m going to plunge it into bankruptcy,” while wearing a clown costume. This is all in my head, of course, exposing more about me than those around me.

But I don’t think I’m alone. I bet others share this fear, and perhaps this curiosity. A column or two ago, I wrote about the opportunity to rent 90 acres of land for the 2015 growing season and how that makes me a real farmer, which is a high I’m riding again after writing about it just now. That column received traction, yielding two notable insights: A: the organic farming community is looking for recruits; B: they want me as their latest (and greatest?). I received an email from an organic famer shortly after the article was published. It was a plea to consider the possibility for my land. Don’t worry. You’re not alone. I’m quick to

judge, as well. But the plea was better, more convincing than what you’re picturing right now. The email didn’t mention the ’60s, pot, the Grateful Dead, peace, or other things some people think weaken an argument. And it wasn’t a militant missive against those who don’t run organic farms. It was instead an articulate, honest, down-to-earth email, directed to me, by someone who reads my column and has been an organic farmer of over 1,500 acres for nearly 20 years. “If you thought just starting to farm was scary, wait for the first year you don’t spray and see how many nights you don’t sleep wondering ‘what the heck am I doing.’

But if you go in with a plan it’s not scary,” he said. “There is tons of support and resources compared to when I started. I think there are a lot of farmers out there who see how well organic farmers are doing, but do not know what to do and may be afraid to make a change.” I am afraid to make that change, partially for the clown-like reason cited above, and partially because I’m still new to farming, in general — the non-organic kind. I’m not familiar with the science of organic farming. I wouldn’t know how to properly substitute pesticides, fertilizer and other inputs. But that doesn’t matter, I don’t think. The debate surrounding the merits or demerits of organic farming is

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Drew Lerner President, World Weather Inc.

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rarely about the science or how exactly to do it. These things can be learned quickly. No, the debate about going organic is shrouded in fear and money, the two things, along with death and taxes, that plague many rational minds. “Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control,” reads the Wikipedia entry. “Depending on whose definition is used, organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides (which includes herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) if they are considered natural (such as bone meal from animals or pyrethrin from flowers), but it excludes or strictly limits the use of various methods (including synthetic petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides; plant growth regulators such as hormones; antibiotic use in livestock; genetically modified organisms (human sewage sludge; and nano-materials) for reasons including sustainability, openness, independence, health and safety.” Right now, sharing a likeness with those conversations about GMOs that leave both sides thinking, “How could I be friends with that person?” or, “How can a seemingly intelligent person hold on to such?” talk of organic farming is less about organic farming and more a collection of pleas and jabs, depending on your side. But here’s the thing: It can be done, is being done, and those doing it are making money.

If I were to “go organic” Trading the pickup for a smart car. This is what it would feel like. What would they say? There’s pride in farming the land, and possessing the leading edge on all opinions related to food production. This would threaten whatever that is. But it might be worth it. Organic commodities can command top dollar from the market. There is consumer demand. And there are some big initial movers out there. I have no idea how influential the gentleman who emailed is in the organic community (probably quite), but I do know some large companies in Manitoba have organic divisions. Whether this particular form of farming, if universally applied, can meet food-production demands or not is perhaps a topic for another column. For this column take away this: think about organic practices for your farm, do some research, sleep on it, repeat for a couple days, then consider that maybe, just maybe, going organic doesn’t mean you have to give up your pickup truck, and that doing so might make economic sense in the long run. Keep in mind, the previous words were inspired by an earnest email sent to me from an organic farmer. A proper treatment of the topic requires more. You know that. But these serve as the opening comments to a larger debate. † Toban Dyck is a freelance writer and a new farmer on an old farm. Follow him on Twitter @tobandyck or email tobandyck@gmail.com.

/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Columns Guarding wealth

Why own bonds? Bonds no longer offer interest above dividend rates, but they are an insurance policy for market mayhem By Andrew Allentuck

eaders often ask why and how one should buy bonds. The reason used to be to get interest at a rate above what stocks pay as dividends. That does not work anymore, for bank stocks and big telecoms, for example, pay four to five per cent. Ten-year Government of Canada bonds pay 2.5 per cent. Interest isn’t the only reason to buy bonds. Bond interest rates remain near all time lows, but that doesn’t mean you should not buy bonds. Rather, you should buy the right bonds for the right reasons. Very

low interest rates make some fundamentally conservative government bonds highly responsive to interest rate changes and potentially hot assets. Let’s take government bond choices from the bottom. That’s Canada Savings Bonds. Their underlying interest rates are abysmal. For one year, currently you get one per cent. The most one can say is that CSBs are a way to hold cash with absolute safety. The issuer, the Bank of Canada, will not default. You can cash certain CSBs on demand, so they are like a portable savings account. Negotiable government bonds

in the U.S. and Canada pay little but have some remarkable properties. First, they are liquid and can be converted to cash through any investment dealer. They have no default risk. Bonds due in five years or less have little sensitivity to changing interest rates. But bonds due in 10 or more years up to 30 and even 50 years are highly sensitive to interest rate changes. If rates rise, existing bonds will be undesirable and will fall in price. If rates drop at 10 years, 20 or more years out to 50 years, existing bonds will be very desirable and may rise dramatically in price.

Now here is the kicker. There are fears of deflation in Europe and even in North American. In that case, prices of stocks and most corporate bonds would plummet. Because national banks like the Fed and the Bank of Canada can print money if need be to pay interest, government bonds would soar. The longest bonds would be the biggest gainers. Indeed, a stripped bond which has no interest payments and, instead, is bought at a steep discount at issue or many years before maturity, would rise in price by a number equal to the years to maturity times the interest rate decline. Thus a 20-year strip bong holder faced with a two per cent drop in long interest rates would gain 20 x two per cent, or 40 per cent. Of course, if rates rise by two per cent, the strip would lose 40 per cent. Provincial bonds offer a little more interest than federal bonds, usually about half a per cent per per year. Provinces and

U.S. sub-federal issuers such as highway authorities and toll roads and bridges cannot print money, but most have the power to tax. In a severe deflation, these bonds could suffer. Corporate bonds are rated AAA for best of breed to B, which means okay for now but not certain in future and vulnerable to business cycles, to C, which is dubious, to D, which means in default and not paying interest or repaying principal. Corporate bonds are easy to buy when issued and, for BBB+ or better for five years or less, default is not a serious issue. But a few weeks after issue and for issues of $500 million or less in Canada and $5 million in the U.S., resale can be tough. And, if you want U.S. bonds, you’ll have to contend with exchange rates. The virtue of all actual bonds is that they mature at a known date at an absolutely fixed value. In the event of deflation, the promise of known cash interest payments, usually every six months, and absolutely certain return of principal in a known amount makes them baseline investments. Trading actual bonds is complex and can be costly. If you want bonds a few weeks after issue and well before maturity, you will pay hefty fees to the dealer. But you can buy numerous variations on bond portfolios as exchange traded funds from iShares, BMO ETFs, First Asset and many other issuers. Bond mutual funds come in numerous flavours. They can hold Canadian bonds, U.S. bonds, global bonds, mixes, short bonds, long bonds, corporates, inflation-linked bonds and combinations of all of those. Managers can be nimble and try to outsmart the bond market, but the great majority of bond mutual funds will underperform their indices for one reason — fees that, for most investors, eat up most of the interest paid. Finally, there are old-fashioned guaranteed investment certificates. They are retail products, pay less than government and corporate bonds for five years and less, but they are insured by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation or various credit unions and caisses populaires and — this is the best part — they will not lose value if interest rates rise. You are locked in for defined period and you can cash out only with penalties. † Andrew Allentuck’s latest book, When Can I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work, was published by Penguin Canada in 2011.

By jonny hawkins

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JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Columns Understanding market bulls and bears

Building a marketing strategy Use market information and your own numbers to build a marketing strategy that works for your farm Brian wittal

he more meetings you go to and the more speakers you listen to, the more market influencing factors you learn about which just continues to make “trying to figure the markets out” more confusing. Learning and gathering information is critical to helping you be successful in marketing your crops, but don’t let it overwhelm you to the point that you lose your focus.

Know your numbers I’ll say it again. “Know your numbers.” Earlier in the year you were marketing grain based on assumptions of average yield and quality. Now that you know your yields and quality you can more accurately determine what price you need to cover your costs and make a profit. If you market according to these numbers, you’re protecting yourself, locking in a profit and ensuring the continued success of your farm.

Using your numbers as your main marketing price targets will help you keep your focus on what price you need to be successful. When you are attending meetings and “trying to figure out the markets” you won’t lose your way through all of the information. Gathering information is useful in helping you refine or change your marketing plan, but again your marketing price targets need to be based on your actual numbers to help you keep a focus on bottom line profitability for your farm. I recently read an article about different marketing strategies U.S. corn producers have used over the years. A university did a comparison to see if any one strategy was a clear winner over the others. Here is what they found. This comparison was based on the years 1989 to 2010, using the assumption that during the 21 years of the review, the producers stuck to their specific strategy each and every year and did not deviate from it. The strategies compared were: • Selling 100 per cent at harvest; • Setting target prices based on production costs plus 10 per cent, and selling 25 per cent in each of four months (February, March, April and May); • Selling one-twelfth every month;

• Selling based on seasonal price tendencies, selling grain on March 1, June 15, August 1 and August 15; • Selling 10 per cent each month beginning January 15 and ending October 15. Over the long term there was no clear single winner, but there were those that were consistently better performers. Lowest, by total returns per bushel, was the strategy of selling 100 per cent at harvest, which isn’t a big surprise. We know that both the futures and basis are, on average, at their poorest levels during the harvest period. Next runner up was the strategy of selling one-twelfth of your crop every month, likely because they sold a portion of the crop through the harvest season. Next was the strategy of selling 10 per cent 10 starting January 15 and continuing on until October 15. This strategy was a little better but again they were selling through the harvest period, which likely brought the average price down. The second best strategy was to set a target price based on cost of production plus 10 per cent (profit) and then sell 25 per cent each month from February to May. This seemed to work well, but you’re only marketing over four months of the year, which restricts your ability to

respond to seasonal market tendencies or unexpected market movements. The strategy that brought the best average returns over the 21 years of the study was to sell based on seasonal price tendencies, and sell on March 1, June 15, August 1 and August 15, as those dates were historically high market days for U.S. corn futures. Selling based on seasonal tendencies doesn’t mean you are making a profit unless you know your numbers. If the market isn’t meeting your numbers, you can decide if you should sell or hold, depending on market signals. The point is that no one marketing strategy is going to be the best each and every year. Build a strategy that works for you. Build one that includes your numbers as a base, and meets your cash flow needs and your risk tolerance levels. By using your numbers as a solid foundation for your plan, you have the information you need to choose which pricing strategies to use to hit your price targets. If you follow these steps you will become a more disciplined marketer and make better marketing decisions for your farm. I suspect that if you were to use a blend of the last two strategies by setting target prices based on your costs of production plus 10 per cent (or more or less, your choice), then market based on historical pricing tendencies and current market information, you would have a solid plan that should stand the test of time. See you on the meeting circuit! † Brian Wittal has 30 years of grain industry experience and currently offers market planning and advice to farmers through his company Pro Com Marketing Ltd. (www.procommarketingltd.com).

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EXTENDED OUTLOOK FOR THE PRAIRIES Weather Forecast for the period of December 28, 2014 to January 24, 2015

Southern Alberta

Peace River Region

Saskatchewan

December 28 - January 3 Several clear and cold days this week with higher windchills, but a couple of milder days result in snow and drifting.

December 28 - January 3 Expect mostly clear and cold days this week with higher windchills. January 4 - 10 Conditions will continue to be clear and cold with higher windchill values.

January 4 - 10 Cold and settled with a few higher windchills, apart from scattered snow and drifting snow on a couple of days.

January 11 - 17 Fair skies, and sometimes seasonal but mostly cold temperatures. Chance of scattered snow on a couple of days.

January 11 - 17 Fair and seasonal to cold, apart from scattered snow on a couple of occasions. Brisk winds bring higher windchills and drifting.

January 18 - 24 Mainly cold and fair conditions. Brisk winds develop a few high windchills.

-21 / -10 Grande Prairie 32.7 mms

December 28 - January 3 Falling temperatures and brisk winds create higher windchills. Some blowing snow and scattered snow in the south. Settled and cold in the north.

December 28 - January 3 Cold days this week with higher windchills. Otherwise, fair with scattered light snow and some drifting in the south. Clear and cold in the north.

January 4 - 10 Clear and cold with high windchills, but a couple of milder days bring snow and blowing snow to the south. Clear and cold in the north.

January 4 - 10 Mostly clear skies with seasonal to cold temperatures. Slight warming and gusty winds will bring light snow and drifting on 1 or 2 days. Clear and cold in north.

January 11 - 17 Clear and cold most days, aside from light snow and blowing on 2 days this week. Windy days cause high windchills at times.

January 18 - 24 Mainly cold and fair. Brisk winds develop a few high windchills. Slight moderating brings some light snow and drifting on a couple of days.

Manitoba

January 18 - 24 Cold and generally fair. Expect brisk winds with light snow, high windchills and drifting on a few days.

January 11 - 17 Seasonal to cold. Blustery. High windchills. Settled, but some scattered light snow and drifting in the south. January 18 - 24 Mostly cold and fair weather. Brisk winds, light snow, high windchills and drifting on a couple of days.

Precipitation Forecast -20 / -9 Edmonton 23.3 mms

-16 / -6 Jasper

NEAR NORMAL

31.1 mms

-15 / -5

31.0 mms

-19 / -8 Red Deer 20.7 mms

-23 / -12 North Battleford

-26 / -14 Prince Albert 15.4 mms

-27 / -16 The Pas

18.0 mms

18.4 mms

-23 / -12 Saskatoon 15.9 mms

-20 / -10 Yorkton

NEAR NORMAL

-24 / -13 Dauphin

-26 / -15 -23 / -13 21.2 mms 19.3 mms -21 / -10 Regina Gimli 25.1 mms -20 / -10 Moose Jaw 14.7 mms Swift 17.7 mms -22 / -12 12.2 mms -25 / -14 Portage -24 / -13 -16 / -5 Current -21 / -12 Medicine Hat Brandon 23.8 mm Wnnipeg 20.0 mms Weyburn 18.4 mms 19mms cms Lethbridge 17.3 19.3 mms 17.2 mms -21 / -11 20.3 mms 26 cms -14 / -3 Estevan Melita -25 / -12

Banff

-16 / -4 Calgary

Forecasts should be 80% accurate, but expect variations by a day or two because of changeable speed of weather systems.

18.8 mms

19.2 mms

Precipitation Outlook For January Much Above Normal Below Much above normal normal below normal normal

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JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Columns Off farm income

Two indicators that help me sell Andy Sirski has two stock indicators that can help you learn when to buy and sell stocks ANDY SIRSKI

appy new year to you and your family.

Oil and gas prices Oil and oil stocks had a good run from April to the summer time and then the market took back all the gains and then some. Some stocks like Gilead had a nice run up, too nice actually, and then dropped like a rock. Reality has come back to them. Then we have stocks like CN and CP that had the benefit of an improving economy and lots of oil to move so they had a good year. As I write on December 6, 2014, the price of oil is still falling as OPEC decided to choke cash flow for Russia and a few other countries that are deemed to be the “bad boys.” The cartel decided to keep production up, quite sure that would drive the price down. That’s helped along

by an increase in demand that is only about two-thirds of the increase in supply. The low prices should eventually reduce drilling in the shales and that could be part of OPEC’s strategy. Depending on who we talk to, shale wells need $60 oil to be profitable. Russia apparently needs $100 oil to balance its budgets. Hard to say if the country will default on some of its loans, use its rainy day fund or sell gold to balance budgets and keep its people more or less happy as the price of food jumps across the board.

The new reality I think the market is coming back to a new reality. Rotation, rotation, rotation seems to be the new strategy for a lot of active money. And this rotation will take several forms. The price of stocks will rise over time if earnings go up but right now the general prices are well above the 100-year longterm average. The price could or should or will come back to the mean sometime in the future. When they do, prices might go sideways for a long time.

Stock prices will also go up and down with the seasons. There are repeatable, fundamental reasons for the price of gold to go down from the end of the Chinese New Year to June and then up as we head into the wedding season in India, Christmas and Chinese New Year. Demand for fertilizer and its stocks goes up and down with the seasons and the price of corn. Demand for farm machinery and its stocks will go up and down with the price of corn. Overlay the fact that large investors usually sell stocks on weakness and buy on anticipated strength and that sentiment towards a sector can help raise or lower prices. Most are quite happy to harvest the 10 or 15 per cent gains we often see between the lows and highs in stock prices. This gives us a combination of events that cause the price of stocks to go up and down. Rotation has many forms. Although, true buy-and-hold investors can and often do ignore all this stuff. The rest of us can learn to make money in this kind of market, keep it and actually make that volatility work for us.

All it will take is some knowledge and work. People seem to understand that it would take work to own cows or a pet horse or a dog but when it comes to stocks they don’t want to work. I think we have to change that thinking. In the last issue I mentioned two new indicators I often use. People accuse me of being a sophisticated investor and say I should use more common indicators so I looked at maybe 150 stocks one night with one very common indicator, the 10-day moving average (dma). I’ve mentioned the 10 dma in this column many times and it’s easy to set up on the free version of Stockcharts. Call or email if you need help. My second indicator is perhaps more sophisticated but easy to understand. The parabolic SAR is either below the candlestick (bullish) or above (bearish) so you can easily see what that indicator is telling us. Both of these are overlays on Stockcharts. You could also us the 6 dma exponential. Set the parabolic SAR at 0.05, 0.2. I admit applying these two indicators to 150 charts is not

an exhaustive survey but I have some confidence now in the two indicators, and I think they can improve our confidence in the direction of a stock. The four combinations of the two indicators go as follows: • When the price of shares is at or below the 10 dma and the parabolic SAR is above the candlestick, the odds are the price is going to drop. • When the price of shares is at or above the 10 dma but the parabolic SAR is below the candlestick, odds are the price needs some wiggle room. • When the price of shares is below the 10 dma and the parabolic SAR is above the candlestick odds are the shares are going to drop. • When the price of shares is above the 10 dma and the parabolic SAR is below the candlestick odds are the ice is going to go up. The operative words here are “the odds are” since nothing is 100 per cent sure. † Andy is mostly retired. He plays with granddaughters, travels a bit with his wife, manages his family’s investments and publishes an electronic newsletter called StocksTalk. You can read it for free by sending an email to sirski@mts.net.

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Columns Reporter’s notebook

Farm reporting ain’t easy More information about hemp to add to what appeared in a previous article, and a trip to a conference in Manitoba to learn more about grain transportation By Lisa Guenther

here is a whiff of shame that wafts from journalists after they’ve found out corrections are needed to a published piece. Despite our best intentions, fact-checking processes, and diligent editors, mistakes sometimes slip by us. Take an article I wrote on growing hemp a few months ago. I spoke to, and referenced material from, several different sources. I checked my work against the information provided by sources. Everyone I spoke to was trying to help rather than mislead me. Despite this, there is one fact that it is outright wrong, and a couple of others that are a little more nuanced. I’d interviewed Kevin Friesen of Hemp Genetics International, for the original article, and he contacted me after the article ran regarding the errors. The corrections are as follows: 1. The article stated farmers should aim for 200 to 250 plants per square metre. But that only applies to hemp grown for fibre. Farmers growing for grain should aim for 75 to 90 plants per metre squared, Friesen wrote. 2. There is some disagreement on moisture levels for long-term hemp storage, which was reflected in the original article (but perhaps I should have clarified it). Friesen says it must be stored at under 10 per cent moisture — ideally eight to nine per cent. Saskatchewan Agriculture recommends under nine per cent. Manitoba Agriculture puts it at nine to 10 per cent. Alberta Agriculture’s website suggests under 12 per cent. So it’s probably safest to aim for less than 10 per cent moisture. 3. Not surprisingly, expected yield was

the trickiest point. Friesen noted the average yield estimates of 600 to 800 pounds per acre, which I’d sourced from the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance website, were low. He wrote he’d consider anything under 1000 pounds per acre a crop failure. Friesen said he saw yields as high as 2,800 lbs. per acre (including dockage) in 2014. Seed Manitoba 2014 listed the check variety, CRS1, as averaging 1,389 lbs. per acre in 2013. Yields varied between varieties. Yield varies, but higher yields are possible. Once again, success likely comes down to getting the right advice for your area, as Friesen stated in the original article.

Leaking out my ears One of the biggest challenges farm reporters face is covering complex stories that require a ton of time to understand and research. Page space is finite. Deadlines limit the time we can invest in a single story. Every story needs focus. This is what makes our jobs difficult, but also interesting and even fun. I think. Grain transportation is a great example of this. The logistics system is complex. There are technical, financial and political aspects to the issue. There’s also the human aspect, the relationships between the different players. A single article only captures a small piece of the puzzle, at best. That’s part of the reason I have a small series planned for Grainews this winter. Hopefully I’ll be able to fit together a few puzzle pieces. In early December I flew into Winnipeg to attend Fields on Wheels, an annual transportation conference organized by the University of Manitoba’s Transport Institute. The room was packed with all the players along the supply chain — people from port

Farmers growing for grain should aim for 75 to 90 plants per square metre. terminals, railways, government, academia, unions, grain companies, plus a few farmers. And speakers covered everything from interswitching to ocean containers. By the end of the day, I felt like all that information was leaking out my ears (although I hoped it would leak out my fingers instead, as someone had recently reassured me). To me, the heart of the issue comes down to what role the railways fill in our society. Dr. Paul Earl of the University of Manitoba gave us a historical overview of economic thought and regulation in the grain and transportation industry. Canadians have struggled to figure out how railways can best serve society since the first spike was driven. Sir John A. Macdonald’s view was that Canadian

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Pacific (CP) could go its own way, as its interests and the country’s interests would be identical in the long run, Earl said. Shortly after Macdonald’s statement, the president of CP said the railway’s sole purpose was to make money, Earl added. Since then, the rail and grain industry has swung to regulation and back again. It’s a little disheartening to think we haven’t come up with an effective long-term solution to grain movement in the 130 years since a CP railroad financier hammered the last spike. And there’s no single magic bullet, either. Complete deregulation of the rail industry doesn’t work because there’s not enough competition. But over-regulation didn’t work in the 20th century either, according to Earl.

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Columns For many years, Earl fought hard to deregulate the grain transportation system, he told delegates. But amongst the people fighting for deregulation, he said he doesn’t “remember one serious conversation about market power, and the dangers that it imposed.” Earl said he didn’t know whether railways could have, or should have, hauled more grain. But, he said, a commercial system creates commercial decisions. For example, under a commercial system, moving container traffic instead of grain makes perfect sense, he said. Earl thinks untangling logistics requires balance between open markets and regulation. And, he said, we also need to acknowledge that all corporations are not only economic entities, but institutions that must contribute to society.

But utopia, even if achieved, will never last. We will swing towards too much or Laura Robinson, a freelance investigative not enough regulation. Relationships will journalist, said her understanding of the sour as new players move in, or old playtruth is “as much as I know from the place ers change. Someone will get greedy, or let I now stand.” Her understanding of the ideology triumph over reality. truth changes as she finds out more. This This doesn’t mean everyone should throw makes perfect sense to me. up their hands in disgust and walk away. I don’t know how to clean up this mare’s Sometimes the things worth doing are really nest. But here’s what I think I know right now. difficult. And although railways have a A glance at history will tell you that we duopoly, we live in a democracy. Over the are unlikely to find permanent solutions last few months we’ve seen that even a to grain movement issues. Perhaps the conservative government is willing impose railways and grain companies will find a brute regulations, in some situations. It’s hard to know how effective expandway to work together more effectively for a while. Maybe the government will manage ing interswitching will be in the long run, and the order-in-council had mixed effects. to balance public and private interests so B:10.25” precisely that everyone will thrive in this But it does show the government will listen T:10.25” to farmers if they push enough. new climate.

Things I think I know right now

In Earl’s opinion, as damaging as the regulatory system was that he fought to dismantle, the polarization between the two sides on that debate was equally damaging. I wonder how much hurt lingers on western Canadian farms from those battles. Farmers can’t afford to be deeply divided on big issues such as grain transportation. You may be a libertarian, and your neighbour a socialist, but you both need to move grain. It’s time to set aside the hard feelings and “told you sos” and make sure you all have a strong voice in the boardrooms where decisions are made and policies set. † Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

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Columns Soils and crops

Fababeans: our next Cinderella crop A nitrogen-fixing legume that doesn’t have us competing with U.S. farmers could be an opportunity les henry

photos: les henry

efore you start — the headline is a bit of a stretch at this point but hopefully you will read on to learn more. The first department head of the newly constituted Soil Science Department, University of Saskatchewan (1919) was Roy Hanson, a soil microbiologist. His first observation was “we need to grow legume crops to arrest the sharp drop in soil nitrogen that has happened with just a few years of cultivation.” Legume crops at that time were perennial — alfalfa, clovers, etc. Perennial legumes in rotation and green manure crops were a mainstay of soil conservation in Europe, the U.K. and eastern North America. But, they failed miserably in the northern Great Plains in the U.S. and the Palliser Triangle in Western Canada. Alfalfa is a big “suck” for water and lowers the water table over time. The first crops after a perennial forage of any kind were a bust unless a super wet year came along. Fast forward to the 1970s. The newly formed Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan had a mandate to develop new crops to reduce reliance on wheat. This was especially true in the brown and dark brown soil zones where canola was not suited. At that time canola (then called rapeseed) was considered to be a black soil zone crop. The young Crop Development Centre was able to recruit Dr. Al Slinkard, a pulse crop breeder, to Saskatchewan from the U.S. Pacific Northwest of the. Al quickly established lentil as a viable crop for the drier

This is an irrigated fababean plot at Outlook, part of an experiment on seed placed phosphorus for irrigated and dryland crops. Fababean stands up straight and nearly looks you in the eye. No digging in the dirt to harvest. regions. Lentil was especially adapted to the clay belt of west central Saskatchewan and the Regina plains. The crop not only survived in the drier years, but thrived. Level land with no stones was ideal for a short crop like lentils. In the R.M. of Milden No. 286, where this old scribe was raised, much of the net worth of many farmers today is a result of lentil over the past 30 years or so. It was our great fortune in the 1970s to work with Al on the water and nutrient requirements of many crops, including lentil, pea and fababean. The work showed that lentil was not a great irrigation crop, but fababean was. Saskatchewan has become the world leader in lentil export and pea is also an important crop. On my little farm, growing pea every four year has been an important part of the rotation since 2001. But, the current wet spell and disease of both pea and lentil

have required a rethink of crops. Many farmers I have talked to are ready to give up on pea as a crop because of disease. To include a new legume, many have opted for soybeans, and some quite successfully. But, there have been busts along the way also.

The research priority is market development But, why do we want to compete head on with soybean growers in the U.S. (and the U.S. treasury) and huge acres in Brazil? A big push for soybean is the companies that want to sell us expensive seed. And, we do not need or even want another glyphosate-resistant crop.

Glyphosate is a major kingpin in our current zero-till, continuous-crop agriculture. Without glyphosate we must rethink our entire cropping system in much of Western Canada. And, the more glyphosate resistant crops we have the quicker resistant weeds will come along. Fababean was grown in the 1970s in the irrigation area at Outlook and in the Norquay region of east central Saskatchewan — a wet area. At that time straight cut headers were not used so fababeans were swathed. They made a miserable swath and if it got wet it was bad news. The crop all but disappeared but is making a comeback. Folks I have talked to that grew them this year have all straight cut the crop. Fababean is a longer season crop but it can be seeded early like peas. For fababean to become an important crop the research pri-

This is the “business” end of a fababean plant. Huge, blood red nodules fix gobs of nitrogen. Fababeans fix more nitrogen than other annual legumes. ority is market development — particularly the attributes of the bean itself and uses for it. That is what made canola a “made in Canada” crop. The Americans were very slow to take up canola, leaving most of the market to us. Maybe we can do the same with fababean? Our Crop Development Center, University of Saskatchewan, (Bert Vandenberg and colleagues) has an active fababean program. Let us cheer them on and make sure resources are in place to develop a crop that can complete the legume requirement for long-term rotation success. † 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, SK, S7H 3H7, and he will dispatch a signed book.

By jonny hawkins

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JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop Farm machinery

Claas combines

Claas’ Lexion combines were on display at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa in August

odifying Claas combines to meet Tier 4 Final requirements, said Jeff Gray, Claas’ product co-ordinator, “resulted in new engines.” The updated combines have new horsepower ratings, as well as a new cooling system introduced in 2014. “We call it a dynamic cooling system,” Gray said. “It’s one of the highly sought after features of the new combines.”

Dynamic cooling system What makes the Claas combine cooling system different, Gray said, “is that it’s horizontally mounted on top of the engine. It’s pulling the air from the top down where it’s coolest and cleanest. We draft it though the radiators and the oil coolers and then, as it’s expelled out through the radiator, it’s forced into the engine compartment to blow the engine compartment clean. Then it’s also forced through the vents in the side to force all the dust and light material that gets aloft away from the combine, so that the cooling fan doesn’t pull it back in.” Gray says this dynamic cooling system keeps the combine cleaner, and allows it to run cooler, allowing for an increased maintenance interval on the air filter. Farmers who once changed air filters daily may be able to service them every week, or “maybe even two weeks,” Gray said, depending on conditions.

Powertrac rear axle “We’ve also come up with a new Powertrac rear axle,” Gray said. The difference with this model, Gray said, is that Claas is “using outboard planetaries instead of hydro motors for the rear wheel

assist. It’s mechanically driven at the wheels. That gives us 33 per cent more tractive power without any reduction in ground speed.” In the past, hydraulic-driven rear axles were ground speed-sensitive. “When you engaged them, that would drop you down to a lower range.” With the new system, operators can have more traction, without reducing ground speed. Claas’s new Class 9 and 10 combines are “equipped with the new full-length suspended rear axle. That improves steering efficiency. It allows the rear axle to shift left to right, sideways, to improve that turning efficiency. It gives us more clearance for larger tires as well.” All of the combines in this line have a heavy-duty 260 horsepower feeder house drive.

Tracks In 2010, Gray said, “We brought out our generation three TerraTrac.” This is a fully-suspended track undercarriage integrated right into the combine design. “It’s not modular,” Gray said. “It’s actually designed for the combine and viceversa. It frowns and smiles, so it takes on the shape of the terrain.” “Besides all of the obvious benefits — flotation, stability, comfort — it also lends itself very well to improving combine and header auto-contouring ability. Gray said that that when you’re using the tracks, “you’re dampening the system — the combine and the cutterbar — even more when you’re switching into rolling terrain.” This can really enhance performance, Gray said, making the cutterbar more efficient. “That oftentimes get overlooked,” Gray said. † Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

1: Farmers at the Iowa Farm Progress show were eager to get a close look at Claas’ Lexion combines. 2: Jeff Gray, Claas’ product co-ordinator, says with new Claas dealers in place on the Canadian Prairies, Claas combines are making an impact in Western Canada. 3: Claas’s Jeff Gray says the Lexion’s dynamic cooling system helps these combines run cooler and cleaner. 4: The Lexion was designed to work with this fully-suspended track undercarriage.

photos: leeann minogue

By Leeann Minogue

Equipment maintenance

End-of-season storage tips from AGCO The “FARMS” acronym summarizes AGCO’s recommendations for winter equipment storage procedures By Scott Garvey

o help farmers ensure all the bases are covered when winterizing their equipment, AGCO recently introduced its “FARMS” concept, which includes five primary steps designed to protect equipment during storage and ensure it’s ready to go next spring. “Without taking time this fall to care for their tractors and other implements, farmers are risking a costly delay come spring,” says Keith Dvorak, AGCO product performance manager. “‘FARMS’ is a simple way to remember the important steps that go into winterizing equipment. It’s one of the easiest and most affordable ways to extend the life of equipment, adding more return on that initial big-ticket investment.” Basically, this is how the FARMS acronym breaks down.

F for fill tanks Condensation can occur as the weather changes from cool to warm. That allows water to enter partially-empty tanks and cause damage. So, top off both the fuel

and the hydraulic oil tanks to eliminate the problem. Store diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) in its original container during the winter. Be sure the tank vent is plugged and keep the container away from any heat and direct sunlight.

A for adequately lubricate One of the most effective ways to protect equipment is to make sure it is well lubricated. Grease unpainted metal parts, such as hydraulic cylinder rods to protect them from the elements.

R for repair damage Be sure to fix any damage that occurred during the year. This will ensure that broken parts don’t worsen or rust during the winter, and it will allow immediate access to the equipment when it is needed next spring or summer.

M for maintain and clean. At the end of harvest, be sure to remove dust and debris from inside and

outside of the equipment. Conduct regular maintenance, such as changing the oil and fluids and checking air pressure in the tires. Protect the air inlet and exhaust from humidity. Lower each linkage fully to avoid pressure buildup in the hydraulic rams, and if possible, slacken the engine accessories belt tensioner. Finally, if preferred, remove the battery and store in a dry location.

S for store equipment Obviously, the best way to protect equipment is under a roof. However, that is not possible on every farm. So, cover the equipment if left outdoors, and protect computerized mechanisms from sun damage by covering with a cloth. For extra protection, use water-resistant products such as wax to help keep equipment from rusting and causing premature wear. Hay equipment requires some additional steps to effectively winterize it, but the additional effort will help maintain the value of the equipment. AGCO recommends draining any preservatives housed

photo: scott garvey

AGCO recommends farmers prepare their equipment for winter storage using the “FARMS” concept. in the baler; remove tension on round balers’ forming belts and remove the fire extinguisher (water variety) from square balers and store properly. “At AGCO, we believe in helping farmers protect their investment in equipment, regardless of brand,” concludes Dvorak. “By taking just a small amount of time this winter to make sure tractors and hay equipment are properly stored, farmers can rely on them for many growing seasons to come.” † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Machinery & Shop New Holland

New CR Class 10 combine debuts in Regina New combines from NH offer improved features along with productivity and capacity increases By Scott Garvey

hile visitors to Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina are used to seeing Prairie-based implement manufacturers debuting new equipment, the major brands don’t often use that show for major product launches. But this year, New Holland decided to unveil its new CR combines there. Allowing prairie farmers to be the first anywhere in the world to see these new machines, which included the brand’s first Class 10 model, the CR10.90. “It’s the first Class 10 combine in the marketplace,” says Nigel Mackenzie, combine and header marketing manager for New Holland. “Listen to this: it’s 653 horsepower. It’s an enormous combine.” “This is the first public showing of the model year 2015s anywhere in the world,” he continues. “We’re launching in Western Canada first, because it’s such an important market for us.”

The new model According to the company, the new CR models offer improvements in productivity of up to 15 per cent over the previous series. The com-

Western Canadian farmers attending Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina in June were the first to see New Holland’s new CR line of combines, which made its world debut there.

An all-new cab with added space and more ergonomic control arrangement was incorporated into the new combines.

pany gives a large part of the credit for that to the twin rotor concept it pioneered with the very first rotary to hit the market, its TR70, which was launched in 1975. NH remains the only combine manufacturer to use two threshing rotors. “Two rotors allows us to do two things,” explains Mackenzie. “We can be far more gentle (on grain). We have more time, we have more separation area, more threshing area, so our grain quality is second to none. The other thing is when

originally what engineers were trying to accomplish when they designed the DFR, but they found it actually improved the combine’s performance. DFR is available on all the new CR models. “It (the new CR Series) has a feature we call the DFR, the Dynamic Feed Roll, which is that module that sits between the feeder and the frame of the combine,” says Mackenzie. “In there you have an 18-inch diametre beater which is feeding the crop from the feeder into

times are tough and it’s difficult to thresh we can be more aggressive because we have a bigger separation area, bigger concave area.” To help improve the efficiency of the rotors, NH combines now offer the Dynamic Feed Roll, a beater that helps transfer the crop mat from the feeder house to the rotors more efficiently. The DFR also helps remove stones from the crop flow without requiring the operator to stop and close a stone trap. In fact, stone protection was

photos: scott garvey

the rotors. Initially, we launched it as a stone protection system, but we were finding we were getting increasing capacity, and we weren’t using any more power. The CR10.90 comes standard with the DFR.” Mackenzie believes the width of the twin rotors also aids in streamlining the flow of material through the machine, eliminating a pinch point and further improving its efficiency. “The feeder is the same width as the rotors, the cleaning shoe is the

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Machinery & Shop New machinery same width as the rotors, so there is no merging or pushing of material,” he says. “It comes straight from the feeder into the rotors, then it evenly distributes onto the cleaning shoe.” The new CR Series also has redesigned rotors that use adjustable vanes to further help material flow through more efficiently with reduced power demand. “(The CR10.90) is also standard with what we call twin-pitch rotors,” he continues. “It’s a development of a rice rotor, so it should help in those (tough) situations. If you change the way you drive it, run the rotor at lower speed and wider concaves, we’re seeing no deterioration of grain quality and we’re getting more capacity.” To store all that harvested grain, hopper capacities on the models ranges from 315 on the Class 6 CR6.90 to 410 on the Class 10 giant. Unloading speed is now 4 bushels per second. Two unloading auger options are available, a 29-foot and a 34-foot. ‘Theoretically you could go to a 50 or 55-foot (header) with that unloading auger,” He adds. “Also, the end of the spout pivots.” To keep the machines moving, fuel tank capacity gets bumped up to 340 gallons on the CR8.90 and larger models.

Case IH Axial-Flow combines There are only minor changes to Case IH’s Axial-Flow 240 series combine for 2015

By Leeann Minogue

or farmers looking for new innovations in combine design, the two main changes to Case IH’s Axial-Flow combine for 2015 may be a little disappointing. The new 240 combines come with larger grain tanks and larger fuel tanks. Farmers will probably welcome these changes, but many will also be relieved that Case IH has met Tier 4 Final emission standards (using Selective Catalytic Reduction technology), and now the engineers can turn their attention to developing features for the future that will bring some benefits back to the farm.

The features There are some new features on the 2015 combines.

• The new 8240 and 9240 combines will have what Case IH claims are the largest grain tanks in the industry: 410 bushels. The larger grain tanks come with higher load-rated tires to carry the extra weight. • Case IH’s press release says the new models have a “substantial improvement in fuel efficiency.” Mix this with a larger fuel tank, and you can combine all day without needing the fuel truck. • There is a new engine cooling system and vacuum-aspirated rotating wand on the stationary air screen. This should ensure cooling for optimum engine efficiency and performance. • The engines are tuned for maximum horsepower. Because the new combines provide high levels of power rise, farmers with capable grain cart drivers should be able to unload on the go without slowing down.

The 2105 Axial-Flow combine comes with a larger grain tank and a larger fuel tank. • The Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) drives will let the operator reverse the rotor. There is also CVT control of the feeder, with header-to-feeder ground speed control. • The 2015 combines are pre-wired for a new camera kit that can be installed either in the factory or after purchase. • These combines can be purchased with 30-inch tracks for specialty crop harvesting and a ladder extension for easy cab entry. † Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

Stay Ahead of the Grain

in the cab But even with all those enhancements to the machine’s performance, the brand wanted to highlight what it’s done to help improve the operator’s performance. Mackenzie thinks providing an even more comfortable environment to spend the work day in accomplishes exactly that. So the new CRs get another round of updates to the cabs. “We have the best cab on market, second to none,” he says. “What we did with the cab is sit down with customers all over the world. We asked people what they liked, what they didn’t like, what wound them up, what irritated them, what they couldn’t do that they wanted to do. And we built it (the new cab) based on what they told us they wanted. We develop prototypes, then clinic those prototypes with them again and again.” “The overriding thing customers told us is you have the best cab in the business, please don’t mess it up. (now) It still feels like the CR cab, but it is so much better. You have more visibility. The steering column is narrower than on previous models, not only for better visibility, but to create more space.” Aside from pushing the interior space to 131 cubic feet and making the seat more comfortable for people of all sizes, the control arm also gets an update to improve ergonomics. “The right-hand console has been completely redesigned,” he adds. “The multi-function lever is new. It’s very similar to what we have on a tractor. It behaves very similar to a CVT. We’re trying to create a feeling where a customer can go from a combine to a tractor and be familiar with the controls. We can offer two IntilliView 4 displays. It’s the same display we have in the tractor.” “We were the first people to introduce a rotary combine,” says Mackenzie. “We launched the rotary combine back in ’75 with the TR70. We’re planning some exciting things to celebrate the 40th anniversary.” †

Introducing new Active Concave Isolation on John Deere S680 & S690 Combines If your harvest includes tough, tangled, or matted crop, then you need a combine that keeps you ahead of the grain. Introducing 2015 S680 and S690 Combines featuring the all-new tough small grains package for high-level productivity. The new tough threshing package includes new state-of-the-art Active Concave Isolation that offers increased productivity in spring wheat, canola, barley, oats and other small grain. Add that to our feederhouse improvements, 8-wing feed accelerator, heavy-duty separator grates with two rows of interrupter bars, and together you get up to 20% more throughput. Worried about maintaining your loss level? Don’t fret. With the tough small grains package, you get up to 10% of added combine capacity, helping to tip the scales further in your favour. It’s the new S680 and S690 Combines. Nothing Runs Like a Deere™

Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

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/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Machinery & Shop John Deere

S Series combines get updates for 2015 New concave design and other new features By Scott Garvey

photo: scott garvey

First introduced to dealers at a convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in August, the 2015 model year S Series combines get a variety of improvements to better cope with small grains crops and tough harvesting conditions.

s part of its revamped 2015 product line, John Deere has built several improvements into the threshing systems of its relatively young S Series line of combines. Some of those updates are aimed primarily at the small grains market, which should grab the attention of dealers and farmers here in Western Canada. And the company is claiming those new features create a substantial improvement in overall combine capacity. “We have some features that are designed specifically for the tough-

threshing small grains and rice customers this year,” says Emily Priebe of John Deere Harvester Works. “Producers in tough small grains will also see a 10 per cent increase while maintaining their loss levels. Fifteen per cent would be almost like having another, larger class of combine.” Deere is offering what it calls a Tough Crop Package for its small grains combines equipped with the Variable Stream Rotor. On top of the capacity boost under normal harvesting conditions, this package allows you to put the petal to the metal if you have to. So, if the weather is closing

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in and you want to put up with higher losses and push the combine harder to get the crop off, Priebe says the new S Series models can really give you a boost in throughput. “In tough small grains and rice we can give customers the ability to get 20 per cent more throughput,” she says. “That’s when weather’s coming and you need to get through that field and push that machine. You now have the ability to do that with this package. Now, that’s not maintaining losses. That’s just if you have to go.” One of the key features in that package is the new hydraulic concave design called Active Concave Isolation, which allows the rotorto-concave clearance to increase and let a slug pass through without plugging. That has the potential to be a huge time saver. “It’s hydraulically controlling the concaves versus mechanically,” she explains. “So we’re holding those concaves in place with hydraulics. John Deere is the only one that offers this solution and it’s only available on our S680 and S690. The additional thing we’ve put in those packages is heavy duty separator grates and two rows of interrupter bars.” Up front, the feeder house gets a redesign, allowing the crop mat to feed in more efficiently. The four-strand chain will run on a smaller eight-inch drum and on small grains models there will be increased space between the chain and the feeder house floor, creating extra room for more material to pass through. “We have a smaller diameter feed drum, so we have an 8 inch versus a 10 inch,” explains Priebe. “That’s going to be standard on all of our combines and it’s going to give us about a 10 per cent improvement in material feeding into the machine.” Customers can also select a header tilt option that allows the operator to adjust the angle of the header from the cab. “Platform tilt gives you the ability to tilt that feeder house 17° fore and aft,” she adds. “It’s not on our head, it’s on our combine. That’s available on the S660 through to the S690 as an option.” To help take advantage of all those efficiency improvements, Deere is adding five more feet to its largest flex draper header with the introduction of the 45-foot 645FD Hydraflex. The centre opening on this model is 200 millimetres wider than other models to accommodate increased material flow, and the header slip clutch gets another 35 per cent capacity to deal with the added strain. Buyers get a choice between 26or 28.5-foot unloading augers. “We’ll continue to have five S Series models (for 2015),” says Priebe. “We also have the T670, which is a walker machine and it’s designed for exceptional straw quality. Folks in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest will chose that machine sometimes for straw quality.” † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop Equipment market

Large inventory, lower values Overheated new machinery sales in the past few years have generated a large stock of used equipment all across Canada and the U.S. By Scott Garvey

he Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), which represents all the major ag equipment brands, recently published a less than optimistic prediction for the used ag equipment market over the coming months. “While some sources are indicating record prices for used equipment due to the low amount of hours logged, in general, higher inventory of used equipment is still driving down the price to below what the machine is worth,” reads the statement. “The large inventory of used equipment sitting on dealer lots is not only decreasing the ability of the dealers to purchase and finance new equipment, but is also lowering the value of the trade-ins farmers tend to use when buying new equipment. Dealers might go so far as to not accept used equipment for trade-ins.” According to John Schmeiser, executive VP and CEO of the We s t e r n E q u i p m e n t D e a l e r s Association, the large volume of used equipment currently available on the North American market is causing concern in the industry, but some dealers have handled their inventories better than others, and not all are suffering. The problem is also more acute in some regions than others, particularly the Southern U.S. which has seen record drought in recent years, stifling equipment sales. “The fact of the matter is 95 per cent of new equipment sales involve a trade in, and there is a lot of good quality, fairly new, low hour four-wheel drives and combines out there,” he says. “Our dealers were concerned about used inventory levels in May and June. But fortunately they worked through that fairly well.” “Last week (mid-November) I spoke to some dealers that were sold out of used combines and were buying some from other dealers because they didn’t have anything to sell. I wish that was the case across all of Western Canada. It’s not. Just in some isolated situations.”

What goes up must come down The larger-than-normal national inventories of used equipment in Canada and the U.S. is the result of more than five years of very rapid growth in new machinery sales, fuelled by record farm incomes. “For 2015 we just don’t see the run up in (new equipment) sales we had from 2008 to 2013, which was pretty much double digit increases, year after year, after year,” adds Schmeiser. “We knew that growth would be unsustainable, and we looked at 2014 as being a correction year and that’s certainly what its turned out to be.” Now along with declining sales of new machinery, many dealers are facing challenges in dealing with the resulting oversupply of used equipment from the previously red-hot equipment market. “We noticed with some of our larger members their new equip-

ment orders have stopped, solely because they need to address their used equipment situation,” says Schmeiser. Rocky Mountain Equipment, Western Canada’s giant CNH retailer, is one of the dealership chains that has already worked to address its used inventories, according to Jim Wood, Rocky’s VP for agriculture. “I’m less worried about it than I was probably two years ago,” he says. “As far as the used goes, stuff is still selling. You’d think with the low Canadian dollar machines would start to move a little more into the U.S. (but they haven’t). We work on fairly low

margins in the ag sales business. What really helped in the third quarter (for Rocky) was even though we have a lot of used, the value of it is correct. We’re not having to sell it at a loss or auction it to get rid of it. In late 2014 both Case IH and John Deere announced incentive programs to help stimulate used equipment sales. “Case IH has been a great partner to work with,” says Wood. “They help wherever they can, because they realize we’re not going to sell much new if we can’t move the used.” † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

photo: scott garvey

The high demand for new equipment since 2008 has left many dealers carrying a large stock of late model, low hour, four-wheel drive tractors and combines.

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/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Cattleman’s Corner INDUSTRY NEWS

BIXS being rolled out to the launch pad New private partnership to take over pasture-to-packer tracking BY LEE HART

service established by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) over the past four years to carry information back and forth along the entire beef production chain is about to shed its training wheels. The Beef Information Xchange System — commonly known as BIXS — is about to begin a new era of following the December announcement of a new company that will steer BIXS from the training track to the launch pad. The as-yet unnamed private company is actually created through a partnership between the CCA and ViewTrak, a successful Alberta-based livestock technology company. It’s the first arrangement of it’s kind for the CCA. BIXS over the past four years has developed the system and technology for being able to track cattle through all stages of the Canadian pasture-to-packer beef production system. But the service essentially only stood at the threshold of being able to engage the entire industry. And the CCA didn’t really have the resources, tools or mandate to take it much further. The new company, with the working title of BIXSCO, is expected to carry BIXS to the next level of operation say principles for both CCA and ViewTrak. Their proposal is saying “we have the technology, here are the benefits of exchanging animal production and beef quality information back and forth through the supply and retail chain, let’s all start using it to better carry Canadian beef to the domestic and international marketplace.”

Key players at the news conference announcing the new company to deliver BIXS include (from left) Larry Thomas, national co-ordinator of BIXS; Rob McNabb, general manager of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association; Hubert Lau of ViewTrak, CEO of the new company; and Ted Power, president of ViewTrak.

ViewTrak’s Hubert Lau, who will serve as the president and CEO of the new company, described the objective of this new initiative. Rather than each sector of the industry — beef producers, cattle feeders, meat packers, auction marts, retailers, foodservice companies — working independently and sometimes at cross purposes, the objective of BIXSCO is to help “circle the wagons,” says Lau. “It is to connect the Canadian beef industry so there is a back and forth flow of beef production and quality information between all players.”

WORKING FOR A COMMON GOAL He describes the system as “collaborative economics.” It doesn’t spoil anyone’s independence or competitive advantage, but it does get the entire industry singing from the same song sheet. “It is much

like what we saw with industry in Japan,” says Lau. “After the Second World War Japan emerged as a country with industries that produced some of the most reliable cars and electronics in the world — Japanese products had a good reputation. “The fact is that the various Japanese automakers are fiercely competitive. But they recognized the advantage to the whole industry of working together to promote ‘Japanese quality’ to the whole world. The executives of these companies meet to discuss strategy for marketing Japanese products. It doesn’t take anything away from the individual automakers, but it does benefit the industry as a whole. “Our plan, through this new company is to engage the whole Canadian beef supply chain on the value of collaborative economics,” says Lau. CCA general manager Rob

McNabb says the new company — the first company developed through a CCA partnership — comes at the ideal time. “When we first began developing the concept of BIXS about four years ago, the plan from the outset was to get a system or service up and running and then be able to hand it over to some other agency or company to operate,” says McNabb. “The plan all along was for BIXS to become a self-supporting and sustainable program available to the Canadian beef industry.” The initial funding to develop BIXS was covered by the federal Agricultural Flexibility Fund, and more recently by funds from The Canadian Beef and Cattle Market Development Fund or the “Legacy Fund.” While many details on BIXS operation are yet to be finalized, any further funding of BIXS will be backed by ViewTrak.

THE INFORMATION EXCHANGE So what does BIXS do? As the name suggests it is a beef information exchange system. It is all voluntary, but the concept is for each cow-calf producer in Canada to go to the BIXS website to register their marketable cattle on the BIXS software program, using the individual CCIA ear tag numbers. And the producer is asked to provide a basic amount of information — date of birth, sex, and breed of each animal — and then there is wide range of optional information concerning production practices. Once those market cattle are registered they can then be traced through the whole production system — to feedlots registered on BIXS through to the packers. It is a two-way information exchange. BIXS can send information back

» continued on page 30

the markets

Low oil prices will definitely impact beef market Jerry Klassen Market Update

ed cattle prices reached record highs in midDecember with Alberta packers purchasing steers in the range of $179 to $182, up nearly $10 from a month earlier. Market-ready supplies of fed cattle remain relatively tight while consumer demand has increased during the holiday season. Retailers have been selling beef in smaller packages in an effort to enhance movement while restaurants have been slowly increasing menu items every few months in an effort to sustain margins. Looking forward, there are a number of risks that could cause the fed and feeder cattle markets to come under pressure. Crude oil prices continue to trend lower resulting in slower economic growth in Canada and the U.S. This may be somewhat offset by a weaker Canadian dollar but consumers are sure to cut back on beef consumption if unemployment

numbers start to grow and consumer confidence starts to wane. Feeder cattle prices have been percolating higher given the healthy margin structure in the feedlot sector. Barley prices have potential to move higher in late winter, which could temper the upside in feeder cattle prices. However, the main factor driving feeder cattle prices higher is the strength in the fed cattle market. If fed cattle soften, feeders are expected to follow.

PRODUCTION UNCERTAINTY In the short term, the fed cattle market has incorporated a risk premium due to the uncertainty in production. U.S. cattle-on-feed inventories as of Nov. 1 were 10.6 million head, basically the same as last year. However, the slaughter pace is coming in lower than anticipated resulting in a sharper year-over-year decline in fourthquarter beef production. Tighter market-ready supplies was a major factor driving the market higher in December. Projections for beef production in the first and second quarter of 2015 have been revised upward from previous estimates. While the first

quarter shows a marginal decrease in comparison to last year, second quarter beef production has potential to exceed year-ago levels given the current cattle on feed estimates. Notice third- and fourth-quarter beef production for 2015 is very similar to 2014. Pork production estimates have been revised upward for each quarter and U.S. production for 2015 will exceed 2014 by nearly 900 million pounds. This is a major fundamental shift in the red meat complex compared to 2014 when both pork and beef production were below year-ago levels. Canadian beef production during 2014 has been running two per cent above last year. Given the surplus of cattle and beef in Canada, beef production for 2015 will be very similar to 2014 providing no major influence on the market in the U.S. and Canada.

OIL PRICE IMPACTS BEEF The demand equation has cause for concern moving forward. Falling oil prices will result in lower crude oil exports and lower demand for the Canadian dollar. This may be a mildly supportive factor for cattle prices. However,

falling oil prices generally results in a weaker stock market given the larger influence on the overall economy from the energy industry. This could cause larger unemployment over the next six months as expansion projects are scaled back and the ripple effect through the economy tempers growth in other industries. Housing, banking and service industries across country could feel the impact, which will slow overall consumer spending and beef consumption. Government revenues will also decrease resulting in lower expenditures and support programs. Lower gas prices will decrease transportation costs but if one is unemployed, this has little comfort to sustain the household budget. I’m very concerned how the U.S. and Canadian economies will behave over the next six to 12 months. Strong crude oil prices reflecting a strong economy is often the backbone for future economic growth. If the energy sector drags down the overall stock market, as we’ve seen in Canada, all companies will scale back expansion plans and look to cut costs. January and February are usually periods of slower consumer spending on food both at home and

away from home. This seasonal effect could be exasperated with lower energy prices. The feeder cattle market will continue to move in tandem with the fed market and will be very sensitive to the health of feeding margins. Breakeven fed cattle prices for March and April are near $175 and any slippage under this level will result in a softer tone for feeder cattle prices. I’m somewhat bullish for southern Alberta barley prices during March and April given the tight stocks of barley. Rising barley values could also weigh on the feeder market, especially if feedlot margins move into red ink. Feedlot operators and cow calf producers are encouraged to have a prudent risk management strategy in place over the next six months. Markets generally do not like demand uncertainty and both pork and beef production will be above year-ago levels in the second quarter. The risks point to a neutral to slightly softer cattle market starting in the second quarter of 2015. † Gerald Klassen analyzes cattle and hog markets in Winnipeg and also maintains an interest in the family feedlot in Southern Alberta. For comments or speaking engagements, he can be reached at gklassen7@hotmail.com or call 204-899-8268.

JANUARY 6, 2015 grainews.ca /

Cattleman’s Corner USING TECHNOLOGY

More robust tracking can increase livestock profitability BY TED POWER

ivestock producers all over the world understand the positive impact tracking and sharing animal data can have on their bottom lines. They know due to recent “food scares,” consumers want to know that the food they are going to feed their families is safe. They want to know where it comes from, how it was raised, and what chemicals or drugs were used to create it. Not all farmers and ranchers are on board with the trend, however, and in some areas of Canada, cattle producers have been pushing back. Even though the use of RFID ear tags to identify cattle is mandatory, in some areas of Western Canada, where most of the cattle herd exists, compliance is only about 50 per cent. The Canadian cattle industry lags behind other sectors, and, as a result, it’s failing to take advantage of opportunities to grow by giving worldwide consumers what they want: reliable information about the history of their beef.

TAKE IT SERIOUSLY To increase per-head profit, improve the world perception of the quality of Canadian beef, and

expand domestic and international markets, the movement toward industry-wide traceability must be taken seriously. We have all heard it many times before. We live in a global market and we must do what the world market demands. This is why the beef industry must learn something from Canada’s pork and lamb producers. Canada’s pork industry is one of the few in the world to offer a nationwide traceability system. Through their recently unveiled PigTrace, the pork industry has successfully demonstrated they can quickly and effectively deal with food safety emergencies — improving response times and reducing market disruptions and economic impact. Pork producers understand traceability offers them a competitive advantage as consumers both domestically and globally gain more confidence in the quality of verifiable pork products. Equally important, PigTrace helps producers safeguard their businesses and bottom lines during a market disruption caused by food safety or animal health issues. Similarly, The Canadian Lamb Producers Co-operative is using technology to their advantage and are in the final stages of

completing an electronic grading system to standardize the grading of lamb which will not only improve meat quality but will enable farmers to produce lambs with characteristics that retailers, packers, and consumers are looking for. In addition, they are also creating a system that creates true traceability of meat from the farm, through processing, to the retailer, and right to the consumers’ plates. The system will allow the lamb industry to grow, gaining a stronger foothold in the vast and growing markets of Asia, America, and Europe. Their new electronic grading system provides the cooperative with improved information about flock genetics, better feed-management practices and how to reduce operating costs, positively impacting profitability. Most of all, the grading system is increasing farm cash receipts, which is every farmer and rancher’s goal. That’s great news for the lamb and pork folks, but what does it mean for cattlemen?

MISSING AN OPPORTUNITY Despite the size and significance of the cattle industry, true traceability throughout the supply chain

is still a distant dream. Without it, the industry is missing out on an enormous opportunity for growth that the pork industry has already seized and the lamb producers will be unveiling soon. For Canadian cattle, the multibillion dollar world export market will remain largely beyond reach without consistent and reliable traceability. It’s only a short matter of time before all retailers demand the full history of birth and care from producers through to processors and packers before they will sell your beef. We are already seeing that with A&W and Loblaws, who are advertising heavily about the full traceability of their products and getting premium pricing for them. Costco sells grass-fed, hormone-free beef for 50 per cent more than regular beef. McDonald’s, Canada’s largest retailer of beef, recently announced it has chosen Canada, over Australia and Europe, to launch a pilot project to meet their end goal of serving only “sustainable beef” across their entire global empire. The lesson here is, the more information you can provide about cattle genetics, feed management and medical treatment to consumers, the more in demand your cattle will be and

Ted Power the more profitable everyone will become. Traceability provides for the kind of collaborative economics that is vital for the industry’s long-term sustainability and growth. Boosting revenues and profitability is a direct result of traceability and improved beef quality. It’s as simple, and as complicated, as that. In order to work, tracking has to flow throughout the supply chain — from lineage, to history of care, to production, and processing — to provide fast, credible, accurate, and consistent data to everyone. † Ted Power is president ViewTrak Technologies Inc. ViewTrak is the most widely used tracking and trading software in North America. ViewTrak produces China’s No. 1 pork grading tool and is a partner in the Canadian Lamb Cooperative Grading Program.

Animal Health

Treatment options for handling retained placentas Roy Lewis animal health

etained placentas is one health problem all producers face every spring. The resulting metritis (uterine infection) and subsequent infertility can have a large economic impact. A placenta is considered retained if not expelled after 24 hours. Infertility related to retained placentas results from the infection not being cleared and the cow either conceiving later or being totally infertile. Both reduce the dollar return to the producer in subsequent years. Retained placentas are worth paying attention to even though beef cows seldom appear sick. One common indicator is a decrease in milk production for her suckling calf or calves. Ideally you need to prevent placental retention as much as possible and when it does occur have a definite treatment protocol. Nutritionally several key components have been identified. Adequate vitamin A levels (20,000-30,000 I.U./cow/daily), Se (selenium) five mg/cow/day and adequate calcium and phosphorus balances have all been shown to improve dropping of fetal membranes. Producers should also keep cows in adequate shape with a body condition score of 3 to 3.5 at calving. Cows that are either too fat or especially thin cows have a greater incidence of retained placentas. When calculating mineral consumption of Se it is best you assume nothing is added from the feed since most of Western Canada is deficient in this mineral.

BULL SELECTION Difficult calving will increase retained placentas so try and select breeding bulls carefully. If you do need to intervene in calving, clean up the vulvar area thoroughly and always use obstetrical gloves. The gloves keep you protected but more importantly prevents contamination of the uterus with undesirable bacteria. Use recommended, non-irritating surgical soap when cleaning the vulvar and vaginal area. Cows that produce twins and/or that abort calves also have a much higher incidence of placental retention. Even though nutrition can be adequate, twins often have a week to 10-day earlier gestation. This immaturity often does not allow release of the placenta. Cows which produce twins are at a far greater risk of coming up open in the fall. Follow the protocol for treating retained placentas on all cows that twin. Some herds especially with exotic genetics such as Simmental or Charolais can experience twinning in the order of eight per cent. Cows that do twin are very likely to repeat. Among cows that have aborted, if they are to be shipped, then treatment for retained placentas is not critical unless the animal becomes sick. Cows should have calved and shed their membranes at least 10 days before slaughter. If abortions are greater than two to three per cent ask your veterinarian to investigate the cause.

HANDS OFF Treatment of retained placentas consists of a combination of hormonal and/ or antibiotic therapy. Under NO circumstances should you manually remove them. Numerous studies have proven this is more harmful and days to next conception are

greatly increased. Years ago this was a big part of a veterinarian’s job (manual removal of retained placentas) but none will advocate doing it any more. Metritis or uterine infection can result from cows not cleaning and make a cow extremely sick and febrile (feverish). The uterine discharge is often very watery and foul smelling. This is where your veterinarian may advise flushing the uterus with copious amounts of water and disinfectant. Systemic antibiotics are also administered. Penicillin or tetracyclines are the ones commonly prescribed. There is one approved intrauterine infusion called metricure that has been developed to use intrauterine for endometritis.

HORMONAL TREATMENT Hormonal therapy involves a two-stage approach and the protocol may vary considerably between veterinarians. For cows with twins, difficult calvings, malpresentations or a past history of retention, oxytocin (1-2 cc) can be administered several times every 30 minutes within three hours of calving. After 24 hours with a retained placenta an estrogenic hormone estradiol proprionate (“estrus”) is commonly prescribed by many veterinarians. This is only given once and helps keep the cervix open not trapping the membranes within the uterus itself. Antibiotics instilled into the uterus are often detrimental. They keep the uterus too healthy and the placental membranes remain longer. Gonadotrophin releasing hormone or GNRH (trade names fertagyl, fertilene, factrel or cystorelin) is very beneficial to give 14 days postpartum on all cows, which were observed with retained placenta or had difficult calvings. The dosage is commonly 100 ug and this drug will achieve an

earlier first ovulation. Cycling is a cleansing process so the quicker cows begin cycling the healthier the uterus becomes. In the dairy industry one study where this hormone was given to all cows resulted in a 45-day reduction in days open. While hormones can be effective, check with your veterinarian before using these products. Any cows seen straining or with discharge on their tails may have developed chronic endometritis. These cows need to be palpated by your veterinarian. The veterinarian may infuse them (metricure or other recommended antibiotic) and administer a prostaglandin to evacuate the uterus of the debris. Prostaglandins especially if administered 21 days postpartum are as effective as antibiotics in treating uterine infection. If the cow comes into heat the cervix opens and the uterine tone forces out a lot of the pus and debris. By being extra diligent with retained placentas the herds open and late pregnancy rate should improve remarkably. Reproduction is still the biggest reason for culling so lets work to reduce it. Since BSE, a lot of the individual cow medicine was ignored but paying attention to nutrition including trace minerals and maintaining proper body condition scores should minimize retained placentas. All or most of these mentioned hormones are prescription drugs and must be purchased under the guidance of your veterinarian. Fine-tune a program that best suits your management operation and lets minimize the open rate come next fall. We need every cow we can keep in the Canadian herd and prices should remain high for their calves. Individual cows are well worth proper care and treatment. † 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.

/ grainews.ca JANUARY 6, 2015

Cattleman’s Corner Rancher’s Diary

Winter making cows work to find grass heather smith thomas

NOVEMBER 23

e had cold weather for a week (-25 C) and thought we’d have to bring the cows home from the 320-acre mountain pasture. Michael and Carolyn let them through the gate into the lower end where the snow wasn’t as deep, and Lynn drove up daily with the four-wheeler to break ice on the water trough. After another snowstorm they were hanging down by the bottom gate, wanting to come home, and they hadn’t been up to the water trough for two days — no tracks in the snow since he’d broken ice the day before. So that afternoon Andrea, Carolyn and I went up there on four-wheelers, bundled up with coveralls and scarves on our faces. When we got to the trough, the cows had climbed up to it and were drinking. We made sure they all had a chance to get a drink, then herded them up the mountain, on foot. Andrea got ahead of the herd and called them, and they followed her. There was more grass above the crossfence, even though the snow is deeper, so she opened the gate and led them into that part, below Preacher’s Spring. We left the gate open so they could come back down to the water trough, since Baker Creek was still frozen. A couple days later, all but four were back down again, discouraged by deep snow and cold weather. Lynn and I drove down to the bottom where the cows were standing. He led them back up the mountain with his fourwheeler and I followed them. We let them drink at the trough, then took them up through the gate again. We herded them up for several days until the weather moderated and they went back to work. Michael, Carolyn and young

Heather hauled hay for Heather’s horses. Andrea and Robbie helped haul a few loads on Andrea’s pickup. They also spent several days cutting firewood up the creek to get some fir to mix with the pine we bought. Fir burns hotter and longer on cold nights. Friday the editor of our local paper interviewed me, for an article about my new book Horse Tales. She wrote a nice review and told me she enjoyed reading it. I’m glad the book came out before Christmas; it solved the question of what to give to family and special friends this year! Yesterday the weather warmed up and rained. Today Lynn and I drove to the 320 again on his four-wheeler and checked the ice on Baker Creek. There are several places now that are ice-free and the cattle can drink.

DECEMBER 3 The snow settled and the cows are happily grazing again, rooting down through the soft snow to the green regrowth that’s about four inches tall. It adds protein to their diet to augment the tall dry grass. Last Monday Andrea caught Rishiam again — first time since her last ride on him Nov. 8 when the weather turned bad. She worked with his feet, rasping the clinches off the nails in preparation to try to get his shoes off. He’s still not co-operative about having his feet handled, but she plans to work with him a lot this winter to try to get him more trusting. Last Wednesday Michael and Carolyn hauled the last load of horse hay for Heather. She is in Canada for a couple of weeks visiting her friend Gregory at his family’s grain farm in Saskatchewan. We finally got some straw to mix with alfalfa hay for the cows this winter. We thought we had found some earlier this fall, but that deal didn’t materialize, so we asked Andy Wagoner — the rancher near Lone Pine who sells us alfalfa hay — if he knew of any straw. He found some, and

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brought us two loads. The roads were good, and our driveway was bare for the first time in a month, and there was still enough frost in the ground to turn the big truck around in the pen near our stackyard without getting stuck. We got it unloaded just before dark, before another storm hit. We had several inches of new snow, but the weather stayed warm and it settled. That first day of the storm, however, Alfonzo’s cows broke into his haystack on the Gooch place. Millers are taking care of his cows while Alfonzo is in Mexico for the winter, so we called them and two of the boys came up and patched the stackyard fence. Today Ross Middlemist (a rancher friend from Dixon, Montana) drove over to visit, and brought a hunk of net wrap that he’d had in his freezer — that the vet took out of a cow that died. I took pictures of it for an article about the hazards of ingested net wrap.

DECEMBER 14 Andrea has been catching Rishiam whenever she has time, handling his feet. Last week she was finally able to pull off his

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FEBRUARY 17-19, 2015

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Lynn uses a shovel to break and scoop ice out of the trough so cows can drink.

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BIXS being rolled out to the launch pad through the network to producers providing reports on how cattle fed at the feedlot as well as reports on carcass grade and yield at the packing plant. Since it was launched, BIXS has recorded 3.4 million animal birthdates into its system, and collected three million detailed carcass records. It is the largest database of it’s kind in the world. On the other end of the system, feeders, packing plants, retailers and food service companies can come to BIXS looking for cattle