Grainews by Farm Business Communications

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Agritechnica coverage

The 2018 Rebate Roundup

Grainews covers the German farm show 29

Get the most from your input dollars 15

Volume 44 · number 01 January 9, 2018 · $4.25 Practical production tips for the prairie farmer www.grainews.ca

Agritechnica

AGCO builds the “Ideal” combine All-new “global”combine design debuts at Germany show

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Tomato-growing tips You asked, the Singing Gardener answered 46

CONTENTS 2 | COLUMNS 20 | CATTLEMEN’S CORNER 38

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wheat & chaff

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

CONTENTS

The Tractor of the Year Leeann Minogue

leeann@fbcpublishing.com

GrandePrairie Prairie Grande

Edmonton Edmonton Lloydminster Lloydminster

PrinceAlbert Albert Prince

NorthBattleford Battleford North

RedDeer Deer Red

Melfort Melfort

Saskatoon Saskatoon Drumheller Drumheller Calgary Calgary

Lethbridge Lethbridge

Yorkton Yorkton

MedicineHat Hat Medicine

Regina MooseJaw JawRegina SwiftCurrent CurrentMoose Swift Weyburn Weyburn

Brandon Brandon

Portage Winnipeg Portage Winnipeg

Estevan Estevan

Fall soil moisture map Les Henry has gathered the data... 22

Women on boards Lisa Guenther considers the topic... 26

Alberta insect counts New maps to help you plan your crop... 14

Crop Advisor’s Casebook. . . 7 Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Machinery & Shop . . . . . . 29 Cattleman’s Corner . . . . . 38 FarmLife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

GET IN TOUCH SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (CST) call 1-800-665-0502 U.S. subscribers call 1-204-944-5568 or email: subscription@fbcpublishing.com

STORY IDEAS & SUBMISSIONS If you have story ideas, call us. You can write the article and we’ll pay you – or we can write it. Phone Leeann Minogue at (306) 861-2678 Fax: (204) 944-5416 Email: leeann@fbcpublishing.com Write to: Grainews, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK Grainews has a Facebook page. Find, read and comment on posts easily and with a thumbs up!

FIND US ON TWITTER Leeann Minogue is @grainmuse Lisa Guenther is @LtoG Lee Hart is @hartattacks Scott Garvey is @machineryeditor

his November I took my first trip to Agritechnica, the farm machinery show in Germany. Both of the days I was at the show were “Preview” days — days at the beginning of the week when admission is more expensive, there are smaller crowds, and a higher share of people are wearing business suits rather than casual offfarm clothes. To get my bearings on the grounds, I started my morning on Day 1 by tagging along to the Tractor of the Year press conference with our machinery editor Scott Garvey and Spencer Myers, who creates video and editorial content for AgDealer. The press conference was held in a building in the middle of the large show grounds. I suppose my first clue that something was going to be different was when we walked up the dazzling white curved staircase, past tables covered with tablecloths, napkins and wineglasses to get into an ultra-modern room with spotlights and high ceilings. At farm shows like Ag in Motion near Saskatoon, press conferences tend to be pretty informal. Generally it's a group of people in jeans and shorts standing around outside, holding microphones or cameras, gathering around someone with a mobile microphone. At the U.S. outdoor Farm Progress Show in Iowa, some of the press conferences are slightly more formal — that is, they are held inside tents. The Agritechnica press conference was very different. Everyone in the room who wasn’t with the media was wearing a business suit. This meant a lot of men in suits, since generally, the room was about 95 per cent men. There were a few women in the media section but only one woman made it on to the stage, along with about 20 men. This isn’t the first time I’ve been in a room with a lot of men in suits, but it was odd to be surrounded by so many people in matching suits. I’m used to seeing company reps in “uniforms” — corporate t-shirts and jackets. Coordinated khaki pants. Maybe long-sleeved logoed shirts. But the representatives of most of the companies at the Agritechnica press conference were wearing matching corporate business suits. Generally, these suits were black pants and jackets, white shirts, with no tie. As you can see in the photo of the men from Valtra (winner of the “best design” category), they even had matching pocket handkerchiefs (co-ordinated with the colour of their brand logo). For an early morning event, the press conference was a pretty glamorous affair. Having Tractor of the Year chairman Fabio Zammeretti on stage added to the excitement. Before he announced a winner for each category, the host would turn to the side, look at the chairman and say, “Fabio, hand over the envelope.” And finally, I’ll tell you the strangest part of all: this entire press conference, an hour-long discussion about the best tractors of 2017, took place in a room where there was not one tractor! To find out which companies took home the other awards, including tractor of the year, you don’t have to wait for anyone to open an envelope — just turn to Scott’s story on Page 36.

Leeann

That’s Scott on the ground floor, paying attention, and Spencer up on the balcony shooting a video.

Valtra won the “best design” award for their Valtra Versu T 254 Smart Touch tractor. The host said the award is “intended for the most beautiful tractor.” The Valtra reps on stage fist-bumped once the photos had been taken.

After the award was announced, Scott and Spencer hit the show floor to take some shots of the actual machines that had won awards.

These guys were between buildings, taking a break to smoke. No, they aren’t a boy band. They all work for a mid-size German farm.

wheat & chaff

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Ag safety

Back to safety basics in the New Year

ith a new year comes resolutions. This year, instead of making a resolution to do something you’ve never done before, what if you made a resolution to perform daily tasks properly and safely? Something like operating a tractor? Tractors are essential to farm operations. From field work to feeding the livestock to cleaning snow, tractors are the most used machine on the farm. Firing up the tractor is pretty routine on the farm and operation seems pretty straightforward. As simple and as commonplace as using these machines are, the fact remains that the majority of agriculture machinery-related fatalities involve tractors. Reminders on basic safety while operating tractors can help everyone stay safe. Did you know that the majority of deaths on Canadian farms involve a

tractor? Runovers and rollovers are the top two ways people are killed on the farm. Unmanned machine runovers account for approximately half of all runover fatalities. This means that half of all runover deaths happen when no one is even driving the machine! Passengers and operators who fall from the machine are also killed in runovers all too frequently. Bystanders are also in danger of being runover, unfortunately, most killed in bystander runovers are children under the age of nine. Runovers are easy to prevent if basic tractor operating procedures are followed. Before mounting the tractor, walk around the machine to check for obstructions, bystanders and to check the general condition of the tractor. If any systems are faulty, do not use the tractor. Before starting the tractor, make

sure that all controls are in their neutral positions, the parking brake is applied and the clutch and PTO are disengaged. Do not start or operate any of the controls from anywhere other than the seat. Be sure to drive at a speed slow enough to keep control of the tractor, especially over expected hazards like railroad crossings. Do not drive the tractor on ground that may collapse, like near ditches or embankments. When coming to a stop, make sure you are parked on even ground, disengage the PTO (if connected), and lower any implements that are attached. Be sure to place all controls in the neutral position, apply the parking brake and turn off the engine. Remove the key. Never dismount if the tractor is still moving. It cannot be stressed enough that tractors are not passenger vehicles. Except for those built with instruc-

Photo Contest

from anywhere but the operator’s seat, drive cautiously and never, ever allow extra riders. Operating a tractor safely is one New Year’s resolution that will pay off in reduced injuries and fatalities. GN Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, visit www.casa-acsa.ca.

Q&A with CPS

Get the best yield response Q: Which crop nutrients applied generally provide the most yield response in any given year? What considerations should be made? A: Crop yield response to nutrients depends on many factors. While the most important factor is moisture availability, other factors like crop selection, soil type, organic matter, residual soil fertility, previous crop, tillage, type of fertilizer and method of application can all impact your end result. Consistent soil testing helps refine the accuracy of fertilizer recommendations. Satellite imagery, yield maps and variable rate fertilization can provide further insight into how and where on your field you may gain enhanced bang for your fertilizer dollar. While this may seem complicated, sometimes the simple is better approach can provide guiding principles to complex issues. For crop

fertility, understanding crop yield response to specific nutrients is one guiding principle. An extensive research study completed several years ago by Crop Production Services reinforced the simple guiding principle that, in most crops, outside of legumes, nitrogen fertilizer is responsible for 70 to 80 per cent of the crop response to fertilizer. Phosphorus followed at 12 to 15 per cent, while potassium, sulfur and micronutrients followed that. When it comes to fertilizer recommendations, nitrogen is the key nutrient to focus on first. This doesn’t mean we ignore the other nutrients — we simply give nitrogen first priority. GN Norm Flore is a manager of agronomic services with Crop Production Services in southern Alberta.

photo: CPS

Give us your best shot!

tional seats, they are built for one person. There are far too many stories of extra riders being killed or injured. Keeping extra riders off the tractor is an easy way to prevent tragedy. To sum up, watch for bystanders (keep kids in supervised, safe play areas), do not try to start the tractor

YOU MIGHT BE FROM THE PRAIRIES IF...

Cam Nickel sent us this photo, taken during a break in the middle of their 2017 harvest at Hay Lakes, Alta. That’s Cam in the driver’s seat and his son Hudson, four, crammed into the back. (Of course this pose was just for the photo. When the combine was running, there was only one passenger and he was wearing a seat belt.) The man in the passenger seat is Clem Nickel, Cam’s grandfather. Clem was 100 years old when this photo was taken. Clem ran equipment himself until he turned 93, and kept his car license until he was 94. I am sorry to have to report that Clem passed away in November. Until Clem’s passing, there were four generations of Grainews readers in the Nickel family (although Cam said that Hudson only looked at the pictures). We’re mailing Cam a cheque for $25. Send your best shot by email to leeann@fbcpublishing.com or through Twitter at @GrainMuse. Please send only one or two photos at a time, and also send along some information about where and when you took the photo, or even something about your farm. Photos with larger file sizes look better in the paper.

You have been to airports which are not only too small to land a jumbo jet, they are smaller than a jumbo jet.

cover stories

Grainews.ca / JANUARY 9, 2018

Agritechnica 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1 www.grainews.ca Publisher Lynda Tityk Editorial director Laura Rance Editor Leeann Minogue Field Editor Lisa Guenther

AGCO builds the “Ideal” combine All-new “global” combine design debuts at Germany show

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The Ideal combines unload at up to 6 bushels per second and can empty the grain tank in 90 seconds.

By Scott Garvey “

or me this combine is the star of the show,” said Adam S h e r i f f, AG CO m a rke t development manager for the new Ideal combine series. “Everything is new with this combine.” He and I spoke as we stood near the rear of a new Massey Ferguson Ideal combine at AGCO’s display at the Agritechnica machinery show in Hannover Germany in November. But there was also a Fendt-branded version of the new Ideal combine on display just a few metres away in another part of the AGCO stand. Identical versions of the combines will be sold in both the Massey and Fendt brands in Europe, only the name badges will change. Here in Canada the new combines will wear Massey Ferguson or Challenger insignia, becoming part of the two main product lines that form the core of AGCO’s North American presence.

The Ideal The Ideal is an entirely different machine than anything the company has previously offered, and its public introduction at the world’s largest agricultural machinery exhibition marks the culmination of one

Photo: Scott Garvey

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Photo: AGCO

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AGCO unveiled the Ideal at Agritechnica in Germany in November.

of the most significant development projects AGCO has embarked on in recent years. Engineers started with a clean sheet of paper in the development of the Ideal, according to Sheriff. And that’s what makes it such a big deal for the company. All Ideal machines will leave the factory painted in their own shade of “stealth” grey no matter what brand identification they

end up wearing, which makes it unique among AGCO products, although the colour is a bit similar to that used on the company’s current Gleaner combine line. “This combine is different,” said Sheriff. “There’s the first reason why (it gets its own colour). It makes a statement. We’ve made a massive step with this combine. It’s a sheetup design. It’s the first time in a long

time there’s been a sheet-up design from anybody.” The smallest of the three models, the 451 horsepower Ideal 7, gets a single rotor, while the larger 538 horsepower Ideal 8 and 641 horsepower Ideal 9 will get a twin rotor threshing body. Continued on page 6 

cover stories

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Ideal combines don’t have a rear discharge auger and use a redesigned chopper with lower power requirements.

The smallest of the three models, the 451 horsepower Ideal 7, gets a single rotor, while the larger 538 horsepower Ideal 8 and 641 horsepower Ideal 9 will get a twin rotor threshing body Photo: Scott Garvey

“It’s a smaller diameter rotor than Deere’s,” he said. “By having two (rotors) you increase your threshing capacity by twice. It really does make a considerable difference. It’s 4.84 metres long. If you think about the New Holland rotor, it’s 2.8 metres long. The John Deere is around three metres. So you can image how little we really have to bash the stuff to get the grain out. It’s a very gentle thing. “The reduced power (demand) is down to the increased space around (the rotor). You have room to separate without breaking the crop up. When you break up that crop (straw) you’re using power and using fuel. We also don’t have a discharge rotor. It’s discharged straight onto the ground. So there is no extra drive. There are only 13 belts on this combine. An equivalent Claas would have something like 26. That’s the whole planned way to bring fuel consumption down.” Sheriff then pointed to a nearby display model of the rotor. “You see these spirals, they’re very gentle.” The company claims that rotor design is capable of handling all field conditions and all grains, only the pans need to be changed to match the crop. That “gentle” treatment of the crop mat leaves the straw in better condition than a typical rotary for anyone that wants to bale behind the combine. “It’s much easier on the straw,” Sheriff said. “I’ve seen it myself. I saw it in a field in dry straw in the Czech Republic and it wasn’t breaking it at all. It was leaving a lovely swath for balers.” In fact, the entire separation system has a new design. “It’s a new set of pans underneath the rotor,” Sheriff continued. “They’re specially shaped to put the grain in the right place all the time. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a slope. It makes no difference. It makes a massive difference to the separation capacity. It means the output is really clean, because we can clean the grain really easily. It’s just one of 10 wows on this combine.” The 7, 8 and 9 model number designations roughly equate to the combines’ class, but Sheriff says the components in the threshing body were engineered to demand much lower power requirements from the engine, so the numbers aren’t a fair representation of what the combines are capable of. “The horsepower really tells you (the class), but on this combine we’re saving about 20 per cent on everything we’re doing. The rotors have a very low power requirement, the fan, the chopper, everything is developed for low power (demand). We actually have a 647 horsepower (engine) in the 9, but it’s worth a lot more. The class 9, we’ve called it a 9, but really, it’s going to do more.” Those are peak horsepower numbers by the way. Power comes from an AGCOPower 9.8 litre 7-cylinder diesel in the 7 and 12.4 and 15.2 litre MAN 6-cylinder engines in the two bigger models.

Photo: AGCO

 Continued from page 5

Ideal Harvest The Ideals also get a bigger digital brain than AGCO has ever built into any of its combines, giving the company a machine that also o f fe rs a “ s m a r t ,” a u to m a t i c threshing control system. “It’s got something we call Ideal Harvest,” says Sheriff. “It’s a system that receives its signals from 52 sensors around the combine. It has visualization. We can visualize what’s happening within the machine.” The Ideal Harvest system can m a k e a u to m a t i c o n - t h e - g o adjustments during the day to maintain established harvesting parameters, taking a lot of responsibility for doing a good job away from the operator. The Ideal Harvest system won a Silver Innovations Award at Agritechnica this year. GN Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@ fbcpublishing.com.

The two larger models use twin rotors, while the smaller Ideal 7 has a single rotor.

A global design for 2019 “This was a global project, said Europe-based Adam Sheriff, AGCO market development manager for the Ideal combine line. “I was literally on the phone everyday with the U.S. and South America, we’d have conference calls to decide how to specify it.” Field testing in the development phase ahead of the official launch saw 45 prototypes sent out across various grain growing regions around the globe, along with continuous lab work over six years.

The result is a totally new combine designed for global distribution. AGCO will sell them through its three major brands (MF and Challenger in North America, MF and Fendt in Europe). The “Ideal” name comes from a brand the company acquired in Brazil several years ago. “Many years ago Massey Ferguson bought a factory in Brazil, and they had a brand called Ideal,” explained Sheriff. Aside from that, marketers think that moniker suits the new combines in several ways.

“It’s available for order right now, but you won’t get one until 2019,” Sheriff continued. “What we’ve decided is the way to deal with it is next year go out and show people. Dealers are going to have demo models. The guys in North America will have control of their combines, so it might be a bit different — but not much different. They’ll need to do the same thing, with the same timing or maybe slightly later.” GN Scott Garvey

FEATURES

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Crop production

Crop advisor casebook What’s attracting seagulls to this canola field? By Joelle Burnstad

aul, who farms 3,500 acres north of Camrose, Alta., was convinced cutworms were taking a bite out of his canola crop. It was mid-June last year when he noticed his canola plant stand was thin. Also, many seagulls were circling the field. He thought cutworms were attracting the birds, as well as damaging his crop and causing the decreased plant density. He asked me if I would visit his farm to confirm cutworm pressure. From the road, although there was still lots of green in the field, some areas were patchy where the plant stand was thin. In other spots, entire rows were missing plants. However, there was no obvious pattern to the patchy areas or missing rows. Upon entering the field, I noticed the soil was saturated. Paul’s fields received about an inch of rain the night before and almost five inches during the previous 10 days. In fact, this area experienced high precipitation levels last fall, continuing into the spring. In Paul’s field, I noticed what looked like poor germination in some areas, while other spots had heavy weed pressure. The canola plants ranged in development from cotyledon to the two-leaf stage. I told Paul I didn’t think we were dealing with a cutworm issue as there were a few factors ruling this type of pressure out. To begin with, cutworms favour warm, dry, light-textured soils, like those found on hilltops or southfacing slopes, not the saturated soils in Paul’s field.

And although cutworms create bare patches by consuming all the plants in an area, moving outwards to feed on more plants, the patches in Paul’s field didn’t have any other evidence to support cutworm feeding. For example, cutworms cut and sever plant stems below the soil surface. Cutworm damaged plants often look wilted, tipped over, or dead. We didn’t find any severed stems or tipped over, wilted, or dead plants. There would also be chewing damage, such as holes or notches in the leaves, not to mention the presence of cutworms in the soil. When we dug in the rows we didn’t find any cutworms; however, we did find plenty of earthworms. “That explains the seagulls circling overhead,” I said. “This field had flea beetle pressure earlier this spring,” said Paul. “Did that feeding damage cause the thin stand?” It was a good guess, but it was only part of the answer. What other factors are causing the thin plant stand in Paul’s canola crop? If you think you know, send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man., R3C 3K7; email leeann@ fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-94495416 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. GN Joelle Burnstad works for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Legacy Junction, Alta.

Joelle Burnstad works for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Legacy Junction, Alta.

Casebook winner Our winner for this issue is George P W from the Neudorf Colony near Crossfield, Alberta. Thanks for reading Grainews, George, and thanks for taking time to enter. You could be a winner too. If you know the answer to this issue of Casebook, email me at Leeann@fbcpublishing.com. Leeann Minogue

Although there was lots of green in the field, some areas were patchy where the plant stand was thin. In other spots, entire rows were missing plants. There was no obvious pattern.

Crop advisor’s solution

Watch for phosphate deficiency on canola stubble By Bruce MacKinnon

low growth and reddishpurple lower leaves are characteristic of plants suffering from phosphate deficiency. Before making this diagnosis for Thomas, an Alberta producer from the Magrath area, I eliminated many other possibilities for the plant damage found in one of his barley fields, such as herbicide and fertilizer injury, environmental and disease stressors, pest pressure, and seeding issues. In early June, while scouting Thomas’ fields for herbicide recommendations and staging, the barley plants of one field were much smaller and pale in colour when compared with the other two fields he planted that season. The barley plants in the other two fields were growing normally and appeared healthy. Also, the affected plants’ oldest

leaves were reddish-purple in colour and the leaf margins were purple. The stems and stalks had reddish-purple streaks from the soil surface to the first two leaves. Examination of the affected plants’ roots revealed smaller, thinner roots with fewer root hairs when compared with plants from the other two fields. The only difference between the fields was two were seeded on winter wheat stubble and had healthy plants, while the other, injured, field was seeded on canola stubble. This fact also supports the diagnosis of phosphate deficiency. For example, canola doesn’t form a mycorrhizal symbiotic association between soil fungi and plant roots. Because arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi don’t colonize canola roots, populations of AM fungi decline for future crops. With less AM fungi present in the soil, phosphate is not broken down to a useable form as readily as

a crop needs in its early growth stages. Root development is limited and access to phosphate fertilizer banded away from the root zone is not available in those critical early growth stages. Because the previous crop was canola, thus depleting AM fungi in the soil, and the phosphate fertilizer was applied in a mid-row band and not with the seed that spring, the barley plants couldn’t access phosphate in the early stages of development when needed, due to the lack of phosphate readily available in the soil. Knowing this, Thomas will make the equipment changes necessary to apply fertilizer with the seed rather than in the mid-row band. Applying a starter blend of phosphate with the seed will promote good emergence while alleviating any crop stress at that time. Phosphate is important for plant emergence and early root development. Good crop emergence and

early above- and below-ground growth will provide the best chance for Thomas to obtain his yield goals. Because Thomas also uses liquid fertilizer, he could spray the crop with a blend including phosphate early in the spring at emergence through the pivot for irrigation (fertigation) or foliar-applied. When Thomas incorporated liquid fertilizer applications to the barley field seeded on canola stubble, the plants responded well and showed no effects of the slow growth and phosphate deficiency exhibited early on. Because the problem was diagnosed early and treated promptly and correctly, the yield from that field was the same as the other two seeded on winter wheat stubble. The areas of the three barley fields under irrigation yielded about 110 bushels per acre and made malt grade, while the dryland corners of the pivot fields yielded around 50 bu/ ac, but did not make malt grade due to the dry conditions.

Knowing that seeding into canola stubble can present challenges with respect to available phosphate in the spring, scouting early (i.e. at emergence) can prevent nutrient problems like this. Once symptoms are identified, quick action can be taken to feed the crop the nutrients it needs to start growing normally. Early-season scouting for agronomic issues is vital at emergence so that any challenges to crop development can be overcome quickly to minimize effects on yield. Furthermore, continued scouting once corrective measures have been taken is important to determine if the crop is responding. Don’t assume the treatment has rectified the problem without follow-up scouting. GN Bruce MacKinnon, B.Sc., CCA, works for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Magrath, Alta.

FEATURES

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Meet the neighbours

Meet your farming neighbours Every farm has a story. Here’s Tennille Wakefield’s story from Maidstone, Sask. By Lisa Guenther

very farm has its own story. No two farms (or farmers) are exactly alike. Everyone got started in a different way, and every farm has a different combination of family and hired staff who make the decisions and keep things running. But, in general, even after you consider all of the details, Prairie farmers are more alike than different. This is the first article in a new feature where we’ll profile farmers from B.C. to Manitoba. We’ll tell you how they started out, and what they see ahead. Maybe you’ll find a story just like yours, or maybe you’ll get an idea for something new to try.

Wakefield farms with her husband, Kris, and his parents, Laurie and Monica Wakefield, at Maidstone, Sask.

Where do you farm? “I farm with my husband, Kris, and his parents, Laurie and Monica Wakefield, at Maidstone, Saskatchewan. We operate about a 4,000 acre pedigreed seed farm. And in addition to that, I operate my own Pioneer Hybrid seed retail.” Tennille and Kris also have a fouryear-old and a two-year-old, who keep them quite busy.

“It’s all of our responsibility to speak up for agriculture.” Emmett Sawyer, Agvocate 4-H Member and Farmer

Be somebody who does something. Be an agvocate. Learn more at AgMoreThanEver.ca.

What crops do you grow? “We grow canola, peas, barley, hard red and soft white wheats. And soybeans.” How long have you been farming? Tennille grew up on a family farm and then married a farmer after finishing university. She has been involved in agriculture for 33 years, and farming for 13 years. “Farming is in my blood. I’ve always known that I wanted to live and work either on a farm or in the ag industry. I grew up on a farm, attended the College of Ag at the University of Saskatchewan and have either worked in the ag industry or have been directly involved in farming all throughout my life.” “Currently I get to see both sides. I co-own and operate my own ag input business — KenDen Ag — while working with my husband and parents inlaw in their pedigreed seed operation — Wakefield Seeds.” What’s your favourite farming season? “I love harvest. I love the colours of it.” Tennille says she also loves seeing all their hard work culminate as in crop in the bin. Plus, she’s able to spend some quality time with her kids in the field. What’s the farm implement you can’t live without? The farm implement Tennille can’t live without is a good farm truck. “If you run into a snag with your machinery, the first vehicle you turn to is your farm/service truck. It has all your important tools where you need them in mobile form. You can’t carry all the tools you may need with you in the equipment you operate.” The farm truck is also a taxi service, Tennille says, moving people where they need to be. She relies on it for parts runs. She uses it to haul fuel. It always needs to be “stocked and ready to go when needed,” she says. It’s also a mobile kitchen, running meals to the field. “The tailgate/deck can be used for a buffet meal in the field or as an extra seating spot if you run out of chairs.” The farm truck is even a mobile office and impromptu meeting space, she adds, when you run into the neighbour on the road and stop to chat, windows rolled down. You could have done anything. Why did you decide to farm? Tennille lists the sense of community, the work ethic farming fosters, and the life lessons for people of all ages. She also appreciates the creativity and innovation inherently involved in farming. “I love the freedom and flexibility

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Tell me about a good decision you’ve made on the farm. Tennille says the best decision she’s made is to be on the farm, and give their kids, Aiden and Kenzie, the chance to experience it and grow into it. It’s about work ethic, and learning where their food comes from, she adds. Both Aiden and Kenzie ride with their parents in the trucks and combines. Is there a decision you regret making on the farm? “Building my house so close to the bins, at harvest time when the augers are running all night,” she says, laughing. “But realistically, I can’t say that there is a regret. I call them all learning experiences.” What opportunities do you see ahead? “Technology is huge.” She thinks we are just starting to see the next wave of technology, with things like autonomous equipment, drones, “and the list goes on and on.” What challenges do you see ahead? Tennille sees consumer perception as a challenge. “Consumer confidence and engagement is a huge one that we need to deal with as an industry.” She also sees a need to have a more unified approach to putting out that message, rather than individual silos. “Another challenge is land ownership and land management.” That includes issues ranging from absentee landlords to disease, insect, and pest management. What do you like to do for fun? “Spend time outside with my family. Whether it's looking for crocuses or squishing mud between our toes. Any day outside with them is a great day. I enjoy playing rec sports. I am currently playing on a ladies Rec hockey team and am also planning on entering a team into a couple Bonspiels in the area later this winter. “In the summer I like to get away to a lake and spend some time out on the water. Visiting around a fire is always a great way to wrap up the day. “I currently volunteer as a member of the executive on our local playschool co-op board. In addition, I'm also volunteering as a leader for the Maidstone youth curling program.” Tennille has two Twitter accounts. Follow her @WakefieldAgro or at @ KenDenAg. If you or someone you know would like to be featured in a future edition of “Meet the Neighbours,” email Leeann@ fbcpublishing.com or Lisa.Guenther@ fbcpublishing.com. GN Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Follow her on Twitter @LtoG.

Photos: Courtesy of Tennille Wakefield

that comes with farming. No two days are the same. You get to punch your own clock, and see the results of your decisions and hard work (good or bad) and celebrate that feeling of accomplishment — especially when it turns out as good or better than expected — knowing that you had a direct role. And getting to spend the days outside during our nicest months of the year. It’s pretty tough to beat.”

Harvest is Tennille Wakefield’s favourite season.

Tennille loves that her children, Aiden and Kenzie, have a chance to experience life on the farm and grow into it.

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Farm management

How to tile a bin yard for drainage Tiling a bin yard is not the same as adding drainage tiles to a field. Find out why By Angela Lovell

hen a Saskatchewan farmer turned to Twitter for advice on draining his bin yard, Grainews wanted to know what that would take. As I soon found out, it’s not as easy as it sounds, but the results can be well worth the effort. As with most things, consulting a

professional is probably the best first move. “It’s probably most important to get a consultation so we would come down and take a look and see what the customer’s end goal is, and then help design a system that reaches that goal,” says Jason Fraser, business development manager with Precision Land Solutions based in Winkler, Manitoba. “Any system should also be built so it

can easily accommodate future expansion.” Because every yard is different the next step is trying to identify the issue. “Is it ground water coming up and that’s creating frost boils? Is it surface water that’s pooling due to the soils being so compacted from being driven over all the time?” says Fraser. “It’s not always as easy as just taking a scraper and shaping the yard

because you sometimes have no options of where to put the water.” Tiling a field and tiling a yard require different approaches. Typically, fields in Manitoba are tiled at 50-foot spacings, but in a yard the spacings are much closer together —generally around 15 feet apart because when the soil is compacted by traffic water can’t move through it as quickly, so the tiles need to be closer together.

Then there are options that can deal with surface or ground water, or ideally both. “We like to alternate the depth so we will have one line at two feet and another line at six feet deep, so the six foot line grabs the ground water and the two foot one is shallow enough to be able to get some of the surface water,” says Fraser. The “Cadillac” yard tile drainage system includes a French drain, a seam of crushed rock that the plough inserts from the top of the two-foot pipe line down to the ground surface. “When the water is running along the surface it hits that seam of rock and shoots directly down into the tile, so it speeds up the drainage process,” says Fraser.

The DIY Route

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Although it’s much easier to do an install before the infrastructure, especially power lines, are in place, it is possible to work around existing bins and buildings. It’s just trickier, as Minto-area farmer, David Rourke found out. Rourke, who runs a 5,000 acre grain operation and agricultural research company, Ag Quest, had no choice but to install tile drainage because there were times when his yard was literally impassable. “In 2011, we couldn’t drive across our yard. We would sink right up to the axels. We couldn’t get in our shop, it was a mess,” says Rourke. Rourke decided to go the do-ityourself route. Even though he brought in the local utilities to mark the existing power and telephone lines, his team still managed to damage a hydro line and sever a couple of phone lines when they actually installed the system, which he says added quite a bit to the cost. After seeking advice about what they would need, and how to get the spacing right between the pipes, they set to work digging narrow (24- to 30-inch) trenches with a backhoe. On, and straddling the main driving areas of the yard they trenched in two or three rows of four-inch tile and one to two rows between the bins and other buildings. Everything drains back to a dry well (a main collection point) and is pumped out from there. Rourke also installed GeoMat, a thin layer of woven material that is used in road construction and creates a physical barrier between the ground surface and the covering top layer of gravel. The mat prevents mud from wicking up through the gravel and gravel from being pushed down into the ground over time. “It keeps the physical separation between the topsoil and the finishing gravel otherwise when your truck punches down the mud comes up and makes a mess. If you have got that physical barrier and enough gravel on top it seems to hold it pretty good,” says Rourke.

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The “Cadillac” yard tile drainage system includes a French drain, a seam of crushed rock that the plough inserts from the top of the two-foot pipeline down to the ground surface

Although doing it yourself is an option, there are some things to consider in using a backhoe compared to a tile plough; one being time. Fraser says with a plough they can usually tile an average yard in a couple of days. Rourke says it took them almost two weeks and several guys to complete his project, although they did end up doing three yards. “The other issue with a backhoe is you are generally using a fourinch pipe, which is pretty fragile and if when you are backfilling it with a bucket if a lump comes down too hard or fast it can crush

it and you may not really notice it, but the tile may not perform properly,” says Fraser. “With the plough there is less likelihood of things going wrong.” Rourke says they’ve had no trouble with access since tiling his yards, even after they got a 30-inch rain late last summer. “We were fighting frost mounds every year and now we don’t. We just operate, we don’t need to think about the integrity of the yard,” he says. GN photo:thinkstock

Pros and Cons

Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor and communications specialist living and working in Manitoba. Find her online at www.angelalovell.ca.

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Farm management

Getting rid of that treated seed Treated seed can harm livestock, or contaminate an export load. Dispose with care 2. Plant in fallow or other noncropped areas of the farm in accordance to the seed treatment product label. 3. Unless restricted by label language, excess treated seed may be double planted in the turn rows at the end of the field or within a portion of the field.

By Angela Lovell

Large quantities

Photo: Brad Barlow

he issue of disposal of treated seed hit the headlines recently when a Saskatchewan farmer discovered two cows and a bull dead in his fields after consuming treated canola seed which had been dumped illegally on his land. Seed treated with fungicides or insecticides should never be allowed to enter the feed or food chain. In a recent blog, Lizabeth Stahl, an extension educator at the University of Minnesota wrote: “Treated seed is not to be used for food, feed or oil processing, and care must be taken to not contaminate grain going into the food or feed market. There is ZERO tolerance for treated seed in the export market, meaning that a single seed could result in the rejection of an entire load.” Farmers should cover up treated seed spills with soil to ensure that birds and other wildlife don’t consume them. For unwanted, leftover seed, there may be several options for farmers to dispose of it both on and off-farm. One of the most important things is that farmers read the seed bag label so they know exactly what the seed has been treated with and the recommended practices for disposal. One of the best disposal options is to plant the treated seed on fallow or unused ground, but Stahl advised, depending on the seed treatment, there may be restrictions on planting rate and depth. Some seed may be suitable for burial (again check the label) but should not be buried close to any water source. Treated seed should never be composted or burned in a heating stove used inside a building (home, shop etc) because it can give off toxic fumes. There may be a number of options for producers to dispose of treated seed off-farm, including disposal at a landfill site (depending on provincial regulations — see below). Some power plants and ethanol plants may also take treated seed as a fuel source.

One of the best disposal options is to plant the treated seed on fallow or unused ground

“Treated seed is not to be used for food, feed or oil processing, and care must be taken to not contaminate grain going into the food or feed market. There is ZERO tolerance for treated seed in the export market, meaning that a single seed could result in the rejection of an entire load.”

TAKE THE

NEXT STEP

The following is taken from the Canadian Seed Trade Association’s Guide to Treated Seed Stewardship, which includes guidelines about how to dispose of unwanted seed that has been treated with fungicides or insecticides.

Small quantities For small quantities of unused, treated seed, the guide recommends: 1. Return excess treated seed to its original seed lot containers if the seed is intended for storage and subsequent planting.

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For larger quantities of treated seed not acceptable for planting, the guide says: 1. Large quantities of treated seed in sealed and undamaged packages, bags or totes, in many cases, may be returned to your supplier. 2. Consult with your provincial authorities to ensure your disposal plan is in compliance with all appropriate regulations. 3. Disposal facilities will be required to have a Ministry of the Environment (or similar) permit to accept pesticide treated material (such as treated seed). Whether a waste management facility, power plant, cement kiln, ethanol plant, or municipal landfill is permitted to dispose of seed treated with a particular pesticide can only be confirmed by contacting the facility. 4. Your seed supplier may also be aware of permitted disposal facilities in your area. Treated seed can be land filled at a Class I or II landfill if it is classed as non-hazardous waste according to Provincial waste control regulations. If it is classed as hazardous waste by provincial regulations, check with provincial waste disposal regulations and agencies to determine if it can be disposed in a Class 1 landfill, and to determine locations of Class 1 landfills. Remember, there is zero tolerance for treated kernels in the commodity grain channel when the treated seed tag states the seed is not for food, feed, or oil purposes. GN Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor and communications specialist living and working in Manitoba. Find her online at www.angelalovell.ca.

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Tip of the issue

New crops equal new feeding practices photo: thinkstock

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s corn moves into Western Canada, so does the opportunity for livestock producers to diversify and improve the diet of their animals. Beef and dairy producers in the west have embraced corn as part of their animals’ ration and are increasing corn acres rapidly. Traditionally, beef cattle in the west have been fed with one or a combination of grain, silage or grazing. In the winter months, many beef cattle are grazed on intensively managed winter swath barley or oats. However, the movement of corn to the west has resulted in many producers transitioning to grazing corn as a primary feed for their animals, and reaping the benefits. One big reason is that corn produces high amounts of starch, which is an important nutrient in the diet of beef and dairy cattle. Corn often makes the most economic sense for growers. It is more nutrient dense, higher energy and is palatable to cattle — resulting in an increase in production in the animal. Corn yields are higher than barley and it can also produce two to three times more starch. On top of those benefits, corn produces more feed on the same amount of acres. This results in fewer acres needed for the same crop production, freeing up acres for other crops. Grazing corn also has additional benefits in terms of field management. While swath grazing generally promotes uneven manure spread due to the rows, corn grazing encourages animals to spread manure more evenly. Growers can also monitor fields to ensure the appropriate amount of residue is left on the field, removing cattle when needed. Corn is an excellent feed choice for livestock farmers. New corn hybrids now available in the west are better adapted to growing conditions, allowing consistent grain and silage products to be grown every year. GN

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Pest management

Alberta insect forecasts for 2018 Alberta’s three new pest maps can help you choose your seed varieties for 2018 By Treena Hein

lberta Agriculture and Forestry has added latest 2018 insect population forecast maps to its website. “We usually post two forecast maps in December for wheat pests — wheat midge and wheat stem saw fly — so that growers can make appropriate variety decisions,” says Scott Meers, insect management specialist in Alberta Ag’s Pest Surveillance Section. Alberta Ag has also released a new map for this time of year for pea leaf weevil, as Meer says producers are watching that pest now. Meer recommends that producers treat their pea seed if they’re in the red or dark orange areas, generally from Calgary to Medicine Hat, Red Deer to Edmonton and also a bit northwest of Edmonton. “If you’re in a light orange area,” he says, “look at what happened with your crops last year.” With wheat midge, Meers says the forecast for 2018 is similar to previous years, but notes that populations were not as severe in 2017 as expected. “There are some populations in individual fields along Highway 2 corridor, Red Deer to Edmonton,” he notes. “Wheat stem saw fly is not as big a concern as the other two pests.” Maps for grasshopper, cabbage seedpod weevil, Bertha army worm will be posted in January. Here is a roundup summary from the “Alberta Crop Insect Update 2017,” created by Meers and his colleagues.

Oilseed insects

Diamondback moth were found in the survey at early flower, but an early warning was not recognized during the growing season. Alberta Ag is looking into how it can improve its early warning system and so on. The cabbage seedpod weevil occurred above economic threshold in southern Alberta. Bertha armyworm moth catches were very low. Striped flea beetle and crucifer flea beetle were less of a concern in 2017 than in 2016. Lygus bugs were still less of a concern than in “normal” previous years. Root maggots were common throughout central Alberta again this year. Cutworms were once again a concern. Swede midge monitoring via pheromone

traps was curtailed in 2017 with the discovery of a new species that is not causing significant damage. Reports of severe damage to seedling canola by red turnip beetles was reported in two areas. Orange maggots were once again noted in sclerotina-infested canola stems in a number of fields across Alberta. The migrant painted lady butterfly, an eruptive migrant species whose population has exploded, was found in virtually all regions. Green peach aphid was discovered in a hemp field in late August.

Meer recommends that producers treat their pea seed if they’re in the red or dark orange areas Cereal insects Significant damage occurred from wheat midge in east central Alberta. There were lots of concerns about wireworms. Wheat stem sawfly is still at relatively low levels throughout its traditional range. Very few cereal leaf beetle and only a couple reports of wheat head armyworm. European corn borer is being increasingly found throughout Alberta.

Pulse crop insects

The expansion of the pea leaf weevil range appeared to stall. No western bean cutworm was found. Lygus damage in fababeans was much lower in 2017. Pea aphid numbers were lower in 2017.

Grass crops, pastures and other insects

There was concern with alfalfa weevil, potato psyllid, and slug damage in various crops. Grasshopper numbers were surprisingly high in some areas of the Peace and northwest central Alberta. For more information visit www.agriculture.alberta.ca/bugs-pest. GN Treena Hein is an award-winning Canadian writer.

New midge tolerant wheat agreements The Midge Tolerant Wheat Stewardship Team is moving its agreements online. These agreements require farmers buying midge tolerant wheat seed to commit to only using farm-saved seed for one generation past certified seed. Rather than signing paper agreements each year when you buy seed (the system that has been in place for the past eight years), now they will ask you to sign electronically. It should be simpler for growers — you only need to sign once, no matter where you buy your seed. All seed

growers and retailers will have access to the database so they can have you sign an agreement, or confirm that you have already done so. The Midge Tolerant Wheat Stewardship Team is a coalition of plant breeders, government, seed growers, seed distributors and producer groups. Their goal is to keep the midge tolerant wheat technology viable for as long as possible through proper farm stewardship. GN Leeann Minogue

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Topic heading Farm management

The annual rebate roundup: 2018

Get the most for your hard-earned input dollars by understanding these cash-back plans By Leeann Minogue

nce again, it’s time for the Grainews annual rebate roundup. We’ve talked to experts at 11 different companies to ask what they’re offering in the way of cash-back savings for the 2018 growing season. Three of these companies have no special rebate programs, some have simple programs, and some companies have rebate programs with so many layers you’ll need to use their on-line calculator to estimate your rebate cheque. Some require you to spend a certain amount to be eligible; others make their offers available to big or small customers. Input companies generally put their rebate fine print up on their website for everyone to see. We like to provide you with all of the information in one place to make comparison shopping easier for you. Maybe a $1/ac. cash-back offer from one company will be the difference when you’ve narrowed your choice down to two options and just can’t make that final decision.

western Canadian customers who max out this program can get rebates up to six per cent on products purchased between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018. To qualify, purchase two qualifying products at a minimum of 320 acres each, and spend at least $10,000. You can get an extra $1 per acre by buying matching acres of Heat herbicide and one of BASF’s eight

SEE THE

fungicides: Dyax, Cotegra, Priaxor, Lance, Lance AG, Twinline, Nexicor or Caramba. You’ll need at least 320 matching acres. And here’s something a little different. If you’re using BASF products, you might be eligible for BASF’s AgSolutions Yield Confidence and Commodity Confidence programs. The first provides payments for reduced pea and lentil yields. You could be eli-

gible for a per-acre rebate if the average crop yield is five per cent or more below the five-year historical average. AgSolutions Commodity Confidence is for canola wheat and soybean growers. If the commodity price falls five per cent or more between pre-established seeding and harvest time, you could be eligible for a per-acre rebate. Register at least 640 acres per crop by March 31 to

qualify. Maximum payouts are $6 per acre.

Bayer CropScience Most of Bayer CropScience’s BayerValue programming is similar to last year, but there are some changes to their herbicide and fungicide programming. Continued on Page 16 

Bigger Picture

Adama Adama Canada’s pricing structure doesn’t include a rebate program. Adama told us that, rather than having you wait for a cash-back reward, its promise is to work with farmers to create the best return on investment, with buyers knowing their costs upfront.

Arysta LifeScience Arysta LifeScience is offering its cash-back Grower Rewards Program again this season. It applies to herbicide, fungicide, or seed treatment products. Buy EVEREST 2.0 or EVEREST 3.0 herbicide by February 15 and receive $2 per acre in Smartbuy early purchase rewards. From February 16 to July 31, earn $1/ac. for these products. Buy RANCONA PINNACLE or RANCONA TRIO seed treatments, INFERNO DUO burndown herbicide or EVITO fungicide and earn $2/ac. between now and February 15. After that date, until July 31, earn $0.50/ac. on these purchases. Arysta also offers bonus rewards if you’re using two or more brands. Use two brands for an additional $1/ac. and three or more brands for an additional $2/ ac. (The small print notes that EVERST 2.0 and 3.0 count as one brand; RANCONA PINNACLE and TRIO also count as one brand.) For the full details, visit www. arystalifesciencerewards.ca.

BASF BASF’s AgSolutions program is very similar to past years and includes all of BASF’s products.

Let Your Data Drive You No two farms are the same. Your farm is as unique as you. Climate FieldView™ is an integrated digital platform that allows you to easily aggregate your field data in one easy to use software application. Simplify field data management. Climate FieldView is your data partner to support the decisions you make every day. Get started today at ClimateFieldView.ca Our services provide estimates or recommendations based on models. These do not guarantee results. Consult your agronomist, commodities broker and other service professionals before making financial, risk management, and farming decisions. Information and recommendations we provide do not modify your rights under insurance policies purchased through our affiliates. More information at http://www.climate.com/disclaimers. iPad® is a registered mark of Apple, Inc. Climate FieldView™ is a trademark of The Climate Corporation. ©2017 The Climate Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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The BayerValue program is based on your purchases between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018. With the InVigor Purchase Bonus, buy 30 bags or more of InVigor canola seed and qualify for BayerValue, including savings in the cereals and pulses, and an additional 10 per cent on Pardner and Proline. The BayerValue program continues to provide you with full access to the complete lineup of innovative crop protection solutions based on total products purchased between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018. Through the InVigor Purchase Bonus, you will automatically qualify for savings on Bayer Value products when purchasing 30 bags or more of InVigor, including savings in the cereals and pulses segments, plus an additional 10 per cent on Pardner and Proline. The program has three segments. Seedgrowth: Save up to 25 per cent on Raxil PRO, Raxil PRO Shield and Stress Shield. Save up to 15 per cent on EverGol Energy, Trilex EverGol and Trilex EverGol Shield. You must combine Stress Shield with Raxil PRO or Trilex EverGol to receive a rebate; no rebate will apply to Stress Shield on matching acres of EverGol Energy. Herbicides: Save up to 15 per cent on select herbicide products including Luxxur, Infinity FX, Infinity, Tundra, Velocity m3 and Varro and up to 10 per cent on Pardner. The Incredible Bayer Offer saves you up to $2 per acre on Luxxur, Infinity FX, Infinity, Tundra, Velocity m3 and Varro. Fungicide: Save up to 17 per cent on cereal and pulse fungicides such as Delaro, Folicur EW and Prosaro XTR and Prosaro. New this year is the Fungicide Multiplier. To qualify for fungicide savings, you must purchase at least 300 acres of product from each of two different fungicide categories. Big spenders: Spend $250,000 or more and save an additional one per cent on products eligible for rebates in the BayerValue program. Book before March 16, 2018 and save up to $2/ac. by booking a minimum of 1,000 acres with the Incredible Bayer Offer. If you were registered in 2017, you will automatically be re-enrolled. If you were not registered last year, sign up online at cropscience.bayer.

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

ca/bayervalue, call 1-888-283-6847 or talk to your local retailer or Bayer rep. Overwhelmed by details? Don’t worry. There’s an online calculator where you can enter your purchase quantities and prices and they’ll estimate your rebate.

Crop Production Services The PV Profits program from CPS gives customers savings on seed and inputs. The program links Proven Seed lines with rebates on various fungicides and herbicides. The program currently applies to canola, cereal, soybean and corn seed. This program runs from September to January so you’ve already earned most of your rewards for the 2018 growing season. Start earning for next season in September, 2018. For more information on PV Profits visit www.provenseed.ca.

Dekalb DEKALB has updated its rebate program for 2018. Rebates for canola, corn and soybean growers are based on products purchased between September 1, 2017 and August 31, 2018. Canola: If you booked at least 32 bags of DEKALB canola before November 15, 2017, you’ll get $3.75/ ac. Later bookings get $3/ac. You will also receive an additional $1/ ac. rebate on DEKALB corn and soybeans. Soybeans: Western Canadian soybean growers will earn a DEKALB Bonus Rebate. With a minimum purchase of 300 units of soybeans you’ll receive $3/ac. for seed booked before December 15, 2017. Later bookings are eligible for $2/ac. (You will still get this rebate if you buy 32 bags of canola seed and qualify for other offers.) Corn: DEKALB VT Double Pro Rib Complete corn growers are also eligible for the Bonus Rebate. Buy at least 50 units of DEKALB corn and receive $7.50/ac. if you booked before December 15, 2017. Book later and receive $6/ac. (You will still get this rebate if you buy 32 bags of canola seed and qualify for other offers.) You don’t have to do the math at home. There’s a calculator at dekalb.ca or call 1-84-GODEKALB.

Dow AgroSciences Through Dow AgroSciences’ Diamond Rewards, you can save up to $5.55/acre on your cereal acre when you buy $5,000 of eligible products before November 30, 2018. Tank mix reward: Earn $2/ac. on in-crop grass and broadleaf cereal herbicide tank mixes, including Rexade and Tandem, plus earn $0.60/ac. on DuPont Acapela fungicide with matching cereal tank mix acres ($30/jug). Early book reward: Book by March 15, 2018, to earn an additional $1/ac. on in-crop grass and broadleaf cereal herbicide tank mixes, including Rexade and Tandem, or $0.50/ac. on unmatched broadleaf acres. You can also save $0.30/ac. on DuPont Acapela fungicide with matching cereal tank mix acres ($15/jug). And, save $0.50/ac. on pre-seed: Korrex II, Paradigm, PrePass Flex and PrePass XC with an additional $0.15/ acre on VP480 when used with matching acres of pre-seed portfolio. Seed customer cereal bonus: Grow at least one hybrid of Nexera, Pioneer brand canola, corn or soybean, Dow Seeds or Pioneer brand D-Series and save $1/ac. on matching acres of in-crop grass and broadleaf cereal herbicide tank mixes, including Rexade and Tandem. Save up to $5.55/ac. on your cereal acre when you purchase $5,000 of eligible Dow AgroSciences products before November 30, 2018. Seed customer canola reward: save up to $3.50/acre on your matching seed acres through savings on DuPont Acapela, Eclipse XC, and Salute. For more information, visit dowagro.ca or call the Solutions Center at 1.800.667.3852.

But what’s the price? Everyone likes a rebate. Cashback cheques are nice to have, but we know they don’t have a lot of influence over your purchasing decisions. It would be much more helpful if you could turn to these pages and see the actual product prices. I’m sure you’ve noticed that most news stories about improved fungicides, newly-registered herbicides, or new, more effective seed treatments have one thing in common: they almost never include a price. If we’re running a story about a new product that could increase your yields by up to two bushels per acre, there’s no way for you (or me) to know if the product is going to make sense for you until you have some idea what it’s going to cost. Stories about potential insect damage would be more helpful if our articles included the cost of chemical control. But we can’t get pricing information. I ask, but while corporate PR reps are happy to talk about the quality of their products, nobody wants to give me a number. There are lots of reasons that input companies don’t want me including fungicide prices in Grainews stories. They’re in direct competition with other suppliers. They may want to offer some customers a better deal than others. Maybe pricing will vary by supply. Per acre, per carton, per litre, per box. You almost never see the price in a newspaper story, an ad, or even

in the fancy brochures sent directly to you in the mail. Of course not all farmers pay the same prices. Some book and pay early. Some buy huge quantities and pick it up themselves. Some have been loyal to their retailer for decades. Charging different prices to different farmers isn’t unfair — it’s just business. But couldn’t they show us a suggested retail price? Nobody buying a new truck imagines they’re going to pay the exact price shown on the window of the vehicles parked in the lot. And yet, every dealer in town displays their prices on windows and in newspaper ads. Looking for a combine? Case IH has a “build and price” section right on its website. This information is available to everyone, even though no farmer would expect to actually pay the exact price that turns up on the screen (or if they do, you can bet they’ve had some careful discussions around the trade in). If all ag input companies published suggested retail prices, it would be a lot easier for farmers to know which products would be the best fit for on their farms. It would also make it easier for farmers to comparison shop, play one retailer against another and get better deals. I can’t make it happen, but I can keep asking. Leeann Minogue

Gowan Gowan Canada does not offer any growers programs. Instead, they say they keep things simple so crop input retails can help you make the proper decisions for their farm with Avadex, Edge, Eptam, Fortress, Gavel, Permit, Treflan, and Yuma across Western Canada. photo: Thinkstock

Monsanto Monsanto has updated its Real Farm Rewards program for 2018. To qualify, purchase a minimum of 32

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bags of qualifying brands of Genuity Roundup Ready Canola between September 1, 2017 and August 31, 2018. After that, earn rewards by buying any combination of these Monsanto and partner products: Seed Products: Earn a $2 to $2.75/ ac. rebate on these canola seed brands: BrettYoung, CANTERRA SEEDS, DEKALB, NEXERA, Pioneer, Proven Seed, Red River, SeCan, VICTORY. Earn $2/ac. on these corn and/or soybean seed brands: Croplan, DEKALB, ELITE, Legend Seeds Canada, Maizex Seeds, NorthStar Genetics, PICKSEED, Pride Seeds, Prograin, PROSeeds, Proven Seed, SeCan, Thunder Seed. BioAg Products: Earn a rebate of $0.20 to $0.60/ac. on a long liste of products including many TagTeam, Cell-Tech and JumpStart formulations. See Montanto’s website for the full list. Herbicide products: Earn a $0.10 to $0.75/ac. rebate on Roundup Transorb HC, Roundup WeatherMAX, Roundup Xtend with VaporGrip Technology, andXtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology. Nufarm Partner Products: earn a $1 to $2/ac. rebate opportunity on herbicide tank-mix partner products Conquer, Blackhawk, GoldWing, and Valtera. If you were registered for the Real Farm Rewards program in 2017 you will be automatically registered this year. Register, find more details and try out the calculator at realfarmrewards.ca.

With the Preferred Status component, earn an additional 0.5 per cent and start earning at $16,000 for qualifying purchases. Don’t worry. There’s an online rebate calculator at syngenta.ca/ PartnerProgram, or call 1-87-SYNGENTA (1-877-9643682) for more details.

UAP (United Agri Products) UAP told us it keeps things simple with up-front net pricing — no hassles, no forms or having to wait to receive your own money back as a rebate.

UPI Canada UPI Canada’s Farm Advantage Rewards Program runs from October 1, 2017, to September 20, 2018. For this one, you’ll have to send in your receipts before October 31, 2018, to get cash back for purchases of Manzate Pro-Stick, Penncozeb Raincoat and Elixir fungicides, Perm-UP and UP-Cyde insecticides and Tricor herbicide. Rates are based on bags or cases purchased, ranging from $1.40 to $3 per bag and from $10 to $25/case. They’ll only cut you a cheque if your total rebate is $150 or more. GN

COUNTRY CHUCKLES BY JONNY HAWKINS

“I'm referring you to Dr. Rorschach.”

Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

HIT ’EM

Syngenta Syngenta’s Partner Program is still in effect for 2018. To qualify, purchase a minimum of $22,000 of eligible Syngenta products. Several new soybean and cereal seed varieties have been added to the program for 2018. Syngenta brand canola seed is no longer in the program (In June, 2017, Syngenta announced it would be leaving the canola business). With the Portfolio Bonus component, increase your rebate by matching acres in three different categories. A two-way match will earn you $2/ac. and a three-way match will earn you $4.50/ac. With additional matching acres of Syngenta soybean seed varieties, save up to an additional $2 or $4/ acre in the Soybean Seed Bonus component. Once you have met the $22,000 criteria, earn between three and six per cent on the Purchase Level Reward component on additional qualifying purchases. Qualifying cereal seed and canola Seedcare products are not eligible for reward, but these purchases still boost your Purchase Level Reward payment.

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Canola 100

Canola 100 “game on” for 2018 The big green prize is still out there waiting to be claimed at the end of the coming growing season By Lee Hart

erle Klassen is definitely “in” for competition for the big green prize in 2018. Klassen, who farms with family members near Linden, about an hour north of Calgary is yield leader so far in a Canada wide contest among canola growers to produce a 100 bushel canola crop. Klassen produced

85.88 bushels per acre on a 50-acre field in 2017. That puts him at the top of the yield board, edging out the 2016 yield leader Mike Nelson of Wetaskiwin, Alta., who finished the 2016 season with a verified yield of 81.43 bushels per acre on a 50 acre field. Nelson participated in the 2017 contest but hail sidelined his efforts. The final year of the contest runs through 2018. The first producer to

achieve a 100 bushel verified yield on a 50 acre plot wins the grand prize, which is 100 hours of use of a whole fleet of John Deere equipment (seeding to harvest fleet) — that’s the big green prize. If no producer reaches the magic 100-bushel yield, the one with the highest yield over the three-year term of the contest will be awarded the prize. Klassen hasn’t started making room in the yard for the equipment yet.

If the challenge is appealing —it is still really anybody’s game — there is still plenty of time to enrol for the 2018 growing season. The contest is open to producers in all four western provinces and Ontario. You can enter two fields per farm, have them registered by March 31, 2018 and then decide whether to lock those fields in by May 15, 2018. Details available at www. agri-prize.com. Klassen’s crop of Invigor L233P

canola produced about seven bushels more among the top five yields of the 2017 contest. Curtis Harrish of Calmar, Alta., produced the second-best yield with a Pioneer Roundup Ready — 45CS40 variety at 79.32 bushels. Third was Andrew Luellau of Olds, Alta., with a Dekalb RR-7565 and a yield of 78.66 bushels. Fourth place was Chad Badowski of Swan River, Man., also growing InVigor L233P with a yield of 78.58 bushels and fifth was David Harrish of Calmar (Curtis’s dad) growing the same Pioneer variety with a yield of 78.37 bushels.

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Klassen is part of a diversified familyrun farm near Linden. He looks after cropping operation on about 5,500 acres, while two brothers look after the livestock side of the farm, which includes a 4,500 head beef feedlot, as well as poultry. “It is certainly gratifying to have the top yield for 2017,” says Klassen. “It is the highest yield we have ever had on this farm.” Despite some real growing condition extremes in other parts of Western Canada — too dry in many areas and then too wet in others — Klassen says conditions were just about ideal in his area last year. “Aside from weather, I think the biggest factor contributing to a high yield in 2017 was soil fertility,” says Klassen. The fields he selected had a long history of receiving both raw and composted manure. Along with that he supplied a recommended fertilizer blend that included 120 pounds of nitrogen, 10 pounds of phosphorus, 25 pounds of potassium and 30 pounds of sulphur. “Aside from fertility the second factor that probably contributed to the high yield were four in-crop treatments with fungicide,” he says. First job of the growing season involved a spring pre-seeding burndown with Roundup WeatherMAX tank mixed with Conquer. That was followed by seeding InVigor L233P seeded at 4.9 pounds per acre (based on 1,000 seed weight count). And a slight correction from earlier reports, the seeding rate targeted placement of nine seeds per square foot, with a goal to produce a stand of about five plants per square foot. Of the total fertilizer program, noted above, about 25 lbs. of N, 10 lbs. of P, five lbs. of K, and five lbs. of S was included in the seed row, with the remainder placed beside the seed row. Added fertility at seeding did not factor in any fertility already in the soil. In crop, the canola was treated with one pass of Liberty Link herbicide tank mixed with Centurion. Klassen also made four fungicide applications during the growing season. He included a bit of the micronutrient boron with the fungicide. And to top up fertility he dribble banded some UAN pre-bolting. With some diamond back moth pressure on the field he also applied an insecticide as well.

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

The crop was desiccated in early September and then straight cut about 10 days later.

A “moon-shot” contest The Canola 100 contest is co-sponsored by Agri-Trend Agrology, John Deere Canada and Glacier FarmMedia (publishers of Grainews).

“In many respects it was certainly a challenging year for many farmers as far as growing conditions were concerned,” says Rob Saik, former AgriTrend CEO, who developed the Canola 100 contest idea. “Their success is a testament to improved management ability, and production efficiency. At the same time we are also seeing the

benefits of improved crop varieties that perform well even under adverse growing conditions.” Saik, describing the Agri-Prize contest as a “moon shot” says although no one has reached that 100-bushel yield yet, canola growers are doing an exceptional job at increasT:9.875 in ing production efficiency and yields.

Saik says the objective behind the contest is to challenge growers to test the limits of their management and agronomic abilities to see what canola can produce. “We also hope through this contest to create a community of participants who share their knowledge and expertise with each other,” says Saik. “The

objective is to inspire farmers toward greater innovation. We want the contest to be a learning experience, but also fun.” GN Lee Hart is a field editor with Grainews based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@ fbcpublishing.com.

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Outstanding young farmers

Sask. and QC couples earn national OYF honors Working with natural systems appeals to OYF-winning diversified producers By Lee Hart

hat’s the world coming to? When it comes to well managed farming operations recognized as Outs t a n d i n g Yo u n g Fa r m e r s i t appears to be leaning toward a natural field cropping operation in Saskatchewan and an organic market garden operation in Quebec.

Derek and Tannis Axten of Axten Farms Ltd. near Minton, Sask., and Véronique Bouchard and François Handfield of MontTremblant, Que., were chosen as national winners from seven regional finalists competing at Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmer (OYF) national event, held in Penticton, B.C., in early December. These two young farming couples, about 3,000 km apart in

Here’s to the

FARMER “My family started working this land in 1891. Today, I’m proud to continue our farming tradition with my dad, brother and sister. Our farm is part of a great industry, and I want the world to know it. My name is Katelyn Duncan and I grow lentils, canola and durum.” From all of us at FCC, thanks for making Canadian agriculture so amazing.

#HeresToCdnAg

fcc.ca

FEBRUARY 13

geography, are actually travelling a similar path in the agriculture industry as they work to develop environmentally sound, reduced chemical input, sustainable farming operations. It’s not a comment on the validity of so-called conventional farming practices, but reduced or no chemical input farming suits the personal philosophy of these young producers, looking to harness more natural systems for

economical and efficient crop production. The third generation farmers on their Minton, Sask.-area farm, the Axtens were inspired by longtime conservation farming advocate Dwayne Beck, research manager at the University of South Dakota’s Dakota Lakes Research Farm. Starting from there, the Axtens have developed a no-till, low disturbance grain and oilseed crop-

ping system, using cover crops, that has helped them dramatically reduced the need for synthetic fertilizer, reduced herbicide applications and virtually eliminated need for insecticides. “In 2007, we started using a low disturbance, no-till drill,” says Derek Axten. “Our goal during seeding is to move as little soil as possible. Soil is not dirt! Soil is a mixture of minerals, organic matter and living organisms required to support plant life. Also, by not tilling the land and growing high residue crops, we reduce water and wind erosion. From soil tests, we know that our organic matter is increasing.” Along with a diversified cropping system, that includes pulse crops and cover crops, the Axtens also improve soil health and fertility with compost extract and compost teas. And the other OYF nod went to Francois Handfield and Veronique Bouchard who both set aside their musical career pursuits in university to pursue studies in agriculture. With no farming experience of their own, over the next decade they developed a successful organic market garden operation in the picturesque Laurentian Mountain region of western Quebec. At university, Handfield studied agriculture engineering, while Bouchard took agronomy. They eased into vegetable production in 2005 while still in school and went full time farming in 2008. “All we had was $500 for seed, a wheelbarrow and a shovel and a plan,” says Handfield. “We started everything from scratch.” With a steep learning-as-yougo curve they have developed a thriving organic Ferme Aux Petis Oignons market garden, community shared agriculture business supplying produce to about 4,000 people, they employ up to 20 seasonal workers, and gross about $800,000 annually. “What we liked about organic agriculture production was that it involved producing high quality food in an environmentally sound system where we had to work cooperatively with nature,” says Handfield. Other regional finalists competing at the national event were: Gary and Marie Baars — dairy producers from Chilliwack,B.C.; Marc and Hinke Therrien — turkey producers from Redwater, Alta.; Brent and Kirsty Oswald — mixed dairy and grain operation at Steinbach, Man.; Dusty Zamecnik — fruit producer and seedling propagator from Langton, Ont.; and Lauchie and Jolene MacEachern — dairy producers from Debert, N.S. GN Lee Hart is a field editor with Grainews based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

columns

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Hart Attacks

30 years in and still on the learning curve There’s always more to learn, even after 30 years in the writing field By Lee Hart

an I have to start off my 30-something year of writing agricultural stories for this company with a correction. Fortunately I only had to take off one glove to do it. One of my Hutterite reader friends phoned the other night to point out in my December column where I was talking about available agricultural land in the world and I said Canada had about 0.25 per cent of world cropland. I was off by a decimal point. That should have read that Canada has about 2.3 per cent of the global cropland area. And since I have a bit of room I can add that, according to this U.S. Geological Survey report, cropland in Canada is about 4.7 per cent of total area of Canada. And that ain’t fake news. Back to my reminiscing... yes it was about 30 years I started writing for this company. Actually, (and here’s another correction) I started work as a field editor for Country Guide magazine in the late 1980s and although technically Grainews was part of the company then, it was the goofy-cousin farm paper published from a different office by United Grain Growers and we over at the Public Press magazine division had nothing to do with “THEM.” A few years after I started everything merged into a new company or division called Farm Business Communications (FBC). After some ownership evolution over the years Country Guide, Grainews, Canadian Cattlemen Magazine, Manitoba Co-operator and Alberta Farmer Express are all now under the FBC banner. We’re just one big happy family — well I am happy, I shouldn’t speak for everyone else. I came aboard with Country Guide as a writer who knew a little bit about agriculture, rather than the opposite, which is fairly common in the industry —someone with an ag degree or experience who has to learn about writing. And since you have to be off-thescale smart to be a writer, many of those poor aggy souls still struggle. Not me, though. I had a writing background I just had to figure out how many steers you could fit into a double-eight herringbone milking parlour after they calve. Believe it or not I knew very little about western Canadian agriculture 30 years ago. The first farm story I ever did was with Don Opp and his family near Claresholm. The assignment — learn about his conservation farming methods. Okay, great so what is conservation farming? You can imagine how the interview went. He was a very patient man.

not only to collect the information as accurately as I can, but then the real trick is to put an article together so it sounds like I actually know what I am talking about. One saving grace is that I knew people to call to talk to about these things. “So I got this guy with wheat, an air seeder thing, shanks on some kind of spacing and now there is this stubble in the field — what is he talking about? And hopefully that agrologist or

researcher could explain it in simple terms, preventing me from having to make 10 phone calls back to the farmer and look totally stupid. I’ve come a long way baby. I have learned lots. Mostly I have learned I know absolutely nothing about agriculture, but if you tell me what you are doing, I can write a story about that. I do have some very weak knowledge areas.

Machinery comes to mind. I barely know the difference between a combine concave and a piston, so thank heavens for our machinery editor Scott Garvey who knows about this stuff. (I don’t actually know that he really knows this stuff, but he can write like he knows it and that’s all that matters.) What really matters is that I don’t have to do it. Anyway, 30 years on the job and I am still learning. Fortunately there

have been no new developments in the agriculture industry over the past 10 years so that has given me a bit of a window to get caught up. I just hope they don’t pick 2018 as the year to start making a bunch of changes. GN Lee Hart is a field editor with Grainews based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@ fbcpublishing.com.

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Getting it together So the challenge as a writer is first 2091 Canola Creative_Final_Grainews_45M38.indd 1

12/19/17 3:16 PM

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Soils and crops

Stubble soil moisture, November 1, 2017 Les Henry’s annual map of fall soil moisture going into the winter months Les Henry

he November 1, 2016, fall soil moisture map was, in a word, wet. In Manitoba and much of Saskatchewan all soils were at field capacity (holding maximum available water) and many areas were so wet that water tables were near enough to surface to be a factor. When the water table is within about five to six feet of the soil surface, Mother Nature’s sub-irrigation kicks in. The soil can suck water up from the water table — about two feet, depending on soil texture. As 2017 unfolded and the rains did not come many “hangers on” were screaming about drought and predicting a disaster. Grainews readers knew different. You knew that a soil full of water is like money in the bank and the crop would do well if it did not get too hot. And so it unfolded: a very good crop and the real upside was little disease. Some folks in southern Saskatchewan suffered from loss of surface moisture for germination so did have a poor crop. Southern Alberta included dry areas on the 2016 map and less than adequate rain cut yields substantially in that area. As we look back to

soil moisture maps of previous years it becomes evident why there is so much irrigation in southern Alberta. They really need it most years. In central Saskatchewan many irrigation pivots have sat idle for much of the past several years. Even in dry 2017 I did not see huge yield reductions on the dryland corners of pivots I drive by on a regular basis.

STUBBLE SOIL MOISTURE: NOVEMBER 1, 2016 GrandePrairie Prairie Grande

Prepared by Les Henry, January 5, 2017

The November 2017 map and the 2018 crop The low rainfall for many areas in 2017 resulted in the crop sucking available water out of the soil. Southwest and south central Saskatchewan and parts of southern Alberta are very dry and have no subsoil moisture reserve. The 2018 crop will rely on snow melt and rain. Snow melt can often provide what is needed for germination but any delay in rain means a rapid cut in crop yield. That is especially true for cereals that set the yield potential early. Canola can kick back in with late rain and shoot out new branches to maintain yield potential. The large dry area in Saskatchewan and Alberta has small reserves and timely rain will be needed there also. There is no way of predicting rain so planning for fertilizer etc. can be based only on “probability of precipitation.” For those who have Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water, check out pages 115 to 118 to see how it works.

Edmonton Edmonton Lloydminster Lloydminster

PrinceAlbert Albert Prince Melfort Melfort

NorthBattleford Battleford North

RedDeer Deer Red

Base map courtesy of Andrew Nadler PEAK HydroMet Solutions

Saskatoon Saskatoon

www.peakhydromet.ca

Drumheller Drumheller Calgary Calgary

Yorkton Yorkton

Lethbridge Lethbridge

MedicineHat Hat Medicine

Regina MooseJaw JawRegina SwiftCurrent CurrentMoose Swift Weyburn Weyburn

Manitoba

The future

Manitoba was a special case this year. Much of Manitoba received below average rain but the good reserves of 2016 carried the day. It was very difficult to set the dry/moist boundary. Many locations were borderline between the two categories. Mapping dry soils in Manitoba is almost sacrilege so I do it with some trepidation! Much of Manitoba had almost no rain in October. The daily rain record of the 100+ Manitoba Government weather stations was one of the data sources consulted to make the map.

Moisture is a very important factor in determining how hard the trucker works in the fall. With all the hype about precision ag, fancy technology and big data, it is surprising that so few agronomists provide farmer clients with an inventory of soil moisture reserves. Perhaps some readers will enlighten me with examples to refute that statement. I am still waiting for the next generation to come out with a better map than this so I can retire my five colored pencils. So far, no takers. In

(General guide only — check your own fields in spring) Prepared by Les Henry, November 20, 2017

Lloydminster Lloydminster

J.L.(Les) Henry is a former professor and extension specialist at the University of Saskatchewan. He farms at Dundurn, Sask. His book, “Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water,” mixes the basics and practical aspects of soil, fertilizer and farming. To order a signed copy, send a cheque for $50 (includes shipping and GST) to Henry Perspectives, 143 Tucker Cres, Saskatoon, Sask., S7H 3H7

VERY DRY Stubble has essentially no moisture storage below 6 inches

DRY Sandy Soils Wet to 12-24" Medium Soils Wet to 6-18" Heavy Soils Wet to 6-12" (About 1 to 2 inches of available water)

MOIST Sandy Soils Wet to 24-48" Medium Soils Wet to 18-30" Heavy SoilsWet to 12-24"

WET

PrinceAlbert Albert Prince

NorthBattleford Battleford North

RedDeer Deer Red

Melfort Melfort

No dry layer in sandy, medium or heavy soils (Sandy = 4, Medium = 6, Heavy = 8 inches of available water) Will include local areas of Super Wet

Saskatoon Saskatoon Drumheller Drumheller Calgary Calgary

Lethbridge Lethbridge

the next column I will expand on the soil moisture question, sources of data and procedures to customize data for specific areas and farms. GN

(About 2 to 4 inches of available water) Will include local areas with no dry layer

Edmonton Edmonton

Base map courtesy of Andrew Nadler PEAK HydroMet Solutions www.peakhydromet.ca

Portage Winnipeg Portage Winnipeg

Estevan Estevan

STUBBLE SOIL MOISTURE: NOVEMBER 1, 2017 GrandePrairie Prairie Grande

Brandon Brandon

Yorkton Yorkton

MedicineHat Hat Medicine

SUPER WET

Regina MooseJaw JawRegina SwiftCurrent CurrentMoose Swift Weyburn Weyburn Estevan Estevan

Brandon Brandon

Portage Winnipeg Portage Winnipeg

Excess rain — water table rise might occur

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

From the slide cabinet

Les Henry

Willowbunch Lake as a salt flat, October 1987.

This slide cabinet holds 5,000 slides and allows me to view 120 at a time. Any slide can be located in a flash if a good filing system is in place.

Photo: Google Earth

Weather cycles at Willowbunch Lake Willowbunch Lake is narrow but 30 km long and located 30 km southeast of Assiniboia in south central Saskatchewan. Highway 36 passes just west of the lake near the north end.

The Verwood elevator is just visible on the far side of the lake. Weather cycles are real. 1987 was the middle of a 30-year cumulative dry period, and as you can see from the photo, Willowbunch Lake was a salt flat. Nearby Old Wives Lake also dried up and salts were blowing all over the country. In October 1987 we took our field lab to the area and measured the soil salinity levels. Page 193 of Henry’s Handbook of Soils and Water tells that story. Salts have also blown off Willowbunch Lake in the past and affected the soils next to the lake. Any readers that want to check that out can read: Ballantyne, A.K. 1978. Saline soils in Saskatchewan due to wind deposition. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, Volume 58 pages 107-108. GN

Photo: Les Henry

Over the course of 30+ years at the University of Saskatchewan I collected about 5,000 35 mm colour slides. Many were taken by me while pounding pavement but I also “inherited” slides from folks who retired or moved. I also have a slide cabinet at home with hundreds of slides from junkets to Tanzania, Swaziland and China. I am in the process of scanning all of those slides. Every so often I stumble on something really interesting to me. Over the winter I’ll share some illustrated pieces to see if they are interesting to readers as well.

Photo: Les Henry

Exhibit 1: Weather cycles — Willowbunch Lake

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Can’t take the farm from the boy

Building a relationship with readers At the start of the New Year, Toban reflects on his Grainews column to date Toban Dyck

hank you. From the foundations of who I am today and all that I’ve done in the last five years, I’d like to express my gratitude to you, Grainews readers and farmers, for being supportive; for listening; for engaging; and for being one of the most fruitful audiences I’ve ever had. Don’t worry. I am not resigning. I just wanted to dedicate some space to say thanks! And what better time to do so than in the beginning of the New Year. I secured this column before Jamie and I moved back to the farm in 2012, and it’s been a key part of my life ever since. It’s hard to write about something like this without it seeming like a veiled attempt to pat myself on the back. This is not my intention. On more than 15 occasions (I’m only guessing), Jamie and I have spent time talking about my Grainews gig. More specifically, how it has helped shape and mold me as a writer/communicator in the agriculture sector. And it has done exactly that. I’ve written on a wide range of topics. You’ve allowed me to find my voice, cultivate it, experiment and develop as a writer, but also as a farmer. I’m a strong advocate for the confluence of disciplines, meaning in this case that I don’t think writing and farming are mutually exclusive. Clear writing comes from clear thinking. And clear thinking comes from writing. Taking time to write this column has forced me to collect and express thoughts that otherwise may have stayed too fragmented to see the light of day. This exercise has helped me problem solve on the farm. It’s helped me think on my feet, which, I’ve come to learn, is a large part of being a successful farmer. We’ve become close friends, you and I. You’ve watched me move to Manitoba; learn how to farm; learn how to live in small community; take on additional responsibility; move into my childhood home; and become someone who writes about very different things than he did five years ago. You’ve engaged with me at every step. You’ve given me a lot, and I hope you feel the same. I’ve shared with you details of our farming operation and our lives on the farm. Since beginning this column in 2012, when Jamie and I moved from Toronto to a mobile home that we moved onto my family’s farmyard, lots has changed. I wouldn’t have my current job at Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers without you. I wouldn’t have my column in the Financial Post without you. I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to speak at an agrologists conference without you. Heck. I wouldn’t have received three national writing awards without you. I’m not sure if it was last winter or

the winter before, but whatever the case I remember clearly receiving an email from a Grainews reader asking if I was okay. She was concerned about me, as my column was missing in a few consecutive issues. I was tickled. (And it served as a good reminder to pay closer attention to my editorial deadlines.) You noticed my absence and in so doing, taught me an important lesson. I’ve come to appreciate that in order for our relationship to stay strong, we must continue to talk and

talk often. We do. But when we don’t, toxins, doubts, assumptions begin to enter our thoughts. That thoughtful and perceptive Grainews reader taught me this, and I’ve heard from many more, some of you wanting to share some farming advice; others just to say “hi” or “thanks.” My writing is anecdotal. I won’t be dazzling you with science or cuttingedge agronomics any time soon. That’s okay, though. Science is not the value of our relationship. I’ve tried to be as earnest as possi-

ble with you, believing that there are more farmers like me out there and that chances are if I find something interesting or challenging, someone else will, too. As a farmer still tackling firsts on a regular basis, it’s reassuring to know there are others who haven’t fully figured out this whole farming thing. In my experience, Grainews and its readers are the benchmark of writeraudience relationships. Farming is a complex animal and I’m grateful for the opportunity to talk about it with

you. I’m not sure if it’s farmers or just Grainews readers, but it’s been such a huge honour to read your messages to me. They are thoughtful, considerate, encouraging and just plain wonderful. I look forward to developing our already strong relationship throughout 2018. Happy New Year and, again, thank you! GN Toban Dyck is a freelance writer and a new farmer on an old farm. Follow him on Twitter @tobandyck.

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Understanding market bulls and bears

Life after the de-listing of the ICE futures The on-farm impact of the de-listing of milling wheat, durum and barley contracts Brian Wittal

n the last issue I wrote about the de-listing of the ICE milling wheat, durum and barley future and options contracts. These contracts were introduced in 2012, then de-listed on October 26, 2017. Now, let’s address three reasons why you should care.

Reason 1: The loss of these contracts gives you one less tool to use to determine fair market values for your grains, or to take advantage of price spikes in futures markets. Reason 2: Futures contracts allow you to lock in prices that suit you, as opposed to letting a grain company make sales, set the basis, then determine what they will offer. Reason 3: Trading futures allows you to secure a price on paper, with no need to set a basis or lock in a delivery contract until much later.

This gives you time to find the best basis and/or grade for your grain once it’s in the bin. The purpose of a futures contract is to establish a fair market price for a specific delivery period. For a futures contract to trade, you need willing buyers and sellers. If all you have are sellers and no buyers or vice versa, or only a limited number of either, it is hard for a futures contract to function properly. This leads to fewer participants using the contract, until

eventually no trades can be made and the contract closes. Canola futures trading on the ICE contract has grown steadily over the years, but initial uptake and growth was slow when the contract was first introduced. All of the players involved were, no doubt, a little reluctant to use the futures at first, but over time volumes grew and the contract became a viable way for buyers and sellers to transact. The growth and expansion of the canola crush industry in Western

Canada over the past 25 years and the use of the futures contracts by canola crushers to hedge their purchases and sales was no doubt key to canola contracts remaining viably traded.

Use it or lose it? Were you using these wheat, durum and barley contracts? What about durum growers? With the durum futures contract you finally had a way to lock in prices on a commodity that has always been a sale-by-sale cash-traded grain, where all of the pricing decisions were in the hands of buyers and grain companies. Spring wheat and barley producers still have the Chicago and Minneapolis futures but for durum producers, the ICE contract was the only futures contract in North America. Now that it is gone the chance that it will ever be brought back is likely slim to none. I hope these contracts didn’t fail because there wasn’t enough interest from sellers (farmers). If that is the main reason these contracts closed, farmers have only yourselves to blame for losing this tool. Grain marketing has gone digital. New marketing companies are offering online services where buyers and sellers can negotiate prices that are posted publically, creating transparent market pricing systems that anyone can use. This is a good step forward, as it gives producers and buyers a way to transact business directly. These sites give producers a place to see actual selling prices for specific grains. This can help them maximize sales, either on one of these sites or to a feeder, mill, crusher or grain company. These sites bring transparency to local cash markets, but they don’t give farmers an opportunity to take advantage of futures rallies like futures or options contracts do. Another change that could provide competitive marketing solutions would be for more Prairie grain companies, crushers and millers to offer you the ability to lock in futures and/ or basis-only deferred delivery contracts at any time of year. A few companies do offer these contract options; find out which ones they are and what types of contracts they offer so you’re prepared to use them when the time is right. There is no reason all grain companies shouldn’t be able to offer you this kind of contract option. When you’re talking to your grain buyer, ask if they offer these kinds of contracts. If the answer is no, ask why. Tell them you need pricing flexibility for your farm, and if they want to buy grain from you they need to offer you these kinds of contracts. Separating the timing of pricing the futures and basis on your grain contracts let you decide when to price your grain and for how much. GN Brian Wittal has 30 years of grain industry experience, and currently offers market planning and marketing advice to farmers through his company Pro Com Marketing Ltd.

2017-12-14 6:20 PM

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Topic Reporter’s heading notebook

Getting women on board(s) Whether and how to work to recruit women to ag boards has become a contested topic

Lisa Guenther

hould farm groups be actively recruiting more women to their boards, or are mostly-male boards reflective of the demographic they serve?

It’s a question that’s generated heated conversation this fall. As a non-farmer, I’m hesitant to tell any producer groups that they’ve got a problem, because frankly I don’t know what the climate is like on these boards. However, I do have a few thoughts. There is no doubt that there are more male primary producers than female. But it’s also well

known that there are many women who do farm alongside spouses or family. And the number of solo female operators under the age of 35 is a fast-growing demographic, according to the latest Census of Agriculture. There were over 1,000 farms run by female sole operators in that age group, versus over 8,700 run by solo men. The number of women farming does vary by sector. However, I’d

suggest that producer groups with an eye to the future should make sure they’re doing something to foster leadership potential in both young women and men. Many are doing just that with their young leader programs. You may have heard of the study declaring that men are much more likely to apply for a job if they don’t meet all of the posted criteria. This is based on an internal

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personnel survey by Hewlett Packard. Whether this is due to gender differences in confidence, a female tendency to adhere to rules, or some other cause is up for debate. But it’s something female friends and I have talked about over the last two or three years, and it generally matches our own experiences. And it’s something Leeann Minogue brought up when we were discussing the women on boards issue recently. It’s likely that women with no board experience might need more nudging to step up than their male counterparts. Board orientations or other programs to initiate new board members can help (and benefit new male board members, too). A chance to help out with committees, event planning, or other activities before committing to the board could also be useful. Another thing to think about is how the organization recruits new board members. In many organizations, much of this is done informally. Incumbent board members keep an eye out for people they think would be a good fit for the board, and then try to talk them into putting their names forward.

You may have heard of the study declaring that men are much more likely to apply for a job if they don’t meet all of the posted criteria This is a practical approach, and helps ensure board succession. It sure beats the cricket chorus that sometimes greets the call for nominations during the general meeting. But critics of this approach say it often means incumbents recruit people just like them, which is a problem if you’re looking for diversity. Personally, as a board member, I’m not ready to chuck it from my toolbox yet, but I will be aware of the potential problems. And I think it’s important to encourage nominations from the floor during the general meeting. I also think good governance is key to recruiting people to a board. Governance is one of those things most of us don’t fully appreciate or even think about until we witness a train wreck. Many years ago, I was invited to step up to the board with a nonprofit I’d regularly volunteered with. I attended one board meet-

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

ing, where I witnessed a board member standing over the executive director, yelling at her. At the end of the meeting, this same board member shook my hand and said he looked forward to sparring with me. It was not an effective recruitment strategy. I hope that is an extreme, and rare, example of bad behaviour. But it happens. Most of us don’t have any desire to spend our spare time embroiled in that kind of board drama. I don’t think solid policies and bylaws prevent every problem, but they can at least help a board deal with issues when they arise.

product regulatory advisory committee to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Szkotnicki lives in Moffat, Ontario. Szkotnicki, Jones, and Anderson join more than 210 inductees in the Hall of Fame. Since the Hall of Fame was established in 1960, five other women have been inducted. They include Cora Hind (inducted in 1963), Jessie Donalda Dunlap (1963), Adelaide Hoodless (1963), Ellen McLean (1967), and Helen McKercher (1978). GN Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Follow her on Twitter @LtoG.

All of the 2017 inductees into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame were women. Congratulations to (from left to right) Robynne Anderson, Patty Jones and Jean Szkotnicki.

Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame Inductees Speaking of women in leadership positions, all of the 2017 inductees into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame were women. Congratulations to Robynne Anderson, Patty Jones and Jean Szkotnicki. Anderson was nominated by the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association, Canadian Seed Trade Association, SeCan and Stokes Seeds for her work in the seed industry. She worked as a legislative assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, working on the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act. From there, she founded Issues Ink, an ag publisher and consulting firm that worked with the Canadian Seed Trade Association. Issues Ink had with several magazines in its stable, including Spud Smart and Seed World. She now runs an ag consulting firm called Emerging Ag. Anderson was also involved in the campaign to declare 2016 the International Year of the Pulses, along with several other achievements. Anderson is based in Calgary, Alberta. Jones, nominated by Semex, is a well-known photographer in the dairy industry. She has snapped over 70,000 photographs of dairy cattle in the last 44 years, a feat that has changed the way livestock genetics are marketed. Jones is a regular at the Royal Winter Fair, taking photos of every dairy breed champion. She also lends her photography skills to 4-H shows, from the regional to the national level. Her photos of proven sires and daughters have been used as marketing tools by the Canadian artificial insemination industry. Jones also breeds dairy cattle on her own operation, Silvercap Holsteins, at Puslinch, Ontario. Szkotnicki was nominated by the Canadian Animal Health Institute and Byron Beeler. She is a leader in antimicrobial resistance issues, helping ensure antibiotics are used properly. Over two decades, Szkotnicki helped close legislative loopholes that allowed medications and veterinary pharmaceuticals to be imported and used in Canada that weren’t approved by Health Canada (the release notes these loopholes were being abused). She’s also active on several boards, including the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity, and chairs the animal health

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Farm financial planner

Time to decide what to do with the land After years of renting out the land, this widow is ready to make her next financial choices Cash income from the sale of the land

By Andrew Allentuck

Being an active farmer The problem is that Eleanor is not a farmer as defined by the Income Tax Act. To quaify for the credit, the owner must have farmed actively for two years before the sale of the land. “Active” farming is defined as farming which makes up at least half of total gross income. The definition of active farming has some flexibility, for example, just spending most of the crop season working on the farm and seeking to expand the farm will qualify the individual as an active farmer. In other words, it is application of oneself to the farm operation. Not making money for a few years does not automatically deny the qualification. Eleanor, who has done nothing but lease the 420 acres, is not likely to be considered a farmer under the Income Tax Act. She can, however, continue the status quo. The land will generate $3,000 per month after tax. The land will be included in Eleanor’s estate and any tax due on a deemed capital gain would be paid by the estate after her passing. Or, she could sell the land to a third party and invest the pro-

Purchase price:

$2,200,000

Potential capital gain:

$1,880,000

Net cash: With 5% annual return:

ceeds. Using $5,000 per acre as an estimated value and given that $320,000 was the price of the land when purchased, she would receive $2,200,000 at sale less cost or $1,880,000 taxed at 25 per cent for a tax bill of $470,000. The remaining $1,730,000 could be invested. If Eleanor obtains a five per cent annual return, she would have $86,500 in annual pre-tax income. That exceeds her present her annual rent of $36,000. Another option is for Eleanor to transfer the land to the son who would farm it. The Canada Revenue Agency would have the right to reassess the transaction if the currnet market value is not used for the transfer.

Creating a company or trust There is another alternative, though it is both complex and dependent on changing federal government tax policy. The farmland could be transferred into a new company with payment by the company in the form of fixed value preferred shares. The tax liability would be deferred until the preferred shares are redeemed. All the value of the land would be in the shares, so the three sons would get common shares at nominal value. The sons would then have all future appreciation of the land conveyed in the common shares. The net income of the farm rental would be distributed as preferred dividends to Eleanor. This structure could be a problem. The federal government is revising its approach to small business taxation. The arrangement could create double taxation under some of the tax proposals. Best bet? Wait to see how new tax rules evolve, Don Forbes suggests. Finally, Eleanor could create a family trust and transfer owner-

ship of the land to the trust. It would be a flexible arrangement which could include grandchildren. There would be legal fees to set up the trust and annual accounting fees on top of personal income tax preparation costs.

Investing the cash How much money the land would generate if sold will depend on an assumed rate of return. Using a five per cent assumed return before inflation of two per cent, leaving her to net three per cent, the $1,730,000 could allow Eleanor to net $7,866 per month before tax for 27 years to her age 100. On top of that, she would have her present Canada Pension Plan benefit of $540 per month, Old Age Security of $584 per month and a defined benefit pension from prior work of $420 per month. The total, $9,410 per month or $112,930 per year, would exceed the OAS threshold of about $74,000 per year. After 15 per cent tax on the $38,920 exposed to the clawback or $5,840, and 30 per cent tax on the balance, she would have $6,250 per month to spend. Her potential spending could be enhanced by cutting the term of the assumed annuity to 20 years. In that period, it would generate $116,285 per year. Provided that Eleanor leaves her house in town out of the land sale — it is not included in our calculations — she would have a source of capital in reserve. For the moment, it is her home and will be for many years. If she is blessed with long life and lives beyond our annuity calculations, she could sell the house at what is likely to be a higher price driven up by inflation. Eleanor can also open a Tax-Free Savings Account. She has no TFSA now but any income she saves can be sheltered from double taxation

to her 2018 limit of $57,500. She has no earned income and is too old for an RRSP, Don Forbes notes. That she could have used the RRSP for tax deferral decades ago is beside the point. “That time is past,” Forbes adds. “This plan has many alternatives,” Forbes explains. “Eleanor’s problem is to pick the one she thinks preserves her retirement income and provides for her children and grandchildren best. Tax postponement is a good thing, but one has to balance the complexity of arrangements with the result to be achieved.”

$320,000

Potential sale price:

Less 25% tax:

Photo: Thinkstock

n southern Manitoba, a widow we’ll call Eleanor, 73, wants to decide what to do with 420 acres of farmland she inherited two decades ago when her husband died. She never farmed the land, just rented it to a neighbour. Each of her three sons has a successful off-farm career. The decision? What to do with the land — either to maintain present income or transfer to her sons. The farmland is just part of a larger problem: to create an estate plan that would include her sons and four grandchildren. Eleanor approached Don Forbes of Forbes Wealth Management Ltd. in Carberry, Man., for an assessment of her problem. It breaks down into generations. She can help her grandchildren by contributing to their Registered Education Savings Plans. The limit is $2,500 per year per beneficiary to qualify for the maximum Canada Education Savings Grant of the lesser of $500 or 20 per cent of sums contributed. There is a lifetime contribution limit of $50,000 per beneficiary and the CESG is capped at a maximum of $7,200 per beneficiary Passing the land on to the sons is more complicated. Unfortunately, Eleanor, who has not actively farmed the land for decades, is not likely to be eligible for the Qualified Farmland Capital Gains Tax Credit of $1 million. She will, instead, be taxed on the current market value of the land when sold in relation to its cost. The flexibility of valuation in farmland tax credit will not be available.

$470,000 $1,730,000 $86,500

A final consideration is how Eleanor will manage her affairs if the farm is sold. She will have substantial cash requiring selection of financial assets. Her preparation for the task is limited. She would do well to find a professional portfolio manager who would select assets, collect dividends and interest, pay bills and taxes if need be, and ensure that the disposition of her land bears the results she wishes. She can hire a portfolio manager for perhaps one per cent of what could be $1.7 million of assets under management. Assuming the manager uses very low cost trading systems, her fees would be a fraction of conventional mutual fund fees. Trades would be done for her needs rather than the collective needs of other mutual fund investors, Forbes adds. GN Andrew Allentuck’s forthcoming investment guide, “Cherished Fortunes”, written with Benoit Poliquin, will be published in 2018.

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machinery & shop

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Agritechnica highlights

A look at Agritechnica 2017 Once again we have extensive coverage of this major equipment exhibition

An unbelievable 450,000 visitors came to the 2017 show from 138 countries. The show also offered an ongoing series of seminars and events in everything from “green technologies” to a conference of engineers. The engineering conference alone attracted over 1,000 researchers, scientists and engineers from all around the world according to the organizers. The show gave every attendee a look at what the machinery dealers are selling now, what they’re about to start selling and what they may be selling in the more distant future. So you see, no other farm equipment show even comes close to that. But the best way to demonstrate what Agritechnica is about is to show it in pictures, so here are some of the sights that stood out to us at this year’s event. GN

Photo: Scott Garvey

everal weeks ago I noticed a post on Twitter from someone who described one western Canadian farm show as being “like Agritechnica, only smaller.” I assume that description was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The truth is, there really isn’t any other farm equipment show remotely like Agritechnica. This show, held in Hanover Germany every two years, stands apart from every other equipment event in nearly every way possible. First, consider the scale of it. Almost the entire event is staged indoors, inside roughly 30 massive buildings that together enclose over 90 acres of floor space. And all 15+ kilometres of aisles are carpeted! Occupying all of that show area this year were 2,803 exhibitors from 53 countries. A few of them were selling equipment-related swag, but all were directly ag equipment related. There were no foot massagers or kitchenware being hocked at this event.

New Holland had its most recent methane-powered prototype tractor on display this year.

GAUGE WHEEL & GAUGE WHEEL KIT

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

Photo: Scott Garvey

3” & 4” OPTIONS

The familiar brands, like John Deere, always have massive exhibits, which are extremely busy with visitors all day.

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Photo: Scott Garvey

John Deere showed its emerging smart technologies developed in conjunction with recently-acquired brands, like this guided tillage implement that uses some Monosem components.

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Photo: DLG

Photo: Scott Garvey

There were numerous seminars and presentations in the various display halls going on all week. Most were available in English.

Photo: DLG

Claas, which currently only markets a limited line of products in North America, showed off its soon-to-be-released half track tractor.

The most interesting and eye-catching exhibits tend to attract very large crowds, sometimes making getting past them in the isle a bit of a chore.

North American visitors will find a lot of unfamiliar equipment, like this self-propelled slurry injector.

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Photo: Scott Garvey

Photo: DLG

Photo: Scott Garvey

The main entrance funnelled 450,000 visitors through the gates and enhanced security checks this year.

There were several autonomous machines on display this year, like this one designed to weed vegetable fields.

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Agritechnica highlights

Syn Trac makes its world debut This Austrian company introduces what its founder believes is the perfectly designed tractor By Scott Garvey

Continued on Page 32 

Photo: Syn Trac

The Syn Trac uses an adapter to connect to a conventional implement hitch.

Making its “world debut,” the Syn Trac was introduced to the public at Agritechnica in November.

Photo: Syn Trac

The Syn Trac has no shortage of power, relying on a 420 horsepower Cat 9.3-litre six-cylinder diesel. The Cat is mated to a CVT transmission, which was designed in-house and in partnership with another Austrian engineering firm. It was built specifically to meet the needs of the Syn Trac, offering two speed ranges with a maximum road travel speed of 80 km/h. The Syn Trac includes a 1,000 r.p.m. PTO and a load-sensing hydraulic system that offers a standard 180 l/min pump. An optional 360 l/min upgrade is available. A standard 125-amp alternator ensures the 10 LED work lights stay lit.

Is the new Syn Trac a perfect tractor? That was the design objective when the development project began.

Photo: Scott Garvey

Power

Photo: Syn Trac

here were no shortage of uncommon equipment designs under the roofs of the nearly 30 massive buildings that housed the 2017 edition of Agritechnica in Germany in November, but none caught our eye as quickly as the revolutionary Syn Trac tractor. Standing beside the machine on display, Ana Putz, one of the company’s marketing staff and daughter of the Syn Trac’s designer, explained its origin. “My father is the main developer,” she said. “He grew up in agriculture and he always had the idea of a perfect tractor. In 2013, we said we want to start with a new concept. We made studies and in 2015, Syn Trac, the company, was founded.” The Syn Trac puts a new spin on tractor design, making flexibility its main advantage. In fact, the company uses the term “infinite possibilities” on the front page of its product brochure. “There are so many functions possible,” adds Putz. “It’s a really flexible vehicle.” Designed with a centre-mounted cab that offers impressive visibility in all directions around the machine, the chassis can accept mounted attachments at both the front and rear. And the mounting system uses a completely new arrangement, which is designed to connect fully to any implement in one minute or less. “It’s possible to dock all attachments, front and back, in one minute without leaving the cabin,” she adds. To improve traction and stability, the Syn Trac uses a rear gooseneck style connection to transfer some of the implement or trailer weight to the rear axle. An adapter allows the tractor to connect to any implement with a conventional or three-point hitch. “Other companies make the attachments and we make the adapter, so it is possible to do dock them with our vehicle,” says Putz.

An optional third axle can be quickly mated to the chassis for added flexibility.

machinery & shop

This display model at Agritechnica, with an optional third axle attached, shows the independent suspension and one of three different steering modes

To improve traction and stability, the Syn Trac uses a rear gooseneck style connection to transfer some of the implement or trailer weight to the rear axle

Photo: Syn Trac

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Photo: Scott Garvey

A gooseneck style hitch arrangement transfers some implement or trailer weight to the rear axle.  Continued from Page 31

The tractor has constant fourwheel drive can be operated in either of three-, two- or four-wheel steering modes. And if four-wheel drive isn’t enough, in one minute a third drive axle can be attached to the rear of the chassis. Again, without the operator even having to get out of the cab. “We can also put another, third axle on it without leaving the cabin,” says Putz. “A fourth axle could also be possible.” A unique suspension system has a

“slope compensation” feature, which helps keeps the chassis level on both steep side-hill and fore-aft grades. The Syn Trac can also transition into a telescopic materials handler with a quick-connect boom attachment. Considering all the possible variations and attachments, the company sees a very wide range of applications for the Syn Trac in agriculture, forestry, municipal and a host of other sectors. As it begins retailing the Syn Trac, the company will initially focus its marketing efforts on Europe, but it

has Canada in its sights as a potential market down the road. “We are starting in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, then we will market to the whole of Europe,” Putz says. “(In the future) at least we would like to go into Canada and show worldwide.” But all that usability doesn’t come cheaply. “The list price right now is 330,000 Euros,” says Putz. That’s just shy of C$500,000. GN Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@ fbcpublishing.com.

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GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Field management

V-Wing designed to take advantage of field water Inventor's plow was created to better use water resources, not just for drainage purposes

ield drainage has often been the source of conflict between neighbours, but Jeff Penner, inventor of the V-Wing Ditcher says the whole idea behind the development of his machine wasn’t to just send water further down stream, but to make the best use of it on his own farm fields. “The whole idea behind this was to follow natural waterways and to use the natural environment instead of creating a new one,” he told Grainews during a demonstration at the Ag in Motion farm show at Langham, Sask., this past summer. “What we want to do is spread the water out and utilize it, not drain water. Our whole plan is to use the watershed and let the water soak into the ground, utilize your water table.” “We had an exceptionally wet year in 2010 where we live in the Swan River Valley,” he continued. “We had combine ruts from corner to corner, and we didn’t have a proper machine to clean up this mess. That’s what inspired creating this machine, so we won’t have problems anymore.” The first model of the V-Wing to see production was the model 3200 HD, which can make a 32-foot wide cut and can move up to 30 yards of soil across its width, which means it will need a pretty capable tractor in front of it to handle the load. Nothing short of 450 horsepower will get that job done. But to make the concept available to producers don’t have access to a tractor of that size, Penner has also introduced a smaller model. “Our 2100 HD is a smaller unit meant for smaller tractors,” he said. “But it can be pulled by a larger tractor as well. The 2100 HD takes a minimum of 250 horsepower. We’ve got guys pulling them with frontwheel assists. People say that’s not possible; it is. These machines do pull a lot easier than they appear.” The shape of the blade and its tendency to get dirt to roll allow for the reduced horsepower requirement. “We’ve got a good angle on our blades,” he added. “We have a nice V-shape on our plows, which is underutilized in the farming world. It’s old technology. Why did they use it on a horse and plow, because it pulled easy. The machine also pulls easy because our blade is profiled to create a rolling action. So if you use a little bit of speed, the soil starts to roll.” The added benefit of that rolling action is it tends to break up chunks of dirt and lumps, Penner explained. The overall contour shape left behind the plow can be changed in a variety of ways, so it can do a lot more than dig a v-shaped trench. “A lot of people don’t realize what these machines can do,” he added. “We have people terracing

with them. We have people in Western Canada maintaining their water runs.” The model 3200 has a retail price starting at $136,000. Prices for the smaller 2100 HD begin at $79,900. Penner’s company can be contacted through its website, hitecag.com. GN Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@ fbcpublishing.com.

Photos: Scott Garvey

By Scott Garvey

The V-wing design came out of a need to deal with moisture on Jeff Penner’s Manitoba farm. He now produces and sells two models commercially.

The shape of the blade lets soil roll, making for an easier pull.

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Photos: Scott Garvey

Agritechnica highlights

Reiter redefines the hay rake Prototype leaves rocks on the ground while reducing leaf loss

The Respiro rake has a nine-metre working width and is designed to help maintain the quality of windrowed hay.

By Scott Garvey

st the end of one of the aisles in the grassland pavilion on the grounds of Agritechnica last November was a prototype hay rake that had many show goers stopping for a second look. Known as the Reiter Respiro, this model made its first public appearance at that event. Designed with a nine metre (29.5 foot) working width, the version of Respiro on display builds on the technology the fledgling Reiter Company introduced two years ago. That’s when it introduced a three-metre rake using the same overall concept, but it was built to be mounted on the front linkage of a tractor.

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“That (three-metre version) has been on the market for two years,” said Tobias Reiter, standing beside the company display. He added that his father, who is an engineer, came up with the design for the Respiro when working for a competitor (whose display was just a few feet away in the same pavilion), but management at that brand dismissed it. The senior Reiter then resigned and formed his own company to build and market it. The trailed rake on display is designed to work together with

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The unique, bent-back shape of the pickup teeth leaves stones and unwanted material on the ground while still lifting hay.

the independent front-mounted section. The trailed implement uses two of the same three-metre sections, one following on each side of the tractor. The combined working width that combination offers will make the Respiro attractive to producers with a large number of acres to cover. To be as gentle as possible on the material, the Respiro uses draper belts, which help minimize leaf loss. But the most unique part of the rake’s design is the small diameter pickup. It uses a bent-back design on the pickup teeth, which Reiter says allows it to leave rocks and unwanted debris in place on the ground. But that shape still allows for efficient lifting of material and keeps it clean. And with the frontmounted section, it prevents the tractor from driving over the hay before it’s windrowed, which further helps improve feed quality. The trailed Respiro will go into production in 2018 and will initially be marketed in Europe, but Reiter says once it has been established there, they intend to look at other markets, including North America. The nine-metre Respiro will retail for 107,000 Euros (about C$161,000). And Reiter says there are plans afoot to build a 14-metre (46 foot) model in the near future. GN

The trailed rake is designed to work with a front mounted section on the tractor, which moves hay before the tractor drives over it.

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Agritechnica highlights

Tractor of the Year winners announced Competition judges reveal their picks in each of the categories at Agritechnica By Scott Garvey

The Finnish brand Valtra, which is part of the AGCO corporate family, picked up two awards for the new T254 Smart Touch tractor.

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In all, the tractors endured more than 100 hours of testing. And 14 different trial locations were used before the judges finished voting for their picks in the four categories In all, the tractors endured more than 100 hours of testing. And 14 different trial locations were used before the judges finished voting for their picks in the four categories.

Photo: John Deere

Photos: Scott Garvey

t’s becoming a tradition at Agritechnica, starting the show off with a ceremony engineers from all the ag equipment brands hold their collective breath for: the naming of the winners in the four categories of the Tractor of the Year competition. This is a competition the Europeans take pretty seriously. The judging panel is made up of 24 ag machinery journalists, and the evaluation process kicks off in May and carries on through the summer. As usual, the 22 tractors that were entered this year were given far more than a cursory walk around and quick drive through a vacant lot. “Only field tests give the judges the ability to properly test the tractors,” Fabio Sammaretti, the TOTY chairman, told the audience at the start of the presentation ceremony in Hanover Germany.

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John Deere’s new XUV 835 and XUV865 Gators won an AE50 award this year for outstanding engineering.

JD Gators eat up an engineering award In December, the ASABE (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers) awarded John Deere one of the coveted AE50 Awards for its new XUV835 and XUV865 Gators. Every year the ASABE hands out engineering awards to most innovative designs to appear in new ag equipment. The full list of AE50 award recipients is released along with the official presentations at the ASABE convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in February. GN Scott Garvey

machinery & shop

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Showing off the trophy at its brand exhibit at the show, Italy’s ARGO won Best Utility Tractor for 2017 with its X6 440 VT drive McCormick tractor.

Two out of the four categories will be of interest to Western Canadian farmers: the best utility-class tractor and the best tractor for general field use. The judges also picked a winner for the best specialty tractor (think orchards and the like) and best design. Italian manufacturer ARGO’s McCormick X6 440 VT Drive tractor won in the utility class, while AGCO was the big winner in all the rest. It’s new T254 Smart Touch Valtra won in both the general category and best design awards. Unfortunately, AGCO discontinued distribution of its Valtra line in North America several years ago, so don’t expect to be able to run down to the local AGCO dealer and snap one up. AGCO’s 112 horsepower, vineyard Fendt 211 Vario V picked up the Best of Specialized award. To find out more about the competition, take a look at their website, tractoroftheyear.org. GN

Representatives of the McCormick brand were ecstatic when they went on stage to claim their Best Utility Tractor title during the Tractor of the Year awards ceremony at Agritechnica.

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cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

maintenance

Making a stock trailer maintenance check Are all the lights working, and how about the brakes and bearings? TIRES, BEARINGS AND BRAKES

By Michael J. Thomas Photo: Michael Thomas

pring isn’t that far away and if you have time this winter it may be an opportunity to look to maintenance on the equipment, tools, and facilities necessary to help provide a safe and productive year in the cattle business. One item we easily overlook is the stock trailer we use periodically throughout the year and otherwise sit parked out of the way — silently waiting for the next time we need it. It won’t be long before cattle need to be moved to spring and summer pasture, and horses are hauled to move and check the cattle. A few minutes spent inspecting your stock trailer before you need it can save you much grief later. Use a systematic process to examine and service the trailer. Beginning with the hitch, check to be sure there are no loose bolts or broken welds. Pay special attention to door latches and safeties. To inspect the lights and electric brakes you will need to attach the tow vehicle to the trailer. Once the tow vehicle is attached, turn on the headlights of the tow vehicle. Walk around the trailer and check to make sure the marker lights and taillights are working correctly. If the marker and taillights are not working, use a multime-

Two important maintenance items on stock trailers: check and replace worn out tires, and if trailer lights and brakes don’t seem to be getting power use a multitester to track down the problem.

ter or test light to check the electrical outlet of the tow vehicle for power. If you have no power at the tow vehicle, check for corroded connections in the outlet and wiring problems in the tow vehicle. If you have power at the tow vehicle power outlet, check for corroded connections in the trailer’s wiring plug, damaged wiring in the harness, or bad ground wire connections in the trailer. If some but not all of the lights work, begin checking bulbs in the non-functioning marker or tail lights. If the bulbs are good, check the wiring to the individual light affected. To check the brake lights and electric brakes themselves, you will need another person to help you. With a helper activating the brake pedal, verify that the brake lights are functioning properly.

We now move to one of the most vital series of components of a stock trailer, and one that is easily overlooked — tires, wheel bearings, and the physical components of the brake system. It can be hard to judge the life left in a tire based on the tread. Many tires that appear to have much life left may be 10 or more years old. While the tread may appear to be fine, weather checking — damage from oxygen and sunlight — has hardened or cracked the rubber. If the tires are old or beginning to crack at the sidewall, replace or carry adequate spares. Always make sure the tires are properly inflated. Heavy trailers should have a minimum of 10-ply tires inflated to 70-80 psi. Low air pressure will cause the tires to heat and come apart. In order to service the bearings and inspect the brake drums, shoes, and activation mechanism you will need to remove the wheel. Remove the dust cap to reveal the castle nut holding the bearings and hub on the spindle. Remove the castle nut and carefully work the hub off of the spindle. The outer bearing may fall out of the hub as it comes off of the spindle. Be careful to catch it and keep it clean. If the inner bearing and grease seal remain on the spindle, use a chisel and carefully work them loose, making sure not to score the spindle

where the bearing or seal seat. Once you have removed the inner bearing and seal, clean and inspect the condition of the spindle. Run your fingernail along the length of the spindle from the seal seat to where the outer bearing rests. If the surface is smooth, the spindle is good. If you feel ridges, replace the spindle. At this point you have exposed the brake shoes and drums. Check the drums for excessive wear, cracks, or scoring. If the drums are damaged, replace the drum/hub before reassembling. Next inspect the brake shoes. If they are coming apart or the rivets are wearing into the drums, replace before continuing. Also, inspect the mechanical components of the brake activation system, including the electric magnet. If any of these components are worn, bent, or broken, replace them. After repairing the brake system, or verifying that it is in serviceable order, inspect the condition of the bearings and seal before reassembly. If the seal appears cracked or rotten, replace. Seals are inexpensive. If in doubt, replace the seals. Clean the bearings in solvent and inspect them for damage. Make sure the cages are not dented or damaged. Look closely at the rollers for scoring or discolouration — an indication that they have been hot. Run your fingernail over any suspicious blemish. If you feel a

ridge or groove, replace the bearing. Wheel bearings can be matched at your local auto parts store. Check the inner and outer races for discolouration and scoring. If they are damaged, replace them. Pack the bearings by hand before reassembling. Cup a glob of highquality wheel bearing grease in the palm of your hand and grip the bearing between the thumb and fingers of your other hand so that you can look through the hole in the centre. Pat the edge of the bearing repeatedly into the grease with a downward scoping motion. You will see the grease working into the bearing. Work the bearing around in a circle until you have packed all of the rollers in the bearing. Finally, be careful not to overtighten the castle nut when you reinstall the hub. Run the castle nut up snug, working the hub back and forth as you go. Back the nut off, wobble the hub again, and then run it up snug. It is important not to run the nut up so tight that there is much resistance when you rotate the hub. Next, back off the castle nut until you can line up the cotter pin or tab in the tang washer. Reinstall the dust cap and wheel. GN Michael Thomas operates Thomas Ranch along with family near Salmon, Idaho. Contact him at: Thomasranch@ centurytel.net.

better bunks and pastures

Does it pay to put weight on cull cows? To decide best time to sell, pencil out the cost of feeding for a couple of months Peter Vitti

ost producers have walked through their cow herds after the weaning season and picked out candidates for a cull group. Many of these are first-calf heifers and cows that were pregchecked and found open, while a smaller group were culled due to poor feet, legs and other structure defects. Even a few cows destined for the packers were simply old cows with too many teeth missing or too mean to keep around. As an advocate of continuous herd improvement, I believe picking out culls is just the first step. A flexible feed and management plan should then be put into place throughout the winter and spring in order to take advantage of the best revenue opportunities; whether cull cows are sold right-away or fed out in the upcoming months.

TWO PRODUCERS’ APPROACH To better illustrate my point, I recently asked two commercial producers what they did with their cull

cows after segregating them from rest of the cow herd. Both cow-calf operators calve out their cows during the first week of May on pasture and run the bulls within a 60-day breeding season that encompasses both July and August. Their 600- to 650-lb. calves are weaned by the end of November. From this point forward, most similarities between these two operations ends. In the first cow-calf operation, the producer runs 400 AngusSimmental cows and keeps back about 40 replacement heifers and backgrounds the remaining calves to about 800 lbs. before they are sold. His group of cull cows are sold within a month after they are grouped together. This producer told me his cull cows are either open (not pregnant) or in thin body condition. It has been his decision over the years, not to put more feed/money into them, because a cold Prairie winter often stalls precious weight gains. Even if they were given the chance to gain 200 lbs., he felt it would not offset the nominal selling price at the auction market. The other producer runs a 300head white-face Hereford cross-

breed operation. He keeps back about 35 replacement heifers and finishes his cow herd’s weaned calves in a feedlot. He culls his cow herd twice a year. The first culls consist of about 30 open cows after the calves are weaned and the second group is 15-20 individuals, put together within weeks after the calving season ends — hard calvers and cows that were breeding season stragglers. All cull cows are put in their own pen during an 80-day feeding program to gain 250 lbs. and then sold at cull-cow prices. I appreciate such tabletop information given me by both producers. Despite the different ways that each producer gathered, handled and eventually sold their culls, they return to one common goal; draw the best cull cow revenue.

A FEEDING SCENARIO I put together a spreadsheet to determine the current breakeven selling price of cull cows. It might help with the question whether to sell them immediately (producer No. 1) or keep them for two to three months, so more saleable weight is added (producer No. 2).

The parameters of my spreadsheet are based upon: (1) feed mature beef cows (1,350 lbs.) in order to gain 250 lbs., (2) feed them a typical beef cull-cow diet of barley silage, mixed hay, barley and a vitamin-mineral premix, (3) estimate cull feed efficiency targeting about nine pounds of dry matter diet/lb. gain or ADG equalling 3.23 lb./head/d (4) set yardage cost of $0.45/head/day and (5) breakeven cull cow selling price is based on live bodyweight. Again, I set up this spreadsheet to calculate the break-even selling price on adding 250 lbs. of weight gain on cull cows sold on a live weight basis, only. (Based on these calculations it costs about 78 cents per pound to produce that 250 pounds of gain over about 2.5 months). Historically, cull cow prices have been the lowest in November, December and January and at their highest level in March, April and May. Prices for the summer months follow the average cull cow price for the year. For those producers who forgo marketing cull cows in this way in favour of selling them directly to the packers on a rail-grade basis, it be should kept in mind that cull

cows have significantly lower dressing percentage (45-50 per cent) compared to regular commercial beef steers and splayed heifers. This disparity is often due to a higher bone to lean/body fat body ratios and higher rates of unsaleable cut-outs (due to lesions and bruises) in cull cows. They also have a higher rate of condemnations due to high rates of morbidity (sickness) such as inspector-confirmed liver abscesses. Despite these best auction or rail-grade opportunities, and whether they are sold immediately or fed for a couple of months, there are about 15 to 20 per cent of the cows in most herds for one reason or another should be culled. With a trend toward larger cow-calf operations, the absolute number of culled beef cows is significant on many farms. Therefore, producers should have a good beef cow cull plan in place that can improve their cull prospects for profit. GN Peter Vitti is an independent livestock nutritionist and consultant based in Winnipeg. To reach him call 204-2547497 or by email at vitti@mts.net.

cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

sustainability

Complex issue of water and beef Looking at the question of much water is used to produce beef from pasture to packer By Lee Hart

ow much water does it take to produce a pound of beef? That may not be the most urgent question on the mind of beef producers, but for some schoolkids in Surrey, B.C. it was an important question to have answered for a class project. And when multiple letters asking the same question recently landed on the desk of Reynold Bergen, science director with the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC), it became a clear sign the question needed to be answered — scientifically and correctly. (It wasn’t an easy number to calculate by the way, but the most simple figure if you just look at how much water a beef animal drinks is nine gallons of water per pound of beef — but there’s more.) Again, a beef animal’s water consumption isn’t the most pressing research project on the BCRC agenda, Bergen told delegates attending the

recent Alberta Beef Producers annual general meeting in Calgary. Unravelling the science to produce healthy, high-producing and efficient beef cattle is important. But Bergen saw it as an opportunity to use good science to also answer questions that are important to the general public, consumers — including this class at a Surrey elementary school. Questions such as how much water it takes to produce a pound a beef do fall within the scope of work conducted by the Canada’s Beef Science Cluster as it looks not only at beef production-related issues, but also at environmental issues. The Cluster is a research partnership between Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers and BCRC. The environment, greenhouse gas (GHG) issues, sustainability — these will become even more important to the future of the beef industry, Bergen says. The question of water and beef is bigger than it sounds, he says. “If you look online, the answers on the inter-

net are all over the board.” The figures range anywhere from eight gallons to 2,500 with even some suggestions up to 10,000 gallons. “There are lots of answers, but none agree.” He says it is one thing just looking at how much drinking water an animal consumes over its lifetime. But it becomes a much more complex question if you also factor in the amount of water needed to produce feed for that animal, along with water used in processing to produce a carcass and eventually cut and wrap a pound of beef. It becomes a multi-faceted and complicated calculation, says Bergen. Among others he enlisted the help of Getahun Legesse, a research associate at the University of Manitoba working on a collaborative project that aims to define the environmental footprint of Canadian beef.

HOW MUCH TO GROW GRASS? In looking at water requirements aside from drinking water, Bergen says there are many variables. With

grain and hay for example, they had to look at varying yields under varying growing conditions. That involved looking at weather patterns, rainfall figures and statistics for yield estimates over several growing seasons for a wide range of feed and forage crops. Along with water to produce feed, they also calculated water use in processing facilities. In working through the process they split water requirements in two — ‘green water’ was basically snow and rainwater; and ‘blue water’ was all the human-delivered water. After the all the number-crunching, the project estimated it takes about 1,590 gallons of green and blue water combined to produce a pound of beef. Most comes in the form of green water (rainfall) with less than one per cent in the form of blue water. If you just look at drinking from a water trough it is about nine gallons of water per pound of beef, the rest of it relying on green water sources. The water requirement project did reveal an important point for an

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industry that looking to reinforce with consumers and general public the sustainability of the beef industry. Much like on the greenhouse gas (GHG) side where the environmental footprint of the beef industry has been reduced by about 15 per cent recent years, water requirement to produce a pound of beef has also been reduced by about 17 per cent in recent years — much of that is achieved through more efficient breeding of crop varieties that produce more yield with less water. “While there are many areas of important research, I believe there will be increasing emphasis on the environment and sustainability issues,” says Bergen. “And it will be important that we provide the science behind the beef facts to support public and consumer information.” GN Lee Hart is editor of Cattleman's Corner based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

The Markets

Today’s cash cattle market is deceiving It will be a different market in late 2018 compared to late 2017 MARKET UPDATE Jerry Klassen

t’s that time of year when most feedlot and backgrounding operations are running near full capacity and the focus turns to marketing. The live and feeder cattle futures had been quite volatile over the past month when this was written in late December, which can make cattle producers quite nervous. While the futures market has softened, cash prices have held value. Alberta packers were buying fed cattle in the range of $150 to $153 in early December, which is up $2 to $3 from a month earlier. Feeder cattle prices have traded in a relatively sideways range. As of late December, Simmental-cross medium to heavier flesh steers averaging 810 pounds traded for $203 in central Alberta, which was unchanged from last month. Calves have remained firm through November and December with Charolais-cross steers averaging just under 700 pounds quoted at $217 in southern Alberta. Featherlight steers weighing 400 to 450 pounds traded from $265 to as high

U.S CALF CROP (000’S OF HEAD)

JANUARY 2019 Live Cattle

Feeder Cattle

38000 37300 37000

36759 36300

36153 35819

36000

Feb. 2018

117.725

Jan. 2018

145.450

April 2018

119.625

Mar. 2018

143.325

June 2018

112.600

May 2018

143.350

Aug. 2018

109.950

Aug. 2018

145.300

Feb. 2018

110.600

Sept. 2018

145.300

April 2018

112.300

Nov. 2018

144.250

June 2018

113.200

35740 35357

35000

35083 34469 34086

33730

34000

33522

33000

32000

31000 2007

2008 2009 2010

2011

as $280 in eastern Saskatchewan. Looking at the cash markets in Western Canada, one would think the market for fed and feeder cattle would trade sideways to higher during 2018; however, the futures market is providing a different picture.

WHAT ARE THE FUTURES SAYING? First, I’ve received many calls from

Our

Story #CYiFarm

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017 est

2018 est

producers asking why the feeder market is so strong. I always say that there are two main factors that drive the current feeder market. First, feedlot margins were quite favourable through 2017 with the exception of the past couple of months. Very simply, if there are three feedlot operators feeding 10 head of cattle and they make $250 per head, on the next round of feeding, each operator

It appears the August and September 2018 feeder markets are relatively overpriced will want to feed 15 head. The problem is that there are still only 30 head available. This was the situation this past fall in Western Canada. The next major factor influencing the feeder cattle price is the expected selling price when the animal is finished. In early November, the April live cattle futures made a contract high of $130 but fell to around $120 in mid-December. This strength in the April live cattle futures along with the equity buildup on the feedlot sector in 2017 drove the feeder market higher this past fall. Now consider the following futures closes as of Dec. 12, 2017. The table shows the April live cattle futures contract closed at $119.625, while the October contract closed at $110.600. The October contract is trading at a $9 discount to the April contract. It’s interesting that the April 2019 contract closed at 113.200. I always remind producers that the feeder cattle market is the live cattle market five months forward. The March feeder cattle will be sold as fed cattle in August. I want to draw attention to the forward curve on the feeder cattle futures. Notice the price structure is relatively flat for all of 2018. This can be deceiving because the live cattle futures are telling a different story. If we take an average Alberta yearling price on an 850-pound steer at $202 and use a cost-perpound gain of $1.05, the fed cattle break-even price in April is about $164. Given the current futures price, the Alberta fed cattle price is expected to be around $154 so it appears that feedlot margins on yearlings next April will be negative $150 per head. Backgrounding operators who bought calves this past October have a higher probability of making a decent margin. If the yearling price remains relatively flat, margins will probably turn out to be about $50 to $80 per head. However, feedlot operators who bought calves for finishing in the fall of 2017 for the August 2018 fed cattle market are also going to be under water by $140 to $160 per head.

And then look at the August and September feeder cattle closes. The market for next fall looks as though cash prices will be similar to 2017. We have to remember, that next fall, feedlots will have experienced negative margins on unhedged cattle for an extended period. On top of this, the U.S. cattle herd continues to expand. The 2018 calf crop will be the fourth consecutive yearover-year increase of one million head or more. It appears the August and September 2018 feeder markets are relatively overpriced. Feedlot margins will have hovered in red ink for an extended period and the market will be contending with a burdensome supply situation. So for the fall of 2018, we’ll see the opposite environment of the past 2017 fall. Each cattle feeder will only need to buy 75 per cent of the volume purchased in 2017 and there will be additional supplies. Cowcalf producers need to brace themselves for this environment. During the fall of 2018, cash feeder prices could be trading $20 to $30 below current values. It appears the August and September 2018 feeder markets are relatively overpriced. Feedlot margins will have hovered in red ink for an extended period and the market will be contending with a burdensome supply situation. So for the fall of 2018, we’ll see the opposite environment of the past 2017 fall. Each cattle feeder will only need to buy 75 per cent of the volume purchased in 2017 and there will be additional supplies. Cowcalf producers need to brace themselves for this environment. During the fall of 2018, cash feeder prices could be trading $20 to $30 below current values. GN Jerry Klassen is manager of the Canadian office for Swiss-based grain trader GAP SA Grains and Products Ltd. With a strong farming background, he is also president and founder of Resilient Capital, a specialist in commodity futures trading and commodity market analysis. He can be reached at 204 504 8339.

cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

DAIRY CORNER

Key tips to reduce milk fever cases Incidence of the calcium deficiency can be sporadic, but hurt when they hit

linical milk fever is a particular insidious metabolic disease in freshened dairy cows. I have witnessed on some dairies, it’s not a significant problem, while next-door neighbours are plagued with downer cows one calving after another. In other dairies, milk fever doesn’t show up for months and then it shows up with a vengeance. From years of experience, I have concluded that milk fever, hypocalcaemia or calcium-deficient status exists in some form in all fresh cows at different levels. Its reduction in problematic herds comes down to implementing a milk fever protection plan. In my last case with milk fever, I received a phone call from a dairy producer who milks about 200 dairy cows, who hasn’t seen a clinical case

PLAN OF ACTION In order to take corrective action, I took a few minutes to review my own working knowledge of calcium

returns to normal within two to three days after calving. During this critical time, most fresh cows cannot absorb enough dietary calcium from their small intestine, so they must rely upon bone mobilization in order to elevate calcium levels into their bloodstream. This calcium-resorption ability of the close-up dry cow is regulated by her parathyroid hormones (PTH), which must be primed a few days ahead of calving, otherwise she is a candidate for milk fever. Although the natural incidence of clinical milk fever has been shown to be about five per cent in most herds, it does not affect all fresh cows within a given herd, equally. Research has shown that first-calf dairy heifers rarely get milk fever (less than one per cent), because they have lower colostrum and early milk production; thus, lower calcium requirements compared to mature cows (fifth lactation, as high as 10 per cent). These young heifers

file photo

Peter Vitti

in more than a year and then within a few weeks has three vet-confirmed cases. All were fourth-plus lactation cows. Two of these downer cows responded to Ca-Mg infusion and were put on the milk line, while the last one never got up and died. On any given day, the dairy producer feeds about 18 to 20 close-up dry cows on their own straw pack, segregated away from the faraway dry cows and lactating cows. They are feed 21 days prior to calving a transition diet consisting of 15 lbs. of lactation diet refusal, eight lbs. of a 16 per cent transition cow pellet (my formulation) and the remainder, good-quality grass hay. He does not implement any post-calving oral calcium treatments. In the last few months, a string of 25-28 dairy cows have been in the close-up group.

Proper rations can help prevent (and correct) deficiencies which can lead to milk fever.

metabolism in transition dairy cows. Namely, a pregnant dairy cow just prior to calving requires large amounts of calcium for the production of about 10 litres of colostrum, which literarily drains her blood of calcium. The lowest concentration of blood calcium occurs within 12 to 24 hours before calving and usually

also have a higher level of PTH, which seems to prepare them for rapid bone mobilization of calcium. With this science background, I can continue with my investigation to discover the probable cause of these triple milk fevers to appear after a year of absence. A list of substantial milk fever risk factors found were: • Modest amounts of dietary calcium — A planned calcium deficiency in close-up dairy cows often causes PTH to be released and stimulate bone mobilization to release adequate calcium. University studies demonstrate that feeding less than 10 g/head/d calcium (a dry cow requires 40 g/ head/d for maintenance) is effective in preventing milk fever. However, this producer was feeding a substantial amount of haylage and may have short-circuited this process. Continued on Page 42 

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PEDv outbreak shows the ‘inconvenient’ truth about biosecurity Officials say affected farms in Manitoba had good biosecurity protocols — but following them every day is another matter BY JENNIFER BLAIR

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ife ground to a halt in much of western M a n i t o b a M a r. 6 - 7 , as heavy snow, winds and whiteout conditions closed highways, leaving many travellers stranded and some needing rescue. Brandon spent 31 hours with visibility below 400 metres. The same area saw up to 41 centimetres of snow, sustained winds of 71 kilometres an hour and gusts up to 87 kilometres an hour, matching wind speeds in Morden, Berens River and Gretna, but below the 105-kilometre-an-hour gusts logged in Churchill. Motorists found themselves suddenly seeking shelter as conditions deteriorated. David Matthews of the Municipality of Whitehead’s volun-

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emoving the deferred cash ticket system won’t just hit farmers at tax time — it could also affect the entire supply chain, interrupting the flow of grain to international markets. “If they take this deferred cash ticket system away, you’re going to have farmers refusing to move grain when we need it to move,” said stuart Person, director of primary producer agriculture at accounting and business advisory firm MNP. “You’re going to have railroads sitting idle. You’re going to have grain terminals sitting empty. All because selling at certain times might not work for farmers because of tax implications.” Right now, deferred cash tickets are used to help producers “smooth their income out,” said Person. “With any farm business — it doesn’t matter if it’s livestock or grain — the income fluctuations can be significant from year to year due to a number of factors,” he said. If, for instance, a farmer has a bumper crop one year and sells it that same year, he or she will have a significant spike in income — and “generally, the higher your income, the higher the rate of tax you pay.” But the deferred cash ticket system allows farmers to take a portion of the money and defer the rest until next year. But Ottawa is considering scrapping the cash ticket deferral system — a move that would seriously impact Prairie producers, say Alberta’s wheat, barley, pulse, and canola commissions as well as other farm groups. the commissions asked MNP to review the situation and its analysis supports their claim. the majority of farmers aren’t trying to avoid paying taxes, but just want to “smooth their income out and make sure they’re paying tax at a reasonable rate like everybody else,” said Person.

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xperts say the PEDv outbreak in Manitoba is a warning to livestock producers across the Prairies that biosecurity has to be a 24-7 priority every day of the year. since late April, the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus has been found on 10 farms in three areas in southeastern Manitoba — and two of those areas suffered outbreaks just last year. “We’ve heard of a lot of scary practices happening on our negative farms that are in diseased areas,” said Mark Fynn, manager of quality assurance and animal care programs for Manitoba Pork. so far, officials have found “some linkages” between the three areas where the disease has emerged, but are still working on tracing the spread of the disease, including looking at staff movement, transport, and contamination on load-out areas on each of the operations.

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The Prairie Recommending Committee for Wheat, Rye and Triticale (PRCWRT) has streamlined voting on new varieties seeking a recommendation for registration. The PRCWRT held its annual meeting in Winnipeg Mar. 2. Here ballots are being distributed to members of the PRCWRT’s cultivar voting panel. PHOTO: ALLAN DAWSON

BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff

rdinarily voting over whether to recommend new wheat, rye or triticale varieties for registration can stretch on well into the afternoon. This year it was over before the morning coffee break at the annual meeting of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Wheat, Rye and Triticale (PRCWRT) in Winnipeg Mar. 2. Many participants said they thought it was a record for the group, and in no small way former federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz is the reason why. The process has been streamlined — one of several reforms Ritz asked the PRCWRT and 16 other recommending committees to do when he wrote them in 2013. “I am challenging you to think about the future of variety regis-

tration and how best to ensure that Canada has an approach going forward that encourages innovation in variety development and balances the interests of producers and the entire value chain,” Ritz wrote. Some saw the letter as the beginning of the end for recommending committees, which its critics alleged were bureaucratic and an impediment to getting new, higher-yielding varieties to farmers faster. This year there were just 18 candidate cultivars before the PRCWRT, and a dozen weren’t up for voting because they’d already been supported for registration by the agronomic, disease and end-use evaluation teams, which results in an automatic registration recommendation, just one of the streamlining measures introduced since Ritz threw down the gauntlet. Before they’d come back to the full committee for further discussion and voting.

This year only six varieties came before the cultivar voting panel (CVP), a subgroup of the PRCWRT, whose members represent the entire wheat value chain including farmers, breeders, agronomists, plant pathologists, exporters and end-users. Up to 23 of the PRCWRT’s members serve on the CVP. The CVP’s creation is another streamlining measure. It reduced the number of people voting, while still allowing all PRCWRT members to give expert insight. The CVP also addresses Ritz’s concern that the process reflect the industry and its needs. At the PRCWRT meeting in 2013 Fairfax, Alta., seed grower Henry Vos said farmers and endusers should decide what varieties to grow, not a committee. But this year Vos said creating the CVP and having wheat commission representatives on it, is an important change. He said in the past, farmers had little for-

mal involvement or voice on the committee. Today he represents the Alberta Wheat Commission’s 14,000 farmer members on the CVP. “I like the committee structure,” Vos said. “I like the input of all the individuals. On varieties where there are concerns we have the cultivar voting panel, which represents the whole value chain. That is the most important part.” Much of what Ritz sought has been accomplished, said Brian Beres, a former PRCWRT chair and member of the ad hoc committee working on reforming the PRCWRT, following this year’s meeting. He said the group worked very hard along with the PRCWRT’s outgoing chair Curtis Pozniak, who is a durum breeder at the University of Saskatchewan, to streamline the process. “We wanted to get ahead of

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cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

Rancher’s Diary

Fifty-year-old fence finally being replaced Heather Smith Thomas

DECEMBER 1 A week ago, Michael and Carolyn went to the 320 on 4-wheelers and let the cows down into the road pasture along our upper fields. They opened the gate into the wild meadow so the cows can go to the creek for water. Andrea and I moved our yearling heifers from heifer hill to the swamp pasture where there’s still grass. A few days later Michael and Nick measured the little field above the house where we need to rebuild the fence. The posts we set nearly 50 years ago are rotting off. After we moved the weaned heifers out of that field, Michael and Nick started tearing out the old fence, rolling up the old net wire. We will re-use that netting on some jack fences. That morning Charlie split wood for us

and the girls helped move the weaned heifers to the field below the lane, and helped Andrea rinse and fill the water tank that we plug in to keep the water from freezing. I took Willow’s and Ed’s shoes off, and trimmed their feet. The only horses with shoes are Sprout and Dottie; we may ride them a few more times to check cows on the road pasture on the upper place. A windstorm took shingles off Andrea’s roof and more old roofing off our barn shop. Andrea and Robbie got more shingles and roll roofing. Robbie put shingles on Andrea’s roof to replace the ones that blew off, then he and Lynn started putting new roofing on our old shop. Yesterday was bitterly cold. One of Michael’s heifers was dull and not eating. I’ve been feeding the heifers some of my horse hay every morning, but in this cold weather they’re not grazing enough and their pasture is about gone. As soon as Michael started the skid steer (that I’d plugged in here) to work on our

LLOYDMINSTER AGRIC. EXHIB 2.5000X2.0000 000084409r1 BW

photo: Heather Smith Thomas

Prolonged weather inversion made it cold and damp for working outside

Weather inversion created some pretty landscapes, but the cold, damp conditions made it hard on cattle and people.

fence project, we plugged in our tractor. By afternoon we were able to start it, and took a round bale to the heifers’ feeder. Nick was sick, so Andrea helped Michael all day, taking down the old elk panels along the creek side of the pasture. Those were put on the fence about 30 years ago to keep elk out of the stack yard across the creek. The old posts were rotting leaning, tipping over into the brush. The only thing holding up that stretch of fence were trees behind it. This morning Michael’s heifer was still dull, so when he came to work on the fence he helped us put her in the headcatch by the calving barn. I took her temperature and it was 104.5 F, so we gave her antibiotics, and Banamine to help ease her pain and fever. By afternoon she was eating again. Andrea helped Michael all day on the fence tear-down project. At chore time this evening one of our heifers was also dull and not eating, so we got her in and treated her, too.

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 Continued from Page 41

• Dietary potassium levels were significant — Potassium contributes to alkaline blood that suppresses bone calcium mobilization. Keeping dietary potassium levels to less than 0.65 per cent for close-up dairy cows has been shown to control milk fever and other fresh cow problems. Although, forages in this case were not tested, it is plausible that high levels of potassium were provided from haylage and even from the large amounts of grass hay being fed. • Low feed intake issues — There is about a 30 per cent natural decline in dry matter intake from the start of the faraway dry period to calving. During my barn walk, it did seem the closeup dry cow pen was a bit crowded with limited bunk space. It is reasonable to speculate with this recent influx of close-up dry

Guide to Raising Horses, and Storey’s Guide to Training Horses. Nick has been sick (respiratory infection) and hasn’t been able to help on the fence project, so Andrea has been helping Michael. Last Saturday they sawed out more trees, so none will fall down on the new fence we’ll be building. Monday they piled and cleaned up the brush and sawed the trees into log lengths to haul down to the post-pile pasture where we will burn the brush and cut the bigger logs into firewood next year. It’s been really cold and damp the past few days, with an air inversion and low-hanging clouds. Without sun, the days are nearly as cold as the nights. We’ve been treating Shiloh for an eye infection, and putting the tube of ointment in hot water when we take it outside, so the ointment will come out of the tube and not be so solid. Today Michael helped Lynn drill a hole through our house wall, to put a cord through it to be able to plug in a vehicle, tractor or the skid steer here by the house, in case we need two outfits plugged in at once. The extension cord from the barn won’t service more than one.

DECEMBER 18 We’ve had two weeks of cold, damp weather and no sun. Some days were too cold to do much work on the fence project. The creek froze over and Andrea broke ice for the heifers in the swamp pasture, after she chopped ice away from one of the ditch headgates. She wanted to put dirt around the headgate to seal it off better so it won’t create an ice flow across the field. On her way back down the creek she broke another water hole for the heifers and fell through the ice and landed crooked on her ankle. She was afraid it might be broken. She went home to get dry clothes, wrapped the ankle in support ban-

cows, there would be competition for fresh feed and some of the cows maybe forced to eat leftovers — lactation diet/grass hay without any close-up pellets.

THREE RECOMMENDATIONS From these points of milk fever predisposition, I made three recommendations. First, the producers should sample and then analyze the entire transition diet for calcium and potassium, so I can make necessary adjustments to their close-up dry cow feeding program. Second, the producer should give each fresh cow a tube of calcium oral gel/paste (containing calcium carbonate, calcium chloride and other bioavailable calcium) after calving. It is my understanding that cows can absorb an effective amount within 30 minutes of supplementation. Last, I recommend if the number of close-up cows remain high, the producer might

dages and Charlie helped her fill buckets with dirt to take to the ditch head and shut off the leak. She then put ice and DMSO on her ankle. After a miserable night she went to the clinic Monday morning to have it checked. In spite of ice on it all night, her ankle was too swollen to tell anything from an x-ray; the doctor told her to come back in a week to have it checked again. She now has a walking boot brace, but was supposed to stay off it as much as possible for a few days. She was unable to help Michael finish clearing the piles of tree logs out of the field above the house (and Nick was still too sick to help) so Michael did the rest himself, working only a few hours a day until he got too chilled in the grinding cold. Then weather warmed up a little and we had sunshine. Some of the posts Michael ordered (47 of them) were finally ready, so he and Nick hauled those home and set them in the fence line across the top of the field. They rented Miller’s hydraulic post pounder, and got those set in one afternoon. There were only a few places the frost was too thick, more than 12 inches deep, but most places it was only three inches deep. We treated Shiloh’s eye with antibiotic ointment for 11 days and it cleared up, so we stopped treatment. It looked normal again for several days, then this morning the lower lid was swollen again and she was holding the eye half shut. Discouraging! We’ll probably have to go through another round of treatment, which neither she nor us will enjoy. Today Michael and Nick worked on the fence again, setting more posts. GN Heather Smith Thomas is a longtime Grainews columnist who ranches with her husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact her at 208-756-2841.

consider splitting up his sole close-ups into two groups to allow more loafing room and bunkspace. As a dairy nutritionist, I have taken a serious and conservative approach to this case and others concerning clinical milk fever. My final concessions encompass a milk fever protection plan rather than prevention plan. That’s because the incidence of clinical milk fever is often baffling; caused by dietary and management factors and even when corrected doesn’t eliminate milk fever in its entirety. I believe my approach “works” when the incidence of milk fever in a particular dairy herd is reduced or in the above examination doesn’t happen again for a long time. GN Peter Vitti is an independent livestock nutritionist and consultant based in Winnipeg. To reach him call 204-2547497 or by email at vitti@mts.net.

home quarter farm life

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

photo: THINKSTOCK

SEEDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Lessons from the hospital When my husband was in a serious accident I learned many things while helping to care for him Elaine Froese

y new year is in September when harvest is in full swing. On October 2, 2017 our farm family entered a new season of caring for my husband Wes, who collided at an uncontrolled intersection in his 2015 pickup with a heavy-duty trailer which flipped. Multiple rib fractures, concussion and a separated shoulder put Wes into trauma care in Winnipeg for 10 days, and I learned quickly to embrace my mother’s excellent nursing skills she raised me with. Here are my lessons of the journey: • Time. Change your clock on your smartphone to 24:00 time. My pilot son Ian, and daughterin-law Kendra (a nurse) already do this. Our granddaughter will learn to tell time this way and have her snack at 14:00. • Journal. As I cared for Wes, I tracked the timing of meds, physio visits, bathroom calls, etc. This was done in my leather moleskin journal with a secret back pocket that also served as my purse, which of course looks like a journal, not a purse, thus not a temptation to steal. All I really needed was my hotel key, a charge card, and some cash for meals. • Flannel pants. You know the myth about “wear good underwear, in case you are in an accident.” Well the EMTs cut it off! So the gift that arrived on Day 2

was a godsend to preserve modesty, along with a razor, shaving cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, and slippers. Be practical in helping the family get the tools they need quickly to comfort the patient. Foot lotion is great, too. • Peanut butter, celery sticks, walnuts and pears. This was my “manna” delivered by family friends who know my special diet restrictions. It is not cool to eat the patient’s food, so you need to have a stash of your own. Fortunately my hotel room had a fridge and microwave. I also appreciated the stash of tea that I typically carry when I travel, and I was in B.C. when the crash happened. WestJet was great to deal with in changing flights. • Hotel room with feather pillows. The Canad Inn staff in Winnipeg is fantastic. It was a blessing to have a hotel room just a few minutes walk away from the trauma bed. I also learned to ask for a better pillow, which meant better sleep for a spouse who was sometimes beckoned by nursing staff in the wee hours of the morning. Folks offered their homes, but driving when you are tired, and the main caregiver is not a workable or safe idea. Be really good to yourself, and take hot baths as a way to unwind. • Celebrate the small successes. As each tube was removed, it was cause for rejoicing that we were heading home, and healing was happening. The whiteboard in the room was my art canvas to wish the staff a

Being on a surgical ward with all the beeping and calls for nurses is like a farmer being trapped inside a very dysfunctional combine cab! Happy Thanksgiving, and say, “We appreciate you so much!” Helium balloons brightened the room, and their base takes up precious little real estate on the bedside table. • Text to ask if it is OK to visit, and keep visits short. When patients are in hospital they need to rest, and they need to know you care. It is a fine balancing act for social time and sleeping time. Not only was I the primary nurse, I also was the PR specialist. A friend sent me a picture and news clipping of the accident which I could quickly email to those who wanted to know what happened. Perhaps a simple, short word document could be crafted to save your mouth and time. • Ask the nursing staff what you can do to be helpful but not intrusive. I actually was “hired” by the nurse on Day 2, but I told her I would be leaving with my husband. The ward staff had an amazing collaborative culture, charge nurses did not stay at the desk if they could help secure the comfort of the patient. Smiles, thank yous, and ginger cookies for the staff built a good working climate for healing.

•F ind some time for solitude. Being on a surgical ward with all the beeping and calls for nurses is like a farmer being trapped inside a very dysfunctional combine cab! When we could use the walker to get off the ward, it was a great time to have some quiet. I also enjoyed singing and praying in the sanctuary which had wonderful acoustics and silence. The sign over that door said “May hope flourish.” • Be grateful. In a hospital you need to ask for support, so reach out to the spiritual care director, social worker, and physio team. Write down the questions you have in your journal so that you can have efficient conversations with the doctors on rounds. I usually got to the ward before the 0700 shift change so I could find out how Wes’s night went. Then I would wait to see the doctor and advocate for my spouse. • Stay away if you are sick. When my scarf hit the hospital floor my nursing DIL suggested that I not touch that “vector of germs.” Lots of handwashing is necessary. Setting healthy boundaries is a good idea, not rude. Ask for what you and the

patient need. We also limited multiple visits from the same people. • Don’t “overcare.” I was peeling a tangerine and feeding Wes the pieces when he declared, “Why are you feeding me?” Very good question. Sometimes we do too much when folks can help themselves. • Collect business cards of support staff. It helps to have a mailing address and phone number when you want to write a note of thanks to the hardworking staff who don’t get enough appreciation in their health-care roles. When trauma hits, it is good to have a social worker to talk to. Asking for counsel is not a weakness, it can really help you process your grief, losses, and create hope for your new future. • Take the caregiver out to lunch, off the ward. This is a refreshing break for those who are continually bedside. Another friend sent a Skip the Dishes gift card. Others did some printing and work duties to share the load. Give the caregiver a designated water bottle that is easy to find. • Keep your phone calls short with the folks at the farm. They will have an increased workload when a key team member is missing, so they don’t have time to “chat.” GN Elaine Froese counts her blessings every day. A good practice for us all in a new year. Visit www.elainefroese. com/store to order her books and online course. @elainefroese. Facebook “Farm Family Coach.”

home quarter farm life

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

PRAIRIE PALATE

Panisse

PHOTO: AMY JO EHMAN

3 c. water 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. salt 1-1/2 c. chickpea flour Olive oil for frying Salt for sprinkling

In a saucepan, boil the water with the oil and salt on medium-high heat. Add the chickpea flour in a stream, whisking all the while to prevent lumping. Continue whisking as it thickens and comes to a boil. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir continuously until the mixture begins to hold its shape but is still pourable. Pour into a 9x12-inch baking pan that has been rubbed with oil. Smooth evenly and leave to cool. The mixture will solidify. Slice the solid mixture into strips about as long as a finger, about one-half to three-quarters of an inch square. Fry in hot olive oil until crisp, turning to cook all sides. Remove to a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Serve warm with aioli or garlic-flavoured mayonnaise.

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Goodbye from Amy Jo Ehman A fond farewell as she focuses on other projects Amy Jo Ehman

s we say hello to a new year, it’s time for me to say goodbye to all my friends and fans at Grainews. This is my last column. Writing a food column is a special joy. There aren’t many things that I’m any good at in this world but writing and cooking. I heart them both.

But I have made a New Year’s resolution to focus on other pursuits, particularly the completion of a book I’m writing on the history of wheat. I’ve had this idea in my head for so long I think there are sprouts growing out of my ears! Time to plow forward and get it done. I usually don’t make such lofty New Year’s resolutions because they are a sure recipe for failure. Who among us hasn’t started out with great intentions,

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only to fall as flat as a soufflé by the first of February? Over the years, most of my New Year’s resolutions have had to do with food — not less of it but more of it. For instance, one year I resolved to eat more potatoes. Another year I resolved to eat more beans. One year I resolved to make a pot of soup per week. I didn’t quite succeed at that, given the heat of August, but I did make 52 pots of soup by the end of December. Another year I resolved to eat berries every day, whether it was raspberry jam or blueberry pancakes or dried cherries in my morning muesli. I picked a lot of saskatoons that year. It felt very healthy. Another year I resolved to eat more flowers. I researched edible flowers and grew them in my garden. They included nasturtiums, pinks, Johnny-jump-ups, borage, tangerine marigold, chive, basil and zucchini flowers. For obvious reasons, that resolution lasted only until fall. My most ambitious food resolution was the first one: the year my husband and I vowed to eat (almost) nothing but local foods for a year. Though I made the resolution in January, the year started in midApril, as I thought it best to begin as things were emerging in my garden. It was the chives. That was also the year I became a food writer as I chronicled our experience in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. I’ve been cooking and writing about food ever since. You know what they say, it’s not work if you love it. Nowadays, my New Year’s resolutions are much less ambitious than that first one more than 10 years ago. This year I have resolved to throw more cocktail parties. Now isn’t that fun? A year of canapés and cheese plates, pakoras and paté — simple and elegant and, as much as possible, made ahead. Another resolution that will stick, at least to my ribs. Before I bid adieu, I’d like to introduce you to my friend dee Hobsbawn-Smith, who is taking over this space in Grainews. She is a chef, former restaurateur, runner, poet, award-winning author and a way better cook than me! You’re in good, experienced hands. I leave you with a parting party recipe. I recently had panisse at a food writers’ party at the new Remain Modern art gallery in Saskatoon. It’s an appetizer from the south of France, but perfectly suited to the Prairies as the main ingredient is chickpeas, in the form of chickpea flour, also found in grocery stores as besan. Happy New Year Everyone! May all your resolutions be fun and flavourful. GN Amy Jo Ehman is the author of Prairie Feast: A Writer’s Journey Home for Dinner, and, Out of Old Saskatchewan Kitchens. She hails from Craik, Saskatchewan.

home quarter farm life

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

FARM MEMORIES

Artist captures memories of farm life Growing up on a Saskatchewan farm produced many fond recollections BY EDNA MANNING

PHOTO: EDNA MANNING

rowing up on a farm provided artist Dan Reid with a bank of pleasant, nostalgic memories that he can now immortalize on canvas for present and future generations to appreciate. Reid’s parents owned a mixed farm near Crystal Springs, northeast of Wakaw, Saskatchewan. Some of his fondest recollections as a youngster are travelling to school on a steam train, riding up front with the engineer, and shovelling coal. Unfortunately, diesel engines replaced the steam trains shortly after. However, the memories would eventually become the subject for many of his oil paintings. It wasn’t until he was married and working as an electrical engineer in Winnipeg in the early ’70s that Reid began dabbling in art. At the time, his paintings included farm scenes like horses and wagons, and grain elevators — the icon of the Prairies. His first opportunity to get into marketing came when a family friend, who owned a gas bar and restaurant, offered to display his paintings. That brought exposure and recognition and gave him the confidence to forge ahead. In 1980, the family moved to Saskatoon. By this time, Reid was very involved in the arts and crafts community across Western Canada and his paintings were in galleries in Saskatoon, Regina and Calgary. “I wasn’t yet involved in the reproduction side of it, so I was pumping out originals like crazy, and people were getting them for a pretty good price,” he says. When Reid became manager of the engineering company he was with, the added work responsibilities combined with those of a growing family prompted him to put his art on hold temporarily. In 2003 — 20 years later — Reid picked up his brushes again. “I wondered if I could still paint after such a long time,” he said, “but turns out it’s similar to riding a bicycle. In fact, I found I was doing better than when I quit because I’d learned to focus.”

Dan Reid with some of his paintings.

Today, many of his paintings concentrate on hot rods and scenes with rusted old cars, and his hobby of rebuilding and restoring old cars dates back to his youth. “There’s nothing like coming across an old piece of junk out in the bush just waiting to be rescued. I see the potential,” he said. Reid enjoys doing commissions, which make up between 60 and 70 per cent of his work. “I like talking to customers, getting the idea and interpreting their words into a sketch. Once I get their approval, I’ll proceed with the painting. Very

rarely do we make any changes,” he adds. Reid appreciates the help and support of his wife Jean, who takes care of the bookwork, looks after some of the business matters and helps with many of the shows. He attends about 12 shows a year, mostly in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and they include a combination of art, model train, and car shows. With a loyal following, collectors come to these events to see what’s new. “The car and model train shows are a great place to connect with

people who want custom work done. Quite often when I do a painting of their favourite old car I’ll put it in a scene that relates to them — maybe their grandparents’ old barn, or garage,” he said. Reid now paints full time and his work is available in Saskatoon at Art Preserve, 2301 Millar Avenue. For more information about upcoming shows and galleries carrying Dan Reid’s work, visit www.danreidartwork.com. GN Edna Manning writes from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

! ay d. tod ite ter lim gis is Re ting a Se

If it weren’t for the messages from some of the leaders I connected with, I wouldn’t have this clear vision nor the motivation to go after it. I can’t thank you enough for that. – Jen C., AWC Delegate

It wasn’t until he was married and working as an electrical engineer in Winnipeg in the early ’70s that Reid began dabbling in art

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home quarter farm life

GRAINEWS.CA / JANUARY 9, 2018

SINGING GARDENER

Readers ask for more tomato info Plus, farming couple shares photos of their flowers Ted Meseyton

singinggardener@mts.net

Hi Ted, Subject: Tomatoes I always look forward to the next issue of Grainews just to be able to read your articles! They are so interesting and informative. Thank you very much for sharing. In a previous issue, you interviewed Karl Voesenek and showed his picture with tomato plants. But, I do not see that you told us which variety he grew. Do you know what the variety was? They do look so healthy. I would like to try them. I grew both Latah and Mystery Keeper tomatoes. Yes, the Latah were definitely very early and lasted most of the season. I was pleased with them. Mystery Keeper produced some nice, big tomatoes which ripened on the vine. They were very tasty and I was quite impressed. They had an extensive root system — oh my! But, for the tomatoes that were picked green (because frost was upon us) the taste did not do so well. Gardeners in various other locations may experience different results. I think I still like Better Boy and Early Girl along with Big Beef, as my favourite varieties. We live near Beiseker, Alberta and have a large garden every year, just for our own use. And, of course, I

PHOTOS: COURTESY JOAN ZIEGLER

ll for the love of tomatoes opens the page in this my first Grainews column for 2018. I share an email from Alberta and a phone conversation with a farmer’s wife out of Unity, Sask. Am still out and about promoting the connection between five or more weekly servings of no-sugar-added homemade tomato juice, tomato soup, stewed tomatoes, tomato paste and tomato/broccoli salad as major nutritional dietary supports for prostate health and wellness (breast health and lung health too). I highlight the importance of eating plenty of tomatoes when singing my “Prostate Song” during personal appearances. “The Canadian Weather Song” and “A Smile is so Contagious” are also among my repertoire of original material. But then I don’t need to remind readers to smile. You know to do that already. My hat covers my hairy head for insulation during January so I don’t go to the barber nearly so often during winter. Let me pretend my tipof-the-Tilley hat is lifted high into the sky. That means the welcome word-mat is rolled out and ready to read.

This striking mass of pink hibiscus-like lavatera flowers, also known as rose mallow are grown from seeds that Joan Ziegler got from her dad, but she doesn’t know the variety name. (Ted thinks they could be “Loveliness” or “Silver Cup.”) Joan also mentioned there are white ones tucked in among the pink lavatera. She tried starting them inside but decided lavatera do not transplant well and says they do much better when seeded outside directly into the soil. She always saves some seeds and also lets them volunteer.

would do. The size of my garden is only about 90x25 feet. I would love a larger area so I could rotate my potatoes and tomatoes better. It gets tricky. But my query about the tomato variety spurred this all on. I am going to attach a few pictures of my larkspur and lavatera flowers for your interest. Continue such a fantastic pleasure in life, my gardening friend. Have a good winter with looking forward to spring and summer 2018. In appreciation, Kenton and Joan Ziegler Farmers Feed Families 403-947-2508 403-464-2508

During this glorious Alberta summer sunset a hummingbird is seen in flight to an unknown approaching nightfall destination. The windmill once belonged to Kenton Ziegler’s great-grandfather and was restored by Kenton about 12 years ago.

always enjoy sharing the veggies too. Kenton and I are small full-time farmers with only 935 acres, between Calgary and Drumheller. My garden is right beside his workshop, so often when he is working in the shop he will water the garden at the same time. He also loves to wander through the garden and pull out the weeds as he sees them. Kenton says that he enjoys the produce so he helps out when he is able to do so. Last year while away for half a month from mid-June, I was not here to thin and pull out volunteers. It ended up being a flower garden which we (and the bees and

hummingbirds) thoroughly enjoyed. It was a pleasure to be out there with nature, kinda like a mountain meadow. The veggies were hidden among the flowers, stretching to reach the sunlight, but still did very well. To top it off, I got more produce than I ever imagined. Do you know what? It has been fun to actually have someone else who is interested in my garden. I always say that I do it for our own enjoyment and pleasure. This is our relaxation. Have a good day, Ted. It has been good communicating with you, which is something I never thought I

From the Grainews subscription line: Hello Ted, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 A customer called this morning with a question about Karl Voesenek’s green tomatoes featured in your section in the November 7, 2017 issue of Grainews. She doesn’t have email and wants you to call her with the answer please. Her question: What kind of tomatoes are they? — Rose Beaman 306-2282081, Unity, Sask. (two hours west of Saskatoon) What a happy conversation I, Ted, had with Rose and learned that as a farmer’s wife she did all the gardening since 1959 without help from her husband. In addition to farm duties such as chores, milking cows, running the household and raising six daughters, Rose also ran a combine for 37 years. Rose and Charlie moved into Unity in 1996. As a result he then began gardening with a passion by

Joan Ziegler would love to know the name of the purple flowers (to the left) and says they also bloom in white, pink and mauve but for some reason only purple ones volunteered last year. She hopes other colours will return again in 2018. They were her husband’s great-grandma’s flower so they always called them “Ma’s Flowers.” Joan later told the Singing Gardener, “You hit the nail on the head by identifying them as larkspur.” Note the row of carrots in the middle with lavatera growing to the right side.

himself at the farm and grew all the tomatoes, potatoes, cukes and everything else. Thanks to all the other readers who inquired about the variety name of Karl Voesenek’s tomatoes. As mentioned in the article, the tomato plants were purchased late in the season at a garden centre and planted out in July. The name tag wasn’t saved and Karl doesn’t recall the name.

Spoken by a true farmer’s wife Q: Do farmer husbands help their wives with housework? A: But the women sure had to help outside! Hey! Where’d the space go? It’s a bit like being at an auction. Going once, Going twice, Gone. Keep your Grainews subscription up to date at 1-800-665-0502 and we’ll all meet again next time. GN

This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie, Man. What I think is that if a gardener really likes tomatoes, he/she must be a pretty decent sort of human being. singinggardener@mts.net

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