GNN120312 by Farm Business Communications

Volume 38, Number 7 | March 12, 2012

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PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER

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Make the grade with winter wheat Putting winter wheat into your rotation? Start planning now. Here’s what buyers are looking for, and some tips for growing high-quality winter wheat BY ANGELA LOVELL

ust like spring wheat, winter wheat products end up in our bread, our animals or our cars. Each potential market has specific quality requirements, and in a freer marketing environment for western Canadian wheat, those end-user needs will be increasingly important.

WHAT DO CUSTOMERS WANT? “I think grain companies are going to be reaching out to individual purchasers and looking at a more specific, characteristicbased pricing regime,” says Curtis Sims, a winter wheat grower from MacGregor, Man, and a director of Winter Cereals Manitoba Inc. “I think, over time, there will be changes in terms of what you’ll be paid for a specific sample of wheat, based on its characteristics as determined by the end user, just as producers do currently with edible beans or sunflowers or oats. I think the industry is going to be a lot more ambitious, aggressive and energetic.” For now, farmers have to rely on the Canadian Grain Commission’s lists of varieties and specific quality requirements each market sector will accept.

“With the upcoming changes in wheat marketing I think it remains to be seen how the marketers of wheat are going to handle what varieties are going to be acceptable for their target end use market,” says Pam de Rocquigny, cereal specialist with Manitoba, Agriculture, Food and aRural Initiatives (MAFRI). “Increased communication between the producers and the companies that are now buying wheat will be important going forward.” One of the biggest barriers for winter wheat milling varieties, Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW), is the fact that they provide high grain yields but often at the expense of protein levels. These can fall below the 11 per cent minimum set by the Canadian Wheat Board as the minimum milling quality for winter wheat.

CHOOSING VARIETIES The dominant variety in Manitoba has been CDC Falcon, a CWRW variety scheduled to be moved to the Western General Purpose wheat class in August 2014. Four other CWRW varieties, CDC Clair, CDC Harrier, CDC Kestrel and CDC Raptor are being moved to the General Purpose class in August 2013.

PHOTO: FAYE BRIAN BERES, AAFC

These trial plots were part of an extensive three-year winter wheat study recently completed at various AAFC research centres across the Prairies. Some farmers are moving to other varieties to try and achieve milling quality. “It’s been problematic, and farmers are starting to change winter wheat varieties to try for higher protein but are probably giving up yield,” says Sims. “I do see opportunities for a more streamlined market in the future, so maybe events will overtake the impact of these rigid structural changes on the actual

marketing environment, and we will end up with a fairer price for our winter wheat based on more than just protein.” Less commonly grown winter wheat varieties are often more acceptable in niche or alternative markets. CWRW wheat has excellent milling quality but is more suited to baking applications where a darker coloured end product (due to

In This Issue

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the red bran content of the wheat) does not discourage consumers. These include specialty, artisan-type breads and oriental noodles. The ethanol industry prefers lower-protein grain, but requires a higher starch content, and in particular, soft kernel white winter wheat varieties such as CDC Ptarmigan.

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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

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

Crop Adviser’s Casebook

Columns ........................... 27 Machinery & Shop ............ 33 Cattleman’s Corner .......... 38

Long-term zero till study results GARRY ROPCHAN

PAGE 24

Backhoe attachment adds versatility

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SCOTT GARVEY PAGE 34

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MARCH 12, 2012

Wheat & Chaff LEEANN MINOGUE

“I’m going on vacation. The next 6 weeks will be sunny, cloudy, cold, windy and snowy.”

Write, Email or Fax SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (CST) 1-800-665-0502

U.S. subscribers call 1-204-944-5568 or email: subscription@fbcpublishing.com If you have story ideas, call us. You can write the article and we’d pay you, or we can write it. Phone Leeann Minogue at 306-861-2678 Fax to 204-944-5416 Email leeann.minogue@fbcpublishing.com Write to Grainews, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1

HEARTS

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

CROP NUTRITION

Approval for UAP Canada’s Awaken ST

he Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has approved a new, liquid formulation, nutrient seed treatment for use on wheat, oats, barley and corn. Awaken ST is a seed-applied nutrient, with a micronutrient package including 5 per cent zinc plus boron, copper, iron, manganese and molybdenum. “Awaken ST puts nutrients where a germinating plant needs them — on the seed,” says Eric Gregory, product manager with UAP Canada Inc., based in Oak Bluff, Manitoba.

“It’s a unique, nutrient-based product that helps develop a larger, more extensive root system, quicker emergence, greater plant biomass and improved plant health and vigour.” Awaken ST comes in a liquid formulation that can be applied using traditional seed treating equipment. According to Loveland Canada general manager, Jeff Crampton, “Awaken ST can be applied on its own, blended or applied sequentially with traditional chemical-based fungicide or insecticide seed treatments.” † UAP Canada

CORRECTION I’m still finding my feet here at Grainews. Unfortunately, I suspect that by the time I get a good grip on this job, your actual editor, Lyndsey Smith will probably be back from her maternity leave! As a new editor, I’m making occasional mistakes. Last month, I accidentally omitted a caption from one of Les Henry’s graphics. There have been a few typos. And I’ve mislabelled a photo. Every month the Crop Advisor’s Casebook includes a photo of the crop advisor who describes a problem. In the February 6 issue, Elizabeth Simpson explained the mysterious case of some wild oats the refused to die. Elizabeth Simpson is a sales agronomist at Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Lamont, Alta. I put a photo of Elizabeth in with the article, but accidentally labelled the photo “Allison Pierson.” Allison is an area marketing representative at Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Manning, Alta. My apologies to both Elizabeth and Allison. CASEBOOK As you know, we include the Crop Advisor’s Casebook in every issue. Each week, there’s a new agronomic problem and the solution from the problem featured in the previous issue. (This issue’s Casebook is on page 16). Readers who think they can solve the mystery are welcome to submit their solutions. The correct responses are pooled and one winner is drawn for each edition. The winner receives a hat and a one-year subscription to Grainews. I enjoy reading your responses to Casebook. It’s always great to hear from readers. With a typical issue, most entrants come up with the same answer as the agronomist. However, for one recent Casebook problem I received a surprising number of answers with different solutions. The January 23 Crop Advisor’s Casebook was titled “Bin Bungle.” Allison Pierson submitted the mystery. It was a problem her client “Dennis” had with one steel bin in a row of 11. He’d put his canola

in the bin dry and aerated it for 10 days afterwards, but in the fall Bin No. 7 was warm to the touch. The canola had heated. And, some of Dennis’s barley had heated the year before, also in Bin No. 7.There was definitely something funny going on with this bin. I received several emails and a fax about this case — every one with a different answer to this problem. A grain bin sales representative wrote in to suggest that the bin was closed tight after aeration, and then, “The grain did not get a chance to breathe as the weather outside changed.” A farmer said, “I have had trouble with direct sun on steel bins causing the bin to heat. It takes a while but by mid-July or August, one side will start to heat. I have stacked round bales where the sun hits the hardest and have good success.” A reader from Carnduff, Sask., said “One of two things has happened. The first possibility is that the bin still has a standard bin door on it. If this door has been bent or the caulking has dried up or been damaged, the door will leak rain into the bin, causing high-moisture grain to build up at the floor under the door and eventually heat the bin and rot the grain at the floor. “The second possibility is a problem with the auger lid at the top of the bin. Some bins allow snow to blow past them either by a gap at the lid when closed (by missing seals between the lid assembly and the corrugations of the bin roof leaving gaps that snow and rain can blow past), or by the wind blowing the lid open when the wind is in the right direction and strong enough. This will cause a shaft of high-moisture grain down from the peak of the pile in the bin, causing heating. This can usually be spotted by towers of grain standing up in the center of the bin during emptying.” I had no idea so many different things could go wrong a piece of farm equipment that seems as simple as a bin.

MYSTERY SOLVED None of the reader responses I received matched the agronomist’s answer that we ran in the February 6 issue. Allison Pierson reported that one of her colleagues had helped her solve the mystery. They went out at night with flashlights to confirm visually that the seal between the wall and the roof joint of the bin

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was broken. It had been picked away by birds, and moisture was getting in through the broken seal. Allison helped her client solve the problem with some spray foam insulation. Since birds don’t like spray foam, they didn’t bother with it again. The mystery was solved, and “Dennis” could keep on using Bin No. 7. Because it was so unusual for me to receive so many different answers to a Casebook problem, I called Allison at work in Manning, Alberta to talk to her about it. She said she’d received a few calls at the office too, and she was pleased that her article had generated so many responses. “I know they’re reading it,” she said. As it turns out, Allison had a special interest in this particular case. “Dennis,” the bin-owning client, is Allison’s father. And Allison was feeling a little guilty about the problem. She said, “I’d talked him into keeping his canola through the summer, in case he needed to blend it with some poorer canola later. And then it heated!” There was also something special about Bin No. 7. Allison’s father purchased most of his bins at auction sales, and his bin row is a bit of a mismatched set. Bin No. 7 was originally a fumigation bin, fully sealed with rubber foam gasket around the top and on all of the joints. The fact that this bin was originally different from the others helps to explain why it heated while the rest in the row did not. I don’t know if there’s a moral to this story. If there is, I suppose it’s that farming is complicated. Even something that seems simple can go wrong 40 different ways. Farmers have to be on their game all the time, ready with creative solutions for any problem.

SEED AND SEEDING This time of year farmers are getting down to the final stages of preseeding planning. We hope we’ve included some information in this issue that will help you do that. Angela Lovell kicks things off with a cover story about winter wheat. In the coming seasons, marketing changes may make it more important to choose seed that buyers want. Jason Casselman has an article on page 8 about quality control. Jason makes the point that, though farmers usually plan what they’re going to seed where and with which fertilizer, it could help to take the next step, and come up with a detailed plan laying out who’s going to do what, when. On page 9, Grainews field editor Lee Hart has an article about a new flax variety you might want to consider. On page 22 you’ll find a piece I’ve written about new midge-tolerant wheat varieties. Studies are showing that these varieties yeild as high or higher than the varieties we’ve been using, and have the benefit of increased resistance to wheat midge. I hope you’ll find something in this collection that helps you with your seeding plans. Leeann

MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Wheat & Chaff FARM SAFETY

Safety week’s over. Now get with the Plan!

anadian Agricultural Safety Week wrapped up on the weekend but there are 51 more weeks to practise what Safety Week preached — PLAN.FARM.SAFETY. As a farm owner, operator or manager, you are responsible for the safety and health of everyone who lives, works or visits your farm or ranch. Everyone. Every day. That’s why you really need to get with the plan. The Canada FarmSafe Plan. Developed by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, this comprehensive, straightforward plan will work for you — no matter what sort of farm you run or where. The Canada FarmSafe Plan is a business risk management tool. The Plan’s best practices recommendations provide you with guidance on developing an effective health and safety program for your operation. But let’s be honest here. It takes commitment. It delivers security. It could save lives.

Remember — safety on the farm isn’t some kind of charitable donation for family and employees. It’s an investment that directly contributes to positive financial performance. Safety must be part of farm risk management. Investing up front in safety training, equipment, repairs and anything related to keeping safe on the farm is always less expensive than recovering from injuries, illness or damage. Good farm safety practices makes good business sense. Successful business people know that a dollar saved is worth more than a dollar earned. Think of farm safety risk management the same way. A loss prevented is worth more than increased production. Risk management encompasses four areas of health and safety risks to a farm business: prosecution, economic loss, commodity loss and human resource loss. Prosecution is legal action that can occur

at three levels — regulatory, civil and criminal. Regulatory action refers to provincial occupational health and safety regulations that, in the case of an incident, puts the onus on the business owner-operator to prove all possible preventative measures were taken. Civil action could be taken by the injured party if it is believed that the employer failed to provide a safe work environment. Criminal liability sets out legal duties for workplace health and safety and can assign penalties for violations that result in injuries or death. Economic loss is the second business risk. Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting (CAIR) has determined the average costs of workplace injuries are $275,000 for a fatality, $143,000 for a permanent disability, $10,000 for hospitalization and $700 for non-hospitalized injuries. An incident could also cause thousands of dollars of damage to machinery and property.

PULSE INDUSTRY

With a staff of about 35 people, St. Hilaire buys and processes pinto and black turtle beans and processes dark red kidneys, great northern, cranberry and small red beans, through a processing plant with about 45,000 tonnes of capacity. The plant is expected to more than double Legumex Walker’s dry bean capacity, and the sale also includes six St. Hilaire receiving facilities in North Dakota and one in Minnesota, with combined storage space of about 40,000 tonnes. The sunflower facilities, on the other hand, will still need to be “transitioned and staffed” with an expected roster of about 25 employees. The assets sold include the processing facility at Mentor, about 80 km east of Grand Forks, and two receiving stations in North Dakota. Legumex Walker said it plans to operate the sunflower business through a new division, Legumex Walker Sunflower.

The St. Hilaire business, considered one of the largest dry bean processing operations in the U.S., “materially increases the contribution from dry beans in our product mix,” Legumex Walker CEO Joel Horn said in a release. “It also diversifies our dry bean sourcing and processing through expansion into the American Midwest.” The sunflower seed facilities, meanwhile, “offer us an attractive opportunity to expand the scope of our sunflower seed business,” he said. In all, Horn said, the deal “allows us to further expand and leverage our global sales and distribution network with well-established and well-regarded brands. In addition, it brings us important new relationships with grower communities in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.” † AgCanada.com

GRAIN HANDLING

New grain sweep

eMar Industries has introduced a new zero-entry Maverik HTF (hydraulic twin flow) commercial grain sweep that sweeps twice in a single pass. Todd Hall, vice president of research and development says, “We’ve engineered it with proprietary patent-pending technology, delivering two sweeps in a single pass with dual hydraulic augers.” The 15,000 bushel-per-hour capacity Maverik HTF features smooth, stream-

From the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association — www.planfarmsafety.ca

GRAIN HANDLING

Legumex Walker buys U.S. special crops processors rairie pulse and special crop processor Legumex Walker has bought its way into the U.S. dry bean and dehulled sunflower seed markets. The Winnipeg company, formed last summer in the merger of Roy Legumex and Walker Seeds, announced it has bought St. Hilaire Seed Co. and the sunflower seed processing assets of Anderson Seed Co. for $12 million and $4.8 million respectively (all figures US$). Both St. Hilaire and Anderson were founded by Minnesota seed grower and businessman Ron Anderson, who started out with a seed conditioning plant at Mentor, Minn. in 1981. The sale of the St. Hilaire company — based at St. Hilaire, Minn., about 75 km east of Grand Forks, N.D. — includes about $3.5 million in “net working capital” and the refinancing of about $2.5 million in the company’s long-term debt.

Commodity loss is the third business risk. Depending on the type of incident, this may include loss of livestock, crops or buildings, lost productivity, and loss of optimal opportunity such as for planting or harvesting. And finally, human resource loss is a significant risk to any agricultural business. In addition to the pain and suffering of the affected person, there can be a significant impact on the well-being of employees with added work pressures, finding and training a replacement worker, and administrative and possible legal paperwork related to the incident. Risk management planning can go a long way toward ensuring a successful farm operation. And the template for that planning is a couple of clicks away. Download the core Canada FarmSafe Plan at www.planfarmsafety.ca . Get with the Plan! †

lined geometry with no sharp edges or odd angles to collect grain and increase drag. Variable speed technology lets the system automatically control the sweep, advancing and regressing with “avalanches.” It matches reclaim conveyor speed, speeding up and slowing down as needed to prevent choking or bogging down. As cleanup progresses, the Maverik HTF increases speed in the second half of the pass, moving as fast as

the reclaim will allow to optimize time and productivity. All hydraulically powered, this sweep has the ability to power through even the toughest commodities. The Maverik HTF features two powerful 12-inch hydraulic augers and a hydraulic positive drive system. Hoses run internally through the shell in a patent-pending design for maximum protection. In addition, the Maverik HTF offers both electric and diesel power options, with a convenient mobile power unit that allows easy relocation to maximize efficiencies on multiple bin sites. † www.lemarindustries.com.

Viterra to boost capacity in SE Sask.

high-throughput Viterra elevator in Saskatchewan’s southeast corner is set to get expansions of both its storage and rail car capacity. The Calgary company will double the rail car spot at its concrete elevator at Fairlight, Sask., about 55 km west of Virden, Man., and boost its storage capacity by about 25 per cent. The Fairlight facility’s rated capacity, according to the Canadian Grain Commission, now sits at 25,340 tonnes. According to Kyle Jeworski, the company’s vice-president for North American grain merchandising, the expansion will add capacity for about 7,000 tonnes of grain. The rail car spot, which connects to Canadian National Railway (CN) track, will expand from 52 to 104 cars, he said. The company didn’t say when it expects to complete the work at the site. The expansion, “coupled with the strength of CN’s Scheduled Grain Service Plan, will enhance our joint ability to meet the shipping and handling needs of southeastern Saskatchewan grain farmers,” Andy Gonta, CN’s vice-president for bulk sales and marketing, said in a Viterra release. The Fairlight elevator was built by Saskatchewan Wheat Pool during the company’s shift to new high-throughput facilities in the mid-1990s. While south-eastern Saskatchewan’s crop production last year was largely curtailed by excess moisture, the region has “historically been a very strong area” for Viterra, Jeworski said. The expansion, he said, stemmed from the company’s ongoing review of its grain handling infrastructure, and in the Fairlight area it saw an opportunity to better serve both farmer and enduser customers and increase the facility’s efficiency with the 104-car spot. † Ag Canada.com

PHOTO CONTEST

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT This is four-month old Laytyn Pulyk. Laytyn is a fifth generation farmer, and already loves calves. On February 13, Laytyn’s heifer calved. Laytyn was very curious about the calf, and enjoyed touching his ears. His family knows he’s going to love farming and especially cows — just like his dad. He’ll be his dad’s little helper on the Pulyk farm in Mannville, Alberta for many years to come. Thanks to Laytyn’s mom Krystal for sending this photo. A cheque for $25 is on it’s way to you. Send your best shot to leeann.minogue@ fbcpublishing.com. Please send only one or two photos at a time and include your name and address, the names of anyone in the photo, where the photo was taken and a bit about what was going on that day. A little write-up about your farm is welcome, too. Please ensure that images are of high resolution (1 MB is preferred), and if the image includes a person, we need to be able to see their face clearly. — Leeann

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MARCH 12, 2012

Cover Stories CROP PRODUCTION » CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

MAKE THE GRADE WITH WINTER WHEAT Husky Energy, also requires the wheat it purchases as a feedstock to weigh at least 58 pounds per bushel, have less than 15 per cent moisture, no mould and no more than 1.0 parts per million vomitoxin or DON (from fusarium-infected kernels).

MAXIMIZING QUALITY Farmers growing winter wheat must be prepared to tackle logistical problems, like how to juggle harvesting spring-seeded crops while they’re seeding winter cereals. However, many farmers rate higher yields, conservation benefits and a reduction in peak season pressure as good reasons for growing winter wheat. The following production tips can help farmers produce high quality winter wheat crops to provide maximum marketing flexibility when it comes to marketing options. (With thanks to the University of Saskatchewan’s Winter Wheat Production Manual and MAFRI’s Winter Wheat Production and Management Guide.)

PREPARATION Winter wheat works best under a zero-till system, with crop residue helping reduce the risk of winterkill and retain moisture for use by the crop in early spring. Every effort should be made to conserve soil moisture during seeding as lack of fall moisture can be a limiting factor for winter wheat production. Avoid tillage and improper drillfurrow closure to prevent soil moisture loss. Chemical summerfallow can ensure more fall moisture to establish the winter wheat crop, but there may not be enough stubble to trap snow for spring moisture requirements. Spread straw and chaff uniformly on fields that are to be seeded to winter wheat. Where seeding is to be done with a disc drill, straw must be well chopped. Preventing disease transfer from spring to winter crops is really important, says Sims, who usually sprays a glyphosate herbicide before seeding in the fall to kill off any volunteers, which eliminates the “green bridge” and prevents the spread of wheat streak mosaic virus.

SEEDING Winter wheat should be sown as early as possible, usually late August or early September. Ideally, winter wheat plants should be well established (with approximately three leaves) before freeze-up. Areas which usually experience earlier frosts should try to plant as early as possible, and by August 30 at the latest. “The earlier you seed affects how soon it’s ready to be combined next summer,” says Sims. “Not many people realize how much of a direct correlation there is between seeding date and harvesting date.” Seed at a shallow depth — no more than three-quarters to one inch — and make sure that the seed drill is properly adjusted to achieve

the correct depth. “Winter wheat starts on less moisture than you might think so you don’t need to seed too deep to try and find moisture,” says Sims. Seed should be covered with soil that is well packed but should not be covered to a depth of more than one inch. Always plant clean seed and varieties recommended for the growing area. Take special precautions to avoid the introduction of weeds from other winter wheat production areas. A seed treatment will ensure the establishment of healthy stands and help control smut. Preliminary research from a large Prairie-wide Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) agronomy project reports significantly higher grain yield with a combination fungicide/ insecticide seed treatment over not treating seed. Seed at recommended rates. Most agronomists recommend 40 to 45 seeds per square foot to achieve a target plant population of 20-30 plants per square foot. A thin winter wheat stand has the potential to

can’t guarantee that when you put on 100 pounds of N you will get the yield and that’s the frustrating part. The GreenSeeker technology can give an idea of what is happening with the growing crops and what the nutrient requirement really is.” Sims says that his preferred method of applying N is dribble banding a liquid fertilizer in the spring. In general he uses about 100 pounds per acre of 28-0-0 and sometimes a little sulphur too. Phosphate fertilizers should be applied at recommended rates. MAFRI suggests 30 to 40 lbs./acre to give the germinating seedlings immediate access to an adequate supply of phosphorus to get them started. Phosphorus helps winter wheat resist winter damage and gives earlier maturity, especially in growing seasons with cool, damp spring weather.

WEED, DISEASE AND PEST MANAGEMENT Winter wheat is highly competitive and can choke out many annu-

compulsory,” he says. “It’s a matter of choice but I haven’t found that they make a big difference to quality or yield.” Most winter wheat varieties currently registered have low levels of resistance to pests such as aphids, wheat curl mite (which spreads wheat streak mosaic virus), wheat stem sawfly, wheat stem maggot and hessian fly. Consult provincial crop protection guides for more information on economic thresholds and recommended control treatments.

— Curtis Sims

tiller and therefore compensate for low plant counts.

FERTILIZING Compared to spring wheat, winter wheat is usually more responsive to nitrogen (N) fertilization and can be a heavy feeder, especially as notill fields can be deficient in available soil nitrogen. Consequently it’s not a good idea to skimp on N. MAFRI recommends testing soil before winter wheat seeding to determine appropriate N application and fertilizing for maximize the yield potential. Without soil-test results, general recommendations suggest applying N at a rate of 80 to 120 pounds per acre. New technologies are providing more options, particularly for in-crop fertilization. Systems like the GreenSeeker use optical sensors to measure reflectance of growing plants and calculate the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI), which is highly correlated to biomass and can be used to predict grain yield potential. This offers another tool to assess N needs during the growing season and top up nutrient levels to match yield potential. AAFC Scientists at Indian Head and Brandon are developing a specific algorithm for GreenSeeker for winter wheat, which will establish the baselines for in-field calculations of winter wheat N requirements. “The laboratory soil test is a good place to start but so many things can change in the field and environmentally,” says Byron Irvine, Research Manager at AAFC’s Brandon Research Centre. “You

al summer weeds by getting off to an early start. It’s probably best to try and avoid winter wheat in fields which are heavily infested with perennial weeds like quackgrass. Other broadleaf, winter annual weeds like stinkweed, shepherd’s purse, flixweed and narrow-leaved hawk’s beard can be controlled with 2,4-D applied in mid-October during a frost-free period and once weeds have germinated. Check for summer annual weed development in the early spring and try to spray them as early as possible. Don’t be too hasty to plough down a poor-looking spring stand. Winter wheat has the tillering capacity to compensate for low plant stands. Populations as low as 15 plants per square foot can still recover to produce acceptable grain yield. Choosing disease resistant cultivars and properly managing the crop are the first lines of defence against disease, although weather conditions play a huge role. Fungicides may be necessary to control foliar diseases such as powdery mildew, septoria leaf blotch, tan spot or rusts, but an economic assessment should be made before applying foliar fungicides to ensure that the crop’s yield potential justifies the cost. Scount regularly and early, as fungicides are usually most effective before diseases are too advanced. Sims rarely uses fungicides on his winter wheat, except in special circumstance such as where the crop is very dense or very wet conditions prevail through the season. “Fungicides aren’t automatic or

PUBLISHER

Bob Willcox ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

John Morriss

EDITOR

Lyndsey Smith (on leave) ACTING EDITOR

Leeann Minogue CATTLEMAN’S CORNER EDITOR

Lee Hart

ROTATION Consecutive years of winter wheat should be avoided due to disease risks. Most farmers prefer to seed winter wheat into canola stubble, although it has followed oats in the rotation with some success. Winter wheat is best sown after early-maturing spring crops. It can also follow a spring wheat crop if it’s harvested early enough, but a fungicide will almost certainly be necessary in this scenario.

HARVEST

“I think, over time, there will be changes in terms of what you’ll be paid for a specific sample of wheat, based on its characteristics as determined by the end user.”

1 6 6 6 DUBL IN AVE N UE , W IN N IPE G, MB R3 H 0 H1 www. g ra in e ws . c a

Harvest should be done promptly. Winter wheat has little or no seed dormancy and care must be taken to prevent sprouting once it reaches maturity. Do not let winter wheat lie in the swath any longer than is absolutely necessary. Exposure to damp, warm weather in August can result in rapid deterioration of the crop. “Winter wheat will sprout even standing if it’s left out there through a lot of rain so you need to get at it and get it off,” says Sims. Winter wheat can be swathed when the kernels have 35 per cent moisture or less without loss of yield, bushel weight or quality. Wheat kernels with a moisture content of 14 per cent can be safely combined without the need for drying. Kernels with a moisture content of 20 per cent can be combined and dried without loss of quality. Wheat is dry and safe for one year storage at 14.5 per cent. If feasible, farmers can reduce the risk of sprouting by straight combining. Warm temperatures in August, when winter wheat is normally harvested, also make aeration drying an attractive option. Or it can be mechanically dried. “I know it sounds bizarre to be drying in the second week of August but we’ve done it just so we can keep rolling,” says Sims.

STORAGE Good general storage conditions are important to maintain the quality and as the crop is often hot, cooling fans may be needed to bring the temperature down. Moulds and mites tend to be inactive when storage moisture is below 13 per cent. If storage temperatures are below 8 C, insects are inactive. Below 3 C, moulds become inactive. There are several online resources for farmers looking for more information about winter wheat. A good place to start is www.wintercereals.ca. † 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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MARCH 12, 2012

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Features SEEDING

Better Quality Controls at Seeding Take your spring seeding plans to the next level BY JASON CASSELMAN

hen farmers make their crop plans, they typically include what will go into each field for seed, fertilizer and pest management. But something that isn’t generally included is a plan for logistics, execution and follow through. Including these things makes sense to me, especially when the optimum seeding window for each crop is only about 10 days. The focus of a logistics, execution and follow through plan is the technical procedure of the operation. Successful farmers have the advantage of having learned to be able to do this, and they are reaping the rewards. A crop plan that includes logistics, execution and follow through is a system of quality control — a way to ensure that all the details of the seeding operation are effective. The “logistics” part of the plan describes how everything is going to happen. Execution is how things are happening. Follow through is making sure things happened the way they were planned.

LOGISTICS PLAN The logistics plan is a plan of how things will happen and who will do each job. Look at logistics as the supply chain of resources required to keep the seeding equipment going at peak efficiency. There are several things to consider when you’re developing a detailed logistics plan. • Calculate the capacity of the air cart tanks in volume and weight, so you’ll know how many acres you can seed with each tank with the seed and fertilizer rates you’re planning. • Know the density of the fertilizer you’ve chosen, and how many tonnes of each blend or product you’ll have capacity for. Then check rates to establish acres per fill. • Check cereal 1,000 kernel weights (TKW) on the seed lots (seeding rates will vary from year to year based on TKW and target plant stand counts). • Plan your seed treating. Look at

hiring a custom treater to do the job if you’re not equipped to do it properly yourself. • Larger operations have certain people tasked with specific jobs. A good logistics plan has a description of those duties. This will be helpful if someone else has to step into that job for the day. • Maps can be used in a logistics plan to show everybody ahead of time where the loading and fill locations areas are and how to access them with trucks and other equipment. Good maps show field locations and routes for operators. These are especially useful if you might be working at night, when it’s easy to get turned around and waste time backtracking. • Logistics plans should include fueling and in-season maintenance requirements. The first day of seeding is not a good time to learn the fuel gauge doesn’t show “empty” when the tank is. • GPS equipment and subscriptions must be current for spring, with application files arranged ahead of time on the rate controllers. • Prepare a quick start list for using rate controllers and monitors, so operators don’t miss anything. These are a number of items that may be included in a logistics plan but each individual farm manager will have their own list of the most important for their farm.

THE EXECUTION PLAN The execution plan details who will do each actual operation — including setting the equipment, making adjustments and fine-tuning for field conditions. The crop planning part is the easy part — the execution is the real work, making sure everything is happening according to plan and that, if things change, the work can get back on track. Here are some items that could be included in a detailed execution plan. • Establish a procedure for documenting seeding depth checks while seeding. Consider how often you want seeding depth checked and how you want it done.

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• Some farmers like to fine-tune settings across the field; others are comfortable leaving things alone once they’re set. Each operation is different. • Some farmers like to plan to make adjustments on the seeder as soil temperature and moisture levels change. Determine when you are going to want to plan to make adjustments. • Making sure that the weeds are in check at seeding time and doing the pre-seed and pre-emergence burn off application is part of a good execution plan. • Know how and when to make adjustments to closing furrows and packing pressure based on soil conditions and equipment settings. • The execution plan could details fertilizer rate settings and calibration. Know how to check the actual density of the fertilizer you are using when you’re loading the air cart to make sure if settings don’t need to change or recalibrate. • Is seed treatment application equipment doing the right job and treating the correct amount of seed with the right amount of product and getting the best coverage? • In the execution plan, implement a system that ensures information is entered properly into the rate controllers. If using precision placement technology and rate control, check that prescription maps for the correct year and crop are loaded accurately for each field. In every farm operation, there are some tasks that are that are critical to accomplishing the seeding operation. Include these in as much detail as you think is required for your farm.

FOLLOW THROUGH The follow through plan is a quality improvement plan to check that the seeding operation happened as it was supposed to. It’s a way to find out what adjustments should be made to perfect and simplify seeding in future years. Here are some things you may want to include in your follow through plans. • In the follow through plan, it may be important to implement a

system for keeping seed tags and seed samples from each lot for future reference. If there’s a problem with seed in the field, you’ll have a reference to refer to. • Storing seed tag information from each field is a quality control tool to make sure that the seed variety planned for that field was actually seeded. • Keep a sample of seed as it comes from the treater to verify proper application and coverage. • Record fertilizer load information by field to help with inventory and application data. • Check seed bed condition after seeding. Ensure there are no lumps, clumps or piles, to make sure that the seeding equipment is handling stubble and crop residue as expected. • Review application monitors and rate controller records to check that any application changes were flagged in the as applied data. • A follow through plan can include field maps marking areas where changes were made to rates, varieties, treatments and settings in the field. • Look at any problems you may have had during seeding. Then plan ahead to make sure these issues are addressed for next year. • Talk to operators and other people who worked with you through the season. They may be able to identify areas of your operation that could be modified or improved. • A strong follow through plan includes a system for obtaining feedback on what worked well and where there are opportunities to fine-tune performance. The follow through plan is done right through seeding, and is a check on where you are, compared to your plan. Successful farmers manage the details of logistics, execution and follow through. When you’re working on your crop plans, I recommend putting some effort into a solid quality control system for your cropping operation. † Jason Casselman is a partner and agronomist with Dunvegan Ag Solutions Inc. (www.howtogotoagsi. com) at Rycroft, Alta.

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MARCH 12, 2012

Features INOCULANTS

5 steps to good inoculation Planting pulses in 2012? Here’s 5 steps to good inoculation, and a guide for seeding pulses into soil that was flooded last year BY PATTY MILLIGAN

1. JUST DO IT

ulse crops are still popu l a r, b u t p r o d u c t i o n declined in 2011. With the exception of soybeans, Statistics Canada reports a decline in overall pulse production for 2011 (an estimated 24.6 per cent for peas and 23.4 per cent for lentils, for example). The main reason for the decline in production was the thousands of acres of southern Saskatchewan that were underwater in the spring. In Manitoba, 2011 was a record year for soybeans (578,000 acres), while edible beans dropped to 51,000 acres, says Dennis Lange, farm production advisor with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) in Altona. Statscan predicts a 30 per cent drop in pulses for the upcoming season, as well as a 22 per cent decrease in exports. Meanwhile, prices are expected to increase, with some pulse crops seeing historically high levels due to the national — and global — decrease in supply. While no one likes to see pulse acreage go down, Prairie farmers growing pulses in 2012 may have a unique window of opportunity. This might really be the year to get pulse crops right, and big yields may produce major payoffs in 201213. One of the key elements to “getting it right” is to inoculate seed effectively.

Shannon Friesen, crops intern agrologist with Saskatchewan Agriculture’s Agricultural Knowledge Centre, has one salient piece of advice for producers when it comes to inoculants: “Do it.” Friesen says she’s known growers who avoid inoculating. While you may grumble about needing an extra tank, or the additional process or taking care with the temperature, getting it done will pay off, she says. Inoculated

For peas, use a pea-specific inoculants. And so on.

5. GET THE SEED INTO THE GROUND

3. ENSURE COMPATIBILITY AND COVERAGE

Once all of these steps have been taken, don’t dawdle about getting inoculated pulses into the ground. Once the inoculant is on the seed, growers don’t have much of a window, says Friesen. The standard is 24 hours, which may change depending on the type of inoculant and treatment. Though products exist to extend the life of the bacteria, Lange says “There’s still no substitute for getting the seed into the ground as quickly as you can.” Inoculants are living organisms — heat and sunlight impact their lifespan. They thrive in the dirt where it’s dark and hopefully damp!

Farmers should ensure that the inoculant they choose is compatible with their seed treatments. Check the charts provided by the inoculant company or “you’ll have a big mess,” says Friesen. Ensure good coverage of seeds because if they aren’t covered then “you can’t expect effective

Pulses grown on new land respond much more positively to granular product than to peat or liquid seed leads to plants with better root nodulation. These plants are not only healthier, but produce more. And higher yields means higher profits. “In the end, it’s well worth it for your plants and your soil,” Friesen says.

2. ORDER PLANT-SPECIFIC INOCULANTS, EARLY “Book early, because inoculants go fast,” says Friesen. She also emphasizes the need to choose plant-specific strains of inoculants. Inoculants are not interchangeable. A crop won’t die if it’s inoculated incorrectly, but the rhizobium will not perform efficiently.

PLANTING INTO FLOODED LAND

disease control or nodulation,” she says.

4. CHOOSE THE RIGHT FORM Inoculants come in different forms — peat, liquid, and granular. Each form is generally effective, but there are some factors to consider. With peat inoculants, you must mix a slurry to apply to the seed. Liquid inoculants simply need to be poured on. Granular granular inoculants require an additional tank. Some inoculants include both nitrogen fixers and phosphorus solubilizers, but most liquid inoculants only contain nitrogen fixers.

The best form of inoculant for your fields may be partly determined by whether or not the land flooded last year. Given the extent of the flooding in 2011, this will be consideration for many farmers. “It’s important for farmers to have a heads-up,” says Dr. Fran Walley, a soil science professor at the University of Saskatchewan. While some rhizobium have some tolerance to flooding, prolonged flooding has likely had a very negative effect on rhizobium populations. Manitoba has a more regular history of flooding and soybeans are the main pulse crop grown there. Typically, Dennis Lange says, when farmers plant soybeans on land that hasn’t seen them before, they use a BY DAN PIRARO

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liquid and granular inoculant in combination. While the liquid is applied directly to the seed, the granular is placed in the ground away from the seed. In the case of a wet spring, inoculant on the seed may wash away but the granular inoculant will still be there. Farmers who don’t have the capacity to use granular inoculant sometimes double the rate of liquid inoculant or use a combination of liquid and peat instead. Researchers are currently working on a method to accurately count nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil, which would allow farmers to better estimate how much inoculant to apply. Farmers tend to cut back inoculant rates if they’re very confident about soil bacteria numbers — for instance, Lange says, in Saskatchewan where farmers have been growing peas in rotation for many years. But, when unsure, farmers often opt for an alternative method, considering it “cheap insurance,” says Lange. Walley recommends that Saskatchewan farmers who are uncertain about the post-flood effects plant pulses into previously flooded land using the same approach they would use if they were planting pulses into land that hasn’t grown pulses. For Walley, that means using granular inoculants. The reason, she explains, is that pulses grown on new land respond much more positively to granular product than to peat or liquid. The lateral roots are better nodulated than with other forms of inoculant, and as a result, nitrogen fixation is promoted for longer in the growing season. Walley notes that there isn’t such a dramatically different response when different inoculant forms are applied on a pulse crop planted into land that has previously seen the same crop. That is because the rhizobium is already present; the liquid or peat inoculants grow nodules on the seeds, but the rhizobium in the soil produce the nodules on the lateral roots. In other words, all three forms of inoculants all perform equally well when there’s already a strong community of rhizobia in the soil. The flooding of 2011 creates uncertainty and essentially means those pulse growers whose fields were underwater must start from zero. The slightly different measures account for the fact that those fields likely have low rhizobial numbers, therefore growers should treat them as if they were planting pulses in them for the first time. While inoculation is only one part of growing a successful pulse crop, it’s an important one. Not only will Prairie farmers have a better chance of cashing in on rumoured high prices, they’ll receive all the other benefits of pulse crop rotation too — including higher yields in their grain and oil seed crops for 2013. † Patty Milligan writes from Bon Accord, Alta.

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MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Features NEW PRODUCTS

These boots are made for Case IH fans Branded work boots are the newest offering from the company’s merchandising branch

BY SCOTT GARVEY

ou’ve likely seen Caterpillar-branded boots and shoes, which have been available in stores nearly everywhere for years now. Case IH has decided to get in on that kind of merchandising action by introducing its own line of branded work boots. “We teamed up with Eastman Footwear to create a boot made for farmers who are the first in the

field and the last to leave,” says Sarah Pickett, Case IH licensing and merchandising manager. Available in brown, tumbled, full-grain leather, the boots have a composite toe making them light-weight. Attached with Goodyear welt construction, the boot also has an electrical hazard outsole with oil and skid resistance. They’re available directly from Case IH online at shopcaseih.com or from participating dealers. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at scott.garvey@ fbcpublishing.com

GRAIN SAMPLING

Taking a proper grain sample When you’re getting your seed tested before spring seeding, be sure to take a representative sample BY REBECA KUROPATWA

hen sending grain off as a sample or having a seed lot tested, it’s critical to take a representative sample, according to Barry Little of 20/20 Seed Labs Inc. Having accurate information about the grain in the bin will help farmers (and buyers) make better decisions.

SEGREGATION One reason accurate sampling is so important is that grain will segregate. “This is the separation of shapes, weights, and size that happens after the discharge of the grain from the auger or conveyor or any other movement of it into a static state,” says Little. “We’ve all watched a bin or a truck be filled with grain and have seen different weights, sizes, or shapes of grain or impurities and contaminants go to different places.” The way the grain segregates will depend on the shape of your storage. “Secondly, a round bin, a square bin, a hopper bottom,

and a rectangular truck box will all have an impact on where some of the segregated product will end up.” Once grain has segregated itself in the sides, middle, corners, and other places, these different groups will exit the bin or truck at different points and intensities. This reinforces the need for sampling at multiple locations. Little has seen the significant benefits from “consistent, intensive seed sampling rules verses the lax and inconsistent grain sampling equipment and techniques currently used.” Little’s job includes providing training in proper use of equipment, sampling techniques, maximum lot sizes, sampling intensity, and sample preparation for seed testing lab submission.

large number of primary samples to get a clear picture of the whole lot.” According to Little, if everyone followed rules established by the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), procedures would be a lot more involved. For example, each 30 ton lot would have been sampled at least 40 times. “This would be

STREAM SAMPLING

okay if you’re taking stream samples from the end of the auger every couple of minutes, but probe sampling does seem overwhelming when you’re in the top of a hopper bin pushing a 12-inch long probe into your wheat 40 times.” Ordinarily, sampling is more representative from a stream than from a bin using a probe,

If done properly, Little says, “Sampling your grain in the bin with a probe or stream sampling from the truck or the end of the auger are very good methods.” Stream sampling is a good way to get a representative sample. Little says, “The most important factor is to take a

Sampling is more representative from a stream than from a bin using a probe

due to the challenges of accessing all areas of the bin.

GRAIN PROBES Once you’ve got the grain in the bin and it’s too late to take a stream sample, there are several kinds of grain probes to choose from. Each has its own set of pros and cons depending on its application, container type, and use mode. “The most obvious parameter is probe length, but there are also different tube diameters. And the slot opening needs to be big enough for the grain and contaminants being probed,” says Little. “Other typical differences are compartmentalizing, non-compartmentalizing, and spiral opening.” A partitioned probe has openings along the length of the probe, to allow farmers to sample from different depths of the bin. “In theory, you should be able to reach all parts of the container with your probe to help ensure you’re getting a good cross-section of all grain from all parts of the bin or container,” said Little. “If your probe is four inches long and your bin is 10 feet high, you have a problem.

REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES “Once you’ve collected all your primary samples, whether that’s five or 40 samples, you need to ensure they’re thoroughly mixed together to form the composite sample before sending it to a buyer or away for testing. “If the composite sample is fairly small, it might be fairly simple to mix in the bottom of a pail by hand or using a stick. On the other hand, when many primary samples have been taken, you might end up with one or two five-gallon pails. In that case, if the grain isn’t mixed repeatedly using good technique, segregation might have resulted.” Once you’ve got your sample and are ready to send it off or take it to town, Little says, “it’s also important to always retain a duplicate sample after mixing for further testing at a later date.” Little advises having a plan that includes the number of samples you will take, a randomized method of covering all parts of the bin or container, proper equipment, a large enough collection container, and clean equipment. † Rebeca Kuropatwa is a professional writer in Winnipeg, Man.

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MARCH 12, 2012

Features CROP NUTRITION

Fertilizing winter wheat There are many ways to fertilize winter wheat. An AAFC study finds advantages to split applications BY ANGELA LOVELL

ithout soil test results, general recommendations for winter wheat suggest applying nitrogen (N) at a rate of 80 to 120 pounds per acre. Soil tests can give you a more accurate estimate as to the specific amount of fertilizer required for your particular field. But how to fertilize winter wheat is the million dollar question. Questions remain around timing and whether it’s best to put down all the N at seeding in the fall, broadcast everything in the spring or do a split application. Then, there is the question of which form

is better and in what situation — straight urea, slow release products like ESN (Environmentally Smart Nitrogen) or Agrotain (a urease inhibitor), Super U (a urease inhibitor combined with a denitrification inhibitor, which is not yet available in Canada) or liquid UAN (urea ammonium nitrate). ESN is a polymer-coated urea that has already become something of the gold standard for seed-placed N; however there was interest in ESN as a form for side-banded split application situations. Many winter wheat growers prefer to fertilize in the fall, while they’re seeding the crop, due to time constraints or potentially wet

spring field conditions. Others have avoided adding much N in the fall because of logistics of handling the bulk associated with both seed and fertilizer during a small window of seeding opportunity. N application in the late fall or at the wrong time in spring can result in significant N losses due to leaching, volatilization and denitrification. “What is generating the most interest is the idea of putting all the N down in the fall with the seed. We now have newer types of fertilizer like ESN, Agrotain and Super U which give a more controlled release and reduced losses due to denitrification,” says Byron Irvine, Research Manager at Agriculture

and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC’s) Brandon Research Centre. “There is generally more volatilization in average situations with urea or UAN in the spring, especially under moist conditions. It is now almost standard operating procedure to apply the N in the fall.” Other farmers are experimenting with split applications to try and minimize both weather-related risk and losses. So what works best?

STUDY RESULTS Preliminary results recently released from a three-year study can help to answer some of these questions. Trials were conducted

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In split applications or when all N is applied in spring, controlled release forms like Agrotain or Super U all provide high yield, good protein, and provide the best N utilization and recovery ESN has a polymer coating which helps provide a slower release of N once water is absorbed. Researchers believe that N may not release if it is stranded by the residue thatch layer away from moisture. In that case, it remains dry and does not release any N. Or, the N eventually releases much later. Data from the AAFC study suggests that split applications perform just as well as sidebanding all the N at seeing. But in the spring application, when using products like urea or liquid UAN it is probably wise to use a urease inhibitor like Agrotain to reduce the risk of losses due to volatilization. In a split application, ESN gave as good a result as it did when sidebanded, but applying all N in the spring with ESN is not recommended. For farmers trying to achieve milling quality it’s always going to be a tough road, because the results will depend so much on a particular site and conditions, but data from AAFC’s study seems to suggest that split applications may give an advantage. “Our data thus far suggests that, for both yield and protein you’re probably going to do quite well splitting your application of N,” says Beres. “However, the results suggest that the top-dress application be performed in spring, as late-fall applications of N produced significantly less grain and protein regardless of N form.” †

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at several AAFC research facilities across the Prairies to assess winter wheat response to different forms of N, the timing of placement of N, and the effect on grain yield and protein. Two winter wheat varieties were studied: AC Radiant (a milling variety) and CDC Ptarmigan (a soft, white winter wheat developed for ethanol production). “With the exception of UAN, almost all of the forms can optimize yield and protein, but will differ when and how they are applied,” says Brian Beres, cereal agronomist at AAFC’s Research Centre in Lethbridge, who headed up the AAFC study. “If all N is sidebanded the advantage for controlled release products over urea is not apparent. However, in split applications or when all N is applied in spring, controlled release forms like Agrotain or Super U all provide high yield, good protein, and provide the best N utilization and recovery.” Applying the entire N amount in spring using uncoated urea or ESN was the least productive in terms of yield, but protein levels did increase with ESN.

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MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Features SEED VARIETIES

Prairie Sapphire — jewel of a flax A new flax variety from AAFC performs well in the field, with high yields and a good oil content BY LEE HART

rom the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Morden, Manitoba flax breeding program comes a new high yielding, high-oil content flax variety, expected to have an excellent fit in crop rotations anywhere flax is grown across Western Canada.

PRAIRIE SAPPHIRE Prairie Sapphire, developed by plant breeder Scott Duguid, appears to be a significant improvement over existing flax varieties, says Greg Stamp, a southern Alberta grower and seed producer. “We’ve been growing flax for years and we were surprised just to see what kind of yields we were getting,” says Stamp who is part of the family that run Stamp’s Select Seeds (www. stampseeds.com) at Enchant, north of Lethbridge. “Typically, we budget flax for a 40 bushel yield, but with Prairie Sapphire on one field, which had been manured previously, it yielded 65 bushels per acre and on another field it yielded 55 bushels per acre with very little lodging. Even though it was generally a good year for flax, it was hard to believe. We double checked the yield monitors too.” Stamp, who will be marketing the seed this spring to commercial producers as well as other seed growers, is one of the distributors handling Prairie Sapphire on behalf of the Winnipeg-based ASC (Alliance Seed Corporation). The Stamps follow a proper crop rotation and good fertility program with all crops. They have also been moving toward higher seeding rates, especially with varieties grown under irrigation. Prairie Sapphire was seeded at about 60 pounds per acre, on irrigated fields in 2011. “We have both irrigated and dryland acres and have been increasing seeding rates on all crops,” says Stamp. “Especially for crops grown under irrigation. We have the water, so we aim to optimize yields.” The Stamps have grown two leading flax varieties — Hanley and CDC Sorrel — for several years. Hanley was developed and registered by AAFC at Morden, MB in 2001 and CDC Sorrel, from the University of Saskatchewan, was registered in 2006.

VARIETY FEATURES Along with high yield, other features of Prairie Sapphire include improved disease resistance — it is immune to Rust (race 731) and is moderately resistant to wilt. The variety has improved lodging resistance, and has a large, consistent chocolate-coloured seed. The seed has higher protein and higher oil content than check varieties. For in-crop weed control, Stamp says there are a number of options depending on the weed spectrum. He has used Flaxmax,

which is a combination broadleaf and grassy weed herbicide, but other years finds Buctril M or Lontrel in combination with a Group 1 herbicide effective on weeds. Last year he found Equinox — a newer (Group 1) grassy herbicide from BASF — was effective. Stamp usually straight cuts flax later in the season. Sometimes it’s the last crop combined in November. Other farmers prefer to swath flax, but the Stamps like to straight cut because of the risk of swaths being blown around by the wind in their part of the country. While flax residue can be a challenge to manage, especially

for seeding the following year, Stamp says they have some years baled the residue. They always seems to be able to market flax straw. But the Stamps have also had good results getting good even distribution of residue with the chopper/spreader on their John Deere combine. “This Prairie Sapphire appears to be a good variety from both an agronomic and a yield standpoint,” says Stamp. “While 2011 was a good year for flax, I think even in a dryer year it might out-perform canola in some areas.” † Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

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MARCH 12, 2012

Features Crop production

European wheat yields By Marianne Stamm

urt and Hans Wanner farm in northern Switzerland along the German border. They consistently produce eight tonnes of wheat per hectare. The European average is six to eight tonnes per hectare, but some produce 10. The Canadian average for 2011 was 2.9 tonnes per hectare. Why do Europeans consistently out-produce the Canadians?

Moisture and growing season In the 1960s, the European average wasn’t much above that of Canada’s now — 3.2 to 3.6 tonnes per hectare. Johann von Rennenkampff, who immigrated to Westlock, Alberta from Germany more than 30 years ago, attributes the increase in wheat yields in Europe to the arrival of effective fungicides in the 1970s. Much of Europe has much more precipitation than the Canadian Prairies, so disease pressure is higher. The Wanners’ farm is in a drier corner of Europe and gets 800-900 millimetres of precipitation per year. Regina, Sask.’s average precipitation is 364 mm. Westlock, Alta., receives an average of 520 mm per year. Those numbers don’t just say something about disease pressure, but about yield potential. “England and northern Germany have very consistent moisture,” von Rennenkampff says. Those are the areas in Europe with the highest yields. It’s not just the moisture. It’s the length of the growing season. Wanners seed their first wheat in beginning of October. “It gets a good start and can root well,” Kurt says. By the time the Swiss winter arrives in December, the crop is an even thick thatch of green. By March, it’s starting to grow again and it’s ready to harvest end of July. Winter cereals yield higher. Wanner maintains that a winter wheat variety produces at least 20 per cent more than spring wheat. In Alberta, Von Rennenkampff seeds his wheat at the beginning of May. The ground might still be cold. Hopefully he has good spring moisture and it rains. “The time isn’t long enough in Western Canada,” von Rennenkampff says. “We only have 100 days to grow a crop.” Most of the time, the first hard frost holds off to end of September. Sometimes it comes already end of August. “The higher the yield, the more fungicides we use, the later the harvest,” Wanner says. It’s okay to have a later harvest in Europe. But a late harvest in western Canada can mean the crop is frozen before it’s off.

At the beginning of the growing season the next spring, sometime in March, Wanners will apply a chemical fertilizer, using 50 to 60 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare. Unless the weather is too dry, they’ll apply a second topdressing before the crop heads out, sometimes using liquid manure or another 30 to 40 kilograms of nitrogen hectare. This second topdressing is what really makes the quality, gives that extra protein they are looking for as hog feed. Depending on how well fall herbicides worked, Wanners may apply a second application of herbicides with a plant growth regulator in April or May. The plant growth regulator is important in heavy crops for maximum stem strength and to prevent lodging. They usually only spray a fungicide once — at the flag leaf stage — mostly to prevent fusarium and

Prairie agonomics Many western Canadian farmers, especially those in higher rainfall areas, are beginning to change their agronomic practices. Von Rennenkampff produces around five to 5.5 tonnes of wheat per hectare, and probably uses more fertilizer than the average Canadian farmer. Farmers in the area have begun making consistent use of fungicides to control disease. Like Wanner says, that affects the time of harvest. Healthier crops live longer. That’s good if the season is long, but can be cutting it dangerously close to the edge in an area like Westlock. Von Rennenkampff doesn’t

Canadians are playing catch-up. This is Marianne Stamm in the cab, out in the field at Westlock, Alberta. top-dress his wheat. “If moisture isn’t consistent, it is lost,” he says. He’ll spray the crop with a herbicide end of May or early June, and use a fungicide at the flag leaf stage if he thinks it’s necessary. Better agronomics and varie-

ties are closing the gap between European and Canadian farmers. But Canadians can’t shorten winter shorter or order more rain. What’s a Prairie farmer to do? † Marianne Stamm farms in Alberta, but is currently writing from Switzerland

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European Inputs A longer growing season and more consistent moisture encourage European grain farmers to increase inputs. In Switzerland, before seeding, the Wanners will apply manure on stubble. Depending on rotations and rainfall, they may seed a green manure crop first. After the wheat emerges, when they can see the tram lines, they apply a soil-based herbicide.

improve kernel quality. Wanner says many neighbouring farmers use more inputs than he does.

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MARCH 12, 2012

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Features Soil management

Diagnose 4 types of compaction problems Not all compaction types should be treated the same way. Find out exactly what you’re dealing with before you decide what to do about it By Angela Lovell

fter last year’s flooding, many farmers may be dealing with soil compaction. Not all soil compaction is the same. Knowing how to identify the four main types of soil compaction can help you diagnose and solve the problem on your farm.

1. Hardpan

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True hardpan generally occurs only in Solonetzic or heavy clay soils which have a very dense soil layer high in clay and sodium. This hard, dry Solonetzic layer can be as shallow as 10 centimetres or can extend to a depth of 75 cm.

It restricts water movement during wet conditions, which results in poor topsoil quality, crusting problems and soil erosion. To manage Solonetzic soils, timing of tillage and seeding operations with respect to moisture conditions is important. When the soil is too wet, tillage implements don’t work. Conversely, when the soil is too dry, tillage implements have difficulty penetrating the soil and cause hard lumps when they do. Deep plowing or deep ripping of Solonetzic soils is often necessary.

2. Surface soil crusting Surface soil crusting is usually caused by a combination of soil tillage and raindrop or irrigation

water impact. The crusted soil can restrict both water infiltration into soil and emergence of germinating crops, reducing plant stands and potentially affecting yield. Crusted soils are easy to diagnose by examining the soil surface, which may have a plate-like, horizontal layered structure of crust. A short-term emergence solution for soil crusting after seeding might be a light harrowing or rolling with packers to gently fracture the soil crust after seeding, to aid in seedling emergence through the crust. The best way to prevent soil crusting is to minimize tillage and leave a protective layer of residue on the soil surface to absorb the impact of water droplets. Including

a forage in the crop rotation or using direct seeding practices will increase soil organic matter and make the soil more resistant to breakdown. In irrigated fields, water application should be managed to ensure the infiltration rate of the soil is not exceeded.

3. Subsurface compaction Subsurface compaction occurs in the layer of soil just below the depth of tillage and is worsened by wet conditions or in soils with high silt or clay content. It occurs when soils are cultivated repeatedly at the same depth and is caused by the weight of equipment, producing a compacted layer about two to three centimetres thick.

Subsurface compaction can be identified by using a shovel or trowel to shave away the tilled surface soil until the compacted layer is exposed. If plant roots are growing horizontally along the surface, roots are having difficulty penetrating the layer. Most compacted soil layers should break down with annual freeze-thaw and wetting-drying cycles. If they persist, the soil may need tillage or sub-soiling to break up the compacted layer. This should be done when soil is dry, there should be some residue left on the surface to prevent erosion and care should be taken not to mix subsoil with topsoil. This type of tillage is a temporary fix, however, and farmers should also consider tweaking crop rotation to include taproot and fibrous root crops, reduced tillage and direct seeding for a more permanent solution. For soils that must be cultivated, varying the depth of tillage and avoiding working wet soils will help. Deep ripping equipment is not recommended for this type of soil compaction.

4. Wheel traffic-induced compaction

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Heavy farm equipment can exert considerable weight onto the soil surface and, consequently, into the subsoil. The effect of equipment weight can penetrate down to 60 cm when soils are moist. Wheel track compaction problems are identified by reduced crop growth in wheel track areas of the field. Dig up and examine plant roots from healthy, unaffected crop areas as well as those from problem areas to see if growth is being affected by compaction. Plants from compacted areas may have malformed or restricted root development that is confined to the top layer of soil. Wheel-induced compaction can be prevented and managed through good agronomic practices, although deep tillage may sometimes be necessary. To prevent the problem, avoid having equipment repeatedly use the same wheel tracks to enter or leave the field. Avoid traffic on the land when soils are quite moist and load seeders and unload combines on the headlands to reduce traffic in the field. Use deep-rooted crops, such as alfalfa, to penetrate the compacted soil layer and help utilize natural wet-dry and freeze-thaw cycles to mellow the soil. Where wheel traffic has caused compaction to a depth of 30 to 50 cm deep tillage may be necessary, but this method will not generally help with compaction at a depth below 50 cm. Soil must be dry and equipment operators should try to leave as much residue on the surface as possible. Subsoilers or deep rippers can cause mixing of soil layers, which should be avoided. Mechanical deep tillage is only a short-term solution to soil compaction and is expensive. In the long term, agronomic practices are a better solution to minimize wheel traffic compaction.

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

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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MARCH 12, 2012

Features WHEAT PRODUCTION

7 tips for better root health A healthy wheat crop starts from the basics at the bottom — the root. Here are 7 tips for better root health in your wheat fields BY TED LABUN

oots play a pivotal role in crop emergence and seedling health, so the more you can do to protect them from disease, the better chance your crop has to establish well, setting the stage for a successful season. “You’ve got to have a solid foundation to build your house on,” says Steve Larocque. “If you don’t, it will collapse. It’s the same with plants.” An independent crop advisor and owner of Beyond Agronomy in Three Hills, Alta., Larocque is the first to say that root health alone won’t ensure a great wheat crop come fall. But it is a very good place to start for the simple reason that healthy roots, generally speaking, lead to healthy plants. “When you think of what roots actually do, aside from anchoring the plant, they extract water and nutrients from the soil, so any practice that encourages root growth will generate higher yields,” says Larocque. It really comes down to effective disease management and doing everything you can to protect roots so that they can help get your crop out of the ground as quickly as possible, and continue to help them grow well throughout the season. Here are some tips.

3. TREAT YOUR SEED Seed treatments are a good risk management tool as they can help protect seeds from both insects and diseases. Some seed treatments protect just the seed itself, while others have systemic action and soil mobility, offering protection from to the roots as well as they first emerge. Understand the pest pressures in your field and choose the seed treatment accordingly 4. CONSIDER SEEDING DATE “The push toward earlier seeding, particularly if the soil is cool and wet, increases the risk of disease,”

says Larocque. “Seedling mortality might also be higher if it’s cold and wet.” If you see that conditions may be tough, then take steps that will help mitigate them, such as increasing your seeding rate and using a seed treatment with a good fungicide package.

5. PLACE SEED ACCURATELY “Accurate seed and fertilizer placement is equally as important,” says Larocque. “Inconsistent seeding depth can lead to uneven emergence. For example, if 30 per cent of your crop takes three to five days longer to emerge, those plants are already at a yield disadvantage

The importance of observing proper rotations cannot be overestimated when it comes to breaking soil-borne disease cycles. All soils contain varying levels of the major disease families, such as fusarium spp., rhizoctonia spp., pythium spp., so managing for them is important to overall root and seedling health. Economics are driving short rotations where canola is planted every second year on the same field — it’s been the big money maker for years, and shows no signs of stopping. But there are also economic consequences when disease inoculum is allowed to build up in the soil over time. Larocque calls it “super loading.” Not even seed treatments can fully protect roots when disease levels are too high. The point is that while you might not lose a crop entirely to unchecked soil-borne disease due to poor rotations, plants will struggle to produce well, and that does cost you yield and grade in the end — money, in other words.

Seed-borne disease can also have a detrimental effect on root health. If you’re planting your own wheat seed, have it tested to find out what, if anything, you need to manage for. Don’t forget to ask for a 1,000 kernel weight test as well. Knowing that figure, along with germination and vigour, can help you determine the optimal seeding rate for the seed lot you have.

6. EVALUATE ALL NUTRIENTS Larocque urges growers to consider all nutrients, beyond the usual nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, that will help root development and function. He says the key nutrients for early season root and seedling development are nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, calcium, zinc and manganese. “In the case of zinc, there’s a strong correlation between the rate of germination and the level of zinc inside the seed,” he says. That’s because zinc plays a critical role

in initiating germination. “Those with high soil pH, high calcium, phosphorus and copper may see a response to seed placed zinc.”

7. MANAGE RISK As with most cropping practices and decisions, healthy root development is about good risk management and best practices. “If you’re seeding into cool soils and wet soils, pushing rotations and seeding early, you’re susceptible to disease,” says Larocque. “Understand your risks, test seed and treat.” † Ted Labun is a seed care technical lead at Syngenta Canada Inc.

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1. ROTATE. ROTATE. ROTATE.

2. TEST YOUR SEED

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MARCH 12, 2012

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Features AGRI-BUSINESS

Young farmer has a passion for the business BY LISA GUENTHER

LAND BASE

eff Prosko jokes that he’s been farming since he could drive a tractor. When he was 16, his father made him responsible for the crop on one quarter section. In the 11 years since, Prosko has worked off the farm and attended the University of Saskatchewan. After earning his diploma in agriculture in 2005, Prosko returned to the Rose Valley area to farm. “I think I was meant to be a farmer. I know that sounds corny, but I could never picture myself doing anything else,” says Prosko.

Though Prosko and his father, Rick, have separate farms, they share equipment and staff. Since 2002, their combined acreage has grown from about 3,500 acres to 11,000 acres. About 3,400 of these acres are owned or rented by Jeff Prosko. Though working with his father has many advantages, Prosko finds their combined acreage can be a hindrance when he’s trying to get more land. “The perception is that what’s Dad’s is mine, or something like that. I think that happens to a lot of sons and fathers. My dad’s an active farmer and he’s got two other kids. I don’t expect to be

given the farm or anything like that. I hope to build my own.” Expansion is Prosko’s biggest challenge right now. “The competition for farmland is fierce. You’ve got investors and foreign ownership and people who quite honestly aren’t ready to sell or step down.” The Prosko family at their farm near Rose Valley, Sask. From left to right: Rick and Donna (Jeff’s parents), Giselle and Joel (Jeff’s siblings), and Jeff Prosko.

EMPLOYEES Keeping retired farmers involved sometimes makes them more comfortable with land deals. Prosko finds that retired farmers make good seasonal workers, too. The Prosko family also employs retired teachers and friends to help with seeding and harvest, along with one full-time employee year-

round. Finding the right people has become more important. “Where we farm, the weather can be so challenging that you might get a window of 10 days to seed 10,000 acres. It seems impossible, but you have to do it,” Prosko says.

ougher

Prosko says the crew they have now is fantastic. Over time, he and his employees have become friends. “It’s more than just a working relationship. You work with each other, you get to know each other, you build a rapport, and then they’re even more comfortable because they know what you’re really about,” says Prosko. Prosko tries to show employees they’re appreciated by throwing staff Christmas parties and keeping the work environment positive. He and his dad have also streamlined their farm operations. They plant canola and a cereal crop each year, partly to keep seeding rates simple. They also use the same types of farm equipment, which makes it easier to train employees and fix problems. The idea to run the same combines and tractors came from talking to other farmers. “I’ve got some good friends who are large farmers and have been for a couple of generations now. Through interactions with them, and asking questions about how they run their business, basically you start to pick up on some of these things.”

NETWORKING Much of Prosko’s networking is done through organizations. He’s involved with the Saskatchewan Young Ag-Entrepreneurs, the Canadian Young Farmers Forum, the Kelvington-Wadena constituency, Saskatchewan’s Youth Ag Advisory Committee, and the Western Canadian Wheat Growers. By talking to other farmers he’s gained different perspectives on issues, bounced ideas off other people, and found solutions to problems. Farming is more than a business to Prosko. He eventually wants to raise a family on the farm, and this June he will marry his fiancé, Ebony Kozak, who works as a massage therapist. Though Kozak’s not a farm girl, she supports Prosko’s passion for farming. Their first date was on a tractor. Ultimately, Prosko knows he’s picked the right line of work. “I like it all. There’s nothing more special than when you plant a crop and you see it coming out of the ground. I remember the first few years I got to run air drill, and I drove by (the fields I’d seeded) after a month and saw green rows. I thought that was the most amazing thing. It’s the simplest thing, but it’s so amazing that you get to do that.” †

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Lisa Guenther is a communications specialist in LIvelong, Sask. Find her online at www. brickhouse.ca

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MARCH 12, 2012

Features Crop production

The role of copper in plant nutrition A lot of research has been done into copper’s role in crop nutrition. Find out how to identify or correct a copper deficiency by Angela Lovell

opper deficiency in soils has been correlated to lodging in cereal crops, mainly because copper is a nutrient involved in lignification or straw strength, which determines the standability of the plant. Low copper can also cause increased disease, increases in ergot and melanosis, twisted flag leaves and an increase of aborted seeds in the head. “As well, copper plays an important role in nitrogen utilization,” says Terry Aberhart, an agri-coach with Agri-Trend Agrology Ltd. Aberhart has seen and dealt with copper deficiencies on his own farm in Saskatchewan. “You may see poor nitrogen efficiencies and have a hard time achieving top protein levels if you have issues with copper in your crops.” Growers aiming for high yields in cereal crops should pay close attention to soil-available copper levels to avoid yield loss, quality loss, delayed maturity and severe crop lodging, which can be due to a copper deficiency sometimes induced by high nitrogen levels.

Copper and lodging The lodging susceptibility of copper deficient cereal crops due to impaired lignifications of cell walls can be increased by high nitrogen fertilizer rates, says German plant physiologist, Horst Marschner, in his book Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. Other experts are not so sure about the relationship between lodging and copper. “If the lodging is observed on peat or very high organic matter soils, (where copper deficiency is common), the cause of that lodging may also be due to low potassium level of peat soils and high nitrogen release,” says John Heard, crop nutrition specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives. “I would suggest that if soils test low in copper with suspect soil conditions (low organic matter, sandy and high pH soils or peat soils) that farmers should fix their copper problem — regardless of any minor effect it has on lodging. But I am not a proponent of copper use on non-deficient soils.” Harry Brook, crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development is convinced that the problem of lodging is usually more related to potassium levels in prairie soils than copper. “I believe producers should test the hypothesis for themselves by conducting strip trials on their fields. If there is a real deficiency, it should show up in the results at harvest time,” says Brook.

Copper and ergot Ergot is a disease that often seems to be present when there is significant lodging in cereal crops. Some experts believe that the correlation between the two relates to copper. “If you have poor lignifications and poor pollination (because of copper deficiency), the plant is predisposed to fall over, even though there isn’t

much weight in the heads,” says Elston Solberg, president of AgriTrend Agrology Ltd., who has conducted extensive research into the role of copper in plant development. “The heads are predisposed to stay open for a longer period of time because, even though they are close-pollinated, if they have none of their own pollen, they will keep their heads open for a longer period of time in the hopes of getting pollen from a nearby plant, and that’s when the ergot infection gets in.” Although Brook acknowledges that copper can sometimes play a role in ergot infection, he believes that weather is more often the biggest contributor to the problem. “Wheat is most susceptible

to ergot because it has a period of time when the flowers are mostly open to the outside atmosphere as the head emerges,” he says. “If you get a period where it gets cool and it slows down the development of the wheat, you have the wheat flowers exposed for a longer period of time to any windblown spores or fungus. So (ergot infection) is mostly weather related.” The important message is that copper deficiency should be correctly diagnosed before copper fertilizer is applied.

Detecting copper deficiency Some of the main indicators of

copper deficiencies in cereal crops are light green leaves and dry leaf tips, with slow and stunted growth. Another symptom that has been observed in copper deficient cereal crops is bending of the stems or heads, which may break 15 to 30 cm below the head. “The best way for a farmer to know for sure if he has a copper deficiency is to have soil and tissue tests done,” says Aberhart. “Just having a soil test alone will not provide the same level of confidence as having both soil and in season tissue analysis.” If a farmer sees some of these symptoms or feels he is not getting the yields and crop quality he’s striving for, he should get indepth soil and tissue tests done to

determine the extent of the copper issue and develop a strategy to deal with it, he adds. A wheat crop will take up just over 0.5 grams of copper per bushel, and remove about 0.15 g/ bu. from the soil. So a 70 bushel crop will need to find 36 to 37 grams of copper and will remove about 10 grams. Barley will take up about 0.38 g/ bu. and remove about 0.34 g/bu. of copper from the soil. A barley crop will remove almost all of the copper it takes up. A 100 bushel barley crop will need to take up about 38 g/ bu. and will remove about 34 g/bu. from the soil. Oats take up almost the same amount of copper as barley but only

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Features

CORRECTING COPPER DEFICIENCY Copper can be applied within a seed treatment as a granular application, impregnated on dry fertilizer, in a liquid fertilizer blend or as a foliar treatment. Copper is not mobile in the soil or in the plant, so placement and timing of products is very important. Most cereal crops have the highest demand for copper uptake in the vegetative and seed development stage. “So that is when you will want to ensure that your crop will be able to get the copper it needs to produce top yields and quality,” says Aberhart. If only small amounts of copper are required, seed treatments and a foliar application may be sufficient and give the most economical

response. “The thing to consider with seed a treatment is that you are applying a very small amount, and that copper will be gone by the time the crop gets to the critical stage,” says Aberhart. “The same is true with a foliar treatment. You are applying a small amount of copper, but it can be very effective if applied at the right time.”

in hot conditions, especially if combined with fungicides, where there are additional surfactants. Soil-applied copper is effective, but there needs to be good root interception and uptake. If a 20 per cent granular copper product is applied at five lbs./ac., it will result in one lb./ac. (or 454 grams) of actual copper. Depending on the

Some of the main indicators of copper deficiencies in cereal crops are light green leaves and dry leaf tips, with slow and stunted growth Copper cannot be foliar applied once the head is starting to come out of the boot, as crop damage and reduced yields can occur. Foliar copper can cause some leaf burn to the plant if put on at higher rates and

crop and yield, this could provide enough copper for ten or 15 years or crops. “The issue is that you will only have about two or three granules per square foot of soil and will have very low root uptake and

interception,” says Aberhart. “This is where applying lower analysis products, impregnation of other dry fertilizers which will increase granular distribution, or adding to a liquid blend can increase your chances and efficiency of uptake with soil applied products.” There are many factors involved in copper uptake and application for crops. Farmers need to consider soil type, organic matter, copper levels throughout the soil profile (many soils may have poor copper levels at the surface but increases deeper down), pH levels, crop yield and quality, protein goals, and whether they are dealing with soil that they want to build, maintain or mine, says Aberhart.

COPPER PRODUCTS There are hundreds of copper products and application methods with various considerations including efficiency of uptake, timing, solubility of the product, and suitability for soil or foliar application.

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“Most of our growers that we work with on a copper strategy use a combination of a couple of different products and applications to best suit the needs of the crop and work with the logistics of their operation,” says Aberhart. “There are hundreds of easy, effective, and profitable ways to apply copper to you crops. There are many times we hear from growers that have tried applying copper to their crops with no response. There are two reasons for this, either the crop did not need copper, or they did not use the right product, in the proper manner or timing, as there are many ways you can apply these products and not get the value from them because of this.” Aberhart suggests that farmers work with someone that can really understand their soils and all the different copper products and methods of application in order to achieve the best results. On his own farm, Aberhart has seen better crop yields, increased standability, reduced disease and ergot issues. “Overall we see better crop quality, more consistent yield and increased grain weight and plumpness especially in barley and oat crops, as well as increased protein levels in our wheat crops,” he says. “In today’s new pricing environments crop quality and protein levels will have a large economic impact on the farms bottom line.” The debate about the role of copper and whether copper deficiencies have a role in lodging, ergot development or other crop problems could go on forever, but perhaps what’s more important in growing any crop is to think like a plant. What does it need and where is it going to get it? That involves moving away from traditional recipe farming along a continuum that leads to assessing and farming different parts of each field according to their individual requirements, says Solberg. “There’s no better example than copper,” he says. “The variability of copper is so huge sometimes that only 30 per cent of the field may be affected by the copper deficiency. That’s where you see the lodging and the predominance of the ergot and all those other issues that are associated with copper deficiency. So it’s really important to collect information and act on that information in a logical and scientific manner.” A proper crop planning system with a good soil and tissues testing program means that farmers can consistently track yields, quality, soil and plant levels every year to make sure they get the best economic benefit to their bottom line, says Aberhart. † 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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remove about 0.18 g/bu., so a 130 bushel per acre oat crop will need to take up about 47 g/bu. of copper and will remove only 23 g/bu. from the soil.

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MARCH 12, 2012

Features CROP PRODUCTION

CROP ADVISOR’S CASEBOOK

ack, a farmer from Eston, Sask., thought he had a major problem on his farm at the end of June 2011. “My lentil field is dying off and I don’t know if it’s anthracnose, root rot, or what,” he said. “This is a critical time for my lentils, and whatever is happening in my field is going to affect my final yield!” He told me that off-colour patches of plants had developed over the past week. In Jack’s lentil field, I could see scattered patches of browncoloured plants. It appeared as though the plants were prematurely dying. Up close, I could see spots ranging from cream to tan in colour spread across the leaves. The spots were evidently then infecting the whole leaflet, as well as the rest of the plant. Even the pods were turning light brown. The occurrence of the patches was heavier toward the edge of the field Jack shared with his neighbour. “I know my neighbour had disease pressure last year. I’m not sure what the problem was,” Jack said. As the result of premature plant death, plant density was lower within the patches when compared with the surrounding areas. As I peered through the canopy I could see a mouldlike fuzzy growth on some of

the leaflets and lower stems of the plants. Jack was dealing with a fungal infestation of some kind — root rot, anthracnose, ascochyta blight, fusarium wilt, stemphylium blight. The list of potential candidates was long. Some we could eliminate easily. For example, the plants were at an advanced stage with the canopy closing in, so root rot probably wasn’t the problem. The brown lesions on the lower leaflets and the blackening of the stem characteristic of anthracnose infection were also absent. The pods of stempyhlium blight-infected plants do not turn brown, and there were no tan lesions on the lower leaflets of the plants in Jack’s field, eliminating this disease from the list. I dug up some of the plants and examined their roots. If fusarium wilt had infected this field, I would have expected to find reddish to brown discolouration of the roots, but they looked completely healthy and normal. The small black pycnidia (asexual fruiting bodies) and spot-like lesions on leaves, stems, and pods characteristic of ascochyta blight infection were also not present on the plants in Jack’s lentil field. There are only two fungal diseases of importance in Saskatchewan

CROP ADVISOR’S SOLUTION

hen soil tests indicated a sulphur deficiency in two of his fields, John thought he was doing the right thing by increasing the amount of seed-placed fertilizer blend he applied. But instead of correcting the deficiency, he had unknowingly created another serious issue. John now had a problem with seedling emergence in those two fields. Meanwhile, the other 1,200 acres of canola he’d planted were doing fine, he told me. I visited John’s 3,000 acre farm, located northwest of Saskatoon, during the first week of June. John produces wheat, canola and peas. The first canola fields he showed me were completely healthy and developing normally. The other two fields had

noticeably poor crop stands. The plant populations were much sparser in these fields than in his other healthy fields, with only six plants per square foot. The plant density increased in low-lying areas, and it seemed thinner on the slopes and tops of hills. The plants had been seeded into sandy loam with low soil moisture content. It had not rained in the three weeks since the crop had been sown. John had applied a seed-placed fertilizer blend at planting. He’d increased the rate of fertilizer blend on these two fields to compensate for the sulphur deficiency. What John didn’t realize was at the increased rate the fertilizer had caused ammonia toxicity and salt damage to the seed! High application rates of fer-

OFF-COLOUR LENTILS NOT SO FUNNY

Joel Finlay that produce mould growth on the plant. White fluffy mould can be found on plants infected with the pathogen responsible for sclerotinia white mould, and the roots of these plants are often infected and rotting. However, the roots of Jack’s plants were healthy, eliminating this disease as the possible cause of damage to his lentil crop. There was now only one pathogen left to consider. “I know what’s growing in your field, and I think your neighbour can confirm my diagnosis,” I said. What disease has infected Jack’s lentil field? Send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, MB, R3C 3K7; email leeann. minogue@fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop

There was a mould-like fuzzy growth on some of the leaflets and lower stems of the plants. Advisor’s Casebook. Best suggestions will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a Grainews cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The

reasoning which solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File. † Joel Finlay is a sales agronomist at Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Swift Current, Sask.

SO MANY VARIABLES, SO LITTLE TIME tilizer in the seed row can result in ammonia toxicity (which is caused by most nitrogen fertilizers), salt damage from the dissolving fertilizer, and the absorption of moisture by the fertilizer, causing the seeds to dry out. Not only had the increased fertilizer rate caused damage, but the conditions present in John’s fields had combined to create the ultimate environment for seedling injury. The soil moisture content at seeding, the lack of precipitation, the type of crop, soil texture and seeding tool settings — all of these factors affect the tolerance of seed to seed-placed fertilizer. For example, the higher the soil moisture content at seeding, the more tolerant the seed is to seed-placed fertilizer. Precipitation after seeding will help reduce damage caused by

fertilizer injury. In John’s case, a timely rain may have diluted the fertilizer salts and free ammonia — produced from the urea — and the problem may have been avoided. The type of soil texture can also increase the risk of salt and ammonia toxicity. Crops seeded into coarse soils such as sandy loam will be more affected by fertilizer toxicity than those seeded into fine-textured soils such as clays. Crops also vary in their sensitivities to seed-placed fertilizer; for example, canola, as an oilseed, is one of the least tolerant crops, whereas cereal crops such as oats, wheat and barley are more tolerant than oilseeds. It is important to understand the many variables involved when applying fertilizer in the seed row, and to make adjustments accord-

ingly. With the 2012 crop year just ahead, I made some recommendations to John to reduce his risk of seed injury, such as lowering the amount of seed-placed fertilizer when seeding into coarse soils, and using products with a lower salt index. It is also essential to understand the rate of application and capabilities of the seeding tool — John could have used a wider opener. Being knowledgeable and aware of the seed bed utilization of the seeding tool, soil type and conditions at time of seeding also reduce the chances of crop injury. An awareness of these many factors will increase your success when using seed-placed fertilizer. † Dale Zimmer is an area marketing representative at Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Saskatoon, Sask.

We stand behind our products – and our customers. See our full line of fully backed, value-driven herbicides at www.nufarm.ca Leaders in off-patent solutions.

MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Features PESTS

Controlling gophers When gopher populations get out of control, forage production will suffer. Learn how to re-establish the balance of predator-prey BY KEVIN ELMY

ichardson Ground Squirrels, or gophers, are one of the major problems in forage stands. Not only do they rip up the soil, leaving mounds and holes to deal with, they also attract predators that leave larger holes and mounds when they start digging. In 2007 in the southwest part of Saskatchewan, there were farmers who lost 50 to 70 acres worth of hay, pasture, or crop production to gopher consumption. Once established in a good productive area, the gopher population will explode without proper predation control.

summer they were full of fleas. Because they were domesticated, they would approach the owners — actually climbing up into Dr. Salmon’s father’s pockets to be transported home. Ferrets proved to be an effective biological control of the gophers. They are also very effective at rat control in bale yards, silage piles, and elevators to name a few places.

BIRDS AS PREDATORS Another effective strategy is setting up a raptor or owl perch in areas of gopher activity. The perch can be made of anything that the birds can land on like

oilstem pipe, fence posts, round bales, or planting trees. With these strategic observation posts,

weasels, and the predatory birds. Having shrubs and tall grass around the gopher colonies will

Once established in a good productive area, the gopher population will explode without proper predation control the birds are able to land and look for targets. Leaving ungrazed ground also creates habitat for ground predators like fox, coyote, skunks,

allow predators the ability to sneak up on the gophers and effectively hunt them. Gophers work as a group to warn of potential predators, so creating cover

will give the predators a chance to get closer. Managing and promoting predators like ferrets, weasels, and birds of prey around gopher, or Richardson Ground Squirrel, colonies will help to naturally balance the rodent population. When gopher populations are controlled, other digging predators like badgers and coyotes will have less to dig after. Once the balance of predator-prey is reestablished, forage production will improve. † Kevin Elmy operates Friendly Acres Seed Farm, along with his wife, Christina, and parents, Robert and Verene, near Saltcoats, Sask. Contact him at 306-744-2779 or visit www.friendlyacres.sk.ca

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

FERRETS AS PREDATORS One of the animals that has all but disappeared is the black footed ferret. Ninety per cent of their diet is made up of ground rodents. Since they are very endangered, using domestic ferrets to control gophers may be an accessible option. Dr. Don Salmon says when he was growing up on his family farm, they regularly used ferrets in their pastures to control gophers. Take the ferrets out in the spring, and provide them additional shelter, like a small dog house. You may have to supply them with supplemental food, like dog food. The only negative that Dr. Salmon mentioned was the fact when they picked up the ferrets in late

Blackleg becoming a big concern in canola.

Blackleg is common in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and has been consistently found in over half the canola fields in provincial disease surveys. What is surprising is that Blackleg is an increasing concern despite the fact that R-rated varieties are being seeded. There are a variety of tools recommended for reducing Blackleg’s impact on yield. While it’s always best to rotate canola one in four years, growers should also rotate R-rated varieties and be vigilant about scouting for the disease. Rotation combined with the use of a fungicide can also be an excellent strategy against Blackleg. The decision is up to the grower as to whether the return on investment demands the additional protection delivered by a fungicide, but increasingly it is becoming a more important tool to consider. Untreated

Treated

and stems early on at the 4-leaf stage, then subsequently as stem cankers in the mature plant. There is no cure once Blackleg appears and so a preventative fungicide treatment is strongly recommended. One effective option for control of Blackleg is HEADLINE® fungicide from BASF. What differentiates HEADLINE from other fungicides are the additional benefits BASF calls AgCelence™. AgCelence is unique to HEADLINE and has been observed by growers to increase yield with or without the presence of disease. Over the past three years, grower trials have also shown that the greater the yield potential of a canola crop, the greater that yield increased with an application of HEADLINE. Growers also report seeing greener, larger leaves, taller plants with more pods and stronger stems that help improve harvestability. Yield increase vs. yield potential with HEADLINE

Yield increase vs yield potential with HEADLINE 6 Yield increase over Untreated (bu/ac)

The importance of canola to Canadian growers is easily seen in the numbers. The Canola Council of Canada reports over 18 million total acres harvested in 2011, an increase of over 42% in five years. With increasing acres due mostly to tighter rotations, Blackleg has again become a concern. And it’s a concern that is growing. Shortened rotations put more pressure on resistant (R-rated) canola varieties, currently the primary defense against the disease in Western Canada. If genetic resistance breaks down, Blackleg will become a problem for growers looking to maximize their canola production.

Source: AgSolutions Performance Trials, Raymore, SK 2011

To adequately control gophers, you must understand your enemy. When they wake from hibernation, they spend the first 28 days raising their young. They only mate once a year, raising five to 10 young. Their tunnel system will have five to seven exits. If one gopher dies, another will take the burrow over. The average gopher will live to four years, males less. Gophers are omnivores, meaning they eat vegetation, insects and road killed gophers. They eat their dead to decrease the attention of predators. They prefer to live in forage stands or other areas of minimal disturbance. To control gophers, the key is keeping them under control and maintaining a good predator balance. Under low predator populations and dry conditions, gopher numbers rise quickly. In areas of higher rainfall gophers will drown in their burrows and suffer from increased disease — numbers will go down. One of the things we forget in the time of technology is how people controlled problems back in the turn of last century. For example, under grazing, which leaves taller forage, promoting existence of predators like weasels and garter snakes, and deep ripping. Deep ripping is effective at destroying gopher burrows, but it opens a new can of worms with soil erosion, brings rocks to the surface, and brings up fresh calcium and magnesium to the soil which will decrease phosphate, potassium, and zinc availability.

5.3 5 4.1

4 3.3 3

3.6

2 1

All Yields n=70

> 40 bu n=50

>45 bu n=33

> 50 bu n=23

When HEADLINE is added with any canola system* herbicide at the 2-6 leaf stage, the greater the yield potential, the greater the crop response and yield increase.

> 55 bu n=11

Source: Grower yield data, HEADLINE at herbicide timing, 2009 to 2011, n=70

Untreated canola can suffer yield loss if Blackleg is present.

A preventative application of HEADLINE fungicide can help preserve yield.

Blackleg is a fungal disease in canola caused by the pathogen, Leptosphaeria maculans. Symptoms appear as greyish white lesions with black spots (pycnidia, which contain spores) on leaves

With tighter canola rotations and the growing presence of Blackleg increasing the pressure on current R-rated canola varieties, a preventative fungicide application is due to become more common. For canola growers looking to control the disease and increase yields, HEADLINE fungicide is a highly effective tool to help get a leg up in the battle against Blackleg. To find out more about HEADLINE, visit agsolutions.ca/HEADLINE or call AgSolutions® Customer Care at 1-877-371-BASF (2273).

* Canola production systems include Clearfield® canola, InVigor® canola or Roundup Ready® canola.

Always read and follow label directions. AgSolutions, and HEADLINE are registered trade-marks of BASF Corporation; AgCelence is a trade-mark of BASF SE; Clearfield is a registered trade-mark of BASF Agrochemical Products B.V., all used with permission by BASF Canada Inc. HEADLINE should be used in a preventative disease control program. All other trade-marks are properties of their respective owners. © 2012 BASF Canada Inc. 110200496_GrainNews_Headline_Advtrl_v3.indd 1

12-02-23 5:36 PM

/ grainews.ca

MARCH 12, 2012

Features DIVERSIFICATION

Hemp? Is that even legal? It’s been legal to grow hemp for industrial purposes since 1998. While it’s still a something of a novelty, industrial hemp is grown across the Prairies and Ontario

emp is an interesting crop to be involved in,” says Kent Oatway, a farmer on the north-west edge of Winnipeg, Manitoba. “It’s something new and challenging.” Industrial hemp, Cannabis Sativa, is one of the oldest cultivated plants in history. Most people are aware of other uses of this plant as a recreational drug, but hemp is produced from a type of Cannabis Sativa specifically bred to yield long fibres. Hemp was used for thousands of years for rope, canvas, paper, and clothing until other textiles were discovered. In 1998 hemp was legalized in Canada, and commercial cultivation became much easier and straightforward. A license is required from Health Canada and farmers must complete annual criminal checks. Despite some necessary paperwork, industrial hemp can still be an attractive option for farmers to consider as part of their rotations. “Licensing is straight-forward, but it is just more paperwork that has to be completed,” said Oatway. He also said that depending on the variety you choose to grow, you may have to submit the results of a THC test to Health Canada. THC is tetrahydrocannabinol, the ingredient which gives people a “high” when they smoke cannabis or “weed.” Most cultivated industrial varieties of hemp have less than 0.3 per cent THC and have no physical or physiological effects.

your

“

the machine,” explains Oatway. The main consideration in growing industrial hemp is the need to have a dryer. Industrial hemp is harvested at about 20 per cent moisture content for ease of handling, and the seed needs to be dried down to nine per cent for storage. “This is more work, of course, and more expense, but we have our own dryer,” says Oatway. “You have to balance that against the higher seed costs but almost zero chemical costs.” The seed itself resembles a very small nut, not unlike a small, round buckwheat seed.

ElEvatE

BY ANDREA HILDERMAN

CONTRACTING “I would certainly advise farmers not to grow industrial hemp unless they have a contract,” says Tom Greaves of Manitoba Harvest. Manitoba Harvest is the largest, vertically integrated hemp food manufacturer in Canada. (Find more information at www.manitobaharvest.com.) Hemp Oil Canada (www.helpoilcan.com) is another marketing option for farmers. Hemp is used to make a range of healthy foods including oils, butters, milks and protein powders. It is gaining

a reputation as a new, innovative healthy ingredient very quickly. Dale Risula is the Saskatchewan provincial specialist for special crops and according to him hemp acres are declining in the province. “I think it’s mostly due to the regulations farmers have to adhere to,

but also, hemp like many special crops is susceptible to declining acres when the economics of crops like durum and canola look good. Those crops are an easy, attractive option for farmers and the special crops take a bit of a hit.” † Andrea Hilderman writes from Winnipeg, Man.

perform

AGRONOMICS Industrial hemp is grown across the Prairies and into Ontario. It’s seeded mid-May to early June and is very frost resistant. It requires about 110 days to maturity. The seeding rate is 25 to 30 pounds per acre, at a depth of one half to one inch. No special seeding equipment is required. The key to getting hemp off to a good start is to seed into a clean field that is pre-tilled or sprayed, and into a firm and uniform seedbed. “This is the key management issue,” says Oatway. “We seed our hemp on our cleanest, highest and best-drained land. Hemp does not like wet feet.” Once emerged, industrial hemp is a very competitive crop as it creates a thick canopy that chokes out weeds. This is a very important characteristic considering there are no herbicides registered for use on industrial hemp. “Give this crop heat, and you’ll see it jump out of the ground really fast,” says Oatway. The plant will reach five or six feet in height, but lodging is not an issue. Industrial hemp is usually straight combined using a draper header. In the past, it was difficult to thresh, but with new shorter varieties and better combine technologies, that is no longer such an issue. “The biggest challenge harvesting hemp is because of the long, very strong fibers, it wraps itself inside

Once emerged, industrial hemp is a very competitive crop as it creates a thick canopy that chokes out weeds.

™Trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC ®All other products are registered trademarks of their respective companies. 01/12-17671-02C

17671-02C DAS_CHP 17.125X10_FBC.indd 1

MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Features SPRAYING

8 tips to reduce spray drift Spray drift can be a farmers’ worst nightmare. While there are lots of things you can do in the field, some of these will require some pre-season planning BY ANGELA LOVELL

hese tips are adapted from information provided by Thomas Wolf, Research Scientist at AAFC, Saskatoon.

1. CHECK CONDITIONS Use an anemometer and compass to check wind speeds and direction. Spraying is best done when there is some wind and the operator can be sure that wind direction has stabilized. Low-drift nozzles allow for spraying in faster wind speeds. Avoid night spraying under conditions of tempera-

ture inversion when air near the ground is cooler than the air above it, causing poor spray dispersal. Temperature and relative humidity (RH) affect how quickly spray droplets evaporate. Droplets evaporate more quickly at higher temperatures and lower RH, making them more prone to drift.

2. USE COARSE SPRAY Coarse sprays are less prone to drift than fine sprays. Choose herbicides that are known to perform well when applied with coarser sprays, such as Group 2, 4 and 9, when drift is more likely to occur. Use finer sprays and be more care-

ful near sensitive areas when using Groups 1, 10, 14 and 27.

3. USE LOW DRIFT NOZZLES Conventional fan nozzles or hollow cone nozzles are usually too drift prone and don’t provide an efficacy advantage. A larger nozzle opening will produce a coarser spray. Narrower fan angles generally produce larger droplets. Manufacturer tables show spray quality for nozzles at a range of pressures.

4. USE HIGH CARRIER VOLUMES Most herbicides work well between 50 and 200 litres per hec-

mance.

tare. Use of higher carrier volumes is a very effective way of reducing drift, for two reasons. First, if travel speed is maintained, a larger nozzle is used to apply the higher volumes. This results in a coarser, less drift-prone spray. Second, the spray solution is more dilute at the higher volume. Drift will contain less active ingredient, and have less potential to cause damage.

5. ADJUST TRAVEL SPEED AND BOOM HEIGHT The relationship between travel speed and boom height is very important. Generally a lower travel speed and lower boom height

significantly reduces the potential for spray drift. Faster travel speeds cause increased air shear on the spray sheet which increases its breakup and produces a finer spray which is more prone to drift. Spray stays aloft longer at faster speeds because it is swept back due to wind resistance. Higher boom heights are usually required at higher travel speeds due to uneven terrain. Orienting the spray forward or backward can allow boom height to be reduced as long as the nozzle to target distance is maintained at the minimum recommended for the direction it is pointing. For low drift sprays, boom height should ensure 100 per cent overlap.

6. USE SHROUDS Shrouds can reduce drift by up to 75 per cent in some cases, although not all booms can accommodate them. Cone shrouds are an alternative which have also been shown to reduce drift by up to 50 per cent, and allow more ground clearance for suspended booms. They won’t contaminate susceptible crops with spray residue on the shielding material. Shrouds become less effective at higher boom heights and faster travel speeds.

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Air assist uses an air stream to increase the speed that the spray is carried down toward the target. This should reduce the time it hangs in the air, exposed to wind. The direction and velocity of the airblast must be matched with atmospheric and crop canopy conditions. Too strong an airblast into a small crop canopy, like seedling wheat, and the spray can bounce off the ground and return up into the airstream, increasing drift. Air assist must be adjustable to be useful and requires an experienced operator.

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8. KNOW YOUR PRODUCT AND WHAT’S DOWNWIND

the highest cereal crop yields possible. Plus real-time planning

Know the active ingredient and the likely impact of spray drift on anything downwind. Sulfonylurea herbicides, phenoxies and glyphosate are very potent and can damage susceptible plants at very small doses. Most other herbicides are less active and may have less effect on plants. Many insecticides and fungicides, however, are very harmful to aquatic or avian species and drift or run-off into water must be avoided. Always make sure the wind is blowing away from sensitive areas. Buffer zones should be used to reduce the impact of spray. Buffer zones are the downwind distance from the edge of the spray swath to the upwind side of a sensitive area. Product labels list recommended buffer zones from sensitive ecological areas. Keep people around you informed if you intend to spray, and take care when spraying near to yard sites and gardens. †

and advice. Investment in research and development. Innovations in formulations and packaging. Cereal Herbicide Performance. We set the standard with twelve highperformance products for grass and broadleaf weed control in western Canada. Contact our Solutions Center at 1.800.667.3852 or visit www.dowagro.ca today.

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Angela Lovell Angela Lovell is a freelance writer in Manitoba. Find her online at www. angelalovell.ca.

2/21/12 1:51 PM

/ grainews.ca

MARCH 12, 2012

Features FARM FINANCES

Know your costs To increase profits, you need to know your costs inside and out — both fixed and variable costs — on a per bushel basis BY KEVIN ELMY

usiness owners need to know where they make their money. Determining where the profit centers are means knowing revenue and expenses, plus those overhead expenses that must be paid whether production occurs or not. Most farmers talk about costs per acre, revenue per acre, and maybe margin per acre. But to see where your risk and margin occurs, take a look at your unit

cost and unit margin — your cost and profit per bushel. In the past, people talked about reducing costs per bushel by producing more bushels. It makes sense, as producing more with less accumulated cost is more efficient. It can be even better if you produce the same amount with fewer inputs due to lower risk. Then you throw in a bad year like 2010 or 2011, and it makes the numbers scary. Per-acre revenue and costs are easy to budget with, measure, and

compare with other producers. But cost and revenue per unit (bushel) shows your efficiency. You can calculate this measure either after harvest or by using budgeted yield estimates. Take the costs and revenues per acre, then divide by the yield. Another good thing to calculate is your overhead cost. What would your farm cost if you did not put in a crop or spend money on inputs? This includes payments on land, equipment, labour, taxes and living expenses — first broken down

per acre and then by bushel. This shows you what your actual costs look like based on actual yields. Because prices are reported to us in dollars per bushel, we need to know our costs per bushel.

USING THE NUMBERS Once we know our fixed and variable costs, we can pull the trigger on prices that will make us money. Making margin on variable cost is nice, but are we actually making enough money to pay for the power and equipment and put food on the table? These measures also allow us to look at the bigger picture. If it’s difficult to pencil in a profit for a crop, why are we growing it? If it is just a rotational crop, is there a better replacement? One of the things I’ve learned is, just because someone else isn’t growing something, doesn’t mean I can’t. Or if someone tried it and

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didn’t work for them, it may for me. Small-acre experiments or learning from someone who’s successfully growing a crop may open up new opportunities to make money. There are two ways to decrease costs per bushel. The first is to reduce costs per acre while getting the same yield. This might mean no longer putting extra inputs into the ground that are unmerited (like over-fertilization), getting rid of a payment, or reducing inputs with low rates of return. The other option is to increase bushels per acre. Once again, there are two ways of doing this. Use the same dollars per acre, just reallocate them into different management zones, or increase inputs and have the return higher than the additional costs. Either way, there is a change in management. With a change in management, one expects a change in results. Doing things differently should give different results. As they say, insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. In agriculture, doing the same thing will be influenced by weather, which can give different results. To make the most of management opportunities, one needs to know the risk-reward and cost-benefit scenarios. Adding extra nitrogen during a drought is probably a high-risk, low-reward management decision. Keeping budgets in line while bumping up yields looks great on paper, but it’s challenging to do. It takes discipline and time to make sure each field gets an optimal fertilizer blend, go to a longer rotation, or to set longer-term goals to ensure long-term sustainability. It also means getting things done at the right time to get the maximum dollar benefit.

To hit the jackpot, you need to decrease inputs and increase yields. This may be due to rotational benefits, improved timing through equipment, technology or labour changes, or a change in weather patterns. On our farm, we changed our rotation to increase our pulse acres, changed our canola system to LibertyLink and changed our cereal from winter wheat to winter triticale. Alfalfa and sainfoin is included on some of the acres, along with corn that is grazed. The next move is to include cover crop blends into all of the acres to cycle nutrients through the profile, potentially gain some grazing opportunities and create more biodiversity on our farm. Just changing our winter cereal from winter wheat to winter triticale cut our costs by $40 per acre while keeping our revenue similar, down about $10 per acre. Net gain. Actual numbers will vary from farm to farm and will depend on what stage you’re at in your farming career. Knowing your break-even and, better yet, knowing where you’re making money, makes negotiating finances easier. On every farm there are money sources and money pits. With good growing conditions, higher management will result in higher yields and lower costs per bushel of grain produced. † Kevin Elmy operates Friendly Acres Seed Farm, along with his wife, Christina, and parents, Robert and Verene, near Saltcoats, Sask. Contact him at 306-744-2779 or visit www.friendlyacres.sk.ca

23/02/2012 8:14:57 AM

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MARCH 12, 2012

Features Seed Varieties

Midge tolerant wheat yields well A new AAFC study shows that, as well as decreasing midge damage, midge tolerant wheat yields as well as the varieties we’ve already been growing By Leeann Minogue

learly, Prairie farmers have been looking for a solution to control orange wheat blossom midge. Even though midge-tolerant blends have only been commercially available since the spring of 2010, the Canadian Wheat Board’s 2011 Variety Survey found that two of the new varieties are already very popular. Seven per cent of the spring wheat seeded by Prairie farmers last spring was Unity VB, and another three per cent of the spring wheat seeded was Goodeve VB. Farmers have directly contributed to the development of these new cultivars through the wheat check-off managed by the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), and these new blends have shown themselves to be popular. Now, there is documented research to prove their worth.

AAFC Study

photo: ian wise, cereal research centre (crc), winnipeg

Adult wheat midge.

High Midge pressure

resistant are not completely immune to the midge. There is some damage, but much less.” Vera and other researchers involved in this study are still evaluating the seed and data gathered over the time period — more results in areas of seed quality and the varietal blend will be published in the future.

Study Results The table shows average yield results for areas with high and low midge pressure during the four-year study period. The varieties including “VB” are the new, midge tolerant varieties, sold as “Varietal Blends.” Each year, each of the eight areas was classified according to the local wheat midge experience as shown in the table.

The Sm1 Gene Midge resistance was first noticed in soft red winter wheat from south eastern USA. The gene, Sm1, that was causing wheat to resist midge was moved into spring wheat using traditional plant breeding techniques. When wheat midge larvae feed on wheat containing the Sm1 gene, the gene causes the level of the naturally occurring phenolic acids in the wheat kernels to elevate more rapidly than in midge susceptible wheat. The elevated acids cause the larvae to stop eating and starve to death. By the time the wheat reaches maturity, these acids have gone

» continued on next page

Midge Classifications, based on local experience

Study Results: Yield and Days to Maturity (DTM)

Cecil Vera, researcher at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Melfort Research Farm, was one in a group of AAFC researchers involved in the study titled “Relative performance of four midge-resistant wheat varietal blends in Western Canada.” The researchers planted four varietal blends of midge-resistant wheat and four varieties of traditional wheat at eight Prairie locations during four consecutive growing seasons, 2007 to 2010. The study

was managed by a number of people; Vera was in charge of preparing and distributing the seed and gathering data. “These varietal blends are doing quite well compared to others. For example, Unity VB, in the northern part of Saskatchewan, yields are 20 per cent higher than AC Barrie. Shaw VB is also listed as 120 per cent of AC Barrie. The other varietal blend of interest to farmers has been Goodeve VB. That one is listed as 11 per cent higher-yielding than AC Barrie.” In general, the AAFC study found that the midge-resistant wheat blends, as a group, produced higher yields than the typical varieties. In areas and years where there was little or no trouble with midge, the varietal blends still yielded higher than regular varieties (four per cent higher). In areas the researchers classified as having “moderate” midge damage, the midge-resistant blends showed a five per cent yield advantage. But it was in the areas and years where there was a high occurrence of losses caused by wheat midge that the new blends really showed their stuff. The researchers found a 14.8 per cent yield advantage. (After comparing this with the yield advantage in areas of low risk, the researchers attribute about 11 per cent of the yield gain to the presence of the new Sm1 gene, and four per cent of the yield advantage to other gains made through plant breeding). While this is great, of course it’s not perfect. Vera says, “These varieties that are called midge

Low Midge Pressure

2007

2008

2009

2010

Brandon, MB

High

Low

High

Indian Head, SK

High

Moderate

High

Melfort, SK

High

Low

Moderate

High

bu./acre

dtm

bu./acre

dtm

Fieldstar VB

53.7

99.5

71.3

106.2

Goodeve VB

50.3

98.4

70.2

105.2

Shaw VB

58.2

100.3

75.3

106.3

Regina, SK

High

Low

High

Unity VB

56.0

100

76.3

106.4

Saskatoon, SK

High

Moderate

High

AC Intrepid

49.2

97.3

72.1

103.5

CDC Teal

47.2

99.9

71.2

105.7

Moderate

Low

Moderate

Katepwa

43.3

98.6

65.4

104.7

Lethbridge, AB

Low

High

Waskada

50.4

100.2

73.1

107.4

Lacombe, AB

High

Low

Swift Current, SK

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MARCH 12, 2012

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Features

Wheat midge larvae.

» CONTINUED FROM Previous PAGE back down to normal levels, so harvested grain is not affected. This type of biological solution to pest control, based on a single gene resistance, typically does not last long. Generally, some pests resist the new gene, those pests multiply, and the new solution no longer works. In the case of wheat midge, some midge may develop a mutation that would allow them to attack the wheat with the Sm1 gene — these midge would be known as “virulent.” The proliferation of these virulent midge would soon render the Sm1 gene useless. To prevent this, and hopefully extend the useful life of the Sm1 gene for up to 90 years, plant scientists developed the idea of the interspersed refuge system. With this strategy in place, virulent midge will most likely mate with the avirulent midge found on the refuge (susceptible) plants. The hybrid offspring of these matings would most likely be killed when they feed on Sm1 plants, slowing the evolution of virulence.

photo: ian wise, cereal research centre (crc), winnipeg

co-operative testing this summer. The new variety needs to pass the registration requirements in the next couple of years. If successful, it will be available to Western Canadian farmers after the necessary seed production steps. † Leeann Minogue is the Acting Editor of Grainews

photo: marjorie smith, cereal research centre (crc), winnipeg

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Undamaged wheat kernals as compared to kernels damaged by wheat midge.

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Midge Tolerant Durum? Midge are also a problem in durum wheat. Dr. Danny Singh, AAFC durum breeder at Swift Current says research is underway in this area with funding from AAFC, WGRF, Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) and the Alberta Crop Industry Development Fund (ACIDF). When it comes to inserting the Sm1 gene into durum varieties, Singh says, “There are lines that are currently being tested in the Western Canadian Varietal aRegistration System that have the Sm1 gene.” One of those lines will be in

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All of the new midge-tolerant varieties are sold as “varietal blends.” That is, 90 per cent of the purchased seed contains the Sm1 gene, and the other 10 per cent doesn’t. That 10 per cent provides a refuge where a normal (avirulent) midge population can survive. When you buy a varietal blend, it should be easy to find out what other variety has been blended in with the midge-tolerant variety. Farmers buying midge tolerant wheat are asked to sign a stewardship agreement, limiting the use of farmsaved seed to one generation past Certified Seed. (A full copy of this agreement can be found online at www.midgetolerantwheat.ca.) Researchers are investigating the feasibility of extending this time period.

/ grainews.ca

MARCH 12, 2012

Features TILLAGE

14 years of experience with Zero Till Garry Ropchan was experimenting with zero-till farming before many farmers had heard of it, and he has the data to prove it. Read about his research results in the first of a two-part series BY GARRY ROPCHAN

hen I started farming in 1986 I adopted my father’s techniques. Like most beginning farmers, I took a job to help pay for my farm. I became the soil conservation technician with what was then I.D. #22 Applied Research Association in Manning, Alberta. My job included looking at the potential for farmers in the Peace River region to adopt zero-till seeding. After seeing the results of zero till trials we conducted in 1990-91, I bought a zero-till drill and converted my own farm to zero till in 1992. In 2011 I celebrated my twentieth year of zero till — this outlasted my marriage! I see no reason why this will change. Because this has been a long experiment, we’ve generated a lot of information. This article covers our yield results over the 14-year period, and some of the agronomics we noticed in the first few years. In the next issue of Grainews, I’ll cover the longer-term changes measured in the soil after several years of zero till.

CONVERTING TO ZERO TILL My conversion to zero till was fairly straightforward — I looked at the results of the trials I was involved with in 1990 and 1991

PHOTOS: GARRY ROPCHAN

Otto Toerper’s plot at the time it was seeded in 1994. While Norm Dreger was custom zero till seeding Otto’s fields he also seeded the test plot area. Norm did the seeding with a Flexi-Coil 5000 drill. and saw that in each case, yields were equal or higher than with conventional till. With higher yields and less work, why not adopt this system? But other farmers I was worked with did not share my view. Why? I believe it came down to confidence and risk. After two year of trials, I accepted zero till as a viable system. Other farmers didn’t want to take the risk. I couldn’t argue — two years isn’t enough to be sure that the system worked over the long term. During my employment and

zero-till trials I got to know Otto Toerper. Toerper, along with his wife Inge, ran a mixed farm about 15 miles south-west of Spirit River, Alta. He had been participating in a conservation seeding trial since about 1988. We decided that we would study three different seeding systems: conventional till (two or more spring tillage passes), minimum till (only one spring tillage pass) and zero till (no tillage passes, weed control with 0.5 litres per acre Roundup burn-off herbicide).

The alternating yellow and green bands of the leaves of the crop grown under minimum till in 1994. There is no comparable photo from the zero till area — the plants weren’t damaged like this.

The entire plot area covered 20 acres, with each of the nine strips being a little over two acres each. I knew it would be essential to gather information like this for as long as possible. The more data I had, the stronger the case for selecting one tillage system over the others. This would make farmers more confident about making changes. First-hand experience can be a very powerful a teacher. Toerper was very generous with his time and understood the benefits of long-term plot information.

TILLAGE COMPARISONS When I first started the tillage comparisons with Toerper I really had no idea where it would lead. Most of my previous plot work with farmers lasted two or three years. Then they adopted the new management practice and the plot was stopped. But this was a rare thing. This plot has been in use since 1994. The final year I was able to use the site was in 2007. This means we have results going back over 14 years, although some years we were

This photo shows displaced soil caused by the front tires losing traction when turning on the headland of the tilled soil caused by poor trafficability. This did not happen on the zero-till area.

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Features not lucky enough to collect data. In 2003 the snow fell early and the plot could not be combined. In 2004 it rained heavily enough that I was only able to weigh one of my plots out of some 25. Long-term test data serves will strengthen our confidence, and providing that data is purpose of my work. Having a long-term project like the “Toerper Tillage Trial” is one of the reasons why I have the confidence in recommending zero till. This is not based on a few years of work, and it’s a pleasure to share the results. We’ve seeded four different crops — canola, hard red spring wheat, feed barley and field peas. We’ve seeded through years of double normal rainfall, years when there was half normal rainfall and even a year when there was frost in August. In 1994, a Flexi-Coil 5000 air drill was used to seed the plot, while from 1995 to 2007, we seeded the plot with a Haybuster 8000 zero-till drill. The minimum and conventional tillage systems reflect normal operations for the area. The zero-till system was normally sprayed with 0.5 litres per acre of Roundup. Sometimes the tillage strips were sprayed as well (like in 1995) to help control weeds like quackgrass.

DAMAGE AND HEAT BANDING In 1994, Year 1, we learned there were some immediate benefits to growing crops under a zero-till system. 1994 was a hot, dry, windy spring. I looked in a number of fields that had been tilled in the spring and I saw a remarkable sight: the newly emerging plant leaves were severely damaged. At first, I suspected insect damage, but after having to cover my face to prevent dirt blown in my eyes, the answer came to me. The leaves were damaged by particles of loose soil being propelled across the soil surface. These particles would strike the leaf surface like a sand blaster. Small pieces of leaf were getting broken off! I was so excited by this sight that I drove to Toerpers’s field. In areas that had been tilled and I saw the same thing but the seedlings emerging in the zero-till land were fine. “Ah ha!” I cried. “Standing stubble really does protect the new crop from damage!” As the crop continued to grow, I made another interesting observation. A number of the intact plant leaves had alternating bands of yellow and green. What was going on? As I crossed the field I started to notice a pattern. The leaves were only this pattern where the ground had been cultivated, but not in the zero-till area. Puzzled, I asked other extension people and was told this damage was called “heat banding.” It occurs when the maximum and minimum temperatures that a plant is exposed to vary a great deal (very cool in the morning and very hot in the afternoon) and the plants become stressed. I was stunned. Zero-till stubble was preventing the temperatures from getting too hot or too cold and protecting the plants from stress. As shown in the table, after the first year of the trial, the crop grown on the zero-till land yielded eight bushels per acre more than the crops on minimum- and conventional-tilled land. This was after the first year of the trial.

Yield bu./ac.

Lots of residue after the seeding operation on the zero-till (on the left) and nothing at all on the surface on the minimum till (on the right). The previous crop was field pea.

TRAFFICABILITY In 1996 while we were seeding the plot, I noticed another difference between the seeding systems. I have heard of some zero-till farmers who talk about their land being easier to drive on — “better trafficability” they

call it. Since time is money, we usually seed at a fairly rapid pace, up to five miles per hour. When it came to turning at the headland, the front wheels used to really dig into the soil on the minimum and conventional till strips and

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

Year

Crop

Zero till

Minimum / conventional tillage

2007

Barley

34.8

30.6

2006

Wheat

47.5

39.5

2005

Canola

25.4

23.2

2004

Rain

2003

canola

Snow

2002

barley

59.0

58.7

2001

Canola

32.5

28.6

2000

Wheat

53.0

48.1

1999

Pea

11.0

10.3

1998

Barley

72.2

58.9

1997

Canola

11.7

9.6

1996

ES Wheat

25.8

28.0

1995

Peas

33.3

27.0

1994

Barley

58.6

50.6

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MARCH 12, 2012

Features » CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26

14 years of experience with zero till would throw up a “rooster tail” of soil. This never happened on the zero-till plots. Due to this better trafficability, the turning radius of the tractor on the zero till was less, and fewer passes were needed on the headland to finish the field. The benefits occur where you least suspect them sometimes.

Crop residue By the time we were seeding in 2000, after six years, you could really start to see a nice layer of crop residue building up on the soil surface of the zero till. This difference was easiest to observe after seeding was completed. The surface of the minimum and conventional areas was barren of residue on the

A photo from late summer 1994, the first year of the plot. The wild oat pressure on the left (zero till) is clearly higher than in the minimum-till area on the right side.

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surface. While this might not seem too surprising considering that the previous crop was field pea, the zero till had a nice layer of residue to protect the soil and soon-to-be emerging crop.

Plant height The wheat that was seeded into the pea stubble in 2000 was remarkable as well. As the summer wore on, I started to notice some strange differences along the boarders between the tillage treatments. As time went on these differences became more pronounced and warranted a closer look. The most interesting point of all was that when I took crop height measurements and analyzed the data, the differences were significant. The zero-till crop both out-yielded the minimum and conventional tillage by three to six bushels per acre, and grew taller. The zero-till wheat was 39.4 centimetres; wheat in the conventional and minimum till strips were 34 and 35.2 cm. When you reached the edge of a zero-till strip, the crop just shot up in height!

Weeds and tillage While the barley crop was growing during 1994, I began to notice something discouraging. The wild oat pressure was considerably higher on the zero till compared to the minimum and conventional till areas. While this bothered me at first, I tend to look that the bottom line. The net yield of the zero till was eight bu./ac. higher than the other areas. The question was, what would be the effect of these seeding systems on weeds in the long term? I felt confident weeds such as wild oats would not be an issue for zero tillers. As time went on, I was to be proven correct. 2001 provided me with some of the strongest support on how long term zero till can result in fewer weed problems when competent management practices are carried out. After seeding the plot to Roundup Ready canola, I came back to do the in-crop herbicide application. When I drove in the field, the first thought that came to my mind was what a nice crop of wheat this was. As I got closer I noticed that the zero-till areas were not as green. I was, at first, a bit disappointed but then the truth came to me. It wasn’t seeded to wheat, it was seeded to canola! All those lush green plants were actually weeds! I could not believe what I was seeing. My first thought was that the zero-till strips might not even need to be sprayed. Since this would have made the spraying operation more difficult I sprayed the entire plot in the end. The result? The zero-till canola yielded four bu/ac higher than the other canola! This was not some little small trial seeded with some kind of off-brand name research drill. The drills used are drills that farmers can buy themselves. The environmental conditions we faced were common for our area, and this system works. It is not, after 10 years, just a case where we tried zero till for a year or two and got good results. We used good management practices, did not cut corners, and the end result? We made more money with zero till. † Garry Ropchan is research coordinator for the Central Peace Conservation Society and along with his son Aidan, operates a grain farm near Grimshaw, Alta. Contact him at cpsc@telusplanet.net

MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Columns GUARDING WEALTH

How to profit from off-farm investments Keeping your faith up and your fees down is the best way to profit from off-farm investments. Here are three rules to help you protect yourself BY ANDREW ALLENTUCK

he first rule of investing money is “don’t lose it.” In stock, bond and commodity markets in which most trading is controlled by institutions and professional investors, the little guy with $10,000 in his fist is the last to get the news, the slowest to trade on it, and the most likely to pay the highest fees. What to do? There are some selfprotection rules that can function as fortune preservers. None will make you rich, but they’ll help keep you from drowning in seas of red ink.

1. NEVER OVERPAY FOR AN ASSET It sounds simple, but this rule calls for subtle judgment about what something is worth. There are many financial formulas to determine the future value of a stock or bond. In the case of stocks or bonds that produce cash flow, the value of the asset is the sum of everything that will be paid out as stock dividends or bond interest. If a stock with a $100 price tag pays a five per cent annual dividend and you have a 20-year outlook (or time horizon), then the stock is fairly priced at $100. At $90 it’s a good deal as long as the dividend is reliable and a better deal if the company has a history of raising the dividend from time to time. At $150, the stock is a pretty lousy bet. If an investor buys a stock that falls below his purchase price for many years, he still may still be able to come out ahead just by collecting dividends. If you want to buy a stock with no dividend, then the fundamental valuation of stock price to earnings (p/e) per share comes into play. By tradition, Canadian chartered banks have p/e’s in the 12 to 15 range, growth companies in the 20 to 25 range, and stocks running on hormones in the 30+ range. Earnings are customarily next year’s estimates, a figure widely available on the Internet. There is simple numerology at work here. If a stock has a p/e below 10, that means either than there is an expectation of declining earnings (or sales), that earnings, though robust from time to time, are not dependable, or that some other trouble is thought to be ahead. Low p/e stocks may be bargains, but you need to know why the price is low. If a stock has a p/e above 30, it means, in the simplest case, that it will take 30 years to get your money back. Stocks with high p/e’s often turn into tragedies for investors. If a stock has a p/e over 50, it is a momentum stock. You may be lucky and ride the momentum for a little while. The safe thing is to stay away. If you can’t resist the temptation, keep your stake to what you are able to lose.

2. KEEP THE FAITH I like to say that the stock market is either a church or a casino. As a church, with solid stocks

with long histories of growth and rising dividends, essential and immoveable positions in the economy, experienced and predictable management, faith should pay off. Buy a stock, keep it for a few business cycles, each of which may be 36 to 48 months long, and you should do well. Keep the faith and hold the stock for 20 years and the odds of making a decent return improve. If you think the market is a casino, realize that the odds of making short term gains are worse than in Vegas. In quickie stock plays, after costs, the odds of winning are less than 50 per cent. On Bay Street and Wall Street, in

London and Frankfurt, Paris and Hong Kong, computers driven by complex mathematic models can trade price opportunities in microseconds. High speed trading is now thought to represent 80 per cent of the volume of trading in New York. Any bright idea you read in the daily press or even in an online news feed has already been exploited by these trading methods. But the machines can’t match faith for buy and hold investors. And that is the long term edge. Commodity trading does not follow these rules. There is no long term payout for gold, copper, potash or, for that matter, tallow (actually a board traded commodity).

These markets are speculative, variously linked to energy consumption for oil and gas, to prices of crops for potash, and to fear of almost anything for gold. Statistics showing relationships abound, but most of the relationships are merely inevitable. After all, there are at least 100,000 index numbers generated every day around the world and in that forest of statistical trees, a few will rise and fall together. Many index numbers are for things seldom traded or inaccessible to outsiders. Unless you are an insider in an agricultural commodity and know a thing or two about the market, you should stay out. Even then, prudence should rule.

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3. LOWER YOUR FEES The old saying that fools rush in where angels fear to tread implies that one should hire a cautious angel to manage money. Mutual funds represent themselves as such angels. The managers of funds are usually chartered financial analysts. Often they know their fields with many years of experience. In theory, everybody gets the information at the same time, but very few average investors listen to conference calls between companies and fund managers or follow statistical services. So mutual » CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

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/ grainews.ca

MARCH 12, 2012

Columns OFF-FARM INCOME

Farmland price pressure Some say farmland prices may be heading into bubble territory. Whether or not they’re right, consider your land purchases carefully ANDY SIRSKI

s farmland prices ratchet up, many are asking me if we’re in bubble territory. Bubble territory means one of these days some little poke will pop the balloon and the price of farmland will drop like a rock. If you’ve ever popped a balloon, first you see the balloon flying around aimlessly, which I could translate into volatility. However, in my 41-year career in this agriculture industry, I don’t think I’ve seen the sort of volatility we see with a popped balloon. I have statistics going back to the 1930’s. When the price of farmland stopped rising, setbacks resembled more of a gentle slide than a popped balloon. Plus, we have to remember that both high and low prices for farmland happen to a fairly small amount of land. And generally, the long term trend for farmland prices has been up. The price of farmland often is

based on several factors both long and short term: current rates of interest and long term outlook; genetic potential of crops (often overlooked); local demand due to expansion or new regulations (as in manure management); and lately, outside money.

THREE BOTTOMS I have seen three bottoms in the price of farmland in Western Canada. In your area cycles might have been different, but I think my observations will be close. The first bottom I recall was around 1970. The Prairies were soaked for three years in a row from 1968 to 1970 and the price of grain was very low to boot. The price of farmland in the Red River Valley dropped from around $200 an acre to $50. Most of the low prices were due to forced sales. Around 1982, when interest rates were high, the price of farmland again dropped, but I don’t recall it being as dramatic. Lenders had learned to rent their land to the next farmer so even if there was a forced sale, a lot of that land didn’t get sold at that time. RBC Dominion Securities Inc.

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Another forced sale period was around 1991. Again the price of grain was low, and after 1988 most subsidies to the grain industry in Canada had dried up. Interest rates were around 12 to 14 per cent at the time, which likely helped to push down the price of farmland. Since then, through years of good poor crops, good poor prices, if we study the price of farmland we will see that prices have gone up year after year regardless of commodity prices and crop conditions. I think it’s fair to say that, over the years, the price of farmland has always been on the expensive side. Farmers have subsidized land purchases with existing land or off-farm income. This winter I’ve heard that the price of farmland in the Red River Valley has moved up to $3,000 and more per acre. West of there in the high-value crop areas, I’ve heard $7,000 per acre and more. In Saskatchewan, I hear farmland is up 20 to 30 per cent compared to a couple of years ago. Any farmer in a forced sale situation can put land up for auction and expect top dollar. It really seems to be a seller’s market.

BUYERS AND SELLERS There are two sides to every deal: buyers and sellers. Who are the sellers? There are some forced sales, but there certainly does not seem to be a glut of farmland for sale. Some older farmers are selling out. After all, especially if the capital gain falls within the limits of the tax free capital gain exemption, many older sellers can leave with a million bucks. With a little planning and some income splitting smaller farmers can sell out and pay very little tax on that money. Generally there are more buyers than sellers. Some of these buyers are farmers who need to grow their farms to a critical size. Others are buying farmland to rent and operate it, or rent it out to farm operators. This list includes a division of Manulife of Canada, private individuals, a silver guru, a TV panelist and others. I also hear from farmers that money from Africa, China and oil money is buying farmland in Western Canada. I think it’s safe to say that at least some of the new owners

feel the land will be with them for many years. So it could be out of circulation forever, or certainly for many years. Some land is leaving farming for housing and highways — that is a permanent irreversible reduction in the supply. Long-time contributors to Grainews like me and Les Henry might feel that this land will come up for sale as soon as the price of wheat drops to $3 a bushel again. That is certainly possible, but not probable for some time, likely years. However, my sense is that the price of crops used to have a fairly low ceiling. Now that price could well be the bottom. Big difference. In my opinion, the supply of farmland for sale is going to shrink while the buyers might be persistent. Low interest rates help to boost the price of farmland, just like low rates helped to boost the price of homes into bubble territory. (I don’t think we can use the same thinking with farmland as for housing. Farmland usually brings in income and usually buyers already have other land. That is different than a speculator buying three homes at high prices. Interest rates are at 30-year lows, perhaps held down artificially, and likely will revert back to the mean (higher rates) but I think affordable low interest rates are here for years to come. Add in volatile stock markets and low returns from mutual funds and we have a recipe for continuing rising prices for farmland. We also are heading into a bullish time for the beef industry and 400 to 500 cow herds need lots of pasture and feed. Finally, I see the genetic potential rising in crops, which is raising income from crops and helping to push up and keep up the price of farmland.

BUBBLE OR NOT? I’m not convinced farmland is in a bubble. But when the taxi cab driver and shoe shine boy in down town Calgary or Edmonton tells you he’s buying farmland, we will be close or even there. How can you protect yourself? One way is not to hand over titles to all your existing farmland when you borrow for the next piece of land. That way if

you have to sell one parcel of land to hold onto the rest you can do that. Second, do the numbers. Purchasing land when the numbers are “iffy” gets some buyers into trouble. Optimistic buyers say to themselves that they can “make this work.” Some will, and some won’t. Another way might be to buy land with a vendor-back mortgage. A lot of land is sold this way in the U.S., but it’s not common in Canada. If you buy with a vendor-back mortgage normally you don’t tie up or implicate existing farmland. And the seller can spread out his or her capital gain, which might be a benefit. Canadian sellers want their money lump sum. But owning a good mortgage with the option of getting the farm back (in good or bad shape) can be a benefit. I tell my young farmer friends to have three to five years of payments squirreled away in case cash flow from farming drops or the cost of money goes up. That money could be in cash, solid investments or in inventory that can be sold at a good price. Most mortgages let you lock in rates for five to seven years. This might be the time to lock in these low rates. Another idea might be to sell some distant land when you buy land closer to home. And finally, if buying the next piece of farmland puts your farm on an economic banana peel, then it’s time to say no. These days new money seems to be ready to pay whatever the price so the farmland might be out of the market for years. But does it make sense to jeopardize your farm just to own more land? There are other ways to make money besides farming farmland. Young educated farmers can earn good money off the farm. Our strategy of learning how to sell covered calls on good stocks can bring in good cash flow taxed at preferential rates. It’s not as easy to leverage stocks as farmland, but stocks offer reversible decisions. This strategy does take some knowledge and some time. But so will dealing with a bubble in farmland if you get caught in one. † Andy Sirski publishes a newsletter called StocksTalk where he tells what he does with his investments, win or lose. If you want to read it free for a month go to Google and type in StocksTalk.net or email sirski@mts.netand Andy will sign you up

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MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Columns SOILS AND CROPS

The concept of precision agriculture In the first of a three-column series on precision agriculture, Les Henry discusses topography and variable rate research LES HENRY

his is the first in a series of three articles on precision agriculture. Precision agriculture has been with us now for almost 20 years. There is a journal (Precision Agriculture) devoted to just that topic that is now in Volume 12, and there have been at least that many world conferences on the subject. I am a firm believer that farming individual soils rather than the whole landscape is the way to go. Some of my very first research was about soil fertility differences within a single field. Much work was done on “Farming within a field” in the 1960s and 70s but it was pie in the sky as there was no technology to make it happen. At the University of Saskatchewan there was work done on variable rate nitrogen in the 80s and early 90s. But this research reconfirmed that water and the interaction with nitrogen is the big issue, not nitrogen alone, so it was dropped again. I have watched the development without being directly involved. I see many great things, but some not so great. Almost the only regret I have about officially retiring early is not being mixed up in the middle of the exciting business of farming soils instead of fields. Fancy technology and creative mathematics are at the forefront and basic soil science and agronomy have been left behind. Don’t get me wrong — just because I am too old to handle the fancy technology does not mean I do not respect it. There are huge opportunities.

VARIABLE RATE FERTILIZATION At the January Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association conference in Saskatoon I heard a talk analyzing the yield results and economics of variable rate N applications in Alberta. The study included data from a number of sites. The bottom line was positive for some and negative for others but the overall conclusion was that it is not worth the hassle. That data, and other examples, left me thinking that a new approach to variable rate is needed. In the whole scheme of precision agriculture there are some runaway winners. Sprayers that shut off boom sections to avoid overlap win on all fronts. Fungicide applications based on an air photo a day or two ahead of spraying and a map to target the dense vegetation seems to me to be a winner. Another runaway winner is to map saline areas with Veris or EM38 and reduce or eliminate fertilizer altogether in those areas. Saline soils are highly fertile and often very high in organic matter. Adding more fertilizer makes them worse, not better.

RESEARCH FROM AUSTRALIA In today’s world I can sit at the 27-inch computer screen in my

home office and in a few hours scan through the entire 12 volumes of the Precision Agriculture journal and I have just now done exactly that. In Volume 1, Number 1 (1999) a paper from Australia looked at Variable Rate N for wheat in an environment where moisture is important. They concluded that varying the nitrogen rate had little benefit in an environment where nitrogen response is dependent on soil moisture at seeding plus growing season rain. That is precisely why we changed nitrogen recommendations in Saskatchewan in 1971 to give three rates — one each for dry, average and wet years.

SOIL FORMATION In Volume 12 (2011), a paper based on uniform and variable nitrogn rates at eight locations over three years with wheat in Oklahoma showed no advantage to all the fancy technology. I noticed that most of the articles in the journl used fancy technology and mathematics to “deal” with soil variation. Much of the fancy math assumes that soils are a strictly random event. For sure, soils can be hugely variable within one field. But, when Mother Nature took the soil material left behind by glaciers and their meltwaters, she did not make our soils in a completely random fashion. One of the big-

gest soil forming factors is the climate — particularly the amount of water that has percolated through the soil over 10,000 years and the native vegetation the soil and water regime would support. Within one field the major soil forming factor is the topography (lay of the land) which rearranges rainfall and snow melt.

SOIL VARIATION In the photo of the field with rolling topography just east of Saskatoon, the land is Weyburn loam. The “Weyburn” part means it is in the dark brown soil zone. Soils in that land unit are developed from glacial till

— material unceremoniously dumped directly from a glacier complete with lots of clay but also a bit of sand and silt and stones. Within this field of Weyburn loam there are several types of soil. And these differences occur in a repeatable pattern over the field. To deal with the soil types in this kind of land, a contour map with one meter intervals would be an imperative first step. Veris, EM38 and other options make that easy. Veris or EM38 will also provide electrical conductivity (EC) numbers that can be interpreted in various ways. EC is primarily to measure soil salinity but it can also be used for other purposes. I claim to have drug an EM38 over more

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MARCH 12, 2012

Columns acres than most and point out to folks new to the business: “The EM38 always tells the truth — it’s up to the operator to figure out what that truth is.” It has been a great thrill for me to see Veris and EM38 units mapping individual quarter sections, and I see great improvements to precision agriculture as private agrologists figure out applications. When we farm the land we do one thing over the whole quarter section of Weyburn loam. When we farm the soil, we treat different areas differently. The second photo shows Regina heavy clay on nearly level topography near Milden. Even level land can have quite different soils within one field. It takes little elevation difference to result in runoff of rain or snowmelt, and accumulation in shallow sloughs can change the soil dramatically. But the variation here is less than the Weyburn loam, and the approach to precision agriculture would be very different. So, you see, land and soil are not

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

completely random events and a fancy mathematical formula that pretends that they are is a very crude instrument.

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Soil types In almost all the scientific papers I have read or heard about precision agriculture, the land or soil type is seldom if ever mentioned. I fail to see how we can make the most out of farming soils instead of land without using the wealth of information already available in map form. The next article in this series on precision farming will deal with soil classification and soil maps in the three Prairie provinces. Stay tuned. † J.L. (Les) Henry is a former University of Saskatchewan professor and a farmer at Dundurn, Sask. His book, “Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water,” that mixes the basics and practical aspects of soil, fertilizer and farming. Les will cover the shipping and GST for Grainews readers. Simply send a cheque for $50 to Henry Perspectives, 143 Tucker Cres., Saskatoon, SK, S7H 3H7

Weyburn Loam on rolling topography just east of Saskatoon.

Regina heavy clay on nearly level topography near Milden, where Les Henry was raised.

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fund managers should beat their markets, right? Wrong, because after the high fees charged by Canadian mutual funds — the highest in the world, by the way — individual investors usually don’t do as well as market indexes. The alternative, of course, is to buy the index itself cheaply packaged in an exchange traded fund (ETF) and sold with very low commission by online discount traders. Brilliant or lucky managers will beat their indexes from time to time, but after the high costs of mutual fund administration, the odds are with the low fee ETF investor Need proof? Say that you make an RRSP contribution of $10,000 and put the money into an average TSX mutual fund with a 2.5 per cent management expense ratio. You leave the money there. Over 10 years, the fee will take 25 per cent of performance, over 20 years, 50 per cent (well, slightly less because the fee is charged on a shrinking base). An ETF with an annual management fee of 20 basis points, a fifth of one per cent, will take just four per cent of your fund value over 20 years. ETFs come in many flavours: straight indexes, indexes with weighing set by cash flow per share rather than market weight of the stock, bonds arrayed by term to maturity, ladders of terms, by credit quality, by industry, by country and by sensitivity to interest rate changes. Just picking ETFs is a challenge. The theory of indexing is based on avoiding selection error. That theory should drive one to buy the broadest indexes. That would be all stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange, all stocks in the Standard & Poor’s Index of U.S. large cap stocks, all Hong Kong stocks, or even all big companies on all major exchanges — the Morgan Stanley Capital International Index does that. The index investor who wants safety should eliminate risk by buying ETFs priced in Canadian dollars or hedged to the Canadian dollar. Global currency variation is hard to predict, can make or break an investment, and does not follow simple financial rules. Consider that the U.S. dollar traded at a 30 per cent premium to the loonie in 2001 and now trades at par or close to it, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has barely moved in the last 10 years. Currency moves would have wrecked an otherwise flatlined investment for the unfortunate Canadian who bought the Dow index in 2001 — a year when, ironically, a book came out called Dow 30,000 by 2008. Robert Zuccaro’s book predicted that the index, about 12,800 as I write this, would hit that number well before now, a guess based on a straightline extrapolation of the dozen years leading to 2001. The bottom line: don’t trust trends, don’t trust predictions. Keep your costs down, your options open, spread your money widely to avoid asset selection error, and stay for the long run. Do all that and the odds shift to your favour. † Andrew Allentuck’s latest book, When Can I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work, was published in 2011 by Penguin Canadaa

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MARCH 12, 2012

Columns MANAGEMENT MINUTE

Find your competitive edge If you’re going to compete, you need an edge. Take time to figure out what extra advantage will make your business successful in the long run ANDREW DERUYCK

MARK SLOANE

fter graduating from high school neither of us knew what we were going to do, but with both of us

under five-foot-ten, we knew new our future was not in basketball. We knew we had no edge there! We constantly work with clients to complete SWOT analyses of their businesses — identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Identifying a core strength so you can build on it is critical. And just as strengths must be exploited, weaknesses are risks that need to be mitigated, opportunities need to be evaluated, and threats need to be avoided. We thought we would take this opportunity to share with you some of the strengths that we have identified for clients that made them successful.

POTENTIAL STRENGTHS 1. Economies of Scale: There can be significant efficiencies if a farm is grown in line with management capabilities. 2. Diversification: Operations such as a grain and livestock operation can benefit from diversifying their risk. 3. Education: Using intellectual resources can help to grow a business as a service provider. 4. Human Resources management: Certain individuals have the ability to motivate and engage employees to achieve extraordinary results. 5. Relationship management:

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Often individuals with this strength have the ability to spot opportunities and assess the risk associated in such a manner that no opportunity with reasonable risk is missed. 8. Financial management: In any operation, understanding liquidity, cash flow, profitability, leverage, and debt structure is a major strength needed in order to maximize results. 9. Value-added processing: Some businesses have the ability to identify value-added opportunities and processing businesses related to primary commodities and various byproducts. 10. Integrated value chain management: The concept of “gate to plate” is effective in distributing total profit throughout the value chain. Moving up the value chain can create stability for your business and boost profitability. All the clients we have worked with had at least one of the above strengths — this was their edge. But all also had more one

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FIND YOUR EDGE General Electric CEO Jack Welch famously said “If you don’t have a competitive advantage — don’t compete.” So ask yourself, “What is my edge? Is it secure and will it last going forward? And what is my weakness and how do I prevent it from holding me back?” †

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MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop CLASS PROJECT

Project F-250, part five We get creative and apply some bed liner to the exterior of the truck for protection from stone chips BY SCOTT GARVEY

arlier in this project we applied a paint-on bed liner coating to the truck box, but there’s more than one way to use that product. The thick textured coating it leaves makes an excellent protection against road damage from stone chips. So this time we apply a coat of it to the lower portion of the truck’s exterior body. When the box was coated with bed liner, we used a roller to apply it. For this job we picked up the same Dupli-Color-brand product, but this time in a spray can. We wanted to ensure a nice even texture in the finish coat. The roller didn’t really create that appearance. The spray cans, however, do leave a nice, even, good looking surface. Before applying the bed liner, you need to first clean the truck’s metal surface thoroughly. That means starting with a good soapy wash and rinse, then going over the area again with a wax and grease remover. Any impurities left on the surface will prevent good adhesion to the sheet metal. Basically, we’re doing exactly the same thing to the truck we would do if we were applying ordinary paint.

The coating should keep the truck body protected from road spray Once the surface is cleaned, it has to be scuffed with a red automotive Scotchbrite pad or sanded with 400-grit sandpaper. This will create tiny grooves that allow the bed liner to stick properly. Be sure to clean away all the sanding dust with a clean, lint free cloth. As a final step, use a sticky tack cloth to wipe away any remaining dirt or sanding particles. When using a tack cloth, just hold it lightly against the surface, don’t press it down hard. You can buy special tack cloths at places like Canadian Tire or automotive parts stores. We only want the bed liner coating on the lower section of the body, so we’re masking off a line about 40 centimetres up from the bottom. To start, run a strip of masking tape along the line where you want the liner coating to end. It easiest if you use a body line as

a reference, which will ensure you get a straight, good looking edge. Once the first tape line is established, use a second strip of tape to attach some masking paper above it. We used ordinary newspaper for masking paper to keep costs down, but you can buy proper automotive masking paper if you want. Apply several light coats of the liner rather than one heavy one, and keep the can moving as you spray; that will prevent sags. The thick, textured bed liner doesn’t mist very much compared to ordinary paint, so you won’t need to do a lot of masking to prevent overspray. There was virtually none when we applied it. Let the liner set up for an hour or so and carefully remove the mask-

ing. When removing the masking tape along the edge of the applied liner, lift one end of the tape and pull it back over itself and slightly up from the painted section. That keeps the tape coming off smoothly, and it doesn’t cause the edge of the painted section to flake off, making for a neater finished job. The coating should keep the truck body protected from road spray which tends to chip off paint. In the next segment, start prepping the truck for a complete paint job. The materials cost for this part of the project was about $25 for two cans of liner, with ample left over in the second can. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at scott.garvey@fbcpublishing.com

PHOTO: SCOTT GARVEY

The F-250 will get a coating of bed liner along the bottom edge of the body. That will protect it from getting chipped by stones and other road spray. Here, the masking is in place and the truck is ready to be sprayed.

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Machinery & Shop NEW EQUIPMENT

Backhoe attachment adds versatility Hanging a detachable backhoe on a farm tractor’s three-point hitch might provide an economical alternative to hiring contractors BY SCOTT GARVEY

PHOTO: SCOTT GARVEY

Wallenstein, an Ontario-based manufacturer, displayed its line of detachable backhoe attachments at Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon. It builds three models designed for agricultural tractors. They offer working depths as deep as 11’ 4” inches.

f you live on a farm, you’ve likely found it difficult to get the services of tradesmen or custom operators when you need them. That, combined with the associated costs, may have caused you to abandon some smaller on-farm projects. But having the right attachment for a tractor you already own may make it possible to do some of those minor

jobs you’ve forgotten about. At the same time you could get to park a new piece of equipment in your yard that you can use whenever you need it, which could be a real advantage. A utility tractor with a threepoint hitch is standard equipment in most farm fleets, and adding a backhoe attachment to one could make that small tractor one of the handiest in the yard. Investing in just a backhoe attachment is a lot less expensive than trying to justify

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buying a used construction backhoe tractor, which likely doesn’t make financial sense for most farmers. For about $10,000 Wallenstein, an Ontario company, sells its GX920, which mounts on the three-point hitch of any farm tractor in the 45 to 100 horsepower range. It attaches quickly and offers a reasonable digging depth of 9’ 4”. An extended version, the GX920XT will add another two feet to that, if you want to pay extra for the option. The hoe connects directly to a tractor’s hydraulic system, while the operator uses the controls on the attachment to dig. “It needs six to eight gallons (about 23 to 30 litres) per minute of hydraulic flow,” says Dale Bast, Saskatchewan territory manager for Wallenstein. While most newer tractors can supply that, the Wallenstein can create its own hydraulic power with an optional PTO power pack if necessary for older machines. The company also offers two

Having the right attachment for a tractor you already own may make it possible to do some of those minor jobs you’ve forgotten about lighter backhoe attachments for smaller tractors, even those in the 15 to 25 horsepower compact utility segment. Of course, digging depth and speed drops off with the smaller models. “It (The Wallenstein line) is all Canadian built,” adds Bast. “We even make our own hydraulic cylinders.” And farmers can order a hoe painted to closely match the tractor or in a variety of other specialty colors. For more information, see www. embmfg.com or call 1-877-6959293. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at scott.garvey@fbcpublishing.com

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MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop KEEP IT GOING

Massey Ferguson 760 combine keeps on going Maintaining older equipment takes a lot of time and effort. In the case of this MF 760, it’s been worth the trouble BY MELISSA DEMAS

Editor’s note: It seems nearly every farmer and machinery collector has an interesting story to tell about one machine or another. Melissa Demas originally sent this wedding photo in for the Give Us Your Best Shot photo contest on page four. But we knew there must be a story behind it, so we encouraged her to tell us more. — Scott Garvey hen it came to finding the right backdrop for my wedding photos I searched for the perfect spot. I grew up on a mixed farming operation less than a mile from Fleming, Sask. My Dad, Myles Fuchs, had grown up and farmed there his whole life with my grandfather, Edmond Fuchs. When I thought about my parents’ operation it soon became apparent that I had forgotten about an old family member that was significant in our farming operation and my childhood. That was my parents’ old MF 760 combine, which is still working today. My father bought the Massey Ferguson new in October 1980 from Bradleys in Moosomin, Sask. It was the last MF 760 before shipments of MF 860s started coming out. Every one of my three siblings and the first grandchild has napped, played and ridden in this combine. It came into our family before the oldest of us four kids was a year old. In fact, my Mom, Margaret Fuchs, who was the primary operator of this machine had my grandmother, Mary Fuchs, bring my youngest sister Maria out to the combine so she could be nursed (in 1985). So I guess you could say it was “lady driven.”

My father’s ability to maintain and repair was key to the longevity of this machine To date the combine has roughly 6,300 hours on it. The motor in the MF 760 has always been excellent. The hydraulic pump has been replaced twice, along with the injector pump which was rebuilt. The MF 760 was faithfully greased every 10 hours which has been important to its longevity. If any vibrations started, the cause was located and repaired before more damage resulted. Bearings and chains were always replaced as needed. My father replaced the rethresher with a rebuilt one, replaced the concave three times and replaced all the sieves. The elevator paddles were removed and straightened as needed and new rubber paddles were installed. At 4,500 hours the brakes were rebuilt. Every year the combine was gone over before use to see what needed to be replaced or repaired. The oil was changed every 150 hours. The belts were always replaced as soon as any cracking was noticed. In 2007 the left hand final drive was replaced with a used one. My father’s ability to maintain and repair was key to the longev-

ity of this machine. However, the most important factor in keeping this combine going for over 30 years is that the MF 760 was always shedded in the off-season. The last year this combine was used on the Fuchs Farm was in 2009. In 2010, a neighbour used it to take his crop, and the MF 760 is now owned by that neighbour. Although it has just recently been retired from our fields, it only seemed right to have a family picture with the old girl on a day that was so important. I have always been proud of my agricultural upbringing. To top it off, I’ve been lucky enough to marry a grain farmer!! † Melissa Demas is happy to be married to a Saskatchewan grain farmer

This wedding photo was taken on Miles and Margaret Fuchs’ farm on July 23, 2011. From left to right: Myles Fuchs, Maria Fuchs, Margaret Fuchs holding Melissa’s daughter Kaycee Demas, Danielle Cant (on top the stairs), Melissa Demas, Redmond Demas, Chris Cant, Katherine Cant, and Kurt Fuchs.

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MARCH 12, 2012

Machinery & Shop NEW EQUIPMENT

Wider tool bar enhances manure application efficiency Tough economics prompted Redhand Ltd. to develop a new wider tow-behind manure injector BY TONY KRYZANOWSKI

FINDING EFFICIENCIES

ith the hog industry struggling financially, custom manure applicator, Redhand Ltd., knew it needed to find ways to operate more efficiently to manage its own rising costs. So the Manitobabased company designed a new, tow-behind, 64-foot wide manure injection toolbar that is robust and nearly twice as wide as other injection toolbars in their fleet. “Our costs go up every year, but we couldn’t raise our rates because of trouble in the hog industry,” says company coowner Scott Rose. “We were running 33-foot injector toolbars before and we just couldn’t get a boom arm long enough without having major structural problems like stress breaks and stress cracks. We just kept beefing up that swing arm, and that made it heavier, which made it more prone to breaking.”

Rose says for the new, wider applicator to be effective, the boom needed to be able to handle the stress of a 64-foot implement. Last spring, Redhand Ltd. injected 40 million gallons of manure with it, and the boom worked beyond their expectations. The applicator moved smoothly as it was towed across cropland and worked equally well with either hog or dairy manure. “It just makes us that much more efficient to be able to run one machine at 64 feet versus two at 33 feet,” he says. “We didn’t think we could get more efficient two years ago, and now we have dropped a tractor, which is huge.” Designing a wider, tow-behind toolbar has allowed the company to reduce the size of its equipment fleet, its fuel consumption when applying manure, and the number of its employees. “With other swing-mounted booms on applicators, they are typically mounted on the front of the machine and then pivot on top

PHOTOS: TONY KRYZANOWSKI

Redhand Ltd. designed this new, tow-behind, 64-foot wide manure injection toolbar that is robust and nearly twice as wide as other injection toolbars in their fleet.

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Machinery & Shop of that machine out to half the distance of the machine in either direction,” says Rose. “The one we built is tow-behind. So, we can basically build any width now because of our boom design. We were a little bit concerned about what would happen when we did a really hard turn, but we didn’t have any issues like hose getting tangled up at the far end of the toolbar.” He adds that the major difference between this manure applicator and other conventional injection systems is that it is a tow-behind boom, supported by wheels versus a free swinging boom mounted at the front of an applicator.

THE REDHAND APPLICATOR The Redhand applicator has three Bambauer manifolds. Each manifold has 13 ports and 39 hoses leading to splitters, resulting in 78 drops leading to the Gentil injection system. Rose says the injection system looks almost like a golf green aerator. A series of knives, each about eight inches long, fracture and make holes in the soil where the manure is applied. Each knife is four inches apart and the manure is injected approximately four inches into the ground, depending on soil conditions. A second motivation behind designing this new applicator was to reduce crop stripping, a condition where some areas receive more nutrients than other areas, which becomes evident from crop growth patterns. This was occurring with some Redhand Ltd. customers particularly in low gallon applications of about 3,000 gallons per acre and where the liquid manure was of heavier consistency. The company has achieved row spacing of only about six inches with the design of its applicator, which it believes will significantly reduce problems with crop stripping.

it has developed with equipment fabricator Degelman Industries. Rose says Regina-based Degelman Industries was another key player in the design of the applicator. They modified the frame on a land roller implement to Redhand’s specifications, which was incorporated into the applicator’s overall design. “One of the unique features of the Degelman machine is that it folds back and trails behind you and keeps everything in exactly the same position as it is in working field position,” says Rose. “It’s not a fold up machine.” The applicator is just over 13 feet wide for road transport and follows in the tracks of the tractor when turning, which enhances its maneuverability. “We tow the applicator down the road at 24 miles per hour, no problem,” Rose adds. In addition to the new, custombuilt toolbar, their fleet consists of Ford New Holland tractors purchased from Mazer Implements in Brandon. Up until now, they’ve

been operating three four-wheeldrive tractors in the 375 horsepower range to pull their 33-foot manure injection toolbars. “That’s one of the efficiencies we tried to build into the design of our new toolbar,” says Rose. With the design of their new 64-foot tool bar, they now only need two

and three miles of 8-inch hose for direct delivery of the manure to a pump in the field, which is connected to the manure applicator hitched to the tractor. The hose from the in-field pump to the applicator reduces from eight inches to six inches to increase the flow rate. Rose says they are able

With a wider implement working at a slower pace, there is less stress on equipment and operators 375 horsepower four-wheel-drive tractors, complemented by six front-wheel-assist tractors for various operations such as manure pit agitation, equipment towing and hose management. Complementing their draghose system are 52-foot Houle pit agitators and pumps, booster pumps

to pump at a rate of about 2,200 U.S. gallons per minute, even with three eight-inch and three six-inch lengths of draghose from the field pump to the manure applicator. The objective, he says, is to achieve as much flow rate as possible, as the speed of the tractor and the application rate is determined

Protect Your Investment

REDHAND LTD. Redhand Ltd. is owned by Scott Rose and Trevor Cowieson, with foreman and partner, Paul Bell, a key member of the team and a major contributor to the toolbar design. Rose, Cowieson and Bell are joint venture partners in another company located in Boissevain, Man., called Triangle Welding Ltd., which fabricates the complete applicator. Rose and Cowieson farm southwest of Brandon and operate the custom manure application business as a sideline. Scott says he and Cowieson were part owners in a hog barn and, given the expense of managing the manure in that operation, they decided it was something they wanted to do themselves. They purchased equipment eight years ago, starting out with tankers but eventually evolving exclusively into a draghose system about four years ago to address soil compaction issues. They also discovered that other draghose operators were able to work in wetter ground conditions, so the transition was made. They are pumping and applying about 150 million U.S. gallons of liquid manure annually, largely in Southern Manitoba, almost exclusively for the hog industry. The majority of their business is conducted in spring and fall, with some custom application on pastures in summer. Because their tow-behind applicator has proven itself in a commercial setting, Triangle Welding has begun fabricating a second machine for Redhand through a relationship

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by the flow rate. An eight-inch Krohne flow meter is located on the implement boom with controls in the tractor cab. Field tractors are equipped with GPS and auto steer. Rose says in addition to using the wider applicator themselves, they plan to fabricate the unit through Triangle Welding and market the product to other custom manure applicators, in conjunction with Degelman Industries. He says making the transition to this custom injection unit would be relatively simple for custom applicators already equipped with eight-inch hoses. Application is at a slower speed — with wider injectors, a slower speed is needed to apply the required gallons per acre. Although the application speed is slower, more volume is applied per pass and with a wider implement working at a slower pace, there is less stress on equipment and operators. † Tony Kryzanowski is a writer and photographer with extensive experience writing about the natural sciences. He is headquartered in St. Albert, Alta.

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MARCH 12, 2012

Cattleman’s Corner genetics

Genomics 101 — what it means Part 1 of 2 BY SEAN MCGRATH

here is a lot of work going on in the field of genomics these days. While technical terms are somewhat intimidating, genomics is a fancy way to say we are studying DNA — in this case bovine DNA. DNA is the code that determines the genetic potential of an individual. Half of an animal’s DNA comes from the sire and half from the dam. It is possible to have cattle that do not perform to their genetic potential, but it is difficult to have them outperform their innate genetic limitations. DNA is present in every tissue in the animal’s body. There are basically two broad approaches to genomics, which we will term “after the fact” and “before the fact.” After-the-fact genomics attempts to look at an animal’s DNA after it has been born to define it within a production system. These are the DNA tests many feedlots use to sort cattle into outcome groups. Perhaps one of the most familiar to Canadians is the use of Leptin testing to sort feeder cattle into groups based on projected days on feed. Before-the-fact genomics involves examining the DNA of animals expected to reproduce in order to assist selection decisions and produce desirable offspring. Occasionally research turns up a specific gene or chunk of DNA that controls a specific trait, however more often the traits we are interested in are complex and involve many genes working together, such as disease resistance, long-term fertility or

even growth. This doesn’t mean we should stop research to find genes, but it does mean we need a faster, broad-scale approach.

Enter the SNP (pronounced snip) The way we get around the problem of finding genes is through technology called Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms or SNPs for short. These are short pieces of DNA that are relatively evenly spread across the bovine DNA like so many road signs. Researchers then take large amounts of data, and DNA samples that are tied to that data and start digging. In essence they take DNA from influential animals and look at hundreds of thousands of small pieces of DNA. By comparing these pieces of DNA to results in the data, they start to see patterns where specific chunks of DNA appear when certain results are present. In other words, a particular SNP or road marker may show up when calves are heavier than the average of other calves in their group. This specific chunk of DNA may not be “the gene” for weaning weight, but it is “associated with” pre-weaning growth. Out of these hundreds of thousands of short pieces of DNA, research may find a few thousand that are useful or informative for the things we are interested in about beef cattle. These few thousand SNPs are then put into a commercial panel that can be used for testing cattle at a lower cost than testing hundreds of thousands of pieces of DNA on every calf. These are the type of tests people may be familiar with that are offered by

groups such as Igenity (Merial) or Pfizer. The approach to finding SNPs is then flipped on its head and multiple animals are tested using the smaller panel to see if the DNA chunks we are interested in are present. These results are then compared with their performance to “validate” the research. In other words, to see if the DNA predicts the outcome in the same way the original data found the DNA. A SNP panel can be used after the fact, as previously mentioned. They are useful for sorting feeder calves, for example. They are also useful before the fact. The leading edge of research right now is not only finding SNPs but incorporating them into EPD results. The knowledge of an individual’s DNA means the predictive ability of an animal’s EPD can be improved, and also traits that are difficult to measure can be estimated early in life.

Set at conception An animal’s DNA is set at the moment of conception. If a sample is collected on a newborn calf, it will contain the same DNA that calf will pass on to its calves later in life. If we are aware of pieces of DNA associated with improved growth, or health, or longevity of daughters, or meat quality we can measure them directly in that young animal. While these DNA pieces are not the gene for the trait, they provide a good indication of what is going on. By incorporating DNA and phenotypes (measurements on an animal and its offspring) into a single more accurate EPD for a trait of interest we can produce genetic combinations that excel in various

photo: courtesy of src

Kevin Lang, research scientist, studying livestock genomics at in the Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) GenServe Laboratories. production environments. This is working “before the fact.” The world of genomics is vast and advancing rapidly, but it is very similar to a lot of things in our lives. We don’t need to understand every detail of the technology, as long as we understand how to apply it in our own situation. Cellphones, GPS and satellite television are good examples of

this. Commercial DNA panels are becoming more accurate and lower cost all the time and there are a lot of potential applications in the commercial industry we will touch on in the next several weeks. † Sean McGrath is a rancher and consultant from Vermilion, Alta. He can be reached at smcgrath@telusplanet.net or (780) 8539673. For additional information visit www. ranchingsystems.com

Pasture production

Important to pre-calculate pasture days Winter is a good time to pencil out whether you will have sufficient grass and make plans as needed

ach pasture season has its challenges, whether it’s periodic drought or cool weather that can slow or halt forage growth. Cattle numbers change as beef producers adjust to markets and overhead costs always seem to be on the rise. In facing these challenges, producers strive to find ways to create more profit. The best way is usually to keep down cost per pound of animal raised. Pasture is cheaper than feeding mechanically harvested hay or silage systems. High pasture production is needed for all grazing animals and for a cow herd, the ability to extend the grazing season is particularly important. Pastures can only meet these goals if they are managed with some planning. A plan for a grazing season starts before cattle are turned out on grass. Decisions are based on the information gathered from a fall assessment of pastures. Just as a winter feed inventory is done in fall to determine if there are enough bales or silage to last the winter, the same

should be done with pastures in wintertime before spring turnout arrives. “To start, first look at the big picture,” says Grant Lastiwka, grazing/forage/beef specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “It’s easiest to use percentages and compare them to normal. If your cattle numbers are 10 per cent more, you will need 10 per cent more grass. Also, if pastures were hurt by drought and grasshoppers or hammered with overgrazing, they could be 30 per cent less productive. If this is the case, it means that there is going to be a 40 per cent shortage of grass. “Planning early is very important because if you determine you have a shortage of pasture, there is still time to make other decisions such as renting more pasture, seeding annuals, selling cattle, fertilizing or feeding longer so that the grass can get the jumpstart it needs. Knowing what you’ve got and deciding how best to manage your grass is an important step in meeting pasture needs and helping with next year’s cash flow.”

Start with an inventory To start, do an inventory to see if animal numbers and the desired length of the grazing season are in balance with pasture production. Whether it is written or not, everyone knows roughly when they start and end grazing, so begin by calculating the number of grazing pairs and yearlings. Pasture production can then be calculated as Animal Days (AD) or Animal Unit Months (AUM). For example, 150 cow-calf pairs grazed from May 25 to Oct. 30 (150 days) is equivalent to 22,500 AD of grazing. If there are 165 pairs (10 per cent more), an additional 2,500 AD are needed if the goal is to graze until October 30. If all weather factors stay constant and no extra grass is grown and no cows are sold, the grazing season will be done by October 15 — two weeks short of the October 30 goal. Presuming grazing is about half the cost of feeding hay or silage, this means the operation is set up for some extra costs and may face a cash flow problem. From the pas-

ture production side, the pasture in this example produced 22,500 AD of grazing from 600 acres or each acre produced 37 AD. Due to factors such as dry falls and compound effects from previous grazing years, the beef operator may feel that pastures will produce 30 per cent less than normal. In this example that means 15,750 AD or 26 AD/acre. The calculation of 15,750 AD/165 animals works out to a 95-day grazing season. In this example pasture will be done by Aug. 28, far before the Oct. 30 date. “By knowing the shortfalls, it’s possible to effectively take action before damage is done to pastures, cattle performance and cash flow,” says Lastiwka. “The best economic solution may be to sell a few of the poorer cows or early wean and ship the culls rather than taking the risk of losing out on grazing days. In addition, if some winter feed is left, delaying turnout will help to set up a grass buffer. As a general rule, for every day cattle are held off grass, three more days of grazing can be added to

the season. Later turnout, on average, means a net return of two days. At pasture costs of $1/day, this means $2 more from your own land in grazing this year for every day held back.” Another option is renting pasture. Using the same example, the grazing shortfall is calculated as 25,000 AD - 15,750 AD = 9,250 AD (26 AD per acre) = 356 additional acres needed to graze 165 cows until October 30. “Seeding annuals, fertilizing, arranging for crop aftermath use and early weaning can also be used to offset pasture production shortfalls,” adds Lastiwka. “Being flexible with grass and cash gives producers options to make wise cattle decisions. Fewer animals grazed longer and each making a good profit will be a better alternative than if more animals went onto winter feed earlier and each was losing money.” † Reprinted courtesy of Grant Lastiwka and The Blade newsletter published by the Grey Wooded Forage Association, based in Rocky Mountain House, Alta. www.gwfa.areca.ab.ca

BUILDING TRUST IN CANADIAN BEEF

Cattleman’s Corner

A winning ranch formula: Cut costs, add value, build marketing integrity The McGrath family ranch is 105 years old and heading for another century

his is the kind of ranch s t o r y C a n a d a ’s b e e f industry likes. A young family with heritage ranching roots and a clear energy about the opportunity to build a business and a family life around cows and grass. Round Rock Ranching near Vermilion, in Northeastern Alberta has a very clear vision: ‘Producing the best beef in a better world.’ “We like to say we have a kinship with the land,” says Sean McGrath, the fifth generation to live on this land, and young father of the sixth. “In simple business terms we focus on the cow side,” he explains. “We watch costs. If we can do something for less money, that’s clearly an objective. But we’re also concerned about value added, trying to make every calf worth more. That’s through our genetics, our vaccination and herd health program and our management program. Everything ties together.”

Documented practices assists marketing efforts, says Sean McGrath of Round Rock Ranching.

ing costs for the 200-cow herd. “Our goal is to feed cows as little as possible. More than 45 days is considered strenuous.” Calves are weaned early, midOctober to mid-November. Cows graze native prairie into February. “They’ll put 100 to 150 pounds of weight on in that time,” says McGrath. “Then we’ll switch to swath grazing and eventually, in spring, to tame forage. Grazing to cut costs “We don’t do mixed farming A cornerstone of the ranch is and 80 per cent of our land is its advanced grazing system. Built native pasture. Our approach on nearly year-round grazing, it’s is pretty unusual for this area. designed to aggressively cut feed- We’re usually taking cows out to

grass when everyone else is bringing theirs in.” Customer first, value added

“We try to make every calf worth more, but more than anything, we sell ourselves,” says McGrath. The cow herd i s A n g u s . Younger animals are bred Angus and older cows are bred Simmental. The ranch markets grass finished beef, feeder calves, F1 heifers and grass cattle. “Our rule is we don’t sell weaned calves.” Customers first is the marketing mentality and a big part of

that is being able to document management practices. The operation is audited under the Verified Beef Production (VBP) program to ensure animal and human health wellbeing. The ranch is also actively involved with several range health and environmental sustainability programs. Calves are all age verified. All cows have DNA records, and all vaccination and medical records are documented and VBP protocols followed. “From a marketing and documentation of integrity, it’s all there,” says McGrath. “We’re quite comfortable saying to any of our grass-fed beef customers that if they would like to come in and look at our system and pick a calf, we will show them the records on our computer, so they will see what we are doing. VBP aids marketing

“We use the VBP record information a lot for marketing,” adds McGrath. “If we sell a load of calves, we’ll contact the potential buyers well ahead of time and let them know about the cattle. They’ll know that they have been vaccinated and that there are records for all of that.”

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MARCH 12, 2012

Keepers & Culls Supply management is not the enemy LEE HART

won’t belabour the beef/ supply management topic too much because longtime Grainews reader Ed from Saskatchewan says he’d like to see more jokes on this page… and I agree. I made a comment a couple issues back that perhaps the beef industry should revisit the possibility of a supply management marketing system. I was being somewhat of a devil’’s advocate. Following that comment, I received an email from Charolais breeder Jake Harp, who disagreed with the notion. He said in part: “Supply management is currently in place in the poultry, egg and dairy industry already and it only benefits the producers. It adversely affects the price to the consumer and should be illegal under the North American Free Trade Agreement.” And that is fair comment, but then I had a phone call from David Hofer, who farms near Moose Jaw, Sask. He didn’t agree with Harp’s comments that supply management only benefits the producers. Hofer works on both sides

of the marketing fence on his farm — they background beef, farrow-to-finish hogs, and also have dairy and poultry — so he works in both open market and supply management systems. He made the point that producers involved in supply management sectors have made a large investment, and supply management which governs them to produce what the market needs with limited exports, keeps producers profitable, but doesn't put an unfair food price burden on consumers. Not that it was an economic study, but Hofer points to a recent column in Grainews by mostly retired Alberta beef producer Stan Harder, who said a recent nice roast beef dinner in his house cost $10.50 per plate for beef, while a nice chicken dinner was more like $2.75. Who is creating the consumer burden, Hofer wonders? Hofer says the supply management system works very well — no one is looking for handouts. He wasn’t advocating a supply management system for beef or hogs, but he says current farm economics do force him to be the most efficient producer he can be and also he has to pay much better attention to be a better marketer of any non-supply management commodities. And soon I have to head up to

the kitchen for lunch and now decide whether I am going to have leftover chicken stir-fry or a roast beef sandwich. Maybe I will have both.

CAN’T ARGUE WITH SCIENCE After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year outside of Vancouver, B.C. scientists found traces of copper cable dating back 100 years. They came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago. Not to be outdone by Vancouver, in the weeks that followed, a Toronto, Ontario archeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet somewhere just outside Trenton. Shortly after, a story in the Toronto Sun read: “Toronto archeologists report a finding of 200-year-old copper cable, have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network 100 years earlier than Vancouver.” One week later, a local newspaper in Yorkton, Saskatchewan reported the following: “After digging down about 30 feet deep in his pasture near the community of Springside, farmer Bob, a self-taught archeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Bob has therefore concluded that 300 years

Write, Email or Fax Contact Cattleman’s Corner with comments, ideas or suggestions for and on stories by mail, email, phone or fax. Phone Lee Hart at 403-592-1964 Fax to 403-288-3162 Email lee@fbcpublishing.com Write to CATTLEMAN’S CORNER, PO Box 71141 Silver Springs RPO, Calgary, Alta. T3B 5K2 ago, Saskatchewan had already gone wireless.”

ANIMAL-CARE CONFERENCE Showing leadership in farm animal care has emerged as a defining issue that will determine the future competitiveness and market success of livestock industries around the globe. One of the best places to learn about the latest developments in farm animal care — including what they mean for producers and industry — is the 2012 Livestock Care Conference, March 21-22 in Red Deer, Alta. The annual event is hosted by Alberta Farm Animal Care (AFAC), the organization representing all major livestock producer organizations in the province. “Farm animal care today is unquestionably a top issue internationally, with many implications from the farm level to

the consumer level,” says Heini Hehli, a dairy producer from the Rimbey, Alta., area and chair of AFAC. “It represents significant challenges but also major opportunities for those who are knowledgeable, progressive and innovative on this issue. As producers, that’s the category we want to be in.” The two-day agenda includes an evening reception and student poster session on Wednesday, March 21, with the main speaker agenda running from 8:15 to 4:30 on Thursday, March 22. Full conference agenda is available at www.afac.ab.ca/lcc. Livestock producers, industry representatives and others interested can register for this event online at the AFAC website or by calling 403-662-8050. †

RANGE MANAGEMENT

Ranchers need a CRMP process Ranchers must be willing to take a leadership role in developing a management plan that not only involves all of the stakeholders BY HYLAND ARMSTRONG

great deal of beef production in Western Canada takes place on native rangeland. In their book Range Management, Stoddart, Smith and Box define native rangeland as those areas of the world characterized by physical limitations making these areas unsuitable for cultivation and suitable solely for livestock grazing. Historically, these areas have provided a number of products that include: forage for domestic and native animals, wood and wood products, water, wildlife, mineral development and recently oil and gas exploration and recreational opportunities. As the number and variety of goods and services associated with rangelands increase, so too will the conflicts between the stakeholders demanding these goods and services. As the numbers of conflicts increase, it will become increasingly difficult for traditional users, like ranchers, to make a living. If ranchers are to reduce the number and severity of these conflicts, they will have to become more proactive in their approach to resource management issues. In the past, resource management decisions focused on tra-

ditional uses, such as livestock production. Unfortunately, society no longer feels this approach is acceptable, particularly on public land and there is mounting pressure from environmentalists and recreationalists to change the status quo on this particular issue. As this public pressure mounts, it is very probable ranchers will face dramatic changes to government policy, lawsuits or both. Whatever happens, ranchers can rest assured the transition from the present management policies to any future management policies will not be a smooth one, unless they change their approach. While the traditional skills of ranching will still play a major role in planning, ranchers will need to develop new skill sets. Ranchers will have to begin employing a combination of integrated resource management and co-ordinated resource management planning (CRMP). This means ranchers must develop a better understanding of wildlife management; recreation management and ecosystem management (integrated resource management) and begin using CRMP to manage future conflicts. Ranchers must be willing to take a leadership role in developing a management plan that not only

involves all of the stakeholders, but also provides a tangible benefit to all of the stakeholders involved in the issue.

RANCHER TAKES LEADERSHIP The key principle is that this is a voluntary process initiated by the rancher before the conflict becomes unmanageable. Ranchers must adopt a leadership role in the issue and invite ALL those stakeholder groups with a legitimate stake in the issue to become part of the planning process. The goal of this process is to create an action plan with goals which are clearly stated, prioritized, attainable and which encompass the concerns of all the stakeholders. It is also important for the management plan to state the responsibilities of each stakeholder. For this process to be successful, it is important that ranchers ensure the process incorporates a number of key elements. The most important and fundamental element is choosing a facilitator who not only has a good general knowledge of the issues but is regarded as an impartial “referee” by all of the stakeholders participating in the planning process. The second crucial element is the establishment of a set of “ground rules” all stakeholders can work with. This even

includes developing procedures that enable the facilitator to censure those groups or individuals who try to circumvent or “short circuit” the process. Finally efforts must be made to ensure all individuals who represent the various stakeholders have authority to make decisions and are willing to allow the consensus of the group rather than political machinations to determine what management decisions are made.

THREE KEY POINTS When ranchers decide to use this process to develop a management plan, it is imperative they make sure the other stakeholders understand three important points. The most important point is to impress upon the other stakeholders to think outside the box and focus on those management policies that will achieve the desired goals the most effectively, rather than focus on laws and regulations. Next, it is important to ensure the members of the group are willing to act as a team. Finally, to keep these groups committed to the process, each stakeholder has the opportunity to contribute to the process and feel they have something positive to gain from the process.

The final point the rancher should consider is ensuring the plan has mechanisms to allow the manager to determine if the plan is working and make provisions for unforeseen events. This is accomplished by incorporating a very large degree of flexibility in the plan’s construction, collecting accurate baseline data, creating a monitoring program to determine if the plan is achieving its objectives and creating a mechanism to make the appropriate changes to the plan. In the past, ranchers have had a major voice in determining the goods and services created on western Canadian grasslands. Unfortunately, because of dramatic changes in demographics, this will no longer be the case and it is very likely (because of lawsuits, changes in government policy or both) ranchers will lose the ability to manage their ranches in an effective manner. If ranching is to continue on western Canadian rangelands, ranchers will have to adopt a leadership role and through the process of Co-ordinated Resource Management Planning adopt more flexible resource management strategies. † Hyland Armstrong is a retired rancher from Cypress Hills, Alberta. He can be reached at lightningbutte@hotmail.com or 403 528 4798

MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Cattleman’s Corner environmental farm plans

Get with the plan, Stan! an EF plan that is All three Prairie provinces still offer EFPs. Here are some of the procedures for participation Part 1 of 4 BY ANGELA LOVELL

hile the popular Environmental Farm Plan process in Western Canada has dropped off the radar to some extent, the program is still alive and well and of value in all Prairie provinces, say program officials. Prairie farmers and ranchers who over the past decade have completed Environmental Farm Plans (EFPs) consider them invaluable tools in helping to manage their farms with greater sustainability. Many involved in the process believe EFPs will be even more valuable in the years ahead. Perry Philips, Alberta’s EFP coordinator, says the province is extensively revisiting its EFP process in 2012. “We’ve adopted a continuous improvement component with the EFP program,” says Philips. “We expect there will be increased demand for EFP to be a comprehensive, consistent and rigorous tool for producers as certain sectors of the industry seek ways to demonstrate their commitment to environmental stewardship. The EFP program, led by Alberta Agriculture & Rural Development (ARD), needs to ensure this is possible through EFP resources, services and processes.” The Environmental Farm Plan program has been around for nearly 10 years. As the federal government’s new Agricultural Policy Framework — Growing Forward II, is anticipated in April 2013, it’s not entirely clear if changes will be made to the program, but it’s almost certain that it will continue in some form.

Voluntary program Environmental Farm Plans are voluntary, confidential, selfassessment tools used by producers to identify environmental risks and opportunities on their farms and ranches. As part of their EFP, producers develop an action plan to identify beneficial management practices (BMPs), which could reduce environmental risk on their operations. Farmers then have the option to enact the action plan, and producers with completed plans are eligible to access cost-shared government funding that can be used to assist with the implementation of approved BMPs on their farms. “Developing an EFP shows producers care about environmental protection and want to be good stewards of the resources they manage,” says the Provincial Council of Agriculture Development and Diversification Boards, (PCAB), which delivers the program in Saskatchewan. “EFPs provide a way to increase awareness of environmental issues, to improve environmental management practices, to foster public recognition of farmers’ stewardship efforts and to positively position Canadian agricultural products in world markets.” The EFP process and funding programs available may vary slightly in each province. Following is a rundown of the EFP process in each of the prairie provinces and lists of further resources.

More than 12,000 producers have participated in Alberta’s EFP program.

Saskatchewan EFP Saskatchewan has developed a list of 70 beneficial management practices that minimize or mitigate possible environmental risks related to agriculture. These BMP’s fit into 30 categories dealing with air, water, soil or biodiversity and include improved manure storage and handling, wintering site management and erosion control structures. Producers completing EFPs are eligible for cost-shared funding under the Canada-Saskatchewan Farm Stewardship Program (CSFSP) to help implement BMPs on their farms. The matching grants range from 30 to 75 per cent of the total cost of the project. Each has a different cap amount ranging from $5,000 to $50,000. The cap is determined based on the project’s environmental benefit. For example, corral relocation away from a primary water source would have a larger cost-share cap than purchase of a GPS system. In Saskatchewan, retroactivity is allowed for BMPs already implemented as part of the EFP within the current fiscal year an application is received. Farmers should contact a program rep for details. To date about 11,500 Saskatchewan producers have completed EFPs. Saskatchewan does allow producers who have capped out CSFSP assistance can have their program cap reset, provided their original EFP is at least five years old. Co-ordinators are advising producers to submit their applications as early as possible if they still have projects that they want to complete before the March 31, 2013 deadline.

The Saskatchewan EFP process Step 1: Workshop 1 There are 10 program representatives who deliver two free workshops throughout the province. Producers attend Workshop 1 and are introduced to the EFP workbook and begin assessing the soil and site characteristics of their own operation. Step 2: A t - H o m e F a r m Assessment Producers review all aspects of their operation and complete the worksheets in the workbook that apply. They identify possible solutions for identified risks and develop an action plan, specific to their farm or ranch. Step 3: Workshop 2 With a completed workbook and the help of the program rep at Workshop 2, producers finalize their action plan to manage any identified risks and prioritize action items.

Step 4: Peer Review Completed action plans are submitted to a Peer Review Committee for a compulsory review. The action plan remains confidential and anonymous and is reviewed by a panel of producers who already have endorsed action plans. Step 5: Implementation Once the Peer Review Committee has endorsed the action plan, producers are eligible to apply for costshared funding under the CanadaSaskatchewan Farm Stewardship Program (CSFSP). F o r m o re i n f o r m a t i o n o n Saskatchewan EFPs visit the PCAB website at: http://saskpcab. com/environmental-farm-plan or call 1-866-298-7222 to speak to a program representative.

((EFP)) Manitoba EFP Since 2005 nearly 7,800 producers have attended EFP workshops across Manitoba. The program is delivered through Manitoba Agriculture, Food & Rural Initiatives (MAFRI), with 12 employees who conduct EFP workshops around the province on a regular basis. EFPs in Manitoba are reviewed by Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP). KAP also plays an important role in providing feedback to MAFRI on environmental programs. For example, KAP feedback given to MAFRI during the revision of the EFP workbook makes it more relevant and easier for producers to use. The workbook now has more questions with a more specific focus, making it easier for producers to zero in on specific management practices as they assess their operations. It also features the latest pest management knowledge, regulations affecting farm operations and a chapter on climate change, which focuses on actions farmers can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. In 2010, in consultation with industry partners, MAFRI also developed a commodity-specific EFP chapter which includes detailed questions and information relevant to each individual commodity group. “This addition to the EFP process allows a commodity group to meet contracting requirements (as demanded by consumers) and remain viable in their industry,” says Laura Grzenda, a landscape stewardship specialist with MAFRI. “This is a good example of the movement towards recognition of the EFP as a tool to ensure on-farm sustainability at a national and eventually global level.” MAFRI encourages producers to review their EFPs, especially producers who have acquired new land, sold land or changed farming

practices. A renewal of the workbook will also help develop a more suitable action plan for identifying and managing environmental risks on the farm. To be eligible for funding a producer is required to update their EFP Statement of Completion certificate every five years. There are 11 best management practices categories eligible for cost-shared funding under the Environmental Farm Action Program (EFAP). The amount that the government pays towards a project ranges from 50 to 75 per cent and the cap for the maximum amount allowed under each category ranges from $15,000 to $160,000. A change for 2012 is that funding will no longer be available through the Manitoba Sustainable Agriculture Practices Program.

The EFP Program in Manitoba 1. Workshop 1 Trained facilitators introduce producers to the EFP workbook and begin by assessing and recording the soil and site characteristics of their operations. Resource maps and aerial photos are provided to facilitate environmental analysis of the producer’s land and operation. 2. Completion of Asset and Risk Assessment at Home Producers progress through their workbook, reviewing all aspects of their operations. They identify

environmental assets and potential risks and record their findings in the workbook. 3. Workshop 2 With a completed workbook and the help of the EFP workshop facilitators, producers create their customized action plans by identifying the steps required to manage or reduce identified risks, and prioritizing their action plans. 4. Work book Review To access financial incentives, completed workbooks must be reviewed by a third party review agency (Keystone Agricultural Producers) to ensure all risks have been assessed and an action plan has been developed. 5. Implementation After the action plan has been reviewed and issued a valid Statement of Completion certificate, producers are eligible to apply for financial incentives under the EFAP. For more information on Manitoba EFPs visit their website at: www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/ growingforward/gf_programs/ aaa19s16.html

Alberta EFP More than 12,000 producers have participated in the EFP initiative in Alberta, although not all of these have current, completed EFPs, and some farmers have upgraded their

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Black Angus Bulls

Turihaua Crumble -reference sire

- his sons sell / spring 2012 by private treaty

www.nerbasbrosangus.com & www.nerbasbrosangus. blogspot.com Shellmouth, MB CANADA • 204-564-2540

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MARCH 12, 2012

Cattleman’s Corner calving

Advice on the risks cold-stressed calves Calves that get cold, wet and don’t receive colostrum on time have a much greater risk of being sick or not making it all BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

alves that get chilled at birth, without immediate assistance to warm and dry them and haven’t ingested colostrum in a timely manner, have poor survival rates. If a calf gets cold before it suckles, it won’t be able to get the teat in its mouth. If it fails to nurse, it doesn’t get the crucial energy (for keeping warm) or the antibodies it needs to protect it against disease. Also, its ability to absorb antibodies from colostrum diminishes as it becomes colder. Even if you force-feed it colostrum a few hours after birth, absorption rate will be less than that of a calf that was not chilled. Late winter storms can put newborn calves at risk even in a spring calving season. Some years, more calves are lost to bad weather during “spring” than during winter calving, because ranchers with spring-calving herds may not be as prepared for dealing with cold stress if they don’t have facilities to provide shelter for newborns. Russ Daly, extension veterinarian at South Dakota State University, says cold stress in calves may be aggravated by nutritional issues in the cows. If the cow is in poor body condition or doesn’t have adequate protein and energy during late gestation, the newborn calf will have decreased amounts of brown fat for energy reserves and will chill more quickly. “Protein and energy are crucial, and there’s also research that shows supplying supplemental fat to cows during late gestation will help the calf be better prepared to handle cold weather,” says Daly. “Much of how cows are fed, however, revolves around economics and logistics — how to supply some of the ration ingredients.” Cows that are not protein-deficient will produce better colostrum.

Needs colostrum Timely ingestion of colostrum is a big factor in how a calf handles cold weather. A calf that nurses soon after birth stays warmer. The type of fat in colostrum is readily metabolized to keep the calf warm. “Sometimes this is overlooked,”

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get with the plan, stan! an ef plan that is existing EFPs in the past couple of years. Alberta has more than 30 technicians and a provincial co-ordinator to assist farmers with EFP development. Since 2009, instead of workshops, most EFPs in Alberta are now started or upgraded by EFP technicians, most working for local municipalities, meeting face to face with their producer clients. Throughout the entire process the participant has continual access to the local EFP resource person. A new option to complete

photos: heather smith thomas

The health status of a cold, wet calf is easily compromised, especially if it doesn’t get colostrum.

Whether you use a commercial calf dryer or the home kitchen remedy it is important to get a cold-stressed calf warm and dry.

says Daly. “The rancher might be more focused on getting warming boxes ready for the calves, but colostrum is really crucial. I was involved in a study with Holstein calves in which some did not receive colostrum. When cold weather hit, it was very obvious which calves had colostrum and which ones didn’t. The colostrum contains much higher levels of fat and protein than regular milk.” After a newborn calf nurses a full feed of colostrum, it can handle the cold. “It quickly absorbs the lipids (fats) and amino acids, and this aids the body’s physiology and metabolism; the calf doesn’t have to burn so much of his brown fat to keep warm,” says Daly. “Calves most adversely affected by cold stress are ones not able to get up and nurse.” With these cold calves, producers need to intervene quickly. Force-feeding colostrum can make the difference between survival or not. If a calf becomes too chilled before it can nurse, it may not absorb antibodies when it is fed. “Any stress,whether from cold, or a difficult birth, can interfere with optimum absorption,” says Daly. “If it’s a question of warming the calf or giving it colostrum first, don’t delay on the colostrum.” Ideally, producers should be able to bring the calf out of the cold and give it colostrum at the same time it’s warming up. “Calves that have undergone cold stress are more likely to have

problems with scours, pneumonia and other infections,” he says. So it is important to prevent cold stress if possible. Paying attention to cows’ nutrition pre-calving is important, along with watching weather forecasts. “If you know a storm or cold weather is coming, get the calving cows out of the elements, and take care of any calves born outside as quickly as possible,” Daly says. “Newborn calves can handle relatively cold temperatures, with no wind. But if there’s wind or precipitation with the cold, they lose too much body heat from being wet. They need to be dried as soon as possible. “I’d worry more about a 32 F (zero C) temperature with wind and precipitation than a much colder day with no wind,” says Daly. A “warm” windy day can be deceptive and producers may not realize drying a newborn calf is an emergency. Even though the temperature isn’t very cold, the wind or precipitation may chill it too quickly, making it impossible for it to get up and nurse before it’s too cold. “You can tell when calves are really cold, and you can usually tell when calves will be all right, but it’s those borderline calves that may be hard to determine,” he says. “Many ranchers will stick a finger in a calf’s mouth to see how cold it is (if a calf hasn’t nursed yet, the inside of its mouth is usually cold, for instance), but I encourage producers to use a rec-

tal thermometer. Any calf whose rectal temperature is below 100 F (37.7 C) could benefit from being warmed or having a supplemental dose of colostrum.” If producers aren’t sure how much or whether a calf has nursed, feed it colostrum.

EFPs online is also in the final stages of development. The EFP “Web-book” is currently being tested by a handful of Alberta producers, who are working on their online EFPs. The new online EFP accounts are administered through EFP technicians. It is expected that the online EFP option will be formally launched in early 2012 and then be available to all Alberta producers. Alberta has three Stewardship Plan funding programs, which require completion of an EFP as a prerequisite: Integrated Crop Management, Grazing and Winter Feeding Management and Manure Management. Each fund different BMP’s on a cost-shared basis and are run until the funds are allo-

cated, so producers are encouraged to apply early.

The Alberta EFP Process 1. Introduction and preparation Participants contact a local EFP technician and begins to collect information about his or her farm operation, such as soils reports and actual distances to water sources. The EFP tech may also help by gathering additional information such as well reports and aerial photos. 2. Discussion with resource person The EFP technician helps the participant learn to use the EFP workbook to assess his/her potential environmental concerns and

WARMING A CALF Daly says there are many options for calf-warming boxes, including commercial boxes which blow warm air from the bottom. These quickly help warm the calf body, as well as the air it breathes. “A commercial warming box may be more expensive, but often these are made from a poly type of plastic, which is very easy to clean,” says Daly. Producers can also build adequate wooden warming boxes, and they work very well to insulate the calves, but they are a lot harder to completely clean. Boxes should be cleaned and disinfected between calves. “Bacteria love a nice warm place with humidity,” he says. “I’ve seen several situations in which suspected poor sanitation in the warming box led to an increase in calf scours. Paying attention to materials and design, and making sure the box can be cleaned easily, is important. You need good ventilation in the box, and some way to remove humidity. If it’s too humid, you have more problems with respiratory diseases in the calves as well as a buildup of pathogens in that environment.” receives information on technical resources. 3. Completion of EFP at home Participant completes chapters that apply to his/her operation and identifies and prioritizes situations that need to be addressed, then completes the EFP. 4 Submission of EFP for review Participant submits EFP to an EFP technician for review. The tech offers suggestions to strengthen the plan and ensure appropriate risk mitigation and returns it to the producer along with a letter validating the farm plan has been developed. Although it is not compulsory to have EFPs reviewed, if the producer intends on applying for certain funding streams through

FROSTBITE In cases of frostbite, rub the calf down with warm water, if it hasn’t been cold too long. “The key is warm water, not hot,” says Daly. “This can help warm the tissues, but you don’t want to rub very much because those tissues may be damaged from freezing and you could damage them worse. “Purebred breeders are very diligent to prevent frostbitten ears and tails, for cosmetic reasons. There are various types of ear warmers that you can buy. Even commercial cattlemen usually try to keep calves from losing ears and tails, because it is a well-being issue. They don’t want the calf to suffer pain.” Also, a calf without ears or tail is less able to protect itself from flies. Frozen feet is a more crucial issue. “Most of the calves I’ve seen with frozen feet were usually debilitated from some other reason, like scours,” says Daly. The dehydrated calf has less blood flow to the extremities; its limbs become cold and more vulnerable to freezing. A sick calf spends too much time lying down; it may not be able to and walk and get circulation going. Blood perfusion to the limbs is severely compromised and a rancher may not realize that these calves may freeze their feet at temperatures that would not be dangerous to a normal, healthy calf. † Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact her at 208-756-2841

the Growing Forward program, they require this letter from an EFP technician verifying the Farm Plan has been reviewed and the EFP is considered current and effective. 5. Continuous implementation of EFP improvements Producer puts the EFP into action through BMPs according to priorities, and re-evaluates the EFP on an ongoing basis. For more information visit Alberta EFP website at: www. albertaefp.com Or for details on the stewardship funding programs visit: www. growingforward.alberta.ca/ ProgramAreas/EnhancedEnvironment/ index.html. † Angela Lovell is a freelance writer based in Manitou, Man.

MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Home Quarter Farm Life SEEDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

The gift of contentment What would it take for you to be happy with your life? ELAINE FROESE

s part of the redecorating project of my flooded basement, I took an ancient (faded) mountain print gold-framed picture to the glass guys, and had a mirror put into the frame. The print had faded to blues, but the story behind the picture prompted me to “repurpose” what other designers might label “junk.” This was my mother-in-law’s left-behind treasure from a catalogue purchase sometime in the l960s. My mother-in-law came to this country as a young toddler, with parents, siblings and a suitcase. She shared her life story with a thankful heart, content to share what she has with others in need — her health, her wealth, her wisdom and her cookies! “When you have enough — the basics — it is good to be content,” is the gist of what Mom Froese believed. The “new” mirror reminds me of my beloved mother-in law and her ability to be content. I asked a few other farmers about what they would say about con-

tentment. One fellow had tears well up as he awaits the surgeon’s report. Others just shrugged their shoulders and said “it’s been a tough year… 50 years of work is now in jeopardy.” Circumstances may be critical, yet God is still in control. Is this a key to being content, no matter what life crisis tries to crush you? Being content calls us to reflect and cherish the spiritual gift we can choose to open. We each have the chance to accept and open up a vital, dynamic relationship with God for our lives, for the present, and for our eternal well-being. In God’s word, the Bible, Paul writes to the Philippians about contentment: “… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what is it to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” — Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV) Wow… what a gift! There might not be a new sofa in the design plan this year, or the trip, or patio stuff. The gifts may be letters of love, thankfulness and affirmation. It might be a cup of

tea shared in a spirit of friendship and caring with our neighbour. You might want to make an ordinary day more extraordinary, even if you aren’t celebrating a birthday or anniversary. Mom might rearrange the furniture and dig to the back of the attic or closet for long-forgotten treasures that need new light and perspective. I like to spend some days “putzing” where I dedicate

to pack away the story that goes with the special clock, ornament, or photo. Someone said that “clutter is energy constipation.” It is time to declutter our lives. What if we, as women, were content with a kitchen that was “good enough” and spent our time, energy, and financial resources helping other women locally and globally who are

She shared her life story with a thankful heart, content to share what she has with others in need the search of forgotten white glass collections, linens or art that can find a new place to bring beauty and energy to our home sanctuary. Some gifts to the kids may be a family heirloom or book that needs to be passed along to the next generation. Share the story that goes along with your treasure, and do some spring cleaning in the process. When you are storing things as you clean, take a few extra moments

strapped for time and resources? “Relationships, not achievements or the acquisition of things, are what matters most in life,” says Rick Warren, author of the bestselling Christian book Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan, 2002). I agree. We can be content with what we have and not worry (Matthew 6:25-35). We can be content because God will never leave us no matter how tough the situation is (Hebrews 13:5-6). Those of us who

reverence the Lord will never lack any good thing (Psalm 34:9). Tuck a love note and Bible verse into your loved one’s lunch bag. Bake cookies together or deliver treats to a lonely person. Go skating, sledding, trail riding, skiing, or walking. Look up! Share memories around a scrapbook, photo album, or family history book. Tell stories. Build an outdoor bonfire and roast wieners. Laugh lots. Find a puzzle to work on. You have many tools and resources in your home to be content. Recycle those decorating magazines, and volunteer at the local thrift shop this year. In New Zealand they call them “OP Shops” which is short for opportunity shops. We have lots of opportunity to repurpose our stuff and be content with what we have. It might also be a good idea to shut off HGTV to curb your “house envy” episodes. Open the good book and be content in going God’s way. What would it take for you to be more content? How much is enough? † Elaine Froese loves to hear your stories. Call her toll free at 1-866-848-8311 or check out her website at www.elainefroese.com. Invite your farm advisers and suppliers to sign up for her e-newsletter on the website

Do you have a picky eater in the family? Research shows that genetics may play a part in their fussiness BY JULIE GARDEN-ROBINSON NDSU EXTENSION SERVICE

’ve been asked the question, “Are picky eaters born or made?” As I looked for some research-based information to share, I came upon a study of twins. According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, genetics may play a greater role in “food neophobia” (aversion to new foods) than previously believed. The researchers studied 5,390 sets of twins and reported that 78 per cent of neophobia may be genetic, while 22 per cent is due to environmental factors. In other words, we may be born with certain aversions to foods. However, our experiences play a role in our preferences. Other researchers have studied whether exposures to certain flavours during the prenatal and early-infancy stages affect later acceptance of the food. Later, if your first “beverage” was breast milk, you tasted the unique flavours of your mom’s food choices, whether

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that was broccoli, brussels sprouts or other distinctive-flavoured foods. Some researchers have shown that breast-fed babies are more apt to try new foods because they have experienced a variety of flavours. But don’t blame yourself or your mom for picky eating. We all can learn to enjoy new foods. Here’s some tips: • Offer a small amount of the new foods at a time. • Pair the new food with familiar foods instead of providing an array of foods he or she has never tasted. • Try other textures. Some people prefer crunchy, raw broccoli instead of soft and steamed. • Be a good role model. Enjoy the new food together. • Invite kids into the garden. Now is a good time to start planning a garden and researchers have shown that gardening activities can foster a willingness to try the food. • Buy a new food or a different form

of a familiar food at the grocery store. For example, if you like fresh blueberries, consider offering some dried blueberries as a snack for a change. • Be patient. Some researchers have shown that getting a child to try a new food may take 10 or more offers. † Julie Garden-Robinson, PhD, R.D., L.R.D., is a North Dakota State University Extension Service food and nutrition specialist and associate professor in the department of health, nutrition and exercise sciences

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

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MARCH 12, 2012

Home Quarter Farm Life POSTCARDS FROM THE PRAIRIES

Our House Rocks… Get your mind out of the gutter. This is a family-friendly article JANITA VAN DE VELDE

ecently, I found myself uttering the following sentence to my two-yearold: “We, as a family, don’t sneak into the crib and slick our baby brother up like a seal with Daddy’s Old Spice deodorant.” Now this got me to thinking — I often find myself making reference to the collective “we.” We don’t do that or We really like this or We shouldn’t say that. This gave me an idea: I was going to create a set of house rules, paste them up on the fridge and be done with it. House rules — the rules all inhabitants of said household shall follow. Don’t like ’em? Move out. Period. This way, no one’s the bad guy, that’s just the way this house rolls. So my husband and I took a crack at creating the initial list. We then reviewed it with Jack, as we felt his input was important so he felt part of the solution. If they think it’s their plan all along, they shall lovingly embrace it and follow it. (Rule of Directing, 101.) Now before I share what we came up with, I have a confession to make. I loved the overall concept of coming up with this list, but it got me to thinking: kids hate rules. Hell, for the most part, adults hate rules. Yes, they’re important and make sense (for the

most part… that’s under the grand assumption that the person making them possesses a modicum of common sense), although no one likes being told what to do. So I thought on this and came up with a solution. Why not find a fun way to get the same message across in a way that might be a little more stimulating for the kids? Use something we have an abundance of here on the Prairies? Here’s what I came up with. I’ve written each declaration on a rock and numbered the other side; not only can they play with the rocks (and in all likelihood, eventually throw at each other’s heads), but it’ll help them learn their numbers. Two birds, one stone. Oh, friends, my cleverness rears its ugly head from time to time, and there’s no taming that beast. And the kids? They LOVE them. They take them out, ask us to read them, line them up in order and then put them back in their box. Occasionally, James tries to eat one; really, there’s no end to the fun. So without further ado, here they are — Our House Rocks: ROCK No. 1 — We love each other. No matter what. I’ve written about this before, and I’ll say it again. I firmly believe it’s our role as parents to teach our children how to love each other. No option. You don’t have to be the best of friends with all your family members (in my case, prescription drugs certainly help), but you do have to love them and have their backs when times get tough. Period. Love them for

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who they are, don’t hate them for who they’re not. DO NOT let your kids off the hook on this one. My parents taught me that you stick it out as a family, for better or for worse. It’s the first vow you learn to take and not break. Now parents, be forewarned: the first time you put your son on the time-out chair after incorporating this particular rule, you’ll be admonished (quite fiercely): “What’s rule No. 1 in this house, Mommy? Rule No. 1 is that we love each other. And you’re not

I loved the overall concept of coming up with this list, but it got me to thinking: kids hate rules loving me right now by putting me on this chair!” Oh, sweetheart. It hurts me more than it hurts you. (Not really, but I’ve heard other parents say this. I want to appear equally charming and maternal.) ROCK No. 2 — We are nice and thoughtful. ROCK No. 3 — We hug after fights and say sorry. Gently. (Jack asked me to add the “gently” bit… when I asked him what he meant he said you’re not allowed to shout it. It has to be gently. Wise little dude.) ROCK No. 4 — We always use our manners.

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ROCK No. 5 — We cover our mouth when sneezing. ROCK No. 6 — We don’t pick our nose. Unless it’s stuck. (The last part was another addition from Jack. He makes a valid point; if God hadn’t intended for us to go on in there, he wouldn’t have made our fingers fit so beautifully.) ROCK No. 7 — We take turns with toys and share. ROCK No. 8 — We listen to each other, we don’t interrupt and we’re respectful when talking back. (We allow talking back,

as most things we tell them lead to questions or comments, which we encourage. We just ask that it’s done, gently.) ROCK No. 9 — We always tell the truth. (We don’t ever want them to be afraid to tell us what happened. Sh** happens. Let’s talk about it.) ROCK No. 10 — We know that Mommy and Daddy are in charge. (As my mom so cleverly shared with me, kids come to live with you, not the other way around. They become part of your life, they don’t run it. Your choice.) ROCK No. 11 — We all pitch in to help with chores. Even during playoffs. (The latter being added for my husband. It’s bound to sink in one day.) ROCK No. 12 — We talk about our favourite things every day. ROCK No. 13 — We read a story every day. ROCK No. 14 — We say our prayers every day. ROCK No. 15 — We stay in our own beds for a good night’s sleep. (Translation: We don’t wander the house during the night like an intruder, only to give our mother a heart attack when she opens her eyes to find us breathing on her face.) ROCK No. 16 — We don’t push, hit, bite, punch or kick. (Addition from Jack; this is a very important rule in school and day care and he insisted it be included. For the record, I refrain from doing any of said things to my children.) ROCK No. 17 — We don’t jump BY DAN PIRARO

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from the roof because we will hurt our self and die. (Final addition from Jack; he was so serious when he said it that I had to add it. Better safe than sorry.) ROCK No. 18 — Our House Rocks — with silliness, laughter, singing and dancing. One of my favourite quotes is from the author Shauna Neiguist and it goes as follows: “I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. And I don’t want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing out loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact colour of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down, and I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift.” Although the “stay up all night laughing” is in direct violation of ROCK No. 15, this quote is how I want to live my life, and in doing so, pass the gift on to my children. I want God to know that we love his gift… that our love for it is staggering. I’m sure over the coming years, modifications will be made — some rocks will be changed out, some will stay, some will go, new ones will be added. Take Turns might morph into Be Gracious and No Nose Picking may turn into Please talk to us before you make any big decisions about your body. But for now? They work. As for my rocks? They’re the people who live in this house — when things shift around me and I can’t see through the darkness, they’re my light. When I feel like I can’t go on, they’re my strength. They’re the rocks I pray are with me the rest of my days. † Janita Van de Velde grew up on a farm near Mariapolis, Man. She holds a bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics from the University of Manitoba, and has worked for a financial institution since graduating. She lives in Regina, Sask., with her husband Roddy and their children Jack, Isla and James. Her first novel, Postcards Never Written, was the recipient of the Saskatchewan Reader’s Choice Award and also listed by CBC as one of the top funny books in 2009. She donates a portion of proceeds from the sale of her book to World Vision. For more information, or to order her book, visit her website at www.janita.ca. Follow her blog at www.postcardsneverwritten. blogspot.com. It’s her yet-to-be-rated material. Consider yourself warned

BY DAN PIRARO

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MARCH 12, 2012

grainews.ca /

Home Quarter Farm Life

Slow down — life is precious BY CHRISTALEE FROESE

s Louis Giroux stepped down from his tractor on a September day in 1979, it crossed his mind that he should turn the PTO off. But it was harvest, time was of the essence and he was confident that unplugging his pull-type combine would take just a few seconds. Those few seconds are ones Louis wishes he had back. “That one second can be the difference between life or death,” said the Montmartre-area grain farmer. In an instant, he found himself sucked into the header of his combine. “I unplugged it and all of a sudden it just took off and caught my pant leg.” The only thing that prevented Louis, who was 29 at the time, from being swept into the combine was the hard heel of his cowboy boot that caught under the centre strand of the feeder chain. In an instant, he was trapped under the auger with three metal prongs having gone through his leg and his body being inched toward the combine intake. Fortunately, the clutch would get overheated and would kick out, giving Louis about five minutes to breathe and regain his strength. But when the mechanism cooled, it would kick in again. He hung on for his life, literally, holding with all his might to the bottom of the auger while keeping his leg braced against the combine. While his leg had been punctured all the way through three times, twice in the thigh and once in the calf, he didn’t feel any pain. “When you’re going to die, there isn’t much feeling in your body — it’s more of a mental thing.” Hope returned when Louis heard his neighbours in the next field shutting down for the night. Though he could hear their voices, his anguished screams for help could not be heard over the noise of his running tractor. The neighbours left, not knowing that their fellow farmer was slowly being pulled into his combine, inch by inch. “I talked to the Lord a lot and hoped that things were going to turn out.” Back at the farm, Louis’s wife Gina was busy bathing their young children, Tanya, 5, and Kevin, 3. She had dropped off supper to her husband in the field around 6:30 p.m. and she knew he probably wouldn’t get back to the house until around 10 p.m. As 10 p.m. approached and there was no sign of Louis, she thought he probably stopped at a neighbour’s house for coffee, which wouldn’t have been unusual. The registered nurse lay down, only to wake up at 11 p.m. with an uneasy feeling. “I just left the kids and went.” When Gina saw the combine still running in the field, her instinct told her that something was terribly wrong. Her worst fears were realized when she saw her husband lying beneath the combine. Gina knew she had to turn the tractor off, but she wasn’t experienced with equipment and she feared the worst. “I was panicking and I knew if I did the wrong thing, it would suck him into the combine.” Louis was able to get his wife to shut off the fuel switch and the combine died. The trapped

farmer doesn’t remember anything after that. He assumes he passed out from sheer exhaustion and mental anguish. “I ran to the neighbours and I was just screaming, ‘Louis is caught in the combine,’” recalls Gina. It took several neighbours an hour to remove the young farmer from his combine, after which time he was transported to the hospital. While the physical wounds in his leg were quickly healed, the nightmare of fighting for his life for four hours took its toll. Louis couldn’t keep any food or water down for days, being hospitalized and put on intravenous for a week before he was able to go home. By the next harvest, Louis had a new self-propelled combine, with his work habits and attitude having been changed forever. “You learn to appreciate life a lot more because not many people who get caught

like that have an opportunity to come out of it.” Farm safety is now paramount on the Giroux farm. “When it comes to fixing safety things on your equipment, take time to do it because an accident happens in a split second and it’s pretty hard to explain to a spouse that someone is gone because you didn’t take the time to repair something.” With Louis’s son Kevin now farming alongside his dad, and Kevin’s four-year-old son Sebastian on the scene, safety never leaves the minds of the Giroux family. “Nobody moves a piece of equipment on this farm without walking around it and checking it first.” Gina says she is extremely vigilant about remaining in contact with Kevin and Louis whenever they are in the field, always tracking their whereabouts and the times when they are expect-

Louis and Gina Giroux now make sure that farm safety is a top priority. ed back at the house. “Now we have radios in every piece of equipment and we all have cellphones,” said Gina, adding that if someone misses their estimated arrival time by even 10 or 15 minutes, she jumps in

her vehicle to check out why they’re late. Louis’s message to farmers is a simple one — “Slow down. Life is more precious than dollars.” † Christalee Froese writes from Montmartre, Saskatchewan

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MARCH 12, 2012

Home Quarter Farm Life SINGING GARDENER

Cucumbers, roses, seed sources… The list goes on. Keep reading for a whole lot of info on these and others TED MESEYTON

hybrid cucumber that’s cool as a breeze; a new rose from the Canadian Artists group, a source where gardeners can buy heirloom and open-pollinated tomato seeds and seed potatoes… plus a shrub fit for a queen. Do you mind if I cram a lot of information in this Grainews issue. How be it if I share an email for starters? Hi Ted: My town is Thorhild, Alta. “Your articles in Grainews are always so interesting. I saved many of them and I’m just wondering if all those tips are in a book or is a CD available. Over the years, I’ve had many, many kinds of tomatoes. I’m still on the search for a tomato with a thin skin and the flavour I remember from my childhood. A low-acid tomato would be nice for canning. What would be your recommendation? And a last question: Do you know of a company that sells German Butterball potatoes? I’m sure you already have the windowsills full of little seedlings. I send them my best growing wishes from Alberta.” — (From) Barbara A. Kaiser Singing Gardener replies: I have neither a book nor a CD with all my tips from past and current columns, but am working on such a project. To buy old-fashioned heritage tomato seeds to meet every need go to the following websites: www. u p p e rc a n a d a s e e d s . c a o u t o f Toronto or www.heritageharvestseed.com at Carman, Man. German Butterball seed potato and numerous other varieties can be purchased from Eagle Creek Seed Potatoes, Bowden, Alta. TOM OKO; visit www.seedpotatoes.ca or phone toll free 1-877-224-3939. As I write this, I have no seedlings on my windowsills. By the time you read this Grainews issue, things may have changed. And thank you to Barbara for her best growing wishes from Alberta which I also pass along to every reader.

THE REAL COOL BREEZE HYBRID CUCUMBER I was talking with Vicky Berg, seed manager at Early’s Everything for the Gardener in Saskatoon. Vicky tells me she has a real good supply of the true-to-name seeds for Cool Breeze cukes. If you missed out in the past, that shouldn’t happen this year. Cool Breeze is among the earliest of cukes (45 days after germination) that sets bitter-free fruits without cross-pollination. The unique skin is dark green, thin, sweet and juicy. There are numerous nutrients in cucumber skin not found elsewhere in the flesh, so please don’t peel and throw it in the compost bin. Those gardeners seeking to grow low-acid, deeprosy-pink, heart-shaped Oxheart tomatoes can also get seeds from Early’s. You can phone Early’s at 1-800-667-1159 or shop online at www.earlysgarden.com. SO YOU WANT TO GROW A SHRUB ROSE … that’s hardy in Zone 3 with little or no protection. May I recommend a new one for 2012? It’s called Bill Reid rose, the latest in the Canadian Artist Rose series. It’s named to recognize the acclaimed Haida sculptor. If you’ve been wanting a really good yellow shrub rose, then Bill Reid rose is the one. It grows on its own roots and is a generous repeat bloomer on a robust shrub that’s 0.9 m (three feet) tall with similar spread. Pink, red and white shrub roses… look out! This year, you’ve got competition for the spotlight from Bill Reid’s yellow rose. Ask for it at your local garden centre this spring, or try McFayden’s in Brandon, phone 1-800-205-7111 or visit Jeffries Nurseries, Portage la Prairie.

IS THERE A PLANT FIT FOR A QUEEN? Indeed there is! Amber Jubilee Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius “Jefam”) originated as a seedling resulting from the cross Diabolo x Dart’s Gold. It was hybridized by Rick Durand at Jeffries Nurseries, specifically for and named in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

PHOTO: EARLY’S OF SASKATOON

For pickling or fresh eating, Cool Breeze is a cool cucumber. This remarkable French gourmet cuke requires no pollination and virtually 100 per cent of its flowers produce fruit.

A UNIQUE BLEND OF DAZZLING FOLIAGE COLOUR … is waiting to unfold and gardeners who plant Amber Jubilee Ninebark will be more than delighted. What a nice size too with a height/spread of 1.75 m (five to six feet) by 1.5 m (four to five feet) and hardy for Prairie Zone 3. It makes an attractive standalone specimen. Or, plant several in a medium-high shrubbery group that will certainly add value to the landscape. Culturally, best performance will be achieved in moderate to full sunshine, although it is suited to a wide range of soil types and growing conditions. There appears to be no specific issues with pests and disease. During early summer, new growth emerges in shades of yellow and orange, maturing to a lime green and later turning crimson and purple for the fall season. An annual pruning of stem tips is recommended to assist Amber Jubilee at always looking its finest. You’ll be more than amazed how Amber Jubilee provides a kaleidoscope of foliage colours throughout the three seasons of spring, summer and autumn. Besides excellent vigour, tidy, delightful white flower clusters in rounded form will appear as a bonus.

SUE ARMSTRONG

What more could a gardener ask? No wonder Amber Jubilee Ninebark is considered a crown jewel among shrubs. Many nurseries and garden centres across the nation have ordered it for sale this spring. Interest among gardeners and landscapers is expected to be high.

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LOVE HEARING FROM YOU Do you have a story about a farm or home-based business? How about some household management tips? Does someone in the family have a special-diet need? Share some of your meal ideas. Send them to FarmLife, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba R3H 0H1. Phone 1-800665-0502 or email susan@ fbcpublishing.com. Please remember we can no longer return photos or material. — Sue

PHOTO: JEFFRIES NURSERIES, PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE

Distinct yellow roses on a hardy shrub have been difficult to come by, but not any more. Bill Reid shrub rose originated at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Morden Research Station. This is an outstanding rose for our harsh Prairie conditions and even merits testing in Zone 2. The single, self-cleaning yellow flowers generously appear on a compact, disease-resistant and vigorous plant, performing well in full sunlight and well-drained soil. Bill Reid shrub rose demonstrates significant resistance to powdery mildew and some resistance to black spot.

PHOTO: COURTESY DR. PHILIP RONALD

The Singing Gardener tells why Amber Jubilee Ninebark ought to be the next shrub for your landscape project. What is Ninebark? It is any of several shrubs belonging to the genus Physocarpus of the rose family, having bark that separates into thin layers, whence cometh the name.

Molasses can serve a great purpose in the garden, but that’s for another column. Let me ask… Do you ever make homemade doughnuts or anything requiring a glaze? Well in that case, let me tell you about this doughnut glaze. Mix together, 1 cup (250 ml) of icing sugar, 3 tablespoons (45 ml) pure maple syrup and 1 teaspoon (5 ml) cooking molasses. If you desire a more pronounced molasses flavour, use blackstrap instead. Stir in 1 teaspoon of milk, or a few more drops at a time to make a creamy glaze that pours, but isn’t runny. Dip doughnuts, or gently brush a touch of glaze on tops and let sit until firm. To add a bit of crunch, the doughnuts can then be sprin-

kled with either gingersnap cookie crumbs, finely chopped walnuts or a smidgen of powdered cinnamon. Anyone with a milk allergy can try substituting almond milk instead. Here’s another option. If you want a bit of a peppery spark when biting into a doughnut, try dusting them by hand or shaking them inside a large plastic bag with the following mixture. Combine 1 cup (250 ml) icing sugar, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) cinnamon and a skimpy 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Make sure these dry ingredients are well mixed for even distribution. The cayenne pepper can be adjusted more or less to suit individual taste. † This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie, Man. Never stop learning. I’ve discovered that one of the best classrooms is in the garden. Walking the garden path and learning about weeds, wild plants, herbs, flowers, vegetables, trees and shrubs provided many delight-filled hours as a child and did wonders for me as an adult. Life’s lessons never stop. Let me ask. Have you visited a senior lately? Sometimes all a person needs to make their day is a hand to hold and a willing heart that listens and understands. There’s wisdom in those years. My email address is singinggardener@mts.net.

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