GNN120604 by Farm Business Communications

Volume 38, Number 12 | June 4, 2012

$4.25

PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER

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Don’t use desiccants to hasten maturity When a pre-harvest dessication is necessary, keep in mind that it won’t speed up maturity BY ANGELA LOVELL

esiccants are designed to quickly dry down the crop, as well as any green weedy material growing in the crop that might otherwise hamper harvesting operations. “It’s a common misconception that herbicides put on prior to harvest, whether it’s a desiccant or something like glyphosate, will hasten maturity — which is not the case,” says Clark Brenzil, provincial weed specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. “In large part what you are doing is trying to address some of the harvest issues that occur when you have an indeterminate growth habit in a plant,” says Brenzil. “Typically that is going to be for a broadleaf crop, and pulse crops tend to be the most commonly desiccated.” In indeterminate plants, such as pulses, flowers are produced at the bottom and continue to be produced all the way up as the plant grows. This results in mature pods at the bottom of the plant and greener material at the top. “The idea with desiccation is to dry out that green material very quickly so that you can get in there and harvest

the mature pods down at the bottom,” says Brenzil. Crop desiccants such as Reglone are contact herbicides that interfere with photosynthesis. This causes the plants’ cells to break down and release the liquid contents, allowing plant material to dry down rapidly. Water droplets can often be seen pooling on the leaf surfaces shortly after application of desiccants.

GLYPHOSATE Although glyphosate products are not desiccants, it’s a common misconception that glyphosate applied prior to harvest will act as a desiccant. “There is often a blurring of the term,” says Brenzil. “Farmers will often say ‘we’re desiccating with glyphosate’ and that’s not the case. Glyphosate kills plants; then it’s left to Mother Nature to dry them down.” More correctly, says Brenzil, farmers use a pre-harvest application of glyphosate to control perennial weeds. “The glyphosate circulates in the plant and gets down to the roots and controls that perennial weed,” he says. “Pre-harvest is a particularly good time of year to achieve that, particularly the further north you go.”

Incorrect timing of pre-harvest herbicides can actually have a negative impact on maturity, says Brenzil. “The maturation process is more than just the dry-down of the plant. The first step in maturation is the filling of the seed and then once the seed is filled, it starts going through that drying down process,” he explains. Herbicides applied too early can interrupt the process of seed filling, resulting in yield loss. There is also a danger of herbicide residue ending up in the seed, a particular concern when using glyphosate, for which some European countries have set very low maximum residue limits in pulse and other crops. “Glyphosate is a systemic product, which means that once it enters the plant it will get into the circulation system and move through the plant to the same places that the sugars are going, which are called sinks,” says Brenzil. “The sink at the pre-harvest timing is the seed. So basically what you are doing by applying early is taking what is applied to the surface of the leaf and putting it right into the seed.” For this reason glyphosate should not be used as a pre-harvest application when growing pulse crops for seed the following

PHOTO: ROBERT KLEWCHUCK, SYNGENTA

This 2010 lentil crop was desiccated with Reglone in 2010. The photo shows a complete dry-down, including the lentil stems. year, because of an increased risk of poor emergence.

DESICCANTS AND FROST Desiccants are contact herbicides which only have impact on the tissues they come into contact with. They do not move systemically through the plant. Another myth about pre-harvest treatments, whether desiccants or glyphosates, is that they can protect a crop from the damage caused by a frost, similar to swathing. “When a crop is swathed there is still some subsequent matura-

In This Issue

Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240

tion of the seed as the swath dries, but with herbicides you are simply killing the crop prematurely,” says Brenzil. “Desiccation could be seen as the chemical equivalent to frost and performs roughly the same process except it is ice crystals that form within the cells that puncture membranes and release the cell contents to the air. It is doubtful that a crop treated with glyphosate will be dry enough when a predicted frost materializes to protect it at all. Producers are just throwing away their money

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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

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

Crop Advisor’s Casebook

Columns ........................... 13 Cattleman’s Corner .......... 19 Machinery & Shop ............ 39

Combine consultant says we’re setting them wrong T:10.25” SCOTT GARVEY PAGE 39

COULDA

SHOULDA

WOULDA

Keeping those old bins in use

FarmLife ............................ 47

RON SETTLER PAGE 37

DID PROSARO T:3”

Visit us online for Demonstration Strip Trial (DST) results at BayerCropScience.ca/ ItPaystoSpray BayerCropScience.ca/Prosaro or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative. Always read and follow label directions. Prosaro® is a registered trademark of Bayer. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.

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JUNE 4, 2012

Wheat & Chaff LEEANN MINOGUE

“Elmo’s so crabby even his blood type in negative!”

This is our harvest issue. It’s hard for me to focus on harvest. We haven’t had one on our farm since 2010, and earlier this spring it seemed possible that it would be another year and a half before we needed the combine. After last year’s floods, by late April it was still pretty wet in southeast Saskatchewan, especially in fields that weren’t worked last year. My husband likes to seed early, but it was too wet. And then it rained. The first few rainy days were OK. After he got things ready to go, Brad had some paperwork to catch up on. But when the clouds set in on Day 3, worry set in. Neither of us wanted to say, “Is it last year all over again?” On Day 4, I accidentally said, “I hope this rain stops. I have 20 bucks tied up in garden seed I really want to get into the ground.” (Yes. I realize a jury of farmers would see this as fair grounds for divorce. Or homicide.)

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Some farmers claim that seeding is their favourite time of year. I see it as a short window of time with a ridiculously high level of stress. If you don’t get your crop seeded, the information in Grainews is more depressing than helpful. “Leaf disease? I just wish I could get leaf disease,” I imagine a flooded-out farmer saying, flipping through a March issue. Grain farmers don’t have it easy like weather forecasters or Grainews editors. Inaccurate forecasters can try again tomorrow at noon. If there’s a typo in Grainews, I have 17 more issues this year to try to get it right. (Thank goodness. See below.) But if it’s too wet to seed during the short seeding window, a farmer’s whole year is shot. With no crop in the ground, there’s nothing left to look forward to until next year. Everything a flooded-out farmer might want to do — cultivate, spray, move to the Sahara — costs money, money that won’t be offset by canola sales. Here at Grainews, we like to supply helpful “how-to” lists. I thought about calling an expert to ask for “10 ways to cope with a wet spring.” Then I thought again. You already know what kind of things these experts are going to tell you: phone a friend, get away from the farm, appreciate the extra time you have to spend with your family. Last year, we learned the hard way that it’s way easier to read that sort of list (or even write it) than it is to actually follow one. We are lucky. The sun came out and Brad got into the field on May 12. (See a photo on page 52 along with Richard Kamchen’s article on spring

Harvest issue seeding conditions.) We may not seed all the acres we’d like to (it’s raining right now, and the soybean seed is still in bags). But we’re in the game. Not being able to seed is just plain frustrating. And arguably, the hardest part of farming.

THREE WAYS TO MAKE WOMEN HAPPY I was far from the only woman picking up fertilizer at the Weyburn Inland Terminal this week. On the May long weekend, there were so many women around that one (male) farmer waiting in the office for his load laughed and said, “I feel like a minority here! Every farm wife is home this weekend and driving truck!” Instead of a list of ways to cope with rainy weather, I offer our male readers a list of three things NOT to do when you’re waiting to pick up fertilizer and spot a woman in line. 1. Don’t ask, “How’s your husband coming with seeding?” If she’s in the truck, she’s part of the seeding operation. Just say, “How’s seeding?” 2. Don’t hop in her truck and drive it under the spout without asking first. This happened to me a couple of years ago, when someone assumed I couldn’t manoeuvre under the fertilizer spout. While it’s always polite to ask a lady if she would like help, make sure we need it first. 3. Don’t assume she knows all the “rules.” Many women are busy with full-time jobs and kids, and only have time to do relaxing things like haul fertilizer once in a while. We might not know all the etiquette, like where you’re supposed to hang out while you’re waiting for your load, and which way the lineup works. This might seem like conflicting advice: “Don’t hop into my truck,” but “tell me where to stand.” How about this: Just treat us as competent farmers, working to get the job done.

FARM PROGRESS Last November the Trade Show News Network (TSNN) recognized the Western Canadian Farm Progress Show as Canada’s largest trade show. By TSNN’s measurements, last year’s Farm Progress show was 1,189,783 square feet. That’s amazing. (Or, as Lee Hart points out on page 26, “a lot of walking.”) Not only is the show big, it’s also long running. This is its 35th year. Over the years, lots of new technology has been unveiled at this show. This year will be no different. Versatile will introduce a brand new combine — the first new combine to be launched in Canada in more than a decade. Even if you’re not in the market for a new combine, the farm show can give you new ideas for your farm.

CORRECTION Our April 16 cover story was about micronutrients. In a paragraph about the difficulties of getting products registered, Grainews said: “Only one micronutrient product, Loveland’s Awaken ST, distributed in Canada by UAP, has received CFIA registration.” What we should have said was that UAP’s product is the only liquid micronutrient registered with the federal government. It is not the only micronutrient registered for seed application. Wolf Trax Inc.’s dry product, Protinus Seed Nutrition, was registered for use in Canada in March, 2010. Protinus is a seedapplied micronutrient fertilizer comprised of 40 per cent zinc and 10 per cent manganese for the promotion of early seedling growth. Jennifer Bailes, director of seed products and innovations for Wolf Trax Inc., says, “Protinus has been adopted by several large seed companies and farmers. For example, it was offered on proprietary canola hybrids from Viterra this past season. It’s also available to homeowners across Canada on C-I-L Golfgreen brand grass seed.” Protinus Seed Nutrition has been extensively tested on a wide variety of crops, including corn, cereals, canola, soybeans, grasses, vegetables, cotton and peanuts, across many different geographies. The product is currently sold in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Europe. Grainews regrets this error, and I apologize to freelancer Lisa Guenther, who included correct information in her original draft of this article.

AND MORE CORRECTIONS In our April 2 issue, we ran a story on sea buckthorn berries. The photo that ran with this story should have been credited to photographer Jenna-Lyn van Zyl. Then, on April 16, we ran an article profiling Linda Nielson. We led off by saying “Linda Nielson believes keeping an older line of equipment running is helping to keep her farm in the black.” We ended the story by misquoting Linda. Of course she didn’t say, “You need to go big to make money.” Linda likes working with older equipment, and her philosophy is: “You don’t need to go big to make money.” That article about Linda Nielson ran in the machinery section as part of our “Keep it going” series, where we profile farmers with the know-how and passion to run older farm equipment. If this describes you or someone you know, get in touch with me or our machinery editor, Scott Garvey (scott.garvey@ fbcpublishing.com). Your story (and pictures of your tractor) could be featured in Grainews. Leeann

JUNE 4, 2012

grainews.ca /

Wheat & Chaff Farm safety

Canola production

If it harms pests it can harm humans

eeds, insects and fungi — these pests can threaten yields and your bottom line. So when careful field monitoring uncovers a particularly unwelcome pest, most grain farmers reach for the appropriate pesticide and take aim. But eliminating the European corn borer, club root fungus or sowthistle shouldn’t come at the expense of your health and wellbeing. After all, what’s harmful to pests can also be harmful to humans. So make sure to wear protective equipment appropriate to the task. There are four ways that pesticides enter the body: absorption, inhalation, ingestion or injection. Moist areas of the body are particularly absorptive, especially the eyes, groin, armpits and ear canals. To protect the body, wear chemical-resistant coveralls with elastic cuffs and a hood. The legs of the cover-

alls should go over the top of footwear, not inside. Footwear should be impervious to chemicals. Runners or leather shoes are a no-no. They absorb chemical splashes, increasing the chemical exposure of the foot. Hands should be covered with unlined gloves resistant to the chemical being handled. They should also have long gauntlets to protect the arms from any inadvertent exposure, such as chemicals dripping up the arm. Chemicals can also be inhaled through the nose and mouth. To protect your airways, make sure your face is covered with a half-face chemical cartridge respirator and safety goggles or a splash shield. Once a pesticide has been applied, the mist, dust, powders or fumes don’t just disappear. They can linger on your body, clothes, or other objects. That’s why it is important to wash up thoroughly before using the washroom, touching

Fungicides

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

Wait to write off frostbitten canola

anola growers pondering their next steps after heavy frost need to wait a few days for some of the answers, the Canola Council of Canada suggests. Some canola-growing areas of southern Alberta logged temperatures as low as -8 C in early May, the council said, leaving farmers wondering whether the crop could survive, whether they need to reseed and when or if they should resume weed control. It may take a few days to accurately gauge a frost-touched crop’s survival rate, the council says. Where the risk of crop damage would be “minimal” through a light frost of 0 C to -2 C, it would take time for new leaves to start emerging from the growing point between the plant’s cotyledons. “If no growth occurs within

this time, the plant is likely dead,” the council says. “Also, if the stem is pinched off or the plant flops over, the plant will likely die. The pinchedoff or broken stem cannot provide nutrients to the growing point.” Check the whole crop the day after a frost and three to four days after a frost to assess the situation, the council recommended. If many plants have been killed, it takes a few days to determine the kill rate, which would inform a farmer’s decision on whether to reseed a field. “If one or two plants per square foot have survived and if that stand is fairly consistent throughout the field, the best choice is probably to leave it alone,” the council said. † AgCanada.com

Seed packaging

Syngenta introduces new fungicide

yngenta Canada Inc. has added Fuse fungicide to its cereal portfolio for protection against one of the most serious cereal diseases, fusarium head blight (FHB) in spring wheat, winter wheat and durum, in time for the 2012 growing season. “Fusarium head blight continues to be a growing concern with cereal growers as it can affect quality and yield,” says Eric Phillips, asset lead, fungicides and insecticides, for Syngenta Canada Inc. “Growers know the importance of protecting the cereal crop throughout the season and particularly at its most critical time during the flag leaf growth stage. With Fuse now included as part of our cereal package, Syngenta has products which offer complete protection of cereal crops, from establishment through harvest.” Fuse is a Group 3 fungicide with the active ingredient tebuco-

food or utensils or handling anything that goes into the mouth. Even licking unwashed lips can result in the ingestion of harmful chemical into the digestive system. Lastly, watch out for sharp objects such as nails, wires or staples that may be contaminated. If one of these objects accidentally pierces the skin, you could be inadvertently injecting chemicals into your body. As you invest time in pest control, remember to plan to protect yourself and your workers. For more information on pesticide use and personal protective equipment, download the booklet called “Safe Handling & Use of Agricultural Chemicals and Biological Materials” from www.safemanitoba.com (search on the site for “safe handling” to find it quickly.) †

nazole. In addition to effectively managing fusarium head blight in wheat, Fuse also controls several leaf and rust diseases found in wheat, barley and oats. For optimal protection against Fusarium head blight, Fuse fungicide should be applied to the cereal crop at head emergence before the disease has a chance to take hold. Fusarium head blight is a fungal disease that can seriously damage cereal crops. Infection of the crop can result in a reduction in yield, grade and end-use quality, with additional losses occurring because of restricted crop rotations, limited variety selection, cost of control measures, as well as reduced marketing opportunities. It is important that farmers are familiar with this damaging disease and incorporate management practices to reduce FHB development in their crops. † www.syngenta.com

photo contest

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT John DeBona sent us this photo. He says, “This is the 2012 crop of owlettes located in our farm’s hayshed, south of Taber. The product that the owlettes are born on cannot be moved from the shed row until the babies are old enough to fly. The same pair of owls have mated and had their offspring in this shed for the last 10 years.” John, they’re adorable! Thank you for sharing this with Grainews readers. A cheque for $25 is on the 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 writeup 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

Soybeans by seed count

ioneer Hi-Bred plans to start selling its soybean products by seed count per unit instead of by weight, beginning this fall for planting in 2013. The DuPont-owned seed company, which until now had sold soybean seeds by the 50-pound (22.7-kilogram) unit, will move to a 140,000-seed-per-unit measure in both Canada and the U.S.

Soybean seeds can potentially vary in size, depending on genetics and growing conditions, which in turn could affect the number of seeds in a 50-pound unit, the company said. “With this change to selling by count, the number of seeds per unit will be consistent for Pioneer customers.” Pioneer’s Chatham, Ont.-based Canadian arm will still sell soybean

seed in “traditional” paper bags as well as its PROBOX units, jumbo bags and PROBulk systems. The Canadian arm’s president, Ian Grant, said the move to the seed count system comes “in direct response to our customers’ wants and needs, providing greater ease and accuracy of fieldby-field planting.” † AgCanada.com

Herbicide

New chemfallow herbicide

ASF Canada has received registration to bring a new chemfallow and post-harvest herbicide to Western Canada. Distinct herbicide, tank-mixed with glyphosate, offers exceptional weed control and resistance management in post-harvest and chemfallow applications, with total follow crop flexibility. Distinct is a breakthrough in

control with a new mode of action. It is made up of a premix of Group 4 and Group 19 active ingredients, giving farmers superior control over perennial weeds that glyphosate alone can no longer control. The latest example on the prairies is glyphosate-resistant kochia. According to recent reports, it will be crucial for western Canadian farmers to manage kochia before it becomes widespread.

“In our trials, we found that Distinct provided sharper control of tough-to-control weeds including kochia, round-leaved mallow and dandelions, while maintaining maximum rotational freedom,” says Joel Johnson, brand manager for western herbicides at BASF Canada. “For a grower, that’s essential.” † BASF Canada Inc., www.agsolutions.ca

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JUNE 4, 2012

Cover Stories HARVEST » CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

green growth as a harvest aid so you can get in there with the combine,” says Klewchuk. “You can get a false sense of success if you apply way too early, because the crop looks dry but you can’t see the maturity of the plant. If the seeds are not ready, applying a desiccant makes them look ready but then you start harvesting and it’s not quite going so well.” To decide when to apply a desiccant, farmers should look at the moisture content of the seed. A general rule of thumb is to desiccate when the seed has less than 30 per cent moisture. In the case of lentils and peas, if the bottom 10 to 30 per cent of the pods on the plant are brown and dry and rattle they are ready for desiccation. In peas, when the bottom pods rattle, meaning the seeds have become detached and the upper pods are turning yellow, the plant is ready for dry down. With beans, producers will often use pod colour and texture to determine timing for desiccation. Usually beans are mature when 80 to 90 per cent of the leaves have dropped off. To desiccate chickpeas, producers should wait until 80 per cent of the pods have turned brown. In general, says Klewchuk, with all pulse crops, the field should have a colour and maturity change prior to applying Reglone. “I view the crop in three tiers,” he says. “The bottom grouping of pods have changed colour with seeds detached and rattling. The middle tier has seed color change and seeds split with no juice. The grower has to determine, if he is going to wait for the top grouping of pods, when and if they will mature in time for harvest.” It’s important to achieve complete coverage of the crop to have a

DON’T USE DESICCANTS TO HASTEN MATURITY if they apply a day or two before the frost.”

WHEN TO APPLY Once the crop is ready, desiccation allows farmers to control the timing of harvest within a relatively short window. Deciding when to use desiccants will often depend upon the amount of variability in the field, says Brenzil, but farmers should time application for when they feel the majority of the crop will be ready. “You might have a situation where you had a dry spring and only 20 per cent of your seed came up and then a rain came two or three weeks later and the other 80 per cent of the seed came up,” says Brenzil. “In this case you really should be timing the desiccant for the later crop because if you desiccate earlier to try and time it for that minority of plants that were early, you will sacrifice yield and quality and there could potentially be residues in the seed that could cause the crop to be rejected altogether.” Robert Klewchuk, Syngenta’s technical lead for Western Canada suggests talking to your local agronomist for a second opinion about when your crop is ready for desiccation. Applying a desiccant too early can affect yield, harvestability and the development of immature seeds. “I always term Reglone as a ‘finisher’, so you are taking a plant that is very mature and applying the product to dry up the rest of the

more complete effect upon a greater number of the plant cells. Applying in the evening, or preferably after dark, will help to give more efficient coverage by reducing evaporation of the water volume, and giving better droplet spread on the surface when the plant surfaces are not hot from direct sunlight. “Most desiccation products are sun activated and the by products that they are producing are a result of the photosynthesis being interrupted. If you can put them on in

“Glyphosate kills plants. Then it’s left to Mother Nature to dry them down.” — Clark Brenzil

the evening when the light levels are low, it allows a certain amount of time for the droplets that have landed on the plant to get into the plant and diffuse out from the impact point before the sun comes up the next day and starts activating the product,” says Brenzil. Lots of water volume and using clean water that is free from particulates is also crucial to achieving good coverage of all the plant surfaces. Use the highest recommended water volumes for best results to ensure good penetration deep into the canopy. Farmers with large acreages to harvest should try to spray in stages and only enough at a time so that they know they will be able to fin-

ish harvest within the window of opportunity.

WHEN TO HARVEST Crops should be harvested as soon as they are ready after desiccation. The longer crops are left past the point when the desiccant has done its work, the more risk there is of pods on the bottom of the plant shattering during dry conditions. Or, crops can rot if wet weather occurs immediately afterwards or weeds can grow back from lateral buds that were not killed. The product label should carry a pre-harvest interval recommendation, but this should be viewed as a guideline as the actual time before the crop is completely ready to be harvested will vary depending on the product rate, how well it was applied and environmental conditions in the days following application. The recommended interval for a desiccant like Reglone might be four to 10 days, but Klewchuk says there are a number of factors which affect the final harvest date. “With Reglone, since it’s just applied to the outside and doesn’t enter the seeds, if your crop is dry the day after you sprayed it you can harvest it,” he says. “That’s not very likely, but the point is if your crop was almost ready to harvest and you sprayed it and you achieved good coverage and weather conditions stay dry, you could be the guy harvesting in two days. If you want to cut corners on water volumes and spray far too early or it rains for five days afterwards you could be the guy waiting 10 to 14 days or longer.” † 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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EXTENDED OUTLOOK FOR THE PRAIRIES Weather Forecast for the period of July 1 to July 28, 2012

Southern Alberta

Peace River Region July 1 - 7 Sunny overall, but with scattered thunderstorms, chance of heavy in places.

July 1 - 7 Often hot. Sunny overall, but with scattered thunderstorms, chance of heavy in places.

July 8 - 14 Mainly sunny aside from scattered heavier thunderstorms on a couple of occasions.

July 15 - 21 Passing heavy thunderstorms on hotter days, otherwise mainly sunny and seasonal conditions.

July 22 - 28 Mostly sunny and seasonal, but showers or thunderstorms occur on a couple of days.

10 / 22 Grande Prairie 67.9 mms

8 / 23 Edmonton

8 / 22 Jasper

56.2 mms

BELOW NORMAL

7 / 22

51.2 mms

Banff

10 / 23 Calgary 69.9 mms

12 / 27 Medicine Hat cms Lethbridge 40.919mms 45.3 mms 26 cms 11 / 21

July 8 - 14 Often hot and sunny. Passing thunderstorms on a couple of occasions. July 15 - 21 Seasonal to hot. Sunshine prevails but heavy thunderstorms occur here and there.

July 15 - 21 Heavier thunderstorms occur here and there, otherwise sunny and often hot.

July 22 - 28 Mainly sunny. Seasonal with a couple of hotter, humid days and thunderstorms.

July 22 - 28 Sunshine and seasonal temperatures most days. Scattered thunderstorm activity.

12 / 24 North Battleford

87.9 mms

July 1 - 7 Mostly warm and sunny. Hotter more humid days bring heavier thunderstorms.

July 8 - 14 Sunny and occasionally hot. A couple of humid days bring heavy thunderstorms.

NEAR NORMAL

9 / 23 Red Deer

Manitoba

July 1 - 7 Seasonal to hot. Sunny aside from scattered thunderstorms, some possibly heavy.

Precipitation Forecast 94.3 mms

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

Saskatchewan

11 / 24 Prince Albert 72.1 mms

12 / 23 The Pas

ABOVE NORMAL

70.2 mms

58.0 mms

12 / 25 Yorkton

12 / 25 Dauphin

13 / 24 12 / 26 64.2 mms 69.3 mms 12 / 27 Gimli Regina 11 / 25 Moose Jaw 58.9 mms 75.0 mms Swift 54.1 mms 14 / 26 12 / 26 Portage 13 / 26 Current 12 / 27 Brandon 76.9 mms Winnipeg 48.9 mms Weyburn 72.1 mms 72.0 mms 60.0 mms 13 / 27 Estevan Melita 11 / 27 61.1 mms

64.8 mms

Subscription prices: For Canadian farmers, $46.20 per year or $72.45 for 2 years (includes GST). Man. residents add 7% PST to above prices. U.S: $43.00 per year (U.S. Funds). Outside Canada & U.S.: $79 per year. ISSN 0229-8090. Call 1-800-665-0502 for subscriptions. Fax (204) 954-1422. Canadian Postmaster: Send address changes and undeliverable copies (covers only) to PO Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3K7. U.S. Postmaster: Send address changes and undeliverable copies (covers only) to 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1. GRAINEWS is printed on recyclable paper with linseed oil-based inks. Published 18 times a year.

68.2 mms

12 / 25 Saskatoon

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

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JUNE 4, 2012

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Features HARVEST

Deciding when to swath canola Agronomist Doug Moisey says if you really want to know whether or not your canola crop is ready, you’ll have to get out of your truck BY LISA GUENTHER

o gauge harvest readiness of canola crops, farmers need to get into the field and pop open seed pods, according to an agronomist. “Seed colour change is the only true measure of maturity. Pod colour, plant colour (aren’t reliable). There are varieties out there that will turn a lighter shade of green, get to almost a yellowish appearance, and the seed inside can be green,” says Doug Moisey, senior agronomist with the Canola Council of Canada. He adds that other varieties will have stems and pods that will be green even when they’ve reached 50 per cent seed colour change. Farmers can start checking for seed colour change 10 to 15 days after the crop flowers. Under normal conditions, the seed colour changes about 10 per cent every three days, so Moisey recommends checking crops regularly. Farmers can scout for late-season insects like bertha armyworms, lygus bugs and diamondback moths while checking seed colour. Moisey says farmers can start swathing as late as 60 per cent seed colour change, and warns against swathing too early. “At the end of the day, you may have to start on the early side, but when we’re talking early, it may be at 30 to 40 per cent seed colour change. But a lot of guys with a lot of acres sometimes will start at 10 or 20. And that can become a concern… Our research showed us that if we went in that earlier side, below 20 per cent seed colour change, we typically lost yield and had quality issues. What can happen, if you’ve got hot, dry conditions happening, you can typically lock in some green seed.”

a truck box and scan the crop for straw coloured shading. Though shading isn’t a reliable sign of maturity, Moisey pulls plants from different shaded areas. Sunlight can affect shading, so Moisey will look at a field from the east and west. Farmers can also set up a diagonal quad line across the field, picking out sites close to the line.

COLOUR INDICATORS Farmers should check eight to 10 plants from each location in the field, making sure they are picking plants representative of the surrounding area. Because the main stem is the first part to mature, Moisey starts with the

middle pod on the main stem. He looks for black dots or mottling on the seeds. He then looks at pods further down the main stem. If

The seed colour changes about 10 per cent every three days there’s colour from the middle of the main stem down, Moisey estimates the plant is at 40 to 50 per cent seed colour change. Banding around the middle of

the seed is a precursor to seed colour change, and is often visible in early or mid-August. Though banded seeds aren’t mature, colour change isn’t far off. After checking the main stem, Moisey pulls pods from the side branches and rolls the seeds between the thumb and finger. The seeds don’t need to be changing colour, but if they are firm, the area is likely ready to swath. If the seeds are watery or mushy, the plant isn’t ready. Thinner plant stands lead to more branching, which will affect how to gauge maturity. “And so the 60 per cent seed colour change on the main stem can be an indicator but you have to determine also where

your yield’s at. Is it on the main stem or is it on the side branches? And that’s how you form your plan of attack,” says Moisey. Moisey stresses that farmers can’t rely on seeding date or pod colour change when deciding when to swath. “The whole bottom line is, you have to get out of your truck,” Moisey says. The Canola Council has more information on harvesting, including a video on assessing seed colour change, at http:// www.canolawatch.org/tag/harvest/. † Lisa Guenther is a communications specialist at Livelong, Sask. Find her online at www. brickhorse.ca

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CHECKING YOUR FIELD Moisey suggests hopping on a quad and choosing 10 to 20 sites within the field, depending on the topography. Farmers should figure out where the yield is, and concentrate on those areas. “Is it the lowlands, is it the side slope, or is it the top of hills, depending on what your weather and moisture’s been like. As well, concentrate in the sample areas on what stage the majority of plants are at and what is the contribution to yield.” If topography isn’t an issue, Moisey likes to stand in the back of BY DAN PIRARO

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JUNE 4, 2012

Features HARVEST

Calculate harvest losses in dollars per hour Small losses can add up to a big expense. Learn how to calculate your harvest losses in dollars per hour BY LISA GUENTHER

arvest is hectic, and adding more items to the to-do list isn’t easy. But failing to check for leaks could add up to big harvest losses. “I talked to one fellow and he had said he was glad that he’d checked because he thought he was doing okay. He checked and he estimated there was probably somewhere around nine bushels an acre in canola that was coming out,” says Les Hill, manager of applied agricultural services at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. Cutting losses to zero isn’t practical; farmers need to decide what loss levels are acceptable. Hill says while people usually think of harvest losses as percentages or bushels per acre, it’s probably easier to think of them in dollars per hour. “Five bushels an acre (of losses) at $10 a bushel, and you’re doing 15 acres an hour, you do the math on that and all of a sudden it adds up to a pretty big number,” says Hill. Hill suggests measuring losses first to see if there’s a problem. Looking at the residue on the field, or even the yield monitors, isn’t a reliable way to gauge losses. Hill recommends placing a pan

under the combine to measure losses. Though some farmers use scoop shovels, it’s hard to hold the shovel under the combine for the same amount of time during each measurement. The Canola Council of Canada outlines a simple sampling process in its enewsletter, Canola Watch. The straw chopper and chaff spreader should be disengaged first so all the straw and chaff drops into the pan. Farmers should put the pan in front of the chaff and straw discharge. Attaching a long handle to the pan makes this easier. The council also recommends holding the pan upside down until it’s in place, then flipping it over, to get a more accurate sample. Farmers then need to separate the seed from the straw and chaff. One way to do that is to pour the sample into a five-gallon pail, then blow out the chaff and straw using a hair dryer.

MEASURING LOSSES Once the seed is clean, it must be measured. The Canola Council recommends weighing it with a scale that measures in 0.1 gram increments. The Council suggests calculating the canola seed’s weight per square foot. If the collection pan’s area is one square foot, this

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is already done. If the collection pan is two square feet, for example, divide the weight by two. Farmers then need to calculate the concentration factor for their combines by dividing the cut width by the discharge width. For example, if the combine cuts a 30 foot strip and discharges trash in a strip five feet wide, the concentration factor is six (30/five). From there, you can use the table to calculate your loss in pounds per acre, or just do the math: first, take the loss per square foot as collected in the pan (measured in grams), and divide it by the conversion factor. (For example, a loss of 4.2 grams per square foot divided by a conversion factor of six equals 0.7 grams per square foot of actual loss.) To see this in terms of pounds per acre, divide it by 0.010413 (in the example, 0.7 divided by 0.010413 equals almost 100 pounds per acre — a loss of two bushels of canola per acre.) Once the per acre loss is calculated, multiply it by the number of acres combined in an hour, and the price per bushel to see how much money you’re losing every hour. Hill suggests developing a routine to systematically check for holes and leaks. Canola can come out the hopper, the covers around the separator, the junction

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between the feeder house and the header and the feeder house and the combine. A fast or slow fan speed can also cause losses. Shoe loss is often a major culprit. “If something happens in the cleaning system where a portion of it quits working, a whole lot of grain can go over very easily and you just are not going to necessarily detect that. The problem is, it’s mixed in with all the chaff so it’s cushioned and it’s just not going to register,” says Hill. Other factors can play into harvest losses, too. When canola dries quickly in hot, dry weather, plant juices will dry into a sticky dust. “The chaff will stick together and stick onto things. And it doesn’t fluidize as well going through the cleaning system,” Hill explains.

WOULDA

Going too slow can lead to losses from underthreshing. Underthreshing signs include pulverized straw dropping through the sieves and cracked seed. The Council suggests widening the concave setting or lowering the cylinder speed. But Hill cautions against going too fast, too. He explains the separator and cleaner in combines with more horsepower are often the same as the internal components in models with fewer horses. “in all of the testing we’ve ever done, it tends to be the more you feed into it, the more you’re going to lose,” says Hill. † Lisa Guenther is a communications specialist at Livelong, Sask. Find her online at www. brickhorse.ca

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JUNE 4, 2012

grainews.ca /

Features TILLAGE

Conservation tillage practices don’t always add up There are many benefits to zero and minimum tillage practices, but phosphorus loss can be a side effect BY MELANIE EPP

onser vation tillage, including zero and minimum tillage, reduces both soil erosion and the transportation of soil-bound nutrients to surface water. While one of the purposes of the practice is to minimize the negative impact of farming operations on the environment, recent studies have shown that even conservation tillage can have environmental trade-offs in some regions. “There’s a broad range of efforts in Manitoba to try to minimize tillage — in all of the Prairie provinces,” says University of Manitoba soil scientist Don Flaten, “But minimizing tillage means something different, depending on what area you are in.” In particular, Flaten points to southeastern Manitoba, where heavy and wet, clay soils leave farmers struggling to make zero tillage work as well as it does in drier areas with sandier soils. From an environmental standpoint, what works well in a wetter climate or on a hillier landscape is not necessarily going to improve the phosphorus situation in the Prairies. Flaten references recent stud-

ies, conducted as part of the Wa t e r s h e d E v a l u a t i o n o f Beneficial Management Practices program (WEBs). WEBs is an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) national initiative; its purpose is to evaluate the performance of best management practices (BMPs) on a small watershed scale. The program’s findings help researchers understand how management affects water and land. They also help producers farmers choose the most effective practices for their operation, given their location. “What we found in our experiments at the twin watersheds site near Miami, Manitoba, is that conservation tillage reduced the losses of sediment, or eroded soil losses. It also reduced the amount of nitrogen losses off of this watershed site,” says Flaten. “But it actually increased the loss of phosphorus.”

PHOSPHORUS LOSS Even before conservation tillage was introduced to the site, erosion wasn’t a major problem. Most of the runoff losses of phosphorus were lost in the dissolved form. What came as a surprise, though, was that after introducing conservation tillage to one

of the two watersheds, the total amount of phosphorus loss due to runoff was actually higher on the conservation tillage site than it was on the conventionally tilled site. “When we introduced conservation tillage — probably a com-

It takes only a very small amount of phosphorus to cause major problems in water quality bination of the crop residues on the surface themselves and some stratification with enrichment of phosphorus concentrations at the very surface of the soil — it increased the susceptibility of the conservation tillage watershed to more phosphorus losses,” says Flaten. Certainly, conservation tillage reduces phosphorus losses in humid environments with sloping landscapes where phosphorus loss

occurs as a result of rainfall runoff. In these environments, erosion can be an important source of phosphorus loading to surface water. Many farmers in Western Canada see the benefits of soil and water conservation practices as well — better crop yields, reduced fuel costs, as well as the overall improvement of farm efficiency — and know that they more than outweigh the small amount of phosphorus that is lost through a conservation tillage system. “It’s not a big deal as far as most farmers are concerned in the Prairies,” says Flaten. “There are so many other benefits to conservation tillage that they’re not going to be too concerned about this one problem that might be associated with it.” While the agronomic losses of phosphorus in both the conventionally tilled and the conservation tillage watershed sites are so small that most farmers wouldn’t notice, the environmental impact from those losses can be profound. It takes only a very small amount of phosphorus to cause major problems in water quality. “There are blue-green algae that fix nitrogen from the air just like a legume crop such as peas or alfalfa and all they need is a little bit of phosphorus in the water —

20 to 50 parts per billion — and they can flourish,” says Flaten. It’s for this reason that Flaten is careful to point out that a beneficial management practice that works well in one situation should not be used as a universal remedy. Instead, researchers suggest that farmers implement additional management strategies — ones that better fit their practice, but continue to further reduce the accumulation of phosphorus on or near the soil surface. “We need to move away from looking at beneficial management practices as cure-alls,” says Flaten. “There are so many other benefits to zero tillage. We don’t want to make that phosphorus issue overly important compared to the many other benefits we see from the practice.” “Even more universal,” he continues, “is the importance of keeping our eyes open for the pros and the cons, the benefits and the side effects of our beneficial management practices. Because it isn’t just conservation tillage that has these potential side effects — it’s almost everything we do in agriculture.” † Melanie Epp is a freelance writer who specializes in writing web copy for small businesses. She is based in Guelph, Ont., and can be found online at melanierepp.com

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JUNE 4, 2012

Features STORAGE

Three steps to better grain storage Don’t roll the dice when it comes to grain storage. Lower your risk of spoilage with these three steps BY JIM BAGSHAW

osing a 1,500 bushel bin to spoilage would make any farmer seethe. But imagine losing a 10,000 bushel bin. The bigger the bin, the more important it is for farmers to ensure that the grain going into storage gets into optimal condition quickly and stays that way through the winter. “The No. 1 mistake growers make is not cooling the grain fast enough,” says Harry Brook, crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development at Stettler, Alta. “Or putting the grain in the bin then forgetting about it. After spending all that time and money producing a crop, improper storage is a needless risk.” Here are three tips for better grain storage.

1. KEEP IT COOL AND DRY Grain condition comes down to two factors: temperature and moisture content. The higher either of these are, the greater the risk of spoilage. Consequently, the faster the grain’s tempera-

ture and moisture level can be decreased, the better and longer it will store. “If you’re putting hot grain into a bin, it’s important to get good air circulation on it right away to get it cooled down and dry,” explains Brook. “Anything between 25 C and 32 C is considered ‘hot,’ so keep an eye on it, particularly when you are harvesting on warm days.” In terms of moisture, the higher the grain’s moisture content, the less time there is to get it dried down before spoilage occurs. Remember that grain considered “dry” in marketing terms may not be dry enough for bins; wheat at less than 14 percent moisture can still spoil if it is not cool enough. The threshold is even lower for oilseeds. Also important to note is that a grain lot’s average moisture content does not necessarily reflect actual moisture content throughout the bin. In other words, if a truckload of grain is between 10 per cent and 17 per cent moisture, grain at the higher end is at greater risk of spoilage. Again, says Brook, the key is to get that grain aerated and cooled to bring

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2. MONITOR Check bins throughout the winter to ensure the grain has not heated up and that moisPHOTO: LEEANN MINOGUE ture hasn’t formed. Both of these Setting up those new bins is just the beginning of a good storage plan. issues can be solved with aeration. “If the grain is dry, check- bags you put in the microwave There are even models that can ing it once a month should be and how they stay hot for so be retro-fitted into non-aerated, sufficient,” explains Brook. long. There’s a slow transfer of flat-bottomed bins. “Producers should be aware heat with grain, so if it’s minus On the monitoring side, OPI of the seasonal temperature and 10 in the middle of winter, that cables can be hung from the roof airflow changes that can occur in grain will probably still be cold of a bin. Sensors placed evenly bins,” he says. Generally speak- in July.” along the cables monitor tempering, if it’s cold outside, then cold ature and moisture throughout air moves down the inside walls the grain, and relay that informa3. TRY NEW TECHNOLOGY of the bin and warm air rises up tion to your computer. the middle, potentially creating a Checking grain condition used Clearly, bigger bins represent a high moisture zone at the top of to be as simple as sticking a probe bigger risk should something go the grain cone. If it’s warm out- into the grain to determine what wrong during storage — putting side, the reverse is true, and the was going on. That’s pretty much all your eggs in one basket, so moisture zone is at the bottom impossible with today’s huge, to speak. As Brook concludes: of the bin. multi-thousand-bushel bins, but “I like that Mark Twain quote: Once grain temperature is there are some new technologies ‘Put all your eggs in one basket below zero, however, it tends that can help. and watch that basket.’ That’s the to be fairly stable, even through The Rocket is an aeration sys- principle of grain storage, right the occasional winter warm spell. tem that is installed directly in there.” † “Grain is a great insulator,” says the bin and forces air right up Jim Bagshaw is the cereals product lead for TW 4 inch - 6 x 6.625 PM Page Brook. “Think of -_AGI those 12-05-04 wheat 1:34 through the1 entire grain cone. North America for Syngenta Canada Inc.

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the moisture content down and uniform throughout the bin. “If you don’t have aerated bins, you’ll have to physically turn the grain,” he says. This means auguring it out of the bin into a truck and back again. The movement releases heat and moisture and helps get the grain into a more stable condition for storage. When the grain is dry and cool enough, he says, seal the bin.

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Features Farm management

Few choices for farm accounting software There is basically one big player in this software market By Patty Rosher

t has been decades since farmers started to put the lids on their shoeboxes and began using desktop computers to keep their books. Over the years, software developers have been busy coming up with applications for all kinds of tasks, but not so for farm accounting. Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) AgExpert Analyst software is still the only major made-in-Canada accounting package developed for farmers. Luckily it hits the mark for most farming operations. Glen Kroeker, the Director of FCC Management Software, explains, “AgExpert Analyst is tailor-made for farmers. So, for example, farmers do not have to set up a chart of accounts from scratch. They can choose from standard farm type accounts.” It also very conveniently prints out reports that meet AgriStability program requirements and enables farmers to manage farm-specific inventory information. It even has a payroll function, which is becoming a more common requirement for farmers with expanding operations. Kroeker says, “We’ve noted an increase in the usage of the payroll portion of the software. Now you’re seeing a shift away from paying in cash at the end of the season to having a more formal payroll.” AgExpert links with FCC’s other software offering, Field Manager PRO, which is a field management software program. “In Field Manager, farmers can bring over real information from their accounting software to improve field budgeting,” Kroeker explained.

is just too small. “To begin with, bookkeeping has to be specific to a country,” said Kroeker. “Then if you’re specializing in one industry, the market becomes even smaller.” There are about 200,000 farmers in Canada. According to Kroeker, software developers are looking for a customer base of more like two million users. Kroeker says that FCC got into the software business when it recognized that there was a gap in the market. It decided to support the AgExpert program as part of its mandate to provide management tools for farmers. “In general, farmers keeping good financial records tend to have a better financial business and their overall management practices are stronger,” said Kroeker.

Accounting 101 Although you don’t have to be an accountant to use a system like AgExpert, Ted Nibourg, business management specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development’s Ag-Info Centre, says that farmers still need to understand accounting principles. “If they don’t know accounting, farmers are going to be in a heap of trouble,” said Nibourg. “You have to know about debits and credits, and understand your chart of accounts. If you don’t, all the computer will do is allow you to do is make mistakes bigger and faster.” Derek Brewin, a professor with the Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics, University of Manitoba, says one example of a potential danger area

is not properly accounting for a shift in the value of inventory over the year. “If I start the year with full bins and have empty bins at the end of the year, I may think I’ve had a good year, but my net worth might be lower,” Brewin explained. It is necessary to ensure that there has been proper accrual adjustments for both inputs and outputs. “If the farmer doesn’t understand that, then they end up misrepresenting the income they had over the year, and then the software is not that valuable,” said Brewin.

On the horizon Kroeker says FCC will be moving AgExpert to a multi-year database platform in November. “What that

will mean for farmers is that it will simplify the year end process and make it seamless to do a cut off and start the new fiscal year.” FCC is also working to deliver stronger management reports, including financial ratios and average selling price. This will make it helpful to improve grain marketing skills, even more important as farmers enter a new wheat marketing era. “Farmers need to know how much money the crop actually made for them,” said Kroeker. AgExpert Analyst costs $399 with a one-year service plan. Farmers can sign up for an annual service plan at $249 per year, which includes any upgrades and unlimited support. † Patty Rosher is an economist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Is that all there is? Many farmers use standard accounting packages such as QuickBooks, Quicken and Simply Accounting and adapt them to a farming situation, and there are still many farmers that use a combination of paper and spreadsheets. Kroeker does not have official numbers on market share, but based on word of mouth, guesses that the most popular alternative to the AgExpert option is a paperbased system. And, as is the way of farmers, there are also home-made solutions. Joe Warwick, former owner of Warwick Computer Consulting in Glaslyn, Saskatchewan, developed his own system when he was farming. “Many farmers invented their own database-driven programs back in the day,” explained Warwick. That kind of innovation is what was behind Farmtool for Windows available from Wil-Tech Software Ltd. in Glaslyn, Saskatchewan. According to Warwick, “Farmtool does just what you want it to do. It’s a single entry farm tool that works exceptionally well. It is exactly what most small farmers need.” There are very few alternatives like Farmtool on the market. There are a number of U.S. farm accounting packages, but they do not accommodate GST, let alone Canadian farm programs like AgriStability. The problem is that the market

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JUNE 4, 2012

Features Farm finance

Minimum Price Contract or Put Option? The potential for an oversized canola crop has many farmers considering pricing options before harvest By Neil Blue

anola prices have risen dramatically since the middle of January. Old crop canola futures rallied almost $120/tonne from their January low to the April high. November 2012 canola futures rallied from a January low of $492/ tonne to a high of $592/tonne on April 10. Strong canola exports, record domestic use to meet increasing demand for canola oil, along with the sharp rally in U.S. soybean prices all supported the canola market. How does a canola producer deal with these prices? First, for all but poor yields, these prices are very profitable. Having established that, what are the supplydemand factors? 2012 seeding prospects are for record canola acres here in Canada. That is reflected in discounted new crop futures and weaker basis levels after July. If a huge canola crop is produced in Canada this year,

prices may drop substantially into harvest-time. Some farmers were pricing “new” crop canola during the rally. However, many canola growers are reluctant to contract physical crop delivery this far ahead of harvest. There is production uncertainty on both volume and grade, with the concern of possibly having to “buy out” of a priced canola contract. Considering the potential tightening supply of U.S. soybeans by next winter, some farmers also fear missing out on higher prices later.

Minimum price contract For those farmers just concerned about locking in too low a price, a minimum price contract with a buyer can offer advantages to a flat price contract. Grain buyers may offer these contracts under different names and with company variations. A farmer could sign a contract for a certain quantity of

canola to be delivered at a later date. A price minimum would be part of the contract. If a higher price becomes available, the farmer can lock in that higher price anytime up until a certain date, typically a date late in the month prior to the relevant month of futures. The basis (cash price relative to futures price) on this minimum price contract is usually set at the time of signing. Setting the basis could be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on what basis levels do. On any given day, the price on the minimum price contract will be less than that for a deferred delivery contract, because the minimum price contract leaves farmers with a price upside.

Put options Put options offer a similar way to lock in a minimum price, although using these may require you to establish your own futures account. An option is a subset of the futures marketT:10.25” and is specific to

a certain commodity and futures month for that commodity. Purchasing a put option would give you the right, but not the obligation, to enter into a “sell” futures position at a predefined price (the strike price) anytime before that option’s expiry date, regardless of what the futures price does. Buying a put option locks in a minimum futures price for a cost (the premium). Since buying a put option is done with a commodity futures broker, the basis is not set with this contract, and there is no commitment for a physical delivery. Here is an example of a put option purchase using numbers from the ICE Canada canola market on April 10, 2012. November canola futures = $590/tonne November $580 Put option premium = $22/tonne Purchasing a November 580 Put option for $22/tonne (plus about $1/tonne commission) would give you the right to cre-

ate a sell futures position in your account at a price of $580/tonne anytime up to expiry of that option on October 26. It is this right that gives the option a value. However, you do not have to exercise the option (i.e., create the sell futures position). It is generally better to just trade out of (sell) the option as an option rather than exercise it, and you can do that any trading day after buying it. The components to an option value will be explained in a future article. The premium (value) of an option is subject to change by open market trading whenever the futures market is trading. Canola option strike prices are $5/tonne apart, so there are many strikes prices available. On days when a particular option strike price does not trade, the commodity exchange uses a computer program to estimate the daily settlement value of that option.

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JUNE 4, 2012

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Features Farm Marketing » CONTINUED FROM Previous PAGE The purchase of a 580 put option at a cost of $22/tonne (plus commission) can be interpreted as locking in a minimum futures price. If the entire premium (cost) was eventually lost (for illustrative purposes), buying that option can be considered as locking in a minimum futures price of $557/tonne (the $580 strike price minus the $22/ tonne premium minus $1/tonne commission). If the futures price falls from the April 10, 2012 level of $590/ tonne, the premium of the $580 Put option will tend to rise. Alternatively, if the futures price rises, the value of the $580 Put option will tend to fall. But, if the futures price rises, it implies that the value of physical canola is also rising (subject to basis). If the option is kept to expiry on October 26, and if then the option has intrinsic value (i.e., November futures below $580/tonne), the 580 put option would be automatically exercised, thus creating a profitable futures “sell” position (not considering the original cost of the option). That sell futures position would then have to be offset at some time before the November futures expires. Again — buying a put option alone leaves the basis portion of price open. That can be a good thing if basis levels for the expected delivery period are considered too weak, or if one does not want at the time to commit to a physical sale to a buyer. The put option is attractive to farmers who are concerned about committing to a delivery with the possibility of a crop shortfall (on quantity or quality), to farmers who have already forward contracted with physical buyers to their comfort level or to those producers who wish to retain the ability to take advantage of possible higher prices. †

Using the new CWB While not all farmers plan to use the CWB once it no longer has a monopoly, there may be some pricing benefits By Daniel Holman

he new CWB has the potential to fill a very important niche in a farmer’s wheat marketing toolbox. If used properly, the CWB will be able to effectively play the role of a farmer’s personal hedge account. Uncertain basis levels and quality discounts allow a wheat marketer to make the case that if a farmer wants to forward sell grain, selling futures is currently the best option.

In the past there have been two ways to accomplish this strategy: (1) The first way to forward sell futures is to open a futures account and manage your own position and margin calls. This strategy is limited in popularity because most farmers are not set up financially and psychologically to get into the market. However, this strategy offers the most flexibility, because it allows the opportunity to deliver the physical grain to the company with the best cash price for the grade grown, while

still protecting futures prices through the futures market. (2) The second way is to sign a hedge-to-arrive (HTA) contract with a grain company which allows you to sell futures and then lock in the basis and grade discounts at a later date. This strategy takes the hedge out of your own account and passes margin calls onto the grain company. Although this hedge will allow for basis changes, it will not allow you to change where your grain is going to be delivered. The new CWB offers a hybrid

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/ grainews.ca

JUNE 4, 2012

Features CROP PRODUCTION

CROP ADVIS0R’S CASEBOOK BY BILL MANNING

wo weeks after Jack — a Manitoba farmer with a 4,500-acre grain operation in the Killarney area — noticed his neighbour spraying the volunteer winter wheat crop adjacent to his own crop, Jack called me to investigate what he thought were signs of spray drift damage to his winter wheat plants. “I saw my neighbour spraying his crop in early flag a couple of weeks ago, and I’m sure whatever he sprayed is killing my crop,” Jack told me. That first week of July, Jack’s winter wheat plants were at the

late flag to early heading stages. The plant population appeared to be thinning out, and the plants were stunted in growth with lines of yellow to white chlorotic streaking on their leaves running parallel to the veins. The majority of the affected areas in the field occurred in random patches next to Jack’s neighbour’s field. His neighbour had let his volunteer winter wheat field go to yield due to the wet conditions the past fall and spring. I noticed that crop was also showing the same signs of damage as Jack’s crop. But the broadleaf weeds in both fields and the grass strip separating the two fields did not exhibit any symptoms of damage.

THE ANSWER IS BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND We asked Jack’s neighbour to join us in examining the two fields. He was surprised and concerned about the symptoms now present in both fields, but said it was impossible that spray drift was the cause. Records indicated that Jack’s neighbour had applied a fungicide to his crop, one that would not have had any negative effects on wheat, and the wind had been blowing in the wrong direction for the sprayer to have caused drift damage. However, I thought the wind had played a role in damaging Jack’s plants. Taking the excessive moisture of last fall and this past spring into account and the patch-like occurrence of the damage in the

area near the boundary between the two fields, I thought it most likely that we were dealing with an infection, and one that was spread by air currents. “We’ll have to wait for lab results to confirm it, but I think the volunteer crop has created a green bridge for carriers of a viral disease — which have infected both of your crops,” I told Jack and his neighbour. “You can’t see them, they’re microscopic,” I said to Jack as he started to examine the surrounding wheat plants. “And the virus they carry can cause losses of a few bushels per acre to complete crop failure.” What disease has infected Jack’s field and what is vectoring the virus? Send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, MB, R3C 3K7; email leeann. minogue@fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop

Bill Manning Advisor’s Casebook. Best suggestions will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a Grainews cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The answer, along with the reasoning which solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File. † Bill Manning is an area marketing representative for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Killarney, Man.

CROP ADVISOR’S SOLUTION PHOSPHORUS GETS SHORT SHRIFT BY MARC MABON

PHOTO: DANIEL WALDSTEIN, NORTH CENTRAL RESEARCH EXTENSION CENTRE, NDSU

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hile neighbouring southern Saskatchewan canola fields were being swathed, one Southey-area farmer’s crop was far behind, and not nearly ready to be cut. Andrew, who farms 2,600 acres of barley, peas, wheat and canola, thought the variety could be at fault for the crop’s delayed maturity, stunting and bluish tinge. “Why is my crop so far behind my neighbour’s?” he asked me. “Could it be the variety? And why is my crop so short?” An initial examination of the plants in the field also revealed the number and size of the plants’ pods were reduced when compared with neighbours’. The root systems were also smaller than average. However, I didn’t think the variety was the problem because Andrew had used one of the best hybrids for the area with a proven track record for vigour, yield and quality. Andrew and I also eliminated any issues surrounding the seeding of the crop, such as timing, rate and depth, as well as insect feeding and herbicide injury as possible causes of the crop’s delayed development. It was the field’s history and fertility records that ultimately provided the key information to solving the puzzle of the crop’s slow maturity. Yields of 75 bushels per acre, 30 bu./ac., and 35 bu./ac. of barley, peas and wheat, respectively, were typical for this field. Last spring, Andrew had applied 80-0-0-20 side-banded with three gallons per acre of seed-placed orthophosphate fertilizer. Like many growers on the Prairies, Andrew thought he was taking care of the fertility needs of his plants, but this was not the case. Past soil test results revealed declining phosphate levels. Therefore, the cause of the stunted, short canola crop was a phosphate deficiency!

Like many farmers in the West, Andrew had underestimated how much nutrient, particularly phosphorus, was being removed by his harvested crops. Previous barley, pea and wheat crops had removed 31.5 lbs./ac., 21 lbs./ac. and 21 lbs./ ac., respectively, of phosphate from the field’s soil. Andrew had been replacing only eight lbs./ ac. with the application of the liquid orthophosphate fertilizer, which led to declining levels of plant-available phosphate. When considering phosphate nutrition, it is important to replace what is being removed from the soil in order to avoid depleting the phosphate available to subsequent crops. Knowing what each crop removes and replacing that amount is essential for healthy plant growth and development. Western Canada is fortunate to have fertile soils that can supply a lot of nutrients; however, over time yields will eventually be affected if the plants’ actual nutrient requirements are not being met. Unfortunately, it was too late to do anything for Andrew’s crop that growing season. The field yielded only 22 bu./ac. — well below the area average. However, this year, Andrew will seed-place from 35 to 40 lbs./ ac. actual of 11-52-0 to restore the depleted soil phosphate to appropriate levels. In the future that rate will be decreased slightly to a minimum of 30 lbs./ac. actual of 11-52-0. Understanding the amount of phosphate each harvested crop removes from the soil and what the different forms of phosphorus in the soil (organic, available inorganic and unavailable inorganic) actually supply to the crop, and applying this information to his phosphorus management should maximize Andrew’s yield and economic returns in the future. † Marc Mabon is a crop input manager for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Southey, Sask.

JUNE 4, 2012

grainews.ca /

Columns SOILS AND CROPS

Potash on the Prairies

Saskatchewan is (mostly) rich in potash. But most Prairie farmers don’t need to apply it LES HENRY

itrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K) and sulphur (S): the four major nutrients that keep us going in Western Canada. The abbreviation “K” for comes from “Kalium” — German for potassium. The first major K mine began at Stassfurt, Germany in 1861. By 1900 Germany was producing more than a million tons of potassium for agricultural purposes. The word “potash” actually comes from the original agricultural source of K fertilizer — putting burnt wood or other “ash” in a “pot” and washing the salts out with water. Early on, it was learned that the K was the valuable part of the ashes rather than the other salts. In fertilizer talk, “potash” refers to K2O, which is just a method of expressing the K content that harks back to early chemistry days when soil analysis for plant nutrients was expressed as the oxide so it would all add up to 100 per cent. There is no K20 in potash fertilizer — the compound is KCl (potassium chloride). When the federal government pushed the metric system down our throats in the 1970s, I tried mightily to get the fertilizer industry to throw out P2O5 and K2O and move to P and K. Not so easy — the fertilizer industry is international.

POTASH DEFICIENCY As early as 1871 in jolly old England they had discovered where the need for potash lay “On light sandy soils and peat soils” (from A History of Agricultural Science in Great Britain, 1620-1954, by E.J. Russell). As the years go by and we grow ever larger crops we are “mining “ our soils for K so a constant watch must be kept — but there are still many of us who can survive very well without the K we dig out of the ground When our K work at U of S was in the heydays of the 1970s, I wrote up a proposal calling for the potash industry and the Saskatchewan

government to establish a potash demonstration farm at Carrot River. They are some of the most K deficient soils in the world and we could work out all the details for using it: placement, rates, soil building, safe rates withseed andso on. Then, we could bring Chinese and other customers to see the experiments in action. But alas, Carrot River was too far from the Saskatoon airport. † J.L.(Les) Henry is a former professor and extension specialist at the University of Saskatchewan. He farms at Dundurn, Sask. He recently finished a second printing of “Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water”, a book that mixes the basics and practical aspects of soil, fertilizer and farming. Les will cover the shipping and GST for Grainews readers. Send a cheque for $50 to Henry Perspectives, 143 Tucker Cres, Saskatoon, SK, S7H 3H7

PHOTO: LES HENRY

This photo was taken at the Eugene Kozun farm, a few miles south and east of Carrot River. Both sides of this barley field are fertilized with N and P. The left also has 120 pounds per acre of K20; no K was applied to the right side. The left side yielded about 60 bu./ac., the right side yielded closer to 10 bu./ac.

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POTASH In Saskatchewan, potash is a very large-P political animal. A very important chunk of our provincial revenue comes from our potash mines. While Saskatchewan sits on one of the best K deposits in the world, most Saskatchewan and Western Canada farmers can get along quite nicely without using it. A 50 bushel wheat crop may have 80 pounds or more of K20 above the ground, but most of it is in the straw and is returned to the soil, so we haul off little. Many years ago I was giving a talk to agronomists in Alberta and I said, “In Alberta, use all the K you want on any soil you want in any amount you want — we have all that good potash under Saskatchewan and we’ll gladly sell it to you.” Having said that, there are places in Saskatchewan (and Manitoba) with some of the most K-deficient soils in the world. They are the Carrot River soils of northeast Saskatchewan and the Almassippi soils of central Manitoba. In the 1960s, 70s and 80s we did dozens and dozens of experiments all over Saskatchewan. In Carrot River we learned that farmers should either apply K or quit farming. In most other areas there might be the odd response of a bushel or three but it is no big deal. When K2O could be bought for $0.10 per pound, adding a few pounds wasn’t significant, but at $0.50 a pound for K2O, it’s a different story. I’ll spend my fertilizer dollars on N and P.

TD is committed to helping farmers build for the future. When the Martin family wanted to raise the productivity of their dairy business, they turned to Dalton Potter for guidance. Dalton is a seasoned TD Canada Trust Agriculture Specialist and a farmer himself, and with his help, the Martins were able to buy a new farm in a prime location. Our understanding of agriculture and financing, combined with a personalized approach, is how we’re helping families like the Martins get exactly what they’re looking for. For more information, visit a branch or go to www.tdcanadatrust.com/agriculture

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JUNE 4, 2012

Columns MANAGEMENT MINUTE

Calculate your actual leverage Leverage can provide a measure of risk on your farm. But make sure to consider the value of off-farm investments ANDREW DERUYCK

purchased Western Canadian grain farms independently and wanted to better understand their respective risk. Information from their balance sheets is shown in the table. At first glance, it appears that Fu and Chu are carrying significantly

MARK SLOANE

hen we work with clients, we almost always start by preparing a detailed balance sheet where we establish a fair market value of assets owned and the liabilities owed against them. This winter we met with three brothers that immigrated to Canada many years ago, Bu, Chu, and Fu. All three started farming and met with us to more clearly understand what their farm financial numbers. We talked in great lengths about liquidity and debt service, but had the most interesting conversation about leverage. All three brothers had

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The industry doesn’t, on average, have large off-farm investments more risk in their businesses given that they are only 59 per cent equity as compared to Bu at 76 per cent. This is because Chu and Fu’s creditors have a greater proportion of funds invested in their assets than Bu, and the rest of the industry. This more leveraged position is viewed as carrying more risk, because if there is a period of operating losses on the farm, there is less room for Chu and Fu to restore liquidity

Chu

$300,000

$500,000

Term assets

$1,800,000

$2,200,000

Total assets

$2,100,000

$2,700,000

Current Liabilities

$100,000

Term Liabilities

$400,000

$1,000,000

Total Liabilities

$500,000

$1,100,000

$1,600,000

Leverage (Debt/Net worth)

0.31

0.69

Equity Ratio (Net Worth/ Total Assets)

76%

59%

Current assets

Net Worth

by terming out shorter term debt. They may not be able to term out this debt and as such, their business may not survive if cash flow is jeopardized or high interest bearing payables are used. Upon closer examination, we see that Fu has $100,000 in a Tax Free Savings Account, $100,000 in RESP’s, $100,000 in RRSP’s, and $100,000 in AgriInvest. Neither Bu nor Chu have any T:10.25” of these investments. If Fu were

to liquidate these investments in a manner that doesn’t result in significant income tax, this $400,000 could be used to reduce his debt. His resulting leverage would then be 0.43 and Equity Ratio would be 70 per cent. The moral of the story? If you have significant off-farm investment, don’t discount the value of those investments, and their ability to mitigate against leverage risk. We are often benchmarked

against the industry by ourselves and our creditors but the industry doesn’t, on average, have large off-farm investments. † Andrew DeRuyck and Mark Sloane manage two farming operations in southern Manitoba and are partners in Right Choice Management Consulting. With over 25 years of cumulative experience, they offer support in farm management, financial management, strategic planning and mediation services. They can be reached at andrewd@goinet.ca and sloanefarms@hotmail.com or 204-8257392 and 204-825-8443

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JUNE 4, 2012

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JUNE 4, 2012

Columns FARM FINANCIAL PLANNER

Back to the farm to create a legacy Lots of landowners plan to return to the farm later in life. Funding retirement and leaving a legacy will require some planning BY ANDREW ALLENTUCK

tephen, as we’ll call him, started an 800 acre mixed beef and grain farm in central Manitoba in the late 1970s. By 2002, Stephen had had enough. He sold his beef cow herd and 320 acres of farm land and headed to Alberta to work as a welder. Stephen saved little of his wages over the years and will have only a modest union pension, Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security. The farm is his principal asset. After downsizing his farm, Stephen was left with 480 acres of land, debt-free. Today, it has an estimated value of $300,000.

He has leased it to neighbours for $20,000 per year, a 6.6 per cent return on equity before tax. Now that Stephen is 65, he wants to retire to the farm, taking his son, Sam, 45, and Sam’s wife Lottie, 42, into the farming operation. He also wants to establish a financial reserve to provide a legacy for his two younger children who won’t be farming. Farm Financial Planner asked Don Forbes, head of Don Forbes & Associates/Armstrong & Quaile Ltd. to work with Stephen to formulate a method to transfer the farm to Sam and Lottie, produce retirement income and arrange a legacy.

SOLUTIONS The easy part is to build Stephen’s retirement income. Using current dollars, he can expect Old Age Security of $6,481 per year, Canada Pension Plan benefits of $9,240 per year and a $15,000 union defined benefit pension. This will give him a total pension income before tax of $30,721 per year. After income tax ($2,800) Stephen will have $27,921. On top of that, he can add after-tax farm income of $13,546, bringing his total income to $41,377 per year. But there are other ways to construct his retirement income. If Stephen could get by on just

his pension income, there would be more farm income left for Sam and Lottie. He has several options to consider. First, he could sell the farm at fair market value and claim the qualified farm property capital gain tax credit of as much as $750,000. Stephen can sell the land and take a tax-free gain, while Sam and Lottie borrow to finance the repurchase of the farm. Or, Stephen can roll over the property to Sam and Lottie for a nominal cash value, but declare the transfer at market value. Stephen would still claim the qualified farm property capital gain tax credit on his increase in value over his adjusted cost base. But this

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would leave Stephen with no cash for his retirement and no legacy for his non-farming children. Stephen can also use life insurance to create a fund for the nonfarming children. Option One: Draft a long-term rental agreement. Stephen could make his son and daughter-in-law tenants. That would allow them to farm, pay rent to Stephen (providing him with retirement income), and leave the transfer of ownership of the land as a legacy for Sam and the other children. Option Two: Mortgage the farm. With a $200,000 mortgage, Stephen would have cash for his retirement. By investing conservatively in stocks and bonds, Stephen might be able to draw perhaps six per cent or $12,000 a year. Lenders would probably want to lend less than full value, so this choice would create complexity and risk and perhaps not produce sufficient income. Option Three: Keep the farm as is with Sam and Lottie farming, and buy a $200,000 term life insurance policy with premiums level to Stephen’s age 100. The cost would be $6,000 per year. Alternatively, Stephen could buy a $200,000 whole life policy with growing cash value. The premium would be $13,300 per year for 15 years. After 20 years, the policy would have a death benefit of $348,000. Forbes suggests combining the best of the alternatives. The life insurance alternative leaves the farm in Stephen’s hands. The term life policy can be paid out of farm income on the core of the farmland. The fair rent for this land is $7,000 per year, so Sam and Lottie should be able to support the term policy’s $500 monthly premium. Aside from this, Stephen will still be left with $13,000 of other farmland rental income for his retirement. If Stephen were to choose the whole life policy either he or his children would have to subsidize the $1,108 monthly premium. Once the life insurance policy is in place, Stephen can transfer the farm tax-free to Sam and Lottie without sale. If Stephen cannot get insurance at an acceptable price, he can just rent the farm to them. The rental charge can be fair market value, or less — if Stephen wants to subsidize their income. As a final step, if the rental plan is adopted, Stephen should amend his will to ensure that Sam and Lottie get the land after his death. Assuming that Stephen keeps the land and rents it to his son, Stephen’s retirement income would be $27,210 pension income plus $20,300 from farm rents, less $13,300 for life insurance — a net annual income of $34,210. “This is a plan that will take care of Stephen in retirement and the kids for the rest of their lives,” Mr. Forbes say. By doing this, Stephen can “create stability and predictability for the farm and the family’s way of life.” † Andrew Allentuck’s latest book, “When Can I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work,” was published last year by Penguin Canada

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/ grainews.ca

JUNE 4, 2012

Columns OFF FARM INVESTING

Two indicators improve odds of making money Using charts to make buying and selling decisions could help you profit in the markets ANDY SIRSKI

sell a lot of covered calls to bring in cash flow, but buying good stocks on the low side can sure improve the odds of making money. I use one indicator to help me buy low and another to help me see when it might be a good idea to sell shares. Of course, to use these indicators you will need to learn a bit about setting up and reading a chart. Don’t let that scare you — if an old dog like me learned this stuff so can you.

CHARTS: STEP BY STEP Some investors have no use for charts. I would have a few hundred thousand dollars more in my stock accounts if I’d learned how to read charts earlier in life, and then learned how to believe them. There are two parts to charts: learning how to set them up and read them, then believing them. I can teach you how to set up a chart but you’ll have to decide whether you’ll believe them or not. I use one indicator to help me decide when to buy: the stock symbol compared to the S&P index. For example, I’ll take you through a chart of Tourmaline (TOU), step.money – [6”] If youstep are by owed First, go to www.stockcharts.

com and click on “free charts.” There are lots of options on this page. Just type tou.ca in the box at the top and click “go!” When the chart comes up on the screen, look for the word “indicators” near the bottom left side of the screen. You’ll see three horizontal boxes underneath “indicators”. One should read “RSI.” I would click on the box under “position”, and choose “below.” Then, on the next box down, I would click on the menu area for “MACD,” and choose “full stochastics.” Then set the “position” for this at “below.” Finally, I would go to the empty third box, and left click on the menu arrow to bring up a menu. Find “price performance” (near the top), and left it. The symbol $SPX should show up in the box next to “price performance.” Put your cursor in the box with $SPX and, with the left arrow, move your cursor to the left of $SPX (so the box reads: “tou.to:$SPX). When you click “update” under all of these boxes, you’ll get the chart for TOU.TO: $SPX — a ratio of the stock symbol and the SPX index. When that ratio/chart is rising, the price of the stock is going up faster than the $SPX index. When the ratio is falling, the shares are falling faster (or rising slower) than the $SPX index. The idea is quite simple. If a good stock has gone down a lot and turns up, its price will often rise faster than an index. That’s a good time to

own the shares, although of course there’s no guarantee. When we see a rising chart, we might not want to sell calls on those shares just yet. I have to thank Brooke Thackray and Don Vialoux for introducing me to this ratio at our Technical Analyst Society meetings. There is another decision point: when to sell stocks. In this case, I use the same free chart and look at “overlays” (scroll down the page you were just on.) The default settings will usually show 50- and 200-day moving averages. Put your cursor in these boxes to change the settings to 10 and 30. Then click “update.” Now, you should see a chart of TOU with the tou.to:$spx chart. On the body of the chart, you’ll see two lines. Usually the blue line is the 10-day moving average (10 dma). Many times in the life of a stock when the stock price goes below the 10 dma, the price is headed down. Of course, the tough part is believing the chart.

ADD SEASONALITY Seasonality plays a big part in successful investing. The old saying “Sell in May and go away” doesn’t always work — stocks bottomed in March, 2009 at the end of the bear market. However, most years some version of “sell in May and go away” does reduce risk. Don Vialoux put it this way at our meeting: from late October to early May, many predictable events happen. These

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Grain farmers

Does this company owe you money? As of May 11, 2012, Newco Grain Ltd. of Coaldale, Alberta is no longer licensed by the Canadian Grain Commission.

include: weddings in India, farmers buy gold after harvest in India, Christmas, RRSP season, fiscal year ends, Chinese New Years in late January and annual meetings. All of these are predictable, happen annually and can raise the price of many shares. After early May, there’s still Memorial Day and July 1, but most other significant market moving events happen at random. Markets don’t particularly like random, so many shares drop after April (although the exact timing varies by a month or so).

ADD A BIG PICTURE One more indicator I’ve learned about is the symbol $spxa200r. If you type that indicator into the symbol box on Stockcharts.com (the box at the top that we used before), you’ll see a chart of how many shares are trading above their 200-day moving average. There is something almost mystical with the 200 dma. If you set the indicator on a three-year chart, and look at how the black line crosses the blue 50-day moving average you will see almost to the day when stocks bottomed and topped.

TWO STEPS To understand the market a bit better, look at charts in two steps. Step one: look at $spxa200r. If the 200 day chart is above the 500-day moving average, it’s a sign that, generally, the market is moving up. Or, if you already have a list of favorite stocks, test each one by comparing it to the $spx. When you find a stock with a rising chart, the price of that stock is rising faster than the S&P index. It might be okay to use that indicator to decide whether or not to buy a stock. But if both charts are rising, it would likely be a lot safer. With Silver Wheaton (SLW), one of my favorite silver stocks, a person could have used charts to profit from trading SLW over the past two years.

The indicators have shown quite clearly when to buy and sell. The last sell signal was around the end of February, 2012, when the stock was around $39 per share. There were two sell signals. One was that the price crossed the 10-day moving average going down. The other was that the chart of slw.to:$spx peaked and started to move down. That chart has not turned up yet. We sellers of covered calls would have been wise to sell a covered call on SLW at its support price of around $26 to $28 for June. June is often the low point for silver stocks, and July is often a good time to own precious metal stocks. Selling a call at the support price would have brought in $10.50 per share, which would have protected the portfolio as shares dropped from around $38 to under $28. With generic drug maker Teva, I bought shares when the drug Lipitor came off patent. I paid $42.50 for the shares and have sold calls to pick up around $3 per share. That drops my per share cost to $39.50 so when the shares dropped the other day to under $42 I was not too concerned. I might buy a few more shares when the teva:$spx chart turns up. Some say that timing the market is impossible. Well, maybe so for them. But there is a lot of free data available and computers that make charts for us. A half decent understanding of charts, such I have outlined here, can help us understand when to be in the market, when to buy good stocks at a good price and when to sell them. And if we buy and the price suddenly turns down, we have to be smart enough to cut losses short. The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words applies here. Charts give us a picture of what big money is doing with a stock. It’s not usually wise to argue with what big money is doing. † Andy Sirski is mostly retired. He gardens, plays with grand children, and manages his own portfolio. Andy publishes a newsletter called StocksTalk where he explains what he is doing with his stocks. Read it free for a month by searching for StocksTalk.net, or emailing Andy at sirski@mts.net

TRIPLE or PRESSURE-RINSE

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Cattleman’s Corner pasture management

Six steps for calculating pasture carrying capacity BY ANGELA LOVELL

alculating the correct carrying capacity of a pasture will help you stock to a level that maintains the health and productivity of both your land and animals. Following are six steps for calculating carrying capacity.

1. Sample Taking samples of forage in the field is the first step in calculating the capacity of the pasture. Clip samples of forage within an area 50 x 50 cm (about 20 inches square) from different areas of the pasture that have not been grazed. Dry the samples and weigh once dry. Calculate the approximate forage yield based on the weight using the formula: Dry forage grams x 35.6 = lbs./ acre. (For example, if you had 50 grams of dried forage x 35.6, that equals 1,780 lbs. of dry forage per acre). It’s best to clip in mid July and mid September to build up data from a number of years and get a picture of the average forage yield that is representative across varying conditions.

2. Utilization Rate The utilization rate determines how much forage is used or lost to grazing, trampling, insects and wildlife. This helps determine how much material needs to be left behind to maintain future production. (see table 1 and 2) Take clippings from grazed areas and compare yield to the clippings from non-grazed areas, to give an idea of the amount utilized during grazing. This shows how much plant material was left behind after grazing, and the ideal amount to allow for rapid, good-quality regrowth will vary depending on the time of year. For example, in midJuly leaving about two thirds of the plant material behind after grazing is ideal to maintain the quality and volume necessary for the herd. Utilizing pasture at a rate that exceeds the plant communities’

ability to cope will promote weeds, lower forage production and encourage less palatable and productive species to invade the pasture. Determining a suitable utilization rate can be a bit tricky but here are some general guidelines:

3. Dry Matter Intake Determining the dry matter intake means taking into account, as an animal increases in size, so does its feed requirement. Cattle will eat between 1.5 - 3.5 per cent of their body weight per day on a dry matter (DM) basis. The palatability, nutrient profile and availability of the feed will determine where along this scale your cattle will fall. For a cow with a calf, 2.5 per cent is commonly used DM intake average. Calves don’t need to be accounted for until they reach about 600 lbs. For grassers three per cent is commonly used figure. Example: 750 lbs. steer x 3.0% = 22.5 lbs. DM/day 1850 lbs. cow x 2.5% = 45 lbs. DM/day The mature large cow will eat over twice as much as the steer even though she consumes less feed as a per cent of her body weight. (see table 3)

amount of litter present is optimal, either by visually comparing the amount collected or by calculating the weight of the litter using the same formula as used for the grass yield lbs./per acre. The amount of litter left on the land can make a big difference in the performance of the pasture. Litter includes ungrazed residue from previous year’s growth, residue from bale grazing, fallen stems, leaf material and other partially decomposed material. Litter helps to conserve moisture by reducing evaporation, improving infiltration and cooling the soil surface. There are a number of Canadian websites that provide more information on calculating forage and litter values. Manitoba Agriculture has an excellent site at: http:// www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/ forages/bjb00s17.html Alberta Agriculture has a good website for calculating forage litter at: http://www1.agric.gov. ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/ all/for8656

Saskatchewan Agriculture has good information at: http://www. agriculture.gov.sk.ca/Default. aspx?DN=94318c24-72b0-4b0e814e-f476fec9e2c6 And of course, if you just Google the topic of calculating carrying capacity, it gives you many more website options.

6. Management Managing pastures to get the maximum benefit from them is crucial to meet the needs of the individual herd and farm. It’s not possible to have maximum lbs./ day weight gain per cow and maximum lbs./acre gain for the pasture. Producers will need to deter-

Utilization Rate

Light soil / low rainfall

30 - 50%

Riparian areas

0 - 40%

Native forages

Up to 50%

Tame forages

55 - 75%

2. Calculation of Total Usable Forage: (lbs./ac)

(%)

Forage Production

(ac)

Once the amount of forage yield and utilization rate have been determined, the carrying capacity can be calculated, which can be used to determine either the total forage available and/or the livestock forage requirements. There are then two ways to use the information, either to determine the number of head a system can carry or to determine how many days a specific herd can graze in the system. (see table 4 and 5)

(lbs.)

(%)

Weight of Cow

(lbs.)

Number of acres

Utilization rate

3. Calculation of Livestock Forage Requirements:

To determine litter yield, rake all of the brown litter in an area 50 x 50 cm square (about 20 inches square), making sure not to include any green material. There are two ways to determine whether the

Article prepared by Angela Lovell, a freelance writer based in Manitou, Manitoba, with thanks to Manitoba Agriculture for formulas and guidelines

1. Forage Type/Soil/Climate

4. Carrying Capacity

5. Litter

mine what they want to achieve and manage accordingly. It is important to rotate the cow herd through pastures at intervals that allow adequate rest periods to achieve rapid, high quality re-growth. Pasture management must take into account many variables, like how much bush pasture is on the land, the type of operation and goals of the individual farmer, but trying to maintain and balance the resource against the needs of the cows will produce better long term results. †

Total forage available

(lbs./cow/day)

Dry matter intake

Forage required/cow/day

4. To determine number of head a system can carry:

(lbs./cow/day)

Forage required/cow/day

(lbs.)

(days)

Forage required/cow/ grazing period

Number of days grazing

(lbs./cow/grazing period)

Forage required/cow /grazing period

Total forage available

(lbs./cow)

(cows) Number of cows pasture will carry

5. To determine how many days a given herd can graze in a system:

(lbs./cow/day)

Forage required/cow/day

(lbs.)

(cows)

(lbs./herd/day)

Number of head ÷

Total forage available

(lbs./herd/day) Forage required/herd/day

Forage required/herd/day

(days) Number of days

research

Dinner bell rings as cattle head to hills Cattle make up a larger per cent of wolf diets than many people realized BY MIKE LAMB

outhern Alberta ranchers will soon roundup and move 20,000-plus head of cattle on to timbered government lands in the Rocky Mountain foothills in an annual event that delivers waiting wolf packs with easy, calorie-rich meals. With calving season over and cattle drive rituals into the high country beginning in June, recently completed research suggests those cows, calves and yearlings will likely make-up a whopping 74 per cent of the “biomass” in an average wolf ‘s summer diet. That’s the result of a thesis study by University of Alberta studentbiologist Andrea Morehouse, supervised by professor Dr. Mark Boyce and recently published in Ecology and the Environment. By

studying hair content in wolf scat and visiting kill sites over a yearlong period, Morehouse discovered southern Alberta wolf packs switch from a winter diet of wild ungulate prey to domestic stock once its delivered.

Easy prey Its easy to see why. Herds of slow, plodding cows and calves make easy targets and long lasting meals. “It surprised me, but not the ranchers,” said Morehouse of her findings of the high percentage preference for summer beef. “There was nothing in the literature that would make you believe it was that high.” In fact, most previous studies looked only at winter feeding patterns simply because its easier to locate kills and collect droppings

on snowy ground. During the winter, when cattle are scarce or nonexistent, deer and elk are preferred followed by moose. Improvements in satellite technology have made it easier for Morehouse to monitor collared wolves and their summertime haunts. Her fridge last year held up to 400 containers of wolf feces collected in the area. A total of 161 kill sites were pinpointed from 698 GPS “clusters” that also included dens and scavenging sites. It’s a relatively simple matter to analyze hair in the collected droppings and discern domestic from wild prey. Although no one knows precisely how many wolves reside in the Morehouse study area between Waterton Lakes National Park and Chain Lakes Provincial Park, 125

» continued on page 20

photo: dustin raab

A research assistant works to measure and collar one of the southern Alberta wolves being monitored in a study.

/ grainews.ca

JUNE 4, 2012

Keepers & Culls In search of the perfect steak LEE HART

recently learned a good steak doesn’t just jump onto your barbecue. I was down in Granum in southern Alberta recently for the weekend and was looking for a nice steak for an evening barbecue with friends. There are two grocery stores in nearby Fort Macleod and I am sure their meat is excellent, but I was hoping to find something right off the farm, but there is no butcher shop in Macleod. So I asked the very helpful clerk at The Source (former Radio Shack) store if she knew of any butchers. She thought for a moment and said she knew one of her customers was in the meat business. So she directed me to Clarence Den Boon of Valley Custom Meats. I called Clarence, he doesn’t do much retail business, but yes he did have some fresh New York steak. So we travelled to his farm, which is about 10 minutes south and west of Macleod on The Blue Trail. Clarence and his wife Jenny were working in the yard, but he took a break, washed up, took us into the plant, pulled a cryovac slab of beef from the cooler, and asked me how much we wanted. He sliced off four steaks, bagged them and we were on our

way. Clarence gets this particular meat from a local organic beef producer, who has high standards. He said it was very good beef. A few hours later the steaks were on the barbecue and Clarence wasn’t wrong. I am never really sure about the “organic” influence in meat quality, but it was excellent, and well worth the effort. I can’t afford to eat New York cut, organic beef every night, but it is a nice treat on occasion. The experience reminded me of my younger years — small towns may not have all the services of “the city” but in some respects they offer way more.

GREAT BEEF WEBSITE A great website for information on beef production and economics can be found at: www.foragebeef.ca. There is all kinds of useful research and other information there for cow-calf operators, backgrounders and feeders. They have recently posted a short video from the Western Beef Development Centre on “What Makes a Low Cost Producer.” Go to the foragebeef.ca page, you’ll see a heading for “Cow Calf Information” and just below that a heading for “Marketing and Economics” and just below that a subhead for “cow-calf.” Click on the “cow-calf” heading and you’ll find the video listed there. But the whole site has a wide range of information about getting the most out of your time, money and resources. Memorize it all and you’ll be the smartest rancher in your municipality. Next time you have a quiet evening or a rainy day, check out www.foragebeef.ca

ANIMAL CARE AWARDS

The perfect steak?

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

DINNER BELL RINGS AS CATTLE HEAD TO HILLS air kilometres due north, ranchers have a good grasp of how many cattle they turn loose and how many return home. The first major wolf population study in the region, meanwhile, is to begin this summer.

MISSING CATTLE “A lot of cattle that don’t return just end up being classed as missing,” said Morehouse. “One thing that might come out of this is a review of compensation for those missing animals.” The province now reimburses ranchers 100 per cent of the fall cattle value for confirmed wolf kills and 50 per cent for likely kills. But it offers nothing for “missing” animals; some of which may be the victims of

Three leading champions of farm animal care in Alberta were recognized earlier this year with Awards of Distinction at the annual Alberta illness or accident or the targets of rustlers and poachers. It’s believed between one and two per cent of the free-range cattle go missing each year, but documented loses are ambiguous. Last year 37 per cent of all reimbursement payments, approaching $150,000 for livestock depredation claims, were sent to this area, which comprises less than three per cent of Alberta’s landmass. All compensation monies come from hunters who purchase Alberta licenses and not general revenues. The livestock “grazing season timing coincides with wolf pup rearing season,” notes Morehouse’s thesis report. “And the nutritional demands of wolves are considerable during this period due to the need to satisfy growing pups.”

BONEYARD DINERS The report also shows scat analysis “only reveals what the

Farm Animal Care (AFAC) conference. The Award of Distinction for Industry Leadership was awarded to Dr. Gerald Ollis, who has served the livestock industry and farm animal care progress for over 40 years. His career has spanned private veterinary practice to periods as Provincial Dairy Veterinarian and then Alberta’s Chief Provincial Veterinarian — an experience that included several years working on the development of the province’s innovative Animal Health Act. The Award of Distinction for Innovation was presented to Calgary Stampede. Over the past few years the Calgary Stampede has implemented a number of new initiatives to enhance its animal welfare approaches. “The Stampede takes the care of these animals very seriously,” explains Paul Rosenberg, vice president, programming with Calgary Stampede. The Award of Distinction for Communication was presented to agriculture reporter Dana Zielke of Golden West Radio in High River, Alta. Her agriculture reports are heard on AM1140, Sun Country 99.7FM, CKVN 98.1FM Lethbridge, CHOO 99.5FM Drumheller, and the Prairie Ag Wire in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. One of her most popular contributions is a regular “Ag Flashes” segment.

NEW V-P Canadian Beef Breeds Council board of directors recently affirmed David Bolduc as Vice President for 2012-13. “I’m excited to be given the opportunity to be on the executive for the CBBC,” said David. “Our family has been involved in the purebred livestock industry in Alberta since the late 1800’s. Going forward, the purebred industry is going to be a significant portion of the beef industry. We essentially establish the end product, so we are a significant element of the industry and hope to make the rest of the industry more aware of that.” wolves ate and not necessarily what they killed.” A lot of scavenging, especially in “boneyards” takes place year-round. Boneyards are out of the way locations where ranchers haul livestock carcasses. Animals that die of natural causes used to be hauled away by rendering processors who paid for carcasses. But that practice was halted for health reasons with the discovery 10 years ago of BSE, commonly known as Mad Cow Disease. While local rural municipalities contemplate funding for an enclosed carcass composting plant, many carcasses are being dumped in open pits or scattered across the landscape to be scavenged by birds and mammals, a practice allowed by the province. The result has been increased use by both wolves and grizzly bears. In fact, private lands with boneyards, on the edge of the Alberta forest reserve, have been declared “hot zones for grizzly bear encounters” by a paper recently published in

“Earl says it’s easy for him to be a tender husband because he spends most of his time in hot water.

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 David, his wife Margaret and their son Matt operate Cudlobe Angus with his brother Dyce, his wife Adriana and their family. The families run 400 to 500 mother cows in southern Alberta and have an annual production sale. David holds a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from the University of Alberta where he also attended graduate school. David is also the current President of the Canadian Angus Association. David and Dyce Bolduc are the only two brothers to both serve as President of the Canadian Angus Association Board of Directors. Dyce was President in 2005.

YOUTH LEADERSHIP The Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) Development Program is The Animal Conservation Journal. More than 300 grizzly incidents involving humans and livestock have been recorded on these ranchlands during the past 10 years and the number is rising according to the Journal. The Morehouse findings also surprised provincial range and land managers as well. “We knew it occurred but not to that degree,” said Mike Anderson of Alberta Sustainable Resources. “The percentage is shocking; its higher than I would have imagined,” added Rob Dunn of Alberta Agriculture. In Alberta wolves can be hunted year round with no limit on the number of animals taken. Trapping is allowed from November through February. Still it appears their number remains constant, or according to local ranchers, is more likely growing. The study area remains the eastern slope of a major carnivore travel corridor between Banff and Glacier National Park in Montana.

pleased to announce its 2012 national mentorship recipients. The 16 recipients were selected following the final selection round at the CYL Spring Forum in Saskatoon, where a total of 24 finalists vied for a spot in the national youth initiative of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). The 2012 CYL mentorship recipients are: British Columbia: Cole Bailey and Erika Strand. Alberta: Amy Mayner, Brodie Haugan, Jakob Meyer, Joanne Solverson, Kerry Hyatt, Micheal Nadeau, Travis Ebens, and Tyson Lowe. Saskatchewan: Ashley Shannon, Eric Buyer, Jeffery Yorga, and Ryan Hurlburt. Ontario: Kimberly McCaw and Katie Wood.

NEED LIMITS Blaine Marr, a third generation local rancher and Western Stock Growers Association board member, says his organization doesn’t want a wolf-free zone, but does want numbers kept in check. Among other things, he’d like to see the trapping season run through the end of March. Earlier this year the association held a trapping seminar that was fully booked months in advance. “Interest is at a peak,” he says. “A wolf is the hardest animal there is to trap. They’re exceptionally smart, and even the most skillful trapper has a difficult time.” Prime pelts sell for up to $350. “We don’t want the landscape wiped free of wolves, but at the same time we don’t want packs of 10 or 12 that can kill anything that crosses their path.” † Mike Lamb is a freelance writer based at Burmis in southern Alberta

BUILDING TRUST IN CANADIAN BEEF

Cattleman’s Corner

Using drugs responsibly is key to beef industry future

Know the right approaches and use your veterinarian

eef producers know there are certain things you shouldn’t mess around with. As a leading veterinary educator Dr. Trisha Dowling has a strong suggestion for what should be at the top of that list: responsible drug use. “If there is one area producers should not take lightly, this is it,” says Dowling, a professor of veterinary clinical pharmacology at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan. “How drugs are absorbed, distributed throughout the animal’s body and ultimately eliminated by the liver or kidneys is very complex.” Today, on-farm food safety is under the microscope of the public like never before, she says. Consumers are very concerned about drug residues in food. Any problem

View animal health product labels from the Canadian compendium, or online at www.verifiedbeef.org by scrolling down to Quick Links- Veterinary Products.

with that can quickly damage a producer’s reputation as a supplier and the reputation of Canada’s beef industry as a whole. At the same time, animal health management in beef production is increasingly sophisticated. Recognize the consequences. The Verified Beef Production (VBP) program re-enforces principles such as minimizing the use of drugs to preserve effectiveness, while still maintaining animal care, and using veterinary advice. Dowling says both of the principles are critical. “Through improved technology, all food products including beef are being examined for residues with increased vigilance. In addition, as a producer you’re not doing yourself any favours because you risk health issues and efficiency issues.” Be clear on withdrawal times. Studies on the common causes of residue violations show failure to observe sufficient withdrawal periods is by far the greatest problem, says Dowling. Producers need to record drug use by individual animal or group, along with the withdrawal time. That is the days or hours noted under the “Warning” section on the drug label or package insert. This label information is critical, but the disease state of individual animals also affects the disposition of a drug — this is where a veterinarian’s advice is important. Veterinarians have the knowledge to assess how the disease being treated may affect drug elimination, and recommend extending the

label withdrawal times to insure that drug residues are not detected. Institute responsible extra label use. It’s sometimes loosely called “off label” but the correct term is extra label. It’s important producers understand the specific definition, says Dowling. Extra label use includes administration of a drug to a species for which there is no specific approval; by a non-approved route, of a non-approved dose or frequency; or for a disease not listed on the label. “Extra label drug use in particular is very complex and not things you want to freelance with,” says Dowling. Producers should have a veterinary prescription for extra label use with an appropriate withdrawal recommendation. Veterinarians have access to a database on residue information called the global Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (gFARAD). The Canadian component is managed by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and the Ontario Veterinary College. The gFARAD resource was developed in response to veterinarians’ need for information on residue depletion times following extra label drug administration, says Dowling, who is one of the Canadian directors. “The philosophy behind this databank was to have information about residue avoidance from all sources readily available at one point for interpretation and dissemination to veterinarians. It’s an excellent resource.”

DEVELOPED BY PRODUCERS. DEVELOPED FOR CONSUMERS

Every Ralgro implant has the potential to add up

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The profitable weigh. *Data on file. **Rate of return may vary depending on market conditions. ® Registered trademark of Schering-Plough Animal Health Corporation, used under license by Intervet Canada Corp. Merck Animal Health, operating in Canada as Intervet Canada Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA. MERCK is a trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA. Copyright © 2011 Intervet International B.V., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA. All rights reserved.

RALGRO Grain News QSH.indd 1

12-01-25 14:33

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JUNE 4, 2012

Cattleman’s Corner RANCHERS DIARY

Taking new horses for a test drive HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

L MAY 1

ast week I dewormed the horses and Michael put shoes on Ed and Breezy for me. Andrea and I rode April Sprout (Dani’s new horse) a few times; the mare is still green and inexperienced and needs more training. Emily’s allergies and a bad cold suddenly escalated into pneumonia and she couldn’t breathe (and her oxygen level dropped dangerously low) so she spent a few days in the hospital on IV antibiotics and oxygen. Andrea stayed with her during the nights, and Lynn took the other kids to the school bus in the mornings. Michael hauled several more dump truck loads of rocks to fix the ditch head on the upper place that was washing out with the high water, and also worked on the new ditch head by Andrea’s driveway where the creek was threatening to take it out. Then he hauled more rocks for Andrea’s new driveway and several loads of rocks to reinforce the ditch bank above our haystack yard where it flooded last year. Lynn has been cleaning some of our ditches with tractor and blade, and getting more irrigation started. For several days we had cold rainy weather; then it

PHOTO: HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

Calves are processed and ready for a grazing season on range. dropped well below freezing for a few nights and slowed down the snow melt on our mountains, and the creek is no longer so terribly high. On Saturday Lynn went with Rick to deliver a load of firewood, and Andrea came down to ride with me — and noticed that two of our heifers had gotten into the field above our cows and calves. We rode Breezy and Ed to round them up, and put all the heifers in my horse pasture until we can figure out where they went through the fence. Then we rode April Sprout and Captain King (a borrowed horse we were trying, as a possible horse for the grandkids) on another training ride for Sprout. Captain King is spoiled and stubborn, however, and balked when we started up the

driveway. When Andrea urged him forward, he bucked, then reared when she wouldn’t let him buck her off — and she had to spin him round and round to keep him from going over backward. She got him under control and we continued on our ride, but decided we don’t want that horse for the kids to ride! The next day we took Dani on her first real ride on Sprout — making a loop through the low range. When we got home, Andrea took Sammy for a ride on Breezy. Yesterday was cold and rainy again. We’ve been watching Freddie at nights (our last cow to calve) because the weather has been so miserable. We wanted to be able to put her in the barn if necessary. Today it was too wet for Michael to haul more rocks,

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Spring calves are comfortable and familiar with granddaughter Dani in the pen. until the road to our rock pit dried out in the afternoon.

MAY 7 Michael hauled more rock surfacing for Andrea’s driveway, and smoothed it out with the backhoe, now it won’t get so slippery, deep and muddy when it rains. The four grandkids were trying to guess which day Freddie would calve, and Dani won; her guess was May 3rd. Freddie went into early labour before midnight, but didn’t calve until afternoon. I put her into our calving pen but then it started to rain and hail, so we put her in the barn — she had a black whiteface bull. The kids were hoping for a heifer, but 3/4 of our calves this year have been bulls! We figured out where the heifers got through the fence (the creek washed out part of the fence along the bank) so Rick helped Lynn fix it. On Friday night we went to the annual dance and gymnastics program and watched Dani and Sammy in their various dances and Charlie in the gymnastics. Yesterday Michael put new front shoes on April Sprout. She’s apparently had some bad experiences in her young life, and doesn’t like her feet handled, so Andrea and I have been picking up her feet a lot. Michael was very patient, shoeing her, keeping each foot up for only a short time, and letting her put it down when she’d start to get nervous. She has to learn to trust us; she’s been abused and is always expecting a fight. But with patience we got her front feet shod without resistance. We’ll do her hinds another day. Handling her feet in short increments works, and she’s becoming more at ease about it. Yesterday afternoon our neighbour Alfonzo rounded up his cattle from the fields below us and took them up to the Gooch place to brand the calves. His corrals are flimsy, and partway through the afternoon eight calves got out and came down through our fields, trying to get back to the lower place. We captured them in our corral and helped Alfonzo load them in a trailer to haul back to their mothers. Then he put his cattle back down below us again, but separated several more pairs, and that evening one old cow crashed through the wire gate into our field trying to go find her calf. We had to lock her in our calving pen and have Alfonzo come get her. Young Heather got home from

college in Montana, and this morning she, Michael and Carolyn left on their trip to Iowa to get Nick from college. It will take them three days to get there and three days to come back — and Lynn will do their chores while they are gone.

MAY 16 Last week we harrowed the orchard and field above the house. Lynn, Andrea and Rick spent a couple days working on the ditch on Lynn’s folks’ old place, and I picked up the kids from the bus after school. They were eager to see Freddie’s young calf and thought he was cute, being the only whiteface calf this year. Dani enjoyed helping me do chores — feeding the horses and watering the cows. She loves to walk through the cows and calves, and pick grass to feed Maggie, who gently takes it out of her hand with her big rough tongue. It froze hard again for several nights, but now the weather is hot. Last Saturday we vaccinated the cows, calves, bulls, and yearling heifers (and put the heifers back up in the swamp pasture, now that we’ve fixed the fence), and branded calves. Dani helped, by handing me syringes. While we got ready to brand the calves, she sat in the barn with them while we strung out the extension cords. The calves are so accustomed to her, they didn’t mind when she was helping gather and push the little bunches from the barn into the holding area by the calf table. Monday Michael put new hind shoes on April Sprout and she was even more trusting (and less resistant) than when he did her fronts. She’s learning that we aren’t going to hurt her when we handle her feet. Later that day Michael and Lynn started hauling hay; we bought 50 tons for next winter, to make sure we’ll have enough. It’s last year’s hay, and reasonably priced at $130 per ton. It’s a nice mix of grass/alfalfa. They finished hauling it today. While they were hauling, Andrea and I made a long ride on Sprout and Ed to check range gates and part of the 320 fence — and repaired some places the elk knocked down. This afternoon Lynn and Michael put in a weir at the headgate of the uppermost ditch on our upper place. Now we have only one weir left to install. † Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact her at 208-756-2841

A BEEF I D A

ANNUAL FORUM 2012

lg a r y, A l b er

Canada Beef Inc.

Annual Forum 2012

grainews.ca /

You’re Invited!

C. N

CA N

JUNE 4, 2012

September 20 - 21, 2012

Join Canada Beef Inc.’s Board of Directors, staff and industry partners as we review our first year of business and the market in which we are working. At the Annual Forum you will hear from our board, marketing team, partners and others on many topics including: • market development and research • opportunities at home and abroad • our plans for the coming year The Annual Forum is open to everyone. We hope you will join us as we plan for the future. Thursday and Friday, September 20 - 21, 2012 Sheraton Cavalier, Calgary Alberta Thursday, September 20, 2012 Experts from all sectors of the beef production cycle will provide insight into the business of Canadian beef during a full day of presentations and information sessions including plenty of time that evening to socialize over dinner in the hospitality suite. Friday, September 21, 2012 Friday morning is the business portion of the Forum, including a review of the company’s performance and the election of the new Board of Directors.

For more information visit www.canadabeef.ca/producer

/ grainews.ca

JUNE 4, 2012

Cattleman’s Corner ANIMAL HEALTH

Watch out for bull penis problems BY ROY LEWIS

any times throughout the breeding season calls come in to veterinary clinics regarding swellings along the sheath of bulls. In many instances a favourable outcome is highly attainable. Location of the swelling tells a lot about its cause. Generally if the penis has been broken the swelling is just ahead of the scrotum. Swellings lower down on the sheath are common with lacerations to either the penis or the prepuce. A broken penis is the result of a rent created in the sinus of the penis. Blood accumulates in the sinus causing the erection. A sudden bend to an erect penis such as being hit when breeding will cause such a break. Then in subsequent breeding attempts blood is pumped out through this defect. The blood is trapped in this location causing the visible swelling. The degree of swelling therefore depends on how many breeding attempts have been made before the producer can pull the bull from the breeding herd. Some bulls will be turned off sexually and may not attempt further breeding. To diagnose a cut penis your veterinarian will either sedate the bull to have a good look at its penis or use an electro ejaculator to be able to visualize it.

Cuts are the result of breeding in bush, over fences, etc. Some bulls are more prone because of their aggressive nature. Some polled bulls have more of a tendency to have their prepuce prolapsed all the time. This greatly increases the likelihood of lacerations and tears.

SEVERAL SCENARIOS Complications involve several scenarios, which can be vastly different in each case. Large cuts can result in infection and subsequent scarring which could prevent the bull from extending his penis therefore not achieving intromission. I personally have seen a case where 100 per cent of a persons herd was open because the herd bull had a scarred down penis. Another very good reason to semen evaluate and make sure the penis can be fully extended. If severe swelling has occurred the prepuce may be prolapsed. This can also occur with broken penises and the resulting, drying, swelling, and cracking of the prolapsed prepuce causes a serious complication. Hydrotherapy with medicating ointments is often prescribed. The swelling must be brought down to allow retraction of the prepuce back into the sheath. In all these cases the bulls can be immediately shipped for emergency slaughter as long as no medication has been given. However

a vast majority can be treated. Depending on age of bull and its value to your herd this option is always available.

TLC AND REST Treatment is not complicated or costly just some labour and the tincture of time with sexual rest resolve many of them. Broken penises require hydrotherapy initially and then a long sexual rest. A few months later the bull may be tested to see if erection is possible. More than 50 per cent of the cases will heal (if caught early before large swellings have occurred), but they do have a higher incidence of reoccurring than in normal bulls. Surgery was tried more often in the past but because of the large blood clot which formed, infection is a very real complication. Prognosis is no better than the conservative medical approach. The blood clot is absorbed over time and as long as adhesions are minimized with hydrotherapy infection is unlikely.

TREATING CUTS Cut penises involve careful scrutinization by your veterinarian. Flushing medication up the sheath along with hydrotherapy and systemic drugs are used in bad cases. Minor cases will be left with just sexual rest and time. If breeding is allowed the laceration

PHOTO: FILE

Bulls can be injured in a number of ways, which affect breeding performance, but an injured penis often heals with treatment. may be extended and also blood is very detrimental to sperm. With fresh cuts this mixing of blood and sperm can result in very poor fertility. We know many minor cuts do heal on their own from the scars we see on penises at semen evaluation. These cuts most likely occurred the previous breeding season. The seriousness of the injury will determine prognosis and estimated return to function. Some minor cuts will be healed and the bull ready to use in two to three weeks. They should be checked to make sure complete healing has occurred. Almost all

cuts can be successfully treated however keeping that bull till the next breeding season may not be a wise economic move. That choice again is made based on the value of the bull, his age and when in the breeding season the laceration occurred. When checking your bulls during the breeding season watch for full extension when breeding, blood on breeding and keep a careful watch of the sheath area for any abnormal swellings. † Roy Lewis is a practicing large animal veterinarian at the Westlock Veterinary Center, north of Edmonton, AB. His main interests are bovine reproduction and herd health

THE MARKETS

Larger cattle supplies weigh on prices JERRY KLASSEN MARKET UPDATE

attle prices fell sharply during April and remain under pressure moving into the summer period. After digesting the “pink slime” media hype earlier in spring, wholesale prices have recovered and packing margins are finally back in positive territory. Despite negative media and stagnating consumer income levels, retail ground beef prices continue to percolate higher making fresh record highs. Beef demand appears to be on solid footing but economic uncertainty due to the European financial crisis has caused North American consumer spending to slow. Restaurant spending has not been as strong as earlier anticipated.

HIGHER PRODUCTION At the same time, beef production will exceed earlier projections due to higher cattle on feed numbers and larger carcass weights. Feedlot margins are hovering deep in red ink which has set a negative tone for feeder cattle. Demand for grass cattle has been sluggish because producers are not comfortable

paying the higher prices compared to last year. U.S. second-quarter beef production is coming in larger than expected. Cattle on feed numbers have been running two to three per cent above year ago levels throughout the spring and carcass weights have been 20 pounds higher compared to 2011. The year to date U.S. slaughter pace was trailing last year by three per cent due to historically low packing margins. Packers cut back on the slaughter in an effort to raise wholesale prices and this also resulted in a backlog of market ready cattle supplies. The slaughter pace is now catching up to last year as packing margins improve. Prices have fed cattle have dropped and wholesale prices have improved. I could see this situation of lower fed prices developing earlier in March. Southern Plains fed cattle reached a high of $130/cwt in late winter but are currently in the range of $118/cwt to $120/ cwt. Looking at the Canadian situation, cattle on feed numbers in Alberta and Saskatchewan are very similar to last year. However, the steer and heifer slaughter pace is down two per cent while live cattle exports are down 8.5 per cent. Carcass weights in Alberta are approximately 50 pounds heavier than last year reflecting that feedlots

are also backing up with market ready supplies. The fed cattle market in Canada and the U.S. is functioning to encourage demand. Now that packing margins are just above breakeven, the slaughter pace can improve but they don’t want to increase beef supplies significantly so that wholesale prices start to decline. This leads us into the demand environment. Retail ground beef prices made fresh record highs in March but started to ease in April and the softer tone has continued into May. Higher end cuts have followed a similar trend as the ground beef.

RETAIL PRICES UP Despite the softer tone, we still find overall retail prices up about 10 per cent over last year. It is important to realize that U.S. personal expenditures are only up four per cent and disposable income is only up 2.8 per cent over last year. It appears retail prices have reached their peak unless we see a significant improvement in the economy. U.S. equity markets made seasonal highs in early May but have since come under pressure due to the renewal of European financial fears. U.S. second quarter GDP and consumer spending will not be as high as earlier anticipated which will result in softer beef demand. Consumer behaviour

US Quarterly Beef Production (Million pounds) Quarter

2009

2010

2011

Est 2012

6248

6251

6411

6280

6010

6602

6547

6559

6495

6380

6690

6768

6737

6435

6325

6426

6741

6492

5980

5850

25966

26307

26199

25190

24565

total

indicates after a sharp increase in spending during February and March, there is a tendency for spending to contract as people pay of credit card debt or renew the savings. The U.S. and Canada is now in a minor spending contraction period. Fed cattle prices are expected to trade sideways to lower through the summer months. Larger beef supplies and softer demand will keep prices from strengthening. However, lower beef production in the final quarter of 2012 along with an increase in consumer later in fall will result in higher prices for slaughter cattle. I feel the fall fed cattle price will likely peak during the first week of November.

NEGATIVE MARGINS Feedlots in Canada and the U.S. are enduring a period of negative feeding margins in excess of $100 per head. Canadian barley and U.S. corn stocks will be historically tight

at the end of the 2011-12 crop year. Feedgrain prices usually peak shortly after seeding in years of tight stocks and I expect a similar price pattern this summer. Feedgrains are expected to come under pressure in June and continue to trend lower into the summer period. I expect feeder cattle prices to remain under pressure into the summer months and then slowly percolate higher in the fall period making seasonal highs in December. Producers should plan to market accordingly. October feeder cattle futures are still near historical highs and it is probably prudent to take some price protection on a portion of potential marketings. We have all seen how drastically prices can change within a six month period. † Gerald Klassen analyses cattle and hog markets in Winnipeg and also maintains an interest in the family feedlot in Southern Alberta. For comments or speaking engagements, he can be reached at jkci@mts.net or 204 287 8268

JUNE 4, 2012

grainews.ca /

Cattleman’s Corner DAIRY CORNER

Don’t ignore cow nutrition during dry period PETER VITTI

would occur between first and second lactations.

PROPER NUTRITION

fter 10 months on the milk line, dairy cows complete their annual cycle by being dried, put into a designated “dry cow pen,” which may be further broken down into an early dry cow pen and close-up cow group. While there is a lot of emphasis on close-up cows, healthy faraway dry cows make a significant contribution to the well-being of the whole herd. Rather than be viewed as a period of non-lactation rest, a proper nutrition and management program for faraway dry cows will also help revitalize these hardworking milk producers, and lead to another successful lactation. During the early part of this “resting” phase, three active things should happen: (1) the dried-down udder goes through a period of involution and its milk secretory cells rejuvenate; (2) the rumen rebounds by regenerating its tissue lining (papillae growth) and muscle tone; and (3) internal organs possibly damaged during lactation, such as the liver, can be repaired. Failure to complete any one of these vital goals during the faraway dry period could compromise good health status and decrease milk production in the following lactation.

Aside from the duration of a dry cow period, which should include enough faraway dry days, the nutrition of faraway dry cows is still viewed as very important. The National Research Council (NRC) requirements for energy, protein, minerals and vitamins of the faraway dry cow are approximately 80 to 85 per cent of a lactating counterpart cow milking 30 litres during later lactation. Consequently, a cow taken off the milkline should be brought into the non-lactation period with an optimum body condition score at around 3.0 to 3.5 (1 = thin, and 5 = fat) and fed a well-balanced diet based on a maintenance plane of nutrition. While it seems tempt-

ing to build back body condition on thinner dairy cows, this exercise is best handled in late lactation, rather than the dry period. Similarly, over-conditioned faraway dry cows should be fed like their optimum BCS pen-mates, which avoids putting them on a “diet” that leads to metabolic problems during early lactation. With a proper faraway feeding program, it is not particularly difficult to maintain the dry cow body condition of any animal in the dry cow pen. One should target dry matter intake at 1.8 to 2.0 per cent or about 11 to 12 kg (23 to 25 lbs.) of dry feed based on a forage level of at least 60 per cent of total ration dry matter. Most sound recommendations advise good quality long-stem grass hay is the best choice for faraway dry cow rations. It should contain enough energy and protein to meet their essen-

tial requirements as well as have enough digestible fibre to keep the cows’ rumen functioning. If crop residues such as low energy — low protein corn stalks are fed, they should be supplemented with feeds that are nutritionally complimentary; such as adding good quality corn distillers’ grains. Furthermore, some corn or cereal grain (1.0 to 1.5 kilo) might be warranted to help meet with energy requirements. Macro- and trace-minerals should also be balanced in the diet, and adequate levels of vitamins A, D and E should always be fed. As new dry cows are brought in and put on this new faraway dry cow feeding program, it is also timely to get some other non-nutritional work done such as establish a good dry cow therapy (infused in all udder quarters) in order to eliminate bacterial infections contacted

in lactation as well as prevent new infections from occurring. Dry cow time is a good period for hoof trimming, worming and giving pregnancy-safe vaccinations. Having an encompassing program that meets the special dietary and other non-nutritional needs of the faraway dry cow is just as important as any other program for dairy cows. Its dry length might be shortened for efficiency and economic reasons, but its elimination has been proven to be detrimental to the lactation side of the dairy operation. Providing proper nutrition and management attention to faraway dry cows is a well-spent investment that should pay off with healthy and productive milk cows. † Peter Vitti is an independent livestock nutritionist and consultant based in Winnipeg. To reach him call 204-254-7497 or by email at vitti@mts.net

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60-DAYS COMMON A 60-day total non-lactation or dry period is still a common practice on most dairy farms and most recommended (i.e.: University of Davis) to allow spent udders to revitalize; 40 days for faraway cows and about 20 pre-lactation days for the close-up animals. In contrast, some dairy specialists advocate cows really don’t need this entire 60-day dry cow period to prepare for lactation. They point out that many high milk producing cows produce significant amounts of milk during the latter part of their lactation and it would be of greater economic benefit to allow additional days of milking rather than dry them off on a man-made schedule. A more natural faraway dry cow period might reduce the stress high producing cows tend to experience when they enter a dry cow group such as physical discomfort of being dried-off, a new high forage diet and internal changes to their own internal metabolism. It might also justify the elimination of a designated “faraway” dry cow diet and allows dry cows to adjust to a specialized pre-calving diet in a shorter time-frame. University research on a shorter dry period for dairy cows has been mixed. Their reports reveal milk producing dairy cows allowed less than 30 “dry” days produce substantial less milk during the next lactation. Some other “modified” dry period trials show no milk loss in mature cows put though a 30-day period, while younger first-lactation cows have consistent reduced milk yields. These researchers speculate this parity difference to dry period length in dairy cows might be due to further mammary development that

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JUNE 4, 2012 canada’S farm progreSS Show June 20 - 22, 2012, regina, SK

Special event Section

FARM PROGRESS SHOW

10 tips for leaving Farm Progress Show fat, tired and broke Farm show veteran, Grainews field editor Lee Hart, has some tips for your June trip to Regina are like fly paper, or those annoying people who stand at the door talking and won’t leave, so watch out for them.

LEE HART

A GREAT SHOW

y philosophy with farm shows is to go early, stay late, and look at every booth and display there is. That is my philosophy. The reality is I am usually tired, sore and hungry by 11 a.m., looking for someplace to sit down, and alarmed that I have only seen about one per cent of the displays. Farm shows are a lot of work, even if you’re someone like me who really isn’t planning to buy anything, unless I see a miracle mop that works without water (my wife would love that), a handheld pruning tool that can lob off an oak tree with one easy squeeze, or the most amazing sharpest, stylist pocket knife to add to my collection — you can never have too many jack knives. But walking, looking, packing around a shopping bag full of literature, pens, rain gauges and notepads, shaking your head “no thanks” while trying to be somewhat pleasant, and doing your best to avoid eye-contact with investment councilors, bankers, shoe polish peddlers and orthotic specialists does make a person weary. And you really have to watch out for those publication booths. “Do you get our publications? Would you like to subscribe? Would you like to renew? Here, take one of our most recent issues — in fact, we have six, so take one of each they only weigh 10 pounds — you can never have too much to read.” These people

All lamenting aside, I like farm shows. And the Farm Progress Show coming up in Regina June 20 to 22 is a doozy. I don’t go to every farm show in Western Canada, but I hit a few each year and Farm Progress is one of my favorites. Always lots to see, and June is nice month for everything — usually not too hot, and most years, very little chance of snow. The show is centered at EVRAZ Place/ Regina Exhibition Grounds in Regina. (EVRAZ is a global steel manufacturing and mining company — I didn’t know that.) Follow along Lewvan Drive and you can’t miss it. This year they are on par with about 550 exhibitors. That group is showing off about 1,700 different products — that’s a lot of samples, free gifts and pamphlets to lug home, so bring the truck. Bryan Adams is headlining a concert at the Brandt Centre June 21, so that would be a great show. But the real business is selling farm machinery, and every possible farm accessory or service you can imagine. The usual suspects are there — the major Canadian and North American manufacturers of tractors, seeding, harvesting and tillage equipment. The show focuses on field crops — production and crop handling and storage. Along with the majors there are also names, companies and products you may not have heard of… so you have to look around. And there is always a smattering of livestock handling equipment,

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so be sure to find those booths, if you have cattle. Much like the Calgary Stampede, where I find the same mini-donut stand is in the same location every year, I am guessing if you saw where Versatile tractors or Brandt augers were last year, they and other regular displayers will be in the same location this year. However, one area that often has something new is the FCC innovations centre and that’s where relatively new equipment ideas or farmer inventions get recognized. I see this year, among innovations, are a subtiller as well as a vacuum planter for canola developed by Todd Botterill of Newton, Man.; Bobby Volesky of Fargo, North Dakota has a wireless monitor to identify blockages in an air seeder — it sends a message to your iPad in the tractor cab; Mark Devloo of Somerset, Man. has developed a mud scraper for tires; Brad Michel of St. Gregor, Sask. has a crop catcher (shield) for the combine header; Gerald Foster of Sunnybrook, Alta. has a “box” concave system for axial flow rotary combines (I am never sure what that all means); Duane Bartok of Esterhazy, Sask. has a reverser device for the haybine to unplug the haybine from the seat of the tractor; and there are more, but I don’t want to spoil all the surprises. I haven’t seen any news releases, but I suspect Balzer will be there with a 10,000 bushel grain cart, to compliment Bourgault’s 10,000 bushel air seeding tanks. Seedhawk or Seed Master will likely have 500-foot wide air seeding systems so you can seed all crops in your municipal district in three hours. And Versatile probably has a new Class 22 Russian-built combine

you can use to harvest all crops in your county in half a day… point is there is always something bigger, faster and more amazing. Last year I got a kick out of Sakundiak’s remote control Swing Max Pro auger that operated like one of those Transformer toys. I almost bought a farm, just so I could justify owning one. The show is big, by my standards anyway, and you will probably be joining 45,000 to 50,000 other Western farmers and their families out to see what is new. The Farm Progress people think it is impressive to mention they have about two million square feet of displays. But to me that just means a lot of walking. That’s about 45 acres. And when you consider you can’t go 10 feet without something to look at, plan on a couple days.

LEE’S SHOW TIPS Here are a few tips from my vast farm show experience that may help you enjoy the show to its fullest: 1. Go early — always the best parking options, it’s cooler, and some booths have a limited number of give-aways, so make sure you get yours. Parking is $5 per vehicle. (Show admission is $15 per person — kids under 12 are free.) 2. Get a Farm Progress Show program guide. The Western Producer usually includes one in a June issue, and copies are available on the grounds. It lists all the exhibitors and has maps to show you were to find them if you are looking for something in particular. 3. Ride the trolley. There are several tractor-drawn trolleys winding through the show all day. You can hop on and off at

many locations. It not only saves wear and tear on your feet, but it is a good way to familiarize yourself with where various outdoor exhibitors are located so you can plan your day better. 4. Bring your camera, or a cell phone with a camera. A picture of a display, piece of machinery, or a billboard may be easier to carry around than a grocery bag full of pamphlets. Pen and paper are handy tools for making notes. Consider bringing a backpack. It is good way to carry your loot, and still leave your hands free. 5. You know those address labels charities send you when looking for a donation? I’ve seen some people bring those sheets to trade shows and apply them to the contests/draws entry forms at different booths. Good way to use them up. Once or twice I have seen really organized people entering draws with a self-inking rubber stamp. 6. It is a family event, so everyone is welcome. If you have little kids, bring a good stroller. I don’t have little kids anymore, but one piece of advice I heard — if you have little kids avoid locations where they hand out helium filled balloons until later in the day, unless you want to be babysitting a bobbing balloon all day. 7. Dress for comfort. You can never be sure about the weather. Comfortable shoes are important because there is a lot of walking, and as I recall, not all that many places to sit down. Again, a backpack is a good idea for carrying a light jacket, ball cap, or small umbrella. If you have a spouse or friend with you, make sure they have one as well, so you’re not stuck carrying all their stuff too. I’ve been there. 8. Food. There are a number of different food venues. There is one main Tim Hortons in the Co-operator’s Centre, which is always busy, but I also believe there is a second Tim Horton’s kiosk elsewhere on the grounds, so look for that. There are several hamburger stands on the grounds where you can get burgers, sausages, beef on a bun, cold drinks and more. Each has one or two picnic tables, but there isn’t a lot of seating. (There is one burger stand near the Brandt Centre that gives you way more fries than a person can possibly eat, so go there for sure.) The concourse of the Brandt Centre also has concession stands. And there are dining areas inside different buildings, so again consult your show guide for locations. And there is always the beer garden. 9. If you have a tendency toward impulse buying, leave your wallet or cheque book at home, or bring your spouse with you. It is one of those events where “gee, it seemed like a good idea, at the time” might apply. There are some pretty good show deals available from many suppliers, but any reputable outfit will honor those prices until you’ve had time to sleep on it. 10. And, finally, do not, under any circumstances, leave Farm Progress Show without picking up a free copy of Grainews. I’ll even autograph it for you, which should add at least 10 cents to its value as a collector’s item. † Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

JUNE 4, 2012

grainews.ca /

canada’S farm progreSS Show June 20 - 22, 2012, regina, SK

Special event Section

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MANITOBA

Kawasaki® V-Twin engine • Available in 32” or 36” cutting widths • Electric start standard on all models

603 Pacific Pacific Ave, Brandon, MB R7A 0H9 IS® 2000Z COLLYER’S SALES & SERVICE Phone: 204-727-2491 / Fax: 204-727-2492 603 PACIFIC AVE, BRANDON, MB R7A 0H9 Email: kcoIIyer(coIIyer.com Phone: 204-727-2491/Fax: 204-727-2492 Email: kcollyer@collyer.com

• 24/27 gross hp* Briggs & Stratton® Professional Series™ engines • Available in 44”, 52” or 61” cutting widths • iCD™ Cutting System with stripe kit (52” & 61” models)

• Ground speed up to 8 mph and mows up to 4 acres per hour, based on 80% efficiency

• 27/26/20/19 gross hp** Kawasaki® V-Twin engines • Available in 36”, 48” or 52” cutting widths • Patented operator forward design places the operator in the

most ideal ergonomic position • Ground speed up to 10 mph and mows up to 4.3 acres per hour, based on 80% efficiency

• 28 gross hp* Briggs & Stratton® Commercial Turf Series™ engine • 24 gross hp** Kawasaki® V-Twin engine • Available in 61” cutting width