GNN130225 by Farm Business Communications

Volume 39, Number 5 | FEBRUARY 25, 2013

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PRACTICAL PRODUCTION TIPS FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER

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Double up soybean inoculants Soybeans need rhizobia. Double application of inoculant is a common way to kick-start soil with a short history of soybeans BY ANGELA LOVELL

dealer, but they will also use a granular inoculant in-furrow as well. That’s because in a newer soybean production area we need to build up inoculum in the soil and we often experience tough planting conditions that can be very hard on rhizobia survival.”

f farmers want to achieve maximum yields in soybean crops, especially in areas where soybeans have not traditionally been grown, double inoculation with live nitrogen fixing bacteria, rhizobia, is vital. Even in areas where pulses have been in production for many years, it can take a long time for rhizobia to build up in the soil. The rhizobia associated with soybeans is not native to the Prairies, so rhizobia must be continually applied at seeding. Because of this, and the fact that soybeans haven’t been seeded regularly for 30 or 40 years in most areas in Western Canada as they have in places like Iowa or Ontario, a good way to make sure there is sufficient rhizobia in the soil is to double-apply inoculants. “For new soybean growers in Western Canada double inoculation is quite common, which is very different to pea and lentil growers,” says Danielle Fletcher, an agronomist with Becker Underwood. “Soybean growers will pick up their seed that is already inoculated from the

TYPES OF INOCULANT Each pulse crop requires a specific species of rhizobia, so it’s important for farmers to make sure they inoculate soybeans with soybean rhizobia. There are three different formulations of inoculant: peat based, liquid and granular. Peat and liquid based formulations are commonly seedapplied; granular is applied infurrow. The choice about which formulation(s) to use comes down to convenience, application costs and equipment capabilities. Liquid inoculants offer a longer planting window. The length varies depending on the product, but can be as long as 60 days. Many soybean growers have their seed pre-inoculated by the retailer with a liquid inoculant, plus an extender that extends the on-seed » CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

PHOTO: BECKER UNDERWOOD

This soybean plant nodule has been sliced open. The pink area demonstrates that the plant is actively fixing nitrogen.

In This Issue

Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240

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

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

Crop Advisor’s Casebook

Columns ........................... 21 Machinery & Shop ............ 30 Cattleman’s Corner .......... 36

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Wheat & Chaff STAMPEDE

BY JERRY PALEN

LEEANN MINOGUE

hen they remember that our little boy is old enough to head off to kindergarten, our city friends’ first questions are usually: “Will he have to go on the bus?” “How long will have to be on the bus?” and, “Are you okay with him going on the bus?” When I tell them that that our son’s bus ride to Weyburn takes about an hour (including stops), and that the bus pulls into our yard at 7:40, most of them are horrified. I suspect some of them have called Social Services to report us for cruelty to children. (I know. I know. Some of your children are probably getting on way earlier that that. And it’s not that cruel. Just keep reading.)

FIVE REASONS TO LIKE THE BUS “If we sold you a warranty, it would wreck the company”

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Of course we’re okay with our little boy riding the bus. I think it’s a good thing. Here’s five reasons. 1. Building independence It was tough, putting that little guy on the bus all by himself for the first time. But it’s sure building his independence. City kids whose parents drop them off at the school door and meet them there again at the end of the day don’t have that same “going by myself” experience. And just because he’s not with me doesn’t mean he’s not safe. The bus driver watches the kids traipse to the door of the school; the teachers make sure they get back on the bus at the end of the day. Bus kids are probably safer than town kids who walk three blocks on their own twice a day. I’ll admit it, there were a few times that I didn’t feel that safe, riding the bus. One older boy, “Ralph” scared me a bit. (Of course I’m not using his real name. He was that scary.) You don’t know independence until you walk out to the end of the farmyard lane mid-way through second grade, wearing your new eyeglasses for the first time, waiting to find out how many different ways Ralph can

mock you as soon as he gets on the bus. 2. Learning opportunities I learned to read on the school bus. My ride was just short of an hour, and my seatmate, Robin, was two years older. She already knew how to read, so she got out her reader and showed me. There were other things too. I still remember the day that two older girls from the back of the bus walked by my seat gossiping about a third girl. “She’s expecting!” one of them said. “Expecting what?” I piped up. One of them said, “Expecting a bus!” and they both got away from me as fast as they could. And don’t even get me started on the things we overheard Ralph talking about at the back of the bus. (Not that I could print them here.) 3. Understanding hierarchy I’ve never heard of a rural school bus where there weren’t some pretty non-bendable rules about where everyone would sit. Little kids at the front. Everyone knew that. As you went through school, you worked your way toward the back. By the time you’ve hit Grade 6, you know your place on that bus, and exactly where you’re going to be sitting next year. If you had any trouble figuring it out, I’m sure there was someone like Ralph on your bus to straighten you out. 4. Building community Being thrown onto a bus together five days a week, two hours a day gives the kids a chance to get to know the neighbours. When my little boy got on that bus, I knew two of his babysitters would be getting on a few stops down the road. If he had a problem, they’d help. When he gets bigger, he’ll help younger kids (I hope). Of course you couldn’t count on every kid to help you out (hey, Ralph). But learning that is part of learning to live in a community. 5. Building tolerance Yeah, there’s always that one kid that smells funny. Or the first-grader that won’t be quiet. But farm kids know they’re going to be riding the same bus with those same kids for the next 12 years (or until they get their own car). If that’s not a good way to learn tolerance, I don’t know what is. (I’m not saying they’ll like it at the time.) In case you’re still worried about me — a short blond seven-year old

sitting alone on the bus waiting for Ralph to see my new glasses — here’s how it went down. By the time the bus pulled into Ralph’s yard, I’d worked myself up into quite a state. I had no idea what he’d say, but I was pretty sure he’d be more creative than “four eyes.” And everyone would hear. I’ve blocked out the memories of getting up the courage to look at him as he stepped onto the bus and clomped past my seat. Ralph glanced down at me. Took a good look. Nodded. And this is what he said: “Nice glasses.” Not a trace of sarcasm. No rudeness. No mocking. He nodded again, went back to his seat, and that was the last I heard of it. Riding the bus to town from our farm didn’t do me any harm. I wish the same experiences for my little boy.

HEMP HARVEST On page 13 of this issue, you’ll find Angela Lovell’s article about growing hemp. Regulations around industrial hemp have lightened up, making the paperwork simpler. At the Brandon Ag show in January, my husband and I stopped to talk to Tom Greaves, director of operations for Manitoba Harvest, a hemp food manufacturer. He was manning a booth and passing out free samples of hemp hearts — tasty little seeds, a bit like sunflower seeds or pine nuts. “We’re the largest hemp manufacturer in Canada,” Greaves told us. The company’s website says that 60 per cent of Canadian farmers growing hemp are growing it under contract with Manitoba Harvest. When we asked about prices, Greaves said, “Most of the contracts are between 70 and 80 cents a pound.” (Find contact information at www.manitobaharvest.com.) When my husband asked Greaves about harvesting hemp, Greaves said it’s a lot easier than it used to be (read more about this in Angela’s article.) Greaves said, “new combine technology has really made a difference.” That’s what our neighbour found when he grew hemp for the first time last season. He didn’t have any problems with his harvest. But when he put the combine away, he said, “It smelled like Cheech and Chong’s combine!” Enjoy this issue. Leeann

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

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Wheat & Chaff Farm safety

Built-in adjuvant

In pursuit of good Syngenta Axial Herbicide Now More Convenient to sleep hygiene Use Thanks to New Built-in

ccording to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, sleep is not a passive process. It’s a time when your brain is actively processing events from the day and energy is being restored. The brain goes through two main stages of sleep, non-rapideye-movement (NREM) sleep, and rapideye-movement (REM) sleep. NREM sleep is characterized by the slowing of brain waves until the sleeper reaches “deep” sleep, a state that is less responsive to the outside world. A person in deep sleep is harder to wake. REM sleep takes up about 20 to 25 per cent of total sleep and is characterized by rapid eye movement and vivid dreams. Adults typically cycle through both stages throughout the night in 90-minute cycles. While the body’s sleep-wake system usually ensures we are alert during the day, and become increasingly sleepy at night, there is a laundry list of factors that can wreak havoc on the quality and quantity of sleep. To begin, as we age, our sleep generally decreases and becomes more fragmented. Factors including exposure to light in the late evening, as well as noise and temperature can make sleeping difficult. Stress, medical conditions, chronic pain, and anxiety and depression can keep us awake. Finally, chemical substances ranging from medications (alpha and beta blockers, antidepressants, antihistamines) to caffeine, alcohol and nicotine can also disrupt our normal sleep cycles. If this is starting to sound depressing, there’s a quiet, dark room at the end of the tunnel. That’s because although there are many factors that can interfere with sleep, for most people there are strategies that can help to curb the wakefulness tide. Remember that 90 minute sleep cycle? It’s really important. According to resources from the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture, the eight hour beauty sleep is a myth. Instead, the human body is designed to sleep in 90 minute cycles, which adds up to six, seven and a half or nine hours of sleep per night. If you are interrupted partway through your regular sleep cycle, you have to start all over again, decreasing the productivity of

your sleep. So those intent on waking up a little more bright-eyed should keep 90 minutes in their head when setting the alarm. Next, tackle the sleep saboteurs. Banish caffeine from your diet four to six hours before bed. Smokers should butt out when it’s close to bedtime (or better yet, kick the habit altogether). Take a look at your bedroom. Is it quiet, dark, relatively cool and free of distractions? If stress is a problem, find a relaxing routine to wind you down approximately an hour before bed. Stress can cause the body to produce cortisol, the stress hormone, which can increase alertness. So try not to discuss work or emotional issues before bed. Instead, run a warm bath (the rise and fall in body temperature promotes drowsiness), read a book, or write down your worries in a journal and put them aside for the night so you can sleep more peacefully. If lifestyle is a problem, try to find a way to stick to a sleep schedule. Maintaining a consistent wake time will help set the body’s internal clock. Try not to eat a large meal close to bedtime. Drink enough water to stay hydrated, but not so much that you are running to the bathroom every few hours. Install night lights so that if you have to get up, you aren’t bathing yourself in sleep disrupting light. Get more exercise, but try not to pump iron three hours or less before sleep — this could trigger the release of stress hormones that may keep you awake — though very light exercise within three hours of bedtime might help. If you’re still having trouble sleeping, consult your physician. You may have a sleep disorder or require additional intervention. Many factors contribute to a good night’s sleep. Too often we don’t take the time to exercise a bit of good sleep hygiene, and we don’t realize when sleeplessness is impairing our judgement. That gap could lead to unnecessary risks and injuries on the farm. For more information on how to get a better night’s sleep, contact the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture. †

From the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association — www.planfarmsafety.ca — with files from www. understandingsleep.org and www.cchsa-ccsma.usask.ca.

photo contest

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT Monica de Wilde sent us this photo. From left to right, Ethan, Lindsay and Lauren are taking their Dad (Willard) a coffee while he cuts hay for silage on their farm west of Nobleford, Alta. Monica says, “Looks like Jonke (Opa’s dog) wants a sip first.” The de Wilde family bought their farm in 2007 — 320 acres with 140 in hay, 155 in cereals and the balance pasture where they run some sheep and goats. There is lots for their five children to do. The family also runs a custom grain hauling business. Monica, thank you for sharing this picture of such a nice moment of your summer. We’re sending you a cheque for $25. If you’d like to see your photo on this page and receive $25, send your best shot to leeann.minogue@fbcpublishing. com. Please send only one or two photos at a time and include your name and address, the names of anyone in the photo, where the photo was taken and a bit about what was going on that day. A little write-up about your farm is welcome, too. Please ensure that images are of high resolution (1 MB is preferred), and if the image includes a person, we need to be able to see their face clearly. — Leeann

yngenta Canada Inc.’s Axial herbicide is now available in a new formulation with a builtin adjuvant for control of wild oats, green foxtail, yellow foxtail, barnyard grass, volunteer oats, volunteer canary seed and proso millet in spring wheat and barley. “This all-in-one Axial formulation makes it more convenient and easier to apply,” says Jon Habok, asset lead, cereal herbicides for Syngenta Canada in a press release. Axial herbicide, with its active ingredient pinoxaden (Group 1), is absorbed by plant leaves and is rapidly translocated to the growing points of leaves and stems, providing thorough coverage of the weeds, which is essential for consistent control.

Not all Group 1 graminicides, or ACCase inhibitors, are the same. Each product in this category belongs to one of three chemical families. Each family inhibits the same enzyme and has the same site of action, however, each family binds differently to the plant. This distinction means that development of resistance may also differ by family. The three families of Group 1 active ingredients are: “Fop” Aryloxyphenoxy propionate “Dim” (Cyclohexanediones) and “Den” (Phenylpyrazolin). Axial herbicide is a “Den” chemistry; research has demonstrated that it works on some wild oat populations that are not controlled by other Group 1 graminicides. † Syngenta Canada

Farm finance

Loan rates

t the end of January, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) sent out a press release warning farmers to be prepared for an interest rate increase. “It is prudent in the current environment for agribusinesses to ensure that they can withstand a two per cent increase in interest rates. This will ensure long-term viability if interest rates climb,” said J.P. Gervais, FCC’s chief agricultural economist in the press release. “Because mortgage costs are often a key cost in a farming operation, one of the most frequent questions we hear is: ‘Should I go with a fixed-rate or a variable-rate mortgage?’” said FCC vice-president, treasury Don Stevens. “The answer is that it depends. Sound informa-

tion and an assessment of personal risk tolerance can help make the decision easier.” When interest rates are low, variablerate loans are a popular choice. Over the past year, about 65 per cent of new FCC loans to farmers and agribusinesses were made using the variable rate, compared to 80 per cent in 2010. About 60 per cent of FCC’s $24 billion portfolio consists of variable rate loans. “If a farmer is already carrying significant financial risk, then reducing interest rate risk may be a smart strategy,” said Stevens. “Although everyone wants to save money, sometimes it’s prudent to proactively take risk off the table. I’m not saying that everyone should lock in; however, every producer needs to understand what different scenarios might mean to them and do what’s right for their business.” † Farm Credit Canada — www.fcc.ca

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Cover Stories CROP PRODUCTION » CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

DOUBLE UP SOYBEAN INOCULANTS survival of the rhizobia and the planting window, and in addition they use a granular product applied on-farm at seeding.

INOCULANT CARE AND HANDLING Inoculants are living organisms. For product registration, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) requires a minimum rhizobia load on the seed at planting for proper inoculation. When extending the days of survivability, seed testing must prove that this level of rhizobia can be maintained. Just because the inoculant states a maximum safe planting interval doesn’t mean farmers should wait that long to seed inoculated seed. “To maximize the benefit of your inoculants, if you get inoculated seed planted in the ground as soon as pos-

sible you will be delivering more viable bacteria to the furrow than if you leave it until the last day of the maximum safe planting interval,” says Fletcher. If farmers don’t use their inoculated seed right away, adds Fletcher, they should store it as cool as possible — for sure under 20 C — and out of direct sunlight, as ultraviolet rays are very hard on rhizobial survival. If farmers are using any other kind of seed treatment, like a fungicide or combination fungicide/ insecticide product, they should check with the inoculant manufacturer about the appropriate safe planting interval. Although it’s less likely that there may be compatibility issues with granular formulations than liquid or peat types, it’s always a good idea to make sure.

NEW SYSTEM FOR SOYBEANS Becker Underwood recently announced a new pre-inoculant system for soybeans — it’s available in Western Canada. The new inoculant system incorpo-

rates the company’s BioStacked technology and offers a number of benefits, including longer onseed survival. The CFIA recently granted registration of Nodulator PRO and HiStick PRO, both of which can be used as liquid BioStacked

Liquid inoculants offer a longer planting window inoculant systems for soybeans. They include the benefits of rhizobia and root disease suppression when used in combination with Integral, biofungicide registered with the Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). The products are available as a combined system that provides a 60-day window for “on seed survival” of rhizobia. “This new registration brings

an effective one-two punch to professional seed treatment applicators by offering the benefits of high quality Becker Underwood soybean inoculants with the Conditioner product in the same package,” says David Townsend, product manager with Becker Underwood in a press release. “It provides flexibility in bulk seed treatment application.” Nodulator PRO and HiStick PRO inoculant systems require approximately 50 per cent less application volume thanks to a new packaging system. “The packaging involves technically advanced features to keep the crucial, nitrogen-fixing rhizobia as viable and robust as possible before application to the seed,” says Townsend. “The packaging also allows for lower volume of product to be applied, which means less drying time, and it makes it easier to work with.” † Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor and communications specialist living and working in Manitoba. Find her online at www. angelalovell.ca.

Multiple modes of action for peas and lentils

oveland Products Inc. recently announced two new inoculants for peas and lentils that will be available to Western Canadian farmers this year, featuring new technology that offers multiple modes of action for earlier and longer nodulation to help boost yields. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently approved Establish granular (pea), Establish liquid (pea and lentil) and So-Fast peat (pea and lentil) inoculants. Both Establish products feature unique technologies that use multiple

modes of action to enhance the plant’s nutritional capabilities for maximum crop performance. Whilst most inoculants are single-action (nitrogen only), Establish combines a nitrogen inoculant with a groundbreaking LCO (lipochitooligosaccharide) Promoter technology in the granular formulation and Plant Signal Technology (flavonoids) in the liquid formulation. In both technologies, unique molecules drive communication between the plant and the inoculant for a healthy start regardless of soil conditions. With Establish, the result

is an earlier, longer-lasting nodulation period, increased nitrogen fixation, and enhanced root and shoot development for improved nutrient and water uptake. Farmers will get bigger nodules and more of them, resulting in better yields. Western Canada can also have cold or saturated soils and soils with a low pH, which can delay or otherwise hamper the communication process between the plant and the rhizobia, resulting in a late start to the nodulation process. Farmers in these areas could benefit from the Establish technology, which short circuits the

typical nodulation process and starts it independently of soil conditions. “It advances the normal nitrogen fixation process,” says Chris Di Ubaldo, assistant product manager for Western Canada with UAP, which distributes the products in Canada. “It stimulates the rhizobia and root hair curling for earlier nodule formation and nitrogen fixation. The sooner the plant begins the nodulation process, the more nitrogen that plant can fix and the higher your yields are going to be.” † Angela Lovell

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CROP PRODUCTION

Rescuing non-inoculated soybeans Possible to save non-inoculated soybeans with late nitrogen application BY ANGELA LOVELL

mistake gave extension specialists a rare opportunity to test the yield effect of post-emergent nitrogen applications on noninoculated soybeans. In 2011 a virgin soybean field was inadvertently seeded without inoculation. Most of the field was then fertilized following emergence in June with 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre as urea (46-0-0). Some small plots in an adjacent unfertilized area were treated with different applications for comparison. One was an untreated check plot, and the other plots received Agrotain-treated urea at 50 and 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre, either at flowering in mid July or at pod fill in early August.

WHAT HAPPENED? In June, a severe iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) was observed in the areas that received 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre at emergence. High soil nitrate is known to be a contributing factor

levels in plant tissue at early flowering were sufficient and soil organic matter levels were high. The combination of soil nitrate and mineralization from soil organic matter provided sufficient nitrogen for a modest check yield of around 31 bushels per acre.

Soybean yields did not respond to the early-applied nitrogen of IDC along with factors such as salinity, carbonate levels and saturated conditions. Soybean roots in the field did not develop nodules, yet plants did not appear pale in colour or nitrogen deficient. Nitrogen

Soybean yields did not respond to the early-applied nitrogen, but the yield increased 24 and 32 per cent with late-applied nitrogen at 50 and 100 lb./ac., respectively. The higher nitrogen rates increased protein, decreased oil

content and increased seed size. However, even at 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre, seed protein was 40 per cent, which is less than protein usually achieved with good nodulation.

THE CONCLUSION Soybeans responded favourably to late nitrogen applications even though visual deficiency symptoms were not severe. Response would be expected to be greater in fields with lower nitrogen and organic matter levels. If farmers need to make nitrogen applications to non-nodulated soybeans this should be done at the pod-filling stage for maximum benefits. † 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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The editors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to Grainews and Farm Business Communications attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists and Grainews and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as Grainews and Farm Business Communications assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader for this publication based on any and all information provided.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

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Features CROP PROTECTION

Pre-harvest intervals

Understanding and following the rules for pre-harvest pesticide application can save you a lot of time and money BY SHANNON MCARTON

n a year of unusual conditions across much of the Prairies, some unusual problems arose. Pre-harvest interval, the time between the last application of pesticide and the safe harvesting of edible crops for immediate consumption, was a much bigger consideration than usual because of the need for late-season spray applications. With a strict tolerance approach to residuals in crops headed for human consumption markets, playing fast and loose with recommended intervals could be a costly gamble. In many cases it’s simply a matter of not fully understanding the requirements.

THE REQUIREMENTS The Canola Council of Canada printed this definition of the pre-harvest interval in it’s August, 2012 issue of Canola Watch: “The pre-harvest interval is the number of days that must pass between the last application of a pesticide and

cutting of the crop. Cutting is either swathing or straight cutting. From the end of flowering to physiological maturity usually takes about 25 days in Manitoba, 30 days in Alberta, with Saskatchewan in between.” “Some confusion exists about the exact meaning of harvest in these situations,” says Shannon Friesen from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. “When you’re talking about pre-harvest interval you have to back up from the date a crop is swathed or straight-cut, not just combined.” The interval is based on the number of days it takes for the chemical, or residual, to break down in the plant. No traces of chemical can be found in seed destined for human consumption markets, so intervals can vary greatly, depending on the crop kind and the treatment applied. All commercial products have clearly defined intervals on the label. Read them carefully and be sure you understand the impact of the product you’re choosing.

Remember that the breakdown of residuals occurs only in the plant, not in the seed, so storage time after harvest has nothing to do with the required interval period. Residuals on wheat crops tend to be less of an issue as wheat midge spraying (for example) happens earlier in the life cycle of the plant and any product is usually broken down well before the crop is cut. Preharvest interval doesn’t refer solely to pesticides. If you desiccate crops of any kind the treatments used will also carry well-defined pre-harvest interval requirements. Greg Sekulic, Agonomy Specialist for the Alberta/B.C. Peace with the Canola Council of Canada, believes that farmers are doing a very good job of abiding by the regulations. “By and large, most producers are well informed and doing a terrific job of adhering to the guidelines,” he says. “Difficult circumstances this past fall created situations that advanced harvest by as much as three weeks in some areas. That can

be tough to deal with when you’re talking about pre-harvest intervals, but I think it was very well managed.”

THE CONSEQUENCES In 2012, severe infestations of bertha armyworm warranted late-season treatments that strayed perilously close to interval guidelines. In an effort to save endangered crops farmers may have underestimated the important days to harvest guidelines. “There were a few issues in 2012, mainly because of late spraying for bertha armyworm, which was really bad this year,” says Friesen. “Random testing for residuals goes on all the time and results are incredibly accurate. It’s really not worth taking the chance that residuals can be traced back to your farm.” Most farmers are aware of the consequences of playing with the interval period. With traceability protocols that can precisely pinpoint which product entered which bin on which day, there’s no place to hide. The consequences can be severe and costly.

“Having a boat rejected in Japan can result in fines of up to four hundred thousand dollars,” says Sekulic. “And the problem goes straight back to the individual producer, because the traceability is accurate enough to ensure that.” Sekulic maintains that sound information is always the best defense. In an age of instant information made possible by social media, growers learn about potential hazards quickly, and are equally quick to react. “The social media chatter was lively this fall and caused some concern, “says Sekulic. “The problem with Twitter is that it’s impossible to explain intricacies in 140 characters. But it’s relatively easy for growers to find the reassurance and information they need if they take it a step further. Our website gives a very clear picture of all you need to know about our export-ready program.” (Find the Canola Council’s website at www.canolacouncil.org.) † Shannon McArton is a farmer and freelance writer based in Saskatchewan.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Features Crop production

Field pea inputs Plateauing field pea yields have prompted researchers to study how inputs can help. You can’t use everything — get the best bank for your input buck By Lisa Guenther

R These pea input trials were on display at the Scott Research Farm field day last summer.

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esearchers want to figure out which inputs, and combinations of inputs, produce the highest field pea yields in different areas of Saskatchewan, says Anne Kirk. Kirk is the research manager at the Western Applied Research Corporation (WARC). The research corporation is running a three-year study, funded by the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, at Scott, Melfort, Swift Current and Indian Head, Saskatchewan. “We know that there are a lot of instances where producers know which inputs would be the best inputs to apply. But you obviously can’t apply everything in every year. So if you only have a certain amount of money to spend on that pea crop, what’s your best bet?” Researchers seeded CDC Meadow for each treatment at each site. In the “empty” input package, the seeding rate was 60 seeds per square metre, which resulted in 40 to 55 plants per square metre. Seeding rate in the “full” package was 120 seeds per square metre, translating to between 80 and 105 plants. Row spacing was set at 10 inches. Along with the empty and full packages, researchers applied single treatments to the empty input package, and several treatment combinations.

Input effectiveness varied

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Kirk cautions that results are preliminary, as 2012 was the first year of the three-year study. Some of the inputs performed differently at each site. Ideal growing conditions made Scott the high-yielding site in 2012. The soil had good fertility, at about 20 pounds per acre of nitrogen. The full input package yielded about 5,300 kilograms per hectare (4,729 pounds per acre), while the empty input package yielded about 2,200 kg/ ha (1,964 lb./ac.). “This does show that we do have a great ability to impact field pea yield with inputs,” says Kirk. Based on statistical analysis of the yields resulting from different By Dan Piraro

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

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Features 2012 FIELD PEA INPUT STUDY

EFFECTS ON YIELD

These were the treatments used in the empty and full input packages in Western Applied Research Corporation’s 2012 field pea input study.

Seeding rate, granular inoculant and fungicide had the greatest impact on yield. This chart shows the yield increase or decrease that each of these inputs had on yield at the four locations, or on average across all sites, in kg/ha.

Empty

Full

Variety

CDC Meadow

Seeding rate

60 seeds/m2

120 seed/m2

Seed treatment

None

Apron Maxx RTA

Inoculant

Liquid

Granular

Starter fertilizer

None

30 lb./ac. 46-0-0

None

2 applications (Headline EC + Priaxor DS)

Fungicide

Indian Head

Melfort

Swift Current

All Sites

-34

-92

-117

1,268

598

506

604

Granular inoculant

902

357

364

Starter fertilizer

573

191

-70

195

Fungicide

392

845

1,134

-8

1,004

Seed Treatment Seeding rate

Data from IHARF.

Table provided by WARC. combinations of treatments in several plots, researchers were able to estimate how each treatment impacted yield at each location. At Scott, the higher seeding rate bumped yield by 1,268 kg/ ha, as compared with the lower seeding rate. The granular inoculant lifted yield by 902 kg/ha over the liquid formulation. Kirk says the field did have a history of field pea production, so researchers were surprised to see such a jump from the granular inoculant.

Scott

package yielded about 1,100 kg/ ha (981 lbs./ha); the full package yielded just over 1,600 kg/ha (1,428 lbs./ac.). Higher seeding rates drove yield at Swift Current, accounting for a 506 kilogram per hectare increase over fields with lower seeding rates. At both Indian Head and Melfort, disease pressure made foliar fungicide vital. Fungicide bolstered yield by 845 kg/ha at

Indian Head, and by 1,134 kg/ha at Melfort. Melfort’s field peas also got a boost of 357 kilograms per hectare from granular inoculant. Higher seeding rates shored up yield by 598 kilograms per hectare at Melfort. Indian Head was the only site that didn’t see a significant increase from higher seeding rates. “We didn’t expect to see that

much of a yield increase from increasing the seeding rate from 60 to 120 seeds per metre squared,” says Kirk. “Maybe we should be doing more research on seeding rate in field peas to look and see if there could be an even greater yield benefit if we do increase the seeding rate a bit more, because this is something that is relatively easy to control.”

Kirk hopes that the next two years of research will give more definitive answers on the how different input combinations affect yield, and which give farmers the most bang for their buck. “It is important to look at the yield. It’s also important to look at the economics.” † Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa. Guenther@fbcpublishing.com.

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When researchers examined the difference between the full input package minus two inputs, some interesting results showed up. For example, removing or adding only starter fertilizer didn’t make a huge difference in yield. But when both starter fertilizer and granular inoculant were removed from the full input package, there was a yield decrease of 1,862 kg/ha. Removing fungicide and starter fertilizer dropped yield by 1,378 kg/ha. It’s too early to say exactly what these results mean. But Kirk says “protecting yield using these inputs may be more important than we thought.”

DIFFERENT FACTORS IN DIFFERENT AREA At Swift Current, the higher seeding rate made the most difference to yields. But fungicides were the main driver at Indian Head and Melfort Swift Current was a lower yielding site in 2012. The empty

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Features CROP NUTRITION

Phosphorus application methods There is more than one way to apply phosphorus. Pick the method that works best for you BY LINSDAY GRIFFITH

lmost all soil phosphorus originates from the parent material, but much of this phosphorus remains unavailable to plants, so for a crop to have a sufficient supply of plant available phosphorus, some additional phosphorus needs to be put down. There are five main types of commercial phosphorus fertilizers: monoammonium phosphate (MAP), diammonium phosphate (DAP), triple super phosphate, orthophosphate and polyphosphate. Of these, MAP, orthophosphate, and polyphosphate are used in Western Canada, with the most widespread fertilizer type being MAP, a granular fertilizer which includes blends such as 11-52-0. DAP tends to be slightly more toxic to seedlings than MAP, and triple super phosphate, though popular in Europe and Asia, is too expensive to distribute in the Prairie provinces when most of it is produced overseas.

RELATIVELY IMMOBILE According to Dr. Jeff Schoenau, a professor in the Department of Soil Science at the University of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Agriculture chair in soil nutrient management, “The main thing to keep in mind with phosphorus, regardless of form, is that it’s relatively immobile in the soil; it

won’t move very far from where it’s placed to another location in the soil.” The key, then, is to place the phosphorus close to the plant roots so that it will be available to the plants early in the growth cycle and to do so without exceeding the recommended rates of phosphorus. Crops sensitive to high fertilizer rates, such as flax or pulses like peas, cannot tolerate the high salt content as well as cereals, so placement of the fertilizer is important. Because of its limited mobility in the soil, broadcast phosphorus is not very effective unless incorporated and is considered inferior to other placement methods at lower rates (typically 10 to 30 lbs. of phosphate per acre). If broadcasting, the rate should be increased to at least 50 to 60 lbs. phosphate/acre. Most often, phosphorus is seed placed or side-banded (often one inch below and one inch to the side) or both, with the distance from the seed in side-banding meaning that more phosphorus can be put down at once than with seed placed phosphorus. Other placement methods — below the seed (typically about one inch) and deep banding (four to 12 inches) — are uncommon in Canada. Dr. Rigas Karamanos, manager of agronomics solutions with Viterra, believes that “the most efficient way is to apply [phosphorus] in a band.”

RESIDUAL EFFECT A large application of phosphorus, typically broadcasting between 100 to 150 lbs. phosphate/acre, has been used in the past to take advantage of the residual phosphorus effect and to build up the phosphorus reserves in the soil. In the 1970s and ’80s, some research showed that such applications could improve yields substantially. Today, however, as pointed out by Dr. Don Flaten, a professor in the Department of Soil Science at the University of

for manure or a similar low cost, useful amendment which will increase organic matter as well as phosphorus. Ultimately, the type of phosphorus fertilizer applied does not matter, as it will convert to the plant available form of orthophosphate by the time the seed has germinated and the plant can take up nutrients. Karamanos has found that after four to eight days, “by the time the plant starts utilizing [phosphorus], [the products] are all the same.” This phosphorus will not all remain available, with

There are few differences between liquid and granular or non-aqueous fertilizers Manitoba, the land tenure situation is different, since many farmers are working on rented land, and “the economics are a lot less favourable than years ago.” Furthermore, when a large amount of phosphorus is put down in the soil, the mycorrhizae are killed. Because these soil microorganisms will beneficially infect plant roots and increase their ability to take up certain nutrients, such as the micronutrient zinc, new deficiencies can be caused. Therefore, if a farmer seeks to improve the soil fertility on his land, perhaps even just on eroded knolls, it’s better to look

some of it adsorbing to soil particles, but it is likely retained in the soil as residual phosphorus for the coming years. According to Schoenau, some say that phosphorus fertilizer “is inefficient because in the year of application, [we] might only get 20 per cent of it recovered by the crop,” but “in the longer term, phosphorus fertilizer and recovery can be quite efficient because it’s not readily lost from the system.” Consequently, there are few differences between liquid and granular or non-aqueous fertilizers.

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While the forms of phosphorus differ initially, with granular fertilizers often being orthophosphate and the liquid fertilizers ammonium polyphosphate, the polyphosphate will rapidly convert to orthophosphate. Liquid fertilizers may be easier to handle, and separation of fertilizer from seed can be readily achieved to avoid damage. Like granular fertilizers, however, spacing remains an issue. Karamanos says, “People think that when you apply liquid, it’s a constant stream, and yet, it’s not.” Rather than a steady stream of liquid, the fertilizer hits the ground in individual droplets, so the supply would depend on the rate of application, the kind of dribble system used to apply the fertilizer, and the specific equipment figuration therein. BY DAN PIRARO

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The higher the rates applied, the smaller the spaces between the droplets. At lower rates, such as 15 lbs./acre, studies have found that the distance between the fertilizer droplets is greater than the distance between granular fertilizer particles. For some farmers, it makes sense to apply manure to meet the necessary phosphorus requirements and to use fertilizer to meet the plant’s remaining nutrient requirements. However, it can be difficult to evenly distribute the manure, particularly since it must be applied in tonnes per acre to meet a crop’s phosphorus requirements. Schoenau says, “Solid manure still might only be a half to one per cent phosphorus by weight, so it still means that you have to have a lot of it in terms of volume of manure.” As such, manure is usually applied in excess of what crops require, which can lead to increased phosphorus loss and has prompted some places, like the province of Manitoba, to instigate soil-based guidelines for the application of phosphorus. There are no major differences between solid or liquid manure, so the product of choice would depend on the equipment and supply available. For example, solid manure requires the use of a manure spreader and liquid manure that of an injection system. In both cases, “it’s good to get [the manure] into the ground, [to] get it close to the roots where the roots can take the nutrient up,” says Schoenau. However, since some of the phosphorus in manure is in the organic form and must be broken down and mineralized by microorganisms, not all manure phosphorus is available in the year of application. Compared to a commercial fertilizer source, there is only about 50 per cent phosphorus availability. If possible, it is best to do a soil test and apply phosphorus based on those recommendations, especially if the land management history is not known. “Recognizing… what your cropping system is taking out of the system, out of the soil, over the long term is something useful to keep in mind,” Schoenau says. “Economics are important to consider.” With crops usually removing more phosphorus from the soil than is being applied, a soil test can help farmers determine the probability of a yield response to additional phosphorus fertilizer and whether or not they are currently applying at rates that will deplete, maintain, or build up soil phosphorus. “Once a soil has an established history of phosphorus application, the method [becomes] a bit more irrelevant,” observes Karamanos. “What determines the method to a great extent is the amount of phosphate you can place safely with the seed.” † Lindsay Griffith is a U. of Sask. M.Sc. crop science student, freelance writer, and farmer at Bangor, Sask. She can be reached at miss. lindsay.griffith@gmail.com.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Features CROP NUTRITION

Holding on to phosphorus Plants can’t always use the phosphorus in your soil. Here are six factors that determine available levels BY LINDSAY GRIFFITH

ost soils on the Canadian prairies are phosphorus deficient — 80 per cent of the fields in Saskatchewan, according to Dr. Don Flaten, soil science professor at the University of Manitoba. In Manitoba, 60 per cent of fields were found to be lacking in phosphorus; 50 per cent in Alberta. There are two major causes for this deficiency, says Flaten. “One is that most of our soils are naturally fairly low in phosphorus and what phosphorus they have is often tied up with chemical and biological processes that don’t let the phosphorus be easily taken up by crops.” The other factor lies in the large amount of crop production on the Prairies. Farmers don’t always match removed phosphorus with supplementary application. Regular soil testing will give farmers an idea of how much phosphorus should be applied. Besides crop removal, here are six factors that influence the availability of phosphorus in your soil.

ticularly the actions of microorganisms in the soil around the roots.

4. MINERALS Over the long term, weathering of minerals such as apatite will release phosphorus into the soil.

5. EROSION Most phosphorus is found in the top six inches of the soil, so whenever topsoil is lost, so is phosphorus. On most fields, tillage has little effect on phosphorus erosion — more phosphorus is lost in the dissolved form than the particulate form. However, erosion is an important factor on slopes.

6. WATER Dr. Rigas Karamanos, manager of agronomics solutions with Viterra, says, “If you can control the movement of water, you can control the movement of phosphorus.” Typically, there are three main ways to lose phosphorus from a field to a nearby water body: leaching, erosion, and runoff. Flaten says leaching rarely results in significant phosphorus loss on the Canadian Prairies. Runoff is the major form of phosphorus loss in Prairie watersheds. In most soils, the amount of phosphorus lost in soil water would be very small, even considering runoff in manured soils.

Schoenau says, “environmentally, the amount of phosphate that would be moved is significant enough to be of concern, but in terms of pounds per acre, it’s typically less than one.” Phosphorus that finds its way to water bodies can seriously deteriorate water quality, interfering with the nutrient balance in the water and encouraging the growth of algae.

APPLYING PHOSPHORUS Farmers may not always see a response to applied phosphorus. Phosphorus is a very reactive compound — crop growth and phosphorus supply are very

sensitive to environmental conditions. Crop response to phosphorus can vary greatly in the same field in a given year. There is a finite supply of phosphorus available for farm use. There is a debate about how much easily accessible phosphorus can be mined. Lobbyists are working to stop corporations from expanding existing mines and starting new ones More research is needed into finding new ways to use insoluble phosphorus in our soils, and breeding new crops that can more effectively scavenge nutrients in the soil. Schoenau says farmers “always need to be looking at ways to maintain phosphorus.” There is a finite supply in the soil. Once phosphorus is washed out into oceans, it’s no longer available to farmers. † Lindsay Griffith is a University of Sask. M.Sc. crop science student, freelance writer, and farmer at Bangor, Sask. She can be reached at miss.lindsay.griffith@gmail.com.

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1. FORM Phosphorus availability is greatly determined by its solubility — its ability to dissolve. Solubility relates to the form of the phosphorus (dissolved or particulate). Dr. Jeff Schoenau, a professor in the Department of Soil Science at the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Agriculture chair in soil nutrient management, says phosphorus in the soil is most commonly found as “orthophosphate that is adsorbed onto soil particles or part of minerals or part of organic matter; that is to say in the solid phase, as opposed to in the soil water.” Because most soil phosphorus is in the solid phase, it is less susceptible to leaching loss than other elements like nitrogen, and can be considered relatively immobile.

2. SOIL PH The plant-available form of phosphorus is orthophosphate. There are two forms of this: primary and secondary. You’ll find primary orthophosphate in acidic soils. In alkaline soils, secondary orthophosphate dominates. In soil with a neutral pH, you’ll find both in approximately equal amounts. Soil pH is a primary factor in determining phosphorus availability. In low pH soil, orthophosphate will react with aluminum and iron and form a solid. In this form, the orthophosphate is no longer available for plant uptake. In high pH soil, orthophosphate reacts with calcium and magnesium to form a solid, again leaving less orthophosphate available for plants. Soils with a neutral pH have more phosphorus in the soil solution.

3. MICROORGANISMS Phosphorus available in the soil is determined by soil biology, par-

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Features New varieties

New oat varieties coming

Make sure you’re growing an oat variety that’s best suited for your local area and has the disease package you need in the field By Lisa Guenther

hen Saskatchewan farmers sit down to select oat varieties, disease resistance will be critical, a crop specialist told farmers at a recent farm show. Researchers are currently working on developing fusarium resistant oat varieties. Fusarium is usually thought of as a wheat disease, but four fusarium species infected oats in 2011. “We haven’t got all the 2012 data crunched out yet, but the feeling is the fusarium numbers are probably higher in 2012 than they were in 2011,” said John Ippolito, regional crops specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture. Ippolito presented information from the Saskatchewan oat variety trials at Crop Production Week in Saskatoon. Stem rust is regularly reported in variety trials. Because there is no alternative host in Saskatchewan, the disease must blow up from the United States to infect crops. “Because of that, quite often we can find that early seeding will avoid a rust problem because the crop is at a sufficient state of maturity before the rust arrives and it’s not hurting yield significantly,” said Ippolito. Though buckthorn can host crown rust, winds from the United States are the main sources

for this disease as well. Eastern Saskatchewan is more vulnerable to both rusts than western regions. Before 2005, most varieties in Saskatchewan had resistance to crown rust. But new crown rust strains have developed, leaving several varieties with poor or very poor resistance, Ippolito said. “And then there’s another five or six that have much better resistance, usually because of new genetics.” Ippolito went through agronomic traits of several varieties, all of which are good for milling.

Oat varieties In 2012, 800,000 acres of oats were reported grown to Saskatchewan Crop Insurance. AC Morgan accounted for 37 per cent of the acreage in Saskatchewan. Though Morgan is a higher yielding standby, Ippolito said it is susceptible to both rusts, and is better suited to western Saskatchewan than eastern Saskatchewan. Derby made up about seven per cent of oat acres in 2012, and yields similar to the check. Derby has very poor resistance to both rusts and Ippolito said its popularity is declining. “There’s a good chance you’d have trouble finding certified seed with it because it’s declined to that point.”

CDC Minstrel was registered in 2008. Right now its acreage is small, but it yields six to seven per cent higher than check. It isn’t crown rust resistant, making it best suited to western Saskatchewan. CDC Orrin was registered in 2001, and made up six per cent of the acres in 2012. Its yield is a little higher than check. It has very poor crown rust resistance and poor stem rust resistance. But Ippolito said there are indications Orrin’s acres are increasing. The check, CDC Dancer, held onto 12 per cent of the oat acres in 2012. It’s a slightly lower yielding variety, but does have fair stem and crown rust resistance.

Better rust resistance Leggett grabbed about 4.5 per cent of the acres last year. A different resistance gene than older varieties protects it from crown rust. “It works well in all parts of Western Canada, but particularly it’s a variety to look at if you’re in Eastern Saskatchewan because of its crown rust resistance.” Stride was registered in 2011, and Ippolito said its acreage will probably increase as seed becomes available. Its crown rust resistance makes it a good fit for Eastern Saskatchewan, and it yields 10 per cent to 11 per cent higher than Dancer. Summit was developed in

Manitoba, and first registered in 2008. It comprises very few acres in Saskatchewan right now, but it is resistant to crown rust and smut, and yields slightly higher than Dancer. “This is the one variety that the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada people think will be increasing in time because of its ability to resist rust, and the other agronomics that are going along with it.” More information on Saskatchewan’s oat variety trials is available at agriculture.gov. sk.ca. † Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa. Guenther@fbcpublishing.com.

T:12.916

photos: lisa guenther

Horse owners and feed markets have moved away from oats.

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Canadian oat acres are likely to drop to a record low in 2013 unless prices jump

:12.9167”

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Features Crop markets

Oat markets

In the middle of a long-term decline in Canadian oat production, marketers work to revive the market By Lisa Guenther

anadian oat acres are likely to drop to a record low in 2013 unless prices jump in the next two or three months, says a market analyst. “We need to stem the long-term decline in Canadian oat acre production. We need to put a bottom on this thing right now,” says Randy Strychar, oat market analyst and president of Ag Commodity Research. If oat volume continues to decline, oats may slide into special crop status, Strychar says, which

could cost millers and food companies $1.70 to $2.60 more per bushel. This could lead to a loss of residual supply and price discovery, Strychar adds. Though farmers may initially get better prices for their crops, Strychar says as oat prices rise, end users may substitute oats with other ingredients. Part of the problem is that oats are the bottom of the heap when it comes to gross margins, says Chuck Penner, founder of Left Field Commodity Research. Focusing on productivity has helped the Canadian pulse industry expand. “Increasing the volume per acre will make it more attractive

to farmers because even at these prices they’ll get more revenue per acre,” Penner says. Penner doesn’t see oats being contracted to the same degree as crops such as mustard. “I think it’s going to become more of a flax situation where it is still mostly an open market crop, a non-contracted crop, but that you have more dedicated farmers continuing to grow it.” But Penner agrees that rising oat prices might eventually eat into the food market. As Canadian officials hammer out a trade deal with the European Union, Strychar sees a potential

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market for Canadian oats. Oat demand in breakfast cereals is up, and removing tariffs would open up a huge market for Canadian oats, he says. “Oat production in the European Union is going down, down, down, down. Biofuel crops and wheat are cutting into it.” Penner doesn’t think there will be huge demand for Canadian oats in Europe, partly because they produce their own oats domestically. “Because oats is a lower value crop, anytime you have to transport it longer distances, it eats into a bigger chunk of the value of it,” says Penner.

Feed markets Horse owners and feed markets have moved away from oats. Penner says 15 years ago about three-quarters of oats went into the feed market, but now only about 20 per cent goes into the feed market. “It’s evolved from predominantly a feed market to predominantly food market.” The milling market has grown slowly and steadily, but Strychar says both the milling industry and farmers need the equine market to make price and supply more predictable. “We need to create a more robust demand market. Simply having a milling market is not good enough. That’s a one-trick pony,” says Strychar. Penner says supply of feed quality oats is part of the problem. Oats need to be a more profitable crop for farmers for volume to increase enough to supply the equine feed industry. But horse owners have also grown used to feeding other grains and grain-free feeds manufactured by feed companies. “People have really gone to a different type of feed, either with the rice bran or a more concentrated feed,” says Judy Hoffman of Hoffman’s Horse Products. Hoffman and her parents, Lorne and Marian, sell minerals and a concentrated, grain-free horse feed in Canada. Their minerals are currently available in the United States, and they are working on getting their concentrated feed south of the border as well. Hoffman says when horses eat oats, excessive starch can ferment in the horse’s hindgut. This causes beneficial microbes in the horse’s digestive system to die, which can ultimately lead to health problems such as colic, tying up and diarrhea. Part of the problem is that people tend to give horses too many oats at one time, Hoffman says. Along with the trend towards grain-free rations, the droughts in 2001 and 2002 spiked oat prices, giving equine feed companies cause to substitute oats with cheaper ingredients in prepared feeds. The oat industry has never reclaimed that market, Strychar says. “Right now our biggest competitor is wheat midds. It’s a byproduct of the wheat milling industry. Second to that is corn. And probably third to that is barley,” says Strychar. Hoffman says wheat middlings are used to make prepared feed and mineral products more palatable to horses. “Oats would be safer than corn, but wheat middlings are really just a carrier,” she says. The Hoffmans began producing their minerals about 20 years ago, with help from nutritionT:10”

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

ists at Archer Daniels Midland in Lethbridge. Judy Hoffman says that when they started out it was all oat-based rations, but she sees a trend away from grains. “People are going to start seeing that these other feeds are working really well. If people can stay away from colic and those kinds of things that are very traumatic, they’re going to start feeding something else.” “The old-school guys especially and people raised under that are going to feed (oats), but I think there’s a definite trend to change,” says Hoffman.

Equine Oats Feed Project The Prairie Oat Growers Association has set out to recapture the United States equine market by 2018. Through the Equine Oats Feed Project, the association is funding research into oats and equine nutrition. The association has awarded its first grant, totaling $122,000, to a researcher with the University of Kentucky. Variety development is also an important component. Strychar says they have both equine oat breeders and oat millers on the board. “What we don’t want to do is develop and breed an oat that is beneficial to the equine industry, but hurts the milling industry.” The association is working with equine feed manufacturers and professionals who influence horse owners, such as farriers, nutritionists and veterinarians. The Oat Growers are also marketing oats’ benefits to horse owners. Researchers conducted eight focus groups in the United States over 18 months to gauge horse owner’s beliefs around oats. Strychar says focus group participants “saw oats as natural, healthy and safe.” Strychar says focus groups associated corn with colic and mycotoxins, and wheat midds with floor scrapings. “The research tells us right now that oats are one of the best feeds for horses. The science tells us, the marketing tells us. We don’t have to go out and convince the owner. He already knows that. He just doesn’t know what’s in his bag of feed right now. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream come true,” says Strychar. The Oat Growers Association is attempting to sway horse owners by sponsoring Horse Master, a television show featuring natural horsemanship clinician Julie Goodnight. Goodnight’s show pulls in over 600,000 viewers each month and she has a large social media following. Retrieving the equine oats market south of the border would be well worth the effort. Strychar says there are about nine million horses in the United States, based on a count done in 2005. To be conservative, Strychar bases his calculations on 4.5 million horses. An increase of a quarter pound of oats per horse would add up to about 190,000 more metric tonnes of oat consumption in the United States, he says. Strychar says if they’re able to get the oats ration up to 2.2 pounds, it will add up to 1.6 million metric tonnes more oats in the United States. “That would make (oats) the third largest export in Canada, behind wheat and canola.” † Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa. Guenther@fbcpublishing.com.

/ grainews.ca

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Features CROP PRODUCTION

CROP ADVISOR’S CASEBOOK

n mid-June, I received a call from Randy, an experienced farmer who owns a 5,000-acre mixed grain operation consisting of durum, canola, lentils and peas. Randy called me with concerns about his durum crop, which he had planted on newly-rented land south of Regina When Randy returned to this field one month after he had seeded 320 acres with two different varieties of durum, he was startled to see bare patches scattered randomly across the field. In the non-affected areas, the plants were coming up even and were at the expected three- to four-leaf stage. They also appeared to be healthy. On the other hand, there were also patches that were completely bare within the same field — not even weeds were growing in them. Randy was perplexed about why these barren patches were present in an otherwise healthylooking field. “I think the problem might be the seed, even though I bought both seed varieties, exhibiting good germination and vigour test results, directly from a certified seed grower,” Randy explained to me over the phone.

Randy had seeded the field in mid-May. Soil tests had not been performed on this field before he rented the land, and he also didn’t use any seed treatments on either durum variety he had seeded. He mentioned the soil was very hard and sealed off from the rain the field had received. He also noted the bare patches occurred in areas seeded to each variety. Randy asked me if I would visit his farm and offer my opinion on the cause of the bare patches in his field.

About 15 to 20 per cent of the total field was affected The problem areas in Randy’s field were prominent. Upon closer inspection, there was no uniformity of size or pattern, and about 15 to 20 per cent of the total field was affected. Plants in the areas outside of the patches were healthy.

CROP ADVISOR’S SOLUTION BY BOB WELLINGTON

ike, a Nampaarea farmer who farms 7,000 acres of canola, wheat, barley and yellow peas with his brother Joe, dropped by my office at the end of July. The brothers were concerned about their field of peas that were stunted, turning yellow and dying. “I’m positive it’s from chemical damage,” explained Mike. Joe asked if I

would have a look and give them a second opinion. After walking through the field, it was evident that something was very wrong. Not only were the pea plants dying but even the weeds were having a difficult time growing. Disease was also visible right at the soil surface on all of the plants. Joe didn’t believe that the damage was caused by chemicals. “Previously, this was a fescue seed field with a healthy crop,” he

PERPLEXING PATCHES The field’s history indicated it hadn’t been seeded in two years and the last crop harvested had been oats. Randy had no knowledge of the previous fertility program or herbicide history for the field. However, herbicide residue was unlikely to have caused the damage because of the moisture we had received over the past two years, and the irregularity of the patches would suggest fertility was not the issue. Wireworms and cutworms can cause patchy sections within fields. Although the soil in the patches was so hard I could barely get my shovel into the ground, I dug to see if insects were causing the problem. I could not find any wireworms or cutworms, or evidence of insects chewing on roots, stems or the germinating seedlings. There was crusting on the top layer of soil throughout the field including the healthy areas, but it was minimal. Moisture stress did not seem to be the culprit either because low-lying regions were not more damaged than areas located at higher elevations. I dug up some plants from the healthy areas and examined their roots, stems and leaves — everything appeared normal.

Ashley Hiduk Seed and germinating seedlings from the affected patches were dead — after digging in these areas I also noticed that some seed had germinated and then died immediately while some hadn’t even germinated and had simply rotted. This led me to believe something in the soil profile was causing these problem areas. Soil tests would confirm my suspicions. What’s caused the barren patches in Randy’s durum field? Send your diagnosis to Grainews,

Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man., R3C 3K7; email leeann.minogue@ fbcpublishing.com or fax 204944-5416 c/o Crop Advisor’s Casebook. Best suggestions will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a Grainews cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The best answer, along with the reasoning which solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution. † Ashley Hiduk is a sales agronomist for Richardson Pioneer Ltd., at Corinne, Sask.

HEALTHY CROPS NEED TO BREATHE said. Joe explained that only one litre of glyphosate had been used on this particular field during the past five years. He believed that poor nodulation was the problem. Chemicals can cause significant plant damage; however, this was not the case in this field. In the previous week this farming area had received abnormally wet weather and upon closer inspection I noticed various stages of maturity and injury. Nearly 70 per cent of the plants were dead

or well beyond rescue. There was one exception in the field, a path of approximately 10 feet along the road ditch and fence line where healthy plants were growing. After asking a few more questions, I learned that the clay soil field had been lightly tilled in the spring and phosphate and a granular inoculant had been applied at seeding. After digging up and examining the roots of both the unhealthy and healthy plants, I knew what the problem

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was — severely compacted soil conditions causing root rot! This clay soil field had been lightly worked in the spring and recent heavy rains had caused severe soil compaction, with the exception of the 10-foot area of healthy plants, where the soil was noticeably looser. The soil within the field was very hard to dig into and I found that the roots were healthy but all of the plants had rotted off at the surface resulting in mycosphaerella blight and foot rot, due to excessive water. These fungal pathogens spread easily under wet conditions. The solution for this field was to break up the compaction layer so that the soil could drain better. In order to grow a healthy crop, peas require fields that drain naturally or are sandier so there is less water pooling on the surface. As well, when taking fields out of grass seed, the soil should not be worked finely. Mike and Joe’s field of peas produced no yield as the plants were so badly injured by root rot that they were not worth harvesting. In order to avoid this problem in the future, Mike and Joe plan to be more careful when choosing a field that will be used for pea production and will be more aware of soil compaction during heavy rainfalls. They will also consider the application of fungicides when conditions are cold and wet, which will help prevent major losses like the one they experienced. Finally, having a good agronomic plan in place, including fungicides, will help Mike and Joe — and all farmers — meet and exceed their production goals. † Bob Wellington is a crop inputs manager and certified crop advisor for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Nampa, Alta.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Features New crops

Few crops as versatile as hemp With changes in combine technology, simpler regulations and strong prices and demand, there may be a place for hemp on your farm By Angela Lovell

hen it comes to crop rotations hemp is worth considering, especially as prices and demand for hemp seed have strengthened over the past few years. “Hemp is great in the rotation, especially if growers are planting canola and wheat,” says Chris Dzisiak, a hemp grower from the Dauphin area of Manitoba and President of the Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Co-operative (PIHG). “We grow it in a four-year rotation of canola, wheat, a pulse crop and then hemp. It has flexibility as to when it can be sown and still make you a good return. I planted hemp in 2004 on July 4th due to excess spring moisture and I still got 450 pounds per acre.” Average yields in Manitoba are 460 to 470 pounds of clean hemp seed per acre according to Manitoba Agricultural Service Corporation (MASC) harvest reports.

These hemp plants grew in the Dauphin area in 2010. Hemp is well adapted to Manitoba growing conditions. Once established, it can grow three to four inches a day.

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Hemp has many agronomic benefits including low input requirements. Hemp doesn’t require a lot of extra nitrogen and most growers fertilize it like wheat. It can also be a good scavenger of nutrients that are already present in the soil on manured or heavily fertilized land, where a significant amount of nitrogen can leach down several feet into the soil profile. Hemp has a deep root system that can extend seven or eight feet into the soil and make use of any nitrogen present at that level. Deep roots also make it a good crop for dry conditions because it can access subsoil moisture. Hemp is vulnerable to sclerotinia but stands up to insects quite well, and makes a good follow-on crop to potatoes, cereals and after an alfalfa break-up. Hemp must be grown under contract and it’s important to make sure that the contract is fair to the grower. “It should be comparative to the price of other grains being produced like canola or wheat,” says Dzisiak. PIHG growers currently are getting 90 cents per pound, which Dzisiak says is a reasonable minimum price. Since Health Canada introduced a licensing process in 1998 to allow farmers to grow hemp, there has been a steadily increasing market demand for hemp grains. Hemp production has increased by around 20 per cent per year over the past decade, with 30,000 acres planted in Canada last year and around 52,000 acres in 2012, reflecting strong demand for hemp-seed food products among health conscious consumers. “Demand for the grain is going to continue to grow,” says Keith Watson, Crop Diversification Specialist with Manitoba

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Features » CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI). “Society has a lot of interest in foods that contain essential fatty acids and there’s not many foods that have a balanced ratio of Omega 3 and 6, as hemp does. I think hemp has the potential to take more market share in this area.” The primary use for hemp grain is still within the food industry. There are four hemp grain processors in Manitoba at Winnipeg, Ste. Agathe, MacGregor and Rossendale, and other major processors in British Columbia and Alberta. Highly nutritious hemp seed oil is used in salad dressings, cookies, pasta and health supplements. In tests conducted by the U.S. National Institute of Health in 1999, hemp oil reduced the risk of certain types of cancers, atherosclerosis and heart attack. Hempseed oil is used in cosmetic products and has potential for other industrial applications such as inks, paints and fuel. Hempseed meal has even been used to brew speciality hemp beers.

GROWING HEMP Hemp has been under regulation in Canada since the early Narcotics Act in 1938 because it contains very low levels of THC — a psychoactive drug found in

8000 and 9000 Case IH and John Deere rotary combines have evolved systems to prevent the tough hemp fibres wrapping themselves around the chains and front bearings. Proper shielding is still needed on the drive axles, and fire-extinguishers are mandatory in case sparks contact the hemp seeds’ fine dust when harvesting. It seems there are no established guidelines for processors except to say that clean, pure and dry hemp seed that is free of mould creates better food-grade products. Breeding programs at the Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers have developed varieties that take into account the needs of processors, like Dolores, a variety that has a large seed size, a great flavour, de-hulls easily and gives a high yield.

HEMP FIBRE Most of the varieties that have been developed in Canada are dual purpose for grain or fibre, and it’s felt by many in the industry that hemp’s biggest potential lies in the development of hemp fibre processing. Currently a private investor from China is working to establish a hemp fibre processing facility in Gilbert Plains to supply Chinese textile mills that require hemp fibre as a raw ingredient. Other untapped markets for hemp fibre products include com-

Farmers on a 2010 field tour inspect a hemp crop in the Dauphin area.

“Demand for the grain is going to continue to grow” — Keith Watson

much larger quantities in marijuana. Although the regulations haven’t changed since 1998, the process has been streamlined and simplified. Farmers must grow only certified seed and complete some paperwork requirements from Health Canada. There is a $10 cost for a standard criminal record check, which can now be submitted with the paperwork instead of having to make a special trip to the local RCMP office as in the past. The Dauphin-Parkland area is a major hemp growing region. PIHG in association with MAFRI has conducted hemp variety trials in the area for several years. Data from these trials including evaluation of seed treatments, seeding times, plant population studies and variety performance are published annually. Hemp is very competitive with weeds, requiring a pre-season burn off with glyphosate or tillage to allow it to become established. After the first few weeks of growth hemp can grow three to four inches per day in peak season. But it shouldn’t be seeded too early. “If you are growing it for grain you don’t want to plant it May 1, even if the soil is warm because you don’t want 11 feet high hemp to try and harvest,” says Dzisiak. “If you plant it at the end of May or beginning of June it only gets five to eight feet high.” Farmers in the past had to adapt equipment to harvest hemp. Over the past few years more aggressive combines like

posites in buses and even commercial aircraft with major players like Boeing currently investigating the unique properties of lightweight, but tough hemp fibres. Hemp houses are starting to pop up around the world and Hemp Technologies of the U.S. is working with Manitoba Housing and Community Development to explore the possibility of building an experimental hemp house in Winnipeg. There is a potential use for every part of the hemp plant. Smaller seeds that are cleaned out before sending to the processors can be sold as bird feed. Even the screenings, which are currently discarded, are being researched as a possible animal feed supplement. It seems the possibilities for products made from hemp are pretty much endless but it’s definitely a chicken and egg situation in terms of developing localized processing capabilities that can in turn create the demand to sustain them and make it an attractive crop for western Canadian farmers to grow. “The first step is to create a domestic supply of hemp fibre to supply the markets that already exist and then make it available for businesses to develop other products as well,” says Watson. “Hemp is a crop that we can grow readily in Western Canada and can be profitable for farmers,” says Dzisiak. †

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Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor and communications specialist living and working in Manitoba. Find her online at www.angelalovell.ca. 19452-01UP DAS LiquidAchieve_13.167X9.indd 1

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Features Pulse varieties

New pulse varieties for 2013 A look at several new pulse varieties that will be available this spring By Dr. Bunyamin Tar’an, Dr. Bert Vandenberg and Dr. Tom Warkentin

here are several new pulse varieties on the market for 2013.

Yellow Peas

Tom Warkentin (left) discussed new pulse varieties with farmers at a summer field day at Swift Current, with a little help from Cal McDonald of Agriculture and AgriFood Canada at Swift Current.

In the market: In 2012, according to data from Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation, CDC Meadow became the most widely grown field pea cultivar in Saskatchewan, surpassing CDC Golden. CDC Meadow has also been one of the top varieties in Alberta, Manitoba, and the northern U.S. It has been popular with growers due to its consistently high yield, lodging resistance, competitiveness with weeds, and favourable seed type. CDC Golden remained a strong second to CDC Meadow in terms of insured acres in 2012 while the

next most widely grown yellow pea varieties in Saskatchewan were CDC Bronco, DS Admiral, and Delta. New varieties: Certified seed of CDC Saffron should become available in 2014 or 2015. It has good yield (when compared to Cutlass, 115 per cent in both the southern and northern regions), and medium-large, smooth, round seeds. Certified seed of CDC Hornet should become available in 2013 or 2014. It has good yield (when compared to Cutlass, 107 per cent in both the southern and northern regions), with good lodging resistance and medium maturity. Certified seed of CDC Treasure will be available in 2013. It has good yield (when compared to Cutlass, 105 per cent in the south and 110 per cent in the north), with good lodging resistance and early maturity. Certified seed of CDC Centennial (large seed size) and

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CDC Prosper (small seed size) will also be available in 2013. Looking ahead: Breeder seed of CDC Amarillo (2462-30) was released for the first time in 2012. CDC Amarillo has had strong yield performance in Saskatchewan regional trials over the past two years with a mean yield when compared to Cutlass of 119 per cent in the south and 131 per cent in the north. CDC Amarillo is relatively tall with one of the best lodging resistance ratings among pea varieties in Western Canada.

Green Peas In the Market: For the sixth year in a row, CDC Striker was the most widely grown green pea variety in Saskatchewan. It has been popular due to its consistently high yield, lodging resistance, and smooth, round, and durable seeds. It also has excellent bleaching resistance and is preferred in the market. CDC Patrick was the second most widely grown green pea variety in Saskatchewan in 2012. On average, it is actually higher yielding than CDC Striker and CDC Sage, while maintaining good seed quality. CDC Patrick generally performs better in somewhat drier seasons, as compared to years with more precipitation. CDC Sage was the third most widely grown green pea variety in Saskatchewan. It has smaller seed size when compared to CDC Striker and a high quality level as well. Cooper and Espace were the next most widely grown green pea varieties in Saskatchewan in 2012. CDC Tetris is an “Espace type” variety with blocky seed shape which has specific demand in China for snack food markets. Certified seed of CDC Tetris will start to become available in 2013. CDC Pluto is a green pea variety with small, round seeds and good bleaching resistance. Also, it has an intense green colour which should fit well into rehydration and canning markets. Certified seed of CDC Pluto should become available in 2014. New varieties: Certified seed of CDC Raezer should become available in 2014 or 2015. It has good yield (when compared to Cutlass, 102 per cent in the south and 108 per cent in the north), with powdery mildew resistance and a seed type similar to CDC Striker. Looking Ahead: Breeder seed of CDC Limerick (2336-1) was released for the first time in 2012. CDC Limerick has had strong yield performance in Saskatchewan regional trials over the past two years with mean yield (when compared to Cutlass) of 108 per cent in the south and 114 per cent in the north. CDC Limerick has nice seed traits, but with a greater protein concentration than other green or yellow pea varieties. This may provide an advantage in fractionation markets.

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In the market: CDC Rocket and CDC Acer are the dominant maple pea varieties in Saskatchewan. CDC Rocket fits better in the northern part of the

province due to its earlier maturity, while CDC Acer fits better in the south. CDC Tucker, CDC Leroy, and CDC Horizon are forage pea varieties with high biomass yield, powdery mildew resistance, good lodging resistance, and semi-leafless leaf type. These varieties produce on average four to five tonnes per acre of forage dry matter, similar to that of forage barley, but with greater protein concentration. New varieties: CDC Mosaic is a new maple pea variety which is a similar seed type to CDC Acer, but with improved lodging resistance. Certified seed of CDC Mosaic should come available in 2014. Breeder seed of the dun pea variety CDC Dakota was first released in 2010. It has been one of the top yielders in the Saskatchewan regional trial in 2010-12. The dun type would typically be dehulled and sold in human consumption markets in India. Certified seed of CDC Dakota should become available in limited quantities in 2013. Looking ahead: Over the next couple of years, expect to see new forage, maple, and dun pea varieties with improvements over previous varieties. In addition, we may release Breeder seed of a red cotyledon pea variety in 2013.

Lentils — generally The Variety Release Program was designed to allow growers in all lentil-growing areas to have widespread and rapid access to new genetics. By staying in touch with your local seed growers and using the seed guide you should be able to identify the variety most likely to perform well in your area under your soil and climate conditions. The lentil crop is dynamic because seed multiplication ratios are high, especially for smallseeded market classes. Lately we have had some exceptional years for moisture in most of the lentil growing area, so no one knows if the current scenarios (in terms of variety performance) will shift if the weather pendulum swings back to drier conditions. Some of the older varieties with little current production were removed from the list. The basic goals of the breeding program remain the development of new herbicide options for lentils, improved disease resistance, improved quality and of course higher yield!

Large green lentils In the Market: Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC) insures about 80 per cent of Saskatchewan’s lentil crop. Of the reported variety acres, CDC Greenland is still the most widely grown large green lentil (about 50 per cent of the acres). Its superior colour retention can result in premiums. The older large green varieties are pretty much gone. The imidazolinone-tolerant large greens like CDC Improve (20 per cent) are gaining ground but not necessarily in areas where Group 2 resistant weeds

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/ grainews.ca

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Features » CONTINUED FROM Previous PAGE are now a problem — many are in the long time lentil growing regions south and west of Saskatoon. CDC Impower is still in the ramping up stage (about five per cent). All others have declined to five per cent or below of large green acres. New varieties: Breeder seed of CDC Greenstar (formerly known as 3339-3) will be available in the spring of 2013. The winter and summer increases were successful so there will be no shortage of seed. This line consistently outyields all other large green lentils and so far is rated at 105 per cent of CDC Maxim. Head to head with all the other large greens, based on about 60 trials in total over the past four years, we are looking at a minimum increase in yield of 10 per cent. It has better anthracnose resistance ratings than all other large greens. The seed is larger than most other varieties, slightly smaller than CDC Improve. Looking Ahead: We are definitely on course for Variety deregistration– [6”] developing an imidazolinone ver2013

sion of CDC Greenstar for release within two years.

Other green and speciality lentils In the market: In 2012 SCIC insured almost 300,000 acres of small and medium green lentils plus speciality types — mostly small greens. For small green acres where variety is reported, about 55 per cent are CDC Invincible and about 35 per cent are CDC Viceroy. All other small green varieties and all other market classes make up the rest, each variety all of them less than four per cent. The total reported for French green varieties was a little over 20,000 acres — about 40 per cent CDC Peridot, 20 per cent LeMay — of the acres reported by variety. New varieties: CDC Asterix is an up and coming extra small green variety with seed about 20 per cent smaller compared to CDC Viceroy. It is a conventional type with some possibility for specialized marketing in specific regions.

Looking Ahead: In 2013 we plan to release breeder seed of the conventional French green variety CDC Marble in 2013 (yield is 119 per cent of Maxim so far) and possibly 3592-13 small green (110 per cent of Maxim). CDC Marble consistently outyields all other lentil lines regardless of market class and we are using it to establish new higher yielding genetic base for all market classes. All varieties are on track for conversion to imidazolinone tolerance.

Red Lentils In the market: We estimate that 65 per cent of the 830,000 million red lentil acres reported by SCIC in 2011 were CDC Maxim, and the real figure could be higher if all acres were reported by variety. The extra small red varieties CDC Rosetown, CDC Imperial, CDC Impala in total are now less than two per cent of the area. No one yet knows if a return to drier conditions will undermine the yield performance of CDC Maxim which so far has

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Attention: Grain producers Effective August 1, 2013, Canada Western Solin will be removed from the list of official grains of Canada and will no longer be regulated under the Canada Grain Act. Varieties of Canada Western Solin are: ● CDC Gold ● 2047 ● 2126

● 1084 ● 2090 ● 2149

As of August 1, 2013, there will no longer be a grade schedule or quality standards for solin, nor will you have the right to request subject to inspector’s grade and dockage for solin. As well, deliveries of solin will not be eligible for payment protection. Working together, we all play a part in maintaining Canada’s grain quality. For more information, contact the Canadian Grain Commission:

1-800-853-6705 or 204-983-2770 TTY : 1-866-317-4289 www.grainscanada.gc.ca Stay informed. Get updates by RSS feed about changes to variety designation lists. To subscribe, visit the Canadian Grain Commission’s web site. Follow @Grain_Canada on Twitter.

done well in years with above average moisture. New varieties: New varieties like CDC Dazil (CL), CDC Imax (CL) and conventional varieties like CDC Redcoat, CDC Redcliff, CDC Redbow and CDC Rosebud are grown on a very limited scale right now because they were released after CDC Maxim. As growers try them out, local performance will determine which of these become more widely grown. We recommend that growers pay attention to what performs well in their area. We know from previous experience that if we enter a drier cycle, red lentil performance can shift to favour the longer season varieties. Looking ahead: CDC Scarlet (small red) and CDC Rosie (extra small), both conventional types, show some promise. All have high yield potential, and good lodging tolerance. All promising conventional varieties are in the process of conversion to imidazolinone tolerant varieties.

Chickpeas We continue to develop highyielding chickpea cultivars with improved resistance to ascochyta blight, and general agronomic traits with acceptable seed quality for domestic and international markets. Specific objectives for kabuli chickpea breeding include developing cultivars with various seed sizes, acceptable visual seed characteristics, and canning/cooking quality. For desi chickpea, specific objectives for breeding include developing cultivars with acceptable visual seed characters (shape, size, colour). In 2012 we saw CDC Frontier dominate the production side. Growers should consider switching to new varieties that have higher yield potential as soon as seeds become available. As with all chickpea varieties, initial fungicide application is needed at the seedling to pre-flowering stage, in order to limit early ascochyta blight spore development and spread. Growers are required to diligently monitor their fields for disease and spray decision if necessary. Chickpeas should be planted on stubble, especially in wet years

— avoid lower-lying or poorly drained fields and heavy clay soil that retains moisture. In the market: The last kabuli cultivar, CDC Leader, was released to select growers in 2011. The average seed weight of CDC Leader is around 390 to 400 g per 1,000 seeds (nine to 10 mm diameter). CDC Leader is an earlier maturing cultivar than CDC Frontier. It has fair resistance to ascochyta blight. CDC Leader so far had consistently high yield, comparable to CDC Frontier, on both Brown and Dark Brown soil zones. CDC Orion and CDC Alma were released to select growers in 2010. CDC Orion is a large seeded (10 to 11 mm diameter) kabuli cultivar. CDC Orion has a good adaptation on both Brown and Dark Brown soil zones of southern Saskatchewan and southeastern of Alberta. CDC Orion is on the late side on maturity similar to CDC Frontier. CDC Alma is a medium-to-large seed size (nine mm diameter) kabuli, slightly larger than CDC Frontier. CDC Alma has the higher end of fair rating for ascochyta blight, similar to CDC Luna. Growers are required to monitor their fields diligently for disease and spray if necessary. 2013 release: A limited amount of seed for a new desi cultivar, CDC 603-3, will be available to select growers in 2013. CDC 603-3 has a light tan seed coat colour, which is one of the desirable visual seed characteristics of desi. The long-term (five years) yield average of CDC 603-3 is 110 per cent of the check cultivar (Amit) on both Brown and Dark Brown Soil zone. The average seed size of CDC603-3 is 306 g/1,000 seeds, with a long-term ascochyta score of 4.1. CDC 603-3 has a medium-tolate maturity range similar to CDC Vanguard. This article is reprinted with the permission of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. It originally appeared in SPG’s magazine “PulsePoint.” For more information about SPG or the variety release program, visit www. saskpulse.com. † Dr. Bunyamin Tar’an, Dr. Bert Vandenberg and Dr. Tom Warkentin are all plant breeders at the University of Saskatchewan.

Chickpea breeding

t the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers regional meeting in Moose Jaw on February 7, when Dr. Tom Warkentin asked the hall full of farmers how many had ever grown chickpeas, about 75 per cent of the farmers raised their hands. But when he followed that up with “Is anyone going to grow them this year?” there was only a smattering of hands in the air. After losing yield to disease, many farmers have lost their taste for chickpeas. Warkentin says they are working on disease resistance with the chickpea breeding program. There are two varieties of chickpea with modest ascochyta resistance — Frontier and Amit. “We really think we need to have types like Frontier that at least have modest resistance to make it viable,” Warkentin told farmers at the Moose Jaw meeting. Warkentin has heard of farm-

ers spraying for ascochyta four or five time in a season; he doesn’t believe this is affordable or sustainable. “In the breeding program, we’re trying to operate with only two sprays of fungicide,” he said. As well, he said, “we want to increase herbicide options for people growing chickpeas.” † Leeann Minogue

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Features SEEDING

Fusarium infected seed

Many farmers are dealing with seed infected with fusarium head blight (FHB). This four-step management plan can help keep it under control BY ANGELA LOVELL

hen farmers pick up their cereal seed this year, what’s on their mind will largely depend on where they live, especially when it comes to concerns about fusarium head blight (FHB).

FUSARIUM ON THE PRAIRIES In Alberta, farmers purchasing seed from retailers can be confident that seed is not infected with Fusarium graminearum, the species of fusarium which is of most concern. F. graminearum produces mycotoxins, such as deoxynivalenol (DON), also known as vomitoxin, in the finished grain. Alberta, where FHB caused by F. graminearum is largely localized, mainly to areas in the south, has a Fusarium graminearum Management Plan in place, which recommends testing of all cereal seed for the presence of this particular FHB pathogen. Any seed testing positive for F. graminearum cannot be sold in the province. In Manitoba, where FHB is endemic, farmers are less worried about whether seed is infected than they are about managing the disease in the field. However, infected seed may still present challenges in relation to seed germination and stand establishment. Saskatchewan farmers probably face the biggest dilemma, as they had unprecedented levels of FHB in 2012. “They are looking at what can they do with severely infected seeds,” says Jeannie Gilbert, a cereal pathologist with the Cereal Research Centre in Winnipeg. “Most of them have never dealt with FHB before and now they suddenly need information. For example, if they use infected seed for their next crop what is it going to do?” Farmers should first be aware of the situation they are facing in their own fields, says Kelly Turkington, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Lacombe, Alta. “If they are in an area where the information indicates that F. graminearum has been found frequently, they may not need to be too cautious about the seed sources they are looking at, given that the pathogen is already well established on infested crop residues. However, they should be concerned about quality in relation to seed germination and stand establishment and use a seed treatment to improve these,” says Turkington. If a farmer is in an area where F. graminearum has not been found and/or is reported infrequently, then introducing the pathogen on infected seed is a concern. “In this situation producers should consider testing the seed they are planning on using and only using it if the pathogen is not detected in the sample tested, and then also treat it with a suitable seed treatment,” he adds.

FUSARIUM DAMAGED KERNELS The presence of fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) in cereal grain

samples can cause them to be downgraded or rejected at the elevator, but those kernels may not always be damaged due to FHB. “We have seen in many areas of western Saskatchewan and central and northern Alberta that producers will go to the elevator and take grain in and it will be graded as having FDK, and inevitably those FDK are not due to F. graminearum,” says Turkington. “They are due either to other species of fusarium that are not as big a concern as far as toxin production, or they are due to a totally different pathogen like glume blotch in wheat.” Turkington suggests that if grain is graded as having FDK at the elevator, farmers should get it tested to determine what is causing the FDK, particularly if FHB caused by F. graminearum hasn’t been a frequent or widespread problem in that growing area. That said, studies have shown that fusarium-infected grain may have decreased seedling emergence and tillering, so it’s important not to plant seed with high levels of fusarium (even if it’s not F. graminearum) and/or to use a seed treatment.

FOUR-STEP MANAGEMENT PLAN A management plan for the disease is probably the most important thing for most cereal growers to consider, regardless of whether they have had problems with FHB or not. “It’s all about prevention, because once you establish the F. graminearum pathogen you’ve got it [forever],” says Kevin Zaychuk, business development manager for 20/20 Seed labs in Alberta. “It’s hard to keep that in the forefront of a producer’s mind when there are so many other issues to deal with. It’s always important that producers know about the pathogen and how to manage it.” Here are four areas to include in your management plan. 1. Seed treatments. Seed treatments are an important tool to help improve seedling growth and stand establishment. There are many available on the market and most are fairly effective against the pathogen. Fusarium causes seedling blight, which reduces stands and this can seriously jeopardise yields, especially under warm, moist conditions that are conducive to the development of the disease. Unfortunately, seed treatments may not be able to completely eradicate the pathogen from infected seed, so using them alone will not completely eliminate the risk of introducing F. graminearum into areas where this pathogen is not present or frequently found. Seed treatments will not prevent FHB from developing later in the season from stubble-borne disease inoculum in regions where fusarium species are already established. Research has shown that a foliar fungicide application is recommended in FHB-endemic regions when warm, wet conditions prevail after head emergence, disease

forecasting indicates that conditions are favourable for disease development, and the expected yield return justifies the cost of application. 2. Good seed quality. Good seed quality is essential. Commercial seed laboratories can test cereals to determine the percentage and species of fusarium in seed intended for planting. It’s not recommended that F. graminearum infected seed be planted in regions where the species is not already established. Seed infected with F. graminearum can be planted back into regions where this species is established, because infected residue will already be present in that area. If the level of seed infection is high, there may be problems with seed germination, seeding emergence and stand establishment. Seed testing laboratories can help to provide guidance in relation to seed quality concerns. If seed is being tested for the presence of fusarium it should also be tested for germination and vigour. If both of these are high plants should get off to a good start even though there may be some seed infection present, but it may also be useful to use a seed treatment as added insurance against impacts on germination and emergence. 3. Resistant varieties. There are currently no varieties available that offer complete resistance to FHB, but durum and CPS wheat are the most susceptible to FHB. Winter wheat is susceptible, but

can escape infection because it is flowering before fusarium spores are present. Barley is generally less susceptible than wheat, and oats are the least susceptible. Resistant varieties still remain the number one defence against FHB. Research has shown that varieties that are more tolerant to FHB respond better to fungicide treatment and to fungicide application at the heading stage but they also give an immediate advantage in terms of reducing the amount of fusarium that will be present in the crop should the season turn out to be prime for infection, says Gilbert. “If there is some genetic resistance the cereal crop will be able to resist the pathogen and so right there you have an edge,” she says. 4. Crop rotation. Good crop rotation provides another edge. Planting cereals into corn or cereal residue is inviting more problems than following cereals with a pulse or alfalfa crop, because the fusarium pathogen survives in crop residue. If at all possible breaking up the disease cycle by planting non-host crops will help reduce the build up of spores. “There often is a complete and total focus on the seed end of things; testing it and treating it,” says Turkington. “But if you want to limit introduction or if there is an inadvertent introduction from a neighbour’s field and you want to limit build up of the pathogen, you need to look at extending your rotation. Often

that’s not considered as part of the overall approach to minimise the risk of the pathogen becoming an issue. At least two years of a non-host crop between cereals would be useful to help to break the disease cycle.” If producers are really concerned about FHB and want to tweak their surveillance program for the disease Turkington suggests testing residue. “Take samples of the lower stem nodes on the plant stem and send those in to the seed testing lab,” he says. “The fungus might be in the residue but if conditions at flowering and later are dry it doesn’t move from the residue up onto the head. But it might move up into the rest of the canopy where there is more humidity that is more conducive to the pathogen.” Data from trials in North Dakota conducted in 2008 indicate that the most promising results obtained in managing FHB integrated various strategies that included resistant varieties, crop rotation and fungicide applications. While the product in the seed bag is important, and ensuring viable, good quality seed is the starting point, considering other management options to reduce the potential for FHB and protect yield will likely also be on the minds of farmers this spring. † 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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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Features NEW VARIETIES

Winter pulse seed available soon Alternating two winter crops with two spring crops gives each crop an edge over weeds. Winter pulses could be a great fit in some areas BY HELEN MCMENAMIN

few seed growers in southern Alberta have winter peas and winter lentils in the ground to produce commercial seed. The crops can produce yields 50 per cent higher than spring varieties as well as extra soil nitrogen and rotational benefits. “Winter pulses are very promising, but we need new varieties before it can be more than a niche crop,” says Alberta Agriculture pulse specialist, Mark Olson. He’s tried winter lentils, peas and faba beans across the province, but he’s only had sporadic success at most of his sites. “We need more winter hardiness. The only place we had consistent overwinter survival was Lethbridge,” says Olson. Ross McKenzie, who has the most experience with winter pulses, agrees. “I see winter peas and lentils as a great fit in a small area around Lethbridge to Bow Island,” says the Alberta Agriculture agronomy research scientist. “Winter peas and lentils do best seeded in the first part of September into moist soil. Dryland farmers need a good rain at the right time, but winter peas and lentils could be a great fit for irrigation farmers.” “We hope to have some seed available for farmers next year. Once people try these crops, we’ll see new ideas evolve.” PHOTO: FARMING SMARTER

Winter pulses are a great fit for southern Alberta.

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Winter peas would be ideal before winter wheat, according to McKenzie. Winter peas or lentils can be mature as soon as the end of July or early August, leaving a month to accumulate some soil moisture for the following winter wheat crop. Two winter crops in succession would disrupt weed cycles. Following those with spring crops would help in gaining the upper hand over weeds, cutting down the need for herbicides and the risk of resistance. Any practice, repeated, sets up an environment where some type of pest can thrive. Indian rice farmers hand weed their crop, recognizing a weedy wild rice by its pink colour. Even so, a whitestemmed wild rice that looks just like a rice plant has developed. Alternating two winter crops with

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two spring crops gives each crop an edge over weeds, as does shifting from cereals to broadleaf crops. McKenzie suggests winter peas or lentils, winter wheat, canola and malt barley. For every bushel pulses yield, they leave the equivalent of half to three-quarters of a pound of nitrogen in the soil for the following crop. It may not show up on a soil test, but the nitrogen, tied up in organic material, is mineralized the following year. An 80 or an 85 bushel crop, which Olson believes is quite doable under irrigation, leaves the equivalent of 40 to 60 pounds of nitrogen. “At $0.90 a pound, that’s $36 to $54, maybe enough to help winter lentils or peas compete with other irrigated crops,” says Olson. “And, peas bump the protein in winter wheat by one percent.” “Look for the best winter wheat crops, odds are they’re on pea stubble. And, on zero-till with moisture, the soil is mellow and loaded with earthworms. When we look at that great crop of wheat, we should attribute some of its yield and quality to the peas that preceded it.” On dryland, peas have an additional benefit. Pea roots penetrate only to about two feet, leaving soil moisture below that to support following crops such as wheat that roots to about four feet. McKenzie sees potential for winter peas or winter lentils after potatoes. The peas grow several inches of shoot before freeze-up if it has the moisture it needs. The shoot freezes off over the winter, and in spring the plant regrows from ground level. So far, plants in McKenzie’s trials seem to escape serious damage from pea leaf weevil. McKenzie has grown winter pulses for several years and next year, he’ll add one more year to his seeding rate, seeding date trials. He advises seeding in the first two weeks of September at about 50 per cent higher rates than for spring pulses to compensate for the winter crops’ smaller seeds. He’s also growing about 15 acres for seed that will be available to growers to test. Farming Smarter has also done some herbicide trials. Morton red winter lentil looks like an excellent variety that fits the human food market. The peas may only make the feed market, but high yields should compensate for the quality. Although buyers, knowing they don’t have to actually follow through, have said they look good enough for human consumption. Windham winter pea looks to be the type for irrigation. Specter grows too tall under irrigation, but it does better under dry conditions. “Fall moisture is the crucial element for winter pulses,” says McKenzie. “Seeded into good moisture with a little phosphorus and a good seed treatment, winter pulses can be spectacular.” This article originally ran in the Fall 2012 edition of “Farming Smarter” magazine. Learn more about this organization at www. farmingsmarter.com. † Helen McMenamin is a freelance writer based in Alberta.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

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Features FARM PLANNING

APP QUEST

Eco-buffers Calc-seed increase profit

Try this app from Fairport Farm Software for precise seed calculations BY JAY PETERSON

Eco-buffers are good for the environment. But they can also be good for your bottom line BY SHIRLEY BYERS

co-buffers provide all the benefits of conventional shelter-belts with greater ecological paybacks. They supply better wildlife habitat, enhanced wild bee and beneficial insect refuge, and their compact design makes them a good fit for the small farm, says Laura Poppy, agroforestry specialist at the Agroforestry Development Centre at Indian Head, Saskatchewan.

WHAT ARE ECO-BUFFERS? “An eco-buffer is a linear row of trees and shrubs, planted in a natural arrangement, composed of a variety of species native to the eco-region. The goal is to create this concentrated group of trees and shrubs so they will establish very quickly, and capture the site more quickly than the conventional design.” An eco-buffer may have as many as 20 varieties of trees and shrubs, with a minimum of four to five being shrub species. It includes both fast-growing or nurse trees and slow growing trees, plus trees with different characteristics such as thorns, suckering, fruit production and varying flowering periods. Every sixth plant is a long-lived tree. Thirty percent of the plants in the buffer, are trees, 70 per cent are shrubs. Species choice depends on the region and what grows naturally in the area. While trees in a conventional shelter belt are planted as much as 3.5 metres apart in rows up to six metres apart, in eco-buffers rows are 2.5 metres apart, plants one metre apart, within the rows. Research at AAFC Agroforestry Development Centre at Indian Head, found that trees and shrubs were not negatively impacted by concentrated plantings; traditional shelterbelt design had a higher density of weeds than eco-buffers; and eco-buffers resulted in quick site capture eliminating the need for long term-weed control. Although an eco-buffer can contain up to five rows of trees, on a small farm it could also work with two or three.

of it and snow drops, adding moisture to the soil. In summer there’s less evapotranspiration. That increases yields. Also, by reducing wind there’s less damage to crops, especially high-value, sensitive crops such as melons and corn.” Trees create a micro-climate, a good place for plants and a good place for pollinators and beneficial insects. Birds that prey on insect pests will also live there. Eco-buffers on an organic farm in Alberta have attracted families of tree swallows that devour the insects that pester cattle.

n the agricultural world, seeding technology is getting more precise every day. Calc-Seed is an app that can easily and efficiently help you do precise seed calculation so you know not only how many pounds per acre you need, but also total tons as well.

The interface is clean allowing you to do your calculations in one of four languages and in metric or imperial conversion. You can also calculate in seeds per one ounce or ounces per 1,000 seeds. From there you just enter in your basic information of total area, plants per yard squared, seed units, germination per cent and field loss per cent.

Shelterbelts, whether conventional or eco-buffers, increase the attractiveness of a field or farmstead while sequestering carbon and improving air quality. And, they more than pay for themselves in energy savings and increased crop yields. “Trees re-direct the wind,” says Poppy. “They take the energy out

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“By reducing wind there’s less damage to crops” “We are promoting this new planting design (eco-buffers) across Canada in partnership with other agencies and groups,” says Poppy. “So if someone wanted to utilize this new design for their windbreak/shelterbelt/ woody buffer, they should contact their local ag or conservation group representative to see about incentives and technical help. They can also contact our AAFC Agroforestry Development Centre for more information. We will put them in contact with the right people and provide a copy of the factsheet/details if needed.” For more information, at www. agr.gc.ca, type “eco-buffer” into the search box. Editor’s note: this article originally ran in “Small Farm Canada.” It is reprinted here with permission. † Shirley Byers is a freelance writer based in Saskatchewan.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Features CROP ROTATIONS

Beyond no-till South Dakota researcher Dwayne Beck is convinced that diversity is the key to long-run success BY LISA GUENTHER

hen it comes to managing farming systems, too often the agriculture industry gets hung up on single components of the system at the expense of long-term thinking, says a researcher. “I liken this to driving down the highway, looking at the edge of the ditch to try to keep from going in the ditch. It works in a blizzard. It’s not a good way to run a farming operation,” says Dr. Dwayne Beck. “Can we look down the road and say where do we want to be, and can we do better and start managing? And one of the ways to do that is diversity.” Beck is the research manager at the farmer-owned Dakota Lakes Research Farm in South Dakota. In 2007, he was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame for his work developing more efficient and environmentally-friendly farming systems. The research farm has been notill for decades. But Beck doesn’t see zero tillage as the end goal. “The zero till thing doesn’t work very well here because they haven’t added in diversity here. In fact, they used it to take diversity out.”

DIVERSITY IS GOOD INSURANCE “The way we deal with drought is by having diversity. We have some crops that do really well when you have a dry year and some crops that don’t do so well,” says Beck. “And then if you have diversity when you get a wet year, you have some crops — different ones — that do well and some that don’t do so well.” “So on average you have a lot of resiliency by having this diversity in the system, both in crops that you grow and in how you position the crops.” In 2012, the research farm’s winter wheat averaged nearly 100 bushels per acre on the good soil, and over 90 bu./ac. on the poorer soils. Sorghum yielded about 80 bu./ac. Other parts of the rotation are meant to take advantage of wet or normal years. Dryland corn planted into soybean residue failed during last year’s drought. But Beck says in BY DAN PIRARO

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2011, the corn yielded 140 bu./ac., so it averages out in the long-term.

DIVERSITY SUSTAINABLE IN THE LONG-RUN Beck says that doing the right thing environmentally is almost always the correct economic approach in the long run. Energy inputs account for 80 per cent of total inputs in most farming operations today, Becky says. Nitrogen eats up a huge part of the energy inputs on a typical farm. Beck says it takes the energy of one gallon of disease fuel to manufacture and transport five pounds of nitrogen. Applying 150 pounds per acre of nitrogen is equivalent to 30 gallons of diesel fuel. “Human beings are incredibly good at just coming in and totally using our resources and leaving and running out and then starting to scramble. At Dakota Lakes, we’re starting to scramble early.” Beck and his colleagues still apply some fertilizers. For example, they apply starter phosphorus with the seed. Other nutrients will be side-banded. Some nutrients are applied after wheat has emerged to prevent tillering. Beck says broadcasting fertilizer before or during seeding feeds weeds.

“The way we deal with drought is by having diversity.” Dwayne Beck

Beck likes to grow cover and forage crops to use water, increase organic matter, and capture nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen. Perennial grasses and alfalfa pull nutrients from further down in the soil profile, making them available for the next crop. Beck also integrates livestock into cropping systems to cycle nutrients back onto the land. “The best biomass digester has four legs and goes moo,” says Beck. The short growing season is a challenge for Canadian farmers. Beck says part of the secret is to spread the workload by growing crops like winter wheat. Perennial cover crops are also

something farmers should look at, Beck says. Beck’s research shows growing corn bumped wheat yields by 10 to 12 per cent. Warm season grasses like corn build organic matter, fix carbon, and use water efficiently. Corn is seeded later, allowing farmers to use different herbicides for pre-seeding burndowns. Farmers can only grow so many acres of canola well, Beck says, so it may be worth investing in corn variety research for Canadian farmers.

STACKED ROTATIONS Stacked rotations involve growing the same crop two years in a row in the same field, followed by a four year break. “The real reason for doing this is to have a long break. And it’s hard with the limited number of crops we grow to have a long break.”

The long break reduces disease by cutting inoculums. Wet weather in the first year might allow inoculums to build up. But the second year would need to be wet as well for disease to break out, which is uncommon in Beck’s area. Growing the same crop a third year would be much higher risk, though, so Beck switches crops in the third year. Stacked rotations also keep pests and weeds from gaining a hold in farming systems. They allow farmers to use herbicides with long residual times, and use less herbicide, Beck says. Pests will take advantage of regular patterns, such as two-year rotations. Mixing up crop sequences and intervals keeps them guessing. For example, corn rootworms usually lay their eggs at the base of the corn plant. If farmers plant corn the next year, the larvae eat the roots. To get around this, farmers started rotating corn with soybeans. “In the western corn belt they developed a type of rootworm that we call extended diapause, where the eggs don’t hatch for two years,” says Beck. “In the eastern corn belt they developed the soybean variant, where the pregnant females flew to the soybean fields to lay their eggs.” Beck says at the main research

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station, they haven’t used insecticides for eight or nine years. They haven’t used a grass control herbicide in wheat since 1990. Beck’s goal with rotations is to mimic native prairie ecosystems. He says to even come close to managing soil the way native prairie does, farmers need to add more grasses into rotations. Including high-residue crops in rotations, and keeping that residue on the field, also adds more nutrients and organic matter. But Beck says he can’t tell a farmer which specific rotation will work best for an operation. “But if ever you get a disease or weed issue, it means that you allowed the opportunity for those.” The trick to controlling diseases and weeds is removing that opportunity, Beck says. “To be real honest with you, there’s just not enough chemistry available in the world to kill everything that’s out there. You can’t do that. I mean, if you did kill everything that’s out there, you’d have this sterile thing that wouldn’t grow anything.” For more information on Beck’s research, visit www.dakotalakes. com. † Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa. Guenther@fbcpublishing.com.

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Columns Hart attacks

Great stories about amazing everyday horses

Sad news about a friend’s horse brought back memories of Lee Hart’s own cowboy days By Lee Hart

recently received an email from friends who were letting a small group of us know us that they had put one of their favourite horses down. I don’t get many of those notices, but I understood right away. It’s much the same feeling when someone says they had to put their cat or their dog down. If you’ve been there in your own life, you know exactly what they are going through. It is a bittersweet heartache over a necessary loss, that follows a usual loving gesture

of compassion we can afford to give animals — let them go out with some quality of life, before they have to really suffer. That email from long-time friends Larry Thomas and his wife Leslie Timmons, over the loss of their 32-year-old horse, Wayne, brought back some memories. That’s right, 32! Wayne was no kid.

Cowboy days I had a horse once — way back in my cowboy days. (To be honest I don’t know if I ever really had cowboy days, but I did own a horse).

Actually, Chester was mostly gifted to me, that is, I don’t think anyone else wanted him. We were living in Cranbrook, B.C., and I was working for the B.C. Forest Service. It was the late 1970s. I am not sure if we were living at my brother-in-law’s Kootenay River Ranch at Fort Steele at the time or not, but if not I was certainly back and forth every day helping him with some aspect of getting the place built up. There was a company in Cranbrook called City Dairy. The principals, Sam Barrett and Cecil Morrison, had a couple

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Chester all saddled up and ready to wrangle some cattle. of Chestnut horses they didn’t want — Chester and Tammy. The horses hadn’t been used for some time, so they gave them to the ranch. There was nothing crazy about the horses, they just hadn’t been rode in a while, so I started working with them. Leading them around the corral, putting a saddle on them to see how they behaved. After a few outings like this, they seemed pretty calm, so I decided to mount up on Chester one day. And got ready for a rodeo. Actually I saddled him up, and cautiously climbed on. It was like getting on one of the motorized horses they have for kids at the mall, and that’s before you put your quarter in. I got on Chester, and he may have taken a step or two, but basically he just stood there. Calm as could be. “Good work, Lee, you tamed another one,” I thought. Fact is, I tamed nothing, he was just a great calm horse. Tammy, on the other hand was a bit of an odd ball. I could ride her too, but she was a horse that always had this anxious breathing and would sweat and lather up. Nothing bad was happening to her, but it was like she had this inbred anxiety. She wouldn’t buck or run, but was always nervous. So I didn’t spend a lot of time with Tammy. I had “broke” Chester and that was good enough for me. I imagine our relationship only lasted about three years but we were close. I used him most days, anytime we were working with cows around the ranch. And he loaded well in a trailer or truck rack, so I would take him to work some days. I was working as a range tech and a certain times of the year we had to spend a lot of time checking grass out on Crown range, so I’d often enough take Chester and we’d ride all day. All was good. Chester was a great horse. I was comfortable and confident in riding him. Next to Abby the dog, he was man’s best friend. Then one afternoon my brotherin-law Joe called to say there had been trouble at the ranch.

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I used to leave Chester in a pasture with the other horses with a halter, because the halter always made him a little easier to catch. Apparently at some point he got this halter caught in a fence wire. He got fighting with that, and his front legs got caught up in the wire too. The struggle with barbed wire cut him. He was badly hurt and lost a lot of blood. When Joe found

him he was in bad shape, appeared to beyond repair, so Joe applied the “lead” solution and put him out of his misery. I never had any doubts it was the right thing to do. It was quite a blow to me. Chester was dead and buried before I got back to the ranch, so I never saw him again. Glad I didn’t see him in that mess. He was a good horse. I think shortly after that I told my wife I was going to open a bank account to save money to buy another horse. Thirty-five years later we still joke about how that bank account is coming along. There never was another horse. So that is my “good” horse story. Chester really had no talent, or no claim to fame, other than he stood still so I could get on him. And that was good for me.

Good horses But, let’s get back to Wayne for a few minutes. His passing got me thinking about “good” horse stories. And according to Larry and Leslie, Wayne was a great horse, as Leslie explains: “Wayne peacefully passed away today in the care of our vet Dr. Berisowski with Larry and I by his side. He was an amazing horse and trustful companion with a gentle spirit and beautiful soft eye who brought much joy, peace and tranquility to our life. “He came to us as a fouryear-old and we have had the great privilege of loving him and caring for him for 28 years! Trail riding through the Rockies, riding in the Calgary Stampede parade, three-day eventing, hunter jumper, dressage and of course our biggest claim to fame — first place horse with first woman rider to ever win the eighty-seventh running of the Millarville Historical Stock-horse Race. These are but a few treasured and exciting memories! “Wayne — ‘the little horse that could’ had an awesome life and always a greener pasture. XO Leslie.” That is a lovely tribute. I am sure they could write volumes about Wayne. I don’t know if horses go to the same place where people go when they die. I suspect they do. It wouldn’t be much of an afterlife if horses or pets weren’t there too. Let me know if you have any great horse stories. Not sure what I can do with them, but I would be glad to read them and see some photos. † Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Columns OFF-FARM INCOME

Mid-winter portfolio update Andy Sirski’s been studying bull put spreads. In this column, he tells you how it’s working for his portfolio. And, a tribute to John Clark ANDY SIRSKI

lot has happened since my last column. For one thing, the Dow Jones Index came up to 14,009, within a hair of the old high set in October 2007. A lot of good stocks have made a lot of money these past 63 months. Some would call this a bull market, but most bulls don’t last much longer than this so many wonder what will happen next. The price/earnings ratio has dropped from about 16 to 13. The drop is partly due to the negative sentiment surrounding stocks. It will take time for retail investors to get over that negative mood. Odds are, we’re getting closer to the time when interest rates will rise. As that happens, many bonds will start to drop in value in North America. As bondholders start to give back gains, many will start to move money from bonds into some other investment. At least some of that money will go into stocks. But I don’t see volatility going away. I’m quite sure we will see money move into one or two or three sectors, drive up prices, then sell out and move to other sectors. As I write on February 4, I think we can see money moving back into silver and gold stocks. They have been beaten up and most of the time money that has ridden up stocks in one sector can’t resist moving into a beaten up sector. Gold and silver stocks are certainly cheaper than they were months ago. At the same time I hear the

Trait Stewardship Responsibilities

Notice to Farmers

cost of running a mine is going up eight to 10 per cent per year — that translates into about $100 an ounce for gold mines. When I mesh rising costs and a more subdued rise in the price of gold and silver, most miners likely have a lower high facing them than a few years ago. So where is the price of gold and silver headed? I don’t really know but central banks around the world are buying up gold, which basically takes it out of circulation for years. Plus, rich deposits of gold are harder to find so there likely is some sort of floor under the price of gold, and hence silver. And silver is used in small amounts in many gadgets and so gets thrown into the garbage for now. In early February Pfizer (PFE) spun off its livestock division. Shares were listed at around $26 but quickly jumped to $31. Most initial price offerings (IPOs) don’t stay up in price once the first flurry of buying is over. Then we have a thing called “shares owned by insiders” that are locked up for up to six months and as that deadline passes, insiders often sell at least some shares. However, this spin off is about a $4 billion dollar business around the world, in 60 countries and with 9,000 employees so it’s no slouch business. I don’t usually buy IPOs so I will watch for now.

BULL PUT SPREADS I’ve been studying how to do bull put spreads. This is a strategy for flat to bullish markets so it takes some understanding of the market. The big advantages of bull put spreads are you don’t have to own the shares and it cuts down the amount of margin money (I call it put space) you need to have in your trading account. A lower margin requirement can do two things. First, it lets you work with more stocks, which theoretically should reduce risk. Second, investors with smaller accounts who learn this stuff might be able to get approval to do bull put spreads. With these spreads you don’t have to own the shares but you should learn the strategy. I wrote in an earlier issue that by the time you read this article, I will have done several spreads. So here goes.

Tundra

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Genuity and Design®, Genuity Icons, Genuity®, Roundup Ready®, and Roundup® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. Used under license.

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TCM The idea is that you choose a stock you wouldn’t mind owning if the shares were put to you (that is if you had to buy them). When you sell naked puts you become the insurance company. If shares drop below the strike price you sell the put at, you will likely have to buy the shares. Let me back up. First, I had 7,000 shares of TCM that cost around $3 per share. I sold them for $4.20. Last October I sold naked puts on 5,000 shares of TCM with a strike price of $4 for April, and collected $1.10 per share. Then I bought those back for $0.31, and cleared a few grand. Now I don’t own any shares and have no naked calls. I figure/hope the shares might, should, could stay over $4 so I might not have to buy them.

I did the same strategy as I did with TCM. I sold the expensive put, strike price $6, and collected around $0.21 or $1,000 after commissions. Then I bought the cheaper put, $5 strike, also for March at a cost of around $0.06. I cleared around $715. Those shares have dropped to $5.88 so I might end up buying them. The paper cost would be just under $5.90, which, in my opinion, wouldn’t be so bad. This is all part of my education on this strategy. I have no idea exactly how things will turn out. If both shares end up or get above the strike price I sold at, I’ll keep the $880, plus $715 for a total of $1,595. Since I’ve committed about $8,500 of margin money, the two deals could make me about 18 per cent for not quite two months. I suppose the worst

When you do a bull put spread, you sell the expensive put and buy the cheap put And if I did have to buy them my cost would be $4, minus what I collected from the bull put spread. I know I might have lost some readers by now, but others are quite interested so bear with me. When you do a bull put spread, you sell the expensive put and buy the cheap put. For March I sold the put with a $4 strike on 5,000 shares and collected $0.26 per share. Then I bought the March put with a $3 strike price and paid $0.07, so I cleared about $0.19 per share on 5,000 shares. Subtract commissions and my net was around $880 for not quite two months. And I only used about $4,200 of margin (put space). Remember, I did not own the shares and still do not as I write. So far, TCM is above $4 so we are not committed to buying those shares at this time.

SHERRITT (S) Then I looked at Sherritt. I already own 5,000 shares at an average cost of $5.63 and I wouldn’t mind buying a few more.

case scenario would be that I’d have the money but would have to buy the shares, which likely would be okay too. Of course, I could then sell the shares, or sell covered calls on them and collect more cash. The thing with doing spreads at these cheaper stocks, say under $10, is that there is very little wiggle room if the share prices drop. On the other hand, if I do spreads on $10 or $12 stocks, if the shares drop I can usually buy and sell my puts, and repeat the strategy at a lower strike price and not be out any cash. I chose TCM and S because I wouldn’t mind having to buy those shares and because the premiums were quite good. Sometimes rich premiums suggest the share prices might fall, but I can’t seem to find positive proof of that. As far as put space is concerned, between TCM and S I’ve used maybe $8,500 of put space which leaves me a lot of margin money if I decide to do more of these. I’m going slow to give my brain a chance to learn, study and absorb and to see what happens.

If some of this stuff boggles your mind, don’t sweat. I had the same problem for months with selling covered calls and I just kept poking away and finally had a couple of those “aha” moments and slowly things fell into place. Now they are almost second nature to me.

JOHN CLARK As associate publisher/editorial director John Morris wrote in the Wheat and Chaff section of the last issue of Grainews, John Clark died January 18, 2013 at the age of 81. John Clark started Grainews in the early 70s partly to keep canola out of the Canadian Wheat Board and partly to have a way to publish more information about how to farm. Grainews became famous as the farm paper that had farmers write for farmers. I joined Grainews in early 1979 mostly because I knew farming, taxes and investments. John Clark figured it was easier to teach a farm boy how to write than teach a city boy about farming. Roger Olson, John and I had a great time running Grainews for years. At the risk of missing someone, Inez, Carole, Heather, Jacqueline, Tom and Gunny helped run the place. Some of us retired, some moved on and some still work for Farm Business Communications. The interesting thing is this: three significant Grainews contributors: Alf Bryan (deceased), Boyd Anderson and Harvey Gjesdal were dedicated writers for years. And all three had children take over the farm. In the storybook of life, I hope all of us have at least a page, a chapter or several chapters that stand out. I think John Clark had several outstanding chapters. He helped raise a fine family of four. My condolences to them, to his grandchildren and to his wife Colette. John loved the outdoors and he loved farming and the farming industry. I’m sure many farmers will join with me to say, “Thanks John for your contribution to the industry.” † Andy is mostly retired. He plays with his granddaughters, gardens, travels a bit with his wife and manages the family’s portfolio. Andy also publishes an electronic newsletter called StocksTalk where he tells what he is thinking about his investments and what he has done with them. If you want to read it free for a month email Andy at sirski@mts.net.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Columns UNDERSTANDING MARKET BULLS AND BEARS

Changing trends in agriculture Sifting through information to understand trends can be challenging BY BRIAN WITTAL

read a climate research article that was tracking solar activity such as sun spots. The conclusion was that, on average, the North American hemisphere will cool by about 9 C. Another report suggests we could see the continued spread of the U.S. drought, north into the Canadian Prairies. How reliable are the weather models that are predicting these cycles based? How do you factor in the impact that intensive farming with continuous cropping and irrigation can have on these models? Another recent article talked about new varietal development in soybeans in that will increase acreage. Some are predicting that as many as two million acres of soybeans will be seeded within the next few years. How does this fit in with the weather trends? Do those projections make growing soybeans a viable option?

or someone who needs the grain for an end purpose. Non-commercial activity refers to all others who take on a futures contract strictly with the intent of making a profit without ever taking ownership of the grain. They’ll buy in and out of the contract before the expiry date with the hope of making a profit; they’re usually in the market over a short time period — 30 to 90 days. This is where a lot of money can come into the grain futures markets through trading funds, mutual funds or companies with cash looking for a quick profit opportunity. This is also what can create a lot of market volatility, which can be good and bad and also frustrating from a farmer’s perspective.

AN EXAMPLE Say the Statistics Canada report shows canola stocks down, which results in fewer tonnes to sell to meet market demand. Non-commercial speculators see this as an opportunity to buy futures contracts now and sell them later for a profit as they expect markets will go up because of the lower stocks. The futures contract for canola experiences a large volume of non-commercial activity as these speculators position themselves to make a profit from this potential rally. You also believe prices will go up so you don’t sell any more canola for now, you wait for higher prices.

Futures rally nicely, but just before you decide to sell they take a hard tumble, Why did this happen? Charts showed that the markets could go up another $10 to $20 per tonne. What’s up? The most likely explanation is that one of those non-commercial speculators decided to sell all of their contracts now, while there were interested buyers. They might take their profits and run rather than wait out the markets for another $10 or $20 per tonne, and taking the risk that they may not be able to sell their contracts at those higher values. Once the other non-commercial speculators catch wind of the situation they will most likely try to sell out their contracts as well. All

of a sudden you have multiple sellers offering contracts for sale, so buyers start lowering their buying prices, which starts the slide in the futures values. Quite often when this happens futures values will fall dramatically. Some traders will come out making a profit and some will experience a loss, but the farmer who didn’t understand these market dynamics and wasn’t prepared most likely missed out on a great pricing opportunity that may not come back again. † Brian Wittal has 30 years of grain industry experience, and currently offers market planning and marketing advice to farmers through his company Pro Com Marketing Ltd. (www. procommarketingltd.com).

BACK TO THE FARM

FINDING THE TRUTH Deciding if the predictions in the articles you read are factual is very similar to determining when and if you should be selling or prepricing your grains. What are the markets telling you? Is this information reliable? What are the buyers and sellers doing and why? What’s happening that could impact prices in the future? Let’s look at this a little more in depth. What can we learn by looking into the futures markets and how they are trading? Let’s start with some terminology definitions that may help to clarify some things. Often you will hear references to commercial or non-commercial activity in the futures markets. What is that? Commercial activity refers to the legitimate buying and selling of that specific grain through a futures contract by someone who owns the grain

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How do you correlate information like this back to marketing your grain on your farm? It goes back to your yearly review and the long-range planning that you do (or should be doing)! Start by looking at what has been working for you. What are the most profitable crops for you to grow? Does your profitability come from the quality you grow or from the volume you produce? This is a key distinction. If the crops you are growing are not profitable unless you get the highest quality possible, that is certainly a greater risk to your farm than if your profitability is derived mainly from volume, and quality is an added bonus to your bottom line. Now, try to determine how theories of cooler temperatures or possible drought or anything else could impact your farm’s profitability. These and many other reports that come out on a daily basis have the potential to profoundly impact agriculture Are they for real? That is what you need to try to determine.

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Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS). Monsanto products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for Commercialization of Biotechnology-Derived Plant Products in Commodity Crops. This product has been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship. ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides. Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Genuity and Design®, Genuity Icons, Roundup Ready®, and Roundup® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee. ©2012 Monsanto Canada, Inc.

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/ grainews.ca

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Columns CAN’T TAKE THE FARM FROM THE BOY

Bin full of death

A bin full of dead, frozen pigs by the highway will mean different things to different viewers TOBAN DYCK

took this picture of a bin full of dead, frozen pigs. It’s not an indictment of the hog industry. It’s not strong commentary. It’s not even an exposé of a heinous act. It is, however, a bewildering tableaux to see so close to a highway. And, it is a stupid thing for a farm to do. I grew up on a farm, one that had hogs for many years. I chored them, daily, and we had hundreds. Occasionally, some even died. And we did — gasp! — have to dispose of the bodies. But we did so differently. What is shocking about this, especially to someone who immediately got over the fact that a bin packed full of dead animals was set down about 30-feet from a busy highway, is that the farmer or farm-hand who chose this unfortunate location to set down the coffin was ensuring an already beleaguered industry stays on its knees. High feed costs and low meat prices have forced the closure of many barns across the Prairies. Surprisingly, the province of Manitoba does have a resource for farmers needing to dispose of their dead animals. And, what it says is just as interesting as is what it does not say, and what is presumed. Relating to the proper disposal of sheep:

The distance between that Highway 305 sighting and Winnipeg is not just geographical “Location of a composter should take the farm residence and any neighbouring residences into account. While offensive odours are not usually generated in the composting process, the handling of dead livestock and compost on a daily basis may not be aesthetically pleasing.” Indeed, it is not aesthetically pleasing, but what’s notable here is that, according to the Province, the major consideration when putting dead livestock near the highway is how it looks. From the disposal of mortalities section of the Environmental Act’s livestock manure and mortalities management regulation pdf: “No person shall keep mortalities in or at an agricultural operation unless the mortalities are kept: (a) in a secure storage room, covered container or secure location; and (b) continually frozen or refrigerated, if not

disposed of within 48 hours after death.” I doubt the frozen pigs pictured were kept there for composting purposes, but, if they were, this applies: “No person shall compost livestock mortalities on the property of an agricultural operation unless the composting site is located at least 100 metres from (i) any surface watercourse, sinkhole, spring or well, and (ii) the operation’s boundaries.”

RURAL PRACTICES Manitoba hog farmers, already dealing with plummeting market prices that are forcing them to make a battery of eleventhhour decisions, have been raked over the coals. Not by the media (though some organizations do seem quick to portray most things rural in a negative, facile light, cough, CBC, cough), but by a groundswell of ignorance over rural practices and a naive idealism towards where that bacon you love — I love — comes from. The definition of a factory farm is conveniently loose enough to include almost every traditional-looking barn, hog or other. And, the people running

those barns are often written-off as thoughtless and cruel, patronized to as simple, or vilified as corporate/unfeeling. Menno and Bernie Bergen’s barn near Winkler, Man., made news last year when reports streamed in that the hogs were being euthanized inhumanely. Death is death; most get that. But there is so much more to the story that CBC News chose not to cover, or, more likely, had no staff knowledgeable in rural issues. Instead, the public is given just enough information to hate and judge. Hog farmers respect life, and they do so within a lifestyle that allows them to hunt and trap. I can’t comment on the practices of the Bergen barn, but I can comment on what I know from the sample of farmers I have come in contact with. “Producers are shocked by such actions and would hope the public would believe that is not reflective of how we raise our animals on a regular basis,” Manitoba Pork Council’s Andrew Dickson told CBC News in response to last year’s euthanized piglets. I think raising hogs or any other livestock in a large, outdoor environment is ideal, but, simply put, if our collective appetite for

Time To pour on

Consider this picture to be an inkblot test. What do you see? pork remains as strong as it currently is, this will not happen. The distance between that Highway 305 sighting and Winnipeg is not just geographical. Consider the image to this story an inkblot test. What do you see? I see unfortunate placement. That’s it.

the profit.

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PHOTO: TOBAN DYCK

This article also appears in the Spectator Tribune, an online alternative media source for the Prairies. Find it online at www.spectatortribune.com. † Toban Dyck is a freelance writer and a new farmer on an old farm. Follow him on Twitter @tobandyck or email tobandyck@ gmail.com.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Columns MANAGEMENT MINUTE

Today’s land decision To buy or not to buy at these high prices? Use some arithmetic and your attitude toward risk to make the land purchase decision on your farm ANDREW DERUYCK

MARK SLOANE

e had an interesting discussion with Peter Paytumuch the other day. Peter was deliberating over whether or not to buy a quarter section of land that

was up for tender beside his farm. Paytumuch knew that the quarter was going to sell high, but had no idea how to evaluate whether the purchase price made sense. Peter has farmed for 25 years and only paid $1,000 per acre for the land he purchased 10 years ago. He anticipates this next parcel selling for $3,000. Even at six per cent interest, his interest and property tax costs on the land he bought earlier were $70 per acre; his total land payment was $97/ac. Rent for that same acre was $45/ac. Now with land at $3,000/ ac. and interest at 4.5 per cent, Paytumuch’s interest and property tax costs would be $145/ac.; his total land payment would be

$230/ac. Rent is now currently hovering around $100/ac.

TWO COMPONENTS TO LAND PURCHASE We began our discussion with Paytumuch by talking about the two components of a land purchase. Land cost is the first component. This part of the purchase cost includes the interest and property taxes. This cost is higher than the cost of rent — this higher cost includes a premium for the security of ownership. The table shows the premium Paytumuch was facing. Comparing the interest and taxes cost ($70 per acre) to rent costs of $45 per acre leaves Paytumuch

paying a 56 per cent premium for ownership. The payment of this part of the land cost component of the purchase should flow directly from the income from the acre of land. Real estate investment is the second component of the cost. This portion includes cash for the principle payment. Cash flowing the principle payment is essentially a forced saving plan. The payment of this part of the cost of land doesn’t need to come directly from this purchase, but can come from other sources — on-farm or off-farm. This investment in real estate carries with it a reasonable expectation of appreciation in value. Three main components have contributed to the rapid appreciation in the price of farmland: Very positive margins achieved in typical grain operations; Extremely low interest rates (lowering the land cost component of the purchase price); Strong equity in many areas (increasing farmers’ ability to raise the real estate investment component of the purchase price).

THE DECISION

LAND PRICES, PER ACRE, NOW AND 10 YEARS AGO Price

Total payment

Interest + taxes

Rent cost

Premium for ownership

10 years ago

$1,000

$97

$70

$45

56%

Now

$3,000

$230

$145

$100

45%

Note: The premium is the cost of interest and taxes as compared to the cost of rent. This premium has not changed significantly over the time period, even thought the magnitude of the numbers is significantly higher.

For Peter Paytumuch, this purchase could pose a significant risk to his existing business, due to the sheer magnitude of the dollars being invested combined with the long-term nature of a land purchase decision. After reviewing the operating efficiency of Paytmuch’s farm, with accrued statements, we estimated his average operating expense ratio at about 58 per cent. (This is the

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percentage of every dollar of revenue that goes toward paying for operating costs. To calculate your operating expense ratio, divide your total operating expenses — not including interest or depreciation — by your total revenues). Paytumuch had an average gross revenue per acre of $480. Using these figures, it would appear that the fixed charge carrying capacity for the farm is $201/ ac. (This is the amount of per acre revenue that can be used to cover fixed costs, once operating costs are paid. In this case, with $0.58 of every revenue dollar paying operating costs, Paytumuch has $0.42 left over from ever dollar of revenue to pay for fixed costs. That’s $480/ac. x 42 per cent, or $201/ac.) Paytumuch has $201 per acre to put toward fixed charges; the total payment for the new land would be $230/ac. His farm would only need to subsidize the purchase of this new land by $29/ac. This payment deficit may not differ significantly from what the farm was expected to carry when he made his last purchase 10 years ago. This calculation assumes that Paytumuch’s gross revenue and efficiency margins (operating expense ratio) will continue as they have in the last five years. If either of these deteriorate because of sinking commodity prices or rising input costs (yeah right, when has that ever happened in agriculture), then the ability of Paytumuch’s farm to carry its obligations could be jeopardized.

A LONG-TERM LOOK Looking back through time, we think it’s fair to say that land affordability has always challenged cash flow and today is no exception. If commodity prices continue to stay strong and genetic advancements continue to drive yields upwards, land at $3,000/ac. may be considered a bargain in five years. On the other hand, this purchase carries significantly more risk than the purchase Paytumuch made 10 years ago because of the size of the obligations. If crop production margins erode, eventually land rent in the area will decrease, and you’ll be paying a higher premium for land ownership. How will your business mitigate this risk? Strong liquidity? High equity? Diversified income sources? Alternate land use market? There is no one right answer for every situation but you had better have one good mitigating factor or the risk you assume with a land purchase today might jeopardize what you have worked the last 25 years to build. The moral of the story is that, as with any strategic business decision, your goal should be to match your business growth and achievement goals with your risk appetite. If you make decisions with careful evaluation of risk, potential return, and mitigating factors, you’ll make the right decision. If your purchase decision is based solely on the price the neighbor paid and whether or not the bank will lend you money, you may be driving down a busy highway with a blindfold on, just waiting for what happens next. † Andrew DeRuyck and Mark Sloane manage two farming operations in southern Manitoba and are partners in Right Choice Management Consulting. With over 25 years of cumulative experience, they offer support in farm management, financial management, strategic planning and mediation services. They can be reached at andrewd@goinet.ca and sloanefarms@hotmail.com or 204-8257392 and 204-825-8443.

/ grainews.ca

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Columns SOILS AND CROPS

Soil moisture as of freeze-up Once again, Les Henry has created a Prairie-wide map of soil moisture for Grainews readers LES HENRY

STUBBLE SOIL MOISTURE: NOVEMBER 1, 2012 (General guide only — check your own fields in spring)

efore you look at the map take a close look at the legend. This year’s soil moisture map is made the same way as the map you saw in these pages last year. This year’s map is based on the depth of moist soil — that is, it’s a map of the “wetting front” as fall rains proceed, or not! The depth of the wetting front varies with soil texture. In the early stages of fall rains, all soils have the same available water. Sandy soils “fill up” first, but when all soils are “full” clay will hold about twice as much moisture as sandy soil. The Stubble Soil Moisture Map as of freeze-up (November 1) is made by first mapping the fall rain.

VERY DRY DRY MOIST

Sandy Soils Medium Soils Heavy Soils Wet to 12-24” Wet to 6-18” Wet to 6-12” (About 1 to 2 inches of available water) Sandy Soils Medium Soils Heavy Sils Wet to 24-48” Wet to 18-30” Wet to 12-24” (About 2 to 4 inches of available water) Will include local areas with no dry layer

WET

No dry layer in sandy, medium or heavy soils (Sandy = 4, Medium = 6, Heavy = 8 inches of available water)

GrandePrairie Prairie Grande

SUPER WET

See text for criteris

Edmonton Edmonton Lloydminster Lloydminster

STUBBLE SOIL MOISTURE MAP I started making this map in 1978. It was possible only because Saskatchewan Agriculture had a network of Crop and Weather reporters in each of the almost 300 RMs. They dumped the rain gauge each morning and sent in a report each week. Not high tech, but it worked. I made the first map because I noticed that one probe in a quarter section was as good as a hundred probes. I made a preliminary map based on rainfall for a start date selected each year. That map was “truthed” by soil probing only where there was uncertainty. The assumption has been that the crop used all that was available and we started each fall with a clean — dry — slate. I always thought Manitoba was a special case, and I had trouble relating to the large soil water values measured in Manitoba.

Stubble has essentially no moisture storage below 6 inches

PrinceAlbert Albert Prince Melfort Melfort

NorthBattleford Battleford North

RedDeer Deer Red

Saskatoon Saskatoon Drumheller Drumheller Calgary Calgary

Base map courtesy of

Yorkton Yorkton

Lethbridge Lethbridge

MedicineHat Hat Medicine

Regina MooseJaw JawRegina SwiftCurrent CurrentMoose Swift

Manitoba Agriculture

Weyburn Weyburn

Brandon Brandon

Estevan Estevan

Data Source: Environment Canada

In Saskatchewan, mapping the wetting front worked well. But in the past three years most of Saskatchewan has had “irrigation” years from rain alone. Since 2009, pivots I drive by at Dundurn have been moved mostly to farm under. David Waldner of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) kindly provided the map of

Portage Winnipeg Portage Winnipeg

Prepared by Les Henry, January 14, 2013

cumulative rainfall for April 1 to October 31 for 2010, 2011 and 2012. Areas from Swan River, Man., to Yorkton, Sask., have had five feet of rain. That map is quite accurate in Alberta and Manitoba where there are lots of stations — less so in Saskatchewan where there are fewer automatic recording stations. That limitation is being

overcome with the inclusion of Weatherfarm stations. In addition to high rainfall we have also had a lot of snowfall, except for 2011-12. The excess water, above that needed by crops, goes to raising the water table. If the water table comes within the root zone, the crop lives off the capillary (suction) zone above the water table. I have observed that with soil probing on my Dundurn farm the past three years. See my column on “sub-irrigation” in the February 11, 2013 issue of Grainews.

In the past three years most of Saskatchewan has had “irrigation” years from rain alone You will notice that in the Meadow Lake area of northwest Sask., I have added a fifth category — “super wet.” In this area, the water table is within the root zone. Stuck combines at harvest are a good measure of that. And, there may be local areas elsewhere that have the same condition. Generally, I have less confidence in this map than other years’ maps, but the general pattern should provide a framework for thought.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE My sincere thanks to the sources of information for this map: • the Alberta Agriculture website for their soil moisture map; • Ken Panchuk, Saskatchewan Agriculture for the knowledge shared; • Shannon Friesen, Saskatchewan Agriculture, Weyburn, for accessing specific maps from Sask Geomatics; • Marla Riekman, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, for the soil moisture map and rainfall map she provided in a poster at the Manitoba Agronomists Conference; and, • Last, but not least, thanks to Dave Waldner, AAFC (National Agroclimatic Information Service), Regina, for the threeprovince three-year cumulative map included with this article, and for other special maps I request from time to time. Dave is quite adamant that he is only one cog in a very big wheel, but he always treats me with respect and provides anything I request. I have great respect for the young digitally “hip” folks that can do things this old fossil can only dream about. † 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. Simply send a cheque for $50 to Henry Perspectives, 143 Tucker Cres., Saskatoon, Sask., S7H 3H7, and he will dispatch a signed book.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Columns GUARDING WEALTH

Making big bets on economic cycles These days, it’s hard to find a place where your investment will be safe, let alone lucrative. It helps to make the right choices BY ANDREW ALLENTUCK

here is an economic recovery brewing. Every cycle of boom to bust to boom again is a little different, but the broad patterns are much the same. What counts when economies make their turns is to be in the right type of asset, then the right industry and finally in the right companies.

SETTING THE SCENE We are coming to the end of one of the biggest bond booms in history, the almost uninterrupted decline of interest rates since Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker and Bank of Canada governor Gerald Bouey broke the back of double digit inflation in 1982. At that time, interest rates were 12 per cent for federal government bonds, 15 per cent for provincials and 16 per cent and up for corporate bonds. Since then, bonds have produced immense gains. A 30-year strip bond, which pays no interest until maturity, purchased in 1982 for $1,000, would have had a value at maturity of $30,000. The bond boom is ending because there is nowhere for interest rates to go but up. It has to be admitted that if deflation broke out, long government bonds would still be valuable and could gain in market price. But the distance from 12 per cent in 1982 for a Government of Canada 30-year bond down to 2.8 per cent today is a lot more than from 2.8 per cent today even to zero.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE Investors with long horizons need to look at the big picture. In the event of rising interest rates driven by economic recovery and mid inflation, stocks should thrive. A modest increase in earnings compounded by a small increase in the ratio of price to earnings will push up stock prices handsomely. Commodity prices should also do well with the return of inflation. The problem, of course, is to pick the right commodities. Energy is too abundant to produce rising market prices. Many crop prices are already at historic peaks. A broad cyclical push upward of commodity prices is not yet in view. Real estate prices are headed down in many markets — B.C., Ontario, and Alberta — as a result of steam running out of their booms. Bank of Canada policies restricting the terms of first time buyers’ amortization periods has made entry level housing harder to afford. The effect ripples upward throughout the housing market. Canadian house prices are still high in relation to rents. Speculators are leaving this market — the wise investor can wait on the sidelines for a few years. In this broad survey of investment markets, stocks are the winners. Next problem? Which sectors to buy.

CHOOSING A SECTOR With rising interest rates, life insurance companies should show better earnings.

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The underlying mechanism of life insurance pricing — how much it costs to buy a given death benefit — is interest. As interest rates rise, life insurers can sell a given benefit for a lower premium or, for a given premium, provide a higher death benefit. Insurers like Manulife Financial that sold segregated funds and other guaranteed payout products and then took a huge hit on their prices when stocks collapsed and they had to make good on their guarantees, should do better in the future. Likewise, Canadian insurers that bought major mutual fund vendors just as capital markets collapsed should find that their mistimed purchases begin to pay off. Global banks are coming out of a deep slump. Many have shed a lot of their derivatives trading business and want to concentrate on wealth management. After numerous missteps including trying to fix the global short-term bank reserve lending market, massive fines levied by regulators, and other regulatory actions just short of criminal prosecution, European bank recovery is in the offing. Canadian chartered banks are expensive by global standards. None of our banks have had to pay large fines for misconduct for, in fact, they have been angels in a garden of temptations. Their reserves are strong, defaults on loans are small, their management is reliable and their dividends solid and rising. Money invested in a chartered bank or an exchange traded fund of chartered banks should return an average dividend of 3.5 to four per cent plus a three

to five per cent annual price gain. Telecoms like BCE Inc. are mature and strong dividend payers. Global consumer products companies such as Unilever PLC, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, and Walmart Stores should be good recovery bets. The big soap companies expand sales with growing consumer purchasing power in China and southeast Asia. Kraft controls markets by sheer marketing power. Walmart’s expansion cannot be stopped. Its biggest risks are unionization, which can only happen in one jurisdiction at a time, and a rising exchange value of the Chinese yuan. Walmart is expanding in China, so some of the rising cost of goods it buys in China would be offset by rising China sales. Walmart’s move to groceries insulates it from much of the China yuan/dollar exchange problem. Global transportation that brings all these markets together is problematic. One would say that with more global business, there should be more shipping. The problem is that the ocean freighter market is oversupplied with vessels, the global airline business oversupplied with planes and railroads in Europe are running light as a result of the seemingly endless continental recession. A broad sectoral expansion in global transport awaits the end of the global recession. Investing selectively in Canadian and American railroads is not too risky. Putting money into any major airline is a risk I would not take. Technology investments have been fabulous winners in the last

30 years and horrible failures too. Apple has gone from boom to bust and boom again. Compaq? Dot com mania? Recall Facebook’s recent and, said the market, overpriced initial public offering. The biggest winners have been IBM and Microsoft, but even they could falter again. If all software is available by rent — cloud computing — then Microsoft would be in trouble. In short, technology investments are for the knowledgeable and the swift. For major bets for the long term, it is not a good place to be.

FUNDS WITH REASONABLE FEES With all of this said, broad stock exchange traded funds and mutual funds with fees in the reasonable range of 1.2 per cent per year or less are still reasonable investments. You can buy global stocks in the MSCI Index, the S&P 500, the S&P/TSX total return index, and global consumer product stocks. Being in the right asset class, which is stocks, the right sectors such as consumer products and Canadian financial institutions, and the right companies in that order will position non-farm investments for gains in the next few years. By the same token, staying out of airlines, cell phones, social network companies and government bonds should reduce the risks of off-farm investments. The future is not kind to those who forget the lessons of history. † Allentuck’s latest book, “When Can I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work,” was published in 2011 by Penguin Canada.

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/ grainews.ca

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Machinery & Shop Forage equipment

Case IH introduces new LB4 Series balers The LB4 square balers introduced last fall in Racine, Wisconsin, boast a completely new design and better performance than their predecessors By Scott Garvey

he sleek, streamlined exterior styling of Case IH’s LB4 Series large square balers creates the impression of speed, but according to Brett DeVries, product marketing manager for Case IH hay and forage, that suggestion of speed is no illusion. Engineering improvements built into the LB4s are designed to make them work faster — and better. “This new baler is helping producers maximize their baling window,” he says, as he stands beside an LB334 in Racine, Wisconsin, while walking a small group of farm journalists around it. “How we’re doing that is through efficient high-speed baling. This model here has about 20 per cent more capacity than our previous models. In today’s environment the baling window is only about two to five hours (per day). It’s important to get as much done in that short window as possible.”

photos: scott garvey

Case IH’s new LB4 Series balers have a new streamlined look and are two feet narrower than the previous model line.

Hay and forage product marketing manager Brett DeVries explains the advantages of the new LB4 Series, including the increased 32-ball twine capacity housed under a single, swing-up side panel.

Increased speed To get the LB4s to gulp down hay much faster, engineers sped them up, literally. Plunger speed has been increased from what was used in the previous models. “We went from 42 strokes per minute to 48, so we can push that material through quicker,” explains DeVries. Adding to that is a high-inertia flywheel that has grown is size by 19 per cent. “The flywheel is kind of the heart and soul of this baler,” he continues. “It keeps everything going smoothly. Some of our competitors have gone to just putting more weight in the flywheel. We’ve used physics. Number one, we made it a little bit wider; and number two, we changed the shape just a little bit. The bottom line is we get 21 per cent more inertia than our previous design.” To match that internal efficiency improvement, the LB4s now have to lift windrows much faster. That meant making changes to the pickup as well. In fact, it meant totally redesigning it. The frame and most of the components are now beefier. The improvements were meant not only to allow it to do its job much better, but to make it more durable as well. “We can make that plunger go as fast as we want, but if we’re not picking it (hay) up any faster down below, it’s not doing us any good,” says DeVries. “So, there was a big emphasis on making sure we get that material picked up.”

New pickup design Incorporated into the new pickup design is a roller wind guard and an upper feed-assist roller to ensure the crop mat flows evenly into the baler. “Instead of pushing that crop when you get into light conditions, (the feed-assist roller) goes up against the crop mat and helps feed it in quicker,” he adds.

To keep up with the increased capacity in the baler, Engineers redesigned the pickup to be more durable and perform more efficiently.

An automatic greasing feature, controlled from the monitor in the tractor cab, reduces the amount of time operators must spend on daily maintenance.

A larger and reshaped flywheel provides 21 per cent more inertia to the drive mechanism and increases bale density by up to five per cent.

Up top, the LB4s’ knotters are what DeVries called a “tried and true system.” They tie a double knot in the twine and are driven by a gearbox instead of a chain drive. That prevents chain wear from causing problems and eliminates the need to oil and service it. “We haven’t really changed anything on the knotters, just because it’s a good thing and it works,” he explains. The LB4s can be controlled by Case IH’s Pro 300 and Pro 700

mentioned earlier isn’t just for appearances; it also happens to be one of the updates engineers intentionally designed into the LB4s to make servicing them a much less dirty job than working on some others. With the shape of most balers, dust builds up in a variety of places and some of it often ends up down the neck of anyone doing maintenance on them. The curved shape of the sheet metal on LB4s is meant to help prevent that.

monitors, which are integrated into the Magnum and Puma tractors. But because it’s ISOBUS ready, it should just plug and play with any brand of tractor using ISOBUS architecture. “It’s just a matter of plugging (an LB4) in to the tractor,” DeVries says. “It’s ISO compatible.” Learning how to operate the system is easy for new drivers. “It’s a very intuitive design and easy for guys to use.” And that streamlined look I

“A lot of that dirt and debris falls off the baler, versus collecting,” says DeVries. “In the twine box, there are no ledges for that stuff to build up on.” The LB4s are also two feet narrower than the previous models, making it easier to see to the rear of the tractor. Says DeVries: “We are very excited about the performance of this new baler series.” † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at scott.garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop MOBILE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Farm At Hand app a digital management tool If you’d like to manage your entire farming operation from a smartphone, this free web-based data storage and app allows you to do just that BY SCOTT GARVEY

f you’re tired of keeping — and probably frequently losing — separate notepads detailing different farming activities, two entrepreneurs from Saskatoon believe they’ve come up with the perfect solution. Their Farm At Hand website and mobile app allows anyone to keep key farm management information as close as their smartphone. Instant access to the data you need to keep the farm operation running smoothly is bound to be a time and cost saver. Can’t remember how many bushels of canola you have remaining in a certain bin, or how many tonnes you’ve already delivered on a contract, just log into your personal Farm At Hand data base from a smartphone and the information is there — assuming you haven’t forgotten to record something. And you don’t need to pay a subscription fee. Personal data storage space and the app needed to access it are completely free. “We’ve developed a cloud-based system,” says Himanshu Singh one of two co-owners of Farm At Hand. “When a farmer enters information from an app, they press the sync button and the information goes up into our cloud (server). The benefit of that is we have very secure servers and it’s accessible then from multiple devices.” Multiple users can log into the same personalized data bank on the Farm At Hand website, assuming they’ve been granted password access. So, for example, each member of a family farming operation could log into the same data bank simultaneously, even while working in different locations. “If you have different people working in different fields, all they have to do to enter information is press sync,” Singh adds. “That way it acts as a communications tool as well. At the end of the day you can go to your home computer and keep working on it.” The kind of information the system is set up to keep track of runs the gamut of farm management needs. It includes such things as field records, which can document acreage numbers and data on recent operations such as spraying, seeding or harvesting. Commodity storage information, like bushels remaining in each bin along with grain types and quality. Contract delivery status. And detailed machinery fleet information. And farmers can feel secure that their information will always remain confidential, says Singh. “We do not sell that data, nor will we ever, ever sell that data. That data is confidential and password protected.” “If they want us to somehow access their data, we need their permission,” says Kim Keller, the other co-owner of the company. She says Farm At Hand has grown quickly since it was launched back in April, 2012, and it will remain a free service. “Farmers won’t be charged a registration fee, upgrade fee, subscription, nothing. There will never be a charge to them and their data will never be sold. If you stop and think about it, a well-run farm benefits the whole ag industry

and all of us relying on a stable food source. We don’t think that should come at a cost for the farmer.” To download the app for Apple Devices, farmers can go directly to the App store, or they can go to FarmAtHand.com and click on the App Store link. Users with an Android phone can log onto the FarmAtHand.com website directly. “There is an app for iPhone and iPad and we have a mobile website for Android users,” says Singh. “All they have to do to use it is go to FarmAtHand.com on their (Android) devices. We started off developing for the iPhone because it’s a little easier to develop for.” They are looking into developing an app for the Blackberry. After simply installing the app

and up their personal account on the FarmAtHand.com website, farmers are free to use the system. In the near future, Farm At Hand’s features will expand significantly. “We’re currently working on a really big update that’s going to introduce a whole host of new features,” adds Singh. “There’ll be a lot more customization, and a way more detailed equipment management section. Maintenance logs; things like that. Our goal is to always continue updating and introduce new features that are helpful to producers. What we’re working on right now has come from direct feedback from people who use our program and our app.” †

PHOTO: SCOTT GARVEY

FarmAtHand.com is a website and mobile app designed to give farmers instant access to their own detailed management information from any location via their smartphone.

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

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/ grainews.ca

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Machinery & Shop SHOP CLASS

How to replace a brake line

We crawl under an old grain truck to correct a bad repair and properly install a new flexible brake line BY SCOTT GARVEY

his shop class instalment is proof there is some truth in the old expression, “If you want something done right, you’ll have to do it yourself.” That old adage is the reason we’re crawling under this 1960 Chevy grain truck to repair a previous repair. The truck suffered from brake problems last season, so it was taken to a local garage. After an expensive repair bill, the truck came back, apparently in working order. But after logging less than 150 kilometres, brake problems reoccurred. The truck was driven into the farm shop for inspection, and in the process of bleeding air out of the lines after refilling the system with fluid, a flexible brake line burst and all pressure was suddenly lost. This truck is from the era when brake systems only had one circuit. If it loses pressure, the truck is immediately left with no brakes at all. Fortunately, this failure happened inside the shop. If the truck was moving down the road, loss of pressure could have caused a catastrophe. On inspection, it was clear the sudden pressure failure was due to one of several unacceptably poor elements of mechanical work performed during the previous brake overhaul. The line that failed was brand new. Instead of sourcing the right part, the garage jerry-rigged an incompatible replacement. A line that was much too long was installed, curled into a loop and held that way with a plastic zip tie. The line soon rubbed on the wheel rim lip, which wore a hole through the lining. That became the failure point. So, we stroked that garage off our list of potential service providers and installed the correct replacement line ourselves. Here’s how it should have been done in the first place.

LESSONS FROM THE SERVICE MANUAL To guide us through the process and make sure we got it right, we turned to the original GMC shop service manual and followed the recommended procedure to the letter. There’s no room for half measures on a system as important as heavy-truck brakes. First, installation has to be done with the weight of the truck on the suspension and the wheels facing straight ahead (we’re working on the front axle). After getting the failed line off, we threaded the new one into the back

of the wheel hub. The manual says to lubricate the threads with some brake fluid, first. Once snugged in place there, we slotted the hex section on the other end of the line

PHOTOS: SCOTT GARVEY

This week we’re crawling under this 1960 Chevy to replace a faulty brake line. Fortunately, there’s practically enough room under there to park a mini van, so accessing the part isn’t a problem.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop

The brake line on the left is the correct replacement. A garage tried to make the one on the right, which is way too long, work by putting The hex end of the new line slots into a bracket on the a loop in it and holding it that way with a plastic zip tie. This is not chassis, which stops it from twisting. A metal clip fits into the The new line is now in place and connected to the steel the kind of repair you expect from a professional repair shop. grove on the fitting and locks the line to the support bracket. line, which runs to the master cylinder.

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through the support bracket that holds it to the chassis. This bracket also prevents the line from turning, and it’s important there is no torque or twist on it when slotting it into place in the bracket. To lock the line in place at the bracket, a spring clip is slotted into a grove in the line’s fitting, holding it secure. After lubricating the threads on the fitting at the steel line with more brake fluid, it’s torqued into the end of the flex line. To double check that the replacement line is installed correctly, the manual suggests jacking up the truck and letting the suspension droop to its lowest point. Check to ensure that the new flexible line allows this to happen. If you’re working on the front axle, turn the wheels from lock to lock and make sure the new line doesn’t contact any other component. If it does, it will be necessary to remove the hose end from the support bracket and clock it slightly in one direction or the other to position it differently. Now it’s time to bleed any air out of the system. Any time you take apart a hydraulic brake system, you’ll have to do this. Air is bled out at each wheel hub. Start at the wheel farthest from the master cylinder and work your way back to the closest. That usually means beginning at the right rear. After that, the left rear. Then, the right front, and finally the left front. There are speciality tools on the market to make the bleeding process a one-man job. But if you don’t have one, you’ll need a friend to help you. After filling the master cylinder with fluid, have someone push down the brake pedal. While your friend holds it down, crack the bleeder screw on the back of the wheel hub and let a small amount of fluid drain out. Then lock it down again and have your friend let up on the pedal. Repeat this process until fresh fluid drains without spitting air. At that point you’re ready to move to the next wheel and do the same thing. Be sure to keep an eye on the fluid level in the master cylinder throughout this process. You’ll have to refill it frequently. Now, the truck is ready to work again. If you want something done right... † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at scott.garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Machinery & Shop Vertical tillage special

Sorting through vertical tillage, part five Todd Botterill finishes the vertical tillage discussion with a look at rotary implements and whether compact disks make good fit By Todd Botterill

his is the final instalment of a five-part series on vertical tillage.

Rotary machines This group includes several different kinds of machines and can be the most interesting to look at. It’s group that is near to my heart as it includes rotary harrows, which was the product that introduced me to vertical tillage many

years ago. It also includes tools like aerators and stalk choppers, and combinations of the above. Rotary tools were very popular in the beginning of vertical tillage and some units still are used a lot in some areas. Most rotary tools use the centripetal energy created by their spinning to fracture the soil and move it. Many people are surprised by how these tools can fracture soil well below their working depths in dry conditions due to the energy they create. Again, many farmers originally

liked these machines but eventually wanted something that moved more soil, so combination tools were created. Some of the more popular units today are McFarlane, Reel Till and the Smart-Till from HCC. It’s hard to write a list of pros and cons of such a diverse group. Rotary Harrows can handle tough conditions but aren’t very aggressive in hard soils. Stalk choppers don’t like stones or wet gumbo soils but do a great job of breaking up residue. This is a group worth looking at for your particular conditions.

Compact disks Wait a minute, when I wrote earlier about vertical tillage categories I never mentioned compact disks, so why do I mention them now? It’s so I can make this one point: compact disks are not vertical tillage machines! I know they go fast like a coulter machine and leave a field smooth like a disk machine, but they are essentially a fancy tandem disk. These machines run individually-mounted or paired blades on straight toolbars. This cuts down on the frame length. This shorter length allows for better contour following and easier mounting to a three point hitch in Europe, where these machines come from. They use a full-concavity blade on a tight spacing, sometimes with a cambered angle on the blades. These machines will create a density layer just like any tandem disk. This doesn’t make them a bad machine. I have been very impressed with some of the jobs these machines have done. And if you don’t see the potential for real vertical tillage on your farm, then they may be a choice for you. I just

want you making your decision with all the proper facts. These machines do a great job of cutting up residue and mixing it. As with any disk machine, just beware of where all of that residue goes. What I’ve found very impressive is how they reconsolidate the soil to make a firm seedbed again. The cons I see of these tools is the cost (on many of them), their ability to handle wet holes and, with some units, their ability to handle high residue conditions. Due to the small amount of space between the gangs, these machines can plug between the rows of disks instead of between the blades. Well, we’ve covered a lot of ground and I hope I’ve helped to make sense of the different machines offered out there. If it doesn’t make sense or if there a machine I haven’t covered you have questions about please feel free to contact me and I’ll help you the best I can. † Todd Botterill has been in the farm machinery business since 1994, In 2009 he took over the family business, which now wholesales tillage implements across Western Canada for several different companies. He currently lives in the original family farmyard. Contact him at todd@botterillsales.com.

This Lemken Gigant implement falls into the compact disk category and isn’t actually a vertical tillage tool. It’s best described as fitting into the minimum-tillage category.

In dry conditions rotary vertical tillage tools, like this Smart-Till, are capable of fracturing the soil well below the depth its blade penetrate.

This implement performs well in wet conditions.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop SEEDING EQUIPMENT INNOVATIONS

Salford introduces the 525 double-disc drill Try double-disc openers for Prairie conditions BY SCOTT GARVEY

“

hen we were contemplating the North American market, we were studying single disc versus double disc (drills),” explains Jim Boak, national sales manager for Salford. “We looked around the world, and everywhere you look where there are high-value crops you found double-disc openers being used. So our reasoning was if that’s the right opener for high-value crops, why not use it for all crops.” “The agronomic practices that are generally used in the Prairie provinces lead more toward the double disc,” adds Mark van Veen, territory representative for Salford. “In a zero-tillage or min-till situation, the double disc would be the preferred (opener style).”

THE 525 “QUAD” DRILL To deliver what it believes is the ideal seeding implement for the Prairie market, Salford introduced its all-new 525 “Quad” drill this past summer. It uses 500 Series double disc openers, which use 15-inch discs. These openers

are designed to be maintenance free with sealed bearings. Down pressure, provided by an adjustable spring on each opener, can be manually set from 90 to 500 pounds. Depth settings on the 500 Series openers are also manually set in 0.25-inch increments. The drill is capable of placing seed or fertilizer up to three inches deep. The 500 Series openers use soil blowout limiters, which allow the drill to be operated at higher speeds; seed firmers aid in ensuring good seed-to-soil contact. The discs run on an offset angle. For very heavy trash conditions, the 525 drill can be equipped with an optional front coulter. Those coulters or additional openers can be set up for split-row or side banding fertilizer. “It’s available with pretty much any fertilizer combination,” says van Veen This drill is available in working widths from 30 to 70 feet in 10-foot increments. Row spacing options: 7-1/2, 10, 12 and 15 inches.

AIR CART To deliver seed and fertilizer to the 525 drill, Salford introduced its new air cart, which has a maximum

capacity of 740 bushels. It can be ordered with up to three plastic or metal main compartments and an 85-bushel canola or small product tank. “We make single, double or triple carts with an add-on, canolagranular tank in tow between or tow behind,” says van Veen. The plastic tanks are available in 140, 180 and 220 bushel sizes. The metering system on the new cart is capable of handling all sizes of seeds and granular products. The company believes its knob-style roller overcomes the uneven delivery rate problem that can occur with fluted rollers at the slow rotational speeds typically required for small-seeded crops. “One of the advantages of the knob roller over the fluted roller is, especially with canola, when you slow it down significantly you get a much more even feed,” says van Veen. “It can deliver everything from three pounds of canola to 285 pounds of fertilizer.” “One of the biggest features of that system is we don’t have to change the meter rollers from crop to crop or fertilizer to crop,” adds Boak. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at scott.garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

PHOTOS: SCOTT GARVEY

Salford displayed their newest, 740-bushel air cart at the 2012 Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina. It can be equipped with up to three main compartments and a small canola tank.

The Salford 525 Precision Disc Air Drill uses a double disc opener. Down pressure and depth settings are manually set and can be tailored separately for each opener.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Cattleman’s Corner GRAZING MANAGEMENT

Rotational grazing — a different perspective When it comes to native grass pastures, does rotational grazing itself really benefit the grass? With any system, the problem is not the cow, but the manager HYLAND ARMSTRONG

ost, if not all, range management professionals present rotational grazing as the definitive answer to virtually any range management problem they face. Briske and Brown (2011) noted this situation has persisted since the turn of the 20th century when American range ecologists and government agencies sought effective ways to improve the range health of rangelands in the western United States. Subsequently, Canadian officials adopted the same recommendations made by the Americans even though there was not any solid scientific evidence to support the American’s conclusions. Briske et. al. (2008) concluded the commonly held perception, that rotational gazing is superior to season-long continuous grazing, is due more to perception and the use of anecdotal evidence than application of scientific evidence. The arguments presented by supporters of short-duration grazing and conventional rotational grazing provide some good examples of this phenomenon. For those of you who disagree, think about it for a minute. Every grazing seminar you have attended (or article you have read) in the past 20 years has presented examples of producers who have “saw the light,” crossfenced their pastures and now are diehard converts to rotational grazing (praise God and pass the fencing pliers).

STUDY RESULTS Briske, et. al. (2008) reached this conclusion after reviewing a number of grazing trials conducted throughout North America over the past 50 years. The trials they compared looked at three variables: plant production (lb./acre), animal production per area (lb./acre) and animal production per head (lb./ hd). In 23 grazing trials comparing plant production, season-long continuous grazing was superior to or equal to rotational grazing in 20 trials. In 38 grazing trials comparing animal production per head, season-long continuous grazing was superior to or equal to rotational grazing in 35 trials. In 32 grazing trials comparing animal production per area, season-long continuous grazing was superior to or equal to rotational grazing in 27 trials. MANAGEMENT FACTOR These comparisons led the authors to believe it was not the type of grazing system but the quality of resource management that determined the impact of grazing. In their review of the research on grazing systems, Bailey and Brown (2011) also came to the conclusion rotational grazing does not deliver on its promises. These authors concluded rotational grazing systems do not significantly alter what plants animals will graze despite an increase in animal density. They argued a significant change in selectivity only occurs at a combination of high grazing densities and high stocking rates. However, they noted the combination of high grazing densities and high stocking rates invariably leads to lower animal performance (net return, animal gain, etc.). They also

Studies show season-long grazing isn’t an issue as long as there is proper management of cattle. suggest rotational grazing systems do little to improve livestock distribution on the landscape. Instead, the authors suggest implementing a management system that uses a moderate stocking rate and focuses on managing key elements of the landscape (such as riparian areas). Rotational grazing is often regarded a panacea for most grazing issues. In many cases (like shortduration grazing (SDG) grazing), it’s regarded as a quick-fix, one-sizefits-all solution. Invariably, these individuals consider rotational grazing superior to season-long continuous grazing by offering evidence based anecdotal evidence or the belief rotational grazing involves more sophisticated range management. However, upon reviewing the scientific evidence, this is not the case. The research clearly shows the type of grazing system has very little impact on the success or failure of a range management plan.

TWO KEY FACTORS Range managers often overlook two key factors when it comes to designing and implementing grazing plans. The first is precipitation. If there is insufficient moisture during the growing season, there will not be any grass; making even the most sophisticated grazing system redundant. The second factor is management. Research clearly demonstrates the improvements to range health associated with rotational management strategies can be attributed to an improvement in management. When producers adopt rotational grazing systems, they begin paying more attention to animal grazing behaviour, range ecology and other factors. If the same principles are applied to a season-long continuous system, the same improvements in range health are achieved. However, research shows a season-long

continuous system shows higher net returns and animal performance than all rotational grazing systems. Sustainable management of native grass in not dependant on the type of grazing system the range manager uses. Instead, sustainable management depends more upon the landowner’s commitment to understanding the ecology of the ecosystems he manages and then applying sound range management principle, such as the use of sustainable stocking rates and adequate livestock distribution techniques, to achieve desired ecological and economic goals. I would encourage you, the reader to read these papers. If you are in interested, you can Google the titles. D.D. Briske, J.D. Derner, J.R. Brown, S.D. Fuhlendorf, W.R. Teague, K.M. Havstad, R.L. Gillen, A.J. Ash, and W.D. Willms. 2008. Rotational Grazing on Rangelands: Reconciliation of Perception and Experimental Evidence Rangeland Ecol Manage. 61:3-17. D.W. Bailey and J.R. Brown. 2011. Rotational Grazing Systems and Livestock Grazing Behavior in Shrub-Dominated Semi-Arid and Arid Rangelands. Rangeland Ecol Manage. 64:1-9. D.D. Briske, N.F. Sayre, L. Huntsinger, M. Fernandez-Gimenez, B. Budd, and J.D. Derner. 2011. Origin, Persistence, and Resolution of the Rotational Grazing Debate: Integrating Human Dimensions Into Rangeland Research. Rangeland Ecol Manage. 64:325-334. † Hyland Armstrong is a consultant and retired rancher from the Cypress Hills, Alta. with a long educational and career background in animal science and range management. He can be reached at lightningbutte@hotmail. com or 403 528 4798.

WINTER FEEDING

Benefits behind protein pellets on winter pasture The cow herd does better and subsequently calf weights improve through to the feedlot BY LISA GUENTHER

BENEFITS STEERS IN FEEDLOT

upplementing pregnant cows with protein on winter pasture leads to better calf performance, says a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A cow’s diet while pregnant affects her calf after birth and in some cases right to slaughter, Dr. Rick Funston told producers at a recent Rancher’s Research Update at Johnstone Auction Mart in Moose Jaw. Funston said he and his colleagues and students have run several research projects looking at how cows and their offspring respond when the pregnant cow is supplemented with protein. The university’s herd runs on the Nebraska sandhills, and the cows are naturally serviced Red Angus and Simmental crosses which calve in the spring. “These cattle are all the same genetics. But how we manage that cow is influencing the expression of (the calves’) genes, even before they’re born.”

Pregnant cows were supplemented with protein cubes for 90 to 100 days. Funston said they focused on correcting the first limiting nutrient. “Yeah, they’re deficient in energy (while grazing winter grass). But protein is what corrects that first limiting nutrient, which is crude protein deficiency, and it allows animals to digest the feed they eat better, and it also allows those animals to eat more, which corrects that energy issue, too.” Calves born to nonsupplemented cows were lighter at weaning than the supplemented group, Funston said. In one study, researchers examined how supplementing winter range cows with protein affected their steers. Steers out of nonsupplemented cows were lighter through the feedlot. “We took off nearly a hundred pounds of live weight on these calves if we didn’t supplement their mother during late gestation,” Funston said. “Something

that happened before this calf was ever born impacted its live weight and subsequent carcass weight.” Steers from supplemented cows also had better carcass quality grades, and supplementing cows during pregnancy also affected steer health in the feedlot. “They didn’t have any difference in sickness from calving to weaning, but from weaning to slaughter, we had more sick calves if they came from cows that weren’t supplemented during gestation.”

PROTEIN CUBES In a three-year study, Funston and his colleagues also found supplementing pregnant cows affected their heifers. Three times a week they fed one herd protein cubes, which were 42 per cent protein. The control group received no supplement. After calving, all the calves ran together. Pregnancy rates were higher in heifers from supplemented cows. “Not only have we influenced steer carcass weight,” he said.

“Now we show we influence heifer fertility based on how we manage those cows.” Heifers from non-supplemented cows hit puberty later and were lighter. They were more feed-efficient than heifers born to supplemented mothers, but Funston doesn’t know if they remained more feed-efficient after they were evaluated. He said the savings from feed efficiency were offset by other benefits, such as better fertility in heifers and better steer carcass weight and quality. “In all cases, it has been more profitable to supplement, especially if you take those animals clear to harvest,” he said.

PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTATION BENEFITS COWS Researchers also looked at whether cows grazing corn residue benefited from protein supplementation. One group grazing combined corn received protein supplement, while another did not. Researchers also compared supplemented cows on winter

range to non-supplemented cows. Supplementation was a distiller’s grain cube that was about 30 per cent protein. Cows were kept on the same treatment for three years. Grazing corn residue increased cow body condition and body weight. Supplemented cows on corn residue didn’t gain any more weight than the unsupplemented cows on corn residue. But cows on winter range had better body condition if they were supplemented. Supplemented winter range cows also calved earlier and had heavier calves at weaning. Cows on winter range that weren’t supplemented became pregnant later than their supplemented counterparts. “We’re starting to erode reproduction by keeping those cows on the same treatment (grazing winter grass without supplementation) for three consecutive years as a producer might do (if this was his management strategy.)” † Lisa Guenther is a Grainews field editor based in Saskatchewan. She can be reached at lisa.guenther@fbcpublishing.com.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Cattleman’s Corner FARM MANAGEMENT

Inch-deep and mile-wide management The ongoing search to find what really works on your farm BY SEAN MCGRATH

ne of the simplest and most profound statements I have heard that has affected my thoughts on management was made by Dr. Dave Daley at a Beef Improvement Conference a few years ago. He said in essence that farmers/ranchers have a knowledge base that is a mile wide and an inch deep, while scientists have knowledge that is an inch wide and a mile deep. This explains a lot of misunderstandings and some of the challenges that both scientists and cowboys face when dealing with each other, and probably accounts for part of our relatively slow rate of adoption of technology in the beef sector. If we consider ourselves and our farmer/rancher neighbours, it is pretty apparent that there is tremendous talent out there, but the mile wide is pretty close. I have many friends and neighbours who are tremendous welders, great mechanics, good horsemen, excellent stockmen, animal-health technicians, business minds, accountants, and grain producers, among other skills and talents. For the most part they don’t carry welding or mechanic tickets, and don’t have a CA designation. They are usually very talented generalists (or as I prefer, “renaissance people”).

“IT DEPENDS” Farmers and ranchers work in big interactive systems that include Mother Nature and even other people. That’s why, although frustrating, the answer to most of our farmer/rancher questions is “It depends.” Does swath grazing work? Should I invest in a new piece of equipment? Should I buy replacement heifers or raise my own? When should I calve? What breeds should I use? And the list goes on. The answer to all of these questions really is “It depends.” To further complicate life these questions are the predictive type of questions that seek to answer, “If I do this, will I be better or worse off?” Science on the other hand attempts to answer a different type of question. Rather than a “should” question, or what is the best course of action, science looks more at “what if” types of questions. Science looks at variables and assesses what happens if a variable changes or is changed. This is the scientific method and it is one of the

greatest tools mankind has ever created. Pure science explains a lot of how things work. It does not necessarily explain how to make it work on-farm, or if we should do it.

A REAL EXAMPLE Let me give a livestock example. Science has isolated various hormone compounds in mammals and has determined many of their effects. Science has done a pretty good job of explaining how these regulatory systems work. Science has also postulated and proven that if we deploy these hormones in certain ways we get a certain set of expected results. This is the science behind various growth hormone implants and estrus synchronization protocols available to cattle producers. Science does not say whether they should be used — that is a socioeconomic/ethical question. However, this science and understanding of animal endocrine regulation is useful knowledge no matter which side of the implant debate we fall on. Let’s carry this a bit further. Besides farmers/ranchers, I also have the good fortune to know some talented endocrinologists. When I have the opportunity to hang around these folks and they are talking in depth about their trade, I generally feel like I am at a foreign language convention. Their knowledge is a mile deep and then some. I get the same lost-in-space feeling when dealing in great depth with economists, plant scientists, soil scientists, social scientists and the list goes on. Having folks with this great depth of knowledge about parts of the overall systems we work in at farm and ranch levels is extremely important, as is basic research into these components of our business. In many cases they are the only people with the time and expertise to help solve problems that may be holding us back or create new opportunities we don’t have the background to discover on our own.

photo: sean mcgrath

The McGrath family out for a stroll — the challenge for farmers is to find the point where mile-deep knowledge intersects with mile-wide management. in the real world. These include many of the agricultural colleges, research farms and other producers. Obviously whether something fits on your farm depends on the circumstances, resources, skills and mix of enterprises, but it is important that we don’t throw out the scientific baby with the bathwater just because we are at different intersections.

Often it is not a lack of science but a lack of communication and understanding about where research and development and farms are on the continuum of looking at isolated problems versus managing a large interconnected system. I believe it is important for farms to continually innovate and test-drive research at some scale that fits the operation.

Hopefully we can appreciate when we have the opportunity to connect to deep understanding and continue to objectively ask ourselves, “does this have a place in my operation?” † Sean McGrath is a rancher and consultant from Vermilion, Alta. He can be reached at smcgrath@telusplanet.net or (780)8539673. For additional information visit www. ranchingsystems.com.

Get the latest news and updates from the ag sources you trust… …available instantly on your smartphone.

FINDING THE MANAGEMENT NUGGET The management conundrum for us renaissance types is how to find the intersecting inch where our mile-wide system can apply the mile-deep knowledge. There are a lot of good appliedscience operations out there. These are the folks who take the basic research and test-drive it

Write, E-mail or Fax Contact Cattleman’s Corner with comments, ideas or suggestions for and on stories by mail, e-mail, phone or fax. Phone Lee Hart at 403-592-1964 Fax to 403-288-3162

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E-mail lee@fbcpublishing.com Write to cattleman’s corner, PO Box 71141 Silver Springs RPO, Calgary, Alta. T3B 5K2

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Cattleman’s Corner CALF MANAGEMENT

Too much invested to quit now Going the extra mile to keep a calf alive is business and a duty By Heather Smith Thomas

early every calving season has some challenges, and once in awhile a situation occurs that takes diligence and determination in order to save the calf. One challenge we faced several years ago involved a little black calf that became affectionately known as Dodie. His mama was a three-yearold red cow named Dowdy, and this was her second calf. It was an easy birth on a cold, stormy February night. My daughter Andrea watched to see if the calf got up to nurse. It was cold in the barn. We always make sure the new babies get plenty of colostrum within an hour of birth, especially when weather is cold. It provides energy to keep them warm as well as crucial antibodies against disease. If a calf is not up and nursing by the time he’s an hour old, we make sure he does, before his mouth gets too cold to grab a teat. This calf didn’t get up, so after 45 minutes Andrea and I dried him with towels and fed him half a bottle of fresh colostrum (which Andrea milked out of the young cow’s front teat as she lay there in the straw beside her new calf). We got the calf up to help him nurse his mother. Usually once a calf gets a taste of milk it is eager to get it onto a teat. But this calf seemed weak.

JUST TOO WEAK When we checked a few hours later the calf refused to suck and it was still cold. Again, we milked Dowdy and fed the calf via tube. By morning we realized he had a serious problem. Dowdy had finally shed her afterbirth and it was grey and unhealthy. Her calf had probably been deprived of blood circulation and nutrients before birth, which was why he was so listless, unable to nurse, and unable to keep himself warm. The stress and cold had taken its toll — he now had pneumonia and was breathing fast. We started him on antibiotics and oral DMSO. Our vet recommends DMSO for pneumonia, since it helps reduce fluid accumulation and inflammation in the lungs. The calf still would not nurse his mother or a bottle, so we were milking Dowdy every six hours and feeding Dodie by tube. We usually can halt pneumonia with LA-200 and sulfa, but this calf showed no improvement by the second day so our vet recommended Naxcel. After three more days’ treatment we were still losing the battle so we changed to Nuflor, and upon the advice of our vet we also gave Dodie five cc. of DMSO intravenously into the jugular vein. As our vet told us, this “blast” would go directly into the lungs (much more effective than giving it orally). It would help break up congestion, clearing the fluid buildup and halting the inflammation.

Andrea helps the weak newborn to nurse, although it would be a while before he could do it on his own. Indeed, Dodie started breathing better within 24 hours, and seemed completely normal by his second dose of Nuflor 48 hours later. After about a week he was finally nursing his mother.

COMES THE RELAPSE But, we made the mistake of assuming he was recovered. His breathing was improved and temperature normal, so we didn’t continue the antibiotics. After seeming normal for four days he relapsed; his temperature went back up and his breathing became impaired again. So we put him back on medication. He was often lethargic about nursing, and had to be encouraged to get up and suck his

mother. There were times we had to milk her out and tube him. He also started losing his hair. This often happens when a calf has a high fever — a few weeks later bald patches appear. Whenever we rubbed him, his hair came off. He developed a large bald spot on his head. He and his mama lived in the barn for five weeks, and he stayed on medication all that time. Finally he started feeling better and nursing again, and we let the pair out of the barn into a nearby pen — putting them back in the barn every time the weather was bad. We had so much time, effort and medication invested in him that we didn’t want another relapse!

RANCHER COMMITMENT Was it worth all the effort? Some folks might say no. It was like a poker game, however. We had so much in the pot already we didn’t dare quit. But our diligence in trying to save him involved more than just economics. We have a dedication and commitment to our animals that we cannot in good conscience turn away from, and I think most ranchers feel this way. Our cattle exist only because we breed and raise them. Therefore we are responsible for their welfare. We’ve made a commitment to keep them fed and healthy, and this is not something we take lightly. We turned Dowdy and Dodie out in the field April 5, since the

calf seemed fully recovered and the cow needed to be bred. He took off running and bucking — excited and happy to have so much space. His mama bucked around after him. She had been very patient, living in the barn and then in the small pen for so long, but now she was free again. We had cold, stormy weather all through April and May, with a lot of wind, so a few times we rounded up the pair to put back in the barn. Dowdy didn’t mind coming in; we gave her a flake of alfalfa hay and it was a treat worth coming in for. By mid April, however, Dodie seemed tough enough to handle the stormy weather and we didn’t put them into the barn anymore. We didn’t put Dowdy and Dodie out on the range in May when the other cows went to summer pasture. They stayed home with a small group of “home cows” (a few old ones we kept on irrigated pasture until their calves were bigger, so we could sell the old cows in late summer), where we could keep track of them. When we moved the little group of home cows a mile up the creek to a different pasture in June, Dodie had almost caught up in size with his buddies. He had been stunted earlier; perhaps it took all his energy just to stay alive and there wasn’t much left for growing. His mama milked well, and he made up for lost time. Watching him running and bucking, and play fighting with the other calves, gave us a great sense of satisfaction. He appeared happy to be alive! He was a nice big calf that fall, and worth the effort. † Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact her at 208-756-2841.

Dairy Corner

Manure tells a great story about nutrition Consistency, colour and content can tell you a lot about how cattle are handling their ration BY PETER VITTI

t might not be an exact science, but the barnyard and boot study of manure is a simple reflection of the dairy diet being fed, how it is consumed, digested and finally pushed out onto the alley. When dairy cows defecate, we can get a pretty good idea as to their nutritional status by observing manure colour, consistency and content. If one of these parameters is out of line, necessary changes might be made to the cows’ diet for better manure, which can lead to improvements in overall dairy health and performance. A 600-kg milk cow in lactation produces up to 70 kg of fresh manure per day, which contains both digested and undigested feed that pass through the rumen, and the rest of gastrointestinal tract. It also contains a mixture of digested rumen microbes, rumen fluid, bile and other digestive juices together with large volumes of drinking water as well as recycled bodytissue water before it is finally excreted. During a barn-walk, one of the first general rules of manure evalu-

ation is that given a group of dairy cows, which are eating the same dairy diet, most should produce manure of similar colour, consistency and content. A small fraction of cows (less than five per cent), for various reasons will have significantly different-looking manure compared to the general cow herd. Regardless of our initial impression, what manure we actually see will most likely come from a relatively modest sample of dairy cows. It is recommended that we look at the manure of between five and 10 per cent of the cows to make our observations and draw some conclusions. For example, we should choose 15 to 20 cows from a 200-cow dairy to get this general consensus. It is also a good idea to move along the fresh pies and poke a few with a boot to get a good idea of manure content.

CHECK CONSISTENCY For many dairy producers and specialists, the first observation of a freshly dropped cow pie is its consistency. Manure consistency is a good indicator of the digestion status in

dairy cattle. It is dependent upon feed type, nutrient and dietary fibre content, water intake (and quality) and digestive passage rate. A normal manure consistency should be porridge-like and when the animal defecates it should produce a slightly dome-shaped pile. Relatively loose manure can range from a slightly rapid passage of manure through the cow to extreme water-like diarrhea. At the other end of the scale, thicker manure can look firmer, drier and possibly make taller piles. In cases of loose manure, some of its origins often start with dairy diets that are formulated with too much soluble protein or diets that do not contain enough effective forage fibre in order to produce a good “forage-fibre mat” in the rumen. These are two of more common conditions from a possible longer list of causes that speed up the passage of feed throughout the gut and cause loose manure. To correct these common situations, some producers either decrease the soluble protein of the diet by lowering the amount of high quality forages fed or adding one-half kilo of straw, accordingly. Other cases of loose manure

are far more serious and their actual causes seem to be harder to pinpoint. For example, subclinical acidosis (SARA) causes loose manure consistency to vary amongst herd members as well as other multiple changes over time for each suffering cow.

SARA COWS Unlike high dietary-protein diets, which can cause loose manure in all herd members, manure from SARA cows is equally loose, but pasty, shiny (re: intestinal sloughing) and contains small bubbles. As each affected cow goes through a typical “off feed-on feed” cycle, its SARA manure may disappear and can be temporarily replaced by more solid-looking manure. Unfortunately, as the SARA conditions return; rumen acid levels start to rise, water is then brought back into the gut in order to neutralize them and the shiny loose manure begins again. It is this state of manure inconsistency that dairy producers might identify a prevalent SARA problem in the herd. In similar acidosis and extensive hind-gut fermentation situations, mucin casts (fibrin-tissue) may also be found in such abnormal manure. They are secreted into the gut in order to cover up extensively damaged areas. It should be recognized that sloughed-off mucin casts might be found in manure of any consistency.

WHAT ABOUT CONTENTS? Just as manure consistency can tell how feed is being digested in

the cow, the contents of manure can also tell producers what is working or may not be working in the dairy diet. Manure that is produced from cows fed a well-balanced nutritious ration (with adequate effective fibre) is very uniform. It contains digested feed particles with the majority of processed forage fibre no greater than 1/2 inch, and with little escaped grain. If a cow pile is littered with long-stem fibre or large amounts of grain, it could be a sign of inadequate dietary effective-forage fibre, unprocessed added grain, or even the possibility of forage (i.e. silage) harvested in an extreme state of maturity.

THE COLOUR STORY Compared to cow pie observations of consistency and content, the “normal” colour of manure offers some, but limited valuable information as to how feed is being digested. Manure colour usually reveals the type of diet being fed to the cows. As expected, high-hay or haylage diets tend to produce dark green manure, while corn or barley silage produces brown manure. Likewise, rations with high grain content tend to produce relatively lightcoloured manures. When feed is going through the animal at a particularly high rate, it may turn into an unusual green/brown-grey colour. A rapid colour change may signal that something is amiss with the cows’ present ration. † 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.

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Cattleman’s Corner REPORT FROM “DOWN UNDER”

The Victorian cattle run It is a world away, but ranching has similarities whether you are running cattle in Australia or Canada BY KIM NIELSEN

t is high summer and we have had several days with hot northerly winds out of central Australia pushing the temperatures into the 40s, bringing pasture growth to a screeching halt. Many cattle producers have now weaned their calves and begun feeding supplemental hay or silage, all part of the annual work cycle for a Victorian cattle producer. The weaned calves are heading for the livestock markets along with other yearlings and culls and it has been interesting to follow the Victorian cattle run and compare to my own livestock sales off of 4-Clover Ranch, Rocky Mountain House, Alta. a few years ago. Before delving into the current market I thought some statistics would be appropriate to put the Australian cattle industry in context

AUSSIE STATISTICS Some cattle statistics are similar between Australia and Canada — a growing herd in response to improved markets and the fallout from the 2011-12 drought in the U.S. Further to that here in Oz, an abundance of rain across much of Australia the last two years saw higher numbers of retained females resulting in a never-seen-before expansion of cattle numbers in almost all states. From 2010 to 2011 the herd expansion was a staggering 4.6 per cent to 28,809 million head. Although the 2012 figures are not released yet it is anticipated that the number is now approaching 30 million head, the highest since 1976. Canada in comparison sits at 12.5 million head. With these numbers Australia is the world’s largest exporter of beef with annual exports of 1.5 million tonnes. India has an impressive export of water buffalo surpassing two million tonnes and could theoretically be the largest exporter of beef, if this species qualifies as beef. While Canada in comparison exports 450,000 tonnes of beef, the percentage of production exported is similar to Australia — roughly 60 per cent. Australia is also pursuing similar markets, with 23 per cent going to the U.S., 14 per cent to Korea and 39 per cent to Japan. The Asian markets opened up significantly following the 2003 BSE crisis in Canada and the U.S. Australia is extremely fortunate in never having had BSE, especially since the cattle are mainly grass-finished and reach a considerable age before slaughter compared to Canadian export beef, much of which is less than 30 months of age. Almost 10 years of lucrative exports might be coming to an end, as recent announcements of Japan negotiating to expand imports of U.S. and Canadian beef here the Australian cattle producer on edge.

CATTLE BREEDS There are two main species from which all cattle breeds worldwide have been developed — bos indicus and bos taurus. In the far north of Australia the vast acres of native grass plains and the hot humid climate are typically stocked with hybrids of the two, such as Australian Brangus, Australian Braford, Droughtmaster with Brahman influence or Santa Gertrudis. These are lower-quality cattle relative to the European breeds based on bos taurus, and are typically exported live to Asia and the Middle East. Indonesia is the main market, a significant one with 2011 numbers of around 700,000 head exported live. The humane treatment of the animals during shipment on boats, carrying as many as 25,000 head, or during subsequent slaughter, came under scrutiny following some disturbing videos from Indonesian abattoirs released by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) back in 2011. The Australia government swiftly banned the live cattle export. The ban has now been lifted, which was a huge relief for the northern cattle stations, left with few marketing options during the ban. While the live export is back on track there are also additional plans to expand the slaughter capacity of the Northern Territory and export processed meat rather than live cattle.

THE SALE PROCESS Victoria is by far the most diverse state in Australia agriculturally and the higher rainfalls of 2011 and 2012 resulted in an increase in annual cropping, more so than growth in cattle production as seen in other states. Victoria is known for its sheep and our nearby town of Hamilton often has 50,000 to 60,000 lambs marketed in a week. Hamilton is actually known as the wool capital of the world, but declining markets for both wool and meat have pretty much halved the sheep numbers in this area with cattle remaining status quo. The cattle industry is therefore well entrenched in Victoria, evidenced by a buzz of activity selling cattle from one corner of the state to the next over the last month. There are a lot of black cattle across Australia, likely a result of some well-designed “Angus” branding. Certainly black is “in” around these parts, with Hereford a popular second choice. According to Meat and Livestock Australia, 61.1 per cent of cattle were black in 2011, up from 45.1 per cent in 2000. The actual livestock sales are quite different from a Canadian auction market. The first difference is the fact that the livestock sales yard is managed by the local municipality, with a market manager running the logistics of the yards. The sale of the cattle (and sheep/lambs) is also different in it being organ-

ized through a livestock agent. Landmark and Elders, which also provide other agricultural services such as supplies and agronomy, are two of the big names cattle producers can choose from. The agents organize specific sales of the livestock and handle all the necessary paperwork and documentation with respect to the mandatory livestock traceability program. The terminology of the cattle sold is a bit different also: • Vealers (specific sales days for steers or heifers): straight off the cow at the age of six to eight months, typically destined for further grass gains. • Weaners; (specific sales days for steers or heifers), short-kept calves 10 to 14 months old destined for further grass-based gains or feedlots. • European calves (specific sales): This is a unique national program called the European Union Cattle Accreditation Scheme (EUCAS), guaranteeing full traceability of all animals through the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), linking individual animal identification to a central database. EUCAS allows Australia to meet the European Union (EU) market requirements for beef by segregating cattle that have never been treated with hormones at any time. • Yearlings: off grass and either destined for feedlot finishing or a slower grass finish. • Bullocks: 3.5-to 4.5-year-old steers, grass-finished. During the sale the agent’s auctioneers walk on a raised “catwalk” above the cattle with the owners/buyers on the ground floor across the pens. All details of the cattle and weights are posted by the individual pens and cattle are sold by the head, with a subsequent breakdown to a price per kg live for the day’s final report. There is therefore no opportunity for the pre-sort sales, which I was a big fan of when I sold cattle through the Daines Auction Market up in Innisfail, Alta. I think it would work here as well, just a significant change from their historic sales process and major changes philosophically and logistically.

photos: kim nielsen

Forget about under-30-months, these are 3.5- to 4.5-year-old grassfinished steers called bullocks, marketed in Australia.

PRICES It has been a very dry summer so far with virtually no rain for almost two months. It is raining at the moment though, a steady drumming on the metal roof for a few hours now as I write this article. It is a great relief for the many fire-stricken areas, but the dry spell has put pressure on the market. Grain prices are also high and it was interesting to see the buyers’ reaction, which is very similar to what happens in Canada from time to time. The heavier cattle, requiring less feed to finish whether on grass or in the feedlot, brought a premium, often selling stronger than lighter-weight calves. Beef producers were generally pleased with

Australia has a full traceability system for all “naturally raised” cattle marketed to EU. 600- to 700-lb. steers selling for about $1/lb. down from a year ago by roughly 15 per cent. Bred heifers and cows traded well, $900 and $1,100 respectively, and with the beef industry looking reasonably bright towards the next few years, those buyers picking up 600-lb. heifer calves for just over $500 should do well bringing them back as bred heifers in a year’s time or keeping them as replacements on the farm. Likewise, those producers

with good pasture management skills and good stockpiled grass at home will do well on the purchase of the lightweight calves. It is a different perspective being a cattle producer in “the land down under” but there are some parallels to raising Alberta beef. † Kim Juul Nielsen, retired Manager of Agricultural Services, Clearwater County, Alberta is a summertime resident of Alcheringa, Dunkeld, Victoria, Australia and Canadian summertime grazier of 4-Clover Ranch, Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.

/ grainews.ca

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Home Quarter Farm Life SEEDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

‘Dad won’t let me go!... Really?’ Let the younger generation leave the farm for training ELAINE FROESE

he old-school linear rule of life states that “if you just work harder, you will get ahead.” The new reality for agriculture’s next generation of managers is, “How do we find and use the best practices to work smart and be profitable?” Respected ag consultant Dick Wittman quips, “What worked for the older generation of farmers, will not be what works for the next generation’s management challenges of global agriculture.” How is this impacting young farmers? They need to embrace lifelong longing to gain the skills to be great managers. The sad news is that some founding fathers are “not allowing” the younger backs of the next generation to leave the farm for training seminars, or the opportunity to get networking with peers and enhance skills for the farm. The fathers want their sons to provide labour, and are not keen on letting them go, even for short times of inspiration and skill building. How do

you change this attitude? You have some courageous conversations and replace your labour while you let the people go. “Dad, tell me why you have such a hard time letting me leave the farm for education. Don’t you think it will be a huge benefit if I get some better management skills?” Be clear about your commitment to follow through with the learning, and not just leave the farm to party hardy with your peers. Report back to your farm team as to your key learnings, and the contacts you made. Show Dad the new business strategy and vision you have for the farm. If Dad says, “It’s my way or the highway,” then you have bigger issues to deal with. Conflicting visions for the farm are not going to help grow a successful business. Keep track of your work hours, and talk about what is a reasonable expectation for time off to learn. I am sad for the young farmers who are putting in long hours without reasonable break times. Your body is not a machine, and burnout hurts everyone. Apply for the Growing Forward 2 young farmer rebates, if they become available in your province, so that money is not the barrier to learning. You are spending lots of precious input

dollars, but how much are you allocating to bettering your management? Time with the pencil saves more money than back labour does on many days. Ask your lender about the learning credits they are requiring for their loan process compliance. In Manitoba, young farmers who carry MASC land mortgages, do a series of learning projects from webinars,

Canadian Young Farmer’s Forum (www.cyff.ca), another great group for young farmers to network and grow their skills. They are having a national conference in Ottawa on March 1 to 5, and succession planning is on the agenda. In coaching we talk about things you need to “unlearn” as well as learn or “take on.” Dad needs to “unlearn” stubbornness in letting the next genera-

Dad needs to “unlearn” stubbornness in letting the next generation go for more training, and it would be great if both generations would go together courses and specially approved seminars. Cedric MacLeod has been crossing the Prairies over the past two winters to provide best management practices for young farmers. You might want to give him a call at 1-506260-0872 or send him an email to cedric@macleodagromonics. com or bmpsessions@cyff. ca. This winter he is working in Alberta, Manitoba and the Maritimes. He is also a big influencer in the

tion go for more training, and it would be great if both generations would go together. The winter months seem suited to doing planning, thinking and innovating for the next seasons on our farms, but are we really being intentional about our learning plans? Perhaps your family needs what Patrick Lencioni calls a “rallying cry” for the next three months. For March, April and May, what do you really need to learn and accomplish?

Are you ready to pay your taxes, and are your farm books up to date? Would 15 minutes a day help you do a better job of your social media networking? Would 15 minutes a day mind mapping what you want from each of your roles for self-care, marriage, family, farm, friends and community give you peace of mind that you were living an intentional life, and not just being a slave to the farm monster? Time and capacity to fulfil expectations are a big deal for young and older farmers alike. Pause. Think. Write. Come up with a learning plan that works for you. Dad, let your sons and daughters go back to school for courses and experiences that are going to benefit all of the farm’s growth and success. If you want to have better family fights, do that webinar on my home page at www.elainefroese.com. Great learning is worth fighting for. † Elaine Froese is a lifelong learner who farms in southwestern Manitoba. Her thought leadership is embraced by young farmers who want to grow great farms, and stay in partnership with mentoring founders. Call 1-866-848-8311 for coaching via Skype. Book Elaine’s wisdom for your next ag group event in the fall or read Do the Tough Things Right at www.elainefroese.com/store. Elaine is a member of CAFA: www.cafanet.com.

EXTENDED OUTLOOK FOR THE PRAIRIES Weather Forecast for the period of February 24 to March 23, 2013

Southern Alberta

Peace River Region February 24 - March 2 Seasonal but mild spells. Bright skies but with scattered heavier snow, chance of rain on 2 to 3 days this week. Windy at times. March 3 - 9 Seasonal temperatures overall with a couple of milder days in the south. Generally fair, but snow or rain falls on a couple of occasions. March 10 - 16 Expect changeable weather this week as fair, pleasant days interchange with windy days and periodic snow or rain. Variable temperatures. March 17 - 23 Seasonal to occasionally milder with some thawing. On two windy, cooler days look for some heavier snow or rain. Colder, often snowy in the north.

-15 / -3 Grande Prairie 18.6 mms

ABOVE NORMAL

Saskatchewan

February 24 - March 2 Seasonal, but mild spells bring thawing on a couple of days. Bright skies, but with scattered snow and a chance of rain on 2 to 3 days this week.

February 24 - March 2 Sunny on a few days with changeable temperatures and minor thawing in the south. On a couple of occasions expect heavier snow and a chance of rain.

March 3 - 9 Seasonal temperatures overall with a couple of milder days with thawing. Generally fair, but snow or rain falls on a couple of occasions.

March 3 - 9 Bright, mild days interchange with unsettled, windy and cool outbreaks this week, bringing occasional snow mixed with rain in the south.

March 10 - 16 Expect changeable weather this week as fair, pleasant days interchange with windy days and periodic snow or rain. Variable temperatures.

March 10 - 16 Thawing on several days this week in spite of a couple of cooler, windy outbreaks and sub zero lows. Sunshine dominates aside form scattered snow or rain.

March 17 - 23 Seasonal to occasionally milder with some thawing. On a couple of windy, cooler days look for some heavier snow or rain.

March 17 - 23 Seasonal to occasionally cool although thawing occurs on a few days. Look for sunny skies to alternate with periodic snow or rain.

February 24 - March 2 Blustery at times with drifting snow and changeable temperatures. Minor melting in the south and sunny, aside from snow and a chance of rain on a couple of days. March 3 - 9 Bright skies and some melting alternates with a few unsettled, windy and cool days. Occasional snow, possibly mixed with rain in the south. March 10 - 16 Sunny but snow and some rain falls on 2 or 3 days. Temperatures on the cool side, but thawing takes place on a couple of milder, windy days. March 17 - 23 Pleasant on a few days this week with thawing temperatures, but a couple of colder, blustery days bring snow or rain to the south.

Precipitation Forecast -14 / -2 Edmonton 17.0 mms

-16 / -5 North Battleford

-9 / +2 Jasper

15.7 mms

-9 / +2

21.5 mms

-14 / -2 Red Deer 16.5 mms

-19 / -6 Prince Albert

17.3 mms

16 / -6 Saskatoon 16.0 mms

18.2 mms

-20 / -9 The Pas

23.6 mms

NEAR NORMAL

-17 / -6 Yorkton

-17 / -5 Dauphin

-19 / -7 -16 / -5 25.6 mms 25.7 mms -14 / -4 Gimli Regina 22.6 mms -13 / -3 Moose Jaw 16.5 mms Swift 18.1 mms -16 / -5 14.7 mms -10 / +2 -17 / -5 Current Portage -16 / -6 -14 / -4 Medicine Hat Brandon 26.3 mms Winnipeg 19.5 mms Weyburn cms 20.5 mms Lethbridge 16.019mms 23.1 mms 16.8 mms -14 / -4 26.0 mms 26 cms -9 / +3 Estevan Melita -17 / -4

Banff

-10 / +1 Calgary

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

Manitoba

19.9 mms

25.0 mms

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

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Home Quarter Farm Life

Maximize your productivity Registered program provides tools to help unlock land potential

estern Sales in Rosetown, Saskatchewan in networking partnership with Western Tractor in Alberta and Enns Bros in Manitoba, offers the newest leading-edge technology in precision farming. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographical Informational Systems (GIS) have made their way into the agricultural and agribusiness sectors but most recently, the FieldSmart registered program is designed to complement any agricultural equipment. Wilson Johnston, AMS/VRT manager for Western Sales, says the goal for the FieldSmart program is to educate producers about their land, creating a wealth of data enabling them to make better agricultural decisions. “FieldSmart is a comprehensive program designed to deliver ultimate support for the farmers practising precision agriculture. By using unparalleled data management, electro-conductivity mapping, variable-rate prescriptions and crop scouting, FieldSmart provides hands-on tools to unlock the potential of your land,” says Johnston, explaining that there are four components to the program: Smart Data, Smart Zoning, Smart Prescription and Smart Scout. Accurate geospatial measurements record the rates and yields at seeding, spraying and harvesting. All the data is stored on the FieldSmart server and is available for both the farmer, and upon farmer approval, the Smart Scout to access. Each producer will be able to analyze and utilize these data reports contributing to more efficient application of inputs. The custom-designed reports have also proven to be an asset for producers with their accountants, banks and insurance companies. “FieldSmart has access to a variety of information sources and by having data stored online, there is great opportunity for effective mapping,” said Johnston. With the use of profit/loss mapping, the data will be able to provide a cost analysis for the producer and offer yield data summaries on a field-by-field basis. The electrical conductivity maps assist with determining both water- and nutrient-holding capacity, can identify field zones for accurate soil testing, and also identify problem areas that require improved irrigation and drainage management. Precision soil testing provides indepth detail about organic matter, macro- and micro-nutrient concentrations and availability of pH and soil salinity. Smart Scout complements the data-collecting technology and Western Sales has a team of support staff and technicians. Agronomists are educated to interpret the data indicating what the land is trying to say. FieldSmart scouts are able to assess plant health, pest populations and anomalies and the agronomists at Western Sales pull together the information and

make it understandable. They are also able to assist farmers in starting small, and as they become more comfortable and see the value, to become larger. The team can design a package that will fit the farmer’s budget and needs. How does it work? Each field is divided into a maximum of six zones and each zone is sampled separately with between 10 and 12 core samples per zone. Samples are sent and processed at a Canadian laboratory with the results processed and returned to Western Sales, where they will undergo an analysis. The Smart Scout reviews the analysis and derives a prescription customized to the field and crop to maximize productivity. This information is

sent directly to the producer’s equipment to be processed. “Your crop will get exactly what it needs, where it needs in order to reach yield potential,” said Johnston. “This results in more favourable outcomes with potentially less input dollars.” Johnston is confident that the 2012 successes will lead to greater successes in the 2013 crop year. “We continue to use the philosophy to combine what producers are doing now with what they can do in the present and future to improve and advance forward.” For more information phone Wilson Johnston at 306-882-4291 or go to www.westernsales.ca. † Vivian Nemish writes from Blaine Lake, Sask.

PHOTO: VIVIAN NEMISH

Wilson Johnston of Western Sales in Rosetown, Saskatchewan.

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/ grainews.ca

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Home Quarter Farm Life POSTCARDS FROM THE PRAIRIES

Life’s secrets, according to you… People of the world, tell me this — who (or what) is your greatest love? Part 2 JANITA VAN DE VELDE

’ve come across a poem that I’d like to share with you. It was written by Kahlil Gibran, published in 1923, and it goes as follows: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which our children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. We all arrived through some-

one. Our childhoods may not have been perfect, but that’s not the point. As it relates to love, our families were our first teachers, for better or for worse. Some had a stable bow, others did not. Here’s the thing though, about love — regardless of our own upbringing, it’s up to us to willingly bend in His loving hand and send forth strong arrows. The children of this world deserve nothing less — neither do you. Love each other fiercely, so we grow to be stable bows. It’s the most noble thing we can do. Here forthwith, are the remaining responses for your greatest loves: This has varied throughout my life, however, at this specific point in time it is my husband and two beautiful children. You do not realize how children change you — they become an irreplaceable part of your life. I always heard that having children is amazing, but it is far more than that. My greatest physical love is my family… husband, children, grandchildren, siblings, parents both deceased, my extended inlaw families. My greatest mental love is God and my greatest spiritual love is Mother Earth. Me. In the past I did not believe or trust in myself which led to a lot of mistakes and heartache. Discovering that the power of the universe is within me has created a love for myself, the people around me and the world.

Perogies with salt and full-fat sour cream, freshly baked white bread, a sleeping child perfectly moulded into the crook of my arm early on a Saturday morning and kissing the plump, soft underside of a baby’s cheek. Hair and music. I love freesias. I think they are some of the most beautiful-smelling flowers. The land. Music, pets and art. My relationship with Jesus… then my husband and son. This would be a toss-up between my husband, grandmother and stepmom. I love them all so dearly for so many different things. My “Spice Girls Greatest Hits” CD and “Sound of Music” DVD come in as close seconds. My husband — the daddy of my little girl and my best friend. That would be a three-way tie — my husband and my two kids. Tough to say whom I love more — my kids or my husband. My kids will move away and I will need (and I want) to spend the rest of my life with my husband. Amazing to say that, even though we’ve been together for so many years! Having said that, sometimes watching my kids is like having an out-of-body experience. They are “me” but walking around separate from me — I

Our childhoods may not have been perfect, but that’s not the point don’t know if this is captured well in writing! How can you not love you? OK — so not “you” but you? My greatest love is a man I’ve known for years upon years, but only recently and inadvertently got to know. His belief in me took me through the trajectory of fully knowing myself. My life partner. God. Nothing remarkable about this answer: My sweet little family of my husband and two lovely, hilarious daughters. Not that I don’t also love my big, crazy extended family, I certainly do, but the truth is that despite belonging to a very large family, I’ve spent most of my life feeling like an orphan. That is, until I built my own little clan who taught me what it is supposed to feel like. My puppy. My daughter. My dad. My kids, my husband, writing. My greatest love is God, for without Him we don’t have love. He truly is the only one we can count on through rain and shine. Mommy and Daddy.

FITS MY

COLOR

Scott Carson MAIDSTONE, SK USING 682-ASY-0711L & 12L ON A BOURGAULT 3310

“The service I have received is second to none and the R&D team really cares about developing a better product. I have no problem recommending BTT openers to anyone that asks.” Regardless of which make and model you pull in the field, we manufacture ground engaging tools to meet your seeding, fertilizer and tillage applications.

1 800 878 7714 www.tillagetools.com But don’t take it from us, ask one of your neighbours.

Music. It can lift your soul; comfort you when you need it. Singing lifts your heart and sometimes lyrics hit you in the gut for how it’s so fitting in your life. It can inspire; bring people together and I really believe it has an energy all on its own. My husband is my greatest love. He is my yin or my yang, whichever I need him to be. My God. Second to that, my family. My greatest love would have to be my families. I consider myself BY DAN PIRARO

Bizarro

to have my blood-related family, and my extended families of friends and co-workers. I do not know where I would be without these people in my life — I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. My daughter. Is that a fair answer? She’s the only person on this earth I would die for in a heartbeat. Her dad was my first real love, and the only man who asked me to marry him and I guess he gave me my greatest love, so he’s right up there too. Gratification from accomplishing a goal. My greatest love is for life and new discoveries… sharing something new with special friends, riding along and seeing a beautiful waterfall and wondering where its source begins. My son. The wife and kids. The great non-person loves are jazz, basketball, reading and writing — a four-way tie. My greatest love is myself. When I get to feeling something less than love for myself, that is when I start treating the most important people in my life poorly. I think because when I feel that I am not deserving of their love, I subtly push them away. I dare them to leave me because why would they want to be with me anyway? To thine own self, be true. Wow… that’s tough. Is it me? My mom? God? Life? † Janita Van de Velde grew up on a farm near Mariapolis, Man. She holds a bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics from the University of Manitoba, and has worked for a financial institution since graduating. She lives in Regina, Sask., with her husband Roddy and their children Jack, Isla and James. Her first novel, Postcards Never Written, was the recipient of the Saskatchewan Reader’s Choice Award and also listed by CBC as one of the top funny books in 2009. She donates a portion of proceeds from the sale of her book to World Vision to help those less fortunate. For more information, or to order her book, visit her website at www.janita.ca.

BY DAN PIRARO

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

grainews.ca /

Home Quarter Farm Life SINGING GARDENER

A new tomato to try in the garden Plus, what to do about moss on the lawn TED MESEYTON

elcome again to the Singing Gardener page. As always, you are my guests of honour and I really do appreciate having readers stroll along with me on the Grainews garden path throughout the various seasons. Lots to write about, as always, including a new tomato for both the fresh market and the amateur gardener — plus, dealing with moss on the lawn.

SPRING IS INCHING EVER SO CLOSER … and how gardeners and farmers long for it. What could be worse for yours truly or any columnist than to write something, but have no readers? Perish that thought! My “thinking cap” is on so let’s see what flows from the world of words using our 26-letter alphabet A to Z. Speaking of flowing, let me ask: Are you looking for water? There are always underground streams flowing somewhere, but more than often it can be tricky to know just the right spot to sink a sand point or well. When all else fails, I, Ted, say seek out the talent of a water dowser. I don’t usually give a hint in advance, but I’ll share just such story in my March 4 Grainews column. Back in 2009 Tomato Soup Echinacea was a new floral introduction. It’s the word “tomato” that caught my eye. Immediately I thought of things like growing this perennial; making a Tomato Soup Cake for dessert and lycopene for my prostate; the latter generously found in tomatoes.

TASTI-LEE TOMATO … is brand new and boasts up to 40 per cent more lycopene content and antioxidants. The words “more lycopene content” attracted my attention since I’m aware of lycopene’s relevance to

SUE ARMSTRONG

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

helping each man maintain a healthy prostate. Years ago I wrote a song for prostate health, wellness and awareness that I call “O It Must Be the Tomatoes.” The lyrics relate an important message with a touch of humour directed toward men and the women who love them. It tells the importance of guys age 50 and over to get a regular DRE (digital rectal exam) and whatever else the doctor might order, such as a PSA blood test. Along with that goes a health-promoting diet that includes five or more weekly servings of cooked and raw tomatoes. Research has shown extra lycopene is released in “stewed tomatoes” especially when a touch of coldpressed vegetable oil is added. Personally, I prefer almond, walnut, sunflower, or hemp seed oil. I get a lot of requests for my so-called “tomato song” and always sing it during my personal appearances. Here’s one verse of the lyrics: Now happy is the man, who can celebrate, And say: Hey fellas — I’ve still got my prostate, Oh tomatoes you sure are a friend, For your lycopene thank you again. Now back to Tasti-Lee hybrid tomato. Its development spanned a period of 10 years research, resulting in fruits with heirloom tomato taste, plus appetizing rich-red colour inside and out, along with high sugar content. In the garden, growth characteristics include reliable performing vines that are determinate with good fruit cover and a moderate level of heat resistance. Fruits are consistently flavourful and mature between early to midseason, about 64 days after setting out transplants. The “toms” are extra firm when field ripened, weigh between 180 to 200 grams (six to seven ozs.) each and remain in good form up to six weeks at room temperature. Add to that good shipping and marketable qualities.

MOSS ON THE LAWN I heard from Edna Mackenzie via email in mid-January 2013. She writes: Dear Ted: I live in windy south Alberta — five miles south of Pincher Creek in the beautiful foothills of the Rockies. The weather can be unbelievably windy — usually Chinook conditions. At the moment +6 C. I read in your column concerning earthworm control with lime. We will try the lime on our lawn in the spring and hope we can get rid of the mounds and bumps. We have a problem with moss in the lawns — particularly on the north side of the fir trees. The moss seems to be slowly creeping farther out into the lawns, thinning and destroying the grass. I cannot find anything to kill moss. Can you help by giving me some helpful tips to stop the moss or the name of a moss herbicide? I look forward to your remedy(ies). Best wishes. Thank you. — Edna Mackenzie

PHOTO: DOMINION SEED HOUSE

Wouldn’t you just love to reach into this basket of Tasti-Lee tomatoes and try one? Better yet, you can enjoy their wonderful “true tomato taste of summer” right from your own garden. After 10 years of research, TastiLee tomato seeds are now available to home gardeners from Dominion Seed House, Georgetown, Ont., L7G 5L6, phone 1-800-784-3037 or go to www.dominion-seed-house.com. Ted replies: Unless you have to deal with it, gardeners may not think of moss as a weed. I won’t be offering any chemical formula other than to say there’s some suggestion that copper sulphate kills moss and turns it black in a couple weeks when applied as a diluted spray. However, I prefer the non-chemical approach on a lawn that is already compromised. What follows is a little headline to remember.

DISPOSE OF MOSS USING HOUSEHOLD DISH SOAP AND WATER Before indoor plumbing, some of you might recall back in the days when laundry water and dishwater (also known as grey water) were recycled into the garden to help control pests. Well here’s an easy formula that can effectively stop green moss, as they say — in its tracks. 4 to 5 ozs. liquid dish soap (not detergent) 4 litres water Slowly blend soap and water well without shaking in an empty four-litre milk jug or large container, then pour mixture into a watering can or hand-held sprayer. Drench the moss with this solution while holding the nozzle tip or spray can holes just a few inches above the moss. In about 24 hours or so the moss will start to turn rusty brown and dry up. Best time to do this is during the fourth quarter during the dark of the moon in any month. Example: April 3 through April 9, 2013 and May 2 through May 8, 2013. Afterward, use a wiretoothed lawn rake to gently rake out as much of the dead stuff as possible. Additional raking may be required.

Often moss is the result of conditions that lack direct sunlight and soil that’s too acidic, too wet and poorly drained. By core aerating the lawn during spring, you can help reduce soil compaction, improve drainage and strengthen grass roots development. Beneficial mowing practices are crucial. Cutting turf too low helps moss get established. Most turf grasses should be mowed at a height no shorter than 2-1/2 inches. It’s usually safe to assume a lawn is lacking essential nutrients wherever moss is growing. Moss usually invades only a thin, unhealthy lawn. Grass grows best in a pH soil value between 6.5 and 7 so you might consider getting soil from the affected area tested. If too acidic (i.e. pH below 6) try spreading on some ground limestone available at garden centres and at some cattle feed supply outlets, to counteract acidic conditions. A good application of limestone or dry wood ashes will sweeten it up. Where there’s too much shade trim back trees, shrub limbs and branches. This allows more sunshine to penetrate. In other words, remove sun blockers. Keep in mind that moss can recolonize unless underlying conditions that encourage its re-entry and development are eliminated. Don’t know whether you’ve ever tried this. A hand sprinkling of common sand over the lawn including any bare patches is worthy of consideration each fall. Apply suitable lawn seed afterward. For high-shaded areas, purchase grass seed that grows well in shady or moist areas. Hopefully these suggestions will help someone rectify problems relative to

unwanted moss. Any Grainews readers who’ve dealt with moss issues are welcome to share their experience.

THROUGH THE MIND OF A CHILD A youngster stood outside waiting for his mother to finish her grocery shopping. Shortly, along came a man wearing a white collar. “Young man,” he said, “can you tell me where to find the post office?” “Sure,” the boy replied. “Keep walking straight down this street for one block to Saskatchewan Avenue and then turn right.” “Thank you,” the man replied. “Oh, by the way, I’m a new pastor in town. Do you think you could come to church some Sunday and I’ll tell you how to get to heaven?” The youngster replied with a smile, “How can you tell me the way to heaven, when you don’t even know the way to the post office?” †

This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie, Man. The following applies to a short band of time. A reminder… March 19 (p.m.), March 20 (all day) and March 21 (all day) are the very best dates for starting your tomato seeds and other annuals indoors during March 2013. Tomatoes will blossom 12 days earlier and ripen sooner in the garden than when planted during other days in March. My email address is singinggardener@mts.net.

/ grainews.ca

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

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