AgriPost March 28 2014

The Agri Post

March 28, 2014

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March 28, 2014

The Agri Post

Speed Kills on the Field

By Les Kletke Bill Lehmkuhl is too polite to say it so plainly but his message to producers attending the Dupont Pioneer Corn Planter Clinic was simple, “Speed Kills.” In the case of planting corn, it causes the damage before the seed can come to life and be a viable plant.

He acknowledged that planters might be able to travel at 10 mph someday, but that is not today and the planters being used in the fields today were designed to travel at lower speeds.

“We all want more efficiency and to get things done quicker so we can do more,” said Lehmkuhl, who operates Precision Agri Services in Minster, Ohio.

He made his point by showing a seed tube that delivers seed to the ground. “That tube was designed for 4 ½ to 5 mph. At that speed, the seed is delivered into the ground and placed in the trench. Now when you are going six or seven miles an hour that seed is delivered completely differently and when you are go-

ing 10 mph there is much less chance of that seed being placed properly,” he said.

He added that the entire machine bouncing at the higher speed shortens its life as well as its accuracy at placing the seed.

Lehmkuhl not only addressed the issue of speed in the field but the importance of having every part of the planter in the best working order possible to deliver the seed at an accurate depth with proper seed placement in the row to achieve top yields.

His presentation was titled, ‘Corn Planter Overview from Hitch Pin to Closing Wheel’ and he walked the audience through the points of their machine and the impact that poorly adjusted or worn parts could have.

“We are concerned about the micro environment around the seed, that includes the depth, the seed spacing and the condition of the ground around the seed,” he said. “You have to consider things like the soil type, the amount of organic matter and the moisture.”

For Lehmkuhl seeding be-

gins with the with the previous year’s harvest.

“You should be getting that information from your yield monitor so that you can plan your seeding the next year,” he said. “Your monitor needs to be calibrated properly so that your information is valid.

You should be contacting your company rep to make sure that it is calibrated properly so that you can use the information next spring. This is a case of garbage in and garbage out. If your yield monitor is not giving you good information, your choices are wrong.”

He said on his farm he targets a seeding depth of 1 ¾ inches but he does not make that a blanket recommendation.

“That is what works for us, but you have to be aware of the soil conditions, especially the moisture conditions,” he said. “Sometimes you have to go up to two inches.”

Lehmkuhl said the metering systems available in the next few years will be more pre- Bill Lemkuhl says that today’s planters were designed to work at 4-5 mph and at 10 mph they cise but again it will depend loose a lot of precision and life span.

Photo by Les Kletke on the operator to get the maximum from the equipment.

The Agri Post

Bomber Gets “Kick” Out of Agriculture

By Harry Siemens Mike Renaud is the punter for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, signing a new 3-year contract in 2013 with an option year, and he is the product support specialist for Northstar Spraying Systems for Enns Bros of Oak Bluff.

Originally, from Ottawa, where he learned to love the game of football watching the Ottawa Roughriders, he came to Winnipeg via a trade by the Calgary Stampeders and Winnipeg is where he wants to stay.

Despite Ottawa embracing a new team in the CFL, Renaud had no interest in joining the Redblacks either through the expansion draft or via free agency.

Therefore, Renaud signed a new deal with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers committing himself to his “other” home for the next three seasons, including an option year.

On March 21, Renaud, the footballer, also donned his agriculture hat speaking to an informational meeting for Precision Land Solutions of Winkler, one of Manitoba’s most experienced and only full-service company providing water management services for agriculture.

“We help farmers sustainably manage risk and increase profitability through our tile drainage, surface drainage, and irrigation development services,” said President and CEO Chris Unrau.

When asked how football and the agricultural industry do mix in his life, Renaud said it is a great mix.

“Its great mix in the sense that I have a lot of support for what I do on the football field,” he said. “Just so happens Northstar Spraying Systems gives me the luxury of continuing to fulfill that dream but at the same time learning about the Ag industry under the umbrella of Enns Bros.”

Renaud said he is eternally grateful for this opportunity and plans to fully transition to agriculture.

“I know Manitoba is the Mecca for agriculture in Canada,” said Renaud. “My mindset is constantly to improve my life and get better with knowledge. This is a new endeavour for me so I embrace it every day and am always learning something new.”

“Once I’m done football I can hang up my cleats proudly and transition into agriculture here in Manitoba,” he added.

This is his second year with the company as a product

support specialist, admitting there is a learning curve for a kid from downtown Ottawa, a city slicker thrown into the world of agriculture in Manitoba.

“I’m learning all the in’s and out’s, spending my first year visiting all the branches, going out to every farm in Manitoba that is a Northstar spraying client,” said Renaud.

“Doing odds and ends in the first year, gaining knowledge.

In my second year I now also have a marketing and advertising title as well as product support specialist.”

He looks after all the advertising for Northstar’s used inventory, a substantial role with over $15 million in inventory. He is embracing that role, taking it head on and seeing some successes so far.

“It’s definitely something

that has intrigued my interest, furthering my knowledge in the Ag industry.”

Renaud is familiar with adversity coming back from a knee injury five years ago and his doctor saying that football for him was definitely a thing of the past.

“I wasn’t about to let anyone tell me my career was over,” he said confidently in the interview and earlier to the farming audience. “I took it as a challenge and mustered up the courage and determination to work through all the pain, struggles, and agony in the rehabilitation process, a lengthy process, and six months long.”

He did everything possible to make sure he did it right, to strengthen his leg and let the bone heal without get-

ting too far ahead of himself.

“Because the competitive nature inside of me just wants to go after one month of reconstructive knee surgery, to throw the pads on and get back on the field,” said Renaud. “I had to restrain myself in a lot of ways for my own benefit knowing this is a 6month process and stick to the plan and that is what I did.”

In fact, he did the plan twice, by first seeing the rehabilitation doctor and then repeating the entire session at home.

“This is the kind of person I am and the tools and personality I bring into the Ag world and [I’m] just really excited about my future here,” he added.

When asked why Winnipeg, Renaud said it is not a player’s choice where he will end up.

“In hindsight, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Calgary first drafted me but my career there was short lived,” he said.

“What I found and took out of that experience was that someone wanted me somewhere else. Winnipeg wanted

March 28, 2014

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Mike Renaud, Winnipeg Blue Bomber’s punter and product support specialist for Northstar Spraying Systems for Enns Bros of Oak Bluff, told farmers at a recent meeting near Winkler that developing a plan and sticking to it would bring you success.

me and Calgary traded me to Winnipeg. You always want to go where you are wanted.”

He said that when Winnipeg embraced him and with their longstanding history with kickers, like Troy Westwood,

Bob Cameron and Trevor Kenard, guys that lasted decades in their skill set and on this team, he knew this is where he wanted to live, even after the cheers have long stopped on the field.

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March 28, 2014

The Agri Post

Angus Purebred Breeder Awarded to Brookmore Angus

By Joan Airey Brookmore Angus owners Jack and Barb Hart have been raising registered Black Angus cattle for 37 years on their farm near Brookdale, Manitoba. The

Tim Baker (Manitoba Angus Association Board member) presented Jack and Barb Hart with the Manitoba Angus Purebred Breeder Award.

Harts have been using proven Angus AI genetics in their herd for over 25 years to build their outstanding herd.

Jack has also served 17 years on the Manitoba Angus Board of Directors and as President for several years.

Jack and Barb work as a team with Jack doing all the AI work while Barb does the intensive bookkeeping required for a purebred herd. The Harts calved out 300 cows in 2013 with the help of hired staff.

The Harts began selling bulls at Douglas, Roblin and Gunton Test Stations and the Brandon Bull Sale.

Nineteen years ago they started holding their own bull sale at the Cattleman’s Connection Bull Sale in Brandon. Their bulls have

sold to buyers across the prairie Provinces, Ontario, Quebec and the United States. Their females have also been sold to buyers in England, Scotland, Japan, Russia and Kazahstan.

Presently they market their females through the Keystone Klassic Sale in Brandon, the Seriously Black Sake near Sylan Lake, Alberta and by private treaty at their farm.

Brookmore genetics have excelled in shows and sales across Canada. The Grand Champion female at the Manitoba Angus 2013 summer show was purchased from Brookmore Angus and the Reserve Grand Champion Black Angus Female at Agribition, shown by Remitall Cattle Co., was out of a Brookmore cow.

Snow Fall Makes a Better Berry Crop

By Les Kletke Manitoba’s fruit crop may be a bit later than usual this year but early indications are it should be a good one.

Much of this year’s strawberry crop was determined last fall and according to one long time grower, it went into winter in good condition.

“We had a gradual cool-down which allows the plants to harden off before they go into winter,” said Waldo Thiessen who, along with wife Lorna, operates Berry Hill Farm at Altona. The Thiessens were staffing the Prairie Fruit Growers Association display at Agriculture in the City at the Forks in Winnipeg.

“There is five feet of snow in the raspberries so there is only a foot or two sticking out and that is usually a good thing for the crop.”

He said that growers like to cover the strawberries after the temperature goes down to -10, “And sometimes that is the first frost. That is not good for the plant. It is much better to get cooling temperatures that harden the plant and then when it gets down to -10 we can cover them.” He said that the snow came soon after the -10 and that means that the plants have good insulation for what has been a bitterly cold winter for berry eaters.

Thiessen feels that the snow will have provided sufficient insulation, but the amount of it and the cool temperatures at this time will mean a later than normal crop.

“Indications are that we are going to have a late spring,” he said with a smile. “There is an awful lot of snow still out there and it doesn’t appear to be warming up.” Thiessen said the large amount of snow is not only good for strawberries but should protect the provinces raspberry crop as well.

“There is five feet of snow in the raspberries so there is only a foot or two sticking out and that is usually a good thing for the crop,” he said.

While strawberries and raspberries have been the traditional crops for Manitoba fruit producers, Thiessen said that Saskatoons have shown a significant increase in recent years and there are now more than a dozen Saskatoon producers in the province.

“The acreage is small but an acre of Saskatoons can keep a lot of people busy,” said Thiessen. “We have several upick operations and there are a number of mechanical pickers in the province as well.” He said some of the mechanical harvesters have been imported from Scandinavia and have shown promise while there have also been efforts to build harvesters in Manitoba as well.

The Agri Post

March 28, 2014

Threat of Penalties to Force Grain Exports Staff In early March Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz sent a clear signal to Canadian National Railway Company and Canadian Pacific Railway Company by announcing a 90-day Order in Council that temporarily forces both rail companies to double grain car movement or face stiff penalties.

Over a four-week period, the rail companies will need to provide a minimum of 5,500 rail cars a week to move grain for a combined target of 1,000,000 metric tonnes per week to avoid the $100,000 per day in penalties for non-compliance.

“For the past several months, the bumper crop of grain produced in Canada has not been moving fast enough to Canadian ports.

This issue affects more than just our farmers; it affects trade and Canada’s ability to supply our markets around the world. We are taking this action to more than double grain shipments in order to preserve the integrity of Canada’s transportation system and our reputation as a global supplier,” said Raitt.

The logistics problem is a result of the increased

volume of western crops, at 76 million tonnes, which is 50% higher than average has put significant pressure on western Canada’s grain handling and transportation systems.

The Government’s appointed monitor of the grain handling and transportation system found the total shortfall is over 60,000 railcars. This represents over 5.4 million tonnes of grain that companies have put orders in for that have not been filled.

When Parliament begins again in two weeks a permanent solution is to be tabled to resolve the logistic problems so that agricultural products make it to market more efficiently.

“The current grain logistics system is not meeting demand and today our Government is taking concrete action to ensure the livelihoods of farmers and our overall economy. By making the Order in Council and working to introduce legislation, our Government continues to act in the best interests of our farmers while ensuring Canada maintains our global reputation as a reliable grain shipper,” said Ritz.

Although the Order in Council is a temporary solution, industry breathed a sigh of release. With spring

planting on the horizon some farmers with bins full of grain from last fall, will need to borrow money for seed until their crop is sold.

“Restricted grain movement over the last six months has placed a significant economic strain on western Canadian farmers.

The announcement today will help get income flowing to producers again.

This is not just good for farmers, it is good for Canada,” noted Greg Porozni, Chair of Cereals Canada’s Board of Directors.

Keystone Agricultural Producer Vice-President Dan Mazier welcomed the intervention, “The lack of grain movement since harvest has put many farmers in a dire situation, with no cash coming in and seeding expenses just around the corner, so this is certainly very good news.”

By immediately increasing grain shipments this will help lift artificially depressed grain prices, generate more cash flow for farmers ahead of spring seeding and reduce the carryout of grain that will be left on farms at the end of this crop year.

The Wheat Growers estimate the failure of CP and CN to provide adequate shipping capacity has

caused financial losses to prairie farmers of at least $2 billion due to the resulting grain price discounts to farmers. This is lost income that will never be recovered. It is also income that will not be spent in rural areas across western Canada.

“This action was necessary to stem the financial losses to prairie farmers and the western farm economy,” added Levi Wood, President of the Wheat Growers.

International buyers like Japan are switching to other suppliers, including the United States.

Humphrey Banack, VicePresident of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) said that the 90-day Order only applies to crops destined for export markets and will relieve the international competitiveness issue, but does not address the situation facing domestic customers, such as livestock farmers who are facing serious feed shortages, despite huge surplus of grain in neighbouring provinces. Canadian livestock producers in various provinces are being forced to truck in feed grain from elsewhere at an increased cost. With, in some instances, only eight weeks of product in the pipeline, CFA is asking the government to continue to work with producers to help resolve the remaining issues.

The CFA established a Crop Transportation and Logistics Committee that will put forward recommendations after a comprehensive study on the issue. The committee, comprised of western general farm organizations and a number of national commodity organizations and shippers, will be delivering its first set of recommendations at the end March.

The Canola Growers Association (CCGA) stress that a long-term solution needs to happen before this fall since crop production can only increase with new seed varieties and more efficient farming practices.

“The on-farm productivity gains that we saw in 2013 is not a temporary blip in supply,” said Rick White, Chief Executive Officer of CCGA. “We are setting a new norm for the volumes of canola and other grains that farmers will be growing in the future.”

Inaction Causes Losses for FFarmers armers Many farm organizations and industry experts have questioned the length of time to announce concrete actions that could have been taken much earlier to avert a logistics crisis. In part, according to some agriculture organizations, the problem arose due to the Federal Government’s lack of oversight and inaction.

Farmers now face income losses just before spring planting because shipments have not moved for four months. The western Canadian grain industry has seen prices decline, international contracts not being met, and high demurrage charges as ships wait in ports, all of it resulting in billions of dollars in losses.

Ian McCreary, a National Farmers Union (NFU) member, describes the problems with grain transportation as a big picture issue. “The fact is that with no organization to hold the railways accountable for service levels, the companies provided the amount of service that was convenient for them. Now farmers are bearing the costs of Ritz’s lack of planning to transition the Canadian Wheat Board’s grain transportation coordinating function to another body. No one is in place to make sure that grain is transported to port and available for ships to load in an efficient and orderly way,” noted McCreary. “This is a preventable failure, and it’s costing prairie farmers multi-millions.”

Ken Larsen, Director of the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance, pointed out that when Ritz was questioned about being warned about this crisis two years earlier, Ritz answered, “We saw this coming” - referring to his ‘Crop Logistics Working Group’. “For a Minister and his advisors to have seen this coming and to have done nothing until now is egregious mismanagement,” said Larsen.

This is not the first time railway companies have failed to deliver for western farmers. According to Larsen, farmers faced delays in getting grain to port and loaded onto ships.

“In 1997/98, the newly elected farmer-directors of the CWB were confronted with poor grain movement at a cost of $18.7 million in demurrage in 1996/97,” he stated. “That time, the railways pleaded that there was snow in the mountains.”

Larsen continued, “The CWB launched a level of service complaint with the Transport Commission and won, then sued both CN and CP for poor performance. CN threw in the towel and paid an undisclosed sum and CP lost its case and had to pay $15 million to the CWB.” Rail service has long been a contentious issue with prairie farmers, although the lack of service this year is unprecedented. With virtually no grain movement, much of the 2013 crop remains on the farm because elevators are full.

Reg Dyck, a Starbuck farmer who is Chair of Keystone Agriculture Producer’s Transportation Committee, noted that the ministers also promised further legislation when parliament resumes sitting in two weeks.

“This indicates to me they are looking at a longer-term solution – and that’s very important to ensure this does not happen again,” he said. “Statistics show us that rail service has been declining over the past decade, and it has been clearly highlighted this year as more rail cars are needed to move the bumper crop, but instead we’re getting less.

McCreary hopes the long-term solution includes legislation for oversight, monitoring and reporting so that this does not happen again.

“Now farmers are bearing the costs of Ritz’s lack of planning to transition the Canadian Wheat Board’s grain transportation coordinating function to another body. No one is in place to make sure that grain is transported to port and available for ships to load in an efficient and orderly way,” noted McCreary. “This is a preventable failure, and it’s costing prairie farmers multi-millions.”

The performance failure of the railways has also resulted in lost export sales, plant shutdowns within Canada and undermined our nation’s reputation as a reliable supplier of grain. Offshore customers have diverted ships and sourced grain supplies from other countries due to the poor shipping performance of the railways.

Farmers and industry experts continue to press for further amendments to the Fair Rail Freight Act, particularly, to assure there are penalties for non-performance.

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March 28, 2014

The Agri Post

The New Norm It doesn’t take long to raise the bar in our life.

The rule is to do it once it becomes attainable and soon it becomes commonplace. There is some fancy name for the mental attitude that applies to those kinds of things, but that escapes me now and it doesn’t really matter. The real issue here is that the railways are going to have to move a lot of grain this year and most likely more often in the future.

There has been a great deal of studying and ink spilled about the time that Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier. To that point, it was thought impossible for a human being to run 5,280 feet in under four minutes. Then one guy does it and suddenly it is possible. The second guy did it less than six months later and now it is expected of any distance runner on a decent track team.

Western Canadian farmers have grown a record crop and the railway system says they can’t handle it, they say that this has been a too cold winter along with a few other things to try and justify their inability. Well, farmers plan on growing another crop like that this year and the year after and then it will be commonplace. Sure, the weather will have an impact and things might not work out as well as they did in 2013 but do it once and it is attainable, do it twice and it is expected.

Reg Dyck, the Chair of KAP’s transportation committee, has words of warning for the railways, “With new, high yielding crop varieties and advanced agronomic practices, the crop of 2013 will become the norm, and so creating efficient rail service is not something we can put on the back burner.” Dyck makes a good point and if we can believe the merchants of seed and their predictions it won’t be long before yields of 2013 are just average.

One of KAP’s earlier presidents was on recording as saying, “The last man that could effectively deal with the railways was Jesse James.” Those comments may not bring the railways to the bargaining table but they may be more in line with the feelings of Manitoba farmers at this time.

The intent of Mr. Ritz’s actions to establish guidelines for the railroad and the amount of grain they have to move are good, but there is an old adage that says, “The road to heck is paved with good intentions.”

Reality is that larger crops are a part of the future for western Canada and as acres shift to crops that yield more and varieties improve yields that will become the norm and it will be up to the railways to get those crops to port.

Does anyone remember when doing away with the Crow would make the movement of grain attractive to the railways and they would put the infrastructure in place to deal with it?

Time for Railways to Move this Grain The grain and all commodities transportation backlog and rhetoric continues on all fronts. Many have suggested solutions, others are getting into the mix because it is the thing to do and then there’s Ag Minister Gerry Ritz, who essentially is the go-to-guy, who can do something about it.

Yes, I know. There are those who think if the old Wheat Board monopoly was still around, the temperatures would be warmer, the snow melting quicker and the grain would slide uphill to waiting vessels at the Port of Vancouver next to the empty grain terminals in English Bay with ships waiting to get inline to load their waiting cargo.

Curt Vossen, President of Richardson International, in a candid interview said their country elevators are 95 percent full, the terminals about 15 percent and the ships are waiting piled up through the English Bay to Vancouver Island. Every time a vessel waits past the scheduled pickup time, it can cost the company between $15,000 and $25,000 per day per vessel. If the company needs to extend the contract with a buyer waiting for that grain, it costs the company one percent per value of that contract, per week.

The next question you may have is does that come out of the farmers’ pockets? I’m told about half of the demurrage charges and contract deferral charges will come out of the farmers’ pockets.

That isn’t the biggest issue in this matter. The big issue is that grain sits on farmers’ yards, in plugged elevators on the prairies while ships wait near Vancouver to load grain that doesn’t arrive.

The customer starts looking for other sources, Canada’s reputation as a reliable supplier taints a little more, and everyone in the farming business, including the grain companies, lose.

Jim Feeny, Director of Public and Government Affairs, told me it is the fault of the cold winter. If they are to meet the 5,500 weekly car numbers mandated by the Feds, grain companies will have to do their part. Vossen isn’t amused.

“Is he saying then by implication they could have by this point in time moved the grain and it had nothing to do with weather, but people not cooperating with them,” asked Vossen. “Is he saying it never had to do with the weather?”

Vossen tells me it is simple. We have elevators in the country full of grain, about 90 percent full, generally across the board for all grain companies. We have vessels waiting knee deep out in Vancouver; some waiting for well over two weeks, some moored out as far away as Vancouver Island because they are stacked up in English Bay beyond the capacity of English Bay. Then we have terminal elevators, which normally, under the good old days of the CWB, would be plugged with grain right now and probably the wrong type of grain, at 15 percent capacity in Vancouver.

“What does that say to you? It says farmers wanting to deliver in the country, elevators in the country full, vessels waiting, terminals with unused capacity - sounds to me the problem is somewhere in the middle,” said the Vossen. “Should the wheat board still be around, everything would appear to be fine because people would be so used to not shipping grain it would be situation normal. People today, under the new system, expect the grain to move. In the old days farmers

Science, Policy and Politics for Grown Ups

Penners Points

by Rolf Penner

Science and politics are not islands unto themselves, instead ‘are inextricably intertwined’. Ronald Doering, former Presirolfpenner@agripost.ca dent of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and now a working lawyer, makes that valuable point in his regular column titled Food Law, where he talks about the, “Need to better understand not only how science is politicized, but how policy is scientized.” Perhaps the better option would be, just treat the general population like adults.

Take, for example, the case of sodium. Two years ago, we were told of the need to cut back drastically on the amount of sodium that goes into processed food. The science was supposedly settled and politicians were browbeaten for dragging their feet and not getting tough with the food industry.

Fast forward to today and we find things aren’t quite as settled as we’d been told. According to Dr. Salim Yusuf, the Heart and Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Disease at McMaster University, “The zeal to recommend extreme reductions in sodium, is a case of ideology replacing good science.”

Hypertension Canada agrees with the Doctor. After looking at studies it has announced that Health Canada, “Should significantly back down from its target for sodium reduction.” The U.S Institute of Medicine has concluded that there is, “Insufficient scientific evidence to advise major cuts in salt ingestion.” Of course, others disagree with all this and strongly believe that more regulation and stricter standards are needed.

Safe to say, when it comes to sodium the issue is complex and uncertain. In hindsight, it looks like a textbook example of a policy that has been scientized. The same can be said for a host of other issues, which fall under the umbrella of nutritional science.

In the case of raw milk and raw milk cheese things are more clear-cut with lots of evidence of food borne illness and in some cases death from ingesting these products. It is illegal to sell raw milk in Canada. Because it is less risky, raw milk cheese is allowed to be sold. However, should these products, even though they can be considered dangerous, be banned at all? After all, in lots of places in the world it is legal to buy them.

Doering asked the question, “If people think that the supposed benefit of raw milk cheese outweighs the health risk, why shouldn’t they be allowed to buy the product?” What bothers him, though, is that there is no legal requirement to label raw milk cheeses as such. When a clear health risk has been established, consumers have a right to know what risks they may be taking. After that it should be up to them if they want to take that risk.

This common-sense approach is often what is lacking in these discussions. Too often we simply dismiss these kinds of regulations as an annoying inconvenience. Yet they are more than that.

The underlying premise is that government somehow knows what’s best for all of us and it doesn’t. Not only do these regulations get between willing buyers and sellers, they violate our fundamental right to choose how we want to live our own lives.

In a truly free market, the government’s only role is to protect individual rights against force or fraud; it is not there to protect us from our own choices. Less choice for consumers also means fewer places where farmers can sell their products. It’s a domino effect that discourages competition and innovation to the detriment of consumers and the overall economy.

We are perfectly capable of making our own decisions and are not children who can’t think for ourselves. There would be far less incentive to politicize science, or the inverse, to scientize policy if the busybodies in charge simply thought of people more as grown-ups. We would all be better off if they did.

would get a three bushel an acre quota, happy when it went up to six halfway through the winter.”

The CWB couldn’t put on any more influence on the railways than we can. We own the facilities, we always handled the grain, we always loaded the cars, unloaded the cars, nothing has changed except the wheat board doesn’t get in between.

Before, during the CWB era, the terminals were always the bottleneck. Why, because the board would order out the grain, plug the terminals, the vessels would come in but not necessarily the sequence that matched the grain in the terminals. Today the terminals are empty, no bottleneck whatsoever.

“The problem today is these railways have made significant cutbacks to capacity, leaving no recovery capacity. They have reduced railcars, crews and power, with the idea we [railways] want to get our operating ratios down, we want consistent movement of grain, but no surge in any of the commodities we handle,” he said.

“We want 12 months, a set amount of grain per month and if we have to cut back capacity to force that consistency that is what we’ll do and that is what they’ve done,” said Vossen. You layer on to that a hard winter, harder than normal, no one is denying that and you start to slip in terms of your operating capabilities, you have nothing to make up that extra capacity.

Each railway started out last fall with a promise of 5,000 cars a week at the beginning of harvest to be able to meet the demands of the system. That lasted maybe two weeks.

It’s time Ritz and the feds move on this one and make those railways take some responsibility and start moving more grain.

The Agri Post

Farmers Deserve Real Government Action on Grain Transport

By Malcolm Allen The Conservative government is still dragging its feet when it comes to addressing the grain transportation crisis that has lagged on for five months and cost producers about $5 billion. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has spent the past two weeks telling farmers that new legislation with “sharp teeth” would be tabled quickly when Parliament resumes.

However, despite assurances from the Conservative government that action was imminent, no government bill or motion appears on the House of Commons Notice Paper for Monday.

The emergency order announced by the government on March 7 set minimum targets for railways of 11,000 cars a week and fines of up to $100,000 per day for failing to meet those targets. The problem is that even if the railways were to meet the proposed targets, the grain industry has indicated that the backlog will not be cleared - and farmers will not get this year’s entire crop to market before next year’s crop is ready. Even CN’s CEO has said that he anticipates that the backlog from this year’s crop will last well into 2015.

The government’s Orderin-Council is a certainly a first step, but it fails to fully address farmers’ concerns and is certainly not a longterm solution. Instead, we can and should do better by listening to good ideas from some of our largest grain producing provinces.

The Province of Saskatchewan has recommended that the minimum target for the railways should be 13,000-grain cars per week and the penalty should be $250,000 per day for failing to meet those targets. New Democrats support this increased target as a way to make a greater and more immediate dent in the backlog.

The Government of Manitoba has also raised concerns about farmers’ access to trade corridors to move their grain in all directions, east, west, north and south. The government’s

Order-in-Council does not require the railways to move crops from all areas. The NDP shares farmers’ concerns that this approach may have the effect of creating a bias in favour of moving crops with short car cycle times over those with long cycle times, putting farmers in areas requiring long hauls, such as Manitoba and northeast Saskatchewan, at a disadvantage in clearing their grain backlog.

Both the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments have called for a mechanism to ensure that any money collected from penalties benefits farmers directly instead of going into general government revenues. The NDP agrees. The biggest issue resulting from the grain backlog is lost farm revenue.

A growing gap between farm gate prices and port prices means that farm losses will continue to mount as money is taken out of the pockets of farmers and transferred to grain companies. It is grain companies that are currently taking the largest share (about $170/metric tonne) of the international price at the west coast. Farmers are the ones hurting from the failure of grain moving and it is farmers who should receive compensation when rail companies fail to deliver.

Last year, when the government was passing changes to the Railway Safety Act, New Democrats advocated for shippers to be compensated when contracts are violated by rail companies and argued that penalties collected should go to those affected. Unfortunately, the Conservative government did not support these proposals.

The backlog is a problem requiring short- and long-

term solutions. In the shortterm, New Democrats believe it makes good sense to listen to our provincial colleagues and to do as they have requested by increasing the minimum targets and penalties for railways. As well, requiring access to trade corridors in all directions and ensuring that farmers receive fair prices for the bumper crop they worked so hard to produce and collect the compensation when railways fail to deliver on their commitments.

In the long-term, it is clear that additional action is needed so that this crisis does not arise again. In 2011, when the government was hastily dismantling the Canadian Wheat Board, the NDP raised concerns about the loss of logistical and capacity planning. This year’s transportation crisis demonstrates that the decision to end the CWB without developing an alternative process for this critical work has proven disastrous.

The Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan have recommended that there be more competition among railways, including the granting of joint running rights. By increasing the access to rail tracks by other rail companies we can encourage much-needed competition to improve services and choice for farmers.

We have another opportunity to get things right. The government must address this problem with solutions that give farmers the fair and efficient services and compensation they deserve now and into the future.

Malcolm Allen is the NDP Critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food.

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Farmers Need Action Now for Water Woes With the spring thaw coming soon, it is important to talk about flood prevention and water management. In 1997 and 2011, we saw two of the biggest floods in Manitoba history. Between those years, we experienced considerable flooding as well. Whether this is a result of climate change, or for other reasons, it is apparent that

By Jon Gerrard we need to improve water management in Manitoba.

The last several decades have seen an emphasis on increased drainage of agricultural land in Manitoba. In southwestern Manitoba, research has shown that the amount of water coming off the land has increased by 30 percent and this is certainly contributing to the magnitude of flooding.

Alternative approaches that balance water retention with drainage are needed. An excellent example is along the South Tobacco Creek where 27 small dams have retained sufficient water to decrease the peak run off by 25 percent. In 2005, the result was a 75 percent decrease in flooding of agricultural land and a dramatic decrease in damage to culverts and road infrastructure.

It is time for serious action that addresses the need for effective and sufficient water retention so that we are not continually increasing the amount of water coming off the land which in turn increases the problem of flooded farmland and damaged infrastructure.

There is another reason for changing our approach. When water comes off the land more quickly, it takes more phosphorous with it and this phosphorous contributes to the algal bloom problems in Lake Winnipeg. Keeping our lakes healthy and keeping farmers from being flooded are important joint goals.

While the precise approach needed will vary from region to region, the need to improve water retention is widely recognized. When I campaigned in the Morris byelection in January, one of the top concerns I heard from farmers was flooding of their fields - often as a result of drainage upstream. We need to recognize that we need approaches that will help all farmers, rather than approaches, which will help some and hurt others. Let us work together to achieve a better way.

Jon Gerrard is MLA for River Heights and former leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party.

U of M Farm Safety Projects Receive Funding The School of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba has received $300,000 in grants from the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba (WCB) to fund two safety projects aimed at agriculture students and farmers. The funding is part of the WCB’s Research and Workplace Innovation Program (RWIP), which supports innovative projects and scientific research to help reduce workplace injuries and illnesses.

In the first project, staff in the School and in the Department of Animal Science will use the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences’ Glenlea Research Station and Farm as a model for developing customized safety plans for hog, dairy, cattle and poultry producers, as well as for feed mills, field crops, agri-research and agri-tourism businesses. The plans generated through the project will be made available to students and Manitoba farmers as resources and case studies.

The second project will develop and deliver farm safety training, including a course that will be created specifically for distance delivery. The School will also host workshops in three rural communities and develop an advanced farm safety course for Agriculture diploma students and farmers.

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The Agri Post

The Agri Post

“Capturing” Manitoba Agriculture

By Les Kletke Tara Miller spends much of her day capturing Manitoba agriculture from pasture to white tablecloth restaurants. She and husband Jeff operate 100-Acre Woods Photography. The Winnipeg business has established itself as the official photographer of most things agriculture related and has travelled to the Culinary Olympics to record the performances of Manitoba’s top chefs, but on March 14, she donned another hat. Miller was the MC of the first photography contest held in conjunction with Agriculture in the City.

“Overall we were pleased with 65 entries,” says Miller.

“It was put together on short notice and people didn’t have a lot of time to take shots for the competition. They had to use what they had on file.”

Elaine Delannoy was one of the winners. She was able to shoot some entries specifically for the contest.

“I heard about the contest and my husband and I were going through the Forks and the old green truck with the vegetables on it caught my attention.

So I took a shot of some potatoes in a bushel basket,” she said. Miller singled the shot out for recognition because of the detail in the black and white.

“It is difficult to capture that much detail, especially in black and white,” said Miller.

Delannoy’s other shot that qualified for the awards file was a broken egg that was shot in her home with available light.

Oliver Delinski of Winnipeg was another winner and his entries show the diversity of the agriculture industry. One was a shot of ropers in action at a

rodeo. The other was a shot of lilies with the Arden elevator in the background.

Holly Becker was the winner in the junior category.

“We’d like to see more entries in the junior competition,” said Miller and perhaps some of the activities, like the Amazing Agriculture Adventure will provide young photographers with that opportunity. The idea for the contest was developed with Diane Mauthe of Ag in the Classroom and Tara Miller. They are already working on plans to promote next year ’s competition and have photographers working on their submissions through the summer.

One of the prizes was a trip to Riding Mountain with the Millers to shoot wildlife and nature scenes.

“I already know I want to go to shoot a storm,” said Delannoy. Tara Miller received international recognition for her shot of a lightning strike during a Manitoba thunderstorm two years ago.

The truck that provided the inspiration for Elaine Delannoy’s winning entry in the Agriculture in the City.

The truck is a regular part of the commercial display at the Forks.

Photos by Les Kletke

March 28, 2014

Elaine Delannoy of Winnipeg was the winner in the first photo contest held in conjunction with Agriculture in the City on March 11-15 at the Forks in Winnipeg.

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The Agri Post

March 28, 2014

Shelterbelts and Diversification Do Well for Morden Area Farmer

By Harry Siemens While planting shelters and maintaining them is something the older generation almost took for granted, especially in the lighter sandier soils, the newer generation takes for granted shelterbelts.

Richard Warkentin, the technician for the Stanley Soil Management Association (SSMA) said shelterbelts, especially the ones planted 15 to 20 years ago, are coming into their own and its a shame to see farmers bulldozing them down.

Warkentin reported at the annual meeting of the SSMA recently, that they planted over fourteen miles of shelterbelt in 2013.

Karl Walkof, farms four miles southeast of Morden and a board member of the SSMA said some of his shelterbelts are getting on to be 30 years old.

“We’ve had shelterbelts on our property for many years. Some are getting on to be 30 years old. We continue to maintain and plant new shelterbelts. The most recent are five years old right now,” said Walkof, who farms about 700 acres together with his wife and maintains about six miles of shelterbelts. “Why? For one reason, we live in an area where the soil erodes easily, so first and foremost soil protection and erosion prevention.

Older

shelterbelts collect moisture, produce a microclimate close to the shelterbelts which improves crop production and translates to higher yields.”

He swears by them or he would not be replanting them and taking care of them takes lots of work.

“From first planting the little sticks to where they do some good is a laborious process,” said Walkof.

“The real secret is to start off with a good seedbed for the shelterbelts, in other words thinking in advance and getting that seedbed ready a year in advance.”

There are several ways of planting the short tree sticks by either doing it himself, or bringing in an organization like the Stanley Soil Management Association to do it on a custom basis.

“The next real key is to look after the weeds; have a good weed control program,” he said. “That is one of the key areas to getting a good shelterbelt established, is to look after the weed control, especially in the early years.”

The only time he removed a shelterbelt is when he acquired property that had elm trees on it but here the Elm bark beetle took it down for him. He said the beetles started killing the elm but he had the hard work of taking it down and cleaning it up.

On Dec 31, 2013, the federal government shut down the Indian Head Tree Nursery and closed it for good.

The SSMA initiated a program from a nursery in North Dakota where the association is supplying trees at a reasonable cost to interested growers. ‘ He believes it is a good alternative to a great program now shut down and agrees with Warkentin that people prepaying for 8,000 trees for planting in 2014, is a good sign that many people still believe in shelterbelts.

Walkof feels fortunate that he did not have the same problems with not selling or moving his 2013 crop. When it comes to last year’s crop and the problems many farmers have with marketing and moving it to market, Walkof said his diversification over the years made things much easier for him in 2013 and now going into 2014.

“We are quite diversified and don’t rely nearly as much on cereals as others do,” he said. “We’ve moved a fair amount of our crop but do have some pedigreed wheat seed inventory. The question now is what demand will there be for pedigreed wheat this spring.”

For 2014, Walkof will plant pedigreed forage seed, sunflowers, doing some soybeans, which have treated him well over the

Karl Walkof (aisle seat) at a recent Stanley Soil Management Association annual meeting, believes in shelterbelts and continues to replant and maintain about six miles worth on his 700acre farm southeast of Morden.

last number of years. He is also looking at some buckwheat again, which have served him well for many years.

While the trend for most farmers is to get bigger and bigger, for Walkof and his wife, 700 acres has served them quite well.

“The secret for us, looking back, I realized diversification is the key. We are fortunate where we are. We do have some options,” said Walkof. “When you go further west, many farmers don’t have the same options, having to go with cereals and some other special crops.”

The Agri Post

March 28, 2014

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March 28, 2014

The Agri Post

The Agri Post

March 28, 2014

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It Turns to Butter... Honest “The supply system provides a living for farmers and they are not asking for bailouts or hand outs. When you check with prices that American consumers pay, we are not far out of line and yet our farmers are getting a decent price for their production based on their costs. That is a pretty sound system.”

By Les Kletke

John Georgison had a challenge in convincing visitors at his display at Agriculture in the City that if they shook the little tube of cream for seven minutes it would turn to butter.

“Yes, it will,” he assured some young visitors whose mothers looked just as sceptical of his promise, “Really it will and it is real butter. That is what butter is.”

“You mean we can take it home and put it on toast?”

“You sure can,” replied Georgison. “But it would be even better on crackers because they have a bit of salt and you might miss that taste from what you are used to in butter.”

Georgison, who operates a dairy north of Winnipeg with his two brothers Dave and Anthony, was part of the 3-day event that invaded the Forks in Winnipeg’s downtown making visitors aware of where their food comes from and how much of it is produced locally. The Georgisons built a new barn in 2007, expanded their herd from 40 to 180 cows and now produce 5,000 litres of milk daily. The new barn enlists the help of three robots for milking, but he was not at the display to tell people about the technology of today’s farm. His message was simple. Good wholesome food is produced right here in Manitoba.

Georgison feels confident the supply management system will stay in place despite what many feel was a bargaining away of some quota in a recent agreement. “[Prime Minister] Harper understands the value of the

quota system,” he said.

“He may have given up some cheese imports, but we are selling more car parts because of it. It is give and take at the bargaining table.”

When asked if the entire supply management system on the table, he replied, “He understands that the supply managed system provides farmers a decent living and he wants the votes of farmers in Ontario and Quebec, where the majority of dairy farms are,” said Georgison. “He wants their votes and he knows what that will take.”

Georgison said that the supply system fits with the Conservative ideology.

“The supply system provides a living for farmers and they are not asking for bailouts or hand outs.

When you check with prices that American consumers pay, we are not far out of line and yet our farmers are getting a decent price for their production based on their costs. That is a pretty sound system.”

He turns back to the next visitor to his booth and again convinces them to try shaking the little container of cream.

John Georgison staffed the Manitoba Dairy Farmers booth at Agriculture in the City and had visitors producing their own butter by shaking a small container of cream that they could take home and try on their toast.

Photo by Les Kletke

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The Agri Post

March 28, 2014

Landmark Deal Signed with Republic of Korea

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, joined by James Moore, Minister of Industry, and Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, meets with Park Geun-hye, President of the Republic of Korea, at the Blue House during his visit to the Republic of Korea.

Staff In March, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada and the Republic of Korea had concluded negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement that will significantly boost trade and investment ties.

With the landmark signing of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement, farmers could see a 32% increase in exports to Republic of Korea. The country is not only a major economic player in its own right and a key market for Canada it also serves as a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.

Canada’s annual agricultural exports to the Republic of Korea were worth an average of $708 million from 2010 to 2012, led by wheat, pork and pork offal, hides, skins and furs, refined and crude canola oil, malt and prepared foods. Canada will benefit from expanding exports of these and a wide variety of other products, including meats, grains, oilseeds and pulses. Canadian agricultural exports to Korea currently face high tariff rates, which averaged 52.7 per cent in 2012.

Farmers will see some immediate duty-free access in grains and special crops, wheat, including durum wheat, rye, oats, canary seed, oilseeds and oilseed products including canola, soybeans for soy sauce and soy-cake and mustard seed. Most other farm products will have see annual duty rates decrease to zero within three to fifteen years. Natural honey, which has duties of up to 243 percent, will see a per-

manent duty-free in-quota access secured for an initial 100 tonnes growing to 200 tonnes only by year 21.

South Korea is a developed Asian economy with a GDP of $1.1 trillion and is Canada’s third largest trading partner in the region, behind China and Japan, and eight largest trading partner globally. The deal calls for progressive tariff elimination of 86.8% on all agricultural tariff lines and immediate tariff elimination on many grains and oilseeds and meat and animal products.

“As a result of this agreement,” noted Humphrey Banack, a Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) Vice-President, “Canadian producers now have an opportunity to regain market share in Korea after watching their share reduced over the past several years.”

South Korea excluded selected agricultural products including most dairy products, poultry and poultry products, ginseng and its products, rice and rice products, refined sugar and most tobacco products.

The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) has been following with great interest the developments in trade negotiations and welcomed the news. Hog producers will see immediate benefits in swine genetics and purebred swine and meat and animal products such as pig fats and lard oils.

“The completion of a Canada-South Korean Free Trade Agreement was of critical importance for the Canadian pork sector. Korean people recognize the quality of Canadian pork

and we look forward to rebuilding market share lost in South Korea,” stated CPC’s Chair JeanGuy Vincent. “The absence of an FTA with Korea was causing substantial and growing prejudice to the Canadian pork industry due to the tariff rates since all of our key competitors in Korea have FTAs in place.”

Cattle farmers will have some immediate tariff relief in bovine genetics.

Under the agreement, Korea’s 40 per cent tariff on fresh and frozen beef will be fully eliminated in 15 equal annual steps. As well, the 18 per cent tariff on offals will be fully eliminated in 11 years.

“MBP applauds the successful conclusion of the free trade negotiations with South Korea,” said Heinz Reimer, MBP President. “Beef producers welcome the opportunities presented by this free trade agreement and we appreciate renewed access to compete in this important export market.”

The impact of the tariff disadvantage is clear. In 2002, Korea was a $40 million market for Canadian beef and its fourth largest export destination. In 2013, with a growing tariff disadvantage relative to U.S. beef, Canada exported $7.8 million. The CanadaKorea FTA will signal to Korean buyers that they can resume their relationship with Canadian beef and maintain a long-term competitive position.

“This is excellent news for Canadian beef producers,” said Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) Vice President and

Foreign Trade Chair, Dan Darling. “The ability to get every piece of the animal to the highest value market is what maximizes prices at the farm gate. I particularly like that we will be getting an aggressive phase-out on offals that get more value in Korea than they do here in North America.”

Currently the Republic of Korea imports approximately 55,000 metric tonnes (MT) of pulses annually. It is a growing market for Canadian pulse and special crop exports that is valued at approximately $5 million annually. The FTA brings duties on most Canadian pulse and special crop imports in line with tariffs on imports from the United States and enables future growth in a strategically important market for the Canadian pulses and special crop industry. Within three years, there will be tariff elimination for chickpeas, lentils and broad beans and over a ten-year period tariffs on pulses will be eliminated.

“The Canada-Korea FTA will give Canadian pulse growers and exporters greatly improved access into this emerging market,” said Murad Al-Katib, President of the Canadian Special Crops Association (CSCA). “It will also give Korean importers access to Canadian pulses and special crops that will compete on the basis of price and quality, not market-distorting tariffs.”

“Canadian pulses of all types, but especially beans, can now successfully compete in the Korean market.

Over the next few years, we expect to see an opportunity for more Canadian pulse exports to Korea, now that we can enter the market on similar footing with our competitors,” said Nick Sekulic, Chair of the Board of Pulse Canada.

Within three to seven years, the current 5% duty rate on crude and refined canola oil will be a thing of the past. In recent years, canola exports from Canada to South Korea have ranged between $60-90 million annually.

“It is anticipated that a free trade agreement with South Korea could double our exports, with growth coming from both oil and seed exports,” said Rick White, CEO of the Canadian Canola

Growers Association.

As part of the negotiations, in return, Canada gave South Korea free immediate duty-free access on 50.7 percent of agricultural tariff lines and a further 36.3 percent of duties on agricultural tariff lines will be eliminated over five years.

Of Canadian agricultural products, 13 percent will be excluded from duty elimination, including all those that apply to over-quota supply-managed products (i.e. dairy, poultry and eggs). As well, no tariff rate quotas for supply-managed goods were increased.

The Agri Post

Manitoba Rolls Out New Service to Locate Emergency Grain Storage Facilities To help farmers identify available grain storage locations across the province, the Manitoba government is developing a grain storage listing service, Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (MAFRD) Minister Ron Kostyshyn announced while speaking at the 10th annual Agriculture Awareness Day. “Our first priority is getting this grain moving, but secondly, we need to ensure we have ample space should farmers need emergency alternate locations for at-risk grain in floodprone areas,” said Kostyshyn. “I’ve spoken with the federal minister and he is very in tune with what’s happening here. We’ll continue to work with the federal government, stakeholders along with rail and grain companies to ensure farmers get those grain cheques that are so long overdue.”

The minister said the service would be up, running by the end of the week, and accessible at gov.mb.ca/agriculture. The grain storage listing service will work similar to the current online hay listing service. If producers have available storage that could be used in the event flooding becomes a risk, they are encouraged to contact their local GO office.

The department will be developing tools to help farmers who need extra storage for their excess grain to get in contact with producers who have empty grain storage facilities available.

“This service is welcome news and we’ll continue working with the provincial government to address this grain transportation backlog,” said Doug Chorney, President of Keystone Agricultural Producers. “Due to a lack of storage, grain is sitting in outside bags or piles. With the spring thaw just around the corner, moisture or overland flooding are a real concern because of the potential for quality degradation and its financial impacts on farm income.”

MAFRD is also working on completing a review of flood-prone areas and will be contacting farmers as a precaution to ensure grain from those areas can be moved if required.

Last week, the province submitted a proposal to the federal government to ensure measures they announced address the unique grain transportation backlog issues in Manitoba, which includes a commitment to ensuring fair access to grain cars.

The minister also noted road restrictions would be eased this spring so at-risk grain can be transported.

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March 28, 2014

Aging Hog Barns Need Replacement

By Harry Siemens At the recent Manitoba Swine Seminar 2014 in Winnipeg, Andrew Dickson, the General Manager of Manitoba Pork Council, called on government to support a proposal that would help attract private investment into new hog barn construction.

Dickson said that losing money in the last five years has left most pork producers with little or no equity to even invest in new barns so the industry is asking government to help leverage private capital for new barn construction to make sure the two processing plants don’t have to cut back production.

He proposed a Pork Chain Development Plan that would encourage the construction of new swine production facilities in Manitoba but much of the detail is still missing.

“We’ve put together a short description of how this might work to government, both at the provincial and federal level and we’re in discussion right now with how that might operate,” said Dickson. “The key issue here and we’re open to suggestions, is how to get new investment back into the Manitoba industry and a larger perspective, how do we get more investment back into the hog sector in Canada?”

The problems of low equity and no money are not unique to Manitoba. The same problem exists in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario, except the ban of new barns makes Manitoba’s problem even worse.

“They’ve got plants that are not running at full capacity and producers are looking at how we renovate our industry, in a sense,” he said. “Our barns in Manitoba, for example, are getting to be about 16 to 17 years old in age and at some point we’ve got to start rebuilding barns.

Technically, we should be building 20 to 30 barns per year just to maintain the stock of housing for what we’ve got and that’s not been happening. We’ve been building maybe four barns in the last five or six years and we’re getting behind now.”

He said there are opportunities to make money and the capacity to process more finishing pigs exists. “We actually need a million to a million and a half more finished pigs in Manitoba to allow the province’s processing plants to run at equivalent capacity to their counterparts in the United States.”

Dickson said while producers are in a position to start recovering lost equity, there are still long term underlying financial issues the industry has to deal with.

“You become riskier so we [need] to think about maintenance programs on farms, how to make sure that electrical equipment gets replaced where needed and proper repairs are made to things like light sockets so that we don’t get arcing, then causing fires,” he said. “The other point is and it is happening, roofs collapse because the rafters are old and rusted out and they can only take so much snow. So at some point you’ve got to start replacing your basic structure and how do we do that and how do we finance it?”

He further added that if these barns close and no one replaces them, the industry loses productive capacity impacting the pork value chain all the way from the processors through distribution and into retail.

Strengthening Farmers Business Skills Farm Management Canada (FMC) will receive over $4 million from the Federal Government to help them strengthen producers’ business skills and build farm management capacity.

FMC will use the funding to enhance farm business

management knowledge and skills development in Canada by delivering leading-edge resources and tools through various print and online channels and by working with industry and provinces/territories to identify and fill gaps in farm business development information and resources.

As a national umbrella for Canadian farm business management activity, Farm Management Canada, develops and delivers advanced business management information, tools and resources to position Canada’s farmers for success.

Farm Management Canada is working hard to raise matching funds from other stakeholders to complement Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada funding, and continues to make this a priority.

Farm Management Canada is proud to work with progressive farmers like Mark and Sally Bernard of Freetown, PEI.

AAFC Outlines 2014-15 Crop Year - Exports to Increase Slightly

By Elmer Heinrichs Agriculture and AgriFood Canada’s latest outlook predicts world prices to be pressured lower by abundant world supplies, however prices in Canada are expected to be supported by a weak Canadian dollar, which is anticipated to remain at a 10 to 15 percent discount to the US dollar.

In general, average grain prices in Canada are forecast to be similar to or slightly lower than prices for 2013-14. In Canada, burdensome carry-in stocks will be an overriding issue for 2014-15.

The total area seeded is expected to increase marginally as higher area for oilseeds more than offsets lower area for grains.

Across all crops, average yields are expected to decrease by about 15 percent causing total crop production to fall to 81.5 Mt although due to high carryin stocks, supply is forecast to be only marginally lower than 2013-14.

For grains and oilseeds in Canada, despite a marginal increase in seeded area, production is forecast to decrease by 14 percent to 75.6 Mt due to lower

average yields.

Exports and domestic use are forecast to increase slightly. Carryout stocks are expected to decrease slightly but remain at about 50 percent above the 5-year average. Average prices are forecast to be similar and due to lower average yields, production is forecast to fall by 9 percent to 5.9 Mt. Exports and carryout stocks are forecast to decrease from 2013-14.

Average prices are forecast to rise marginally from 2013-14 with the exception of dry peas and dry beans.

Both the area seeded to durum wheat and wheat (excluding durum) is expected to decline by 6 percent in 2014-15 because of lower prices and high carry-in stocks. Production is expected to decline due to the lower area seeded and lower yields. Prices may rise slightly due to lower world supplies.

For 2014-15 seeded area to corn is expected to decline by 6 percent from the record high acreage of 201314. Due to the lower area seeded and lower yields, production will decline.

Imports of corn will be cut in half and domestic use will increase due to trend level increases in ethanol pro-

duction, industrial use and livestock feeding. Exports will be steady and prices lower due to adequate global supplies.

Seeded area to oats is expected to rise 5 percent and strong prices for oats have made it a more competitive alternative for spring seeding. Despite an increase in seeded area, a return to averaged yields will cause production to drop. Prices for oats are expected to fall.

For 2014-15, seeded area to canola is expected to rise by 8 percent because of attractive returns when compared to other western Canadian field crops. Production, however, is forecast to fall by 11 percent to 16.0 Mt based on forecasts for lower, more normal, yields.

In oilseeds, average Canadian canola prices are forecast to fall from 201314 on lower world prices for vegetable oils and protein meals.

In pulses and special crops, the area seeded to dry beans is forecast to rise sharply from 2013 to 120 kha because of higher potential returns compared to other crops, particularly soybeans and corn. Production is expected to increase 20 percent despite lower yields.

Road Weight Restrictions Relaxed for Grain Shipments The Manitoba government is making a special one-time amendment to spring weight restriction policy on provincial roads that will enable famers to be nimble and react quickly to changes in climatic and market conditions according to Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Minister Ron Kostyshyn.

“I want last year’s bumper crop to have the best chance of getting to market so our grain farmers get paid,” said Kostyshyn. “With this flexibility on spring road restrictions, grain can move to strategic locations while the railways ramp up service levels for farmers.”

Manitoba’s grain elevators are operating at 116 per cent of working capacity, up from 112 per cent a week ago, and on-farm storage at Manitoba farms is overwhelmed, Kostyshyn said. Given the large crop, some farmers have had to store their grain in inappropriate, temporary storage. As spring approaches and the weather warms up, improperly stored grain is at risk of degradation and spoilage.

The Spring Road Restrictions program reduces the weight trucks can haul on specific routes during spring rains and thawing that weaken the road structure. Limits are based on a percentage of normal axle weights carried by vehicles with consideration for the road conditions. These road restrictions apply to all vehicles of 4,500 kilograms and heavier.

This season’s policy change to Spring Road Restrictions means that all grain will be considered an essential commodity this spring and may be transported at restricted Level 1 weights (90 per cent of normal axle loading) on all Level 2 highways without a permit, as long as all posted weight restrictions on bridges are complied with.

“KAP appreciates the flexibility this will give producers as they face the challenges of shipping their grain to market this spring,” said Doug Chorney, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers. “Farmers are facing a cash crunch because much of the 2013 crop remains on farms. Removing the spring road restrictions will help ease the backlog.”

“Municipalities support a one-time exemption to spring weight restrictions, which will help to move grain and bolster economic activities in our communities,” said Doug Dobrowolski, president of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities. “We are pleased to see all the stakeholders working together to assist with grain movement in Manitoba.”

The Agri Post

Fire Destroys Feedlot Business

March 28, 2014

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Deflate Dangerous Bloat in Alfalfa Pastures for Grazing Beef Cows

By Peter Vitti

On March 13 at 3:20 am, Hamiota RCMP and Fire Department were called to a fire located at Hamiota Feedlot Ltd just outside of the town of Hamiota. Upon arrival, it was discovered that the building, which housed the office and several bays of equipment, was engulfed in flames. The building and equipment have been totally destroyed by the fire. No one was injured in the fire.

The Office of the Fire Commissioner was called in to investigate and an estimate of damage and the cause of the fire have not yet been determined.

The investigation is ongoing.

Use A Crop Plan System

By Les Kletke Wilt Billing is not the Lone Ranger, he does not ride alone and he does not have the silver bullet to maximize corn yields. Billing is the Area Agronomist for DuPont Pioneer in Manitoba and considers himself part of the team of research and sales people who will help farmers attain the maximum corn yield.

“Producers are looking for the one thing that will boost their yields and overcome the other challenges to the crop,” said Billing. “There is no silver bullet and we recommend a systems approach where you try and control the things that you can control.”

He acknowledged that the weather has a large impact on crop yield but said there is little that producers can do to control it so they should concentrate on the things they can influence. He was the opening speaker at the DuPont Pioneer Corn Planter Clinic in Morris, an event that attracted 450 farmers from across the province.

Billing suggested that farmers concentrate on things like date and depth of seeding, fertility, the type of hybrid they choose, how fast they are planting and how they have their planter set up.

“The variety they choose is very important, the yields we are getting now would not have been possible with the varieties of 10 years ago and in 10 years we will have seen a great deal more progress.” With a chuckle he added, “There are still some guys planting the variety they used 10 years ago and it might make sense in their situation.” He stopped short of blanket recommendations, again saying the individual must choose what is right for him.

“I have producers who will not seed more than 24,000 plants per acre and that makes sense because of the lack of moisture they face, but other producers are plant 36,000 and get good results for the increased population,” said Billing. “It is about knowing the conditions you have and planting according to them.”

Billing cited the example of last year when producers planted corn at an inch and a half but because of cold wet ground and lack of a proper root system developing, it fell over at the V3 or V4 stage, a height of a foot tall.

“You have to do the research on your farm and keep the book of what is good for you and the conditions you have that year,” said Billing. “It may vary from field to field and from year to year, you have to be aware of what is happening on your fields.”

He said that his company representatives are available to help producers make decisions on their individual fields and what conditions are like each spring, but the more information the producer can provide the better the choices will be.

Looking ahead, he said yields will continue to increase and other traits will come to be a part of the plant, things like herbicide traits will we introduced but a greater water efficiency of plants could have a dramatic effect on yield and the area that produces corn.

Even in the last remaining snow mounds green grass will start to sprout. It then doesn’t take long for pastures to grow quickly and easily support many of the nutrient requirements that freshened beef cows need to nurse growing calves and get ready themselves for re-breeding. Unfortunately, much of this nutrition is locked away in luscious alfalfa plants, that when grazed and digested by beef cows may cause fatal bloat. Therefore, beef producers should take bloat-precautionary steps to introduce their cowherd to alfalfa pastures, so a safe and productive grazing season is assured.

In cattle that are not prepared for grazing alfalfa pasture bloat is easy to see. In mild bloat cases the left side of the animal is modestly distended and the animal might graze without incident. However, in more severe bloat cases both sides balloon out and the animal appears to be in distress. If left untreated, a seriously bloated animal may die because the gut distension interferes with its breathing and the animal suffocates. In western Canada approximately 2 percent of all recorded cattle mortalities are attributed to bloat.

Consequently, there are two main types of bloat that can be fatal to beef cows and their calves. The first type is ‘free-gas’ bloat, which is a straightforward accumulation of gas in the rumen. It occurs in about 10 percent of all bloat cases and is thought to be predominant among chronic bloaters (cattle that have re-occurring bloat) that have physically damaged rumen gas receptors (re: an ingested piece of metal). Free-gas bloat is rare in pasture cattle.

Alfalfa grazing cattle often suffer from a second common type of bloat known as ‘frothy bloat’.

Frothy bloat occurs when the rate of forage consumption and digestion is so rapid that fermentation gases mix with the rumen fluid into slimy foam. Natural gas release is slow because gases are trapped inside small-emulsified bubbles as well as this gaseous foam, which interferes with the rumen receptors that open up the oesophagus for its gas expulsion.

Cattle are more susceptible to frothy bloat when grazing alfalfa pastures compared to other types of legume and grass pastures due to alfalfa’s: (1) relative low fibre content that allow greater consumption in a short period of time, (2) a rumen digestion rate that is five to ten times greater than most grasses that produces lots of gas (carbon dioxide and methane), and (3) a high level of soluble protein that increases the viscosity of rumen fluid, which can easily trap fermentative gas bubbles and may prevent natural expulsion.

Therefore, the potential for frothy bloat production in beef cows (and their calves) grazing alfalfa pastures is greatest when alfalfa is in its vegetative to early bloom stages of growth. As the grazing season progresses, alfalfa grasses, like other pasture plants, mature as they enters the bloom stage; fibre levels in its stems increase substantially and soluble protein levels in leaves decrease. This natural maturation of alfalfa plants leads to a slower rate of digestion when consumed by cattle and then digested in the rumen; lessening its overall bloat risk.

Since it is not always practical to wait toward the middle of the grazing season to allow cattle to graze alfalfa pastures, many cow-calf operators implement good pasture management techniques that prepare their grazing herd to adapt and thus reduce the chance of alfalfa bloat. The following recommendations are some sound bloat preventative and cautionary guidelines: 1. Plan out new alfalfa fields - These pastures should contain no more than 50 percent alfalfa. One should select companion plant species that have low bloat risk properties (such as more fibrous grasses) that are easily established and grow at the same rate as the pasture alfalfa.

2. Feed dry roughage prior to cowherd release - Fill cows up on grass hay before cattle are turned out to alfalfa-containing pastures. On pasture introduction, adjust to higher than normal stocking rates in order to increase competition among cattle. Consider dosing all adult beef cattle with CRC Rumensin boluses beforehand in order to help decrease the risk of bloat on pasture.

3. First graze your grassy pastures - During the first few weeks of the pasture season allow cows and calves to continuously graze older pastures with a high proportion of grass and then move them onto pastures with a higher concentration of alfalfa. On some alfalfa fields it might be preferable to wait until after the majority of alfalfa plants are past their early/lush vegetative stage. Avoid grazing in areas of pure alfalfa stands, especially upon cattle introduction.

4. Use other pasture management tools - Provide cattle molasses- or corn distillers-based blocks or tubs to cows in different areas of pasture. If you want cattle to graze a particular piece of pasture; place cattle blocks in those areas to attract and congregate cows. The licking action of cattle upon blocks will also assist with efficient digestion of grazed alfalfa.

5. Observe the beef herd - During the first few weeks of grazing, observe any signs of bloating. Some animals will experience some mild bloating despite all of these precautions.

Most of this gas build-up is natural and should dissipate as cattle walk around grazing.

Remove all chronic bloaters.

6. Avoid frequent pasture changes - Once cattle are established on alfalfa pastures without significant problem; do not remove them or make them go back and forth to different pastures. Such irregularity prevents them from adapting to alfalfa pastures.

7. Observe the pastures - It is a good idea to take an inventory of your pastures for rapid changes of growth during weeks of cloudy wet periods in the spring or after a stressful period, where rapid alfalfa growth may occur.

It’s interesting that such common pasture bloat caused by grazing lush alfalfa by beef cows has been recorded since cattle became domesticated. While its risk cannot be entirely eliminated, bloat can be significantly deflated by using the above preventative recommendations prior to and when beef cows (and their calves) step foot upon an alfalfa field.

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Grain Transportation by Rail in Pioneer Manitoba The railways in the era of steam locomotives, wooden boxcars and the telegraph as the chief method of communication were capable of turning in astonishing performances in moving grain to port terminals. The 1932 book, “The Canadian Grain Trade”, by D.A. MacGibbon, details the railway arrangements in 1928 that resulted in 306,545,807 bushels of grain railed to the Lakehead, 40,748,845 to Vancouver and 2,154,592 to Prince Rupert between August 1, 1928 and January 4, 1929. This movement required 286,023 carloads of grain. In the period September 15 to November 30, the period of heaviest movement, the CPR moved 111,475 loaded railcars off the Prairies to the Lakehead. This is an average of 1,447 cars per day, which equates to 35 trains a day with an average of 60 cars per train. As the Lakehead was the principal grain export port at the time, the loaded cars came to the Lakehead from grain delivery points throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta as well as Manitoba.

The management needed to marshal and control this traffic was substantial. According to MacGibbon, the CNR station agents, when seeding began, submitted a weekly report detailing the acres seeded in the area. As the summer progressed, the agent submitted a weekly crop progress report and as the crop neared maturity, began to estimate the yield.

Using these acreage reports and yield estimates, other CNR officials prepared a first estimate of the number of boxcars necessary to handle the crop. Management then reviewed these estimates and allotted boxcars to the grain movement taking into account the total number of boxcars available and the number required for other freight.

Then the railways began to assemble the cars. Boxcars were moved into western Canada and as they passed through western railway terminals, the cars were examined. If in good shape, the cars were marked as “Fit for Grain” and moved out to points on the branch lines.

Cars that were not fit for grain were moved to repair shops.

Once repaired the cars were sent to the branch lines.

The boxcars were distributed over the system under the supervision of the railway dispatchers, railway district superintendents and divisional superintendents all under the general supervision of the senior managers of their respective railways such as the Superintendents of Transportation for Western Lines and the General Managers. The yield estimates by station would be used in determining this distribution. While MacGibbon specifically speaks about the CNR preparations, probably the CPR was as equally detailed in their preparations for the fall grain rush.

The railways also had to marshal motive power and locomotives were moved west from eastern locations. To D-10 locomotive was sent everywhere and did everything with freight, passenger service and switching service.

handle the fall grain traffic in the 1920s, between 200 to 300 additional locomotives and crews were needed every fall. Locomotives were moved from Eastern Canada where possible and the repair shops and storage yards of the railways were scoured for every locomotive that could be made operational. MacGibbon is silent as to where the additional train crews came from however the additional trains would require a number of crews to be added. As well, more support personnel were needed in the roundhouses and other facilities.

Once the harvest got underway, the work really began.

Station agents would send in daily reports showing the amount of grain in store at each of the elevators at each station, the number of empty boxcars available the next day, the number of cars on the stations car order book plus other details. The reports went to people involved in car distribution at railway division points. The station agents were asked for even more detail on occasion. The car distributors made the distribution on the basis of marketing in the various districts and divisions of the railway. For example, one district may be marketing 20 percent of the crop, another 50 percent and a third 30 percent. As far as possible, the available boxcars were distributed on this basis. As the railway districts were subdivided into divisions, the cars allocated to a district were then subdivided among the district’s divisions on the basis of marketing. Once the distribution orders were made, the orders were reviewed by senior management.

Once the harvest was underway, with cars moving grain to port, the ports then served as the greatest source of empties. As the cars returned back through Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton they were forwarded to various points according to the distribution plans outlined above with records kept of where cars were sent to. If a change in weather conditions resulted in no grain being available for loading at some grain delivery points, when possible, the empty cars at these points would be re-distributed to points where grain was available.

With this system, it was then possible to determine accurately the number of cars available for loading, the number loaded the day before, the bushels available at the various country elevators and the number of cars in the car order books of the various railway stations. This information was made available to the grain trade and helped the grain trade make their plans.

Complicating the rail movement of grain was the issue of grades and curves on the various rail lines, which

resulted in the constant adding, and subtracting of cars from a train as it moved across the system. As well, there were a number of types of locomotives in use and these locomotive types had different haulage capacities. The railways then had to track where full and empty cars were left on sidings so that these cars could be picked up and forwarded to where they were supposed to go. As well, some of the loaded cars were destined for flour and malt plants on the Prairies and these movements needed to be tracked.

Backing this movement was the maintenance services of the railways. Shop forces would be at full stretch particularly as steam locomotives required significant maintenance. Coal was the predominant locomotive fuel at the time so coaling towers and bucket-loading stations required constant flow of boxcars hauling coal to service them. Section crews or contractors then emptied coal out of the boxcars into the coaling towers or into the large buckets that the bucket loading stations used.

All in all, the movement of grain in the pioneer era period was subject to significant planning and effort. Of course, in that period grain was the major export from Canada and a major earner for both railways. As well, the railways were aware that if grain was not moved off the Prairies, then incoming traffic would be substantially reduced as purchases of goods would be curtailed and in the Pioneer era, everything moved by rail generating revenue for the railways.

2014 marks the 60th Anniversary of the Manitoba Agricultural Museum, “Manitoba’s Diamond in the Rough”. If you have not been to the Museum for a number of years maybe 2014 is the year to drop by and help the Museum celebrate its 60th.

For more information on the Manitoba Agricultural Museum, see the Museum website or call the Museum office at 204-637-2354. The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is open year round and operates a website at ag-museum.mb.ca/, which gives visitors more information on the Museum collection, location, hours of operation and other useful information.

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Money in the Bank or Water in the Tank

By Les Kletke

19th Annual Cattleman’s Connection Bull Sale

Scott Johnstone takes bids on lot 97 HBH 303A sired by TC Aberdeen, sold to Green Bush Angus (Barry and Timothy Baker) of Neepawa, MB for $11,000 at the 19th Annual Cattleman’s Connection Bull Sale on March 7 at Heartland Livestock in Brandon. Hart’s high selling bull Brookmore Zorral 185A sired by WAF Zorzal sold to Battle Creek Angus (Trevor and Arla Shamanski) of Carberry for $12,250. Ninety-five bulls averaged $4,300 all going to the three prairie Provinces and the United States.

Photo by Joan Airey

John Gnadke wants farmers to start thinking differently about the grain they have in storage. They need to think of the value of the crop and its condition and they need to realize how much water they have stored in their grain bins.

“I got a call from a farmer in North Dakota this morning telling me that he had an 18 ft diameter bin (of corn) that had spoiled on him. I asked him what condition it was and he said it was black and soupy. There is nothing he can do with that corn now,” Gnadke told the audience at the DuPont Pioneer Clinic that deal with issues from pre-seeding to his portion on grain storage.

“You have to keep in mind that each bushel of corn can have as much as a gallon of water in it,” he said. “I want to get producers thinking in a way that is iso 9000 compatible.” He regularly works with farmers that handle $20-30 million worth of grain a year. Those are American gallons and American dollars.

He said it is not uncommon that his clients are building 105 ft diameter bins with anywhere from 600,000 to 750,000 bushels of storage in a bin.

“When they consider how much water that is in a bin and what the conditions are they have to think of checking that bin regularly,” he said. “They have a lot of value in that bin and yet they don’t check on it. That is not acceptable.”

He began in the grain business after leaving the Special Service division of the American Air force in 1965. “I have been thinking outside the box in grain bin storage since 1967,” he said with a chuckle.

He recalled one of his first clients asking him about designing a storage system and Gnadke suggested starting anew at a former yard site. The client replied that was not going to happen.

“Today his son is 50 years old and very happy with the system we started at that time, we started by levelling 20 acres at a site away from the yard,” he said. “Too many storage systems are built on existing yards and trying to shoehorn a bin in here and there not thinking about the future.”

He said that the basic storage system he works with on many farms is for 1.25 million bushels with bins that hold 230,000 bushels.

“There can be over $100,000 in wiring cost to a set up like that,” he said. “If you do some planning in advance you can save a lot of money on things like wiring. You have to think about the future and where your system will be.”

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CCA Introduces New Logo on Path to Rebranding Organization

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) is pleased to introduce its new logo.

The new logo better reflects the high level work that the association does on behalf of the producers who operate Canada’s 68,500 beef farms and feedlots. The logo is the latest part of a rebranding process that began with the launch of the new CCA website in the fall of 2013.

In keeping with tradition, there are two versions of the CCA logo. The full version features the CCA acronym and association name along with the tagline, ‘National Voice of Cattle Producers.’ The second logo is a stand-alone CCA acronym in the same font with the tagline ‘Since 1932.’ This tagline acknowledges the proud history of the organization, whose roots can be traced back to 1932. In 1967, the supplementary letters patent were filed changing the name to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. The red colour of the logo is another familiar touch that links past to present.

The new logo was approved by the CCA Board of Directors at the 2014 annual general meeting. CCA Communications Manager Gina Teel thanked the board for their support and feedback on this project and the rebranding efforts to date.

“The CCA does a lot of excellent work and we finally have a logo that reflects that,” she said. “The new logo captures perfectly the professionalism and expertise that leads all of the work that we do. The logo builds on the rebranding of the new website and absolutely reinforces the CCA as the voice of Canada’s beef cattle producers.”

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Corn is the World’s Top Cereal Crop

By Elmer Heinrichs When it comes to cereal crop production around the world, corn is king.

Maize or corn for grain is the number one cereal crop worldwide with 885.3 million tonnes produced in 2011, according to a recent article from Statistics Canada.

In Canada over 32,300 farms reported planting 1.63 million hectares of corn according to the 2011 Census of Agriculture.

The value of farm cash receipts for grain corn alone reached $2.08 billion in 2011, ranking it as the third most valuable crop in Canada, after canola and wheat.

Corn is one of Canada’s traditional crops. It was first grown by First Nations’ farmers, then by European settlers and today by farmers across the country.

This crop’s story continues to unfold. Foremost, corn’s productivity has increased significantly with the evolution of agricultural practices, the development of hybrid varieties and new advancements in the field of biotechnology that transfer a gene from one organism to another (e.g., technologies using recombinant DNA).

The versatility of this crop, combined with the breeding advances made by plant scientists, make it a popular commodity for livestock feed and industrial sectors. Thus, the future of corn appears to be sweet and with ongoing research and development it seems that the sky or farm field is the limit.

While the provinces of Ontario and Quebec are Canada’s two biggest corn producers, between 1971 and 2011 in Manitoba, corn for grain acreage increased significantly with the development of early maturing varieties.

Pan de Rocquigny, a Manitoba cereal crop specialist, said if conditions are right, be it April or May, “Growers should be out planting their corn because you never know what can happen in the spring.”

The largest market for Manitoba corn is livestock feed, followed by processing in the ethanol production plant that opened in 2008. The number of farms reporting grain increased to 713 in 2011 compared to 152 farms in 1971.

During the same period, the seeded area jumped by more than 20 fold from 3,678 to 85,449 hectares. Average area of 119.8 hectares per farm was almost twice as big as the national average of 56.8 hectares per farm reporting corn for grain.

There were fewer farms reporting corn for grain. However, there were some interesting regional differences. In Ontario the number of farms reporting corn for grain decreased by almost one-third, while the seeded area increased by 311,272 hectares. The remaining corn for grain farms are producing on a larger scale. The average size per farm more than doubled from 21.3 to 50.8 hectares.

In Quebec the second largest corn for grain producing province, both the number of farms and the seeded area increased during this period.

In 2011 the average corn for grain area per farm was almost five times greater than in 1971.

The Quebec average, at 65.3 hectares per farm, even surpassed Ontario’s average of 50.8 hectares per farm reporting corn for grain.

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Investment Tax Credits Available to Canola Growers Producers are entitled to obtain taxable benefits on canola check-off deductions that are used to support Research and Development. This year the government has told us that only 80% of the research money is eligible for the tax credit.

Individual producers are entitled to claim investment tax credits at 20% and the corporate producer rate for Canadian Controlled Private Corporations (CCPC) is 35%.

For the Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA), only part of our Research and Development qualifies for the tax credits. This is because research that is not done by an approved research facility does not qualify. Universities and the government agricultural research facilities are considered approved facilities.

For 2013, the rate is 9.06% of MCGA’s research funding will qualify for the tax credit. For 2012, the rate is 17.71%. For 2011, the rate was 15.93%. The 2010 rate was 11.65%, the 2009 rate was 10.74%, 2008 rate was 11.27%, the 2007 rate was 23.087%, 2006 rate was 24.67% and the 2005 rate was 18.72%. The 2004 rate was 23% and the 2003 rate was 36%.

The following is an example of what a producer could claim: In 2013, a producer has contributed $200 to the canola check-off program. That means that $18.12 of these check-off dollars was invested into eligible R & D ($200 at 9.06%).

- Individual producers would be entitled to claim $3.62 as their investment tax credit amount ($18.12 at 20%).

- Corporate producers would be entitled to claim $6.34 as their investment tax credit amount ($18.12 at 35%).

The investment tax credits earned maybe used as follows: - Offset federal taxes owing in the current year.

- If no taxes are owed, a portion may be refunded to you in the year if you are an individual or all of the credit may be refunded if you are a corporation.

- Carried forward up to 10 years to offset federal taxes.

- Carried back up to 3 years to reduce federal tax paid in those years.

Pilot Program to Save Community Pastures “Having access to the pastures has been integral to the success of many Manitoba beef producers’ operations...”

Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) welcomes a pilot program that will see the management of many of the province’s community pastures turned over to the Association of Manitoba Community Pastures (AMCP).

“Having access to the pastures has been integral to the success of many Manitoba beef producers’ operations since the inception of the Community Pasture Program,” said Heinz Reimer, MBP president. “We are pleased that funding is being made available under Growing Forward 2 for this threeyear pilot program, thereby ensuring producers’ continued access to the pastures that will be managed by the AMCP.” The Government of Manitoba recently announced transition funding for the pasture program. MBP appreciates the support of Ron Kostyshyn, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (MAFRD) and Gord Mackintosh, Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship (MCWS).

MBP is happy to have been a key driver behind the formation of the AMCP and is pleased to have helped facilitate the development of the business plan. AMCP’s formation began when MBP called together all of the producers who chair the pastures’ Patron Advisory Committees (PAC). It is the PAC chairs who have set the path forward.

“A tremendous amount of work went into developing this new pasture management model,” said Reimer. “MBP acknowledges the significant efforts made by the AMCP, representing patron interests, as well as the staff from MAFRD and MCWS. This pilot program is very important to Manitoba’s beef industry and we appreciate that it has been achieved in advance of this year’s grazing season.”

MBP notes that, as with any pilot program, participation will be the key to success.

“Pasture patrons have repeatedly told us about the value they receive from being able to use the pastures. MBP hopes patrons will strongly consider participation in the pilot program. This will reinforce the importance to our industry of Manitoba’s community pastures being retained for future grazing,” added Reimer.

“In addition to the economic benefits the pasture program provides to producers, MBP also recognizes the substantial environmental benefits in preserving these lands for grazing, such as protecting valuable wildlife habitat, wetland conservation and improved watershed management,” said Reimer. “This initiative could be called the single largest conservation program in Manitoba today. All Manitobans benefit from this.”

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Simple Equation Equals Profit

By Les Kletke John Aubin has a simple equation for making more money on your farm and he shared it with over 450 farmers attending the DuPont Pioneer Clinic in Morris on March 17.

Combine Configuration plus Field Adjustments equal Increased Profits. Aubin is from Lewisville, Texas and familiar with the crops the clinic focused on - corn and soybeans, but he did venture into the area of small grains and even mentioned canola, though it is not a major crop in his home state.

Aubin stressed proper preparation of the combine before harvest, “The machine should be prepared before harvest and things should be in the best possible state going into harvest to reduce stress levels, on the machine and on the operator.”

He said that as farms have grown in size the ability to prepare a machine for harvesting a crop has increased as well. The larger acres of a specific crop allow the producer to move away from a one size fits all approach to combine parts.

“We have a good number of producers who change concaves for the crop they are harvesting,” said Aubin. “They will use a round bar concave for corn and switch to a wire concave for small grains or canola.” He approved of the switch but said that it alone does not solve all the problems.

“That concave has to be levelled to achieve the best results and sometimes fellows don’t do that and they aren’t getting as good a job from their combine as they could,” he said.

“The concave itself has to be checked for wear or bends because of an incident in the machine but it also has to be levelled to the rotor to get the best results.”

Aubin is clear on the benefits that a proper combine adjustment will mean on the bottom line.

“Proper adjustment will give them more grain by reducing losses in the field and it will give them a better quality crop that brings a better price at the elevator,” he said.

He dismissed the idea that crops like corn and soybeans are destined for a crushing market and the quality of the harvest crop is not as important as on a small grain crop like malt barley.

“If fellows want to believe that they can, but they are leaving money in the field,” he said.

“When you harvest a quality crop it stores better and on a year like this that is critical.

When you are storing a crop for a longer period of time you want it going into the bin in the best condition possible, damaged kernels are not going to store as well.”

Aubin went on to outline the value of adjusting the machine in the field and being aware of changing conditions throughout the day and from field to field. For him it is simple, the set it and forget it approach is not the way to maximum profit.

Committee Prepares for Annual Farm Women’s Conference

By Joan Airey Carol Delgarno was recently elected Chairwoman to the organizing committee for the 2014 Farm Women’s Conference set for Brandon this year.

“The 2014 Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference (MFWC) will be held November 16-18 in Brandon. The theme this year will be Farm Family Divas Celebrate the International Year of Family Farming,” said Carol Delgarno.

Speakers at the conference will cover numerous topics of interest and will be geared to interest all generations involved in farming.

“We are very excited to be partnering with Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to bring in Jolene Brown as our keynote speaker for this year’s Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference. I have seen Jolene speak and she brings humour and a lot of common sense to the whole issue of family farm transitions.

She has plenty of knowledge and experience about the challenges of being a parent, sibling, in-law or ‘outlaw’ and gives some sound, practical advice on how to make the succession a lot easier and smoother. She is going to be a real hit,” said Angela Lovell, Sponsorship Chair.

“As information becomes available it will be posted on the MFWC website, manitobafarmwomensconference.ca.

Carol Delgarno was recently elected Chairwomen for the 2014 Farm Women’s Conference Planning Committee.

You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Once registration forms are available they will be online and at your local Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development offices across the province,” said Ann Mandziuk, Secretary of MFWC.

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Real Results on M-Cool Could be a Year Away

By Harry Siemens Discussions regarding the PED virus and the new Pig Code may have over shadowed the long-term effects of M-COOL in the United States. There are those who believe that packers in Canada actually prefer if the restrictive legislation now ensconced in the U.S. Farm Bill stays as is.

However, while the latest Farm Bill passed in January 2014 is in place for the next five years, some still hope the appeal before the World Trade Organization (WTO) review panel put forward by Canadian and Mexican livestock representatives and their lawyers will be successful.

Peter Clark, an international trade consultant, remains hopeful the parties involved in the dispute over U.S. M-COOL will resolve the issue without the need to resort to retaliatory tariffs.

Last May, in response to a WTO order to bring M-COOL into compliance with its international trading obligations, the U.S. added new labelling requirements for red meats and banned the mixing of products from different countries. This prompted Canada and Mexico to return to the WTO to request authority to impose retaliatory tariffs on imported U.S. products.

In late February, the WTO panel handling the complaint met in Geneva for an open hearing on the issue.

Clark says M-COOL forces U.S. processors to segregate imported livestock from domestic livestock, increasing production costs. Since its introduction in 2008, it has dramatically affected cattle and hog exports from Canada while suppressing prices.

He said the WTO panel found the Americans inconsistent once but they didn’t comply with the ruling.

“If they are found to be still in breach of the WTO rules, which I think is likely, because, in effect, they admitted they hadn’t removed the detrimental effects of the previous measure, then their choice is to bring it into compliance,” said Clark. “Hopefully the panel will give them more direction on that. If they don’t, well, Ag Minister Gerry Ritz said Canada can and will retaliate. We really hope it doesn’t come to retaliation because we want to sell livestock. That’s what our interest is.”

As far as options go, Clark thinks there are some available to ensure consumer access to information on the foods they purchase without restricting international trade.

“The WTO rules in effect say you can regulate but you shouldn’t arbitrarily or unnecessarily inhibit trade and that’s what the dispute’s about,” he said. “The Americans claim their consumers have a right to know where their meat comes from. We haven’t essentially disagreed with that but we suggest that the way they’re doing it is causing an unnecessary trade burden.”

Clark says the changes made by the U.S. may improve the type of information they provide to their consumers but as a practical matter, they’ve made the situation worse for Canada’s livestock producers.

“We would hope the WTO doesn’t basically allow people to stifle trade in the name of regulation or in the name of consumer information,” he says. “There’s lots of ways to provide consumer information without making it unattractive to import weanlings, hogs and beef cattle from Canada.”

Clark expects a decision from the panel sometime this summer. It does not seem to matter which countries come out on top in these things, the other side will appeal, so the parties are looking at a process through into the middle of next year.

The side that loses can be expected to appeal so a final decision is unlikely until mid2015.

Farm Income Forecasted to Rise

By Elmer Heinrichs Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s farm income forecast projects that Canadian farmers’ net income in 2013 and 2014 will remain at the historically high levels seen in recent years.

An excellent 2013 harvest in Canada for key grains and oilseeds will be a major contributor to strong sector performance in both years.

Record 2013 crop production and low crop prices at the end of the year have led to the retention of large crop inventories heading into 2014.

The number of farmers seeking cash advances through a federal government program has risen by 35 to 40 percent as growers look for ways to pay for seed and fertilizer, while much of last year’s crop sits unsold in grain bins amid a shortage of rail cars.

These crops will be marketed and will contribute to farm income in 2014.

In a nutshell: - Average net worth per farm is projected to hit an all-time high of $2 million in 2014 - The average total income of farm families is expected to continue rising, reaching $182,579 in 2014 - Canadian farmers produced 96.5 million tonnes of grain in 2013, a significant increase over the previous year’s crop of 76.7 million tonnes - Farm cash receipts for livestock in 2013 were a record $21.6 billion - Farm cash receipts for crops in 2013 remain steady at $29.8 billion The farm income forecast (FIF) is prepared annually in consultation with provincial governments and Statistics Canada.

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Canada Has a New Code of Practice for Pigs

By Harry Siemens The moment finally arrived where Canada now has a new Code of Practice for the care and handling of pigs in Canada.

The National Farm Animal Care Council began in 2010 with a 17-person committee represented by pig producers, animal welfare and enforcement representatives, researchers, transporters, processors, veterinarians and government representatives aided by a six person Scientific Committee.

Jackie Wepruk, the General Manager of the National Farm Animal Care Council, said the consensus-based approach to updating Canada’s codes of practice has proven highly successful.

“Animal welfare is a deeply personal and often very emotional issue and everyone has their own perspective that’s based on their values, their experiences, their knowledge and even their culture,” said Wepruk. “The challenge has always been to strike a balance that reflects our scientific understanding of animal welfare and is also practical for farmers to implement and also address societal expectations.”

She thinks this code really is a significant step with such a diverse stakeholder group

and how they worked together to constructively address pig welfare. It’s a starting point for continual improvement in terms of not only how the industry addresses pig welfare, but also how all these different perspectives on animal welfare can work together.

“I think this code really represents an important turning point for pig welfare in Canada and hopefully sets an example for others as they struggle with welfare issues, too,” added Wepruk. “Everyone concerned about pig welfare will need to ask themselves how they can help producers meet or exceed the goals laid out in this code.”

She said everyone shares the responsibility of making this code a success and supporting the producers who are going to have to implement it.

Florian Possberg, the Chair of National Farm Animal Care Council’s Pig Code Development Committee, said this new code sets Canada apart in terms of how the industry can care for its animals.

In response to the public’s desire for more freedom of movement, under the final revised code all new facilities will need to house sows in groups, follow the new code outlines for pain relief during painful procedures and recognize that these are intelligent animals, there is more empha-

sis on the enrichment of their environment.

Possberg said the biggest change from the draft update revolves around the conversion of existing facilities to group housing.

“In the draft code we anticipated we would require existing sow confinement systems to convert to a more open system,” he said. “What we found though is the cost of converting existing facilities and quite frankly, in some situations the impracticality of converting some existing situations. Not just the cost being prohibitive but the logistics of actually doing it could very well lead to a lower standard of animal welfare for the animals forced into bad systems.”

Possberg said the committee concluded that’s not where they want to be so, existing operations can continue to function as long as they do it in a very good manner but overtime the industry will convert totally to the new system.

“It took some time to complete the process but I believe it sets Canada apart in terms of how we care for our animals and our consumers,” he said. “Our producers and our retailers can all be proud that we in Canada take animal welfare very seriously.”

Revised Pig Code Saw Record Comments After three years of multi-stakeholder consultations and a 60day public comment period that drew recordsetting engagement for both diversity of perspective and number of comments, an updated Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs is official.

The extensive comment period drew a recordsetting response of 4,700 comments.

Important changes in the revised Code include a full commitment to adopt loose housing for sows and gilts in all new facilities built after July 1, 2014 and existing facilities have to be converted by July 2024. In addition, barn lighting must be updated to 50 lux, which is described as bright enough to allow a person of normal sight to read standard newspaper print for a minimum of eight

hours a day and access to darkened areas for six consecutive hours.

Among the new requirements, are new pain control requirements and enhanced environmental enrichment to provide animals with control or challenges and encourages exercise. The national pig code also limits the amount of time sows can be kept in gestation crates and requires farmers to give pain killers when docking tails or castrating.

While handling, moving or restraining animals’ only humane moving devices are to be used such as chase boards and shakers. Electric prods are a last resort and never as the primary driving device. When necessary, use of prods must be restricted to the back and hindquarters on lead pigs, never in a finishing pen or on sick animals or piglets.

Meeting Expectations of the Pig Code

By Harry Siemens Gary Stordy, Public Relations Manager of the Canadian Pork Council, said the updated code has both regulatory and industry imposed expectations that define what is acceptable and what is not.

Stordy points out that the industry has in addition to the Pig Code document they also must follow the Animal Care Assessment (ACA) program and the Canadian Quality Assurance program.

The ACA manual presents animal care requirements based on the Pig Code and became a requirement for CQA registration in 2012. To register as a CQA producer, a program valuator must assess the producer annually for compliance.

“So what the industry has to do is sit back, take the code and update our ACA program so that there is a match,” he said.

When a producer goes through the assessment and the assessor indicates the producer isn’t following the ACA requirements then corrective action is taken. All of the required changes are documented so that the producer can make the changes.

“If the producer fails to make any of the adjustments or corrections they risk losing their marketing option of shipping their hogs,” Stordy said.

This is a dual approach because many requirements in the code of practice are also enforceable under federal and provincial regulations.

Manitoba pork producers had the opportunity for input; both through direct involvement in the development of the updated Code by NFACC and through an extensive comment period are very pleased with the result.

“We are in full support of the updated Code and very pleased with the high standards of care required for pigs in the Code,” says Karl Kynoch, Chair of Manitoba Pork.

“Codes of Practice are not new for us, but, with new knowledge and experience, we constantly work towards delivering the best animal care possible.”

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Full Swine Traceability Takes A Big Step Forward The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) welcomes the recent publication in Part II of the Canada Gazette to amend Canada’s Health of Animals Regulations. The amendment brings into law the requirements for swine traceability and marks an important milestone in the establishment of a national swine traceability system.

“The CPC has invested significant time and resource in planning and implementing improvements to the Canadian swine traceability system and looks forward to having this program available to producers,” stated, CPC’s Chair Jean-Guy Vincent. CPC’s traceability program, Pigtrace Canada, will continue to work with the pork industry and with the federal and provincial governments to become compliant with the published regulatory requirements that will come into force on July 1.

An effective traceability system requires significant investment in technology and time from all industry stakeholders and a significant investment in administration to ensure successful coordination of the system, effective communications, customer service for industry stakeholders and most importantly, an efficient trace out of animals in the event of an animal disease. Pigtrace is confident that sufficient time has been allowed to complete and deliver enhanced activities for producers and will have the program fully implemented in advance of the implementation date.

“For many years, the Canadian hog industry has enjoyed an excellent herd health status,” recognized Oliver Haan, Chair of CPC’s Traceability Implementation Committee. “Animal health and foreign animal disease preparedness are key priorities for our industry and these new measures will strengthen our industry’s ability to respond to any future disease outbreaks.”

The pork industry has worked hard to prepare for and has taken preventative measures to slow viruses like PED from affecting Canada’s heard health. PED poses no risk to human health or food safety but this is a devastating production virus that producers must remain vigilant in addition to continue to implement biosecurity practices. The CPC’s Pigtrace program will play a vital role in reducing the risk of transmission of emerging diseases or viruses once fully implemented. The traceability system could help reduce the time to respond and investigate from a process that would normally take days to a matter of minutes.

The amended regulations brings national consistency in the pig sector by building on what is already in place in some provinces.

Traceability and Assurance Programs for Dairy Farmers The Federal Government has announced support of close to $945,000 under the AgriMarketing Program for the dairy sector to develop and implement a national traceability program and implement an assurance program for dairy production.

Dairy Farmers of Canada will receive $416,000 to design and implement a national traceability program for dairy cattle, update standards for milk producers to meet traceability requirements, as well as train and assist provincial associations with program implementation at the producer level.

“Dairy farmers in Canada already invest in various products and services to improve the quality of milk and care for their animals. As we proceed with the proAction Initiative over the next 10 years, we want to demonstrate to our customers our responsible stewardship to our animals and to the environment, as well as our commitment to produce sustainable, high-quality, safe and nutritious food,” said David Wiens, Vice-President Dairy Farmers of Canada.

In addition, $529,000 will be used to implement the proAction Initiative, a national assurance program for dairy production that demonstrates the dairy industry’s continued commitment to customers to provide high quality, safe Canadian milk and dairy products that are produced responsibly. This includes on-farm pilot testing of assessment tools and producer training.

Due Diligence Protecting MB Hog Farms from PED

By Harry Siemens Dr. Chris Byra, the Manager of the Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network, said strict adherence to biosecurity protocols gives Canada an edge in dealing with Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea.

In Canada, the PED virus remains centred in Ontario. In other areas of Canada their is one infected barn in Quebec that is being disinfected, the virus seems to be under control in Manitoba and one there is one infected herd in PEI which remains as the Maritimes sole problem.

Dr. Byra said that even Ontario, with 33 listed cases is about five percent of the sow herd, whereas in the U.S. estimates show about 2.5 million sows are PED positive, not quite half the American sow herd.

“We’re in much better shape knowing that we’re going through the worst time and not having case numbers build up exponentially as they have in the U.S.,” he said. “Now the reason for that, I think, goes back to the biosecurity training for all producers in Canada through the Swine Health Board a couple of years ago.”

Byra said with our ability to reinstitute biosecurity training, making sure that compliance is occurring and applying it to processing plants, assembly yards, truck washes; the vehicle companies themselves, the renderers and the ability to apply all those same principles and actions to those organizations gave us a real opportunity.

“The second part, of course, is we had eight months to watch things in the U.S. and get plans in order,” said Byra. “The various provincial governments, along with the pork boards, developed strategies to deal with PED and how to prevent it, first off and secondly, how to deal with it once it did occur.”

Dr. Byra said the suspicion in Ontario is that the more recent cases are the result of biosecurity breaks in transport. Having more of the virus in the environment adds to everyone’s risk but, in Canada, the curve keeps dropping compared to the U.S, where they are reporting up to 300 new cases per week.

PEDv Needs to be Stopped and Eliminated in Canada Canadian Pork producers continue to take preventative measures to slow viruses like PEDv from affecting Canada’s herd health. PEDv poses no risk to human health or food safety but it is a devastating production virus that producers must make it a priority to consider all preventative measures that can reduce the risk of transmission.

“Producers have worked hard to implement emergency response plans and increase biosecurity measures but now have to work even harder protect Canada’s herd health,” stated Canadian Pork Council’s Chair Jean-Guy Vincent. “Unfortunately, there are some things that are out of the control of the producers such as the potential cross contamination of feed ingredients and of trucks involved in the transportation of live animals.”

“The pork industry has to consider all information that is currently available and take every step possible to stop the spread of this virus and eliminate PED from Canada,” added Vincent.

A vision to stop and eliminate PEDv was discussed at an industry roundtable in Ottawa recently hosted by CFIA. The industry identified seven areas to focus on: - open communications among stakeholders - biosecurity both for on farm and off - ongoing active surveillance and reporting - transports measures, including at the border - clarity of the PEDv risks associated with feed - research to address PEDv knowledge gaps - supporting PEDv containment and elimination Producers are encouraged to increase their due diligence and use the tools and best information available to prevent the spread of this virus.

The Agri Post

Minimize Negative Energy Balance in Transition Dairy Cows Meeting the energy requirement of transition dairy cows is particularly important when fresh cows are coming into lactation and several weeks after calving. Unfortunately, not all of their energy requirements can be met only from feeding a well-balanced dairy diet and therefore most cows at this time are drawn into a state of “negative energy balance” (NEB) for several weeks after calving. It is how well we handle this natural situation that dictates the short and long-term success of milk production, health and reproduction in the dairy barn.

The magnitude of post-partum NEB is mainly a function of how much energy can be consumed by these high milk producers. That’s because good dry matter intake, which is interchangeable with good energy intake, peaks a few weeks later than peak energy demands by early lactation. Because of this lag time between energy required and energy consumed by lactating dairy cows, most high producing dairy cows are drawn into a period of NEB for about 5 - 6 weeks during early lactation. To bridge this energy gap the cow will naturally mobilize and break down her own body fat, which can supply a substantial amount of energy to support high milk production.

Information cited from the University of California (Davis) states that a natural benchmark for bodyweight loss during early lactation is about 80 kg. Given a natural body loss of 2 kg per day for about 6 weeks will supply 400 Mcal of necessary net energy of lactation (Nel) which is enough to support 13 kg of milk production for this period. Once energy intake catches up (after peak milk production), feed energy intake matches production requirements and the process slows enough to where the animal stops losing bodyweight altogether.

For many reasons some early lactation cows do not meet universally accepted DMI benchmarks (set forth by sound dairy trials) and as a result have a rapid rate of fat mobilization that leads to the dire consequence of ketosis that often parallels the first six to eight weeks after calving.

Consequently, there are clinical signs for advanced cases of ketosis, but most affected NEB lactating dairy cows are usually not detected because ketosis will show up in other subtle ways such as an increased incidence of displaced abomasums, retained placentas, mastitis, or a weakened immune system. It has also been linked to milk fever and unexplained reproduction problems. Cows with sub clinical ketosis on average lose about 25% of their potential milk production per lactation.

The origins of ketosis usually relates back to a complex chemical imbalance that occurs when dairy cows cannot get enough of a basic energy block called glucose. It is the simplest sugar in cattle metabolism but it essentially drives all energy-requiring maintenance and production activities. When dietary carbohydrates (containing glucose) are in short supply, the dairy cow burns her own body fat to produce energy and yield non-esterified fatty acids (NEFAs), which are reconfigured back into energyrich glucose.

The same serum (blood) concentrations of NEFAs and ketone bodies such as Betahydroxybutyrate (BHBA) are used as current markers by many dairy specialists and veterinarians to measure the potential of ketosis (and associated severity of NEB) in early lactation cows. NEFA levels are thought to reflect the degree of body fat mobilization, while BHBA levels indicate completeness of oxidation of NEFA in the liver. The theory being that unhealthy and rapid breakdown of body fat in the early lactating cow increase the supply of NEFA from body fat and if it exceeds the liver’s capacity to turn it into available energy for the milking cow, the level of BHBA rises.

Sound field research has shown that NEFA levels of 0.3 mEq/l or higher in close-up dry cows are 2X more likely to suffer from a post-partum disorder (re: ketosis, displaced abomasums, retained placenta or metritis). Post-partum NEFA levels of 0.6 mEq/l were 5X more likely to suffer from similar post-partum disorders. BHBA levels that are greater than 1400 umol/l warns of sub clinical ketosis in post-calving dairy cows.

Nobody should disagree that preventing ketosis is a much better option than controlling it once identified amongst early lactation cows. One should implement a proper transition feeding program (three weeks before cows calve and three weeks postpartum) in order to promote good dry matter intake and a body condition score of 3.0 3.5 in early lactation dairy cows.

Such close-up dry cow diets should ideally dovetail into early lactation rations; both diets formulated with the central idea of maintaining good rumen function (by providing adequate effective forage fibre) and yet carry out enough available dietary energy to meet respective vital and production needs. Another goal is to maintain adequate DMI in dairy cows prior to calving (re: 12 kg, DM basis), while building up feed intake in early lactation to about 3.5 - 4.0% of their bodyweight at about 9 - 10 weeks postpartum.

When pre- and post-partum dairy diets are put in front of each set of dairy cows, good transition bunk management is also necessary to minimizing NEB. Common sense should dictate that enough bunk space and adequate time to eat is always provided. A properly mixed ration should also be put in front of the cows, pushed up frequently and old feed removed, daily. It is a matter of implementing any sound practice that will get dairy cows, before and after calving, to eat an extra kilo of feed.

That particular kilo of feed might just help many dairy cows in their close-up and/or early stage of lactation maintain optimum dry matter intake and thus minimizes “negative energy balance” or NEB, where early lactation dairy cows cannot consume enough feed energy and must borrow from body fat to meet the immediate energy demands of high milk production. Some of this fat mobilization is acceptable, but if left unchecked leads to dangerous ketosis. As recommended above, a good transition-feeding program should be invested in for every milk cow to yield not only high milk production, but keep them healthy for the current and even future lactations.

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