Farming For Tomorrow November December 2023

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November December 2023

ENTREPRENEURS IN AGRICULTURE

Getting the Most from Every Acre

Siblings Sarah and Jake Leguee are focused on growth

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Getting the Most from Every Acre Angela Lovell

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Farmers Score a Hollow Victory on Grade Harmonization

Ag Buildings Serve Many Purposes

A Farmer’s Viewpoint

by Kevin Hursh

Ag Buildings

by Lisa Kopochinski

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Spraying 101

Grain Market Analysis

Big Opportunities Available for Producers

by Scott Shiels

The Economics of Spot Sprays

by Tom Wolf

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Those Wily Weeds

Farming Your Money

Succession Planning Stumbling Blocks

Weed Seed Management – New Focus or Frustration?

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Defining Sustainability

Respiratory Diseases in Cattle

by Paul Kuntz

Cattle

Sustainability

by Lana Haight

by Becky Zimmer

KEVIN HURSH 6

by Tammy Jones

TAMMY JONES

PAUL KUNTZ

SCOTT SHIELS

TOM WOLF

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Publishers

Pat Ottmann & Tim Ottmann

Editor

Lisa Johnston

Design

Cole Ottmann

Regular Contributors

Heavy Duty Rock Trailers & Silage Dumpers

Vincent Cloutier Kevin Hursh Tammy Jones

Paul Kuntz Scott Shiels Tom Wolf

Copy Editor

Nerissa McNaughton

Sales

Pat Ottmann pat@farmingfortomorrow.ca 587-774-7619

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A knowledgeable apprach for an efficient transition to lacatation.

/farming-for-tomorrow /farmingfortomorrow WWW.FARMINGFORTOMORROW.CA Farming For Tomorrow is delivered to 90,720 farm and agribusiness addresses every second month.

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FARMERS SCORE A HOLLOW VICTORY ON GRADE HARMONIZATION | A FARMER’S VIEWPOINT

Farmers Score a Hollow Victory on Grade Harmonization Kevin Hursh, P.Ag. Kevin Hursh is one of the country’s leading agricultural commentators. He is an agrologist, journalist and farmer. Kevin and his wife Marlene run Hursh Consulting & Communications based in Saskatoon. They also own and operate a farm near Cabri in southwest Saskatchewan growing a wide variety of crops. Kevin writes for a number of agricultural publications and serves as executive director for the Canary Seed Development Commission of Saskatchewan and the Inland Terminal Association of Canada (ITAC).

Twitter: @KevinHursh1

A farmer took his large green lentil sample to a buyer and the buyer graded them as a No. 2.

The farmer presented his sample to a second buyer who graded them a No. 1. However, that company was only in the market for No. 2 or better product. The price offered by both buyers was virtually the same.

We’re so conditioned by grades and wanting to see our crops in the top grade that we sometimes forget that grades are composed of many different grading factors. One buyer of durum wheat may want a hard-vitreous kernel (HVK) percentage higher or lower than what a No. 1 or No. 2 specifies. Alternatively, another buyer may want bushel weight specifications different from what is required by a particular grade.

It was interesting to see such a broad spectrum of farm organizations come together to oppose the harmonization of primary and export wheat bushel weights and foreign material.

Although the Wheat Growers Association and the National Farmers Union (NFU) typically don’t agree on much of anything, they actually issued a joint news release calling on the Canadian Grain Commission to stop the grade harmonization plan.

In the end, the commission succumbed to the pressure and dropped the contentious plan. In my opinion, this was a hollow victory for farmers. The Wheat Growers and the NFU were diametrically opposed on the issue of ending the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly, but they’re acting like central desk selling is still in place.

Since my opinion on the issue is opposite to all the major farm groups, it’s obvious that I’m not worried about winning any popularity contests. I never plan to run for public office either.

However, here’s my reasoning.

Farm groups say the grading standard for wheat delivered to the elevator should remain lower than export grading standards because the grain companies have blending capability to turn lower test weights into exportable product that meet higher standards.

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Keeping primary grading standards lower, they argue, lets farmers capture some of that blending advantage. That’s a rather naive view of how the economics works.

Grain companies have to meet the higher test weight export standards as set by the Canadian Grain Commission because those are the standards customers want. To meet the standards, they’ll buy wheat, paying what they need to in order to end up with the quality needed to meet sales.

Gone are the days of the Canadian Wheat Board setting initial prices and then making interim and final payments grade by grade. Increasingly, it doesn’t matter if a grain grades a No. 1, 2 or 3. What matters is the price.

We sometimes see feed wheat selling for a similar price to the top grade. It all depends on the market and the end user.

Would you sell your No. 1 wheat as feed? If the return is better, why not?

Having different primary and export grading standards just adds confusion. If a lower primary grading standard is such a benefit, why shouldn’t we drop it even further? Wouldn’t that make farmers even more money? The world doesn’t work that way.

Grain companies make sales and try to maximize revenue.

They try to buy the grain from farmers as cheaply as possible, but they have to compete with other buyers.

Sometimes grain companies earn healthy margins.

Sometimes, if the wrong decisions are made, margins are small or even negative.

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A lower primary grading standard may make it feel like farmers are getting more for their grain, but in the big scheme of things, it’s an illusion. Nothing stops a grain company from paying a premium price for wheat with a higher bushel weight than the No. 1 grade if this is needed to meet sales commitments. Nothing stops a grain company from paying a lower price for No. 1 because it doesn’t match export needs.

In the end, competition is the key. Grain companies are competing for farmers’ grain to meet sales commitments.

Some will argue that competition is limited with a few big players controlling a large portion of the market. I would argue that competition has never been keener with entities such as G3 and GrainsConnect now well established. On top of that, consider all the pulse and specialty crop buyers and the increasing purchases by domestic users.

We should all be shopping our grain samples around in search of the best terms and the best prices. That matters much more than the grading number that’s assigned.

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2023-09-29 3:26 PM

GRAIN MARKET ANALYSIS | BIG OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE FOR PRODUCERS

Big Opportunities Available for Producers Scott Shiels Scott grew up in Killarney, Man. and has been in the grain industry for 30 years.

He has worked with Grain Millers Canada for 10 years and manages procurement for both conventional and organic oats for their Canadian operation. Scott is an elected board member for Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan and sits on several other committees on both the organic and conventional sides of the oat industry. Scott and his wife Jenn live on an acreage near Yorkton, Sask. Find out more at www.grainmillers.com.

This crop is going to be an interesting one to market, that’s for sure! Now that the crop in Western Canada is harvested and, in the bin, producers are faced with the challenge of pricing and moving what turned out to be a better crop, yield wise, than most anticipated.

Producers faced another drought year throughout most of the Prairie provinces. While not as extreme as the drought we faced in 2021, the dry conditions definitely led to much lower yields than we saw in 2022. Compounding the issues from the drought in many areas were late August and early September rains that threatened the quality of this already smaller crop.

Some of the big opportunities out there for producers today are specialty programs that work in conjunction with regular contracting opportunities. Some of these, such as the Warburton wheat program and the Nexera canola program, have been around for years. They have encouraged producers to plant specific varieties and follow certain protocols to extract a premium price for their grain.

Today, more and more programs are being made available to producers that are encouraging more “regenerative” farming practices such as zero or minimum tillage, cover cropping, water management and livestock integration. The lean towards sustainable and regenerative agriculture is leading us all down a path towards reducing inputs, while increasing yields and profitability. While many producers don’t feel that they can qualify for these types of programs, due to seeding practices, or maybe a lack of livestock on the farm, there are fairly wide parameters when it comes to some of them, so more farmers can qualify than ever before.

While attending a field day this summer, I learned that the term livestock is one of these factors that has very wide parameters. When scientists and researchers are evaluating farms for these programs, all creatures – right down to the insect population – that have a noticeable effect on the crop being grown, need to be factored into the equation. In essence, we need to be looking fully and completely at the entire ecosystem that supports the crops we produce, in order to properly assess the sustainability of those crops.

While many people believe that “sustainability” and “regenerative” are just buzzwords and fads that will pass, the current appetite by big food companies to develop product lines with ingredients grown using these practices is growing by the day. However, unlike organic agriculture, which is governed by strict protocols and regulations, regenerative agriculture is still being guided by unregulated standards. Most programs are following similar protocols and have similar goals for their production, but we are certainly seeing differences in both the amount of work needed to qualify, and the premiums being paid to producers to follow these guidelines.

At the end of the day, there are definitely some opportunities being missed by many producers to engage in these new programs. Grain companies and millers are generally the ones recruiting for these programs, so if you haven’t already been approached to participate in one of these new adventures, call up your buyer or marketing rep and express your interest. It might be worth a little extra on your bottom line!

Until next time…

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SECTION |YOUR FARMING TITLE MONEY | SUCCESSION PLANNING STUMBLING BLOCKS

Succession Planning Stumbling Blocks Paul Kuntz Paul Kuntz is the owner of Wheatland Financial. He offers financial consulting and debt broker services.

Kuntz is also an advisor with Global Ag Risk Solutions.

He can be reached through wheatlandfinancial.ca.

Succession planning is a very interesting topic of discussion because it can have different meanings to different people. Some view it as retirement planning; some view it as their kids taking over the farm; some view it as taking over their parent’s farm; and some probably think different ideas than these.

Because it means so many things to different people, it can be overwhelming to start the process. It can feel like one of these jobs you know you need to do but you avoid it because you are unsure where to start. This is usually where I get a phone call.

When I receive that phone call from a mom or dad, it usually states that they need to get something started with a succession plan for their farming and non-farming children. The interesting point is that every time I get this call, they have already started. When I ask about the farming child, they will state he/she is currently farming with them, perhaps with some owned land and a bit of rented land. Sometimes the farming child is employed by the farm. Regardless, the process of transition to the next generation has already begun.

I feel that most parents know how they would like the farm to transition, as well as the division of their assets. Where they stumble is in a couple areas. The first is technical and taxation related. For example, if they know they want some farmland to go to a farming child, they are wondering about the taxation implications and affordability if the land will be sold to the child. For non-farming children, they wonder about estate implications of non-farm assets like cottages and RRSPs. If the

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FARMING YOUR MONEY | SUCCESSION PLANNING STUMBLING BLOCKS farm is incorporated, they wonder how this will affect a transition. The technical and taxation side can be overwhelming and a daunting task. The other area where they stumble is communication. For example, they know they want some farmland to transition to their farming child and the cottage to go to a non-farming child; they just do not want to tell them or discuss it in the fear that it will start a fight. Or perhaps they only have farm assets and the parents want to divide the assets equally between farming and non-farming children but they also do not want to talk about this because they know it is an unpopular topic.

Here is what I would recommend to get over these two barriers.

When it comes to taxation and the technical transfer of assets, there are many experts who can assist you. There are accountants who specialize in this and there are lawyers who do this all the time. Before you go running off to give your hard-earned money to an expert, it is smart to do some homework and planning on your own.

I recommend making a list of your assets in a few different categories. These categories are land, machinery and nonfarm assets. The land category can include buildings. The machinery category can include livestock. There are a few reasons why we want to deal with these assets differently.

First off, they are taxed different by CRA. There will be different strategies available to these different categories.

Another reason to separate is the longevity and usefulness of the assets are different. A tractor will not have the same lifespan as a quarter of land. A bank will finance cattle differently than a mortgage on some pasture land. It is a good idea to treat these assets separately.

I feel the biggest barrier is communication with the children and parents. The parents have an idea of what they want succession to look like but it is not discussed. The kids have an idea what they want their future to look like but they are uncomfortable discussing it. Before we employ the services of a professional in the accounting or legal world, you need to have discussions regarding what the plan could look like.

I understand that this may be uncomfortable but at the end of the day, you have to continue working/living/being a family together. There is no silver bullet that will solve this problem.

There is no special multi-corporation fancy accounting loophole that will fix this. You just need to talk.

Mom and dad need to talk about what they want. Mom and dad need to discuss their wants for the non-farming children as well as the farming one(s). Kids need to listen to their parents and also express their views. None of this should be a secret.

A good place to start is reflecting on what is already done. Do you have a will? Maybe it needs updating but do you at least 16

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FARMING YOUR MONEY | SUCCESSION PLANNING STUMBLING BLOCKS have one? What about the farming child? Is he/she making management decisions already? Are they taking a leadership role? What about the non-farming children? Do they get along with the rest of the family? I feel like a lot of families can answer yes to these questions and that puts you well on your way to creating a succession plan. I can also tell you that a lot of these actions will have happened without much communicating. The problem is the next step needs communication. You can only go so far without talking.

My advice is to do some writing. For parents, categorize your assets on paper. Start looking at where you want to see your assets after you are no longer here. Then start thinking about the best way to get those assets to the intended recipients.

Write down those ideas. For farming kids, you need to understand your financial position as it sits right now. Do you have the ability to be profitable right now? Can you take on debt to expand your operation if your parents want to transition? Do you have the skills needed to manage the operation? You need to write this information down, both the financial aspects and the others.

After the exercise of writing, everyone needs to get together

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and talk. Everyone needs to share and express their thoughts regarding succession. This is often where I play a role. I will talk with mom and dad. I will talk with the farming children and I will talk with the non-farming children. I will gather the information from all parties. Then I will facilitate a meeting with everyone.

This meeting will be open, honest but most of all, respectful.

If there are hard roadblocks, they will appear, and hopefully, over time, you can overcome them. Most often, what you will find is that there is more common ground than arguments.

What I will guarantee you, though, is that opening up and communicating is the only way to resolve issues. I have been involved with succession plans that have outright failed because no one gets along. I tell you this because, as mentioned above, there is no silver bullet. Communication will not solve every problem inside a family farm, but solving a family issue will only be successful by communicating.

Succession can be a daunting task. But regardless of your ability or your willingness to plan, it will happen. For mom and dad, at some point, someone else will own your assets. They will transition to someone. You have the opportunity to increase the chance of a successful transition. The key is to start.

NEW IDEAS AND DIRECTIONS | CROSSROADS

New Ideas and Directions Examining big picture innovation in agriculture CrossRoads, Alberta’s Crop Conference, is back from January 29-31, 2024 at the Westin Airport Hotel in Calgary. Over the duration of the conference, 800 farm and industry leaders will gather to network and share ideas with their peers. Topics include farm business management, economic and environmental sustainability of farming operations, policy impacting the farm gate, innovation and agronomy.

Over the days, CrossRoads will feature keynote speakers like Canadian author and geographer Lenore Newman speaking about innovation in agriculture; technology professional Walter Schwabe talking about big picture IT as it relates to agribusiness; and agricultural meteorologist Drew Lerner.

“The conference is a forum for producers to gain insight and knowledge to assist their operations today and into the future,” says farmer and foundation chair Todd Hames. “We are excited for this year’s speaker content as it directly relates to issues and opportunities that producers are facing and will help them set their strategic direction and make operational decisions.”

Early bird pricing of $460 for a full access pass is in effect until December 1, 2023, at crossroadscropconference.ca. Each ticket is value-packed with insightful speakers, hot breakfast and lunch, special events like the opening reception, beer hour reception and more.

“The conference is a forum for producers to gain insight and knowledge to assist their operations today and into the future.” - Todd Hames The FarmTech Foundation of Alberta is a working collaboration by three of Alberta’s crop commissions­— Alberta Canola, Alberta Grains and Alberta Pulse Growers.

Following a long-standing history of successful events under FarmTech’s legacy, CrossRoads is proud to take its place as the premier agriculture conference in Western Canada.

CrossRoads brings together the leaders in agriculture to forge a path toward a more innovative and sustainable future. With a focus on technology, policy and meteorology, this conference will undoubtedly shape the agricultural landscape of Western Canada for years to come. Farmers, industry leaders and anyone passionate about the future of agriculture should mark their calendars for this transformative event.

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SUSTAINABILITY | DEFINING SUSTAINABILITY

Defining Sustainability Canadian farmers’ demonization misplaced in grey areas of climate solution

By Becky Zimmer

Ken Coles likes the word sustainability.

All in all, that was the reason he started Farming Smarter, an ag innovation firm that researches and applies farming practices to everyday problems related to industry inefficiencies, especially ones dealing with climate change and the agricultural industry’s carbon footprint.

Backing new and existing farming practices with science, Coles and his team works to give effective sustainability practices some well-tested backbone.

Join in on any farming discussion in the last few years and that is the one word that sticks out.

Are farmers doing enough to be sustainable? What new innovations should they be doing? What practices should they stop?

The answers all depend on who you ask.

Joy Agnew, vice president of research at Olds College, spoke last year about the Canadian government’s fertilizer reduction plans. Farmers have already done a lot with well-established 4R nutrient practices and tools for decades. Yet, she also hears the consistent narrative of farmers being the villains of climate change – the cause of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions through bad farming practices.

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“There needs to be a shift in the way that farmers and farm advocacy tell the story of farming and the fact that farmers are incredible stewards of the land.

They have to be because their livelihood depends on it.”

- Joy Agnew This needs to change, she says.

“There needs to be a shift in the way that farmers and farm advocacy tell the story of farming and the fact that farmers are incredible stewards of the land. They have to be because their livelihood depends on it.”

Coles can think of a few relatively new practices that have been beneficial to farmers and the environment. He names minimum tillage, an increase of pulse crops and crop rotation

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SUSTAINABILITY | DEFINING SUSTAINABILITY

“Everybody’s investing a lot in technologies and research and then wondering why farmers aren’t adopting it. It’s because they (farmers) are not part of the process. That’s one of the big things that I’ve found recently: there’s a growing gap between the folks who are doing the research and the folks in the field.” - Ken Coles incorporation as a few examples. This doesn’t mean they have done enough and he consistently sees a willingness to change.

But what happens when farmers aren’t jumping at the chance to adopt something new?

He’s seen an increase in technological and research investments into ag innovations, but that doesn’t mean it’s an increase in new innovations that work.

“Everybody’s investing a lot in technologies and research and then wondering why farmers aren’t adopting it. It’s because they (farmers) are not part of the process. That’s one of the big things that I’ve found recently: there’s a growing gap between the folks who are doing the research and the folks in the field.”

Coles sees marketing and politics getting in the way of creating helpful solutions, even causing misplaced efforts and money to be directed at solutions that aren’t working. However, he’s witnessed farmers leading the charge many times to address environmental problems. They are more than likely taking on reduction efforts when they know they’re making a difference.

“When it’s a very clear and defined problem, farmers are the best folks that go after it as soon as they can,” he says, even crediting farmers with beating him to the punch. “We’ll try to support those efforts by adding a little bit of science and a little bit of information to help strengthen those decisions.”

Good climate solutions are going to be ones that fit within the individual farm, but also create economic benefit, says Agnew, so farmers are already incentivized to adopt practices that work.

“Look at it from an overall farm management perspective, rather than really focus on getting a carbon offset, because it’s a super grey area, but if you make good fertilizer management decisions, it’s going to help the overall farm financial situation.”

Back when the federal government set these reduction targets, the technology needed to properly collect fertilizer use and reduction data wasn’t even there, notes Agnew, for grain more so than livestock producers. That doesn’t help the problem when there isn’t even a way to track the data.

“All of that somehow has to be captured and documented and in a way that’s verifiable. Some farmers are collecting some of that information and some of them are doing it digitally, but most of 22

them are doing it not digitally or some aren’t doing it at all.”

The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) surveyed farmers this past spring on their sustainability practices and released their findings in July in their paper, Navigating the Path to Sustainable Agriculture: Insights and Recommendations from Canadian Farmers.

The definition of sustainable agriculture is not clearly defined and people, both on and off the farm, are confused by sustainability within the context of what farming practices actually work. This highlights a need for “a clear, consistent and widely accepted definition of what constitutes sustainable agriculture,” states the report, but it could also be the sign of something else.

“The varied interpretations and lack of consistency in understanding these practices suggests that the actual adoption rates could be even higher than farmers self report, particularly given the extensive use of conservation tillage, especially in Western Canada.”

Academically, Coles points toward the three pillars of sustainability: a Venn diagram that intersects social, environmental and economic factors that truly make something sustainable.

This concept – specifically detailed in a 2017 academic article in Sustainability Science provided by Coles – depicts sustainability in terms of global economic development and fits right within the realms of agriculture and conservation.

“If we look at it in the farmer context, then we have to look at the environmental sustainability, we have to look at the farmer’s economic sustainability, and then all of the social benefits and challenges that go along with it as well.”

Martin Gaal breaks down this concept for his University of Saskatchewan students.

When the political studies lecturer was growing up in British Columbia’s Okanagan, the region wasn’t on fire. Now forest fires are happening at a consistent rate.

Strong sustainability policy is becoming a dire need before society starts to pay a growing economic price. And that won’t be easy, but it needs to be approached from all three sides.

“Those who are pushing for faster and quicker change on the

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SUSTAINABILITY | DEFINING SUSTAINABILITY

“Every farm is different, every farmer farms differently. So, the suite of tools and technologies and practices that will work for them is going to be unique for pretty much every farm. What farmers need now is information about the different tools and technologies, how they might work on their farm.” - Ken Coles environmental front without taking into recognition that we need to build political will and … we need to ensure that people are able to work and make a livable wage and support their families; that’s different than degrees of profit.”

According to CAPI’s survey, a fair portion of respondents are implementing sustainable farming practices without a funding

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incentive. However, the percentages are higher among farmers with higher income. A significant number of respondents, despite age, income or types, have little faith in existing incentive programs and they have no influence on whether they adopt a new sustainable practice.

Coles sees it too where current programs reward the new farmers at the sustainability table but do little to support the ones who have always been there.

Both Agnew and Coles see sustainability painted with such a broad brush that not every incentivized program is going to work from one end of the country to the other. According to Agnew, there needs to be more information and conversation with farmers.

There is no Canada-wide silver bullet solution to climate change.

“Every farm is different, every farmer farms differently. So, the suite of tools and technologies and practices that will work for them is going to be unique for pretty much every farm.

What farmers need now is information about the different tools and technologies, how they might work on their farm.”

For Coles, the disconnect between farming and the public sphere, as well as national and provincial governments, is cause for concern. Multiple bridges would help fix the problem.

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COVER STORY | GETTING THE MOST FROM EVERY ACRE

GETTING THE MOST FROM EVERY ACRE Siblings Sarah and Jake Leguee are focused on growth

By Angela Lovell Photography by Lexie Mainil Photography To be named as Saskatchewan’s 2023 Outstanding Young Farmers is an honour that siblings Jake and Sarah Leguee didn’t expect when they agreed to let their names stand for nomination along with their business partner (and brother-inlaw) Erik Nikolejsin. But they all agreed that the timing was right to put themselves out there, have an adventure and interact with other like-minded farmers.

“I felt the greatest opportunity in doing this was being able to expose ourselves to other successful operations,” Jake Leguee says. “Hopefully we can learn some things from them.”

And there are certainly a few things other farmers can learn from these third-generation farmers. Over the years, the family has grown Leguee Farms near Fillmore, Saskatchewan, into a successful 15,000-acre grain operation growing canola, durum, spring wheat, lentils and flax. To do that, they have focused on getting the most out of every acre they farm.

Everyone plays to their skills The farm was started by Jake and Sarah’s grandparents, Don and Elsie, in 1956. Their parents, Russ and Sharon, took over in the late 1970s, growing the farm over the next few decades to 9,500 acres.

farm full time in 2012, around the same time as Jake. They have gradually assumed more responsibility in different areas of the business, each finding complementary but defined roles that suit their individual skills and aptitudes.

Erik, with his background as a trained mechanic, has assumed the role of operations manager, while Sarah serves as vice president of grain logistics and Jake as CEO and managing partner. In the last few years, Sarah has taken over logistics, managing trucking, grain hauling, booking loads and tracking grain inventories. Meanwhile, Jake’s wife Stephanie – a busy stay-at-home mom with their three children, Asher, 8, Grayson, 5, and Tristan, 2 – also helps out with the bookkeeping and will take a turn in the combine if needed in the fall.

“There was a gradual transition of management responsibilities,” Jake says. “Dad passed over some of the crop and finance responsibilities. It was a natural changeover because I enjoyed both of those things while he retained the day-to-day management duties that he preferred.”

Focused on growth

After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in agronomy and a minor in ag business, Jake returned to work on the farm, but also worked for an independent agronomist and then an ag retailer for five years.

Over the past decade, Leguee Farms has been focused on growth. One of the major goals they have achieved in that time is to increase the share of owned versus rented land from around 20 per cent to just over 50 per cent. But their growth and success isn’t just about buying more acres, it’s also about making sure they are getting the most productivity out of every acre they farm.

Sarah had graduated from Olds College in 2006 with ag production and business diplomas and also worked for an equipment dealership and a truck shop before returning to

As the farm grew to 15,000 acres, the family realized they needed to change their focus. From 2010 to 2014, the farm received too much rainfall, which presented a lot of challenges.

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GETTING THE MOST FROM EVERY ACRE | COVER STORY

Saskatchewan’s 2023 Outstanding Young Farmers Jake and Sarah Leguee continue the family tradition.

27

COVER STORY | GETTING THE MOST FROM EVERY ACRE

They had expanded rapidly, not capitalized enough and needed to switch gears to focus on doing a better job while improving the land they were farming.

“You can’t control what you get for weather, but you can control how you manage what you get, and so that was what we started to focus on,” Jake says. “What it costs to plant a 10,000-acre crop in 2012 compared with a 15,000-acre farm today, it’s not 50 per cent more, it’s triple. Part of that is inflation but it’s also because we’re investing more in the crop, in our machinery and our people to make sure we have enough people to get the job done.”

Their land is highly variable with some marginal and some highly productive areas. Some of the land is saline and other areas struggle with hardpan, so they have concentrated on managing those troubled spots better using technology like electrical conductivity and elevation mapping.

“Thirteen years ago, we started down the path of getting mapping done on the land, so we could get a base level understanding of the soil that we’re farming because that type of map tells the soil particle size, which is a good indicator of productivity,” Jake says. “In our area, variable rate works well because we deal with such variability. We’ll go from some zones where we’re putting on zero fertilizer to zones where we’re putting on fertilizer rates to target 80 bushels/acre on a durum or hard red spring wheat crop. We have increased our overall rates but are much more site specific with it to try and extract the most we can out of every acre.”

Using data to make better decisions They have also generated a lot of data from weather stations and soil moisture probes and their own on-farm field trials of 28

everything from comparisons of seeding and fertilizer rates to the evaluation of plant growth regulators.

“We have collected so much information from our trials over the years that just the volume of data alone is enough that we could trust it,” Jake says. “When I see results from five or 10 replicated trials over multiple fields over multiple years, that’s data that I can use, and we can say this is real, this can become a standard management practice, or this isn’t working, let’s drop it and move on to something else. We’re trying to make sure that the things that we’re doing or using are providing us a return on investment. It’s worth the effort to do our best to set the trials up and collect the data.”

After the crop is planted with a fertilizer rate to target their five-year yield average, it then becomes a case of fine-tuning everything based on the data that’s coming through in season.

“We look at the rainfall records from our weather station, and data from our soil moisture probes, to try and make our best educated guess of what we’re going to get for weather, which is still the most difficult part of trying to do any of this,” Jake says.

“But we know a lot more by the middle of June than we did May 1 when we planted that crop.”

Using all that extra knowledge compiled into a spreadsheet, Jake has a series of checkboxes to help them decide if there is enough potential in the crop to apply more fertilizer or other inputs. Ultimately, the farm is trying to move towards making better crop management decisions based on probability and statistics rather than on gut feelings.

“Most of the time it’s extra nitrogen decisions, but we might also decide on a fungicide, or some micronutrients, or maybe a plant growth regulator in the case of our cereals,” Jake says.

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COVER STORY | GETTING THE MOST FROM EVERY ACRE “We make those incremental additions to the crop based on what we’re seeing for soil moisture, the potential of the stand that’s there and the forecast going forward. We’re doing a better job of predicting which years are going to provide that return on investment and which years aren’t.”

Always learning It was hard to see the value of some of their changes and investments at first, but expecting the unexpected has become something the team has come to embrace as proof positive there is always more to learn.

“After the first year with the weather station, we realized that the most valuable sensor on that station was the soil moisture probe, which I thought initially wouldn’t even matter for us because we can’t do anything about it,” notes Jake. “But it was the deepening of the understanding of what’s underneath our feet – where those roots are and how deep they are capable of going in a short period of time – that significantly improved my understanding of the crops that we’re growing and the soils that we’re farming.

When we get decent weather, our more marginal land can compete with some of the best land when it comes to the production that we’re getting. In the poorer years, there’s nothing we can do about those spots but we can reduce our costs.”

Governance is another area that the team has worked on because they know that having multiple family members involved in a farm business can put a lot of stress on relationships and the business itself.

“Some farms end up splitting unintentionally or intentionally just because it can be difficult to make sure that each person is happy in the role that they have,” Jake says. “But somebody does need to lead it, and step forward to take on that role, but it also means that the other family members have to be OK with letting that go. We’ve been very fortunate that the three of us have found roles that we enjoy on the farm and we aren’t envious of each other’s roles.”

But that doesn’t mean they don’t have to work on communicating and keeping the business relationships strong.

“We have to make sure that we’re talking to each other and challenging each other on the things that we think need to be done better,” Jake says. “Building those roles and understanding of the accountability that goes into those roles is important.”

The important thing, says Jake, is to knock off some of the goals they have set for themselves through their strategic planning process. Then, they set new ones.

Governance is an important aspect to keep at the forefront for the brother-and-sister team of Jake and Sarah Leguee with multiple family members involved in the business.

30

“We need to celebrate what we have achieved but we also need to take the next step forward,” Jake explains. “Even as we go through this process of hitting our strategic plan goals, we need to make sure that, even if they’re small, we’re setting new targets

31

COVER STORY | GETTING THE MOST FROM EVERY ACRE as we go; we can’t wait three years to redo that. We wanted to improve our cash flow, grow our operation and own more land.

Those three goals definitely clash because buying land and growing your farm are huge consumers of cash flow, but we’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to pursue all three in the last couple of years in a significant enough way to make progress.”

of agriculture because they know it’s a driver for everything from government policy to the continued success of their farm. Although they admit it’s a challenge to communicate well to people who are increasingly disconnected from farming, they also see it as a huge opportunity for those who make the effort to try.

Building for generation four

“We haven’t done a great job of communicating why we do what we do and we need to try and make those connections because people are interested in agriculture and that’s a big change from when I was a kid and farming was sort of a forgotten occupation,” Jake says. “That’s a positive change and we need to harness that because that’s a major opportunity.

Public policy ties into that, whether it’s environmental regulations, business risk management programs, or research and development in agriculture. All of those stem from the public having an interest in it.”

Longer term, they never lose sight of their vision to build an enduring business for the fourth generation.

“The fourth generation right now has got six kids in it and another one is on the way,” Jake says. “The governance required to run that ‘cousin consortium’ is quite significant. It’s going to become extremely important to have very clear governance practices when that generation starts to want to come into the farm because down the road somebody is going to have to lead this business and we need to separate ourselves from our own biases.”

To this end, they have set up an advisory board of people with different backgrounds and expertise to offer them different perspectives on their farm business operation and get some impartial, third-party advice.

Of course, there are always challenges and one thing that Jake and his business partners think about a lot is public perception

Siblingssays Jake andbySarah Leguee understand the importance Kristjan that treating themselves as potential of building the farm for thecan next generation. business partners, farmers open new opportunities

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There are positives and negatives in any issue a farmer deals with on a daily basis but Jake states, for the most part, their team likes to focus on the positives.

“As business people, you have to look towards the positives while maintaining a realistic sense of the risks as much as possible, but also not living your life and not running your business through fear but through the lens of optimism over time,” he says.

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33

AG BUILDINGS | AG BUILDINGS SERVE MANY PURPOSES

Ag Buildings Serve Many Purposes Farms require a wide range of options

By Lisa Kopochinski

Farms require a wide range of buildings depending on their size and operation. There are multiple types of agricultural structures used for various purposes that range from storage facilities, animal houses, transportation and more.

U-Build Steel Buildings is a steel building manufacturer that is part of the WGI Westman Group of Companies. It employs more than 2,200 skilled workers at nearly 80 locations across Canada and North America.

“The agriculture market is one of U-Build’s largest client bases,” says Rosa Villamizar, director of U-Build. “Our most common agriculture builds are for equipment storage. Agriculture equipment has become larger over time and so has the size of the buildings we’re selling. We can also build any other steel ag-related building, as our buildings are customizable to the builder’s specifications.”

Villamizar says U-Build also sells insulated metal panels, which have superior thermal values and can be installed in a fraction of the time that it takes traditional sheeting, siding and insulation. This saves money on time and labour and can be ideal for agriculture buildings such as storage.

“We discuss the timeline for the build, location, building type, size and shape of the building, and requirements such as load capacity, number of doors/windows, and whether or not it would be ideal to have insulated metal panels, different design criteria that needs to be met, and everything else that is needed to give an accurate quote on the building.”

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Remuda Building – a builder headquartered in Rocky View County, Alberta – provides a wide range of building structures for numerous industries. The company is especially known across the Prairies for the quality of its post frame buildings, unique finishings and distinct designs.

Remuda sales manager Peter Vanderzwaag says the company’s storage buildings of all types are incredibly popular amongst the farming community. “This includes hay and equipment storage, as well as agriculture workshops. We also see a lot of customers looking for calving barns or livestock shelters to make calving more comfortable.”

The company believes every customer has unique building requirements that are determined by their property and their intended use. “To provide custom solutions that are tailored to each customer, our process begins with a building consultant taking the time to learn about a client’s specific needs,” notes Vanderzwaag. “Our commitment to delivering a perfect post frame building for each client extends to scheduling an in-person meeting on their property.”

Vanderzwaag and his team really like to dig in and find out how their clients plan to use the building. “This is the most important step in determining design. Things like access doors, building size and height are all determined by what is being stored or housed in the building. We then provide a 3D design to the customer that they can view online and ensure it matches the vision.”

All of Remuda’s buildings are built on-site. Although there are

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AG BUILDINGS | AG BUILDINGS SERVE MANY PURPOSES some materials prefabricated off-site, such as trusses, posts and perma-column foundations, the building is assembled on the customer’s property.

A Farmer’s Perspective Vanderzwaag says the two major concerns for their customers are longevity and strength.

“Our clients’ farms are generational, so they want to ensure their building will be around for their grandkids. The Prairies also provide some interesting weather at times, so we like to walk the customer through the construction of the building, highlighting the engineering that has gone into the design.”

Vanderzwaag adds the location of the building is also an important part of the decision-making. “It’s always a balance between keeping your agricultural assets close, but still planning for growth.”

U-Build’s Villamizar says she considers the client’s perspective to be the most important information the team will need to ensure the building meets their requirements. “When we have an understanding of how the building will be utilized and where it will be built, one of our technical sales/project managers will work with the client to ensure the building is designed to meet their needs and arrives on-site as expected.”

She says a common concern for their agricultural-based clients

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is the need for large equipment storage.

“They come to us with dimensions and a general design in mind, but they’re looking for more insight on what would actually accomplish these requirements. Our team is able to recommend a building design based on our experience and in-depth knowable about steel buildings. We’re often able to help clients build a more efficient and cost-effective building than they had originally anticipated.”

The buildings are then prefabricated in U-Build’s manufacturing facility to the specifications outlined. The parts are cut and welded at U-Build’s shop, and the parts are then organized together as a kit before being shipped directly to the building site.

“From there, the client or their builder will put the building together on-site,” adds Villamizar.

U-Build customer Kevin Hruska, owner of Hruska Land & Ag Corp. in Gerald, Saskatchewan, says he is very pleased with the service provided.

“We dealt with Catherine Pawluk, technical sales representative in Brandon. She was very diligent and listened carefully to what we wanted. It was a liaison between their sales department and engineering to get us the building. They were wonderful and obliging to deal with. Top notch.”

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37

SECTION SPRAYING | TITLE 101 | THE ECONOMICS OF SPOT SPRAYS

The Economics of Spot Sprays At first glance, spot sprays are a no-brainer. Why spray a whole field when you can save product by spraying just the weeds?

Tom Wolf, PhD, P.Ag. Tom Wolf grew up on a grain farm in southern Manitoba.

He obtained his BSA and M.Sc. (Plant Science) at the University of Manitoba and his PhD (Agronomy) at Ohio State University. Tom was a research scientist with Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada for 17 years before forming AgriMetrix, an agricultural research company that he now operates in Saskatoon. He specializes in spray drift, pesticide efficacy and sprayer tank cleanout, and conducts research and training on these topics throughout Canada. Tom sits on the Board of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association, is an active member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and is a member and past president of the Canadian Weed Science Society.

38

But that was before the first commercial spot spray systems brought with them user fees.

Companies sell the hardware and charge a fee for the use of their algorithms. Currently, user fees range from $3 to $4 per acre, and this fee is either applied once per season (no matter how many times the algorithm is used on a specific field) or each time the system is deployed, even on the same field. As of September 2023, Bilberry (via Agrifac as AiCPlus, but also via Goldacres in Australia and Dammann in the EU) was using the former approach, and John Deere with See & Spray Ultimate in the U.S. was using the latter. Greeneye was not charging fees. For green-onbrown systems, the likes of Rometron’s Weed-IT and Trimble’s WeedSeeker, no fees were charged.

Fees essentially identify a pesticide price point below which spot sprays are not economical.

Let’s take an example of a $4 per acre price of herbicide, broadcast (column 1 in Table 1). The “gross cost” of the broadcast treatment is simply the cost of the herbicide.

For a spot spray, if a specific field requires just 25 per cent of the herbicide (a 75 per cent saving), the herbicide cost is $1/acre (column 2). Add a $4 per acre algorithm fee, and the gross cost is $5 per acre. Broadcast spraying therefore costs $1 per acre less than the spot spray. The cost for herbicide at which spot sprays become economically interesting is therefore above $5 per acre.

We can calculate this break-even herbicide cost using the following formula: Break-even cost = (herbicide price x use rate) + user fee (where the use rate is the fraction of the broadcast herbicide rate)

Now let’s assume a weedy field, one in which only a 50 per cent saving is possible (column 3). Herbicide cost is now $2/ acre, added to the $4 algorithm fee, for a total cost of $6 per acre (column 3). The weedier the field, the higher the herbicide price needs to be for a spot spray to be justifiable.

Spot sprays without fees, on the other hand, allow the user to keep all the savings (columns 4 and 5), and will be the most economical option no matter the herbicide cost.

But that’s not the whole story. Spot sprays aren’t perfect.

Companies are quoting a minimum weed size of about a quarter-inch diameter (say, six millimetres), below which the plant can’t be detected. Some weeds are invisible due to shading by crop residue or other plants.

Using a spot spray therefore runs the risk of having misses that would not be incurred with a broadcast spray. The cost of these misses depends on the situation. In some cases, it is inconsequential. A tiny weed may not cause much harm if the crop is larger and growing vigorously. But what if the weed is competitive, and could ultimately cause yield loss? A respray may be required. What if this weed later causes harvesting difficulties that may necessitate a desiccation spray? What if it is resistant, and its seed

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SPRAYING 101 | THE ECONOMICS OF SPOT SPRAYS

This exercise is not intended to declare winners and losers. Its purpose is simply to initiate a discussion about the overall cost of various approaches.” production causes problems in the future? Those costs need to be considered.

In this case, we are assuming the cost of a miss at a conservative $5 per acre, which could be the cost of operating the sprayer for a respray. The cost would apply to all spot sprays equally, but not to the broadcast spray. Now the broadcast spray, still at $4 per acre, is the most economical.

The technological answer to this problem is to implement a low-rate broadcast spray in the background, while also spot spraying. The lower rate is sufficient to kill the smallest weeds, but it reduces the overall savings. Current systems are capable of doing this due to their use of PWM valves that can deliver broadcast and spot sprays at the same time from the same nozzles. The cost of running a background spray would be the price of the herbicide times the background spray rate, say 30 per cent. In our example, using this approach would add $1.20/acre (not shown in table). The assumption is that the lower rate broadcast would kill the smallest weeds that were undetected, without adding to the likelihood of resistance developing due to under-dosing. The assumption is also that large weeds weren’t undetected.

There are also potential benefits to consider. One is the yield loss caused by the application of a herbicide with low crop safety. Think of Status (dicamba and diflufenzopyr) in corn, or metribuzin in lentils. Limiting the exposure of the crop to the herbicide reduces the potential yield loss. We rarely consider this effect because it is quite uncommon, but when it does occur, it’s offset by the yield benefit of removing the weeds.

Spot spraying can also open up new uses for herbicides with low crop safety.

Let’s assume the yield benefit of avoiding phytotoxicity to the crop is $10 per acre. We’ll apply this saving to the proportion of the field that is not sprayed. The spot sprays regain their advantage, but only in cases where the weed density was low or no fees were charged (crop health benefit in Table 1). Where weeds were sprayed in larger proportions of the field area, yield benefits were reduced.

We repeat the whole exercise for a higher value crop, with more 40

expensive treatments but also higher penalties for misses and greater crop phytotoxicity costs.

First, considering only the “gross cost” scenario, the advantage of the spot sprays grows (Table 2). But when the cost of a miss is added, it’s surprisingly close. As in the lower cost example in Table 1, the broadcast spray remains relatively competitive even with higher overall costs.

When we add a potential crop health benefit of $20/acre, the spot sprays regain their larger advantage.

Using the herbicide price as the variable and plotting the broadcast and spot spray costs, the place where these lines cross is the herbicide cost below which the broadcast application is most economical. In the example on the next page, the use fee was $4, and the miss cost was $5. As expected, the “no fee” situation was always more economical than broadcast when no miss costs were added. As algorithm and miss costs were added, herbicide prices needed to be above $5 and $14, respectively, for the spot sprays to be more economical than the broadcast application.

This exercise is not intended to declare winners and losers. Its purpose is simply to initiate a discussion about the overall cost of various approaches. What if owners of spot sprayers make, on average, more passes over the field? What would the value of a lighter, cheaper sprayer be on their bottom line? With less expensive sprayers, the fixed cost of a respray would drop. Is there a benefit from reduced soil compaction? What if the use of more complex tank mixes, necessitated by resistance, jeopardizes crop safety? The benefit of spot sprays would increase. And, of course, what if user fees were dropped?

Continued development of nozzles specifically for spot spraying, as well as better boom levelling, will improve spot spray economics because the smaller width and length of an applied band that stable booms allow will increase savings. As these technologies take hold, they will tilt the calculations in favour of the spot sprays.

I’ve often repeated that the savings created by spot sprays ought to be reinvested in herbicide tank mixes, with a goal to prolong the utility of herbicides before resistance develops.

This could ultimately create the biggest long-term return on investment because once herbicides are no longer effective, alternative strategies will be needed.

I’m as hopeful as anyone else that agriculture can retain the benefits of effective and safe herbicides for a long time to come.

But it will only take one weed on a farm to become resistant to all available herbicides for major change to be necessary. The more time we have to develop these alternatives, the better. Spot sprays are definitely a part of that strategy.

THE ECONOMICS OF SPOT SPRAYS | SPRAYING 101 Table 1: Spray cost scenarios for inexpensive herbicides.

BROADCAST

SPOT (WITH FEE)

SPOT (WITH FEE)

SPOT (NO FEE)

SPOT (NO FEE)

Use fee

$0.00

$4.00

$4.00

$0.00

$0.00

Product price

$4.00

$4.00

$4.00

$4.00

$4.00

Product use rate

1

0.25

0.5

0.25

0.5

Product expense

$4.00

$1.00

$2.00

$1.00

$2.00

Gross cost

$4.00

$5.00

$6.00

$1.00

$2.00

Miss cost

$0.00

$5.00

$5.00

$5.00

$5.00

Net cost

$4.00

$10.00

$11.00

$6.00

$7.00

Crop health benefit ($10)

$0.00

$7.50

$5.00

$7.50

$5.00

Net cost

$4.00

$2.50

$6.00

-$1.50

$2.00

Table 2: Spot spray costs for higher value herbicide and crop.

BROADCAST

SPOT (WITH FEE)

SPOT (WITH FEE)

SPOT (NO FEE)

SPOT (NO FEE)

Use fee

$0.00

$4.00

$4.00

$0.00

$0.00

Product price

$20.00

$20.00

$20.00

$20.00

$20.00

Product use rate

1

0.25

0.5

0.25

0.5

Product expense

$20.00

$5.00

$10.00

$5.00

$10.00

Gross cost

$20.00

$9.00

$14.00

$5.00

$10.00

Miss cost

$0.00

$10.00

$10.00

$10.00

$10.00

Net cost

$20.00

$19.00

$24.00

$15.00

$20.00

Crop health benefit ($10)

$0.00

$15.00

$10.00

$15.00

$10.00

Net cost

$20.00

$4.00

$14.00

$0.00

$10.00

Figure 1: Spot spray costs as a function of herbicide prices, assuming a 20 per cent spot spray use rate, with $4 algorithm fee or $5 miss cost added.

41

THOSE WILY WEEDS | WEED SEED MANAGEMENT – NEW FOCUS OR FRUSTRATION?

Weed Seed Management – New Focus or Frustration?

Tammy Jones B.Sc., P.Ag Tammy Jones completed her B.Sc. in crop protection at the University of Manitoba.

She has more than 15 years of experience in the crops industry in Manitoba and Alberta, with a focus on agronomy. Tammy lives near Carman, Man., and spends her time scouting for weeds and working with cattle at the family farm in Napinka.

At the end of the growing season, it’s frustrating to find weeds that have managed to set seed.

Whether it’s due to a lack of crop competition, herbicide resistance or poor timing of the herbicide application, minimizing the impact of those weed seeds on future years of crop production (or finding recommendations for how to do so) is not easy. Just like every other management tool, a recommendation that works for one type of weed may not be successful for other weeds in the field. Patch management reduces seed spread across the field, whether by mowing, swathing or combining separately, but then can the weed seeds be destroyed in some way?

Let’s burn them all! Ignoring the potential for disaster with setting a field on fire, the air quality impact, the loss of nutrients from burning straw and other challenges in more populated areas, burning to destroy weeds is not as simple as lighting a match. In areas with low crop competition, there is likely very little biomass production and therefore not much to set fire. In areas where weeds were later emerging, the biomass may not be dry enough to burn well.

In Australia, there has been success with narrow-windrow burning, where the weed seeds are concentrated in a tight band (dropped chaff through a specialized chute). The narrow windrow helps to maximize and intensify the heat produced and works best with a target weed that retains its seed up until harvest, so the seeds will be concentrated in that windrow. In the southern United States, Jason Norsworthy and a team of weed scientists have considered the same tactic in soybeans. The advantage of a soybean field was the minimal amount of biomass remaining after harvest so the fire was unlikely to spread. In addition, the soybean straw burned longer than the wheat straw that had been the focus in Australia, likely due to a higher moisture content in the soybean residue. The longer burn time was beneficial for successful destruction of the various weed seeds studied, including Palmer amaranth (similar seed to redroot pigweed) and barnyard grass. Pigweed species like Palmer amaranth tend to retain seed well (about 97 per cent seed retention at harvest), but

42

WEED SEED MANAGEMENT – NEW FOCUS OR FRUSTRATION? | THOSE WILY WEEDS

barnyard grass and wild oat tend to shed seeds as they mature (43 per cent and 56 per cent at time of swathing, respectively).

These studies are helping to maximize weed seed destruction by planning the activity to maximize impact.

Several factors reduce the impact when it is the last-minute burning of straw in a field or a patch of weeds. First, the weed seeds are not concentrated in a narrow row; in fact, the weed seeds might be completely scattered depending on whether the field was combined, swathed or mowed down.

Additionally, effective burning where the fire reaches sustained temperatures required for weed seed destruction is typically achieved when there is not much green material or it’s not a wet fall.

There seems to be an increase in patches of swathed weeds being left after harvest to be baled for feed or composted.

Feeding weeds has its own set of complications with nitrate levels and the possibility of weed seeds surviving the digestion process. For example, white cockle is well known for surviving digestion and even composting. Baling dense wild oat patches may provide decent feed but could result in the spread of problems to new areas if even one per cent of the weeds survived the digestion process. Not everyone has livestock; composting requires management to achieve a minimum lethal temperature for a sustained period; and not

everyone has a baler, so “what now?”

Instead of reactive management like burning or baling to possibly reduce certain weeds in certain situations, proactively investing in new methods to prevent deposits to the weed seed bank seems logical. Harvest weed seed destruction continues to be researched to grind up or otherwise destroy weed seeds as they leave the combine.

Alternatively, there has been an increased focus in recent years on “postdispersal biological control” of weeds. That is a fancy way of saying weed seed predation or encouraging natural pests to dispose of problematic weed seeds once they are in the seed bank. Enhancing weed seed predator populations can be achieved with crop rotation, creating refuges for predators while the field is in crop production and minimizing pesticide applications that may negatively influence predator populations.

What this all boils down to is that there is no one method to address weed seeds once they have been produced. The management tactics described here are simply a way to minimize problems and will not eliminate them. The old adage of “failing to plan is planning to fail” continues to apply.

Integrating many weed control tactics at all stages of a weed’s life cycle is the only way to ensure that weeds remain a frustration rather than an overwhelming obstacle that prevents successful crop production.

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CATTLE | RESPIRATORY DISEASES IN CATTLE

Respiratory Diseases in Cattle Dr. Emily Snyder’s curiosity over the years has led her to a place where improving the health of beef cattle is of utmost importance

By Lana Haight

“My big motivation is my own curiosity. I’m interested in knowing why animals get sick and what’s the cause of it,” says Emily Snyder (DVM, PhD), an assistant professor in the department of large animal clinical sciences at the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine.

Snyder, who is from Iowa, didn’t grow up around cattle but developed her interest in animals during high school. She was encouraged by one of her teachers to use her skills as a debater in an extracurricular activity called Future Farmers of America where she learned to judge livestock, including bulls, heifers and steers. In competitions, Snyder and other members of her school team would rank four animals in each group. They would have only a couple of minutes to prepare a formal defence or rationale for their decisions. She continued to compete at the college level where she studied animal science.

“This is going to sound bananas. It’s not a thing in Canada but, in the U.S., it’s a really big deal. It’s like a full-time sport.

At college, we practised every single day and on the weekends. It’s really competitive. Everything all tied together: my interest in livestock judging and my interest in animal science.”

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Her experiences as a livestock judge provided a solid foundation as she pursued a veterinary career as a means of improving the health and well-being of cattle.

“It taught me a lot about evaluating livestock, looking at animals, understanding what they look like, what normal looks like, what healthy animals look like and seeing differences. It also gave me a lot of experience with public speaking and giving formal reasons. And then I learned time management.”

After Snyder completed veterinary college at Iowa State University in 2011, she worked for two years in private mixed animal practice in the Midwestern United States. She returned to school and received a master’s degree in food animal medicine in 2016 and a PhD degree in 2020 from the University of Georgia. In January 2021, Snyder moved to Saskatoon and began her position at the veterinary college.

Her interest in antimicrobial resistance and respiratory diseases in beef cattle began when she was conducting research at the University of Georgia involving stocker cattle and strains of Mannheimia haemolytica that were resistant to antimicrobial treatments.

When the weaned calves arrived at the farm in Georgia, the

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“This is going to sound bananas.

It’s not a thing in Canada but, in the U.S., it’s a really big deal. It’s like a full-time sport. At college, we practised every single day and on the weekends. It’s really competitive. Everything all tied together: my interest in livestock judging and my interest in animal science.” - Emily Snyder animals had very little resistance to an antimicrobial used to fight the bacteria that cause bovine respiratory disease. Yet, 10 to 12 days later, the bacteria were not only resistant to the antimicrobial the cattle initially received, they were resistant to almost all drugs that would be used to treat the disease.

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CATTLE | RESPIRATORY DISEASES IN CATTLE

“AIP usually strikes in the late feeding period when we have fat cattle that we’ve spent all this time feeding in the feedlot. They are probably going to slaughter in 100 days or less and then they get this disease and suddenly die.

The animals suffer. They are sick and we can’t treat them effectively.” - Emily Snyder “In this particular case, it makes it really difficult to treat animals when they get sick because we don’t have any drugs that work anymore.”

One of Snyder’s current research projects involves feedlot cattle at USask’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence (LFCE), south of Clavet. She is looking at a different respiratory disease called atypical interstitial pneumonia (AIP) that causes inflammation in the lining of the lungs. Little is known about the cause of the disease in feedlot cattle while treatments are limited and not effective.

A similar disease in humans is called acute respiratory distress syndrome and high serotonin levels are believed to be a

46

possible contributor to the cause.

Snyder is working to establish the normal serotonin level in healthy feedlot steers and heifers, the first step to determining if abnormal serotonin levels contribute to this type of pneumonia in cattle. From May 2023 to the end of August, she tested the serotonin levels in 42 steers and 40 heifers at the LFCE Beef Cattle Research and Teaching Unit.

Atypical interstitial pneumonia is not as common as bovine respiratory disease, but the impact is significant in terms of animal health and producer profitability.

“AIP usually strikes in the late feeding period when we have fat cattle that we’ve spent all this time feeding in the feedlot. They are probably going to slaughter in 100 days or less and then they get this disease and suddenly die. The animals suffer. They are sick and we can’t treat them effectively.”

Snyder’s curiosity is piqued and she wonders if acidosis or other issues with the rumen’s bacteria contributes to abnormal serotonin levels that create the right environment for the lungs to become inflamed, resulting in this type of pneumonia.

But that’s for another day. First things first, she says.

“We have to understand what normal is before we can determine if elevated serotonin is a factor.”

Snyder’s research projects take her in two very different directions with the same end goal: finding answers and providing more information for diseases that aren’t fully understood. As she fills in those gaps, she is hoping to help cattle producers who operate feedlots improve the health and well-being of their animals while ensuring those producers remain financially viable.

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