MBC1208162

Page 1

Drought cuts production

Pigeon breeding comes home to roost Pigeons leave the wrong impression about local breeding » PaGe 36

But it also affects demand » PaGe 5

august 16, 2012

SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 70, No. 33

|

manitobacooperator.ca

$1.75

Bale grazing may require rethink, say researchers “Green” practice of in-field winter feeding may not make the Beneficial Management Practice list By Daniel Winters co-operator staff / Whitewood

W

Dena McMartin and Dave Barrett, researchers from the University of Regina, explain the results of water quality testing from a bale grazing site on the Pipestone Creek watershed.   photo: Daniel Winters

inter feeding cattle on pasture has long been pitched to ranchers as one of the best things they can do to help the environment and their own bottom line. But new research on the Pipestone Creek watershed in Saskatchewan shows that it may not be as green as earlier suggested. “It’s controversial only because you have to be very careful where you do it,” said Barbara Cade-Menun, an environmental scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and SPARC. Cade-Menun, the lead researcher at the Pipestone Creek Watershed Evaluation of Beneficial Management Practices (WEBs) project in the “knob-and-kettle” pothole country south of Whitewood, Sask., said that analysis of run-off water from bale grazing sites has found extremely high concentrations of nutrients and harmful bacteria. “When we set this up, there were a lot of people who were hard-core believers that this was a great practice,” she said, as she guided a tour group through the WEBs site’s various research points that were installed on three area farms in 2008. See BALE GRAZING on page 6 »

Buyers down south “desperate” for hay Hay production this summer varies from farm to farm, region to region By Daniel Winters co-operator staff

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

D

emand for hay from drought-stricken livestock farmers south of the border may drive up the value of this year’s crop, exporters say. Landon Friesen, who along with his father Phil and brother Derek run Southman Alfalfa Producers near Crystal City, said that severe drought in the Midwest has sent U.S. customers scrambling for hay. “We’ve had guys come up from South Dakota and Wisconsin who looked at our hay

and said they wanted the whole shed,” said Friesen. “It’s unbelievable right now.” He recently sold some highquality dairy hay with a relative feed value score of 207 for $260 per short ton in their yard, well above last year’s price of $180$200/ton. “We’re looking at about $1.20 per RFV point right now,” he added. His contacts in Saskatchewan have said that farmers there are “baling everything and sending it south,” and he expects that local beef cattle operations will try to hold on to whatever hay they’ve been able to put

up. Beef hay buyers looking for alfalfa to grind with rations don’t typically start sniffing around the market until later in the season, he added. Ninety-nine per cent of Southman’s sales are going south where many buyers are “desperate” for hay, said Friesen. Apart from the drought, record-high commodity prices have exacerbated the dwindling supply situation as more forage growers on both sides of the border tear up alfalfa to seed corn and beans. Last year, they hayed 2,000 acres, but this year they have

only 1,000. First and second cuts yielded well, and the third cut looks good, too. “It’s been pretty ideal,” he said. Darren Chapman of Chapman Farms near Virden, said that he has been getting a few more calls than normal for this year’s hay production, which has been “average” so far. “A lot of the guys in the centre of the drought in the Midwest have told all their customers in the dairy or horse hay market that they aren’t going to be able to supply them like they usually See HAY on page 6 »


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.