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Volume 41, Number 10 | april 28, 2015

$4.25

PRA C T I C AL PR O D U C T I O N T IP S F O R T H E PRAIRI E F AR M E R

www.grainews.ca

2015 REBATE ROUNDUP Corporate rebate programs can make a difference to your bottom line, or at least give you a bonus cheque

By Leeann Minogue

I

’m sure you’ve seen most of this information in your mailbox at least once, but here’s a chance to see a rundown all of the input rebate programs in one place, to make it a little simpler to compare offers while you’re putting the final touches on your spring seeding plans.

For the most part, this year’s corporate pricing programs are very similar to the programs that were on offer for 2014. Farmers who commit large numbers of acres to one company’s products could see large cheques. But even if you’re just buying small amounts of a company’s product, it’s still nice to get a small rebate cheque in the mail.

Adama

Arysta LifeScience Arysta LifeScience offered an Early Purchase Offer on Everest 2.0. If you bought an Everest 2.0 Smartboy (10 specially packaged jugs of Everest 2.0) prior to Jan. 31, 2015 you received an instant discount of $1,200 per Smartboy.

Arysta is also offering an opportunity to save on its new grass and broadleaf burn-down herbicide Inferno Duo. If you purchase between December 1, 2014 and May 15, 2015 you’ll get an instant discount of $0.50 per acre ($40 per canister).

And, Arysta LifeScience is now offering Air Miles reward miles with purchases.

BASF BASF’s AgSolutions Rewards program for 2015 is very similar to last year. To qualify, you need to purchase enough of at least two qualifying BASF products to treat 160 acres, and in total, enough product to treat 400 acres.

Once you qualify, your rebate will range from two to eight per cent of qualifying products — the rebate increases for farmers who purchase more qualifying products or more product acres. To reach the maximum rebate, you would need to buy enough of five or more different qualifying products to treat 8,000 or more acres.

Clearfield canola, wheat, lentils or sunflowers will only qualify for the rebate program if you sign a Clearfield Commitment form and purchase matching acres of a BASF herbicide registered for that crop.

Forms must be submitted by July 9, 2015.

Only products purchased between Oct. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015 are eligible for rebates. You can use BASF’s online calculator at www.agsolutions.com to calculate your potential rebate before you buy.

Bayer CropScience Bayer’s Value Program is based on your total purchases of Bayer CropScience products between Oct. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015.

All growers who purchase a minimum of 300 acres of InVigor canola seed are eligible for savings in the segments of the 2015 BayerValue Program. » continued on page 4

photo: thinkstock

Adama, formerly MANA Canada, says it strives to create simplicity in agriculture, both in its products and business approach, and therefore provides quality products without forcing growers to sign up for mandatory bundling or complicated rebate programs. Rather than farmers having to wait for a cash back reward program, Adama says its promise

is to work with their customers to create the best return on investment from the start.

In This Issue

Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240

Wheat & Chaff .................. 2 Features . ........................... 5 Crop Advisor’s Casebook . 8 Columns ............................ 12 Machinery & Shop............. 20 Cattleman’s Corner .......... 25

New phos guidelines leeann minogue

page 6

Feeding the world

Darcy Goodrich page 25

FarmLife ............................ 31

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/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Wheat & Chaff STAMPEDE

BY JERRY PALEN Leeann Minogue

M

y cellphone buzzed around 9:30 on Friday night, but it was closer to 10:00 before I looked at the screen.

The text said: “Todd will be there at 11 tomorrow with 12 people.”

“Todd” is my husband’s cousin; the text came from his wife, Elaine. It shouldn’t have caught me by surprise. We’d made some tentative plans a couple of weeks earlier, but of course I’d forgotten all about it. A few seconds later I was rooting through our basement deep freeze, wondering what I might have hiding in there that I could possibly serve 15 people for lunch the next day.

Who doesn’t like to climb up into the tractor cab?

photos: leeann minogue

Vacation farms “If it’s dangerous, Elmo’s into it!

It’s why he loves to barbecue!”

contact us

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Phone Leeann Minogue at 306-861-2678 Fax to 204-944-5416 Email leeann.minogue@fbcpublishing.com Write to Grainews, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1

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I think everyone who reads Grainews would agree that it’s just wrong for someone to come all the way to the Prairies without visiting a farm. Green fields, hay bales, yellow-flowering canola — those are the pictures we put on all the tourism calendars. Not that there’s anything wrong with spending time in downtown Regina, but travelling to Saskatchewan and not visiting a farm does seem a little like going to Niagara Falls and having so much fun in the casino that you don’t bother to look at the water.

Farms are a staple of Prairie tourism, but our farm is 90 minutes from the nearest airport. So, other than old friends from work and school, we’d never really been on any major “foreign visitor” circuits.

Until Brad’s cousin Todd married Elaine.

Elaine moved to Regina from Malaysia a few years ago. She’s very close to her family and friends, so they come to Canada to visit her every chance they get.

She also has an uncanny knack for meeting other Malaysians who are new to Canada or just visiting.

She’s a fantastic host; when her family and friends are visiting, she makes sure they get a chance to see everything. Of course, that includes a visit to a farm.

Todd grew up in Regina, but his mother grew up on the farm where we live now. Even with the distance, we’re still a good stop for Elaine’s visitors’ circuit.

And so, since Todd’s wedding, my husband and I have met a pretty sizable chunk of the population of Malaysia.

Tour for 12 This particular group of Malaysians were very friendly.

We learned about how their farmer friends grow palm oil and bananas. They talked up the new Malaysian government program intended to entice foreigners to buy second homes in their country (“Malaysia My Second Home,” if you’re Googling).

They were more than polite about the food. When one of

The view from the edge of our farm in southeast Saskatchewan. them asked the name of the soup I’d served (so he could find a recipe, he kindly said), it was a little tricky to explain that the technical name for the recipe was “Rink Soup,” because it was the soup my mom always made when she had to donate soup to the local rink kitchen.

After lunch we jacketed up for the outdoor portion of the tour.

They started out a little disappointed, when they found out we have no livestock. “This is it?” one of them asked, pointing forlornly at our dog (who’s not exactly looking his best in his pre-shedding, end-of-winter coat). Telling the guests we have two new cats coming next month didn’t really make things any better.

But they recovered from that setback in a hurry when Brad opened the door to the shed.

The tractor, the combine, the air seeder, the sprayer — they weren’t sure what to look at first. Tractor tires were used as photo props.

Air cart ladders were climbed.

Yield monitors were gaped at.

This was the highlight of the tour.

Later that afternoon, when a neighbour came by with a semiload of canary seed for cleaning in our plant, we hyped up the action.

When he backed up near the auger, the group was on hand taking photos, ready for a first-hand look at how a cleaning plant works.

Then everything came to a halt. The yard was a little softer than we’d realized. The truck was stuck. Deep. Trust me, there are a lot of photos of this.

Eight tips for entertaining tourists I’ve put together a few tips, in case you have tourists visiting your farm.

1. If you don’t have livestock, borrow some from a neighbour.

Nothing is sadder than the face of a foreign tourist who has just found out your collie is the only animal on the farm.

2. Unlock the combine. I have yet to see a tourist, rural or urban, who didn’t want to get up there and check out the view from the cab.

3. Be ready to explain. Nonfarmer visitors are not likely going to know the basics of how a combine works or what the swather might be for. They might feel silly asking. You might have to give out a lot of information.

4. Give them a little space. It always throws me off when I see people taking photos out the back of our yard. “But there’s nothing out there,” our eightyear old said. That’s right. They’ll take photos of nothing and look pretty happy about it.

5. Cook them something local.

Lentils are handy, especially when you don’t have time to get to the store before lunch.

6. Be ready to see your yard in a different way. Every time we have visitors roaming our place, they point out a view I haven’t noticed for a while, or find beauty in a place I’d forgotten all about.

7. Take names. You never know when you might have a chance to visit your guests on their own turf, and how great will it be to have a local guide showing you around?

You might think you’ll never go to Borneo in your lifetime, but we used to think that too.

8. Have a good time. We do!

Thanks for helping us remember how interesting Prairie farming is, Todd and Elaine. Most places we go, everyone we meet is a farmer, or grew up on a farm, or once dated a farmer. But in the grand scheme of the urbanizing world, what we do out here is special and unique. As a percentage of the world’s population, there really aren’t that many of us. Other people are generally thrilled to see it, and we are proud to be able to tell them what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. Keep those visitors coming. † Leeann

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

Wheat & Chaff Photo contest

Farm safety

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT Justin Bell sent us this photo of his daughter Anna. Justin wrote, “She is the fifth-generation farmer from Will Farms Ltd. near Rosebud, Alberta. Anna loves to go for rides in all of the equipment. She always makes tractor sounds whenever they drive by the kitchen window. On this day she came with me hauling a load of wheat to Richardson Pioneer (Carsland). I took advantage of the lineup to snap a couple pictures of our little adventure.”

Thanks for sending this in Justin, She’s adorable!

We’re sending Justin a cheque for $25. Send your best shot to leeann.minogue@fbcpublishing.com. Please send only one or two photos at a time and include your name and address, the names of anyone in the photo, where the photo was taken and a bit about what was going on that day. A little write-up about your farm is welcome, too. Please ensure that images are of high resolution (1 MB is preferred), and if the image includes a person, we need to be able to see their face clearly.

Leeann

Getting back to ag

T

he Back to Ag program was envisioned to help farmers get back to the work they love — farming. André Veilleux, a maple syrup producer from Quebec, is doing just that thanks to his new stand-up wheelchair.

On March 1, 2008, André’s life drastically changed when a maple tree he was felling crushed him, severing his spinal cord, fracturing six vertebrae and resulting in paraplegia. André would never walk again.

His drive and focus have seen him recover in many ways, but he still found some work difficult. “It took two years for my rehabilitation, he says. “And I began to move forward, but every time I wanted to do something, I still needed help.” Through some research, André discovered what exactly he needed — a wheelchair that would help him to stand.

Using his regular wheelchair, André was not easily able to perform the necessary maintenance of his equipment or even boil his maple sap — a key step in the production of maple syrup. A stand-up wheelchair would give André the ability to be more independent and perform important farm work by himself.

A stand-up wheelchair’s costs are fairly prohibitive, and André’s government health insurance in Quebec (Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec or RAMQ) does not cover the costs of such a device. Fortunately, the Back to Ag Program has helped André realize his goal of becoming more independent and active on his farm.

André was one of the first successful applicants to the Back to Ag Program, a partnership between Farm Credit Canada, the Rick Hansen Foundation and the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association. The Back to Ag Program provides funding to support the cost of adaptive technology to Canadian farmers and agricultural workers that have experienced life-altering injuries.

“Thanks to Back to Ag, I could get the stand-up wheelchair,” André says. “It allows me to work in my workshop and handle tools and repair equipment properly. It will be useful during the sugaring season to monitor the syrup and make cleaning easier.”

The stand-up wheelchair has not only given André more independence, but it also has the potential to improve his health.

Complications from his paralysis include

André Veilleux uses his stand-up wheelchair to perform farm tasks more independently. involuntary muscle spasms. Increased standing using the stand-up wheelchair can significantly help reduce these spasms. Andre has already seen the number of leg spasms decrease. “Already my quality of life has improved, especially in my health,” he says.

“I have fewer leg spasms.” Using the standup wheelchair will also increase blood circulation and help reduce the impact of osteoporosis.

André’s story highlights what the Back to Ag program was intended to achieve: support traumatically injured farmers and agricultural workers through adaptive technology.

For more information about Back to Ag and other farm safety programs, please visit casaacsa.ca. † Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, www.casa-acsa.ca

Agronomy tips… from the field

Volunteer canola in soybeans

H

Weather Lore

You might be from the Prairies if...

By Carson Demmans and Jason Sylvestre

ow do you effectively control volunteer Roundup Ready canola in the same field where you’re growing Roundup Ready soybeans? That’s a question more growers are asking as soybeans continue to move west into nontraditional soybean growing areas where canola is prevalent.

The first thing you need to do is manage your rotation to use both Roundup Ready canola and soybean systems. Diversifying your rotation by including cereal crops and lengthening the rotation can help reduce the amount of volunteer canola seed in your soil.

When you do get volunteer plants emerging, the key is to control them early while they’re small. Once that canola starts getting bigger and putting on more leaves, control becomes more of a challenge.

A pre-emergent herbicide is an excellent tool for keeping volunteers at bay and establishing a clean field until your soybeans are up, out of the ground and established.

If you decide to go with an in-crop product (depending on registration restrictions), you need to spray when the soybeans are in the first to second trifoliate, or when volunteer canola is at cotyledon to two-leaf stage. Soybeans exhibit what’s called “phenotypic plasticity”, meaning that they will fill in and adapt to any free space provided to them. † This agronomy tip is brought to you by Doug Fotheringham, agronomic service representative, Manitoba, with Syngenta Canada Inc.

FLOWER POWER

W

hile humidity affects some plants, others are temperature sensitive.

Open crocus, warm weather.

Closed crocus, cold weather.

Scientists have checked this idea out and have found that it is possible to determine the air temperature to the closest one half degree by noting how far the crocus has opened. Tulips are similarly affected. They open their petals when the temperature rises, but close them when it falls. †

Miss Tulip’s shy in weather cold, In warmer times, her face is bold.

You had to convince an American you come from somewhere that actually borders their country.

Shirley Byers’ book “Never Sell Your Hen on a Rainy Day” explores over 100 weather rhymes and sayings. It is available from McNally Robinson at: www.mcnallyrobinson.com.

3

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/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Cover Stories Farm management » CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

2015 REBATE ROUNDUP Segment 1 contains cereal and pulse seed treatments. You can save up to 25 per cent on Raxil and 15 per cent on Trilex EverGol. You need to purchase a minimum of 300 acres in this segment to qualify for savings.

Segment 2 includes cereal herbicides. You must buy a minimum of 300 acres in this segment to qualify. Save up to 17 per cent on Velocity m3, Tundra, Varro and Infinity. And, save up to 17 per cent on Puma Advance and Varro, Thumper, Buctril M, and Infinity through the five per cent savings with the Tank Mix Bonus. To receive this rebate, you must add matching acres of a graminicide (Varro or Puma Advance) and a broadleaf herbicide (Thumper, Buctril M and Infinity). The InVigor Purchase Bonus and the Tank Mix Bonus cannot be combined.

Segment 3 includes savings of up to 14 per cent on Prosaro, Folicur EW, Propulse and Delaro.

You must add a minimum of 160 acres of Delaro or 300 total acres in the cereal and pulse fungicide segment to qualify for these savings.

The Canola Products Section allows growers to save up to 15 per cent on Proline and eight per cent on Pardner.

There is also a Quarter Million Dollar Bonus. Purchase $250,000 or more to save an additional one per cent on all products that are eligible for a rebate in the BayerValue Program.

If you participated in the 2014 Bayer Value Program you will automatically be re-enrolled for 2015. If you were not registered last year, contact the Bayer CropScience Rebate Fulfilment Centre at 1-888-283-6847 before May 1, 2015 to register. Find complete terms and conditions at BayerCropScience.ca/BayerValue or ask your local retailer.

Dow AgroSciences Dow AgroSciences is continuing to offer the Dividends program it introduced in 2011.

Rewards are calculated as a dollar per acre payment. The amount of the payment depends on the mix of Dow AgroSciences products you use.

Dow AgroSciences categorizes its products into four groups. The first group of cereal grass and onepass products includes Tandem, Simplicity and Liquid Achieve.

You must use a minimum of 300 acres of any one or combination of these three herbicides or 300 acres of Nexera to qualify for the Dividends program.

Once you qualify, earn rebates by matching qualifying acres with purchases of a Dow AgroSciences cereal broadleaf product (the second group of products) and/or a canola and special crop product (the third group). In the 2015 program, Tandem automatically qualifies for the $1 per acre reward without requiring matching acres from other categories.

Liquid Achieve is not eligible for

a rebate, but can still be used as a builder to qualify other products for a reward.

Dow AgroSciences glyphosate products are the fourth group category and if purchased, increase any reward you’ve qualified for.

Dow AgroSciences is also continuing the Bulk Up component of the Dividends program.

If you purchased bulk-packaged PrePass before Feb. 20, 2015, those purchases will increase your reward by up to $0.50 an acre. Rebates also increase if you purchase bulk-packaged OcTTain XL, Attain XC, Frontline XL, or Stellar, Tandem, Simplicity, Liquid Achieve and/or Prestige XC before March 20.

If you participate in both components of Dividends, you can save up to $5 per acre on Dow AgroSciences purchases. There is a Dividends calculator at www. dowagrodividends.ca to help you figure it all out.

If you have not previously completed an offer form giving Dow AgroSciences permission to collect the information they need to calculate this rebate, you must do so before Nov. 30, 2015.

Dow AgroSciences product purchases between Dec. 1, 2014 and Nov. 30, 2015 qualify for the Dividends program.

For further information, call the Dow AgroSciences Solutions Centre at 1-800-667-3852.

DuPont The 2015 DuPont FarmCare Connect Grower Program is a joint offering from DuPont Crop Protection and DuPont Pioneer.

The base program qualifies you to earn rebates, and the Canola Seed Bonus and Broadleaf Bonus is new for 2015.

You are automatically enrolled in the base program when you purchase $10,000 worth of eligible DuPont Crop Protection products like new Travallas, Predicade, Express brand herbicides or D-series or Pioneer brand seed between September 1, 2014, and August 31, 2015.

The combined total purchase of these products plus a long list of other DuPont Crop Protection products and Pioneer brand seed determines the rebate you’ll earn on a number of DuPont burn-down herbicides, in-crop herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. A complete list of these builder and rebate eligible products can be found on the DuPont FarmCare Connect website at farmcareconnect.dupont.ca.

Rebates range from four per cent if you purchase a minimum of $10,000 worth of qualifying and builder products all the way up to 10 per cent for total purchases over $150,000.

The Canola Seed Bonus can save you up to an additional three per cent on DuPont Crop Protection products when you purchase at least 300 acres of Pioneer Protector Sclerotinia, Pioneer Protector Clubroot , or Pioneer brand canola hybrids and D-Series hybrids with DuPont Lumiderm insecticide seed treatment.

With the new Broadleaf

Bonus, you qualify for an additional $1 per acre rebate on DuPont Crop Protection products when you purchase at least 300 acres from two of the four product segments. Segments include broadleaf herbicides, non-crop herbicides, fungicides /Assure II, and insecticide. The more segments you purchase from, the more you get back, up to $2 per acre.

For more information call the DuPont FarmCare Support Centre at 1-800-667-3925.

crops. Save 25 per cent on your first case. Satisfaction guaranteed or your in-crop maintenance herbicide application is free.

• Conquer, pre-seed burndown for canola crops. Save 25 per cent on your first case.

• Valtera, pre-seed residual burndown for soybeans. Save 25 per cent on your first case.

• Enforcer, broadleaf herbicide for cereal crops. Save 50 per cent on your first 80 acres.

Gowan

Syngenta is maintaining its Partner Program for 2015. To qualify for the Partner Program, you must purchase a minimum $15,000 of eligible Syngenta products. New products added to the Partner Program for 2015 include Cruiser Vibrance Quattro and Vibrance Quattro seed treatments for cereals, new canola variety SY4157, new durum variety CDC Desire and malt barley variety AAC Synergy.

Rebate percentages are calculated by totaling the purchases of most Syngenta crop establishment, crop management, crop enhancement and harvest management products.

The Partner Program Calculator and the rules and regulations can be found online at syngentafarm. ca/PartnerProgram.

A total purchase value of $15,000 in Syngenta products earns you a three per cent rebate, and this increases incrementally.

The highest level of savings is nine per cent for purchases of $220,000 or more on most crop protection products and canola and soybean seed.

Syngenta cereal, sunflower and corn seed not eligible for savings but purchases of these products are used as builders to increase the rebate percentage rate.

Syngenta has introduced a Portfolio Bonus in 2015. If you qualify for the Partner Program you can earn an additional $2 per acre rebate on seedcare products such as Cruiser Vibrance Quattro, Cruiser Maxx Vibrance Cereals, and Cruiser Maxx Vibrance Beans and Vibrance Maxx, when matched with acres treated with Traxos, Sierra 2.0, Broadband or Axial products. You can further match those seedcare acres with acres treated with fungicides Quilt and Fuse for another $2 per acre rebate.

The Cruiser Maxx Vibrance Beans Bonus also continues for this year. If you qualify for the Partner Program, you can earn an additional five per cent on all purchases of Cruiser Maxx Vibrance Beans.

If you participated in the 2014 Partner Program you are automatically registered for 2015.

Confirm registration by calling the Syngenta Customer Resource Centre at 1-87-SYNGENTA (1-877-964-3682).

Gowan explains that it works closely with crop input retails to make sure growers receive the fairest prices for its products.

Monsanto Monsanto is again offering a 100 per cent replant guarantee on DEKALB canola seed planted after April 15, DEKALB corn seed planted after April 29 and DEKALB soybean seed planted after May 1. If environmental conditions require you to replant your DEKALB brand seed, Monsanto will cover the cost of the replacement seed, up to the value of the original planted acres. DEKALB representatives will also help you match an earlier-maturing DEKALB canola or corn hybrid or soybean variety to your field and growing season. You can choose what DEKALB crop you would like to replant, regardless of the original planted crop. An application for a replant claim must be made to DEKALB retailers before June 26, 2015.

Monsanto is offering financing until fall 2015 on all DEKALB seed through AgriCard and John Deere Financial.

New for 2015, Monsanto has introduced the DEKALB Acre Program, which rewards growers who purchase multiple crops from the DEKALB brand this season with a rebate in the fall. The rebate is two per cent on the second DEKALB crop purchased and a three per cent rebate on the third DEKALB crop purchased. Talk to your DEKALB retailer or visit www.

DEKALB.ca for more details.

Monsanto is promoting the use of multiple modes of action to slow herbicide resistance. Growers in Western Canada can save $0.50 per acre on Roundup Transorb HC when they buy matching acres of Heat LQ, Heat WG or Distinct herbicides. More details on this program can be found at PowerfulCombination.ca.

NuFarm Nufarm has a number of offers for growers for the 2015 season. You can find the whole list on Nufarm’s website at www. nufarm.ca/special-offers (make sure to select “agriculture west” from the menu on the left side of the page).

Here is a list of the current offers: • NipsIt Suite, cereal seed treatment. Get $200 back when you purchase your first case.

• BlackHawk, pre-seed burndown for cereals and soybean

1 6 6 6 D u b l i n Av e n u e , W i n n i p e g , MB R 3 H 0 H 1 w w w. g r a i n e w s . c a PUBLI SH ER

Lynda Tityk Associate Publisher/ Editorial director

John Morriss

Edito r

Leeann Minogue fiel d Ed itor

Syngenta

UAP UAP explains that it keeps things simple with up-front net pricing — no hassles, no forms or having to wait to receive your own money back as a rebate. † Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

At Farm Business Communications we have a firm commitment to protecting your privacy and security as our customer. Farm Business Communications will only collect personal information if it is required for the proper functioning of our business. As part of our commitment to enhance customer service, we may share this personal information with other strategic business partners. For more information regarding our Customer Information Privacy Policy, write to: Information Protection Officer, Farm Business Communications, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1 Occasionally we make our list of subscribers available to other reputable firms whose products and services might be of interest to you. If you would prefer not to receive such offers, please contact us at the address in the preceding paragraph, or call 1-800-665-0502.

Lisa Guenther Cattleman’s Corner Editor

Lee Hart Farm life Edito r

Sue Armstrong Machinery EDITOR

Scott Garvey Pro duction Di recto r

Shawna Gibson Des igne r

Steven Cote MARKETING /CI RCUL ATION Dir ector

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Circul ation manage r

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APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features

5

Crop protection

The latest buzz on bees Ontario government proposes restricted use of neonic-treated seed

By Lilian Schaer

T

The issue isn’t that clear- seeds was a problem, but farmers cut, though, say farm groups, took action once it was identiwho recognize the importance fied, such as changing the fluof addressing bee health in a ency agent used during planting science-based way, but feel that to reduce the amount of dust cremore research is needed to deter- ated, and using deflectors to keep mine what’s behind the decline dust close to the ground. in bee numbers.

This helped dramatically Simply pointing the finger at reduce total dust emissions, and neonics won’t solve the problem, bee deaths reported to the Pest they say, as there are a few things Management Regulatory Agency that don’t add up. during spring planting in 2014 Not all beekeepers in Ontario were down by 70 per cent.

Bee nutrition is a much bighave been dealing with bee death, for example, and it hasn’t ger issue, according to Craig come forward as a major issue in Hunter, pesticide specialist with Western Canada, where neonic- the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable treated seeds are also widely used Growers’ Association.

The southwestern Ontario in canola production. landscape has evolved dramatiThere is no denying that dust T:8.125” from the use of neonic-treated cally over the last several decades:

corn and soybean acreage has expanded, hay and pasture acres are down, and farmers have taken out large numbers of fence rows to increase field size. This means fewer forage areas for bees to get food and water, leaving weakened bees that are much more susceptible to threats.

Currently, this is legislation limited only to Ontario. However, it’s worth noting that Ontario was one of the first provinces to institute a ban on cosmetic uses of pesticides in 2009 — and cosmetic use bans are now in place in nine out of 10 Canadian provinces. † Lilian Shaer is a professional farm and food writers based in Guelph, Ontario. Follow her blog at foodandfarmingcanada.com.

T:10”

he Ontario government has released its proposed regulatory changes to the provincial Pesticides Act to restrict the sale and use of corn and soybean seed treated with neonicotinoids in the province — and to say Ontario’s grain farmers aren’t pleased would be an understatement.

According to provincial agriculture minister Jeff Leal, the intent is to reduce neonicotinoid use in Ontario by 80 per cent by 2017.

The changes, if passed, would come into effect July 1 of this year for the 2016 planting season.

“Our organization has spent a significant amount of time reviewing and evaluating the draft regulations and brought forward numerous questions to the Ontario government regarding various aspects of the plan,” says Mark Brock, Chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO). “The lack of clarity, inability to address very real on-farm challenges with respect to implementation of the regulations, and the timelines imposed on the industry as a whole create an unmanageable, widespread burden to agriculture.”

“The regulations, as drafted, create insurmountable barriers to access neonicotinoid seed treatment — essentially, the government has developed a ban on the product,” he adds.

The proposed changes will create a new class of pesticides in Ontario, Class 12, for corn and soybean seeds treated with three neonicotinoid insecticides: imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, and clothianidin.

Anyone wishing to buy neonictreated seed will have to complete Integrated Pest Management (IPM) training specific to growing corn and soybeans either online or in a classroom.

Although no such training currently exists, the government says the course will be available by this fall — successful completion will result in certification valid for five years.

This is in addition to the Grower Pesticide Safety Course that farmers must already complete in order to buy and use crop protection products in Ontario.

For 2016 the government is proposing a “voluntary” approach that allows the purchase and use of neonic-treated seed on up to 50 per cent of a farmer’s corn or soybean acreage if a written declaration is made.

To plant treated seed above that level, farmers must complete a pest assessment to determine whether their levels of infestation by specific pests meet predetermined thresholds set by government.

Farmers will be able to perform their own pest assessments this year, but as of 2016, those pest assessments will have to be completed by independent, third-party pest advisors, the proposed regulations say.

Under the regulations, two pest assessment methods can be used: a soil pest-scouting assessment to confirm the presence of two pests

above thresholds (grubs and wireworms) or a drop damage assessment that will confirm damage as a result of four pests above the thresholds (grubs, wireworms, corn rootworm, and seed corn maggot).

The proposed regulations only target neonicotinoid-treated soybean and corn seed, and don’t include other neonics such as those used in the edible horticulture industry in foliar sprays or granular form.

Environmental activist groups in particular have taken up the bee cause and campaigning actively for this type of legislation, believing neonics to be behind an increase in bee deaths in Ontario in recent years.

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6

/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Features

Crop production

New guidelines for phosphorus Farming has changed since 1992. So have the recommendations for phosphorus application

By Leeann Minogue

W

hile your crop rotations and seeding practices have evolved into something your grandfather might not recognize, recommended phosphorus guidelines for Manitoba farmers have stayed the same since 1992.

Manitoba Soil Fertility experts have come together to fill this gap. In looking at soil tests across the province, John Heard (Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Development), Cindy Grant (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) and Don Flaten (University of Manitoba) found low phosphorus levels in many areas. They weren’t surprised. In recent decades yields have increased. As well, farmers have moved from crops that remove relatively low amounts of phosphorus from the soil (like cereals and flax) to crops that use a lot more phosphorus (canola, soybeans and corn).

As well as being based on outdated phosphorus needs, the recommendations that have been in place since 1992 are based on a “short term sufficiency” approach, with a goal of supplying enough phosphorus for a good yield on the current crop. The updated recommendations consider long-term soil productivity.

University of Manitoba soil scientist Don Flaten has a simple analogy. “A phosphorus budget works like a financial budget or bank account,” he says. “If you apply more phosphorus than you remove at harvest, that phosphorus goes

into ‘savings’ as a reasonably stable and plant available source of P for future crops.”

A long-term view of a field’s phosphorus needs provides more flexibility. Farmers can replenish phosphorus in the soil when prices are relatively low, while, over time reducing the risk that low nutrients will limit yield.

The new recommendations are shown in the table on the next page. These rates are based on three factors: your soil test results, what you’re planting and how the phosphorus will be applied. For example, if your soil test is shows “M” for phosphorus, with 10 parts per million and 20 pounds per acre and you’re going to be placing the phosphorus with the seed, the recommended phosphorus rate for canola is 20 pounds per acre.

plant roots. Seventy-five per cent of phosphorus is picked up in the first 25 per cent of the plant’s life.”

Starter phosphorus, small quantities of phosphorus placed close to the seed at planting, can help the plants reach that fertilizer when they need it.

Phosphorus behaves very differently from nitrogen in the soil.

It binds to the soil particles, and releases slowly over time. For that reason, once it is applied, it will remain in the soil for years to come. “In the year of application a crop utilizes maybe 15 to 25 per cent of what we apply as phosphorus,” Karamanous says.

“When you grow a crop this year, it’s feeding from the phosphorus that you put down five, 10 years ago,” Karamanous says.

“How well it does depends on how good your phosphorus fertilizer has been over the past umpteen years.”

How plants use phosphorus

Four options for long-term thinking

Plants need phosphorus. It contributes to photosynthesis, respiration, energy transfer, cell division, early root growth and winter hardiness.

In canola, a lack of phosphorus can result in poorly developed root cells, reduced seed production and delayed maturity. Under severe deficiency, the leaves may be a purplish colour.

Plants need phosphorus the most when they first begin to grow, about 12 days after seeding. At that point, Rigas Karamanous, senior agronomist with Koch Agronomic Services, says, “phosphorus is moving at a tremendous rate into the

For farmers taking a long-term approach to fertilizer, the new Manitoba guideline document points out the following four points: 1. Broadcasting phosphorus is inefficient and environmentally risky.

Banding, rather than broadcasting, reduces the contact between the fertilizer and the soil. Because phosphorus is not very mobile, placing it below the surface will put it in a better position for root uptake.

2. Side banding at planting is a good way to match rates to crop removal, without risking seed injury. Side banding is the optimum method for

photo: dr. martin entz,

small seeded and solid seeded crops in Manitoba, but sensitive crops will not tolerate high rates of phosphorus in the seed row.

3. Seed row phosphorus can be maximized in crops with high tolerance. Farmers without side banding equipment can apply higher-thanneeded phosphorus rates when they’re seeding cereals that are more tolerant, applying a surplus one year to make up for deficits in other years. The guidelines say: “crops such as wheat, barley and oats can tolerate seed row placed P at rates up to 50 pounds P2O5 per acre; however, these crops rarely remove this much P.” 4. Manure application to meet nitrogen requirements will give a field enough phosphorus for several years.

Subsurface injection or incorporation is highly recommended, to allow the plant to get to the phosphorus, and to minimize runoff.

Long-term research

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April 2015 $3.00

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REJUVENATING PASTURES

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January 15, 2015

SerVinG manitoba FarmerS Since 1925 | Vol. 73, no. 3

disease a north American first

Where it came from isn’t as important as how it will be contained when it SPECIALcomes FORAGE ISSUE to verticillium wilt in canola

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By Shannon VanRaes

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AiminG Beef leaders strive to hiGh drive industry forward Goals include boosting production efficiency by 15 per cent and increasing carcass cut-out value by 15 per cent in just five years

co-operator staff, with files from Dave BeDarD anD reuters / st. Jean Baptiste

M

anitoba prides itself on

welcoming newcomWinter graze ers, butcows the canola sector won’t be rolling out the welcome matt for26 this one — vertion ryegrass cillium longisporum.

T h e d i s e a s e w a s d i s c overed in a Manitoba canola field late last fall and visually identified at Manitoba Agriculture’s Crop Diagnostic Centre. That determination was later confirmed by molecular analysis at the National see DISEASE on page 7 »

Cows aren’t straying far from the feeder during these cold January days.

By Alexis Kienlen staff

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

B

usiness gurus call them Big Hairy Audacious Goals — and now Canadian beef leaders have to figure out how to achieve the ones they’ve set for their industry.

“You have to pick a place to get to,” said Trevor Atchison, co-chair of the National Beef Strategic Planning Group.

“You can’t make every goal in life, but if you don’t set something that’s higher than what you have today, you can’t strive to get there.”

photo: laura rance

The group, comprised of the country’s main beef industry players, released a document entitled Canada’s National Beef Strategy earlier this month. It sets the bar high with three specific goals to be achieved by 2020: Boost production efficiency by 15 per cent, increase carcass cut-out value by 15 per cent, and reduce cost disadvantage relative to global competitors by seven per cent.

“Maybe the goals are more ambitious than what we can complete, I don’t know,” said Atchison, a cow-calf producer and backgrounder from

Pipestone, who is also vice-chair of Canada Beef.

“But it’s in every producer’s best interest to try and get there to keep the industry healthy and grow it, with increased numbers that we’re going to need to maintain the market share for the global beef business we have today.”

The 30-page document (available at www.beefstrategy.com) contains many items that are long-term propositions, including improving genetics, forage

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phosphorus, yields didn’t suffer.

The head researcher, Dr. Barbara Menum-Code, is excited about this research into how plants use “legacy fertilizer.”

This study took place on small plots on AAFC-owned land. “They may or may not be typical of a farm,” Menum-Code admits. She also suspects that, “a lot of it depends on when the soil was broken.” Menum-Code has heard many local farmers say, anecdotally, that fields that lost a lot of soil during the Depression in the 1930s need more phosphorus now. The AAFC plots were not broken until after the Depression.

Menum-Code’s long-term study began in 1995. The plots she used had received full recommended rates of fertilizer from 1967 to 1995. Then, they stopped applying phosphorus. Since then, these plots have yielded similarly to test plots where phosphorus was applied.

Menum-Code says that some of these results can probably be attributed to higher-then normal moisture levels in southwestern Saskatchewan during the period of the study. “Compared to other parts of Saskatchewan and everywhere else, plant growth here is limited by water first, and nitrogen second, and then phosphorus,” she says.

NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS REMOVAL AT HARVEST FOR TYPICAL CROPS IN MANITOBA Typical Nutrient Removal (lb.)

Per Unit of Crop Grown

see BEEF BUSINESS on page 6 »

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The results of a long-term Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada phosphorus study based at Swift Current, Sask., recently turned heads. After years of applying phosphorus to the soil, researchers stopped applying phosphorus in 1995. Compared to test plots, where they kept applying

FINED: Both railways penalized for missed grain targets » PAGE 3

SPRAY

2009

This photo of alfalfa plots highlights the long-term consequences of neglecting soil phosphorus. The alfalfa in the front of the photo received composted beef cattle manure after years of receiving no phosphorus.

The alfalfa at the back of the plot did not receive any additional phosphorus, and has suffered dramatically.

Units

N

P2O5

Alfalfa

tons/ac.

58.0

13.8

Barley – Grain

bu./ac.

0.97

0.43

Barley – Silage

Crop

dry tons/ac.

34.4

11.8

Canola

bu./ac.

1.93

1.04

Corn – Grain

bu./ac.

0.97

0.44

Corn – Silage

dry tons/ac.

31.2

12.7

lb./ac.

0.042

0.014

Fababeans

lb./ac.

0.050

0.018

Flax

bu./ac.

2.13

0.65

Grass hay

Dry edible beans

tons/ac.

34.2

10.0

Lentils

lb./ac.

0.034

0.010

Oats

bu./ac.

0.62

0.26

Peas

bu./ac.

2.34

0.69

Potatoes

cwt/ac.

0.32

0.09

Rye

bu./ac.

1.06

0.45

Soybeans

bu./ac.

3.87

0.84

Sunflowers

lb./ac.

0.027

0.011

Wheat – Spring

bu./ac.

1.50

0.59

Wheat – Winter

bu./ac.

1.04

0.51

Derived from Manitoba Soil Fertility Guide

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features Read the full report The full report, “Phosphorus Recommendation Strategies for Manitoba,” by John Heard (Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Development), Cindy Grant (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) and Don Flaten (University of Manitoba), is posted on the Manitoba Corn website. Find it here: http://manitobacorn. ca/agronomy-links/. † Leeann Minogue

FERTILIZER PHOSPHATE (P2O5) RECOMMENDED LB./AC. Soil phosphorus (sodium bicarbonate P test) ppm

0 5 10

How many years will they be able to grow grain on these plots without adding more phosphorus?

“Ask me again in a few years,” Menum-Code says.

Should you try this at home?

“We are certainly not recommending it,” Menum-Code says. “It’s kind of cool that we have these long-term plots that haven’t been changed,” she says.

“When we’re down to zero-test phosphorus, what will happen next?”

Don Flaten is quite emphatic that farmers should not try this approach at home. Flaten attributes the results of this study as the simple impact of drawing down on a long-running bank account. “In situations like some of the long term studies at Swift Current, the surplus phosphorus that accumulates during years of phosphorus fertilization, can offset a phosphorus ‘deficit’ that

7

15

lb./ac. Rating

Cereal

Corn Sunflower Canola Mustard Flax

Canola Mustard Flax

Buckwheat Fababeans

Potatoes

Peas, Lentils, Field beans, Soybeans

Legume forages

Perennial grass forages

S1

Sb2

B3

S1

B3

S1

B3

PPI4

B3

S1

Seeding PPI5

Est stand BT6

Seeding PPI5

Est stand BT6

0

VL

40

40

40

20

40

20

55

110

40

20*

75

55

45

30

5

VL

40

40

40

20

40

20

55

110

40

20*

75

55

45

30

10

L

40

40

40

20

40

20

50

100

40

15*

75

55

45

30

15

L

35

0

35

20

35

20

45

90

35

15*

65

50

35

25

20

M

30

0

30

20

30

20

45

90

30

10*

60

40

30

20

25

M

20

0

20

20

20

20

40

80

20

10*

50

35

20

15

30

H

15

15

15

0

15

20

35

70

15

0

45

30

15

10

35

H

10

10

10

0

10

20

30

60

10

0

35

25

5

5

20

40

VH

10

10

10

0

10

20

30

60

10

0

30

20

0

0

20+

40+

VH+

10

10

10

0

10

20

30

60

10

0

25

20

0

0

S1 – seed-placed rates, Sb2 – side banded rates for row crops, B3 – banded away from the seed, PPI4 – if P is broadcast, rates must be 2 X that of banding to be as effective.

PPI5– for forages phosphorus is applied most effectively by banding one inch to the side and below the seed. If phosphate cannot be banded, then broadcast and preplant incorporate. BT6 – broadcast for established stands of forages, Est stand = established stands of forages, *for field beans and soybeans, safe rates of seed-placed P are limited to 10 lb. P2O5/ac. with narrow row widths (<15") and no seed-placed P when grown in wider row widths.

occurs later on, when no phosphorus or low rates of phosphorus are applied. However, if no phosphorus is applied over a long period of time, even soils with a large reserve of phosphorus will become phosphorus deficient and yields will eventually decline.”

Flaten also refers to a long-term study done by Dr. Martin Entz at the University of Manitoba’s Glenlea Research Station.

Graduate student Cathy Welsh completed a long-term study of the effects of removing hay and grain from organic plots with-

out replacing phosphorus. “Even though soil test levels of phosphorus in this trial were very high at the beginning, after 12 years without adding any phosphorus, the decline in the most plantavailable pools of phosphorus (i.e. The cash reserves in the phosphorus bank) was much more dramatic than in stable reserves (i.e. The bonds and term deposits in the phosphorus bank.) Then, Dr. Entz added composted beef cattle manure on half of the plots, to restore phosphorus, with a dramatic increase in crop yields.”

phos in the bank After record-high yielding crops in 2013, Karamanous and Tee Boon Goh of the University of Manitoba took a look at the “balance” of phosphorus and other nutrients across the Prairies, based on crop yields and fertilizer applications. They found that, after record yields, application of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulfur “in 2013 lagged considerably behind the estimated total removal by crops.”

Their conclusion: “Of particular

concern is the ever widening deficit between removed and applied phosphate.” They found a negative balance (that is, more phosphorus used than applied) in eight out of the 10 years in the study.

Karamanous updated the results this winter. Even without record yields, our average phosphorus situation hasn’t improved. Karamanous’ report says, “Although harvest in 2014 was lower than 2013, it still contributed to a further reduction in available nutrient levels in the soil.” † Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

STOP THE SPREAD Help stop the spread of kochia. Tank mix two or more herbicide groups to help control the spread of weed resistance on your farm. For tank mix recommendations, visit www.rrwms.ca/kochia

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8

/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Features

Crop Advisor’s casebook

Poor emergence in canola crop

By Dan Friesen

I

n mid-May I got a call from David, who grows 2,000 acres of canola, wheat, soybeans and peas on his farm in southeastern Manitoba.

It had been three weeks since David had planted his canola crop, but he was seeing very poor emergence in the field.

David had hoped for eight to 10 plants per square foot, but so far only two to four seedlings per square foot had appeared in the seed rows. With so few canola plants emerging, he suspected seed might be the issue.

“I think I received a bad seed lot, and that has caused poor germination,” David said.

He asked me to come out and have a look at his canola field.

When I arrived at David’s farm,

I was told the weather had been fairly dry in recent months, and that soils in these fields were a mixture of clay-loam and sandy-loam.

I performed a plant stand count right away and confirmed that relatively few seedlings had emerged. These findings were uniform across the entire field, and there were no signs of patchiness indicating some areas were affected worse than others.

Prior to visiting David’s farm, I had called the seed supplier to enquire about the canola seed lot. The supplier reported that no one else had experienced germination issues with this seed batch, ruling this out as a source of the problem. But if bad seed wasn’t to blame, what was?

I wasn’t sure, but I suspected the issue might have something to do with chemicals applied to

Dan Friesen is a sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Starbuck, Man. the field. When I looked at the grower’s application records, I could see that no residual herbicide had been used the previous year, and that a glyphosate prod-

uct had been applied that spring just prior to planting.

With respect to nutrients, David had applied a primary source of nitrogen as anhydrous at a rate of 100 pounds per acre the previous fall. A 36-50-0-20 fertilizer blend had also been applied at planting, in an effort to boost phosphorus levels in the field. I also learned that the fertilizer had been seed-placed with a narrow opener disc drill.

If you think you know what’s going on with David’s canola crop, send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3K7; email leeann. minogue@fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop Advisor’s Casebook. The best suggestions will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a Grainews cap

Casebook winner

T

he winning answer for this issue of Casebook came from Ben Mandel, from Jenner Colony in Alberta. Ben, we’re renewing your Grainews subscription for a year and sending you a Grainews cap.

Thanks for reading and thanks for entering! † Leeann Minogue

and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The answer, along with the reasoning that solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File. † Dan Friesen is a sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Starbuck, Man.

Relatively few seedlings emerged. This was uniform across the entire field, and there were no signs of patchiness indicating some areas were affected worse than others.

Crop advisor’s solution

Solonetzic soils behind white wheat patches

By Rachelle Farrell

J

oe, a grain producer at Morinville, Alta., was having trouble with a particular field at his farm two years running. The first time, his barley crop didn’t perform well, as numerous irregular spots where the barley heads didn’t fill out emerged mid-season and reduced the yield in the field.

The following year, a wheat crop planted in the same field was looking great until mid-July. That’s when the plants started turning white in irregular patches that were even more pronounced that the year before.

When I went out to Joe’s farm to assess the situation, I could see the affected wheat plants had white heads and dried-up flag leaves.

There were no signs of insect damage, and weather was also ruled out

as a contributing factor. Joe thought it might be a fertility issue, but he’d been following a fertilizer plan we’d laid out earlier in the season so there appeared to be enough nutrients in the soil.

I suspected there was something else going on in the soil that was causing the problem. Soil tests had been performed the previous fall following the barley harvest, but it’d been difficult to precisely target the affected areas within the field and as a result the test results had been inconclusive.

We decided to test the soil again.

This time we were able to clearly see the affected and unaffected areas, and the testing this time around provided our answer. The necessary nutrients were there in all the samples but one quality in the affected areas stood out — a high sodium concentration that indicated a Solonetzic soil.

We determined that while there was a high sodium concentration over the whole field, it is higher in certain spots and these spots corresponded with areas where the topsoil was shallower and had less tolerance to moisture stress. It was these areas that contained the affected plants.

If there had been a severe moisture shortage, the entire field likely would have been affected. This season, there had been just enough rain so that the areas with more topsoil could support the crop, while those with less topsoil didn’t have enough capacity to provide plant roots with enough moisture. The roots were unable to grow through the hardpan that was high in sodium in search of additional subsoil moisture.

Unfortunately for Joe, there wasn’t anything that could be done to salvage his wheat crop at this point. At har-

vest, the yield was drastically reduced in the affected areas, and was generally low overall for the field.

There would be no quick fix going forward either. Mixing calcium in lime or gypsum form in the hardpan layer through deep, subsoil plowing would help displace the sodium and improve the soil, but this represents a labour intensive and quite costly solution.

Anyone faced with a similar dilemma should keep in mind that Solonetzic soils may only constitute a small part of a field. Soils can be extremely variable within a single field, let alone fields that are close to one another, so it’s important to consider what the return on time and monetary investment will be when considering whether or not to deep plow and apply calcium. † Rachelle Farrell is a Crop Inputs Manager with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Morinville, Alta.

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

Features

9

Ag investments

Looking for Genesis investors The Farmers of North America were on the road in March, hoping to attract investors for a chain of fertilizer distribution facilities

By Leeann Minogue

B

arrie Mann spent his spring holding meetings from Strathmore to Davidson.

Mann is chief operating officer of Farmers of North America and brother to FNA founder and president James Mann. At his Weyburn, Sask., meeting Mann told about 60 farmers. “Fertilizer is your No. 1 expense. We’re allowing the profits from fertilizer to go back in your bank account.”

Most of the farmers at the March 26 meeting were also at the meeting back in October, 2012, when FNA was on the road to generate interest in Project N, a plan to build

a majority-farmer-owned fertilizer plant at Belle Plaine, Sask.

Though no cement has been poured, Project N is still in the works, Mann says. Now, FNA is promoting and raising money for “Genesis Grain and Fertilizer,” a plan to build seven farm input distribution sites.

Once FNA has raised the minimum amount listed in its Offering Memorandum, $24,200,000, it plans to begin construction of its first distribution “supercenter” at Belle Plaine, Sask.

Ultimately, Genesis would include seven supercenters. Three in Alberta (including the Peace River region of B.C.), three in Saskatchewan and one in Manitoba.

FNA has plans to build Project N, its fertilizer plant, on that same Belle Plaine, Sask., site and supply all seven supercenters with its own nitrogen fertilizer. Until Project N is producing fertilizer, Genesis would sell fertilizer purchased from around the world.

AgraCity, a separate company owned indirectly (through other companies they control) by FNA president James Mann and another Mann brother, Jason, will source the fertilizer and organize the logistics and sales. Genesis will pay AgraCity $15 per tonne of fertilizer sold.

T:11.5” MPower Management Team will S:10.25” provide management and administrative services for Genesis, at cost plus 10 per cent profit. Initially,

with just one facility, MPower forecasts its costs at $600,000, or $660,000 with the 10 per cent mark-up. This would increase to $909,000 ($1,000,000 after the mark-up) once Genesis is running at full capacity. Like AgraCity, MPower Management is owned indirectly by James and Jason Mann.

Farmers buying fertilizer at the supercenters would pay market prices. Non-investors would pay the same prices for fertilizers as investors. Investors would gain by sharing in net profits. “We’re not out to break the price of fertilizer,” Mann told the Weyburn audience.

Mann hopes farmers buy at least enough shares in Genesis to account for their own ferti-

lizer use. He estimates that farmers should invest $10 per acre of land in the Genesis project to effectively hedge their needs. ”If your investment is much less, you’re just buying retail.”

Investors can buy $1,000 “units” in the Genesis projects, with a minimum investment of $10,000.

Investors must be farmers, Canadian and FNA members. They will only be able to resell shares to other buyers that meet these qualifications.

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Features

Crop protection

Aphonomyces hurting pea yield

Hope in sight

After repeated aphanomyces problems, Bernie McLean is taking a break from growing peas

By Lisa Guenther

B

ernie McClean usually has a positive outlook on everything. But after three years of dealing with aphanomyces, he’s taking a break from peas.

“It’s just too risky. I can’t afford the risk,” says McClean over a cup of coffee at his farm, which sits between Glaslyn and Medstead in northwestern Saskatchewan.

Up until two weeks ago, McClean was still planning to seed a couple of small fields to peas.

But, as seeding time approached, worries about aphanomyces were keeping him up at night. He’s now planning to switch peas out for malt barley, at least this year.

The decision wasn’t an easy one to make. Peas broke up the cereals and oilseeds in his rotation.

He’s invested in a flex-header and roller. The peas also allowed him to manage his seeding and harvest operations well — many of his other crops needed to be seeded earlier and harvested later.

“It’s a cropping alternative that I’ll miss. We need those options,” he says.

Ground zero for aphanomyces McClean’s farm has been ground zero in the struggle to manage aphanomyces. In 2012, the first confirmed case of aphanomyces in Saskatchewan was in his field.

That summer, one pea field, which had seen the crop several times over the years, started to show signs of the disease. McClean, with the help of his agronomist and a neighbour, pulled plants and sent them to a Regina lab.

Aphanomyces is notoriously tough to diagnose, as other root diseases such as fusarium quickly move in after the initial infection.

They had caught the infection

early enough for the lab to detect aphanomyces, but they couldn’t save the crop. He watched his plants wilt and yellow. The root disease destroyed nodules. Most of the acres on that field were a wreck, but one patch that hadn’t seen peas before yielded well.

In contrast, another of McClean’s pea fields that year averaged 67 bushels per acre, winning him the Prince of Peas title with Cavalier Agrow. The high-yielding green peas had been seeded into oats stubble. That was the first year peas had been seeded into that field.

McClean tried peas again in 2013 and the pulses yielded around 65 bushels per acre. By now, McClean felt like he was starting to figure out how to manage aphanomyces. While McClean had known moisture was an important factor, he knew that rotation and compaction also contribute. McClean thought he could manage the disease by picking the right fields.

Water is king But 2014 proved that when it comes to aphanomyces severity, water is king.

Last year he seeded two fields to peas. One field had seen peas recently, but had only grown peas once before 2014. Historically he’d always seeded into cereal stubble, but this field was canola stubble. He controlled his volunteers.

McClean thought it would be a “perfect field.”

But a summer thunderstorm left standing water on that field for a day and a half, derailing the peas. Discovery Seed Labs in Saskatoon confirmed aphanomyces in the field.

“And it devastated that field,” he says. McClean netted 11 bushels per acre from the water-logged field.

Water didn’t pool on the second pea field, which was about a quarter

of a mile away. It yielded just over 50 bushels per acre, McClean says.

Peas don’t like wet feet to start with and aphanomyces thrives in soggy soil. Aphanomyces spores have flagella that allow them to swim very short distances through wet soil, infecting roots.

McClean does have land that hasn’t seen peas, but it’s very wet, so he doesn’t want to take a chance. His whole area has been caught in a wet cycle for the last several years. That superfluous water has even killed willows on McClean’s farm. “We’ve lost a lot of acres to water,” he says.

McClean says he can’t see taking a chance on peas until we’re in a drying trend. But now that the disease has built up, he’s wondering if it will affect his crops even in dry years. The disease, which also hits lentils, can survive in the soil for up to 20 years without a host.

Farmers worried about aphanomyces should take it seriously, he says.

“Believe what they’re saying and do your due diligence to baby that field as well as you can if you do want to try peas again,” he says.

Right now farmers don’t have any chemicals or resistant varieties to give them an edge with aphanomyces. Extra moisture seems to the biggest factor, so McClean suggests farmers seed their highest, best-drained land to peas.

Compaction also contributes.

McClean had originally planned to seed his peas later this spring, to give the soil time to dry out.

He suggests farmers avoid rolling if they don’t have to, or try to roll when the soil is dryer, to reduce compaction.

“Ultimately the goal is to keep the plant as healthy as you can,” says McClean. † Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

Although aphanomyces spores are long-lived, longer rotations seem to reduce disease severity.

Peas and lentils should only be grown once every four years. And if fields are infested with aphanomyces, rotations should be stretched to six years or more, according to a joint presentation by the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, Saskatchewan Agriculture and the Crop Development Centre.

While seed treatments don’t prevent aphanomyces, they do fight other, secondary diseases such as fusarium. Farmers should test seed for germ, quality and seed levels, according to the presentation.

If soils have less than 15 pounds per acre of nitrogen, farmers should use starter nitrogen, the presentation states.

Phosphorus is suggested when seeding into cold soils. Proper inoculation is a must.

To view the presentation on aphanomyces, visit www.saskpulse.com/ uploads/content/Root_ Rot_Pulse_Meetings_2015. pdf. †

In early April, NuFarm announced that it had received emergency use registration of its INTEGO Solo seed treatment for suppression of Aphanomyces euteiches in field peas.

INTEGO Solo (ethaboxam) is a Group 22 fungicide registered for pythium control and the suppression of seed rot caused by Phytophthora and aphanomyces. It had already been registered Canada-wide for use on lentils, chickpeas, dry beans and soybeans.

With this emergency use registration, it can also be used on field peas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

INTEGO Solo will help protect seedling roots of seedlings during early season growth stages while soil conditions are wet. It is the only Group 22 seed treatment or fungicide registered for pulses in Canada.

Graham Collier, technical services manager for Western Canada with Nufarm Agriculture Inc. wants to remind growers that this product is a “suppression product,” for use as “part of a management system,” and will not completely eliminate problems. It will be helpful for early season protection, but the length of time it will protect the plants will be dependent on environmental conditions.

“It’s there while our soils are moist in the summer,“ Collier says. However, aphanomyces could still infect plants later in the growing season.

“We don’t have an option for later in the year yet,” he says.

“Everyone’s working on it.”

After harvest, residue from fields treated with this product cannot be fed to livestock. “We have a residue study that’s not done yet,” Collier says. †

Lisa Guenther

Leeann Minogue

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Features

11

Crop disease

Clubroot resistance in jeopardy Alberta researchers have found a clubroot pathogen, 5x, that can infect clubroot-resistant canola varieties

By Lisa Guenther

A

nyone in the canola industry banking on clubroot-resistant varieties alone to stop the disease is in for a shock this spring, as Alberta researchers have discovered 16 more fields where resistance has broken.

In 2014 researchers identified a clubroot pathotype, christened 5x, that had worn away resistance. Not all the resistance-busting pathotypes in the 16 new fields have been identified as 5x, although Dan Orchard says those results are preliminary.

“So there could be many (virulent) strains out there,” says Orchard, an agronomist with the Canola Council of Canada.

The new fields are spread throughout Alberta’s clubroot zone in central Alberta, Orchard says. They aren’t clustered near the original field with the 5x pathotype, he adds.

“It seems like they’re all independent of each other,” Orchard says. “There’s no real relationship to think that they had the same equipment or shared anything.”

that rating means plants will have between 30 to 69 per cent infection levels compared to the clubroot-susceptible check.

A canola variety rated resistant to clubroot has to rate 70 per cent compared to a susceptible check.

That means in a field of clubrootresistant canola, up to 30 per cent of the plants could potentially be infected. But in-house standards for seed companies would be in the 90 percentile for resistance, says Clint Jurke, agronomy director for the Council.

At any rate, this range of allowable infection made it more difficult to catch the resistance breakdown early on, Orchard says.

Old rules have come full circle Orchard says the old rules that farmers were reluctant to follow “have come full circle.”

Chief among those is cleaning equipment. The Canola Council hasn’t asked farmers to clean equipment between each field for years now, says Jurke. Instead, they’re asking farmers to look at their own risk level before deciding how much cleaning they should do.

If a farmer is scouting diligently and he knows his farm is clubroot-free, Orchard still recommends knocking large dirt lumps from equipment.

Farmers whose fields are free of infestations, but who are on the fringe of the clubroot zone, will want to clean a little more thoroughly, Orchard says. They may also want to keep equipment from other farms out of their fields, he adds.

Farmers with infested fields will want to start field operations in the cleanest fields and work their way towards the most heavily-infested. They should clean equipment thoroughly once they’ve finished the worst field.

That approach is more realistic, Orchard says, “because farmers just do not have the time

to do the sanitation that’s been asked by the industry.”

Equipment is the main way clubroot-contaminated soil infests new fields, but it can also blow in from eroded fields, Orchard says. That means farmers can’t skip scouting even if their equipment is pristine.

Jurke also notes that the disease may have arrived in some fields years ago, but escaped observation.

Both Jurke and Orchard emphasize that the greater the spore load, the more quickly clubroot will overcome resistance.

» continued on page 13

IT HAS ALL THE POTENTIAL IN THE WORLD,

Keep that spore load as low as possible Some of the infested fields are also in areas where clubroot traditionally hasn’t had high spore loads, which Orchard says comes as a bit of a surprise. Resistance wasn’t expected to break in areas where spore loads weren’t high, he explains. The next step is to find out whether the 16 fields individually have sky-high spore loads that weren’t identified for some reason.

Orchard isn’t familiar with all the fields, but he says some were under tight rotations.

Dr. Stephen Strelkov, a University of Alberta researcher, is heading up the next round of research. He’ll look at whether any canola varieties can fight off these new clubroot pathotypes, Orchard says. He’ll also confirm which strains the new, unidentified pathotypes belong to.

But there are several different varieties in the 16 fields, Orchard says, and they all seem to have the same clubroot resistance genetics.

“So it would be unlikely that it’s just (specific to) that variety in that field.”

Strelkov’s earlier work showed that there appeared to be some different sources of clubroot resistance being used by different canola seed brands, Orchard says.

“But they don’t appear to be enough to say that rotating between Company A and Company B is going to slow down the shift because none of them are resistant to this 5x.”

Canterra Seeds is releasing a new variety — CS2000 — that has an intermediate reaction level to the 5x pathogen. Orchard explains

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12

/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Columns Kelly’s AgExpert Tips and Hints

Creating invoices with AgExpert Setting up, creating and customizing invoices with farm accounting software Kelly Airey

A

gExpert’s invoice creating capability is a great feature that allows you to enter and record a sale at the same time as invoicing your customer.

All invoices must be made through the Point of Sale Screen.

You can create an invoice for any type of sale, including sales of

cattle, grain, hay, custom work or capital assets. You can choose your invoice style from a selection of templates within the program — they’re customizable to allow for adding your own farm logo and selecting font and colours. You can print an invoice immediately as you enter a sale into the program or you can set the program to place the invoices in a queue to batch print at a later time.

Setting up invoices To setup and customize your invoices: 1. Setup > Preferences > Optional Features Tab > Place a check mark in the “Point of Sale/ Print Invoices” box.

2. Click Save.

3. Setup > Preferences > Invoices Tab 4. Choose a Template: Click

BayerCropScience.ca/Infinity or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative.

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on the Folder icon below the copies you’d like printed, the Template > Select a Template > next Invoice number, and place Click OK. a check mark in the “Print Unit 5. Logo: If you have a farm Price” box.

Logo you’d like to use on your Tip: I recommend printing two invoice, then click the folder icon invoice copies. One to give to below the Logo Box > Choose theB:17.7083” your customer and one to keep logo from the appropriate loca-T:17.4583” for your records. tion on your computer 8. You can also add your own S:17.0833” 6. Select your printer thank-you message and payment 7. Select your font, colour, terms. date format, number of invoice 9. Click Save.

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

13

Columns Creating an invoice Using the Point of Sale Screen: 1. Date: Enter the transaction date 2. Reference: Enter the invoice number 3. Customer: Select a customer 4. Place a check mark in the “Print Immediately” box to print the invoice after you record the transaction. Tip: If this box is left unselected, an invoice will still be created when you record the transaction, but it will be placed in the print queue for printing at a later time. The print queue can

be accessed from Transactions > Print Queue > Invoices.

5. Enter the transaction details. <For example:> To record the sale of hay bales: • Type > IN • Account > Alfalfa Hay Sales Account • Memo: Click on the pencil icon > the description you put here is what will be printed on the invoice • Quantity: Enter number of bales or tonnes. Tip: The quantity unit label that pops up, comes from the unit label selected for the Hay Income Account in the Chart of Accounts. Ensure that if the

Hay Income Account is linked to the Hay Inventory Account to track inventory, that the unit labels are set the same for both accounts. They should both be tracking bales or both be tracking tonnes.

• Unit Price: Enter price per bale or price per tonne • Total: will be calculated by quantity x price • Taxes: select appropriate tax code 6. The subtotal, taxes and total will automatically be calculated on bottom right side.

7. Click the green “+” icon or [TAB] to create a new line if there are more sales to add to this invoice.

8. Cash or charge: if the invoice is already paid, select Cash > Choose the bank account the money was deposited into > Place a check mark in the appropriate payment method box. “PAID” will be marked on the invoice when it prints.

If the invoice is unpaid, select Charge > upon recording this transaction, a receivable will be created in the system, and “Charge” will be marked on the invoice when it prints. Tip: When you receive payment on this invoice, you can record the deposit in the Transaction Entry Screen. The “Transaction Type” is a Deposit, The “Type” in the first line will be a Receivable Payment. You can apply the amount you’ve received from the customer against the open invoice.

9. Notes > Select the Paper with the pencil icon at the bottom left side of the screen.

“Private Notes” can be made about the transaction that will only be seen by you. “Customer Notes” are notes that will be printed on the invoice.

10. A confirmation may appear saying “This transaction detail will exceed the credit limit for this customer. Continue? “Click Yes, if you have not set any credit limits for your customers and continue to record the transaction. Tip: If you would like to set a credit limit for your customer, you can go to Setup > Contacts > Select Customer > Edit > Fill in Credit Limit Amount > Save Invoices will always be in the print queue. If your paper jams in the printer, or you realize you need to print another copy then go to Transactions > Print Queue > Invoices. Put a check mark in the box to “Include items already printed” to show all the invoices in the queue. If you want to make a change to the font, colour or template, you can select Preferences, make the changes, and then come back to the print queue to print the invoices with the applied changes. †

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

more selection pressure they’ll apply to the clubroot pathogen, Orchard says.

Early greenhouse research showed that clubroot resistance started to erode within two canola crops, regardless of the time between those crops, Orchard says. The resistance break-down would be evident by the third canola crop. And that’s almost exactly what happened in the field, he says.

What this means on a practical level is that farmers with a two-year rotation have grown three resistant crops since clubroot resistance was introduced in 2009. These farmers can already see dead patches of canola from the swather, Orchard explains.

But farmers using a three-year rotation with clubroot-resistant varieties have less severe infestations right now because they’ve only used resistant varieties twice so far.

“We can scout their fields and find very small patches and evidence of this happening. But it’s not visible from a swather or a pick-up truck,” says Orchard.

Longer rotations not only slow the resistance erosion, but also give researchers more time to get ahead of the disease, Orchard says.

Orchard understands it’s a challenge to find other crops to lengthen rotations, but adds that it’s an important management practice for clubroot and other crop diseases.

But ultimately rotation alone isn’t enough to manage clubroot resistance.

Jurke explains that even with a four-year rotation, farmers using susceptible canola varieties will boost the number of virulent spores. In fact, a four-year rotation with susceptible varieties will build up more virulent spores than a two-year rotation with resistant varieties, assuming both farms start with low spore loads, he says.

The mantra must be to rotate crops and not use susceptible varieties anymore, says Jurke. †

Clubroot resistance no longer a sure thing

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“Farmers need to identify it really early to keep that spore load as low as possible,” says Orchard. “And that way, the odds of it breaking resistance are much, much slimmer.”

Both Orchard and Jurke recommend using resistant varieties before farms have clubroot to prevent spore loads from building to uncontrollable levels.

Clubroot seems to spread about 30 km a year, so farmers within 30 km of an infested field should use clubroot-resistant varieties, Orchard says.

Orchard also recommends farmers create a management plan even if their fields are still clubroot-free.

For example, Orchard finds energy companies tend to comply with field entry protocols if farmers have them in place already.

In areas with few cropping choices, it’s even more important farmers keep clubroot out, Orchard says, to make sure they can potentially survive on a shorter rotation.

Rotate, rotate, rotate, rotate The more often farmers grow clubroot-resistant canola, the By jonny hawkins

Country Chuckles

C-52-04/15-10287626-E

“Postmodern Farmers”

Kelly Airey is a producer and ag consultant in Western Manitoba. She offers software setups and training, and discounts on software purchases. Contact Kelly at kelly. agconsulting@gmail.com or (204) 365-0136

Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

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/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Columns Reporter’s Notebook

Better weather information​ New technology allows farmers to have their own on-farm weather stations Lisa Guenther

I

n my last column, I wrote about how new technology sometimes scares the snot out of me (specifically driverless cars).

But I’m not a complete Luddite, or neo-Luddite. I do have an iPhone, apps and all.

Some of the apps I use most frequently during the summer are weather-related. I like to check if a squall line is marching my way before I commit to any lengthy outdoor activities.

Dr. Randy Kutcher, a disease specialist with the University of Saskatchewan, thinks local weather data could also help farmers make better fungicide application decisions.

The first thing farmers need to remember is that weather is just one risk factor. For a disease to take hold there needs to be inoculum in the area, he explained.

Rotation and variety are also factors, he added.

Some regions are already creating disease risk maps using weather data. For example, Manitoba creates a FHB risk map. The map is updated daily and takes into account the tem-

perature and weather over the last seven days. (To find it, at discovery.gov.mb.ca, search for FHB risk forecast.)

Saskatchewan doesn’t have anything similar right now, although they do survey fields for sclerotinia and blackleg ever year. The disease maps are posted at www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/.

Those maps will give you an idea of whether the disease is present in your area.

Weather stations But the good news is that even if you don’t have disease risk maps for your area, you have other options. For one thing, weather stations aren’t prohibitively expensive anymore.

“When you spend half a million on a combine, a couple thousand bucks for a weather station is not that much,” said Kutcher. “And in fact, you can get stuff for a lot cheaper than that. You can get stuff at Canadian Tire even.”

The University of Saskatchewan uses a sophisticated, solar-powered weather station called a Davis, which Kutcher said costs a couple thousand bucks. They also use small weather probes called HOBOs, which come in at less than $500.

“You can move them around.

Or you can move them higher or

lower in the canopy, depending on what you’re measuring,” said Kutcher. The cigar-shaped probes measure temperature, relative humidity, leaf surface wetness, and other variables. They don’t measure rainfall, but farmers can either check a rain gauge every morning or buy a tipping bucket.

Of course, Kutcher’s not the only one who sees a fit. Farmers Edge is using weather stations to help its clients with different agronomic and management decisions, including fungicide application. They combine weather data with information on fertility, variety, seeding date, soil water holding capacity and texture, and satellite imagery to predict everything from crop stages to disease outbreaks, Farmers Edge founder Wade Barnes wrote via email.

Once you have a personal weather station, you can also connect it to networks. Both Wunderground and WeatherFarm allow individuals to do this, although you should probably check their requirements before ponying up for a station.

Hooking into their systems feeds weather data into the network, which benefits others in the area.

WeatherFarm also has an online tool that tells you whether it’s too windy to spray or not, so that’s something to consider.

Farmers Edge provides weather stations as part of a preci-

sion agronomy package it calls Precision Solutions. The company supplies the hardware and installs the station. The stations tie into an existing network, but they provide local forecasts, weather alerts to help with agronomic decisions, historical weather information, and the ability to monitor environmental conditions for specific issues, such as disease. The weather station uploads this information to the Internet every few minutes.

Barnes cautioned against making spraying decisions based on alerts from weather stations 50 miles away. I think he’s probably right in that regard. My parents have a WeatherFarm station perched on top of their shop.

There’s also a Wunderground station a few miles from their farm. The temperature, humidity and wind speed sometimes vary between those stations. It’s handy to have both available.

I don’t know much about actually buying a weather station. Wunderground has a selection on their website (wunderground.com), but keep in mind they’re a U.S. company. Weather Innovations Network, which is based in Ontario, also has equipment information on their website (weatherinnovations.com).

Barnes suggests making sure your weather station provides enough data to help you make good decisions. You should also

Full disclosure WeatherFarm is owned by Glacier Farm Media. Glacier also owns Grainews and Country Guide, along with several other farm papers.

You can see which papers Glacier houses at www. farmmedia.com.

Weather Innovations Network is also linked to Glacier.

The company partnered with Glacier a couple of years ago to buy WeatherFarm from the Canadian Wheat Board. † Lisa Guenther

make sure you have enough strategically placed on the farm to make a difference, he added.

Kutcher said he thinks we can make use of weather data much more rigorously than we have.

“But we need to know when to collect it, how to collect it, and how to factor it into all the other things it affects — diseases like sclerotinia in canola and fusarium in wheat — to be able to make better judgments as to when to spray for those diseases.” † Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.Guenther@ fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

Can’t take the farm from the boy

Everyone wants to be a farmer City folk may not understand all the realities of farming, but many dream of doing it Toban Dyck

I

t’s frustrating. I want my city friends to get it. I want them to understand how nuanced issues and trends like livestock production, genetically-modified organisms, fossil fuels, and eating farm-to-table are.

It would be unfair to say city dwellers are vain, but I want to.

Just as it would have been unfair of me to say all farmers are hicks when I lived in the city.

I have sat on both sides of the rural-urban gulf and felt justified on each.

We all should know better.

Quick judgements are never correct. And us farmers don’t take well to those claiming the final word on agricultural issues within the confines of a city’s perimeter. They are often wrong about us, as we are about them.

But, sadly, it largely remains us and them.

Here’s the rub: I think rural life is better. I’d argue this from

personal experience, but I don’t need to. Trends speak for themselves.

The Good Will is a bar/venue in Winnipeg located west of the University of Winnipeg on Portage Avenue. Hipsters go there in droves (please don’t ask me what a hipster is. Apparently I’m one of them). The Good Will has got current definitions of cool written all over it: aloof bartenders who love everyone, carry no judgments, and just like to have a good time; a place where cool bands perform while knitting groups meet; and it’s equipped with a space for people with notebooks and laptops to comfortably work.

I’m being disingenuous, in part, but shouldn’t be because I really like the place. I sit on a board that meets at The Good Will a couple of times a month.

In January, I attended such a meeting. I drove to the city in a silver three-quarter ton Dodge Ram diesel truck. I parked in front of the bar, on Portage Avenue, behind a tiny sedan, and walked into the bar wearing Sorel boots, a winter parka, a touque, and big mitts. There was immediate consensus among everyone who

saw me that I had just come from the farm.

I stomped through the door and plunked myself down at the table, ready to chat about online publishing. The six of us occupied about eight feet of a 40-footlong table made of butcher block situated between the pizza parlour and the bar itself.

This time in particular was strange. Once the meeting was officially over, and we were just chatting, the conversation turned to community gardens, farm-totable eating, and food politics.

There is a charm to farming, it turns out, and I’m a pretty cool dude for doing it. At least, that’s what people think, apparently having no trouble reconciling the fact that I, the guy sitting next to them sipping craft beer, apply round-up, drive a fuel-hungry truck — often by myself — and occasionally fire a rifle, with attitudes that disparage all of those things.

This is fascinating and telling.

There seems to be an understanding and respect for the measures farmers need to take in order to get things done. And this understanding is a trump card. Why? Seated deep in “artisanal,”

“heritage grains,” “organic,” “farm-to-table,” is an unstated pining for something more.

These may just be $10 words or phrases for the same thing.

“Farming dreams are a modern seduction,” reads the Modern Farmer article “So You Want To Be a Farmer…”: “For city dwellers, the vision of making a living from the earth salves the psychic wounds of a day job, and acts as an antidote to urban malaise.

If you could just get out there on the land, far from spreadsheets and stress, cubicles and car alarms, things would surely be different. Eating overripe tomatoes, fresh from the vine and bursting with juice. Cavorting with goats.”

Perhaps it’s too crude to just admit to being tired of a certain lifestyle and wanting another.

Perhaps the moral superiority that comes with chasing the perceived authenticity of current food and small-scale ag trends is a veiled way of saying that the city does not satisfy that nagging part of you that strives to be genuine. And urban community gardens, one-hive bee farms, and two chickens are only a tease.

Whether Modern Farmer is correct or not, the actual agricultural community is left to deal with having these trends foisted on it by people for whom farming represents something genuine and missing.

“Farming has been incredibly healing to me; some days it’s the only thing keeping me together,” said an interview subject in the Modern Farmer article. “It’s hard to put into words. Farming just gets in your blood.”

I can’t claim the Holy Grail on this perspective, but having lived for over a decade in the city, and now a few years and a childhood on the farm, must count towards something resembling knowledge or wisdom.

Quick farm update: I’m still waiting to hear if I qualify for crop insurance or not; I am excited and nervous about putting the drill fill on our tandem (it’s a finicky endeavour, but a great one, as it represents the beginning of the growing season); and my next building project is going to be an outdoor pizza oven. † Toban Dyck is a freelance writer and a new farmer on an old farm. Follow him on Twitter @tobandyck or email tobandyck@ gmail.com.

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

15

Columns Understanding market bulls and bears

Simplifying grain pricing Building U.S. currency conversions into the basis complicates price comparisons. There may be a simpler way Brian wittal

S

differences. But other than those causing concern for many producdifferences the basis levels and ers that I have talked to. net prices offered at facilities in Currency conversion does not Canadian or the U.S. should be need to be included in the basis competitive. for any reason other than it makes The simpler and more transpar- it easier for grain companies to ent the pricing model is, the better help manage their risk. But by it will be for everyone involved. adding this complication, it looks The current pricing model used like they are withholding inforfor wheat — with currency conver- mation. Moving to a U.S. pricing sion and risk being blended into model would bring all aspects of the basis — is confusing and leaves currency conversion out in the farmers somewhat distrustful of open for all to see, thus elimithe whole process and the com- nating the concern that informapanies they are dealing with. The tion is being withheld. This would grain companies’ intentions may result in a better working relationB:8.125” not have been to confuse anyone ship between the grain companies or to try to hide anything, but that and their supply customers.

T:8.125” is what it looks like, and that is Let’s get some clarity into the S:8.125”

wheat pricing model in Western Canada so that producers can see, understand and compare the prices they are being offered. They will be able to make better marketing decisions knowing they have all the relevant information, and not feel like information is being withheld or hidden.

If there is a way to do things that would help build better relationships between grain companies and farmers, let’s look at it and make it happen. † Brian Wittal has 30 years of grain industry experience, and currently offers market planning and marketing advice to farmers through his company Pro Com Marketing Ltd. (www.procommarketingltd.com).

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Changing the model

B:10”

S:10”

ince my last two articles on wheat basis calculations I have had some interesting conversations with producers and industry people alike.

One call in particular from a gentleman who works in the grain industry in Eastern Canada was very enlightening. Apparently my article was forwarded to him by one of his co-workers at a facility in Western Canada who found it of interest. At least I know there are a few of you out there who read my articles!

He called to let me know that the way they do their pricing for grains in Eastern Ontario is to quote everything in U.S. dollars.

The reason for this is that the majority of grain bought and sold is either into the U.S. or ends up going to the U.S. after it has been milled in Ontario. All hedging transactions are done on the U.S. markets, so it makes sense to post U.S. pricing. It’s transparent and easy for producers to follow and understand.

Seeing as grains in Eastern Canada trade off of the various U.S. grain exchanges it is just a natural to post the U.S. futures values. As for the basis, they quote it in U.S. dollars as well, so that the calculation to a net sale price is very easy and simple to understand. Then they post the daily currency conversion rate for the Canadian dollar. From there it is very simple math for a producer to figure out what they will be getting for their grain in Canadian dollars at the end of the day.

When he first said this all I could think was that this concept is way too easy and uncomplicated and it would work great out here in the west as well, if someone would dare implement such a pricing model.

at any currency fluctuation risk whatsoever.

If we used a U.S. dollar pricing model for wheat in Western Canada, you as a producer would be able to easily compare prices between the various grain companies here and/or in the U.S. It would provide you with a true daily price competitive model, with all companies in the market quoting their prices in the same currency.

As I mentioned in my last article there are variations in freight costs to get grain to port between U.S. and Canadian facilities, so you will have some variability in pricing because of those cost

16

/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Columns Soils and crops

Nitrogen the right way Researchers and farmers have worried about the 4Rs of fertilizer for decades.

The answers are not the same for everyone Placement les henry

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Nitrogen has been a hot discussion topic in Grainews for more than 35 years.

n recent years there has been a great deal of hype about the 4Rs when planning fertilizer use: right source, right rate, right time and right placement.

The first Grainews column I penned was in October 1976: “Nitrogen — when, what kind and how much to apply.” Back then, phosphorus was seed placed and nitrogen was broadcast except anhydrous, which by necessity was banded, so placement was not an issue.

And, in those days the best nitrogen fertilizer was still available — ammonium nitrate (AN) NH 4NO 3 34-0-0. Ammonium nitrate provided the quick action of the nitrate and the stability of ammonium in one prill. It could be broadcast with safety. Fall broadcast in Red River Valley and other wet areas could be a problem because of gaseous losses but otherwise it was a winner.

But ammonium nitrate was expensive to produce and plants had environmental issues. The explosion hazard and criminal activities put the boots to it.

Too bad.

YOUR PERFORMANCE ENHANCER

The fourth R came about when urea came on the scene. Urea was broadcast just like AN but did not act the same. Gaseous ammonia loss was (and is) a problem.

The remedial action of the day was incorporation. Not immediate like Treflan but without much delay. We recommended doing the incorporation within a day or two of application.

Now it turned out that Westco did not market anhydrous at that time and anhydrous was giving urea a licking in the market place.

Along came John Harapiak (1937 to 2011). He was a Westco agronomist and started an extensive series of trials all across the west comparing broadcast to deep placed urea.

Lo and behold, if you treat urea like anhydrous and put it four inches or so in the soil, it reacts the same.

To this day I remember the words of John Harapiak in an address at Quance theater in the Education Building at the University of Saskatchewan. He presented a great set of data and concluded by saying, “The difference in yield between broadcasting and deep banding urea is enough to pay for the fertilizer.”

The emphasis is on deep. Recent work by John Heard and others in Manitoba has shown that shallow banding of urea can be worse than broadcast in terms of volatile loss.

In hindsight and contemplating the theory of it all, it makes sense.

When urea is shallow banded the NH3 concentration and pH skyrockets — just as it does when we inject anhydrous ammonia. We all know what happens if we try to band anhydrous an inch or two deep.

The realities of acres and time has led to a return to broadcast urea. But, in recent years we have had much wetter conditions and the probability of a rain soon after broadcasting is much greater than the years when the original work was done. If urea is broadcast and an inch of rain comes along in a day or two, all is good. Urea on a totally dry surface will just sit there. But a dry surface does not stay dry for long. A very heavy dew or few sprinkles will be enough to juice it up and lead to gassing off.

Much of the nitrogen is now side banded or mid-row banded.

Providing the band is far enough from the seed and deep enough it is a great option, but a lot of tendering at seeding time.

To digress — the big farmers that make it all happen are the ones driving around in their pick up and communicating with their smart phone. Decisions are made on the spot and plans change by the day or even hour. Big operations making decisions in remote corner offices of big cities will never make it — recent events have proven that yet again!

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I still favor anhydrous ammonia. It is usually the cheapest, is most concentrated for transport and rests comfortably at four or so inches depth until a plant root finds it.

The entry of Agrotain and ESN has added some choices to the mix. From any research I have seen the products perform as advertised, in terms of the reactions in or on the soil. Whether or not they are a fit will depend on your operation and farm conditions. Broadcast Agrotain does add a window of a couple of weeks.

Seed placed urea can be a disaster at high rates and ESN buffers that to a significant degree.

Timing The best time and place to have adequate NO3 and NH4 is when a plant root comes looking for it.

Spoon feeding through the year is great in theory but only in practice for irrigation farmers. Green Seeker and dribbled solutions sounds good to me but I’m not sure how much data is available to prove it. Perhaps readers will enlighten me.

Spring is better than fall in theory. In practice I like anhydrous in the fall. Then the big job is done and we can concentrate on seeding in spring. Also, in dry springs the tillage associated with applying anhydrous can dry out the seed bed — a problem especially for canola.

As you can see there are many interactions between source, placement and timing. There is no “one size fits all.”

Rate The right rate is a matter of a good and continuing soil testing program. Variable rate nitrogen has much hype but I have seen few examples where it is working.

The big limitation in nitrogen soil testing is the need for a measure of mineralization. There are many research papers and computer programs to estimate mineralization.

For years I have thought it is as simple as taking a moist soil sample in fall and leaving it at room temperature for three to four weeks and then measuring nitrate.

Alas — no one is listening.

The rationale is this: if it does not mineralize in a few weeks at room temperature and field capacity moisture, then it will not mineralize in field conditions to be any good to the current crop.

Procedures for measuring “potential nitrogen mineralization” have been known for decades. It involves a complicated lab procedure including incubation at 35 C for 30 weeks. I fail to see what relevance that has to what will happen at my farm between June 5 and July 20. In most years that is about the time most nitrogen will be sucked up by roots and pushed above ground.

The 4Rs are just fine but its does not mean there’s a recipe for any given farm, crop, or year. † J.L.(Les) Henry is a former professor and extension specialist at the University of Saskatchewan. He farms at Dundurn, Sask.

He recently finished a second printing of “Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water,” a book that mixes the basics and practical aspects of soil, fertilizer and farming. Les will cover the shipping and GST for “Grainews” readers. Simply send a cheque for $50 to Henry Perspectives, 143 Tucker Cres, Saskatoon, SK, S7H 3H7, and he will dispatch a signed book.

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

17

Columns Farm financial planner

Keep farming for a lower tax bill Keeping the farm operating will hold taxes down and maintain the farm legacy

By Andrew Allentuck

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arming has been good to a couple we’ll call Horace, 50, and Betsy, 40. Their 3,500-acre grain operation has been consistently profitable.

Now they want to plan their retirement and succession, but it’s too early to tell if their daughter, Moira, 10, will be interested in continuing to farm.

The couple plan to stay with their farm for the next decade and a half when Horace will be 65 and Betsy 55. Then they will either transfer it to Moira or sell.

The couple asked Don Forbes and Erik Forbes of Don Forbes Associates Inc./Armstrong & Quaile Inc. in Carberry, Manitoba, to work with them to plan their financial future. “This is a success story,” Don explains. “The issue

is how the couple can make the most of their operation.”

Current situation At present, Horace and Betsy each take $60,000 as salaries with a $10,000 bonus going to each one’s RRSP. There is usually additional profit left in the corporation. If it B:10.25” is not reinvested, then they take it out as dividends T:10.25”for investment

in their Tax-Free Savings Accounts or paying down their $550,000 house mortgage.

The mortgage at present has a four per cent interest rate and 24 years to go on the amortization schedule. If they add 10 per cent to their payments, currently about $3,000 a month, the mortgage would be paid in full in just under 15 years, Erik Forbes estimates.

It’s time for Moira to get a

Registered Education Savings Plan.

If the parents contribute $2,500 a year for the next seven years to her age 17, she can receive the Canada Education Savings Grant of the lesser of 20 per cent of contributions or $500 each year.

That makes each year’s maximum contribution $3,000. There is a catch up provision as well, so

» continued on next page

S:10.25”

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Columns » CONTINUED FROM Previous PAGE the couple could add $25,000 plus $5,000 CESG for the past 10 years that they have not contributed and get the CESG to a maximum of $7,200 per beneficiary. If they invest at six per cent before inflation adjustment for the entire period to Moira’s age 17, she would have $64,000 with the $30,000 one-time catch up investment or $27,000 without it.

Horace’s RRSP balance, currently $160,000, with a $10,000 contribution each year, will grow to about $630,200 in 15 years. Betsy’s RRSP, with no significant present balance, will grow to about $245,000 $247,000 in 15 years with $10,000 annual contributions. They can make a little more by contributing early in each year rather than waiting to the end of the contribution period 60 days after the end of each calendar year.

At age 65, Horace’s RRSP converted to a Registered Retirement Income Fund will provide him with an income of about $4,000 a month or $48,000 a year to his age 90 in future dollars without inflation adjustment while Betsy’s RRIF starting at age 55 would provide her with about $1,200 in future dollars each month or $14,400 a year to her age 100, Don. Forbes predicts.

Horace has $11,000 in his TaxFree Savings Account. He should add $5,500 a year and fill the present space available, about $25,500, to make full use of the shelter, Don Forbes suggests. Betsy should open her own TFSA and fill its $36,500 spaced. The TFSA can be an emergency cash reserve. Over the next 15 years, the two accounts will grow at six per cent a year to $163,000 for Horace, recognizing his present $11,000 balance, and $136,000 for Betsy, who will have to start with a zero balance.

At age 65, Horace can expect Canada Pension Plan payments at 75 per cent of today’s maximum, $12,780, Betsy at 50 per cent of the maximum, each payable at 65.

Inflated at three per cent per year for 15 years for Horace when he starts benefits at 65 and 25 years for Betsy when she reaches 65, the couple would have CPP benefits of approximately $27,160 when both benefits begin to flow.

They would also have Old Age Security benefits, currently $6,765 a year, when each is 67. Inflated at three per cent per year for 17 years for Horace and 27 years for Betsy, the couple would have combined OAS benefits before any clawback of $25,300 when Betsy is 67.

The sum of all these cash flows without any TFSA payouts would be $114,860 in future dollars.

back would have little cost to the couple’s income, including OAS. If Moira does not continue to farm, then all of its assets including land, machinery, and inventory would be sold. Unless its retained in the company, Horace and Betsy would assume all of the retained earnings as taxable income.

If the farm is sold, then its present estimated value of $8,836,000 would presumably grow. If we use a three per cent rate of return, which would just cover inflation, then the farm would be worth $13,182,000 when Horace and Betsy start their retirement in 15 years. At the same rate of growth equal to inflation, the capital obtained from sale of the farm would provide a pre-tax income of $395,000 a year before tax. The exact return would depend on the future accounting for the farming corporation and application of the $800,000 exemption on qualified farm property revalued, as it might be, in future.

The tax rate on this income distributed as dividends combined

with the farm corporation’s tax rate would be about 38 per cent, leaving about $245,000 for living expenses, travel and investment, Don Forbes suggests. Total future income including all RRIF and government pensions would then be $624,720 per year. After tax at an average 40 per cent rate, which includes the effect of the clawback, they would have about $348,000 a year to spend in future dollars. That would more than cover present expenses of $10,000 a month or $120,000 a year inflated at three per cent per year to $194,000 in 15 years or $216,000 a year in 25 years, Erik Forbes estimates.

If the company were to continue to operate with cash, land, and other assets not generating active farming income, the Canada Revenue Agency would treat the business as a holding company or tax shelter. The result would be taxation of all non-business or passive income at the peak personal rate. Thus any land rent received by the company after active farm-

The family farm remains a good way to make money and keep it too. ing has stopped ought to be paid out each year and taxed in the hands of each person. Dividend paying stocks held inside a holding company would be eligible to pass through dividend income on a partially paid basis. That would further reduce the tax burden on Horace and Betsy, Don Forbes notes.

Horace and Betsy have tough choices to make, Don Forbes says.

If they sell the farm and convert

Financing retirement To finance their future, the couple can continue to take money out of their farming corporation, but it should be paid as dividends rather than salary income, Don Forbes suggests. When they start to draw Canada Pension Plan benefits and Old Age Security and income from their RRIFs and TFSAs, they will be pushed into higher tax brackets and their Old Age Security benefits, currently $6,765 a year and perhaps would be clawed back quite substantially.

The OAS clawback begins in 2015 at $72,809. With a three per cent annual inflation, it would start at about $110,000 when Horace is 67 and $127,400 when Betsy is 67.

Using these numbers, the claw-

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FS:8.2” F:8.7”

their land and equipment to cash, they will be faced with very high income taxes on resulting investment income. Continuing the farm as an active business, perhaps controlled by Moira, is the best tax plan. The family farm remains not only a good way to make money, but a good way to keep it.

Andrew Allentuck’s latest book, When Can I Retire? Planning Your Financial Life After Work, was published in 2011 by Penguin Canada.

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APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

19

Columns Off-farm income

Stocks might have a disease Just like crops, the stocks in your portfolio may have a yield-reducing disease ANDY SIRSKI

J

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ust like crops, we might say many stocks could be hit with a disease that reduces yield.

At the end of March, earnings season for Quarter one were just around the corner. Already about 100 stocks had earnings estimates dropped for Q1 while only 17 had been raised. This is a bit of a two-edged sword — lowered earnings estimates make it easier for companies to hit earnings. That’s often interpreted to

be good. But lower earnings are lower earnings.

Earning for Q2 don’t sound very good either. The higher U.S. dollar reduces corporate America’s chances of exporting stuff and increases competition from imports. Plus the high U.S. dollar makes it expensive for American companies to repatriate (bring home) profits from overseas, which reduces taxes collected by the government.

Some time ago well-known bond trader Bill Gross went public with his prediction that by the end of 2015 most assets will be worth less than they were at the beginning of the year.

Oil prices, and oil companies have dropped in value as you

know and the odds are prices will not recover by the end of the year. Gold and gold stocks might drift down if the U.S. dollar drops a bit and then goes back up before the end of 2015.

Statistics show that only 10 stocks have kept pushing up the values of U.S. stock market indexes. The odds are those 10 cannot keep that pace up all year.

If the U.S. raises interest rates before year-end we can expect many bonds and interest sensitive stocks to drop in value.

Farmland values in some parts of the U.S. apparently have peaked. Here in Canada prices likely will be a mixed bag. In some parts low grain prices and below average yields have caused

bankruptcies so there might be less competition for renting land.

As far as land prices — old money around the country and foreign investors could easily keep farmland prices up.

In my opinion, many stocks will go up and go down as money rotates into one sector, then out of that sector and into another. I call it rotation, rotation, rotation — lots of activity and potential profits for nimble investors but not much overall improvement in the price of many stocks.

The price of houses in Alberta, the East Coast and other places likely will be down for the year.

Some claim house prices in Toronto and Vancouver are way over priced but immigration and

local market pressures could keep those prices up.

Record high margin debt One more factor that could be negative to stocks is that the amount of money borrowed to buy stocks is at a record high.

That often signals two things.

One that stocks are peaking and that could well be since the “sell in May and go away” is a few weeks from now. Second, buying on margin can trigger margin calls if stocks turn down. Margin calls can force shareholders to sell on the low side and that can force share prices down more and more.

I used to buy on margin but we were in a distinct bull market and maybe I didn’t recognize the risks as much as I do now. Yes, many stocks could be “diseased.”

Bullish news With all that bearish news there still is some bullish news around.

The first is low oil prices. While low prices may not be bullish now, one day they might be and that day may not be far away. As I have written before, about 10 per cent of refining capacity has been shut down either due to strike or due to maintenance. That maintenance might be normal or one triggered by the strikes.

There is still some bullish news

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Refineries have a big market for gasoline and diesel fuel and driving season in the U.S. will soon open up. I’m sure all three will get refineries to settle strikes, start up refineries and start storing summer fuel for domestic and export markets.

At the same time the surplus supply of oil is coming down and likely will continue going down as the number of drill rigs keeps falling and existing wells get depleted.

I will buy some oil stocks as soon as I see higher and higher highs and higher and higher lows. I have many to choose from, such as Vermillion, Suncor, Painted Pony, Imperial Oil and many others.

There are 30 million barrels of oil stored on ships and if sanctions are lifted on Iran that oil will come to market. Fighting in various parts of the world can raise or lower oil supplies but I suspect all of these points are already priced into the market.

Longer term, the price of spot oil is predicting higher prices. For some time now predictions have been that by 2020 the U.S. will not be self sufficient in oil. When or if the U.S. begins to import more oil than less, watch the price go up. †

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Andy is mostly retired. He plays with grandchildren., travels a bit with his wife, runs a tax business, manages his family’s investments and publishes an electronic newsletter called StocksTalk. If you want to read it free for a month send and email to sirski@mymts.net.

20

/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Machinery & Shop

Seeding technology

Kinze adds meter electric-drive 12- and 16-row model 3660 planters coming soon with electric meter drives

photos: kinze

Left: 12- and 16-row Kinze 3660 planters can be ordered with electric meter drive for 2016. Right: The electric-drive version of the 3660 comes with a Raven Viper 4 monitor, but it uses ISOBUS technology, so any compatible in-cab monitor can control the planter drives.

By Scott Garvey

G

etting accurate seed spacing is particularly important for corn crops, according to agronomists. But several components in a planter’s mechanical drive system, such as worn or rusty drive chains, can potentially cause problems with spacing accuracy. The trend today among many manufacturers is to offer electric drive systems as an option to eliminate that problem.

Placing an electric motor on each meter ensures smooth, even rotation without those potential interruptions from mechanical linkages. And with a separately controlled drive mechanism on each meter, there are all kinds of opportunities for specialized features like turn compensation.

In February, Kinze announced it would add an electric drive option to its popular model 3660 planter. 12- and 16-row versions with electric drive will be available in time for the 2016 seeding season.

“The electric drive eliminates the need for clutches and offers greater maintenance simplicity (no drive shafts, chains, bearings, sprockets, etc.),” reads a company press release. “The new meter allows for turning compensation and row-by-row variable rate planting, and will utilize heavy-duty, high torque 24-volt meter motors that are fully sealed against dust and moisture.”

These planters will use the company’s 4000 Series vacuum metering system. And the electric drive system can be controlled from any ISOBUS compatible in-cab monitor. If you order a monitor with the planter, you’ll get Raven’s Viper 4.

“Kinze continues to offer the Raven Viper 4 monitor with a format specifically designed for ISOBUS that allows continuous viewing of critical planter functions, including the coverage map,” adds the company press release. “The customizable LED touchscreen with ‘touch and move’ widgets display information in an easy-to-use format.

The monitor contains 30 GB of internal storage and is Slingshot ready.” † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.

Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop

21

Seeding Technology

Kinze’s Multi-Hybrid planter Farmers can now order a model 4990 Multi-Hybrid planter

photos: kinze

Left: Kinze’s 4900 Multi-Hybrid planter uses a dual meter system and two separate seed tanks. Right: The two meters on each row unit source seed from separate tanks, which enables the system to plant two different hybrids.

By Scott Garvey

T

his spring the first commercially produced Kinze model 4900 Multi-Hybrid planters will hit North American farm fields. The company announced last August that a limited number of planters with the ability to switch back and forth between two hybrid seed types would be available for the 2015 season. And a company rep says the firm is now taking orders for general production.

The 4900 Multi-Hybrid uses two individual meters on each row unit which draw seed from one of two separate seed tanks on the planter frame. Which meter spins, and therefore which hybrid gets seeded, depends on the system receiving instructions from a prescription map. When the planter moves across a map boundary that requires a change in seed, one meter stops and the other starts. The company claims that process happens with little or no disruption to seed spacing.

The idea behind the 4900 is that because soil and growing conditions vary across most fields, some hybrids do better in places than others. So the planter is able to switch back and forth between two, placing the type best suited for the field conditions where it has an agronomic advantage.

According to Kinze, the six drills that underwent field trials in 2014 performed well.

“There were virtually no gaps or overlap when switching from one hybrid to the other,” the company said in a recent press release. In its promotion of the technology, Kinze reports those field trials showed an average yield improvement of more than nine bushels per acre.

Kinze uses Raven technology to control the dual metering system on the 4900, and the meters are driven by 24-volt electric motors, which allows for instant start-stop performance. Electric drive also allows for row-by-row control, enabling features like turn compensation. †

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

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/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Machinery & Shop

New equipment

New Wolverine UTV from Yamaha The sporty Wolverine R-Spec side-by-side will be ready for the 2016 model year

By Scott Garvey

I

The new Wolverine R-Spec side-by-side UTV will hit dealer lots in April.

photo: yamaha

f you like to add a little adventure to any trip out into the pasture to check cows, Yamaha may have the ideal side-by-side utility vehicle (UTV) for you. The company’s new Wolverine R-Spec joins their product lineup for the 2016 model year.

“The all-new Wolverine will extend Yamaha’s side-by-side line into the recreation segment, creating a new level of durability, quality, handling and superior offroad capabilities not yet seen in the off-road industry,” said Mike Martinez, Yamaha’s Recreational

Vehicle (RV) group vice president, in a press release. “Yamaha’s Wolverine R-Spec side-by-side is made for off-road enthusiasts, hunters and explorers looking to navigate tight, technical trails and extreme off-road terrain.”

The Wolverine gets aggressive new styling and what the company refers to as a “nimble and compact-feeling chassis designed to maximize visibility while allowing the driver to navigate tight, technical trails and challenging terrain.” The R-Spec has 29 centimetres (11.4 inches) of ground clearance and an 178.8 centimetres (81.3-inch) wheelbase.

Yamaha also incorporated features like rear-wheel protectors that extend from the bottom of the frame to reduce obstacle contact with rear tires. Underneath, you’ll find full-coverage skid plates front-to-back and side-toside. That should help eliminate catch points in rugged terrain. For even more under-body protection, Yamaha incorporated standard front A-arm-mounted CV boot protectors and rear A-arm skid plates.

Aggressive new styling In the cab, there are highbacked buckets, and the driver’s seat gets three-position adjustment. There is even a centre console, cup holders and a 12-volt DC outlet to charge accessories.

The heart of this machine is a 708cc, double overhead valve, fuel injected engine. And there is a four-wheel drive differential lock option for maximum traction when it’s needed.

The rear bed gets just a 136 kilogram (300 pound) load rating capacity but the receiver hitch can tow a respectable 681 kilogram (1,500 pound) load behind.

According to Yamaha, the Wolverine R-Specs should hit dealer lots by April, and they’ll be available in blue, green and, of course, a camo version. † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.

Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

By jonny hawkins

Country Chuckles

“He hit the snooze button.”

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

Machinery & Shop

23

New equipment

5M Series tractors get updates John Deere utility tractors step up to meet new Tier 4 Final emissions requirements and get other updates

By Scott Garvey

J

ohn Deere’s 5M Series tractors, 75 to 115 horsepower, offer the best of available features in the brand’s utility segment. And this year Deere upgraded their engines to make them Tier 4 Final emissions compliant. Like other manufacturers, Deere has used a couple of different engines emissions solutions in its tractors, based on engine size and expected use patterns.

In the off-road emissions world, there hasn’t been a one-size-fitsall solution.

The three-cylinder 5075M model will get John Deere’s diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and diesel particulate filter (DPF) with no diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) required. The four-cylinder models (5085M, 5100M, 5115M) will have a DOC/SCR (selective catalytic reduction) solution using DEF to meet Tier 4 Final emissions standards.

“The no-hassle emissions regeneration system on the 5075M, combined with our durable 2.9 litre PowerTech engine, delivers simple ease of use and low cost of operation to customers,” explains Brad Aldridge, product marketing manager for 5M Tractors. “In addition, the new line of fully isolated platforms provides premium operator comfort.”

The 4.5 litre John Deere PowerTech engines in the three largest models have an increased power bulge of up to four per cent and a 30 per cent torque rise for improved performance under load.

Engines in the 5M Series get mated to either the 16Fx16R or 32Fx16R PowrReverser transmissions.

The 2015 versions of these tractors also feature a compact cooling package and a new, low sloping hood that will improve efficiency in loader applications.

Servicing of the cooling system is now easier with a slide out condenser, sliding oil cooler, tilt-able charge air cooler, and removable radiator screen.

The 5Ms are available with an open operator station or premium cab.

“We’ve improved exterior lighting packages, increased operator comfort, and enhanced performance, all while maintaining low cost of operation compared to previous models,” Aldridge says. “The new 5M utility tractors offer a premium package of comfort, performance and optionality that provide the ultimate in versatility across a wide range of applications.” † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.

Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

John Deere 5M Series tractors range from 75 to 115 horsepower and offer top-of-the-line specifications.

WE’RE THERE WHEN YOU NEED US MOST. Rocky Mountain Equipment has over 40 locations across the Canadian prairies to serve you. With the best people, products and services, you can depend on us to get what you need. Visit us at one of our CASE IH Dealerships or online at rockymtn.com.

DEPENDABLE IS WHAT WE DO.

photo: john deere

24

/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Machinery & Shop

Precision agriculture

Rocky Mtn. Equip. strikes partnership The mega dealer strikes up a working relationship with a precision ag firm to make VRT easier for its customers

By Scott Garvey

I

photo: scott garvey

The Rocky Mountain Equipment dealership chain has partnered With Decisive Farming to provide precision agriculture services to customers.

n early November the largest Canadian ag equipment dealership chain, CNH retailer Rocky Mountain Equipment (RME), announced it had struck up a partnership the Alberta-based precision agriculture firm Decisive Farming (DF).

The purpose of that agreement is to make RME a one-stop retailer for farmers who want to pursue

precision ag practices like variable rate technology, according to RME management Although RME won’t be adding agronomists to its dealerships, staff in its AOS (Ag Optimization Specialist) service will work with customers to help them set up the technology in their machinery to enable seamless use of prescription maps specially created by DF. “The alignment with Decisive brings our customers the best part

Elevate your uptime

You can rest assured that when you run a reliable, all-crop, all-condition John Deere baler, that you’ll keep baling long after other balers have called it quits.

How do we do it? The 9 Series feature roller shafts that are a 1/4 inch larger and bearings that are 1 1/2 inches larger than those found on the 8 Series. With an increased shaft size the baler can now handle even heavier loads in the toughest conditions. And the bigger bearings run cooler, last longer, and are more reliable.

Everything about a John Deere 9 Series Round Baler has been designed to raise performance to all new levels, while greatly reducing the chances of downtime.

That’s why more and more hay producers run John Deere Round Balers than any other color baler. And should your baler ever need service, it’s good to know that there’s a local John Deere dealer standing behind you who will get you back up and running.

See your John Deere dealer today about a new 9 Series Baler – and elevate your uptime.

JohnDeere.com/Hay

of what we do, backed by Decisive’s industry-leading application technologies and agronomic services,” says Jeff Bilow, general manager agriculture equipment optimization and technology. “Our AOS, Ag optimization specialists, will spend time with the customer. They upload a test file into the customer’s technology to ensure the technology is working flawlessly from a variable rate perspective, then Decisive comes in to offer services to the customer after we make sure the equipment is ready for the variable rate technology. Decisive offers the agronomic and farm software management side of it.”

“With every piece of equipment we sell, new or used, the support package we offer is included,” he explains. “What we do is work with the customer to ensure that their machinery is operating as close to perfect as possible and then also help them use their machinery data and turn it into information that they can use to improve their operation.”

RME will have 21 members on its AOS staff to service all areas of the prairie where the company operates dealerships, so farmers are able to talk face-to-face with a technology specialist. Decisive Farming, too, will have area reps that are able to meet personally with farmers. The AOS members will also be able to help RME’s customers iron out any technical glitches they may encounter. In some cases that may mean farmers will get a personal visit from both an RME AOS member and a specialist from DF. “In those cases if it involves something Decisive is also a part of, we’d be out there as a team,” says Bilow.

“In all the areas we do business they (DF) have someone currently tied to that area or are currently hiring someone for it.

They (farmers) have the opportunity to deal face-to-face with a Decisive rep. For us as an organization that’s part of the relationship that’s important. We want to make sure our people can deal face-to-face with customers every day to make sure their needs are being addressed.”

This partnership expands the range of services RME is able to provide or facilitate for its farmer customers, and there is a strong possibility the dealership chain may expand that range of services even further in the future.. “We don’t see this as the only opportunity we have to grow this type of alliance,” says Bilow.

“We want to make sure we move toward offering customers the latest and greatest, so to speak. When it comes to technology, we want to play a role in delivering that to the customer where it makes sense. The next five years is going to be interesting, that’s for sure.” † Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews.

Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

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4/6/15 5:52 PM

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

25

Cattleman’s Corner POINT OF VIEW

Is it my job to feed the world?

A southeast B.C. farmer raises the question about where farmer priorities should be — looking after the family and community or feeding the world?

By DARCY GOODRICH

T

here is an unwritten law it seems in agriculture these days; whispered on the wind from coast to coast and pole to pole. Proclaimed and prophesied around tables from kitchens to cafés by old men, it has spread to the blogs and blundering of Internet chat rooms and Facebook foodie folklore. Many in mainstream agriculture have believed it for so long that it has become ingrained in their self portrait of their existence.

What is this law? This deeply held belief that has become a guiding light of everything from an individual farmers’ business planning, to governmental policy around agriculture and resources?

It is the contagious virus that has infected the minds of food producers — that there is an inherent obligation of farmers to feed every last man, woman and child on this planet.

At first you may think “But of course, who else will feed them?”

Well, the dilemma goes much deeper than people being fed.

With very little effort one can find all kinds of numbers on the Internet about how many thousands of calories the current global food system produces per acre, per hectare, per region, per person, and so on. You can find figures on any aspect of livestock production, from average piglets per sow to average litres of milk per cow; eggs per hen, pounds per broiler, quacks per quacker and so on. All the information about our food that you can possibly imagine is available to you. However, is anyone asking “Should we be producing this much, and should we be doing it this way?”

POPULATION A second question has certainly come into the spotlight in recent years, as more people are pushing for more eco-friendly farming practices for a wide range of reasons, most of which I will not get into in this essay. The first question is one that perplexes and I

feel is not being discussed nearly enough — this planet has approximately 7.3 billion humans on it, a number debated almost as much as the debate centres around the definition of “sustainable.” Many experts and analysts from fields of agriculture, economy and ecology have debated for decades whether human civilization has surpassed the threshold of what the Earth can sustain.

William Catton wrote 35 years ago in his book Overshoot: “Human life is now being lived in an era of deepening carrying capacity deficit. All of the familiar aspects of human societal life are under compelling pressure to change in this new era when the load increasingly exceeds the carrying capacities of many local regions — and of a finite planet.”

Most of the analysis on sustainability focuses on looking at current production numbers or the future potential of current production models. A question that comes to mind for me in these discussions with friends in agriculture is, can those models continue in their current fashion, and if they do, at what expense to their foundational support system? Can a model fueled by diesel, guarantee that it will always be able to do so indefinitely? Can it guarantee a supply of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, to say nothing for other micronutrients? Can it guarantee it won’t cause the extinction of another single species? Can it — wait a minute — what’s that about other species?

When we analyze these models we speak of incredible production. We speak in terms of hundreds of bushels of corn per acre, hundreds of pounds of beef per acre, melons per plant, apples per tree. Why do we not speak about the success of these models in terms of soil organic matter produced, species of both flora and fauna added to our farms, rises in subsurface water tables, pH balancing of soil, or cleanliness of water? Why do we not have a place on their scorecard for the health of the ecosystems that support them, or for the hap-

Looking after the family, ranch and the community top the priority list.

piness of the people who manage them? Mark Anielski, author of “The Economics of Happiness,” speaks at length about his vision of a “Genuine Wealth” — those conditions of well-being that align with our heartfelt values about what makes life worth living. Why would we not correlate this same visionary thinking into something as sacred to our very existence as our food?

SINISTER ANSWER The answer in my opinion, is simple, yet sinister. Our food is produced by farmers and corporations. In order for that to continue, farmers and farm workers must be kept focused. It is basic human psychology that in order to keep someone focused, you must give them a goal, a dream, and a passion to pursue it. Farmers are passionate, tough and independent people. Give them a task, they get it done.

So what more convenient way to get things done in regards to food production, than to convince such a hard-working and passionate people, that they have an obligation to feed every man, woman and child on the planet?

They are the people that own and manage the land. They have the skills, knowledge and equipment to produce food. They also have the innate naivety of which no human is immune, myself included. Once persuaded of the monumental importance of feeding more and more people, the people themselves became obsessed with increasing production. Production became more important than profit, more important than sustainability, than safety, even more important than happiness. Modern “agri-culture” has become a culture of measuring happiness by production.

Many times I have heard friends and family, all farmers, speak of how hard they are working.

The husband has a second job in the oilfield checking wells, gauging tanks, hauling pipe or any number of other things. Maybe he works at the lumber mill down

photos: darcy goodrich

Darcy Goodrich and family, wife Candace, and children from left, Ronan, Emily and Bodi. Eldest daughter Baylee was absent for photo. the road, hauls logs or gravel, or does renovations. His wife meanwhile teaches school, nurses the sick and dying, keeps books, dispatches trucks, or any other form of employment she can find to contribute to the greater good, that noble quest of doing what must be done to make a living, because we the farmers, must feed the world.

I know many of these people.

My wife and I have been these people, and it breaks my heart to see others working themselves so hard, while missing soccer, hockey and baseball games, dance recitals and Christmas concerts. I still do it myself. But it’s okay as long as we tell ourselves that it is for that noble quest of doing what must be done to make a living, because we the farmers, must feed the world.

SACRIFICES Our farming operations make other sacrifices as well. I’ve seen animals neglected at times, on my place and others, even if it’s just a couple of horses that don’t get ridden like you told yourself they would. Maybe it’s those heifers in the south pasture that you knew were reaching through the old stretch of fence along the road because the pasture’s been chewed bare, that cry out in protest by walking down the neighbour’s driveway at the exact time you and the missus are trying to escape for a long-overdue night out.

Maybe it’s the chickens that should have had another heat lamp in the coop, remembered only when found frozen stiff by your child’s friend from school out on a weekend visit to the farm, wide eyed and shocked into reality. This too, we can sum up to a lack of time, but it’s okay, as long as we tell ourselves that it is for that noble quest of doing what must be done to make a living, because we the farmers, must feed the world.

Then there are the sacrificed resources of our land. That sacred

land for which we would give up almost anything to save and protect, and yet, every day we do dozens of things without asking why? Should we apply this chemical this close to that creek? If I let the cows graze that pasture down low again this year, will it come back thinner next year? Is that perhaps why the thistle and brush has taken over? What is it doing to my soil? So many things to consider when one has the time, but alas, we must not lose sight of that golden egg of increasing production, for of course, we must prioritize our time for feeding the world.

THE STOOL OF SUSTAINABILITY I will end my ramblings with an analogy for you all to consider, but first let me say that I have not pointed at anything in agriculture that I have not at one time done myself, and come full circle to question its validity, safety, ecological sustainability, and whether or not it contributes to my family’s overall happiness.

Once I did that I had an epiphany,thanks to holistic management training from wonderful friends Don and Bev Campbell of Meadow Lake, Sask., from reading books and from meeting fascinating people at conferences and workshops. I finally realized that I had to make changes to my methods in order to strengthen all three legs of our Stool of Sustainability, which leads me to the analogy for you to ponder before blasting me as a tree-hugging, organically delusional, out-of-touch hobby farmer: The Stool of Sustainability demonstrates each leg as representing economics, environment and community.

At the farm level this could be your production/profit, your land, and your people. When you consider the paradigm modern agriculture has created for farm-

» continued on page 29

26

/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Keepers & Culls Meeting the real Heather Smith Thomas Lee Hart

T

here is a real, live, actual ranching person in central Idaho called Heather Smith Thomas.

I’ve met her.

Thomas’ columns and features stories have been appearing in Grainews, Canadian Cattlemen and numerous U.S. publications for more than 30 years. But it wasn’t until a Friday morning in late March that she and a Grainews editor had ever met. I am a pioneer.

Pulling into the driveway at the Thomas ranch near Salmon, Idaho was a bit like Columbus discovering America. Of course I knew I was in the right spot some distance before I reached the house because I could see from the approaching road, Veggie, the 28-year-old grey horse in the corral. And I have read lots about Veggie over the years.

If you are a regular reader of Rancher’s Diary you know a lot about the Thomas family. There is Heather and her husband Lynn; their daughter Andrea and her four kids, Emily, Charlie, Sammy and Dani. And then son, Michael and his wife Carolyn and their children Heather (nicknamed Roo) and, son Nick. All live nearby the ranch house that Heather and Lynn built when they got married.

For most of the past 30 years Heather has opened her family and farm life up to readers. I don’t know if much is held back. There were reports of good times and bad times describing all the dayto-day “life” stuff most families encounter. And there were exceptional events, too, like daughter Andrea being badly burned in a forest fire in July of 2000. The column has followed their pain and struggle and ongoing recovery of their daughter.

Heather describes daily activities in working with beef cattle

and she admits being horse crazy since she was a young girl — so there are plenty of reports about the horses that have come and gone from the ranch over the years. They are practical ranching people — sure the cows and most of the calves are all named, but come fall the year’s calf crop has to go to market. They still do a lot of riding for cattle management and pleasure, so the horses have some what of a special place. They work as long as they can, and then in later years literally are turned out to pasture for as long as they are healthy and enjoying a quality of life. I may go there myself.

She reports on the health of the cattle, managing the herd over thousands of acres of lease land — high elevation desert — dominated by sagebrush and grass.

Problems with predators, problems with water, problems with weather and the odd time perhaps a problem with neighbours.

There are also reports about beautiful days on the ranch, great rides in the hills, the successes and achievements of their adult children, and the talent and ability of the grandchildren in school and on the sports field.

AS THE WORLD TURNS Pretty well anything that happens in Heather’s ranch and family life gets a mention in the diary.

It’s a bit like a monthly soap opera episode without the high drama and really, really glamorous people. Fixing fence and tending to cancer eye in a horse isn’t something you’d likely see on the Bold and the Beautiful.

Heather is obviously a hard worker. She not only is actively involved with the ranch and family duties, but she’s also been a writer her whole life. She writes regularly for about 30 different publications, including Grainews — mostly U.S. farm publications but some outside North America.

And she has a healthy roster of books to her credit including Guide to Raising Beef Cattle, The

Cattle Handbook, Essential Guide to Calving, The Horse Conformation Handbook, Getting Started with Beef and Dairy Cattle, Guide to Training Horses, Your Calf: Guide to Raising and Showing Beef and Dairy Calves, Stable Smarts, and Equine Hoof Care.

Her most recently published book is called Horse Tales — stories about the horses in her life, and she is working on another called Cow Tales — guess what it is about.

The one non-agricultural book she says was probably the most difficult to write is called Beyond the Flames. It’s the account of the journey of her daughter Andrea and the family after Andrea was seriously burned in a forest fire 15 years ago.

If you want to track down any of these books contact Heather, or just Google “Heather Smith Thomas books” and the listing appears.

Heather and Lynn, in their early 70s, are tremendous hosts.

The day of our visit she prepared a great roast beef dinner.

Andrea and her family joined us as well. They all sang the Johnny Appleseed Grace before the meal where we paid tribute to a roast from a productive young steer “Opie or Hope He” — so named as young calf in the sense of “hope he makes it”… And he did — right onto to my plate.

Heather lives in a household of love and laughter. From the looks of her office she has saved every note, report and clipping since paper was invented — she says she has a chronological filing system — the newest is near the top. And every wall of the house is covered with decades of family and ranching photos and artwork that all capture some moment in their life. It is truly a Thomas gallery.

The three-hour visit flew by and then it was time to head for home.

But the warm and genuine invitation was there to come back anytime. And I probably will now that I know the road. † Lee Hart is editor of Cattleman’s Corner, based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

Beef breeds council The Canadian Beef Breeds Council welcomes new director, Stephen Scott, to it’s board following its recently held annual meeting. The newly elected board of directors include: David Bolduc, president; Garner Deobald, vice-president and directors Anne Brunet-Burgess, Bruce Holmquist, Roger Peters, Rod Remin, Stephen Scott, Rob Smith, and Byron Templeton.

New Gelbvieh CEO The Canadian Gelbvieh Association has announced the appointment of Gaylene Groeneveld as the chief executive officer. Groeneveld takes over the position following the untimely death of long-time CEO Wendy Belcher in January.

“Gaylene has worked with the Canadian Gelbvieh Association for 10 years, and she was a natural fit for the job,” says Darcy Hrebeniuk, president of the CGA. “We respect her confidence and knowledge of the beef cattle industry, along with her publishing knowledge and work she does in producing the Canadian Gelbvieh Guide magazine.”

Hrebeniuk pointed out the “Gelbvieh cattle have been in Canada for 43 years, and the future of the breed looks very bright going forward.”

Livestock Transportation Conference The Canadian Livestock Transport (CLT) is holding a livestock transport conference on May 5 and 6, 2015 at the Delta Bow Valley in Calgary. The keynote speaker for this conference is world-renowned animal welfare expert Dr. Temple Grandin who will not only present on animal welfare on May 6, but will also open the conference on the evening of May 5 with a presentation on overcoming adversity.

Other conference sessions include: the latest in hog transport research, the animal welfare expectations of the EU and U.K. during transport, new innovations in livestock transport, and welfare expectations at the plant level. For details on registration visit their website at: www.livestocktransport.ca

What’s new with cash advance program The federal government has announced changes to the Advance Payments Program (APP) which provides cash advances of up to $400,000, with the first $100,000 interest-free for up to 18 months. Nearly 60 producer organizations across the country deliver Heather and Lynn Thomas at the kitchen table with the some of the life-and-times of their family captured on the walls of the Thomas Gallery behind them.

cash advances under the APP. Many of the changes will be in place for April 1 but a number cannot be implemented until amendments to the related regulations are completed.

What’s New for 2015: • Producers can receive advances for all commodities through one application with a single administrator; • No requirement for a producer to be principally occupied in farming; • A repayment schedule in line with the perishable date of non-storable products thereby avoiding the need for proof of sale; • Repayment of advances can be made without proof of sale without penalty when a producer waits to market the commodity until conditions are more favourable; or if the agricultural product becomes unmarketable through no fault of the producer.

Improvements Targeted for 2016: • New commodities to be eligible for advances, including specific classes of breeding animals intended for market; • A new streamlined application process will reduce paper burden and treat farmers like returning clients; • More options for producers to secure an APP advance; • Additional flexibility for allowable repayment methods; • Streamlined approach to obtaining guarantees for companies with many members.

What is “Sustainability”?

Alberta Beef Producers is asking Alberta beef club 4-H members to put their talents to work explain their definition of sustainability. In the Young Guns Contest, ABP is looking for Beef 4-H members between the ages of eight and 21, to submit an essay, video, audio segment, social media campaign, press release or any other form of communication tool, that describes sustainability.

The top three submissions will be eligible for prizes: 1st place — $1,000, 2nd place — $500 and 3rd place — $250 Send your entry form, on the www.albertabeef. org home page and contest submission to: Katelyn Laverdure Communications Manager Alberta Beef Producers 165, 6815 8 Street, NE Calgary, AB T2E 7H7 E-mail: katelynl@albertabeef.org Entries must be received by midnight, May 30, 2015 to be eligible to win. The winners will be determined by a panel of judges at the Alberta Beef Producers Semi Annual Meeting in June and will be contacted by June 19, 2015. †

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

27

Cattleman’s Corner farm value

See value beyond beef and grain There may not be an immediate cash market for tranquility, but the day is coming

BY SEAN MCGRATH

I

t is definitely catalogue season.

Based on past purchases and connections through work I generally receive around 150 to 200 bull sale catalogues each year, as well as lots of general farm supply and auction catalogues.

All of this glossiness has spurred a lot of thinking about the products we sell from our farms and ranches.

Most of us are well aware of our calves or bulls or bred heifers that are for sale. Some of our farms are also well aware of the bin of canola or wheat that is ready to go to town.

These are all products that may generate cash in a direct way and it is important to pay attention to them.

These traditional items are not the only things that our farms and ranches produce and interest in nontraditional products is growing, as well as the willingness of members of the public to pay. Probably the best-known example at present is the carbon credit market. This market makes payment to farmers who use no-till technology to sequester carbon — a major component in greenhouse gases — from the air into the soil profile. While the carbon marketplace has a way to go in terms of paying for grassland and its highly effective carbon

sink, this is an emerging trend.

Carbon sequestration is a nontraditional product with a lot of public awareness. It is even possible for travellers to buy offsetting carbon credits when they book a flight.

NONTRADITIONAL PRODUCTS The example of the carbon market is actually a component of a larger group of services that farmers and ranchers can provide with their land base, ecological goods and services (EG&S) — things that are produced on the landscape through co-operation with nature that benefit the public.

Traditionally these products have a huge monetary impact (think trillions of dollars) and a limited marketplace. For example, there is no cash market for clean water or filtering of runoff into rivers that provide drinking water for cities, yet this has a huge impact on the public at large. Another good example is wildlife habitat. There is not a large or easily accessible cash market for creating habitat and encouraging wildlife but there are tremendous benefits to the public including maintaining biodiversity, benefits to the tourism industry and pollination among others.

There are a lot of ways to sell

these nontraditional products. As previously mentioned the carbon credit market is perhaps the easiest example as it has an established trading system although it lacks a real grassland component. Some enterprising folks market food that commands a premium using these environmental attributes to extract value out of the marketplace.

Indirectly this is marketing EG&S and the public is paying for it, whether they are aware of it or not.

Probably the most famous example of this would be the Whole Foods marketplace, a chain of upscale groceries that has seen tremendous market growth in the last decade or so. Smaller examples could include the local food movement and the growth in farmer’s markets.

Other ways that producers are marketing nontraditional products are through experiential tourism.

This is the fastest growing trend in tourism and it has evolved because people want the real experience of the place they are visiting. Examples could be on-farm bed and breakfasts, working vacations, guided hunting and artist retreats. While not for everyone, this is a way that farms and ranches are selling values, solitude, scenery and experiences to the public. These are definitely not traditional products for a farm and

ranch and yet nearly 100 per cent of the farms and ranches I have ever visited have at least some or even a multitude of these products.

BE PART OF THE DISCUSSION There are several efforts ongoing at the moment to develop a formal marketplace for some of these nontraditional products, particularly in the arena of environmental goods and services. This is important to be aware of for a couple of reasons.

One reason is that EG&S are generally considered “green” under our World Trade Organization rules. Many of our global competitors provide funding to farmers to provide EG&S in place of subsidies for production and this is allowed under the rules of trade. This affects pricing and production on a global scale. Another, and I believe more important reason, is that the public is demanding these types of products. Politicians and businesses alike are well aware of this and are currently struggling with how to go about providing and marketing services and products produced by the farmers and ranchers across the landscape. If we are not engaged in the conversation as producers we run the risk of having our product and production dictated to us as

well as having no say in how that marketplace is designed. This has the possibility of turning a potentially massive marketable product into a liability.

Another prime reason for awareness in this era with “sustainability” as a buzzword is that our ability to verify our practices and engage in the marketplace could be a major financial boost to a farm’s bottom line. As larger players become involved many of these markets may be formalized similar to the way that the carbon market has been developed. We need to stay on top of this as producers and also work to verify our own production practices.

One of the primary rules of marketing is to know your product.

The next time you are out walking around your farm or driving through your country neighbourhood, take a deep breath of fresh air, look at the scenery, the individual plants and animals and consider all of the products you produce on your farm. You may find some stuff for sale that you never knew was there. † Sean McGrath is a rancher and consultant from Vermilion, Alta. He can be reached at sean@ranchingsystems.com or (780)8539673. For additional information visit www. ranchingsystems.com.

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June 17 Pre-Conference Workshops Clinical Skills Building University of Calgary, Spyhill Campus

June 18-19 Deerfoot Inn & Casino

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17TH Workshops (Spyhill Campus): 1. Low-stress cattle handling 2. Managing cattle non-responsive to treatment

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/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

The Dairy Corner

Mud is no friend of dairy cattle As little as four inches of mud can slow performance and it can be an excellent environment for disease affecting cattle health PETER VITTI

O

nce I was checking the spring ration for a dairy producer who raised a group of replacement dairy heifers in a drylot. The mud was about a half metre deep and with each step toward the feeder, it was slow going. About half-way along, my boot got stuck and by struggling, I buried it. Abandoning what I was doing, I went back to the barn without a left boot (and sock).

Unfortunately, these dairy heifers and others that live in such quagmire, face a similar predicament as well as negative health consequences. Most producers can avoid most of these problems by practicing a few “mud maintenance” techniques.

Without losing a single rubber boot, Kansas State University researchers confirm that as little as four inches of mud adversely affect cattle. Their specific work showed that four to eight inches of mud reduced average daily gains in growing drylot beef cattle by five to 15 per cent. As this mud got belly-deep, cattle performance was shown to be reduced by as much as 35 per cent.

The negative performance could be exploited to growing dairy replacement heifers. Even when mud is not deep, it creates slippery surfaces along the adjacent concrete, which hamper beef and dairy cattle from getting solid footing as they attempt to move up to the bunk to feed.

More particular dairy studies suggest for every one inch of mud,

photo: file

Keeping dairy replacement heifers or any dairy cattle clean and dry can make a huge difference in overall performance. dry matter intake is reduced by as much as 2.5 per cent in lactation cows, which is explained by their reluctance to move in the mud up to the feed-bunk. As a result, cows eat fewer meals and promotes more “slug” feeding, which is speculated to disrupt their otherwise natural flow of good rumen fermentation/ feed digestion/natural rumination (cud-chewing) and may underlie other digestion problems such as subclinical acidosis (SARA). Longterm SARA is proven to dovetail into other problems such as displaced abomasums, and lameness in dairy cattle.

HOTBED OF DISEASE Aside from reducing the mobility of dairy cattle the deeper it gets, mud is often contaminated with disease-causing microorganisms from the environment as well as contaminated with cattle manure, urine and other fluids such as blood.

When biologically active in warm spring weather, these pathogens can cause a higher incidence of mastitis, lameness, enteritis and even mortality among dairy cattle.

Many reports suggest many types of bacteria that cause mastitis on the milk line are widespread in the cow’s environment. Subsequently, mastitis is inevitable in many lactation dairy cows unless protocols are put in place to prevent these pathogens from entering their teat canals. Mud increases this pathogenic opportunity in two ways; (1) it allows contaminated sources of bacteria to come in direct contact with the udder’s teat and teat-ends and (2) it promotes surface lesions and/or chaffing of the teat skin, which harbours even more bacteria.

In addition to mastitis caused by bacteria living in mud, lameness is a big problem in cattle raised in muddy pens or pastures, which is usually not related to the aforementioned feed intake problems.

Instead, more than three-quarters of lameness observed in dairy cattle housed outside are confirmed cases of foot rot microorganisms thriving in mud.

By nature, foot rot is prevalent in muddy conditions, because cattle hooves standing in constant wet mud becomes soft and pliable. The skin of the hoof’s coro-

nary band and inter-digital starts to crack, chap and is eventually opened to infection by anaerobic (lives without oxygen) bacteria called Fusobacterium necrophorum. There may also be other invaders such as strep and staph organisms found in soil, manure and even the rumen microbes of the cows themselves. And sharp rocks and stones found in mud will injure the cattle’s soft hooves and open them up to invasion by foot rot bacteria. Pus and discharge from swollen feet will contaminate muddy ground and healthy cattle can become infected if they walk in the same mud.

ASIDE FROM FOOT ROT Unfortunately, foot rot is not the only microbial threat that can live in mud of drylots and on pastures. Mud is a good home for cattle enteric disease-causing organisms such as crytosporidia and coccidia that cause coccidosis; the organism is shed in the manure of infected cattle, which defecate back it into the mud.

Fortunately, coccidiosis in cattle can be controlled by adding monensin sodium to these cattle diets.

The actual extent to which mud contribute to these diseases in dairy cattle is not known, but one can speculate that good “mud management” implemented in muddy drylots and on pastures should reduce the incidence of their adverse health effects and also help dairy cattle move around and up to the feed bunk.

Here are some suggestions to help reduce the effect of mud on outside dairy cattle: • Scrape down pens — Deal

with mud and get rid of it. We are not only getting rid of significant amounts of mud, but in many cases, much of the manure that built up during the winter. Scrape in front of feeding areas or concrete lip in front of the feed bunks.

• Improve drainage in pens — Put in necessary culverts and grade pens with a bit of a slope, which helps carry water away from loafing areas.

• Improve cattle comfort — Extra bedding should be used in drylot areas. While cleaning out pens, a mound in the drylot might be created, which water drains away and keep lying cattle, dry.

Clean and slope dirt and manure away from pole barns.

• Improve udder hygiene — For lactation cows with access to outside mud, concentrate on sound pre- and post-milking protocols, which clean and sanitize the teat and teat-ends.

• Manage wet pastures — Avoid keep cattle in the same early pastures for extended periods.

Implement more frequent movements of cattle. Move mineral and salt feeders on occasion to assist movement of cattle.

It’s not always easy to keep dairy cattle clean and dry after the winter snows melts and creates lots of mud. It is almost guaranteed to put non-lactation and lactation cattle at a performance and health disadvantage. Therefore, dairy producers should do all they can to lessen mud’s negative effects. Ultimately, protecting cattle from mud might also find my missing boot. † Peter Vitti is an independent livestock nutritionist and consultant based in Winnipeg.

To reach him call 204-254-7497 or by email at vitti@mts.net.

fencing

Rolling up old wire simplified

BY LISA GUENTHER

F

encing is probably not a favourite chore for most livestock producers, and cleaning up snarled barbed wire even less so. But one Saskatchewan entrepreneur hopes to ease ranchers’ fencing pains with an automatic wire roller.

Brad Mohr, owner of BAM Enterprises, says his brother came up with the initial level-wind wire roller design and started the company about 12 years ago.

Mohr’s brother was “selling a few,” but was “moving onto bigger and better things,” Mohr says so he bought the blueprints and stock from his brother, simplified the design a little, and started marketing the wire rollers.

Mohr’s brother came up with the design after seeing a guide which was originally patented by John Deere in the early 1900s for use as part of a seeding system.

The old John Deere part now guides the wire onto the spool.

There are other machines that spool barbed wire, but Mohr says they require people to manually guide the wire. “Whereas this is all automatic,” he says.

Mohr says ranchers setting up electric fence for swath grazing, or with old fencelines to tidy up, are interested in the wire roller.

“You don’t want cattle or anything getting tangled up in old barbed wire that’s out there.”

ROLLING UP OLD, UNSPOOLING NEW Producers can use the wire roller to roll up old barbed wire or unroll spools for new fencing. Mohr also sells adapters to unwind brand-new rolls from wooden spools. The tractor’s hydraulics pull in the wire, he says. “And then when you want to unroll the wire, just tie the wire to the post and drive away.”

The standard spool holds three-quarters of a mile of twostrand barbed wire. The high-tensile spool will roll three-quarters

of a mile of 12-gauge high-tensile wire. Spools of old barbed wire can be reused later after they’ve been rolled up, Mohr says.

To roll up old wire neatly, Mohr suggests putting some weight on the end of the wire. “I recommend about 10 to 12 feet of heavier chain. It just drags nice, doesn’t bounce around.”

Some people use a tire or fencepost, he says. “It does work but it gets bouncing and all of a sudden it wraps around a post and you’ve got trouble.”

The standard wire roller attaches to a drawbar hitch, but a three-point hitch option is also available. “It’s all a steel hitch so they can put it on a post-pounder or skid-steer or whatever.”

The wire roller weighs in at 110 lb. “so it’s kind of a one-man operation, too” says Mohr. It’s “a pretty tough machine,” but the guide needs to be lubricated twice for every quarter mile of wire it rolls, Mohr says. After the machine has rolled five or 10 miles of wire, the shaft should be

photo: lisa guenther

The BAM level-wind wire roller hooks into your tractor’s hydraulics to roll used barbed wire. rotated a quarter-turn to move the wear point, he says.

The level-wind wire roller is largely a Saskatchewan product.

Mohr is based out of Avonlea, in south-central Sask. Haukaas Manufacturing, based in Mortlach, Sask., does the welding on the machine. Mohr sources hydraulics out of Regina.

Ranchers interested in buying

the machines can contact Mohr, and he’ll set them up with the closest dealer. “And I can ship them on the bus to anywhere in Saskatchewan for 50 bucks,” he says. For more information, visit www.wireroll.com. † Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

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Cattleman’s Corner herd management

Tips on selecting female replacements In reality, bulls are more dispensable than good cows

BY STAN HARDER

B

PREFERRED OUR OWN

eef producers place a lot of emphasis on finding a suitable herd sire as no one can dismiss the importance of bull power in the herd. As the overworked but entirely accurate phrase aptly illustrates, “your bull is half the herd.”

However the “other” half merits significant consideration for the single largest livestock investment is clearly a ranchers’ cow herd. Whatever genetic success might be attributed to individual bulls, without a powerful lot of females to breed, these bulls will actually contribute comparatively little to overall herd improvement in the first generation.

It will likely be the second or third generation following that will begin to show measurable improved genetics since heritable traits we wish to see expressed are not necessarily the ones actually or consistently delivered. Some crosses simply don’t work well and others might not be friendly to our target expectations. A $10,000 bull bred to a $1,000 cow will not reliably produce those “half the herd” $5,000 calves, if ever.

Any bull can be discarded with a relatively moderate asset loss, but one’s cow herd as a whole enjoys no such flexibility.

There are numbers of sound reasons ranchers choose female replacements entirely from within their own herd or why conversely, they may prefer to out source all or a few. Arguments can be made in each instance, the primary issue being individual preferences dictated by whatever seems to work best through experience.

We preferred the comfort of knowing our home-grown replacements were more or less disease free, backed by comprehensive performance records of both sires and dams which helped remove considerable guesswork on a range of A to Z traits.

A new producer is fortunate if they can fall heir to a complete dispersal cow herd unsullied through selective cherry picking in advance of the sale. Older but proven performance cows have remained in that herd for a reason and if the exiting breeder is someone of reputable standing significantly more dollars can be justifiably spent. However it has been known to happen where breeders seek to take advantage of this principle by creating phantom dispersal sales while retaining their top genetics as seed for rebuilding after the sale. That does the industry a tremendous disservice.

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

The main paradigm shift for us was to shed the notion that we are obligated to feed the world. We are obligated to feed ourselves, our family, and if there is any surplus, our local community. This belief affects how we plan our farm businesses, how we make decisions, how we evaluate our choices and redo plans where necessary.

We no longer look at things with a focus on pushing production. We look at everything equally as part of a greater whole, and feel a deep sense of contentment in that, because we have the satisfaction that all three legs will be strong.

So please, free yourselves of that yoke around your neck as well. Free yourself of the burden that you are obligated to feed anyone but your own family. If you choose to work extra jobs, miss kids’ functions and run yourself ragged, make sure you are choosing it for YOUR own reasons.

Maybe you want to save up for a family holiday, maybe you want to save up to pay off the last of that loan on the tractor

Is it my job to feed the world? ers, that noble quest of feeding the world, I think we could all agree that it has focused most of its energy by far, on economics.

Community would likely be chosen as a runner up, and environment has been largely ignored.

If you built a stool with that type of mindset, would it stand up? Would a three-legged stool with a large fat leg, a medium leg and a skinny weak leg hold up, especially when you are trying constantly to make the fat leg fatter?

My point with this essay is to attempt at helping to educate and enlighten people. It is certainly not an attempt to paint farmers as blind and stupid. I have been blind and stupid many times over the years, and still am far more than I like. Our farm is a work in progress as well, and I still work away from home in the oilfield as we build up the legs on our stool equally.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A FEMALE Like the search for a suitable bull, the question of the day becomes what to look for in a reproductive female. Most ranchers have a fixed idea of what traits a cow should have. What appeals to one buyer may not to another.

By training or fundamental inclination most people prefer a specific strain of cattle. The best advice I can offer is to go with that type. You need to like what you see and will find yourself more tolerant of minor imperfections than you might be if you had been persuaded into buying into a breed you find less appealing.

There are probably more differences of opinion on females than in bull selection, but regardless of traits the basics remain the

same. Look for sound feet and legs, proper frame size for the breed with moderate to fine bone structure, widely spaced hipbones, inherently good health, agreeable temperament and of course wellbalanced four teat udders with consistent fertility.

Heifer calves are the most difficult to judge for potential and it is imperative their dams and sires be examined even more closely than the calves themselves. You’re not going to get a reliable mental print out of future performance by simply eye balling the calf. ROP records are useful, excluding (in my considered opinion) EPDs, which in our experience we found to be considerably more of a distraction than intrinsically beneficial.

LOOK FOR MILK FOLDS There seems to be some consistency of belief that the absence or presence of so called “milk folds” in the upper udder portion under the lower tail section in a heifer is indicative of future milking capacity. Numbers of deep folds are very desirable and we found this to be a good guide for us when deciding whether to retain or market a female.

We might not keep a heifer with well-expressed folds for numbers of reasons, but we would definitely not bring her into the cow herd as a potential producer if these folds were absent. I’m not sure why this is relevant but if you examine a male calf in the same manner you will note the absence of folds entirely. I suspect the folds are somehow related to traits involving femininity. The logic of these folds might be that an expanding high performance udder needs room to do so at lactation, but it’s another guess.

Registration of sire pedigrees can

or the west pasture quarter. But please oh please, as stewards of the land and livestock, as ambassadors of the future of food, allow yourself that choice, that you work a farmer’s work, and live a farmer’s life for yourself and your family. It is a choice that provides your required production, without putting extra strain on the environment and the people.

To provide for your family, and protect the world around you, perhaps even improve it, is far more noble a life to lead, than living under the yoke of an obligation to push production at the expense of your family, community and environment.

That belief in an obligation to production has consequences that affect us all. One last thought, came from a friend recently who after discussing this topic said, “Asking how we find enough food to feed this growing population, is like asking how we will find enough wood to feed this growing fire?”.

Do we reduce the flames, or let it burn? † Darcy Goodrich and his family farm near Rock Creek, in southern British Columbia.

photo: stan harder

In any breed there are basic features to look for in a replacement female be important to commercial buyers of females in that they will indicate degrees of line breeding, if any. Limited line breeding can be extremely beneficial in crossbred cows since it promotes a degree of consistency in calf crops when a cow is served by a purebred sire.

As much as we were opposed to EPDs we were in considerable support of purebred line breeding with advantages significantly outweighing potential problems, but only where assured purity of genetics permitted such mating.

EASE OF CALVING Virtually every breed will advertise ease of calving and in reality each breed can credibly make that claim if calving is done in intensively managed hands-on circumstances. The definition of ease of calving however needs some latitude of interpretation. Clearly some cows can and will calve successfully and consistently unassisted and unobserved on range, while others need to be nursed extensively from beginning to end, but are still seen in rancher’s performance records as “easy calving” using the criterion of no veterinary intervention as an essential guideline. If no vet call is made its rated as an easy birth regardless of any other local calving aid employed.

BALANCED UDDER The longer we raised cattle the more insistent we became on balanced udders. Aside from presenting a pleasing appearance a well-proportioned udder looks professional, as though someone has taken the time to manage his or her herd to superior genetic standards. Two badly undersized and two huge teats may be marginally functional, but are also the root of substantial problems beginning with poor calf acceptance.

When a teat is as large as the calf’s snout the chances of it being brought into production in line with other teats is small indeed. The calf may be searching for another spigot by chewing on the cow’s unclean leg and frequently does. Calves seem to be able to count to four and four teats is what they should have, not two sort of serviceable units and two engorged balloons.

As in other purchases, when buying females for your herd you get what you pay for. A cow, like a bull, may be either an expense or an investment and as always it’s buyer’s choice. † Stan Harder was a long-time beef producer in northeast Alberta, now enjoying retirement in Grand Forks, B.C.

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Cattleman’s Corner livestock handling

Handling emotions key to handling cattle If you’re chasing them, you’ve already lost the battle

BY STEPHANIE GRACE

M

ore beef producers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of low-stress livestock management as part of the time-honoured tradition of raising and handling cattle.

Human instincts, however, can present a major obstacle by contributing to a lack of control and the conflicts, anger and frustration that commonly accompany plans gone awry.

Dylan Biggs, a lifelong Alberta rancher and clinician who has worked in the industry conducting livestock handling clinics across Canada and the U.S. over the past 20 years, makes it clear that learning new skills and controlling human emotions are two crucial aspects of efficient herd management.

In a world where many are faced with an urgency to achieve maximum efficiency, hustle is the name of the game. “The reality is that once we have control of our cattle, (through slow and steady techniques) we can achieve maximum results with the least amount of time and energy,” says Biggs. “We may feel like we are getting a lot done in a big hurry when we’re running and chasing and everything is moving fast, but the reality is that training cattle so

that you have control (is highly) efficient.” When you don’t have to repair fences or stop to fix simple mistakes made in a hurry, it is more cost effective and time efficient in the long run.

Biggs and his wife Colleen and family operate the three-generation TK Ranch near Hanna, in eastern Alberta. The 10,000-acre ranch, which has received animal welfare certification, was established more than 50 years ago by Dylan’s father Thomas Biggs.

BETTER WAY TO DO THINGS Biggs believes there is a better way of handling cattle than the all-too-common story of frustration and angry outbursts. As an individual who has experienced and lived this story, Biggs says when producers gain low-stress handling skills, there is less of a need to get so frustrated and upset if or when livestock get out of control.

“I’ve been thinking about this for 25 years and I think that most of it boils down to a lack of confidence,” says Biggs. “When we feel insecure, we need to find someone to blame for our feeling a lack of control.” Such a thought pattern increases the likelihood of conflicts and creates a situation where, “The cattle are already upset and freaked out, so believing that things are going to get out of control often becomes a self-ful-

filling prophesy and the situation erodes into a downward spiral.

“At my clinics I often ask, ‘Who gets yelled at? Who does the yelling’ and everybody’s hands go up. Everybody can relate. If you make it into a joke, everyone laughs, but beneath the humour, everyone knows it’s no laughing matter.”

When producers start to lose control of their cattle, it is much easier to lose control of emotions.

Learning to control livestock, “solely through our movements, proximity and position” pays off, says Biggs. “Handling cattle isn’t about waving our arms, yelling or chasing. Those are all things we resort to when we run out of knowledge or options and when we have exhausted our repertoire of tools.”

NEED PATIENCE Having patience can go a long way toward changing the experience of handling cattle for all involved. “Once people get worked up and cattle are worked up, human nature makes it extremely difficult to step back, take the pressure off and let everyone relax, but that is the biggest thing,” says Biggs. “We have to learn to take the pressure off when things are going poorly. It is critical we learn the proper position when working around cattle and understand their movements.

Dylan Biggs understands that properly positioning yourself in relationship to cattle, a calm demeanour and patience are key elements in low-stress cattle handling.

“Typically we have a tendency to spend way too much time in an offensive position, pushing cattle and not nearly enough time being defensive. Often, when we get closer to our target, we get insecure about losing the cows and try to hedge our bets by pushing too hard. The increase in pressure makes cattle nervous and they start to pressure back on us and we want to push more. Not many of us are naturally inclined to step back, take

the pressure off and let the cows think about it a little bit.”

Every time you work with your herd, you are training your animals and setting the tone for how handling will go in the future. Biggs says keeping your cool maximizes the benefits of low-stress handling. † Stephanie Grace is a freelance writer from B.C. s Peace River country where she enjoys farming and ranching with her family. To learn more please visit her website at: www.stephaniegrace.org.

weaning options

Easy weaning with nose flaps heather smith thomas

E

very year, weaning time is a stress on people and animal. On our ranch, we started fenceline weaning about 25 years ago — separating the cows from the calves but putting them in adjacent pens or pastures so they could still go to the fence and be next to each other. It was a little easier on them than the “cold turkey” weaning we did earlier, leaving the calves in a corral and taking their mothers to a far pasture, but they still bawled a lot and were very upset.

In the fall of 2014 we tried something different, using “nose flaps” on the calves and leaving the pairs together until the cows’ milk started drying up. We’d heard great reports about this method from ranchers who use it, and I’d talked to Joe Stookey, who invented this innovative device at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, about 10 years ago. The “nose flaps” are now marketed as a product called Quiet Wean.

Calves are very stressed when separated from their mothers, and stress can lead to immune suppression and vulnerability to disease, especially if the stress of weaning is coupled with bad weather and/or a long transport when newly weaned calves are sold. It always pays to try to reduce stress on calves, but this can be a challenge sometimes.

FOLLOWING NATURE In nature, without human intervention, calves are weaned by their mothers kicking them off before the next calf is born.

The big calf follows along and stays with the cow, never losing the comfort and security of her presence. He may still try to nurse for a few days, but the cow won’t let him, and he resigns himself to weaned status.

When I talked to Joe Stookey about nose flaps, he said it all came about because of a student’s question. “One of our students asked what does the calf miss most — the milk or the mother? So we decided to find out. When we did the study and took away the milk by creating this anti-sucking device, none of the calves were upset,” Stookey said. “Then when we took away the mother a few days later

they didn’t miss her either, and we realized we’d already weaned the calves. We had weaned them in the presence of the mother and that was the big difference. It was an amazing revelation about the whole weaning process.”

These small plastic flaps can be quickly and easily installed in seconds, with the calves restrained in a chute. Then the calves are returned to their mothers. The flap hangs down over the nose and mouth, preventing the calf from getting a teat into his mouth to nurse, but does not hinder eating grass or hay or drinking water.

The calf cannot nurse, but he’s not emotionally upset because he’s still with his mother. He feels secure because he has her companionship and protection during the weaning process. The cow starts to dry up, and the calf adjusts to not having milk. About five to seven days later, cows and calves can be completely separated from one another and the flaps removed from the calves, and they are not stressed.

EASY PROCESS We ordered nose flaps for our calves last fall and put them in one week before preg-checking

photo: heather smith thomas

The plastic Quiet Wean flap easily clips onto the nose of the calf. our cows. It was humorous to watch them afterward; they’d run to mom and try to nurse, and just stand there — and bunt the udder in frustration — and get kicked. Mom couldn’t figure out why baby wasn’t nursing, but neither of them were stressed. They kept track of each other and spent time together, but there was no desperation, no frantic pacing/ bawling like what happens with other weaning methods.

By the time we took out the

nose flaps a week later, when we ran the calves through the chute again for vaccinations, the cows were drying up and the calves essentially weaned. We put the calves in a new pasture and took the cows to our upper place to spend the rest of the fall on mountain pasture, and everybody was happy. It sure was easier on everyone. † Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho. Contact her at 208-756-2841.

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

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Home Quarter Farm Life SEEDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Bully-free farming Elaine Froese

S

he came up to me quietly after my presentation, looking tired and sad. “Elaine I haven’t been off the farm in months, and I don’t know who is going to help us with seeding. I am 70 and I cannot take this anymore. My husband is very verbally abusive and won’t get help for his depression. What do I do?”

This woman is a target of a bully, according to the language of author Valerie Cade who wrote Bully Free at Work… what you can do to stop workplace bullying now! (www.bullyfreeatwork.com).

Bullying on farms is happening when targets are experiencing repeated disrespectful behaviour.

The tactics according to Cade are exclusion, unreasonable demands, unfairness, verbal abuse and “crazy making” (page 211).

Can you relate to these farm scenarios?

A daughter-in-law wonders how to get her name on the land titles after 25 years of marriage and years of working hard to make her father-in-law’s farm succeed. Her husband is not willing to stand up for fairness and says nothing.

A farm mom is not getting any support to get treatment for her depressive husband and she feels trapped. The exclusion from community is killing her slowly.

A wise widow who lives frugally and wants to honour her husband’s wishes is not sure why her adult children are making unreasonable demands for their inheritance. She is feeling threatened and pushed into making financial decisions that may leave her short of future family living funds.

She has no idea what her longterm health-care needs will be and financial security is important to her, especially as she ages alone.

A frustrated 40-year-old son cannot get his father and mother to sign business agreements that share the farm assets and equity with the next generation. He is tired of the promise, “just trust me,” and wonders if other farmers work like slaves and get very low wages for years.

The over-60 father has no intention of retiring, but knows that he likely needs to share the decisionmaking with his successors. He is not happy about the barrage of verbal abuse he meets daily when he asks questions and tries to make a plan for the daily operations.

My question is, “Why are you allowing the bad behaviour to continue?”

Valerie Cade outlines the experience of the workplace hosting bullies as one where “others say nothing, are not sure what to do or say. The bullying behaviour is tolerated.” I say, “You get the behaviour that you accept.”

The bully minimizes the way the target feels and over time the farm team begins to think, “This is just the way it is around here!” Bad behaviour is ignored and slowly the family (employees) become distant , silent, and non-creative, according to Cade.

Targets of bullying suffer emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Cade’s research finds that the “target eventually quits (80 per cent of the time). On farms this gets very expensive with divorce, and the loss of trained employees.

What to do? Bullies cannot “flourish or they cannot even survive in organizations committed to respect, open communication and teamwork,” says Cade.

She suggests: • Clarify your values and communicate them; • Use managers as role models; • Develop more open communication; • Provide a complaint process; • Train people about bullying; • Support interpersonal skills training and conflict resolution;

• Punish bullies, don’t hire bullies; • Adopt an anti-bullying policy.

Cade’s book has some great tools, one of them being a selfassessment: Are you being bullied? Does the person you’re having challenges with: Ignore you? Not return your phone calls or emails?

Dismiss what you are saying or “put you down in the presence of others?”

Spread rumours, lies, and halftruths about you?

Routinely blame and criticize you?

In our book dealing with Farming’s In-Law Factor, we came up with a list of ways to address the nastiness you might be experiencing on your farm.

1. Accept that there are various reasons that people are nasty, some of which we will never know or understand. You can accept the reality of the nastiness, but you do not have to accept bad bullying behaviour.

2. Be curious not judgmental.

Address the root cause of the nastiness (e.g. depression, trauma, health issues).

3. Think of a positive trait that you can acknowledge them for.

4. Name the behaviour as nasty or inappropriate. Some people don’t realize they are being donkeys.

5. Pray or reflect on a new approach or perspective to engage the person.

6. Do not accept guilt or shame.

7. Create physical or emotional space from the nastiness.

8. Set healthy boundaries.

9. Make requests. For example, if you feel you are being excluded, make a request. “I would like to be included in the emails to be part of the farm meetings.”

10. Write a heartfelt letter and deliver it. Or burn it.

11. Give them an underserved act of grace. Cade suggests to respond with, “I understand. I see.”

12. Choose not to be melodramatic about the nastiness or take it personally. Cade coaches folks to move to the “I am being bullied and I will now take steps to protect myself” stage. “Notice if you are feeling angry, frustrated or hurt. It is time to channel these feelings so they do not take a toll on your body, mind and well-being” (page 189).

13. Resist the urge to criticize, as it can become a bad habit.

14. Realize that some people act grumpy or mean (almost as performance art in some cases) in order to get attention or because they have come to believe that is who they are.

Spring on the farm is an exciting time of watching weather, waiting for fields to dry and warm up and “get ’er done” planting in a timely fashion.

Buy a copy of Cade’s book and a copy of our book Farming’s In-Law Factor as gifts for Mother’s Day, and for new farm brides. Work towards a bullyfree farm culture. † Elaine Froese is at www.elainefroese.com.

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Home Quarter Farm Life PRAIRIE PALATE

Welcoming the first ‘fruits’ of spring After a long winter we’re always eager to see signs of spring and Kristiane Lien had first settled in North Dakota but, unable to afford a farm of their own, they moved north to take advantage of the free homesteads offered in Canada.

For the move, they packed everything they owned into a rail car, including cattle, chickens, a team of horses and, yes, a root of rhubarb, which provided many memorable desserts over the years.

This recipe for rhubarb pudding, originally written in Norwegian, was found among the keepsakes of Hans and Kristiane that were passed down the generations.

It’s a delicious way to welcome the first “fruits” of spring.

Amy Jo Ehman

Y

ou may call them weeds, but to the pioneers, dandelions were dinner. After a long winter of root vegetables — progressively shrivelling and even running out — dandelions and other “weeds” were the first greens of spring. Mother Nature’s salad bar.

Tender young dandelion leaves were collected by the pailful, as were lamb’s quarters, sorrel and purslane, also known as portulaca. They were often eaten cooked, either alone or added to a recipe such as green borscht, a popular soup of potatoes, dill, sorrel and sour cream.

One method of preparing dandelion leaves went like this: whisk together an egg with half a cup of sour cream. Cook until thickened. Stir in a dab of butter and two tablespoons of vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Toss in a good amount of well-washed dandelion greens and cook until wilted. Eat warm.

Of course, dandelion leaves and other wild greens were not the only signs of spring in the kitchen. Every farmstead had a rhubarb patch which sprang to life before the last vestiges of snow had disappeared.

Rhubarb was the first “fruit” of spring.

Back then, rhubarb was commonly called the “pie plant” because, as we all know, it makes an admirable pie. Of

Rhubarb Pudding 1 c. flour 1/4 c. brown sugar 1/2 c. butter 4 c. thinly sliced rhubarb 1 c. white sugar 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

photo: amy jo ehman

Rhubarb Pudding course, it also tastes great in a cake, crisp, bread pudding, compote and a jar of jam.

Even though rhubarb grows like a weed (try uprooting it!) it is not natural to the Canadian plains. However, that tenacity served it well during the time of the settlers. Many a pioneer arriving by train or horse-drawn wagon brought a piece of rhubarb root to set in their first Prairie garden and were quick to share it with immigrants from overseas who had travelled more sparsely.

Like dandelions, rhubarb is a good source of vitamin C, which might have been in short supply come spring, espe-

cially if the sauerkraut crock (also steeped in vitamin C) was dipping low.

Before rhubarb became associated with jams and pies, the root was used medicinally as a mild laxative and stomach tonic. It was not until the 1800s, when sugar from the West Indies became more widely available and more affordable in Europe that someone had the bright idea of sweetening the sour stalks and eating them.

The recipe below was provided to me by Irene Hagel, granddaughter of Norwegian pioneers who homesteaded near Weldon, east of Prince Albert, Sask. in 1902. Hans

Mix flour and brown sugar. Rub in butter until blended. Put rhubarb in a buttered baking dish. Mix white sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over rhubarb.

Press flour mixture over top and bake at 325 F for 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

You can read the recipe in Norwegian on my food blog HomeForDinner.blogspot. com. † Amy Jo Ehman is the author of Prairie Feast: A Writer’s Journey Home for Dinner, and, Out of Old Saskatchewan Kitchens. She hails from Craik, Saskatchewan.

EXTENDED OUTLOOK FOR THE PRAIRIES Weather Forecast for the period of April 12 to May 9, 2015

Southern Alberta

Peace River Region

Saskatchewan

April 12 - 18 Blustery days usher in a few mild, sunny days followed by cooler, wet conditions.

Snow/frost in several areas.

April 12 - 18 Blustery days usher in a few mild, sunny days followed by cooler, wet conditions. Snow/frost is expected in a few areas.

April 12 - 18 Highs in the teens most days under sunshine, but cooler windy intrusions bring some rain and a chance of snow on 2 or 3 days.

April 19 - 25 Fluctuating temperatures are expected. On cooler, windy days there will be some rain and a possibility of scattered snow.

April 19 - 25 Fluctuating temperatures with highs near 20 in the southwest.

On cooler, windy days expect rain and a slight risk of snow.

April 26 - May 2 Pleasant under sunshine and milder temperatures, although rain with a risk of snow/frost is expected on 2 or 3 occasions.

April 26 - May 2 Pleasant under sunshine and milder temperatures, although rain with a risk of snow/frost is expected on 2 or 3 occasions.

April 19 - 25 Pleasant, mild days are interrupted by cooler, blustery weather with scattered rain.

Scattered snow in central and northern areas.

May 3 - 9 Variable weather as warm, dry days interchange with cooler, wet days and some frost. Chance of snow. Blustery.

May 3 - 9 Variable weather as warm, dry days interchange with cooler, wet days and some frost. Slight chance of snow. Blustery.

-3 / 9 Grande Prairie 19.8 mms

April 12 - 18 Mild and sunny days are followed by cooler, wet days.

Windy at times. Frosty nights.

Periodic heavier snow in the north.

April 19 - 25 Sunny with a few milder days in the teens in the south. Scattered rain and gusty on 2 or 3 days.

Some snow in the north.

April 26 - May 2 Mostly sunny aside from rain on a couple of days with a chance of snow in places. Frost most nights.

Often windy.

April 26 - May 2 Sunny, windy with variable temperatures. Some highs hit 20s in the south, but frost on many nights. Scattered rain.

May 3 - 9 Seasonal and at times cool with nighttime frost. Sunny skies alternate with showers or rain.

Windy. Risk of snow.

May 3 - 9 Seasonal to cool with occasional frost. Sunny apart from showers on a couple of occasions.

Chance of snow. Blustery.

Precipitation Forecast -3 / 10 Edmonton 22.1 mms

-3 / 10 Jasper

21.2 mms

-3 / 9

32.4 mms

Banff

-2 / 11 Calgary

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

Manitoba

25.1 mms

NEAR NORMAL

-2 / 9 North Battleford -3 / 10 Red Deer 22.9 mms

0 / 13 Medicine Hat 19mms cms Lethbridge 26.0 35.9 mms 26 cms -1 / 12

-5 / 6 The Pas

-4 / 8 Prince Albert 22.2 mms

NEAR NORMAL

21.7 mms

-3 / 9 Saskatoon 19.7 mms

27.4 mms

-3 / 9 Yorkton

-4 / 9 Dauphin

-4 / 7 -2 / 11 20.3 mms 31.7 mms -2 / 11 Gimli Regina 39.2 mms -2 / 10 Moose Jaw 20.4 mms Swift 24.3 mms -2 / 10 -3 / 9 Current Portage -2 / 10 -2 / 11 Brandon 40.4 mms Winnipeg 24.7 mms Weyburn 35.4 mms 35.9 mms 28.9 mms -2 / 11 Estevan Melita -4 / 10 33.3 mms

33.5 mms

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

Temperatures are normals for April 15th averaged over 30 years.

Precipitation (water equivalent) normals for April in mms. ©2015 WeatherTec Services www.weathertec.mb.ca

APRIL 28, 2015 grainews.ca /

33

Home Quarter Farm Life FROM THE FARM

Time to start thinking of outdoor family activities Debbie Chikousky

W

hen we lived in the city and our children were small, spring always made me start looking for activities to get us outside. Now that we live on a farm, spring is filled with new babies. May of 2015 will be filled with lambing so I know what I will be doing for Mother’s Day. My day will be filled with new life and all our children will be home with their children to help celebrate!

Growing up in Winnipeg my family used to go fishing with my grandparents many Sundays.

This year in Manitoba, Mother’s Day and opening day of fishing season both fall on May 10.

Fishing is an excellent way for a family to bond, getting fresh air, sunshine and relaxation.

Family outings wouldn’t be complete without food but it’s important to be safe. The first rule is to keep cold foods cold. To do this place cold food in a cooler with ice or frozen gel packs, storing at 40 F (4.4 C) or below to prevent bacterial growth. Meat, poultry, and seafood may be packed while still frozen to stay colder longer. Salads containing mayonnaise are considered a high-risk food and should be kept cold. To minimize cooler opening and closing, pack beverages in one cooler and perishable food in another.

Hot food should be kept hot, at or above 140 F (60 C). Wrap it well and place it in an insulated container until serving. Just as with cold food, these foods should not sit out for more than two hours, or one hour in temperatures above 90 F (32.2 C). If food is left out longer, throw it away to be safe.

Don’t cross-contaminate. Be sure to keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood securely wrapped.

This keeps their juices from contaminating prepared/cooked foods or foods that will be eaten raw, such as fruits and vegetables. It is also a good idea to keep them out of the beverage cooler.

Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water before packing in the cooler — including those with skins and rinds that are not eaten. To avoid softening and mould growth if it is a weekend trip, make sure to dry the fruits and vegetables with a clean towel.

Food safety begins with proper hand cleaning — including outdoor settings. Before you begin setting out your picnic feast, make sure hands and surfaces are clean. If you don’t have access to running water, simply use a water jug, some soap, and paper towels. Or, use moist disposable towelettes for cleaning your hands. Keep all utensils and platters clean when preparing food.

Manitoba is known for some of the best catfish fishing in the country. They can be a lot of fun to catch but we always released them and kept the jackfish for

supper. Lots of our Lockport fishing friends tell us catfish are delicious, but we don’t have recipes for them. Our family has two ways we enjoy other kinds of fresh fish.

Fresh fried The tastiest fish are the ones that are cooked fresh out of the water over an open fire. Many people just roll the fish, once it is cleaned and filleted, in flour and fry in lard until the fillet is golden brown.

Baked fresh fish Get a big piece of heavyduty tin foil and smear butter over the middle. Put chopped

onions, mushrooms and green peppers on half of the foil.

Place fish on the vegetables and with a knife smear on a generous amount of butter. Sprinkle salt, pepper and lemon juice on the fillets and the vegetables.

Put more vegetables on top and sprinkle more salt, pepper and lemon juice. Place a few pieces of butter on top. Wrap the foil over the fish and seal edges.

Cook at low to medium heat for about 10 minutes. This same method can be used to make potato, onion and carrot packages for a side dish.

Whatever your family chooses to do to celebrate your mother our wish for you is that you create memories. † Debbie Chikousky farms at Narcisse, Man.

photo: courtesy heiko breidinger

The smile on our friend Beckie Breidinger’s face proves what fun catchand-release family fishing trips are.

™

EmpOwEring FarmErS  Ag in Motion brings innovation to the field All fArmers know decisions are made in the field. Imagine a place, an event, created to empower farmers by providing the information they need to make these important decisions.

A place where they can see the latest equipment in action, in the field – operating in the same environment it’s made for. A place where farmers can see multiple varieties of live crop plots growing side by side in the field.

This summer, such a place will exist.

Introducing Ag in motion, Western Canada’s newest and only outdoor farm expo. Debuting July 21 to 23, on a half-section (320 acres) near Saskatoon, SK, it’s the only show that provides an outdoor venue for progressive farmers in Western Canada that want to see and experience the latest agricultural innovation, all in one place. Ag in motion will feature field equipment demonstrations, live crop plots and interactive exhibits such as “ride and drives” and smaller equipment demos.

“Ag in motion will offer farmers a unique opportunity to compare crop plots and machinery, in action, and ultimately help them make decisions about the best products for their operations,” says Show Director Rob O’Connor. “There’s nowhere else in Western Canada where farmers can actually see multiple pieces of farm equipment in operation, take a test drive, or compare different crop varieties all in one place.”

What does an outdoor show look like?

The Ag in motion team brings together the expertise of seasoned farm show organizers.

The Expo is operated by Glacier FarmMedia, who owns Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, the country’s largest outdoor farm show held annually near Woodstock, Ontario. Also part of Glacier FarmMedia are Western Producer, Manitoba Co-operator, Grainews, Country Guide, Canadian Cattlemen, Alberta Farmer Express and AgDealer. The team knows what’s involved in delivering an outdoor show, and the potential such a venue provides.

Now in its 22nd year, Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show delivers 750 exhibitors and 42,000 visitors each year. Most attendees come to see the newest technologies in agriculture. Its success is based on the fact that active farmers attend to do business – make decisions – and the show is dedicated solely to agricultural products, equipment and services.

Ag in motion is applying the same model and will become a must-see event by showcasing cutting-edge agricultural advancements that empower Canadian farmers to help meet their goals in producing high quality, safe food in a competitive marketplace.

To learn more about how an outdoor show looks and operates, view the videos on the Ag in motion website, www.aginmotion.ca.

Live Demos and Interactive Exhibits The number of Ag in motion exhibitors is growing steadily each week and includes seed and crop protection companies, field equipment and livestock handling manufacturers, financial services, nutrition, baling products, tires, fertilizers and much more.

SOmETHing nEw iS in THE FiEld. ViSiT ag in mOTiOn THiS SUmmEr - JUlY 21-23 For more information about Ag in Motion please call toll free: (800) 563-5441 or email: info@aginmotion.ca www.facebook.com/AginMotion

SEE Technology ™ Denotes a trade-mark of Canada’s Outdoor Shows Limited Partnership.

TOUCH Innovation

BE Empowered

@AginMotion

www.aginmotion.ca

34

/ grainews.ca APRIL 28, 2015

Home Quarter Farm Life SINGING GARDENER

Recipes to help control apple maggots and ants Plus, Ted shares a letter from Alberta ted meseyton

A

phrase taken from Isaiah 11:6 says, “and a little child shall lead them.”

Most scripture scholars agree the passage containing those seven words has nothing to do with children teaching or leading adults. However, in our day-to-day living we’re never too old, nor too wise to know it all. We’re still learning from each other; regardless of age.

Got lots to share about apple maggot and ant controls, plus a letter from Alberta Grainews readers. As gardeners and farmers we stand on terra firma, (Latin) that is: solid earth; a firm footing. Before I meander any further along the garden path, let me tip my hat and extend welcome to all.

ture here, there and everywhere.

It seems to work best on hard surfaces like cement, cobblestone, sidewalk blocks, stepping stones, etc. I actually put it on the painted bottom board of our fence, behind the grapevine. Keep replacing it as it will harden up. Try it out Ted. It was super effective in our yard. I did not know that ants are more prevalent where there are aphids until you pointed it out in one of your articles. — Judy Allan.”

Ted’s response: Judy also asks about lime-water spray, so I’m providing some information about it a little further along. Apple maggot flies throw a one-two punch when it comes to causing damage. The first punch occurs when they lay eggs on the apples resulting in a weird, dimpled appearance on the outer skin. After the maggots hatch comes punch two. They tunnel into the flesh of apples causing a brownish breakdown with riddles and rot. The following should help Judy (hopefully her husband doesn’t have to cut down their apple trees) and others in preventing maggot tunnels. Eradication and control can be as high as 90 per cent; even higher.

FORMULA NO. 1

A LETTER LEADS THE WAY Thanks to Judy Allan from Edmonton who sent along three pages of a typed letter. I’ve condensed it down to save space.

“Hi Ted: My husband and I love your page in Grainews and never miss reading it. We appreciate all the gardening and other excellent suggestions you and readers give us. Some articles are just so informative and others just fun. We have two apple trees, one is a Parkland and the other a Norland; two Evans cherry trees that have lots of large, red semi-sweet cherries; a plum tree that is just amazing and a large grapevine covering about 20 feet on our backyard fence that produces 50 to 60 pounds a season of very good eating concord-like grapes.”

Judy continues: “We’ve had maggots the past two summers and treated both trees with commercial apple maggot traps with sticky-like glue and pheromone lures. This has not been very effective. This year we will use your apple maggot formula No. 1. We are desperate and my dear husband has threatened to cut down both trees if things don’t improve.

“I’m sharing an ant killer mixture we were given. Mix equal parts of icing sugar and baking soda, then add a small amount of water mixing as you go until you have a smooth, soft mixture that slides off the end of a teaspoon but stays together to form a small circle the size of a quarter or loonie. I put down some of this mix-

Note: The three formulas that follow are NOT a spray. Here’s some preamble first. After mixing stated ingredients together, pour some of either 1, 2 or 3 into clean plastic bottles, to just below a oneor two-inch square hole cut out on one side about halfway up. Hang six or seven such containers in each apple tree after petals have dropped, starting about early to mid-July depending on weather, or once fruits are fairly large. By then maggot flies have emerged from soil, mate and begin laying eggs about 10 days later. Strain contents of each trap weekly to remove dead insects and other debris. Solution can be reused several times, but make fresh batches once it becomes smelly.

Mix one part blackstrap molasses diluted in some hot water so it pours easily into eight parts plain water and six parts white vinegar.

Cooking molasses may be used in a pinch. An example of aforesaid would be: 1 litre of molasses 8 litres of water 6 litres of white vinegar

FORMULA NO. 2 Combine one part molasses and nine parts warm water to which some yeast cake or yeast granules have been added on top. Mix together once it stops working. Fill containers with this bait and hang in apple trees. Renew with a fresh batch as required.

FORMULA NO. 3 This one is simplest and least expensive. Mix it outdoors. To each litre of water add 10 ml (2

teaspoons) of household ammonia and a bit of liquid soap OR soap powder (not laundry detergent).

Make a fresh batch weekly.

Baited traps will attract and drown many adult maggot flies.

Unfortunately, some beneficial insects may also be attracted and perish. Hang traps about 1.5 metres (5.0 feet) high mostly on sunny sides of apple trees.

HOT PEPPER OIL CONCENTRATE All you need is a glass mason jar that can be covered with a lid and some dried hot peppers to make a cold oil infusion. Wear disposable gloves to avoid burning skin on your hands and protective eye goggles. Slice open a dozen and a half dried hot chili peppers. Some of the seeds should be exposed as they contain the hottest part. Place prepared hot dried peppers inside the jar and add one cup of olive oil or canola oil. Cover with a lid but not tightly shut.

If you notice any peppers or seeds floating to the top or are exposed to the air, add a little more oil if needed or invert the jar a few times. Pepper parts floating to the top can take on mould and you don’t want that, in which case discard and start with a fresh batch.

Allow hot peppers to soak in oil for two or three days, then it’s ready to use. Straining off the oil (or not) and discarding the peppers is your choice. The longer peppers remain in oil without straining, the more potent it becomes.

Label the jar contents as “Hot Pepper Oil Concentrate” and store high up, out of reach of children to avoid a mishap, as it will burn. You can usually also buy prepared hot pepper oil at stores specializing in Italian and European ethnic foods and at some health food stores.

HOT PEPPER SPRAY — PREP AND APPLICATION Not all hot peppers are equal in strength. Some are far more potent than others. With that in mind some personal experimentation will be required to avoid burning anything that’s sprayed.

You may need to use a little less concentrate or a little more when preparing a spray.

Add 1/4 cup homemade hot pepper concentrate to each clean 4-litre jug of water and stir in 1 tablespoon of liquid or powdered soap (not detergent). You can also add 2 tablespoons of baking soda, or leave it out. It’s optional.

Be sure to wear protective clothing, rubber gloves and eye protection when spraying apple trees, as it can easily drift back onto your face and skin in the slightest breeze. As soon as it thaws in early spring, moisten soil in a circle around base of each apple tree with pepper spray for a distance of five feet from each tree trunk to stop emerging pests, especially maggot flies. When spraying trees,

photo: ted meseyton

Since his early introduction to the garden as a youngster, Chris has learned how special it is to pick an apple right from the tree that’s free of maggots on the inside. Ted shares some apple maggot control methods on his Grainews Singing Gardener page. early morning or later in the day when temp. remains under 25 C is best time to avoid risk of burning anything. Cover all areas of the tree including trunk, branches, tops and undersides of leaves and forming fruit every seven to 10 days. As well, reapply this spray after rainfall or following heavy dew. This spray is non-judgmental and kills both harmful insects and any beneficials that may be attracted. Use pepper spray selectively by applying it when bees are least active.

ON ANOTHER NOTE Be aware that hot peppers and microwaves don’t mix. Here’s the story of a person who placed hot peppers on a moistened towel to steam and soften them inside a microwave. It was set for one minute with disastrous results.

What happened next?

Within seconds the smell of hot pepper filled the kitchen with an overpowering odour; a form of unintentional hot pepper scent had permeated throughout. By the time said person got to the microwave, the entire kitchen had taken on a lingering hot pepper scent. With burning eyes and breath held; the individual opened all windows and doors to air out the house and then evacuated the premises until the air was tolerable again. It took over two hours to refresh and clear the house so the air was acceptable.

LIME JUICE IS AN ORGANIC PESTICIDE Create a mixture of 1/4 to 1/2 cup lime juice with 4 litres of water and spray the solution on

plants where bug infestations are prominent. This homemade spray serves as an irritant to destroy and keep away mites, aphids, sawfly worms and other smaller insects.

One word of caution about lime solution when overused. It may alter pH levels (neutral acid-alkaline balance) in soil. Some plants may like it; others will find it disagreeable.

Stirring a few drops of mild liquid soap into the lime juicewater makes it even more potent.

Remember you are experimenting when using any homemade formula for the first time and adjustments may be necessary such as hosing off plants with plain water an hour after applying lime-water solution. Do it early in the morning and only on plants infected with unwanted pests; otherwise beneficial insects are also harmed.

Keep in mind — the majority of bugs is neither bad nor harmful.

This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie, Man. I salute all gardeners and farmers who help make our world a little safer and more ecologically balanced, and who toil to provide health-giving produce to others who cannot produce their own. It takes all sorts to make a world. One half of the world doesn’t know how the other half lives. The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet and Dr. Merryman. My email address is singinggardener@mts.net.

You can’t change the weather.

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The farmer’s forecasT Toolbox

See the lAteSt in the FielD

Welcome to Ag in Motion – Western Canada’s only outdoor farm expo!

16

July 21 – 23, 2015

LANGHAM

15 min. NW of Saskatoon

Join us at Ag In Motion – the unique opportunity to get up close and personal with today’s agricultural technology. Experience live demonstrations of field equipment, crops, livestock and services all together on 320 acres near Saskatoon. Come to the farm show where there’s room to see it all – and how it all fits together.

SASKATOON

™

See Technology

tOUCh Innovation

™ Denotes a trade-mark of Canada’s Outdoor Shows Limited Partnership.

Be Empowered

www.aginmotion.ca