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Volume 43 · number 17 November 7, 2017 · $4.25 Practical production tips for the prairie farmer www.grainews.ca

By Leeann Minogue

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Farm Management

Adding an agronomist to your farm team

s farming gets more complicated a growing number of companies are offering to help out. Some farmers get advice from their local independent retailer, or an agronomist employed by a company like CPS. But more and more farmers are choosing to pay for agronomic advice. Based on the logo-covered trucks parked at farm shows, the number of farm advisor-led conferences springing up and the increasing demands of modern agriculture, these services will only become more common.

A growing business There are at leave five reasons these agronomy advice providers are thriving in today’s farm environment.

What can agronomy companies do for you? We profile six companies, to help you find out See agronomist on Page 5 

Photo: croppro consulting

Cory Willness of CropPro Consulting says that if you’re not doing your own crop scouting, “someone else has to do it.”

1. Farmers like unbiased advice.

While most farmers think highly of their local retail agronomists, there is an underlying concern that they might be pushing the product their company sells.

When farmers are paying for advice from an unaffiliated agronomist, they may have more faith that their agronomist is giving them advice that’s fully focused on the farm’s bottom line.

Companies that are mainly in the advice business take concern about bias seriously, with many having their representatives sign contracts stating that they won’t sell farm inputs to clients, or at least that they will disclose their biases clearly.

See agronomist on Page 5 

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Learn about advanced seeding technoLogy IN THIS ISSUE  SEE PAGES 12 & 13

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wheat & chaff

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

CONTENTS

Voting, taxes and accidents Leeann Minogue

leeann.minougue@fbcpublishing.com

I Canada’s outstanding young farmers

t’s that time of year again — time to figure out how to vote for representatives for all of the commodity groups that count you as a member. We’ve already had a bright green envelope in the mail, providing our secret code to vote for a representative on the board of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.

In past years there has generally been embarrassingly low turnout in these board elections. It doesn’t take long to vote — you can do it right in your office. Take a few minutes to open the envelope, go to the right web page, read the candidates’ bios and choose the ones who have a point of view similar to yours. You’re paying for these groups so have your say.

Profiles of 2017 OYFs from across the country 33

Farm Taxes

Hops: all you need to know Hops add the flavour to your beer. Lisa Guenther has the scoop on how they’re grown 16

Catalogue homes Many of these homes are still standing. Les Henry has photos 20

Crop Advisor’s Casebook. . 10 Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3

I’m sure a lot of you are still angry about my last column, when I suggested that most farmers didn’t need to worry too much about proposed federal changes to the small business tax. Since then, the federal government has backed off from their most troublesome changes — changes that would impact the capital gains tax exemption. And, they’ve lowered our corporate tax rate. This would have been very relieving for everyone, but after previously saying I wasn’t worried, now I have to admit I’m a little worried after all.

One of the on-line documents that came along with the announcement was about four-pages long. Half of one of the pages was dedicated to an example about a farm saving money. They explained that, after the tax changes, the example farm could still pay dividends to family members working on the farm, then explained that, after the small business tax cut, the farm would save $750 in

taxes. That’s great, except it was worded like this: “Once the small business tax reductions are fully implemented, the business will save an additional $750 which could be used to help pay for new farm equipment.”

I’m not sure about your farm, but I won’t get too far with $750 at the dealerships around here. As I pointed out in the latest Glacier FarmMedia podcast, that made me feel as if my husband had tossed me a quarter and told me to put it toward a new pair of shoes.

I know that’s just one sentence in one short document. However, I also know that a lot of different eyes read this document before it was posted for the whole world to see. From policy analysts at the federal finance department to communications experts to ministers — it takes a village and a half to write a government document. And nobody in this village that’s representing us in Ottawa seems to know that our machinery is high-end, hightech, and high-priced. This problem is bigger than taxes.

(Our commodity associations are one way our voices are heard in Ottawa. It’s worth saying again… make sure you vote for someone who can represent you and tell the federal government what’s going on out here.)

Hazards of farm living You’ll notice that farm succession columnist Elaine Froese is missing from this issue. We were sorry to hear that Elaine’s husband was involved in a serious vehicle collision north of Boissevain, Man., and she needs to spend some time with her family to help him recover.

Elaine’s husband Wes was taken to Winnipeg by STARS air ambulance. With farmers driving so many miles every year, we’re lucky to have this service available when we need it.

Our thoughts are with Elaine and her family and we hope she’ll return soon.

Leeann

Machinery & Shop . . . . . . . 41 Cattleman’s Corner . . . . . 49 FarmLife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

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Photo: Crystal Minogue

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

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A reasonably-lengthed harvest and some gorgeous fall weather left my brother and his family some free time for a hike in the sandhills near Beechy, Sask. My sister-in-law calls this shot “Farmers’ Downtime.”

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wheat & chaff

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Book Review

Red 4WD Tractors, 1957 - 2017 is a detailed history A new book for the tractor lover in your life

L

ee Klancher’s new book Red 4WD Tractors, 1957 – 2017 is no lightweight, figuratively or literally. (That seems only fitting, given the high-horsepower subject matter.) The large format book runs over 370 pages and includes a more than ample helping of rare photos.

With “Red 4WD Tractors” Klancher follows up on his previous book about the evolution of International Harvester combines with this detailed look at the development of four-wheel drive IH and Case tractors, the two brands that merged to form today’s Case IH. It also looks extensively at the Steiger brand, which would eventually become a major part of Case IH heritage too.

Did you know four-wheel drive, front-wheel assist and even sixwheel drive tractors made their first appearances near the beginning of the 20th century? Klancher does, and although his book focuses primarily on the 1957 to 2017 era, it also touches on that early period of design experimentation, including some pretty interesting images from that time.

We have a winner As promised, we’re giving one of these books away! Lots of readers entered, telling me who they think deserves to win this book for Christmas.

Our winner is Ed Roeher from Hodgeville, Sask. Ed wasn’t exactly embodying the Christmas Spirit when he wrote, “After two minutes of serious contemplation I have been unable to think of anyone who would enjoy reading this book more than I would.” At least we

know it’s going to go to someone who will appreciate it!

Ed also wrote, “I don’t own red tractors but have run them occasionally when helping neighbours.

I just enjoy reading about all old farm equipment.”

If you didn’t win (sorry), you can order the book online at www.octanepress.com or phone 512-334-9441. GN Leeann Minogue

COUNTRY CHUCKLES BY JONNY HAWKINS

And just like his earlier work on combines, Klancher includes a look at the brand’s plans to move forward into the future, this time with a discussion about autonomous tractors.

For anyone with an interest in

tractors of any colour, this book is visually interesting and a pretty good read. It might make a great Christmas gift for that machinery enthusiast in the family. GN Scott Garvey

Give us your best shot

“Pup tent.”

agronomy tips… from the field

Looking back on 2017’s biggest growing challenges Looking back on issues that growers had to deal with during the 2017 growing season, two things come to mind: insects and weather.

In the spring, several regions across the Prairies experienced heavy flea beetle and cutworm pressure in their canola crops, along with some diamondback moth pressure later in the season.

Keep in mind that flea beetles overwinter in the Prairies, so if you experienced high flea beetle pressure in 2017 you will want to keep an eye on your emerging canola crops in 2018.

As well, if you’re concerned about flea beetles or cutworms in 2018, be sure to investigate premium options for controlling these insects on your canola seed when ordering your canola seed for 2018.

This photo was taken at the beginning of August by Mark Van De Kerckhove on his farm near Glenora, Man. Mark’s mother, Marilyn, sent us the photo. She wrote: “These are four of my grandsons — Davis, Messer, Reed and Henrik — watching every moment. Their dads and grandfather operate VDK farms together.”

Thanks for sharing this photo. There’s no doubt that kids love harvest!

We’re sending Marilyn a cheque for $25.

Send your best shot by email to leeann@fbcpublishing.com or through Twitter at @GrainMuse. Please send only one or two photos at a time, and also send along some information about where and when you took the photo, or even something about your farm. Photos with larger file sizes look better in the paper.

Precipitation across the Prairies in 2017 was extremely variable.

Agriculture Canada’s latest maps show the per cent of average precipitation from April 1 to August 31 ranged from less than 40 per cent of average moisture in drought stricken areas, to 150 to 200 per cent of average moisture in the wettest areas.

Regardless of whether you found yourself in a wet zone or a dry zone this season, you’d be wise to take a closer look at your residual soil fertility. In high moisture areas, for example, you may have lost fertility due to leeching, and in dry conditions the crop may not have taken up all of the nutrients that were supplied. GN Chadrick Carley, agronomic services manager Syngenta Canada.

cover stories

Grainews.ca / November 7, 2017

5

Farm Management

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 agronomist from Page 1

2. There are many things to know.

The days when farming was a simple profession are long gone. Today’s farmers need expertise in machinery repair, pesticide application, weed science, microbiology, record-keeping, precision agriculture and insect biology, just to name a few areas. If you don’t have expertise in a subject, it makes sense to outsource it.

Ken Greer, president of Western Ag, used the analogy of dentistry. In the late 1800s, he says, everyone did their own dentistry, or got the neighbour to come over and pull a tooth.

Now, he says, “a farmer can’t be doing their own dentistry anymore.”

Just as we wouldn’t perform a root canal in the dining room, we probably shouldn’t try to pretend we’re experts in every field needed to be successful in agriculture.

And, even if you are an expert in everything, sometimes, says Steve Larocque from Beyond Agronomy, “bringing someone from outside can help you see things from a different angle.” (He did add a caveat: “That person better know what they’re doing.”)

3. There’s more to do.

Remember those days when farmers had lots of time off in July to go to the lake? Our kids probably won’t. These days farmers are spending a lot more time looking for new bugs and disease, and then trying to control them.

Not only is there often too much for the main farm operators to do during the growing season, it might be nice to have a day off from scouting once in a while. As Remi Schmaltz, chief executive officer of Decisive Farming asked, “What’s more free time worth to you?”

4. There’s many people involved.

It’s a rare situation when the people living in the farmhouse are the only people with a stake in the farm business. There’s often a sister in the city, an uncle on the coast, or a grandmother in Florida with a financial stake in the farm business. Having an advisor to set parameters around decisions can help ease some of the tension around differences of opinion.

For example, “the advisor said to spray if we have more than five bugs per square foot,” can help justify a farmer’s decision to spend money on pesticide. This can be especially important when it comes to grain marketing, where, as Schmaltz says, “it’s really easy to look in the rear-view mirror” and accuse your sister of selling the canola at the wrong time. If everyone has been in the room with the farm advisor and agreed on a marketing plan, Christmas dinner should be more harmonious.

5. Variable-rate technology.

The rise of variable-rate technology has given a steady income stream to many ag consulting firms. All of the companies included in this article offer computer prescriptions for variable-rate fertilizer.

While it’s not technically necessary to hire someone to program your software to use less fertilizer in some parts of the field and more in others, only very tech-savvy farmers can do it themselves. That will likely

Different companies offer different services Crop Pro Consulting

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change in the future, as the software becomes easier to program.

(Remember when you used to need three days and a 15-year old to hook up a new printer?) Digital technology tends to get simpler with time.

How do I choose an agronomist?

As the number of firms in this area proliferates, it’s becoming more and more difficult to figure out who’s doing what, and which services you want to pay for. The task isn’t made easier by the companies’ tendencies to trademark their own special terms for their services like Know-Risk grain marketing, Smart Nutrient solution and CropCast planning.

To help you cut through the hype, Grainews talked to representatives from six popular ag consulting companies on the Prairies to find out what they’re offering, what you can expect from them and what it would cost to hire them.

While it’s important to make sure you hire a company that’s offering the services you need, it’s also true that you’re going to need to have a good personal fit with your advisor.

“You pick the person,” says Steve Larocque of Beyond Agronomy, “and it might come with a company.”

Of course there are several more large-scale agronomy companies in Western Canada that aren’t included here, and many small independent agronomists offering excellent advice to clients in localized regions.

There isn’t enough newsprint on the Prairies to include all of these businesses, so we tried to choose a representative sample of companies to give you an idea of what’s out there.

1. CropPro Consulting Cory Willness started CropPro Consulting in Naicam, Sask., in 2003. He began as a crop consultant and is now president of a company that employs agronomists from southern Manitoba to Drumheller, Alta.

Primary focus: If you’re not doing your own fielscouting, Willness says, “someone else has to do it.”

CropPro Consulting offers two main services: crop scouting and variable-rate fertilizer and seeding services. Their website says, “If you want frills that come with the excess marketing, the high prices and the cookie cutter approach that services the mass market, don’t call us.”

Offerings: CropPro Consulting’s scouting service is a “season-long crop scouting service,” Willness says. If you’re using this service, you have “an agronomist on retainer,” from “when the snow goes to when the snow flies.”

CropPro agronomists will advise you about the best time to spray a fungicide, scout for weeds and swath your canola.

During the growing season CropPro’s agronomists are in your field “as often as they need to be.” This could be 50 or 60 times during the growing season. “The farmer doesn’t really have to look at his field,” Willness says.

The bulk of CropPro’s business comes from their variable-rate fertilizer and seed service. In this area, Willness says, “we’re doing things differently than everyone else.” While some agronomy companies base fertility plans mainly on vegetative indexes from satellite images, Willness considers soil maps, water drainage and field topography when he makes field prescriptions. “It’s a combination of inputs,” Willness says.

After seeding, CropPro agronomists go to the farm to assess plant stands and emergence patterns.

“Areas can be low-yielding, but what’s the problem?” Willness says.

“Not every problem can be fixed with fertilizer.”

Your return?

Willness finds it hard to put a dollar estimate on the value of good agronomic advice. “Mostly,” he says, “it’s just an accumulation of little things all year long that add up to big things in the end.”

It’s also hard to put a dollar value on increased net profits from using variable rate fertilizer. But, “if you’re removing fertilizer from areas that

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Publisher Lynda Tityk

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1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1 www.grainews.ca

CropPro Consulting uses an on-the-ground method to analyze every area of its clients’ fields.

aren’t going to really respond to it, and putting it in areas that will respond, you’re going to have a net return.”

The price: For agronomy and field scouting services you’ll pay $4.75/acre.

If you want CropPro consulting to set up a variable-rate program for you, costs will vary by farm size.

First-time customers pay $7 to $10 per acre. In future years, once your field is mapped, the cost of sampling will be $2 to $3/acre. There is another $1/acre annual fee for prescriptions.

Is there bias?

CropPro is not affiliated with any retail outlets.

Call them if: You’re good at cash management and grain marketing, but you’re not staying on top of the latest news in bugs and disease.

More information: www.croppro.ca

2. Farmers Edge “We always believed in big data,” says Marina Barnes, head of marketing for Farmers Edge. Farmers Edge helps its clients use data to make decisions in all areas of their business.

Farmers Edge began as a variablerate technology company in Manitoba in 2005. Since then, it’s grown to be a company with 450 staff working in many aspects of technology and agronomy.

Primary focus: Farmers Edge offers its clients a “complete data package.” This includes everything from installing a weather station on your farm (one for every 2,500 acres), to putting their own CanPlug telematics solutions in all of your machines. “All the data we can possibly collect is collected,” says Trevor Armitage, global head of field operations.

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Farm Management

Offerings: Farmers Edge is mainly offering digital support tools and data — they no longer provide crop scouting or other “boots on the ground” agronomy services.

The base package includes variable-rate fertilizer prescriptions and access to your data.

Satellite photos are an important part of Farmers Edge’s services. Starting in November 2017, Farmers Edge clients will have access to daily satellite images during the growing season.

(Although, Barnes explains, it takes 24 to 48 hours to process and load an image so there is a delay, and you won’t be able to use images taken when it’s cloudy.)

With its focus on data, Farmers Edge uses a model based on seeding data, heat units and environmental conditions that will “tell a farmer which stage the crop’s in without being in the field.” If you do have a problem in the field, for example cutworms, you can get an pre-programmed automatic notification when the vegetative index on your satellite imagery is going backwards (that is, when there is less vegetation in an area than there was earlier).

Farmers Edge also offers clients the ability to compare yield data from specific crop varieties grown by other clients across Western Canada (individual client data is kept confidential).

Your return?

Armitage says that if you want to know for sure if your switch to variable-rate fertilizer is paying off, “we can put checkstrips in your field.”

The price: Farmers Edge’s integrated data package, which provides you with a weather station, CanPlugs, software and tech support, costs $2/acre.

For all of that, plus soil sampling and a basic prescription maps, you’ll pay $2.50/acre.

For $5/acre, the full-service package includes the above, plus zonebased soil sampling, variable-rate technology and a profit map (to tell you which areas of the field are the most economically profitable).

Decisive Farming was launched in Alberta in 2011, when chief executive officer Remi Schmaltz and his brother added new ag technology services to their family retail business, DynAgra.

In 2012, they sold DynAgra and focused on Decisive Farming and what they see as “the next era of agriculture,” the digital farm.

Primary focus: “We look at all of the key decisions that occur on the farm,” says Schmaltz.

Decisive Farming offers an app for crop scouting and record-keeping, as well as desktop software that can help you with budgeting, making crop plans, tracking profit margins and keeping track of positions and contracts. This software automatically pulls in data from your field machinery and allows you to process all of your yield data so you can analyze your profits and losses. They’ll be launching an inventory management component soon.

Decisive Farming works with clients to optimize the use of the equipment they already have, based on what they want to do agronomically, and considering individual constraints like machine power, labour and time.

Offerings: “We’re a full-service company,” Schmaltz says. They offer farmers a mixture of software and technology.

They don’t offer crop scouting services, but they do offer software, variable-rate fertilizer technology, and grain marketing support.

Decisive Farming’s grain marketing services help clients develop sales strategies. This is an area where there is a lot of potential for family conflict, especially where there is an older generation and a younger generation working together. Decisive Farming brings in all the stakeholders to help clients “build a plan that’s customtailored to the farm.”

Your return?

There are no guarantees, of course, because Schmaltz says, “we’re dealing with weather.” Instead, “it’s about increasing your probably of success.”

“We’re seeing about a $20/acre net profit increase for our clients,” he estimates. “That’s the quantitative piece, but there’s a whole bunch of qualitative things that occur as well.”

Schmaltz cites examples like being able to combine faster with more even crop maturity, or having more free time.

Is there bias?

Decisive Farming does not sell other crop inputs.

Call them if: Your idea of a good time is pouring over detailed yield maps and other data to figure out exactly which decisions are making your more money.

The price: The price varies, depending on your farm size and service package. If you have an average-sized farm, the complete suite of options would cost $8 to $10/acre. Schmaltz says, “that would be end-to-end,” including annual soil sampling and grain marketing support.

If you only want to use the Decisive Farming app and software, you could do that for $500/year.

More Information: www.farmersedge.ca

Call them if: You’re not sure you have the right

Is there bias?

Farmers Edge itself doesn’t market other farm input products, but the Farmers Edge rep you choose to work with may also be selling another company’s farm input products.

combination of machinery on your farm, and you’d like someone to help you figure out if you’re doing it right.

Canadian award winner

More information? www.decisivefarming.com

The Precision Ag Institute named CEO and president of Farmers Edge, Wade Barnes, its crop advisor/entrepreneur of the year for 2017.

The Precision Ag Institute is an independent global forum made up of companies interested in sharing data and information about precision agriculture. GN

4. Western Ag Ken Greer is Western Ag’s president and chief executive officer. He says “You can’t have healthy food without having healthy and sustainable soil and that only exists when you have healthy and sustainable farm businesses.”

Agriculture is not always glamorous, Greer says, “it really does all begin with the soil.”

Leeann Minogue

Primary Focus: Western Ag’s specialized soil-testing technology, the Plant Root Simulator, is the heart of its business. The PRS soil test differs from traditional soil tests in that it claims to measure plant-available nutrients, rather than simply tallying nutrients in the soil.

Western Ag has added to its soiltesting service by developing specialized software that combines soil test results with algorithms that predict yield based on nutrients, soil, and weather. Clients can use the CropCast software to make sure they’re optimizing profit with their input dollars.

Western Ag uses a unique soiltesting method to analyze clients’ soil nutrition needs.

Offerings: Once your soil test results are added to Western Ag’s CropCast software, you can look at scenarios based on your fertility plan and the weather you expect. The software lets you see profit scenarios based on different levels of moisture and fertilizer and 17 different crop types.

If you’re a new customer, you won’t be able to use the software on your own, you’ll have to wait for a visit from your Western Ag rep.

“They’ll sit down and go over the results,” Greer says. In your third year doing business with Western Ag, if they’re working with 75 per cent or more of your farm, then you can use the software on your own, but only for the year — you can’t keep the software if you stop using Western Ag. This is because, Greer says, your fertilizer prescription changes year over year.

If you were a client, midway through the growing season, your Western Ag rep would look at a “MidCast” with you — allowing you to reset your expectations based on real events. This could help you decide to build new bins or maybe cancel that new grain bagger purchase.

“After the combine rolls, that’s a very important time for us,” Greer says. Then, they review your year and see how successful the plan was.

They use that same software and

“BackCast” — input the actual fertilizer used and real weather data, to make sure their software would have given the right yield result. This serves as a check on the software and gives them a chance to make continuous improvements. Greer says their goal is to have the software get it right within 10 per cent of actual yields 90 per cent of the time.

Western Ag’s CropCast software is based on the theory of diminishing returns on investment — keep adding nitrogen (or any nutrient) and eventually you’ll hit a point where an additional dollar spent nets you less than a dollar in profit. “If you apply that to your whole farm, you’ll do better,” Greer says.

The software looks at potential yields, but doesn’t keep records of your past cropping or input application history. Western Ag does not offer scouting or grain marketing support.

Your return?

With the high price of inputs, Greer says, “what do you think guessing is costing you now?”

Using their software, Greer says, “we can virtually go back in time.”

After harvest, your rep can enter actual weather conditions into the software and compare estimated yields from the fertility program you used before you started working with Western Ag to your actual yield. “We can actually prove our value.”

Is there bias?

Western Ag’s services are delivered by reps who may have other roles, including scouting or perhaps retailing ag inputs. However, Greer says, “We don’t allow any conflicted sales.” If your Western Ag rep is also retailing inputs, they should let you know. “We try to keep it very clean,” Greer says.

The price: The standard service price for the soil tests, the software and the meetings with reps is $4/acre.

Call them if: Soil is your main concern, but you also appreciate spending some time with a hands-on computer simulation.

More information: www.WesternAg.ca

5. Agri-Trend Rob Saik started Agri-Trend in Red Deer, Alta., 20 years ago, with the goal of helping farmers make better decisions around crop input purchases. Now, Agri-Trend has 103 ag

Photo: Farmers Edge

All of this data, plus satellite imagery, goes into the Farmers Edge FarmCommand software which clients can access from their phones, tablets or desktop computers. Clients can work with the data on their own, or have an agronomist visit their farm to help them go through the data.

“The farmer can be as involved in his program as he would like to be,” says Armitage.

3. Decisive farming

Photo: Western A

 Continued from Page 5

advisors (they call them “coaches”) from B.C. to Mississippi. These advisors have a group of 32 ag experts (“senior coaches”) they can call on for assistance.

Agri-Trend was privately held until 2015, when it was purchased by Trimble, a U.S.-based precision ag company. Agri-Trend operates as a division of Trimble now.

Primary focus: Greg Smith, Agri-Trend’s network manager, says Agri-Trend’s focus is to “allocate scarce resources that the farmers have, in the right areas, to maximize what they get.”

There is no “flavour of the day” to Agri-Trend’s advice, Smith says.

They’re just trying to help farmers make more money per acre.

Offering: Agri-Trend offers a wide range of services: agronomy consulting, precision ag assistance, farm business management consulting and grain marketing advice.

Agri-Trend clients work closely with local consultants (“AgriCoaches”) to determine which services they need. The average coach has only 10 to 12 customers.

If it’s what the client wants, the coach will be “on the farm, looking at the field.” In the case of high-input crops like canola or hemp, some farmers are willing to pay for fertility advice, spraying advice, scouting help and soil analysis, Smith says.

For farmers looking for variablerate fertilizer prescriptions, Smith says, “we’re sitting down with the farmer and coming up with a plan for that field.” They don’t solely rely on digital tools.

Through Trimble, Agri-Trend offers software solutions for farmers looking for record-keeping technology. Farmers looking for grain marketing solutions have access to market information.

For new clients, Smith says, the discussion with your new coach will be “almost like you’re talking to a financial planner.” The advisor will ask questions like: “What are you comfortable with? How much money do you want to invest in your farm?”

Your return?

“We don’t have a promise,” Smith says. Instead, they tell clients about farms they’ve worked with in the past (keeping names confidential, of course). Smith says a lot of their business comes from word of mouth.

Continued on Page 8 

FEATURES

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

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Topicfertility Soil heading

The future of broadcasting nitrogen in the fall The inefficient practice is on the rise; however limits may be on the way in Manitoba

By Allan Dawson

B

roadcasting in fall is the quickest and easiest way to apply nitrogen — and the least efficient.

So why, anecdotally at least, does the practice seem to be on the increase?

Bigger farms and a shortage of labour could be part of it. Moreover, nobody knows when poor weather will shut down field operations. And there’s Manitoba’s Nov. 10 nutrient application deadline — a regulation meant to prevent fertilizer from being applied on frozen ground, making it more susceptible to runoff, which can contaminate waterways and lakes.

But broadcast nitrogen, especially in warmer soils, or soils that later become saturated, can be lost to the atmosphere, adding to the greenhouse effect and climate change.

With the Manitoba government close to announcing its climate change policy, which will include a price on carbon, some observers worry fall nitrogen broadcasting could trigger additional regulations.

“The Manitoba Fertility Guide… shows an average of 40 per cent less efficiency for N (nitrogen) fertilizer that’s broadcast in the fall, compared to banded in the spring,” University of Manitoba soil scientist Don Flaten said in an email Oct. 5.

“This issue of poor efficiency of fall broadcast N is even worse if the soils are waterlogged in early spring.

“For fall banding N, it’s important to band as late as possible, especially for low-lying areas of fields that might be ponded with water during snowmelt.”

In a perfect world farmers would band nitrogen in the spring nearest the time it will be used by crops. But then there’s the art of the possible.

There are only so many hours in a day and the weather has to co-operate.

If spring banding gets the gold medal, other techniques and timings have varying results, Manitoba Agriculture soil fertility specialist John Heard said in an interview.

“Banding has a distinct advantage over broadcasting,” Heard said.

“There’s a big advantage of spring over fall application, especially with wet falls and springs. The real loser in the story is fall broadcast. Even worse is fall broadcast early in the fall on warm soils.”

Last week one field Heard checked was 15 C at three inches deep.

“If soil was to stay at 15 C, (fall) banded urea could convert entirely to nitrate within 25 days or so,” Heard said. “It means by freeze-up a sizable portion of that (nitrogen) would be in the nitrate form, which could be very vulnerable to leaching or denitrification.”

Benefits of banding When nitrogen is applied it’s in the ammonium form, it’s stable. It has a

positive charge and locks on to clay and organic matter. But warm soil bacteria are more active converting ammonium to nitrate, which can be used to nourish plants, but also be lost to atmosphere.

Banding nitrogen in cool soils helps avoid those losses in a couple of ways. One is bacteria are less active then. Another is the band itself is toxic to bacteria, although over time the conversion to nitrate occurs.

“If you apply (nitrogen) later (in the fall) the microbial activity is thwarted,” Heard said. “If you apply it in a band you further thwart that bacterial activity promoting conversion to nitrate.”

Many farmers like to apply anhydrous ammonia in the fall because it’s usually cheaper than other forms of nitrogen. Heard said it’s a good choice because that form requires in-soil banding. Farmers who apply anhydrous ammonia or

urea nitrogen early can slow the conversion to nitrate with various nitrogen conversion inhibiters, he said.

Another disadvantage to broadcasting nitrogen is having it get tied up with crop residue called immobilization. That’s not an environmental concern because eventually that nitrogen will be available to future crops. The problem is a portion of it may not be available for early-season crop growth.

Not only is fall broadcast nitrogen vulnerable to losses in the fall, but in the spring too.

“If the soil is saturated we know that we can lose nitrate-N, even in the spring when the soils are quite cool, two to four pounds of nitrogen per acre, per day,” Heard said. GN Allan Dawson is a reporter with the Manitoba Co-operator. Reach him at allan@fbcpublishing.com.

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Farm Management

In 2013, Stratus Ag Research surveyed 802 western Canadian farmers and found that 20 per cent of canola growers had hired an agronomy consultant. Not surprisingly, farmers with more land were more likely to hire agronomists.

That year, farmers who hired agronomists to provide services including variable rate maps spent an average of $16,685. GN Leeann Minogue

The price: “Our prices are determined by our coaches,” Smith says. He described it as similar to the arrangement when you go to see a lawyer: fees are based on the services needed. Prices are “negotiated ahead of time, before the services are offered.”

When pressed for a ballpark figure, Smith says clients pay “$4/acre all the way up to $15/acre,” for the agronomy services. That higher-end figure would include full assistance with a new crop like hemp or soybeans.

Grain marketing assistance costs from $2 to $5/acre. Prices for working with business coaches on projects

like succession planning or farm expansion decisions are set on a caseby-case basis.

Is there bias?

Smith says Agri-Trend coaches must sign and agree to a code of ethics, and agree not to sell or promote any products.

Call them if: You want to work with a company who can give you advice on everything from when to spray your hemp to how to set up your farm succession plan.

More information: www.agritrend.com

6. Beyond Agronomy Beyond Agronomy is run by Steve Larocque, an independent crop advisor based at Three Hills, Alta. As well as providing advice to clients, Larocque operates his own first-generation farm. He uses his own farm to conduct research projects, and to implement controlled-traffic farming.

Primary focus: “I’m a systems guy,” Larocque says.

“I’m really into equipment, logistics, efficiency.” For example, Larocque works on matching a client’s equipment to their fertility program.

Larocque tries to help his clients become low-cost producers and do things as efficiently as possible. He

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 Continued from Page 6

Decisive Farming’s Croptivity app helps farmers keep records, schedule farm tasks and streamline farm communication.

sees himself as a service, not a product. With that mindset, Larocque says, “you really have to pick your clients carefully. I don’t take just anybody.”

Offerings: While most of Larocque’s work is close to home, he also works with farmers across the Prairies and has a few international clients. “It doesn’t matter where you go,” he says, “we’re all challenged with similar issues.”

Larocque helps his clients with agronomy, as well as fertilizer strategies, purchasing, controlled-traffic farming, variable-rate fertilizer, logistics and equipment decisions.

Only a small percentage of Larocque’s clients are using variablerate fertilizer technology. “We focus on the big fruit,” he says, which means getting the rest of your agronomy right before you add variable rate.

Where his clients do use VR technology, it’s generally because they have a lot of variability across their farms.

Larocque does not provide recordkeeping software or grain marketing services.

Your return?

“I don’t promise a return on investment,” Larocque says. “I promise to help them make better decisions.”

It’s not usually easy to put a dollar value on good decisions, but there are times when it’s possible. Last summer, Larocque advised some clients not to spray a fungicide when neighbours were spraying. His clients saved $75,000, and didn’t see significant yield losses.

The price: “It’s all over the map,” Larocque says.

Customers can choose a lighter packages that includes phone calls, emails and text advice for $1 to $1.50/acre.

Clients needing a lot of service could be spending “upwards of $7/acre.”

Or, you can get in the door by subscribing to his weekly newsletter for $220/year.

Is there bias?

Larocque says he has no bias. “I’m very clear on that,” he says. He’s not selling anything other than this service.

TOUGH TO BEAT IN THE LONG RUN

Call them if: You want someone to bounce ideas off, and you’d like to conduct some onfarm research.

More information: www.beyondagronomy.com GN Leeann Minogue is the editor of Grainews.

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9

Crop research

Promise of self-fertilizing attracts investment Bayer bets big on a future where crops are designed to fertilizer themselves

T

here are a lot of efforts underway to optimize and minimize fertilizer use in crop production.

Precision agriculture tools are improving the accuracy of where fertilizer is placed so that as much of it as possible reaches the plants that need it.

And researchers from at least two Canadian universities — Ottawa’s Carleton University and Western University in London, Ont. — are working on smart fertilizers that only deploy when the plants are in need of nutrients.

The latest approach is developing crops that can fertilize themselves.

It’s something that life sciences giant Bayer is betting heavily on — the German multinational recently announced a new partnership with Boston-based biotech start-up Ginkgo Bioworks to create a new company focused on the plant biome.

The goal of the yet-to-be-named company, funded through a US$100 million investment by Bayer, Ginkgo and U.S. hedge fund Viking Global Investors, is to lessen dependence on chemical fertilizers by letting plants create their own.

kets. According to market research reports, the value of the global nitrogenous fertilizer market was pegged at over US$107 billion in 2016, with expectations that this will reach approximately US$127 billion by 2021. GN photo: thinkstock

By Lilian Schaer

Lilian Shaer is a professional farm and food writers based in Guelph, Ontario.

Follow her blog at foodandfarming canada.com.

We can’t even out your farmer tan.

Here’s how it works.

Legume crops like beans, peas, lentils, soybeans and peanuts can fix nitrogen naturally. They attract bacteria called rhizobia that form little nodules on a plant’s roots and then work to convert free nitrogen from the air and soil into ammonia. This helps the plant feed itself without needing any — or as much — added fertilizers.

Other crops like corn, wheat, and rice — some of the world’s leading staple food crops —aren’t attractive hosts to the nitrogen-fixing microbes, making their fertilizer needs pretty high.

Not only is this expensive for farmers, but there are environmental impacts, too, ranging from carbon emissions to algal blooms.

The Bayer/Gingko partnership is hoping to create what some are calling designer bacteria: developing nitrogen-fixing microbes that are attracted to the roots of any plant (not just legumes) so that they can be attached to wheat or corn seed, for example, through a special coating.

It won’t be an easy undertaking, though.

Scientists will need to search through hundreds of thousands of bacteria to find potential microbes for sequencing in an effort to determine which genes are behind nitrogen-fixing activity. Once those are identified, they can be used to develop custom DNA for new, scientifically designed bacteria. There’s no certainty, however, on how those microbes will react once they’re outside the lab and exposed to the complex soil environment.

If successful, this could be a game changer for agriculture with significant impacts on global fertilizer mar-

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All other trademarks are property of their respective companies. 2973 09.17

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Topic production Crop heading

Crop advisor casebook Chlorosis confusion: the case of the yellow-tinged spring wheat

By Gary Demoskoff

I

n June 2016, I had an interesting situation arise when Rob, a Brunkild-area producer, called me about his yellowing red spring wheat crop. While out scouting his other fields for crop staging, Rob noticed one of his wheat fields, which he had sprayed with herbicide a few days earlier, had a yellow tinge to it.

After walking into the field from the headlands, not only did Rob notice the wheat leaves were yellowing (chlorotic), but their centres were forming bands. Also, the fact that his headlands were showing no signs of these symptoms was odd, he thought. Rob asked me if I could explain such a phenomenon.

Because I didn’t have an answer for him, within minutes I was on my way to Rob’s farm.

As Rob and I approached the field, I could see the yellowish tinge to the crop. I also noticed the headlands looked healthier than the rest of the field.

“My wheat seems to be yellowing, but my headlands look okay,” Rob said. “Could it be a fertility problem?” he asked. “If so, how come my headlands are different?”

These were excellent questions that needed answers. But first, a good look at the crop was in order. As we walked into the field, I noticed the plants with chlorosis formed a distinct square in the centre of the field, while the plants on the headlands were green and healthy. In addition, bands were forming in the centre of the leaves on the affected plants — this also struck me as odd.

In general, the growing conditions

prior to spraying were excellent with adequate moisture, so not only was the wheat growing at a rapid pace, but the weeds were as well.

A few days prior to my visit, Rob applied herbicide to this field. He told me the first few rounds were sprayed with registered products left over from a herbicide application on another wheat field. After that, he said he filled his sprayer tank and continued to spray the same chemistries on the field in question.

After walking into the field from the headlands, not only did Rob notice the wheat leaves were yellowing (chlorotic), but their centres were forming bands After checking Rob’s fertility plan, I doubted we were dealing with a nutrient deficiency.

“Could the issue be chemical damage from herbicide applications on surrounding crops?” asked Rob. This, too, was not the case. Spray drift could be ruled out because of the distinct square pattern to the damaged area. The square was made up of damage plants surrounded by healthy plants on the headlands.

Gary Gary Demoskoff, CCA, works for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Brunkild, Man.

Casebook winner

Not only were Rob’s wheat leaves yellowing (chlorotic), but their centres were forming bands.

Plants injured by herbicide drift create an irregular pattern rather than one with straight lines or a geometric shape.

Something was just not adding up.

“Is there anything you could have left out chemistry-wise?” I asked him.

A slow smile spread across Rob’s face. I knew he had the key to the casebook.

“I did forget to mention something…,” said Rob. If you think you know what’s going on in Rob’s wheat field, send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box

9800, Winnipeg, Man., R3C 3K7; email leeann@fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-944-95416 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 and a oneyear subscription to the magazine.

The answer, along with reasoning that solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File. GN Gary Demoskoff, CCA, works for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Brunkild, Man.

The Casebook winner for this issue is Brennan Wiens.

Brennan and his wife Cara operate Wiens Seed Farm, a pedigree seed farm in west central Saskatchewan, near Herschel. Their main crops include wheat, durum, barley, lentils canola and canaryseed.

Brennan and Cara have three children and are actively involved in their community. Brennan says they are, “surrounded by good neighbours.”

Glad to hear that, and glad you entered. We’ll be sending you a Grainews cap and renewing your subscription for a year.

You could be a winner too. If you know the answer to this issue of Casebook, email me at Leeann@fbcpublishing.com.

Leeann Minogue

Crop advisor’s solution

Brown girdling root rot can take a canola plant down

Y

ou never know what’ll be thrown at you in any given year. Dennis, an Alberta producer, learned that this past June when he found some canola plants lying on the ground in his field, wilted, with roots that looked like they’d been put in a pencil sharpener.

Although the affected plants were wilted they had retained their green colour. When removed from the soil, the roots came to a gentle tip like the end of a sharpened pencil. The canola plants were at the three-leaf stage, and the distribution of affected plants was random.

We eliminated cutworms, wireworms and wind damage as the cause of the knocked over plants. I took some samples and photo-

graphs back to the office to confer with my colleagues.

After some research on canola diseases, we agreed the symptoms in Dennis’ canola crop were almost identical to those for brown girdling root rot (BGRR).

Thought to be caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani, BGRR is the most severe of all root rots in canola in Western Canada. The brown lesions on the canola plant’s tap root girdles the root and pinches it off, giving it that “sharpened” appearance.

Although no economically feasible chemical control options are available for this fungus, the following management practices can help reduce the incidence and severity of the disease:  Healthy crop rotation

 Good host weed control  High-quality seed with high seed vigour and germination rates  Proper stand establishment  Plant varieties less susceptible to the disease  Provision of optimum nutritional requirements In Dennis’ case, he didn’t need to tweak his rotation as he already allowed four years between his canola crops. In addition to canola, his rotation included cereals and a pulse crop. He also does a good job controlling most weeds, however, he tends to save costs when he thinks the input isn’t worth the investment.

When it comes to getting his crop off to a good start with rapid, uniform emergence, Dennis uses high-quality seed from his retailer

with high vigour and germination rates. Furthermore, Brassica napus varieties are less susceptible to BGRR than B. rapa varieties. Dennis also does a good job on his crop fertility planning, making sure to provide enough nitrogen as well as other macro- and micronutrients to reach his target yields.

Since Dennis already followed most of the best management practices to reduce BGRR infection in his field, the only additional suggestion I could make was for him to keep host weeds, such as stinkweed and shepherd’s purse, under control.

At the time of writing, we didn’t yet know if yield would be affected, as canola harvest hadn’t started in this region. When scouting, we found less than one

per cent of his field had been affected, not to mention the canola plant compensates in situations with thin stands by branching out.

In the following years, Dennis should continue his four-year crop rotation, use effective chemicals and best management practices for applications to control host weeds, ensure a balanced fertilizer plan for the field, and plant the best variety — with the most resistance to BGRR — for his farm.

Because you never know what’s coming at you that season, be prepared for anything, and do the best you can to follow good management practices on your farm. GN Cara Goldamer, AIT, CCA, works for Richardson Pioneer Ltd. in Vulcan, Alta.

FEATURES

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

11

Grain marketing

Cargill’s expands its ProPricing program This pricing program is now available to western Canadian canola and soybean growers

By Angela Lovell

C

argill is expanding its ProPricing grain marketing program to canola and soybeans growers in Western Canada for the 201718 season.

Cargill has been offering ProPricing in Western Canada only for hard spring red wheat over the past four years, but felt it was a logical time to expand into other western Canadian grown commodities.

“Basically, there is customer demand that had us take the step to offer this program for canola in Canada as well and it was logical do the expansion into canola and soybeans at the same time,” says Tom Halpenny, product line manager for Cargill’s Risk Management Solutions.

to. There is an enrollment period up front and then a start trading date of approximately the last part of December, and it runs to the month preceding each of the different futures months.

There’s some flexibility to change the delivery date in the future and to price out a ProPricing contract weekly. “It creates transparency on where things are at because the producer always has the option each week to take on the responsibility of

that marketing by pricing out of the contract,” says Halpenny. “They still have got the delivery commitment to Cargill but now, if they price out of the contract, we’ve got other contracts that they can use to enhance the contract or to express their bias in the market, so they have the opportunity to retake that ownership of the marketing until the time of delivery.”

In Western Canada, farmers can price out wheat and canola on Wednesdays and soybeans on Thurs-

days from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. central time.

Cargill’s marketing professionals constantly track and analyze data on demand, supply weather, shipping and a number of other variables that affect markets and prices. That information is on to its ProPricing customers through weekly performance updates and webcasts.

Producers can log in online to see the status of their contract at any time. They receive payment for the

How does it Work?

When a grower signs up to ProPricing, they discuss their marketing goals with a Cargill sales representative and commit to sell a specific number of bushels — the minimum is 35 metric tonnes, or 1,286 bushels — through a ProPricing contract.

Halpenny says the program is intended to complement farmers’ existing marketing plans. “We wouldn’t want anyone to commit their full anticipated production because we encourage people to have a diversified grain marketing plan and this would be one of the tools that we would anticipate they would use, not the only one,” he says. “When they enrol in the program, they’ll make the appropriate judgement on what the proper amount is that they’re comfortable with committing on an individual basis.”

Cargill then trades the grain as if it were their own, which means growers have grain traders from Winnipeg and the Cargill World Trading Unit in Geneva working on their behalf.

“The pricing and timing of the market for a lot of people is something that they find challenging, and stressful,” says Halpenny. “This is a way to have Cargill, with their global footprint, be able to follow along and express their bias with that ProPricing contract the same as they trade their own book of business. Part of the benefit and the reason why Cargill is doing this is to provide the level of service that’s required by many different farm customers.”

Producers still have to select their basis (difference between the local cash price and the futures price) before the month prior to the delivery period and set the delivery date for the grain they commit. “ProPricing is a delivery contract where Cargill will work over a pricing period to establish the futures price part of that contract for the farm customer,” says Halpenny. “The farmer is still responsible to select the basis. Sometimes the farmer will fix a basis and a futures price at the same time.”

At the time of sign up, farmers indicate a delivery period and that will determine which futures program that their contract is associated

Richardson is committed to ensuring reliable and efficient services for our customers.

From increasing storage capacity to adding high-speed fertilizer blenders across our Richardson Pioneer network, we continue to invest in our facilities to enhance our operations and serve our customers. We are committed to operating the most efficient, fully integrated network of high throughput grain elevators and port terminals to move your grains and oilseeds from the Prairies to markets around the world.

Being truly invested is at the heart of everything we do.

To learn more, visit richardson.ca

bushels they have committed through ProPricing based on Cargill’s marketing performance and their delivery date.

Western Canadian wheat, canola and soybean grower have until December 15 to sign up for ProPricing. GN Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor and communications specialist living and working in Manitoba. Find her online at www.angelalovell.ca.

Rethink YouR opeRAtion

Welcome to High-efficiency Seeding Precision Disk™ air drills deliver optimal yield potential from every seed

A

ir drills are the seeding implement of choice when it comes to meeting cropping challenges across northern climates.

Air drills offer the versatility to handle varying soils and terrain while also allowing producers to quickly react to changes in crop selection.

“Thanks to advancements in technology, Case IH air drills provide uniformity and consistency in what often are highly variable conditions; it’s what we call high-efficiency seeding,” says David Long, Case IH marketing manager for seeding equipment.

A fAst, uniform stArt Stand establishment is among the most critical factors in helping a wheat crop reach its full yield potential.1 Uniform emergence leads to a crop that matures evenly. This is desirable at harvest, but also for timing in-season pesticide applications.2 “Our Precision Disk 500 and 500T air drills incorporate the latest design and technology,” Long says.

These advancements center around three factors that increase versatility: • Crop residue handling • Seed placement • Seed-to-soil contact “Consistent, high-efficiency seeding starts with the row unit,” Long explains. “We designed our row unit to cut and handle the heaviest residue.”

Tough, 18-inch Earth Metal® disks slice open a high-quality seed trench.

A unique forward-facing seed tube reduces seed tumble for proper seed placement in the bottom of the trench, directly behind the opener disk.

The exclusive raised-edge closing wheel design breaks the sidewall, and the opposing edge captures the soil to close and seal the trench.

“Seed-to-soil contact is critical in helping nearly any crop realize its yield potential,” Long says. “Our closing wheel is designed specifically for closing in a wide range of conditions — from conventional tillage to no-till.”

Consistent seed depth And spACing Regardless of tillage regimen, soils and conditions can change dramatically across the field or from pass to pass. And that can throw off seed placement.

“Precision Disk air drill row units

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The latest technology in Case IH Precision Disk™ air drills provides superior crop residue handling, seed placement and seed-to-soil contact for high-efficiency seeding in varying soils and terrains. feature a parallel-link system. The upper and lower arm ensure even depth placement across varying soil conditions,” Long says. “In-cab down pressure adjustment and down force springs provide consistency at each row unit.” The result: superior depth control at higher speeds.

This consistent seed placement carries across multiple crops, too.

“More and more, producers rely on a diverse crop mix — from wheat and other cereal grains to corn and soybeans. And then, there’s the rapidly growing interest in cover crops,” Long says. “Precision Disk 500 series air drills accurately and consistently seed a wide range of crops.”

high-effiCienCy seed delivery Seed handling and metering comprise the heart of any air drill. Case IH offers two options, each designed for high-efficiency seeding: • The precision Disk 500 air drill provides high-capacity air seeding when paired with Case IH Precision Air™ 5 series air carts. Towbehind or tow-between configurations and capacities ranging from 350 to 950 bushels

form the perfect match for today’s larger drills and higher-horsepower tractors. Precision Air 5 series air carts feature an innovative modular metering control system that accurately places seed and fertilizer. The air carts also feature AccuSection™ section control technology for more efficient crop input use.

• The precision Disk 500t air drill features an on-board mounted 70or 100-bushel tank with seed metering, four-section overlap control and unmatched maneuverability.

“AccuSection section control and section shutoff reduce or eliminate overlap at headland turns, point rows or around field obstacles to help avoid expensive overapplication of seed and fertilizer,” Long says.

The technology doesn’t end there.

Precision Disk 500 and 500T models are compatible with ISO 11783 technology and the AFS Pro 700 display.

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FEATURES

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Soybean harvest

Photos: Lisa Guenther

Helping with the harvest Soybeans grown on the Ag in Motion site harvested for the Foodgrains Bank Farmers and industry reps take a look at what’s left behind the combine on the soybean plot. Some of the best soybeans are the lowest on the plant, so the cutterbar needs to be as low as possible.

By Lisa Guenther

O

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REALFARMREWARDS.CA *Registration required. Growers must purchase a minimum of 32 bags of a qualifying brand of Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola to be eligible to earn rewards. Visit RealFarmRewards.ca for full details.

ALWAYS FOLLOW GRAIN MARKETING AND ALL OTHER STEWARDSHIP PRACTICE AND PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Tank mixtures: The applicable labeling for each product must be in the possession of the user at the time of application. Follow applicable use instructions, including application rates, precautions and restrictions of each product used in the tank mixture. Monsanto has not tested all tank mix product formulations for compatibility or performance other than specifically listed by brand name. Always predetermine the compatibility of tank mixtures by mixing small proportional quantities in advance. Genuity®, Real Farm Rewards™ and Roundup Ready® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee. ©2017 Monsanto Canada Inc.

n the morning of October 3, about 30 hardy souls braved finger-numbing cold to celebrate the Canadian Foodgrains Bank harvest at the Ag in Motion site north of Langham, Sask.

The soybeans were a little tough, and so only a few acres were harvested for demonstration purposes.

But close to 90 acres of soybeans were seeded and awaiting harvest, with the proceeds to be donated to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. The day also included talks about soybean agronomy, handling, and storage.

Gaylord Mierau, a Langham-area farmer, seeded, harrowed and sprayed the soybeans on the Ag in Motion site. Crop Production Services provided agronomic advice and inputs, and Ag Growth International provided storage and handling equipment for the crop.

Mierau is a long-time donour to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. For the past seven years he has also grown about 80 acres of various crops for the organization on his own land.

Mierau says he is passionate about Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s work to end hunger. He draws much of his inspiration from his two-year-old granddaughter, Alice.

“Alice loves to eat. And I love to watch her eat because she just enjoys her food so much. And it would break my heart if her parents had little or nothing for her to eat.”

Unfortunately, that is the reality for millions of people each year, Mierau adds.

Mierau says he is also motivated by teachings in the New Testament, which is in keeping with Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s vision. The organization is a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-based agencies, which together represent 30 denominations.

Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s projects fall into three categories; providing food to people facing famine because of a crisis, sustainable agricultural projects designed to help people boost yields and earn more money from their crops, and nutrition projects focusing on nursing or pregnant mothers and young children.

About half the donations received by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank come from growing projects such as the one at the Ag in Motion site.

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FEATURES

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Gaylord Mierau, a Langham-area farmer, seeded, harrowed and sprayed about 90 acres of soybeans for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank on the Ag in Motion site this year. This was Mierau’s first year growing soybeans. “At times it was too dry.

But considering that, the crop looks reasonable.”

Jennifer Bogdan and Gary Sollid of Crop Production Services talk soybean agronomy at the Ag in Motion site north of Langham.

Also pictured is Jennifer’s three-year-old daughter, Katla, who enjoys long walks through soybean fields.

John Longhurst, director of resource and public engagement for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, speaks to local media at the harvest event on October 3rd. There were 26 growing projects in Saskatchewan alone and over 250 across Canada. Proceeds from those projects will go to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

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Langham-area farmer David Meakin talks about his experience growing and harvesting soybeans during the Canadian Foodgrains Bank harvest event.

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David Meakin finishes a second pass on the soybeans, with Gary Sollid riding shotgun.

OM

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Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Follow her on Twitter @LtoG.

RT

CS

O

N

Farmers dedicate acreage to grow a crop, harvest it, sell it, and donate the proceeds to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

This year, there were over 250 growing projects across Canada, says John Longhurst, director of resource and public engagement for the organization. Those growing projects range in size from garden plots to 500 acres, he adds.

The Canadian government matches the funds raised by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Longhurst says the portion the federal government kicks in depends on the project type. The proceeds from the Ag in Motion site are slated for emergency famine relief in Africa, and the government will quadruple the money raised from the soybean sales. GN

.C

Dan Bardi of Ag Growth International talks soybean handling and storage with farmers and industry.

H S TA R G E N E

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www.northstargenetics.com © NorthStar Genetics 2017 Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS). Monsanto products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for Commercialization of Biotechnology-Derived Plant Products in Commodity Crops. These products have been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from these products can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to con rm their buying position for these products. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship.

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® soybeans contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate and dicamba. Agricultural herbicides containing glyphosate will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate, and those containing dicamba will kill crops that are not tolerant to dicamba. Contact your Monsanto dealer or call the Monsanto technical support line at 1-800-667-4944 for recommended Roundup Ready® Xtend Crop System weed control programs. Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® and Roundup Ready® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada Inc. licensee. ©2017 Monsanto Canada Inc.

16

FEATURES

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Specialty crops

Hops: the flavour in your beer These hop growers share their stories on everything from insects to the hop harvest

By Lisa Guenther

How to grow hops Hops climb, and so hop growers need to sink large posts in the fields. They then string cables between the posts, and run line down from the cables so the plants can reach for the sun.

Gagné says it takes them about two months to set up a new hop field.

At Jarrets Noirs, they plant seedlings by hand after spring frosts have passed. By the end of the summer, the seedlings should reach the top of the wire, says Gagné. It takes two years for those plants to yield enough for harvest, but once established, the plants will live for 20 years or more.

Gowan sells rhizomes to other hops growers. She explains they dig rhizomes in mid to late April, and ship them for immediate planting.

Hops prefer a lighter, slightly acidic, soil, such as the volcanic ash soil found in Washington State, says Gowan. Gowan’s soil is quite heavy, but the hops still do fine.

“One thing about it, it retains

photos: Lisa Guenther

F

rancis Gagné and Anne-Marie Lessard wanted to make some changes. The St. Bernard, Quebec farmers raised hogs and broilers, and grew cash crops. But they wanted to exit the pork business, and start a new farm venture.

After looking at everything from vineyards to fruit and vegetables, they settled on growing hops. That decision was due to a combination of soil type, a nearby river that would provide water for irrigation, and demand.

Lessard and Gagné held onto the broilers (they currently have two houses of 25,000 birds each). Equity in the poultry business and the farm land helped them obtain financing for the hop operation. They’re still in the early stages, but currently have eight hectares in hop production, and grow nine varieties, with plans to expand.

Already their hop operation, Houblon des Jarrets Noirs, is one of the largest in Quebec. There are currently about 30 hop growers in Quebec. But Jarrets Noirs and one other grower produce more than the other 28 combined, Gagné says, speaking through a translator during a Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation tour.

Quebec farmers aren’t the only ones who see potential in hops. Sandra Gowan worked for the Canadian Grain Commission in Winnipeg for several years. In 2003, drawing on her greenhouse and horticulture education, she started a small business growing edible flowers and bedding plants. A few years later her husband, Paul Ebbinghaus, showed her an article about the market demand for hops. In 2009, Prairie GEM Hops was born. Today she has 0.25 acres of hops under production, and grows 19 different varieties.

The Jarrets Noirs hop yard after harvest, in late September.

Alberta Farm Writer Bill Owens checks out the machinery used to harvest hops at Houblon des Jarrets Noirs.

water quite well. Hops like a lot of water. And there are a lot of nutrients in our soil, which helps.” But, she says, some varieties might struggle in a wet cool year. Iron chlorosis could also be an issue.

They do add some chemical fertilizer, and use a lot of compost, says Gowan. Gagné says most of their fertilizer is added to the drip irrigation, but they also compost the plant debris after harvest.

Varieties Each variety has its own aroma or bitterness, Gagné says. The same variety can take on different flavours depending on processing.

Gowan says that the hops’ taste is also affected by terroir, or environmental factors such as soil, terrain, and climate. For example, Chinook hops typically have a citrus and pine aroma.

“And our Chinook, it really takes on a lemony aroma,” she says.

Both Gagné and Gowan have found that American hops varieties tend to do well on their farms.

Gowan thinks it may be because the American varieties are better acclimated to Manitoba’s hot summers.

Gagné has also had success with British varieties, but German variet-

ies have not fared well on Gowan or Gagné’s farms so far.

Gowan knows people growing hops around Edmonton. She suggests northern growers select shortseason varieties.

“The plants will take quite a bit of frost, but if you have a hard frost, what it does is kind of dry out the cones really quickly,” she says. Those cones will shatter.

Many hop varieties have a Canadian influence, Gowan says. For example, Brewer’s Gold and Bullion varieties were developed through the open pollination of wild Manitoba hops. Both varieties are ancestors to many other hops varieties.

Asked why there were no Quebec varieties yet, Gagné says that from what he understands it would take 10 years and several million to develop a made-in-Quebec variety.

Pests and weeds Gagné says insect issues can vary from one area to another. In another location, they have problems with caterpillars, he says. At the location the media toured, they’ve had issues with microscopic bugs that introduce disease to the plants. Gagné adds they’ve introduced predatory insects to control pests.

Francis Gagné takes the Canadian Farm Writers on a tour of his hop yards in the St. Bernard, Quebec, area.

Gowan says aphids, spider mites, and potato leaf hoppers are all pests. She says they’ve used insecticidal soap and Pyrethrin. But insecticides also wipe out beneficial insects, so they don’t spray if they don’t have to. This summer, Asian lady beetles were plentiful in Winnipeg, providing excellent control of aphids, she says.

Hops are also susceptible to diseases such as powdery mildew and downy mildew. “It’s quite common for those diseases to appear in a hop yard” so hop growers need to keep on top of them, Gowan says.

Hop growers can remove diseased material or use fungicides. Organic methods are also available. For example, Gowan is thinking about using Regalia bio-fungicide (made

by Marrone Bio Innovations). Regalia uses plant hormones to spur the plant into fighting the infection, Gowan explains.

Weed control is another consideration, as hops won’t do well if grasses or taller weeds infest the hop yard, Gowan says. Jarrets Noirs’ hops fields have black plastic mulch covering the rows, with mown grass between the rows.

Gowan manually hoes weeds to keep them under control.

Harvesting and processing Gowan outlines three indicators that hops are ready for harvest: 1. Colour change — cones turn light green.

2. When you crush the cone, it’s springy and feels like paper.

3. Golden yellow lupulin within the cone (as opposed to a pale yellow).

Lupulin glands are found under the bracteoles (leaf-like structures), and lupulin itself looks like powder.

It’s the active ingredient in hops.

Yield depends on variety, says Gowan. They have one Cascade plant growing on a windmill that yields four lbs of dried hops, but that may be exceptional. “You can expect anywhere from one to two pounds of dried product per plant, as kind of a general rule.”

Right now Prairie GEM hires family and friends to hand-harvest the hops.

This year harvest ran nearly three weeks in September. Gowan says they’re working with a man in the Winnipeg area to build a custom harvester. It harvests the plants quickly, but doesn’t effectively separate the cones from the leaves.

“We’re hoping that it will work eventually,” she says.

There are no hops machinery man-

FEATURES

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

ufacturers in North America, Gagné says. But in Germany, hops farms have consolidated, and smaller harvesters are available. In fact, U.S. companies import and refurbish them, Gowan says.

Jarrets Noirs hires 10 seasonal workers, from Mexico, who help with spring cleanup and harvest (the employees also work at neighbouring fruit and vegetable operations). Gagné says they also decided to import a German harvester. Workers place plants on the machine, which then separates the cones from the plant.

Gagné says it processes about 100 plants an hour.

The hops collect in bins, before they’re loaded into a dryer with a forklift. Gagné says they don’t let the dryer get hotter than 70 C, as they don’t want to scorch the hops.

The hops start out at anywhere from 65 to 75 per cent moisture. After six hours in the dryer, they’re down to eight to 10 per cent moisture. The hops then sit for up to 12 hours, before being baled and left for another month to condition. Gagné says the hops are then pelleted and packaged.

Gowan’s crew also dries the hops to 10 per cent moisture, using a dryer.

Then they vacuum seal and freeze the hops. Gowan says hops will oxidize and spoil if exposed to oxygen. Heat and light damage them as well. But once stored properly, they can last a couple of years.

How they’re packaged matters to brewers. Whole hops tend to plug brewery equipment, Gowan says. At interview time, Prairie GEM Hops was setting up recently acquired pelleting equipment.

Other uses for hops

Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Follow her on Twitter @LtoG.

in Winnipeg taprooms such as Barn Hammer Brewing.

The soap doesn’t smell like beer, she says. In fact, beer creates a nice lather and is more conditioning than regular soap. Hops oxidize in the bars, adding an exfoliating property.

Prairie GEM Hops matches their soaps to the beer’s characteristics. For example, an oatmeal stout soap would include some ground oatmeal and a subtle coffee aroma. IPA soap would have a citrus fragrance.

Still, brewers are the biggest users of hops. Asked which beer he would recommend, Gagné had a straight-forward recommendation.

“IPA. More hops in IPA.” GN Lisa Guenther

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Marketing Both Prairie GEM Hops and Houblon des Jarrets Noirs focus mainly on craft brewers. Craft brewers want good quality, but are not worried about consistency year to year, in Gowan’s experience.

In the last year, Jarrets Noirs has signed three contracts with major breweries, Gagné says, but small breweries are still their principal business. Most of their customers are in Quebec, but they also sell to a few microbreweries in the Maritimes and Ontario. Hop prices depend on variety, ranging from $25 per kg to $39 per kg. Prices are based on five kilogram packages.

Jarrets Noirs has branded clothing and brochures, all targeted towards microbreweries. They even have a slick promotional video, shot with a drone, showcasing hops production on the farm. They also participate in microbrewery tradeshows.

Prairie GEM attends events, too, such as Winnipeg’s Flatlanders Beer Festival. Gowan says they’ve also held open houses, inviting Manitoba craft breweries and staff from the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre. The day includes lunch, a tour of the hops yard, and a chance for brewers and other industry to network.

Gowan says that there is room for more suppliers in her market. The hops grown in Manitoba are “a drop in the bucket compared to what the breweries would use.” GN

Any fan of Indian Pale Ale (IPA) likely knows that hops add that bitter punch to beer. And while beer is the main market for hops, they have other uses as well.

Francis Gagné, owner of Houblon des Jarrets Noirs, says that while microbreweries are the main focus, he has a few clients who use hops for tea, essential oils, pillows and ciders.

Sandra Gowan, owner of Prairie GEM Hops, says researchers are looking at medicinal properties of hops. The University of Michigan Medicine website notes hops are often combined with valerian root to treat insomnia, and there is some evidence suggesting that the treatment is effective.

Gowan has found another use for hops: soap. She makes beer and hop soap, and sells it direct, as well as

17

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19

Topic heading Grain marketing

Brewing canary seed

New canary seed variety for 2018

By Lisa Guenther

W

Although it’s a cereal, canary seed doesn’t contain gluten. “If canary seed were to fit into beer, it would be something like gluten-free,” says Wensley However, Dave Holowaty, brewery manager at Rebellion Brewing, says the brewery doesn’t have plans to include more canary seed in its beverages, beyond perhaps one more test batch.

e all know that canary seed is no longer just for the birds. But is it for the brewers?

It was a question on Lauren Wensley’s mind when she was discussing a new malting barley with a “friend of a friend” who works with Rebellion Brewing in Regina.

Rebellion is known for trying out small, experimental beer batches.

The brewery also makes a lentil cream ale, which patrons can buy by the keg.

Wensley is the pedigreed seed territory manager for Sask with Canterra Seeds. She dropped off some seed from CDC Cibo, Canterra’s new variety, for the brewers “We did try a test batch of Canary to try.

Seed Blonde and while interesting, “It was just an experiment,” she found the beer itself to not be very says. “They did it one time. This exciting” Holowaty says. Any future time they used a malt barley base.” batches would use a regular barley The result was a light beer that base rather than a gluten-free base, Rebellion Brewing dubbed Canary he adds.

Seed Blonde. When the batch was Still, since Health Canada greenready in the spring, Wensley was the lighted canary seed for human confirst in line to try it. sumption in 2016, there are other “It was good,” she says. She potential markets. describes it as a typical light beer, Dehulled canary seed averages 21 but with an interesting taste. per cent protein, according to the Wensley was hoping to take her Canaryseed Development Commisseed growers some growlers, but the sion of Saskatchewan. Compared to brewery doesn’t use preservatives. other cereals, it’s relatively low in “I’m hoping one day they’ll make fibre. However, it’s a better source of another batch and I can get it out to phosphorus, magnesium, folates, SEC-SPIT17-R_GN_SEC-SPIT17-R_GN.qxd 2017-09-29 11:28 AM Page 1 my seed growers.” and manganese than other common

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Dehulled canary seed averages 21 per cent protein

cereals. It also tops quinoa and buckwheat for iron content.

“You can crush it up into flour and make bread, cookies, whatever baked goods,” says Wensley. Because of sesame seed allergies, there has been talk of replacing the seeds on buns with canaryseeds. Canary seed is also used as part of a weight loss regime in Latin America, she adds.

The summer edition of the Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan newsletter includes an update on human food uses. Right now, there’s not a huge demand for canary seed in human food markets, writes Kevin Hursh, executive director. Some canary seed is being used in health foods with the hull still attached. Food companies are experimenting with de-hulled canary seed. As far as the commission knows, InfraReady Products of Saskatoon is the only company doing commercial de-hulling.

The commission is working with Synthesis Agri-Food Network on marketing strategies. Food companies would like a different name to describe canary seed (Hursh compares it to how consumers know kabuli chickpeas as garbanzo beans).

Linda Braun, a home economist, is creating recipes that the commission plans to share at the annual meeting in January. GN Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Follow her on Twitter @LtoG.

Photo: Lisa Guenther

Will Canary Seed Blonde set the stage for a new market for your canary seed?

CDC Cibo on display at Ag in Motion near Langham, Sask. Certified seed will be available in 2018.

The first yellow-groated canary seed is about to hit the Canadian market.

CDC Cibo is an itchless variety, developed for the human consumption market, says Bret Gaetz, Canterra Seeds territory manager for north-east Sask. Certified seed will be available in 2018.

Cibo has been fairly consistent in trials, Gaetz says. It yields 126 per cent over the check, CDC Maria.

But what about harvestability?

Gaetz says they applied a fungicide to Cibo to protect crop health. “And we had no issues with it laying over whatsoever.”

Farmers new to growing canary seed should know that wild oat control can be an issue.

“Unfortunately there’s not a whole lot that’s registered,” says Gaetz. One of the best options for wild oat control is to apply a product such as Avadex (a Group 8) the fall before. There are several options for controlling broadleaves, Gaetz adds.

When it comes to fertility, for the most part farmers can treat canary seed similar to other wheat crops. But Gaetz cautions against getting “too aggressive on the nitrogen. It can grow fairly tall and rank, and straw strength is maybe not as good as some of our other cereals.” GN Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask.

Follow her on Twitter @LtoG.

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Topic and Soils heading crops

Mail order houses: the Eakinton The T. Eaton Co. Ltd. “Eakinton” was a very unique home

Photo: Les Henry

Les Henry

The Hextall "Eakinton" home near Grenfell, July 2001.

W

e have been getting quite a few queries about catalogue houses lately so I will tell the story about a very unique T. Eaton Home: Eakinton. First, a Q and A about the subject.

What were catalogue or mail order houses?

Starting in the early 1900s it was possible to order a house from a catalogue or plan book from many different companies. The company then shipped the lumber, millwork, windows, nails, paint — the whole “kit and caboodle.” That is why these houses are often called “kit” houses. They are often referred to as pre-fab but for the most part that is not true.

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What companies were in the business?

In the U.S. Sears was the big actor but they also dealt with the financing so that put them out of the house business by 1940. As far as I know they did not do business in Canada.

In Western Canada T. Eaton Co. Ltd. was the big actor, and was in the mail order house business from 1910 to 1932. These houses were only advertised through the Winnipeg Catalogue not in Toronto or Moncton. Many catalogue houses are described as Eatons when they in fact came from other companies.

Other companies included: 1. Aladdin, huge all across Canada and the U.S. and beyond.

2. British Colombia Mills Timber and Trading from Vancouver, was the only pre-fab company.

3. United Grain Growers, yes the company that originated Grainews was also in the house business from 1916 to 1926.

4. The Western Retail Lumbermen’s Association.

The T.Eaton Co. Ltd. “Eakinton” E30 Model House The Eakinton was only offered in the 1919 Plan Book of Modern Homes so they are rare. When Catalogue Houses; Eaton’s and Others was first written I had no examples, but shortly after I was alerted to the Hextall house near Grenfell, Saskatchewan.

Let me first thank Blair Hextall of Saskatoon who alerted me to this house. He had two photos of the house, which I immediately recognized as the rare “Eakinton” that I had been unable to find. The house was built in 1919 by Blair’s grandfather William Hextall.

By the time I was there in July 2001 the house had sat empty for a number of years and the hedge had grown so that a “full frontal” photo was not possible. By that time the balcony and verandah were sagging but the house stood tall, straight and proud. Those houses were built from lumber you cannot buy today — they no longer cut that kind of tree down! All too often such fine old houses experience a long, sad decline until a fire or big wind comes along to finish them off. But not this house!

The renaissance: Boxton Prairie Experience It is great to be able report that in 2004 Ruth Claxton and Lloyd Box (great grandson of the original owner) moved the house to become the centerpiece of a unique B&B experience.

Grainews readers who squirrel away issues can check out page 39 of the April 26, 2012 issue. Christalee Froese penned a piece with a complete description of the B&B. (Or, find the article online by searching for Grainews Boxton Prairie Experience.) To enjoy the experience yourself, check out www.boxtonprairieexperience.com.

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

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Plans for the Eakinton, E30, from the 1919 Plan Book of Modern Homes.

Photo: www.boxtronprairieexperience.com

The Eakinton, E30, from the 1919 Plan Book of Modern Homes.

WHO DO YOU TRUST FOR THE BOTTOM LINE ON NEW SEED?

Ruth Claxton and Lloyd Box have turned the Eakinton home into a unique B&B experience near Grenfell, Sask.

How many other Eakinton houses still stand?

Until this past week the Hextall/Boxton house was the only example I knew of. A recent email from the Darren Green family of Rocanville, Sask. provided photos of their beautifully restored “Eakinton” and news of a third at Wawota, Sask. So far the Eakinton seems to be limited to southeast Saskatchewan.

Perhaps readers will alert me to other Eakinton examples.

As Christmas approaches you may find this book Catalogue Houses: Eaton’s and Others the answer for some on your list. Catalogue Houses: Eaton’s and Others provides the details of all the catalogue house companies, how they did business and examples of many actual houses still standing and often housing the fourth or fifth generation of the same family.

If readers have a house that they want help identifying I am happy to help whether you buy a book or not. If you send photos of the original house from a couple of sides and a sketch or description of the original floor plan I will try to find a match with an original plan book page. You can mail to the address below or email to jleshenry@ shaw.ca. GN J.L.(Les) Henry is a former professor and extension specialist at the University of Saskatchewan. He farms at Dundurn, Sask. His book “Catalogue Houses; Eaton’s and Others” is now in its third printing. It makes a great gift for someone who has everything. If you would like a copy simply send a cheque for $45 to Henry Perspectives, 143 Tucker Cres, Saskatoon, Sask., S7H 3H7, and he will dispatch a signed book. For Grainews readers we cover shipping and tax.

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Hart Attack

They sure don’t milk cows like they used to Lee Hart

I

know I am the crop and livestock expert for Grainews (NOT) — fact is I’m just old, and no expert on anything — but every time I write a story about a dairy farming operation today, I can’t help but recall some child-

hood memories, growing up on an Eastern Ontario dairy farm.

This past month I talked to a young dairy farmer in Debert, Nova Scotia who along with his wife were milking between 80 and 100 head three times a day. My flashback goes to the late 1950s (I shudder to think that was about 60 years ago).

The Hart dairy farm had two dairy barns in my time. The accompanying photo (early 1950s)

shows the “old” or original setup, while the new stable with a milkhouse was built in 1963. Contractor George Brunsveld was just finishing the new barn in the fall of 1963 at the same time President John Kennedy was assassinated. It has always remained as a timing reference point for me.

But the old dairy barn had lots of character. Probably by just about every measure today of animal welfare and milk quality it

would be condemned. That’s not to say animals were mistreated or the milk produced by these old Holsteins was unhealthy — not by any means. Our dairy wasn’t any different than dozens or hundreds of small farms across the St. Lawrence Seaway valley, but it’s just that the rules and regulations for dairy operations are not only just different, but much stricter.

In this photo my brother Mark

Photo: Supplied by Lee Hart

The original Hart dairy farm was nothing like the high-tech operations running today

Lee Hart’s brother Mark, in front of the original Hart family dairy farm.

is standing beside a couple of the D19 milk cans my Dad used to ship milk. (It also appears that my brother is about to be attacked by a wolf. I don’t really remember that farm dog. It might be my Grandpa’s dog, Bud, who “disappeared” not long after I began roaming around the scene.)

In the barn

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The main stable was in the back corner of the open front shed. It was a low-ceilinged stable that held about 15 milk cows, tied in a row in stanchions. It was the modern stable in those days — it had electricity, so therefore it had a few electric lights and power to run milking machines.

On the other side of the barnyard, (out of view on the left side of the photo) was the old log stable that did not have electricity. It held about 15 animals too and was used mostly for young replacement heifers and a few overflow cows from the milking herd. As I recall there was usually about half a dozen milk cows in the old log building that had to be milked by hand and it was usually my grandpa or my mom who would hand milk cows in that stable, while my dad looked after the high tech Chore Boy milking machines in the main stable.

When I got old enough to be pressed into child labour, it would often be my job to carry buckets of milk from the log stable along the stone steps that crossed one side of the barnyard to the main stable. The buckets of milk were dumped into strainers on top of the eight-gallon milk cans and I would carry the empty buckets back to the log stable.

My Dad shipped milk to Nestle’s Ltd. in nearby Chesterville and he owned about 10 of the eight-gallon milk cans. At the end of each milking there would be four or five cans of milk that had to be carried (so each one was about 80 pounds or so) through that open front shed and to a water trough located somewhere near where my brother is standing. Later I remember my dad building a wooden platform that was fitted to the back of a grey Ford tractor. That made life simpler. He would back the tractor into the far side of the open-front shed, load the milk cans on the platform and then carefully drive over some rocky barnyard ground to the trough.

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The cans of milk were placed in the water trough and before electricity reached that far across the yard, my dad, grandpa or older brother would use a hand pump on top of the well platform to pump water into the trough to cool the milk over night. Milk from the morning milking didn’t

have to be cooled. The full milk cans from the night and morning milkings were loaded on the tractor platform or hay wagon and taken to the gate at the end of the lane, where the Nestle’s milk trucked picked them up every morning.

It was a system that worked,

and perhaps as simple as it was it kept our farm and thousands more operating for many years. I don’t mean to sound like a dinosaur but it wasn’t until new standards and regulations and a new milk marketing system was introB:9.875 in duced in the 1960s that small T:9.875 in dairy farms began to disappear.

S:9.875 in

The cost of new technology began to weed out those who weren’t able to keep up.

That young Nova Scotia dairy producer I talked to was a bit apologetic they weren’t using all the latest technology and were still collecting milk in glass weigh jars in a milking parlour. And I

23

thought, hey man, nothing wrong with that, just be thankful you’ve got electricity. I remember a time when... GN Lee Hart is a field editor with Grainews based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Reporters notebook

They do things differently there In Quebec, membership in the agriculture lobby group UPS is mandatory for farmers

By Lisa Guenther

E

ach fall, the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation holds an annual conference in a different part of Canada. This year, the conference was in the Quebec City area.

The conference hotel was a short

walk from the Old City and the Plains of Abraham, so I was able to check out both. The Old City is divided into the Upper Town and Lower Town (the Lower Town is below Cap Diamant, a large cape).

A colleague had recommended taking the funicular railway to Lower Town, and it was well worth $3. As I descended into Old Town, I

had a beautiful view of the St. Lawrence and the old neighbourhoods.

A big part of my tourism strategy is to walk around, maybe get lost, and let fate decide what I find. It’s not a bad strategy for the Old City.

While walking down rue de Petit Champlain, I found La Soierie Huo, a shop that sells hand-painted silk scarves and ties. When I walked

inside, one of the artists was painting a silk piece stretched on a frame.

After buying a scarf for my mom’s birthday, I wandered around, before coming across a stone church in the middle of a plaza. It was the Notre-Dame-desVictoires. It was so named because of two failed British attacks on the city. The church later burnt to the

ground during the British Conquest, before being rebuilt in the early 19th Century.

I also stumbled upon the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, in the Upper Town. It was the first Anglican cathedral built outside of the United Kingdom. What I found most interesting were the plaques, resembling gravestones, mounted on the walls inside the church.

They commemorated deceased church members.

I’m always interested in the ways people died in the past. For example, Maria Cornelia Westrene died at age 38 in 1849 “after a short attack of Asiatic cholera.” She was a doctor’s wife, so it seems no one was safe from cholera.

Quebec Agriculture The annual Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation conference includes a day of farm tours. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn a little bit about farming in other parts of the country.

Our first stop was Ferme Lehoux Holstein, south of Quebec City. The Lehoux family are master breeders, selling replacement heifers to other dairies, along with producing milk.

As we filed off the school bus, Germain Lehoux, his wife Claire Ouellet, their children Pier-Olivier Lehoux and Marie-Ève Lehoux, and Marie-Ève’s husband, Dany Chabot, were all on hand to answer questions and take us into the barn.

Another striking difference is that one organization, l’Union des producteurs agricole (UPA), represents all of Quebec’s farmers.

Membership is mandatory

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The Lehoux family has much in common with western Canadian producers. For one, the farm is a family affair, and each family member has a role.

It’s also a business. Marie-Ève, the farm bookkeeper, makes sure they’re spending wisely. There’s a fair amount of risk, and the Lehoux family must manage it well to succeed. For example, they’ve partnered with other dairy breeders to buy new genetics, which allows them to share risk.

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Dany Chabot poses at Ferme Lehoux Holstein, south of Quebec City. Lehoux Holstein sells milk as well as replacement heifers.

Reporter Jack Dawes listens as Germain Lehoux talks about his dairy farm, while daughter Marie-Ève Lehoux looks on.

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Rue du Petit-Champlain, in the Lower Town section of Old Quebec.

Photos: Lisa Guenther

-Lorne Hamblin, Redview Farms Ltd.

The view of Quebec City’s Lower Town from the funicular railway.

It was also clear the Lehoux family takes a lot of pride in their farm and their herd. The cows seemed exceptionally quiet to me. Many enjoyed a scratch on the head, and all were eager to lick our camera bags and coats. My friend Laura Thygesen, who judged dairy shows in her 4-H days, was very impressed with the cows’ conformation.

Yet to say that agriculture in Quebec is exactly like agriculture in Western Canada would be untrue.

This is even clear from the air, where one can see land divided into skinny seigneurial lots rather than quarter sections.

Another striking difference is that one organization, l'Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), represents all of Quebec’s farmers.

Membership is mandatory.

As Daniel-Mercier Gouin, ag Continued on Page 26 

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 Continued from Page 25

economics prof at the Université Laval explained, some farmers want out, or at least different representation. L’Union paysanne says it represents small farmers (but Gouin noted they also allow citizens to be members). Les Conseil

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

des entrepreneurs agricoles says it represents larger farms. But neither group has convinced the government to remove the UPA’s accreditation, which is legislated. That, Gouin says, makes the UPA an unavoidable lobby.

How has the UPA persisted when, in contrast, Western Canada

has several different producer groups? Part of it is that when the Farm Producers Act was passed in 1972, the UPA was legally recognized as the sole association that represented all farmers. But a lot of it comes down to culture. Gouin told us that before the UPA, CathoT:9.875” lic unions represented farmers. And

Hugh Maynard, who runs Qu’anglo, an ag communications firm in Quebec, explained that Quebec has a very strong co-operative movement.

I’m not suggesting that western Canadian farmers reproduce the UPA. It’s a complex beast, and I have a rudimentary understanding

of how it works, at best. But it’s certainly interesting. And I do wonder whether merging crop groups in the West can learn from the UPA’s playbook. GN Lisa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Follow her on Twitter @LtoG.

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

27

Understanding market bulls and bears

What does the harvest mean for the market?

A look at the post-harvest impact on Prairie canola, wheat and malt barley markets Brian Wittal

B

y October 12, snow was already falling for the second time in two weeks and harvest was only about 80 per cent complete in the Central Alberta area.

Other that than, the fall for the most part was amazing and has allowed farmers across the Prairies to get the harvest off in record time.

Harvest quality and quantity have been well above expectations.

The above average overall quality of the grains this year is certainly a nice bonus for producers and grain companies as it allows more flexibility and the opportunity for both producers and grain companies to sell a premium quality product, instead of a lower grade product that sells for less to stay competitive against other world sellers.

What does a high quality malt crop mean to the market and, in the end, to the producer? This year’s high quality, not to mention big yielding, crop means that almost every producer who signed a production contract is going to be able to deliver on his contract.

Now the maltsters are in a bit of a situation. Every year when they sign production contracts with producers they always contract a few extra acres to help them man-

age the risk that harvest will not be as easy as it was this year — some or all of the barley could have quality issues. The more acres they contract, the better chance they will be able to source enough quality malt in the fall to meet their sales needs for the year.

With this year’s almost-perfect harvest weather, almost every producer who has a production contract with a maltster will have malt to deliver. Now the maltsters have

to decide how much barley they need to meet sales for the year, then extrapolate that back to how much can they take on every contract, and ensure that every producer with a production contract gets to deliver an equal percentage portion of their contract.

Last week I heard from a couple of producers that were contacted by one of the major maltsters and told that they would only be taking the minimum delivery guarantee on

the contract — 50 per cent of the production. Now what do you do with the rest of the barley? Thank goodness the feed market is as strong as it is right now. Holding malt quality barley in the bin is a big gamble. With feed prices where they are right now, the best risk reward option may be to sell it for feed now as opposed to holding Continued on Page 29 

Strong canola crop The canola crop this year looks to be grading 90 per cent or better as No. 1, and early oil content analysis shows that the total percentage of oil in this year’s crop is one of the highest on record at right around 45 per cent on average across the Prairies.

This is a very positive thing for farmers, grain companies and crushers. Canola futures should remain strong compared to other oilseed crops due to the fact that buyers on the other end are getting a product that will yield more oil — the primary reason they buy canola is for the healthy oil.

Grain companies should have an easier time selling canola on world markets for this same reason. I hope that means their basis levels will show some improvement over time, another way that farmers could benefit from growing such a high quality crop.

Crushers will love crushing higher-oil-content canola this year as it will help them extract more value and improve their margins.

This makes them more competitive selling into the world market.

Again, I hope that, as they see these improvements in their margins, their basis levels also improve so that producers can share in the benefits from this year’s high quality crop.

Making malt barley Malt barley is a crop that is very sensitive to harvest conditions and this year’s amazing fall weather has allowed farmers to bin a bumper crop of high quality malt barley.

This no doubt makes the producer feel good and no doubt the maltsters are overjoyed that they do not have to try to make malt out of a subpar quality crop like they have had to do over the past few years.

Buyers are no doubt also happy to see a quality crop which means a better end product for them as well.

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Topic heading Guarding wealth

Index investing versus buying mutual funds To get diversification in your portfolio you have to pay for it, but not every mix works

By Andrew Allentuck

T

here is an old saying that you can’t beat the market. Famed investor Warren Buffett has said, “Mr. Market always wins.” One school of investing agrees that, given you can’t beat the market, you might as well join it. That is the birth of index investing: the concept of buying index funds packed in exchange traded funds. They are sold like stocks, priced

every moment of the trading day and almost always have rock bottom management fees. The question is, for offfarm investors, is it wise to put money into them?

Index investing The choices of index funds are vast.

There are about 20,000 exchangetraded fund (ETF) index followers, including those that shadow the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor’s 500, the Wilshire 5000 (a

broad U.S. index which covers almost all small and large cap stocks traded in the U.S.), numerous European and Asian indices and the biggest wrapper of all, the MSCI World Index. You can buy index ETFs that mimic European pharmaceutical company shares or small cap companies in India. There are about as many ETFs as all the shares listed in the whole world. The problem is to make sense of them.

It’s about making money, so let’s look at some returns. For example, the

iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF, trading symbol XIU, has a management expense ratio of 0.18 per cent and a 7.07 per cent average annual return since inception in September, 1999, slightly less than the benchmark index itself. The reason for the lower return is the fees paid, but that is small — the cost of owning the ETF is far less than the average annual mutual fund fee of about 2.6 per cent. The XIU fund, like the TSX 60 index, is made up of 40 per cent financial stocks and 21 per cent

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energy stocks, which is a fair description of Canada’s stock market.

Buying shares that represent the whole market can be perilous to your wealth. Consider Nortel Networks shares that were priced at $124.50 in July, 2000. At that time, they made up 35 per cent of the value of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Then Nortel collapsed, dragging down the TSX 60.

The value of all stocks on the TSE fell from about 1,200 in mid-2000 to 6,500 in October, 2002. The Nortel collapse was part of the slide, as was the broad failure of the dot com boom.

The point of this vignette is that index investing does not work if you pick the wrong index.

The concept of index investing is diversification, which is entirely a good thing. The downfall of index investing is when an index is not diversified. The Finnish index was overweighted with shares of cell phone maker Nokia. As the respected tech publication Wired noted on October 4, 2013, “by 2013, Nokia accounted for 70 per cent of Helsinki’s stock exchange market capital, 43 per cent of all Finnish corporate R&D, 21 per cent of total exports and 14 per cent of corporate tax revenues. That dominance of a stock exchange was and still is unprecedented. The Finnish stock index could not have been said to have been diversified by any stretch of the imagination. The same problem exists in the weight of brewer AmBev on the Brussels exchange, the weight of bank Santander and telco Telefonica on the Madrid board, and banks on the Paris bourse. In short, diversification among industries is not always achieved by indexing.

Let’s take another example, this time the widest index ETF of all.

That’s the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI for short) World Index ETF. As of October, 2017, it’s 58.9 per cent U.S. stocks by value. It is not so much a world index as a U.S. index with a scattering of other national markets.

Cap-weighted indexes are based on capitalization — the number of shares outstanding times the share price of each stock. The unfortunate characteristic of these indexes is that the stocks with the biggest capitalization get the biggest weight in the index. If you buy one of these cap-weighted indices, you are buying the winners.

The higher the share price and the more shares outstanding, the bigger the capitalization. That is the opposite of what most investors want: a chance to buy low.

If you want less risk than the benchmark index, seek out a low volatility ETF. If you want more growth and don’t mind the extra rollercoastering, go for a growth index. .

There is another issue with index fund investing. Index funds, which by definition are fully invested, hold no cash. So when markets are on the way up, index funds will tend to beat managed mutual funds which tend to hold cash in order to buy stocks or bonds when they seem good deals and to provide funds for redemptions. On the way down, index funds with no

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

cash cushion, will tend to fall more than managed funds with their cash cushions.

Moderation of index moves is a potential virtue of cash-cushioned mutual funds, but how well that works in relation to pure index investing is murky.

The problem is to compare indexes, which are public and lay bare their entire numerical history, with mutual funds, which can conceal their history.

This issue is called survivor bias.

If a mutual fund has a dreadful record, its management company can merge it into one of its successful funds. The surviving fund, which has absorbed the loser, now has more money under management, which

makes it look good, and the record of the loser is buried.

Then there is the problem of continuity. The same funds are not always the best performers. If you set aside the funds in the top fourth of performance, the first quartile in fund speak, five years later only half the original lot is still in the first quartile. Another five years on and now half of the first fourth are leading in the first quartile.

Another five years and half of that lot remain in the first quartile. Fund profitability is random, not based on skill.

To this problem, fund manager and math whiz Ted Aronson, adds that it can take between 16 and 75 years to provide that a manager’s returns are the result of skill to a confidence level

of just 75 per cent. The 95 per cent level of certainty can take up to a millennium. Jason Zweig, a very respected financial writer concludes that picking investment funds based only on their past performance is, we’ll quote here, “one of the stupidest things an investor can do.”

What can you do?

If index funds are biased on the way up and overloaded with winners while managed mutual funds can be winners one day and clunks the next, what to do? I’d suggest following three rules: Rule 1: Diversify inexpensively.

Index investing is imperfect, but index ETFs do provide diversification at very low cost. Low management

fees are a cushion against losses in more expensive funds. U.S. broad market index ETFs replicate the S&P500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and many other indices.

You can also find equally-weighted index ETFs that reduce a stock like Apple Inc. from about 11.5 per cent of the NASDAQ 100 Core Index to 1/100th of the total value of the index. Even if Apple, which is 58 per cent of the index in raw form, were to evaporate, the direct loss to the index would be at most one per cent. This is because the equally-weighted index gives each one of the 100 stocks in the NASDAQ equal weight.

Rule 2: Use ETFs when trading costs are very high. It is tough to buy small

lots of bonds inexpensively. Banks and other dealers sell them as principals and want profits, not as agents just charging commissions. In a bond index fund, you get pricing every moment of the trading day, you can sell any time you like, you can slice off any amount you like, and trading costs are low.

Rule 3: If you choose to buy individual stocks, get an edge by focusing on industries you understand. Farmers have an edge when buying Deere & Co., for example. Bank on your knowledge when you have an inside track. GN Andrew Allentuck’s forthcoming investment guide, “Cherished Fortune,” written with Benoit Poliquin, will be published in 2018.

 Continued from Page 27

onto it for a year or more to try to sell it as malt and then the germination drops!

What about wheat An above average yield and higher than average quality across the Prairies is only helping to add more volume to total world production when there is still a glut of wheat available on the world markets.

That won’t help prices to improve for the coming year. Now reports are saying the Russian wheat crop is a record crop so we have some big competition in the world wheat markets.

Where you may find a premium this year is in high protein wheat.

The majority of protein in the wheat I have heard about is running from lows of 11 per cent to about 13 per cent, with a few pockets where it was a little hotter or drier where the protein is running above 13 per cent.

Grain companies are anxious to get their hands on the higher protein wheat and some are offering nice protein premiums for 13.5 per cent or higher and maybe even a trucking incentive to secure high protein wheat. I have heard the range of the premium that they are paying is between $0.04 and $0.06 per bushel for every tenth of a percent of protein above 13.5 per cent.

They want to secure the high protein wheat now so they know what they have to work with to blend the lower protein wheat to meet market specs. Then they can determine what kind of a discount scale to apply when they’re buying lower protein. This way they will be sure they can blend the high and low together to meet market specs and still make some money.

The majority of high quality wheat buyers (mills) are looking for a protein of 12.5 per cent, so that is the target the grain companies will be focusing on when blending wheat to ship to export sales.

So get your protein checked, shop around for the best offer and check bins regularly for heating. GN 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).

THE ANATOMY OF A SUPERIOR PULSE SEED TREATMENT. { And how its benefits go well beyond the seed. }

The first pulse seed treatment with the unique translocation and mobility characteristics of Xemium®

Increased germination, emergence and vigour, even under cold conditions

Enhanced ability to manage environmental stresses More consistent and continuous protection against key seed and seedling diseases, including ascochyta

To find out how Insure® Pulse fungicide seed treatment and the benefits1 of AgCelence® can improve your lentils, field peas, chickpeas, dry beans, faba beans and flax – as well as soybeans and mustard – visit agsolutions.ca/insurepulse or contact AgSolutions® Customer Care at 1-877-371-BASF (2273).

1

AgCelence benefits refer to products that contain the active ingredient pyraclostrobin.

Always read and follow label directions.

AgSolutions is a registered trade-mark of BASF Corporation; AgCelence, INSURE, and XEMIUM are registered trade-marks of BASF SE; all used with permission by BASF Canada Inc. INSURE PULSE fungicide seed treatment should be used in a preventative disease control program. © 2017 BASF Canada Inc.

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Can’t take the farm from the boy

Brazil: farming on a bigger scale It was the scale of the farms that caught Toban’s Dyck’s eye in Mato Grosso

The gardens at the Bom Futuro farm in Brazil. They have hundreds of employees, all of whom they feed with food produced on-farm, from vegetables to livestock.

By Toban Dyck

I

t’s hard to distill great experiences. And, arguably, I don’t want to. I want you, the reader, along for every second of what made my trip to Brazil amazing.

At the planning phase, there were so many disparate parts. I felt it the trip going to fall through — part of it seemed too good to be true. We were to meet this person there, and that person here. The group booking my tickets weren’t native English speakers, so some important information was getting lost in translation from Portuguese. Were the tickets even real?

The tickets were real. Every person who was supposed to meet us, did and at the right time and place.

The important take-away from our time in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil is scale. Farming there happens in big numbers. I’ve said this in past columns, but now I am going to show you. What may seem like a series of pictures of corporate farms, large grain elevators and farm equipment dealers are not any of those things. The pictures below are of individual farms and/or small coaoperatives. GN

Toban Dyck is a freelance writer and a new farmer on an old farm. Follow him on Twitter @tobandyck.

This is merely a sampling of one farm’s collection of combine headers.

This particular operation ran more than 100 combines.

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Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi with department staffers taking questions at the International Pork and Poultry Conference.

56656-1_DAS_Nexera_DPS_SeedForYield_16-875x10.indd 1

columns

Me, meeting with Aprosoja, Mato Grosso’s soybean growers association.

An event in Sao Paulo where people are trying out their samba numbers for next year’s Carnival Festival.

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Grain dryers in Mato Grosso are fueled by eucalyptus wood, which is a fast-growing tree that can be cut three times and can grow 30 or more feet per year. Most farms in the area manage their own eucalyptus forests and will have people on staff to do so.

A single farm’s typical workshop — open sides and a cover to shield machinery from the ravages of the tropical sun.

The on-site staff quarters at Bom Futuro farm.

A cotton harvester completing Bom Futoro’s final field. The farm plants about one million acres of crop per year.

A cotton gin run by a small consortium of growers.

® TM

Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow.

08/17-56656-1

The on-farm grain elevator on the Bom Futoro farm. The ramp lifts the entire truck in order to unload it.

Some of these farms have more than 350,000 metric tones of on-farm storage. It’s not uncommon to have a lineup of hundreds of highway tractors waiting at a farm’s gate on a Monday morning.

Continued on Page 32 

2017-08-02 12:06 PM

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GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

 Continued from Page 31

Another picture of the same small sampling of one farm’s combine headers.

B:9.875”

Cotton thread at a spinning mill run as a consortium of 10 farmers.

T:9.875”

An example of a farm’s storage.

S:9.875”

The weigh station at Carolina farm.

TAKE COMMAND OF CLEAVERS

• PRE-EMERGENT CONTROL OF CLEAVERS

• SOIL APPLIED

cropscience.bayer.ca/command | 1 888-283-6847 Always read and follow label directions. Other terms and conditions apply. InVigor ® is a registered trademark of the Bayer Group.

FMC® and Command® are trademarks of FMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.

• RESIDUAL ACTIVITY (UP TO FOUR WEEKS)

T:10”

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See your local retailer or visit cropscience.bayer.ca/command for complete details.

B:10”

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Save $3/acre on your first 300 acres of Command® herbicide when you purchase at least 300 acres of InVigor® hybrid canola.

Outstanding Young Farmers

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

33

Outstanding Young Farmers

2017 young farmers showcased Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers will gather in Penticton later this month

By Lee Hart

C

anada’s Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) will be gathering in Penticton, B.C., later this month to select two farm nominees from seven regional finalists to be named national winners for 2017.

About 150 OYF alumni and guests will be gathering at the Lakeside Resort convention centre from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3 for the 37th annual competition and awards program that recognizes the ingenuity, hard work, excellent management, and community contributions of young farm families from across the country.

“We are excited to share our ecological and agriculturally diverse region,” says regional chair Troy Harker. “We invite you to journey through the valley from the river bottoms to the mountain tops upon bus, foot and train while being immersed in culture, science and agriculture. You will meet young people in all sectors of Agriculture and value added, and we will showcase young chefs, brewmasters,

cidermakers, winemakers and of course farmers.” Troy and his wife Sara who along with a family run and organic fruit and vegetable operation near Cawston were B.C. regional winners in 2013.

The national OYF event brings recognition to outstanding farm couples in Canada between 18 and 39 years of age who have exemplified excellence in their profession while fostering better urban-rural relations.

Seven entrepreneurial farm couples from across Canada chosen from their home regions will present highlights of their operations at the national event. This year’s honourees include: Gary and Marie Baars, dairy producers from Chilliwack,B.C.; Marc and Hinke Therrien, turkey producers from Redwater, Alta.; Derek and Tannis Axten, grain producers from Minton, Sask.; Brent and Kirsty Oswald, mixed dairy and grain operators at Steinbach, Man.; Dusty Zamecni, fruit producer and seedling propagator from Langton, Ont.; Véronique Bouchard and François Handfield, organic vegetable and market garden operators

near Mont-Tremblant, Que.; and Lauchie and Jolene MacEachern,dairy producers from Debert, N.S. “The event showcases Canada’s best in agriculture through the regional honouree presentations and announcement of the winners at the gala Friday evening,” says program manager Carla Kaeding.

Pre-registration is required to attend the OYF event. Tickets can be ordered at www.oyfcanada.com – Friday (Forum/lunch/presentation) is $50 per person, Friday evening awards gala is $100 per person, and Full Friday (forum/lunch/presentations/awards ) is $150 per person.

The OYF program is sponsored nationally by CIBC, John Deere, Bayer, and Agriculture and AgriFood Canada through Growing Forward 2, a federal, provincial, territorial initiative. The national media sponsor is Annex Business Media, and the program is supported nationally by AdFarm, BDO and Farm Management Canada. GN Lee Hart is a field editor with Grainews based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

Canada’s 2016 Outstanding Young Farmers

Jennifer and Andrew Lovell, fruit and vegetable producers from Keswick Ridge, N.B., at left, and Dominic Drapeau and Célia Neault, dairy producers from Ste-Françoise-de-Lotbinière, Que., were named Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016.

These two farm families were chosen from seven regional farm couples across Canada. The 2017 national competition will be held in Penticton, B.C. later this month.

Thinking of a farm business plan? Here’s some help.

A business plan is like a compass for your farm or ranch operation – one you can refer to regularly and ensure you’re heading in the direction you want to go.

As changes impact markets and your own operation, your plan may need to evolve to keep you on track.

Ready to begin your plan or refine an existing plan? If so, there’s a simple framework you can follow to help guide your thinking and decision-making.

One approach is to build your business plan around four essential questions. Thinking about your operation, ask yourself: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Where are we now?

Where are we going?

How will we get there?

How did we do?

Sometimes the hardest part of planning is getting started. Perhaps you aren’t sure where to start, or there always seems to be something else that needs to get done. But – by breaking the process down into manageable chunks – the goal of completing your plan over the next six to 12 months can be accomplished.

At that point, you’ll have the core of a plan you can use to maintain progress toward all your farm business goals.

As you go through your business planning journey, you can count on the services and the people of RBC Royal Bank® every step of the way.

No matter your next move, we can help.

Talk to one of our agriculture banking specialists today.

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This article is for informational purposes only and not intended to provide specific financial or other advice. Consult a professional before taking any action so your personal circumstances are taken into account.

RBC-5429_9.875x4.8_Business_Planning_Ad_Oct18_EO.indd 1

2017-10-24 11:40 AM

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OUTSTANDING YOUNG FARMERS

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Outstanding young farmers

Canada’s OYF: Quebec nominees Francois Handfield and Veronique Bouchard embrace organic farming

By Lee Hart

Photo: OYF

T

hey were two non-farmers who started out with $500, a wheelbarrow and a dream.

Less than 10 years later, Francois Handfield and Veronique Bouchard have a thriving organic market garden, community shared agriculture business supplying produce to about 4,000 people, they employ up to 20 seasonal workers, and gross about $800,000 annually.

A lot of work, yes, but it underscores the idiom “where there is a will there is a way.” Hard work and good management skills will bear fruit.

It was their hard work, agronomic skills and keen interest in business management that earned Handfield and Bouchard the nod as Quebec’s Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) for 2017. They are among the seven regional finalists who will compete for Canadian OYF honours at the national awards event in Penticton in late November.

Handfield and Bouchard established their 11-acre farming operation near Mont Tremblay in the Laurentian Mountains of western Quebec. They are about 1.5 hours north or east of Montreal and Ottawa, respectively.

“It is a fairly rugged, cooler region of Quebec that doesn’t have much agriculture,” says Handfield. “But we found a suitable location.” He was born in the Mont Tremblay area, although his parents didn’t farm.

Interestingly, they both started university with plans to study

Vegetable producers Francois Handfield and Veronique Bouchard with their children: Philomène, eight, and Éméric, 10.

music, but partway through their schooling switched over to agriculture. Handfield had worked some agricultural internships before university. While the couple love music, they both had a passion and interest

Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS). Monsanto products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Monsanto’s Policy for Commercialization of Biotechnology-Derived Plant Products in Commodity Crops. These products have been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from these products can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for these products. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship.

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® soybeans contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate and dicamba. Agricultural herbicides containing glyphosate will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate, and those containing dicamba will kill crops that are not tolerant to dicamba. Contact your Monsanto dealer or call the Monsanto technical support line at 1-800-667-4944 for recommended Roundup Ready® Xtend Crop System weed control programs. Roundup Ready® technology contains genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, an active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides. Agricultural herbicides containing glyphosate will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate.

Acceleron® seed applied solutions for corn (fungicides only) is a combination of three separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, prothioconazole and fluoxystrobin. Acceleron® seed applied solutions for corn (fungicides and insecticide) is a combination of four separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, prothioconazole, fluoxystrobin, and clothianidin. Acceleron® seed applied solutions for corn plus Poncho®/VOTiVO™ (fungicides, insecticide and nematicide) is a combination of five separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, prothioconazole, fluoxystrobin, clothianidin and Bacillus firmus strain I-1582. Acceleron® Seed Applied Solutions for corn plus DuPont™ Lumivia® Seed Treatment (fungicides plus an insecticide) is a combination of four separate individually-registered products, which together contain the active ingredients metalaxyl, prothioconazole, fluoxastrobin and chlorantraniliprole. Acceleron® seed applied solutions for soybeans (fungicides and insecticide) is a combination of four separate individually registered products, which together contain the active ingredients fluxapyroxad, pyraclostrobin, metalaxyl and imidacloprid. Acceleron® seed applied solutions for soybeans (fungicides only) is a combination of three separate individually registered products, which together contain the active ingredients fluxapyroxad, pyraclostrobin and metalaxyl. Visivio™ contains the active ingredients difenoconazole, metalaxyl (M and S isomers), fludioxonil, thiamethoxam, sedaxane and sulfoxaflor. Acceleron®, Cell-Tech®, DEKALB and Design®, DEKALB®, Genuity®, JumpStart®, Monsanto BioAg and Design®, Optimize®, QuickRoots®, Real Farm Rewards™, RIB Complete®, Roundup Ready 2 Xtend®, Roundup Ready 2 Yield®, Roundup Ready®, Roundup Transorb®, Roundup WeatherMAX®, Roundup Xtend®, Roundup®, SmartStax®, TagTeam®, Transorb®, VaporGrip®, VT Double PRO®, VT Triple PRO® and XtendiMax® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. Used under license. BlackHawk®, Conquer® and GoldWing® are registered trademarks of Nufarm Agriculture Inc. Valtera™ is a trademark of Valent U.S.A. Corporation. Fortenza® and Visivio™ are trademarks of a Syngenta group company. DuPont™ and Lumivia® are trademarks of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. Used under license. LibertyLink® and the Water Droplet Design are trademarks of Bayer. Used under license. Herculex® is a registered trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC. Used under license. Poncho® and VOTiVO™ are trademarks of Bayer. Used under license.

to produce high quality and healthy farm products in a very sustainable system.

“What we liked about organic agriculture production was that it involved producing high quality food in an environmentally sound system where we had to work cooperatively with nature,” says Handfield.

At university, Handfield studied agriculture engineering, while Bouchard took agronomy. They eased into vegetable production in 2005 while still in school and went full time farming in 2008. “All we had was $500 for seed, a wheelbarrow and a shovel and a plan,” says Handfield. “We started everything from scratch.”

Today they grow about 65 different vegetables on their 11-acre farm.

As well as they have a 20,000 square foot greenhouse. Part of that is used for propagation to produce bedding plants for their own use, as well as retail sales to customers. About three-quarters of the greenhouse area is used to produce a range of greenhouse crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and others, which helps to extend both ends of the growing season. Along with their seasonal field operations, they can produce some products early in the spring and continue late in the season to meet customer demand.

At their farm, Ferme Aux Petis Oignons, they have developed a diversified marketing program.

About 45 per cent of their business

is Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) where they put together weekly baskets of fresh produce to be used by about 600 subscribing customers. Customers pick up their baskets at one of three delivery points. Another 20 per cent of their produce is marketed through three major farmers markets and 10 per cent is sold through a self-serve, honour-system of farm gate sales.

They also sell some produce to local retailers as well.

Today they grow about 65 different vegetables on their 11-acre farm About 40,000 people live in the larger trading area around their Mont Tremblay farm, says Handfield. “We estimate between the CSA baskets and the farmers’ markets we are supplying fresh produce to about 10 per cent of the people in the region. And of course we are always interested in attracting new customers to high quality, organically produced foods.”

While learning the agronomics of organic vegetable production is one part of the story, Handfield and Bouchard also found they had talent for the entrepreneurial side —

learning how to market, developing the human resource skills to work with employees and of course business management. They have six full time employees with as many as 20 seasonal workers.

And along with farm production and management skills, training as an agricultural engineer also came in handy. Handfield discovered there wasn’t a lot of available (and sometimes) affordable field equipment for their 11-acre farm, so he has spent many hours in the shop building his own machinery for field operations. The shop is an interesting arrangement, too. He is part of a co-operative with 10 other area farms that have access to one well-equipped machinery shop for fabricating and maintenance work.

While there are “always 1,000 projects” to work on, Handfield says they continue to improve crop production techniques — new equipment for in-row tillage, netting for crop rows to minimize pest damage, and green manure to improve soil fertility. He is also developing a renewable energy source to improve efficiency of greenhouse operation.

That involves a biomass furnace that will burn hardwood pellets and help reduce their energy costs by half. GN Lee Hart is a field editor with Grainews based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

OUTSTANDING YOUNG FARMERS

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

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Outstanding Young Farmers

Canada’s OYF: Nominees from British Columbia Gary and Marie Baars started with a dream, then realized it through hard work

I

nterested? If not, you’re not alone, and you’re definitely not Gary and Marie Baars. The 2017 Outstanding Young Farmer Award winners from Chilliwack, B.C. didn’t let long odds and a shortage of experience hold them back, and now with a successful dairy operation they’re reaping the awards.

“I didn’t grow up on a farm,” says Gary Baars. “Dad never touched a cow or tractor in his life.” But Baars didn’t let that deter him from following an ag career.

“I started working on farms when I was eight and got my first real job at 12 with a dairy operation,” he says.

“Though I always loved agriculture, I was told that if my parents didn’t own a farm I could never start a dairy business of my own.”

Undeterred, Gary kept milking every night despite taking social work at university during the day. He also started contract unloading of hay and sold his first bale to a dairy farm in 2006. In 2008 he began TNT Agricultural Services in Chilliwack, hoping that he could cash in on hay and cattle sales in BC. Two years later he met his future wife Marie, and by 2011 they had rented their own farm, bought 13 cows and begun milking in earnest while still selling hay.

As their business grew, so did their confidence, prompting them to buy a farm from Marie’s grandmother and merge it with their own.

“We went from milking 40 cows to 200,” says Gary. “It was a big expansion for us as it provided a place to move more cows through and boost our cash flow on the milk side. We now sell about 5,000 cows a year and recently started an organic dairy where we milk another 100 cows.”

They were thrilled to win the regional Outstanding Young Farmer Award.

“We’ve worked so hard over the years and rarely stopped to think about how far we’ve come,” says Gary.

“The award is a good chance to reflect on that and on all the people who have helped us along the way.”

After all that hard work, the next step is a natural one: work even harder.

“Our No. 1 goal is to buy a farm where we can milk our conventional quota,” he says. “I’d also like to see us diversify and farm other commodities so we don’t put all our eggs in one basket. I don’t think the latter is Marie’s goal though!”

Even if they don’t do everything on their list, they’re not about to complain.

“When I started in farming I didn’t have a family, but I dreamt about letting my kids grow up on a

business. If you have a vision of where you’d like to be in farming and how to get there, and are willing to work for it, you’ve got all you need to succeed. GN Geoff Geddes is a freelance writer based in Edmonton, Alta.

Photo: OYF

Wanted: Energetic, inexperienced couple to work long days with few days off and no assurance of success.

farm and seeing them work alongside me,” says Baar. “At age three, my son Noah is already helping to milk and haul cows, and while his sister Hannah is only one, we hope she will follow his lead.”

Their story could well serve as inspiration for those new to the

Gary and Marie Baars and their children built their diversified dairy operation from scratch.

Farmers prove that 6074 RR yields like InVigor ®

With yields that lead the Genuity® Roundup Ready® segment, 6074 RR proved it could go head-to-head with the perceived yield leader, InVigor® hybrids. In 2016, the BrettYoung vs. InVigor Challenge Trials were launched – these are farmer-run, head-to-head trials across Western Canada that featured 6074 RR against the best InVigor hybrids. In those trials, 6074 RR yielded 102% of InVigor with an average 53.6 bushels per acre. And 2017 results are once again proving that 6074 RR can challenge InVigor yields.

“The results were very close but 6074 RR out-yielded the InVigor variety,” says Mike Bartley at Killarney, Manitoba.

“In the past usually InVigor has been a bit better than Roundup Ready varieties, but 6074 RR can compete with InVigor.”

Bartley grew 80 acres of 6074 RR in the middle of a 530acre field of InVigor L252 canola. His 6074 RR yield was 54.8 bushels per acre and L252 was 53.1 bushels per acre.

He swathed both varieties and says that 6074 RR went through the combine easier and threshed easier.

Farmer-run trials; 6074 RR out-yields InVigor In 2017 so far, about a third of the Challenge Trials have been harvested and reported. 6074 RR has outyielded InVigor varieties in five out of six challenges and equaled InVigor in the sixth. In a year of difficult growing conditions, 6074 RR is averaging 46.9 bushels per acre 6% higher than the InVigor varieties.

“The results were very close but 6074 RR out-yielded the InVigor variety. In the past usually InVigor has been a bit better than Roundup Ready varieties, but 6074 RR can compete with InVigor.”

- Mike Bartley, Grower in Killarney, Manitoba

6074 RR

vs

InVigor Yields

55 50 Yield (bu/ac)

By Geoff Geddes

45 40

52.6

51.0

46.9 44.3

35 30 2017 (N=6)

6074 RR

2016 (N=15)

InVigor

Source: 2016: Farmer or retailer run trials in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

2017: Farmer run trials in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

DefendR Sclerotinia tolerance trait BrettYoung introduced the DefendR™ trait platform as part of an active disease management strategy. 6074 RR carries the DefendR Sclerotinia tolerance trait and has improved Sclerotinia tolerance over susceptible checks.

“6074 RR has Sclerotinia tolerance at levels that will reduce impacts of infection and reduce yield loss wherever disease pressure is present,” says Rene Mabon, Agronomic and Regulatory Services Manager with BrettYoung.

Mabon says the DefendR trait allows for greater flexibility in fungicide application timing if flowering is uneven and staggered. Additionally, the improved Sclerotinia tolerance can help reduce the impact of Sclerotinia in long-flower crops where the window of fungicide protection has lapsed.

“If environmental conditions favor the disease, we recommend selecting varieties with the DefendR Sclerotinia tolerance trait as well as using a fungicide for a complete defense.” says Mabon.

For up-to-date results from the Challenge Trials, go to brettyoung.ca/6074 BrettYoung™ and DefendR™ are trademarks of Brett-Young Seeds Limited. ALWAYS FOLLOW GRAIN MARKETING AND ALL OTHER STEWARDSHIP PRACTICES AND PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Details of these requirements can be found in the Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers printed in this publication.

Genuity®, Roundup Ready® and Roundup® are registered trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada Inc. licensee. All other trademarks are property of their respective companies. 10.17 3189

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OUTSTANDING YOUNG FARMERS

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Outstanding young farmers

Canada’s OYF: The nominees from Alberta This award is a feather in the cap of these new turkey farmers

Photo: OYF

By Geoff Geddes

Marc and Hinke Therrien and their three children, Annelies, four, Emilie, three, and Natalie, one, didn’t hesitate to learn the turkey business.

S

he was new to turkeys and he was new to farming. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, not much, which is why Marc and Hinke Therrien of Redwater, Alta., are proud winners as Alberta regional nominees for the

Outstanding Young Farmer (OYF) Award.

“I’m not a farm kid; I grew up in the city, but I’ve always had a passion for agriculture,” says Marc.

Growing up on a dairy farm, Hinke shared that passion, so when they met at the University of Alberta and married soon after, it was a match made in turkey heaven.

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“In 2010, Hinke’s parents said we could take over one of the family’s turkey farms, but only if I got work experience first,” says Marc. ” He quit his job and worked on a chicken farm full-time, gaining hands-on exposure to barn management and learning as he went. When an opportunity arose in 2012 to run the Pine Valley Turkey Farm near Devon, Alberta, they jumped at it.

Two years later, they had a chance to turn tragedy into triumph.

“Hinke’s dad suffered a fire at his turkey farm in Redwater in 2013 and lost two large production barns,” says Marc. “Since he was close to retirement, he approached us to take over and spearhead the rebuild.”

Despite the huge learning curve, they had the barns rebuilt a year later and now grow upwards of 140,000 turkeys per year.

“At one point, Marc worked in Redwater while I was at the farm in Devon with two babies,” says Hinke.

“It got pretty crazy, but we have fallen in love with raising birds: the science of how they grow, nutrition, lighting programs.”

Their passion for poultry was noticed by CIBC, one of the main award sponsors, who nominated them for the OYF award.

“We were a bit blown away when we won,” says Marc. “It was daunting going against multigenerational farms when we’ve only had seven years in the business. We feel honoured to be part of the OYF family.”

While their time in the business has been brief, they’ve made the most of it so far.

“When we rebuilt the barns after the fire, we made alterations that let us produce more turkeys without extra labour costs,” says Marc. “Once the new barns and production unit are complete, our Redwater farm will be able to produce double the amount of turkeys as our Devon operation.”

They also began buying local grain after the rebuild and mixing it onfarm, allowing them to save on feed costs and reduce their carbon footprint.

Most importantly, they now have three daughters: Annelies, four; Emilie, three; and Natalie, one.

And befitting award winners, there are more changes to come.

“This year we’re converting to straw bedding so we need to renovate our hay shed to boost biosecurity,” says Marc.

Other enhancements are more about innovation than expansion.

That includes technology upgrades to old barns and internet-based systems for the new ones. They’re considering a viewing platform in a new barn to facilitate tours.

New barns, new systems and a fresh perspective. Is it all moving too fast for industry rookies like the Therriens? If it is, it’s news to them. GN Geoff Geddes is a freelance writer based in Edmonton, Alta.

FEATURES

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

OUTSTANDING YOUNG FARMERS

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Topic headingyoung farmers Outstanding

Canada’s OYF: Nominees from Saskatchewan Derek and Tannis Axten focus on encouraging soil biology

By Geoff Geddes

D

“It was business as usual for us until 2006 when we decided to buy a disc drill to reduce disturbance and increase moisture savings.”

Derek Axten

Photo: OYF

aring to be different may enrich your spirit, but it can also leave you cash poor. If you’re Derek and Tannis Axten, however, you wind up having your fungicide-free cake and eating it too. While the 2017 Outstanding Young Farmer (OYF) Award winners for Saskatchewan began their farming career on a well-trodden path, the route to success was the road less travelled.

“I’m a third-generation farmer and our family just received the century award for 100 years in the business,” says Derek.

As a self-described “typical farm kid,” Derek took a two-year Farm and Ranch Management program at Olds College and went home to work the farm in Minton, Saskatchewan. Meanwhile, Tannis studied education at the University of Regina with a biology major that “turned out to be quite helpful.” In the midst of it all, the pair found time to get married in 2002.

“It was business as usual for us until 2006 when we decided to buy a disc drill to reduce disturbance and increase moisture savings,” says Derek.

Since the local machinery dealer had no interest in bringing one in, the couple wound up in Gettysburg, South Dakota, where they bought their drill and had a lifechanging encounter in the process.

It was there that they met Dwayne Beck, the research manager at Dakota Lakes Research Farm in Pierre, South Dakota. And it was there that Derrick says everything changed for the couple.

“Dr. Beck was one of the first guys to push no till, low disturbance farming with high diversity

Derek and Tannis Axten with their children Kate, 13, and Brock, 11, know if they look after the soil it will produce.

rotations. His approach involved little or no herbicides or fungicides, and he was the first we had heard talking about cover crops,” says Derek. “When we saw the good yields he was producing and the huge improvements in soil under dry land and irrigation, we were hooked.”

When the Axtens headed home to run Derek’s family farm with daughter Kate (now 13), son Brock (now 11) and Derek’s father, they did so with the confidence to try these practices for themselves, and they haven’t looked back.

“Since then we have significantly reduced the amount of synthetic fertilizer we use and haven’t

employed insecticides in six years,” he says. “We’ve gone from being focused solely on the plants to really addressing the soil and what it needs. If you take care of the soil, it will take care of your plants.”

The Axten’s tell their children that it’s OK to try new things and be different from others, and have taken this to heart in their farming operation. With cost of production and the soil’s health as their key focus, they have now incorporated intercrops (seeding one or more crops together), cover crops, controlled traffic farming (using same track for all operations), compost extract and compost teas

into their operation. It has been a real change in mindset for the Saskatchewan farmers.

What resonates most for them, however, is that farming is fun again.

“Before it felt like just a job and a lot of number crunching,” says Derek.

And those numbers weren’t good, as the Axtens found themselves making little money while costs continued to rise. As Derek put it, “something had to change.”

And change it did, as their new farming practices led to improved yields and significantly reduced input costs. Even their accountant was impressed, to the extent that

he nominated them for the OYF award. The Axtens will be among seven regional finalists from across Canada competing for national OYF honours in Penticton later in November.

“We were shocked and pleasantly surprised to win because what we do isn’t typical,” says Tannis. “It’s not organic or conventional, so sometimes we think we may sound crazy. This award gives us a platform to share what we do and hopefully inspire others to follow suit.”

While they have no plans for big changes in what they do, they want to start using short perennial sequences and try to get their cover crops established sooner so they make the most of every minute.

And of course, they’ll keep on daring to be different. Hey, if they can do it while enriching their soul and their bank account at the same time, who can blame them? GN Geoff Geddes is a freelance writer based in Edmonton, Alta.

“If we talk about what we’re doing, people will understand how their food is grown and why we grow it the way we do.”

Be somebody who does something.

Be an agvocate.

Pattie Ganske, Agvocate Former Owner, Ag Retail

Learn more at AgMoreThanEver.ca.

40753 E AMTE Pattie Be Somebody_11x4.5.indd 1

2017-10-18 4:31 PM

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OUTSTANDING YOUNG FARMERS

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Outstanding young farmers

Canada’s OYF: Nominees from Manitoba Brent and Kirsty Oswald are always looking for dairy efficiencies

Photo: OYF

By Angela Lovell

Brent and Kirsty Oswald, along with their children Taylor, 9, and Brenden, 6, run a mixed dairy and grain farm near Steinbeck, Man.

D

airy farmers, Brent and Kirsty Oswald have been chosen as Manitoba’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2017.

Brent, 35 and Kirsty, 31 operate Cottonwood Holsteins Ltd., a third-

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generation mixed grain and dairy farm near Steinbach. The Oswalds milk 140 cows and seed just under 2,500 acres of grain land. Their focus has always been on getting better before getting bigger. They have focused on investing in equipment to boost efficiencies.

After the Oswalds installed a robotic milking system in 2009, they

took the additional step of automating the feeding system as well. Their cows are fed forage 10 times a day though an automated feeding panel and receive their grain through six computer feeder stations. Each cow is allotted their grain amount based on milk production and body condition. The system has also helped eliminate any issues with social structure in the barn. “The more dominant cows aren’t competing with the weaker cows for feed because they are all being fed often,” says Brent.

The Oswalds continue to tweak the system striving for more efficiencies.

Earlier this year they installed a body condition scoring camera, which takes a picture of the cows every time they pass through a sort gate. “Once I familiarize myself with the data collected, I will use it to make better breeding and feeding decisions,” says Brent. “We will have healthier animals in the barn, because we can target animas that are losing or gaining too much. I will be able to assess which cows are in a body condition state that will allow them to get pregnant, so I can make more informed breeding decisions.”

Brent’s passion for farming is obvious, as is what he calls his “addiction” to doing things better. “I love the thrill of figuring out that next step,” he says.

“If the farm stayed the same size and I ran the same equipment and worked with the same status quo, I don’t know if it would be that enjoyable. I would almost feel like I failed because I hadn’t figured out how to do something better.”

Kirsty isn’t as involved in the dayto-day farm operations these days, keeping busy with their nine-year-old daughter, Taylor and six-year-old son, Brenden. Meanwhile, Brent continues to find ways to make maximize efficiency.

“We are always in a growth mode but I would rather check off all the boxes before we expand,” says Brent.

“It’s usually cheaper to do a better job at what you are already doing than to add on.”

That said, the couple do plan to double the dairy herd to 280 and expand the barn within five years, but they are taking the same measured approach they always have.

“We are going to start planning for that this winter,” says Brent. “We’ll look at how we can automate more operations, so when we do double the barn it won’t increase the workload. If we are going to be feeding more cows we will need more feed and manure storage, so we’re going to look at making those steps first.”

The Oswalds are among seven regional OYF nominees from across Canada who will be competing in the OYF national awards event in Penticton, B.C., from November 29 to December 3, 2017. GN Angela Lovell is a freelance writer based in Manitou, Manitoba.

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

OUTSTANDING YOUNG FARMERS

39

Outstanding young farmers

Canada’s OYF: The nominee from Ontario Dusty Zamecnik puts heart into diversified berries and beer operation

G

etting and keeping Canadian greenhouse operators into the winter strawberry production business is a passion for Ontario farmer Dusty Zamecnik.

And he’s not just focused on Canadian berry production — that’s already gaining some ground in Ontario, and B.C. with a small start in Alberta. But, some of the 16 million strawberry plants he produces annually now, on EZ Grow Farm, are being shipped to the U.S. growers and even as far as the Caribbean. “Our main interest however is to promote and help develop a domestic market for strawberry production in the winter,” he says.

And when he’s not selecting new strawberry varieties to be produced in his new 40,000 square foot propagation greenhouse near Langton (southeast of London) Ont., he might be out tending to or marketing some of his 35-acre blueberry crop. And on another day he could be helping to manage his recently launched microbrewery (with a strong emphasis on fruit-based beers) or out tending to hop production.

Zamecnik is a going concern. And it’s that drive, passion and commitment to a diversified agricultural operation that earned him the honour earlier this year of being named Ontario’s Outstanding Young Farmer for 2017. He will be among seven regional finalists from across Canada competing for national OYF honours in Penticton later in November.

As the fourth generation on the family farm, Zamecnik says he comes by his passion for agriculture honestly.

“My parents grew everything,” he says. “You name it, and they grew it. It was sort of a revolving door and they were always open to new ideas.” The farm is located in what at one time was known as the prime tobacco-growing region of southwest Ontario. Over the years the farm has also grown everything from blueberries to potatoes, to raspberries, to roses and a whole lot more.

After obtaining a business degree at Francis Xavier University and working for Labatt Breweries for a time, Zamecnik returned full time to the family farm in 2014. While berry propagation had been part of the farming operation for several years, Zamecnik decided to focus on that enterprise. The farm produced about 250,000 plants in 2001 and today is shipping out about 16 million plants to growers.

Zamecnik works closely with berry producers and breeders in Europe and working with consultants selects varieties with the most promise for Canadian conditions. He’s been able to obtain exclusive Canadian rights to some varieties. Back in Ontario he works with tissue samples and then grows root stocks which develop into plants for marketing. Producing strawberries in greenhouses in winter is a fairly new concept in Canada. Several greenhouses in Leamington, Ont.

are producing the berries and Zamecnik is also working with a few growers in B.C. and has interest from growers in Alberta.

While he has several varieties suited to Canadian greenhouse production, the strawberry is a sensitive plant from many breeding aspects. He’s selecting for varieties with consistent size and quality of fruit, improved disease and pest resistance and also that perform well under varying sunlight conditions over a large geographic area.

Along with strawberry propagation, EZ Grow Farm also produces about 35 acres of high bush blueberries. They are all marketed as fresh product under the EZ Grow Farm label and arrive in grocery stores, mostly in Eastern Canada, in a patented EZ Grow designed basket called the Waki-Pint (Waki stands for what a crazy idea).

Along with strawberry propagation, EZ Grow Farm also produces about 35 acres of high bush blueberries In 2016 Zamecnik and two cousins launched Hometown Brew Co. — a microbrewery with a strong emphasis on making beer from fruit. Beer products are marketed mostly in Ontario, although can be found in other retail outlets across Canada. And to compliment the brewery, Zamecnik also launched Hometown Hop Co. to produce some of the hops used in their brewing operation.

For EZ Grow Farm, Zamecnik says one of the greatest assets contributing to the success of the farm has been continuity of the family name. Over the years his parents developed many customers and contacts and now he is dealing with many of those customers as well. “I believe it is important for our customers to see and trust the succession of our family operation,” he says. “Customers were dealing with my parents, and now they are working with a 27-year-old, so I believe it has been important to them to see that transition.”

He also says it is important for him to remember that the success of the farm is not a one-person story. “We have excellent employees and this is a team operation here,” he says. “As we branch into new projects people have really stepped up to the plate putting in extra work. It is a learning curve for all of us, but that team effort needs to be recognized.” GN Lee Hart is a field editor with Grainews based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@ fbcpublishing.com.

Photo: OYF

By Lee Hart

Dusty Zamecnik hopes to lead Canadian greenhouse operators into winter strawberry production.

Our

Story #CYiFarm

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OUTSTANDING YOUNG FARMERS

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Outstanding young farmers

Canada’s OYF: Atlantic nominees

By Lee Hart

F

or the MacEachern family keeping their dairy cows, of course well fed, but also equally important — comfortable — is helping improve the efficiency and productivity of their central Nova Scotia dairy farm.

Since they’ve have been owners of the Folly River Farm near Debert, N.S. for the past five years, Lauchie and Jolene MacEachern are seeing improved production from their purebred Holstein herd. Improved cow beds along with more recently switching to three times a day milking is helping to put at least 20 per cent more milk in the bulk tank.

Their lean, yet effective, approach to management, active debt management and future growth strategies were among the elements that earned the MacEachrens recognition as Atlantic Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) for 2017. They will be among seven regional finalists

from across Canada competing for national OYF honours in Penticton later in November.

While Jolene was raised on a Nova Scotia dairy farm, Lauchie had limited farming experience growing up.

They both attended Nova Scotia Agricultural College and after some off-farm travel and work experience returned to Nova Scotia with plans to farm. They were offered an opportunity to take over a non-family farm through a succession plan and after six and a half years of transition officially took over Folly River Farm in 2012.

“We were fortunate that Folly River Farm had very good facilities for dairy cattle,” says Lauchie. There is always need for upgrades and improvements, but they worked with and eventually bought a well-run dairy farm with good quality cattle.

MacEachern milks 75 to 80 head year round, in a double-four herringbone milking parlour. The herd is housed in a six-row free stall barn, with a central feed alley between

Photo: OYF

For Lauchie and Jolene MacEachern, fine-tuning management improves production

Lauchie and Jolene MacEachern and their three children, Ewan, 10, Allister, eight, and Adriana, five, at their dairy farm at Debert, N.S.

every two rows. Along with milking cows, they also crop about 350 acres with about 95 per cent of the production of corn (silage and grain, legume forages and some wheat used in the dairy operation.)

One of the most important changes made in recent years

involved a new bedding system in the free-stall barn. Cows were previously bedded with sawdust on the floor of the concrete stalls.

“What we have gone to now is a d e e p - b e d d i n g sys te m ,” s ays MacEachern. He installed a 4 x 4 rail at the back (tail end) of each row of stalls and fills the bed area with recycled wood fibre. The rail holds the bedding material in place.

“It’s made a noticeable difference,” he says. “Cows are much more comfortable. They want to lie down more and chew their cud, which in turn increases milk production.”

He has also improved lighting in the freestall area and installed more fans to improve airflow through the barn. While the milking herd is fed a well-balanced ration, he did harvest a fourth-cut of alfalfa this summer.

The improved feed value produced a measurable increase in milk production. Also in July he switched to three times a day milking, which is also producing more milk.

The series of minor to medium

changes in feed and facilities has helped MacEachern to improve production in the herd. Looking ahead, as finances and quota become available, he plans to continue to buy more milk quota and expand herd numbers. With some adjustments, there is room to expand the milking herd in the existing barn and looking further down the road, there is room to nearly double free-stall barn area with a barn extension.

While Lauchie concentrates his efforts on the diary farm, Jolene has an off-farm career as an industry liaison officer at Dalhousie University. They are also actively involved in raising their three children, Ewan, 10, Allister, eight, and Adriana, five.

Other outside activities include being involved with a Holstein club, 4-H projects and getting young hockey players to the local arena. GN Lee Hart is a field editor with Grainews based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

See What’s New in Ag Machinery and Technology

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41

Grainews Garage

How to rebuild a transmission part 2 It’s time to reassemble the Spicer three-speed gearbox

By Scott Garvey

STEP 1: Ready for reassembly

STEP 1

STEP 2: Comparing parts We compared the synchronizer assembly to the original and it was correct, but it arrived fully assembled and we just assumed it was put together properly. When it was installed on the shaft, one synchronizer ring was left flopping loosely. We spent a lot of time head scratching and review-

Before and after. The three-speed transmission overhaul is now complete.

STEP 2

With all of the original parts cleaned up, they were laid out on the workbench to be checked. Careful observers will notice the synchronizer rings are missing from this image. They needed replacement. A complete synchronizer assembly was ordered to replace the original.

Most of the gears and all the shafts were okay, but the cluster gear didn’t fare too well sitting in the water that filled the bottom of the transmission case. So a new one of those was ordered as well.

When the replacement cluster gear arrived, it was compared to the original. It’s a good thing that was done, because the new cluster gear was an incorrect part. The main gear had two extra teeth giving it a larger diameter. It was a change-up part for later-year transmissions. We had to re-order the correct one.

Photos: Scott Garvey

I

n the last issue we began a repair on an older, typical three-speed transmission, the kind you’d find in a classic farm pickup truck. While all three-speed transmissions of that era have their own unique components, their overall designs are very similar. This rebuild is typical of what would be necessary on any similar three-speed.

Even though most people might think of sending out a transmission to a specialty shop for a rebuild, it’s possible to do a major repair right in the farm workshop. However, having a good shop service manual and doing a little research on the exact procedure is necessary before starting the job. This look at the process will give you a good idea of what’s involved in the final step of the rebuild process.

ing the shop manual because of that. It turned out the manufacturer put the assembly together incorrectly. After we made the necessary change, everything fit together fine.

Continued on Page 42 

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machinery & shop

 Continued from Page 41

STEP 3

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

STEP 4

STEP 5

STEP 3: Needle bearings The Spicer transmission uses needle bearings in two places, four sets inside the cluster gear (shown) and one in the end of the input shaft. All the bearings need to be installed one at a time. But it isn’t as daunting a task as it might seem.

A temporary shaft replacement was placed inside the gear along with the centre spacer and one of a series of temporary spacers we created to do the job. The needle bearings were then inserted into each end of the gear using petroleum jelly to hold them in place and create a temporary lubricant.

Do not use regular grease for any of the assembly processes on a transmission, it doesn’t break down quickly enough inside the gear oil.

STEP 6

STEP 7

step 4: A special tool Here’s the basic installation tool we made for the needle bearing installation job. It just consists of a shaft the exact length of the cluster gear and three pieces of metal tubing of different lengths to hold the centre spacer in the right position as each set of needle bearings is inserted.

STEP 8

STEP 9

STEP 10

STEP 5: Thrust washers Now that the cluster gear is loaded with bearings and ready to install, the thrust washers that hold it in place inside the case were also coated with petroleum jelly. That will hold them in place inside transmission case as parts are installed.

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step 6: Cluster gear installation

STEP 11

STEP 12

With the temporary replacement shaft still inside the cluster gear, it is inserted in the case and positioned between the two thrust washers. If you’re careful the needle bearings will likely stay in place during this process without leaving that short shaft in. But this guarantees it. The counter shaft the gear spins on isn’t installed just yet. That allows the cluster gear to drop to the bottom of the case leaving enough room to get the other two shafts to fit in.

STEP 7: Oil collector The input shaft is installed by simply tapping its bearing into the opening in the front of the case. The oil collector, which directs lubricant up to the input shaft bearing, is installed at this point.

STEP 8: Reverse idler gear The small reverse idler gear and the short shaft it runs on get installed now.

STEP 9: Main shaft Using a large socket and a hammer, the rear main shaft bearing is installed on the shaft after it is fully assembled. It’s now ready to go into the case. Once the needle bearings are installed in the end of the input shaft, the main shaft is inserted through the rear of the case and into position with the front of the main shaft riding on those needle bearings.

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STEP 10: Countershaft installation With the transmission case turned upside down, the cluster gear now falls into place by gravity, meshing with the main and input shafts. Taking care to make sure the thrust washers are in place (use a small screwdriver inserted through the case shaft openings to move them if necessary) the countershaft is tapped through the case and gear. This causes the temporary shaft that holds the needle bearings secure to get pushed out the front of the case.

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STEP 11: The shift rails Because our Spicer has a top shifter position, rather than side linkages for a “three-on-the-tree” shift lever, the shift rails are in the top cover.

They were removed from the cover and cleaned with sand paper to ensure they would slide smoothly in the cover housing.

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STEP 12: Finishing up the shift linkage

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Each shift rail has a poppet ball under spring pressure that rides on it to hold the linkage into each gear position. After inserting new poppet balls and springs, an Allen wrench was used to push on the balls and compress the springs behind them as the shift rails were slid back into place.

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With that job done the shift forks can be slid into place on the main shaft as the top cover is reinstalled. And that’s it. Job done. The transmission is ready to be bolted back up to the transfer case and bell housing. GN Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Conact him at Scott.Garvey@ fbcpublishing.com.

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machinery & shop

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

U.S. Farm Progress Show highlights

GSI introduces

FlexWave

By Mark Moore

I

magine an easier way to clean out flat-bottom grain bins. GSI was demonstrating its new FlexWave technology in August at the U.S. Farm Progress Show in Illinois as an entirely new and easy way to do exactly that. According to the company, FlexWave is a new alternative to the common grain bin sweeps, brooms and shovels that require some — or a lot of — manual effort.

The system uses two large liners that alternately inflate and deflate, pushing the remaining grain in a bin to a centrally located conveyor trough for removal, without the need to physically enter the bin.

A control system automatically senses the amount of grain and shuts off when the process has been com-

pleted. There are no exposed mechanical components, making the system convenient and reliable.

Each inflatable liner can unload more than 100 tons of grain using less than one p.s.i. of air pressure. The liners are constructed of commercialgrade material designed to last more than 30 years under normal conditions. In addition, they can easily be repaired with a simple glue patch in case of accidental puncture. The system’s low-pressure operation makes it gentler on grain than traditional options, protecting grain quality, according to the company Field trials are now under way, and the first market-ready FlexWave offering is planned for 2018. GN Mark Moore is a freelance ag writer.

Photo: Mark Moore

Inflatable liners clean out bin floors

GSI’s FlexWave inflatable liner pushes grain toward an auger trough, eliminating the need to manually enter bins to clean them out.

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machinery & shop

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

45

New machinery

AGCO reinvents the RoGator

By Scott Garvey

A

GCO thinks anyone looking to spend less of their day cleaning and maintaining sprayers and more time rolling through fields applying product will like their new C Series RoGators. Equipped with the brand’s new LiquidLogic system, these machines promise more efficient cleanouts with less wasted product and more precise application in the field.

“With the prevalence of herbicide-resistant weeds throughout the country and the introduction of new herbicide systems to control these weeds, greater management and attention to detail will be needed for anyone applying herbicides,” explained Mark Mohr, tactical marketing manager for AGCO’s application division, in a press release announcing the C Series introduction.

“The engineering and technology of the RoGator C Series machines and new LiquidLogic system are going to help operators simplify their jobs, reduce potential for off-target application, make cleanout faster, easier and more thorough and reduce product waste.”

RoGator C Series machines can be configured with AGCO’s fully integrated AgControl and Auto-Guide systems, or Raven Viper 4+ technology with SmarTrax That LiquidLogic system includes recirculation plumbing to keep product constantly moving through the boom, plumbing and filters at all times to help reduce chemical build up and eliminate plugged spray tips. The C Series machines also offer the ClearFlow recovery system, which uses air to force product out of the booms or reload station and back into the tank, leaving less than 2.5 gallons remaining in systems without injection. And the new self-priming feature gets product moving quickly through the entire boom once the product pump and recirculation are turned on.

There is also a “hold at minimum” feature to ensure pressure remains within one p.s.i across the entire boom width to ensure even

product application. The AgControl rate controller is capable of section control for either 35 sections with 10- or 15-inch spacing or 36 sections with 20-inch spacing, which is offered as standard.

All of that is managed through AGCO’s newest 10.4-inch AccuTerminal touch screen.

When it comes to the drivetrain, the C Series machines see some changes there too. They get the new SmartDrive all-wheel drive system with traction control. That feature detects wheel slip and alters fluid flow to the associated drive motor to maximize flow (and therefore traction) at the other wheels. Each wheel also gets turn compensation, which means the outside wheels start spinning faster when going around tight turns creating only minimum field surface disruption.

Under the hood, the engine management system controlling the available 7.4 or 8.4 litre diesels automatically boosts r.p.m when more power is needed and throttles them back when it can get away with providing less. That helps keep fuel consumption down, and it’s one function of the cruise control feature that allows operators to select and maintain a pre-set working speed. The transmission includes a shuttle shift feature to make quick forward-reverse direction changes. When the transmission is shifted into reverse, a rearview camera automatically activates for increased safety.

These RoGators also get antilock brakes with a more powerful hydrostatic system to shorten stopping distances.

Operators will likely like the inside of C Series cabs a little more than the models they replace. A new, more ergonomic “floating” armrest houses liquid system controls and boom switches along with the joystick. And even the joystick is sporting a new shape, which the company says was based on user feedback. USB power ports allow for portable digital equipment connections and there is a programmable keypad to control functions such as the lights. An optional air ride cab suspension can help smoothen out the ride.

RoGator C Series machines can be configured with AGCO’s fully integrated AgControl and AutoGuide systems, or Raven Viper 4+ technology with SmarTrax. A hybrid configuration also allows the use of Raven Viper 4+ for product control while using AGCO’s Auto-Guide for steering. The brand’s TaskDoc option provides wireless data transfer.

Cutline Steel spray booms of 90, 100, or 120 feet are available, along with aluminum 120- and 132-foot booms. GN Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@ fbcpublishing.com.

Photo: AGCO

The C Series offers improved driveline and product delivery technology

AGCO’s new C Series RoGators debuted last August and offer a host of upgrades over previous models.

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46

TIRES

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Traction and compaction

Michelin EvoBIB is a “two-in-one” tire New radial offers two effective footprint widths based on air pressure

By Scott Garvey

W

e call this the transforming tire,” said Michelin Tire’s Mike Pantaleo, as he stood beside his company’s display of new tire technology during the Ag in Motion farm show near Saskatoon in July. “It’s a brand new tire and it’s brand new technology. We launched it in January in France at the SIMA show.”

He was talking about Michelin’s new EvoBIB ag tire designed for high-horsepower tractors. It’s designed to work more efficiently both on the road and in the field.

It a good match for the on-board central inflation systems some tractors and at least one retrofit product now offer. The EvoBIB is designed to maximize traction and performance at different internal pressures. It can be aired up to a high pressure for highspeed road travel and then deflated to a lower pressure to maximize traction in the field.

Although all radial ag tires can work reasonably well within a limited range of pressure settings, the unique thing about the EvoBIB is it is specifically engineered to offer two different effective footprints. A narrower one when inflation is high and a much wider one to decrease compaction and maximize traction when pressure is low.

Michelin refers to it as a “two in one” tire.

Using the 710/70R42 display tire at the show as an example, Pantaleo explained how much the footprint changes. “(At high inflation), you’re going to get 710 millimetres of tread on the ground when it’s on the road. We want to minimize the amount of rolling resistance. When it gets to the field (and the pressure is reduced), now the tire actually becomes 860 millimetres in width.

And because of the deflection, we’re going to have a very big footprint.”

Photo: Scott Garvey.

“

Michelin’s new EvoBIB “transforming tire (front) has gaps in the tread bars that allow the sidealls to “hinge” down and increase the width of its footprint at low inflation pressures.

“The reason we call it a transforming tire is we’ve designed the shoulders to hinge,” Pantaleo continues. “For those that feel you can just take a regular tire and do this, you can’t.”

The gap near the ends of the tread bars allows the sides of the tire tread face to actually hinge down and provide full grip across the expanded footprint in the field.

At higher pressures only the central contin-

uous sections of the tread bars grip the road, giving a smoother vibration-free ride, as well as fuel savings and improved safety.

The EvoBIBs will go on sale sometime in 2018.

Right now EvoBIBs will be available in two sizes, 710/70R42 and a 600/70R30.

But Pantaleo says the range of sizes will be increased after production kicks off in the coming months.

The EvoBIBs fall into the VF (very high flexion) tire category and into Michelin’s Ultraflex technology suite of tires, which offer, what the company claims, are the highest load ratings for comparable tires in their class. GN Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@ fbcpublishing.com.

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TIRES

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

47

Traction and compaction

Titan Tire to build world’s largest ag tire These new low sidewall tires have 1.4 metre tread width

R

adial tire technology has greatly reduced the amount of soil compaction that happens underneath today’s large farm equipment. Building on those refinements, Titan Tire intends to offer producers another tire choice that offers more than reduced compaction, the LSW 1400/30R46. These tires offer advantages in other aspects of field and road performance as well.

Aside from their massive 1400 millimetre tread width that allows a single one of these tires to provide as large a footprint as a pair of conventional 710s, they use a low sidewall profile.

That helps reduce power hop in the field and road lope at high speeds.

The LSWs are designed to run on 46-inch rims and replace smaller diameter rims that would be wrapped with higher-sidewall tires. Using a lower sidewall profile is how these tires achieve better performance.

These are all for 46-inch wheels, taking the conventional 38- and even 42-inch wheels, taking that (higher) sidewall out and putting it on a 46-inch wheel “These are all for 46-inch wheels, taking the conventional 38- and even 42-inch wheels, taking that (higher) sidewall out and putting it on a 46-inch wheel,” says Titan Tire’s product specialist Chase Anders.

“That eliminates power hop and road lope. It maximizes the footprint and gets the horsepower to the ground.”

When the big LSWs begin production in a few months, they will be the world’s largest ag tire, according to the company. No retail price has yet been announced for them, but Anders says they should be comparable in price to replacing a pair of conventional 710s.

“It can be very comparable, when you go to change eight tires in a dual setup,” he says. “With this tire you’re able to replace dual 710s.”

The new tires fit into the VF (very high flexion) radial tire category that can work in a lower range of inflation pressures.

“You’re able to run 40 percent lower inflation or handle 40 percent higher loads at the same inflation,” Anders adds. GN Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@ fbcpublishing.com.

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Titan Tire’s LSW 1400/30R46 tires can replace a set of 710 millimetre radial duals.

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cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

49

READY FOR WINTER

Items to include on winterizing checklist Be ahead of the game rather than fixing waterlines and broken posts when its -30 C

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

Photos: Michael Thomas

W

e are heading into another busy season in the cattle business: feeding, calving, and much more.

This is a time to put the finishing touches on readying the facilities and equipment for the demands of the winter ahead. When preparing to tackle all of the things that need to be inspected, repaired, and restocked, I try to organize the projects in order of what must be done before the ground freezes to those tasks that can be done in the relative comfort of a shop or warm house. And I am not alone.

“There is always plenty of dayto-day damage that must be fixed as you go through the winter,” says Nicholas Lee, manager of Rocking Horse Ranch near Salmon, Idaho.

“But it helps a lot to spend time in the fall going over the facilities and making repairs before everyone is busy feeding and calving cows. A lot of things get wired together once everyone is running on empty — just trying to survive till spring.”

Lee says it is important to inspect the fencing in the pens and corrals to be used throughout the winter. “It is very important to make sure that all of the gates you intend to use all winter swing easy.

It is very difficult to remedy this problem once the ground is frozen. We try to set all of the gate posts for any heavy cattle gates in a concrete thrust block, below at least a foot of dirt, to prevent them from heaving from the force of frost.”

On gates used regularly, fall may be a good time to set new posts in a brace that properly supports the gate. Set posts in quick-dry cement for added stability.

BE PREPARED

Here’s a spring on the cattle squeeze that needs to be replaced.

CATTLE HANDLING EQUIPMENT While inspecting fences and gates also look at the condition of cattle chutes and head catches. Look for rust damage, broken welds, broken springs, and other needed repairs.

Apply a light oil to moving parts.

Do not use a heavy grease as cold temperatures will cause grease to be thick and very stiff.

“I have repaired many chutes in the area for ranchers,” says Bob Miller, a professional welder located near Leadore, Idaho. “I’ve put new diamond plate floors in chutes, rebuilt side panels, and repaired tailgates and head catches. If the rancher calls before the manure has eaten away too much of the base steel, I can usually clean them up (the chutes) and fix them.”

To prevent the corrosion from manure, and the adversity caused by frozen manure in the chute, take time before freeze-up to remove any manure from the chute left behind after the fall cattle working.

Inspect feeders and bunks that you intend to use. As in the case of the chutes, damage caught early enough can be repaired by cutting

Bruce Carpenter, who farms near Gooding, Idaho and operates heavy trucks in the oil fields of North Dakota, believes in preventative maintenance. “The best solution is prevention,” he says. “It is a good idea to replace the fuel filters and water separators in anything that runs on diesel before the cold weather sets in, and treat the fuel with a good anti-gel supplement. The leading names in diesel supplement are rated for yearround use, so don’t worry about adding it too early in the fall. If you expect to use a truck or tractor hard all winter, it’s a good idea to have spare filters on hand and change them every month or so.”

After making sure that your vehicles and tractors are prepped for winter, inspect all of the machinery that you will use to feed the cattle. Hay processors and choppers may not see service for part of the year and it is easy to overlook the condition of some of the components.

Check the tires to make sure they are not weather-checked and are properly inflated. Grease the bearings to all moving parts and drive lines. Check the oil level in gearboxes and make sure seals are not leaking. Inspect the condition of flails, teeth, auger flighting, etc.

Clear any old twine or wrap from last season.

Have a look at the calf puller and other calving equipment — clean, lubricate, repair or replace as needed.

out bent and broken sections, and welding in new pieces.

Special care should be given to barns and shelters. These facilities can take a lot of punishment from the livestock and the elements.

Make sure the doors open properly.

Check the condition of hinges and remove obstructions from the path of travel. Inspect windows, siding, and roofing. Left unrepaired, wind and stock can work on the damaged areas, increasing the overall damage to the building. Inspect lights and electrical outlets. These components can be easily overlooked until you need them. If lights or outlets do not work, check for corrosion in switches, fixtures, and wiring connectors.

Inspect water systems. Make sure troughs are not leaking to

aaaprevent ice flows. Check float valves and heating elements. Float valves can become plugged with sand and rust scale preventing them from working properly. If you cannot free a float valve of sand by working it open and closed with water present in the system, you will need to disassemble the valve and clear the debris. Check heating elements in the pans and the heat tape on the water supply lines. If you are not sure if they are working, check for continuity through the element using a multimeter.

“It is a big crisis when you discover a water supply line frozen on an automatic waterer on a -30 C morning,” says Lee. “If you have any doubt about the heat tape, replace it.”

Use a multimeter tester to ensure heating elements and heat tapes are getting power.

WINTERIZE VEHICLES Once you have inspected and repaired the facilities, you should winterize all of the vehicles and machinery that you plan to use to provide feed to the cattle through the winter. It is a good idea to go over trucks and tractors and make sure the engine heaters function properly. While servicing the engines, be sure to check the antifreeze is rated to the coldest weather you expect. A 50/50 blend is adequate protection for most of our northern regions, but if you are unsure talk to a local mechanic about the blend. Next make sure that you have changed fuel filters and water separators on all engines operating on diesel fuel. Treat the fuel with a good anti-gel water dispersion agent.

Now, if you have checked all of the outdoor preparations off of your list, it is time to turn to the final process of making sure your herd health, calving supplies and tools are in order. It is convenient to have these items consolidated to one room or area with cabinets and shelves to organize items by type and purpose. As you organize these items, take inventory and restock any needed vaccine, antibiotics, ox y to c i n , u te r i n e b o l u se s, syringes, needles, rubber gloves, OB sleeves, OB scrub, iodine, colostrum replacer, milk replacer, etc. Make sure to locate and clean items such as: calf pullers, OB chains/straps, OB handles, calf drenches, bottles, nipples, ear taggers, banders, etc. Also, make sure that you are prepared for the type of record keeping that you use: notebooks, pens, pencils, or laptop, for examples.

“I like to have all of the medical supplies on hand before calving season,” says Lee. “Due to the distance to town, combined with the busy nature of the season, we can’t count on getting a veterinarian out in time to save a cow or calf. We are set up to handle about any malpresentation, with the exception of a C-section, that we encounter in the average calving season.” GN Michael Thomas operates Thomas ßRanch along with family near Salmon, Idaho. Contact him at Thomasranch@ centurytel.net.

50

cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

The Markets

Lower supply outlook strengthens prices The market is not getting more bearish but rather looking neutral to bullish MARKET UPDATE Jerry Klassen

A

lberta fed cattle were trading in the range of $137 to $138 in mid-October, up approximately $4 from average September values. Beef production during October appears to be coming in lower than anticipated. At the same time, retail and restaurant demand appears to be coming in higher than expected due robust consumer spending.

Looking forward, April live cattle futures appear to be incorporating a risk premium due to the uncertainty in 2018 first-quarter beef production.

Therefore, feeder cattle prices have also ratcheted higher over the past month. In central Alberta, largerframe medium- to lower-flesh black steers at 925 pounds traded for $193.

Calves averaging 525 pounds have traded as high as $245 while 350- to 400-pound calves have reached the magic $300 level.

Feedlots have bid up the feeder market so that there is very little margin in the deferred positions, which is a characteristic of a true competitive market. I’ve received many calls from cow-calf producers in regards to a placing a position on the livestock insurance program.

Buying the insurance too early can be costly and you don’t want your risk management program to consume all profits. I’ll briefly review the market structure with some ideas on buying price insurance.

U.S. NUMBERS The USDA lowered its 2017 thirdand fourth-quarter beef production estimates on their October WASDE report. Marginal declines were also noted in the first and second quarters of 2018. The weekly slaughter is coming in lower than anticipated and carcass weights continue to come in below year-ago levels. Earlier in September, the market was factoring a worst-case scenario for beef production. However, now that production is lower than anticipated, the market

has room to breath and move higher.

The main point is the market is not getting more bearish but rather looking neutral to bullish.

During 2016, wholesale beef prices made seasonal lows in November then started to strengthen in January. This fall, the seasonal lows were likely made in late September. Weekly data points that wholesale prices are now starting to trade sideways. Choice product has actually improved but Select product is about the same price as last month.

Again, the main point is that prices are not deteriorating but stabilizing.

This is another reason not to be bearish on the market.

From a demand perspective, there are factors that will influence the market over the next four to six months. November and December are periods of seasonally strong demand given the holiday season. As well, the U.S. economy is running full steam and continues to improve.

The price insurance program is based off the options for live and feeder cattle futures. Producers

U.S. QUARTERLY BEEF PRODUCTION (MILLION POUNDS) Quarter

2013

2014

2015

2016

USDA. 2017

USDA. 2018

1

6,172

5,868

5,664

5,935

6,300

6,305

2

6,517

6,183

5,857

6,187

6,404

6,800

3

6,608

6,179

6,068

6,468

6.730

7,060

4

6,420

6,021

6,109

6,623

7,115

7,130

Total

25,717

24,251

23,698

25,213

26,549

27,295

often have little idea of what the “smart money” is doing in the futures market. For this information, we have to look at the Commitment of Traders report, which comes out every Friday afternoon and shows the data as of close the previous Tuesday. The report shows how the combined position of commercials (packers, large feedlots, merchants), the managed money (large speculator) and non-commercials (small speculator).

With Live Cattle Futures the net long position declined from June 12 through to Sept. 4, reflecting that these players were net sellers. From Sept. 12 forward, the net managed money position increased, reflecting that they have been net buyers. In mid-September, there was a week

that the commercials and the managed money were both net buyers.

This is a signal the market is turning and you don’t want to stand in front of a freight train, never mind buy price insurance.

The fundamentals warrant firmer prices into the early winter period.

Producers need to watch the Commitment of Traders report so that they have a good idea when to buy their price insurance. GN Jerry Klassen is manager of the Canadian office for Swiss-based grain trader GAP SA Grains and Products Ltd. With a strong farming background, he is also president and founder of Resilient Capital, a specialist in commodity futures trading and commodity market analysis.

He can be reached at 204-504-8339.

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cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

51

Keepers and Culls

Filling idle days after weaning/harvest Lee Hart

I

f you can only get to 10 or 15 conferences or trade shows over the next year, here are the first bunch you should consider.

(Fortunately most are structured so you not only learn lots, but bring your credit card and you can also buy a new tractor or a bull — you won’t go home emptyheaded or empty-handed.)

WESTERN CANADA SOIL HEALTH/GRAZING CONFERENCE

combined event bringing together what was once the separate soil health conference as well as the Western Canadian Grazing Conference — one topic obviously ties into the other. Many years ago I was informed that soil is not dirt. There are billions of creatures that make up the soil and keeping them healthy benefits soil quality, and has a huge impact on the production of forage and pasture crops that grow out of the soil. There will be about 20 speaker sessions over the two-

EDMONTON DEC. 5-7, 2017 Aside from hydroponics, nothing grows without at least somewhatdecent soil, so learning how to protect and improve the soil health on your farm is a pretty important matter. The Western Canadian conference coming up at the Radisson Hotel Edmonton South is actually a

and-a-half days talking about everything from how to benefit soil health, and grazing practices that benefit both soil and cattle. All great speakers for the event, including Gabe Brown and Jim Gerrish, a couple well-known names of innovators of grazing systems, as well as soil and forage researchers from Canada and the U.S. There will also be producer panel sessions, as well as some time to browse through a trade show of more than two dozen exhibitors. For more information on

the conference and registration visit the conference website at: www.absoilgrazing.com.

FARMING SMARTER CONFERENCE LETHBRIDGE DEC. 5-6, 2017 You may have to make a choice or just be very efficient with your time Continued on Page 52 

AGRI-TRADE FARM SHOW RED DEER NOV. 8-11, 2017 Spend a day or two at the 33 annual Agri-Trade Farm Show at the Westerner Exhibition Grounds in Red Deer, Alta. The show draws nearly 30,000 visitors annually to have a look at displays (indoors and out) provided by some 475 farm equipment manufacturers.

Before the show even starts, I know for sure you’ll also find at least one booth selling about 20 different flavours of fudge.

Hoover No Doubt

Fall Bull Sale

SAV Top Soil

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017

CANADIAN FORAGE AND GRASSLANDS ASSOC. ANNUAL CONFERENCE

At the Ranch, Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan

GUELPH, ONT. NOV. 14-16, 2017 Travel to Guelph, Ont. for the eighth annual CFGA conference being held at the Delta Guelph Hotel and Conference Centre.

Tuesday Nov. 14 is a pre-conference tour day visiting farms, research facilities, forage equipment manufacturers and more.

During the next two days of the conference there are 24 succinct speaker sessions covering a wide range of topics ranging from carbon sequestration to soil and animal health, profitable forage systems and forage export opportunities. For information on the event visit the CFGA website at www.canadianfga.ca/conference or call the conference coordinator at 1-613-732-7068.

View Sale Book at www.peakdotranch.com or phone Carson Moneo 306-266-4414 Clay Moneo 306-266-4411 Email:peakdot@gmail.com

SAV Radiance 0801

Cull Bull Incentive Program

Vision Unanimous 1418

This year we’re offering the best cull bull incentive program you will find anywhere. With the cull bull market down a bit from previous years we are going to help you get the most out of those old broken, down worn out bulls. Why take a chance on bunch of open cows this fall when you can replace them with fresh strong new bulls. All you have to do is email us prior to the bull sale or bring a copy of your bill of sale from the auction market after selling your cull bulls and you will receive a $500 credit on each new replacement bull you buy. (eg: If you cull 5 bulls you will receive a $500 deduction for each of the 5 replacement bulls you buy.) Credits must be used on a per bull basis and you cannot use more than 1 credit toward a new bull.

Bush Easy Decision 98

CANADIAN WESTERN AGRIBITION REGINA NOV. 20-25, 2017 And if you ever wondered what a bull (cow or heifer) looks like there will be no shortage on display at the annual Agribition show in Regina. Purebred and commercial beef producers from across Canada will have some of their top animals on display in the barns at Evraz Place. Along with livestock shows and sales, there are also dozens of displays by livestock equipment manufacturers and suppliers. If it involves beef cattle, you will find it there. Learn more at: www.agribition.com.

145 COMING TWO YEAR OLD BULLS

52

cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Rancher’s Diary

Hunters have a knack for spooking cattle There appears to be plenty of deer, but we’ll be glad when season is over

OCTOBER 6 Last week Robbie, Nick and Michael worked on the lower spring on the 320-acre pasture by Baker Creek, and put in a new trough. Michael used the backhoe and dug down to find the old springbox that we put in more than 30 years ago; it was buried deeper after all these years with silt from spring runoff. It’s amazing that it worked for so long; the pipe finally quit working last year.

While Michael was doing the backhoe work, Nick and Robbie took three posts to the ridge gate and made a new brace in the fence where the old fence was starting to fall down; opening and shutting the gate was very difficult every time we rode through it Andrea and I have been riding up there nearly every day to check on the cows, and give Willow more training.

Steve Herbst hauled two semitruck loads of straw to our stack yard. We are buying straw to mix with alfalfa hay for the cows this winter, but this straw got rained on in mid-September and didn’t dry out very well; they had to turn it three times to try to get it dry enough to bale, and a lot of it was baled too wet. It didn’t look very good.

Last Friday we tagged and vaccinated the weaned heifers. Lynn took the tractor to the corral so we could use the loader for tying the heifers’ heads up high enough to make it easy to put in the brisket tags.

OCTOBER 13 Last Saturday was warmer — a really nice day. Andrea, Jim and Robbie went up the creek to get a load of firewood.

We need several more loads before winter. Phil Moulton hauled 40 big round alfalfa bales to Michael and Carolyn’s stack yard on the upper place. Bob Minor brought his moisture meter and checked the moisture level in the straw bales we got last week.

Moisture was as high as 48 per cent in some of these bales and they are heating. We don’t want them to burn and put our other haystack at risk so Lynn spent several hours with our tractor taking the straw stack apart and spreading bales all over the place so they’ll have more chance to cool down.

Yesterday morning was the start of deer season. Two hunters sneaking through one of our upper fields spooked Michael and Carolyn’s heifers and horses through a fence, breaking off more than 20 wood posts and bending several steel posts over. Carolyn’s two-year-old filly got all four legs cut up and is very lame.

That afternoon Andrea and I rode to the 320 to check on our cows (Willow’s 31st ride this year) and checked on the new water troughs. The upper

Books from Heather Smith Thomas

I

f you are looking for a Christmas gift or just a good read about life on a ranch, longtime Grainews columnist Heather Smith Thomas has written three excellent books that fit the bill.

In these volumes, Thomas has captured the essence of the joys and challenges of working with cattle and horses over her lifetime as an Idaho rancher.

Horse Tales: True Stories from an Idaho Ranch is a collection of 22 stories about the horses that helped define the author’s life in Idaho ranch country — a unique memoir infused with the wisdom that can be acquired only through an existence built around livestock and the land, along the way sharing lessons on life, family and stockmanship. 282 pages, paperback.

Cow Tales: More True Stories from an Idaho Ranch (325 pages) is an entertaining and compelling collection of autobiographical essays detailing

her family’s adventures raising cattle in the challenging ranch country outside Salmon, Idaho. In the tradition of James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small), each story centres on a particular animal or aspect of animal husbandry, offering insight into the resourcefulness required to manage a cattle herd, and a heartwarming look at humananimal bonding.

Ranch Tales: Stories of Dogs, Cats and Other Crazy Critters, the third book in this series (273 pages) consists of stories about the memorable horses, ranch animals and wildlife that populate a working ranch.

For signed copies, contact the author directly at Heather Thomas, Box 215, Salmon, Idaho 83467 (208-756-2841) hsmiththomas@centurytel. net (check ahead for prices and postage.) And if you are an online shopper you can find the title at Amazon.ca. GN

Photo: Heather Smith Thomas

Heather Smith Thomas

Nice fall weather persisted into October as cattle were moved on pasture.

one still has a big mud bog around it; Michael inadvertently dug into another spring in the side of the hill when he was making a pad for the trough. The cows have to wade in mud to get to the trough.

After we got home from our ride, Andrea took her four-wheeler back up there, with her shovel, irrigation boots, and two 10-foot lengths of four-inch pipe. She worked on the bog problem until dark, digging a trench from the spring in the bank, piping the water across the area by the trough, to dump into Baker Creek. Michael hopes to eventually pipe that spring

 Continued from Page 51

— while the soil and grazing people are meeting in Edmonton, Farming Smarter (the Southern Alberta applied research association) is also holding its annual conference at Exhibition Park in Lethbridge.

The Farming Smarter event is a great opportunity to be updated on their latest field research projects — dryland corn, soil health, pushing canola yields, crop pests, specialty crops and much more. For more information or registration visit the Farming Smarter website at: www. farmingsmarter.com or call 403317-0022.

WESTERN CANADIAN CROP PRODUCTION SHOW SASKATOON JAN. 8-11, 2018 I hate to say that already — 2018 — but yes the new year approaches.

Once you get through Christmas make plans to attend the Western Canadian Crop Production Show at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon. It is a comprehensive five-day conference and that falls inside the Crop Production Week event which runs Jan. 6 to 13. The events provide a virtual buffet of topics related to crop production practices and products, field equipment, crop inputs and application, commodity marketing, seedbed

into the trough, but for now this drain system will help keep the area around the trough drier so it won’t be a mud bog.

OCTOBER 20 Last Saturday Andrea, Robbie, Jim and the kids went up the creek to get more firewood. They loaded Andrea’s pickup and Robbie’s trailer. While they were up there, however, they saw three young boys shooting several does and fawns illegally.

That night we had more hunters in the upper place, driving into the field after dark to retrieve a deer they’d shot

preparation, straw and chaff management, and grain handling to name a few. If you don’t get a few ideas on how to grow a better crop after this week of speakers and presentations then you weren’t listening. For more information visit the event website at: Show — www. cropproductiononline.com and Week — www.cropweek.com

ALBERTA BEEF INDUSTRY CONFERENCE RED DEER FEB. 21 – 23, 2018 Back on the beef front, plan to attend the annual Alberta Beef Industry Conference at the Sheraton Red Deer Hotel, featuring a leading beef industry specialist — the Right Honourable Stephen Harper. OK, Mr. Harper probably isn’t a beef specialist, but the former Prime Minister is the keynote speaker. He headlines a program that includes speakers with a wide range of knowledge on beef production, market outlooks, farm and agricultural finance and much more. As well there is always an informative trade show area. Mark your calendars and for more information visit the conference website at: www.abiconference.ca

FARM PROGRESS SHOW REGINA, SASK. JUNE 20-22, 2018

— again scaring the heifers and horses.

We’ll be glad when deer season is over!

Andrea and I rode the next day to check on our cows on the 320 (Willow’s 33rd ride) and found all the cattle down at the lower end after the stormy weather. We moved them back up the creek out onto the upper hillsides.

There was still some snow in shady areas in Baker Creek. Michael’s No. 203 cow was a bit lame from foot rot on a hind foot.

The next two mornings were cold, down to -8 C, but warmer in the afternoons. Andrea and Robbie drove to Mackay to help his dad haul cattle for two days. They took several semiloads of calves from range pastures in the mountains, down to Robbie’s parent’s place at Hamer.

Monday my brother shot a huge rattlesnake on the road by our place, on his way home from town. We’ve had a lot of snakes this year, and they are still out and about on the warm afternoons.

Wednesday Andrea and I rode to the 320 and checked the cows.

Michael’s big red cow No. 203 is not as lame as she was a few days ago; she still has swelling between the toes on her right hind foot, but she’s walking on it much better. GN Heather Smith Thomas is a longtime Grainews columnist who ranches with her husband Lynn near Salmon, Idaho.

Contact her at 208-756-2841.

If you’re missing any piece of farm machinery, plan to attend the annual Farm Progress Show at Evraz Place in Regina. The event features about 700 exhibitors with displays over about 1.9 million square feet. Always lots to see.

AG IN MOTION NEAR SASKATOON JULY 17-19, 2018 This year I am single-handedly organizing and hosting the fourth annual Ag In Motion farm show at Langham, Sask., about 15 minutes north of Saskatoon. The event will feature 1,500 exhibitors demonstrating the latest technology in farm machinery, operating over about 10,000 acres. The event draws about one million visitors each year. Okay, I may have exaggerated slightly on some of that.

But the Ag In Motion event is on for July 17 to 19. If you want to see how crops grow and machinery works in the field, this is the place to be. There will be plenty more information on AIM 2018 in the coming weeks. My forecasting service can confirm that it will be warm and sunny and dry July 17 to 19 over Langham. GN Lee Hart is a field editor with Grainews based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com.

cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

53

Animal Health

Lead poisoning still No. 1 toxin killer Check the yard for hazards and properly dispose of old batteries

T

here are a multitude of toxins, such as heavy metals and other substances that cattle can come in contact with.

Even with ever-increasing education, lead poisoning is still the number one toxic cause of death we, as veterinarians, see in cattle producing areas — especially in calves. Perhaps a reminder about the hazards will result in fewer deaths from lead exposure. Most cases are highly preventable and most occur on pastures or in feedlots.

Years ago lead-based paints were commonly used and of course there was leaded gas and a lot of that lead would end up in the used oil. These two sources have pretty much been eliminated but the burning of old buildings will still concentrate the lead in the ashes so proper disposal of the ashes and debris from the burning is critical.

BATTERIES ARE LEADING HAZARD Acute lead poisoning is almost always the result of the accidental consumption of high concentrations of lead. The number one source is consumption of the lead plates in broken-down vehicle batteries. The lead pieces and fragments congregate in the reticulum (first stomach). From here the lead is absorbed into the bloodstream and causes the very dramatic signs we see as veterinarians.

Since the brain is affected by lead poisoning, many symptoms relate to the central nervous system. Convulsive fits, head pressing, hyperactivity or manic behaviour and blindness (which has always been permanent in the cases I have dealt with) followed by death in most cases. Veterinarians must rule out other nervous system causes of disease. In the case of poisoning from batteries most times there is more than one animal involved and commonly it is younger ones, as they are inquisitive.

If found alive and down in a convulsive fit they are often euthanized and a post mortem done. The key here is to confirm the diagnosis, find the source of lead so further cases don’t develop and treat those animals that are treatable. Safeguards need to be put in place so further cases in the future don’t develop.

To confirm the diagnosis your veterinarian may do several things.

An autopsy may reveal lead pieces in the reticulum and kidneys that can be sent away to confirm a high lead level. Blood can also be checked on live animals.

If we suspect lead poisoning, it is key to find the source of lead and remove it so more cattle are not affected. This may mean walking

A FEW MANAGEMENT TIPS In order to minimize most encounters between cattle and lead batteries try and keep the following points in mind.

•H ave a recycling policy and temporary storage area for old batteries: in other words don’t have a huge pile of batteries sitting where cattle can gain access.

• If you use electric battery fencers, remove the batteries in the fall or have them enclosed where grazing cattle can’t reach.

•C heck any new pastures thoroughly for old yardsites, junk piles or deserted vehicles where batteries may be found.

•W hen changing batteries in vehicles, immediately remove the old one to your storage site. Any changing of batteries should occur in a shop or the old battery immediately stored away safely.

•O ld batteries over time crack and break downfrom the freezing/ thawing process, exposing the internal plates.

There have been a few catastrophic incidences of lead poisoning. In one situation, many cases of lead poisoning and death occurred at a feedlot where evidence suggests a large implement battery was mistakenly ground up through a feed-mixer and fed to the cattle.

OTHER SOURCES

photo: Roy Lewis

ANIMAL HEALTH Roy Lewis

and scouring pastures for discarded batteries or other sources of lead.

In treating live animals, veterinarians may use measures such as sedatives for hyper animals and giving Calcium EDTA to tie up the lead. In my experience a few cattle do make it but often remain a permanently blind animal. Then the issue of slaughter withdrawal times comes into question.

Because of some heavy losses from lead poisoning in Alberta feedlots this was studied extensively by government toxicologists.

There are known acceptable levels in meat and the half-life of lead has been calculated to be right around two months. Withdrawal happens in steps. This means it takes two months to excrete one half the lead and another two months to eliminate another half of that half and so on. Depending on the amount consumed, the safe withdrawal time for meat consumption can be determined.

The lead goes into liver, kidneys and bone so depending on amount of intake euthanasia may be considered. Big pieces of lead stay in the rumen and are absorbed continually, which is another reason for euthanasia.

Prevention is the absolute key.

We ideally don’t want to ever have to treat poisoning in the first place, it is not a pretty death and even if animals are found alive our treatment success will be poor. Add to this the fact that saved cattle are often blind and they need to kept a long time before meat is fit for consumption.

Old batteries left out on pasture are a serious accident waiting to happen.

It is alarming how many cattlcan be killed by one vehicle battery.

What started as a very innocent mistake had disastrous consequences for the feedlot. Lead was also used in older vehicles as filler

for the bodywork so it is another source of lead. The battery though contains a huge amount of lead.

With the chemical reaction in the battery the plates are salty, so it taste good to cattle.

Other oddball cases of lead poisoning have occurred where oil patch materials were left in a junk pile. Lead shot and the wad used in skeet shooting are also sources of lead. Dispatching animals for butchering with lead bullets can result in meat contamination.

The precisely placed head shot with the proper caliber bullet by skilled marksmen is the proper way to butcher to avoid this issue. Studies done on hunting submissions have at times found high lead levels in the meat of game animals.

Pass the word about the danger of lead in batteries; be on the lookout for discarded batteries in and around yardsites. You may inadvertently find other sources of poisons such as bags of urea or soil sterilant sprays, all of which could have toxic effects to all animals including wildlife. Lets keep the environment cleaner, recycle those used batteries and try and minimize any chance of lead poisoning in our cattle. If you see other yardsites where batteries are in the open, suggest the producers recycle them. I still hear of cases as I travel the countryside. GN Roy Lewis is an Alberta-based veterinarian specializing in large-animal practice.

He is also a part-time technical services vet for Merck Animal Health

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54

cattleman's corner

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

better bunks and pastures Topic heading

Provide first-calf heifers with nutrition and TLC HEIFER CHALLENGES Peter Vitti

I

was talking to a retired beef producer who owned a purebred Charolais herd back in the 1970s.

He reminisced on how winterhardy the breed was compared to more traditional breeds of the time and how the cows calve out huge white calves. Eventually, he got rid of these cows and replaced them with easier-calving breeds, because he spent many sleepless nights assisting the former first-calf heifers during the calving season.

It’s hard to say whether this is why I don’t see as many Charolais cattle as I once did, but I have learned that many first-calf heifers regardless of breed have special challenges. To help overcome them, I recommend providing a good overwinter feeding program, especially designed for young heifers along with a healthy dose of “tender loving care” — TLC.

One of the first challenges many first-calf heifers face is the stress of giving birth to their first calf. They suffer a heightened incidence of calving difficulties — clinically known as dystocia — compared to mature cows. Even when dystocia is not an issue, replacement heifers take longer to return their uterine tract to normal (involution) and return to active estrus cycles; all the while nursing a newborn calf and still growing themselves. That’s why many producers breed and calve-out first-calf heifers two to three weeks before the rest of the cow herd. It helps to synchronize their next breeding/calving season with the mature cow herd as well.

Reproductive success (or failure) for these first-calf heifers is largely determined by their maintenance or achievement of an optimum body condition score (BCS) ,which on the nine point U.S. scale is five to six (re: one = emaciated and nine = obese) by calving time. This goal parallels a desired growth rate of one lb./head/day and reaching 85

per cent mature bodyweight. Conversely, thin heifers (BCS under four) and over-conditioned ones (BCS over seven) suffer a greater incidence of dystocia, weak newborns and a higher failure rate to return to estrus, which encompasses lower pregnancy rates.

Maintaining/achieving a BCS of five to six depends on how well we feed these young cows by supplying their essential nutrient requirements geared for vital functions, milk production, growth and reproduction.

I find that meeting primary nutrient requirements for bred first-calf heifers is pretty simple.

They require about 10-20 per cent more energy, protein and other nutrients comparatively to mature cows, yet have about 20 per cent less dry matter capacity (eat less).

In the end, I think this difference often evens out among young and older individuals in the cow herd, because big mature cows need just as much or more nutrient on an absolute basis, particularly toward the calving season.

NOTHING FANCY By no means do the actual formulas of first-calf heifer rations need to be fancy. Consider the following common three rations for bred replacement heifers approaching calving and maintaining a BCS of five to six, while gaining 1.5 to two lbs./head/day. Based upon current commodity prices all three rations should cost no more than $1.50-$2 per head per day to feed: (1) Free choice (20 lbs.) mixed alfalfa-mixed grass with two to three pounds of barley or corn, plus two to three ounces of a commercial 2:1 cattle mineral.

(2) 20 lbs. of barley or corn silage, 15 lbs. of alfalfa-grass hay and two to three lbs. of a 14 per cent protein cowcalf screening pellet.

(3) 30 lbs. of silage and 10 lbs. of mixed alfalfa-grass hay and one to two pounds of a commercial protein supplement.

These are good first-calf heifer overwintering diets, where modest adjustments can be made to simply add extra nutrition such as adding more grain to promote BCS or increase the daily growth rates. Other

changes may include changing the basic 2:1 cattle mineral to breeder type mineral in order to facilitate estrus cycling. The only ingredient in this diet that is hasn’t been mentioned above is TLC. However, it’s a very important constituent that can be easily implemented and managed by beef producers.

A good illustration of this: despite it being a dry year on the Prairies, an early harvest produced lots of economical straw that could be used as clean bedding for heifers in dry lot. In a similar fashion, I know of many producers that purchased portable windbreak panels made up of woodplanks and oil piping in order to reduce the upcoming windchill upon replacement heifers’ backs. Last, I just talked to one producer that cleaned and fixed his waterers for a group of segregated heifers to increase the flow of fresh available water during the winter. GN Peter Vitti is an independent livestock nutritionist and consultant based in Winnipeg. To reach him call 204-2547497 or by email at vitti@mts.net.

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home quarter farm life

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

55

PHOTO: SARAH SCHULTZ

NURSE LOVES FARMER

I want to take steps now to make sure my husband stays healthy — both physically and mentally.

I worry about my farmer’s stress Measures need to be taken to preserve health and decrease stress levels on the farm

BY SARAH SCHULTZ

I

n the fall of 2006 when I was still dating my farmer, I’ll never forget the day we were lounging in his basement bedroom listening to music in the house he rented from in Edmonton. This house was a mere three-block stroll to the University of Alberta, where he was finishing up his crop sciences degree in agriculture. He got a phone call from one of his sisters and, to this day, it’s one of the few times in his life I’ve seen tears well up in his eyes. The news he had received was that after a busy harvest season, his parents were flying to Vancouver Island for a much-needed getaway, and his father lost consciousness on the plane warranting an emergency landing in Kelowna. It was very scary for my mother-in-law who was with him and for all of us anxiously waiting for an update.

Nothing like this had ever happened to his father before, so it was very frightening and new.

When all was said and done everything turned out fine, and he had no major medical events that caused his episode, it was

attributed to stress and finally “releasing” that stress on the way to a relaxing holiday and time off from a tense and busy harvest season.

Needless to say, it was a huge wake-up call to the family on how stressful farm life can be, and that measures needed to be implemented to preserve mental health and decrease stress levels on the farm. The paternal side of my husband’s family has a strong incidence of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. It has been shown that the act of being stressed itself can change the way the body operates, which negatively affects your heart health by bringing about changes to the blood and nervous system.

According to the World Heart Organization, studies have shown that acute stressful events reduce blood flow to the heart, can promote your heart to beat irregularly and increase the tendency of your blood to clot — all of which can trigger the development of cardiovascular disease. The link between stress, anxiety and the negative health effects on the body are clearly there, and I want to take steps

The paternal side of my husband’s family has a strong incidence of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke early on in my husband’s life to make sure he’s as healthy mentally as he is physically so we can have him around as long as we can!

Most people involved in agriculture know that you practically have to drag a farmer off the farm for him or her to not be involved in the farm in some form or another as they get older. My grandfather-in-law, whom I never got to meet, was on the farm until he was no longer physically able to be there anymore.

I’ve gradually seen the roles and responsibilities of planning and managing operations shift from my father-in-law to my husband and brother-in-law over the years. During this time I have also seen my husband’s stress levels rise, and he was never one to be easily stressed out.

Perhaps it’s because I’m from a non-farming background, but I have always thought and said that we cannot control the uncontrollable like the weather, so why worry and stress about it? Easier said than done! This I’ve learned too, as your livelihood and financial security are almost solely based on factors that you cannot control, but at the end of the day it is true, and is it worth risking our health over? I’ve recently talked with my farmer about my concerns about his stress levels and mental well-being. It’s the concerned wife, mother of his children, but also the registered nurse in me that perhaps cares the most. I’ve encouraged him to take the farm life day by day, even hour by hour if he has to.

It’s so important to focus on the

good and positive things in life and to take time away from the farm, even just a day or half a day, to enjoy life.

It is vital to have regular physicals with your family doctor to screen for potential health issues, including mental health issues and the effects of stress. Make sure, as much as you possibly can, to take steps as a farm family to decrease the stresses in your life and enjoy the farm life you’re living. I’ve seen over the years that my father-in-law has been proactive in getting away from the farm as needed and doing other non-stressful things that bring him joy. That is the main definition of farm sustainability to me: fostering a love of agriculture in our children and being around to nurture and mentor that love so that they can farm too. GN Sarah Schultz is a nurse who fell in love with and married a farmer. She’s embracing her role as farmwife and mom raising three boys on the family grain farm in Wheatland County, Alberta. She’s often seen with her camera in her hands and blogs about their life on her blog Nurse Loves Farmer.

56

home quarter farm life

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

NATURALLY GOOD

Natural products business flourishing Goal was to create quality products containing no harmful chemicals

BY EDNA MANNING

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All products are registered with, and meet all the necessary Health Canada requirements.

PHOTOS: COURTESY MIKE ZIMMER

hen Mike Zimmer launched his line of natural body care products in 2010, he had already spent several years researching, testing, and fine tuning his salves, soaps, and deodorants. His goal was to create quality products that actually worked, and did not contain harmful chemicals that might jeopardize people’s health or wreak havoc with the environment.

Zimmer had tried a number of “natural” deodorants but found they simply didn’t do the job.

“Many were still using synthetic fragrances to cover up the smell of body odour. I did research into essential oils with antibacterial properties, (it’s bacteria that causes body odour), and was able to make an antibacterial deodorant that’s not just covering up the smell, but combating the bacteria that causes the smell,” he says from his home in Saskatoon.

Zimmer began experimenting with making an all-natural salve when, as a rock climber, he needed something to repair his hands. After checking the ingredients in the product he was using, he decided to try making his own. “I made a very basic salve using olive oil, coconut oil, beeswax and tea tree oil. By trial and error I worked on getting the consistency and the proportions right. Once I had a salve that I felt was better than what I was buying, I decided to make soap, lip balm, and deodorant using ingredients as natural as you can get. My goal was to replace everything in my medicine cabinet.”

To get feedback he gave away a lot of his products to family and friends, and soon got to the point where people were requesting them

Mike and Amanda and their children Silas and Laurel hope to move to his parents’ acreage soon.

to replace what they were currently using.

Meanwhile, Zimmer was still working full time as an engineering consultant, which didn’t leave much spare time. A position as an educational assistant for special needs children meant a pay cut, but

gave him weekends off and time in the evenings to work at expanding his line of products.

At this point Zimmer decided to attend his first Fringe Festival in Saskatoon. “I had about four or five different products, set up a small table on the street for the week, and

ended up selling about $1,000 worth of products. I thought, maybe I’m on to something here,” he says.

People began contacting him wanting to learn more, so he set up an information blog, and things began to snowball. “Customers were coming back and telling me that they had replaced their lotions, deodorant, and soap. That gave me that extra push to keep going. These weren’t my friends who just wanted to pat me on the back, these were people off the street who paid money, were happy with the product and were coming back for more.”

Zimmer says it was never his goal to make millions of dollars. “I initially started it as a hobby to provide consumers with a better option and am now excited to see it flourish as a business.”

Uncle Mike’s All Natural Products are registered with, and meet all the necessary Health Canada requirements. He currently sells between 25 to 30 items, and uses only natural ingredients including cold-pressed fruit, nut and vegetable oils and

steam-distilled therapeutic-grade essential oils.

Zimmer and his wife Amanda, and their two children, Silas, age five, and Laurel, age two hope to move to his parents’ acreage in the near future where he plans on building a shop for more production space. The acreage will allow the family to grow more of their own food, something they’re also passionate about.

Uncle Mike’s All Natural Products are currently for sale at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. He also wholesales to a dozen stores in Saskatoon, and another dozen across Canada. His online store has allowed him to reach out to customers around the world.

“Having the freedom to spend time together as a family, as well as manage my own business are some of the best perks.”

For more information, visit www. unclemikesnatural.com. GN Edna Manning writes from Saskatoon, Sask.

FIT TO FARM

Twisting to help relieve discomfort Spinal twists can be beneficial for both spine and digestive health

W

ith the winter holiday season coming up, we’ll be bombarded with gatherings, food, drinks, and cold weather — great for socializing — brutal for our bodies. Luckily, there are certain movements that can help with the usual bloating and general feelings of fullness and lethargy that can result.

Spinal twists are amazing moves for spine health, digestive health, and breathing mechanisms, and here’s three to try: • The supine twist — Laying on your back, bring your knee up to your chest and

guide it across your body towards the floor on the opposite side. Look the opposite way to allow a twist through your entire torso. Stay here and breathe deeply for 20 to 30 seconds/side.

• Thread the needle — On all fours, reach one hand to the sky and then underneath your supporting arm. Either hold this position or rotate through the movement 10 to 15 times, breathing deeply throughout.

• The lunge twist — Either from a half lunge (back knee on the ground) or full lunge, place your opposite hand to your front leg on the ground, and reach towards the sky with the other hand, twisting through the

torso. Careful here not to twist the hips, but only from the pelvis up. Hold and breathe for 10 to 30 seconds/side.

If you have a back injury or undiagnosed pain in your spine — please consult your health-care professional before trying these. Always pay attention to how you feel progressing into the movements — if you have pain, consult a professional before proceeding! GN Kathlyn Hossack is an athletic therapist from Winnipeg, Man. She owns and operates Integrative Movement & Katmah Training, a therapy and education service focused on preventing, rehabilitating injuries and chronic pain. She can be reached at katmahtraining@gmail.com.

PHOTO: KATHLYN HOSSACK

BY KATHLYN HOSSACK

Thread the needle.

home quarter farm life

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

PRAIRIE PALATE

Bullet Soup

Try this Métis recipe for Bullet Soup foster companionship through the common bond of good conversation over good food.

In that spirit, here’s an old Métis recipe from my cookbook that still warms many a soup pot today. GN 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.

1/2 lb. ground bison or lean beef 2 tbsp. grated onion 1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 tsp. dried herbs such as rosemary and parsley Flour for dredging 1 diced onion 2 c. diced potatoes 1 c. diced carrot 1 diced turnip 1 c. pasta (optional)

SAVE 49%!

Mix ground meat, grated onion, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs.

Form into meatballs about the size of a large marble. Dredge in flour. In a pot, cover meatballs with water and bring to a boil. Add vegetables and pasta. Simmer until cooked, adding more water as needed to make a rich broth.

Best served with bannock.

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CATTLEMAN'S CORNER

fEATURE

Keeping that water flowing

Detecting your canola dockage

Heather Smith Thomas on keeping winter water in liquid form 31

Leeann Minogue gets a dockage demo from CGC staff 12

Volume 43 · number 01 January 10, 2017 · $4.25 Practical production tips for the prairie farmer www.grainews.ca

By Scott Garvey

The Tribine begins production HARvEST TECHNOLOgy

I

Will the Tribine’s design become the new standard configuration for combines?

To: MArk Moore

I

love my book club. We’ve been together for 24 years. Some of us have been there from the beginning and others have come and gone over time. Our newest member joined in September. I use the words “joined” and “member” loosely as there is no membership criteria beyond a love of good conversation over good food.

What? No mention of books? Of course we read books, but heck, we’d all do that anyway. The joy of book club is the conversations that arise from the pages like the enticing aroma of a baked casserole or a simmering pot of soup. Book club is always a potluck. The book brings us together; food and conversation bind us in spirit and nourish our souls. We eat and we talk.

Food is like that. The word “companion” derives from the Latin for “together with” and “bread.” Food connects us to family and friends. In that, I am luckier than most. As a writer with two books about food — particularly our good Prairie foods — I have enjoyed book clubs as both participant and subject matter. So, as you can imagine, I am looking forward to taking part in the biggest book club yet. A million participants, give or take…

My historic cookbook Out of Old Saskatchewan Kitchens has been chosen for the One Book, One Province project — a sort of uber monthlong book club sponsored by libraries throughout Saskatchewan in the month of March. Though I joke about a million (current population hovers around 1.16 million) it is exciting to think that the subject of food will inspire conversation and companionship across such a broad geographic, demographic and cultural tableau.

After all, the one thing all we have in common is the daily desire to eat.

But it runs deeper than that. Whether we count ourselves among the first families, the early settlers or more recent newcomers, we share a common bond with a land shaped by food.

The first settlers came to grow wheat. By the 1910s, the Canadian prairie was the breadbasket of the world. The settlers brought their food traditions with them, innovating and adapting their cherished recipes to the ingredients available on the prairie frontier. Those recipes survive as cultural touchstones among families, towns and the community at large.

Food was also used as a “big stick” to clear the land of its Indigenous population so the settlers could freely farm. At their basic intention, the treaties were about food. With the loss of the bison herds and the hunting economy, Aboriginal leaders agreed to settle on designated

reserves and take up farming, while the government agreed to provide tools, livestock, seeds, education, medicine and, in the short term, food aid to prevent starvation. The government quickly reneged on those promises and, over time, much reserve land was confiscated and given over to settlers to grow more wheat. This is part of our shared food history. Perhaps by sharing our recipes and our stories, we can bridge misunderstanding and

PHOTO: AMY JO EHMAN

The curious name of this Métis soup does not relate to hunting but to the French word “boulettes,” meaning little meatballs.

The name has nothing to do with ammunition and everything to do with little meatballs Amy Jo Ehman

57

t sort of looks like a combine. But not like one you’ve ever seen before. The Tribine, which was officially introduced to the public at the U.S. Farm Progress Show in August, is the blending of a rotary combine threshing body with a 1,000-bushel grain cart. The result, said Greg Terjesen, Tribine’s VP of sales and marketing, is a machine that pushes combine technology and productivity into the 21st century.

“Really, if you look at the (combine) industry, it hasn’t changed much since the Second World War,” he said as he sat next to the first production model Tribine at the company’s display during the show.

The Tribine concept has been around for a while, and the budding manufacturing company behind it has shown a prototype at a major farm show before. It first appeared at the Ag Connect Expo in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2013.

Back then, prototype number four, the one on display, was based on a Gleaner combine body modified to work with the rear grain tank.

When I spoke with company owner Ben Dillion at that time, he said he hoped to interest one of the major brands in the concept and licence them to produce it.

That didn’t happen. So Dillon has chosen to begin commercial production of the Tribine with his own company. But under its skin, the current machine is considerably different than the concept machine that appeared in Kansas City. It incorporates the firm’s own newly developed threshing body design, using one of the largest rotors in the industry.

58

home quarter farm life

GRAINEWS.CA / NOVEMBER 7, 2017

SINGING GARDENER

Meet a tomato-growing farmer Plus, how do you take your garlic? same, they just aren’t. The closest I have come is German Butterball for flavour but not the yield. I will be interested to hear if you can find a supplier. Thought it was interesting Louise and I have the same thoughts.

A potato is not just a potato; we all have our favourites.

Sincerely, Trudy Clavelle Plunkett, Sask.

Ted Meseyton

S

eems to me fruits of the vine and apples of the earth are top of the list when it comes to homegrown vegetables among Canadian gardeners, so both share space on this page with a hint of garlic at the end. Had the good fortune to spend a day to remember with gardener and farmer Karl Voesenek at Bagot, Manitoba. Karl’s true nature may be farming but he also possesses great tomato- and asparagus-growing skills.

Further along leads us into another reader’s opinion on Annabelle potato and, Hey! Think I found a source for seed. A tip of my hat means welcome and thanks for coming along with me. The ride is smooth and the reading easy.

PHOTOs: TED MESEYTON

Note from Ted — I suggest the following contact for Annabelle seed potato for 2018. They would be pleased to answer any questions that you may have regarding their company and services. Telephone: 416-251-2271 or 1-800-565-4915 or fax: 416-251-2497 or email: info@earthfreshfoods.com or write to: Earth Fresh, 1095 Clay Avenue Burlington, Ont. L7L 0A1

During the first week in October, Karl Voesenek harvested over 70 slicer-size green tomatoes plus about 15 smaller ones from this exceptionally generous tomato plant. Adjoining plants each bore between 40 to 50 tomatoes.

WOW! OVER 70 TOMATOES ON ONE PLANT. WHAT A STORY! Musically I, Ted, am right in tune with health-promoting, nutrientrich and supercharged tomatoes. Karl Voesenek loves growing tomatoes and my “Prostate Song” is all about tomatoes and how eating a daily serving of tomatoes contributes to a man’s well-being (and women’s health too). Here’s one of the first things Karl told me. “These tomato plants have done so well and the amount of fruit on them is so phenomenal. I’ve never seen so many.” Yours truly agreed so I beckoned Karl to tell me more. He continued, “I would say there are still at least about 70 good slicer-size green tomatoes on this plant. So many tomatoes and all a decent size and I’ve already taken a few ripe ones.”

He then talked about late planting. “The plants were purchased at a garden centre and they didn’t get transplanted outside until July.” As gardeners, we know that green thumbs alone don’t nourish plants.

Here’s Karl’s method for a successful crop of tomatoes with a bountiful return. Watering, of course, is a must and my ears perked up when he said, “The plants received no fertilizer of any kind; just compost.

We make our own compost on the farm and enhance the soil by working it in using a mulcher on the garden tractor.”

One couldn’t help but notice the length and breadth of the grandiose planting site. It gets full sunlight and is awe inspiring, eye attractive and well prepared. The tomato plants are supported and well spaced for good air circulation with fruits and foliage showing no sign of disease.

RIPENING GREEN TOMATOES I inquired of Karl: What’s next when these hundreds and hundreds of green tomatoes are picked? With his enormous smile he chuckled, “We ripen them in the garage. It has a heated floor. They usually ripen in about two weeks. It doesn’t take long.” He explained how the crop of green tomatoes are placed in single layers without touching each other in cardboard boxes with stem down (i.e. upside down) for two days.

Tomatoes are then turned with stem end facing upright until ripened. A good portion of the tomatoes are donated to local-area senior centres and residences. Each receives a delivery of ripe tomatoes. Enough tomatoes remain for personal use and processing (23 four-litre jugs in 2017). Karl and family enjoy homemade tomato soup — his favourite — and numerous other tomato-based dishes.

CONVERSATION TURNS TO ASPARAGUS Karl Voesenek’s asparagus bed is at another nearby garden location. He told me, “We hill the plants in the spring. This results in oh-so-delicious juicy white spears when harvested.” He continued, “The plants remain hilled over winter until the following spring. By next season soil has levelled off and the old fern growth is pruned away. The plants are then hilled again in anticipation of a new crop.” Karl elaborated on the taste of asparagus harvested in the following method, commonly practised in Holland where he was born. As soon as purple-tinged asparagus tips push up through the soil, Karl uses a cutting knife to harvest individual white spears about

GARLIC — A TIME-HONOURED MEDICINE FOR COLDS We all know that garlic is a cold fighter. Some say it’s a natural antibiotic too. I personally take it as garlic tea and also chop a raw clove that’s stirred into a glass of warm milk. Raw garlic can also be eaten with a slice of plain or toasted bread or place a thin sliver of garlic under the tongue until it’s absorbed. Garlic’s healing powers have long been known in various ways for centuries. It has immuneboosting ability plus potent antibacterial and antiviral properties. What’s your favourite way to take garlic?

Share it with readers.

REMEMBER TO MULCH

An autumn view of the front yard. Karl Voesenek of Bagot, Manitoba area has been on this farm for 56 years and he told the Singing Gardener, “I’ve been growing tomatoes for 56 years.”

six inches below soil level. He then fills in the space again with more soil. According to Karl, “The white spears are a whole lot more juicier and the taste is far better; far superior.” He also mentioned that mature asparagus plants will produce an annual crop for 20 years with each season lasting about six weeks or until the longest day of summer, June 21. This provides asparagus plant roots enough time to recuperate for the next season’s harvest.

Karl remarked in his opinion that “asparagus is among the most health-promoting of all vegetables and especially for preventing cancer.” Newly planted asparagus

requires about three seasons’ growth to reach maturity, although some cutting can often be done during the second year for about three weeks. My thanks to Karl Voesenek for his hospitality and a great visit.

AN EMAIL FROM LAND OF LIVING SKIES Oct. 10, 2017 Good morning Ted, I always enjoy reading your articles in Grainews. I just wanted to agree with Louise Plante, St. Paul, Alberta. I too have grown Annabelle potatoes and thought they were an excellent variety. Although many stores say other varieties are the

Winterizing garden perennials after the first heavy frost is essential and varies according to one’s location across Canada. This is especially true when experimenting with growing tender plants rated for a more temperate climate than your zone. Perennials and roses should be mulched with at least four inches or more of dry leaves and compost. Plenty of snow cover adds to the insulation.

This is especially critical in areas that experience freezing and thawing during winter. Some gardeners are successfully wintering Zone 4 plants in Zone 3 areas. It might be partly due to climate change but we may also have to deal with an introduction of insect pests formerly not seen. GN This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie, Man. “We need each other.

We must make our homes centres of compassion and forgive endlessly.”— Mother Teresa singinggardener@mts.net

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