AgriPost August 30 2013

August 30, 2013 1The Agri Post

August 30, 20132 The Agri Post

By Harry Siemens

The World Trade Organiza-tion (WTO) will decidewhether the U.S. is still dis-criminating against Canadianlivestock with its mandatorycountry of origin labelling (M-COOL) rules. The Canadian governmentwants a WTO compliancepanel to rule on whetherchanges by Washington arelegal and can stand scrutinyunder the country’s interna-tional trade obligations. TheUS government says theamendments bring M-COOLinto compliance, but Canadamaintains the changes makeit worse for Canadian cattleand hogs producers. Martin Unrau, President ofthe Canadian Cattlemen’sAssociation and a cattle pro-ducer at Gladstone, said theAmericans did not do whatthe WTO told them to do andlooks forward to seeingwhere the WTO case will go. A WTO dispute panel ruledin Canada’s favour, but someAmericans who see it as pro-tecting their industry, such askeeping cattle and hogs fromcrossing the border and keep-ing their price higher.

The provincial government is supporting the Government of Canada’s decision torequest a World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance panel be established on U.S.country of origin labelling (COOL) says Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minis-ter Ron Kostyshyn. “I want Ministers Ritz and Fast to know that our government supports their effortsand will stand with them as we stand up for our cattle and hog producers,” saidKostyshyn. “The bottom line is that COOL is hurting the agriculture industry inManitoba and across Canada, and that needs to change.” The WTO ruled last June that COOL discriminates against exports of Canadianlivestock. The United States had until May 23 to implement regulatory or legislativechanges to COOL. The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not make the needed changesto bring COOL into compliance with its WTO obligations. In Manitoba’s view, thesechanges will worsen the barriers facing Canadian livestock since COOL regulationswere first implemented in 2008, said Kostyshyn. As a result, Canada has requested that the original panel review the final COOLmeasure and determine whether the changes are adequate to bring the U.S. into com-pliance. “Our government has fought against COOL from the beginning,” said Kostyshyn.“We will keep fighting until this unfair trade policy is changed.”

M-COOL Fight Rages On

Now a WTO compliancepanel, with many of the samemembers will look at whetherthe U.S. is complying with theoriginal ruling, starting Au-gust 30. In the middle of August,Agricultural Minister GerryRitz and International TradeMinister Ed Fast said themove signals a new round thatcould become a North Ameri-can trade war. Cattle and hog farmers inCanada claim M-COOL, dat-ing back to 2009, forced lowerU.S. imports of Canadian live-stock because it cost U.S.packers more to do so. “The WTO ruled the Ameri-cans were not in compliance,and their M-COOL rules andregulations contravened freeand unfettered trade so wetook them to the WTO,” Ritzsaid. “We won that ruling,they appealed, we won thatappeal and the Americans,before the end of last May,

had to come forward withchanges that were required tobring them into compliance.” Ritz said the new U.S. ini-tiatives brought forward ac-tually make this even worseby making it indefensiblehowever, they have contin-ued to press ahead. “As I explained to my coun-terpart, Tom Vilsack, he has apolitical fix to a problem thatdoesn’t exist,” said Ritz. “Hisown industry, coupled withthe Canadian and Mexicanindustry, is now taking theGovernment of the UnitedStates to court to try and getan injunction so they cannotmove forward with the rulesas they’re written.” Ritz said the U.S. govern-ment recognizes the integra-tion of the North Americanbeef and pork industries sohe remains hopeful commonsense will prevail. He said there has alwaysbeen a difference between

Canadian and American live-stock. It is just a cost of do-ing business. When M-COOLcame into affect the dispari-ties for hogs hit $25 on a hog,$40 to $50 on a cow and nowthat is double in the lastmonth.

“We know there’s a tremen-dous negative impact on ourindustry which also iscoupled to the American in-dustry,” he said. “Our indus-try has identified over a bil-lion dollars a year they feel ismissing in that differential and

the American industry is say-ing it will cost them some sev-eral hundred million dollars ayear to implement this.” If this is to safeguard con-sumers in the U.S. they aregoing to pay mightily for thatlittle bit of safeguard, not evenrequired, he added.

Manitoba RManitoba RManitoba RManitoba RManitoba Reinforces Support foreinforces Support foreinforces Support foreinforces Support foreinforces Support forFederal COOL ActionFederal COOL ActionFederal COOL ActionFederal COOL ActionFederal COOL Action

“His own industry, coupled with the Cana-dian and Mexican industry, is now takingthe Government of the United States tocourt to try and get an injunction so theycannot move forward with the rules as

they’re written.”


By Les Kletke

Mountains are always a tourist attraction and a mountainof wheat in the Red River Valley is no exception. The onebeside the Paterson elevator in Morris is very distinctive. Kevin Woods is the Manager of Country Operations withPaterson and he is cautious about how the new storage sys-tem will work and how long the company will hold grain inthe bulk system. It has another holding system of similar sizeat its Winnipeg elevator. He said the company made the decision to try the storagefacility about six weeks ago and as the winter wheat harvestapproached it made sense to have the first trial with winterwheat. The system could also be used for other commoditiessuch as corn or soybeans. It is expected to hold about 1.5million bushels. “The manufacturer rates it at 50,000 tonnes,” said Woods.“The exact amount will vary on the commodity and the weightof the product being stored.” He said the company is not yetsure when they will be moving the grain that is going intostorage but it could be relatively soon if a market developsor it could be stored into winter. They have not yet determined how they will load the grainfrom the pile that is on the ground. “We could use a loader and put it into a truck and haul it to

A Mountain of Grain

Huge ducts are placed on the ground and suck air from the grainto pull the cover down. The tarps covering the pile are sowntogether as the length of the pile increases

When complete, the pile will hold nearly 1.5 million bushels of winter wheat. The company expects to have a similar pile at itsWinnipeg location.

Photos by Les Kletkethe elevator where it would be loaded into cars,” said Woods.“There are several options available from the U.S.” The pile has been growing rapidly as the winter wheatharvest began truck loads were averaging about 10 minutesper unit. The facility is equipped with fans to pull air out of the pile,which is the opposite from tradition bin storage where air isblown into the pile. “The air is sucked out of the pile,” said Woods. “That pullsthe tarp down and holds it tight to the grain. We have to becareful of windy days and putting the tarp on it but we havebeen very fortunate with the weather and being able to getthe cover on it.” The new storage method provides an attractive option forfarmers who might be facing storage problems with this year’scrop. They are able to deliver their entire winter wheat cropto the facility without using any on farm storage, which maybe in demand later in harvest.Fans remove air from the pile to reduce field heat and pull the

cover down tight to the grain.


Dear Editor: I would like to addresschanges brought forward bythe U.S. Secretary of Agricul-ture Tom Vilsack in regards toCOOL (Country of OriginLabelling). These changes havean impact on the processingof cattle and hogs in particu-lar, and the production thatmany Manitobans rely on fortheir livelihoods. Recently, I had the oppor-tunity, as the representativedirector for Canada, to attendthe State Agriculture RuralLeaders Organization’s annualmeeting held in Vancouver. As

One good thing about school and class reunions is the fact people really can’t misrepresent theirages no matter how young or old they may appear. My wife Judith had a class reunion that’s right up there in years gone by, yet either for those whohad kept in touch or especially for those who hadn’t seen each other in 50 years. It seemed just likeyesterday. It was also interesting to hear people share the directions their lives have taken over the course of50 years, how many had retired not only once from certain careers, but two and three times in somecases. Also, how health issues had affected further career choices, and even the loss through separationor death, yet 24 of that class were at this reunion, and spirits connected once again. I enjoyed the time with these people immensely. I’ve told the story of the farmer who told me two years ago how five or six years ago, he grew cornon the best ground. Today he grows it on his worst ground and the yields are better. The point I’m making is that research is vital to stay ahead of the game and in some cases just upor even a little behind. That same farmer told me he’d switched from edible beans to corn andsoybeans because the edible bean people had not stayed up with the others in Manitoba. Hence, heswitched to a corn and soybean rotation. Last Friday, Michelle Rempel, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, announcedfederal support for the purchase of specialized agricultural equipment to seed and harvest soybeanand corn research test fields. I happen to believe corn and soybeans have a great future in Manitoba, especially soybeans thatrequire considerable less input costs and are a very hardy plant to grow in our climate. I alsoremember when certain people wanted to grow soybeans back in 1980, but the industry didn’t havethe varieties suitable for the soil, climate and heat units. They flourished one, two years and thenthey froze, or ‘droughted’ out and the long drought of no soybeans continued for many years. Until as one other soybean seed grower told me, soybean varieties developed in Grand Forks don’tnecessarily do well in Manitoba. “We need varieties suited not only for Manitoba, but for specificregions and soil types. It is good to see governments partner with grower groups to get the rightvarieties for the right climate, region and soil types. “With the increasing demand for specialty crops like soybeans and corn, it is critical that produc-ers be well-positioned to respond and remain competitive,” Minister Rempel told the media gath-ered in Carman on Friday. “Agriculture is one of Canada’s top economic sectors and by supporting

research projects like this one led by the Manitoba Pulse Grow-ers Association; governments show their collective commitmentto Canada’s continued economic growth and long-term prosper-ity.” The feds chipped in through the WD with $242,000 to assistthe Manitoba Pulse Growers Association and Manitoba CornGrowers Association (MPGA) to do agronomic research. Thiswill improve crop productivity and yields, allowing farmers tocapitalize on the increase in domestic and international marketdemand, while reducing production risks. Roxanne Lewko, Executive Director of the MPGA, is happyfor the funding to help buy a research row crop seeder and rowcrop combine. “Soybean and corn acres in the province are increasing, and theresearch conducted by Dr. Yvonne Lawley at the University ofManitoba on these crops is resulting in the best managementpractices that farmers can use,” said Lewko. “Agronomic re-search provides incredible value to farmers and this funding com-mitment reflects the government’s recognition of that and indi-cates the importance of this type of work in the future.” Theresa Bergsma, General Manager, Manitoba Corn GrowersAssociation, said they’re excited to have Lawley working withthem on corn projects through the University of Manitoba. In my opinion, this is the type of research where governmentslook for the producer and commodity groups that can give ustaxpayers a bang for our buck and get the right people developingto bring the right varieties on stream.

Dear Editor: With the first year anniversary of so-called marketing freedom under their belt, Gerry Ritz and therest of the grain trade are all smiles or should one say they are gloating over their good fortune. Forsure, the major grain companies have the producers of grain right where they want them. However, perhaps Ritz will answer a few questions on how things are shaping up for farmers andtheir new marketing freedom.(1) Is it true, Mr. Ritz when the farmer has unloaded his grain at the elevator (terminal) his owner-ship of that grain has vanished?(2) Terminal blending of grain as was done in the days of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB)produced monetary benefits in the multi-millions for the farmer. Are those blending profits still partof the farmers’ income under marketing freedom?(3) Wheat and Barley price premiums – Economists Kraft, Furtan, Tyrchniewicz, Schmitz, Gray,Storey have all shown the CWB earned an average total wheat and Barley premiums of $300 - $500million per annum, for the producers of the grain. My question to you Mr. Ritz is this, are thosepremium dollars still accruing to the farmers under this new marketing freedom? Please tell us Mr.Ritz we need to know.(4) Interest earnings – Terminal rebates – penalties – tendering and despatch brought to the farmersover $100 million annually. Tell me Mr. Ritz, what is the farmer’s yearly benefit from those earningsnow that he has marketing freedom?(5) Farmers and Producer cars - what happened? What level of service has slipped from the farmershands, in this first year of market freedom?(6) Lest anyone believes I have padded the numbers when the CWB ruled the roost, think again.According to a 2007 study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the CWB generates an estimated economicimpact of $1.6 billion per year. What I have done, is seriously understated the economic benefit thefarmers have lost with market freedom.Henry NeufeldWaldeck, SK

When the Five Man Electrical Band released their hit with the lyrics, “Sign, sign, every-where a sign, block’n out the scenery, break’n my mind”, I don’t think they were singing aboutsigns promoting agricultural products, but they sure did describe this year. I cannot remember a year with as many seed variety signs, or crop input signs and it is notbecause we have seen a proliferation of new companies or products, if anything the oppositeis true and we have fewer product lines to choose from. The number of signs indicates twothings about the industry for this year. One is that the advertising agencies that handle the accounts have decided that field signs are

a good way to go and a cost effective way toreach farmers at a decision making time. Trendshave ruled this industry for years. Some yearsproducts are named for large cats, some yearsthe ad programs are based around sportsthemes, curling and football have been popularin recent years, but this year the trend was notsports. The amount of signs this year has mewishing that I had bought into a company thatmanufactures coreoplast, that and electionscoming could well make for the best invest-ments of the decade.

The second thing that signs tell us is that there is an above average crop standing out there.In most cases it is still a few weeks from the bin but you can be assured that if the product wasnot shown in the best light it would not have a nameplate on the end of the field. I don’t think the return on crops will quite reach the possible return on investment in acoreoplast company but it could be pretty good. This is the first year in a long time that Iheard a farmer say things looked “good, almost too good”. He was, in fact, referring to thegrowth on his bean field and that the canopy of leaves was so heavy the ground and crop werenot drying out daily and the resulting conditions were just about perfect for disease develop-ment. This year the crop canopy is good enough to justify just about any product that promisespestilence control, and in most cases farmers have been willing to apply it. The crop is there and the products have been working but the question remains. Will the lastline of the chorus come true next year when farmers go to make their input purchases? Willthose signs have worked and had an effect on our mind? Only time will tell, and it is time toget this crop in the bin.

ResearchPartnering the

Right Way

Good Crop... of Signs

Show Us the Benefits, Show Us the MoneyShow Us the Benefits, Show Us the MoneyShow Us the Benefits, Show Us the MoneyShow Us the Benefits, Show Us the MoneyShow Us the Benefits, Show Us the Money

Advocating for Lower ProductionAdvocating for Lower ProductionAdvocating for Lower ProductionAdvocating for Lower ProductionAdvocating for Lower ProductionCosts Needs to HappenCosts Needs to HappenCosts Needs to HappenCosts Needs to HappenCosts Needs to Happen

a representative, I informed theparticipants how COOL caninfluence trade betweenCanada and the United States. Afterwards, the issue wasdebated by United States Sena-tors, members of the U.S.House of Representatives, Ca-nadian Members of the Legis-lative Assemblies and businessleaders. Their representativesasked the U.S. Congress tobuild markets for United Statescattle and hog producers thatdid not rely on implementingrestrictive trade practices suchas Country of Origin Label-

ling. Doc Anderson and Sena-tor Larry Rowden were keypeople in shepherding thismotion to a successfulcompletion; and it is an im-portant step forward for Ca-nadian producers. The decision by the Presi-dent of the United States andthe Secretary of Agriculture innot to push for the end ofthese restrictive trade prac-tices hurts both the producersin Canada and the UnitedStates. Consumers will feel theeffects because meat productswill cost more. It will have amajor impact on low-incomefamilies who deserve to havenutritious meals that don’tbreak the bank.

I am proud to say as thedirector representing Canadaon the State Agriculture andRural Leaders Organizationboard we have taken strongaction to advocate for change.This issue needs immediateattention. We will do all wecan to ensure trade barriers areremoved and that there areopen markets for our live-stock. It’s a shame that sincethe outbreak of BSE in 2003this NDP government hasfailed the cattle industry inManitoba. The NDP has failedto live up to its promise thatthere would be increased pro-cessing capacity forManitoba’s producers, whoare still paying a fee that was

designed to enable them tosend their product to marketsthrough a processing plantcloser to home. It’s long past time to workon making this a reality. Pro-ducers need this increased ca-pacity so they can expandtheir businesses and sell theirproducts to a larger market-place. We have great livestockproducers with great productsto sell. The World should beour marketplace. The largesthurdle to accessing that mar-ketplace is the NDP govern-ment.Ralph EichlerCritic for Agriculture, Foodand Rural InitiativesMLA for Lakeside


by RolfPenner

PennersPoints

[email protected]

By Ron BonnettBy Jon Gerrard

Alarming Decline in Bee PAlarming Decline in Bee PAlarming Decline in Bee PAlarming Decline in Bee PAlarming Decline in Bee Populationsopulationsopulationsopulationsopulations Bees play a crucial role in healthy crop production. These pollinators are essential insustaining agriculture, the heart of Manitoba. Recent reports indicate that bee colonies aredeclining rapidly. Some beekeepers have observed up to a 70 percent reduction since lastyear. I raised this striking concern in the Legislature on August 1 and 6. Although recog-nized as an area that requires immediate attention, the plan for how to proceed was am-biguous at best. Several studies indicate that the rapid decline in bee colonies is related to the use ofneonicotinoid-based pesticides in coating crop seeds. Ontario’s government recentlydeveloped a Bee Health Working Group panel with the goal of providing recommenda-tions by spring 2014 to improve the health of bee populations. Whether or notneonicotiniods are the source of the problem, more research and work needs to be done to

determine how to sustain Manitoba’s bee population. In theLegislature I called for the government to strike a similarpanel to get input from Manitobans and help beekeepersand agricultural producers in this struggle to sustain ourprimary pollinator populations.

Meat Plant Inspection Changes HandsMeat Plant Inspection Changes HandsMeat Plant Inspection Changes HandsMeat Plant Inspection Changes HandsMeat Plant Inspection Changes Hands In April 2011, the Federal Government announced that theCanadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) would be vacat-ing the role of meat inspection for all provincially registeredmeatpacking plants. The deadline for the transition processis January 1, 2014. Very little has been said on the mattersince it was announced two years ago. With less than fivemonths remaining I asked in the Legislature what our gov-ernment was doing to ensure a smooth transition. I was

informed that 16 new inspectors and 2 supervisors were hired in July and are undergoingon-the-job training. We must ensure there is no compromise in food safety and no loss of business for our 33provincially registered plants. Why the government of Manitoba has kept silent on thisproblem, the process is unclear. Our large numbers of provincial meat producers requireassurance that public perception will not negatively affect demand for provincially regu-lated meat products. The importance of maintaining high quality food inspection stan-dards must be a top priority and requires precise and diligent attention to avoid futurehealth risks. Transparency, not secrecy, is what Manitobans need in this matter. For more information, please feel free to leave your comments [email protected] or visit my blog at manitobaliberals.blogspot.ca.

“Where’s the Ka-boom?” asked Martin the Martian in aclassic Bugs Bunny cartoon. “There’s supposed to be anearth-shattering Ka-boom!” That memorable line perfectlydescribes the anticlimax for those who were dead set againstthe idea that farmers could sell their wheat and barley towhomever they wanted. At the one-year anniversary ofmarketing freedom, the “Ka-boom” predicted time and timeagain by the Chicken Littles has failed to materialize. In-stead, farmers are experiencing record profits and smoothsailing. To be fair, a major drought in the United States causedcommodity prices to soar into the stratosphere. But for thefirst time in living memory, western Canadian farmers wereable to participate fully in a major market rally. In the past,under the single desk, the demand generated by such ral-lies was never allowed completely to cross the 49th paral-lel. Before, when world prices peaked, the monopoly WheatBoard just kept taking bigger and bigger pieces of the pie. We know this to be true. Price comparisons between west-ern Canada farmers and what was put in their pockets ver-sus what American farmers earned just across the borderprove it. In the past Americans enjoyed a sometimes-sig-nificant advantage, particularly when prices were high. Nowthat we have achieved marketing freedom, that difference

We have seen countless examples of climate volatility in recent years. Extreme swings in tempera-ture and moisture are becoming the norm, and farmers are constantly finding ways to adapt to thisvolatility, including putting proper water management practices in place. Water is incredibly impor-tant to the success and future of Canadian farms and farmers, so it is vital to consider ways toenhance our efforts to protect and improve the quality and quantity of our water supply. Without usable water, there are no crops, no livestock, and no agri-food industry. Canada’s most

productive food growing regions are in fact the driest and threaten-ing to become drier. At the same time, we are home to more waterper capita than any other country in the world. Moreover, Canadais one of only five countries (Others: Brazil, Argentina, Russia,USA) with the capacity to expand its agri-food exports, an increas-ingly critical function in the context of growing global populationand ever evolving dietary preferences. Clearly, Canada has a very important role to play in sustainingdomestic and global food supply and proper water management iscentral to our ability to do so. Further to that, farmers specificallyhave a vital role as stewards of the land because of their dailyinteraction with natural resources. Farmers are mindful that the pursuit of increased food produc-tion cannot come at the cost of sustainable water managementpractices. Best management practices (BMPs) for water are fo-cused on minimizing the risk of impacting water quality and in-creasing the efficiency of water usage, while maintaining economic

profitability, and are being adopted by farmers across Canada. Water quality issues such as solid sediments from soil erosion, fertilizers, pesticides, manure, andwaste products from animals all require careful management to ensure Canadian water quality ismaintained. The adoption of successful BMPs can help farmers address these issues with responseslike, improved manure management, the creation of buffer strips, the instillation of exclusive fencing,and watering their livestock at a sufficient distance from their water supplies. Water quantity issues we must face include adopting new technologies and practices to improvewater efficiency in all areas of agricultural production, implementing plans to retain water on theland to provide a supply during droughts, and better understanding of the inter-relationship betweengroundwater supplies and the many competing users of that groundwater in each region. However, not everything can be done at the farm level. The only way our water can be trulyprotected is if Canada takes proactive measures from the farm to federal level, from coast to coast.Adoption of new technologies and BMPs must be supported at all levels. Programs within theGrowing Forward 2 framework could provide financial incentives for farmers to try trial innovationsin agricultural technologies and practices dealing with water efficiency on their farms. It is alsoimportant that governments work with financial institutions like Farm Credit Canada and CanadianBanks in order to provide the support necessary for widespread adoption of beneficial technologies.In addition, we must continue to prioritize research focused on improving crop varieties so theyrequire less water to ensure farmers can maintain successful harvests in times of drought andmaximize the efficiency of irrigation. We encourage everyone from the farm to federal level, including the Canadian public, to understandhow water quality/quantity issues affect our communities and to act appropriately to help protectthis important natural resource. Learn more about Canadian agriculture and the CFA at cfa-fca.ca. Ron Bonnett is CFA President and a Cow/Calf Operator.

Victory Lap

has almost vanished. In some cases, higher “in the pocket”returns can now be found on the Canadian side of theborder. When asked about how smooth the transition was, andabout how good farmers are doing under the new system,the more honest of the old Boardies will say somethinglike, “It’s too early to tell…” Which in translation means,“Okay, everything is going really well right now and thereare no actual problems that we can point to, but just youwait for it, there is still going to be an earth shattering Ka-boom.” Others claim that once prices come down again we willsee a difference. These people are both right and wrong.They believe that the old system somehow got them bet-ter returns, when in fact all of the empirical evidence showsthe opposite. The monopoly system hurt farmers the mostwhen prices were low. Many times in the past, when farm-ers here were losing money, those to the south of us wereeither breaking even or making a couple of dollars peracre. We don’t miss the single desk during times of high

prices and we’ll miss it even less when prices are poor. Some diehard monopolists still grasp at straws. “Whatabout the protein premiums that have disappeared?” theycry. In a letter to the Western Producer, John De Pape doesan excellent job of eviscerating this argument. He makesmany good points, one of which is that last year no one gotany real protein premiums because pretty much everyonewas able to grow high protein crops. That greatly reducedthe need for anyone to pay such a premium. De Pape’s best argument, however, is this, “According tothe CWB website, in 2011-12, the last year of the singledesk, the market premium for 14 percent protein over 13percent in CWRS [Canadian Western Red Spring wheat]averaged about $60 per tonne, and was as high as $100 pertonne. In the CWB pool account that same year, the pre-mium for No. 1 CWRS 14.0 over No. 1 CWRS 13.0 was only$22.57 per tonne, well below the average. So, what did theCWB do with the other $37 per tonne?” That’s a great question. Even though we don’t know whereit went, clearly it didn’t go to farmers. It’s another exampleof the kind of “demand-management” mentioned above. The only real negative seems to be that those who foughtthe hardest for marketing freedom are being far too humbleand modest when it comes to all of this. Things have gonefar better and far smoother than even the most optimistic ofthem could have imagined. They should go ahead and takea well-deserved victory lap on this one. We’re off to a greatstart here and history will look favourably upon them forrestoring this basic human right to western farmers.

Agricultural IssuesRaised in Legislature

Protecting Canada’sWater Supply, Farm to

Federal Level


By Les Kletke

Producers who want togive their winter wheat ajump-start this fall may wantto consider a treatment thatcontains phosphate andzinc. Brian Elgert who is a Ter-ritory Manager in Manitobafor Omex Agriculture Inc.with 25 years experience, aB.Sc. in Agriculture SoilServices, an MBA inagribusiness and a Certi-fied Crop Adviser said thatthis treatment has provenitself on spring wheat buthe is cautious to recom-mend it on fall-seededcrops. “I don’t want to leave fel-lows with the idea that aseed treatment will allowthem to seed later in the fall.They still have to followgood agronomic practicesand the dates required bycrop insurance but zincdoes give the plant a boostin establishing the root sys-tem,” said Elgert. Elgert saidthat significant work hasbeen done that show thebenefits of zinc on springseeded crops when theseed goes into cold soil,and there is no reason to

Jump Start Winter Wheat

Abdelebasset El Hadrami is the research director with OmexCanada. He advocates a boost of nutrients to get the plantestablished. Omex is looking for farmers to conduct field trialsof nutrient treatment on winter wheat.

Photo by Les Kletke

believe that the productwould not have the sameimpact when placed withseed going into warmground in the fall. “The key to establishinga winter wheat crop is theroot system,” said Elgert.“If the seed gets that initialboost of zinc and estab-lishes a good healthycrown root it should be bet-ter able to withstand thestress of winter.” Much ofthe provinces winter wheatcrop west of the Pembinaescarpment did not survivethe winter and was turneddown in the spring. Some producers in theRed River Valley had bor-derline stands, Gord Snarrat Morris said that he wasin the worst possible situa-tion, “with a stand justgood enough to leave buttoo patchy to provide agood yield.” A borderlinecrop may well have ben-efited from a larger moreestablished root systemthat would have carried itthrough the winter. Elgert said that the latespring and resultant latecanola harvest might resultin reduced acres of winterwheat this year.

“Producers tend to puttheir winter wheat oncanola stubble and with thecrop being late this yearthey may not want to takethe time to plant a cropwhen the rest of their cropis ready to harvest,” saidElgert. He is looking for pro-ducers who would like tobe involved with a fieldscale trial and treating aportion of their seed withthe zinc coating. Elgert said the amount ofzinc and phosphate is notintended to replace a regu-lar nutrient program butrather to give the plant aninitial boost as it absorbsmoisture for germinationand the early stages of rootdevelopment. “We know that even withbanding the phosphate tothe side and below the seedrow there are some con-cerns,” he said. “So a smallamount placed directlyaround the seed just allowsthe plant to get off to a bet-ter start.”Omex Agriculture Inc.(Canada) has been servingCanadian farmers since1998. In the fall of 2006, OmexInternational Ltd. head-

quartered in England,opened their first suspen-sion fertilizer manufactur-ing plant in Canada locatedin Manitoba to serve boththe western and easternCanadian markets, as wellas the northern UnitedStates. The company offers arange of products, many ofwhich are tailor-made tomeet specific crop require-ments, develops, and pro-duces liquid fertilizers us-ing advanced gel rheology,for soil and foliar applica-tion, which are sold in over50 countries worldwide.

By Tracey Drabyk-Zirk

2013 marks 100 years for 4-H in Canada. Roland,Manitoba is recognized as thebirthplace of 4-H in Canadaas they were the communityin which the first organiza-tional meeting for a Boys andGirls Club was held in 1913. To celebrate this milestone,anyone who has been affili-ated with the 4-H program orworked with the many greatgraduates of the 4-H programis encouraged to donate $100

Donate a $100 for 100 YDonate a $100 for 100 YDonate a $100 for 100 YDonate a $100 for 100 YDonate a $100 for 100 Yearsearsearsearsearsfor 100 years. For young 4-H’ers who havenot already made a charitabledonation, it is a great time totake advantage of the “FirstTime Donor’s Super Credit”recently announced by theFederal Government. Thefirst-time donor’s super creditgives an extra 25 percent creditwhen claiming your charitabledonation. This means that you can geta 40% credit for donations of$200 or less, and a 54% creditfor the portion of donations

that are over $200 and up to$1,000. This donation can benefitthe 4-H program in severalways. Donors can find outhow by visiting the Manitoba4-H Council or the Manitoba4-H Endowment Fund Foun-dation at 4h.mb.ca or on theCanadian national site at 4-h-canada.ca/donate100. Tracey Drabyk-Zirk is aRural Leadership Specialistwith Manitoba Agriculture,Food and Rural Initiatives inBeausejour.




By Les Kletke

Farmers have long been saying that they would prefer theirreturn from the marketplace rather than government programs.The statement comes most often from grain producers, who suf-fered through an international trade war, but Albert Giesbrecht isa sheep producer and he feels the same way. Giesbrecht has no complaints about the compensation he re-ceives for lambs that have been killed by coyotes but he wonderswhy the government will not do anything to remove the animalsfrom his area. “They have the technology and the expertise to remove theanimals,” said Giesbrecht. “But they won’t do anything about

Wants His Return from the Marketthe animals that are returning to take my lambs.” He said thatexperienced trappers have told him that the lambs are the victimsof a mother with pups or a rogue male. Manitoba Agriculture will compensate him at 90 percent ofmarket value for animals that are killed by coyotes and he saidthat is fair. “The compensation is alright, I would lose 10 percent of theweight in shipping the animals to Ontario,” he said. “But I don’traise lambs to feed the coyotes I would like to get my return fromthe market place and this is very disheartening.” Giesbrecht lost some lambs to predators earlier in the springand has received compensation for the animals but nothing hasbeen done about the predators and that is his concern. “The government has the technology to deal with these animalsand it does not require the eradication of all coyotes but theyhave done nothing to removethe animals that are taking mylambs and I would like to knowwhy?” he said. He surmisesthat the lack of activity is be-cause of public opinion to thetrapping and removal of ani-mals. Rather than deal with theissue the government contin-ues to pay compensation toproducers. Giesbrecht, who lives in Altona and has his sheep on a farm-stead two miles west of town, was disheartened to arrive at theyard August 12 and find the carcasses of two lambs on a dykesurrounding his property. “It is a sickening feeling to find the carcasses at this point.

When you come to the farm and the first thing you have to do isdeal with this it makes you wonder why you are raising lambs?”he said. He has been told to get dogs to patrol the yard site butthey bring other issues and in some cases the coyotes distract the

dogs while another coyotes goin for the kill. He said he hasheard of other guard animalslike lamas but has found themless than effective.

Albert Giesbrecht of Altonasays that governmentcompensation does not makeup for finding dead lambswhen he goes to his farm inthe morning. Coyotes havebeen claiming an aboveaverage number of lambs.

Photo by Les Kletke

The Manitoba Agricul-tural Museum will be par-ticipating in Open FarmDay on Sunday, September15. Farming and agriculturecomes alive at the Museum,which will be open to thepublic free of charge forOpen Farm Day. Visitorswill be able to visit the vastcollection of Farm machin-ery and implements, thePioneer Village, and liveagricultural demonstra-tions will be held includingSteam tractor and equip-ment operation as well ashorse-powered equipment. This year the event willcoincide with the ManitobaTeam Roping Association(MTRA) competition,which will feature up to 50riders in 25 teams vying fora spot to compete in the2013 MTRA finals at theBrandon Keystone Centreon September 28. Teamroping starts at 1pm. For more event informa-tion, visit the Museumwebsite at ag-museum.comor the Manitoba Open FarmDay Website atopenfarmday.ca.

AgriculturalAgriculturalAgriculturalAgriculturalAgriculturalMuseumMuseumMuseumMuseumMuseumto Shareto Shareto Shareto Shareto Share

History onHistory onHistory onHistory onHistory onOpen FarmOpen FarmOpen FarmOpen FarmOpen Farm

DayDayDayDayDay


By Les Kletke

Dr. Yvonne Lawley is excited to be involved in the process ofpurchasing new equipment for her work on corn and soybeans. “The new equipment will be closer to what is being used onfarms and gives us the opportunity to work on seeding rates andplant populations,” said Lawley. “Current equipment relies ongravity and belt system that is not really representative of whatfarmers are using.” The new planter and harvester will be pur-chased with a grant from Western Diversification and fundingfrom the Manitoba Pulse Growers and Manitoba Corn GrowersAssociation. Lawley said that to date she has been harvestingcorn by hand and then threshing individual cobs. “This equipment will allow us to replicate trials and get themover a bigger area,” she said. She expects the geographic areas ofthese two crops will continue to spread eastward across theprairies. Lawley originally from Winnipeg completed her undergraduatedegree at the University of Manitoba before going to the Univer-sity of Saskatchewan to do her Masters and to the University ofMaryland to complete her PhD work. Lawley is currently an Assistant Professor with the Universityof Manitoba in Agronomy and Cropping Systems, a positionthat was vacant for a time before her hiring and an AdvisoryDirector with Manitoba Pulse Growers Association. Her focus isprimarily in cropping systems research, cover crops, plant andsoil interactions and plant and soil management to address agri-cultural and environmental challenges. “That meant that the position had time for some new research.It was not committed to any projects,” said Lawley. “So when Ibegan talking to the Pulse Growers and Corn Growers they indi-cated some of the work they would like to see done on agronomyand it was a good fit but we lacked the equipment to carry out alarge number of trials.” In Maryland, she worked on cover crops and the possibility ofgrowing three crops in two years with winter wheat. She thenworked in Carrington, North Dakota before coming to the Uni-versity of Manitoba in January of 2011. “I am amazed at the change in cropping systems in the last fiveyears,” she said, “The expansion of corn and soybeans north-ward has been substantial and with the commitment from privatecompanies to breeding programs we could see that expand east-ward.” Lawley has checked with a Manitoba manufacturer of testplot equipment but is also pursuing equipment manufactured inthe U.S. where row crop research is much more prevalent. “We want to be able to work with split application of fertilizerfor corn trials,” she said, “So that requires some specialized equip-ment on the seeder.” She said that much of the agronomy workdone in the U.S. is applicable to the two crops but their fit intorotation systems is different in Manitoba. “In many areas thoseare the only two crops produced. That is not the case here.”

By Harry Siemens

The harvest continues insouthern Manitoba with somereal surprises in spring andwinter wheat and canolayields. While the cool weather inmost of July bode well forthose crops, Reg Friesen ofPrairie Sky Crop Solutions, anindependent seed, crop pro-tection and custom applicationbusiness at Niverville, said ithas affected corn and laterseeded soybeans in the oppo-site way. First, Friesen said, in mostcases it is the canola right nowcatching everyone by surprise. “We thought we were in fora good canola crop, but it looks

Crop Yields are Surprising but Look Out for an Early Frostlike it could well be an excep-tional canola crop, at least inmy trading area.” Friesen said one client’scanola was yielding in the up-per 50’s. He had combined700 acres of his total 2,000acres. “I don’t think our area isgoing to average out to that,but some of the guys whowere thinking around 35-40 aredoing 40 to 45 bushels anacre,” he said. “The coolerweather we had all throughJuly, although it probably hashurt the beans and the corn,has done exceptionally wellfor the canola.” Winter wheat, with yieldsin the high 70’s and high 80’scompared to what it looked

like this spring, Friesen notedit is a pleasant surprise andsurpassing anybody’s expec-tations. With the cool weatherin July it really helped the ce-reals. “Back in spring, I was look-ing at the winter wheat in thearea and thinking, boy, the areaaverage we’d be looking to hitwas 50,” he said. “It justwasn’t looking good at all.” Spring wheat is in the 60bushel an acre area, and withthe newer varieties of springwheat, farmers should expectto be in the 60 bushel an acrearea, he said. That has changeddramatically from where theyused to be at 40 to 45 bushelsan acre. “That is another thing too,

when we were doing fungicideson spring wheat, the plantshadn’t stooled very well andwere quite short. Again Iwasn’t super optimistic of abig yield.” However, looking at the cornin his area, it pollinated verywell, the ears filled up, all thatwent well considering thecooler temperatures. “With the sunshine and get-ting the rain and everything, itwas working well and broughtthat ear to a good ear,” Friesensaid. “But the big question willbe if we get enough heat unitsand degree days to get it ready.Right now I’m optimisticabout it and I hope it makesit.” He said the forecasts for a

cooler September and an earlyfrost that would not bode wellfor corn and the later varietiesof soybeans. “We sell a lot of bean seedfrom our location and later orlonger maturing varieties cer-tainly have a long way to go,”he said. “The earliest varietyof soybeans are in good shapeand they will make it. Evenwith a frost at the beginningof the second week of Sep-tember, there would be zeroissue with them.” The mid-season beans willhave a fighting chance, but thelong-season beans and the cornhere are certainly an issue,” headded. Agronomist John McGregorsaid the corn kernel fill period

begins with successful polli-nation and initiation of kerneldevelopment (silking), andends approximately 60 dayslater when the kernels arephysiologically mature. “With corn now in the blis-ter stage we are looking at 45-50 days to black layer,” saidMcGregor. “If your corn ismore advanced (earlier variety)and you are in the milk stagethen it could be 35-40 days. Ifyour corn is entering the doughstage, then you may be look-ing at only 30-35 days.” He said this is importantbecause it gives the farmer anidea as to how far down theline frost may have an effecton the yield and quality of hiscorn.

Research CatchingUp to Farming




By Joan Airey

Canadian Food Grains Bank (CFGB) is celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2013. They haveencouraged groups of 30 people to start projects to raise money to help people in have notcountries. Esther Krahn started a project three years ago growing corn with her grandchildren to raisemoney for the Canadian Food Grains Bank. When she heard of the idea of 30 people raisingmoney to help CFGB, she approached children in the Rivers community. “When I approached people, in no time 30 children between 2 and 13 were involved growingextra vegetables in their gardens. Nine of my grandchildren are involved, one is only two yearsold but is capable of putting potatoes into a bag with the help of his siblings,” said EstherKrahn. Response to their project has been great. The group has had two Farmers’ Markets in Riversand raised $1,738.30, which will be donated to the local Acres of Hope who will forward it tothe CFGB. They have one more Farmers Market on August 28 (afternoon) before schoolstarts. “The children, under their mother’s guidance, have been baking breads, cookies, etc. to sell atthe market. The children do all the work from picking the produce and baking to manning thetables to sell the produce. It is a great family learning experience. The children know they canmake a difference helping people less fortunate,” said Krahn.

By Joan Airey

Versatility Stake caught theinterest of the audience at the55th Annual Canadian NationalAppaloosa Show held in Bran-don from July 30 to August 4. Versatility Stake is when theriders ride their horse withEnglish saddles and riding gearfirst, then have just minutesto change in the ring into west-ern attire and equipment. Therider has to take their horsethrough a course riding themover a bridge, walk over an ar-rangement of poles, back themthrough an arrangement of bar-rels, open, and close a gatewhile mounted.

Manitoba Youth Team NativePageant Costume won theclass with rider KassidyMoore. A team member toldthe history of each piece ofthe costume and why it wasworn. Over sixty horsescompeted in the CanadianNational Appaloosa Showfrom across North America.

Trainers Andrea and JohnPringle from Salt Spring Island,BC wash a three year oldstallion Mojito owned by GloriaMacDuff of Langley, BC. ThePringles showed sevenhorses at the Nationals inBrandon. “We have beenrunning a training stable onSalt Spring Island, BC for 25years. We show other peopleshorses and have a fewamateur riders that show withus. We think the show inBrandon is a great place toshow your horses, we lookforward to coming back eachyear,” said Andrea Pringle.

Canadian Food Grains BankCelebrates 30th Anniversary

Liesel Krahn visits with customers and watches over the children selling baked goods toraise money for the Canadian Food Grains Bank at the second annual Farmers Market.

Photo by Joan Airey

Versatility Stake Captures Audienceat National Appaloosa Show

Changing from English riding to Western in the Versatility Stake.

Photo by Joan Airey

The top five versatile riderswere Kelsey Thul, who placed1st, Amanda Wigstin 2nd,

CanadianNational

Appalossa Showheld in Brandon

Photo by Joan Airey

Emily Henschel 3rd, ChantelleKennedy 4th and TanessaTurnbull 5th.

Arabian Championship Horse Show in Brandon

Photo by Joan Airey


Supplementing B-complex vitamins into dairy diets was not seriously considered until about 20years ago. It was widely accepted that a dairy cow’s rumen microbes, which have the naturalability to manufacture B-vitamins, produced the dairy cow’s entire B-vitamin spectrum. Despitethis convention and the knowledge that visible B-vitamin deficiencies are rare in dairy cows; twodecades of new information on biotin (B8) has given significant nutrient status to biotin fortoday’s high milk producing dairy cows. Found amongst the more common essential nutrients such as energy, protein, minerals andother vitamins in a total dairy diet, the suggested level of biotin to feed lactating dairy cows is 20mg per head on a daily basis in order to promote good health and milk production. This biotin recommendation is based upon many microbiological studies and hands-on fieldtrials that dictate that a population of rumen bacteria in a typical dairy cow produces about 3-5mg of biotin on a daily basis and that meets her essential biotin requirement. However, thebioavailability of biotin from dairy feed ingredients, as well as artificial biotin supplementation, isless than 50 percent of most biotin additions. Furthermore, 20 mg of supplemental biotin isdeemed necessary to maintain natural biotin blood levels in dairy cows. Such dairy biotin supplementation also focuses upon two of biotin’s natural biologicalfunctions in the dairy cow’s body. First, biotin is a co-factor in many of her enzyme systems andgeneral metabolic processes that drive energy, fat and protein metabolism. Second, it plays aspecific role in the process of keratinisation, which transforms epithelial tissue into strong hornmaterial in hoofed animals. Consequently, biotin research conducted over the last 20 years has shown a consistent benefitto hoof health and milk production. Here is a brief summary of some well thought out biotinstudies:- The University of Florida fed mature dairy cows 0 or 20 mg; 16 days pre-calving and 0 or 30mg of biotin; 70 days post-calving. The researchers not only found that milk productionincreased about 1.0 kg per head per day on the biotin treatments, but these cows had less non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) build-up in their livers, which is a leading cause of fatal fatty liversyndrome in high performing dairy cattle.- Milk production increases of 1 – 2 kg per cow per day are often exhibited in biotin-supple-mented lactating dairy cows. For example, Ohio State attributed 20 mg of supplemental biotinadded to the transition-early lactation diets resulted in 2.9 kg more milk produced by biotin-supplemented cows compared to a non-supplemented control group. The control cows averagedabout 37 kg of milk/day versus about 40 kg of milk in the biotin-cows.- Various American studies on biotin supplementation/hoof health in dairy cattle were reviewedby the University of Delaware. They reported studies of white line separation reduced by 17percent in rear lateral claws and 18 percent in real medial claw when 20 mg of biotin wassupplemented. Other experiments showed sole ulcers were reduced in dairy cows fed a dailyallotment of 10 mg of biotin after 24 months. Heel warts were reduced by 20 percent in cows fed20 mg of biotin in another 11-month study. Lastly, sand cracks were reduced by 15 percent incows (beef) fed 10 mg per cow per day.

Biotin Finds New Status in High MilkProducing Dairy Diets

- A year-long field trial on a Washington-state 150 cow dairy farm compared hoof health statusof a group of cows supplemented with 20 mg of biotin per day to a non-biotin supplementedcontrol group; 20 of 40 control cows (50 percent) and 10 of 42 biotin-fed cows (24 percent) hadsole haemorrhages. The percentages of cows having heel horn erosion, ridges and double soles inboth biotin and control cows was not significant. Many dairy scientists speculate that such data illustrates that artificial biotin supplementationaugments the natural biotin produced by the resident rumen microbes. Specifically, it is the fibre-digesting bugs that are thought to be killed off by possible sub-clinical acidotic rumen conditions(SARA) caused by feeding high grain rations to high milk producing dairy cows. Since biotin isinvolved in hoof horn formation (re: hard nail part of the hoof) and also plays a role in enzymaticactivities in carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism required for good milk production; thesenecessary functions simply should continue when adequate biotin supplementation is restored. Such biotin restoration seems to yield a positive milk response after 3 – 4 months of biotinsupplementation to lactating dairy cattle. It seems that it takes 8 – 12 months of similartreatment for a positive hoof response. Consequently, the following table illustrates the best practical biotin-supplementationrecommendations as outlined by research.

By following these recommendations, some dairy producers might express concern as to theresponse times to biotin supplementation in the strengthening of cowherd’s hooves. While 8 – 12months may seem excessively long to see visible results, the biological response to biotinencompasses the natural growth of hoof horn, which is directly related to biotin’s effectiveness.Similar responses are often seen with other “hoof strengthening” nutrients such as adding organiczinc to dairy diets. Our primary true objective is to meet the dairy cows’ true biotin requirement, which may notbe covered by microbial biotin production. We must also remember that biotin is only part of anysound dairy diet. The diet must be balanced with other essential nutrients. They must all worktogether to promote good health and optimum performance in high milk producing dairy cows.



People think their quad, side-by-side, snowmo-bile or the kids’ dirt bike is covered on their insur-ance policy. This idea is wrong! There is no cover-

age on farm, business or home insurance policies unless they are specifically scheduled. When you do choose to insure these on your farm or business policy you are only covered forThird Party Liability while using it on your own private property. For example, if while crossing apublic road, you are in a collision and it is your fault, you would have no liability coverage. Howeverif you were insured with Autopac you would. This, in my opinion, is the largest consideration andfor this reason, alone I always recommend you insure with Autopac. There are no gaps in coverageand it costs less. How can you go wrong with that? The Autopac options include:- Collision damage- Comprehensive coverage, including fire, theft, hail and vandalism- Accident Benefits coverage – protection for your own injuries, regardless of fault, such asdisability, medical expenses and death or funeral benefits- $200,000 Third Party Liability with Family Protection coverage is included; you can increase it to$1, $2 or $5 Million. Call your Insurance Broker to make sure all your motorized vehicles are covered. If your decisionis to insure with Autopac, just bring in your paperwork to your broker and you can add thecoverage’s of your choice for your unit. Making sure you are covered for the operation of your ATV is very important, especially whenyou consider the Liability exposure! Be sure to seek advice and purchase insurance from those who understand your business! Andy Anderson is an Associate Insurance Broker specializing in General, Life and Group Benefitsfor Farm, Commercial/Agri-business Ph: 204-746-5589 Tf: 866 765 [email protected]/rempelinsurance.com/valleyfinancial.ca

A scientist in London, U.K.recently ate meat he created ina laboratory. The event gener-ated headlines and editorialsall over the world. The development of muscletissue from cattle stem cells isinteresting science that pro-vides countless opportunitiesfor the advancement of medi-cal treatments, such as skin re-placements for burn victimsor replacement of failed organs.This is exciting. However, some people alsothink that this event was goodnews for the environment.That is unfortunate and comesfrom persistent misconcep-tions about the environmentalimpact of beef production,especially on the Canadianprairies. Laboratory-growntissue is not necessarily a goodreplacement for the sound en-vironmental management out-comes from cattle productionin our part of the world. As a beef producer I am asteward of the land. I am con-cerned that far too manypeople are confusing abandon-ing land with conservation, aswell-known journalistGwynne Dyer did in his re-cent column, ‘The world’smost important hamburger’. Dyer states, “We would beable to turn most of that 70per cent of agricultural landback into forest and prairie orswitch it to growing grain forhuman consumption.” If thishappened in Manitoba itwould have a devastatinglynegative ecological impact.The economic impact wouldalso be disastrous, but I willset that aside for now. Grazing cattle are an inte-gral part of grassland ecosys-tems and help us meet our con-servation objectives. For ex-ample, scientific research inCanada’s prairie communitypastures has shown that thosepastures preserve habitat for33 different species. Endan-gered species conservation ishappening hand-in-hand withmanaged cattle grazing.

Beef Producers areManitoba’s Conservationists

By Trevor Atchison

Beef producers need to beeconomically viable, but indoing so they can also pro-vide society with many envi-ronmental services such aspreserving wetlands. Accord-ing to an analysis conductedby the University ofManitoba, the total value ofthe social, economic, agricul-tural, and ecological functionscoming from Manitoba’s graz-ing lands is $31.4 billion. Thatspeaks both to the job-creat-ing value of the grazing live-stock industry as well as itsability to maintain importantenvironmental goods and ser-vices for all Manitobans. One of our province’s mostactive conservation organiza-tions, Agro Manitoba makes apoint of working with beefproducers because of the con-nection between cattle andhabitat conservation in our re-gion. Tim Sopuck, Chief Execu-tive Officer of the ManitobaHabitat Heritage Corporation,has said, “The most signifi-cant reservoir of habitat in ouragricultural region is found onlands managed by beef pro-ducers.” According to Sopuck,“Cattle pastures and hay landsalso harbour grasslands, wood-lands and wetlands that shel-ter wildlife, improve waterquality, reduce flooding, pro-tect soils and store carbon.” He noted that if cattle couldnot be raised economically onthose lands, many producers

would have no choice but tobreak them up and plant an-nual crops like wheat, oats andcanola. Right away, habitatwould be lost. In addition, be-cause many of these lands arehilly, sandy or generally havefragile soils, annual cultivationwould increase soil erosionthat would degrade our landand water. Sopuck stated, “Interest-ingly, we should recognizebeef producers as the largesthabitat conservation group inrural Manitoba. They are stew-ards of millions of acres ofwetlands, grasslands andwoodlands.” Cattle produce food fromresources that humans cannoteat; people don’t do well graz-ing grass. In Manitoba, beefproduction occurs on land thatis not best suited for grain pro-duction, but benefits fromhaving the protection ofgrasses and other natural veg-etation. We should be makingefforts to preserve pasture andhay land, not drain and culti-vate it. Beef cattle ranching is a keyindustry left on the landscapethat is imitating natural pro-cesses and producing high-quality protein for peoplewhile providing those otherresources that the public ex-pects, such as soil-conservingpermanent cover, trees, wet-lands and wildlife. These areresults that lab-grown beef willnot be able to deliver on thelandscape. Manitoba’s beef producerswill continue to produce envi-ronmentally sustainable,healthy and affordable beefwhile adding significantly tothe growth and developmentof Manitoba’s economy. Thisis sustainability in action. Eatyour Manitoba-raised burgerwith relish and the confidencethat it is an environmentallyresponsible decision. Trevor Atchison is a BeefProducer and President ofManitoba Beef Producers.

Close the Insurance GapClose the Insurance GapClose the Insurance GapClose the Insurance GapClose the Insurance Gapfor Off Rfor Off Rfor Off Rfor Off Rfor Off Road Voad Voad Voad Voad Vehiclesehiclesehiclesehiclesehicles

By Les Kletke

Soybean and corn acres havereached record levels inManitoba and are not aboutto stop. Judging by the atten-dance at the annual Field Dayshosted by the Crop ResearchOrganization of Portage(CROP), Manitoba Agricul-ture Food & Rural Initiatives(MAFRI) and Canada-Manitoba Crop Diversifica-tion Centre (CMCDC), notonly are record acres of thecrops planted, producers whocontinue to show up at fielddays want to know more aboutthe crops and what is comingdown the pipeline in breedingprograms and crop input pro-grams. Wes Martens, who sellsThunder and Legend seed andis himself a long time corngrower at Altona, told grow-ers of changes in the manage-ment practices of corn produc-tion and warned growers thatwhile there had not appearedto be a threat from corn borerin recent years they needed toremain vigilant because thepest could easily return andthreaten the crop as it had inthe past. The day not only featuredrepresentatives from Thunderand Legend Seed companiesbut representatives of compa-nies that provide crop careproducts. Tanis Neufeld of BASF toldproducers that the companyhad purchased Becker

They Are Real and Growing

Wes Martens (far right) warns growers to be vigilant againstpest like the corn borer which has not been a problem inrecent years but could return.

Photo by Les Kletke

Underwood, one of the majorsuppliers of inoculants in thesoybean industry, and wouldbe looking to include the prod-ucts with theirs to provide anincreased line of products asthe acreage of the crop contin-ues to grow. She said the company isworking with Headline on soy-beans and is seeing an averageof a 3.5-bushel increase inyields on fields that have beentreated with Headline. Corby Sylvester ofNovozymes told growers thathis company had new tech-

nologies emerging as well andreminded growers that a coolwet spring like the one theyexperience this year put addedchallenges on emerging plants.He advised growers to takeevery step possible to get theircrop off to a good start. Don Williams made the trekfrom the southwest part of theprovince to the field day andsaid that his area had experi-enced extreme weather condi-tions and flooding. His cropwas progressing well and heexpected that yields would beaverage to slightly above av-erage.



By Les Kletke

Evan Erlandson would bethe first to tell you that hisfarm is a work in progressand while he has intentionsof where the future couldtake him he is learning fromeach step of the journey.He acknowledges that thefarm between Rosenfeldand Altona could somedayhave a farm shop on theyard site, but for now, hesells his produce atFarmer’s Markets and topeople who visit the farm. He offers a full line up forthe protein portion of thedinner plate with his grassfed beef custom slaugh-tered at Banmann Meatsnear Winkler. He selectsAngus animals and is us-ing an Angus bull on hisheifers but has not ruledout using Hereford genet-ics in the future. Erlandson has selectedanimals that are smallframed and as deep bodiedas possible with short legs,“a traditional Angus ani-mal”. He does not see theneed to go to a small framedanimal as some grass fedproducers do, saying thegenetic base of the Angusbreed provides him withenough genetic choices. While he has some of hisanimals on pasture at arelative’s yard, he has 16heifers at home that are tobe naturally bred by anAngus bull. The animalsmove through 1/4 acre pad-docks every couple ofdays. “The goal is to have themtake one bite and move on,”he said. “When they takethe second bite, it is over-grazing. We are not quiteat that management pointyet but we would like to getthere.” He offers what he callspampered pork, which isfrom Berkshire hogs. Theyare in an outdoor environ-ment and range within afence that does little to keepthe piglets confined. “The Berkshire is a heartyanimal that can survive thewinter with just some strawbales for shelter,” he said.“They have one litter a yearof about 7-10 piglets. Theyare all I have ever had so Icannot compare their effi-ciency to other breeds.” Hedoes know that the meatsells well and has a decid-edly different appearance.“My roasts are darker in

By Elmer Heinrichs

The CFGB LandmarkGrowing Project took off 73acres of winter wheat onAugust 17 with fourcombines for a total yield of6,000 bushels, reportedHarold Penner, ManitobaCoordinator of the CanadianFoodgrains Bank. The HOPE project nearArnaud was hoping toharvest the first field of its470 acre-project on Monday,August 19 however rainintervened and the winterwheat harvest was furtherdelayed. With the hot sunny daysthe maturity of the winterwheat may speed up andharvests of the HOPEproject field, a SHAREproject and the CommonGround project are likely tobe harvested soon, addedPenner, The Foodgrains Bank hassome 30 projects growingeight different crops on over5,500 acres to meet foodneeds around the world inCFGB’s 30th anniversaryyear.

Farm MakesShopping Easy

colour and would compareto a beef roast in appear-ance.” He said that bacon sellsout quickly but consumersseem to be understandingthat his operation is differ-ent from what is conven-tional agriculture today. “When they get to themarket and there is no ba-con, they accept that andsay they should have comeearlier and take another

cut,” he said. His chickens are grass fedin chicken tractors much thesame as Joel Salatin, thepioneer of chicken grazing.Erlandson has visitedSalazen’s farm to see thecages in action, all part ofthe learning process as hemoves to making his farm acommercial venture thatwill provide full time in-come. He recently at-tended a grass fed beef

field day in North Dakotathat had producers fromHawaii to California attend-ing. The chickens begin theirlife on the farm in grain binshe has converted to brood-ers before moving outsideto the tractors at 2-3 weeksof age. At eight weeks, theydress out at 6 lbs and sellfor roughly $20 a bird. “That may seem expen-sive but when compared tothe size of bird it is muchcloser to the super marketprice than you might think,and most families are get-ting three meals from abird.” He said. He also hashens that produce eggs,which he sells from the farmgate.

Erlandson is most excitedabout what is happening tothe soil on his farm, “It isthe most important part ofmy farm and it is improvingover the years. The chick-ens are spreading about300 lbs of Nitrogen an acreand the alfalfa is lastingabout five years before Ihave to reseed so I am see-ing an improvement in thehealth of the soil.” He said that his operationis viable on a larger scale,“Without a doubt, there isa market for this kind offood and it continues togrow. I can see this work-ing on a larger scale andhopefully will have a shopon the farm someday.”

Erlandson has 16 heifers on 1/4 acre paddocks that arerotated almost daily. The animals are bred naturally and if areopen in fall will be slaughter as beef.

Evan Erlandson has patterned his chicken tractors after thosedeveloped by Joel Salazen and each 10x12 pen holds 65birds.

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By Peter Vitti

A cool spring coupled with good rains throughout the summer grazing season has kept mostpastures lush and many cows milking so well that their calves haven’t been eating much creep feed.However, there is no need for alarm since most pastures rapidly mature by September. Therefore,autumn-creep can still help increase pre-wean weight gains on calves, which leads to better pre-weaning weight gains and higher profitable weaning weights. That’s because as the leaves turn their beautiful autumn colors, the most promising calves aregrowing at a rapid rate. Unfortunately, they cannot meet their total energy and protein requirementssimply by nursing on their mothers because milk production by each cow has naturally sloweddown, which respectively supplies less than 50 percent of the calves’ requirement for both energyand protein. Moreover, calves cannot supplement this lower milk consumption with forage nutri-ents obtained by grazing because mature field grasses are turning into low digestible forage fibre,which translates into lower amounts of energy and decreased protein. The best practical feed option to fill this nutritional shortfall is for these calves to consume acomplementary amount of palatable and nutritious creep feed in the next couple of autumn monthsahead of weaning. Most university creep feed studies have demonstrated that pre-weaned calves ona modest plane of mature pasture nutrition, nominal cow milk intake and supplemental creep feedcan potentially maintain a daily body weight gain of about 1.8-2.5 lb/head/day where 30-60 lbs ofthis gain can be traced back to creep feeding. Such commercial creep feeds are balanced with 12-18 percent protein and dietary energy of 65-75percent TDN (total digestible nutrients). These formulations often contain high-energy grains (suchas corn and/or barley); additional modest-energy feed by-products (such as wheat middling and/orcorn distillers’ grains) and concentrated feed proteins such as soybean or canola meal. A mineral-vitamin pack as well as a growth promoter, such as monensin sodium, is also added to the final mix. In retrospect, most producers acknowledge that creep feed intake by even hungry calves canremain relatively low (0-2 lb/head/d) when lush pastures still drives lots of milk production by thecowherd and there is good digestible forages available for the calves to graze. Consumption of creepfeed starts to change once these pastures start to mature causing an inherent drop in milk production.Creep feed intakes rise rapidly (6-8 lbs/head/day) and then levels off. In the same way, creep-feedingcalves that graze higher quality pasture translates into lower feed efficiency of 9-11 lbs per lbs ofgain compared to a creep feed efficiency of 5-7 lbs of feed per lb of gain while grazing the same fall-time mature pastures. These facts explain a little why creep feeders placed earlier in the grazing season are still half-fullby late summer, yet a crop of healthy spring calves are milling around them and still gainingacceptable weights. Therefore, some producers see these signs as good fortune to save on feed costsand forgo creep feeding until next years’ calf crop. Others realize that good milk production by cowsand good pasture quality can rapidly diminish by the first couple of weeks of autumn and thuscalculate the financial opportunity of an autumn creep feeding program. The following spreadsheet illustrates the financial proposition of a present autumn creep feedingprogram for calves weaned prior to the arrival of the first snowflakes. For demonstration purposes, let us say that we raise a group of spring-calves and nursing cows(producing less than 10 lbs of milk daily). Both cows and calves are grazing aging medium-qualitypastures. The parameters of this creep feeding program: (1) 45 day program (Sept 1 – October 14),(2) creep ration at $325/mt (3) creep feed consumption at 6.0 lb/head/day, (4) feed efficiency = 6.50,(5) calves weaned at 600 lbs and sold at $1.50/lb and (6) No weight-market discount. (optional).

In this example, there was a nearly $23 return per head realized due to autumn creep feeding. Thefinancial rewards might be further extenuated to include these calves are essentially “bunk-broke”.This would reduce the stress and weight loss often experienced during weaning time as well as crept-fed calves that are “pre-conditioned” to grain rations. This should help them go onto higher perfor-mance diets with relative ease. Despite these calculated advantages, individual financial results willlikely vary due to the actual cost of purchased creep feed and the revenue drawn from the final saleof weaned calves, plusformer non-financial factorssuch as actual pasture qual-ity and current cows’ milkproduction. Of course, the success ofany autumn creep-feedingprogram really dependsupon the health status, ac-tual body weight and growthpotential of spring calves inorder to yield extra saleableweaning weight. These creepdiets don’t even have to befancy to work, but their op-timum performance in calvesis essential and should leadto greater revenue and prof-its.

Don’t Put Away Your Calf CreepFeeders this Autumn

By Harry Siemens

The National Farm AnimalCare Council (NFACC)received over 4,700comments in response to therelease of its draft Code ofPractice for the Care andHandling of Pigs in Canada. The NFACC is coordinat-ing the update of eight codesof practice for the care andhandling of livestock inCanada. The 60 day publiccomment period ended inearly August and accordingto NFACC General ManagerJackie Wepruck submissionscame from individuals andorganizations representingproducers from all segmentsof the industry includingprocessors, animal welfareadvocates, consumers,veterinarians, retailers andfood service groups, as wellas government. “Previously both theequine and the beef codepublic comment periodsreceived over 600 submis-sions, which we thought wassubstantial at that point,”she said. “However, theresponse we’ve seen on thepig code reflects thetremendous public attentionfocussed on this particularcode. The draft pig code hasproposed changes in a

Pig Code Sees Record Numberof Public Responses

number of key areas that Ithink many people areincreasingly aware of,including transitioningtoward more limited use ofgestation stalls by 2024,changes to space allowancesfor different classes of pigsand a requirement for paincontrol when performingcastration after 14 days.” Those are the key onesgarnering the most attention. “Of course the proposedtransition toward limited useof gestation stalls by 2024has certainly garnered themost and the greatest publicattention as there are somevery polarized views on thatissue, that the codedevelopment committee willbe considering,” saidWepruck. Over the coming monthsthe Pig Code DevelopmentCommittee will be sortingthrough the submissions andworking toward consensuson a final code. It’s atremendous challenge but thegoal is still to have a finalcode ready by the end of2013, she said. Florian Possberg, the Chairof the NFACC’s Pig CodeDevelopment Committeesaid the proposed Pig Codegenerated broad publicinterest and members of thecommittee will meet laterthis month to discusscomments and determine any

changes to make beforefinalizing the code. “It’s drawn a lot of interestfrom all areas really, thegeneral public, from specialinterest groups and fromproducers,” said Possberg.“Our code probably haselicited more publiccomments than all of theother codes reviewed to datecombined.” He said the item thatreceived the most interest ishow producers house theirpregnant sows. In previousyears, gestation stalls werethe norm and there seems tobe a lot of interest fromretailers and special interestgroups to move to loosehousing. “That being said there areother things that we get intolike pain control for painfulprocedures like castration,like the amount of minimumspace allocations fordifferent classes of pigs andthose sorts of things,”Possberg said. Possberg stresses thepurpose of the publiccomment period is to getfeedback from producers,from the general public andfrom industry. Now thechallenge for the committeeis to look at all of thesecomments and decide whatneeds to be adjusted andwhy.


By Les Kletke

Jeff Hamblin said that thepurchase of a grain cartequipped with a scale is oneof the best purchases theirfarm has made in terms ofproviding agronomyinformation. “It gives you a lot ofinformation,” he said. “Itmay not be what you expectto see but the numbers don’tlie.” One of the things thescale allows is calibration ofthe combine yield monitors.“We calibrate the monitorsso we know that they areright, we get the samenumber of bushels going intoa bin as we deliver to theelevator. Some farmers don’tget that, they find they havefewer bushels when theydeliver the grain.” Hamblin farms with hisfather Rob and brother-in-law Karl Saunders at Morrisand the three all share apenchant for informationabout production practices. “When we get seed we

Testing Your Own Yields

Karl Saunders, Jeff Hamblin, and Rob Hamblin use their grain cart as well as combine yield monitorto test crop inputs and seed varieties. They say varieties are too close in characteristics to rely onfield-to-field comparisons.

Photo by Les Kletke

plan on having some leftover to plant a strip on thenext field,” said Rob. “Thatway we get a fair yieldcomparison for the varieties.The quality of all varieties isso good today that youcannot rely on an approxi-mation from one field toanother. If you want tocompare yields you have todo it on the same field for itto be meaningful.” The one thing that theirtesting did prove this year isthat water is the mostimportant input in growing acrop. “We had winter wheat thataveraged 58 bushels an acreon 400 acres but on someplaces in the field it wasyields over 90 and thosewere place where we hadexcess moisture in spring,”said Rob. Rob said the informationthat many farmers wouldfind surprising is the actualyield difference from someproducts that promote planthealth.

“We have done tests withproducts that look good inthe field and are visible inthe crop with a nice greencolour but don’t show upwith any more yield atharvest,” said Jeff. “Wehave cut back on our use ofinputs because of thetesting we do ourselves.” Rob is not convinced ofproducts that promiseincreased yields underoptimum conditions. “We use products thatshow a return every time,”he said. “If something isgoing to give us twobushels an acre more, it ismore important to get thosetwo bushels on a 35 bushelyield than on a 60 bushelyield.” The farm has harvestedsome of its early canolawhich yielded over 50bushels an acre, “But againthe limiting factor was thewater, it ran out of water,”said Rob.

The Canadian Cattlemen’sAssociation (CCA) likes thenew import levy on cattle of $1per head.

CCA WCCA WCCA WCCA WCCA Welcomes Import Levyelcomes Import Levyelcomes Import Levyelcomes Import Levyelcomes Import Levy The move enables the levy tobe applied equally to purchas-ers of domestic and importedcattle as well as imported beef,

putting Canada on equalground with the U.S. for thefirst time since 1985. The import levy is worthan estimated $600,000 to$800,000 annually, depend-ing on market conditions, andfunds will support CanadaBeef Inc. marketing initiativesand research projects underthe direction of the BeefCattle Research Council. “This is great news for thebeef industry,” said CCAPresident Martin Unrau.“Marketing and researchsupport and drive competi-tiveness in Canada’s beefcattle industry.” The CCA has worked to-ward this outcome on behalfof industry since 1999, whenit began the groundwork toimplement a national check-off and an import levy to levelthe playing field with theU.S., which placed an importlevy on Canadian cattlein1985. One of the challenges theCCA faced during this pro-cess was determining how tocollect the import levy. In1999, the CCA facilitated thecreation of the Canadian BeefCattle Research, Market De-velopment and PromotionAgency, often referred to asthe National Check-off(NCO) Agency, to handlethis task. Over the years, theNCO worked with the FarmProducts Council of Canadaand the Canada Border Ser-vices Agency to determinethe best possible option forcollecting the import levy. Significant advancementwas made in securing the co-operation of Canada BorderServices Agency to enable thecollection of the import levyprior to the formation ofCanada Beef Inc. and theirassuming responsibility ofthe NCO. Now acting as theCanadian Beef Cattle Re-search, Market Developmentand Promotion Agency,Canada Beef Inc. is entrustedto collect an import levy onall beef cattle, beef and beefproducts coming into Canadain addition to the domesticlevy on cattle sales.


By Les Kletke

A Winnipeg based company continues making a stir in the micro nutrient business internationallybut has been slow to be taken up by Manitoba farmers. Wolf Trax Innovative Micronutrients has afirm foothold in the international market place but the Winnipeg firm has seen slow growth locally. It may be truly a matter of ‘a prophet not being known it his own land’. “Micro nutrients are not used as much in the soils of Manitoba,” said Jennifer Bailes, the Directorof Customer Strategy and Seed Product Innovations for Wolf Trax. She said the company has seengood interest in a product called Protimus, a seed applied product. “It contains zinc, manganese and iron,” she said. “It is intended to give the crop a boost when theseed starts in cool ground. It does not replace a nutrient program but rather gives the plant a boostimmediately after germination when it is establishing the root system.” Mark Goodwin is the company’s Director of Research and in a fact sheet the company provideshe said the new technology that allows micronutrients like zinc to be applied to the seed reduce theamount required. Where previously the elements were added to granular fertilizer, which requiredmuch higher volumes, now a small amount applied to the seed provides the plant with what itrequires in a much more efficient manner. He suggests that it is important to realize that previous recommendations from soil tests wereintended for amounts to be added to the soil and were not based on the plant’s requirements, whichwould be considerably less. The company has equipment for farmers who wish to apply the product to their own seed but themajority of the product is custom applied by seed retailers. Bailes said she has seen an increase in micro nutrient use on canola. “We are seeing some canola being treated with zinc and producers are waiting to see what kind ofresults they will get from the treatment,” said Bailes. The privately held firm holds specialty patents for its Dry Dispersible Powder (DDP) micronutri-ent fertilizer coating in 75 regulatory regions, including the U.S., Mexico and northern Europe.

Seeds Getting theNutrient Treatment

Brenda Dubeck is Wolf Trakx representative for Manitoba and Saskatchewan. She says thecompany has products that will fit producers’ needs as they become more aware of micronutri-ent benefits. Photo by Les Kletke

By Les Kletke

A Manitoba company thatspecializes in micronutrientsshowed its wares tointernational customers and

Manitoba CompanyManitoba CompanyManitoba CompanyManitoba CompanyManitoba CompanyHosts the WHosts the WHosts the WHosts the WHosts the Worldorldorldorldorld

the results were more thanfavourable. Wolf Trax InnovativeMicronutrients hosted nearly80 international guests in lateJuly for its InnovationShowcase, which includedtours of the first test plots atElm Creek and stops at twoarea farms. “The group was from theCaribbean, DominicanRepublic, Jamaica, the UK,Mexico and our dealers acrossthe U.S.,” said JenniferBailes, Wolf Trax Director ofCustomer Strategy. Bales saidthat while the company hasbeen around for more than adecade it is still relativelyunknown to Manitobafarmers. “We have had good uptakefrom other parts of the worldwhere micro nutrients areused more,” she said, “Theyare not as popular inManitoba.” She cites severalreasons for the differentialincluding soil types andcropping systems. The visitors from the UKwere particularly interested inproduction of edible beansand found a stop at Portagebean producer Grant Sissonsof great interest. Sissons, whowas able to show the group afield of edible beans directlyadjacent to his yard despiteheavy rains earlier in theweek and the night before,said the crop looked as goodas it could at this time. TheUK visitors were much morefamiliar with applyingnutrients to a growing cropand many already used foliar

sprays. He joked, “It looks almosttoo good, the canopy is sothick we are concernedabout disease problems.”Mould problems are not ajoking matter but most inthe group agreed they hadnot heard a farmer saythings looked to good. Another stop on the tourincluded the StarlightHutterite Colony, whichprovided a look at commu-nal living that few of thevisitors had ever experi-enced. “We could have spent theentire afternoon here,” saidone of the visitors as theyboarded the bus to leave thecolony. Bales said the group wasmade up of various aspectsof the industry. “Some wasstaff that sells our product,

Wolf Trax dealers from the UK, Carribean and US were inManitoba to see the company’s Innovation Showcase at ElmCreek.

some were independentretailers and some wereagronomists with companiesthat sell our products.” The research trials offereda dozen sites highlightingvarious products in trials oncrops that are produced notonly in Canada but in theinternational markets, hometo the visitors as well.

Photo by Les Kletke


By Les Kletke

A company based in Stonewall plans to bring new technology to the tile drain business in Manitoba.Ron Gendzelivich said that Frontier Tile Drain Systems has ordered a self-propelled unit fromHolland to install tile drainage in Manitoba. The company plans to be operational in mid-September,but it is not just a matter of hanging out a shingle and opening a business. “There are certain regulations that a farmer has to meet before he can apply tile drainage,” saidGendzelivich. “They are by no means insurmountable but he needs a field survey of the topographyand an application to his local municipality.” The company already has requests from farmers in theBrandon area. He said the advantage of the self-propelled unit over the conventional pull-behind-a-tractor imple-ments is that it provides a more level and exacting application of the pipe. “That is particularly important on very flat land like in the Red River Valley where a difference ofan inch or two in the level of the pipe can have a dramatic impact on the flow of water,” he said.While the company is offering new technology in applying the pipe, he has done extensive researchon tile drainage in neighbouring states. “In talking to farmers in Minnesota they say typically tiling their land takes their least valuablepiece of land and increases the productivity to that of their best land,” he said. “Farmers are doingtheir least valuable land to see the increase in value.” He estimates the cost of tiling at $800-$1,200 an acre, “Farmers are seeing a 25 percent increase inproductivity. With the cost of land at this time that makes good economic sense. They can increasetheir productivity without buying more land or increasing their overhead costs.” His findings in Minnesota show best results with drains placed closer than normally the case forfields in Manitoba. Traditionally drains are placed at 40 ft intervals and he said results are best at 25-30 foot intervals. “In clay soils water will not move that distance (to 40 ft drains) so they need to be placed closerto avoid the wave effect of fields having tiles and not affecting the entire field,” said Gendzelivich. Farmers in the U.S. are finding unexpected benefits from tiling and are viewing it as a watermanagement system, more than just a way of getting water away from a field. Ironically the demandfor tiling increased in areas hit by last year’s drought. “Farmers found the root system was better established on fields that were tiled and thus were ableto handle the drought better, the tiling also helped with salinity problems,” he said. From a conser-vation point of view the tiling has helped to hold water on the field and move downward rather thansurface run off that is moving nutrients to streams and rivers. Gendzelivich, who operates Quarry Grain in Stonewall, plans to operate the business from thissame location for the early stages.

By Harry Siemens

Harvest of spring cerealsand winter wheat is nicelyunderway with the dry andhot weather in August. Re-ports indicate farmers are see-ing good yields and quality.Manitoba Agriculture saidinitial yield reports for springwheat in the eastern region arein the 60 bushel per acre rangewith good quality. In the cen-tral region there are reportsof 80 to 100 bushels per acrefor barley and 100 bushels peracre or higher for oats.

Harvest Underway Swathing of canola continuesand the beginning of some har-vesting. The winter wheat harvest isalso coming off in southernManitoba and the results ap-pear to be good and better, es-pecially for the earlier seededfields. Wilf Peters, in the Randolphdistrict a few miles west ofSteinbach, said their first 1,000acres harvested, yielded be-tween 75 and 85 bushels peracre, not quite the record yieldsof 2012, that reached 90 bush-els an acre and beyond, how-

ever an exceptional yield. “While not the record yieldsof last year, for this year theyield is quite acceptable,” Pe-ters said. “We had a smallstretch of hail go through dam-aging some canola and winterwheat but won’t know untilthat crop is in the bin whatcrop insurance will pay us.” He said most canola fields,with the exceptions of laterseeded fields due to the heavyrains in May and subsequentcool weather, are going downor are almost ready for swath-ing.

“I’m optimistic the canolawill yield quite well, too.” Jonathan Siemens, northeastof Plum Coulee, said two ear-lier winter wheat fields yielded87 and 85 bushels per acres,an excellent yield. When askedhow about fusarium, “None,”was his answer. Peters said that farmers heis speaking with seem to indi-cate this year’s Manitoba har-vest could well be above aver-age if the weather continueslike this. He admitted the kind of yearmost farmers had in 2012 withrecord yields and record com-modity prices is maybe anonce-in-a-lifetime occurrence. “Most farmers knew thoseprices wouldn’t stick aroundtoo long,” said Peters. “Atleast they shouldn’t expectthat to happen too often ei-ther.” The weather in this currentgrowing season has been any-thing but normal coming onthe heels of last year’s mam-moth drought, especially in theMidwestern United States. Itwas the drought that sent cornprices skyrocketing and push-ing up other commodities,such as feed grains. This year, many of the sameareas had continued drought,but other areas, which weredry, last year, had too much

rain and cool weather in spring,forcing many of those farmersto collect insurance instead ofseeding. Jake Davidson, the Execu-tive Director of Winter Cere-als Canada, blames the ex-tremely dry weather last fallfor the low survivability ofthis year’s fall seeded cerealcrops. While the reports fromfarmers on this year’s winterwheat harvest are up, manyfarmers had to resort to plan‘B’ re-seeding those winterwheat fields planted last fallinto spring wheat or someother choice. Davidson said extremely dryweather last fall caused farm-ers to retreat from their initialplans reducing fall seeded ce-real crops in western Canada.While fall seeded cereal acresdid not fall that much, the dryfall killed a considerableamount of crop over the win-ter. “A lot of crops did not makeit and it wasn’t winter kill,”he said. “It was because theysprouted in the fall and thenthey desiccated and died orthey never grew at all. Therewas a large amount in westernManitoba and easternSaskatchewan that wasploughed up this spring.” Davidson said easternManitoba didn’t have as much

of the problem, but it was sodry in western Manitoba andeastern Saskatchewan withmany acres of crop ploughedup from Birtle throughHamiota down through Virdento the border and over toSaskatchewan so it’s a bit of amystery right now exactlywhat’s going to happen. He said the quality of thecrops that survived looks ac-ceptable but he anticipatesyields will be down with pro-ducers who would typicallysee yields in the 80-bushelrange reporting yields in the70-bushel range. The one week of hot weatherin early July, then the coolweather in between, now backto the heat again makes for aninteresting, if not overwhelm-ing scenario making farmerswonder what is actually hap-pening. The heat in early July hadfarmers thinking optimisti-cally because the crop wasbehind from late seeding. Thenthe cool temperatures set in,slowing down development,and finally August broughtwith it more sustained heat.However, while the harvest isunderway in some parts, forthe most part, things will notget into full swing before theend of the August and the firstweek of September.

Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) has selected four outstanding rural Manitoba students asrecipients of the 2013 MBP Bursary. Bursary winners will receive $500 toward their studies. The selected students are children ofactive beef producers or active beef producers themselves. “Each year we are proud to invest in Manitoba students who plan to pursue post-secondarystudies related to agriculture and the rural economy. They are the future of agriculture inManitoba,” said Trevor Atchison, MBP President. “We congratulate all of the winners and wewish them success as they pursue their studies.” Bursary applicants were evaluated and selected by the MBP bursary committee. The selectedstudents include Cassie Scott, Boissevain, University of Manitoba, Bachelor of Science andVeterinary Medicine, Sydney Sprenger, Alexander, Dalhousie University, Bachelor of Sciencein Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Raina Syrnyk, Ethelbert, University of Manitoba, Pre-Veterinary Medicine, and Tyler Workman, Minto, University of Manitoba, Faculty of Agricul-ture. As part of the application process, students were required to submit a short essay on what thebeef industry means to their family, their community and Manitoba. Each winner’s essay willbe printed in the next issue of Cattle Country, Manitoba’s source for beef cattle news. “We believe we must encourage younger generations to choose a career path in agriculture ora related field and that is why MBP helps support these outstanding students and their goals,”said Atchison. MBP thanks all bursary applicants and wishes them success in their studies this fall. Each year MBP awards four $500 bursaries to MBP members or their children attending auniversity, college or other post-secondary institution or pursuing trades training. For moreinformation on MBP bursaries, visit mbbeef.ca.

A New Frontier in Tile Drainage

Manitoba Beef Producers Announces2013 Bursary Recipients


By Les Kletke

Three Manitobans are feel-ing the benefit of their 4-Hactivity as they begin theirpost secondary studies. Theroutes they have chosen areas diverse as the industry theyare studying. The three eachwon $2,500 scholarships fromthe TD bank for their academ-ics and community involve-ment. Amy Pizzey of Binscarthwill be studying agronomy atthe University ofSaskatchewan in Saskatoon.She said she chose Saskatoonbecause she has family in thecity and the university has astrong agronomy program. Sheplans to return to the familyfarm after graduation and starther own agronomy business. The family farm is a 4th gen-eration seed farm at Binscarththat produces pedigree seed. For Pizzey the TD scholar-ship was just one of severalshe won including two fromthe University and anotherfrom the CIBC. She also wonseveral local scholarshipsawarded at Major Pratt HighSchool in Russell. The awardstotal $25,000 and two are forthe four years of study. Herbrother Logan, who completedhis first year in agriculture atthe University ofSaskatchewan, was also a win-ner of the TD and Universityscholarships last year. Pizzey volunteered in herlocal community at a schoolbreakfast program as well asseveral other events and hasbeen a 4-H member for nineyears in the Binscarth HomeEconomics Club. Robyn Gerrard is going tostudy farm management atLakeland College in Vermil-lion, Alberta. “It is a smaller college, andthe students actually operate

By Les Kletke

Roxanne Lewko admits that the purchase of a seeder and combine are not typical movesfor the Manitoba Pulse Growers Association (MPGA) but in the last couple of weeks thegroup has become at least part owners of the equipment that will allow them to conductmore research on crops that continue to expand acres in Manitoba. Lewko, Executive Director of the MPGA, said that the association has been involved infunding research before but has not seen fit to own the infrastructure required. “We havebeen involved in trials before, but now we partnered with the Manitoba Corn Growers toapply for funding (through Western Economic Diversification) for the equipment.” The two Carman based groups have been working together for several years. “Dr. Yvonne Lewko of the University of Manitoba will be using the equipment in herresearch at the University,” said Lewko, “It will be stored in Carman but will be used atvarious plots that she has around the province.” Michelle Rempel, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, announced thefederal support for the program at an event in Carman. The equipment will allow for agronomic research in both corn and pulse crops. The pulsework will be concentrated on soybeans, a crop that for the first time topped a million acresin Manitoba this year. “The Manitoba Pulse Growers Association is very pleased with the funding receivedfrom Western Economic Diversification Canada to put towards a research row crop seederand row crop combine,” said Roxanne Lewko, Executive Director. “Soybean and corn acresin the province are increasing, and the research conducted by Dr. Yvonne Lawley at theUniversity of Manitoba on these crops is resulting in best management practices thatfarmers can use. It is not expected that the equipment will be in place for this year’s harvest but both itemsare expected to be in place for 2014. “Due to the size it is not a matter of picking something off a dealers lot, “said Lewko,“Most of this equipment is custom built so it will be a matter of finding what is best suitedto the type of research that Dr. Lewko will be conducting.”

By Les Kletke

Gord Snarr is not rushing outto buy more bins for the 2013harvest but he is pleased withthe yields he has received todate. By August 23 Snarr, whofarms north of Morris, hadcombined his perennialryegrass, winter wheat andbegun on his spring wheat. Snarr had 80 acres of peren-nial ryegrass, which was thefirst crop that he harvested.He was not certain of the yieldbut termed it average. He hasgrown the crop for the past10 years and appreciates thatit spreads his harvest as wellas handle excess moisture inthe spring. He thinks the cropmay have run out of moisturethis year. He rated his winter wheatas “the worst possible situa-tion. I was just at the pointwhere the stand had signifi-cant winter kill but was toogood to work down for cropinsurance.” He estimates theoverall yield at just over 40bushels an acre, saying thatwhere the crop had good standthe yield was much higher. Snarr had begun harvestinghis spring wheat and an earlyfield was yielding over 50bushels an acre. He was concerned about hisoats, which he felt might havebeen impacted by a late infes-tation of grasshoppers which

Harvest Well Under Way

had migrated from a nearbycanola field when it was cut.The insects were also affect-ing his soybeans but he hopeddamage would be restricted tothe periphery of the field. Snarr planted his canola laterthan other crops and said thathe expected yields there to begood because of the long bloomperiod but was afraid it mightbe impacted by the heat of lateAugust. “It was blooming for a longtime, but the heat reallyseemed to bring it along the

Gord Snarr at Morris saysthat harvest is wellunderway and while hiswinter wheat was disap-pointing other crops areyielding well.

Photo by Les Kletke

last couple of days,” he said.“We will have to see what thatdoes to the yield.” Early canolayields were a pleasant surpriseand that crop had a shortenedbloom time because of heat inJuly.

4-H Helps Education Costsa working farm,” said Gerrardwhen asked about the choicein Alberta. She has already re-ceived her class schedules andis pleased by the fact her larg-est class has only 37 students.She plans to work in agricul-tural marketing after gradua-tion. She is the lone memberof the trio that did not growup on a working farm. “It is more of a hobby farmwith four cows and cats anddogs,” she said. “But growingup in a small community therewere working farms all aroundus and that is what I want todo, so I am looking forward tothe experience of being part ofthe decision-making team atLakeland.” She has 10 years of 4-Hmembership with theStrathclair multipurpose cluband was a provincial winnerin the senior one-person vi-sual demonstration competi-tion. Her topic was Life Les-sons Learned at 4-H. Gerrard was on the HonourRoll at graduation and wonseveral local bursaries whichshe said should help pay forher first term of college. Alison Greaves fromMiniota will be entering thedegree program at the Univer-sity of Manitoba’s Faculty ofAgriculture with intentions ofgoing on to vet school in Saska-toon. “It is a decision I made whenI was seven,” she said. “As Ihave grown up, I realized itwas not a bad choice. It al-lows me to work with animalsand spend some time out-side.” Her intentions are tospecialize in large animals andopen a practice that allows herto work and live in a rural area. Her concern for animals isevident in the decision to sellher horses to help pay for thecost of school.

“It would not be fair tothem,” she said. “I am used toriding 3 or 4 times a week andif I go to school I won’t beable to do that, so in fairnessto them I sold both myhorses.” She is a 10-year mem-ber of two clubs -the MiniotaMerry 4-H’ers and the DeckerCountry Riders Equine Club.She has been involved in giv-ing riding lessons and has com-peted at some local fairs withher horses. Greaves completed grade 11of her High School in NewZealand living with a familythere, which she said was achange from the home farmthat has 130 Shaver Beef Blendcows and 200 ewes. The farmraises its own feed but doesnot have any cash crops. The TD Bank providestwelve, $2,500 scholarshipsnationally and Manitoba wasthe only province to have threeaward winners. The awardsare based on both academicsand community involvement.To be eligible a recipient mustbe going on to study agricul-ture at a post secondary level.

Amy Pizzey will be going tothe U of S. She won $25,000in scholarships this year.

CanCanCanCanCan’t F’t F’t F’t F’t Farm Without Equipmentarm Without Equipmentarm Without Equipmentarm Without Equipmentarm Without Equipment


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AgriPost August 30 2013