agripost march 27 2015

March 27, 2015 1The Agri Post

By Joan Airey

Reimer has ridden a horsesince she was born and be-gan showing them at the ageof five. She is an internation-ally certified CHA Master In-structor and Equine CanadaMentor and Western Coach.In 2011 when she attendedthe International CertifiedHorsemanship Conference inthe United States, she saw ademonstration on vaulting. “At the conference when wewere given the chance, I justhad to try vaulting. In Janu-ary 2012 a clinic on vaulting

Vaulting on Horseback Builds Confidencewas offered in Seattle and Iattended. I’ve been teachingit ever since and thoroughlyenjoy working with peoplefrom two to seniors. Vaultingis gymnastics on horseback,”said Tara Reimer. Reimer will be at the RoyalManitoba Winter Fair puttingon demonstrations on herhorses Pete and Gypsy withsome of her new students. “Vaulting is great for any-body even if you have neverridden horseback. It buildsyour confidence and devel-ops your balance on a horse.You can regain your confi-dence on a horse learningvaulting if you haven’t riddenfor years,” said Reimer. Reimer has students whohave cerebral palsy, low andhigh function autistic adults,and paraplegics who enjoytherapy riding. She grew up training herown horses for many differ-ent events. She now spendshours training students in allfacets of horsemanship fromcatching a horse to showinga horse. Tara and her husband Derekown and operate Cloud 9Ranch near Steinbach,Manitoba. The philosophy at Cloud 9is to help individuals to real-ize their potential throughtraining, coaching andmentoring. They help stu-dents realize their dreams andbecome confident in theirhorsemanship and showman-

ship skills. They recognizehorses are individuals withunique talents and characters.Each horse is trained to reachits potential. Their horses areconfident partners who arevalued part of their program.They inspire all their students

to strive to be their best. If you would like to see ex-actly what vaulting is, checkit out on their websitecloud9ranch.ca or check themout on Facebook or Googlevaulting and watch demon-strations on YouTube.

By Les Kletke

The Executive Director of the Canadian Seed TradeAssociation Patti Townsend welcomes the passage ofBill C-18 and believes it was a long time over due. “We have been working on this for 22 years,” saidTownsend. “The passage of the bill is a great step inbringing Canada to the world standard in plant breeder’srights protection.” She said that while the wheels have turned slowly inputting the rules in place, farmers might see the benefitas early as this year. “We might see the registration ofnew varieties in the next year, which is very exciting foran industry that usually hears of things that are threeor four years down the road.” Townsend sites examples of crops that were intendedfor trials in Canada however when the variety ownersbecame aware of the lack of protection for plant breed-ers in Canada these trials were shelved. She lists a po-tato variety as one specific example that did not find itsway to Canada. With the passage of the Bill, she notedthat Lima Grain of France is already working on bring-ing a wheat variety to Canada. “Many of the larger companies and investors shiedaway from Canada,” she said, “That changed with thedrafting of this legislation two years ago. They becameinterested in Canada when they saw that legislationwould be in place and now they are ready to act.” The next step will be the naming of an Advisory Com-mittee that will work with Agricultural Minister Ritz toput the final details in place. “This is wide reachinglegislation and encompasses horticulture crops aswell,” said Townsend. “There are many things to con-sider in the vegetable and ornamental areas but weshould see some benefits in field crops particularly ce-reals fairly soon.” She is careful to acknowledge the legislation doesnot make Canada a utopia for new crop varieties ormakes great changes to on the farm rules. “I have beenadvising our members and farmers that if they werefollowing the laws before they will be all right under thenew rules,” said Townsend. “It has long been illegal tosell seed produced from non-certified crops and iden-tify it by variety name. That remains the same. Farmerscan still produce seed for themselves for use on theirfarm.”

Kate-Leigh Heapy practicingvaulting under the supervisionof Tara Reimer and Trisha Fast.

Tara Reimer and Trisha Fast her full time assistant, with one ofher vaulting classes.

Danika Smith practicing vaulting while Trisha Fast controls thehorse.

A Long TimeComing with

Overnight Benefits

March 27, 20152 The Agri Post


By Les Kletke

Jan Slomp is not overly pleased with the passageof Bill C-18 although he is enough of a realist toaccept there is little likelihood of it being repealed. “The passage of this Bill gives the holders of plantbreeding rights a great deal of power, it removesmany things from the public domain, and we need tobe diligent that the concepts are still followed toallow farmers access to seeds at a reasonable price,”said Slomp, President of the National Farmer’sUnion (NFU). Slomp said he has no issue with breeders beingrewarded for the expense of developing newvarieties. “But plant breeder’s rights are like a patentand after a set period of time the material goes intothe public domain. That is not the case with newlegislation, now breeders can withdraw the varietieswhen the protected period is over and replace it withsomething that they deem is better.” He fears it could become a game of smoke andmirrors as companies replace the variety withanother that has little genetic difference except inname. “And again the protection begins puttingfarmers on an endless tread mill paying for variet-ies,” he cautioned. He scoffs at the legislation, which said that

By Les Kletke

The CEO of the Canadian Canola Growers welcomes thepassage of Bill C-18 saying that it will make it easier for farm-ers in western Canada to get their cash advances. Rick White said his organization is already processing thepaper work required for cash advances and producers willget their cheques in April. “The process has been made simpler and we are alreadydoing the paper work so that producers can get their chequesand not have to worry about the paper work when they arebusy seeding,” said White. He expects that his organizationwill process about $1.2 billion of cash advances for 11,000producers, which are down slightly from the previous year’s$1.6 billion.“The numbers were unusually high the previous year be-cause the transportation problems slowed the movement ofgrain and put farmers in a tight cash flow situation,” he said. White said the program ensures cash is advanced at a timewhen most needed. “The program allows farmers to accesscash when they need it for their operation, and are not forcedinto marketing grain to meet payments. They can market theirgrain when the market signals are right for them not whenthey are in need of cash,” he explained. “Ultimately that givesthem a better return on their production.” While the Canola Growers are already processing applica-tions, his advice to producers is to get their applications innow to access the money available after April 1. “The pro-gram has been expanded to 45 commodities and all livestock,”said White. “It is available to any farmer and we are adminis-tering those applications through our office.” According to White, Bill C-18 will also benefit the seedindustry. “We have seen good progress with developmentof canola varieties but much of that has been because thetraits have been registered and are protected. This brings

Cash AdvanceProgram to Benefit

from Bill C-18

Canada up to speed on the world stage and will ensure thatbreeding goes on for varieties that fit in western Canada.” Because canola varieties have been appearing at a steadyrate for Canadian producers and other cereal crops he seesmore benefits from the increased protection for breeders.

The PThe PThe PThe PThe Patent Patent Patent Patent Patent Power of Plant Breedersower of Plant Breedersower of Plant Breedersower of Plant Breedersower of Plant Breeders“““““Will Affect VWill Affect VWill Affect VWill Affect VWill Affect Variety Access”ariety Access”ariety Access”ariety Access”ariety Access”

“In the world market we are a small geographic area in west-ern Canada and without protection of breeder’s rights wemight not see the development of varieties suited for ourconditions or addressing the disease challenges we have.This bill will help with that.”

farmers maintain the privilege of producing seed fortheir own use. “Privilege is a feudal term and has norecognition in court,” he said. He discredits what theBill terms as a privilege to use seed from a crop youhave produced. The legislation strictly prohibits sellingof the seed or cleaning for commercial purposes. Slomp agrees that Canada lagged behind in signingthe world agreement on plant breeder’s rights. “We arenow up to speed with the rest of the world but that isnot necessarily a good thing,” he said. “Many coun-tries in Europe are facing large disagreements about theplant breeder’s rights issues,” he continued. He cites an example of potato varieties in Germany.“Farmers are fighting the legislation because they findthey do not have access to the plant material and in facthave a very narrow choice of varieties.” “In Paris last year there were demonstrations aboutthe cost of ornamental plants being driven up by thenew plant breeder’s rights,” said Slomp in anotherexample. “This is very far reaching, much more than justcereal crops.” He said Canada has had much success with the publicbreeding program. “Canola came about entirely throughthe public breeding system. It is doubtful that we willgo back to the days of funding a public breedingprogram but we have to be diligent to see that varietiesbecome available to the public sector.”


by RolfPenner

PennersPoints

[email protected]

Remember when the two national railways in Canada kept asking for and getting the right toabandon rail tracks, eventually rip them up for the value of the steel, and railroad ties? Today as it did then, it seems like such a bad policy, waste of time, money, and efficienttransportation. At the Western Canadian Wheat Growers convention in Winnipeg in early January, a represen-tative from the BNSF railway company that billionaire Warren Buffett owns, told the group offarmers how that company had spent 5.6 billion dollars to expand and upgrade. They bought 500locomotives, added workers, not only workers but also incentives to load the freight cars quickerand with haste to make the system more efficient. Haeaven forbid, BNSF even lets the marketdecide where the freight will go. Yes, instead of parking cars, locomotives and ripping up track forsteel money, they build hundreds of miles of new track, and improving older track where feasible. Not only did the Canadian railways in many cases abandon and rip up the track, they didn’tallow farmer groups and other shortline railway companies’ lease or buy those tracks sosomebody would keep the rails moving. Nope. That could compete for the same grain or other product the big companies wereshipping. In some cases saner heads prevailed and just last week this announcement came forth. Saskatchewan’s 14th shortline rail company will hit the tracks between Melfort and Birch Hillsthis spring, thanks in part to an interest-free loan from the provincial government. “We’re pleased to support the establishment of Northern Lights Rail and the expansion of ourprovince’s network of shortline railways,” said Saskatchewan’s Highways and InfrastructureMinister Nancy Heppner. “These railways provide grain producers and other shippers with aneffective and competitive transportation option that helps to reduce the wear and tear on ourhighways.” The Saskatchewan government gave the Kinistino-based company a $550,000 interest-free loanto assist their purchase of 59 kilometres of rail line from Canadian National Railway (CN). Theprovince has supported the purchase of shortline railways by community groups, local stake-holders and local governments in the past by offering loans and advice. Two points to consider. At least the rail line still exists and did not go for scrap metal. Secondly,while a good thing to get the money to buy the rail line, there is a concern there might not beenough rail cars to do this track justice. While Saskatchewan’s 14th shortline railway could be in operation this May, but the lack ofgrain cars – especially special-order producer cars concerns a Kinistino farmer Wayne Bacon whochairs Northern Lights Railway, the group, which plans to operate the 35km of former CN, trackbetween Birch Hills and Melfort.

I feel guilty and that might surprise some of you that after 30years in the media there is even a twig of conscience left, but yes,there is. As with most negative feelings, it is about something Ididn’t do rather than something I did. An email came to me last week pointing out that the applica-tions for the Nuffield Scholarship were being accepted. It came tomy mailbox asking if I would be available for an interview if anymedia were so inclined. Of course, I replied positively and thenwaited for my phone to ring, not a single call, not even a wrongnumber. Remember when we used to get those. Now it seemswith everybody being on speed dial the chances of that havedecreased as well. I was thinking about what I would say when the reporter calledand asked how Nuffield had changed my life, of course theywould ask that. The thoughts of being awarded a Nuffield Scholarship 20 yearsago came to me in the equivalent of a bumper crop. I was the firstnon-farming Nuffield Scholar to win an award and the intent wasclear by giving the award to a media type the organization wouldget more exposure and people would know about Nuffield and itwould be easier to get sponsorship money to build the program. Nuffield Canada was established to administer the programthat originally provided two scholars with the opportunity andsome funding to travel to England for two months and learn aboutagriculture. Then spend another three months on their indepen-dent study. It was given mid career, the age requirement is oldenough to have done something and young enough to still use theinformation and share it with others. Why did I feel guilty? No not because I was a media type andhad not truly qualified for the award, I had no problem acceptingthe award and resulting travel. I felt guilty because I don’t thinkI have given back to the organization with the same volume thatI benefited. Some scholars have written substantial checks to theorganization, I don’t think my banker would like that idea but Icould have done something financially and I could have donemore to spread the word. We as Canadians do a poor job of supporting our Alma Maters.Compared to our southern neighbours our support is non-exis-tent. South of the border alumni support, their school with dona-tions and tickets to sporting events and whatever else comesalong. I cannot claim to have attended a single Bison game in myentire time at the U of M, so there is little chance I went to one inthe last 25 years. I don’t like feeling guilty so I am going to do something forNuffield. What are you going to do for the organizations thathelped you along the way?

Sometimes I’m asked how I find topics to write about every month. “Don’t you ever runout of ideas?” Truth be told, narrowing it down to one specific theme is usually the hard part. Toillustrate, here’s some of the things I’ve been thinking about lately. Looks like the ethanol bubble has finally popped. The giant hole in supply created mainly by ethanol mandates in the UnitedStates seems to have been filled. As a result, crop prices have drifted lower and look like they might stay there. Thirty-sevenpercent of American corn now goes into ethanol. If the mandate were suddenly to disappear, the drop in commodity priceswould be devastating for farmers around the world. Speaking of bubbles, Canadian hog producers had a particularly good comeback in their bottom lines last year, thanks in largepart to a massive outbreak of the PED virus in the United States. That outbreak, while still active, has backed off and producershave been able to up production enough to make up the difference. So, supply is up and prices have again dropped off, makingit tough for hog producers to once again make any money. March 4th was National Grammar Day. A quick survey of farmer forums and social media sites shows that farmers are just asbad as everyone else is when it comes to spelling, grammar and communication in general. Here’s a particularly annoying one, ‘Itsversus It’s’. ‘Its’ is possessive, while ‘it’s’ is a contraction for ‘it is’. People screw this one up all of the time. If you can’tsubstitute ‘it is’ for ‘it’s’ in a sentence, you know it’s wrong, as in ‘the railroad couldn’t meet it’s obligation,’ and ‘hockey at it’sbest’. While we’re at it, what is so darn hard about using commas? The same sentence can have two very different meaningsdepending on whether or not there’s a comma. It’s the difference between ‘unable to eat diarrhea’ and ‘unable to eat, diarrhea’. At the time of writing this, everything is sunny and warm, and it looks like we’re going to have an early spring. By the time,it gets published and into your hands, we could have had another blizzard and bitter cold again. Such is the joy of weather-relatedbusinesses. I really don’t know why on earth anyone would want to buy an Apple watch. I never liked wearing a watch in the first placeand was very happy when they were incorporated into cell phones so I could just put it in my pocket. On the science side of things, we recently found out that the supposedly ‘settled science’ about cholesterol was not so settledafter all. For most people, the amount of cholesterol you eat does not have a profound impact on the cholesterol in your blood.A book published in 2000, called The Cholesterol Myths, Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause HeartDisease, said something similar and pointed out all of the studies and cases, which contradicted the orthodox view at the time.Shouldn’t health officials take a harder look at these kinds of contradictions? Rather than ignoring them, before they decide thatthings like bacon and eggs shouldn’t be on the menu. It looks like the provincial NDP have decided to stick it out with Greg Selinger at the helm for the next election. Local writersare speculating as to whether or not he can even maintain his own seat in the next election, let alone pull off another province-wide win for his party. It’s been a long time since the NDP was this unpopular in Manitoba. Can Brian Pallister and theConservatives ride this wave of discontent into power? It seems highly likely that they can and, if so, we hope they bring inpolicies more friendly to agriculture than what we’re seeing now. So you see there’s always plenty to write about in the world of farmers and agriculture. Let’s see what next month brings us.

The Decision MakingOver Random Thoughts

I FeelGuilty

Bacon said just one of the issues is the recent producer carordering policy which does not allow new orders until previousorders are fulfilled. Northern Lights shortline consists of four municipalities, theCity of Melfort, Village of Beatty and 70 farmer investors.Currently they have two loading sites on the line with plansfor a third and own one locomotive. Bacon believes that the often-discussed concept of jointrunning rights -with all rail companies sharing the tracks -would be an ideal start to sorting out the complex rail systemto the benefit of all players. However, he’s not optimistic joint running rights will happenany time soon. Playing right into this, many grains industry players saygrain is moving better than last year but last Tuesday the latestreport from the Canadian AG Transportation Coalition showedthat through the first 27 weeks of the current crop year,railways failed to supply over 22 thousand hopper cars, whichis about 11 per cent of shipper demand. “Retaining rail infrastructure is important for supportingagriculture and economic development in the region,” saidNorthern Lights Railroad President. “Throughout the purchaseprocess, they established a good working relationship betweenmunicipalities and towns with great support from producers,tremendous support from CN and the Ministry of Highwaysand Infrastructure, too.” “We look forward to being a fully-operational shortline,including opening our two loading facilities in the near future.” With the addition of Northern Lights Rail, Saskatchewan willhave 14 shortlines and approximately 2,060 kilometres ofprovincially regulated track. That makes far more sense than abandoning those rail linesand selling the rails for scrap metal and the railway ties forfirewood, don’t you think?

While Shortlines MayNot Solve the Big

Picture - LocalEconomies Do Benefit


By Les Kletke

The Western CanadianWheat Growers are pleasedwith the passage of Bill C-18and believe that it will encour-age plant breeders to work onthe crop and provide varietiesthat can keep Canadian pro-ducers competitive in worldmarkets. The legislation modernizesCanada’s Plant Breeders’Rights by adopting the 1991international convention onplant varietydevelopment. Canada was oneof a handful of developed coun-

A new website has beenlaunched to provide a one-stopinformation source for thecrop value chain on the newPlant Breeders’ Rights envi-ronment. As of February 27, 2015, allnew varieties submitted forPlant Breeders’ Rights (PBR)are protected under Canada’snew Plant Breeders’ Rightslegislation. “...Canada’s legis-lation finally conforms to theUPOV 1991 convention,” saidDave Baute, President of theCanadian Seed Trade Associa-tion (CSTA). “Canada is fi-nally in line with the rest ofthe world. This opens the doorfor increased investment tomake new varieties availableto Canadian farmers.” “The seed sector was confi-dent that updated legislationwould bring new varieties tofarmers. Very soon new vari-eties protected under the newPBR legislation will be on themarket,” said Baute. “But forsome time, there will be an in-formation challenge. Farmerswill have access to varietiesprotected under the new leg-islation as well as to varietiesprotected under the old legis-lation. There is potential forconfusion in the farm commu-nity and along the value chain,so CSTA has established thisvery informative website.” PBRfacts.ca is meant to in-form those stakeholders alongthe value chain who need tobe aware of the new require-ments created by the ex-panded breeder’s right. Theinformation provided byPBRfacts.ca will clarify theobligations associated witheach type of protection. The site contains specificand focused information forfarmers, seed retailers, seedconditioners and buyers ofharvested material (grain). Italso has a page dedicated toquestions and answers, factsheets, presentations andother material designed to in-form and build awareness. “Updated PBR is alreadyopening the door to increasedopportunities for Canadianfarmers and the value chain,”said Baute. “But with the op-portunity comes obligations,and we want to make sure thatwe all understand both.”

New Legislation Sets Stage for Wheat Variety Developmenttries that had not yet adoptedthe agreement protecting intel-lectual property in plantbreeding. “We believe this will be goodnews not only for wheat butfor other crops,” said MikeBast the Manitoba Vice Presi-dent of the Western CanadianWheat Growers. Bast said thatthe group has been in discus-sion with representatives ofthe public breeding sector andthey feel the legislation willbenefit them as well. “It is not just the privatecompanies that will see thebenefit,” said Bast. “We havespoken to people at the Uni-versity of Saskatchewan thatsee the potential for partner-

ships with private companiesthat will allow for expandedbreeding programs.” Bastpoints out that Bayer CropScience has announced it willbe establishing a breeding fa-cility in Saskatoon and thatwill benefit western Canadiangrowers. He acknowledges thatbreeders are faced with a chal-lenge of increasing yieldswhile improving disease resis-tance packages in the variet-ies. “It is always a balancingact,” he said. “We want in-creased yields but the breederhas to be looking at othertraits that are beneficial aswell.” Bast explained that on his

own farm near La Salle, hemakes decisions on whatcrops to grow through a se-ries of questions. “The firstis what can we grow and har-vest in good condition? We cangrow durum wheat but wedon’t get a good sample be-cause of the moisture and har-vest conditions,” he said. The second question he triesto answer is predicting whatthe market wants by lookingat price trends and forwardselling options. “Then welook at the economics, does itmake sense for us. Will thecrop show a net return withour yields and the marketprices?” Bast said that this year hiswheat acreage will be up andit comes mainly at the expenseof soybean acres while cornacres will remain relatively thesame. “We see more potentialupside in the wheat market,”he said. “So we are increasingour acres there. Soybean

prices are low and it doesn’tlook like they are going to comeup so we have cut back ouracres there.” He noted that wheat yieldshave been good on his farm over

the last two years with 2014surpassing 2013, which wasnot the case in many areas.“Just a few miles down theroad that wasn’t the case, butit was on our farm.”

WebsiteLaunchedfor PBR

Information


By Les Kletke

According to Rick Wright, the head of procurement for theHeartland Order Buyer Company mid-March is a great time tobe selling calves in Manitoba. Wright took some time away from his perch at the VirdenAuction Mart to talk to the AgriPost on the conditions makingthe calf market exceptionally strong. “It is a perfect storm,” said Wright. “A number of conditionshave come together to make this a great time to be selling calves inManitoba. It is not a good time to be buying calves.” Wright said the biggest feature in the 2015 market has been thedrop in value of the Canadian dollar. “Without a doubt that hasbeen the biggest factor. The fluctuation in the dollar can make adifference of two or three cents a pound within the day, justbecause of the dollar,” said Wright. He added that distance to Alberta or Nebraska is relatively thesame. “Buyers to either point are transporting their cattle aboutthe same distance and at this time the Nebraska buyer has a realadvantage.” Manitoba has long be established as a net exporter ofcalves and buyers look for Manitoba calves to fill feedlots orplace on pasture. He said the March 18, sale attracted 1,700 animals but heexpected that number to drop off in the next two weeks. “For noother reason than the calves are gone. There just won’t be a lot ofcalves left to sell.” Wright has also noticed that the sex of calves coming to markethas changed from the fall. “When we saw mostly steers comingto market and now the majority of calves being offered are heif-ers,” he said. Producers took advantage of strong prices in the fall and mar-keted their male calves but held on to their heifer calves to selectreplacement cows. “Guys held on to some of their calves and thesteers sold well into the fall but they might have held the heifersto see which one or how many replacements they will need andnow that they have made their choice, they are marketing thosecalves.” He said lower corn prices have also driven up the price offeeder cattle. “Lower feed costs are a factor; the price of corn isdown and not expected to rise so guys are willing to spend a littlemore on the calves.” Another factor that is strengthening the market over the longterm is the number of cows available. “The cattle numbers aredown, there just are not as many cows around to produce a calfthat will be coming to market, and that has been a factor as well.That is not going to change immediately,” he noted. While beef producers have faced markets, which worked againstthem it appears the tide has turned and conditions are in theirfavour. The one thing that has not changed is American legisla-tion. “If only we could get rid of COOL,” said Wright whileheading back to the sales ring.

Manitoba’s Calf MarketExceptionally Strong


By Les Kletke

Slowing down at seeding time is a challenge.It is difficult to pull back on the throttle whenthe goal is to get as much done as quickly aspossible, but slower speed during planting canshow big results at harvest. Marc Hutlet, of Hutlet Seeds, acknowledgesthat it is difficult to slow down at planting.“But it is all about getting the seed into theground uniformly for both depth and spacing.”Trials conducted in his plots last year showthat uneven seeding and the resultant gaps anddoubles in corn can easily cut yields by 10-15%. “Positions where there are two seeds andtwo plants emerge seldom produce a harvestablecob and that is what you want. Yield comesfrom harvestable cobs so the goal is to get asmany as possible, that doesn’t happen whenyou have spaces in the row and the resultingdouble seed placement.” Hutlet takes the discussion even further witheven placement of the seed in the soil resultingin even germination. “We find that a plant thatemerges 48 hours later is more like a weed thanpart of your crop,” he said. “It gets off to apoor start and is always shaded by the largerplants and does not develop as well, it does notmature and seldom provides a good cob. Kip Cullers a champion corn and soybeangrower from Purdy Missouri was at Crop Con-nect in Winnipeg in February and he told grow-ers those plants, which emerge 24 hours laterthan the majority of the crop, are robbing yield. “We might not take out management quiet tothe point,” said Hutlet. “But the goal is to getthe seeds into the ground as uniformly as pos-sible so that they get an even start and the cropis at the same stage at harvest.” Hutlet said that plant population in also im-portant and he hears customers cutting back ontheir seeding rates expecting the plants to makeup for the resultant few cobs. “It just doesn’thappen,” he said. “With a plant population of

Bob McFadden of Pioneer Seeds tellsgrowers how much skips and doubles cancost them at harvest. The recommendation isto slow down the speed at seeding so seedis place as accurately and uniformly aspossible.

Pull Back on Throttle for Higher Yields

26,000 [plants per acre] you have the potentialfor a 121 bushel yield with average size cobs.When you increase that to 30,000 plants thepotential increases to 140 bushels with thesame size cob.” He estimates the increased seed cost at thehigher rate to be $12-14 an acre. “Twenty bush-els for $12 an acre is a good return and you arenot incurring any other costs per acre. Yourfertilizer and weed control costs are the same.” The only increase in cost for slowing downmight be the trucking costs of getting more crophome in the fall.


As agriculture moved from the horse era at the turn of the lastcentury farmers were always looking for more applications ofmechanical power. Back in the day of the first tractors, followingthe steam era, tractors were looked on as only a means of pullinga load efficiently without having to feed and water the horsesafter a half days of work. Belt pulleys were used to turn threshing machines, sawmills,feed grinders, and most other power transmission applications. After that came the invention of the Power Take Off (PTO)shafts. Instead of the belt running equipment in a stationaryposition the PTO shaft allowed equipment to be used in a mobileapplication. All mobile equipment up to this point had to beground driven, examples being ground drive binders, ground drivenmanure spreaders, etc. In wet slippery conditions ground drivenequipment were not the most efficient but coming from the horseera it was the only way to run binders, spreaders, combines andother mobile implements. The one great restriction was that themoment you engaged the engine clutch the implement stoppedturning. If you were baling hay this was a total nuisance so allbaler manufacturers compensated by having an engine mountedon the baler as an example. In the late 1920’s manufacturers started looking at building aLive PTO whereby you could stop the tractor but the imple-ments being used could keep turning. The first LPTO was actu-ally invented by IHC back in 1929 mounted on the new 10-20only as a prototype but never marketed as it was considered toodangerous and cumbersome. They mounted a clutch on the frontof the engine crankshaft. Power was transmitted to the side of theengine by a chain and then a shaft ran along the side of the tractorto the rear where it was coupled to the implement. It was danger-ous, impractical and ugly so the whole affair was scrapped andforgotten about. You have to wonder if any of these prototypeswould still be in existence besides some old photographs or maybesome engineer’s drawings. The first practical LPTO was invented by Cockshutt in 1947.Cockshutt designed and built one of the nicest tractors of thatera. It was powered by a 4 cylinder engine with a real efficientsteering system and real attractive styling in that era. Cockshuttbolted a splined hub to the inside of the flywheel and ran a shaftfrom the flywheel to the back of the tractor into a clutch. With alever situated beside the operator, you could engage or disengagethe PTO clutch at will. This was the first live power take off thatwas practical. You have to wonder why it took the other manu-facturers so long to adopt this concept. It wasn’t until about 7years later before companies like Deere and IHC would adoptsimilar designs. Massey, Ford and the European built IHC tractors went to adifferent design incorporating the dual stage clutch. With thisdesign you could push the clutch pedal half way down and stopthe tractor. If you depressed the pedal all the way down youwould also stop the PTO shaft. It was a cumbersome clutchaffair in comparison to the Cockshutt design which was also bythis time adopted by Oliver. You would think that with theseinnovations, these companies would have taken the market bystorm but it never happened. Even in the early 1970’s you couldstill order an engine driven baler. Try and get one today. While Bob Brandt is known around Steinbach as owner ofCrikside Enterprises, he is also an avid collector in antique farmand enjoys researching the history. Feel free to contact him [email protected].

By Les Kletke

Curtis McRae welcomes thechance to explain his businessto other people, and he be-lieves they should be inter-ested because he is growing thefood they eat. One of the points thatMcRae makes with his audi-ences is that they are fortu-nate to live in Manitoba andhave the selection of locallyproduced food that they do. “People don’t realize thequality of food that is avail-able to them and that theycould be out bid by people inother parts of the world,” hesaid. “Just this week I signed

Dedicated Farmer Advocate a “Crop Star”a contract to produce wheatfor Warburton’s, a baker inEngland.” McRae delivered a presen-tation to a grade 11 class atthe Forks in Winnipeg as partof the Ag in the City heldMarch 20-21. His presentation includedvideo clips produced by theManitoba Canola Growers, afeature that had been done onthe McRae farm for a local TVstation. “It has to be moving and ithas to be fast to hold the at-tention of kids today,” he said.“I try to say things that willget them thinking and askingquestions. While the presen-

tation was targeted at the highschool students, it was opento the public and he was morethan willing to field questionsfrom anyone. When asked on how he be-came involved with the pro-gram he said, “I live beside thelake and I got tired of hearingfarmers blamed for the pollu-tion in the lake, so I startedtelling people about the thingsthat farmers did to protect theland and water. It grew to talk-ing about food supply andwhat a good job Manitobafarmers do of producing safeaffordable food.” The farm he talks about is a

mixed operation just north ofWinnipeg that has a cow-calfherd and crop operation. “Weare just about to head into calv-ing and get ready for seedingso it is a busy time,” saidMcRae who describes hiscowherd as Interlake Pure-breds. Chuckling he added,“They are primarily Angusgenetics.” Recently his crop rotationincluded sunflowers for thefirst time. “We will be expand-ing our sunflower acreage ex-ponentially,” he laughed.“Only because we startedwith a trial last year.” He noted that his other acres

are dedicated to wheat andcanola. “The sunflowersshowed a good return last yearand they help spread the workload which is important to us,”

Curtis talking about being a Crop Star.

he said. “Equipment has im-proved a lot and the cropworks for us so we will try abigger acreage.”

The Evolution of the Live PTOThe Evolution of the Live PTOThe Evolution of the Live PTOThe Evolution of the Live PTOThe Evolution of the Live PTO


Once, I was checking the spring ration for a dairy producer, who raised a group of replacementdairy heifers in a dry lot. The mud was about a half-metre deep and with each step toward the feeder,it was slow going. About half way along, my boot got stuck and by struggling, I buried it. Abandon-ing what I was doing, I went back to the barn without a left boot (and sock). Unfortunately, these dairy heifers and others that live in such quagmire, face a similar predicamentas well as negative health consequences. Most producers can avoid most of these problems bypracticing a few “mud maintenance” techniques. Without the loss of a single boot, university dairy studies suggest that for every 1” of mud, drymatter intake is reduced by as much as 2.5% in lactation cows, which is explained by a generalreluctance to move in the mud and up to the feed-bunk. These cows tend to eat fewer meals, whichis thought to contribute to “slug” feeding and in turn disrupt good rumen function and cud chewingthat further underlies sub-clinical acidosis (SARA). Long-term SARA is proven to dovetail intoother disorders such as displaced abomasums, and lameness in dairy cattle. Aside from reducing the mobility of dairy cattle the deeper it gets, mud is often contaminated withdisease-causing microorganisms from the environment as well as contaminated with cattle manure,urine and other fluids such as blood. When biologically active in warm spring weather, thesepathogens can cause a higher incidence of mastitis, lameness, enteritis and even mortality amongdairy cattle. Numerous reports have suggested that many types of bacteria that cause mastitis on the milk-lineare widespread in the cow’s environment. Subsequently, mastitis is inevitable in many lactationdairy cows unless protocols are put in place to prevent these pathogens from entering their teatcanals. Mud increases this pathogenic opportunity in two ways; (1) it allows contaminated sourcesof bacteria to come in direct contact with the udder’s teat and teat-ends and (2) it promotes surfacelesions and/or chaffing of the teat skin, which harbours even more bacteria. In addition to mastitis caused by organisms living in mud, lameness is a big problem in cattle raisedin muddy pens or pastures. For example, foot rot (Fusobacterium necrophorum) is prevalent inmuddy conditions, because cattle hooves standing in constant wet mud becomes soft and pliable.Furthermore, sharp rocks and stones found in mud often injure the cattle’s soft hooves and openthem up to invasion by foot rot bacteria. Pus and discharge from swollen feet will contaminatemuddy ground and healthy cattle can become infected if they walk in the same area. Unfortunately, foot rot is not the only microbial threat that can live in mud. Mud is also a goodhome for cattle enteric disease-causing organisms such as crytosporidia and coccidia that causecoccidiosis. This organism is shed in the manure of infected cattle, which defecate back it into themud and spread it to more victims. Fortunately, coccidiosis in cattle is largely prevented by addingmonensin sodium to cattle diets. The actual extent to which mud contributes to these diseases in dairy cattle is not known, but onecan speculate that good “mud management” implemented in muddy dry-lots and on pastures shouldreduce the incidence of their adverse health effects and also help dairy cattle move around and up tothe feed bunk. Here are some suggestions to help reduce the effect of mud on outside dairy cattle:- Scrape down pens – Deal with mud and get rid of it. We are not only getting rid of significantamounts of mud, but in many cases, much of the manure that built up during the winter. Scrape infront of feeding areas or concrete lips in front of the feed bunks.- Improve drainage in pens – Put in necessary culverts and grade pens with a bit of a slope, whichhelps carry water away from loafing areas.- Improve cattle comfort - Extra bedding should be used in dry lot areas. While cleaning out pens, amound in the dry lot might be created, that water drains away from and keeps lying cattle, dry. Cleanand slope dirt and manure away from pole-barns.- Improve udder hygiene – For lactation cows with access to outside mud, concentrate on sound pre-and post-milking protocols, which clean and sanitize the teat and teat-ends.- Manage wet pastures – Avoid keeping cattle in the same early pastures for extended periods.Implement more frequent movements of cattle. Move mineral and salt feeders on occasion to assistmovement of cattle. It’s not always easy to keep dairy cattle clean and dry after the winter snow melts and creates lotsof mud. It is almost guaranteed to put non-lactation and lactation cattle at a performance and healthdisadvantage. Therefore, dairy producers should do all they can to lessen mud’s negative effects. Ultimately, protecting cattle from mud might also find my missing boot.

Fertilizer phosphorus added beyond the crops’ yearly needs can remain in the soil, and canbecome more tightly bound to soil than recently added fertilizer. Not much is known about theavailability of “residual phosphorus” or “legacy phosphorus” to plants. Because it is moretightly bound, it may not show up in “soil test phosphorus” analyses that measure readilyavailable soil inorganic phosphorus to determine fertilizer requirements. This is why, research-ers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) are investigating legacy phosphorus in studiesat various locations across Canada. One study in this phosphorus project is led by Dr. Barbara Cade-Menun at the SemiaridPrairie Agricultural Research Centre (SPARC) in Swift Current. Her team is studying a set ofagricultural plots that were established in 1967. Until 1995 these plots received both phospho-rus and nitrogen fertilizer, but then each was split in two so that phosphorus treatments couldbe stopped on one half of each plot. The result is a long-term, controlled study of legacyphosphorus. “The availability of long-term plots is key to studying new problems as they develop, suchas the potential over-application of phosphorus fertilizers. While it’s well known that not allthe fertilizer given to plants will be used, what we don’t know is how fertilizer compounds inthe soil interact with the other soil elements, microbes and plants over time,” said Cade-Menun. What has surprised the researchers is the growth of the wheat plants on the plots notfertilized by phosphorus: although tests showed very low concentrations of soil test phospho-rus on the no-phosphorus plots, there was no difference in yield, or in grain phosphorusconcentration as compared to the fertilized plot. The plants that did not receive additionalfertilizer were able to use both the legacy fertilizer phosphorus, as well as other pools of thephosphorus that had accumulated in the soil, such as organic phosphorus from decaying plantmaterial. While this research will need to be replicated with other crops in other soil and environmentalconditions, it suggests that farmers might be able to change the way they think about phospho-rous fertilizer. Accessing existing phosphorous from the soil would be a cost saving for thefarmer and potentially reduce the risk of phosphorus loss into nearby water bodies.

Mud ContaminatesSpring DairyPerformanceand Health

Study of Legacy Phosphorus Could Save Farmers a BundleStudy of Legacy Phosphorus Could Save Farmers a BundleStudy of Legacy Phosphorus Could Save Farmers a BundleStudy of Legacy Phosphorus Could Save Farmers a BundleStudy of Legacy Phosphorus Could Save Farmers a Bundle


By Joan Airey

Johanna Ross, Execu-tive Director of Agricul-ture in the Classroom(AITC) received theWestman YWCA Womanof Distinction Award atthe recent event held inBrandon. Agriculture in theClassroom has grownrapidly since Ross tookover as Executive Directorfifteen years ago. Theorganization reaches over40,000 students andteachers per year affect-ing over seventy per centof schools in Manitoba. “Since I started in 2000,our operating budget hasincreased seven hundredpercent and increasedmembership to over fourhundred. Staff, hasincreased from one half-time person when Istarted to five full-timeand two part-time. Thoseinterested in seeing all ouractivities can go toaitc.mb.ca. I have beeninvolved in the officialdevelopment and launchof AITC Canada and theiraitc-canada.ca,” saidRoss. New in 2015 is an AITC-Canada commissionedstorybook. Adventures ofMichael and Mia:Stewards of the Land thatwas authored by EdwardWillett and illustrated byVal Lawton. “As students follow

By Joan Airey

Mar Mac Farms and Guests hosted the 11th Annual Bull Saleat the farm south of Brandon recently. Over 300 livestock en-thusiasts enjoyed a hot roast beef lunch and supported theSouth Brandon - Roseland 4-H by purchasing a piece of home-made pie. Mar Mac Farms and Guests presented Jerry Kanewsicherwith a gift for his dedicated service and expertise over the pastnumber of years. Mar Mac Farms, the City of Brandon along with DownhillSimmentals, Rapid City and Perkin Land and Cattle, Elgin werethe hosts for the day presenting seventy-eight bulls for sale.Auctioneer Chris Poley with Nathan Marin, Shane Michelsonand Helge By conducted the auction. Black Angus Bulls averaged $7,241 each. The top selling BlackAngus went to Mar Mac Blueprint 56B, son of LT Driven 9087that sold for $21,000 to Blairs.Ag, Lanigan, Saskatchewan. Red Angus Bulls averaged $6,683 each during the auction andthe top selling Red Angus Bulls was Red Mar Mac Neptune118B, son of Red Flying K Neptune that sold for $ 12,500, toGuild Farms, Brandon. Simmental Bulls averaged $5,670 and the top selling Simmen-tal Bull was for Perks El Camino 3021B, red son of MRL ElTigre for $ 12,500 sold to Shane Nordine, Hay Lake, Alberta. In total, the seventy- eight bulls grossed $490,250 averagingout to $6,285 each.

Executive Director of Agriculturein the Classroom Receives Award

Executive Director of Agriculture in the Classroom Johanne Rosswith some of her staff, Kate Pacholok, Karen Hill and JessicaBrady.

along on Michael andMia’s gardening adven-ture, they will learn howfarmers utilize modernfarm practices andtechnology to care for ourland and at the same timeproduce food to feed theworld. With generoussupport from Viterra andGrowing Forward 2, aFederal-Provincialterritorial initiative, thisbook was made possible,”said Ross. Last week was thefourth AgricultureLiteracy week combinedwith Agriculture in theClassroom and with thehelp of one hundredvolunteers over 4,200students in about 100schools was reached. The Made in ManitobaBreakfast program hastailored presentations forkindergarten to grade fourcalled Where Does myfood Come From, forGrades 5 - 8 Agriculture isFood and so Much Moreand for grades 9 - 12Consider a Career inAgriculture that are allused in a breakfast for thewhole school. TheBreakfast menu isgenerally pancakes, hardcooked eggs, porksausages, chocolate milk,canola margarine, honeyand seasonal fruit. Anyschool can apply to haveMade in ManitobaBreakfast come to theirschool.

Photo courtesy of Johanne Ross

Mar Mac Farms and Guests Bull SaleMar Mac Farms and Guests Bull SaleMar Mac Farms and Guests Bull SaleMar Mac Farms and Guests Bull SaleMar Mac Farms and Guests Bull Sale

By Les Kletke

In the past decade, soybeans have earned their spot as areliable crop in Manitoba’s crop rotation and the ManitobaPulse & Soybeans Growers (MPSG) is doing its best to ex-pand that place with the On Farm Network. Kristen Podlosky is the production specialist with MPSGand she said that acreage has doubled in the past five years to1.3 million acres in 2014. She expects it to climb marginally in2015. The MPSG has several programs to evaluate the crop anddevelop sound production practices for Manitoba producersand she credits industry partnerships with providing fundingfor the programs. Podlosky said while the crop has earned its place in Manitobathere is a lot that needs to be learned. “We have seen it comethrough the challenges of weather, although we have not reallytested it with a severe drought,” she said. Podlosky along withmany producers is pleased with the way the crop handled thechallenges of last year’s weather that began with late seedingwhich meant a high probability of an early fall frost. “The late seeding meant the crop was not as mature as itwould usually have been and the frost could have been verydamaging but that didn’t happened,” she said. The On Farm Network program that began last year is beingexpanded she said. “It is truly an on farm program where wehave a researcher working with producers on their farm. It isnot just about giving them the protocol and expecting them tocarry out the work.” This year the On Farm Network will address five questions.“Seeding rates, we are asking producers to try a high and lowrate of seeding,” she said. “We want them to compare theresults on their farm and in a scientific way. Seed is an expenseand they need to see what rate shows the best return for them.” The second is the use of inoculants. Producers are going toconduct trials with and without in furrow inoculants on fieldsthat have had two or more previous soybean crops. The thirdtest is seed treatment, and trials will be conducted with andwithout congenital treatments. “The fourth is fungicide. We are wondering if we need fungi-cide treatments on the crop as they use in areas where beanshave been produced for a long time,” she said. “The fifth isresidue management and this is a bit more involved but wehope farmers have more time in the fall and can take the time totry some trials of zero till, strip tillage and vertical tillage toevaluate what is the best way to deal with crop residue.” Farmers are being encouraged to sign up for the On FarmNetwork on the Manitoba Pulse web page.

Successful On Farm NetworkSuccessful On Farm NetworkSuccessful On Farm NetworkSuccessful On Farm NetworkSuccessful On Farm NetworkProgram for SoybeansProgram for SoybeansProgram for SoybeansProgram for SoybeansProgram for Soybeans


By Harry Siemens

Len Penner near Blumenort,who is part of Oak Lee Farmssaid diversification has servedthis family farm well going intothe fourth generation and plan-ning to involved the fifth, ifthat generation so chooses. The farm operates a farrowto finish unit, raises turkeysand chickens, operates a feedmill to produce feed for theanimals with enough croplandto supply the feed mill, as wellas some extra cash from theirsales in canola. They also usethe canola meal to supplementtheir own feed requirements. Penner who comes by thefarm honestly married a farmgirl whose father farmed, butlooked to involve the next gen-eration, the same as his grand-father and father did beforehim. Getting into the business offarming for Penner is an inter-esting story. “It’s funny grow-ing up I always said I’d neverbe a farmer,” he said. “Then Istarted dating a farm girl. NowI enjoy the lifestyle, takingfamily time, working togetheras a family, it all intrigues me,as opposed to all going yourseparate ways at the beginningof the day. Everyone workstogether at the same thing.” Penner knows it is impos-sible to start farming while

Diversification is Key for 4th Generation Farm

Dating a farm girl for Len Penner and marrying her, Angela [neeReimer] helped him to get into farming and appreciate theworking together and the family life, instead of going off inseparate directions every workday morning.

working for a salary, so he tookthe opportunity when thisfamily decided to accommo-date him and his wife withinthe family farm. “We all know the costs ofgetting into farming. It is atough go,” he said. “You don’tdo that working on minimumwage; you don’t just go intofarming.” In Len and Angela’s case,they are farming because thefamily planned to have their

children farm with them. While the national farmingpopulation continues toshrink, many young farmerscontinue to take over fromtheir parents or parents-in-law. That is the only way 99out of 100 new farmers startand the only way the Penners’children can get into it, if theyso desire. Passing the farm tothe next generation begins withproper planning that startsearly, not at retirement age,

explained the Penners. “That is what we’re grow-ing our farm for,” said Len.“My brother-in-law MikeReimer and I only now becamepart of the farm financially andwe’re already planning for ourchildren as to how we will ac-commodate this, how will wegrow our farm and what areasare we going to grow our farm.Just to be able to accommo-date them down the road, ifthey have an interest in it, andwe certainly hope they do.” The key factor in their plan-ning right now is diversifica-tion. “I think being the diver-sified farm that we are, wehave to. Knowing how the in-dustry is with everythinggrowing big, so we have to fig-ure out exactly where ourplace is in every market, anddo we focus on one specificdirection or do we continue tostay diversified the way myfather-in-law and uncle did it,”he said. Penner knows without adoubt, how diversification andself-sufficiency carried thefamily farm through some verydifficult times. “We mill ourown feed. We use up almostall of what we grow on ourown farm. Obviously, canolawe market as a cash crop, butwe turn around and use themeal to feed our pigs and poul-try,” said Len.

By Joan Airey

Ramrod Cattle Co. located south of Medora started in1983 with the purchase of four cows. Now they have aroundhundred and sixty cows with most of these being BlackAngus, a few Red Angus and twenty commercial cows. Ramrod is a family operation run by Tony and JodyDekeyser and their children Tyler and Lacey and everyonetakes part in the operation. “We have been raising Angus for thirty plus years andhave seen different trends come and go from one extreme tothe other and we have made our share of mistakes,” saidJody Dekeyser. “However we have found that by stickingto our goal of raising highly functional cows, who wean theircalves as close to fifty per cent of their body weight aspossible and never concentrate on a single trait, that westrive to produce cattle that are productive and in demand.” The Dekeyser’s market most of the females by privatetreaty, consign regularly to the Keystone Klassic Sale andare one of the original members of the sale. Their bulls aresold annually at the Cowboys Angus Bull Sale at TaylorAuction in Melita.

Allan Nykoliation presenting to Tyler, Lacey and TonyDekeyser the 2014 Purebred Breeder of the Year Award.

2014 Purebred AngusBreeder of the Year


By Harry Siemens

When the federal govern-ment announced the HogFarm Transition program onAugust 15, 2009, manyproducers at their wits end,took the buyout, some tofinally exit with somedignity, others to waitaround, look after theirempty barns and see whathappens. All barns participating inthe Hog Farm Transitionprogram had to be com-pletely empty by March 31,2011 to comply withprogram terms and condi-tions of the contributionagreement with Agricultureand AgriFood Canada. Some producers were quitehappy to take the cheques,while for others, when theysaw the pork prices rise, hadsecond thoughts. Others, asone colony reported, had notcashed the cheque andreturned it to the programthinking they could do betterstaying in the hog business. It took Don Esler of PilotMound three tries to collectunder the federalgovernment’s Hog FarmTransition Program with abid of just under $800 peranimal unit on his 131animals units. “I did put in the lower bidand I was accepted thistime,” said Esler from hisfarm home near Pilot Mound

Jack Hart welcomed everyone to their 20th AnnualCattlemen’s Connection Bull Sale on March 6, at Heart-land in Brandon. Brent Carey, Auctioneer for the salecommented on how bull sales had become more hightech over the last 20 years with on-line and cell phonebidding. Ninety-five bulls grossed $550,950 to average$5,800 each.

Life After the 2011 Federal Hog Buyout

Hog and grain farmer John Preun of Selkirk, talks with fellowfarmers at the recent AGM for Keystone Agricultural Producersin Winnipeg.

in an earlier interview. For him, it closed the dooron an important chapter ofhis life. Having decided toget out of hog production inAugust, before he knew ofthis program, makes this afitting close to that chapter.He said for him, there is lifeafter hogs. Hog and grain farmer JohnPreun of Selkirk took theother route maintaining hisbarn and biding his manda-tory three-year period ofkeeping it empty with thethought of getting back at theright time. “Yes we are back in thehog business deciding to fillour barn again and customfeed for Maple Leaf Foodsin Brandon,” said Preun.“We are using it as a riskmanagement tool; basically

getting a cheque every monthfor the work we do.” On his farm, they kept thehog barn in good shape,despite not raising hogs in it,maintaining the heat,controlling the rodents,checking on it weekly and itkept quite well for threeyears. “We provide the labourand the facility to finish hogsthat Maple Leaf owns orthey purchase from anoutside producer,” saidPreun. “The company paysus per square foot for ourfacility divided by 12months and that is how theypay us.” Maple Leaf delivers thepigs at around seven to eightweeks of age, anywhere from60 to 66 pounds and Preunfeeds them right up to

market weight, 270 to 280pounds. He does not run anyother pigs on the side, as it isan all-in and all-out facility. The hog expansionmoratorium in Manitobacontinues to take its toll tothe point where a spokes-man for Maple Leaf saidthey have squeezed outevery ounce of productionfrom the producer inManitoba. “Yes, the hog moratoriumis still there and of courseMaple Leaf is activelyseeking more productionunits to keep their killingplant full because that’s thename of the game,” saidPreun. “They make moneywhen their facility processesat a 100 percent capacityand we’re far short of thatnow.” He said the hog morato-rium really put the brakes onany expansion or anyinvestment in the industry.“That whole moratoriumwas overdone with muchpolitical pressure to do thatat the time, but I thinkscience tells us we [the hogindustry] weren’t the solecontributors to the algaeblooms in Lake Winnipeg,”he said. “We need some sortof common sense approachto loosening the knot on themoratorium and letting theconstructing of buildings goforward based on their ownsite manure managementplans.”

The All Canada Classic is coming to Red River Exhibition Parkin Winnipeg from June 24 -27. This is the premier event for the Canadian Purebred SheepIndustry and will be hosted by the Manitoba Sheep Association(MSA) in partnership with the Canadian Sheep Breeders Asso-ciation. This annual show and sale, which rotates across Canada, willwelcome 200 to 300 sheep of all breeds to Winnipeg in 2015.Sheep will be shown and compete within their breed to establishthe sale order and allow perspective buyers an opportunity toview the animals. On the closing day, the sheep will be offered forsale by public auction. At recent sales, consignors, buyers and spectators from coastto coast have been present. It is anticipated that this event willattract approximately 400 attendees.

Bull Prices on the Rise in 2015Bull Prices on the Rise in 2015Bull Prices on the Rise in 2015Bull Prices on the Rise in 2015Bull Prices on the Rise in 2015

Photo by Joan Airey

SHEEP: All CanadaClassic 2015


By Peter Vitti

I remember that it wasn’ttoo long ago, cow-calf op-erators calved out most oftheir cows by mid-March inwestern Canada. This cen-tury-old tradition allowedcows to nurse their calvesand put on heavy weaning-weight over the course ofthe summer and then calveswere sold to feedlots by theend of October. Thisdoesn’t seem to be the solecase anymore, since manypeople have adjusted theircalving season to allowcows to give birth onsprouting green pastures inorder to take advantage ofa friendlier climate and saveon winter-feeding costs. Delaying the calving sea-son until May makes senseto me as a beef nutritionistand novel economist, since

Late Spring Calves Sprout with Green Pasturesmid-gestation cows in themiddle of January/Febru-ary would have lower totalnutrient requirements com-pared to traditional cows inthe last trimester of preg-nancy/calving. This wouldallow us to overwinter thedelayed cowherd on goodquality forages of lowernutrient value as well asprovide less energy andprotein supplementation.Furthermore, it would alsoallow a conservative planeof nutrition to keep themwarm and retain good bodycondition during the cold-est winter months. Subsequent sproutingpastures in mid and late-May tend to be at theirhighest quality, which of-ten matches the post-calv-ing cows’ higher energyand protein requirements oflactation and helps them

retain precious body con-dition in order to returnlater on to estrus andrebreeding. If it is a coldspring and the quantity ofsprouting grass is an issue,there is still is the option ofproviding some dry hayand/or grain to assure allnutrient requirements of thenursing beef cows are met. Regardless, consider thepotential money savingsfor a 250-beef cow opera-tion by replacing all the for-ages and ½ of the supple-mented barley grain in a drylot lactation diet with onemonth of grazed May pas-ture. The pencil calculationsfor potential savings of alate-spring calving seasonare as follows: Total feedintake of 15kg = 600kg x2.5% of body weight, 15kg= 14kg of mixed hay at

$90/mt + 1kg of barley at$185/mt. One month win-ter-feed cost = $1.26 +$0.19 or $1.45 x 30 days.Total monthly feed costsavings (250 cows) =$10,875. As illustrated, there is ageneral feed savings onoverwinter feed costs, butat the other end of thescale, there might be direeconomic consequences toincoming revenue. For ex-ample, some Canadian ref-erences state that there is adifference of about 50kgless live weaned poundsper calf sold during the tra-ditional autumn months,although some of this lossis offset by marketing lightcalves at graduated higherprices compared to heaviertraditional calves. Aside from the above po-tential winter-feed savingsand general avoidance ofcalving out the cowherdduring arctic-like weather,a late-calving season is notwithout its natural chal-lenges. Unexpected springsnowstorms and cold rainscan chill newborn calves,which are particularly vul-nerable to catching pneu-monia. Similarly, frequent

muddy conditions andthawed manure piles pro-vide a catalyst for conta-gious intestinal scours thatcould lead to high calf mor-tality. By personal experience,one of the first things thatcome to my mind when pro-ducers implement a calvingseason from February/March to mid-May meansthat 80 days later theirbreeding season tends tofall upon the hottest daysof the summer in July/Au-gust. That means heat-stressedcows are more likely to re-main open, because theyare less likely to ovulate,have irregular estruscycles, may have poor con-ception rates, and sufferfrom a high rate of earlyembryonic deaths. Further-more, a period of ‘dog days’can literary sterile other-wise fertile bulls. A few years ago, I wascalled out to a late-springbeef producer’s place (200-cowherd) in southernManitoba on a plus 30°CJuly day. The owner wascomplaining that a mineralfeeding program that I hadput together for him was

not working, because oneof his bulls couldn’t settlea segregated group of 18Angus replacement heifers. I was confident that mymineral recommendationswere sound and once I sawhis bull, which was pant-ing and testicles de-scended to almost groundlevel I knew heat-stress hadtemporarily sterilized him.All of the replacement heif-ers were laying by the treeline. By a subsequent visiton a cooler fall day, I dis-covered that the same bullhad successfully bred eachone of those same heiferswith a new calf, which wereput in the producers’ fall-calving herd. From talking to this pro-ducer and others, I learnedsomething. No matter howthe weather turns out forlate-spring calving and thesubsequent breeding sea-sons, or even how muchactual winter-feed costs aresaved or total amount ofsaleable pounds of weanedcalves sold; the real suc-cess story of a late-springcalving season is basedupon the total amount ofreal profit generated.


By Harry Siemens

Dr. Tracy Gilson, the Op-erations Manager with theBruce D. Campbell Farmand Food Discovery Cen-tre said, since the facilityopened its doors threeyears ago, the baby pigs arestill its most popular attrac-tion. The University ofManitoba’s Bruce D.Campbell Farm and FoodDiscovery Centre, locatedon highway 75 south ofWinnipeg, features handson displays and activitiesdesigned to explain the sci-ence involved in food pro-duction. Dr. Gilson said the centrestarted with a vision fromits foundational support-ers, Bruce D. Campbell andhis wife, Leslie Campbell.“They realized individualsare getting further and fur-

Baby Pigs Most Popular Attraction at Manitoba Discovery Centre

The University of Manitoba’s Bruce D. Campbell Farm and FoodDiscovery Centre, located on highway 75 south of Winnipeg,features hands on displays and activities designed to explainthe science involved in food production.

ther from the farm, but stillhave an interest in foodproduction,” she said.“Bruce and Leslie want tosupport a facility that al-lows people to learn aboutagriculture and food pro-duction through exhibitsand displays and be righthere on our research sta-tion.” Gilson said, in 2014, thecentre attracted just overfive thousand visitors withthe majority being elemen-tary school students fromgrades 5 through 8. Whilegood for all ages, the de-sign is focused mostly forschool children throughoutthe province. “So the displays aregeared for very young chil-dren right to grade 10, 11and 12,” said Dr. Gilson.“That is our target audi-ence, that’s the group thatis interested and wants to

know about food produc-tion. They’re learning it inschool so we providethem the opportunity tocome here and see someof the features.” She said the centre hasprogram activities gearedto a specific audience,whether for younger orolder children, such as thedairy program that givesa barn tour, making butterand ice cream to learninghow an egg develops. “I think probably ourbiggest feature is whenwe have the baby pig-lets,” said Gilson. “Whilein the centre you can seeinto an operating swineunit and so you can fol-low the sows from thebreeding portion, throughgestation to delivery ofthe piglets, and then oncethey wean the piglets, youcan see them as well. Ithink that’s probably thehighlight, when we havebaby pigs.” The centre also hasother displays, includingan enriched laying cagethat people can see how

Dr. Tracy Gilson

hens are in a production sys-tem. “We don’t have hensin the cage but we do havethe cage so they can see thedifferent features,” she said.“Upon request we can takeindividuals and tour thedairy barn where they canactually go in and see our52-head dairy cows.” Another goal for them isto have the public comethrough and learn wheretheir food comes from andhow it is produced. Dr.Gilson said when peoplefirst walk into the centre,they are amazed at the facil-ity and often cannot believethis gem is here and that theyknew nothing about it. Oncethey go through the infor-mation presented alsoamazes and impresses them. When asked about howeffective they are in bring-ing the public together withthe scientists and research-ers, Gilson said they are plan-ning tech talks starting thisfall to connect their scien-tists, the public, and the in-dustry partners and share in-formation. “What interests the pub-lic about food productionand have our scientists ex-plain the research they doand the discovery that actu-ally influences the way thefood gets put on their plate,”said Dr. Gilson. “I call itknowledge translationabout how scientists con-tinually make discoveries,but limited in ways that anindividual can actually findout about these discover-ies.” The Discovery Centre

“I think probably our biggest feature is when we have the babypiglets,” said Dr. Tracey Gilson, Operations Manager.

does play a provincial rolein actually translating thatinformation in a language

consumers can under-stand and helps to deter-mine how it does affectsthem.


For those of us that went through 2003 either as producers or as professionals working in the beefindustry the announcement in February that Canada had found its 19th case of Bovine SpongiformEncephalopathy (BSE) may have made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. This is a normalreaction I suppose considering the impact that BSE had on our industry over 10 years ago. On February 11, 2015, the Canadian Federal Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed the discoveryof BSE in a cow from a farm in Alberta. It was determined that this case was ‘classical,’ meaning thesource of the infection was most likely from feed and that it was not ‘atypical’ BSE which may occursporadically in older cattle. This foreign animal disease devastated our industry and today 12 yearslater, some producers continue to recover. This latest animal was born in 2009, two years after Canada’s enhanced feed barn was enacted in2007. The enhanced feed ban restricts animal by-products, including specified risk material (SRMs),the tissues known to concentrate BSE, from entering the human and feed industry chains. This birthfarm was also the same location as the BSE case found in 2010. As the investigation continues it hasbeen determined, that the two animals were not related and there may have been a period of overlapwhere the two were exposed to the same source of the infection. CFIA’s investigation at thismoment is centred on the trace out of birth and feed cohorts or animals that are related or fed thesame diets early on in their lives. According to the OIE, the World Organization for Animal Health, Canada’s BSE risk status, whichis classified as ‘controlled risk’ will not change and thus we should not see a change in trading status.However, as of early March five countries have placed a temporary ban on the import of Canadianbeef and beef by-products. They include South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Peru and Belarus. At thispoint, it is anticipated that these temporary bans will be lifted once the investigation is complete.Our major trading partners, like the United States and Europe have held to the OIE guidelines andhave not imposed any trading restrictions. So let’s put this into perspective what this really means for Canada. This is the 19th case we havefound out of 436,000 head tested. The discovery of this case does not mean a resurgence of BSE inCanada. It means our surveillance system works and that in fact the number of positive animals issignificantly declining within the population. But on the flip side it also means it will take us a littlemore time to completely eradicate the disease in Canada and that our timeline to move to negligiblerisk status internationally is prolonged. Following 11 years of surveillance and no additional posi-tive animals going forward, Canada will be able to apply to the OIE for this upgraded status. It willnow be 2020 before Canada can apply to be considered ‘negligible risk’ for BSE. So what is the same, this time around? The public now as they did 12 years ago continues tosupport our industry and I believe that is a testament to the high quality and safe beef products thatwe continue to produce. No products from this last positive animal entered the food or feed system.Our surveillance program is working to not only keep our product safe but to also prove to ourtrading partners that we have a high level surveillance system to monitor our products. What is different this time around? The response from our trading partners to date has been quitelimited compared to 12 years ago. Yes, we have had five international markets put in place tempo-rary bans on beef and beef by-products until the investigation is complete. These five countriesmake up approximately 3% of our international exports, so this is not overly significant in terms ofbeef exports but it has hit some industry stakeholders that export secondary by-products muchharder. Nevertheless, these temporary bans are estimated to be valued at well over $70 millionannually so this is not something to take lightly. We can only hope that once all the pertinent data iscollected those markets will reopen. So even though these latest announcements have created some anxiety among us in the industry itseems that the impacts to date have not been anywhere near those we faced 12 years ago. We aremaking progress, we continue to have the trust and confidence of our consumers and we are gainingground in the international community as well. Even though is it disappointing to have anotherpositive case we are working towards eradicating this disease.

By Elmer Heinrich

Spring is in the air, and Dennis Lange, an Altona Farm Production Advisor says with theearly melt farmers are generally optimistic as they consider a possible early start on springseeding. While the outlook for the week is relatively cool, Lange sees the possibility of working inthe fields by mid to late April in Manitoba. He said it looks like we are going to get an earlier start to seeding compared to the lastcouple of years, noting that the warm temperatures have melted much of the snowpackacross most of the province. This could mean that farmers will have a longer planting window than they have had inthe last few years. “Of course we know we could still get a late snowstorm and see seedingwell into June,” added Lange. Overall, Lange sees farmers generally sticking with their crop rotations, but getting anearly start on spring cereals. Lange, who is also Manitoba’s soybean specialist, sees continued interest in this fledg-ling crop, and Manitoba’s record 1.3 million acres last year might rise to 1.5 million acresthis year. He explained that Manitoba’s soybeans are crushed for oil and used as a protein sourcein livestock feed. Most of our soybeans are exported, with about 60% sold into the US. With over 100 growers attending bean meetings, Lange noted that interest in dry beansremains relatively strong, but predicts a decline of 10,000 acres for planted acreage that willrange between 120,000 - 130,000 acres.

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Spring Seeding May BeJust Weeks Away

agripost march 27 2015

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