April 2009 Archives

As part of our new series in Wheat & Chaff called "What your checkoff gets you," Jack Dawes will prepare something for June on behalf of the Prairie Oat Growers Association. In the meantime, Jack wrote this short pitch for oats for me to post here on my blog:

"After the near record crop of 2007, growers did cut back their oat acres in 2008, but mother nature still provided a large crop last year. Now, with oat prices going through a recovery phase and the Stats Can numbers showing a nine per cent oat acreage reduction, it's clear farmers will cut back oat acreage again this year. Still, experience shows that oats can be profitable at $2 per bushel. And because of oats requiring fewer crop inputs, plus the obvious agronomic/rotational benefits oats provide, no doubt oats remain "front-of-mind' in many farmers' planting decisions this year."

Pony oat markets

Perhaps Jack will write his "What your checkoff gets you" item about POGA's effort to rebuild sales into the U.S. race horse market. Here is a report on that topic from the Oat Scoop newsletter from March 2009:

There are an estimated 9.2 million horses in the United States. Could they be eating more oats — especially Canadian oats? No doubt they could, writes Vancouver-based oat industry expert Randy Strychar. But the problem is, horses don’t exactly decide what they will eat.

In a recently-completed study for the Saskatchewan Oat Development Commission (SODC), Strychar notes that by 1993-94, the U.S. horse market was importing, and more importantly, consuming, 1.076 million metric tonnes (mmt) of high quality oats from the world oat production leaders — Canada, Sweden and Finland. (Strychar thinks the number could be higher because no one knows for sure what tonnage of locally-grown oats might be literally be “eaten up” nor is it known what percentage of oats purchased for milling may, in fact, end up as horse dinners.) But what is known is that by 2006-07, U.S. equine oat consumption had fallen to 467,000 mmt. (The five-year average is 559,000.)

“The primary factor that cut U.S. horse consumption of oats by nearly 50 per cent was the increase in oat prices relative to other feed grains such as corn and barley.” In light of ever-increasing input costs this may not be a message Canadian farmers want to hear. But the facts are these: A “sharp and significant” climb in oat prices relative to corn began in about 1995. Much of that price increase was tied to the arrival of index fund buying of oats. Participation by the funds was good news for growers in that it pushed cash and futures higher, keeping oat prices “artificially” above corn by as much as US$30 to $50 per tonne.

But the down-side was looming. Feed processors had to be thinking about lower cost possibilities. At that point, a rising Canadian dollar, combined with a steady climb in rail rates, was taking the wind out of equine oat demand. In reaction to their own rising input costs, Strychar writes, as equine feed formulators began seeking other “least cost formulations”, their focus turned to corn, soy meal, beet pulp and barley.

At the same time, horse owners were finding pellets to their liking. Some of those pellets contain no oats. (So far the horses have not commented.) According to the study, “The pelleted feed provided several advantages over textured oat feed and straight fed oats. Pelleted feed allowed for a more balanced control of the equine feed, ease of including vitamins and minerals in rations and the ease of handling and storing of the feed.”

In short, the high price of oats “opened the door to other options”. Strychar goes on to say that the two single largest U.S. commercial equine feed manufacturers — Cargill-owned Nutrena and Purina Mills, owned by Land-O-Lakes —have put some big dollars into research and development of these pelleted rations. He suggests the industry will be ‘cautious’ about any “alternatives”.

So what’s the answer?

Strychar found many in the industry and research field who still deem oats to be the ultimate feed for horses and he has made 10 recommendations to the SODC. He concludes:

“What the research and results of this report clearly indicates; is there is a huge and significant alternative commercial demand market for Canadian oats in the U.S. equine/horse market, a market that is already developed but suffering from, to a large degree, a clear lack of resources, focus and direction. It is clear that the key to increasing oat consumption lies at the consumer end of the market, specifically at improving the benefits to horses. It is the opinion of this writer that solid efforts from the Canadian oat grower associations can have a significant impact on the feed oat market that will appreciably benefit Canadian oat growers, increasing both commercial demand and oat production.”

I called Jake Davidson today to talk about winter wheat. I'm working ahead a bit, looking for winter cereals article ideas for our July issue. Davidson, executive manager of Winter Cereals Canada, says lots of winter wheat growers are sitting on a stockpile of grain. The Canadian Wheat Board hasn't been able to move as much as growers would like. There's a big glut of wheat on the world market, and milling-quality winter wheat is priced at a premium to lower-grade feed wheat but it doesn't have the established markets of top-quality milling wheats such as Canada Western Red Spring. It's stuck in no man's land or should I say "no market land."

Seed growers are also sitting on a stockpile because the late harvest last fall meant a big drop in seeded acres. And with the "crappy" start to this spring -- with cool temperatures and floods and rain and snow, Davidson says it could be another late harvest this fall. That means low acres, again.

Winterkill assessment

For those who do have winter wheat in the ground this spring, here are some quick tips to assess winterkill. These tips are from a factsheet on the Winter Cereals Canada website. (Ducks Unlimited and Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission also have a winter wheat stand assessment factsheet on their site, www.wintercereals.ca, which is where I found the photo posted with this blog entry.)

Step one is to start with the worst-case areas of the field. Here's how to find them, as noted in the factsheet: "Areas where the crop had poor emergence in the fall will be disadvantaged and more prone to winterkill. Knowledge of winter stresses can give an idea of winter survival potential. Areas with adequate snow protection — more then four inches in the critical December 20 to March 20 period — will be more likely to survive.

"Knowledge of the areas at greatest risk of winterkill are the worst case areas to assess for survival in the spring."

—Assess the crop between May 15 and May 25. This gives the crop time to regrow, while also giving you time to reseed if necessary.

—Look for new growth in the form of white roots arising from the crown tissue

—Proper spring nitrogen management will be required to increase competitiveness of injured stands

—Additional herbicide and fungicide operations may be required

The factsheet notes that winter wheat has a greater capacity to rebound after adverse conditions and produce yields compared to a spring wheat crop of similar density. "The optimum plant stand is 20 to 30 plants per square foot however half of these numbers will produce an adequate crop due to the ability of winter wheat to aqgressively tiller."

If you do choose to reseed...

...the factsheet recommends:

—Wheatstreak mosaic may carryover from infected winter wheat into spring seeded cereals. Avoid replanting to cereals, especially wheat.

—Tillage and/or burndown herbicides will not likely control all plants,  particularly if some are suffering injury and slow spring growth. Delay applications until the plants have greened up and are actively growing. ln-crop volunteer cereal herbicides may be required.

—Remember to credit any spring-applied nitrogen to the following crop.

Two new seed treatments are on the market and I didn't have a chance to mention them in Grainews. They are Trilex AL for pulses and Rancona Apex for cereals.

Trilex AL from Bayer protects peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas and soybeans from seed and soil-borne diseases. Bayer says it works well with inoculants commonly used in pulse production. The active ingredients are trifloxystrobin, a Group 11 fungicide, and metalaxyl, a Group 4 fungicide.

Trilex AL will be available to growers for on-farm treatment for the 2009 growing season.

The Bayer release says: Trilex AL protects pulse seed and seedlings from economically significant diseases such as seed rot and damping-off caused by rhizoctonia solani, fusarium and pythium species, as well as root rot caused by phomopsis. It also protects against seed-borne diseases botrytis in lentils and phomopsis in soybeans. 

Rancona Apex from UAP

Rancona Apex contains the systemic and contact fungicide ipconazole, a seed-applied product that UAP says protects against a "broad spectrum" of seed and seedling diseases through a formulation "specifically designed" for wheat, barley, rye and oats.

The seed treatment is available this season for use by farmers in Western Canada. UAP has the Prairie marketing and distribution rights for the Chemtura product.

Rancona Apex protects wheat against true loose smut and fusarium seedling blight as well as foot rots. UAP said the new product shows "high efficacy" against a majority of seed and soil-borne fungi in the plant pathogenic fungal classes of zygomycetes, ascomycetes, basidiomycetes and fungi imperfect (deuteromycetes) which cause seed decay, damping-off and seedling blight.

Protect seeds going into damp and cool soils

North Dakota State University's extension service says less than ideal planting conditions (floods, waterlogged soils, cold temperatures) may challenge the establishment of crops. One common concern plant pathologists have in these conditions is the loss of stand and yield due to seedling blights and root rots, says an NDSU news release.

"If the soils become warmer, but are still wet, conditions favour infection by a number of other soil-borne fungi, such as the common root rot fungus on small grains and the fusarium and rhizoctonia root rot fungi of multiple crops. Reccurring wet conditions following germination and emergence also favour root rot development," says Marcia McMullen, North Dakota State University Extension Service plant pathologist.

The news report says many broad-spectrum seed treatment fungicides are available to protect against soil-borne fungi, as well as protect against seed-borne diseases. Many contain mefenoxam or metalaxyl fungicides that protect the seedling against water mold fungi, such a pythium or phytophthora. They also contain a triazole or strobilurin,that acts against most fungi other than the water molds.

"A product that contains a combination of chemicals with different targets (broad-spectrum seed treatment) generally is recommended under these disease-favouring conditions," says Sam Markell, NDSU Extension Service plant pathologist. "Otherwise, a mix of single-acting products may be needed. Some commercial products contain two or more of these fungicide."

Broad-spectrum products

The NDSU release lists these "broadest spectrum" fungicide seed treatments registered for wheat and barley: (Note this is a U.S. list. Canadian names might be slightly different)

Dividend (difenoconazole + mefenoxam), Cruiser Maxx (difenconazole +

mefenoxam + thiamethoxam insecticide), Raxil or Dyna Shield (tebuconazole + metalaxyl) and Charter PB (Triticonazole + thiram). All of these products

protect against multiple root rots, seedling blights and loose smut.

"In general, the response to the use of these seed treatments has resulted in stand improvements across a wide set of environmental conditions and wheat yield increases of two to six bushels on average," McMullen says. "Seed treatment costs vary, but range up to $2 per bushel depending on the manufacturer and disease spectrum of the product."

Back in October, Chuck Toney wrote a short article about the benefits of installing a FASS kit on his Versatile 835 tractor. The fuel air separation system (FASS) is a combination of fuel pump and filters that removes air from the fuel. “When the air is removed, fuel atomizes better and the timing is more accurate. This increases power and fuel economy,” Chuck wrote.

Chuck, who farms near Gull Lake, Sask., has a degree in mechanized agriculture from U of S. He installed the FASS kit himself and says most farmers should be able to do the same if they follow the instructions. This is a key point, and it’s the reason Chuck emailed again this week. Turns out some farmers read his article and had a FASS kit installed on their tractors. Some of them didn’t get it installed properly, so they phoned Chuck. 

In his email to me, Chuck wrote: “Last week I received a call from a fellow who had his mechanic install one on his neighbours tractor and on his. He did not install it properly. They missed installing a Hobbs Switch Part # 78143 on an oil pressure line, which only allows the FASS to run after the motor is running. I don't know why they did not have proper instructions or what went wrong. The proper FASS fuel system is a "UIME 150/150." The Hobbs switch is included in this kit.”

“In my efforts to solve the problem I found out that Taber Diesel has several PT pumps at their shop that a FASS has caused to leak because of improper installation.” Chuck says if your PT (pressure-time) pump is leaking, just pull the fuse on the FASS for now and then get it installed properly when you have the time.

Chuck recommends you buy from an approved FASS dealer. They should know what they’re doing. To find one and to find out more about how the system works, go to Diesel Performance Products’ FASS website at www.fassride.com or call them at 636-433-5410. Ask for Dan, Chuck says.

I talked to Chuck on Wednesday this week. He and his brother had just started seeding, and they were putting in a mix of oats and clover. They’re dry down in southwest Saskatchewan where it’s been dry. “We need a shot of rain,” he says. As for the tractor, “it’s working wonderfully. It fired right up this morning and has lots of power.”

In case you missed Chuck's original article from the October 20 Grainews (page 3), here it is again…

Chuck Toney from Gull Lake, Sask., sent us the following email describing the two steps he took to improve the fuel efficiency of his Versatile 4WD:

I have two fuel saving tips for any tractor or truck with an 855 Cummins. We have an 835 Versatile tractor that we used two different things to get more power and better fuel economy. We put a FASS (fuel air separation system) on it. This is a combination of fuel pump and filters that removes air from the fuel. When the air is removed, fuel atomizes better and the timing is more accurate. This increases power and fuel economy.

We bought our FASS from Pittsburgh Diesel. You’ll probably find other dealers across the Prairies.

We also put an additional fuel line on our 835 that goes to the front of the head. Now fuel is supplied to the front and the rear of the head. This equalizes the fuel pressure supplied to the injectors so the engine runs smoother and has more power. These modifications allowed us to use a higher gear and run 200 rpm slower. The additional fuel line was easy to install and inexpensive.

We got the idea to put the additional fuel line on from Pittsburgh Diesel since we purchased their dual line kit for our 400 Cummins in our tandem. It cost $85. We made our own dual line kit for our 835. Our 835 starts without ether when the temperature is below zero and it doesn't smoke white when it warms up. The dual line kit is supposed to give an additional 25 hp on an 350-400 Cummins. The dual line would work on any Cummins with the PT fuel system. I hope this helps anyone who wants more power and better fuel efficiency.

Here are a few of Stanford's tips:

1. Take lids off the drill manifolds and check for build up of fertilizer and seed treatment. This can cause hoses to be obstructed.

2. Check openers for wear. Double shoot openers, for example, that are heavily worn may not give you the seed and fertilizer separation that is so important for canola.

3. Check hoses and rubber seals on the drill and tank for air leaks. Loss of air pressure can affect distribution of seed and fertilizer.

4. Level your drill, whether its old or brand new. Find a flat spot, ideally a concrete pad in front of the shop, and park your drill on top of it. Lift the openers off the ground and check that they're all at the same height. You need to level side to side and back to front. If you see rows side by side in a field that are not emerging at the same rate, often it's because openers at the back of the drill are planting deeper than openers at the front.

5. Make sure all drill tires are at the same pressure. This can also affect seeding depth.

6. Use a metering roll designed for canola.

We introduced Grainews readers to Brenda Campbell in the November issue. The 22-year-old from a cow-calf farm near Sundre, Alta., is in Denmark for a six-month working visit on a dairy. We asked her to send regular reports to tell us what she's doing, how farming in Europe is different from farming in Alberta, and what farming tips she learns that she'd like to try back home.

Here is her fifth installment, written April 17:

It is springtime in Denmark!  Since the beginning of April, the grass has been growing, sun shining, and flowers blooming, making working outside a joy as I hear of stories of snow when talking to family in Canada!

With this warm weather comes fieldwork. The exciting part for me is to see all the different kinds of machinery used. Much is the same, but the most impressive machine is the liquid manure spreader!  Denmark agriculture is dominated by dairy and swine, creating a lot of manure that needs to be spread as fertilizer first thing in the spring. Custom operators do most of the work as the machines are very expensive, making them unfeasible for individual farmers. These spreaders, like the one in the photo, hold 30 cubic metres (8,000 U.S. gallons) of liquid manure and can be self propelled or pulled behind a tractor. Either way, it requires 350 to 400 horsepower.

Instead of spraying the manure on the ground — which is illegal — the spreaders are equipped with a cultivator about 7.5 metres (25 feet) wide on the back. The liquid is actually injected through connected tubes going 15 cm into the ground. This decreases the amount of anhydrous into the air making it safer and more effective. I think this machine might actually make spreading manure fun!

Every farmer here is very busy getting field work done as spring came to Denmark much earlier than in Canada. But the country is surrounded by water and has low elevation, which makes for more humidity and temperate climate. No point in Denmark is more than 30 miles away from the sea.

An exciting addition to our farm has been a new IAEA trainee, Amy Storbakken, from Sedgewick Alta., who will be working and living with my Danish family for the next six months. My time is getting shorter here in Denmark, but all the spring activities and beautiful weather is making me love all Denmark has to offer each day.

My kids’ favourite show is Franklin the Turtle. They watch it just before bedtime with a bowl of Cheerios. I watch along with them. It always has some sort of life lesson, and one I remember well is from an episode called “Franklin and the stopwatch.” Franklin finds his father’s old stopwatch and starts timing how long it takes him to do things. He’s feeling pretty good about himself, but then he starts timing how long it takes his friends to do the same things. Rabbit runs a lot faster than Franklin. Goose can do puzzles faster, even when it’s one of Franklin’s own puzzles that he’s done so many times. Franklin goes from feeling good to feeling bad. He feels very slow, and sad. He gives his stopwatch away and mopes around the neighbourhood. The next day he hears cheering at the old stone bridge. His friends are cheering for snail, who has just crossed the bridge faster than he has ever crossed before. It still took him four hours, but it was a personal best. Franklin saw the race in a whole different light. The goal wasn't to beat your friends. It was to keep bettering yourself.

I’ve been thinking of this story the past week or so. A reader emailed last week to express his frustration with the “bigger is better” business model. He didn’t like the message from Terry Kastens, a Kansas State University ag economist, whom I quoted in the March 23 Grainews. Kastens says big and ever bigger is the way to go in farming. That’s where the big profits are, he says, and it’s probably true. But at the same time, this message is discouraging to smaller farmers who can’t see themselves expanding to 10,000 acres any time soon. So if you aren’t ready to take on huge new debt and start managing extra staff, should you just quit? I don’t think so. Like Franklin learned in the stopwatch story, aiming for personal bests is a lot more fulfilling for the vast majority of us who are not the fastest or the biggest.

Concentrate on yourself and your own business. Try to get a little bigger, generate a little more revenue, become a little more profitable every year. To know how much better you’re getting, you need a “stopwatch.” Your stopwatch could be an accrual accounting system that gives you a snapshot of where you business is at this moment. Take snapshots a few times a year and monitor your growth. Looking at our neighbours as benchmarks is a mistake when really, you don’t know much about their situation. One of the best benchmarks and one of the healthiest and most satisfying ways to grow is to know your own financial situation and improve it bit by bit.

Well, we got a dog. From time to time over the past year or so, I've written in Grainews -- the Wheat & Chaff section -- about my family's quest for a pet. Getting a pet is pretty easy. You can usually find a cat or dog at the pound whenever you're ready. But we took our time. It's not that we were picky. Part of the problem is that we couldn't agree on whether to get a cat or a dog. I like cats. They're friendly, to me, and they're easy to take care of. But my wife loves dogs and just doesn't like cats. My boys are happy either way. And I like dogs, too, just not as much as cats. So it was pretty obvious which way we were leaning.

We decided to wait until spring to get our dog. Spring is nicer for walking. We were open to any age of dog, although the younger the better. One that was already housebroken and trained would have been ideal, but then we heard about a litter of newborn puppies. We went to look at them and that was it. We were smitten.

The mother is a boxer-golden retriever cross and the father is a Lab. Ours is a black-haired female. We picked her up today. She's seven weeks old. I've already slapped her under the muzzle a few times to stop her from nipping at people. She peed on the floor within an hour of her arrival. And who knows what this first night will be like. But none of that matters. She's ours and we all love her. I just hope we don't smother her with attention.

As the editor of a busy farm paper, I don't have as much time to write articles as I used to. But now that the winter and spring rush is slowing down a little — just at a time when farmers' spring and summer rush is ramping up — I had a little extra time to write a more in-depth article. The topic is RTK guidance systems.

What inspired me was Titan Machinery, based in Fargo, North Dakota. The Case IH dealership has a few dozen locations in the Red River watershed. Titan teamed up with RDO, a John Deere dealership with a few dozen locations of its own, and Butler, the Cat dealer, to form the Rural Tower Network. Through this joint venture, the dealerships built a network of 100-foot towers up and down the valley. Each tower has an operating radius of six or 10 miles -- the newer ones are built farther apart.

In other regions with networks, dealerships are going their own way, putting up their own towers. Titan, RDO and Butler decided to share the cost of the towers, and each put their own RTK receivers and antennae on them. They compete on products and service, but they decided it was foolish to each put up their own towers.

This is sugar beet country, a crop that benefits when equipment works on sub-inch accuracy. With the tower network, farmers get RTK base station signals for a fraction of the cost of a mobile tripod-based unit. What's more, the farmers don't have the hassle of moving mobile units around, keeping them powered, and maintaining them. It's a great system, and it makes RTK accessible -- price-wise -- to more farmers. It will still cost $25,000 to equip a tractor for RTK, but you don't have the extra $15,000 cost of a base station.

I don't expect a stampede of grain farmers will move to RTK any time soon, but I can foresee a time when researchers have figured out ways for all farmers to make this precise guidance pay off.

I'd like to thank farmers Mark Hood (pictured) of Carberry, Man., John Van Tryp of Burdett, Alta., and Trent Brekken of Crookston, Minnesota for sharing their experiences with me. The article will run in the April 20 issue of Grainews.