agripost january 29 2016

January 29, 2016 1The Agri Post

Older Tractors HotCommodity at Auctions

By Les Kletke

This is the time to upgradeyour horsepower accordingto Greg Peterson or Machin-ery Pete, as he is known tohis Facebook and YouTubefollowers. Peterson told an Ag Daysaudience that this is the timeto upgrade tractors. “You maynot want to buy horsepowerat this time, but this is exactlythe time,” he said. “Wheneveryone else is buying is notthe time to get into the mar-ket. We have seen the priceon large late model equipmentsliding since 2013 and it is notgoing to continue forever. Ifyou need some extra poweron your farm this is the time.” Peterson said he has beengetting a large number of callsfrom American buyers who arewondering about the de-pressed Canadian dollar andhow they can take advantageof it. “I tell them the dollargives them a big advantagebut they still need to find theequipment that fits theirneeds,” he said. “There is nodoubt the equipment isaround, they just have tosource it.” Peterson said one marketthat has remained strong isgood quality older equipment.“We see those tractors thatare 10-20 years old and havebeen shedded, selling for apremium at every auction wego to,” he said. “Farm auc-tions bring the best price anddealer or consignment sales

Greg Peterson or as most people know him… Machinery Pete.

are slightly lower.” The value of older equip-ment does not surprise him.“Not a bit. That equipmenthas always sold well and it isbringing more of a premiumbecause of the price of thenew stuff and the fact that itis not being made. I see guyspaying a lot of money for 6row planters because they arenot being made and if theywant one, they have to buy aused one, and they want agood one.”

He said auctioneers are wellaware of the trend, “There isnot an auctioneer that doesnot open the bidding with,‘you know the price of a newone’ and then go into the bids.That works,” he said. Peterson said that for farm-ers selling equipment thereare a few things they can doto get a better price. “Don’thave your sale when the cal-endar is crowded with salesand for heaven’s sake don’tbe the last sale of the sea-son,” he said. “Try to be earlyeven if it is not the traditionalsale time.” He recommends picturesand more pictures for anyequipment being listed forsale. “And a video telling thestory of that piece of equip-ment, buyers want to knowthe story. Give them a video.They don’t cost anything andthey bring you a good re-turn.”

“There is not anauctioneer thatdoes not open

the bidding with,‘you know theprice of a new

one’ and then gointo the bids.”

January 29, 20162 The Agri Post

By Harry Siemens

When “experts” want to tell the cattleproducers about sustaining the environ-ment or that cattle producers and their com-modity, cattle, is destroying the environ-ment there is enough good evidence andresearch to show how good cattle reallyare for the environment. Canada’s beef industry continues to im-prove efficiencies that lessen its environ-mental impacts, with production of one ki-logram of Canadian beef creating 15 per-cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions in2011 compared to 1981, says a new study. Continual improvements in productionand feed efficiencies, crop yields and man-agement strategies, resulting in reducedemissions and resource requirements, arelargely responsible for the significant de-crease in environmental impact, accordingto the first results of a comprehensive five-year (2013-2018) study examining the Ca-nadian beef industry’s environmental foot-print. The results are in the journal AnimalProduction Science. Tom Teichroeb, a cattle producer atLangruth agrees that Clayton Robins is anexpert on some of the research onsustainability and how using beef cattleon conventional grain land has improvedtopsoil conditions in almost every aspect.Further research shows that with improvedfeeding and management techniques, thecarbon footprint is virtually negligible. Secondly, he says there is excellent re-search from the University of Manitoba,courtesy of Dr. Kim Ominski. The ManitobaHabitat Heritage Corporation has even rec-ognized the benefits of sustainable pro-duction practices in their projects by in-cluding livestock on most of their projects. “Why is this so important to myself aswell as the beef industry?” he asks,“…growth of the beef industry. That is veryhard to achieve long term when there is a

Cattle Producer says his Cows are Goodfor Sustaining the Environment

Cattle producer Tom Teichroeb says ranchers are doing theirpart to sustain the environment.

perception that the beef industry is harmful to the environment. And that iswhy the beef sector is in a win-win situation when there is research thatsupports beef cattle are NOT detrimental to the environment.” Conducted by researchers at the University of Manitoba, Agricultureand Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Lethbridge and Environment Canada, thestudy found there is a 15 percent decrease in methane, 16 percent decreasein nitrous dioxide and 13 percent decrease in carbon dioxide from beefproduction in Canada over the past 30 years. Comparing the same timeperiods, it took 29 percent fewer cattle in the breeding herd and 24 per centless land to produce the same amount of beef. Funded by the Beef Cattle Industry Science Cluster, the study exploredthe entire production system – from cow-calf to feedlot. Future phases ofthe study will assess the impact of Canadian beef production in areas suchas water use, biodiversity and provision of ecosystems services. The results of this study speak to the industry’s commitment to continu-ous improvement and sustainability. It will also provide important histori-cal information to the environmental component of the CanadianRoundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB)’s first-ever National BeefSustainability Assessment. The CRSB sustainability assessment will bench-mark the industry’s social, economic and environmental impact using 2013as the baseline. The assessment will be revisited, and progress evaluatedevery five years. Results from the remaining phases of the industry environmental foot-print study, including water use, biodiversity and provision of ecosystemsservices, are expected in 2018. Teichroeb says he’s on the same page.

By Joan Airey

Redpath Simmentals received the A.O. Henuset distinguished Service Awardfor 2015. Fraser Redpath commented that he was thrilled to receive the award,as he was just a guy who fed cattle and drove fence staples, the same aseveryone else in the Simmental breed. Up until recently there have alwaysbeen cows on their farm. “In the early seventies, Dad, like all our neighbours had a British based cowherd. He loved the temperament and the hardiness of these cattle but it waspounds that brought rewards in the fall and his calves just failed in pushingdown scales at the auction market. He did try a couple breeds before settling

Redpath Awarded A.O. Henuset MemorialDistinguished Service for 2015

into the Simmental breed. The first bull he bought came fromWhitfield Farms in Souris for an exorbitant amount of $700.He was hooked forever as the calves grew all summer andthe calves in the fall were a huge hit at the auction barn,”said Fraser Redpath. In 1979, they became lifetime members of the CanadianSimmental Association with membership number 14169 andat that time began registering some females. In 1991, theyjoined the Manitoba Simmental Association so they couldshow a pair at the summer show, Although AI and the em-bryo work was done on their farm it was not a major compo-nent of their operation. They used their herd bull on all cowson the farm. “In 2001 we started talking with a local Hereford neighbourand Gordon Jones about the possibility of a bull sale. Withtons of planning and a lot of work, we had our first sale atGuilford Hereford Ranch. With bulls from their farm, bullsfrom Gordon Jones Simmentals, Snowflake Ranch, and ourRedpath Simmentals the Prairie Partners multi breed bull salewas reality. I’m proud to say the sale still runs today with theveterans Gordon and Lauren Jones as well as the youngaggressive Silver Lake Farms Crew,” said Redpath. “In the early 80s I was on the original Manitoba YCS orga-nization. Over the next couple of years, we went on localbreeder tours, helped at Ag-Ex and attended showmanship/grooming/courses all under the supervision of Bev Beech,Bob Thompson, and Blair McRae. There was probably morethan those three, but trust me after you spend a few week-ends with at least two of those three people the rest, as theysay is history. A highlight for my YCS encounters would begoing to Nova Scotia for a two-week stint to help show cattlefor Brian and Stephanie Forsyth. People I’m proud to say arefriends to this day,” said Redpath. In the late 1990s, he served on the board of the PembinaTriangle Association and was president for four years. Healso was on the Manitoba Simmental Board for six years andspent six years on the Canadian Simmental Board, the lastyear as president. “Being on these boards did take a certain amount of mytime away from the farm. Our neighbours as well as my wifeKate and our son Corey stepped up and filled in while I wasaway. Two years ago, our cowherd went up for sale and waspurchased by Clint and Andrea of Silver Lake Farms. I’mvery pleased they are involved with the Jones’ in continuingon with the Prairie Partner Bull Sale name,” said Redpath.


By Les Kletke

The Canadian beefindustry has a marketingopportunity that is almosttoo good to be true. Fastfood giant McDonald’s isoffering Canadian beefproducers a program thatwill verify theirsustainability. A marketingdream come true and a

Beef Producer Volunteers HelpMcDonald’s Pilot Verification Program

Jeffrey Fitzpatrick-Stilwell of McDonalds Canada is offering to tell the story of beef production inthis country.

message that that any farmgroup would have difficultywith on their own. The fast food giant hasnot always been kind toCanadian farmers droppingGMO potatoes like theproverbial hot potato evenwhen producers see it as away to cut chemicalapplications to their field. The restaurant could be

called heavy handed onthe issue of eggs fromchickens kept in cages, butit was making choices thatwere right for its marketingplan and now it sees thatpartnering with theCanadian beef industrycould be a win/winsituation. Although, themotivation is not allaltruistic, McDonalds seesthat it could gain a strongmarket position for its beefby developing a verifica-tion program for its beefproducers. Jeffry Fitzpatrick-Stilwellis with McDonald Canadaand was part of the Beefand Forage Week Seminartravelling across theprovince. He said theprogram is in the pilotstages and hopes to have220 producers signed upby late February. The timing could not bebetter for beef producerswho are beginning to see adown turn in record pricesand upswing in productionnumbers. There wasconcern in the industrythat record retail prices forbeef would have consum-ers moving to other proteinsources. There may be anadvantage being part of aMcDonalds advertisingcampaign that shows cattleproduction as environmen-tally sustainable. The hopeis, it could keep beefconsumption at currentlevels or even bring backsome consumers who haveshied away from thetraditional red meat. “There was a feeling thatbeef would be the newSUV,” said Stilwell. “Andpeople would be shamedfor barbecuing it just asthey are shamed for drivingmonstrous SUVs.” Theprogram is being tested inCanada but could beMcDonald’s model for therest of the world. McDonald’s has 34,000restaurants in 120 coun-tries and serves 70 millioncustomers a day. TheCanadian numbers thoughsmaller are equally impres-sive buying 65 million lbsof beef annually in thiscountry. Stilwell faced questionsabout the internet hoaxthat said the company didnot buy all its beef forCanadian restaurants inthis country. “We haveseen the internet materialand this is the second timeit has come around, it evensaid we bought a companyname ‘100% CanadianBeef’ so we could say we

buy 100% Canadian Beef,”he said with chuckle. “Wehave gone to the registry toprove there is no companywith that name and we buyour beef in this country.” “We believe that Canadianbeef is sustainable and wewant to be a part of theverification system thatproves that and enables usto tell consumers the story,”said Stilwell. “We have achance to be a global pilothere.” Fitzpatrick-Stillwell isasking Canadian beef farmersfrom every province tovolunteer for the program tohelp shape the future of beefproduction and consump-tion. “We are not payingyou, we want to help tellyour story.” The pilot, which has thebacking of the CanadianCattlemen,’s Association, isfully paid by McDonald’s.

The company pays for thethird party onsite verifica-tion, provides participantswith a report to confiden-tially benchmark theirperformance compared tothat of their peers, helpswith telling theirsustainability story throughits communications networkand showcase thegrassroots sustainability ofthe Canadian beef commu-nity. The pilot will eventuallytransition to the CanadianRoundtable for SustainableBeef, where the lessonslearned will inform its workas it begins implementing aprogram for sustainable beefverification across Canada.Program results will also beshared with the GlobalRoundtable for SustainableBeef (GRSB). The verifica-tion program uses more than30 different indicators to

assess a cow-calf, fed cattleand primary processors,based on five principles forsustainable beef productiondeveloped by the GRSB. As part of McDonald’spilot, the indicators havealready been tested at thefarm level and are nowavailable for use by beeffarms and processors acrossCanada. According to McDonald’snearly 100 Alberta ranchershave expressed interest inparticipating in the pilot,and more than 25 havealready completed or havescheduled their verification. For more information onvolunteering for the pilotproject visit vsbpilot.ca,[email protected] call Matt Sutton-Vermeulen at 515-371-7914.

“We believe that Canadian beef is sustainable and wewant to be a part of the verification system that proves

that and enables us to tell consumers the story.”


by RolfPenner

PennersPoints

[email protected] Near the close of 2015,big news on the geneti-cally modified front. Thefirst ever GM animal, asalmon, was approved bythe US Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) forsale to the public. A longoverdue step – it tookregulators 20 years todeem the fish safe – but awelcome one. AquaBounty, thecompany that inventedthe fish, applied for FDApermission to sell themback in September 1995.Think back to the newinventions that made theirway to the marketplacethat year. They included aNokia cell phone thatweighed almost a poundand had a black and whitescreen, a 28.8k dial-upmodem and the first everDVD players. Think abouthow much better thosetechnologies are today.Imagine how much betterfarmed fish and livestockmight be if they’d beenallowed to progress in thesame manner. The Toronto Starreports that research and

GM Salmon Gains Approvalcollaboration among GMscientists started in 1982.First they mapped thegenome of the Atlanticsalmon and then madetwo changes: “Theyincorporated the growthhormone gene of theChinook salmon into theAtlantic salmon genome.Then they turned on apromoter to keep thegrowth hormone geneturned on year round.Normally the growthhormone gene is turnedoff during the winterwhen food is scarce. Theresult is an Atlanticsalmon that grows biggerand twice as quickly,maturing in two years asopposed to four.” One of the scientistswas Canadian GarthFletcher, now 79. Hedidn’t believe approvalwould ever come in hislifetime. “In fact,” addsthe Star, he didn’t thinkeven his grandchildrenwould live to see the daywhen his creation, theworld’s first geneticallymodified fish intended forthe dinner table would be

approved for consump-tion.” Nutritionally it is justthe same as regularsalmon, with the samefatty acid content andeven the same taste. Nowthat it has been approved,the salmon has thepotential to be a win-winfor both fish farmers andconsumers as it can beproduced quicker andcheaper than othervarieties. It is estimatedthat 25% less feed will beneeded to bring these fishup to market weight. The reason for all thedelay in approval wasquite obvious. Since theirinception, these fish weremet with intense anti-biotech fear-mongering.They were slurred asdangerous “Frankenfish”and subsequentlybounced from administra-tion to administration. Noone wanted to make thefinal call. AquaBountyshould be commended forsticking it out this longand not giving up on theircreation. But the fight may not be

over. Activists are stilllooking for ways to blockthe introduction of thisexciting new break-through. Worse still isthat the long delay inapproving the salmon hasput a chill over theresearch community inNorth America. The nextbreakthrough is morelikely to come from China,India, New Zealand, orperhaps even LatinAmerica or Cuba. Allthese countries areactively pursuing GM

research intoanimals. One writer,Christopher Labos, also aMontreal doctor, cutthrough all of the usualbluster on both sides ofthe GM debate with thiscommon sense statementabout the new salmon,“Some think this will leadto the salvation ofhumanity and others to itsdownfall. I think it’s just afish.” Despite how it’ssometimes reported, that’sprobably how most

people think of it. Let’s hope it doesn’ttake another 20 years forthe next GM animal towork its way through theregulatory maze and ontoour dinner plates. But weprobably shouldn’t holdour breath, either. Giventhe campaign of blarneyagainst GM crops,gaining acceptance forthis new technology mayrequire a long fight.

A GM salmon in the background compared to an Atlantic salmon the same age.


While Canada has mostly normal relations with Cuba, the US is only in the beginningstages of restoring relations with a country where the Castro government owns half ofeverything. What prompts me to write about Cuba you may ask, well our daughter Lynn spent a weekvacationing in Varadero with a population of about 27,170 just after Christmas.

While not ready to leave just after a week, sheliked the laid-back atmosphere and the friendlinessof local people. The sand and beaches were greatand the temperature hot. Sometimes, it would get sowindy, she felt chilly even at 37 degrees Celsius. For the group she went with, most had vacationedthere before, and this was the ‘one more time’ thingybefore the US moves in and changes the country toas yet an unknown future. Lynn says most of thepeople there; youth included really don’t want tosee the Americans coming to revamp what has ex-

isted under the Castro communist regime. For her it was like stepping back in time, muchlike what she would have imaged Florida to be back in ‘50s. While finding the laid-back attitude relaxing, it also meant that places of business, espe-cially the restaurants would open at different times, seldom on schedule. It will be interest-ing to see what will actually happen in Cuba as far as remodelling the old, upgrading theexisting, and building new. Me thinks that just because there is a removal of the travel banfor US citizens and opening an American Embassy that things won’t change overnight.But change they will. An estimate from The Black Book of Communism is that throughout Cuba 15,000-17,000people were executed after the 1959 communist take-over. Meanwhile, in nearly all areas of government, loy-alty to the regime became the primary criterion for allappointments. I’m not here to defend or criticize what will or will nothappen in a communist government, but when someonetells me that local Cuban citizens want things to stay asthey are, I look at the past executions, people who foughtfor freedom; obviously, you must say things should re-main the same. And yet, a water shortage in the capitalcity of Havana, to the point of the ordinary citizen hav-ing access to clean water for a measly eight hours aweek, can’t be all good either. Here is part of an article that says the Cuban capital isfacing its worst water shortage in the last 50 years dueto the effects of the drought and the progressive dete-rioration of the fresh water supply network, accordingto the Communist Party daily Granma. According to media reports, this is affecting more thana million people, and could become much worse if rainsdo not come. The paper says somewhat more than100,000 Havana residents are only receiving their waterfrom cistern trucks, a situation that imposes an “elevatedcost” on the depressed national economy. While the resort our daughter stayed at for a week hadwater all the time, sometimes it wasn’t hot, but a fiveminute walk to the building others from the group stayedat, did allow for hot showers. In an online search for Cuban agriculture, I find out, ithas played an important part in the economy for severalhundred years. Yet, today, it contributes less than 10percent to the gross domestic product (GDP), but it em-ploys about 20 percent of the working population. About30 percent of the country’s land is used for crop cultiva-tion. The inefficient agricultural industry in Cuba has led tothe need to import large amounts of beef and lard. Cuba now imports about 70 to 80% of all the food itspeople consumes and 80 to 84% of that food is providedvia rations. The rationing program accounts for about athird of the food energy the average Cuban consumes. Therefore, I find it interesting here is an island sur-rounded by water, a tropical climate with plenty of groundto cultivate crops, there is a water shortage and theyimport far too much food. How come? Is it a utopia? Asthe old saying goes, if the grass is so much greener onthe other side of the fence, why do the cows keep tryingto bust out all the time?

Who makes the decisions on your farm? The ones that really matter, even biggerthan the variety of canola you grow or when you cut your alfalfa? Chances are you getto make those decisions but the really big ones get made some place else, someplace

like Toronto or New York or California. We have come a long way from the days ofgrowing things on the farm and delivering themto the nearest town where they might be loadedon a train and transported to waiting markets. Today that market is telling us what they wantand in how many cases and in how they want itgrown. If you doubt the transition, think of howWal-Mart decided they would have an organicdepartment and the produce would be the same

price as conventional produce. Farmers were left with the choice of finding a way to dothat and actually compete with each other to supply the Wild Oats brand, which is theorganic in the big blue W. Need more examples? Remember genetically modified potatoes, our province was aleader in that area and a clown decided that his millions of customers would not likethat and they were done away with. The fact that they required less chemical applica-tion had nothing to do with it Ronald said no, and the processors who supply him saidno. When Ronald thought that people would like eggs from chickens that were not incages he told producers so, and methods of production in an industry changed. I am not for a second saying that Ronald McDonald is making poor choices; hedecided what was best for his business and what would allow him serve anotherbillion or so meals. That is the order of magnitude of his buying, and the power thatcomes with it. Recently I heard Harold Froese explaining the TPP and expanding markets for for-eign eggs in our country. He pointed out that the trade agreement would allow some 19million dozen eggs in 18 years and there was a plan to compensate farmers for the pricedrop that was expected. He brought the entire presentation into focus by saying thatis roughly the same number of eggs McDonald buys annually in this country and theydecided that they want eggs for chicken not in cages and it happens. Now Ronald is offering to partner with beef producers in a verification program, andI can only hope that producers see the value and take advantage of the program. This is not some clown making decisions on your farm, this is a marketing giant thatwants to partner with Canadian beef producers, and given that opportunity I wouldsay yes, all day long.

Dear Editor: It is hard to believe but the Selinger Government has stooped to new lows.Under Mr. Selinger’s watch, Manitoba Hydro contractors are now being routinely dis-patched to bully farm families who are standing up for their property rights in order toprotect their farms from devastating crop and livestock diseases. The Selinger-hijacked Hydro now appears to be adding religious discrimination to thelist of civil rights and liberties it is prepared to violate as part of its effort to bulldoze allreasonable objections to its controversial BiPole III project. The latest example was when representatives from Forbes Bros., one of Hydro’s manycontractors, showed up on Ridgeland Colony’s farm on January 6, a day no, less when theentire Hutterite colony was quietly observing Epiphany. Colonies are very strong in their Christian faith and to interrupt them on such an impor-tant date is simply outrageous. It is nothing short of discrimination and pretty soon Mr.Selinger will be telling us on which day we can and cannot observe our religious beliefs. The colony is located east of Winnipeg, about seven miles north from the junction ofHighway 12 and the TransCanada. The colony, supported by the Manitoba BiPole Landowner Committee (MBLC) and theCanadian Association of Energy and Pipeline Landowner Associations (CAEPLA), re-spectfully asked the contractors to stay off their land until a biosecurity agreement is dulyand properly negotiated. Manitoba farm families directly impacted by BiPole III have formed an association withCAEPLA to represent them and negotiate a fair business agreement with Manitoba Hydrothat addresses all our legitimate concerns, including biosecurity. We have been trying forwell over 2 years now to engage Manitoba Hydro in such negotiations. It is hard to believe that this type of behaviour, using contractors to bully farm familiesis going on in a province whose government proudly proclaims the Magna Carta being acornerstone of the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg. Mr. Selinger, when will you take control of the situation and ask Manitoba Hydro torespect our property rights and religious beliefs? When will you let them negotiate withus? Why are you taking away our basic rights and freedoms to associate in order tobargain collectively? Why can hardworking farm families not have the ability to bargaincollectively when that represents such a core value for your government?Jürgen KohlerMBLC ChairBrunkild, MB

Is a Clown Running Your Farm?

Selinger Government Steps UpBiPole III Bullying

Cuban Utopia Struggles withDrought and Change


By Les Kletke

Andrew Campbell did not set out to be a media darling by posting pictures of whatwas happening on the family farm at London, Ontario. He said the idea to post apicture a day was as much about self-discipline as anything else was. “I wanted to take more pictures and tell people about what was happening on thefarm,” Campbell told a Brandon audience during Ag Days. “Especially on slow days,so I made the decision to post a picture every day and it turned out to be a big hit.” He said it was a concern about getting pictures of his farm to the public. “There aresources out there that are opposed to any type of animal agriculture,” he said. “Theyare not always truthful so I felt an obligation to tell the truth about what farming withanimals is like and how they are treated.” Campbell farms with his wife and parentsnear London and have a 50 cow dairy and 500 acres of crop land in beans, corn andwheat.” The project ran its course in 2015 and he has decided to slow down but he is stilldetermined to tell the story of agriculture. “I am still amazed at the response I got,” hesaid. “Sometimes it was things like a picture of the kid’s boots beside mine that gotthe biggest response, but it did.” He was overwhelmed by the response to the pro-gram that began as freshairfarmer on twitter and now has a page on Facebook. “I tried to answer the questions because people take the time to ask them so I try tobet back to them,” said Campbell who sits down twice a week to deal with the ques-tions and comments that have grown to more than he can handle daily as a passingeffort. When asked if everyone should focus on a picture campaign, he said, “No. It is notfor everyone, and everyone has their own skills, some farmers go to schools, somedonate money to programs, some write letters to the editor and some go to booths atfairs. We all need to do what we can to get the story of our business out there, thestock brokers of downtown Toronto are not telling our story, and we need to do that.” He said that while agriculture enjoys a good image in most people’s eyes it cannotbe taken for granted, “We cannot expect that to go on, if we do not provide theinformation about what we are doing on our farms and that it is environmentallysound and that we treat our animals in a humane way.”

By Peter Vitti

Warm weather that we had a couple ofmonths ago has given me a false sense ofsecurity. I somehow think that climatechange lasts forever, yet one good arcticblast snaps me out of it. In the same way,producers should make sure that theirpre-calving beef cows’ plane of nutritionis adequate during the last couple ofmonths of gestation as well as combatinevitable frigid weather. Such is the case as shown by thepicture that I took last February. It showsa couple of cows from a well-managed100 cow-calf operation. I’ve known thisproducer for many years and he has hadmany successful calving seasons in arow. His story is a testament of retainingthe cowherd’s good body conditionthroughout winter until his last cowcalves and then beyond toward thebreeding season. His experience is a mirror image of manyuniversity research studies, which provethat overwintered mature cows andreplacement heifers that calve at anoptimum body condition score (BCS) of2.5 to 3.0 (scale of 1 = emaciation to 5 =obese) have a greater chance of atrouble-free calving season compared toskinny fresh cows. Clear advantages ofsuch optimum BCS in beef cows atcalving are: an easier birthing time,produce more colostrum of higher quality,nurse a vigorous calf, return to estrus/quicker to be rebred and pregnant withthe next year’s calf. Although, there is no scientific methodto judging BCS in beef cows, one can atake a practical approach to scoring cowsthat I learned a long time ago. To start, Ilook straight along the tail and then feelthe fat cover on the tail-head, pin-bones,hipbones, hind backbone and finally thelast couple of ribs. It’s easy. To me, a really thin cow (BCS< 2.0) looks skinny while an over-conditioned cow (BCS = 5), simply looksfat. In between, a cow with an optimumBCS of 2.5 – 3.0 should have a goodoverall appearance without the look ofbeing “too gaunt or too fleshy”. Fat stillcovers her hips, but they are still visibleand moderate pressure on them can stillidentify some bone structure. Similarly, I formulate diets to parallel theoverall optimum body condition of themain cowherd during the last 90 days ofpregnancy. I then increase the dietaryenergy, protein, mineral and vitamins byabout 20 – 25% depending on the BCS ofthe particular herd, which should takecare of the dramatic unborn calf growth,placenta development and ammonic fluidaccumulation. All of which allows thegestating cow to gain ½ - ¾ kilo per day.In addition, my formulation accounts forcolostrum being manufactured in thecow’s udder as well as prepares the cowto resume estrus once she calves. I’ll also make further upward nutrientadjustments to the same diet as theweather gets colder based upon a cold-

Prepare Your BeefCows for a Successful

Calving Season

weather rule of thumb, which dictates:For every 1 C drop in temperature below0 C, the beef cows’ TDN energy mainte-nance requirements are increased byabout 2%. Despite, natural metabolictriggers that simulate her feed intake byan additional 30%, I seem to be justifiedto boost the dietary energy by 25 – 40%at this time of year. Luckily, I find that the practical over-winter diets of pre-calving mature beefcows and first-calf replacement heifers(plus thin mature cows) are not particu-larly difficult to formulate if producershave a good forage inventory, which canbe easily supplemented with high-energygrain and other feeds. Adequate quality grass hay or mixedgrass-alfalfa mixtures make excellent pre-calving feeds often mixed with a littlegrain such as barley or grain by-productssuch as distillers’ grains. Similarly, the use of lower qualityforages such as poor quality hay orcereal straw can also be adequately fed topre-calving, just as long as their feedintake by beef cows and nutrientlimitations are recognized. In these cases,forages should be diluted with betterquality forages or an extra compliment ofgrain or more protein might be needed. In addition to assuring an adequatesupply of energy and protein for pre-calving cows, meeting their mineral andvitamin requirements is also veryimportant. Commercial minerals withcomplimentary levels of calcium andphosphorus to those found in theforages and with good levels of traceminerals (copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt,iodine and selenium) and vitamins A, D,and E should be provided at the rate of 50– 85 grams per head, daily. Salt and agood source of free choice water shouldalso be included in the feeding programfor expecting cows. Such feeding practices are followed bythe beef producer that owns those cowsin the picture. He maintains good bodycondition score of his late-trimester cowsduring the last few months of winter untilthe snows disappears by: (1) saving andfeeding his better quality mixed grass hayduring January to March (2) supplementsa corn/barley mix with a mineral/vitaminpremix and (3) has a well-bedded strawfilled poll-barn and makes good use ofwindbreaks in the dry-lot. As a result, his cows successfully givebirth to healthy and profitable calves,year after year.

Tell Your Story toTell Our Story


By Harry Siemens

Over the last several months, negotiations resulted in a signed deal between OmniTraxCanada and a group of First Nations led by Mathias Colomb Cree Nation to buy theHudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill. The First Nations people dependent on the Hudson Bay Railroad and the portwelcome the deal. Arlen Dumas, Chief of the northern Mathias Colomb First Nationsaid his people are proud to champion this effort to reinvigorate the north in a mean-ingful way. Dumas said support would come from various partners, but did not elaborate on thestructure and the financing; however, he suggested it would reflect new realities, ahistoric transfer of land and infrastructure back to their rightful owners. The Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and two other northern bands, have experience inthe railroad business buying. They acquired the line from Pukatawagan to The Pasfrom Omnitrax in 2006 operating the Keewatin Railway Co. successfully since then. Sinclair Harrison, President of the Hudson Bay Route Association, which promotesuse of the rails and port, said the association would support whatever the ownershipstructure looked like, picking no favourites.

By Les Kletke

John Heard knows that there is not muchthat can be done about forage stands inManitoba during the month of February buthe does believe it is a good time to design aplan for annual or longer management. Heard is a Soil Fertility Specialist withManitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural De-velopment (MAFRD) in Carman travellingacross the province in mid-January part ofthe Beef and Forage Week Tour. He advocates a much more detailed ap-proach to forage management instead of,“We had a good crop, so let’s put on somefertilizer.” While the concept is correct, headvised producers to take stock of what theyremoved from the field in nutrients and at aminimum restore that amount and if at all pos-sible, they should consider building up thebank of nutrients in the soil, particularly if

Hudson Bay Railroad and Portof Church Deal Struck

First Nation groups dependent on the Hudson Bay rail line activity will take ownership of theManitoba service from The Pas to Churchill Port and the port facility, owned for now byOmniTrax Canada.

Forage Fields Should be Testedat Least Once in a Rotation

John Heard of MAFRD tells Beef and Forageweek attendees to replace the nutrients theircrop removes from the soil as a minimum andthen consider adding to soil nutrients toimprove it.

they have been drawing down on the soillevels. Through his presentation, Heard askedproducers about fertilizer methods they wereusing to try to determine the problems in thefields he pictured. Heard had also providedthe audience with electronic voting ma-chines so no one would be embarrassed bytheir methods or wrong answers on problemfields. The response showed that about 1/3 ofproducers soil tested once in a rotation whilenearly 20% tested annually. Over 40% didnot test at all. He does not say that annual testing is nec-essary but strongly suggests a test at leastonce in a rotation to establish the nutrientlevels in the field. Then using informationabout the amount of forage removed fromthe field producers can determine how muchfertilizer is needed to maintain soil nutrientsor improve soils if they choose. He said that a ton of alfalfa draws 60 lbs ofnitrogen from the soil, as well as 15 lbs ofpotassium and another 60 lbs of potash. Hisresults showed that by adding extra nitro-gen there is a greater return on forage grassmixes. “But the determining factor is the mois-ture,” he said. “If we get the moisture, ad-equate nitrogen can double the yield.” Heard’s suggestion for management offorage grass mixes, begins by calculating agrass field stand. “Establish the recommen-dations for a pure grass field and then backoff it 1/3 of the stand as forages cut backyour nitrogen by that amount,” said Heard. Weed control, can also be aided by fertil-izer. “Dandelions are an opportunistic weed,”he said. “They fill in any empty spaces inthe soil when they have a chance. So youcan give your crop an added advantage tofight them in June by the application of phos-phate.” He reminded producers that taking balesto the yard was removing the nutrients fromthe field unless manure is returned to thesame field. “Each round bale takes 15 lbs ofphosphate from the field,” he said. “Thatneeds to be replaced.”

Prairie Organics is a two-day conference in Winnipeg February 18 and 19 with threeseparate streams for vegetable growers, livestock operators and grain producers. The vegetable sessions target mainstream vegetable producers who are consideringtransitioning a few acres to organic. The grain and livestock streams are targeted to currentorganic producers who want to build their production skills. For each stream, the organizershave brought together some of the finest dedicated organic researchers on the continent,along with leading edge organic producers. For those attending in person, there will be plenty of opportunity to network with otherorganic producers, input suppliers, equipment suppliers, buyers and certification bodies.As an organic or transitioning producer, there are also opportunities to meet buyers face toface in 20 minute scheduled meetings. Most meetings are scheduled at the breaks so youmay not have to miss a single talk. If you are interested in participating in the B2B sessions,email [email protected] with the crops that you have in the bin or plan to plant in2016. For producers who cannot make it to Winnipeg there will be a live webcast of the sessionsin the largest room (Richardson Auditorium) with access to 10 one-hour conference ses-sions over two days for $50. Each conference session highlights practical research and the latest producer-tested prac-tices to build soil fertility and manage weeds while keeping the profitability and sustainabilityof the whole farm in mind. For those attending the conference in person, there are 20sessions to choose from (10 per day). Producers can also participate in a mini-trade show,Business-to-Business meetings and an evening networking session on February 18, from 7- 11 pm. The cost per person for 2 days is $125 or one day at $80. Student rates also available. The full conference program is available at umanitoba.ca/afs/prairieorganics/program.The conference will take place in the Agriculture Building, University of Manitoba and topark on campus, participants will need to purchase daily parking passes for $12/day. By mentioning Prairie Organics, special hotel conference rates are available throughCanadInns Fort Garry on Pembina Highway.

Organic Conference to Focus on Cutting EdgeOrganic Conference to Focus on Cutting EdgeOrganic Conference to Focus on Cutting EdgeOrganic Conference to Focus on Cutting EdgeOrganic Conference to Focus on Cutting Edge


By Elmer Heinrichs

It could be a big year for field peas in Manitobaaccording to Manitoba Agriculture, Food and RuralDevelopment’s (MAFRD) Industry DevelopmentSpecialist for pulses, Dennis Lange who spoke to over100 farmers attending St. Jean Farm Days in January. He suggested Manitoba’s acreage in field peas mightbe bumped up by as much as 35,000 acres, potentiallygoing up as high as 100,000. Field pea acreage beganrising last year and now is set to move again in 2016, theInternational Year of Pulses. “Talking to a few growers at some of the shows thisyear, they’re real keen on bringing this crop back intosouthern Manitoba,” he said. “But they’re also cau-tious.” “They’re growing acres they feel comfortable with.They’re not going hog wild and growing thousands ofacres. They’re incorporating [peas] into the rotation andseeing the benefits of growing another pulse,” saidLange. While field peas are more common in western parts ofthe province, Lange, who is based out of MAFRD’sAltona office, said it’s a less common crop in morecentral and eastern areas of Manitoba, like the Red RiverValley. “Going back 15, 20 years, we used to grow quite anumber of acres of field peas in the Red River Valley. Wegot into some wet cycle years, we ran into some diseaseissues, and we really didn’t have any good controlmeasures for some of the diseases we were facing at thattime,” added Lange. However, times have changed, and “Now we havesome fungicide options, and we also are out of thatdisease cycle because we haven’t been growing fieldpeas for a number of years.” According to market trend prices Saskatchewan’sMinistry of Agriculture, where field peas are morecommonly grown prices per bushel for yellow field peasnow are more than four dollars higher than they were thistime last year, reaching $11.73/bu on January 6, 2016. “With higher prices, we’re definitely going to see theacres kind of pushed to their extreme in Canada for thosespecial crops,” said G3 Canada’s Director of MarketResearch Neil Townsend, noting Canadian pulses ingeneral will be important this year due to problems inIndian pulse production. “The problems in India are real,” said Townsend.“We’ve seen a bad growing season in the summer wherethey just didn’t’’ have the moisture levels to produce asmuch crop as they need. And on the chickpea, lentil or pea front, where thoseare big components of their diets there, this is going tohave a real tangible effect, and already has.” Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) outlook for 2016 alsoreflects this drop in Indian production, forecasting theeffects of El Nino to further cut into Indian chickpeaproduction, which FCC’s Chief Agricultural Economist JPGervais said would push demand for Canadian pulseproduction shoring up reduced supplies. While overall Canadian pulse production could be indemand this year, Lange said growers are easing intofield peas in Manitoba, putting the crop in some of thebetter-performing fields with good drainage, as field peaswill not take heavy rain the way soybeans will. When planting peas, he also said it is important tohave a good germinating seed and to know what theseed moisture is like. “Ask a few questions, like how was[the seed] harvested last year and how was it handled?That way you can make adjustments to your seedingrate,” Lange said. He added that producers should properly inoculate asclose to seeding as possible, which should happenaround mid-April to mid-May. Lange said field peas arefrost tolerant, withstanding up to minus six degreesCelsius for short periods of time, as the plant nodes growjust below soil surface. Lange concludes that while Manitoba farmers averaged44 bushels an acre last year, growers in the Red RiverValley averaged in the 55-60 bushel range.

Field Peas...Promising Crop

for 2016 Manitoba’s agricultureindustry has made severalrecommendations on waysthe industry can preparefor climate-related risks thatwill lay the foundation forfuture discussions on howclimate change affects ag-riculture risk levels. A provincially appointedtask force, comprised of in-dustry stakeholders, pro-vided 25 recommendationson how agricultural riskmanagement needs toevolve to grow a competi-

Task Force CompletesRecommendations for

Climate Risk Managementtive industry as it copeswith a changing climate.Over the past year, it hasreviewed research andmet with producers, sci-entists, insurance pro-viders and others in-vested in agriculture andclimate-change pre-paredness. The recommendationsput forward include pro-moting policies and pro-grams that are responsiveto climate-change im-pacts and encourage ag-

ricultural best practices. The task force recommendsa continuing with the devel-opment of Excess MoistureInsurance program, researchinto and development of newinsurance tools such asweather derivatives andwhole-farm revenue insur-ance. The committee also calls forrestoring federal funding topublic research in climatechange mitigation and adap-tation for the agriculture sec-tor, renewed funding in con-servation districts to improvedrainage or water storage,collaboration between theManitoba government andother partners on advancedclimate and weather forecast-

ing programs. The recommendations in-clude predictable compen-sation for producer’s lossesdue to mitigation measures,the sharing of elevationand water-managementdata to benefit agro-envi-ronment policy, govern-ment programs and on-farmbest practices and invest-ing in education and exten-sion programs. The Manitoba Agricul-ture Risk Management Re-view Task Force was setupin January 2015 to evaluateexisting programs and poli-cies used to help farmersrecover from climate-re-lated challenges such asflooding and drought.


By Les Kletke

The Canadian Beef In-dustry has a good story totell, and they need to do abetter job of telling con-sumers and the entire popu-lation how good they are. This advocacy role is nottypically welcomed bypeople who are more con-cerned about the health oftheir cows than tellingsomeone about the healthof their cows or how muchthey care about the envi-ronment. In most cases, thepractices they adopt areconsidered commons sensebefore they are called envi-ronmental concerns. Kristine Tapley is a beefproducer and involved witha project at the Universityof Manitoba that is study-ing the hoof print of theCanadian Beef Industryfrom 1981 to 2011. She toldthose attending Beef andForage Week Seminars thatthe industry has done a

By Les Kletke

The same week as President Obamawas delivering his final State of the UnionAddress Manitoba Beef Producers werehearing from their President that M-COOL is now officially history. That does not remove the hurt theAmerican legislation caused Canadianproducers who were still dealing with thefallout from BSE when it came into force8 years ago, but it is time to move on. Heinz Reimer, President of theManitoba Beef Producers delivered theAssociation’s annual update duringJanuary’s Beef and Forage Week acrossthe province and touched on a numberof activities the organization has beeninvolved in but most dimmed in compari-son to the news that COOL was no longeron the books. Reimer said that even he was cautiouswhen the announcement came in lateDecember that COOL legislation was re-moved from the books. “I got a lot of

Cattle Producers Good Stewards of Soil and Water

Krisitine Tapley says Beef Producers are doing a good jobenvironmentally and the message needs to get out.

good job and that needsto be told to the rest of thecountry including the goodstory about their role in theenvironment. She did not deal with theimage issue of livestockproduction but was clearthat when it came to theenvironment beef produc-ers have a good message.The beef industry inCanada is the 5th largestin the world and part ofnearly 70.000 farms oper-

ating in Canada. It is basedon 50 million acres of pas-ture that in many caseswould be considered mar-ginal land. The forages produced onthis land are also trans-formed to a high valueproduct that is respectedaround the world. In her presentation,Tapley provide a series ofcartoons and articles frompapers like the New YorkTimes and less credible

sources. “The New YorkTimes reaches a lot ofpeople and when they saythat the beef industry iscontributing to greenhouseemissions a lot of peoplebelieve that,” she said.“That has me concernedbecause there is no onewho is disputing thesekinds of things and yet wehave an industry that isdoing a good job and areresponsible stewards ofsoil and water.”

The Federal and Provincial governments have announced funding of nearly $380,000for a potato processing plant in Carberry to increase efficiency, reduce waste andsupport the sustainable growth of Manitoba’s potato industry. The funding, provided under Manitoba’s Growing Forward 2 - Growing Value pro-gram, will be used to install new and innovative equipment at the McCain FoodsCanada facility in Carberry. The plant processes about 430 million pounds of Manitoba-grown potatoes every year, mostly into french fries. The upgrades will reduce potatoand canola oil waste by 900,000 pounds and 800,000 pounds per year, respectively. The funds represent half of the total equipment cost. McCain Foods Canada hasinvested more than $30 million in other upgrades to the Carberry facility over the last 10years, including a $23 million waste water upgrade. This potato processing plant em-ploys about 220 people, with another 10 positions to be created over the next threeyears because of the new equipment. Manitoba is Canada’s second-largest potato producer behind PEI, supporting 120potato growers and employing 1,500 full-time and casual workers. In 2013, 70,000 acresof potatoes were grown in Manitoba valued at about $192 million. About 80% ofpotatoes processed in Manitoba are exported to the US, making this crop a valuabletrade commodity.

Potato Processing Facility ReceivesGovernment Support for Equipment

Beef Producers Eager to Export to the USphone calls at that time, about the end ofCOOL,” he said. “But I remained cautiousuntil the Bill was signed by President Obama.Nothing was sure. It took that signature tomake it official.” Reimer said he had producers asking if theprice of cattle would increase immediately orhow soon it would happen. “Things don’thappen that quickly,” he said. “It will take awhile to work through the system and we willsee more demand and more slaughter in USplants that will translate to stronger pricesbut it will take a while to work through thesystem.” He did not offer any projection on whetherall plants would reopen and regain the capac-ity they once had. The plant closures thatwere deemed temporary at the time may givepackers the opportunity to mothball plantsthat were not up to current standards or wherelabour shortages exist. Reimer also reported that the Associationhas been working with the government onthe Risk Management Review Task Force. Onthe practical side, he said negotiations wereongoing with the government on livestockpredation, which remains a problem for manyparts of the province. The increase in wolfpopulation is a concern for many cow calfoperators. He offered a solution that had proven suc-cessful for one producer. “He has a fencedoff area for calving, and hangs bacon fromthe electric fence around the area,” saidReimer. “He claims that one time of biting thebacon and ending up with the live wire intheir mouth is enough to keep the wolvesfrom coming back.” There was some ques-tion about whether cuts of beef would workas well but there was also a comment about itbeing too high value a commodity to use forbait. Reimer also noted that negotiations wereunderway to allow for larger herds on CrownLand and that the current 4,800 AUM maxi-mum did not reflect the size of today’s herds.Community Pasture Associations have alsoestablished base rates across the province.

Heinz Reimer President of the ManitobaBeef Producers says that COOL is overand it is time to move on, the immediateimpacts are not as dramatic as someexpected but prices will improve.


The idea for the StewartSheaf Loader originatedwith the Stewart Family ofMolesworth, Ontariowhere the family wasinvolved in farming. Theeldest brother, Peter “M”Stewart, moved west in1879, a common storywith Ontario farmingfamilies as land was easierand cheaper to obtain inthe west. He pioneered afarm in the Neepawa,Manitoba area. DaveAlbert, Robert C. andJohn F. Stewart, all ofwhom were very fond oftinkering with machinery,remained in Molesworth,Ontario. According to theStewart Family history,Dave Albert and Robert C.were the inventive ones,while John F. did the farm-work and was an excellentblacksmith that broughtthe ideas to reality. JennieStewart, a sister, shouldalso get credit in theStewart Sheaf Loaderstory, as she was verygood with numbers andaided in the calculationsthat helped produce theloader. The Stewart brothersremaining in Ontario cameup with the idea of a sheafloader from their experi-ence in threshing grainand thinking about howmachinery could cutdown the amount ofmanual labor involved. Patents on the machinewere taken out in 1902and 1905. A prototypesheaf loader was built intheir workshop inMolesworth then cratedand shipped by rail in1905 to Neepawa for trial

The Stewart Sheaf Loader StoryAfter publication of the Manitoba Agricultural Museum press release “Steward Sheaf Loader”, further information on these machines came forwardfrom Mrs. Bray, a relative of the Stewart family. Bray indicates the Museum misspelt the name in the original press release as the family name isproperly spelt Stewart not Steward. Bray also passed along more information on the Stewart Sheaf Loader story. The Museum would like to thankBray for providing this information as there a direct connection to the Neepawa area and is an interesting part of Manitoba’s agricultural history.

on the farm of theirbrother, Peter “M”. The first trial, however,was not a success, owingto the heaviness of theoat crop being harvested.Family history alsoindicates there wereproblems stemming fromthe fact the stooks of oatsheaves had stood in thefield for a long time. Thethought was that perhapsthe oat had startedregrowing from the rootand a heavy growth ofnew oats was impedingthe pickup. But whateverthe cause the Stewartbrothers decided, theloader was not heavyenough to do the job. So, the loader was re-crated and shipped backto Molesworth. Here, thebrothers set aboutrebuilding it, adding largergears and a larger “bullwheel”. With theseimprovements, themachine was successful. The machine was thenshown at the WinnipegIndustrial Exhibition,about 1910. The StewartSheaf Loader then wentinto production at 470Martin Avenue, in theElmwood area inWinnipeg, where theStewart Brothers hadobtained a manufacturingfacility. The sheaf loaders wereexcellent machines, wellbuilt and did a good job.While late model Stewartscould be tractor drawnand PTO driven, initiallythe machines were drawnby four horses with alarge bull wheel on themachine powering thepickup and elevator. The

machines were drivenbeside the rows of stooks,picked up the stooks andelevated them into sheafwagons and taken to thethresher. The loader cut inhalf the number of menand teams needed by theoutfit, which was a bigsaving to the farmer andmore than likely awelcome relief to thefarmer’s wife and daugh-ters who had to preparemeals for a hungry crew. The Stewart Sheafloader or Harvester wasused all over the westernprairies and sold for about$400. David A. Steward tookout another patent onimprovements to thesheaf loader in Winnipegin 1912 and John F.Steward took out aduplicate one in Ontarioin 1912. These patentswere for a change in howthe elevator was driven.Originally, the elevator’sslatted chain was drivenby sprockets at thebottom of the elevator onthe right side of themachine (when you arestanding at the back). TheStewarts determined thatit was better if the slattedchain was powered bysprockets at the top of theelevator because theslatted chain, sheavesand all, were being pulledto the top of the elevator.The old arrangement sawthe chain being pulled allthe way around theelevator, which requiredmore power and resultedin slats being broken onthe chain for some reason. Testimonials fromfarmers who converted

Stewart Sheaf loaders tothe new drive arrange-ment indicate one lesshorse was required andthe extra horses remainedin better physical shapethrough the fall. Theproblem with broken slatsdisappeared as well. A fellow by the name ofNelson Jackson used aStewart Sheaf Loader on aNeepawa area farm in 1913and decided he couldimprove on the machineby combining the rackand sheaf loader into onemachine. He moved toBrandon and beganmanufacturing hismachine. The JacksonSheaf Loader featured anelevator that directlypicked up the sheaf,elevated them anddumped them into acarrier at the back of themachine. When the carrierwas full, the machine wastaken over to the thresherand the sheaf dumpedbeside the feeder. While

the sheaf was forked intothe thresher, the Jacksonloader returned to thefield for another load. The downfall of theJackson appears to havebeen the weight of themachine, particularlywhen loaded. Anotherproblem was breakdowns.With the Stewart if theloader broke, the farmercould revert to forkingsheaves into the wagonsand so limp along untilrepairs were made. If aJackson broke down, theneverything came to a haltuntil repairs were made. Sometime around theend of WWI, Jacksonmoved his company toSaskatoon and resumedmanufacturing theloaders. However,business soon dried upand the company pursuedother ideas. The Sheaf Loader wasonly one of manymachines the Stewartfamily designed and

patented over the years.The right’s to one of theirideas, a straw cutter onthe threshing machine,was later sold to theGeorge White Company,which built threshers. David Albert Stewartwho operated the Stewartoperation in Winnipegeventually returned toMolesworth and three ofthe brothers are buriedthere. The Museum would liketo thank Bray for provid-ing this information asthere is a direct connec-tion to the Neepawa areaand is an interesting partof Manitoba’s agriculturalhistory. The Manitoba Agricul-tural Museum is openyear round and operates awebsite at ag-museum.mb.ca thatprovides visitors withinformation includinglocation and hours ofoperation.

An advertising image of upper drive attachment of the Stewart Sheaf Loader.

By Joan Airey

Shawn and Tanya Airey and family received ThePurebred Charolais Breeder of the Year Award at theAll Breeds Banquet in Brandon recently. They own HTA Charolais Farms near Rivers,Manitoba and have one hundred and fifty purebredcows. Shawn is serving his fourth term as ManitobaCharolais Association President and is breed repre-sentative with the Ag-Ex Board. The Airey familyshows cattle at Ag-Ex, local fairs and Agribrition atRegina. Their son Chase and daughter Blake partici-pate in the Rivers 4-H Pee Wee Club. “We hosted the Manitoba Charolais AssociationPen Show and Picnic on our farm the past two years.

HTA Charolais Recipient of the 2015 PurebredCharolais Breeder of the Year Award

Jim Olson MCA Director presents the Airey family, Tanya, Shawn,Chase and Blake with the 2015 Purebred Charolais Breeder Award.

In 2015, it was held in conjunction with the Canadian Charo-lais Association Annual meeting and people attended fromacross Canada. We are happy to see the pen show grow innumbers every year,” said Shawn Airey. The Aireys keep extensive cattle records and the entireherd is enrolled on Whole Herd. “Our commitment to qual-ity is number one. Strong cow families combined with topgenetics, strict quality control program and good cow senseare used to produce a no nonsense product with the com-mercial man in mind,” commented Shawn. “Our bull sale is held annually the last Wednesday inMarch at Neepawa with Rammer Charolais as our guestconsigner. All bulls are semen tested and health checkedbefore the sale by a certified veterinarian,” said Tanya. Shawn and Tanya have been involved with cattle all theirlives and are passionate about the livestock business.


By Harry Siemens

The 45th annual BanffPork Seminar at the BanffSprings Hotel and Confer-ence Centre proved a hugesuccess with over 700people in attendance. Up as one of the keynotespeakers, Michael McCain,the President and CEO ofMaple Leaf stated that allsegments of the industryhave a role to play in pro-viding consumers accuratetransparent information onwhat is being done to en-sure the sustainability offood production. McCain said society’s in-terest in responsible con-sumption has changedmarkedly in the past 5 yearsand consumers want tospend their food dollars onproducts that not just pro-vide sustenance and nutri-tion but are also providedin responsible ways for thecare of the environmentand society. “Consumerstoday particularly themillennial generation derivemost of their information

By Les Kletke

Getahun Legesse knows that beef producersin Canada have become better managers in thelast 30 years, and he knows they can continueto improve but he does not know just how goodthey can get. Legesse is part of a beef industry study con-ducted by the University of Manitoba lookingat management practices from 1981 to 2011. Hisfindings show that the level of managementhas increased. He reported to the Beef and Forage Week onthe advances made and while he said, he wasconfident that improvements would continuehe stopped short of saying that the improve-ments would continue in a straight line. The study found that in the 30-year period,1981 to 2011, it took 27% fewer cattle to pro-duce the same amount of pounds of beef. This

Maple Leaf CEOChallenges Pork Industry

Maple Leaf Foods President and CEO Michael McCain saidwhile the COOL repeal will have immediate impact addingmultiple market options, his company paid competitive pricesthroughout the ordeal.

from social media and digi-tal media content,” he said.“That’s not a bad thing butit is subject to some varia-tion in the accuracy of theinformation. That’s not justa factor for our industry.That’s all industry and allcircumstances.” McCain said the chal-lenge is always to do agreat job in doing the bestto correct the record, mak-ing sure that even in thepresence of misinformationdo the level best to provideaccurate information andmake good judgmentsbased on that. “I think allsegments of the industry,in all levels in the industryfrom our retail food servicecustomer base through toprocessors, producers,suppliers and indeed thegovernment need to col-laborate on providing a co-ordinated response, in onehand a challenge but evenmore importantly is a greatopportunity becauseCanada has demonstratedleadership in these areas,”he said. “To date we are rec-

ognized as North Americanleaders and we can takewhat might appear to be achallenge and convert itinto a tremendous oppor-tunity for growth beingleaders in sustainable meatproduction in Canada.” McCain said dealing withsocial and digital media to-day is just part of the newreality in every part of life. He outlined three differ-ent areas of concern for in-dustry. “As an industry wemust be vigilant, robust,and proactive in replyingto this challenge for ex-ample, what is scientificevidence,” he questioned.“If you eat 2 hot dogs a dayfor the rest of your life, youhave 6 out of 100 chancesof getting rectal cancer. Ifyou eat none, 5 out of 100chance. What is reality ver-sus the perception?” McCain focused on ani-mal welfare and antibiotics.Maple Leaf owned farmsand contracted farmswould be 100% loose hous-ing by 2022. The companywill use independent audi-

tors at all farms and is cur-rently the largest singleproducer of raised withoutantibiotics animals in NorthAmerica. He stressed thatMaple Leaf is committed toconstructive relations withanimal welfare activists. When asked his opinionduring an exclusive inter-view about the effects ofthe repeal of COOL,McCain said the changeswould happen right away.“I suspect immediately. Idon’t see any reason whyit shouldn’t have a positiveeffect immediately. It opensup a valuable market,” hesaid. “And I think through-out the period of COOLwe’ve always sought topay a competitive price inthe Canadian marketplace.

So, I would like to think itwould have limited or noeffect because we are al-ready paying a competitiveprice in this country.”

McCain said that at theend of the day it is impor-tant to the whole processto discover multiple market-ing options and prices.

Three Decades of BetterManagement Translates to

Cattle Profits

Getahun Legesse says beef producers haveimproved their production by nearly 30% in the last30 years.

finding translates to 29% fewer animalsin the breeding herd and 24% less landis required to produce the feed for thoseanimals. To account for the increase in pro-duction from fewer animals there hasbeen a 15% increase in reproductivecapacity, a 20 % increase in weaningweight and 29% increase in steerslaughter weight. The most dramaticjump came in heifer weights with anincrease of 45%, a number that did notentirely surprise the beef producers inthe audience, some of which have beenin business during those 30 years. “The heavier weights at weaninghave contributed to the improvementbut so has the improvement in fieldcrop production,” said Legesse. “Wehave seen corn yield increase by 61%in that time.” He reported that while the numbersare not as clear on the story of water,similar improvements were noted whenproducers improved water quality fortheir cattle. At the same time by makingimprovements to their watering system,there is a decrease in the environmen-tal impacts from cattle operations. “Wehave seen improved selection of ani-mals for improved productivity,” hesaid. “But I don’t need to tell you thatstory; you have seen the improvementson your farm.” On the question can the improve-ments continue Legesse said, “Yes.” “I am sure they can and will. I am notsure that they will continue in a straightline. We have seen dramatic improve-ments and the rate may taper off some-what.” The study stopped short on the qual-ity of beef produced which many wouldsay would offer proof that better man-agement practices has improved theproduct offered to consumers.


This year’s annualSteinbach Crop Day ispacked with informationand innovative leadingexperts aimed to helpManitoba crop produc-ers best manage theircrop inputs. The one-day seminarto be held on February18 from 8:30 am to 4:00pm at the Steinbach Le-gion Hall, 294 LumberAvenue with feature pre-senters on the latestnews in crop research,

By Joan Airey

In a recent ceremony, theKristjanson family’s hardwork was recognized withthe Charolais CommercialBreeder of the Year for 2015award. The Kristjanson familyfarm was established in1988 when Finley, Dyanne,and their son Kris movedback to their hometown ofOchre River. At the time, they had one-quarter section of land andfour cow-calf pairs. Theydecided to use Charolaisbulls as they saw it workedfor other family members inthe livestock business. In1995, Kris’s wife Louisejoined the operation. “We purchased Charolaispurebreds in 2000 with theintention of raising a fewbulls for our commercialherd and to sell by privatetreaty. The name FDKLCharolais was created rep-resenting the four familymembers involved at thetime. Over time, we decidedwe could buy better bullgenetics without investingthe time to develop themourselves,” said KrisKristjanson. When BSE hit the indus-try in 2003, they were notimmune to the struggles itpresented. By 2006, circum-stances prompted the de-cision to begin a customspraying business to off-set production costs. Asmarket trends improved thecattle industry turnedaround and helped the farmto expand to its present sizeof four hundred cows, fif-teen quarters of land, withanother sixteen quartersrented. Some of the rentedquarter are now 5th genera-tion as their son Trevorfarms alongside. They werefinally able retire the spray-ing business in 2015.

Kristjanson’s Named Manitoba CharolaisCommercial Breeder of the Year

Shawn Airey, Manitoba Charolais Association President (left) presents the Kristjanson family withthe Manitoba Charolais Commercial Breeder of the Year Award 2015. (2nd from the left to right)Trevor Kristjanson, his girlfriend Kayla, Kris Kristjanson, his wife Louise and Jim Olson MCAdirector.

Kris recalled the family’sefforts and recent suc-cesses as Manitoban cattleproducers. “In the earlyyears we primarily fed haybut since 2001 we startedchopping silage on the ad-vice of our brother-in-law.Now we chop 275 to 320acres of corn and cerealcrops. We also wrapped approxi-mately a thousand hay si-lage bales and will continuethis practice in years tocome. We baled another fif-teen hundred bales of dryhay. In 2016, we will be seed-ing close to seven hundredacres of crop, some for si-lage and the remainder forharvest. Our breeding programstarts our calving seasonaround the 20th of Januaryuntil the end of March. We

primarily purchase all ourreplacement females anduse Charolais bulls in ourherd as I think the breed isdesigned for a terminal sire.Our cowherd is primarily allSimmental and Simmental/Angus crossbred to Charo-lais bulls. The only time ourcalves are sired by a differ-ent breed is when the heif-ers are bred Angus. The heifers we generallykeep have Simmental damsand we have purchasedAngus heifers. We sell allour char sired calves inOctober through the Ste.Rose Auction Mart. Onepackage of steers this fallwas 828 pounds. The An-gus sired calves off of ourfirst calf heifers are gener-ally weaned and sold at alater date,” said KrisKristjanson. In 2014, the Kristjanson’s

entered two cow-calf pairsfor the first time in theManitoba Charolais Asso-ciation Pen Show. Theyplaced first and third in thecow/calf pair with Charolaisinfluence category. Theyrepeated the placings in the2015 MCA Pen Show. One of the calves theyshowed was born on Janu-ary 19 and weighed 530 lbson June 12. By sale dayOctober 22, 2015, heweighed in at 945 lbs. Thiscalf was sired by a HTASenator son and like all theircalves raised only onmomma’s milk. “That is one of manyproven reasons why usingselect Charolais bulls in ourcommercial herd is the ob-vious choice. We look for-ward to the future the cattleindustry has to offer,” saidKristjanson.

Never TNever TNever TNever TNever TooooooooooYYYYYoung tooung tooung tooung tooung toPPPPPromoteromoteromoteromoteromote

CattleCattleCattleCattleCattleYoung Wyatt Rossnagelfrom Plumas, Manitoba en-joyed passing out businesscards to promote WRAZAngus at Ag-Days wherethere was a steady streamof interested peoplethrough the cattle barn.

Photo by Joan Airey

Photo by Joan Airey

SteinbachCrop Day

is AllAbout

Innovation

production and marketing. Sessions include Soy-bean Wrap-up for 2015and What’s New in 2016,Insect Update for Cut-worms, Flea Beetles, Soy-bean Aphid, EuropeanCorn Borer, monitoringand management tips,Emerging Disease Issuesand Management Strate-gies, Weeds, what towatch for in 2016, TileDrainage on Red RiverClay Soils and what weknow about the heavyclays and the Grain Mar-ket Update. In addition there will beagribusiness displays,coffee, donuts and lunch.Registration is $5 per per-son. For more information,call Manitoba Agriculture,Food and Rural Develop-ment (MAFRD) SteinbachGO Office at 204-346-6080.

The Canada and Manitoba governments are expandingthe province’s network of automated weather stations af-ter installing 17 new stations in 2015. Manitoba has a total of 61 automated weather stationsoperated by the provincial government that provide timely,detailed information useful to Manitoba farmers, free ofcharge. By 2018, the agro-meteorology program will ex-pand to 84 stations. These automated stations are located in areas that bestrepresent the climate of the region. They are solar-pow-ered and communicate wirelessly, allowing them to be setup in remote and rural areas. Measurements of air tempera-ture, relative humidity, rainfall, wind speed and directionand soil temperature are collected, verified and posted tothe provincial website hourly. Data from these weather sta-tions will also be used to enhance flood and drought fore-casting, precipitation maps, and monitoring severe weather.

Network of Ag WNetwork of Ag WNetwork of Ag WNetwork of Ag WNetwork of Ag WeathereathereathereathereatherStations ExpandsStations ExpandsStations ExpandsStations ExpandsStations Expands


By Harry Siemens

David R. Montgomery isa Professor of Earth andSpace Sciences at the Uni-versity of Washington inSeattle, where he leads theGeomorphological Re-search Group and is a mem-ber of the Quaternary Re-search Center. Recently, he was the key-note speaker at the NationalSoil Health Summit inCalgary. Ten years ago, hewrote the book, Dirt: TheErosion of Civilizations.During his research, he re-alized good soil is disap-pearing, but humankindcan restore it within years,not centuries. “Dirt, soil, call it what youwant, it’s everywhere wego. It is the root of our ex-istence, supporting ourfeet, our farms, our cities,”cites the forward of hisbook. This fascinating yetdisquieting book finds thatplanet Earth is running outof dirt, and it is no laugh-ing matter. Once bear of protectivevegetation and exposed towind and rain, cultivatedsoils erode bit by bit,slowly enough to be ig-nored in a single lifetime butfast enough over centuriesto limit the lifespan of civi-lizations. Montgomery sees in therecent rise of organic andno-till farming the hope fora new agricultural revolu-tion that might help usavoid the fate of previouscivilizations. In an interview followinghis keynote address, hesaid removing the trees, isthe first step, but it was notthe axe so much, as theplow that followed, thatkept the trees off and actu-ally kept the ground bareand vulnerable to erosion.“If you look at most natu-ral grasslands or forestingsystems, you don’t see awhole lot of bare ground,”said the geologist. “Youhave to go above timber-line to find that and thenyou are in a whole differentgame.” Montgomery thinks itwas the invention of theplow, and agricultural prac-tices that allowed the ex-pansion of human societ-ies, which in the end heldthe seeds of decline. “It didtwo things in effect. It al-lowed the acceleration ofthe erosion above the rateat which soils formed andanytime you are losingsomething faster than youreplace it, you run out ofit,” he said. “So, there is thephysical loss of the soil,and that plagued certainplaces more than others.There is also the point itaccelerated the degrada-

By Elmer Heinrichs

Jim Cornelius the Executive Director of Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) said therewere well over 250 grow projects across the country in 2015 and he expects donations tobe similar to 2014, which saw them raise about $14 million. He said there are a number of key areas they are focusing on right now. “We have a verylarge program right now in response to the crisis in Syria,” explained Cornelius. “Bothinside Syria where millions of people are displaced, as well as with refugees in theneighbouring countries.” “We’re working with a lot of displaced people in South Sudan, where the civil warcontinues. And we’re just starting up a major response to a widespread and very severedrought that’s hit Ethiopia. It’s their worst drought in 30 years and it’s affecting the wholeeastern part of the country.” Cornelius noted that the Government of Canada also provides CFGB with 25 milliondollars a year on a matching basis plus additional grants. He added they are currentlyworking out a new deal with the recently elected Liberal government. Last year Canadian Foodgrains Bank lent support to over 1.2 million people around theworld. Manitoba’s Pembina Valley continues to be a major supporter of the CanadianFoodgrains Bank. But growing projects are spread out across the province and furtherfrom farms in Swan River acres in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Harold Penner, CFGB Regional Coordinator, said the strip down Highways 14 and Hwy 3is a crucial area for growing projects in recent years. “It’s really grown; our largest projectsare in this area.” “And the crops have just been fantastic, so it’s been a very important part of ourfundraising.” The CFGB raised over $3 million last year in Manitoba and northwesternOntario, approximately $1.8 million from growing projects. Supporters donate the use of farmland and plant a crop, the proceeds from which aredonated to the Foodgrains Bank. The year’s crops included corn, soybeans, wheat, pintobeans, canola and others. Penner said numbers for 2015 are still coming in, though he projects another successfulyear. “We had 5,800 acres this year which is a little higher than last year and yields weregood,” reported Penner. “So I’m expecting it to be a good year.” Along with growing projects, concerts, auctions and other fundraising events providemore ways to get involved, Penner said. The CFGB recently hosted a trio of banquets inthe region to thank supporters and provide an update on their work around the world. Two speakers from Kenya shared their first-hand experiences of how the FoodgrainsBank is making a difference during a meeting at the Pembina Threshermen’s Museum nearMorden and Winkler. Paul Galmagar and Martha Bone run a program for vulnerable peopleincluding widows and young girls. Bone explained the money from CFGB is used to buylivestock, which are given to widows on loan. During her trip to Canada she was struck bythe CFGB supporter’s giving hearts. “We learned that... people love to give and they workhard so that they can give,” she said. “We shall go back and tell good things aboutCanadians.” She said the support is changing the lives of people in Northern Kenya. Penner also thanked the many who support the Foodgrains Bank year after year. “Wehave so much grassroots supporters, especially in rural Manitoba,” Penner said. “And wejust really appreciate everyone who comes out to be a part of the cause.” Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-basedagencies working together to end global hunger.

Dirt is the Root of Our Existence

tion of soil organic matter,and helped to oxidize thecarbon, the organic matterin the soil. If that organicmatter was one of the mainsources of fertility with mi-crobes breaking it downand slowly pulling all thethings other than the car-bon and nitrogen thatplants need, out of that or-ganic matter, there was astore of it. Think of that asnature’s storehouse. Rocksaren’t really that full of nu-trition. We don’t eat them.We need microbes to di-gest them for us and so doplants in many cases.” Montgomery said thatorganic matter is what fedthe microbes that pre-di-gested the sources of thenutrition. This is why a fieldwith an organic rich soil,does not need fertilizer.“There is plenty of fertilityactually in it,” he said. “Weonly started to need fertil-izers after we degraded our

soils’ organic matter.” When asked whether so-ciety has stopped the loss,and come to the pointwhere it is turning around,he does not think the worldis at that point globally.“But we are at the pointwhere we know we can doit because there are farmsthat have done it, and thereare individuals doing it,”said Montgomery. “I spentthe last six months visitingfarmers around the worldwho were doing exactlythat. They not only turnedit around, but also figuredout how to make moneydoing it. They’d figuredout how to do it profitablyand which will help with theadoption of the methodsthey are coming up with.” What is amazing to himand to the people in theaudience is that if doneright, people can restoresoil, and actually do it fasterthan initially thought.

David R. Montgomery, a Professor of Earth and SpaceSciences at the University of Washington in Seattle said doneright, we can restore depleted soil within years, not centuries.

Manitoba canoLAB 2016 is a one-day interactiveworkshop that looks at timely considerations in canolaproduction. Knowing what is going on in your field isparamount to achieving optimal canola yields. This year, Manitoba canoLAB 2016 will include ses-sions on canola rotations and on maximizing syner-gies with other crops. Organizers invite attendees totake advantage of the soil testing session by bringingin soil test results for discussion. The event is co-hosted by the Canola Council of Canada and ManitobaCanola Growers Association. Participants will be divided into small groups androtate through a series of concurrent stations all ledby industry experts and will cover a wide range ofagronomic topics. There will be live plants with liveissues. This forum is a great opportunity for produc-ers and agronomists to sharpen their diagnostic skillsand to strengthen their knowledge base. The workshops will be held on Wednesday, March 9and Thursday, March 10 in Brandon at the AssiniboineCommunity College. Each day will be identical in format and content andincludes lunch. Attendance is limited to optimize thecanoLAB experience, so please be sure to register earlyat canolagrowers.com.

Know YKnow YKnow YKnow YKnow Your Canolaour Canolaour Canolaour Canolaour Canola

Grow Projects and DonationsBoost Work of Canadian

Foodgrains Bank


By Les Kletke

Angela Brackenreed has a clearmessage for canola growers. “If it is not making economicsense you should not be doingit,” said Brackenreed who ad-dressed the Canola Day at thisyear’s Ag Days in Brandon. Thereare enough things to do that re-sult in profits for producers ratherthan doing things that do not. Brackenreed said that work doneby the Canola Council of Canadashows that producers could see agood return by letting their cropripen, standing and then usingstraight cut harvesting. “We seefarmers swathing fields that arenot nearly mature,” she said. “Ourresults show that by waiting toswath until 50-70% of the crop haschanged colour rather than the 30-40% colour change that many useas a guide could give them an ex-tra 8 % yield.” She acknowledged that there isincreased risk of shattering butsaid that may not be as big an is-sue as producers fear. “We haveseen a great improvement in vari-eties and some do have bettershatter tolerance but we see theseresults with any of the commonvarieties on the market,” she said.“Many farmers use the earlyswathing as a time managementtool and we are suggesting theyuse straight cutting as a time man-agement tool.” As farms have grown along with

By Les Kletke

Imagine a job where yourboss told you to do thingsout of the box, do the un-usual and what peoplemight not think is normal.That is the assignmentgiven to Manitoba Beef andForage Initiative for theBrandon ResearchProjects. Carollyne Kehler toldthose attending the Beefand Forage Week Seminarprovincial tour in mid Janu-ary the directive for the

Canada, whose overall agrifood exports to India are mainly in pulse crops such as lentilsand peas but also include oilseeds, canola oil, cereal grains, dairy goods, apples and cattle,expects to move $2 million in pork to the country in its first year of access. That’s well below Canada’s 2014 pork exports to the U.S. ($1.45 billion) or Japan ($951million), but future growth is expected as demand for value-added products is expected toincrease, the government said in a release. “We have been working with the government of Canada for many years to gain access tothis market, which offers great potential for the export of a wide range of pork products,”said Jacques Pomerleau, President of export development and trade promotion agencyCanada Pork International. “Canadian producers that manufacture value-added pork prod-ucts will also benefit from this new market in the future,” he added. According to the release, our combined agrifood and seafood exports to India have risensteadily over the last decade, nearing $915 million in value in 2014, noting India’s agrifoodand seafood imports overall rose by a compound annual growth rate of 12.3 per centbetween 2012 and 2014. “Canadian pork producers can immediately benefit from this new opportunity, exportingtheir product into this emerging market and increasing their export returns,” AgricultureMinister Lawrence MacAulay said. Access to India’s pork market is also expected to, “Further facilitate Canada’s position asa long-term, reliable partner in meeting India’s food security objectives,” the governmentrelease said. India’s grocery food market is worth more than $332 billion and projected to be theworld’s fourth largest such market by 2020, the government said in a separate report. India, the government said, “Remains focused on food security and marketing initiativessuch as ‘nutritional security,’ which is a tag line used to increase health-conscious prod-uct consumption.” India’s hospitality sector also offers high-value opportunities for Canadian companiesto provide “niche products” including meats, the government added.

The Canada and Manitoba governments are providingup to $500,000 for 12 projects that will increase the useand development of biomass fuels. Biomass refers to biological or renewable materials fromagriculture, marine or forestry resources. Common biom-ass fuel sources in Manitoba are flax shives, sunflowerhulls and waste wood. The Manitoba Biomass EnergySupport Program (MBESP) was established in 2011 tosupport current coal users transitioning to renewable bio-mass fuels. In 2014, the program was expanded to alsoprovide support for research and development activitiestargeted at advancing use and processing of biomass fuels.MBESP also supports processors looking to sell biomassin new markets. Examples of approved projects this year include con-verting a coal-fired central heating system to a biomassboiler in Willow Creek Colony, near Cartwright, fundingfor new equipment allowing Southeast Pallet and WoodProducts in Blumenort to double their annual biomass pro-cessing capacity, replacing an existing coal boiler for a bio-mass heating system for an individual in Carman and im-proving on-site storage of finished biomass fuels to SpruceProducts Ltd. in Swan River.

Showing Initiative and Doingthe Unusual Research

Carollyne Kehler says the Brandon Beef Research Farm islooking for projects outside of the box.

Centre, “Is to try the impos-sible”. The mandate maysound a bit out of charac-ter for one of the most tra-ditional sectors in Cana-dian agriculture but beefproducers want to find newways of producing feed thatcan make them more effi-cient and are funding theresearch. The Brandon facility isspread over three sites, oneat Brookdale that has 640acres and two near the cityof Brandon. The Johnsonsite has 320 acres and theFirst Street site has 600acres. The project is rela-tively new and establishingthe study took much of theeffort in the first year, but

the program has 2, 50-cow-herds and 55 cow-calfpairs. “We had to establish han-dling facilities and that tooka lot of time and effort,” saidKehler. “We also did somework with annual foragesat Beausejour and Carberrysites. We will have moreprojects to evaluate these.” Jaunita Kopp reported onsome of the studies that theproject includes and saidthat while Chicory providedpurple flowers, the cowsdid not like it. “The Chicorywas very productive butalso very bitter and thecows did not eat it.” The study looked at morethan taste of forages it alsoprovided information oncost and Kopp said that ryegrass showed up as a cost.“The rye grass was the lostcost feed, and that was duemainly to the lower seedcosts resulting from thelower seed rates,” saidKopp. Kopp also reported thatone project studied rodentcontrol and with a smilenoted that the rodentstrapped cost nearly $20each per capture. “I thinkwe can do better than thatbut in the first year and withgetting a late start that iswhat the results showed,”said Kopp. “We will havebetter results with an ear-lier start, this year the pro-gram did not get going un-til July.” The Research Farm islooking for suggestionsfrom producers in terms ofwork they would like to seedone and is open to dis-cuss current or futureprojects.

Harvesting Has Gotto Make “Cents”

Angela Brackenreed stresses that there enoughthings for a producer out there that make money,don’t waste time on the ones that don’t.

acreages that need to be cut, farmers have spreadthe workload by cutting earlier. Even though farm-ers’ may be are aware of the reduced yield thereis a willingness to make that sacrifice to spreadthe workload. “We are suggesting going the otherway, and leaving the crop stand and harvest someof it straight,” said Brackenreed. The straight cut approach is just one of thepractices the Canola Council of Canada is evalu-ating on the path of reaching an average yield of52 bushels an acre. The current five-year aver-age is 34 bushels an acre. When asked about a contest that is targeting100 bushels of canola, she said the genetic po-tential is there but she was concerned that theyield was attained with sustainable practices andgood economic management. She stopped shortof providing a benchmark that farmers could usewhen deciding the economic returns that theyget on crop inputs. “That depends on the indi-vidual and the risk on return they are comfort-able with,” she said. “Some may require a 2:1return and others may not require that much. Thatis up to the individual.”

Support for Projects andSupport for Projects andSupport for Projects andSupport for Projects andSupport for Projects andResearch Using Biomass EnergyResearch Using Biomass EnergyResearch Using Biomass EnergyResearch Using Biomass EnergyResearch Using Biomass Energy

Pork Exports to Rise withIndia Under a New Market

Access Agreement


By Joan Airey

Bernard and Ruth Dueckfarm northwest of Austin, inthe Firdale district wheretheir farm got its name. Theywere named 2015 Commer-cial Hereford Breeder. After finishing school,Bernie started farming withhis parents and purchasedhis own quarter sectionshortly after. His parentshad around fifty Herefordinfluence cows. “I began to buy Herefordfemales for my own herd,since I was impressed withthe positive maternalstrengths of the breed. Whenpurchasing Hereford bulls Iput emphasis on thematernal side of the bulls’pedigree to improve thequality of females I retainedin my herd,” said BernieDueck. The couple married in July1982 and have three childrenJames, Colton, and Morgan.All their family was involved

Firdale Polled Herefords NamedCommercial Breeder of the Year

Photo by Joan Airey

Steven Manns presenting Hereford Commercial Breeder of the Year 2015 to Firdale Polled Herefords family run farm, Bernard(Bernie), Colton, James, and Ruth Dueck, Morgan, Emily and Allan Voisin.

with the cattle and weremembers of Sidney 4-H clubfor many years. Theyshowed Hereford influencecattle which are the basis forthe cows they still own.James works for Lewis andSons and farms with hisparents while building hisown herd of cattle. Coltonlives at Portage. Morgan ismarried to Allan Voisin andthey have a daughter Emily. “All the family do theirbest to participate in theimportant cattle days on thefarm whether at home or atthe neighbours who workstogether with the familyduring cattle processing. Iwork at MacGregor CreditUnion. Bernie has been aschool bus driver for thePine Creek School divisionfor the past eighteen years,”said Ruth. “The majority of thehundred thirty cow herd hasalways been Herford, withthe balance being Herfordinfluence. Charolais bulls

were used on a portion ofthe herd since the mid 90s to2010. Black Angus bullswere used since then. Halfour herd has always beenbred Hereford. The majorityof the crossbred calves aresold along with the Herefordsteer calves. Most of thereplacement heifers that weretain are Hereford.Herefords have alwaysproven to be ideal cross withmost breeds,” said Bernie. Like most cattle producers,BSE created a major dip inthe cash flow. It encourageda closer look at the expenseside of the equation and ledto examining other possibili-ties to reduce costs. Plannedgrazing through fencedpaddocks for the home herdhas doubled the carryingcapacity over time. TheDueck’s herd has been corngrazing from December toMarch for almost 10 years.Bale grazing is also part ofthe rotation, as well as

foraging crop residue aftercombining and grazingsecond cut on some haystands. Stockpiled grass paddocks,provide fresh ground andshelter, and are utilized fornew cow calf pairs by thebeginning of April. They arefed, but can also begingrazing as weather permits. Their cows have adaptedwell to what is mostly a yearround grazing system. “Wehave worked off farm whileraising cattle and grainfarming. The size of the herdhas increased in the lastnumber of years. We stillenjoy the time spent with‘the girls’ be it calving in thespring or doing pasturechecking during the grazingseason. Moving fences everycouple of days in wintertime for corn grazing is asclose to a good exerciseprogram as Bernie and Jamesget, if nothing else,” saidRuth.

Winter wheat in western Canada is receiving a hugeboost as a crop with the recent addition of partner, TheMosaic Company Foundation, the newest member of theWestern Winter Wheat Initiative (WWWI). The MosaicCompany Foundation is now helping to fund the WWWIwith an investment of $1 million over the next three years. “We are fortunate to have such great industry supportfor winter wheat as a crop here on the Prairies,” said PaulThoroughgood, with the WWWI. “Now that The Mo-saic Company Foundation is on board, we are able tocontinue supporting the growth of winter wheat acrossManitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and have profes-sional agronomists available to help farmers improve theirbottom lines.” An excellent fit in crop rotations, winter wheat comple-ments all the WWWI partners’ visions for a sustainableagricultural landscape. Not only is winter wheat one of, ifnot the most, high-yielding and profitable crops grownon the Prairies, it also has a more efficient use of cropinputs, uses reduced tillage, and provides wildlife habi-tat, making it one of the most environmentally and con-servation-friendly crops around. “As global demand for food increases, farmers are work-ing to sustainably intensify the amount of food theygrow while enhancing environmental protection. Winterwheat is a great example of this in action,” said MarkKaplan, Board President of The Mosaic Company Foun-dation and Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at TheMosaic Company. “We are pleased to support the West-ern Winter Wheat Initiative as it helps farmers optimizeyields and improves nutrient stewardship and water qual-ity outcomes.” The WWWI is a strong advocate for responsible farmmanagement practices and the 4Rs for Nutrient Steward-ship and recognizes The Mosaic Company Foundationas the perfect addition to its efforts. Promoting winter wheat as a great sustainable cropoption for farmers in Prairie Canada, the WWWI offersexpert agronomic support and funds breeding andagronomy research programs thanks to like-minded in-dustry partners Bayer CropScience, Ducks UnlimitedCanada, Richardson International Limited, and now, TheMosaic Company Foundation. For further information, visit growwinterwheat.ca or fol-low the WWWI on Twitter @growwinterwheat.

Western WinterWheat InitiativeWelcomes New

Partner


By Harry Siemens

Started in 1987 by ayoung entrepreneur, SteveBrandt, with a single truckand trailer, Steve’s Live-stock Transport today isthe largest commercial live-stock carrier in North

Teaching and TrainingBiosecurity is Vital

Steve Brandt of Steve’s Livestock Transport with the 2016 F.X. Aherne Award for Innovative Pork Production.

Steve’s Livestock Transport’s new Hydraulic Lift Deck Trailerfor which they received the Frank. X. Aherne award in Banff,Alberta.

...then add innovation!America and a leader in thetransportation industry. Each week, their fleet of130 power units is out onthe road, transporting morethan 2,500 head of cattleand 150,000 pigs through-out Canada and the US. They have locations in

Blumenort and Brandon,Manitoba and in Acme andRed Deer, Alberta. Theiroperations are also home toa commercial washing andlarge equipment repair ser-vice facilities. Steve’s Livestock Trans-port is one of two winnersthat shared the 2016 FrankX. Aherne prize for Inno-vative Pork Production onJanuary 14 at the Banff PorkSeminar. Sam Gelowitz of the Prai-rie Swine Centre in Saska-toon, Saskatchewan re-ceived the award for an in-novative carcass removalcart and Steve’s LivestockTransport received theaward for a new hydrauliclift deck trailer. The all-aluminum decksystem has a powerful hy-draulic lift cylinder andstainless steel cable sys-tem that raises two full-length decks into lockedposition. It acts as an el-evator to lift livestock intodifferent deck levels, whicheliminates ramp usage toenter or exit the trailer. Thatreduces animal fatigue,stress, and injury duringmovement and improvesmeat quality. Other features includesuperior ventilationthrough the trailer and thecommon contamination ar-eas are easier to wash outenhancing biosecurity.

Heavy-duty gates containand separate loads. Thedesign is also physicallyeasier on drivers. “We’ve been blessedwith opportunity ahead ofus in the transportation in-dustry particularly if we’rewilling to do what our cli-entele is asking us to dowhen it comes tobiosecurity,” said Brandt inan interview at the BanffPork Seminar. “That hasdefinitely helped us growin our business.” When people spokeabout biosecurity yearsback, it almost sounded likesomething high tech. “Ifyou don’’ do it right, youdon’t have a business,” heaffirmed. “Our herd healththat we have here in Canadais something that we needto protect. You look at ourfriends to the south, theyhave many more challengeswhen it comes to diseases.Thanks to our industry,they care about biosecurityand that is what has helpedus lead on that front.” With the hog industrycoming through toughtimes financially and PEDvirus, Steve’s kept trans-porting even when hogfarmers had difficulty pay-ing. “Yes, it was a difficulttime and saw a lot of ourreally good customers andclientele go through reallydifficult times, and that is

no fun,” Brandt said. “Wewalked alongside of them,and for the most part sawthem come through theother side. So that was re-warding at the end of theday.” He said there is a key tosolid biosecurity. “I thinkunderstanding and trainingso people understand whythey’re doing what they aredoing,” he said. “There areso many drivers out there Ithink if they understood,they would actually followthe biosecurity moreclosely. But if you don’ttrain them and teach thepeople, they don’t under-stand what to do. So train-ing is the biggest aspect ofit, if you want to have solid

biosecurity.” It is one thing to train thedriver as an employee, buthis company deals with theproducer too. “The trainingstarts in our office with apolicy, that everyone hasto go on a ride-along oncea year with a truck,” saidBrandt. “That is where itstarts, teaching peopleright in the office so theyunderstand whybiosecurity is so importantand what actually happensat the farm gate. From thereto teach our mechanics, ourwash bay staff, and ourdrivers and then go backto our customer and askthem how can we work to-gether on this and makingit better.”

In January, Egypt’s sup-ply ministry moved toclarify rules on wheat im-ports saying it would allowshipments with traces ofthe grain fungus ergot toenter the country. Recently wheat tradershave expressed growingconcern that uncertaintyover payment and inspec-tion terms in Egypt, theworld’s biggest wheat im-

EgyptLargestWheat

ImporterSays No

Tolerancefor Ergot

porter, would dampen de-mand. The problem surfacedwhen a cargo of Frenchwheat was rejected lastmonth due to traces of theinfection. Sparking the un-certainty was the Egyptianagricultural quarantine au-thority that said accordingto its rules all incomingshipments above zerowould be barred from en-try. Clarifying the rules, theEgyptian General Author-ity for Supply Commodities(GASC), said it would allowshipments of importedwheat with up to 0.05 percent level of ergot counter-ing the initial statement thatsaid any level of infectionwas not acceptable. After series of meetingsbetween Egyptian and Eu-ropean officials wheat trad-ers said they were waitingto hear the agricultureministry’s response to besure the problem had beenresolved.


By Harry Siemens

Late in 2015, the Manitoba government introduced a newspecial pilot project permit evaluation protocol designedto allow the construction of swine barns in the province toresume under 11 new conditions. Mike Teillet of Manitoba Pork (MP) said the special pilotproject permit evaluation protocol would allow new con-struction under 11 new conditions. “One of the key ones isthere has been a 200 percent reduction in soil phosphoruslimits,” said Teillet. “Right now the regulation allows for180 parts per million of soil phosphorus build up in soil.This new protocol will lower that to 60 parts per million fornew barns, a significant reduction.” The second new requirement is that all new hog opera-tions must inject their manure or incorporate it within 48hours. Thirdly, there will be additional manure samplingand testing requirements over and above what is requirednow. The fourth requirement is that significantly more landwill be needed for manure spreading. “We estimate up to oreven more than twice as much land for spread fields as inthe past. They will have to have enough land to spread ata one times phosphorus application rate. Even though theywon’t be required to spread at that rate they will have tohave enough land to be able to spread at that rate,” hesaid. In view of the 11 new requirements, MP has detailedestimates for building new finishing spaces to give porkproducers an idea of what they can expect in terms of cost. According to DGH Engineering’s detailed budget esti-mate to construct new hog finisher facilities under currentmarket conditions, using typical 2,000 and 4,000 head fin-isher barns as models the cost of the 2,000 head finisherbarn including all services, materials, equipment, labour,site development works and contingency is $1,242,444. This total cost translates into $621/per pig place. Sepa-rating out site development, earthworks utilities and con-tingency the nominal construction cost of the facility is$51.55 per square foot for $480.90 per pig place. For both estimates the project budgets do not includeany cost for land instead the estimates consider the con-struction on an existing farm. The total estimated cost of a 4,000 head finisher barnincluding all services, materials, equipment, labour, sitedevelopment works and contingency is $1,983,810. Thistotal cost translates into $495.95/per pig place. Separatingout site development, earthworks utilities and contingencythe nominal construction cost of the facility is $48.86 persquare foot or $398.29 per pig place. MP’s General Manager, Andrew Dickson said the goal ofthe project is to provide a detailed cost estimate that porkproducers could use as a starting point when consideringthe construction of finishing spaces. Dickson said that producers considering a new hog barnshould contact DGH Engineering for assistance in navi-gating the permitting process. The documents provide pro-ducers a starting point from which they can estimate thereal cost of building a hog barn. He asks those interested to read the posted documentson Manitoba Pork’s web site and he encourages anyoneinterested in constructing a new barn to contact ManitobaPork for information and assistance.

By Les Kletke

The provincial extension veterinarian told beef produc-ers that the biggest problems they face might be outside ofthe pen and away from their yards.

Faced with PerceptionProblems Outside the

Cattle Pen

Dr. Wayne Tomlinson says Carrie Underwood maybe one ofthe biggest challenge beef producers face.

Dr. Wayne Tomlinson told the Beef and Forage WeekSeminar that celebrities like Carrie Underwood cause himthe greatest concern. “People like Carrie Underwood say-ing they are not eating meat because they cannot standthe thought of hearing calves crying for their mothers ishaving a huge impact on our industry,” he said. Underwoodwas born and raised on a farm in Muskogee, Oklahomabefore skyrocketing to fame on American Idol. “People that you think would be supportive of our in-dustry and they come out speaking against eating meat,”said Tomlinson. “That is the challenge of our industry.Those calves are not crying they are telling their motherwhere they are, but those are the issues today.” While he addressed the image issue he also got down tothe economics of calf production telling producers that itwas a matter of how much beef they marketed in the fallthat affected their bottom line. “That is a result of the percentage of cows that are bred,the number of live calves that result and ultimately theweight of those calves when they go to market,” he said. Inan example, he explained that in a cowherd of 75 with aconception rate of 93% the result would be 70 bred cows.Those 70 cows would yield 69 live calves of which a 3%death rate would take two more and the resultant 67 calveswould require a weight of 560 lbs to attain the goal of 500lbs of beef for each cow. He stressed that reproduction was the single largest fac-tor in managing a beef herd and these variables could af-fect the bottom line. “If you have late calves weighing 300lbs at market time, in our example you are going to needsome 700 lb calves to make up for that,” said Tomlinson. “Itis easier to get a consistent earlier breeding program andhave consistent early calves.” He faced a question about choosing genetics from a pro-ducer that had late calves with favourable genetics. “Shouldyou push that heifer and breed her young or wait till she isa year older?” was the question. His answer was clear, buy heifers from producers thatcalve earlier and have heifers that are ready to breed. Hesaid a consistent herd with consistent breeding cycles alsoallowed producers to mix off low quality feed in their ra-tions. “You don’t want to be feeding that poor hay whenthe cow is making a calf or recovering from a difficult birth,”he said.

“People like Carrie Underwoodsaying they are not eating meatbecause they cannot stand the

thought of hearing calves cryingfor their mothers is having a huge

impact on our industry.”

New RegulationsPrompts Hog Barn

Construction Estimates

The Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association(MWBGA) is hosting its AGM on February 11 at 12:20 pmat the CropConnect Conference in Winnipeg. The AGM will include updates and the election of threedirectors. “We will (also) be seeking approval from the membershipfor bylaw changes allowing advance absentee ballots forfuture elections,” said board chair Fred Greig. “…we willbe asking for approval to complete the regulatory changesrequired to assume the authority and responsibilities ofthe Western Canada Deduction for July 31, 2017.” “We chose to hold the AGM at the CropConnect Confer-ence to encourage as much participation as possible in theAGM,” explained Vice Chair Robert Misko. If a producerjust wants to attend the AGM, they can request an AGMOnly pass at the CropConnect registration table.

Wheat & Barley Growers to HoldAGM with CropConnect Conference


By Les Kletke

Brian Innes said therecent Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP) is goodnews for Canadian Canolagrowers. Innes is the VicePresident GovernmentRelations for the CanolaCouncil of Canada andspoke to producers at AgDays in Brandon. He outlined the CanolaCouncil’s strategic planand while agronomistAngela Brackenreedhandled the sustainablesupply component, hespoke to the issues ofdifferentiating the valueof canola and SustainableOpen Trade. Innes said that with 90%of canola being exportedfrom this country it isimportant that tradecontinues to grow and hesaid the TPP should do

By Joan Airey

Sunset Ridge Angus’home quarter which waspurchased in 2000, is lo-cated six miles south ofManitou raiding cattle,growing hay and corn si-lage. They additionally rentthree quarters of valley landfor pasture. “Choosing the Angusbreed was a very easy de-cision, with Angus beinglow maintenance, moderateframed, highly maternaland calving ease cows.Calves are born unassistedand vigorous, this wasvery important due to con-stantly juggling kids, cows,and off farm jobs,” saidNancy Howatt owner of thefamily farm Sunset RidgeAngus. “In 1998 our first twofoundation females wereacquired from Tag-A-long,and then additional oneswere purchased at theCowmaker Classic, Key-stone Klassic and from se-lect sales across the PrairieProvinces. Improving thesewith AI by both provenolder genetics and freshnew outcross sires. Eventually building ourpurebred cows up to sixtyhead and around thirtycommercials. Naomi,Lenina, Rachel and Bennettwere active members in 4-H show casing our cattleover fifteen years while Ivolunteered for ten ofthose years as leader. I can-

South Korea has lifted its temporary ban on importsof beef and veal from Canada. Imports of Canadianbeef and veal were temporarily suspended in responseto the February 2015 detection of an isolated case ofbovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada. “Resumption of access to South Korea is importantfor Canada’s beef producers,” said CanadianCattlemen’s Association President Dave Solverson.“South Korea holds huge potential for beef and espe-cially cuts and offals that are underutilized here at home.Korea is a market that will pay more for those selectitems and that helps to increase the overall value ofthe animal for producers.” In 2014, prior to the suspension of trade, South Ko-rea was Canada’s sixth-largest market for beef withexports valued at $26 million. Access to this market willhelp Canadian beef and veal exporters expand theirsales, while also benefiting Korean consumers whowill have greater access to Canada’s safe, high-qualitymeat products.

Photo by Joan Airey

Sunset Ridge Red Angus ManitobaAngus Purebred Breeder for 2015

Nancy Howatt (left) receiving Manitoba Angus Purebred Breeder 2015 Award -The Van DaeleAward- from Larissa Hamilton, Manitoba Angus Association President.

not emphasize how impor-tant this invaluable pro-gram is to our rural youth.The girls also enjoyed par-ticipating in several otherlocal shows and were mem-bers of the Junior AngusAssociation. The kids wereinvolved in many schooland extracurricular activi-ties of which I enjoyedwatching and I tried to at-tend as many as was pos-sible. I also got involved bybeing on a few committeesas well as being on a few ofthe Manitou UnitedChurch boards. Naomicompleted her Ag Diplomain 2013, travelling abroadand working at the local Co-

op Ag site. Lenina is pres-ently taking her third yearof sciences at U of M, whileRachel is taking her U1 atU of M and upon graduat-ing this spring Bennett hasbeen accepted in the Die-sel Mechanic course atACC,” said Howatt. Their bulls have marketedover the years through RedPower at Neepawa, Dou-glas Bull Test Station, andSouthwest Bull Develop-ment at Oak Lake and as aguest consigner at JASBuy the Beef Bull Sale andprivate treaty off the yard.Their bull customers’ sup-port was of utmost impor-tance to them making many

friends over the years. “Our Angus connectionshave come to include a re-markable group of people,with our commercial herdhaving Angus influence,our paths will hopefullycross again. It was with aheavy heart when I had tomake the decision to sell thepurebred herd in December.The passion and love I hadfor those silly cows cannotbe measured or explained,but due to health issues Idecided to slow down, nowmaintaining and calvingthe commercial cows at alater date,” said Howatt.

Canola’s Health BenefitsCould Open TPP Doors

Brian Innes, Vice Presidentof the Canola Council ofCanada.

just that. He down played the lowCanadian dollar, as itshould not have a long-term impact. “Certainlythe dollar is a factor in USexports at this time butlonger term we are moreconcerned about buildinga relationship and aloyalty to canola,” hesaid. Inness said that arelatively new market isKorea and the Counciltargets three groups whenit goes into a newcountry. “We want tohave local experts whosupport the crop, we wantto have a doctor, adietician and a cheftalking about the valuesof the crop,” said Innes. “People eat differentlyin each country and if wecan find a spokespersonthat can reach the

audience of that countryit is a huge advantage,”he stressed. He addedthat the celebrity chefappeal is not limited toAmerican television andthat each country hashigh profile chefs that cangive a product instantappeal. The increase of diabetesin Mexico has raisedhealth concerns and hesaid canola oil couldspeak to that issue andbecome a part of theirdiet. The canola market is notjust for human consump-tion he went on to say.“We see a rapidlyexpanding dairy industryin Vietnam and if we cantap into that market withcanola meal it could bevery valuable as theindustry develops,” saidInnes.

Currently the US, China,Japan and Mexico are thelargest customers ofCanadian canola andwhile he does not see oneof them being displaced inthe near future he doessee potential growth inother Asian countriesparticularly with the TPP.“A free trade agreementcould be a huge advan-tage for Canadianproducers as we look atthe long term for ourindustry,” he concluded.

Canada Re-establishesMarket Access for Beef

and Veal to South Korea

Ukraine has approvedbeef and pork exports fromany Canadian federallyregistered establishmentthat meets certification re-quirements. Following asuccessful inspection lastSeptember by Ukrainianauthorities, 15 additionalCanadian beef and porkestablishments are now eli-

The governments of Canada and Manitoba will supportthe expansion of a producer-owned poultry processingcompany in Blumenort with $2.5 million in funding. Granny’s Poultry distributes fresh and frozen Manitobachicken and turkey across the country, and is one of thelargest food processors in the province. The company isimplementing a $37 million plant expansion and renova-tion, which will allow them to grow their business and pur-chase new equipment for processing, chilling, packagingand grading poultry, and improving production efficiency. Granny’s Poultry currently represents 188 producer-mem-ber owners who supply the company with hatching eggs,chickens and turkeys. The company is the sole processorof turkeys in the province and employs approximately 500Manitobans, supporting the livelihood of poultry produc-ers, breeders and hatcheries. The expanded facility will provide an opportunity for upto 148 employees to upgrade their skills over the next twoyears through new training. Jobs and the Economy willfurther assist the $37 million plant upgrading through theprovision of a secured, repayable Manitoba IndustrialOpportunities Program (MIOP) term loan of $2.5 million.

Expansion of MB PoultryProcessor Made Possible

CanadaGains

ExpandedMarket

Access forBeef andPork toUkraine

gible to export, bringing thecurrent total to 27. Industry estimates ac-cess to the Ukrainian mar-ket for Canadian beef andpork to be worth up to $50million annually. In July 2015, Canada andUkraine successfully con-cluded negotiations towardthe Canada-Ukraine FreeTrade Agreement(CUFTA). Canada and Ukraine arecurrently undertaking thelegal review of the negoti-ated text, and once signed,the Parties can undertaketheir respective domesticimplementation processes.Once fully implemented, theagreement will result in theelimination of all non-agri-cultural tariffs and the vastmajority of Ukraine’s agri-cultural tariffs, including onCanadian beef, certainpork, pulses, grains, fishand seafood, canola oil,processed foods and ani-mal feed.


By Harry Siemens

Big changes in how thewestern Canadian grain in-dustry classifies wheat andhow it determines pricingis set to happen this Au-gust. The Canadian GrainCommission’s (CCG) planfor modernizing Canada’swheat class system willmove ahead with two newclasses and the eliminationof three others in 2016, aswell as a variety designa-tion change to happen in2018. In a news release from theCGC, clarification wasadded for the new wheatclasses, Canada NorthernHard Red and CanadaWestern Special Purposethat go into effect on Au-gust 1, 2016. The CanadaWestern Interim Wheat,Canada Western GeneralPurpose, and Canada West-ern Feed wheat classes willbe eliminated on August 1,2016. Twenty-five varietiesof Canada Western RedSpring and four varieties ofCanada Prairie Spring Redwheat will move to theCanada, Northern HardRed class on August 1,2018. “These steps reflect feed-back from consultations inearly 2015, followed by dis-cussions with stakeholderson a proposed plan, as wellas a scan of internationalmarkets conducted by Ce-reals Canada and the Ca-nadian International GrainsInstitute,” said the CGC re-lease. “The Canadian GrainCommission carefully con-sidered all feedback from

By Les Kletke

Betty Green said shejumped at the chance toenrol in the Beef Verifica-tion Program and hasfound it beneficial to theiroperation. Green is a pastpresident of theManitoba Beef ProducersAssociation and head theVerification Program. She shared some pre-sentation time with Jef-frey Fitzpatrick-Stilwell ofMcDonald’s Canada dur-ing the recent Beef adForage Week Seminar.“The program is not at allintrusive and I found it tobe more of a chat aboutwhat we do on the farmthan someone visitingand looking for what wedo wrong,” said Green. “Idid learn from the visitand from the evaluation

Beef ProducerJumped at Chance

The Board of Directors of Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) wish to announce they haveaccepted the resignation of General Manager Melinda German. German, who took over the position in March 2014, has been named the General Man-ager of the Canadian Beef Cattle Research, Market Development and Promotion Agency,which is located in Calgary. Her final day with MBP is February 22. MBP President Heinz Reimer said it was with mixed emotions that the board acceptedGerman’s resignation. “Melinda has been a strong general manager for Manitoba BeefProducers and accomplished a great deal in her time with us,” Reimer said. “We are sad tobe losing her but pleased to know she will continue to work in the beef industry. “On behalf of the board I would like to thank Melinda for her contributions to ManitobaBeef Producers and wish her the best in her new position.” German said that Manitoba has been her home for a number of years and while she willmiss her friends and colleagues, she is excited about what lies ahead in Calgary. “This is anexcellent opportunity for me to work at a national level and continue to serve beef produc-ers, particularly those I have gotten to know during my time in Manitoba. This is animportant time for the beef industry and I’m excited to have the opportunity to be part ofit while continuing to work in the best interests of producers.” German added that she would like to thank the MBP Board of Directors for the opportu-nity to serve as general manager and their support during her time with MBP. “I must alsothank the staff of Manitoba Beef Producers for their hard work. Our members are fortunateto have this dedicated group working on their behalf.” Reimer said the search for a new general manager would begin immediately.

Betty Green says the Beef Verification Program has help withdecision making on their farm.

form.” She said that she was sur-prised when she saw theevaluation form for their farmand it was more a matter ofthings she did not mention,than things they did wrongthat impacted the farm rating.“We do a lot of things on thefarm that we and other pro-ducers take for granted ascommon sense, so when wewere talking about the farm Ididn’t even mention them.When I discussed the evalu-ation it was clear that Ishould have done a betterjob of explaining what we doand some of the things thathave an impact on the envi-ronment.” The farm was enrolled in theprogram and she chose tospearhead it because of mis-conceptions on sustainablebeef production. “I am con-cerned that if we don’t get

involved and speak upother people will write therules for us,” she said. “Ithappened in the PMU in-dustry, it happened in thepoultry and dairy industryand we could be next. Weneed to be proactive on thisissue and tell our story.” Green walks the talk, shetold the story of newneighbours buying a farm-yard close to their opera-tion. “It wasn’t long andword spread that the newcouple had concerns aboutthe way we did things andwere telling people in townabout it,” said Green. “Iheard about it and calledthem, I spent a couple ofhours with them and ex-plained out operation.They no longer have aproblem with the way wedo things or the size of ouroperation, it was just a mat-ter of information. We as anindustry and as individu-als need to do that.” She said the Verificationprogram also providedsome initiative. “We havesome things on the farmthat we had planned buthave slipped to the backburner. Going through thisprogram brought them backto the front, and they aregood management pro-cesses as well. Our farm willbenefit from them,” saidGreen. The program is still look-ing for more participantsand applications can befound the Beef VerificationProgram websitevsbpilot.ca.

Wheat Class ModernizationMoves Ahead

The Canada and Manitoba governments are supporting AgriInsurance changes,giving producers higher coverage at a lower cost for 2016 explained Federal Agricul-ture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural De-velopment Minister Ron Kostyshyn in a joint announcement. AgriInsurance, administered through the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corpo-ration (MASC), has been updated for 2016 based on producer feedback and marketconditions. Changes to the program include AgriInsurance higher coverage for less premiumdue to higher average insured dollar values (prices) and probable yields and cover-age will increase an average of seven per cent, while the average premium per acrewill decrease by 4%. The changes also add a Grade Guarantee for Feed Wheat toprotect against quality losses. The Vegetable Acreage Loss Insurance Program is expanded, which mitigatesrisks associated with vegetable production with the addition of four crops. Pasture Days Insurance Program is expanded from the previous limits of 90 pro-ducers to province wide for the next three years, compensating livestock producersfor pasture shortfalls and/or supplemental feeding. Wildlife Damage Compensation will see a change beginning April 1. The maximumcompensation value will increase for animals injured or killed by livestock predators.Additionally, the compensation for young animals will be revised to reflect whatwould have been the value of the animal at weaning weight, rather than at the timeof loss.

Rutter says changes shouldallow Canada to better meetcustomer needs, althoughwith the move to morebuying on the basis ofspecs, the CGC classsystem is becomingincreasingly irrelevant.

breeders, variety owners,grain companies, producergroups, marketing organi-zations and end-use cus-tomers.” The Canada NorthernHard Red class will havebasic milling quality param-eters; require quality datafor varieties to be regis-tered, before the August 1deadline. In addition, theCanada Western InterimWheat class, which cameinto effect on August 1,2015, will be eliminated.Faller, Prosper and ElginND will be designated to theCanada Northern Hard Redclass. The Canada WesternSpecial Purpose class willhave no quality parametersand include registered va-rieties for which no qualitydata has been provided bythe variety registrant. On August 1, all varietiesin the Canada WesternFeed and the Canada West-ern General Purpose wheatclasses will be re-desig-nated to the Canada West-ern Special Purpose class. “The CGC is tighteningthe gluten strength stan-dards in the CWRS andCPSR classes due to cus-tomer complaints,” saidBlair Rutter of the WesternCanadian Wheat Growers.“And implementing a newclass for varieties that havelower gluten strength butstill good milling propertiesfor certain end uses.” Rutter said changesshould allow Canada tobetter meet customerneeds, although with themove to more buying basedon specs, the CGC class

system is becoming in-creasingly irrelevant. When a producer goes tothe grain merchant, eleva-tor, inland terminal, he takesa sample with him. Someproducers now take a quickpicture with their cellphone and keep it on handfor when they want to startmoving some wheat. When the call goes outfor someone in the market-place wanting wheat orwhen the price moves up,the producer sends a textwith the picture and de-scribes the sample of grain.The grain buyer will look atit, maybe ask for a physicalsample, and offers a pricehe thinks he can afford topay. This is why the wheatclass system administeredby the Canadian GrainCommission is becoming alittle more irrelevant.

MBP GeneralManager Resigns

Agri-Insurance Changes BenefitManitoba Producers


By Les Kletke

The old adage about an ounce of prevention beingbetter than a pound of cure may be nowhere better ap-plied than on the farm when dealing with labour issues. Shereese Qually is with Taylor McCaffrey and told theaudience at Ag Days that is was their obligation to beaware of the legal aspects of hiring farm labour and par-ticularly on safety issues. It is best to have a trainingprogram in place to avoid possible mishaps and the legaland financial ramifications that might follow. Qually said the recent proposed legislation in Albertaknown as Bill 6 has caused a great deal of media cover-age and farmers in that province may feel the situation inManitoba has them in a better position. “In fact many ofthe things being discussed in Alberta are already in placein Manitoba,” she said. “It is a matter of Alberta beingmuch behind in legislation for workers and now leapfrogging ahead of Manitoba but not as much as youmight expect.” Qually brings a farm background to her law practicehaving grown up on a farm in the Starbuck area. Shereadily acknowledges that times have changed and whilein the past, her dad would hire help for the harvest sea-son for an hourly wage. “I deal with labour issue and it not a reflection on agri-culture as much as the size of the business. Smaller op-erations feel it does not impact them and that they don’thave the resources to develop a safety program or beinformed of the laws. That is not the case, they are re-sponsible and it is less expensive when dealing with theissues before hand than facing a fine from the labourregulations.” She recommends having a law firm prepare a documentthat outlines the safety procedures required by an em-ployee. “There are good contractors out there, but we

By Les Kletke

The highs of the beef market may be past but that doesnot mean there are no profits left in feeding cattle. Sandy Russell is a market analyst with Spring Creek Landand Cattle Consulting in Saskatchewan and she toldManitoba Beef Producers the highs of the current beefcycle are past but there are still some good prices to behad. She provided the market outlook at the Beef and For-age Week Seminars held in Manitoba.

Record Beef Prices Over But Profits Remain

Sandy Russell says beef prices are on their way down, butthere is still the opportunity for profit.

She terms the prices of 2014 “phenomenal” and said that2015 started strong but turned down and it was likely thetrend would continue through the New Year. There weretight supplies in 2014 that drove the market up. “But nowthat dynamic has started to shift. Many of us thought itwould take until 2016 but things happened much morequickly and we have seen the prices go down.” Russell pointed out that current prices would have beenrecord setting if it had not been for the peaks of 2014 andearly 2105. “If not for those prices, we would think currentprices are great.” Although there is still profits to be madein the cattle business, it is not a given. “Consumers havestayed with us through the high prices and that is a goodthing,” said Russell. “We produce a high value productbut we know there is a limit some place.” Russell said that factors like the recent blizzard in Ari-zona and New Mexico could have a dramatic impact on themarket. “At a time when cattle numbers are low this isextremely important and it was not just a matter of cattlebeing off feed there were large numbers of deaths. Thatwill impact the market,” said Russell. Asked about how the number of cattle that were soldthrough the auction system and contracts Russell said shedoes not have the exact numbers. “But it is about 90% ofcattle that are sold by contract. There were some weeksthis year where there were not enough cattle in the marketsto establish numbers.” “That is a trend that will continue, the market has goneelectronic without anyone taking issue with it,” said Russell.“Now people buy cattle from their computer. The firstiphone was available in 2007 and now the markets are elec-tronic.” She said the desire for information has driven the trend.“The markets hate uncertainty, they want information andcomputerization has given them unparalleled informationbase,” she noted.“Information is at their fingertips, even the buyers at auc-tion marts have iphones and any information in the world.” According to Russell, the market will move lower, but thegood news is, “Not as low as before.”

An Ounce of Safety Prevention

(lawyers) are required by law to outline the legalaspects of any regulations,” said Qually. “You maynot always get that from the contractors.” Citing a practical example, she outlined the differ-ence by definition of a contractor versus an em-ployee. “A contractor is someone you hire for a job,an employee is someone who you might be workingwith,” she said. “A contractor will bring his owntools, and an employee will be driving the combineor using your tools. The degree of integration alsocomes into play, are they eligible for a chance of theprofit or risk of loss?” This difference matters, she explained. The legalaspects and tax ramifications are different for con-tractors or employees, and if an employee does notsubmit their taxes, you may be responsible. “It isyour obligation to know the rules, and we suggestdoing it sooner than later,” said Qually.

Shereese Qually says you need to beaware of your legal obligations forsafety on the farm.

Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) welcomes the25 recommendations put forward by the Agriculture RiskManagement Review Task Force in its final report releasedrecently. The task force was struck last winter to look atadapting agriculture risk management programs or devel-oping new ones, in order to help mitigate the effects ofclimate change on farm production. “Generally, the recommendations are about improvingexisting programs, as well as creating incentives for pro-ducers to adopt best management practices,” said KAPPresident Dan Mazier. “These will work hand in hand tohelp prevent production decreases and farm losses. “Climate change means floods, droughts and shiftingweather patterns and agriculture is possibly the industrythat is affected most. We must look at ways that will sus-tain food production and these recommendations, if imple-mented, can go a long way in doing that,” said Mazier. KAP has provided a comprehensive submission to thetask force. “Many of our suggestions made it into the finalreport, including the option of providing some additionalflexibility on how producers can access funds in AgriInvestwithout tax implications,” Mazier said. “AgriInvest is animportant tool in giving farmers something to fall back onwhen adversity hits.” He noted the task force also highlighted the importanceof two programs KAP has been involved with in Manitoba,the ongoing Environmental Farm Plan and the former Al-ternate Land Use Services. “The recommendations have been made, and nowManitoba farmers need action on them sooner rather thanlater,” said Mazier. “I urge our provincial and federal gov-ernments to act as quickly as possible.”

Government rules and paperwork continue to hit farmerseven harder than other small business owners, accordingto survey data released recently by the Canadian Federa-tion of Independent Business (CFIB), on day four of RedTape Awareness Week. A national survey of small business owners shows thatthree in four (76%) farmers identify government regulationand paper burden as a serious concern for their business,while 69% of businesses in other sectors cite red tape asan issue. This marks the fifth consecutive year that farm-ers’ red tape frustrations have outpaced that of the generalsmall business community in Canada. “For all the photo-ops and campaign commitments madeat the farm, Canada’s farmers have seen little relief from theburden of costly government rules and paperwork,” saidMarilyn Braun-Pollon, CFIB’s Vice-President for Agri-busi-ness. “It’s frustrating that Statistics Canada continues toinsist farmers fill out the survey right in the middle of theirbusiest time of the year, spring seeding. But we were pleasedto hear the federal government announce this week thatthey will be making the 2016 Census of Agriculture moreaccessible by moving it online.” Farmers list an alphabet soup of regulations and agen-cies that are costing them time and money, including CanadaRevenue Agency, Canada Border Services Agency, Cana-dian Food Inspection Agency, Statistics Canada, land userestrictions and by-laws and product labeling. “Farmers are looking to expand their operations and imple-ment innovative technologies and practices that allow themto continue growing high quality food for all Canadians,”added Mandy D’Autremont, CFIB’s Senior Policy Analystfor Agri-business. “We need to ensure that the sector isn’theld back by out-dated, redundant and confusing regula-tions.”

Farmers Continueto Bear the Brunt

of Red Tape

Governments Needsto Act Now on AgriRisk Management

Report


By Joan Airey

The MacMillan’s farmis located three milesnorthwest of Marquette,Manitoba. Mark andMurielle own the prop-erty that once belongedto his great uncle whosold it to Mark’s mom anddad and then in 1985Mark and Murielle pur-chased it. “Mark’s favourite topicis cows, especially BlackAngus. Mark has alwaysloved having cattle andwhen the opportunitycame for him to purchasehis first cattle from the

Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, marked his first visit to Washington D.C. recentlywith a focus on strengthening Canada’s long-standing,bilateral partnership with the US, while advancing the in-terests of Canadian agricultural producers, processors andexporters. The focal point of MacAulay’s visit with his US counter-part Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack was to discussagricultural issues of mutual interest, with a focus on trade.They expressed their commitment to work together to fa-cilitate trade and increase the competitiveness of the agri-cultural sector. Canada and the US form the greatest bilateral tradingrelationship in the world with over $50B in bilateral trade inagriculture and food products.

Agriculture and seafood exports to the US have increasedby almost $20 billion since NAFTA to total $29.5 billion in2014, or 52% of agriculture and seafood exports to all coun-tries ($56.4 billion), making the US the most valuable mar-ket for Canadian agricultural exports. “Our government is committed to deepening ties withthe United States,” said MacAulay. “I am confident that arenewed focus on the partnership between our countrieswill help create new opportunities for agriculture and agri-food and stimulate overall economic growth.” The Minister also met with US leaders on agriculture,including a former Secretary of Agriculture, to seek theirviews on policy, priorities and dynamics, and how the USand Canada can work together on emerging agricultureissues. In December, 2015, the United States repealed Country ofOrigin Labelling (COOL) requirements for beef and pork.The Minister acknowledges the hard work and support ofour US allies, which were instrumental in achieving a posi-tive resolution. The Minister also met with US companiesand associations from the COOL Reform Coalition, includ-ing the meat and livestock sector, to highlight the impor-tance of the repeal and reaffirm Canada’s commitment tomonitoring the implementation that will ensure the removalof discrimination against Canadian cattle and hog exports. The US Department of Agriculture promised to makeamendments to the relevant regulations as quickly as pos-sible to reflect the legislative repeal.

MacMillan’s Named Manitoba AngusCommercial Producer of 2015

Photo by Joan Airey

(Left-Right) Mark MacMillian, his daughter Alyssa, his wife Murielle, and son Brent receive theManitoba Angus Commercial Producer of 2015 Award from Larissa Hamilton, President of theManitoba Angus Association.

McNeil family farm hewasn’t passing up the op-portunity. Mark started hiscommercial Black Angusherd with four cows andtwo heifers in 1978. WithMark and Murielle bothworking full-time off thefarm it was necessary tohave a breed of animalchosen for their calvingease, great mothering abil-ity, and strength, which forus is Black Angus. As timewent by the herd increasedin numbers from year toyear to achieve the goal ofowning fifty cows. We al-ways try to hold back atleast three or four replace-

ment heifers from the calfcrop to replace the culledcows,” said MurielleMacMillan. The MacMillan’s are al-ways looking at ways to im-prove the calf crop by bring-ing in new blood lines andnew bulls to help increasemilk production in the dams,working towards a goodaverage daily gain givingthem bigger calves comefall. They purchase pure-bred bulls from Ossawa An-gus, Last Straw Cattle Com-pany, Black Rose Ranch,and Prairielane Farms. Theyalways look forward to themost exciting time of year

when calving starts andthe bull catalogues arrivein the mail. “Life on the farm haschanged dramaticallysince Mark was diag-nosed with Ewing Sar-coma, an aggressive rareform of cancer in 2011.The farm was left in thehands of our childrenBrent and Aslyssa whenwe had to travel toToronto several timesover a ten-month periodfor various appoint-ments, radiation and sur-gery. With the help offamily, friends,neighbours and the com-munity everyone pitchedin to help anyway theycould and for this, wewere eternally grateful.Mark continues to workon the farm, when hishealth allows him to withongoing support from hisfamily. Alyssa hopes tofarm full-time one day,”said Murielle. The MacMillan’s havebeen involved in helpingat the local curling rinkwith kids curling and evenputting in the odd teamfor a bonspiel. Helping atthe local communityMeadow Lea was a wayto get involved in thecommunity. Alyssa joinedthe Interlake Young Rid-ers 4-H club in 2007,which gave them the op-portunity to learn about4-H and what a great pro-gram it is and to volun-teer as a leader.

New Canada AgMinister MakesOfficial Visit to

Washington D.C.

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay,with US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, on January 14in Washington.

“I am confident that a renewedfocus on the partnership between

our countries will help createnew opportunities for agriculture

and agri-food and stimulateoverall economic growth.”


By Les Kletke

Marla Riekman said the first step to pro-ducing a healthy forage crop is a healthy soiland she would say that rule applies to allcrops. Riekman was one of the presenters at Beefand Forage Week as it toured the province inmid-January and recommended that produc-ers begin with a soil test when making plansfor their forage production. She does not down play the value of tissueanalysis but said it is more valuable to deter-mine the condition of the plant during growthbecause the analysis can be used for immedi-ate treatment. Her recommendation is for a longer-termapproach to soil health. “Soil health is a buzzword at this time,” she said. “We need to es-tablish what it means to the individual pro-ducer and what they are looking at. There aremany components to including organic mat-ter and the biodiversity of organisms in thesoil.”

By Joan Airey

Since 1888, Maplehurst Farms has belonged to generations of the Davey family and iscurrently operated by Ken, his brother Bob, wife Jackie, their children Kaitlyn and Tim.The farm consists of eight hundred acres of native pasture, eight hundred acres of grainand hay land and rent three hundred acres of hay land. This year, the Davey family was presented with the Ambassador Award at the All BreedsBanquet in Brandon. “Like many other beef producers we tried several exotic breeds on our British based herdbefore we decided on Limousin. Limousin even added some muscle to our Holstein crosscalves. We were so impressed with the breed that we became lifetime members in theCanadian Limousin Association in 1978,” said Bob Davey. Their herd consists of approximately one hundred and seventy head of purebred Limousinand commercial cows. The heifers are kept at home in the summer on rotational grazed tamepasture and the cowherd spends the summer on native pasture. In October, the calves areweaned and are backgrounded until spring before being sold. The cows are fed on pasturenear the yard until mid-January before being brought into the yard to calve. “In the past bulls have been marketed off the farm and through Bull Test Stations atGunton and Douglas. Females have been sold through the Treasure Chest Sale and theManitoba Limousin Advantage Sale,” said Tim Davey. Over the years, the children have shown several Grand and Reserve Grand Championsteers in 4-H and many Grand and Reserve Carcasses in Portage Inter-Club. All the steersshown in 4-H were homegrown. Since they sold the dairy herd in 2013, they have had moretime to attend shows in the summer and Ag-Ex in Brandon in the fall. Over the years, Ken and Bob have both spent time as directors on the Manitoba LimousinAssociation Board. Bob and his son Tim are presently directors on the MLA Board.

Recently, I conducted a barn walk in a large robot-milking dairy and within 10 minutes, Ispotted about a half dozen limping cows. I did not know what caused them to limp, butafter I talked to the dairy manager, I discovered that lameness was a significant problem onhis operation and several of these cows showed up as ‘alarms’, because they were notvisiting the milking stations as programmed. I believe that solving and preventing lame-ness problems start with seeing the first limp-ing cow. When a cow is seen limping, weshould take the time to observe her generalbehaviour and should get some idea of whyshe is limping before proceeding with correc-tive action. One of the leading causes of lameness in dairy cattle is physical injury. When the hoof isdamaged, a protective barrier against hoof disease is broken. Bacteria such as Fusobacte-rium necrophorum, (“foot-rot”), strep- and staph- organisms is allowed to enter andthrive. Similarly, pathogens such as Treponema strains commonly known as hairy heelwarts can also cause inflammation and painful lesions to the interdigital skin of the hoof. Another leading cause of lameness is laminitis, which is the inflammation and damage ofthe “living” laminar corium tissues within the hard hoof. It often leads to abnormal hoofgrowth and wear, which makes walking difficult and painful for the animal. Such laminitis isclassified upon severity into three main areas: acute, sub-acute and chronic laminitis. Acute laminitis is visible. It is this severe lameness that we frequently associate withcattle limping up to the feed bunk. For example, sole abscesses can result from cracks orholes originating from laminar corium damage in the hoof sole. This damage allows foreignmaterial to enter the hoof and an abscess may develop. White line disease can be anotherform of acute laminitis in which haemorrhages and poor quality horn formation along thesole white line lets foreign bodies such as grit and sand to manifest itself into severelameness. During sub-acute laminitis, the clinical signs are more subtle. This form of lameness is adegeneration of the laminar corium of the hoof, which leads to increased hoof wear andgreater hoof injury. Sole ulcers are associated with sub-acute laminitis, which is a loss ofhorn sole and unhealthy exposure of the laminar corium. Lastly, I have seen chronic laminitis in which hoof damage is irreversible. It is permanentdamage to the laminar corium, which allows complete separation of bone from the hornwall. These dairy cattle have very broad hooves with the classic ridges (associated withhigh grain diets). Hoof growth is altered so much that the cow walks on her heels ratherthan normally on her toes. Consequently, the dairy lactation-feeding program has one of the biggest impacts on thecause and prevention of laminitis in milking dairy cows. Feeding high grain diets, low orforage diets, or finely chopped forages can lead to sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA), anunderlying cause of laminitis. SARA has also been implicated in greater rates of hoof wear,greater risk of physical hoof injury and thus increased potential for infection. As a ruminant nutritionist, I balance dairy diets by meeting lactation nutrient require-ments, while preventing SARA at the same time. This means critical ruminal pH levels aremaintained above 5.5 by limiting the consumption and digestion by the milking cows ofnon-fibre carbohydrates (NFC) from lactic acid producing grains, and by feeding enougheffective forage fibre. Therefore, I target dietary NFC levels between 33 to 38%, whileassuring a minimum of 28% dietary neutral detergent fibre (NDF) is fed and with 3/4 of thisNDF coming from forages. With these amounts of grain, and forage (fibre) going into the dairy mixer wagon, I oftenemploy other nutrients that help strengthen hoof hardiness that has been scientificallyshown to prevent invading foot-disease. A few years ago, I instructed a dairy producer to add 4 grams per head per day of zinc-methionine to his lactation dairy premix, which in turn was added to his daily milking TMR.After 7 months of zinc addition, a successful reduction in lameness was observed andrecorded. Even the hoof-trimmer made the comment - the general hardness of the hoovesin the cowherd improved. Aside from these nutritional preventative measures to combat lameness, I am a bigadvocate of improving barn sanitation. On occasion, I visit a dairy producer that operates a dairy with 3 robot stations. He takesa fire hose and washes the concrete pad and metal grate under each milking station, everymorning. He also worked with his vet and has set up a number of footbaths and therapeu-tic protocols. As a result, I find the feet of his cows cleaner than many other milking cowsof different robot barns and has experienced a low incidence of ‘alarm’ cows at eachmilking station. I guess this dairyman figures that when it comes to healthy hooves, dairy cattle need allthe help they can get. His cows also have the proper dairy nutrition that keep them on theirfeet, eat lots of feed and produce lots of milk.

Soil Health Should Use LongerTerm Analysis for Healthy Crops

Healthy soil equals healthy crop says MarlaRiekman of MAFRD.

Riekman said that aggregate size is alsoa component to consider in soil health.“We need to consider the aggregate sizeand how it will react to wind and watererosion,” she said. “We need to developmanagement tools that will prevent ero-sion and keep the soil healthy. She advises that soil health is not aonetime consideration just as anindividual’s health is not cared for by asingle visit to a doctor. It is an ongoingprocess. “The soil is constantly chang-ing and evolving,” she said. “It is aliveand it changes.” Thus, it is important tosoil test and get a snap shot of where thesoil is currently and then later to see how

it has changed with management practices. She said the science of soil health is in thedevelopment stage. “We are where soil fer-tility tests were years ago when producersstarted testing for N, P, and K and designingtheir fertility programs based on the results,”said Riekman. “This is a new matter and wehave to get a benchmark as soon as we canand them develop programs and measuretheir results with subsequent tests.” “We need to look at things like salinity,organic matter and pH of soil and developprograms that will improve our soils overthe years,” said Riekman. “Manure, windand water all have a dramatic impact on oursoils.”

Reduce the Alarm of Lamenessin Lactating Dairy Cows

Maplehurst Farms Receives 2015Limousin Ambassador Award

Mark Angus, National MLA Director presents Maplehurst Farms, the Davey family Tim, Kaitlyn, andBob with the 2015 Limousin Ambassador Award.


Dr. Temple Grandin, argu-ably the most well knownfarm animal care researcherin the world, said consum-ers are still woefully behindin their knowledge of realprogress in livestock han-dling in the industry. She challenged delegatesto the 2016 Banff Pork Semi-nar to motivate their indus-try to do a much better jobof reaching out. The goodnews in all of this, she said,is that there have beengreat improvements in ani-mal handling in the indus-try. “I’ve been in the indus-try for many years and I canremember times when ani-mal handling at plants wasreally terrible,” she said. Then she was hired byMcDonald’s, Wendy’s andBurger King to implementanimal welfare auditing ofslaughter plants. “The nexttwo years I saw an expo-nential improvement inhandling and stunning,”said Grandin. “Today twomajor companies havevideo auditing where out-side auditors randomlymonitor handling. Yellingand hitting animals hasstopped. It is a differentand better industry today.” The bad news counter-point to those improve-ments, Grandin said, is thatconsumers do not knowabout the improvements. Itis her big frustration, sheadded. On how to change thingsshe has thoughts on that.She explained that wherethe industry is doing theworst job is with the rap-idly expanding millennialgeneration. By 2020, theyare projected to be nearly20% of the populationwhile baby boomers willdrop from 27% to about20%. Online technologies havetransformed howmillennials communicateand surveys show 21% ofmillennials use social me-dia as their main source ofinformation. Fortunately,nearly 35% still read a na-tional source of news. Re-gardless, the younger gen-eration gets farther and far-ther away from the farm,with only 50% ever havingvisited a farm that raiseslivestock or poultry. Grandin said there arethree important key pointsto understand. Youngpeople lack knowledge anda significant portion of allconsumers lack a basicknowledge of animals andagriculture. Many youngpeople have been educatedin a classroom where thereis no practical hands-onactivity. Many have never

CentrePort Canada has attracted a significant anchor operation, BroadGrain Commodi-ties, which helps pave the way for breaking ground on a new rail park at Manitoba’s inlandport. “The new CentrePort Canada Rail Park will provide us with a unique advantage whenattracting rail-intensive businesses like BroadGrain to Manitoba,” said Premier Greg Selinger. BroadGrain Commodities Inc. unveiled plans to invest up to $25 million to build a newbulk grain export and trans-loading operation, and bean-processing facility at the CentrePortRail Park. BroadGrain is a major global marketer and handler of grains, oilseeds, byproductsand specialty crops, with international offices in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.It will be the Toronto-based company’s flagship terminal in western Canada. Subject tocompleting due diligence and an offer to purchase agreement, BroadGrain’s new operationwill be located on approximately 29 acres. “BroadGrain’s project is an ideal anchor for our new rail park,” said Diane Gray, Presidentand CEO of CentrePort. “They are in need of high-volume rail services in order to move thehighest quality of products, which ultimately is the objective of our first phase of develop-ment.” The new operation will include loading 150-car unit trains with Manitoba commoditiesincluding wheat, canola, soybeans, corn and specialty crops. The new campus facility willinclude terminal storage, trans-loading and processing capacity. “As we started looking at potential green field sites to continue expanding our footprintin the west, we were impressed by the value proposition at CentrePort and the potential forour project to become an anchor development in the new rail park,” said Zaid Qadoumi,President and CEO, BroadGrain. BroadGrain’s investment triggers the construction of Phase I of the new CentrePortCanada Rail Park. CentrePort is investing $2.4 million to build the lead tracks and switchesoff the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline (CP Rail Carberry Subdivision), which will con-nect to BroadGrain’s dedicated tracks. These lead tracks and switches will be owned byCentrePort and will service additional projects as the rail park develops. The Province of Manitoba will provide tax increment financing (TIF) revenues from theCommunity Revitalization Fund to assist with the construction of rail leads and switches.The province is also realigning PR 221 to support rail park development. CentrePort Canada is Manitoba’s 20,000-acre inland port and foreign trade zone. Thenew rail park is being built on 700 acres located just south of the CP mainline and west ofCentrePort Canada Way.

New Approach Needed to ReachConsumers on Livestock Welfare

sewed, cooked, fixed thingsor worked on a car. “I believe that lack ofhands-on activity growingup causes people to thinkin vague abstractions,”said Grandin. “Childrenwho grow up doing physi-cal things quickly discoverthat stuff doesn’t alwayswork. Things in a practicalworld can be really wellmade but can never be per-fect. Fortunately many ofour new students do wantto learn and want to domore hands-on when theymajor in animal science.” Values matter to youngconsumers. Researchshows that communicationwith young people is moreeffective if it comes fromsomebody who shares theirvalues. Research alsoshows farmers are a trustedsource of information forconsumers. Programs havebeen developed that allowproducers to communicatedirectly with consumers.The pork industry needs tocreate similar programs. Animal welfare is impor-tant to millennials. Surveysof young people who hadbecome parents showedthe vast majority are moreconcerned about chemi-cals, antibiotics and ingre-dients in food compared totheir parents. Two studies, for example,showed nearly 80% statedhumane production prac-tices were important. Con-sumers perceive smallfarms are better than bigfarms and nearly 64% inone study felt food compa-nies would put profits firstover treatment of animals. The pork industry shouldrespond by showing con-sumers exactly what theyare doing and explain it. Grandin did a video withthe North American MeatInstitute showing marketpigs being loaded on a truckand then taking a tour of alarge pork plant. “It has346,845 views on YouTubeand about 80% likes,” shesaid. “I explain how theplant works in a matter offact manner. To improvecredibility it explains I am aprofessor of animal sci-ence.” Another example is loca-tions where tourists andstudents can tour a large,full scale working pig ordairy farm. To maintainbiosecurity visitors look atpugs through windows andthey can talk to people us-ing microphones. Science museums are an-other opportunity for agri-culture to be displayed andpeople in the pork industryneed to communicate with

friends they have in the bigcities. Remember what youdo for chores is interest-ing to folks from the city,noted Grandin. “My gen-eration has a tendency tobash millennials,” sheadded. “But talking to theyounger generation is ex-actly what we should bedoing.” People who raise pigsneed to reach out. It canbe as simple as cute pic-tures of piglets or show-ing procedures for wash-ing and keeping the build-ing clean. Grandin took aim at twoissues she believes reflectnegatively on agriculture.“Ag Gag” laws, whichmake it a crime for under-cover investigators to takepictures she said makesagriculture look reallyguilty and sow stalls, are adegree of confinement thateven older consumers onsurveys do not accept. The older generation ab-solutely must reach out tothe younger generation,concluded Grandin. “I am

proud of the things I havedone to improve animal ag-riculture. There are prac-

tices in animal agriculturethat need to be improvedand there are others that

absolutely need to be de-fended. Fighting over sowstalls is likely not worth it.”

“There are practices in animal agriculture thatneed to be improved and there are others that

absolutely need to be defended.”

By Elmer Heinrichs

Manitoba pulsedevelopment specialistDennis Lange, address-ing growers attending St.Jean Farm Days on

CentrePort Canada to BreakGround on New Rail Park

Manitoba Soybean Acreage to Rise to 1.5 MillionJanuary 7, said Manitobafarmers are likely to plant1.4 to 1.5 million acres ofsoybeans this year. Last year Agricultureand Agri-Food Canadareported that western

Canadian soybeanproduction reached arecord 1.57 Mt as thegrowing area in Manitobaand Saskatchewancontinued to expand. Lange told farmers that

in 2015 growers wereplanting soybeans by thefirst week of May, notingthat the crop emergedslowly, with many fieldssustaining frost damage.Later hail also took its tolland Manitoba soybeansaveraged 39 bushels anacre, though manyreported yields from 35-50bushels acre. The Altona basedspecialist also stressedthe importance ofchecking soybean cropplant stands once thecrop has emerged.“Ideally you’ll have130,000 to 160,000 plantsan acre. If you find thatyour count is only 80,000plants, weed control willbe even more critical,”said Lange. With a ready market forthe crop, and with pricesin the $10 to $11 bushelrange, Lange sees thepossibility of acreagetaking another jump up,even over last year’srecord 1.38 million acres. Canadian soybeans arecompetitively priced intothe world market onsupport from the devalua-tion of the Canadiandollar against the UScurrency. There is a viableexport market, but thereare also a number of localbuyers for soybeans, andsome are being crushedfor animal feed.

agripost january 29 2016

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