At its home base in northeastern Saskatchewan, cultivator maker Bourgault is attempting to maximize yield by deep-banded phosphorus into typically untouched dirt.
Tag Archives banding
Bourgault test-drives deep-banding phosphorus
At its test sites, the manufacturer is setting P deep down in soil to see if plants can access it throughout the season
The role of enhanced efficiency fertilizers in nitrogen fertilization
Crop Nutrition: Maximum crop production cannot be achieved with fertilizers and amendments alone
When trying to enhance crop production with fertilizer, we first need to answer the following questions: What crop yields are possible and what fertility and moisture are required to get there? Crops exhibit different water use efficiency in every part of the Prairies. Water use efficiency is also weather dependent and when combined with best […] Read more
Rethinking nitrogen efficiency
Tracking nitrogen with stable isotopes offers surprising insights into fertilizer uptake, loss, and management strategies
Understanding how much nitrogen actually gets taken up by plants is key to improving efficiency—both for profitability and sustainability.
Castration via banding makes gains in popularity, safety
Animal Health: Pain relief in the bands can make the experience less irritating for young calves
The first castration banders were likely developed to replace knife or scalpel castration. They were easy to use and eliminated the complications of infections and blood loss. Castration with a knife or scalpel is harder to master and animal welfare issues must be considered. Banders have been around for a while; I recently saw an […] Read more
Digging into the cause of poor yields
Did drought, fertility issues or something else lead to that poor crop? We look at the possibilities
Your client’s crop yielded poorly, and they assume it was due to drought. But you suspect it may be a fertility issue. How can you accurately diagnose the problem? Let us first examine what dry and drought mean. A dry year means reduced crop growth and reduced nutrient uptake, since biological, chemical and physical processes […] Read more
Feeding dry fields
Prairie farmers find more than one way to optimize fertilizer efficiency, whether in dry growing seasons or in any growing season
Farmers and crop consultants in Western Canada have slightly different approaches to manage weather-related fertilizer application risks. With variable moisture, do you apply the full amount at seeding and hope for rain — or find another way? Most producers contacted by Grainews opt for some version of split fertilizer application when facing dry growing conditions […] Read more
Banding can be used for more than castration
Properly applied, it’s a safe alternative to surgery, provided veterinary advice is followed
The Callicrate bander was developed for a safe, blood-free method of castrating larger bull calves in both the beef and dairy industries. It’s a procedure that producers and processing crews can be trained to do, but veterinarians in some clinics still do lots of castrations with the bander or by other surgical methods. We know […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
