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When you sell straw or hay off your farm, have you ever considered the fate of the nutrients contained in the hay or straw?
Columns, Crops

Selling nutrients: the last straw

Practical Research: How to degrade productive cropland by selling the nutrients after the harvest season

By
Sandy soil areas are not uncommon on the Canadian Prairies, especially west and north of Edmonton, my home area. It made me wince when I saw endless lines of wheat straw bales on countless sandy fields this fall. Technically speaking, straw should never be sold on any kind of cropland unless there is a very […] Read more
Suggestions for balanced winter rations for beef cattle
Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner

Suggestions for balanced winter rations for beef cattle

Use available feedstuffs to their best advantage

By
Good-quality forage for beef cows is in short supply this winter and the price of grain is still relatively expensive across Western Canada. The good news is well-balanced rations still can be put together for late-gestation beef cows to prepare them for a good calving season. This is a good reminder I received recently, when […] Read more
With proper supplements, straw can make a good winter ration.
Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

Building beef cattle diets using some straw

Keeping cows properly fed while reducing costs

By
First came the drought, then through September and early October a foot of snow, a weekend of autumn and finally winter. Not exactly the best weather for harvesting good-quality forage and grain for most beef cattle. At least we had a return to good fall conditions by mid-October. Fortunately, what grain that was taken off […] Read more
Stripper headers have a rearward-rotating rotor fitted in front of the header.
Machinery

Stripper headers an alternative for dry regions

Headers offer improved combine performance and soil moisture retention

By
While there are many options when it comes time to harvest a crop, for some farmers, stripper headers are the only choice. Designed with rotating teeth that lift grain into the combine and leave straw in the field, stripper headers are perfect for harvesting cereals, grass seed and rice, according to Adam Whitaker, product specialist at the U.K.-based […] Read more
Calves are comfortable on good bedding, 
even on cold days.
Cattleman’s Corner, Cow-Calf

Proper bedding keeps calves warm and dry

Straw and windbreaks can help get calves through poor spring weather

By
This spring has been less than ideal for calving. In west-central Saskatchewan we’ve had record cold temperatures with wind and snow, and the wet weather is just around the corner. Calves born in these conditions often show the effects with frozen ears and feet — that’s if you can keep them alive in the first […] Read more
(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)
Finishers, Livestock, Markets

Klassen: Feedlots struggle through adverse weather

By ,
Western Canadian yearling prices experienced a week-over-week decline of $5-$8 with some pockets deteriorating $10 to as much as $12. Adverse weather in southern Alberta has resulted in limited buying interest from main feedlot operators. Feedlot Alley has received 150-200 per cent of normal precipitation over the past 60 days. Snow and rain, along with […] Read more
(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)
Crops, Hay, Weather

Hay shortage could make for difficult winter

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CNS Canada — Many cattle producers looking for local feed this winter might have a difficult time, according to a Saskatchewan provincial forage specialist. However, producers further north in the grey and black soil zones, and those in Alberta producing high-quality feed for export, saw near-record hay production. Terry Kowalchuk of Saskatchewan Agriculture in Regina […] Read more
Only four prototypes of the Premos 5000 currently exist, and the company is still using them in field trials.
Machinery

PHOTOS: Krone demonstrates the Premos 5000

We check out the performance of Krone's in-field pellet harvester

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Last June the Grainews e-QuipTV video team travelled to Hungary to get a look at some of German-based manufacturer Krone’s equipment at work in the field. That included the company’s new-concept Premos 5000 in-field pellet harvester. First unveiled to the public at the 2015 Agritechnica machinery show in Germany, the Premos 5000 is the first […] Read more
Straw choppers must be matched to the header width of a combine. If a chopper can’t spread the full width of the header, residue distribution across the field will be uneven.
Machinery

Three steps to even residue distribution

How to ensure you get the best performance from a combine straw chopper

By
It’s easy to forget about that straw chopper hanging off the back of a combine. So much discussion and effort these days seems to focus on getting material fed in at the front, that what happens to it when the combine coughs it out the rear often becomes little more than an afterthought. But the […] Read more
man standing in mud with cattle in background
Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

Got mud? Here’s some tips on coping with wet conditions on the farm

There appears to be no easy solution to manage mud

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Alexander Pope must have been thinking of farmers in 1734 when he wrote “Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blessed.” There is a deep abiding faith that this year will be better than last which seems to drive us all forward to battle our farming enemies from […] Read more

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