Here's a little tidbit for you: if you're scouting canola at the 2- to 4-leaf stage and spot blackleg lesions it's already likely too late to spray. What's more, a fungicide application later in the season is also likely a waste of money and time, even if symptoms are severe, because the yield loss has... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Regardless of the disease pressure mix on your farm, maintaining a disease-free flag and penultimate leaf is a key means of ensuring max wheat yield. Early season leaf disease can seem benign enough, but in the right conditions diseases like tan spot and septoria can move up through the canopy quickly and eventually begin compromising... Read More
Feedyards have moved from having to wait for cattle to be lifted for weeks on end to a situation where the market is very current. This has put a little needed marketing power in the hands of feedyards instead of the packer. The strong basis has beena n excellent incentive to sell cattle on schedule... Read More
You've gone out to check fields. Last week's herbicide application should be in full force, but when you get out to the field, targeted weeds aren't showing the signs they should, or the crop looks sickly or both. Was this product failure or human error? Both or neither? Spraying pesticides — be they insecticides, fungicides... Read More
The XL Foods beef recall over E. coli contamination and its detection was one of the top ag news stories of 2012. It's unfortunate that bad news is big news, and even worse that once the dust settles we discover that what happened was preventable even within the existing rules and regulations. An independent panel's... Read More
Whether you're using commercial blends or manure, shortly after first cut is a great time to fertilize forage fields. But, wait, aren't perennial crops low-input? Top notch hay producers will tell you that fertility is paramount to getting top production out of a hay corp and to ensure maximum persistence of that stand. In this... Read More
I'm likely the only mum of two young kids that you'll see taking pictures of weed seedlings on the way to the park. I do it for a few reasons. One, I work in farm media, you never know when you're going to need a really great shot of a lamb's quarters seedling (trust me,... Read More
There are two things you're always going to have with livestock — deadstock and manure. Both byproducts, if you will, present their own type of challenges. And then there are rules and regulations to contend with. Unlike some other byproducts of beef production, however, manure is a truly valuable resource if handled, stored and used... Read More
Editor’s note: This is Owen Roberts’ Real Talk, Real Action column. Each week, Owen will offer his insight into how farmers and the agricultural industry can participate in the rural- and ag-related discussions going on around them. Contact Owen at owen@uoguelph.ca or on Twitter at @TheUrbanCowboy. Score one for agriculture. In Ontario, the province is... Read More
There are times, in my wanderings on the Internet, that I really do wonder — how did I miss this? Earlier this week, Dr. Tom Wolf, former Ag Canada researcher and current nozzle/spraying expert extraordinaire, alerted me to a certain three minute video featuring his colleague Steve Shirtliffe. Shirtliffe is a professor with the University... Read More