The Danuser Mega Mixer helps farmers scoop, mix, carry and dispense a wide variety of materials such as bag-mix concrete, livestock feed and manure. Mega Mixer is a three-quarter yard bucket with a hydraulically driven eight-inch diameter mix auger running side-to-side. The auger can dispense a full hopper of two-inch diameter rock in less than […] Read more
Ron Lyseng
Stories by Ron Lyseng
It’s the little things in life that count
Microbes are the vehicles that transfer nutrients to plant roots in your fields. Counting these tiny living beings may give you a meaningful reading on the health and potential of your soil. As the science of soil becomes increasingly aware of the role microbes play, we’re seeing more commercial soil additives claiming to foster microbial […] Read more
Size matters, if you’re a raindrop
Weather services require more accurate data on raindrop size so that they can tell farmers exactly how much rain fell
It’s perplexing that the fiercest of thunderstorms with pounding rain sometimes leave very little water on the ground. It’s a question that’s puzzled researchers since the birth of climatology, and farmers for thousands of years before that. It’s a question Neil Fox wanted answered. To get those answers, the University of Missouri scientist turned to […] Read more
Stop grain elevator mixups
Picture this scene: a super-B signs in at the elevator with a load of peas, the driver proceeds to dump as instructed, and 1,000 bushels of peas end up in a 50,000 bu. designated soybean bin. That’s a bad mistake, and a costly one at that, enough to make some people shudder. However, it’s a […] Read more
140 percent yield bump on knolls
BRANDON — Moving soil from lowlands up to eroded knolls is the single most profitable soil management action you can take — more profitable than precision farming, drainage or irrigation. In Manitoba field trials, moving soil to the tops of knolls created yield increases of 40 to 140 percent in the first years after the […] Read more
Controlled traffic farming in Alta.
Editor’s Note: Western Producer journalist Ron Lyseng took an in-depth look at Alberta’s now completed controlled traffic project and report and has provided his analysis. Controlled traffic farming is similar to the time-proven tramline concept, except that CTF takes it all one important road forward. All equipment tires must follow exactly same paths in the […] Read more
Grow wheat on shale
Twenty bushels of wheat per acre isn’t impressive, but if that piece of ground had a long history of giving you zero bu., then all of a sudden it is significant. That’s how Dallas Timmerman feels about his knoll rehabilitation program. Timmerman farms at Treherne, Man., an area where tops of the eroded hills expose […] Read more
Simplified drop pan reduces combine losses in field
Seed for the ScherGain magnetic drop pan concept can be traced back to a father and son argument out in a field in western Saskatchewan. Pat Sherman recalls that he and son Trevor were having one heck of an argument about which way to go with combine adjustments. The only thing they could agree on […] Read more
Grain bags: Rolling and recycling
Waste agricultural plastic, including grain bags, is attracting the evil eye of media outlets and the public. It’s easy to criticize massive piles of useless, used plastic. That’s why farmers and industry must jointly find a solution to the problem, a public relations dilemma and an environmental issue, says Rob Wierenga. The co-owner of Neeralta […] Read more
Bin monitor makes money
If you save a 13,000 bushel bin of $12 canola, worth $156,000, you have more than paid for the price of a good monitoring system. That’s the conclusion Yorkton farmer Siegert Wenning arrived at last winter while vacationing in his homeland of Holland. Wenning grows 4,500 acres of canola, peas and oats annually. While in […] Read more
