ETHELBERT, Man. – Peter Knutson knew he had to do something to halt the spread of black poplar and aspen on his land.
Trees and bushes were creeping across his pastures and edging out the grasses his cattle needed for summer forage.
“Before this was logged off there weren’t too many openings left here,” he said, during a June 23 tour of his farm south of Ethelbert, Man. “It was quite heavy brush.”
Knutson embarked on a project five years ago to reclaim at least part of the pasture that was being overtaken by trees and brush.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Louisiana Pacific, a company interested in poplar and aspen, logged 300 acres of his pasture in the fall of 1995.
The pasture was then sprayed with herbicides in the spring of 1998 to kill the smaller trees and bush leftover. That gave native grasses a chance to compete.
The pasture was not grazed last year. The grasses became the fuel needed to burn off the pasture this spring.
“I feel it’s going to increase the carrying capacity of my pasture quite a bit now,” said Knutson, standing near some charred poplar stems not much taller than himself.
Manitoba Agriculture and the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration are watching with interest.
The PFRA loses more than five percent of its pasture in Manitoba to brush encroachment each year. Manitoba Agriculture estimates that up to 60,000 acres of provincial leased agricultural land are lost annually to the same problem.
The project at Knutson’s farm offers an alternative to bulldozing trees and brush into windrows and burning them.
Clearing land with a bulldozer can cost more than the land itself is worth, said Bill Gardiner, a provincial land use specialist based in Dauphin, Man. He estimated it can cost up to $200 an acre to convert brush land into productive farmland.
The expense for Knutson was much less. Louisiana Pacific averaged 20 cords of wood per acre from the 300 acres harvested on the Knutson farm. Knutson earned $1.50 per cord based on stumpage fees.
The money paid to him for the timber helped offset the costs of 2,4-D and Dicamba, the herbicides used for spraying in 1998.
The 2,4-D was blended with diesel. The blend cost $18 to $20 an acre, including application costs. The cost for Dicamba, including the application, was $40 an acre.
Dicamba, which has Banvil as an active ingredient, was used because it is more effective against black poplar.
“It looks like between the spraying and the burning there was fairly good control,” Gardiner said.
Knutson, who moved to the area from the United States in 1977, owns 175 cow-calf pairs.
He said he tried other methods to halt brush encroachment, but none were as effective as logging, spraying and burning.
“This represents a whole brand new ball game,” said Gardiner. “There is an opportunity for producers to use the (hardwood timber) resource and benefit.”
