If a producer has a load of grain coming off the field at 35 C in August or is loading a Super B with grain at the freezing point in December, he is out of luck if he expects the 919 moisture meter to give an honest reading right off the bat. The charts from […] Read more
Production
Electronics top moisture meter paper charts
Take measures to manage moisture in hay
The primary goal in forage pro- duction is to preserve quality until it can be fed. Harvest losses can derail a hay producer’s plan for top quality forage. Losses can range from 10 percent for grass hay to 35 percent for legumes. These losses can be avoided by understanding how they occur. Do not rotate […] Read more
Downy mildew shows up in peas
Cool, damp conditions in central Alberta earlier this year caused an upswing in the number of reports of downy mildew, Kan-Fa Chang, a plant pathologist with Alberta Agriculture said in a News release news. Agrologists reported a moderate degree of infection, but Chang expected damp weather would increase disease severity. The disease has the potential […] Read more
New Product – GPS system
Raven Industries has announced a new touch screen-based global position system called the Envizio Pro. The system includes a large screen, dual application control and a variable rate application control option. It can be used when setting up a sprayer, fertilizer applicator, anhydrous ammonia toolbar or planter. Optional features include an automatic boom section control, […] Read more
Floor anchors help with heavy bending
MAPLE CREEK, Sask. – When Ken and Jason Sawby were building their shop at Skyline Farms near Maple Creek, they wanted to be able to handle any job that came their way. They felt floor anchors would come in handy for bending or straightening iron, so they set up three before the shop floor concrete […] Read more
Rhizobacteria increase canola yield eight percent
OAK BLUFF, Man. – Brett Young Seeds is the only Canadian company to receive registration on a Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) inoculant for canola. In 13 evaluation trials across Western Canada, the sterile peat-based inoculant called BioBoost gave an average 1.9 bushel yield advantage over non-treated fields. This is approximately an eight percent increase. […] Read more
Wheat designed for ethanol
Canterra Seeds chief executive officer Dave Sippell announced last week that his company is registering three new general purpose spring wheat varieties designed for ethanol, the first in Canada to do so. In field trials across the three prairie provinces, the new varieties have consistently yielded 10 to 15 percent higher than performance check varieties […] Read more
Unmarked mystery tires master mud
FOREMAN, North Dakota – Take a walk around Josh Hanson’s STX480 and try to figure out what tires he’s running. It’s not easy because none of the eight big radials have any brand identification, size or specifications on the sidewalls. Just flat black rubber. On Hanson’s farm in the southeastern corner of North Dakota, where […] Read more
Michelin sees solution in softer sidewalls
FOREMAN, N.D. – With new air drills approaching the 100 feet mark, tractors in the 500 to 600 horsepower range are becoming more commonplace. While bigger drills and 50,000 pound tractors solve a lot of problems, they also create some. Tires that handle 400 hp just fine can fail when installed on the heavier new […] Read more
More data offered in opener debate
The time-honored assumption that a higher rate of emergence equals a higher yield is not necessarily true, says Gord Hultgreen, agronomist for the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute. He said the real benefit in studying emergence is that it forces producers to pay more attention to threshold levels. “In canola, for instance, anything from 50 plants […] Read more
