Poplar’s fast growth desirable
Early settlers enjoyed the benefits of fast-growing poplars to protect houses and livestock from strong winds.
But poplars don’t live that long, unlike ash, spruce or maple trees. The best adapted varieties will normally die within 30 years, unless planted in moist sites or areas with a high water table. Proper selection and maintenance can extend the life of poplar shelterbelts.
Depending on the variety, poplar can vary from upright and narrow to broad and open.
Three poplar clone varieties are supplied by the shelterbelt centre to farmers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Walker poplar, developed at the shelterbelt centre, is hardy, fast-growing female clone (no seed fluff) that resists most diseases as well as the bud gall mite. Walker poplars grow about 1.3 metres a year and have a narrow, upright growth habit.
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Assiniboine poplar is similar to Walker, except it is a male clone which produces no seed fluff.
A new clone called Manitou, which has replaced Northwest poplar, is more heavily branched and wider than Assiniboine or Walker. It is a male clone that is completely winter hardy and resistant to diseases and bud gall mite. Northwest has been replaced because of its susceptibility to the gall mite.
Poplars are shallow rooted and extended droughts hurt their growth and survival.
And while weed control helps preserve soil moisture, repeated deep cultivation adjacent to poplars can damage their root systems, shortening the trees’ lifespans and encouraging suckering. Control weeds and grass around poplars using shallow cultivation, herbicides or mulches.
Besides shelter, poplars help control water table levels in areas prone to soil salinity and they are being planted in farm woodlots.
– Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration
Winter cereal, excellent pasture
Grazing cool season annuals, such as winter wheat and fall rye, can be a profitable way to diversify cereal production. Farmers can increase the flexibility of their farming system and still make money.
Annuals are easier to establish than perennials and if only grazed early in the season could still yield a grain crop. The annual crop can be grazed as a supplement to permanent pasture, used to lengthen the grazing season or as the main diet for feeder or backgrounder animals. The grazing of annuals can be an alternative to fallow and will limit weed invasion while reducing soil loss from wind and water erosion.
A 1987 University of Saskatchewan study assessed the potential of grazing spring-seeded winter wheat and fall rye. Seventy-two heifers (average age 18 months) were grazed after early crested wheatgrass pasture had passed its rapid growth stage. Animal and forage production was measured.
The fall rye and winter wheat were seeded the first week of May. Winter, rather than summer, annuals were chosen due to their growth characteristics. If they are grazed before winter chilling, winter annuals produce vegetative, rather than floral, tillers.
Seeding was done at one bushel/acre at a depth of five centimetres (two inches) into two 20 acre fields. About 55 lbs /ac. of nitrogen fertilizer was applied.
Forage samples were taken prior to and at the end of the July 9 to Sept. 14 grazing period.
Total dry matter production for fall rye was slightly higher than winter wheat at 3,856 lb/ac. compared to 3,207 lb/ac. for winter wheat.
Both annuals had high initial protein and energy content. High nitrate levels in the fall rye didn’t have adverse effects on the heifers and leveled off by the end of the grazing period. Nutrients and energy in both forages decreased as they matured – energy content remained adequate but fibre increased.
At the beginning of the grazing period the two paddocks averaged 1,312 lb/ac. of forage. Thirty-six heifers grazed the fall rye and 37 heifers grazed the winter wheat for a total of 120 animal grazing days on each annual pasture.
There was no significant difference in the performance of the heifers on either pasture. Average daily gain of the heifers grazing fall rye was 1.80 lb/day and 1.87 lb/day for winter wheat.
Ten open heifers sent for slaughter, four from the winter wheat pasture and six from the fall rye pasture, graded A1 at the end of the grazing period.
– Saskatchewan Winter Cereal Growers
