Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-07-15, Page 22What is custom application worth...? If it's done poorly or inaccurately, it's not worth- anything! " Our Easy rider has been put aver the calibration pans and is set up for hay, fall wheat And plow down blends We want YOUR business! AgricTo. Brucefield A good name to grow by „ •.,,, Mervyn Erb , Blender Manager 4.823948 RUPP RANCH-AIR HEATER CANADIAN DIM IlltliGIMFOR AAA FIBERGLAS VENTILATION SYSTEMS • AND FEMME CARTS • ^ . • - . , , • BAINDRIDGE-HOG FEEDERS asaviimrzio stosissurn .Nots.orind Ontottner 'Os" BOB VAN .DEN NEUCKER R. R. 4, Seaforth Need some help to get the crop off ? You can count on us See the Credit Union Clinton Community cREDIT UNION 7. ONTARIO ST. •OLD TOWN HALL BUILDING CLINTON EXETER 40-3417 2314641 4•••••01.1.11 .1.0•001•11•1MIMMENIMMIMMOMM11.14001..~14.11110111.0:~0100.411MINENNIMMIMIMME. by Jim's Flying Service Complete pesticide control by air to all types of crops Now is the time to prevent white mould on beans., IDEAL TIME TO SPRAY - 25% ALO5SOK-- Contact Milton J. Dietz- Limited S Phone collect 519-527'-06'08 • . • • , • ./UI.,Y is, '1981 11, 0- FORAGE supK.OmEtit,'JF)Vt tk Tom Melady can put hay in sooner Sampling forages as they come • off the field ensures farmers of accurate nutrient analysis. "It is very important for dairy farmers to get a good handle on the nutrient cont- ent of their forages. particul- arly protein content and the minor elements such as cal- Sheep grazing on forage h' -11 in phosphate content , 'stone more and digest ' r her proportion, say scion lists Peter G. Ozanne and D.B. Purser. "Phosphate does maw.• than increase yield. cncour age legumes to flourish. ant' supply minerals for the grai ing stock," the researchers front Australia's Institute of Earth Resources explain. "Ft...d grown with more phosphorus may make 'ani- mals cat more and digest it better. resulting in better prodUctioo.•" Feed pellet supplements containing phosphorous were not nearly as effet tive as irest consumption of the I recen. v receiNvd a report on the 19 0 farm fatalities in Ontario and I would iiiNe to describe \ bree• ,aces that caught my eye. (1) Victim 1:kee 3) climbed MI a gate to get a better view ()I father hooking op Jiackhoc unit. Gate collapsed. crush ing victim between gate and support arm lathe backhoe. 121 Victim (age*2) was on a tractor with his brother. Driver swerved to avoid hit- ting a dog and victim fell off and was run over by right rear wheel of the tractor. t3) Vict'm (age 3) was walk- ing across the lot when situ - stepped on an old abandoned well covered with cedar boards. The boards collapsed and she fell into the well and drowned. These are actual cases as reported to the Ontario Farm Safety Association last year. 1 guess that this hits home because I have two daught• ers about the same ages as those described above and suppose we've been lucky that nothing more serious than a few scratches and bruises have ever happened to them. How many times have we been w rapped up in our work that we have forgotten about our "little people'? How cium and phosphorus, ' lk says Steve! Dolson, co-ordinator of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food feed advisory service. "Getting a representative sample is the• key to obtain- ing accurate feed analysis. If you wait until the end of the silo tilling procedure. you ing a plateau and leveling... off, the sheep continued to increase their growth in dir- ect proportion to phosphdrus content. It seems, say Mr. Ozanne and Mr. Purser, that increasing the phosphorus supply increases feed quality in more ways than just giving a higher. nutrient content.... In a related nine Val- study., Dr. J. Knipfel of the Agriculture Canada research station in •Swift ( 'urrent. Saskatchewan focnd. "Sup- plementation with phosphate, returned $3 for every SI invested." First service conception rates of beef cows in the western U.S. increased from 59 per cent .to 89.• per: cent . when phosphate was applied in more ..hundant quantities. When dietary phosphorus levels were increased from .2 per cent ti, ,29,per cent, adds Knipfel. milk production ruse Cover photo, of ,1 'haying on the George Powell farm R. R. Auburn, by Rhea Hamilton may-or may not get a sample that is representative of the field." Keep a plastic garbage bag on hand when unloading the haylage. For every three or four wagon loads. put a handul of hay into the plastic bag. then tie the bag to prevent • the material from drying out. At the end of the Phosphate deficiencies in grazed forages have been prevalent for most of this century, Knipfel points out. and scientists have observed rapid declines in the P con- tent of all grass species, as they mature. At no time. during the' course of one ...studiditi any of the grasses meet suggested P require- ments for optimum produc- tion of lactating cows. Marked increases in P con- tent have been observed by researchers when phosphor- us fertilizer. is applied. • Dr. Knipfel reports that in western Canada 60 to 70 per Cent of cows are producing calves and many producers are routinely weaning 80 to 90 per cent calf crops. Suc- cessful producers, he :tress- es, practice sonic form of phosphate suppleMentation almost without exception. "It would appear. therefore. that cause I don't want to read about your child in the 1981 Farm Fatalities Report next year, ..... .Len MacGregor. Extension Assistant. day. take a sample from the bag. put it in a smaller bag and store it in the freezer, Continue the sampling procedure until alithe haying is complete. When you have all the hay in. mix alt'of the daily samples together and take one sample for analysis. Sampling kits are available from local agricultural offices. The ministry's feed advi- sory service offers three types of feed analysis to help farmers formulate balanced dairy rations. Type one, for $I, is a basic tewmeasuring dry matter and crude pro- tien. Type two includes the basic test and provides great- er detail. the amount of calcium. magnesium. potas- sium and phosphorus, for a cost of $13. Type three combines type• one- and type two analyses with tests for trace elements - manganese, copper and zinc, at a cost of $16. Producers can have forages tested for digestible protein for an' additional $8 with any of the three types of analysis. "Since minerals are im- portant in dairy cattle nutrit- ion, we recommend type two or type three tests." says Mr. Dolson. "Type three is useful when there is a health problem in the herd, and we aren't sure whether or not it is feed oriented." 'TeSts results are returned to the farmer after two to three Weeks. A copy of• the analysis is also sent to the local agricultural represent- ative so farmers can contact the local office if there are any questions. Mr. Dolson recommends that farmers sample first. second and'possibly third cuts of hay. Protein and other nutrients may differ greatly because there are fewer grasses after the first cut. BY DEBBIE RANNEY The first question one is tempted to ask when talking about the fan Tom Malady of R.R. 2, Dublin uses to, dry his hay in the barn is if it's such a good system why doesn't every farmer own one? Indeed, that's the question Tom asked when he took a tour with Dennis Martin of the Clinton Agricultural of- fice and four or five other farmers down to the Wood. stock area and. there dOesn't seem to be a definitive answer. 'The system consists of a fan with a tunnel out from it and along the floor levels of the barn trapdoors open to allow the air to go through the piled bales of hay. Tom first started looking at the system a year ago when the four farms they toured had them. The first farm had it installed in 1952 and had., been using it every year since then. Usually people dry their cut hay out in the field and then put it in the barn. "We cut the hay, get it as dry as possible in the field, try not to get any rain on it. then take it into the barn and complete the process in there," Tom says. "You actually get more drying from the wind than you do from the sun. All the drying in the barn consists of is a big fan forcing air through the hay--taking the s outside air that is normally being blown through it in the field after it's been baled up. One advantage Of the sy- stem is its fle,xibility. For one thing you can start earlier in the day. Every day this year Tom started at 12 o'clock. On One really overcast day he -put in 1800 bales and he knows of one other person who had cut hay the same day. Tom put his hay in on Thursday. Friday and Satur- day and the other farmer said his wasn't fit to go in any of those days.' - Another big advantage is the quality. Tom wants as high a quality as possible for his dairy cows and so has to be haying the first two weeks of June. not as much heat. Of course as with every system, there are also dis- advantages such as the weight. Since you're putting hay in tougher you're carry-' ing extraa weight--the weight of the moisture therefore. Meladys made the bales smaller. The barn..must 'be full of hay to last right throueh the yea.- and the new system has cut down on Tom's storage space by 400 or SOD bales so he said it might be better if vou were designing the sys- tem for a new barn. Barn fires are a common calamity in the summer, but with this., system the hay doesn't heat at all since the drier is paSsing the air through. It also doesn't cause car- melization which means that if the hay goes over a certain temperVi crthen the pro- tein is i a form not available to animals. . This way. a greater percentage of the protein should be available to the animal. Since Toni installed the system in an old barn he had .to work 'with some repair costs. He had the whole thing done by a contractor and the actual labour bill was about $1400. The fan that puts out the air was about $850, _materials were around $1800' and he pre- sumed that the electrical bill would be between $200 and $350 so- that the whole sys- tem costs between $4200- -34400. But to him the cost is worth it. " INCREASED PRODUCTION "I'm almost sure we'll haVe increased production from feeding higher quality feed," he said. Tom's feeding. system is based on corn' silage and dry hay. The corn silage is put in by a custom operator. Tom- has a small investment in bale handling ,equipniert which depreciates very slow - ly. The biggest price ,if equipment he has is a baler. In. the traditional method of haying. "you get into' forage system Where' you want to put up high quality feed. You almost 'have to have' your own harvesting system which involves large expenditures on such things as ' forage harvesters and, forage wagons." Toni said. So far Toni seems pleased with his investment and this year •ill probably be taking in ab t 7.000 bales •off 40 acres. Huron' farm news many times have we taken them for granted and think ,that they should know how to be careful? . With todays modern mach- inery and technology. in farm- Mg. there is more opportun- ity to have an accident. We might think that we are safety conscious, but we aren't. because we take chances and risks thinking that this will never happen to us. Our children like to copy the things that nianimy and daddy do and thereby take the same chances that we do. Educate sour children to he farm sato conscious, he , Highs phosphate helps digestior n !tient through fertilized pa• .urage. the t, son, say the )ctenti•t• m, he • 'hat th,' ' rtilt rate 11,,, ti Ct :'lo:Osc and ro plants and • 'ded the aiiinials to I I per ectit, In addition. by a major increase in ruminant s gher non ton , douTiling the II-content tif the production is possible In 1..t. cat c wient. the amount +,1 phospitate needed ft r ma:citrunti production was d and applied . to the pas- Are. Rather than reach 'diet from the National Re- through the use of phosphate search Council INRC) stan - supplementation:" he cop- dard, the period between eludes. breeding was reduced from' Written by: 59 to 47 days. Mery Erb Agrico, Brucefteld Let's avoid young victims (t/ r)s- FZIrtN, .4 SHOWING THE NEW SYSTEM — Tom Melady (right) and his helper:for the sumft—ieF3',111-ki-WellY, sit on bales on top of a slatted floor to show how Tom's system for drying hay works. There is a tunnel leading out from a large fan. At the floor level of the tunnel there are trap doors that open to allow-the air to go through the slatted Habra. up through the hay. (Photo by Ranney) NOT ENOUGH SUN Usually there's not enough sun at that time of the year 41a, but with his new system, ,141. Tom has the drying power he needs. with the early hay in June he gets i nice type of fine stuff. Being able to hay in the first two weeks of June lends itself better to getting three cuts off. Tom said he should hopefully be able to get another cut in the middle of July and then another in, the last week of August. There again 'he said you're getting into shorter days and 1